It's an amazing drama!
Want to write the review with english language but lazy for thinking. But I really want to apreciate for this drama, and everyone can understand how I love it! Aku suka bagaimana karakter ataupun akting Bailu menjadi shiyi. Walau jujur dia memang tak pernah mengecewakan. Begitu juga dengan Zhou SC dengan perannya yang begitu menyayat hati. my sadboy :) .. Hanya dengan cinta sederhana tanpa romansa berlebihan buat jalan cerita drama ini jadi seimbang sama hebatnya dengan akting pemain. So I give big applouse for the writer, director and the cast... Great Job !!!!Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
If a friend asked me what is the plot about, It would be pretty difficult to put the drama in a flattering light-> ~
It's a Cinderella story with a mean mother in law. The ML's family has family relations so complex, that Mexican soap operas pale in comparison. There is a brother (who may, or may not really be a brother) who tries to compete with ML for the family business, he is also using underhanded methods to get his way. FL ends up in the hospital very frequently, some supporting characters also lose their babies..
~
So to summarize the plot is just bad. It's like a bad romance webnovel's plot. Despite that I still enjoyed this show a lot. In fact all episodes excluding 28-29 were very enjoyable for me. This is not a romantic comedy, but rather pure romance, so the plot should've mattered, but even though the story is clearly bad the scriptwriter did a great job with the dialog, I could just listen to the leads talk to each other forever, obviously it's not as good as in Before Sunset, but it's up there. Also the leads had great chemistry and uncountable beautiful scenes together. In fact the entire cast did a near flawless job, there are no acting related weak points in this one.
The main strength of the drama is how it portrays the progress of this beautiful romance. Everything is just so great about it. It's not just sugary fluff, though there is quite a lot of that, but rather it's really about two fated people meeting and getting to know each other slowly. This is romance with depth, not the typical shallowness that I'm quite used to in modern cdramas.
There is no real love triangle, no breakups, no misunderstandings and the leads communicate with each other very well. ♥
People talked the lack of kissing issue to death already. My take is that I think I would've been totally okay with just the one kissing scene early on, but for some reason the production team felt the need to torment the audience with countless "kiss the forehead, kiss the cheeks, kiss the hand and kiss whatever else you name it" scenes. I feel that there was zero need for that. I think just the one kiss scene plus the hugging scenes & their numerous bed scenes were more than enough skinship for my viewing pleasure.
The OST on the whole is not all that impressive, but I found the >Give You Give Me 给你给我 by Mao Bu Yi 毛不易< song quite pleasing to the ear.
The story of One and Only does not appeal to me, so I decided not to talk about that in my review. I think there is no need to watch OaO to enjoy this show.
I have a feeling that I will rewatch FaE eventually.
edit: I decided to rewatch the drama and it feels so incredibly SLOW now, even at double speed. I loved this drama, but rewatching it feels pointless.
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This review may contain spoilers
Forever and Ever - Review
This sequel to One and Only certaiinly managed to satisfy me. It's got a lovely happy ending, with Shiyi and Zhou Shencheng married. One thing about this series though, is that Zhou Shencheng proposes to Shiyi in Ep 4, when they've barely just met! It's got a concerningly fast pace at the start, with them only meeting the other half a year ago, and only seen each other a few times, and they decide to get engaged. Of course, I wouldnt be complaining. There are some awkward moments that are really quite cute, and i love how the first time they kiss was so awkward. Bai Lu is an amazing actress (and SOOOO pretty) and the series was just really nice, and only one person dies and yea.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
New meets Old. Modern meets Traditional.
One and Only = 9.5 Rating.Forever and Ever = 8.5 Rating.
Forever and Ever is the follow-up story from One and Only, where the MCs are essentially reincarnated to modern times. You will need to watch One and Only first to understand quite a few references in this sequel and why certain parts are specifically emotional and why the drama team put alot of emphasis in some scenes. I had major redemption hopes for this series which we did get, BUT the story was once again lackluster. The audience got the ZSC and SY ship that everyone wanted but everyone else were the problem. From very early on, I would say most of the characters had a red flag associated with them in which I firmly believe down the line, they will come back to affect the MCs in some small or big way. This made me quite annoyed as in the back of my mind, I would always be reminded, oh this person is likely going to come back 4 episodes later and maybe hurt our MCs in this way...Also the MCs story was mediocre at best too which made the entire drama OK to the end. Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching the entire series, but could have been so so much more.
Quick Story/Plot
The story is mainly about the FL and ML meeting each other again in modern times and falling in love in which they couldn't do in their past life. As mentioned earlier, it is best to watch One and Only first to fully understand Forever and Ever. The characters also frequently reference the historical context and story which was another driving force in pushing them together. In the prequel, it was all about protecting the family, but in this life, the ML faces multiple drama with his immediate family trying to hurt him. The story can get quite slow at certain times and whats odd with the story telling is that during major family dramas, the audience and the FL are kept in the dark and does not know what is exactly happening. It is as if this big thing is happening behind close doors and the audience can only know about it when side characters are literally telling us in some random gossip conversation. This way of story telling I did not like at all as they literally showed nothing about that side story and to cover the plot hole they quickly explained in 5 lines or so this big thing happened and like multiples familes were involved, police came in and doctors are running around and we the audience weren't told a thing. Very poor story telling imo.
Also the drama does a really cool job in showcasing modern people living in traditional homes and setings. All the furniture are mostly made out of wood and bamboo with lanterns and vases all over the place. Contemporary ideas with traditional settings.
Quick Acting/Cast/Characters
- The FL is a voice actor/dubber with a strong affection for traditional art and history. After meeting the ML on that fated day, she became allured to him. She is mainly the proactive one in the relationship because the ML is just very dull. She has to learn how to deal with the ML's complicated family while also being with the ML.
- The ML is a chemistry professor with a big family background and very wealthy. His family owns multiple traditional businesses and he needs to learn to deal with the various people in his family. One downside is Allen Ren's dubbing voice is soo weird/off which makes him always sound out of place. That said ZSC character is quite dull and nothing spectacular as a person, not sure why anyone would fall in love with him other than the FL due to fate.
Won't go over the other characters as it will be spoiler for the show, but the ML's siblings, mother and best friend are critical characters. On the FL's side the best friend is always there to support her. There is alot of individuality with the characters which makes the audiences attached.
Music/OSTs
Once again the music and OSTs were superb to listen to and fills up the scenes with the additional level of emotion. High quality mix of traditional sounding tunes to contemporary love songs.
Rewatch Value
Would not rewatch. 1 watch-through is enough.
Why my final rating (8.5)
Closing out, I don't think you will miss out alot if you watched One and Only and NOT Forever and Ever. I think everyone wanted to watch this sequel because of the redemption love story we all wanted to see from O&O. The MCs story and how they became a couple was definitely odd and out of the ordinary. Their affection for each other was real, but their relationship and everything else was illogical. Would not remember them as best couple, but more like a happy ending to them. The early episodes were great, then the middle was ehhh/so-so and then the ending was real slow burn.
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After 1000 years of separation, they finally deserve their happy ending forever and ever.
Their love story is heart wrenching in One and Only, so anyone who witnesses what they had been through in the past life is waiting for their happy ending in the Sequel Forever and Ever.
In this modern life, both ZSC and ShiYi are total different persons. ZSC is just an average normal dorky and shy professor with influential family background who mostly spent his time in lab and research.
ShiYi, on the other hand, is a beautiful and successful voice actor.
One day at the airport, ShiYi upon hearing the name ZSC through the intercom, she immediately followed him and their love starts to bloom…
I enjoy watching them together from being cute, shy, awkward to completely trust, respect, love and support each other wholeheartedly.
Both Allen and Bailu deliver their characters to my full expectation. Allen’s portrayal of ZSC in Forever And Ever is on point : a shy, introverted, details oriented chemistry professor, but very gentle and caring, is completely different from the righteous, heroic Prince Nanchen ZSC. ZSC in this modern life is the man of “actions speak louder than word”. Bai Lu, with her subtle and nuanced expression, brings freshness to Shiyi: an independent, caring, energetic voice actor who fully devoted her love to ZSC because ““I don’t have time. I don’t have time to use tactics, to use techniques. I need to seize every minute and second and just be with him”.
This is a slow pace romance, but adheres strictly 90% to the novel in chronically order. Everything is slowly revealed at the end. So it does require some patience from the viewers.
There are also many meaning subtle elements which can also be easily missed if you don’t really pay attention: ShiYi phone number, the coin ZSC gave ShiYi when she was sleeping at his grandma’s house, the envelope ZSC returned back to his brother as a warning: do not mess up with my wife.. or ZSC’s family name..
Having all said, due to Chinese censorship, the reincarnation theme has to be changed. So it is less convincible to understand ShiYi’s boldness toward ZSC on her first encounter with ZSC and agreed to be engaged with him over the phone just after 3 times meeting him.
There are some lack of creativities in term or language uses when the two are together in bed. They introduce ZSC a person who loves collecting Wu Songs, but instead of exploring and utilizing the beauty of Wu Songs to seduce his partner, they use the off mood line “I’m ready”. It is not only once but twice and the second time is with Shiyi repeating the same line. I really don’t understand the thought process behind this. Does the director/ writer underestimate our Wu Songs comprehension skills or are they just trying to be comic? If the latter is the case, then I don’t think it’s even funny. It is just unglamorous and lazy.
Despite some drawbacks, I still like the drama and enjoy both characters better than in the novel.
To sum up both OnO and FnE, let’s revisit what ZSC said to Shiyi in the novel which is just beautiful and yet, so emotional:
“I think, I must have used my beautiful bones as an exchange for you to have unrivalled beauty, as an exchange for you to remember me, as an exchange for you to be able to utter my name when your lips moved.”
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A deserving ending to both stories
The storyline isn't particularly eventful, but somehow I don't feel that the episodes are dragging. It's fascinating to watch their romance unfold, and how they deal with the ups and downs of life as a team. I was afraid that Zhou Sheng Chen's family power is going to be blown out of proportion like in the novel, but I'm surprised at how the filmmakers managed to hint at power and influence without having to show scenes of lavishing wealth. It feels like a real family, with conflicts and interactions I could totally see in real life. The scenes where Lian Sui, Lin Fei, Uncle Lin take care of Zhou Sheng Chen and Shi Yi made my heart melt as that is how family members are supposed to act around each other.Everything else that's happening around them seems insignificant, even the supporting characters are not fully fleshed out as the whole spotlight shines on the two main characters. I think it's a good thing that they don't remember much about their past, as it was full of regrets and sadness. What's important is that they finally find each other again, and fall in love, and create another ending for their fate, and this time, a happy one.
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Sweet, fluffy, with a touch of this takes forever and ever to move along...
This drama is much like its prequel very slow at times making you wonder if you will notice if you watch it in double speed. The relationship progresses bothe very quickly and frustratingly slowly at the same time. It is refreshing to see a male lead being cautious (almost too cautious) with a relationship as well as seeing a female lead take charge and not only be passive. This whole extreme caution and slight awkwardness from the male lead makes for great humour the few times he takes initiative.I loved the dynamics between the main coupla, the side characters all had their roles and they did them well. There was some drama but not a lot of it, the drama was however completely different in its manner than the prequel so to be honest other than the leads and occasional back flashes this drama has very little to do with it.
Watching the very sloooooow prequal see copy paste, or click on the link in the comments for my review of one and only https://mydramalist.com/profile/Shirioink/review/172709 . I do however think watching the prequel will give you a sence of longing and make you appreciate this drama more than it´f you have not watched it, so it is not necessary but I do recommend it and the order does matter because forever and ever does include a bunch of spoiler from one and only.
I loved how the male lead kept to his personality without compromising his affection as well as the way both the leads handheld drama cliche situations in an admirable manner. I especially loved the way this drama handled the issue of trust and jealousy even if it at times bordered on co dependency.
I also loved the use of pets in the drama, but tidd miss the beautiful umbrellas from season one... well you can not have it all I guess...
All in all definitely worth watching but beware of its slooooooow pace that will drive you nuts at times and is the reason for the 8 and not 9.
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Warmth of the happy ending
This here is a sequel of masterpiece and it is good as its prequel was... From story to acting everything was perfect... The one thing i loved the most was the recreation of the scenes from the one and only ... The poems or idioms were beautiful as it was in the one and only and because of one and only this was very touching and gave a very warm feeling... Allen ren and bai lu were made for these character it didn't feel like u were watching something it felt like u were with them... Both ' one and only' and 'forever and ever' are masterpieces in my list... The story, the rewatch value, acting and music all are 10 /10 ❤❤❤Was this review helpful to you?
Aside from the FL, ML, and the eye-candy Ci Sha as Mei Xing, the rest of the characters were pretty bland to me, if not ingratiating. The ML's mother was spineless against her ambitious son Wen Chuan, coddling him even when does despicable things. For her part Qin Wan treats Shi Yi like she's a nobody and a fly who hovers around her step-son. But it is actually Tong Jia Ren who buzzes around Sheng Chen despite being married to his brother, who is in turn chasing his ex-girlfriend around. There are too many family entanglements in this drama for me to keep the relations straight. There are some funny moments, a lot of sad moments, but this drama lasted forever and ever that I couldn't wait for it to finish.
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This review may contain spoilers
One of my most favs Chinese drama of all time!!
The storyline is superb especially after the heart-wrenching ending of One and Only!!I have read the translated novel of this adaptation prior to watching the series. While the main story plot stayed true to the original novel, there are tidbits of change in the series here and there which I'm actually appreciating as it gave the story a lot more sense.
Not the typical love that suddenly burns hot since the beginning, but the type that start with a spark of fire and continue to get bigger and stronger. Such a romantic and heartwarming love story, where ZSC&SY's love is gradually built up over time. The small love gestures appearing now and then suits the leads' low-key characters. It's really cute every time when ZSC carries SY's purse, although I personally don't usually like it when a guy carries the girl's bags, but somehow when ZSC does it, it just looks freaking adorable! Allen Ren and Bai Lu perfectly act the roles of ZSC&SY, especially the additions of a bit cheekiness to the acts make the couple more lovable than what I imagined when reading the novel.
Although it can be a good standalone series to watch, but I highly recommend to watch One and Only first so that you can feel much deeper emotions while watching Forever and Ever.
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Romance was subtle but so romantically delivered MORE DRAMA with BAI LU and REN JIA LUN as LEADS!!!!
Before anything else, I will say now that I am a big fan of the romance genre with lots of skinship and GOOD kissing scenes. And that is the first reason I hesitated to watch this drama because I know (from what I read about him) that Ren Jia Lun is not big on those scenes. Still, I love Bai Lu, so I watched this for her alone, and I expect that I have to be frustrated the whole time watching the drama, BUT was I disappointed because this drama became my most loved and treasured drama of all time!!!So my reason why I hesitated became the reason why this became my most loved drama...hahaha...I first watched Ren Jia Lun in Miss Crow with Mr. Lizard, and even though his acting there was good, he did not leave a good impression, which made me hesitate to watch this drama. I always expect that when the genre is romance, there should be at least some "kissing" or skinship scenes, and those scenes must not look too trying hard to come across as romantic. And from what I read when I search about Ren Jian Lun, he is not big on "kissing" or even "skinship" scenes. I am ok with an actor not big on "showy" scenes as long as I can still feel the "romance" while watching the drama. My point is, when I watch Ren Jia Lun in MCwML I cannot feel any romance between him and Xing Fei, but here, OMG! I was blown away by how much I felt his emotion in every scene. When he feels awkward, I, too, feel it. Every time he looks at Shi Yi, I can feel his love for her, and every time during these scenes, I forget that he is already married. I always thought they were a couple in real life; that's how good he was. Also, Bai Lu did not disappoint. She portrayed Shi Yi as Shi Yi must be performed, a confident, successful, and beautiful woman. Bai Lu and Ren Jia Lun's eyes are so expressive in every scene that I, as onlooker, believe they love each other so much.
I also want to commend the writer for making the leads character mature enough not to steep low on a misunderstanding because of miscommunication to create more drama.
The only thing that put flaw in this drama is when Zhou Wen Xing (Zhou Sheng Chen's sister) is on her deathbed, I do not really understand her reasoning about the boat incident with Shi Yi that she confessed through a recording but that did not even deter me or discourage me from loving this drama.
This drama epitomizes innocent yet mature love that made me so jealous...
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Great drama!
I loved this drama! It was a bit on the slow side but I liked that. It had a bit of everything to keep my interest.Storyline - was a bit slow, like I said, but I think it fit this drama perfectly. It was a well written and executed story. I laughed at how the ML proposed to the FL. His nervousness was so funny but he did a great job! Their marriage was bumpy at first. Mother-in-law troubles but not to over the top. I am glad that neither of them gave into their wanting to separate them. I really thought the stepmother was kind of a witch. Constantly telling the FL she was not good enough for the family. Even though her son was a crooked jerk. I kept thinking of how she needed to focus on her own children and their problems rather than the stepsons and not wanting to accept his choice of wife. But they stuck to their love and weathered through it all. Loved the ending! It was perfect and satisfying.
Acting/Cast - Ren Jia Lun is a really good actor. I had to really go back and watch “Destiny of White Snake” because I could not believe that was him…lol. I have watched a few of his other dramas and feel that he has really done excellent in this drama. Bai Lu is really good also. I have seen her in quite a few dramas and think this is one of her best. Their chemistry was spot on and made the drama perfectly.
Music - another soundtrack to look for. I really liked it.
Rewatch - Yes, it is one of my favorites.
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