There are dramas I dislike because they are genuinely bad.
And then there are dramas like Meet Yourself, where I can completely understand why people love it while personally sitting there thinking:
“This is very meaningful and beautiful… but when are we getting back to the romance?” 😂
I am simply not a slice-of-life person.
And Meet Yourself is VERY slice of life.
Very.
Veryyyyy.
People are drinking tea. People are talking about life. People are working. People are healing. Villagers have problems. Somebody has a business idea. Somebody needs emotional support. Somebody is probably staring peacefully at a mountain.
Meanwhile, I am checking to see whether Xu Hongdou and Xie Zhiyao are going to kiss sometime this century. 😂
🌿 The Story
Xu Hongdou’s life changes after the death of her best friend, Chen Nanxing.
That loss forces her to seriously look at the way she has been living, so she leaves her job and travels to Yunmiao Village in Yunnan to rest and figure out what she actually wants.
There she meets Xie Zhiyao, who gave up a high-paying career to return home and help develop his village.
And then we get a lot—and I mean A LOT—of village life.
The drama follows Hongdou’s healing, the people she meets, their businesses, friendships, families, regrets, dreams, problems, and all those tiny everyday moments that slice-of-life fans apparently eat up.
I am happy for them.
I skipped some of it. 😂
Actually, I skipped quite a bit.
💔 Xu Hongdou’s Grief Was the Best Part
For me, the strongest part of this drama was Xu Hongdou herself.
Her grief never felt like the drama was screaming:
LOOK EVERYONE! SHE IS GRIEVING! PLEASE CRY NOW!
It is much quieter than that.
She loses somebody incredibly important to her, and the drama lets that loss continue existing even when Hongdou is laughing, working, making friends, or beginning to enjoy her life again.
I really liked that.
Liu Yifei handles those quieter emotions beautifully.
Hongdou can be sad without being completely defined by sadness.
She can have a good day and still miss Nanxing.
She can move forward without acting like the person she lost somehow stopped mattering.
Her healing is not about forgetting her friend.
It is about realizing that she is still alive.
Honestly, if you want to watch Meet Yourself for anything, watch it for Xu Hongdou and the graceful way she learns how to live again after such a painful loss.
That part genuinely worked for me.
🐌 Unfortunately… Slice of Life 😂
This is where the drama lost me.
There are SO many side stories.
And yes, I understand why they are there.
The entire point is that Hongdou does not heal in isolation. She becomes part of a community filled with other people who are also dealing with their own lives.
I GET IT.
I understand the assignment.
I simply did not want to attend every class. 😂
There were stretches where I got bored and skipped.
Sometimes I would realize we had wandered away from Hongdou and Zhiyao again and think:
Oh. We’re doing this person’s entire life now.
Fast-forward.
The slow pacing is intentional.
People who love slice-of-life dramas will probably find it peaceful, relaxing, warm, and comforting.
Meanwhile I was sitting there like:
CAN SOMEBODY FLIRT?
😂
❤️ The Romance Is Actually Very Healthy
Now, the good news.
Xu Hongdou and Xie Zhiyao have a genuinely healthy relationship.
No insane toxicity.
No ten-episode breakup because somebody overheard three words through a door.
No evil ex showing up every fifteen minutes.
No:
“I love you, therefore I must leave you for your own good.”
Thank God.
They respect each other.
They communicate.
They actually become friends and enjoy being around each other before becoming a couple.
Zhiyao does not expect Hongdou to throw away her entire life just because he likes her.
Hongdou also does not suddenly lose every independent thought in her head because a man appeared.
Their relationship feels mature, supportive, comfortable, and secure.
That part was great.
Unfortunately…
healthy does not automatically mean enough romance for me. 😂
💋 I Could Have SWORN There Was Only One Kiss
I genuinely remembered this drama as having basically one kiss.
That tells you how romance-starved I felt. 😂
Research says my memory was being dramatic.
There are actually multiple kissing moments.
They finally become an official couple in Episode 31 and have their first major kissing sequence there.
Episode 36 gives us a good-morning kiss and another playful kiss.
Episode 39 has another kiss in Beijing and then basically tells us:
Yes, these two adults are going to bed now. Please use your imagination.
So no, I cannot honestly say there is literally only one kiss.
BUT.
This is still a 40-episode drama where the main couple does not officially get together until Episode 31.
THIRTY.
ONE.
By the time they became boyfriend and girlfriend, I felt like I had personally moved into Yunmiao Village, opened a business, attended several village meetings, and paid local taxes. 😂
The chemistry is good.
The affection is sweet.
The relationship is mature.
There just was not nearly enough romance for me.
💕 I Do Like Them Together
For all my complaining, I genuinely like Xu Hongdou and Xie Zhiyao as a couple.
Zhiyao is supportive and protective without trying to control her life.
Hongdou is mature enough that their relationship does not need constant manufactured conflict just to keep the story moving.
And once they become official, the writers mostly just… let them be together.
Imagine that.
A C-drama couple allowed to maintain a relationship without breaking up every six business days.
Revolutionary. 😂
They do have an argument late in the drama because Zhiyao keeps trying to protect Hongdou by hiding problems from her.
And I actually liked what Hongdou was upset about.
She does not want to be treated like some fragile little flower who needs to be shielded from everything.
She wants a partner.
He realizes she is right, writes her an absurdly formal apology letter, and fixes it.
No dramatic breakup.
No disappearing for five episodes.
No “we can never be together again.”
Just two adults handling a relationship problem.
Look at that.
Communication.
What a concept. 😂
🌅 The Ending
The ending is clearly happy.
Hongdou does not stay in Yunmiao Village solely because she got a boyfriend.
She builds something for herself.
Her guesthouse opens.
She has a new direction in life.
And Zhiyao is part of that life rather than being the entire reason for it.
After the one-year time jump, Hongdou’s parents arrive, the families meet, everybody gets along, and Hongdou and Zhiyao are still happily together.
Nobody suddenly dies.
Nobody loses their memory.
Nobody disappears for five years.
Nobody sacrifices themselves for absolutely no reason.
We survived. 😂
More importantly, Hongdou’s ending feels like the conclusion of her story.
She entered the drama after losing someone she loved and realizing she was not happy with the way she had been living.
She ends it having created a life she actually chose.
And honestly?
That mattered more here than the romance.
Coming from ME, that says something. 😂
⭐ Final Thoughts
I think Meet Yourself is a good drama.
It is just not really my drama.
If you love peaceful slice-of-life stories about community, grief, personal growth, found family, gorgeous scenery, and people slowly figuring out what they want from life?
You may absolutely love this.
If you want to watch it for Liu Yifei and Xu Hongdou’s emotional journey?
I would recommend it for that too.
Her grief and healing are easily the strongest part of the drama for me.
And the main couple?
Healthy.
Mature.
Supportive.
Cute.
Stable.
Just WAY too slow getting there for me. 😂
I needed more romance.
I needed it sooner.
And I definitely needed less time with every resident of Yunmiao Village and their cousin’s neighbor’s business problems. 😂
So I am giving Meet Yourself:
⭐ 3/5
Beautiful healing story.
Good couple.
Excellent grief arc.
Not enough romance for me.
And apparently forty episodes of testing whether I could learn to appreciate slice of life.
I did not. 😂
