I apologize for the lack of recaps for the last two episodes. The truth is, if I were to write a recap, it would look something like this:
Time-jump. Hug. Guy pushing buttons. Rocket going up. More hugs. End.
Absolutely nothing else happens in terms of character or even plot.
Now, this sounds like I am bashing the
. Let me clarify that I am not. I did have a good time with it and the drama is certainly on the better end compared to similar shows. Up until episode 21, that is. So, here are some good and bad things about You Are My Glory.
WHAT WORK
The chemistry between Dilmurat and Yang Yang. This is purely subjective, of course, but I do believe the collab works well here.
The peaceful storyline. No crazy plot twists, no unnecessary drama, no frustrating characters, no challenges, just a simple romance you can relax with.
The acting is solid. I have always thought Dilmurat has great potential and can do well with a good script and good directing. And she does just that in here. Jingjing is a friend you want to have.
Yang Yang, on the other hand, surprised me because I was expecting a wooden face the whole time. But hey he is much more than that in this drama. At times, he does seems to be too self-conscious and more concerned about his straight neck than his character’s emotion. But this little flaw isn’t too distracting.
The lovable side characters. From the parents, the friends, the cousins, to either lead’s colleagues, you can expect none of them to have any other purpose than to make you feel cozy and at home.
Except for the two weird exes, of course. I have no idea why they are included.
Good communication between the lead couple. Two mature people with real jobs who communicate their (few) difficulties to each other, no pushing boundaries, and certainly no pushing against walls.
WHAT DON’T
Unfortunately, as soon as the lead couple — Jingjing and Yutu — start dating, what makes You Are My Glory unique becomes repetitive and redundant, and as a result making the drama look more like a series of video diaries instead of a story.
The turning point is after episode twenty-one, where you can see that even though the script is written about two very mature people, the script itself is not necessarily mature.
First of all…
Random characters keep popping in and out. Most, if not all, of the minor characters, exist mainly to encourage and fawn over Jingjing and Yutu. Usually, when a character has done their part to tell you how wonderful Jingjing and Yutu are, they disappear from the story without any further contribution.
Guanzai, for instance, a character whose presence is a big influence in Yutu’s life, is introduced to be ill. We get one or two episodes that focus entirely on him, and then suddenly the story decides to leave him there and only revisits him and his illness almost five or six episodes later.
There’s also Yutu’s neighbor who seems to care a lot about Yutu’s well-being. One day, he vanishes and is never heard from again except through Facetime once. Then, there’s a random friend here who takes Jingjing to a reunion, a random friend there who invites her to dinner, a random dude who rides on the bus with Yutu, another random dude who eats lunch with Yutu, so on and so on.
Instead of making established characters reappear, the drama keeps bringing in new ones while not giving any of them enough screen time to make us care about their opinions.
The excessively perfect world of Jingjing and Yutu. Jingjing has a great manager, a great assistant, great parents. It seems her only struggle is: at one point, she has to slow down and reevaluate her projects. Yutu, on the other hand, has more of a real problem initially and faces more criticism about his choices than Jingjing. But that, too, ends quite quickly. Once he decides to get on the right career path, everything is immediately rosy and glorious. Never once does he make any mistake, meet with competition, or truly struggle financially.
On one hand, Jingjing is the nicest, kindest princess in the world who is friends with all the right people. On the other, Yutu is the perfect science boy with both brain and — I wouldn’t say brawn, but he does win the only basketball game we get to see, so…
I can’t say that I care about Yutu and Jingjing as leading characters when it seems that they are blessed with all the good luck in the world.
Well, to be fair, Jingjing’s courageousness in asking Yutu out twice and dealing with his rejection gracefully is something to mull over. But beyond that, the stakes are nonexistent.
The overdose of lovey-dovey. Look, this is a romance drama, I get it. I knew what I signed up for when I started watching.
What I did not expect is an abundance of “romantic” scenes at the expense of a real storyline. Many… MANY of those segments could have been cut and devoted to character development instead. The drama is relaxing from the beginning to the end, but at the beginning, we somewhat get a story of Jingjing and Yutu re-discovering each other and a game contest — as the end of an arc — to look forward to. Afterwards, however, it becomes slice-of-life with no clear message or direction.
Here is my ultimate view of those romantic scenes: if you just watch them as random scenes without any connection to the plot, you’ll love them, the chemistry is certainly there. If you watch those scenes with intent, you might be left wondering what the point is.
Very little elaboration on either Jingjing or Yutu’s career. One of them is an actress, the other is a space engineer — it can’t get any more interesting than this. The clash of ideals between two completely different worlds would have been interesting to see.
I’m not saying that the entertainment industry is all toxic and no friendship, but I’m sure there is more than being an actress than the comfort of a large penthouse, daily meals being brought to you, and your fans’ absolute loyalty.
Yutu is a successful student of science who works at the best space institution in China, and to a degree, we see the pressure placed on him to maintain his performance. But I’m sure there is a lot more to his job than skipping meals, wearing awesome desert gear, and looking at computers.
No real relationship struggles. It is no subtle secret that the drama wants to depict Jingjing and Yutu as a healthy couple.
But are they, really? Sure, there’s no misunderstanding, no family drama, no crazy second leads, and none of those overused tropes viewers have grown tired of. But at the same time, there is also no real challenge.
How can I tell if they really are a “healthy couple” if they get no chance to prove that they can resolve problems differently from a typical drama couple? Never once do we see Jingjing and Yutu disagree about anything, which means we also don’t see them express any strong opinions, preferences or beliefs.
What we get instead is a formula. It goes like this:
I am sorry.
It’s ok.
I will be late.
It’s ok.
I won’t be home for the next two months.
It’s ok.
I just dipped my chopsticks into your noodles.
It’s ok.
Everything is always ok. Jinging and Yutu are understanding towards one another without question to an unrealistic degree, and as a result, their supposedly “healthy” romance ceases to be interesting.
The time-jumps, while aiming to prove that Jingjing and Yutu are always in love and in a mature relationship, are still telling rather than showing.
How about Jingjing accepting a movie deal with a bad script that Yutu can’t keep silent about? Or maybe Jingjing getting frustrated at how Yutu puts his work above his health? Yutu has all the traits of a perfectionist, why not develop on that?
32 episodes is plenty of time for more than just snuggling and empty reassurances of love.
BOTTOM LINE
In the end, I believe You Are My Glory would have been great if there were only fifteen or so episodes. Twenty at most. Maybe what they also should’ve done is make the slow-burn romance even slower and only let Jingjing and Yutu get together near the end. That way, the fluff of the married phase (which is no different from the dating phase) would not feel like an overdose.
It’s still a comforting watch and better than a lot of contemporary romance dramas that came out recently. I recommend it if you want something to relax with. It’s a show which you can enjoy a couple of episodes of, leave for a while, and pick up when you’re ready to chill again without having to review anything.
But if I ever do a rewatch, I know exactly when to stop: after the hug at the gas station in episode 20.