Kai Duan (2022)

Intelligent, fast-paced, best modern drama of 2022

This is a time loop drama done right. It's cohesive and coherent. I've watched when it aired in Jan 2022 and rewatched it again to see if it was as good as I remembered. And it still is. And it's just 15 episodes which is very short compared with other Cdramas so it is a good introduction piece for those who are used to watching Kdramas.

Time loops like Groundhog Day tend to bore me because they repeatedly show the protagonist doing the same things over and over again. They also tend to be so inconsistent that I usually regret watching them in the first place. So it was really mind-blowing (pun intended haha) how much I enjoyed Reset.

Never once did I feel that this drama insulted my intelligence. The leads' growth and their romance (which was a bonus) were gradual and logical. The police and other passengers' reactions seems like they were experiencing the explosion each time for the first time.

There's even a reason for the loop. This is not really a spoiler because it's a dialogue in Ep 2 but you can just skip this paragraph if you want. When a person dies unjustly, he goes into a loop of that day unless he can find a person to replace him. I did not understand this dialogue until I have actually finished the series.

Also, unlike other dramas, it's not open-ended at all giving me a satisfying closure.

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Excellent screenplay and execution...

It's not easy to keep that balance till the end in a time loop series then a movie, so many things have to look after each time when you enter into the loop, also kept the viewers at the edge without losing their interest and it must be thilling as much as it can. Reset probably one of best example for a perfect time loop drama. Every time they wakes up from the loop it doesn't lose the excitement and thrill.

Li Shi Qing a Female student who suddenly woke up one day in shock from a bus, she thought she had a nightmare of her bus going to explode. But it was not a dream, after the bus crosses the river bridge it actually blasted, but she didn't die and she wokes up again in the same bus at the same time on the same day, yes happened once again, after river bridge crossed the bus blasted. she needed 2 or 3 cycles of loop to believe that she has trapped in a loop. Every time she wokes up, there was a boy next to her named Xiao He yun, When he also trapped in the same loop of her's things slowly getting more complicated. They both finally accept the truth, now they have only one intension, stop that bus and save all the rest of passangers before explosion.

Excellent screenplay, as i mentioned above its well balanced screenplay without any loopholes, also very simple narrative, you can understand everything easily, the development of back stories of characters and mysteries behind everything that relating to bus explosion,there are so many things to discover, Every episode was thrilling. Episode duration also short to around 38 min.

It's a must watch drama. Worth for every minute you spent, if you interested in time loop concept dramas then, highly recommended

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The Drama was a Masterpiece

Reset (2022)

One of the best chinese dramas that I have seen recently??? Time loops can be a tricky plot and if not executed well it can make the drama the worst? But the script, the acting, the chemistry between the leads, the development and backstory of each character was perfect?
I have watched so many hyped Sci-Fi dramas which in the end was a total failure and I just couldn't bring myself to watch the following episodes?But RESET is a total masterpiece?✨

This drama starrs the rising stars Bai Jing Ting and Zhao Jin Mai?

So the story goes like this (no spoilers?) our Female lead gets on a bus she has a habit of sleeping in vehicle and she fells asleep on the ride suddenly she experiences something like an explosion and soon she wakes up on the bus~ she thinks she is dreaming?this happens two more times and she tries to figure this out! is time moving back? is god giving a chance to escape from the accident? or was it a dream? she decides to get off the bus ~ she also pulls out a fellow passenger to save him. but guess what both of them again ends up in the bus again. what is going on? is that explosion an accident or a man made explosion?

The leads aren't super geniuses that they knows everything. They takes you through the journey and finds the answers of the questions??? Even thou the story revolves around the leads the drama also shows the side characters who each have their own story???The chemistry between the leads ❤️??

Great sci-fi/thriller/mystery drama!? The writing and acting are solid through all 15 episodes. It is a fast-paced and easy-to-follow story that develops all of the characters in a realistic and humane way. This made viewers grow an emotional attachment to the characters and feel for their story, which made me cry a couple of times. It made me want all of them to survive. None of the characters are dumb too, so it made it more fun to watch. There is also an unexpected humor aspect in some episodes which balances out the seriousness of the drama. The time loops aspect was written very smoothly and carried out nicely with the filming. The script did not fall apart and stayed consistent throughout??. Each episode left you guessing,? especially once you reached the halfway point. Also, each episode is meaningful to the storytelling? and I did not notice any filler scenes at all. Not only that, there are subtle hints at the problems with society, such as sexual harassment victim-blaming etc

?So want to find the answers and get out of the never ending loop inside the "BUS 45" watch reset and thank me later✌️

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Best of its kind

So far the most well executed drama of its genre in my opinion. I waited a long time for this and worried that it would be too draggy, yet it delivered more than expected.

The concept is nothing new but this one is exceptionally well executed. Each repeats were 'useful' without feeling like too much of a coincidence. It was TIGHT without feeling prearranged, something that a lot of inception movies and series fail to do. They were smart in that no ends are ever loose because every lives are important and they sold that point.

The main characters were great, dumbness was NEVER a plot device in this drama, and I thank the scriptwriter for that. Zhao Jinmai's acting was exceptionally stellar, Bai Jing Ting did good as expected. For the rest of the casts, Lao Zhang was played so charismatically, Lu Di's part acting could be improved but he was a lovable character.

I don't think any of the music stand out to me (FL would beg to differ lol). But at least nothing felt out of place.
The -0.5 is for the 2 episodes towards the end, don't get me wrong, the ending did the drama justice, but the last 2 episodes did falter a bit.

But hooray that it didn't drag, that's such a breakthrough especially in c-drama scene, I hope more will follow suit and respect the story like this instead of ordering more filler episodes to make the budget worth.

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This Drama Is Like A Video Game Side Quest

STORY:
As a person who is not such a huge fan of fiction, this drama was well crafted in a genius way. I learned later that it was created after a webtoon. I have many questions as there are so many plotholes for my need for more information after finishing it, but I guess that's what researching and reading the webtoon is for.

ACTING/CAST:
I think the cast did a wonderful job. The actress Liu Dan who who plays as Tao Yinghong does a truly great job.

MUSIC:
I really love the calm, soothing intro + ending song "My Only."

REWATCH VALUE:
I am not a person who rewatches shows or dramas. That is my reason for a low score.

OVERALL:
This drama definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. Gave me a lot of stress and anxiety, lol.

The lesson I learned from this drama is to keep trying over and over again, go outside of your comfort zone, limits and to search for the information you need and keep trying over and over again or do things differently until you are successful or to reach your goal.

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It is worth it!

I did not like the female protagonist in the first episode but she gets better as the story progresses. She is smart, strong and caring. She is not annoying like some other FL. The male protagonist is very nice. The story takes unexpected turns and I did not get bored in any of the episodes.

I cried and laughed. I was on edge at times. It is a very intriguing and compelling story. The pacing is excellent. Each character is well developed. We get to meet each of them, their life-stories and circumstances, and at the end I cared for them.

I highly recommend this drama. It is in my TOP 3. The ending was satisfying despite what some people say. I really enjoyed this drama. I plan to rewatch it.

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Very very well thought-out and executed TV show

From the get go, it captured my attention. Every episode was a thrilling ride. The acting was some of the best I have seen. This is by far my favourite Asian drama. The police were actually doing their job, unlike K-dramas where they are utterly useless. Here, they caught on to even the slightest of suspiciousness. The emotions that some of the characters evoked gave me goosebumps. The main lead duo was excellent. It all felt very real even though I was watching in front of the screen. The ending is satisfying and thank goodness it wasn't open ended. We got to see the backstory of the relevant characters. This drama has a great rewatch value in that you will start to see some of the clues in the earlier episodes. I recommend this show to anyone who is willing to watch with English Subtitles because it is a masterpiece. All the episodes are available on Youtube. Give it a watch, I will guarantee you it will be amongst your favourites!

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A drama I wish I can reset my mind to watch again for the first time.

I've been looking for another C-drama to watch, saw this was highly rated here on MDL and had a very interesting trailer that I've decided to watch this right away. I agree with a lot of the viewers here, that this drama was really good! I absolutely love the flow, the direction and writing for this series so much. I'll try to keep it spoiler free.

So before I go dabbling about the drama, for new viewers I think I need to address that there are issues that might trigger some.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Sexual Harassment and Murder
BUT!!! They are not too explicit in the drama, though I just wanted to mention it for those that might get trigger on these. For the sexual harassment, it was just for a few minutes and was on moving closer and a touch (again not too explicit); but it did felt uncomfortable while watching the scene unfold. While for the murder part, the scene is censored in a way, the part becomes black and white, and the surrounding does become blurry.

Also the drama does have CN police propaganda. But despite the trigger warnings and the propaganda going on in this drama, I really hope that you all give it a try!

Things I love about this drama:
- For a time loop drama, majority of the time loops that happened does not feel repetitive (the only time it kind of does is when they found out who the suspect was, but it doesn't really bother me)
- The main leads! I love how both are smart, yet are a bit opposite of one another. The FL acts more impulsive on her emotions (which can sometimes be frustrating at times in the drama), but it's nice that the ML is more on the rational side. A nice touch seeing how they compliment one another; like how the ML will pull back the FL, as he wants to talk and plan things out before doing any actions.
- I love how the ML has a character development through the series.
- Each loop they go through, you get pieces of information and it was so well done. Even the build up to the next episode or loop was also great.
- This drama had me on the edge of my seat most of the time, and made me feel all kinds of emotions! I would suddenly be happy, sad, frustrated, relief and etc. Not a lot of dramas have actually made me feel a huge range of emotions like this.
- Can I say that all the casts' acting was so amazing! Especially the main leads, the captain and the suspect (especially the suspect, I love the acting so much!)
- Each passenger had a role especially towards the end of the drama, and I really love how most of the passengers' back stories were fleshed out. I have to commend that it was nice how their back stories made them feel more realistic and not just them being as extras in the bus.
- The drama touched several topics, and it's really nice seeing these topics get addressed out. Such as justice system, cyber-bullying, victim blaming and how most/some people would just standby to watch despite something troublesome is happening in front of them.
- How the burnt wounds looked so realistic.
- The drama is not too heavy.
- There's no voice dubbing on this drama.
- I know the drama can still be okay without the romance, but I love how it was just subtle until the final episode. There will be hints and all, but not too much to distract you.

Cons:
- There are several unanswered questions, but I think it's okay that they didn't directly answer these, because I feel if they were explained, it might just ruin the drama. So I'll based it on the theories I have read on.
- The suspect motives felt underwhelming. I was thinking the motives will be more darker and sinister, but apparently not. The motive is still valid, but I felt it shouldn't have been focused on the bus. But then again, the suspect was not in the right state of mind.
- There are times where you want to yank your hair out because of several characters' actions, and sometimes want to question 'Why?'. But then again, it reminds you that we're all human and if under pressure that we sometimes do questionable things as well.
- There are no back story for the main leads, to be honest it would have been a nice touch to introduce them and show their back stories like how they fleshed out several stories of the passenger. It's not much a con for me since it's understandable that this is only a 15 episode drama and the main point is breaking out of the time loop.

Overall:
This was just really a great drama. If I could just reset my mind so that I can watch this again for the first time I would. Hoping that more people get to watch this, as it was just so good. It's also very refreshing from the usual C-dramas I've watched, and hope that more C-dramas can be like this too. Though I think for re-watching, I would love to re-watch this after several years where I have forgotten majority of the details for this or want to relieve this drama.

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Perfect Thriller

I watched merely out of curiosity because a lot of people say it may be the best drama of the year. Ngl, I thought they were just exaggerating but now that I finished it, I understand that the claim isn't unfounded. It is indeed a masterpiece.
From the synopsis, you'd think there's a big chance for it to be boring because it's just going to be repetitive. It's not. I love how the show threw me straight into the story from the first episode, then maintain a good pace, enough to keep me engaged through the entire show. I was at edge most of the times while watching this; the last few cycles were specially thrilling that I had to bite my hand haha.
The leads were cute together, acting were great. I just wish we get to know more of their back story, main and support characters alike, specially Xiao He Yun and his conflict in his game company. Understandable though and it doesn't take away the fact that this is a great drama and I sure did enjoy it a lot.

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Not the same groundhog day

Unlike other groundhog day type shows, this is different. As the protagonists attempt to gather clues by reliving the incident each time, they also test out different ways of trying to solve the problem. Each solution however leads to a different set of consequences. Thus, they have to map out the perfect script to avoid the potential downfalls/consequences.

The show is an interesting glimpse into the human psyche. It is far less annoying that some groundhog type shows and for once, it's refreshing that the characters aren't using their pre-knowledge of the situation to benefit and enrich themselves.

What I disliked. First, the police aren't allies. They suspect everyone and want to implicate everyone. Even a witness can become a suspect. They spend more than half of the time trying to avoid being implicated. Under that circumstance, why would anyone want to help the police?

Second, I was thoroughly disappointed by the ending. Each episode carefully went and plugged all the holes but the ending undid all that meticulously laid hard work. I felt the writer sacrificed a very tight storyline for the sake of propaganda.

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Review 3

"早上好 " 破防了! 破防了! 我受不了了！

你好嘉嘉,

这次，我想尝试用中文写作，因为我刚刚看了一个中文电视节目！

别恨我，但我理解白敬亭的炒作！我已经恨我了.

感想：白敬亭好，故事好，我的mental好.

逗你玩儿! 这些日子我很心塞!! 你认为kian会成为我的新宝贝吗？呵呵呵呵. Also, woojoo让我做他的女朋友。你觉得我说了什么？呵呵呵呵. 我不要男朋友. 我要粉红色Lego 花! 你是对的...今年夏天我会 self reflect...

我很高兴我们是朋友. 没有你我会很难过. 所以让我们继续一起做所有事情! 下学期我教你下棋! 我们也可以打麻将吗? 我想和你一起做很多事情！

亲亲明天见! NAKSAN! :)
Ashley Kim

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