One and Only (2021)

Beautiful bones are rare in this world

A tragically beautiful love story between a quite young lady from a scholarly family and her shifu, a righteous war general.

Our FL, Cui Shiyi comes from a family of Literary noblemen. After an incident where her father was killed she looses her voice. Shiyi is one of the most lovely FL I've ever seen. She is considerate and kind. Despite being considerably physically weak than the people around her she never comes across as annoying.

Her Shifu, our ML Zhou Shengchen is a military general. To avoid suspicion he has vowed to never marry or have children. Let me tell you this is the nicest man you'll ever see in any drama. He just so kind, he has the biggest heart of all. He is soo good that it almost makes him look impossible to exist. Also he isn't cold unlike other MLs, he treats our Fl really well since the start.

These two people's relationship albeit tragic is filled with warmth and gentleness which goes really well with the overarching tragic tone of the drama.

Of the side characters, I love each and every single one of them. Especially the soldiers in our ML's army.

Here are the side ships:

-A hot blooded female general × ex-crown prince, currently a monk!
-A soft hearted scholar-general × hot blooded female general 2.0
-a crazy Prince who only wants power x a bratty princess
-an emperor who is imprisoned by his own mother × his pregnant empress

The drama has brilliant cinematography and amazing Osts. Definitely watch it if you want something short and beautiful

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Awesome drama

I have watch so many Cdrama and one and only make me cry badly. Almost finish the whole tissue box.
Start to cry when CSY talking to her mum where she do not want to marry the crown Prince. All the scenes make me cry non stop. ZSC last words to SY is really touching. He like SY but they cannot be together due to his vows.
Chemistry between Bailu and Allen is so good. Allen look charming in his general suits and he look so cool. The theme song sang by Allen is so nice.
Even do is a sad ending but I totally love this drama . Currently watching forever and ever

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truly heartbreaking ending.

the drama made full use of 24 episodes without any fillers impressed me much.

from story, acting to its execution and breathtaking cinematography, this gonna be one of my top personal favourite drama that scores high in every level.

the slow burn, unspoken romance was heartfelt and emotional. my first drama from BL, 2nd from RJL, their chemistry was off the chart just by staring at each other, mesmerising!

Nanchen Royal Mansion, it’s army, as time passed, it felt that has become my home and the army, my family. how I felt and connected with the supporting characters and their warmth.

ending wrecked me hard. beautiful tragedy.

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I really only have this to say: The actors understood the assignment.

This was so well done. It was honestly one of the most beautiful and well-acted shows I'd ever seen.

The longing, yearning, love, depression, ache . . . everything was acted to perfection.

I cried so much. I've rewatched the ending scene maybe five times now, and I rewatched the scenes with the couple together so many times as well.

I'd seen Bai Lu's other work and I think she has great chemistry with her other co-stars but this was unparalleled. And these two didn't even kiss. Just the tension and deep feeling they had was perfect.

That's all I have to say about this.

Please watch it. You will not be disappointed.

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A poetic screenplay about a grim, downward spiral that I grew to hate . .

The premise is 'witness a historical, grim epic power dispute, through the eyes of a wide-eyed girl/woman aged 14 - 24.' Nirvana in Fire and The Rise of Phoenixes are my gold standards for tragic male dominated political battles, and this drama falls far far short. Yes, there is a tragic/forbidden romance element that is introduced strong at the start. But, Shi Yi is a passive character and neither she nor Zhou Sheng Chen are focused on their romance as much as their duty to a crumbling and corrupt empire.

Rating it against my gold standard, the court intrigues and strategies of this drama are simplistic, and the villains overacted, cartoonish and not given sufficient back stories. Zhou Sheng Chen lives with integrity, is a talented general, and is made noble by his constant self-sacrifice, but he's also very one note and does not develop any complexity, nor displays any sort of talent for politics or romance.

There was a great use of poetry in this show, very touching beautiful lines . . . and that was the only highlight.

Once I realized that the political intrigue elements, which are the weakest points of this plot, were going to dominate the last 1/3 of the drama, I decided to drop it.

Acting is so so, chemistry is good as child with crush on teacher, but fizzles as Shi Yi becomes a full adult. Music set the mood fine, and I would not rewatch.

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The beauty of the bones.

There’s a considerable amount of dramas full of overly wrought love stories in which the conflict seems contrived merely to create drama, comedy or both.

In One and Only the love is so simple yet intricate, that it feels totally believable.

This is one my favourite dramas of all time. The quality of the acting leaves me breathless.

The attraction between Shiyi and Shengchen is obvious, but genuine, and is filled with the kind of "touches" that make it feel real.

Because all of us intuitively know what they are going through as they strip away layer after layer. Who of us hasn't feared exposure of the person we feel the world shouldn't see? As such, we are drawn into their secret as we see them shouting their feelings without a sound. Because one can find someone to share that silence with, and it is that that makes being vulnerable worth it.

There is a scene I can’t seem to forget where Shengchen and Shiyi were simply looking at each other eyes, and yet, the magnificent depth and variety of what "those eyes" express is overwhelmingly powerful.

Not every unforgettable love story needs to have a happy ending. The ending while tragic is perfectly fitting;

From the beginning, it was a forbidden love, and a silent one, as historically speaking, women didn’t have a lot of rights in Ancient China and were expected to marry whomever the family selected.

On the other hand, even if you were the most loyal General of the Emperor, he could still execute you for any reason at all. It was portrayed as realistically as possible, and beautifully done. It is also a visually beautiful drama.

The haunting OST sets a marvellous tone for the drama, and I found myself listening the main song over and over, each time tracking the path of each voice, an all-embracing delight. It weaves itself into your consciousness through flawless vocals and longing lyrics.

A must-watch.

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What a weak FL with many plot holes

Well, I've read the novel and have watched the sequel of the drama 'Forever and Ever'.
As commons, the drama needs to add more story and plot to make it long enough to be a drama and I find it okay.
What made me disappointed was the portraying of the FL in the drama. The drama portrays the FL as a super weak, vulnerable and helpless woman. She didn't do much in the drama aside of crying, waiting or pouting.
I didn't get why the script made her to stand on the gate during the attack of Yongcheng. She had no skill of fighting or other useful skill in that battle. Standing on top of the gate overseeing the battle is just added more baggage or people to protect. The story is also unbearably so slow made me have to watch it in speed up version. And there should be a more suitable actress to play the FL role.
I am fine with a slow burning story, yet this drama is just so unbearably slow. Romance is indeed doesn't need skin-ship but there should be something to fill that void.
What I can conclude is that I've wasted my time and data😅

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its a watch

𝖜𝖍𝖎𝖈𝖍 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖉𝖉𝖉.𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖒𝖒𝖉𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖐𝖉𝖐𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖐𝖉𝖐𝖉𝖐𝖉𝖐𝖉𝖉𝖐𝖉𝖉𝖐𝖉𝖉𝖐𝖋𝖒𝖋𝖋𝖒𝖒𝖋𝖋𝖒𝖋𝖒𝖒𝖋𝖒𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖒𝖋𝖒𝖋𝖒 𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖐𝖆𝖐𝖐𝖉𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖈𝖘𝖔𝖟𝖐𝖟𝖒𝖟𝖒𝖟𝖘.𝖆𝖆𝖒𝖐𝖆𝖘𝖐𝖟𝖐𝖟𝖐𝖝𝖝𝖑𝖝𝖐𝖝𝖐𝖐𝖉𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖒𝖉𝖒𝖝𝖒𝖈𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖒𝖈𝖐𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖋𝖐𝖋𝖐

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Well, everyone got what they deserved

What's done is done, but I believe this drama was miscast. Change the leading man to the smoking hot Monk guy (Zhou Lu La) and we at least would believe the guy was indeed a general because he had the right form plus an expressive face that conveyed more emotions than Ren Jia Lun has done in all his dramas combined.
Moreover, and I can't emphasize enough, this drama suffered from the screenwriter's depiction of the protagonists and antagonists who were done a disservice by being characterized with such clearly delineated qualities. There were no gray areas, everyone was either white or black. Our ML was entirely too selfless while our heroine had less gravitas than cooked noodles. The combination of the two of them kept me entertained because god knows nothing good would ever come out of their combined idiocy. Perhaps I'm being too critical but having just come from watching the masterclass acting and screenplay that is "Royal Nirvana", I'll give myself a pass for being dissatisfied with a drama that needed a couple more re-writes.

While it's normal to romanticize star-crossed lovers, I still need them to not offer themselves up as sacrificial lambs. Zhou Sheng Chen as a character didn't quite ring true for me and for a drama that's this character-driven, I needed to believe he was being tormented by the vow he'd prematurely taken. How could he have been allowed to have his cake and eat it too? Yes, I know he died and all but he never actually suffered unrequited love since whatshername was basically handed to him on a golden platter. What a joke.

In all, the clusterfuck that was the premise could have only worked if they all died, which they did. So, all's well.

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For once the ratings are accurate! Believe the hype!

Okay, my headline is a bit far fetched, as I am sure there have been accurate ratings before. However, for some reason I find that most Chinese romcoms are overrated on MyDramaList, and most Chinese historical/period dramas are underrated on MyDramaList. This drama is rated accurately (averaging a 8.5-9.5), and it's a great thing! When it comes to Chinese historical/period dramas I like to give my review 10 episodes at a time, because they tend to be 40+ episodes long, and I don't want to forget my thoughts about the drama when I finally reach to the last episode.

Review for episodes 1-11
•What I did not enjoy between episodes 1-10 is how the female lead character(not the actress) treated the crowned prince. Not only is it unrealistic, it also didn't make her character seem as sweet as this drama portrays her to be. I get that she had no choice but to be engaged to him, as he had no choice to be engaged with her but she was really cold to him as soon as the engagement was canceled. If the roles were reversed, we would hate the crown prince for doing that to the female lead character. She didn't even take the time to understand who he was as a person, and all that he suffered. She could have at least offered to be his friend.
•I also did not enjoy the female lead character (not the actress) communication in these episodes. Granted for the first 4 episodes she was a mute, but even afterwards (years has passed away), she still look to her "master," to respond for her when someone ask her a question. I just kept thinking, here we go again. Girl, you ain't 10... just answer the question lol.

Besides these two cons, I liked everything else. The pacing is fantastic, the storyline is very intriguing, and the love interest and development of romantic relationships is sweet.
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Review for episodes 12-24
•COMING SOON

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