Lin Qi Le (Zhao Jin Mai), affectionately called Ying Tao (Cherry) by her family and friends, is a lively and warmhearted girl who leads her childhood group of friends with infectious energy. Loyal, affectionate, and unfiltered, she embraces people just as they are, a trait that defines her friendships.
But everything changes with the arrival of Jiang Qiao Xi (Zhang Ling He), a reserved and brilliant nine-year-old math prodigy who moves into their small town with his father. Quiet and emotionally distant, Qiao Xi prefers the company of books and equations to people. But Ying Tao, ever the ray of sunshine, slowly breaks through his barriers, pulling him into her circle and giving him the warmth of family that he’s never truly known.
Their childhood bond blossoms into a deep friendship. However, when Qiao Xi’s cold, distant mother arrives, she abruptly takes him back to the city, cutting off all contact with Ying Tao and their group of friends. Seven years later, fate reunites them at the same high school, but Qiao Xi acts like a stranger. Ying Tao’s friends warn her that he is not the same boy she knew. He’s aloof, focused solely on prepping for the Olympiad and is controlled by a strict mother who has meticulously mapped out every step of his future.
However, Ying Tao, who never gave up on him all these years, knows there is more to him. And her reappearance stirs something in Qiao Xi. Her presence challenges the very suffocating structure of his life and gives him the courage to think for himself. But their growing closeness doesn’t sit well with his mother, and soon, life throws obstacles that threaten to tear them apart once more.
“Our Generation” is a heartfelt coming-of-age C-drama that captures the innocence of youth, the pain of separation, and the bittersweet journey of growing up. Here is what worked and didn’t quite work in the drama.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
Liked: different pages, same story
Ying Tao is vibrant, affectionate, and an extremely generous girl. As a child, she is surrounded by love, doting parents, close-knit friends, and a community where everyone looks out for one another. So it’s no wonder that when the introverted and emotionally neglected Qiao Xi arrives in Ying Tao’s town as a withdrawn nine-year-old, he is immediately drawn to her warmth.
Qiao Xi’s world, in stark contrast, is cold and colorless. As an only child caught in the emotional crossfire of his parents’ dysfunctional marriage, he’s forced to live in the shadow of a brother who died long before he was born. Force to wear black and pressured to excel in math because it was his brother’s talent, Qiao Xi isn’t raised, he’s managed. Yet, in Ying Tao, he finds the first person who sees him for who he is and not who he’s supposed to replace. She tells him gently that beyond the grayness of his world, his personality is actually bright and full of promise.
Their bond, however, is short-lived. When Qiao Xi’s mother whisks him away to the city, Ying Tao waits patiently, writing him letters and holding onto the connection. When she learns he’s being teased in school because of her, she rushes to his side, only to be publicly rejected and humiliated by him.
Heartbroken, she returns home, but fate intervenes once again. They’re reunite when she joins the same school and grade as his in the city. She avoids him, while he pursues her. The truth finally emerges: Qiao Xi’s mother had intercepted and destroyed his letters and even dragged him home when he tried to visit Ying Tao.
Once the air is cleared, Qiao Xi finds his way back into the friend group and back to Ying Tao. His Olympiad success should have marked a turning point, but instead, he chooses to abandon the carefully curated path his mother set for him. His dream is to study abroad, but just when he starts taking charge of his own life, he disappears once again.
All he leaves behind for Ying Tao is a parting message: “Don’t ever forget me.”
Two years later, Ying Tao tracks him down in Hong Kong. He’s a shell of the boy he once was, still brilliant, but hardened and trying to survive. The former math prodigy is now pursuing a basic degree and is scraping by. Emotionally closed off and burdened by the belief that he is not “enough” for Ying Tao, he tries to keep her at arm’s length.
But Ying Tao never gives up. Where Qiao Xi is layered in silence, guilt, and self-doubt, she is unrelenting in her quiet belief that love, especially theirs, can weather anything.
Though their paths diverge again and again, their story remains one and the same: two hearts beating in sync, even when on different pages. While Ying Tao and Qiao Xi are seemingly opposites, one raised in love and the other in pressure, they are bound by a deep, almost fated understanding of each other. It’s a story of second chances, unspoken love, and the difficult journey toward self-worth.
Liked: unlearning perfect
“Our Generation” also explores the emotional complexities of youth and the damage caused by parental control disguised as ambition.
Qiao Xi is the school’s blue-eyed boy, the one destined for great success. Since he was old enough to hold a pencil, his mother gave him textbooks and puzzles instead of toys and comic books. Instead of downtime with friends, he sat and prepped for the next level.
He was the perfect student, a role model for the rest. But at heart, Qiao Xi wanted to get rid of his all-black ensembles and dress in his favorite reds. He wanted to go to the beach with his friends and just play along. Instead, he was shuttled from one Olympiad camp to another. Even after cracking the Olympiad and getting selected into a prestigious university, he gives it all up because what he truly wants is to study abroad and not math.
After an economic downturn and a cousin’s accident, suddenly, all his dreams are shelved. Qiao Xi becomes a shadow of who he used to be, taking up odd jobs and no longer chasing a degree. His academic brilliance is still intact, but he no longer sees himself as perfect. And because of that, he believes he’s not worthy, especially not of Ying Tao, the girl he once walked away from without a word.
But Ying Tao is anything but passive. She finds him, confronts him, and coaxes him back into conversation. And in doing so, she reminds both him and the viewers that the lights don’t dim. They just need a little help shining again.
Their dynamic is tender but loaded. Qiao Xi clings to ambiguity, still trapped in the equations he’s always known. That’s when Ying Tao gently tells him that life and love aren’t solved with formulas. They’re messy, evolving equations. And love? It’s not earned through achievements, it embraces imperfections, contradictions, and all the unpolished bits we hide.
Her worldview is simple yet powerful. She is who she is because of how she was raised, by family and friends who believe in helping each other, no questions asked. And Qiao Xi, whether he likes it or not, is one of them. Hers. She loves not the topper nor the math genius, but the boy who continues to strive and keep building and rebuilding himself.
Disliked: the manipulative mother
While “Our Generation” avoids clear-cut villains or antagonists, Qiao Xi’s mother more than fills that emotional void. In many ways, she’s more daunting than any academic challenge her son has ever faced.
Her version of love is control. Qiao Xi isn’t seen as a son but a meticulously crafted project, an emotionless prodigy molded to fulfill her ambitions. Her obsession with math borders on fanaticism, and she tolerates nothing that deviates from that singular path. Even friendships are curated—Qiao Xi is allowed just one “approved” friend in school, conveniently someone who also acts as his mother’s mole.
Ying Tao becomes an immediate threat in her eyes. She’s a wisp of a girl who dares to give her son wings and is someone she intends to clip, again and again. Her tactics aren’t just harsh, they’re cruel. From emotional blackmail to humiliation, even summoning Ying Tao’s parents to accuse their daughter of seduction, she leaves no line uncrossed.
Her manipulation runs deep. After Qiao Xi’s birth, she reminds him constantly that he owes her everything and that his very existence is a debt. Qiao Xi recalls giving her a heartfelt Mother’s Day card with a picture of the two of them, only to be told that the only card she cared about was an Olympiad certificate. She even compares him to his deceased brother, a sibling Qiao Xi never met but whose fate looms large. He later reveals that his brother also had no desire to study math and may have died while trying to escape her rigid grip.
Even after Qiao Xi achieves everything she ever wanted for him, he decides to walk away. But she still finds a way to blame Ying Tao for “ruining” her vision of perfection.
This emotionally fraught dynamic adds to the weight Qiao Xi carries. Socially awkward, introverted, and constantly second-guessing his worth, he’s a stark contrast to Ying Tao, whose loving and supportive parents have always prioritized her happiness. The difference is as heartbreaking as it is eye-opening.
While the drama occasionally stretches itself thin and veers off course, not always doing justice to the immense talents of Zhao Jin Mai and Zhang Ling He, it still manages to deliver its emotional core.
“Our Generation” is a nostalgic, aching tale of friendship, first love, and breaking free from the boxes others build around us. It reminds us that growing up isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being true to yourself, no matter how hard it is.
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Puja Talwar is a Soompi writer with a strong Yoo Yeon Seok and Lee Junho bias. A long time K-drama fan, she loves devising alternate scenarios to the narratives. She has interviewed Lee Min Ho, Gong Yoo, Cha Eun Woo, and Ji Chang Wook to name a few. You can follow her on @puja_talwar7 on Instagram
