Here are are my thoughts so far through episode 10.

I’m honestly not quite sure why I like Wish to See You Again so much.  It’s not as compelling as Goong, it’s not as tightly written as Coffee Prince, the performances are not as good as Mars.  It’s not even as fast-paced(in my opinion) as Sweet Relationship, the other recent low-key Vic Zhou drama. And yet – I love it. More than Sweet Relationship. More than almost any other dramas except the above-mentioned ones.  I think this is going into the category of “personal-favorite”, not necessarily one that I recommend to everyone under the sun and shout from the rooftops how good it is(think Coffee Prince). That doesn’t mean it’s not good, however – WTSYA is a very strong, charming, well-acted(after an initial bump) drama. I love it with a different love than I’ve loved other dramas – a quiet, steady, and contained love, but a love that is passionate nonetheless. There’s something sheerly magical about Wish to See You Again, and I can’t quite lay my finger on it, but it’s there, and keeps me thinking about this drama, keeps pulling me back to it, and slots it without fuss or fanfare into my 7 or so favorite dramas so far. (Vic Zhou doesn’t hurt either).

There are, however, a few scenes which I can definitively say contribute to this drama; perhaps it’s the addition of all of them together that make that particular magic I can’t define.

1) The sun-coming up-over the mountain/sunrise scene. I think it was this scene that sold me forever on both Wish to see you Again and the OTP. That moment, as they sit there side by side and the sun, creeping up unexpectedly, lights up their faces with an iridescent glow, and they both look out with such simple, unadulterated wonder, sharing this moment together…it was amazing. An unusually lyrical moment for a drama, capturing something of the wonder of the world.

2) The hotel-bedroom scene when they’re both drunk. It’s so very very sweet. The way he looks at her over the camera, his eyes widening as he takes in the picture of her face against the window(Michelle Chen glows in that scene, by the way – I can see why he was caught. She has a subtle but nonetheless iridescent beauty). All the hilarious bumping into/scolding each other :). Then in his room(NB: everytime I watch this, I have to laugh, because in the first shot, when Neng Xian falls on top of him, her head is way down on his chest, and in the next shot, she’s somehow shifted up so that her head is on his shoulder and her body is positioned perfectly against him. I suppose they couldn’t achieve such perfection through a simple fall so they simply transitioned:) they’re so heartbreakingly adorable together – both so innocent, so pure, and so happy to be together. The trust she exhibits, the utter comfort as she lies against him, murmering(slightly drunkenly:) how comfortable she is, and then the way Xu Le, being the writer(and plainly an utter romantic at heart, though he just as clearly doesn’t realize it yet) goes off on his romantic tangent about the cloud bringing her to him…and THEn – and then – the first real romance/connection between them. And I have to say, that’s the hottest kissing scene I think I’ve ever seen Zaizai too. What’s hilarious to me is that the whole time he’s picturing/writing this scene in his head, and that’s what spurs him to kiss her so passionately…oh it’s glorious.

LOVE the way the woman’s face, in his mind, transforms from some random beauty to Neng Xian. And NB? Also LOVE the way this ends – that they don’t actually sleep together. Thank you, thank you drama, for preserving not just the purity of the drama but also the character integrity – it didn’t make sense, given their characters and the status of their relationship, for these two to do anything more than kiss.

And then the aftermath, adorable beyond words – Xu Le looks so lost when she gets up and leaves!! ohh, the drama.

3) The second(first real kiss) scene. I love how straightfoward and confident Xu Le is, in spite of his total lack of experience with women – the truth is he’s so inexperienced he hasn’t been taught how to do or say the wrong things, so most of the time he says the right things, because he says exactly whatever it is that he’s thinking. “Do you want to forget it?” he asks directly – non of this melodramatic/self-conscious nonsense that happens so much in both doramas and real life. Just – do you want to forget what happened between us? Or do you not? So simple.

LOVE, also, how on the one hand he’s so direct in asking and in pulling her back to stay with him, and even in kissing her, but that he’s obviously unsure/a bit nervous about the actual act – he blinks very rapidly as he leans in – after all, it’s only the second time he’s ever done this. :0 Adorable.

Quotes:

“I thought that you were working on your book.”

“But now that you’re here, I won’t.”

Tagged: Twdrama, Vic Zhou, wish to see you again, wish to see you again quotes, Wish to See You again recap, Wish To See You Again review