See You Again Episode 1 Recap
> See You Again Recap
In 1936 Shanghai, the renowned actor Xiang Qinyu was in the midst of filming a scene. The director praised his performance, urging him to rest. Xiang Qinyu noticed his tie clip was missing, believing he had dropped it during the shoot. His agent, however, reminded him that the next scene was about to begin and assured him they would search for it together afterward, adding that Mr. Lin, who had recently acquired their company, Mengsheng, was present and deserved respect.
Xiang Qinyu instructed his agent to return all fan gifts and to prohibit irrelevant people from the set. Moments later, as he prepared for his next take, delivering a line about never giving up what belongs to him, a sudden gunshot rang out, striking him, and he collapsed. Eighty-two years later, in 2018 Shanghai, a young woman named Jin Ayin navigated her life as a struggling ghostwriter, dreaming of becoming a renowned movie screenwriter.
She narrated her daily grind, making money wherever she was needed, even as her landlord pressed her for overdue rent. Inspired by a personal motto—which coincidentally echoed Xiang Qinyu's own words about never giving in—Jin Ayin tracked down Ms. Mu, a well-known screenwriter who owed her eight months of manuscript fees. Their confrontation escalated when Ms. Mu, refusing to pay, fought with Jin Ayin and eventually locked her inside a secluded room.
Trapped and frustrated, Jin Ayin spotted an old newspaper on the floor. To her astonishment, it featured a photograph of Xiang Qinyu. Upon seeing it, she realized she was locked inside the dilapidated remains of the former Mengsheng Filming Site, a place once connected to her idol. Meanwhile, young actor Li Longda met with his agent, Hu, hoping to secure the lead role in an upcoming film by acclaimed director Feng Yousan.
To his disappointment, Hu revealed that the director had personally chosen Li Longda's friend, Chi Yu, for the lead. The reason? Chi Yu bore an uncanny resemblance to the legendary 1930s movie star, Xiang Qinyu. During their meeting, Chi Yu stepped out to answer a phone call. Shortly after, Li Longda also excused himself, leaving the room.
Later, by the sea, Chi Yu was engrossed in his phone when a stranger struck him from behind and kicked him into the water. Still desperate for her payment, Jin Ayin tracked Ms. Mu to her workplace. She intercepted Ms. Mu’s assistant, who, trying to get rid of her, lied and offered a new ghostwriting job, providing a fake URL. Frustrated and empty-handed, Jin Ayin left on a bus, reflecting on her persistent bad luck.
She recalled her childhood, when her father would take her to watch old movies. Even then, Xiang Qinyu was her hero, and her father had promised to give her a treasured tie clip when she was older. A news report announced unusual magnetic field fluctuations near the East China Sea, similar to anomalies detected in 1936 that had caused severe thunderstorms in Shanghai. Back in her apartment, a severe thunderstorm raged outside.
The lights flickered and died, plunging her room into darkness. Suddenly, a tie clip around her neck began to glow. As lightning illuminated the room, a blood-soaked man appeared before her. Jin Ayin used a lighter to illuminate the room. The man gripped her neck, demanding to know why she had killed him. He was Xiang Qinyu, and in his fragmented memory, the person who shot him on set was a masked woman who looked exactly like Jin Ayin.
Jin Ayin, terrified, managed to rush the injured Xiang Qinyu to a hospital. A nurse, noting the gunshot wound, informed Jin Ayin that she would need to report the incident to her superiors. Fearing the complexities of explaining such an extraordinary situation, Jin Ayin quickly fled the hospital. Xiang Qinyu soon awoke, his wound miraculously healed. Confused by his modern surroundings, he pursued Jin Ayin. He confronted her, introducing himself as Xiang Qinyu.
Jin Ayin, initially disbelieving, assumed it was a hidden camera prank. However, when Xiang Qinyu replicated a distinctive turn—a classic move from his films and her idol's signature—she could no longer deny his identity. Xiang Qinyu noticed the familiar tie clip around Jin Ayin’s neck and questioned how she came to possess his belonging. Jin Ayin, showing him her ID, stammered her disbelief at his living presence, even asking if he was a ghost.
He, in turn, realized he was in the year 2018, the People's Republic of China, and sought answers about his "death" and how he had arrived in this strange future. As a passionate fan, Jin Ayin offered to help, taking him to the local Film Archives, which was once the Mengsheng Film Studio. Inside the Film Archives, as Jin Ayin excitedly showcased various historical film records, Xiang Qinyu grew increasingly distressed.
His name and famous works like "Heroes in Jianghu," "The Night of Wind and Snow," "Iron Blood Heart," and "Legend of Young Heroes" were nowhere to be found among the celebrated actors of his era. He was told that many stars, including himself, had been forgotten by time and that modern audiences had never heard of them.
Jin Ayin explained that her own knowledge of him came from a childhood memory: her father had found an old iron box containing a short, incomplete clip of "Huangpu Fengyun," and it was in that very box that the tie clip was found. Devastated, Xiang Qinyu rushed to find the Mengsheng Film Studio, only to discover it reduced to a pile of ruins.
A flashback showed him celebrating the founding of his film company, promising his colleagues they would never be homeless as long as he lived. Now, faced with its destruction, he couldn't comprehend how his legacy had been erased. Jin Ayin then presented him with a history book, which contained a brief entry about him: Xiang Qinyu, born in 1909 in Shanghai, an orphan who studied under Wen Zhen.
He opposed the passive escapism of wuxia and supernatural films, attempting to explore the realistic meaning of martial arts films, becoming incredibly popular. However, due to his arrogant and aloof personality, he made many enemies. In 1936, at the filming site of "Huangpu Fengyun," he was shot and subsequently vanished, his fate unknown. Struggling to come to terms with his historical disappearance and the loss of his home, Xiang Qinyu asked Jin Ayin for an explanation.
Jin Ayin consoled him, reminding him of his role as a pioneer of Chinese cinema, and then shared a scientific theory about black holes and time travel. She posited that the abnormal magnetic field fluctuations and simultaneous thunderstorms in 1936 and 2018 might have caused his time to slow down and then converge, bringing him to her home. Xiang Qinyu, grasping the concept, immediately asked how he could return to his own time. Meanwhile, Mr. Lin decided that Xiang Qinyu's incomplete film, "Huangpu Fengyun," was no longer needed and ordered it to be cut.
