Final Review - In a Class of Her Own (2020)
This is a solid 8/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮ from Pandafan!🐼
Overall rating: 8 Stars Plot: 8 Stars Acting/cast: 8 Stars Couple chemistry: 7 stars Music: 7 Stars Re-watch value: 9 Stars Enjoyment factor: 9 Stars |
I highly recommend this drama if you want a friendship heavy, fluffy romcom that hits all the right comedic notes and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The cast are gorgeous, the scenery and costumes are gorgeous, the entire drama is gorgeous. 36 episodes is about the right length - some episodes did falter a little in terms of pacing - but I had so much fun following our Fab Four that I’d happily have sat through another 10 episodes of their adventures. I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to our Yuanshang Quartet - it’s been such a feel good, angst free, often laugh out loud 36 episodes with our plucky heroine and her hot friends. A real joy to recap 😃
SPOILERS AHEAD
The key to enjoying In a Class of Her Own is to suspend disbelief, because Ju Jing Yi, who plays the plucky heroine Xue Wen Xi, is far too feminine to ever convincingly pass for a guy.
The drama doesn't even try to mask her beauty - it is emphasised at every juncture that "Wen Bin" is a "pretty scholar" (per the Chinese name of the drama), who finds it hard to physically keep up with the boys, but who nonetheless gives it a jolly good go.
You root for her (and all the boys root for her) because of her pluck and never-say-die attitude. I can't have been the only one madly cheering when she aced the Archery Competition against all odds (ep 22, 23) or when she stood up to Han Sheng Zhi's bullying (eg ep 3, 14).
Xue Wen Xi is an endearing heroine, but she isn't a cloying goody two shoes either. There are enough flaws in her character to make her decidedly human. She can be impulsive and temperamental (who can forget the mother of all hissy jealousy fits she threw at poor Feng Cheng Jun and Miss Han, only to hasten an almost disastrous engagement between those two (ep 30).
While you do occasionally get exasperated and wonder if all her male schoolmates are blind to not realise Xue Wen Xi's true identity, they must subconsciously sense that she is yin to their yang, because she brings out the protective instinct in all of them. (None of her three main leads are particularly surprised when each find out her true identity, even if it did take them all too jolly long to figure out, at episodes 16, 26, and 31). They fight for her affections even when she is still "Wen Bin" to them (all those hilarious dorm room 2 boy squabbles over blankets, sleeping arrangements, and their alter egos' respective roles in her novel "Where Love Begins"😂), and of course all three main leads are willing to put their lives and their buttocks (ep 18, 19) on the line to protect her.
Which leads me to my favourite part of this drama - the friendship between the Yuanshang Quartet.
Ahhhh, the Fab Four really channel some serious squad goals! They made me believe so much in the power of their friendship - from working as a true team and teaching each other to hope leading up to and during the Archery Contest (ep 20, 21, 22, 23), to the three boys all stepping up to take "Wen Bin's" punishment (ep 18, 19), to Yu Le Xuan's moment of truth (supported by the other three) in one of the finest and most moving moments in the drama (ep 29)... They really became family to each other. I absolutely loved their friendship.
I also loved the BFF friendship between Yu Le Xuan and Lei Ze Xin. They have the best brotherhood ever - no need for words, though often there is plenty of good natured teasing between the two.
Yu Le Xuan and Lei Ze Xin are perfect foils for each other - it is often the deep Yu Le Xuan who gives Lei Ze Xin the correct nudge (for example when he tells Lei Ze Xin to knock it off when Lei Ze Xin finds out Xue Wen Xi is a girl and almost blows her cover by being too protective - ep 26). In turn, Lei Ze Xin always has Yu Le Xuan's back and will protect his brother "even if the sky falls down."
Of the three main leads, my favourite is Yu Le Xuan, played by Bi Wen Jun - he is the most nuanced character by far. Cheeky and irreverent (and definitely the resident stirrer of trouble with his sly asides), he is the most perceptive of the four. He also has the highest IQ and EQ of the four in my view, and at times appears to be the only one capable of coherent thought (especially in the last few episodes).
Unsurprisingly, he is the first of the three boys to find out Xue Wen Xi's true identity in episode 16, and kudos to him for being completely unfazed by this and immediately stepping up to protect her from discovery, even when it isn't in his best interests. Yu Le Xuan has the most character growth of the four.
As predicted, Lei Ze Xin as played by Wang Rui Chang, gave me some moments of 2L syndrome. Who doesn't love a man in black, fighting for justice and equality for all?
The temperamental and gruff Lei Ze Xin is also rather hilarious - he doesn't give a toss about fame and fortune and if annoyed, will ask those who cross him if they "want to die or not want to live" (or else just punch first and ask questions later).
Kudos for making me chortle loudly by suggesting that a cow squash his rival hero in Xue Wen Xi's novel and also for the painfully awkward but hilarious reactions after he first discovers Xue Wen Xi's true identity😂(ep 26). Lei Ze Xin also grows as a character, learning that he can't always do it alone, and that we are all stronger together.
Which brings us to our hero, Feng Cheng Jun, played by Song Wei Long. He's a bit bland in that he is almost too perfect - principled, good looking, kindhearted, intelligent, loyal etc...
As Xue Wen Xi points out, he is too aloof with his peers, but then again, he has never been aloof with her. He also learns to thaw and is not above laughing at himself. But clearly the director knew what he was doing in giving us Feng Cheng Jun, because from episode 26 on, when he first sees Xue Wen Xi "cross dressing" as a lady-in-red, his reactions are priceless comedy gold as he begins to hallucinate about his "Bin-de" as a woman and doubt his sanity.
Those episodes are definitely worth the wait in what is a slow burn romance - Song Wei Long excels at adorable, hilarious, awkwardness - who can forget the moment when he asked his "Bin-de" if "he" could set him up with "his" twin sister?(ep 27)😆
While I wish that Feng Cheng Jun could have sorted his madness out without recklessly hurting Miss Han by entering (or at least intimating that he would enter into) an ill conceived engagement with her, on the whole, his contrition and honesty made up for this and there are otherwise very few blemishes to his character. Also, it helps that Feng Cheng Jun always looks like he has just stepped out of a novel - he is impossibly good looking - and he and Xue Wen Xi make a beautiful couple.
What of the romance, I hear you ask? For those who want passionate romance and angst, this drama is not what you are looking for, as the main focus is on friendship, brotherhood, and the pursuit of learning and overcoming obstacles.
Fair warning, there is only one peck on the cheek (at ep 36). However, there is sufficient PG13 cuteness and chemistry to make In a Class of Her Own a fluffy romcom (albeit mostly crammed into the last 6 episodes or so as Feng Cheng Jun doesn't find out Xue Wen Xi is a girl until episode 31). There is also a satisfying happily ever after ending, complete with our gorgeous couple tying the knot.
I was also quite struck by the role of fathers in the drama - Feng Cheng Jun and Governor Feng share a special bond and Governor Feng’s upright approach to officialdom and understanding of his son clearly rub off on his equally good and principled son.
