Celebrating youth and blossoming love, Exclusive Fairytale is a light and endearing story for young and young at heart.
True to its initial promise, the familiar narrative would be a gift for C-Drama lovers, especially those who prefer the trademark youth-romance story.
Exclusive Fairytale threads on the story of Ling Chao (Wen Junhui), a sensitive and independent overachiever who falls in love with his childhood friend Xiao Tu, a carefree and adorable girl played by Zhang Miaoyi (张淼怡).
The inseparable duo meets a roadblock along the way when Xiao Tu mistakenly believes that she has feelings for Yin Zihan, portrayed by Xiong Aobo (熊奥博), and nearly breaks the friendship with Ling Chao.
Bubbly Haruhi watches Exclusive Fairytale on iQIYI
Exclusive Fairytale First Look Rating:
*First Look covers Episodes 1 to 8
Exclusive Fairytale Episodes 1 to 8 Recap
Xiao Tu and Ling Chao were born in the same year although Xiao Tu is a month ahead and insists that she is the big sister. They were inseparable since they were babies. They grow up together but with opposite personalities.
Ling Chao seems like a quiet type of guy but excels in school. Xiao Tu has a bright personality but lacks focus in studying. Ling Chao is jealous of his mother’s special treatment of Xiao Tu. He says she is more like her daughter than he is her son.
One day, Xiao Tu’s classmate had her cellphone confiscated by the teacher. Xiao Tu decides to lend hers to her friend. But she did not see Ling Chao’s text message that he will not go home together with her. Because of the missed text and hearing rumors that some thugs are robbing students, Xiao Tu thinks that Ling Chao is in danger. She starts to roam around and look for him.
When Ling Chao arrives home, he realizes that Xiao Tu did not return yet from school. She called her cellphone and found out that it is with her friend Jiang. Ling Chao immediately went out and looked for Xiao Tu. After a while, they finally found each other. In a flashback, we see that Xiao Tu promises Ling Chao that she will always protect him.
Xiao Tu’s class is selecting people for class officers. She was unexpectedly selected as Commissioner in charge of physical labor. While doing some cleaning in school, she accidentally ripped her school pants. Ling Chao immediately helped her.
“Being optimistic is also a gift.”
At home, Xiao Tu is very proud to talk to her mother being selected as an officer. She goes to eat dinner at Ling Chao’s home. After eating, she inspects Ling Chao’s room and discovers a little secret. Jiang is asking Xiao Tu to help her get her cellphone back.
Xiao Tu asks for Ling Chao’s help using his secret as a bargain to help her. They go to the teacher’s office and are about to successfully get Jiang’s cellphone, but unknown to them, Teacher Xue is not feeling well and taking a break inside the office. As a consequence, Xiao Tu has to run in the field and was removed from her position.
At home, Xiao Tu was asked by her mom to bring a box of apple in Ling Chao’s house. She tells Ling Chao that she will tell the world his secret only to see that Jiang’s cellphone is in Ling Chao’s hand. Xiao Tu is very happy and agress to peel an apple for Ling Chao to show her gratitude.
One day, Ling Chao decides to pick up her mother at work and Xiao Tu joins him. Unexpectedly, they see Ling Chao’s mother getting into a luxurious car. Xiao Tu urges Ling Chao that they should just go home. At home, Ling Chao wants to ask his mother about what he saw but hesitates. His mother seems to also want to tell him something but did not.
After school, Xiao Tu tells Ling Chao to buy a birthday gift for her godmother. They walk into a jewelry store. After eating dinner, Ling Chao gives his birthday gift to her mom and she was happy. Ling Chao’s father suddenly appears after leaving them for ten years. It turns out that it is his dad’s driver who he saw.
His dad is now a successful businessman and wants to ask for forgiveness for what he did in the past. But Ling Chao finds it too hard to accept the situation right away. His father seems like a stranger to him. Every time his father visits their house, he finds ways to escape the situation.
“We’ve never experienced it. How can we forgive on behalf of him?”
Xiao Tu’s parents ask her to help Ling Chao accept and forgive his father. But Xiao Tu refuse to do so because she saw how Ling Chao waited for his father to come back and he suffered growing up without a father. Xioa Tu believes that it is better to wait for Ling Chao to accept it on his own terms.
Meanwhile, Yin Zihan’s biggest dream is to beat Ling Chao so he tries to get close to Xiao Tu to learn more about Ling Chao but rumors spread that he and Xiao Tu is in a relationship. Xiao Tu on the other hand is also surprised by Yin Zihan’s behavior towards her. Her friend Jiang tells her that Yin Zihan surely has a secret crush on Xiao Tu.
Ling Chao still avoids his father so Ling Bo leaves their house before Ling Chao gets home. One night, he sees that his father left already and decides to go home. But then he sees his father again going back to their house with some medicines in his hand. Ling Bo tells his son to take care of his mother and bring the medicine to her.
Ling Chao then realizes that all this time he did not notice his mother’s health condition because he is busy avoiding his father and only thinking of his own feelings. Ling Chao takes this chance to tell his father that they can go to their house together.
In a teacher-parent meeting, Xiao Tu’s parents won’t be able to attend because they are out of town, Ling Chao’s mother, Wen Hui will attend on their behalf. This spreads in school and students start to gossip about the relationship between Xiao Tu and Ling Chao.
Because of the previous rumor with Yin Zihan, Xiao Tu tries to avoid Ling Chao but Ling Chao doesn’t care to avoid the rumors.
Exclusive Fairy Tale Episodes 1 to 8 Musings
Reminiscent of endearing Chinese youth dramas, Exclusive Fairytale follows a common storyline – a sibling-like relationship turned into romance.
Despite its trite narrative, it is a great help to watch the story because viewers can easily relate to the characters.
Venturing into acting, Jun shows a lot of promise for his role and is doing good so far. Let’s see how will his character develop.
Zhang Miao Yi fits her role as a young girl with a bubbly character and funny antics as well. She embodies the formulaic female lead typical to youth C-Drama series.
For now, it is a fun story with a lot of comical scenes that will make you smile and laugh. There’s definitely room for how the series will progress.
Xiao Tu’s presence is also quite a convincing pitch for a viewer to continue watching the show, especially for people who are not familiar with Wen Junhui as an actor.
Takeaway Quotes
“We’ve never experienced it. How can we forgive on behalf of him?”
“What’s the difference between seeing someone who suddenly comes back after ten years and seeing a ghost?”
“Being optimistic is also a gift.”
“What if I’m wrong? Before you choose, how do you know you were wrong?”
“We can’t improve our ability if we don’t learn. We can’t make achievements if we don’t have any aspirations. As long as you firmly stick to your goal and work hard, you’ll gain something eventually.”
Photos: iQiyi
