Go Go Squid 2 : Dt. Appledog’s Time Review

Go Go Squid 2 : Dt. Appledog’s Time (我的时代, 你的时代) is a much anticipated drama after the huge success of the first season. But if you are expecting a continuation of the previous story, this is not it. The second season focuses on another couple which didn’t get much attention previously. Therefore, I’m pretty sure not all fans will love this. My Go Go Squid 2 review below will reveal more about this drama and you can then decide if it is worth your time especially if you expect the story to follow along the same lines of the earlier season.

My rating: 7.5/10
Episodes: 38
Type: Romance
Aired: February 2021
Images Credit: iQIYI

The Cast Of Go Go Squid 2

• Hu Yi Tian as Wu Bai / DT
• Li Yi Tong as Ai Qing / Appledog
• Wang An Yu as Shen Zhe
• Nina Wang Ke Ru as Ai Jing
• Marcus Li Ming De as 97 / Ling Shan
• Xu Le Wei as Zhou Yi
• Pang Han Chen as Wang Hao / Solo
• Xu Yao as Xiao Mi
• Wu Ya Heng as Lin Shan
• Yuan Yu Han as Xing Zhou Zhou
• Wang Jia Ning as Su Cheng
• Shi Yu as Mr. Ai
• Paul Chun Pui as Grandfather Han

Main Characters

Wu Bai / DT

Wu Bai is the captain of a robotics competition team at K&K. He is a reserved guy who doesn’t like talking too much with no experience in dating. Wu Bai is a brilliant player and well-known in the field as DT. He is also calm and rational. Han Shang Yan is his cousin brother as well as the boss of the China branch of the K&K.

Ai Qing / Appledog

Ai Qing is a well-known robotics competitive player in individual events. She was part of Team Solo in the past before it was disbanded. Her player name is Appledog and she is labelled as Goddess by fans. Ai Qing is passionate about the game and robotics in general. She is a matured and responsible woman with a warm heart. Wang Hao is her ex-boyfriend.

Supporting Characters

Shen Zhe

Shen Zhe is a cocky and talented robotics competitive player who signs on with K&K. He is a bit impulsive as well as very expressive of his feelings. He is also ambitious. Shen Zhe is experienced with girls and has a clingy ex-girlfriend.

Ai Jing

Ai Jing is Ai Qing’s elder sister and they share a close relationship. She is a stage actress. Ai Jing is a straightforward person.

97 / Ling Shan & Zhou Yi

97 and Zhou Yi are the robotics mechanic and engineer respectively at K&K. They are both Wu Bai’s teammates and have great respect for their captain. 97 is an easy-going type of guy while Zhou Yi is more timid.

Wang Hao / Solo

Wang Hao is the boss of SP’s China branch which is K&K’s fiercest rival. He is a workaholic and used to head Team Solo which is a legend in the robotics gaming field. Wang Hao is a loyal friend who still cares for his ex-teammates which include Ou Qiang and Xiao Mi. His ex-girlfriends are Ai Qing and Su Cheng with whom he has a daughter.

Xiao Mi

Xiao Mi is part of the first robotics competitive team at SP. He is also an ex-member of Team Solo.

Lin Shan

Lin Shan is Ai Qing’s superior at the publicity company that she is working at after her retirement. He is a thick-skinned man who is after Ai Qing but can be comical.

Xing Zhou Zhou

Zhou Zhou is Shen Zhe’s ex-girlfriend. She cheated on him which resulted in their breakup. But she wants Shen Zhe back and becomes a clingy and irritating ex.

Su Cheng

Su Cheng is the team leader at K&K. She is also Wang Hao’s ex-girlfriend and has a daughter with him.

Mr. Ai

Mr. Ai is Ai Qing and Ai Jing’s father. He is a caring parent who likes to fuss over his daughters. He is also concerned about their love lives as he doesn’t want to see them getting hurt.

Grandfather Han

Grandfather Han is Wu Bai’s maternal grandfather. He is a rich man who is overly eager for his grandsons to find a girlfriend and settle down.

Synopsis

Wu Bai started to get involved in robotics competition due to his cousin’s influence as well as his love for Ai Qing. He fell in love with her when he was still a teenager and she was already a robotics national champion under Team Solo. Ai Qing is 3 years older than Wu Bai and was also his cousin’s teammate. Wu Bai knew he has to make a name for himself in order to have the standing required to pursue Ai Qing. So, he worked hard to earn that right.

7 years later, Team Solo has long disbanded under acrimonious circumstances. Wu Bai is now an up-and-coming robotics competitive player. He has the chance to meet Ai Qing again in the arena and later during a competition abroad. Ai Qing is starting to get impressed with Wu Bai but he disappeared without informing her when his eyes require a risky operation and there is a possibility that he will go blind. She also thought of retiring to get a stable job and income.

Another 3 years later, Wu Bai returns to Shanghai as a team captain for K&K. Ai Qing is now working in a publicity company that is also involved in robotics gaming. However, she is still passionate about competing. Wu Bai tries to pursue Ai Qing but when an opportunity arises for her to join SP as their team leader, she decides to reject him for their own good since they will be rivals. Will Wu Bai be able to melt Ai Qing’s heart in the end?

Go Go Squid 2 Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Go Go Squid 2 has an expected happy ending. Wu Bai and Ai Qing have a shared wedding reception with Han Shang Yan and Tong Nian. It is a happy occasion with both SP and K&K teams in attendance. When the new season of the robotics competition begins, Ai Qing is back in the arena representing SP to compete against Wu Bai. That is the last scene of the drama which reminds viewers about chasing a dream.

When Did Wu Bai And Ai Qing Get Together?

Wu Bai and Ai Qing become a couple in Episode 17 after he won a competition. He actually wanted to confess his feelings to her in Episode 8 but they got interrupted halfway through. But the message is pretty clear. However, Ai Qing rejected Wu Bai in Episode 10 as she would be joining SP and they would be rivals. She didn’t want to drag him down and they were both unhappy over the outcome.

Wu Bai refused to give up and continued to pursue her albeit in a more subtle way. Ai Qing’s heart melted when she found out the painting Wu Bai had covertly done for her to encourage her in the past. Then, when he has the right to rename a competition after winning it, he renamed it with a name that refers to her. She was touched by his gestures and decided to quietly start a relationship with him. Wu Bai proposed in Episode 34 when Ai Qing mentioned her interest in getting married.

Is There A Third Party Involved?

Wang Hao still has feelings for Ai Qing and secretly hoped to rekindle their relationship. But Ai Qing has clearly moved on and she only loves Wu Bai. When Wang Hao saw that they were already a loving couple, he gave up. So, he never did confess his feelings for her and the love triangle is never really an issue in the drama.

In the end, his friends kept pressuring him to go on blind dates and one was set up with Ou Qiang’s sister after Ai Qing and Wu Bai’s wedding.

Shen Zhe And Ai Jing

Shen Zhe and Ai Jing are still together but the latter is still not ready for marriage. His mother has accepted her as Shen Zhe’s girlfriend and has even met her father.

Go Go Squid 2 Review – Not The Same As Season 1

Go Go Squid 2 has a few references to Go Go Squid 1 due to the overlapping characters but you can understand the story even if you have not watched the earlier season. The reason is very simple – this is basically a romance drama and it features another couple’s relationship that was hardly explored in Season 1. Hence, I feel that it is like a totally new story although the history of Ai Qing’s relationship with her former team was more comprehensively told in the previous season. If little details are important to you, then you might want to watch the earlier season first. But if not, Go Go Squid 2’s story can certainly stand on its own.

Furthermore, the 2 dramas share some of the same characters but the actors and actresses who played them have been changed. The most obvious ones are Ai Qing’s and Shen Zhe’s characters. In fact, Ai Qing is much older than Wu Bai in Go Go Squid 1. Thus, they have altered her character somewhat to fit the romance genre. Otherwise, we would end up with a huge age gap couple just like in Find Yourself which is not what this drama wants to explore.

The other major change is the field that the characters are involved in. It has been switched from cybersecurity gaming to robotics competition. I guess there is a need to inject freshness into the drama as the gaming theme has been used in quite a few productions.

Season 1 vs Season 2

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Season 1. Therefore, I’m open to changes and a completely different feel for Season 2. In Season 1, the topics covered were broader. Apart from romance, there were the friendship and gaming aspects that got more attention compared to Go Go Squid 2. In the later season, the romance between Wu Bai and Ai Qing dominates the screen time. The gaming and lives of the other characters are merely side dishes except perhaps for Shen Zhe and Ai Jing’s relationship.

The other point to note is that the relationship dynamics between Wu Bai and Ai Qing is very different from the main couple in Season 1 of Han Shang Yan and Tong Nian. Wu Bai and Ai Qing are both very matured and level-headed people. Hence, some would find their romance boring as there are no silly antics and immaturity in their interactions. Wu Bai’s pursuit of and love for Ai Qing are not shown in a grandiose manner but as a consistent act of quiet support throughout.

In short, Go Go Squid 2 is not the My Little Happiness kind of romance drama that is overly sweet and fluffy. Neither is it like Season 1 with a younger female lead pursuing an older man with a huge dose of naivety. Go Go Squid 2 is more on the warm side of romance that depicts a love journey of a girl being wooed and has her heart melted by a guy who is 3 years younger and how their relationship strengthens as they date covertly. Hence, it can be very slow-moving for some viewers especially if you prefer a more explosive kind of couple like the one in Something Just Like This or more passionate like in Love Is Sweet.

Chemistry Of The Main Leads

This one is a hard one to write about because the couple that Hu Yi Tian and Li Yi Tong has to depict is a very matured and rational one. Not to mention the guy is supposed to be 3 years younger than the girl. Once you take all that into consideration, some will not be able to get the romantic vibes between them just like the couple in Dating In The Kitchen whereby people get turned off by the huge age gap.

For me, I like their chemistry and prefer this pairing compared to Hu Yi Tian and Bridgette Qiao in You Complete Me. It does take a few episodes to get used to because Ai Qing sees Wu Bai as a junior initially. But their chemistry grows on you as their relationship develops and you can see Wu Bai’s loving gazes and his plain adoration for Ai Qing. Theirs is not the intensive kind of chemistry you find in dramas such as Love Designer but one that worms its way to your heart.

As for Wang An Yu, it is hard to picture him in Go Go Squid 2 without recalling his great chemistry with Xiang Han Zhi in Forever Love. His partnership with Nina Wang in this drama is acceptable to me although I can’t say that their chemistry is superb either. Maybe there is little chance for them to really generate the sparks as their screen time together is pretty limited.

My Verdict – Watch For Slow And Steady Romance

Go Go Squid 2 is not the same as the first season in case you harbor hopes of a continuation. Hence, if you watch it, be prepared for a totally different story to avoid disappointment. The romance drives the drama while the competition aspect is much muted. Therefore, it is not a drama that will make you feel invested in team camaraderie as everything is centered on the relationship of the main couple.

Whether you will find it boring or otherwise will depend on your preference for slow and steady kind of romance or one with more happenings. It is a love story that shows a relationship’s progress in a very matured manner with no exaggerations and tantrums. This is why some will find it boring with nothing much happening unlike the presence of ups and downs in stories such as Here To Heart and Begin Again. For me, Go Go Squid 2 has its sweetness but also a lot of warmth in the romance. There is not so much hot passion and the kisses have lots of room for improvement. But it is the consistent support and care for one another that touches the heart.

For this Go Go Squid 2 review, I will give it a score of 7.5/10. This is not a typical rom-com although it has its comical moments. Neither is it a melodrama which weighs you down. Instead watch it for the sweet and warm love journey of the main couple. If you like this type of heartwarming romance with a matured couple, then Go Go Squid 2 will resonate with you. If not, drop it for something with more excitement unless you are a huge Hu Yi Tian or Li Yi Tong fan whereby their good looks provide the nice visuals for this drama!

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