To Fly With You Review

I was a bit reluctant to watch To Fly With You (陪你逐风飞翔) initially as it looked pretty similar to another sports drama with the same theme called Skate Into Love. But I have also watched a few of Wang An Yu’s dramas and got tempted to check him out again. Hence, I took the plunge. After all, the drama is freely available on YouTube whereby it is easy to scan and skip when the story gets a little boring. But did I really need to skip scenes as I watched? Well, you can check out my To Fly With You review below to find out.

The Cast Of To Fly With You

• Song Zu Er as Shen Zheng Yi
• Wang An Yu as Shao Bei Sheng
• Xu Yang as Xiao Han / Coach Xiao
• Xia Meng as Xiao Qing
• Li Hao Fei as Zhu Le Le
• Fu Wei Lun as Qu Zhi
• Pu Miao as Zhuang Yue / Coach Zhuang
• Yuan Yu Xuan as Luo Xiao Yi
• Mercury Chen Li Na as Wang Li Min / Mrs. Shen
• Hu Ming as Shen Jia Cheng / Mr. Shen

Main Characters

Shen Zheng Yi

Zheng Yi is an amateur speed ice skater in her first year at Lingbei University. She has a dream of becoming a professional skater. Zheng Yi is a determined and persistent young lady who knows how to stand up for herself. Her idol is Coach Xiao.

Shao Bei Sheng

Bei Sheng is a top pair figure skater with the Wind Chasing Team of Lingbei University. He is a biology student at the university and has lots of female admirers due to his good looks and talent. Bei Sheng is an optimistic and confident guy. He is trained by Coach Ma.

Supporting Characters

Xiao Han / Coach Xiao

Coach Xiao is the speed skating coach of the Wind Chasing Team. He is a good coach but tends to be lenient with his charges. He also has a favorite trainee in Xiao Yi.

Xiao Qing

Xiao Qing is a pair figure skater and Coach Xiao’s younger sister. She is very talented and is Bei Sheng’s new partner. She appears as a kind and likable girl. Xiao Qing also has a crush on Bei Sheng.

Zhu Le Le

Le Le is Zheng Yi’s course mate as well as dorm mate. They are best friends. Le Le is also a speed skater in the Wind Chasing Team. She is a fun and cheerful girl who sees Bei Sheng as her idol.

Qu Zhi

Qu Zhi is Bei Sheng’s dorm mate and best friend. He is a Biology student with an interest in stage acting. Qu Zhi is the President of the Theatrical Club at the university. His love interest is Le Le.

Zhuang Yue / Coach Zhuang

Coach Zhuang is the chief coach of the Wind Chasing speed skating team. She is a result-oriented coach with a proven track record at the national level. Coach Zhuang is strict and fierce with her own principles.

Luo Xiao Yi

Xiao Yi is the top speed skater of the Wind Chasing team. She gets all the attention as she is the team’s brightest hope for a gold medal in competitions. She is personally trained by Coach Xiao and has influence over the other team members. Xiao Yi can be arrogant and selfish. One of her top rivals is Yu Bing Ling who represents an opposing team.

Wang Li Min / Mrs. Shen

Li Min is Zheng Yi’s mother. She is a strict but loving mother. She was also a speed skater when she was young but a horrible injury forced her to retire. Hence, she is against Zheng Yi’s decision to be a professional speed skater.

Shen Jia Cheng / Mr. Shen

Mr. Shen is Zheng Yi’s father. He is an indulgent parent who dotes on his daughter. He is supportive of her decision to be a speed skater and helps her to hide it from her mother.

Synopsis

Zheng Yi is passionate about speed skating but doesn’t have the basic techniques necessary to join the university’s professional team. But Coach Xiao could see her potential. After overcoming Chief Coach Zhuang’s objections through sheer grit and determination, Zheng Yi makes it through to the team. This leads to jealousy from the old team members especially when Coach Zhuang changes the training arrangement and shifts Coach Xiao to handle the newcomers.

In the meantime, Zheng Yi meets Bei Sheng who is the top pair figure skater for the team. They don’t like each other at first but Bei Sheng sees her as an ideal candidate for a fake girlfriend to turn away his persistent ex-figure skater partner. He gradually develops feelings for her although he tries to deny it. Zheng Yi also slowly changes her perception of him and starts to notice his positive qualities.

However, Bei Sheng’s new figure skater partner finds out about their fake relationship and informs Zheng Yi that she loves Bei Sheng. As Zheng Yi tries to be mindful of getting too close to Bei Sheng, they still end up getting closer and closer together as they face obstacles in the pursuit of their dreams including injury, parental objection, and quarrels with the coach and team members.

To Fly With You Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

To Fly With You has a happy ending and the key events detailed herein are based on the 33-episode web version. I understand that there is also a TV version which is slightly shorter per episode but has 35 episodes in total instead.

Bei Sheng managed to win the Asian Cup championship in the single figure skating event in Episode 32 and has a chance to join the national team. Although there was a scare earlier when he collided with another skater during the warm-up, he insisted on going ahead with his performance despite an injury to his head. He won his event before fainting and was admitted to hospital. Fortunately, he was fine after a checkup.

Zheng Yi won the first place in the 1500m sprint and defeated the top 2 skaters in the same championship in Episode 33. Xiao Yi had sprained her ankle earlier but kept quiet about her injury. She knew she didn’t stand a chance and tactically helped Zheng Yi to win instead. It was a happy occasion for both skaters and the team as they managed to overcome stronger rivals.

In the last scene, Zheng Yi and Bei Sheng are watching a meteor shower together after her win. She made a wish that he will always be with her. Bei Sheng kissed Zheng Yi when she told him what she had wished for. The drama ends with them hugging.

When Did The Couple Start Dating?

Zheng Yi and Bei Sheng’s contractual relationship began in Episode 4. He wanted her to be his fake girlfriend to ward off his ex-figure skater partner who was after him. Bei Sheng terminated the contract in Episode 19 with the intention to surprise Zheng Yi with a confession later on. He organized a confession party in Episode 21 but mistakenly confessed to Xiao Qing instead when she turned up unexpectedly and he couldn’t see her clearly because of the lighting.

Bei Sheng set the record straight with Xiao Qing but she took advantage of the confession to mislead Zheng Yi that she is dating him. As a result, Zheng Yi tried to stay away from Bei Sheng and refused to listen to his explanation. This led to a misunderstanding between them. He was also disappointed that Zheng Yi supposedly only regarded him as a friend.

Once Zheng Yi learned that Bei Sheng’s confession to Xiao Qing was a genuine mistake, she took the initiative to express her feelings to him to make up for her own misjudgment in Episode 22. He accepts her confession and they started dating from then on.

Is There A Breakup?

No, there is no breakup once Zheng Yi and Bei Sheng got together. She was only temporarily angry with him in Episode 29 when she learned that he had hidden the truth from her. It was his mother, Coach Zhuang, who collided with her mother during a competition which resulted in the latter’s severe injury 20 years ago. Bei Sheng nicely explained to Zheng Yi what happened and they talked it over to clear their misunderstanding.

Is There A Love Triangle?

Yes, Xiao Qing also had deep feelings for Bei Sheng. She thought that he also liked her when he terminated his contractual relationship with Zheng Yi. But after the erroneous confession in Episode 21, she was angry and heartbroken. Xiao Qing then decided to leave the team in Episode 22. She got back at Bei Sheng in Episode 26 when she took the spot to train under a renowned Russian coach to deny him the opportunity. Xiao Qing then left for Russia in Episode 27.

Zheng Yi’s Mother’s Injury

Li Min and Coach Zhuang used to be teammates. They had a misunderstanding before a competition whereby Coach Zhuang insisted that she would also be going for gold. During the race, Coach Zhuang switched lanes to block another skater behind them and collided with Li Min who suffered serious injury which ended her career. Li Min blamed Coach Zhuang for the collision and the latter didn’t have the chance to explain why she switched lanes.

Bei Sheng learned about the incident in Episode 28 when he saw an old photo of his mother with Zheng Yi’s mother. Li Min found out from an ex-teammate that Coach Zhuang was coaching Zheng Yi in Episode 29 and confronted her. She quarreled with her daughter about it and wanted her to quit the team. Eventually, Li Min realized that Coach Zhuang is not solely to be blamed for her injury. The 2 women talked it over and reconciled in Episode 31.

Coach Xiao And Xiao Yi

Coach Xiao and Xiao Yi’s elder brother were fellow skaters and best friends. During an outing, her brother saved Coach Xiao from drowning but lost his life in the process. Coach Xiao made a promise to take care of Xiao Yi and train her to be a champion.

Hence, all of his training plans were geared towards that goal so much so that other team members were neglected. This was why Yu Bing Ling left the team because she knew Coach Xiao only wanted Xiao Yi to win and the rest were merely there to assist her for tactical purposes during a race. Zheng Yi found out about it in Episode 30 when she overheard the quarrel between Coach Xiao and Xiao Yi.

Coach Xiao went on leave in Episode 31 following the exposure. He also apologized to Zheng Yi for not telling her the truth about his training plans. Zheng Yi understood his situation. He wanted to resign but changed his mind when the whole team coaxed him to return to coach them. Xiao Yi also decided to return to the team after wanting to quit earlier.

The Side Couple

The side couple of Le Le and Qu Zhi started dating in Episode 19 after she was rejected by Wang Jun. She felt embarrassed to disclose their relationship and wanted Qu Zhi to keep it a secret for the time being. They quarreled and broke up on impulse in Episode 23 after she whined about wanting to quit skating and he kept advising against it.

Le Le and Qu Zhi reconciled in Episode 28. Both of them mistakenly thought the other had found someone new earlier. When they realized their mistake, they got back together without hesitation.

To Fly With You Review – Predictable But Well-Executed

To Fly With You is one of the better Chinese sports romance dramas out there in my books. I think it is also the type of drama that will resonate more with the younger viewers as it has a college romance element in it. So, don’t expect anything overly serious and melodramatic. It has a lot of light and fun moments to make you smile as well as some sweet scenes for the required sugary feel. Most of the serious stuff is reserved for the sport matters such as training and relationship among the team members.

Personally, I find this drama to be very predictable in terms of the plot. I guess if you have watched one or two sports dramas and rom-coms, you can more or less guess the issues that are going to crop up. I know most romance dramas are highly predictable anyway but To Fly With You is a bit better than the rest because the story is well-executed. It is told in a very coherent manner with the romance being developed at a realistic pace and the leads’ road to success is not dragged out unnecessarily.

Don’t Mind The Predictable Plot

Basically, most of the issues explored in this drama is nothing new. Quarrels with coaches and team mates, jealousy, injury, parental objection, and love triangle are all part and parcel of To Fly With You. Therefore, be aware that this drama doesn’t really have anything extraordinary to offer in terms of plot originality. If you have watched Skate Into Love and have a bit of common sense, you will be able to predict these issues that will arise as the drama progresses.

So, this drama is only good if you don’t care about cliche storylines. Otherwise, you might find it too predictable that it loses any kind of anticipation. What makes up for it though is the likable female lead in a well-executed story to cut down on the boredom level. So, although the issues are predictable, all of them share some limelight throughout the drama. They are told in a way that you can feel the drama is moving along rather than getting stuck in a rut. I think this offers a kind of variety to keep you interested as there is romance, family relationships, friendships, and team spirit being fleshed out in the story.

A Unique Female Character

Zheng Yi is a pretty interesting character to me. She is stubborn and persistent when it comes to her passion for speed skating. She is also not easily cowed by her seniors in the team. Yet, she also exhibits a kind of naivety with her trusting nature. Whatever it is, it is easy to root for her as she grows on you as the drama progresses. To me, Zheng Yi is definitely a more colorful character than Bei Sheng as her partner.

As for Le Le, she has a cheerful face and she is funny which is a good contrast to Zheng Yi. She takes up quite a bit of screen time together with Qu Zhi as the side couple but fortunately, they are not annoying unlike some secondary couples which are a waste of viewers’ time.

Growing Chemistry

The chemistry between Wang An Yu and Song Zu Er is not too obvious in the beginning but it gradually gets better and better as the story moves along. Personally, I still prefer his pairing with Xiang Han Zhi in Forever Love which is a really sweet college romance drama. But his partnership with Song Zu Er is not too bad either and way better than with Nina Wang in Go Go Squid 2.

The sparks is definitely there with this couple and they look very natural with their touches and hugs. Hence, I feel that the chemistry is better once they started dating in the drama as they look very comfortable as lovers.

As for the acting, Song Zu Er shines as Zheng Yi. She managed to bring out the essence of the character which is both stubborn and determined but also kind and playful. She looks very natural in her role with every movement and expression being suited to the scenes enacted with no overacting and exaggeration.

Wang An Yu is also good as Bei Sheng to give the character a kind of playfulness and optimism. While it is enjoyable watching him, it is not a performance that exceeded expectations. He delivered as required but without any nice surprises to the viewer.

My Verdict – Okay To Watch

Overall, To Fly With You would not be a waste of time but neither is it something really engaging. If you like college romance, then this might be your cup of tea. If you also like a sports theme especially ice skating, then it will be a bonus. There are racing scenes in the drama to give you some excitement as well as figure skating scenes for you to appreciate the choreography.

Frankly speaking, I watched this in a scan and skip manner because I could predict what would happen next. The story is easy to follow and thus, you don’t really miss much even if you skip some scenes. As mentioned, it is not an engaging tale like Fall In Love or a touching coming of age story like Be Yourself whereby every scene helps us to get deeper into the story. It is also not an overly sweet romantic drama like You Are My Glory. It is merely a simple sports-cum-romance drama with a little bit of everything from parental objection to love triangle to team camaraderie.

For this To Fly With You review, I would give it a score of 7.5/10. Many viewers seem to like it a lot and I think you would too if you like the innocence of college romance and first love as well as chasing dreams. Watch it for the leads’ chemistry and the supportive nature of their relationship. It is a nicely executed story but it loses marks with its predictability where I’m concerned. It does not render it unwatchable as there are strengths to make up for the weakness but just don’t expect this Chinese drama to offer you a refreshing plot to give you something different from the usual.