Meteor Garden: Episode 17 - Barney & Friends

Netflix Synopsis: Jing calls Lei with unexpected news.  Jealous Ah Si sabotages Shancai's reunion with friends and scuffles with her old classmate's brother, Yan Shunping.

Reminiscing about their trip, Shancai and boba bestie are catching up and talking about getting together with friends from high school. It's hard to pay attention to what they're saying because Xiayou's bottle nipple cap is very distracting. She should stick to the one that she wore in Canada.

Sure they are cute best friends, but nothing compared to Ah Si and Lei playing games on their matchy-matchy blue phones in bed. These boy besties are THE BEST, especially in their color-blocking turtlenecks!

Lei, why do you keep a picture of yourself on your nightstand? LOL.

Jing ends up calling Lei out of the blue, and DMS swoops in to save Lei from potential awkwardness. Ah-Si brags about how well his relationship is going with Shancai,  and Jing breaks the news that her Frenchie engagement is over.  We get it girl, you don't want anything to hinder your dream...too bad her dream doesn't involve romance, but apparently Goyard totes still make the cut.  I guess she didn't want to be wasteful. At least Lei didn't lose out to another man, just to cold, emotionless, Ebenezer Ambition.  Scene ends with boys pillow-fighting in their skinny jeans. What a bromance.

It's reunion time at some fast food joint. Classy. There's a tall boy there (where do they find so many tall ones?!) who looks a little bit like if DMS and banana bestie had a love child, also wearing a purple hoodie. It's like DMS's red hoodie mated with banana bestie's blue jacket. He has the haircut of banana bestie, but the spiky pineapple party upfront. And such a triangular nose! Impressive.
And of course they all fawn all over Shancai...and in true mature fashion, a food fight ensues.

F4 are catching up a cafe, and Lei's feeling a bit snarky with his comment about banana bestie being categorized as a lame girl too.
Apparently social media is ablaze for F4 groupies complaining they didn't invited to Canada. So sad, too bad. But a glance at banana bestie's account shows that Shancai is at the reunion...and without hesitation, DMS gets up to go, even against the advice of F3, especially Meizuo, who speaks with even more authority in his circle dot blazer.

So wise, this one.

This is not going to be good. All of it. The gross cleanse concoction they are forcing people to drink, the below average attractiveness of all her high school friends, the jealousy...let's just say that only good thing is DMS's amazing houndstooth coat, and that the public proclamation by DMS that Shancai is his girlfriend at Shancai's high school reunion that he was not invited to did not go down so well.  It was probably was as smooth as that drink was refreshingly good.


The hurt on DMS's face when  Shancai DENIES that he's her boyfriend, and just says that he's a senior at her school just makes your heart stop. How can she do this to him?
Purple hoodie boy taunts DMS and DMS is trying so hard not to cause a greater scene and wants Shancai to leave with him. Just go with him, Shancai, PLEASE, for girls' sake, would you just please go??? For the record, Barney boy made the first aggressive move on DMS, and he just reacted like any raging testosteroney jealous teen. Did we except anything more or less from him?

You see what I mean about the nose?

F3 are waiting outside and see a crowd rush out with a bleeding Barney and Shancai scolding DMS, telling him to disappear. She slaps him in response to him calling her friends low-lifes and attempting to save her from their low-brow ways. DMS fails to realize that she's "Jenny from the block" and is not going to forget her roots and leave her peeps behind. She even drops the the H-bomb.

Even boba bestie was offended.

Shancai is embarrassed, but life goes on. Shancai visits Barney in the hospital. UGH, did she forget that he was the one who started it? I can barely watch...especially when she denies the boyfriend status again. She meets Barney's little step-bro Shunping,  who apparently is also a freshman at Mingde. I don't trust this one as far as I can throw him.


It's the new year and Shancai is reminding her parents to not talk about DMS, and he's practicing his apology to F3. You can tell something's off. His outfit is the least attractive out of F4. Def not on his A game.  Lei is amazing here, as the apology that's written for  DMS just rolls off off his tongue like butter dripping off corn.  It really is a tight puppy dog eyes competition between Lei and Ah-Si.



Lei is killing me here. Like when Meizuo asks if he were in Shancai's place, would he forgive DMS?

"Definitely not."

They're back at school and DMS's is psyching himself up to apologize to Shancai, and she walks by  and tells banana "morning, let's go to class" without a glance to DMS, without breaking her stride.  He was invisible to her,  and DMS is pissed.

Lei is all too correct when he says there are two things you need to say yourself:


Back in class, Li Zhen, Shancai, and Xin Hui get the highest marks in class, which is cool,  but whassup with the "Yeo!' acknowledgement when the teacher calls out their name? I haven't heard that expression before, maybe the closet being "Yo Mama." She also runs into Barney's lil bro at the library and now suddenly they are BFFs. Barf.

There's something spectacular about the F4 friendship - the way they coach DMS, how they care through criticism in the most Chinese way possible. The way that they say "Stop right there" is a version of a DMS apology. The way that they suggest that he should apologize to Barney. The way that they say that they never considered her to be a girl, but that she's exactly the fierce woman that DMS would like. So they make fun of her a little bit, but I love it all.  She and her new BFF duck when they hear F4, but did she SEE DMS?  How can she ignore that MAGNIFICENCE?


DMS's Shancai commentary is not so nice, but still had me LOL. Like when he compares her to a frog...

And if that wasn't enough...

Or a cow...

I'd think the same thing...

Shancai and her new BFF run off, since he called DMS a retard. Suddenly he makes Tian Ye seem like a normal, non-creepster. Lil Bro is telling her how he's seen her before, how he was checking out her out on her bike, ordering food, hoping that she would  be the one delivering it - stalker style.  The gross flirting goes on with him taking a bite of her corn, and it "accidentally" falling close to DMS who looks up from below.  He wants to be bosom buddies with her, of course he does, and as he makes a move and puts his arm around her, DMS comes glaring up the bridge.

This is so uncomfortable to watch and recap. Bosom buddy admits that he's the one who called DMS a retard, and also claims that he was standing up for his girlfriend.  He must believe that the double negative must equal a positive. Of course, DMS aggressively threatens him, Of course Shancai gets upset and wants DMS to let her go and claims that he's suffocating her. But in this moment, I did not expect DMS to shout across the bridge and profess his feelings. EEEKK!  It stops her in her tracks, but does she turn around?

YES! (It's got to be the outfit.) Maybe that's what give him to courage to say that he doesn't know why...but he likes her anyway. That he's even surprised by how much he likes her, and wherever she goes, he will go...And would you just SHUT UP lil bro? DMS is speaking.

Lil bro pulls her away and she does linger and look back.  And it's hard to look tough, holding a ear of corn,  but that's DMS - tough and tender at the same time.  DMS looks like he needs a hug - we're ready whenever you're ready.

But give me a minute after I finish telling off lil bro who seeks out Shancai to apologize to her for telling DMS that he was her boyfriend to piss him off, and also tells her to stay away from DMS because he's not a good person and wants to introduce her to some people who used to know DMS who want to talk. WTF. He leaves to get a drink and the next thing you know, 2 sets of mysterious feet approach Shancai and she's gone.

OK,  DMS - we're ready for that hug now.