Vá em frente (2020)

What makes family?
*This show has trigger warnings for anyone who has experienced abuse or struggles with suicidal ideation*

There are two mysteries to the plot focusing around blood ties v care/happiness ties. The second mystery led me to give a 1.0 for plot.

One, will the younger generation reunite in adulthood and be able to carry on a healthy lifestyle and relationships despite their struggles growing up (*yes* and resolved easily).

Two, what about the adults who traumatized and abused them growing up and to the 'bystander' parents who didn't fully intervene? (resolved horribly and rushed at the end).

This drama perpetuates the myth of 'rock bottom' that someone can have a magical realisation that they have become someone who hurts the people who love them and magically turn around and be safe to take care of a teenager.

It is well established that Ling Xiao's mother has always priortized her dramas and her issues over the well-being of anyone else for decades (perhaps even before the trauma of losing a child - given the story about the card game, and the 'aunt's' own commentary that Ling Xiao's mother has always been this way).

What's worse, is that she aggressively harms and lashes out at people, wanting them to be as miserable as she is, including her own child. Not only does she do this spontaneously, but she premeditates and coldly seeks revenge when Ling Xiao tries to seek independence repeatedly. Even in the end she attempts suicide after thinking about it all night again switching the focus on to her.

This is not a safe person to parent a teenager, and I can't believe they all just waive off Ling Xiao's little sister back to Singapore with her mother and admonish her to study hard.

I just couldn't get over that this was the BIG MYSTERY and the last issue to be resolved - what to do about Ling Xiao's mother, and then it was all just chalked up to PTSD (for what it's worth- PTSD does not at all appear to be what this woman has) and lessons learned and sending her back to Singapore.

I did like that the show insinuated subtly that the younger generation was very clear on who were there 'true' care/love family and who had earned that and who didn't. BUT I can't get over the explicit message: to tolerate, tolerate, tolerate, and maybe one day they will come to a magical realisation.

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It's good but it is also overhyped

Started this drama because of the good ratings it had here but, unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.
The acting is great and it feels very natural, specially Steven Zhang, for me this was his best perfomance so far and his character was my favorite. The family plot was what I loved the most about this drama, the implication that you didn't need to be linked by blood to have such love for one another was very well portrayed and I loved the dynamic between the "siblings" and the fathers. On a less positive note, had A LOT more expectations for the couple, most of the time their relashionship didn't feel natural at all but rather forced, specially when Ling Xiao did that speach about his mental health, implying that his only solution or remedy was JianJian, that wasn't healthy at all. When it comes to the episodes, I don't think that many were needed, the story was just dragged. If they wanted to make that many episodes they should have developed some characters a little (a lot) more. In the end, I feel like the ending wasn't satisfying enough.

It is still a good drama if you like the family plot and some dose of confort but it's not a 10/10 for me.

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WOW!! Just Wow

This has got to be one of the best dramas I've seen. Ziqui character was so amazing, I found myself so invested into is storyline. I wanted nothing more then for him to get a happy ending. I liked all the characters but for some reason his character touched me the most. Everytime he cried, I felt myself crying ?
Those two mothers really got under my skin for the whole show. I can't even begin to talk about how mad they made me.
The only thing I wish is that we could've got a small glimpse into after Haichao and Heimei got married and what life was like for the siblings after.

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Embrace the warmth and meaning of what family actually means!!!

Growing up and parenting, they both are extremely tricky. Life has endless troubles ready for us to deal with. At times when the world makes you feel like it is crashing upon you, having someone to shield you from it, having a shoulder to lay your head on, having someone to hold onto , to wipe away your tears and reassure you is the greatest blessing one can receive. This drama taught life lessons with the cast bringing their characters to life. Relationship require patience to work also taking turns in complementing eachothers flaws. To all the tears and smiles brought by this drama. The drama is priceless and surely it is gonna be an ageless drama too. If this drama isn't in your watchlist, it definitely is a loss.

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A family oriented drama

This drama deserves a million stars. The forty episodes will not get you bore...Every scene will give us the moment to cry, laugh and love. The characters really played their part. The main leads. Song Wei Long as Ling Xiao and Seven Tan as Li Jian Jian were both a versatile actors. I love them both. Also, even Steven Zhang played his part well. The music also will inspire you to never give up in watching this drama. THIS DRAMA is totally worth to watch.
I really love how Song and Seven played the characters in Go Ahead so well. I guarantee that this drama will give you another view of Chinese Dramas. It's worth your time.
I will continue to support every cast :)Jiayou!

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It is a good show, but could have been better overall.

So this started off really promising and magical, and throughout the entire show, the cast was fantastic. However, as great as the first 30 episodes were, the last part kind of suffocated all of the magic out. They put the main three characters ("the siblings") on the back burner big time and went into so much depth and spent so much time on the side characters that it kind of ruined it for me. I wanted to see the three main characters interact after they develop and settle into their new relationship dynamic, but once they sorted it out it, we rarely see them again except in relation to the side characters. The ending was also really rushed in regards to tying up loose ends. This drama felt like two different dramas the first half was fantastic and set to be a personal favorite, but the last half was about entirely different characters. The show would have been better if they cut out one of the friend's storylines, and tied up one of the mothers' stories earlier so we could have enjoyed the main characters towards the end. I don't understand why her two friends, the guy's friend, her shop workers, the sister, and the mothers had more character development and conflict than she did as an adult.

I would still watch it if you haven't as it isn't bad, it just isn't as fantastic as the beginning.

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All I want is to be Loved

This is a fantastic series. It fulfills the hypothesis of the story in its’ entirety. The series deals with real societal issues without dodge anything. It illustrates how parental actions can truly and deeply affect a child and their surrounds, especially when adults do not own up to their own mistakes and blames the child(ren). It shows blackmailing and manipulation of a child to their adulthood by a parent, which runs parallel to the parent that wants to care and does care for the child to their best ability. In this series, a mother emotionally blackmails and traumatizes her son, while a father within his own capability joins forces with another single dad to give his son all he can. The care of both fathers is admirable. The story is neatly weaved, which makes the display even better. The other angle which is shown is a divorcee scared and chasing life until she realizes her biggest mistake was running away from it and abandoning her son. The series also deals with stigmatism of two non-official adopted children relationship the extends beyond siblings. This shows that sometimes adults and the best of adults fail to recognize the seriousness of a child’s decision at the very moment it is made. It teaches us not to assume that everyone in the relationship feels the same way. Loved the fact that Ling Xiao not only followed his heart but fought for it because his love and courage are one in the same, Li Jian Jian. The bonding between the different characters is absolutely amazing. Sometimes we tend to ignore the obvious, like when Ling Xiao bought a lace bra for Li Jian Jian. A “brother” adopted or not, will not go out and by his sister a bra. Everyone in the room missed the elephant in the room completely. The development of their romance is subtle, sweet, and funny.

Heart wrenching when Ling Xiao spills the entire turmoil of his life, heart, and soul and she hugs him asking are you sick. This scene truly demonstrate how damage Ling Xiao is by his mother’s actions.

The two fathers, He Zi Qiu, Ling Xiao, and Li Jian Jian could not have survived without each other’s love, support, and care.

The entire team, not just actors and actress, is t be congratulated for a phenomenal job, congratulations!

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Watch this before you die.

From the very first episode, the presence and absence of families was highlighted. The show focused on how relationships can change based on hasty actions. Blood relations do not matter but are forced to matter at the same time.
The reality of asian households was so perfectly shown that I could relate to every single one of them. The love between the bunch of friends was deeper than most of their families.
Not only the main characters but the supporting ones too had all my love. Parents. Family. Friends. We know them so well.
Tan Can's and Mingyue's problems and confrontations with their parents moved me to the core. But in the end, no matter how upset one gets, they love the ones who raised them. I have never seen such a realistic portrayal of the relationships betweens parents and children.
The truth about mental difficulties people face due to familial pressure was something I never expected to see. Props to the writers and producers.
The cast did an outstanding job. I have utmost respect for them as actors. Especially Steven Zhang and the actor who played his Ba. The actress who played Qi Mingyue was just as amazing.
I wish this drama never ended, I could keep watching it forever. It's one of those dramas that seems boring, and too sad for your taste from the outside. In reality it's a gem.

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Overall Warm Lovely Family Drama

I was hooked onto this drama since I watched the drama before its release and started it right away when it aired, but only finished it now because I didn't like the romance element. However, I continued the drama where I left off (at the ep after Zi Qiu and Ling Xiao came back) and was so surprised at how interesting it still was so I kept watching. It turned out that the drama doesn't have that much romance scenes between Ling Xiao, Zi Qiu, and Jian Jian which was such a relief! It was more focused on the family aspects than I expected so I binged watched the remaining episodes. It was totally worth it! I would recommend those who liked the family aspects to continue just to see those parts because it really is worth the watch!

Now some things I really enjoyed:
1. The acting of course! - The family was so real that it didn't seem like that were acting at all! The chemistry is no joke! I especially love Zhi Qiu's acting! So amazing!
2. Some great points regarding family are brought up
3. The OST -such great bgm for the tearjerking scenes T_T
4. The first 12 episodes- such great sibling chemistry between Jian Jian, Zi Qiu, and Ling Xiao when they were young and as they grew up! very fun to watch!

Things that were not so great:
1. The romance between Jian Jian and Ling Xiao - wasn't that hard to understand why they like each other but still weird for me to watch them hug and interact as lovers; the brother-sister vibe is so strong that they could have stuck with that for the entire drama and it wouldn't have made a big difference, it was pretty unnecessary to also make Zhi Qiu thinks he likes Jian Jian (although his reasons for doing so made sense)
2. The ending - felt a bit rushed towards the end to have the story wrapped up for Ling Xiao's mom portion and the conclusion overall; could have shown a bit more although I liked how everywhere ended up
3. Too many complicated love triangles/squares between Jian Jian's friends - was hard and boring to watch

BUT I would totally recommend this drama for anyone looking for a great family drama (you can just skip the romance parts)! If you need another reason, just watch it for Steven Zhang (Zi Qiu)'s great acting!

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Good... almost great

Disclaimer: I watched the first 20 eps in full while the rest was mostly watched in the background.

Nonetheless, I think this drama was pretty good and worth checking out. It has a family and romance focus. I did not love the idea of the brother-sister relationship turned romantic relationship; just not my thing, but it wasn't too hard to overlook it. Originally from the opening and ending theme songs, I thought this drama would center mainly around their highschool years, but thankfully, that wasn't actually the case, and it breezes over pretty quickly. I mainly stayed with this drama for its family storyline rather than the love story though.

I think the acting was great. However, Song Wei Long's acting was lacking a bit compared to his fellow actors; sometimes his acting just didn't feel natural. My absolute favorite duo in this drama was Steven Zhang (He Zi Qiu) and Luna Yuan (He Mei [Zi Qiu's mother]). As well as the child actor for young He Ze Qiu. They never failed to make me emotional and cry for them. As for the music, "Yu" by Shen Yicheng was a banger for sure. It always came in at the right moment and made me cry. The rest of the songs were good too but not that memorable. However, the reason why this drama is not a perfect 10 for me is that there are things that could be changed to make it better, and it didn't even captivate me for the whole 45 eps.... which isn't the drama's fault necessarily; I just have a terrible attention span.

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