Annamaebananas
Heart-wrenchingly and Hilariously Beautiful
Go Ahead is without a doubt my favorite C-Drama I’ve ever watched. I’d seen quite a few before this one and I wasn’t really expecting anything amazing from it, but by the end of episode one I was already 100% percent sold on the story. And by the time I was finished with it I was left with some mad post drama depression because no other C-Dramas were matching up to this one.
There’s a ton going on in this drama, but I think this is probably the best way to sum it all up, Go Ahead is an emotionally devastating and uplifting show about the story of how three unrelated kids (Li Jianjian, Ling Xiao, and He Zi Qiu) and two single dads (Li Hai Chao and Ling Heping) become a pseudo family. The story covers a full twenty years of the characters’ lives.
Often, shows that span a long period of time loose me, it’s hard to follow characters and a story when the setting, characters and story are so frequently changing with the time, but I was fully invested in every period of their lives.
I would say the show takes place in three main sections. The first is when the children initially meet as little kids, and the current family dynamic is set up, the next takes place during high school, and the third with the characters as adults.
Go Ahead takes family dynamics and shows how they change over time, how people can grow further apart and closer together, and how said change isn’t always a bad thing. It was one of the most beautifully heart wrenching pieces of media I have ever consumed. And the OST only added to it, it made both the happy and the sad moments much more intense and there’s not a single miss of a song in the soundtrack. I never skipped the into or outro sequence, never once.
Though it isn’t the initial most important point, there is a romance plot that takes significance in the latter half of the show. Without spoilers I can say there were a few directions taken that I didn’t think I would like, but ultimately did. And I ate up the romance. As with many other drama watchers, I watch most of them primarily for romance. I did, however, find myself equally invested in all aspects of this show.
The family dynamics are incredibly complicated, both the stories with the characters’ biological families and their chosen families were expertly done. And as is a trend in the drama, all of it is absolutely heart wrenching.
It’s not just heart wrenching though, it’s also absolutely hilarious and incredibly wholesome, honestly just the whole package. Unlike many other shows I’ve seen, this one is actually able to transition between all the different tones smoothly, the tone never seems confused and the switch ups are never jarring.
It also establishes some friendships too, every character regardless of how “important” they were to the main story, had a story of their own. It was nice to see every character treated like an individual person. They all felt real, at least in the way they can for being in an overly dramatized story.
And I loved every single one of them. I would die for them all I swear. Except for like one villain. I would like to kill her. The dad’s though, I can’t even express how much I loved both of them, them and all three kids were a delight to watch together.
I have never watched another show that has managed to emotionally wreck in the way this one did but did not leave me feeling depressed. It left me thinking when I had finished it, and I couldn’t start another show for weeks because I was too hung up on this one.
My only gripe with the entire show is the last episode. Don’t get me wrong, it was good and did wrap most everything up neatly in a relatively satisfying way, I just wanted more. There was so much more I wanted to see from these characters, but I’ll have to suffice with what we got.
It’s a pretty long drama too, very rarely does a long drama leave me wanting more, but I would have eaten up twice the amount of content with these characters.
I don’t think this review could ever possibly express how much I loved it, but it’s all I got for now.
If you haven’t given it a shot, please do. Go Ahead is an absolute gem among C-Dramas.
There’s a ton going on in this drama, but I think this is probably the best way to sum it all up, Go Ahead is an emotionally devastating and uplifting show about the story of how three unrelated kids (Li Jianjian, Ling Xiao, and He Zi Qiu) and two single dads (Li Hai Chao and Ling Heping) become a pseudo family. The story covers a full twenty years of the characters’ lives.
Often, shows that span a long period of time loose me, it’s hard to follow characters and a story when the setting, characters and story are so frequently changing with the time, but I was fully invested in every period of their lives.
I would say the show takes place in three main sections. The first is when the children initially meet as little kids, and the current family dynamic is set up, the next takes place during high school, and the third with the characters as adults.
Go Ahead takes family dynamics and shows how they change over time, how people can grow further apart and closer together, and how said change isn’t always a bad thing. It was one of the most beautifully heart wrenching pieces of media I have ever consumed. And the OST only added to it, it made both the happy and the sad moments much more intense and there’s not a single miss of a song in the soundtrack. I never skipped the into or outro sequence, never once.
Though it isn’t the initial most important point, there is a romance plot that takes significance in the latter half of the show. Without spoilers I can say there were a few directions taken that I didn’t think I would like, but ultimately did. And I ate up the romance. As with many other drama watchers, I watch most of them primarily for romance. I did, however, find myself equally invested in all aspects of this show.
The family dynamics are incredibly complicated, both the stories with the characters’ biological families and their chosen families were expertly done. And as is a trend in the drama, all of it is absolutely heart wrenching.
It’s not just heart wrenching though, it’s also absolutely hilarious and incredibly wholesome, honestly just the whole package. Unlike many other shows I’ve seen, this one is actually able to transition between all the different tones smoothly, the tone never seems confused and the switch ups are never jarring.
It also establishes some friendships too, every character regardless of how “important” they were to the main story, had a story of their own. It was nice to see every character treated like an individual person. They all felt real, at least in the way they can for being in an overly dramatized story.
And I loved every single one of them. I would die for them all I swear. Except for like one villain. I would like to kill her. The dad’s though, I can’t even express how much I loved both of them, them and all three kids were a delight to watch together.
I have never watched another show that has managed to emotionally wreck in the way this one did but did not leave me feeling depressed. It left me thinking when I had finished it, and I couldn’t start another show for weeks because I was too hung up on this one.
My only gripe with the entire show is the last episode. Don’t get me wrong, it was good and did wrap most everything up neatly in a relatively satisfying way, I just wanted more. There was so much more I wanted to see from these characters, but I’ll have to suffice with what we got.
It’s a pretty long drama too, very rarely does a long drama leave me wanting more, but I would have eaten up twice the amount of content with these characters.
I don’t think this review could ever possibly express how much I loved it, but it’s all I got for now.
If you haven’t given it a shot, please do. Go Ahead is an absolute gem among C-Dramas.
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