I have tried MANY school C-Dramas, too many, tbh. I started this one wondering if it was time to admit that the genre and I just don't fit well together. That might indeed be true of the genre as a whole, but THIS school Drama blew me away!

The story was intelligent, and the characters given real depth. The OTP were genuinely funny together, never cloying in what I think of as "aegyo", and the journey each character took was well-plotted and credible.

As VERY satisfying as the OTP arc was, and the two leads did a wonderful job with their well-written characters, my favourite role and performance was by Li Ying Ying as Zhu Jn Xiao. High IQ and low EQ, but portrayed with wit and wonderfully restrained expressive facial gestures. I hope to see more of this fine actor in future, and espcially hope she gets roles as good as this one, albeit with a character arc that runs more to what I wish for her :)

I headed my review "Nailed the Landing" because way, way too often East Asian Dramas just don't. But this one really did. By the time Ep 16 started I had scored it 9/10 on my personal Dramalist, but by the time it ended, I had changed that to 9.5. Dramas this good are rare - of the 280 East Asian Dramas I've finished, this only the 24th to score at least 9.5, and only the 2nd C Drama out of 31 finished. It's probably completely ruined me for any further C school dramas, but that's OK, because it was a stunner.