Go Ahead (2020)

Family dynamics have always been rich fodder for drama. Sibling rivalries? Growing pains? Complications of the extended modern family? Oh yes. Put them all together and you might just have in your hands a drama that works. That’s probably why last year’s family themed modern drama All is Well about the dysfunctional Su family fared quite well (pun intended) in the charts. Well, in Seven Tan Songyun, Song Weilong and Steven Zhang Xincheng’s drama Go Ahead 以家人之名, we will be introduced to a different kind of family, one brought together not by blood, but by a connection forged by the bonds of love and kinship three children have for each other.

In the 40 episode series, three kids from different backgrounds come together by circumstances to form their own “little family”. These three siblings – Tan Songyun is little sister Jianjian, Song Weilong plays the eldest brother Ling Xiao and Zhang Xingcheng the middle brother He Ziqiu, spent the formative parts of their life having each other’s backs. Then the time came for the three to separate, with the two brothers returning back home to live with their biological parents.

Years later, the three are happily reunited but find themselves profoundly changed by the psychological pain caused by their biological parent’s indifference to them. With all the challenges life has thrown at them, will the two brothers and sister finally break free from the shadow of their past hurts and become better stronger individuals?

Tan Songyun and Song Weilong have perhaps been onscreen staples these past few days for some of you – weeks actually for Tan Songyun, as they both have dramas airing now. Tan Songyun plays the bubbly heroine in the wuxia drama Under the Power where she shines as the adorable and plucky investigator who’s also smart and quite capable at her job. My impression of her has always been of the lively sort so it will be interesting to see how she will tackle the role of an emotionally bruised Jianjian in Go Ahead. Meanwhile, Song Weilong just popped up on our screens this week with his new drama FindYourself. In it, the actor plays the young good looking intern who’s completely smitten with a woman ten years older than him played by Victoria Song. That’s quite a turnaround from his role in Go Ahead as the eldest to the three and sure to test his versatility as an actor.

Also appearing alongside the three are Tu Songyan, Sun Yi, He Ruixian, An Ge, Yuan Ran and Zhang Xilin as guest star.