Hello, The Sharpshooter Review

When I saw that Hello, The Sharpshooter (你好, 神枪手) is 40 episodes long, it really made me think twice if I should give this a shot. My first instinct told me that it would be a drag. After all, if you have watched enough of Chinese dramas, you would know how common it is for them to stretch on longer than necessary even when the plot is pretty simple. So, I started this with much apprehension. The cast made me take the risk. Was my instinct right or is this better than I thought? My Hello, The Sharpshooter review below will try provide some answers.

My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 40
Type: Romance, Sports
Aired: February 2022
Images Credit: WeTV Twitter

The Cast Of Hello, The Sharpshooter

• Hu Yi Tian as Shen Qing Yuan
• Fair Xing Fei as Tang Xin
• Kido Ma Si Chao as Du Ling Feng
• Luo Qiu Yun as Shi Xiao Ci
• Niu Chao as Jiang Yi Tian
• Zheng Yi Ming as Chen Hai
• Sha Bao Liang as Coach Zhang
• Lin Peng as Dr. Ding Fang
• Wang Dong as Zhou Zu Guang
• Dido as Li Zi
• Jackey Zhu Zi Jie as Tang Li Qi
• Zhang Jie as Xiao Ai
• Peng Bo as Xu Dian

Main Characters

Shen Qing Yuan

Qing Yuan is a very talented air rifle shooter vying for glory. He is also the captain of a top shooting team, Haiya. He is a very serious sportsman with a stern face. Qing Yuan appears as cold and direct which makes him unapproachable. He also suffers from psychological issues and selective amnesia due to his past.

Tang Xin

Tang Xin is a sports live streamer with Rui Live. She is a petite and cheerful young lady. She is also a professional who strives to do her best at her job. Tang Xin experienced a failed relationship in the past and still thinks of her ex who left her without a word.

Du Ling Feng

Ling Feng comes from a rich family and is the heir of the Lingda Group. He is rumored to be a playboy. He also used to be a competitive shooter when he was studying overseas. Ling Feng tends to have a childish temperament with his jealousy at times due to his interest in Xiao Ci.

Shi Xiao Ci

Xiao Ci is the top female shooter of the Haiya team and a pretty girl. She is also Qing Yuan’s partner in the team event and is relatively close to him. Xiao Ci is serious about the sport and her only interest is in winning. She is persistent and disciplined.

Supporting Characters

Jiang Yi Tian

Yi Tian is a member of the Haiya team. He is a backup shooter and has a cheeky and friendly personality. He gets along very well with Qing Yuan and is his love advisor. His fellow teammate and partner is Yang Zhou.

Chen Hai

Chen Hai is the vice captain of the Haiya team. He is a senior and used to be a top shooter. He doesn’t get along well with Qing Yuan and tends to have a confrontational attitude.

Coach Zhang

Coach Zhang is the chief coach of the Haiya team. He sees Qing Yuan as a very talented athlete and feels the latter can achieve much more. He is a calm and understanding coach.

Dr. Ding Fang

Dr. Ding is a psychologist who also counsels the Haiya team. She is aware of Qing Yuan’s selective amnesia and his psychological problems which she tries to rectify. She is an attentive psychologist but has her own failed relationship to manage.

Zhou Zu Guang

Zhou Zu Guang is the general manager of Rui Live and Tang Xin’s boss. He is a career-minded man who demands results from his staff. He always wants ideas to increase viewership for the channel.

Li Zi

Li Zi is Tang Xin’s colleague and best friend at work. She is always supportive of her friend.

Tang Li Qi

Tang Li Qi is Tang Xin’s younger brother and colleague at Rui Live. He is an IT intern and applied for a job there to help his parents to keep an eye on his sister. He is a playful but astute guy.

Xiao Ai

Xiao Ai is Tang Xin’s new colleague at work. She is assigned to help out Tang Xin and learn from her. Xiao Ai is opportunistic but pretends to be friendly and sociable.

Xu Dian

Xu Dian is a veteran sports commentator and anchor. He is a very senior and respected figure in the broadcasting industry. Tang Xin regards him as a professional whom she could learn from and emulate.

Synopsis

Tang Xin and Qing Yuan were a couple back in high school. But he disappeared and left her without a word one day. Although a few years have passed, she still pines for him and thinks of him often. Then, they meet again when she becomes a sports live streamer and is assigned to cover a shooting event. Qing Yuan is now a rising air pistol shooter with the Haiya team and vying to represent the country in the Olympics.

However, Qing Yuan couldn’t seem to remember Tang Xin. She affects him in a mysterious way during a competition and finds her intrusive. Hence, he is cold towards her. Tang Xin is hurt and wishes to avoid him as well but her company’s partnership with Haiya means she has to see him often to record her videos. Before long, Qing Yuan begins to find himself getting attracted to her while she finds him to be different from his past personality.

This puts Tang Xin in a spot and she is hesitant about pursuing a relationship with him due to his loss of memory about her. She is also nervous when he comes near her that she begins to stammer when talking to him which affects her job as a live streamer. On top of that, she has her own psychological baggage to overcome because of a past experience.

Hello, The Sharpshooter Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Hello, The Sharpshooter has a happy ending. Qing Yuan managed to get selected for the Olympic team and straight away proposed to Tang Xin. It was a deal they agreed on earlier that their relationship would progress a step further once he made good on his promise to get to the games. Tang Xin accepted his proposal and the drama ends on a happy note.

Xiao Ci didn’t manage to win a spot on the national team but wasn’t too sad over it as she has Ling Feng to console her. He tells her that she can be a General Manager’s wife instead if it suits her. Ling Feng had already decided to quit the team and return to work in his father’s company, Lingda, in Episode 31.

When Did Tang Xin And Qing Yuan Start Dating?

Qing Yuan and Tang Xin moved in together as flat mates in Episode 6. Dr. Ding thought it might help Qing Yuan to recover his memories by having Tang Xin around him. However, they were not a couple yet until Qing Yuan suddenly announced that Tang Xin is his girlfriend in Episode 15. He did it during a live interview to neutralize the accusation that Tang Xin was in an indecent video clip. The clip had been edited to put her in a bad light.

Tang Xin was hesitant initially as Qing Yuan still has not regained his memory then and she wasn’t sure if his love is true. But when he properly confessed to her in Episode 16, they officially became a couple.

After they got together, there is neither a love triangle nor a breakup. They did have psychological issues that they need to face together but their relationship stayed strong throughout with gradual progress.

Tang Xin’s Psychological Issue

Tang Xin has a fear of physical intimacy. This is apparent to the viewers in Episode 17 after she started dating Qing Yuan. It is a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Part of her story is revealed in Episode 24 when she narrated that she was kidnapped before which caused her anxiety. Luckily, the police arrived just in time before the kidnappers could harm her.

Episode 30 has a more detailed account of what happened back then. Tang Xin and Qing Yuan were out on a date in the hills. They were confronted by 2 robbers who took Tang Xin hostage and demanded money from Qing Yuan. But he had none on him. So, he ran down the hill to get money. After waiting for some time, the robbers got impatient and wanted to sexually assault Tang Xin. Just as they started to do so, the police arrived and the robbers fled. That was why she developed a phobia of physical intimacy.

Tang Xin overcame her fear and achieved a breakthrough in Episode 30 when she didn’t feel uncomfortable with Qing Yuan’s kiss. He knew about her problem and had been patient to let her ease her fear gradually.

Qing Yuan’s Selective Amnesia

Qing Yuan and Tang Xin were a couple back in high school. When Qing Yuan missed a fireworks display with Tang Xin, he tried to make it up to her. He brought her to a hilltop and had even bought a pocket watch as a gift for her. But robbers took Tang Xin hostage and he had to run down the hill to get money for them.

However, halfway through the journey downhill, he made the decision to turn back as he felt it was too risky to leave Tang Xin alone with the robbers. His sudden change of direction round a bend caused him to be knocked down by an oncoming car. From then on, he had no recollection of his past with Tang Xin which is also a form of PTSD.

Zhou Yue told Qing Yuan about his memory loss in Episode 32. He is Qing Yuan’s bitter rival and wanted to break Qing Yuan’s mental toughness by bringing up his past. This caused Qing Yuan to have a mental breakdown as he suffered extreme guilt and couldn’t forgive himself for abandoning Tang Xin on that day. So, she brought him back to the accident site and showed him the police report that he was running towards her direction when he was knocked down. Hence, he couldn’t have abandoned her.

Qing Yuan also agreed to undergo therapy with Tang Xin’s encouragement in Episode 38. He wanted to do for her. He recovered his full memory in Episode 39 when he knocked his head on the ground while pulling Tang Xin and a kid away from an oncoming vehicle. This helped him to achieve top performance in his sport and earned a place in the national team in Episode 40.

Ling Feng And Xiao Ci

Ling Feng was attracted to Xiao Ci from the very beginning but she wasn’t interested at first. But his persistence gradually thawed her icy heart. He asked her to give him a chance at the end of Episode 15 and they shared a short kiss at the beginning of Episode 16 which was interrupted. However, Xiao Ci didn’t give him a direct answer but suggested that they should just go with the flow and wrestle their way through instead in Episode 17.

Xiao Ci pulled back when Ling Feng unknowingly touched her sore spot in Episode 19. She also told him that they are not compatible in Episode 21. Xiao Ci used to be fat and ugly which caused her insecurity and disdain for sexists and males’ perception of beauty. She revealed this to Tang Xin in Episode 28 when she seek her advice about what to do with Ling Feng.

Xiao Ci knew she wasn’t being fair to him and apologized as well as confessed her feelings in Episode 30 with Tang Xin and Qing Yuan acting as a go-between. Ling Feng reciprocated and expressed his heartfelt feelings for her in Episode 31. They reconciled then and Ling Feng had even prepared to propose.

Zhou Zu Guang And Dr. Ding

Zhou Zu Guang and Dr. Ding were married but separated. This is exposed in Episode 6. They still had lingering feelings for each other but Zhou Zu Guang had personal issues that needed time to overcome. Dr. Ding got tired of waiting and asked for a divorce in Episode 20. But Zhou Zu Guang stalled for time instead.

The couple had a lot of misunderstandings between them. In Episode 36, Zhou Zu Guang revealed what he thought was Dr. Ding’s betrayal when he was facing a career crisis. But the man he saw with Dr. Ding at the hotel was actually Qing Yuan’s father who wanted her help to treat his son. After so long, she finally understood why he was so cold towards her all of a sudden. On her part, she thought that his coldness was due to his interest in his intern which wasn’t the case.

In Episode 38, Zhou Zu Guang left the decision for their future to Dr. Ding. He explained that he was simply insecure when his career took a tumble while hers was getting more and more outstanding. They wanted to keep up with each other but their efforts made them drift apart instead. Dr. Ding finally decided that they should still divorce in Episode 39 to give each other a chance to let go of the past. Zhou Zu Guang signed the papers then.

In Episode 40, Zhou Zu Guang revealed during an interview that he was grateful that his wife ended their marriage because it gave him a chance to grow and mature. An end also means an opportunity to start anew in pursuing her again. Dr. Ding is seen smiling as she watched the interview online.

Hello, The Sharpshooter Review – Too Long!

40 episodes is indeed too long for Hello, The Sharpshooter. This could have been a much tighter story if the producers had cut it down to 30 episodes or less. There are many fillers and flashbacks which are not necessary. To me, the first 20 episodes or so seems monotonous. There is no excitement to make you crave for more as you watch. Although many Chinese dramas also tend to have boring stretches, there are usually high points or a feeling of anticipation here and there to keep your interest.

However, Hello, The Sharpshooter is pretty flat for half the drama. The story picks up only around Episode 21 when there are more happenings to drive the story forward. I wouldn’t term it as a bad drama but it is certainly nothing great either given the laborious way the story has been told. It is also predictable given some of the cliches and recycled plots.

Old And New Issues

Basically, the plot is about a guy who has selective amnesia and has forgotten about the girl although they used to be a couple. This amnesia theme is nothing new for a romance drama and you can easily predict what is going to happen to his memory loss. Viewers are not told what happened to this couple upfront. Instead, you are merely given hints every now and then through dialogues and flashbacks of their time together. The whole story of what happened to both of them is only revealed much later.

What is different though is the sport chosen as the backdrop to the story. We have enough of winter sports drama such as To Fly With You and Skate Into Love. They are also plenty of e-gaming ones including Falling Into Your Smile. Shooting certainly doesn’t seem as exciting. However, it is a sport that requires focus and mental toughness. Hence, the psychological issues that the drama bring up is an ideal fit for the sport. This is where there is something new being offered to the viewers as mental illness is not a common Chinese drama theme.

The downside though is not to expect much professionalism and in-depth exploration of the psychological disorder afflicting the protagonists. Just like in Dream Garden, if you start judging it through a professional lens, the protagonists’ recovery will seem overly simplistic and unreal. After all, apart from the psychological issues, the drama also has to give air time to the romance, training, friendship, and work. So, it is good as it doesn’t get bogged down with details but would be disappointing if you want a more serious psychological drama.

The Romance

I think most people who choose to watch Hello, The Sharpshooter are doing it for the romance. Personally, the romance of the main couple is sweet. It is also a gradual progress and the relationship is a very supportive one. They communicate with each other when problems arise. So, you can feel a deepening of the relationship as the drama progresses. The guy may be possessive and jealous but in a good and light mannered way. Some will even see it as cute and sweet.

However, what the romance lacks is passion. It is not a steamy kind of romance like what you would get in You Are My Glory. The kisses are limited to mostly pecks which kind of reminds me of Forever And Ever. it is understandable though because of the leads’ psychological issues and thus, the need to take things slow.

Furthermore, it is a sports drama and the main character is supposedly a national athlete. So, I guess they have to keep it relatively clean. But that impulse and passion are certainly missing from this couple and as a viewer, it feels lacking in some way.

Acting And Chemistry

The role of Tang Xin is really nothing new for Fair Xing. The character is cute and chirpy and you will get the feeling that you have seen it all before in her previous dramas such as Put Your Head On My Shoulder and My Little Happiness. Therefore, if you are her fan, this one would seem familiar. But there is no breakthrough as far as her acting is concerned.

The same goes for Hu Yu Tian in Hello, The Sharpshooter. He is good-looking and you could be drawn to his eyes. But I find his acting to be pretty bland in this drama as there is little variation in his expressions. Maybe the director wanted it that way since he plays a top shooter who is supposed to have a calm and stable personality. His acting isn’t horrible but it doesn’t give you reason to be impressed either.

When the 2 leads are put together, you will find a big height difference between them. I really think it is time to stop pairing Fair Xing with tall actors as it is getting repetitive despite the supposed cuteness. Their chemistry is visible but nothing extraordinary. Hence, there is little motivation to rewatch their scenes unlike some other on-screen couples who have sizzling chemistry such as the ones in Why Women Love and Love At Night.

My Verdict – A So-So Drama

I think Hello, The Sharpshooter does require a bit of patience to sit through. The plot is drawn out especially for the first half. You can literally leave the drama running in the background while doing something else and you would still be able to follow the story. So, I won’t be surprised if this is tedious to watch for some viewers. For me, I took breaks in between before I completed it as it was too monotonous for binge watching.

Having said that, I can also see how this drama could have its fans. Apart from the leads, the main couple’s romance is a sweet and supportive one. It is a natural progress and not everyone likes a rushed relationship development. It may be slow-moving but each happening is like a building block to the complete story that goes back to their past. I guess if you really like the couple’s interactions and their stable romance, then you might find this enjoyable because the leads are together in most of the scenes. But if you find them to be only an average couple, then this will become a big bore due to the length of the drama.

For this Hello, The Sharpshooter review, I would give it a score of 7/10. It tries to bring up the issue of a mental disorder in a romance which is something refreshing. But it still couldn’t run away from a memory loss cliche which makes it predictable. Overall, it is a case of being a so-so drama – neither entirely good nor bad. In other words, it is forgettable once you have completed the whole 40 episodes with no real urge to rewatch despite a logical layout to the story.