I started watching Genius Girlfriend. You know I had to do it for Tiantian, but this is the second time in a row she's played a role where the other characters have this inexplicable malice towards the FL. What is going on with these scriptwriters? Do they hate women, or did they never go to school (in China)??? All of this just to glaze the ML and have him save the FL by being the only person willing to be her friend. Apparently the FL isn't "complete" until she finds the ML.
Lin Zhixia isn't even that "weird", she's actually quite outgoing. I have a feeling they wanted to suggest that she might be autistic but she can't actually be autistic because that wouldn't be "desirable". The students in the experimental classes at first high schools are supposed to be among the best in the county and academically gifted. Yes, kids can be jealous, but intelligent people also tend to admire other intelligent people. There's no way the entire class would have such "low EQ" that they'd all bully her publicly in the open for no reason. If anything, everyone would want to sit next to the clever kid to copy their notes or cheat on tests. Our society, especially in China, already has an unhealthy obsession with academic success, it's difficult to believe this premise of nobody liking the clever kid.
Dialogues in 2026, girl you have to laugh. Hostility from all the girls but popular with the boys.
Before anybody @ me, no, I don't believe in the "people bully you for a reason" point of view. What I'm saying is that this narrative exists solely to glaze the ML and the other male characters, rather than to criticise the bullying itself. This was the same problem I had with Pursuit of Jade.
Another thing about the classmates, even though Tang Tingting is at the bottom of the class and they make her character seem dumb as hell, yet, she's still in that same class!! She's still scoring academically higher than everyone outside of her class, not just in her school, but in all the other schools in the area too. If she managed to get into that class with lousy studying, she's pretty talented in theory.
Nobody wanting to be on the same team as Lin Zhixia doesn't make sense. Are these scriptwriters too stupid that they've never participated in maths challenges?? Her team losing to the ML's team...don't even get me started-
The drama title itself also strips Lin Zhixia of her agency by calling it Genius Girlfriend. The story is told from her POV, not his. They could have called it Genius Girl, or if they really had to include the romance aspect, "My Average Boyfriend (who is jealous of my 174 IQ and tries to surpass me)".
