Go Ahead (2020)

Good Drama in Every Aspect

I usually don't like to watch normal drama, but this one is really good. The story is about 3 siblings with no blood relation, but grew up together since they were little. After high school, problem arise when their real parents/mother came back into their life after years. Eventually, they part away but reunited after 9 years. They already an adult and finally have to overcome their past in order to be better. The story is quite simple but deep. The brothers have most difficult problems than the sister, but the sister is hurt too because of what happened to her brother. Most of the story revolve around how they managed their life while dealing with their family problem, and the supporting character also have the same problem.

I would give it 10 point if not for one thing I don't like. Eventually one of the brother and the sister become a couple. They are not blood related, but still I think its weird since they grew up together for years. but overall, great storyline. My fave sibling is Zuqiu, as he the most problematic one in my mind but also the honest and brave one. Really recommended series

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Favorite C-Drama

When I was in high school (over a decade ago), I was a big fan of Rainie Yang, then as I grow up, I preferred Kdramas and a splash of Jdoramas.

Chinese dramas observations/comparisons: It can go over 30 episodes, and it is a norm. Also, you cannot deny that they have big budgets for a single drama. Another is, that they are not fond of using different actors/actresses for the younger version (at least since High School).

Along the years of watching dramas/movies, I am proud to say that I have found my favorite genre - slice of life. Although I still watch tons of rom-coms, but SoL just hits me differently during and after finishing a certain drama.

Go Ahead is one of those dramas that hit me in a special way. This has been my favorite Chinese drama series so far. I get curious what will happen to each characters. The balance of giving focus to each person were enough (character development is the name of my game), at least for me. 40 episodes are honestly a bit overwhelming for me, but as the show went on, I did not mind and was enjoying how the story unfolds. Although there were a lot of fantasy-only-in-dramas scenes, but it talks about life. You can easily relate to the characters.

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I like how the relationships have been shown specially with the younger generation:

Read at your own risk: The trio. They did not serve us the cliché of love triangle but rather a wonderful bond and distinction between love interest (Gēgē 1) and brother (Gēgē 2). You don’t always need a love triangle to spice things up (and if ever there is, a prolonged one is never enjoyable). I really appreciate that they gave us an early, clear relationship with the main couple to also let us journey with them as they transition from siblings to lovers.

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Read at your own risk: Not only that, the relationship between Tang Can X Zhuang Bei and also Mingyue X Zhuang Bei at the end. Although I thought that it would be TangCanXZhuangBei and ZiQuiXMingyue. Hihihi but it would also be hilarious if it will be ZiQUiXlittleorange (just kidding) :P

This is truly a coming of age drama. As a 25 year old myself, I appreciate all the character developments that they have portrayed. I will really miss this drama, this family ???

Thank you Go Ahead!

P.S: I just realized why I love to watch dramas: to save me from heartaches and discomfort of growing up specially get entangled with complicated relationships/friendships. ? waiting for the time on when I can finally grow up and be in the world of adults. Late bloomer here!

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A drama that hits close to the heartstrings and put me in a lot of thoughts

This drama made me shed lots of tears. I did not remember when was the last time i cried this much. A drama that hits home like this is my absolute ABSOLUTE weakness.

1. Ling Xiao's Instant Maturity Stage Theory that has been living rent free in my head.

"I heard that people can grow up in a flash, you would be 18 y.o but doesn't mean you have grown up.
You actually grow up in a flash, no one knows when, but you.
Your mind will change, and you will feel the weight of life.
At that moment, you'll grow up without anyone noticing"

This is beautiful, deep and scary at the same time. This scene completely put me so deep in thought.

2. Growing apart when life happens, this part hits the most home to me.
Li jianjian's monologue was just so relatable and accurate, it brought out so many memories. Particularly the highschool memories, parting with your best friends to pursue life.. :')
You all know, the first year being away with your friends, your chatroom is still active and crowded. The second year we still talk but only the important stuff. Third year everyone is busy with university life and after that, we only send holiday greetings message. Now, even holiday greetings are hardly seen :")

Distance is really terrifying.

3. That moment where Li jianjian realized that she has entered the complicated life that is the adult hood where she can not be and act the same anymore.

"the key to the adult hood world is.. patience, patience, patience."

3. Lastly, this drama made it clear to us that just because you plant your seed, you gave birth to someone, that doesn't automatically make you a parent. It's when you actually raise them and care for their well being.

Also the wisdom in Li jianjian's father is so out of this world. I wonder if there is someone as kind, as hardworking, as loving, as wise as him, in this world?

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Of course, as anyone else, I also have many complaints about how the story turned out, how it lost its focus in the middle, the love triangle between Ling xiao Jianjian Zi qiu were so unnecessary and they even added jianjian's friends to mess around with it- it's so upsetting lol. And on top of it, they gave LX mom a good ending like it was so easy for her to be forgiven.... i feel like flying to china and fight the screenwriter.

Maybe if we can rate the drama based on episodes, it would be:
10/10 for ep 1-10
6/10 for 11-40

but even so,
The first 10 episodes were just so precious to me, i hold them so SO dear to my heart, that no matter how the story turned out in the end, my heart does not allow me to hate this drama- not to mention how much i love the osts? the melody and the lyrics. I cried the first time i learned the lyrics to the one that sung by Mao Buyi.

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Went in a weird direction

good points:
•really good acting from the second male lead
•interesting dinamics between characters
•some funny scenes
•heartwarming moments
•bromance between the two dads

bad points:
•didn't feel the romantic chemistry between the leads
•bad acting from male lead
•ending felt unsatisfactory


I feel like they didn't do enough to explore the way the 3 of them started to have romantic feelings towards eachother. Close to the ending I wanted to skip the main leads romantic scenes all together because it felt strange.

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?‍?‍??‍?Best Family drama

I don't know where to start on the things I like about this drama?

First, the cast is too good. Srly everyone nails there part I don't remember any awkward acting.

Second, the plot has a lot of twists. And alot of the problems they faced are also relatable which a lot of broken families faces. I thought that with the title "Go ahead" someone will die and they'll need to face the acceptance of reality phase but its not lmao. I keep on thinking while watching the drama that father Li might die *my hearteu* but fortunately didn't, he is the best character in the whole drama

Third, the child actor for Ziqui is so cuuute? I just can't with his backstory especially when he was always helping father Li and when he called him dad. He needs to mature early because of circumstances which is so sad.

Before this I think I'm not much into family dramas because its too long, too dramatic and too draggy. But this one thooooo

The romance part I'm not sure how to feel. Tho it's good but honestly not that necessary for this to be a good drama. So, I liked it very much that it's not just the focus of the whole drama. They did good with the characters development. Even though I think that father Ling until the end didn't do much for his son(but I still think his character was really written that way, someone who doesn't like confrontations/mediation lol).

The only part where I did not like is the mother Chenting. I think they still need more to that story of redemption lmao. Just think about it Ling Xiao has "trauma" abt his mom, I don't think its that easy to remove trauma yk. You can't just say sorry and everything's ok.

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Do Yourself a Solid.

I wrote this progressively, as I motored my way through the series. Go Ahead invites you into a narrative and slams the door shut behind you. I was enamoured by all of the story arcs. At times I was mentally adopting children and next, I was smacking adults into next Tuesday. The humour and subtle character development was so skilfully layered, yet very relatable. The complex family dramas portrayed were honest, though the full spectrum of ‘mother’ and filial piety will rattle around my head space for a while. Both of my young adult daughters and I connected with this drama, particularly the Li Dad character.
I want one. Clone him.
The mere idea of Li Dad dying…stop!
Don’t even, you can take some of my extensive freedoms but hands off Li Dad.
I watch a lot of Asian dramas, this one is a cracker!

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A Drama You Would Come Back for More!

It is the kind of drama that you will be keen to watch by just watching the trailer itself. Initial episodes were more towards a comedy style, describing their happy childhood moment. It is until they start to stay apart, i couldn't control myself shedding tear for every single episode; it became so dramatic. But the best part of Cdrama is the ending always ends happily =)
It was also a little surprise that besides the young adults ML and FL, the mid-aged daddies and mummies playing lead roles too, occupying quite a no of episodes. The OST for this drama is also worth a mention, not only a song but a few of them are pretty good and powerful to illustrate the feeling of the leads. Overall love the blend of the story of this family drama. Do not miss the chance watching this drama if you are a Cdrama lover, it is really worth a watch! Btw, the young ML, SWL is so charming; Ling Xiao role suits him well !

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Super Dad and Deadbeat mom

A lot of stories are told of deadbeat dads, it's very refreshing to see Dads who do the best they can to raise their kids. The actual main character in this is Li Hai Chao, Noodle Dad. He’s the dad that holds everyone together. It was extremely heart breaking when he broke down when drunk expelling his thoughts of unwelcomed teachings from unconcerned individuals while defending his love for his son.

The two dads built a perfect non-marriage marriage. They communicate with each other, keeping the other abreast of news of the children. They love and spoil the kids all equally, and the kids all call both of them Dad. Cop dad isn't without fault, but he does come around to acknowledging his shortcomings. They prove that Dads can raise good kids too.

The female lead is kind, cheerful, thoughtful etc. She channeled her sadness and heartache into something positive instead wallowing in self-pity like any other drama. I liked that she is the most successful in her career in their circle of friends and exert her authority as boss when she feels it requires it. The relationships in this is well built and told. There isn't any throw away characters. All the characters in this drama all serve a purpose (except Feng Xixi). The story telling pacing was good and flowed well from the first episode to the last.

The abandonment issues the 2 male leads has to deal with is really heartbreaking. The pain can be felt by the audience when Zhi Siew asks "Why is it that I'm the one who's always being abandoned?"

The actors were all very good in bringing their characters to life. I felt every pain, sadness, and the very realistic fights.

The Opening and Ending songs were perfect. The moment the song "Fearless" starts to play, Pavlovian's Conditioning kicks in and tears will start to roll. This drama gets you crying from very early on.
The only thing I did not like was that ML Ling Xiao is almost always dressed in clothes that look like pajamas. No guy in their non-metrosexual life would wear out of the house.

This drama reminds me of my all time favorite manga/anime Fruits Basket. The same premise of kids with very painful past trying to forge their own happiness.

I will definitely watch this drama again.

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An exploration of what it means to be family

One of the best character-driven stories I've had the pleasure to watch, and a fantastic longform essay about family and love in Chinese culture. Legit recognized my relatives and parents in the characters and I really felt like I was seeing my own growing up experiences mirrored here.

I absolutely love how focused on character development this story was. It was very rewarding witnessing their growth, and I loved having hunches about a character's behavior and having it turn out to be true.

Originally, I felt that the female characters were quite poorly written because almost all the moms are major assholes, but that was a bit premature. I'm still in disagreement with the scriptwriters about Mingyue's mom and Chen Ting. I think they hadn't done enough to make up for the selfishness and hurt that they'd caused. But then again, their kids are fine with it. So maybe I'm judging too harshly because of my own parental baggage? Anyway. A bit draggy at the end and lots of unbelievable plot twists but overall I really loved this ???

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I'm going to pretend the second half of this drama doesn't exist

Okay so I absolutely loveddd the first half of this drama. The second half not so much.....

I rated this pretending that the second half doesn't exist

(Spoiler Warning):

The relationship between the characters was soo sweet and the way they handled their traumatic backstories was so well done. The first part of this drama is absolutely amazing and one of the best things I've ever watched. HOWEVER! the minute there was a timeskip to adulthood, it all went downhill for me. The way they developed the relationship between FL and ML was soo weird. I'm okay with the "childhood brother figure turned love interest" trope but they had zero chemistry once they grew up and it felt so rushed and unnecessary. FL was def only with him because she felt bad for him (She also does acknowledge this and tells him outright but still why???).

I felt so bad for ML, especially when he says he wants to marry her and she keeps invalidating him and saying things like "who wants to marry you" or "who wants to live with you" when he talks about buying a house together. I get that they're trying to portray a realistic trauma-bonded relationship and she's only trying to do what she's always done (protect him and make him happy by appeasing him) but I did nottt f w it. I wish they would've just developed their relationship in a normal way because they definitely had chemistry when they were still in school/living together. However, I do acknowledge that I didn't finish the entire thing (had like 6 episodes left I believe? so maybe they miraculously fix their relationship and FL falls in love with him for real and everyone is happy and healthy forever etc. etc. but I have very little hope for that based off of other reviews I've read.

Also, I hate that they made the second brother have feelings for her too. Their relationship was a million times more sibling-like than FL and ML and it felt so creepy (especially the part where he gropes her like that's so unnecessary??). I think they did it intentionally to show he's confusing platonic love with romantic but it failed imo. Its a 10/10 if you pretend the second half doesn't exist lol.

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IF I'M BEING HONEST

THE PLOT

This show started off really great. The first episode was enough to catch my attention especially with little JianJian! They showed how close their family bond is and I liked how it was going until they added romance between the main leads into the plot. I think it would've been just fine if they didn't include it lol as it has probably made some people uncomfortable since JianJian has always seen them as brothers and they weren't exposed by the scriptwriters to have romantic feelings towards each other so it just felt weird. + I feel like He Ziqiu didn't even like her romantically and their r/ship is platonic but his friend planted the idea into his brain making him think he likes her when its just brotherly love.

Other than that! I could feel the plot changing from being focused on the family to being just like any other cdramas. It had a lot of potential from the start but it all went POOF after the brothers returned from overseas.

I like how they portrayed the "close family bond ended up being distant" because they were away from each other for so long and were just holding on to empty promises. JianJian being awkward with them after they came back was totally understandable and the brothers forcing themselves on to JianJian acting like they havent been distant from each other for 9 years was frustrating but also understandable.

THE CHARACTERS

He Ziqiu's character was remarkable and I LOVED his bond with the father as the scenes of them together are always so pure and honest it was so refreshing to see. Their heart-to-heart moments made me cry too.

I feel like the good parents are too good and the bad ones are badbad as that is how the scriptwriters portrayed them to be. It just didn't seem very realistic to me especially the father being literally perfect lmao.

LingXiao was an okay character meh Song WeiLong's acting was a little stiff for this character as LingXiao is literally ~angsty and troubled~.

Li JianJian ! I liked the woman she grew up to be. It was evident that she's dependent on her brothers and spending time away from each other made her independent. There weren't much flaws to her character as to me she is just straight up adorable. I liked how she didn't let things bother her and how straight-forward she is, saying whatever that is on her mind.

OVERALL
It's a good drama to watch I guess but it just stirred away from the original plot after uni life when i would love to see the drama being fully family-oriented but i'll just take what i can get.

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