Twelve Letters (2025) 十二封信
Directed by Sha Weiqi, starring Zhou Yiran as Tang Yixun, Wang Yinglu as Ye Haitang, Zheng Hehuizi as Yu Nian, Ren Youlun as Shen Cheng.
Watched 19 September - 11 October 2025 — 12 episodes (VIKI PASS)
(Beware of Spoilers!)
*Really enjoyed this Chinese drama with fantasy elements which I watched for Zhou Yiran. I had recently seen him in Reborn but was disappointed with his lack of screen time and the drama itself. Here Zhou Yiran takes the lead role of a troublesome youth, Tang Yixun, working a job as a debt collector. It's a good performance, and I love his looks and his micro-expressions. I prefer the longer hairstyle but also like his hair cut short.
*I was really impressed with the female lead Wang Yinglu, an actress I had never seen before. She delivers a great performance as Ye Haitang, a promising student. She's very good in her emotional and dramatic scenes. Haitang is a strong character and she often acts defiantly, with no concern for her own safety.
*This drama surprised me in the most positive way. It's nothing like I had expected. I had not anticipated the gritty part with the abuse of Haitang at the hands of her own father and Yixun's dealings with the violent gang. This grittiness is juxtaposed with the fantasy element of the red mailbox and the cat which connects the past world of 1991 with the future world of 2026. The depiction of the dual-time-space mechanism has a completely different feel than the portrayal of the bleak existence of the two young protagonists.
*In episode 6, Haitang says to Yixun: "Why are there so many unfortunate people in the world? Living like weeds, easy to be crushed underfoot." Their shared pain makes them find solace in each other's company. They only want to survive, to be each other's family. At times it's heartwrenching and I cried a lot. You really root for their happiness and their moments of joy made me both smile and cry. Love the scene where Yixun buys Haitang dresses and how happy she is in her new dress and how they get soaked in the rain for fun.
*My heart ached for Yixun who never wished anything for himself. "Live well for me," he says to Haitang.
*I also loved the side characters. Rat, Brother Cha, and their love interests. I was especially interested in the relationship between Tan Xin and Brother Cha and was slightly disappointed they didn't get a happy ending.
*I found the older version of Rat a good match, same type, and he even looks a bit like his younger self. But Yixun in 2026, living as Yu Zhihong, who's supposed to be in his 50s, looks really old. Zhihong is also referred to as the old man. They cast an actor closer to his 70s and should have chosen someone else.
*My least favourite scenes are the ones with the violent gang. The billiard house only briefly experienced a happy moment when they opened the venue after the renovation, with the three couples beaming with smiles.
*I also liked the 2026 couple Yu Nian and Shen Cheng, respectively Yixun's daughter and Haitang's son.
*The final episode was still thrilling, not knowing how it would end, and I was hoping for a twist. I was excited to hear Yu Nian and Shen Cheng talking about saving their parents in the past, yet realising their own lives would change forever as a result. It made me hopeful that they indeed could alter the past because of their prior knowledge of the future. I love time-travel plots when they're used in this way. Preventing the killing in the past from happening was the biggest aversion of fate.
*Considering the short runtime of the final episode, I think too much time was spent on Haitang meeting her father in 2026. Therefore the sending and receiving of the final letter, the denouement at the beach and preventing Yixun from killing, the police coming to the rescue (thanks to the chubby classmate Shen Xiaojun), was a rush job.
*I was glad Yixun and Haitang got their happy ending but I was sad for Nian that her life was changed completely.
*Some things are not totally clear, but I liked an interpretation read on Reddit concerning Shen Cheng. He shares the same surname with Shen Xiaojun, and a commenter on Reddit suggests Shen Cheng is Xiaojun's son with the other classmate. In the past timeline Haitang takes care of the child or adopts him. Shen Xiaojun's father thinks highly of Haitang and her mother, and after Yixun's (orchestrated) death, it's likely the Shen family took Haitang in. So Cheng is not Haitang's biological child, just like Nian is not Yixun's biological daughter.
*The end credits show polaroids of birthday cakes, also a cake with 50 on it from 2022, and 54 from 2026. So it implies Haitang and Yixun are together and live happy lives, well into their fifties.
*This series benefits from gorgeous cinematography, already right from the start. It was one of the first things I took notice of when I was watching the first episode. There's also cool music playing with the scenes of Yixun, Rat and Brother Cha. Overall the OST matches the mood of the series very well.
*I cannot wait what else Zhou Yiran has in store for us. He's still young so hopefully he has a long career ahead of him.
(Screenshot by me.)