Everlasting Longing

Messy, Toxic, Over-the-Top, and I Loved Every Minute of It

Let me start by saying — do not let the negative reviews deter you from giving this a try. It's over the top, it's messy, it's unconventional, and it doesn't have a huge budget. But for me, it hit the spot because it concentrated mostly on the romance without drowning me in unnecessary subplots, and that's exactly what I needed. And Everlasting Longing delivered.

The Plot

The plot is extremely simple. A woman gets kidnapped into an enemy state and falls in love with her kidnapper, which only complicates everything because they can't be together due to the political conflict between their nations. The idea and general direction of the story are already interesting enough with genuinely high stakes — writers just needed to build on it better. The first impression is that they kind of tossed a bunch of different situations together so our leads could share the screen. The script feels a lot more like a first draft than a finished product. Still, despite that, the drama left an impression on me for its unique portrayal of a toxic, complex, and more mature romance.

The Romance

Yes, the romance is toxic and far from sweet. And the viewers criticizing these characters for being selfish probably didn't get the bigger picture. All of Qi Luo's concerns about why she can't be with the man she loves are completely understandable — just like his obsession with her is also understandable. She is collected, set on her goal, determined to get back home and protect her family. He is a hormonal, love-obsessed man who simply cannot let her go. They are both torn between their feelings for each other and their duty to their countries. It works.

If viewers feel uncomfortable watching the first half set in Beixuan while Xuan Lie is still a horrible red flag, they should move on to lighthearted romcoms. This drama is simply not for them.

The Chemistry Debate (Yes, I'm Going There)

There are too many people online criticizing the casting of Angelababy with Song Weilong, and I'm not quite sure why. First of all, Song Weilong has plenty of experience working with older actresses — his co-star in Find Yourself is twelve years older, among his other co-stars. Secondly, this man can make chemistry with my nightstand. So here? The chemistry is absolutely present. People saying Angelababy is showing her age on screen are insane — they must be eighteen or nineteen. Oh, I will see how they sing when they are my age. Women in their mid-thirties are fine as hell. I wish I could get my thirty-seven back now; I'd be very happy. If viewers can't feel the chemistry between them at the end of episode fourteen, they are blind and should not be watching romantic dramas. Period. Angelababy and Song Weilong looked absolutely gorgeous together. He has the kind of aura that allows him to feel domineering, endearing, and protective alongside any more experienced actress. And she is drop-dead gorgeous. So, let’s just not.

Character Growth

Xuan Lie does grow as a character in the last third of the show once he realizes his mistakes. His growth actually starts much sooner — when he plans on deceiving everyone at his wedding to let Qi Luo leave. Unfortunately, Qi Luo never finds out about his intentions and takes matters into her own hands, which causes the rift between them. She also realizes toward the end that forcing herself to forget someone she can't is futile. Here again, I think the writers needed to develop this realization in her earlier, before Xuan Lie's alleged death in Yannan. There were too many wasted opportunities in Yannan — instead of having three or more scenes (that basically repeated themselves but in different settings) of him asking Qi Luo to talk about their relationship properly and her telling him to leave, the writers should have written better situations for him to actually show her he's changed and her accepting him. Show, don't tell. Please.

This was a very lazy script work. Nothing to do with actors.

What Didn't Work

From what I already mentioned, the biggest flaw is the weak writing and the many missed opportunities. This drama could have also used a couple more episodes to wrap things up better and give our leads more time to be an actual couple after they reunited. Them coming together to terms with wanting to be with each other felt rushed. I wanted more romance and courting and tension post-reunification — give me the payoff! But this seems to be the general issue with most romantic C-dramas. Writers start building the foundation for the romance and then get carried away and forget how many episodes they actually have to finalize everything, so they scramble at the last bit to put things together as fast as they can.

I also don't understand the choice not to show Xuan Lie and Qi Luo's children. Why?

Another extremely missed opportunity is Shao Qi Min and Qing Kou's storyline. It started off so well — Ren Hao was stunning in the few episodes they were paired up together at the beginning. Their ending was horrible, but made total sense. The problem? Writers completely ignored them in the middle stretch. If you're going to give a secondary couple screen time, then actually develop them. They did Qing Kou so dirty. She was an interesting character at her core—a spoiled princess who falls for her slave/foreigner. She ended up being neglected by writers entirely, and I kept wondering why writers bothered setting them up at all as a couple. Or why include her character at all? They wrote her horribly.

The Acting and Production

As far as acting goes, both leads did well. Song Weilong needs a high-budget drama to truly showcase his skills. He's great in romantic roles, he has a strong on-screen presence, and as I've said — he can create chemistry with anyone. He's still not quite there with certain emotional scenes. I think sometimes, when it gets too nuanced he doesn’t quite pull it off, but I think that's partially a direction issue because I’ve seen enough fo his work to see that he does have talent. He just needs that one big role for him to show it. Angelababy is very pretty, and here's my advice: if you start watching and consider deserting it after a couple of episodes because you're put off by her acting while she's still dressed as a man — don't let it affect your view. Keep at it for a few more episodes. Her character changes throughout the drama as she starts wearing women’s clothes, and her mannerisms change as well.

I also initially dropped it because of poor CGI in second and third episodes, but in all honesty, CGI is used sparingly, and there are only a handful of scenes where the budget is obviously lacking. It won’t be too distracting later on. For the most part, I really liked the costumes, especially in the Beixuan setting. So give it a few episodes — if you're still around after episode four, you'll probably enjoy it or at least finish it.

Final Verdict

Everlasting Longing is not the best historical drama out there. The script is underdeveloped, some characters aren't fully fleshed out, and the main couple deserved more time together after reuniting and some better-written scenarios. The secondary couple was ignored by the writers altogether.

But… this was romance-heavy with very high stakes. It was fast-paced and didn't waste time on unnecessary characters and subplots. The music is beautiful. And the relationship between Xuan Lie and Qi Luo was complex enough to keep me invested throughout. This is exactly why I watch romantic C-dramas — over-the-top stories with swoon-worthy male leads that make me feel things.

I think this would be perfect for someone just starting their journey into Chinese historical dramas who hasn't yet seen recent blockbusters like POJ or POB and doesn't have their bar set astronomically high. That said, I watched this right after those titles raised my bar, and I still enjoyed it. For me, this was very entertaining — flaws and all.

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Everlasting Longing – A Disguise Bound by Duty and Desire

🔹 What would you do if the only way to survive in your world was to live as someone you’re not?

🔹 Would I rewatch? No

✨ When disguises clash with destiny, can trust and love truly take root?

📕 Overview
🔹 36 episodes, romance + historical fantasy
🔹 Adapted from the novel Qiang Lai De Xin Niang by Xi Juan
🔹 Peng Xiao Ran as Jun Qi Luo: a brilliant woman who lives disguised as “Jun Fei Fan,” the illegitimate son, to protect her family and business
🔹 Chen Xing Xu as Xuan Lie: a royal general searching for his parents’ killers while fighting to unite the clans
🔹 The story begins when Jun Qi Luo’s disguise collides with Xuan Lie’s mission, leading to mistrust, sparks, and a slow pull toward love
🔹 At the time of this review, all episodes have aired

🌸 How It Felt Watching
🔹 A mix of mystery, banter, and slow-burn chemistry
🔹 Jun Qi Luo’s hidden identity kept the tension high, while her inventions showed her strength and creativity
🔹 The tone balanced action and romance, with battles, betrayals, and moments of longing that hit emotionally
🔹 Themes: love + courage + identity + family duty + justice

✨ Cast & Performances
🔹 Peng Xiao Ran as Jun Qi Luo: fiery, intelligent, and bold in every choice
🔹 Chen Xing Xu as Xuan Lie: intense, loyal, and emotional, matching her scene for scene
🔹 The supporting cast added humor, political scheming, and family bonds, giving depth beyond the romance

🎵 OST 🎵
🔹 “Troubles in This World” by Curley Gao
🔹 “The Mountains Are Green” by Tiger Hu
🔹 “Empty” by Alan Dawa Dolma

🎞️ Production Style
🔹 Gorgeous costumes and sets, from palace halls to sweeping outdoor landscapes
🔹 Action scenes were sharp, while smaller moments like market exchanges or quiet glances gave warmth
🔹 The mix of sweeping shots and close details made the world feel alive

☕ Tea Notes
🔹 What worked: strong leads with fiery chemistry, balanced mix of romance and action
🔹 What didn’t: side plots slowed momentum in parts
🔹 Would I rewatch? No
☕ SpillTheDramaTea’s Rating: 8/10 — a nice brew, I enjoyed it
✏️ As SpillTheDramaTea, this drama felt like watching a flame that flickered between hope and heartbreak. I enjoyed the ride
💭 Did you feel the same pull between the leads, or did the side plots test your patience?

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Great Potential, Missed Opportunity

I was so excited for this drama, but here I am dropping it. Quite simply, its strengths aren’t enough to carry it to the end.

It’s got beautiful scenery, costumes, good acting, and great plot to begin with, and more… but…

What starts as a brilliant enemies-to-lovers set up spirals downhill in its last half. The strength of this drama was in its leads. Both are written with depth, acted very well, and have tremendous chemistry. However, the writing begins to disintegrate their like ability. Our ML begins as a domineering but actually very kind general bent on avenging his parents death. He falls quickly in love with the FL lead and sparks fly. Our FL begins as a strong, loyal woman who is brilliant and independent. What they become? Due to the excessive angst of this show, our ML becomes blinded by his love to the point of selfishness and near obsession. Our FL becomes cold and distant and hyper-independent, and she is needlessly cold to him despite their love for one another.

They love each other, but she hurts him over and over because the plot necessitates it. (The writing here is very disappointing.)This is Romeo and Juliet, except Juliet wants to stay alive so she just treats Romeo awful over and over and Romeo tries everything he can to force her to stay against her will.

The plot idea itself is great, and the cast is awesome. But it simply falls short. Not to mention the subplots were so boring, and the characters who had the subplots were overall unlikable. (Except for one of the antagonists. He was awesome!)

Poor CGI, long and drawn out angst, and more ruin the amazing potential this drama had and the awesome way it started. I tried to give it my all, but I can’t bring myself to finish.

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Everlasting obsession

This story could have been an emotional journey of longing and love between two destined lovers from different nations. Instead it gave us an unoriginal obsessive love story centered around a main couple that does not even offer convincing chemistry. Relying heavily on miscommunication, secrets, and bullheaded stubbornness this drama fails to bring anything new and exciting to your screen. With bad CGI, poor scene progression and planning, and luke warm acting this drama continuously creates incoherent plots with characters you find yourself rooting against instead of for.

Genius eldest daughter, Jun Qi Lun, is suppressed under the weight of her family's name and their misogynistic rules that prevent women from running the family business. At a young age Qi Lun decides to adopt a male alter ego in order to help in the family business. The Jun Family works closely with the King creating weapons to supply their nation and protect their people but when the paranoid King demands more results the Jun's find themselves scrambling to obtain a material they desperately need to improve their crossbow design. Qi Lun dons her male ego and sets off to find the black crystal but shortly into the trip her caravan is met with bandits at the war torn border and she is taken captive by the future Eagle Lord of the neighboring nation. Their interactions over time lead them to a romance but their respective status make it impossible to be together.

The CGI presented in this was worse than I have seen in a long time, even when compared to many low budget short dramas. It is so distractedly bad that I often wondered why they did not just choose to contain the story to fewer sets. There were many instances where it also logically did not make sense. How do they go from a green forest next to a river bed and run a few minutes but then end up completely lost in a dessert and can't be found by the caravan of people that were with them? They ran for only a few minutes but somehow everywhere the eye can see is now sand and dessert and the green and thriving forest they just ran from is nowhere. This incontinuity would continue to plague the drama in many aspects. The female lead would be a genius but not when the plot needed her to be saved by the male lead. The family business was introduced as a strong provider of weapons in the beginning but then changed to be jewelry or cloth merchants. The cartoonish villainous extended family can plot to steal the family fortune but then behave like school bullies that have no actual intelligence.

Many of these plot missteps could be overlooked for viewers that prefer a romance heavy drama and can blindly believe anything else to just enjoy strong chemistry between lovers. But the female lead actress is often wooden in her portrayal and lacks the chemistry with her costar to make you feel as if she was actually interested in him. The male lead does a much better job at portraying his emotions and want for the female lead but his strong leader personality begins to deteriorate and he just becomes a man that skirts his responsibilities to chase a woman. The romance also creates drama through constant miscommunications, secrets, lies, and unmovable stubbornness often with no real purpose in the plot except to create angst and draw out the story. So much could have easily been resolved by actually trusting one another.Then you have the second couple where the female just stalks the unwilling male until he eventually softens and accepts her. Both love stories are centered around obsession with neither making choices to better their partner's lives and instead only wanting to ensure they end up together.

While I can see someone may enjoy this by turning off their brain I still can not recommend it.

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This is how a C-Drama should be.

Full disclaimer: I have a weakness for romance. So whenever there is a decent romance in a drama I tend to give it a higher score. So for the serious people take this with a grain of salt with the high score.

A C-drama should have a decent plot, intrigue, mystery, suspense, and good fight scenes. ROMANCE, eye candy, smart ML and FL, good casting, and a good wrap-up at the end. This happens to check all of the boxes. It is not perfect and that is why I did not give a perfect score. With that being said I enjoyed this drama.

STORY: ML and FL on opposing sides fall in love never forgetting who they are. So, the story is slow in parts but that seems to be the norm with C-dramas these days. I think that is to drag out more episodes so I am getting used to it. My one CON, in these dramas is that the plot does get lost at some point. It took a while to get the story going somewhere. So, I found myself wondering when it would get to the point, but then it happened, so I did not take offense and kept watching.

ACTING: The acting is okay or on par with this type of drama. It is filled with a rather large cast. You may find a couple of the characters a bit over the top but, somehow it works out in the end. I have been watching C-dramas for a few years and I do not get the over-the-top FAN thing. Some people do not like (Angela-baby)' but I do. Is she the best actress, no, but she is getting better.

Overall this is a good light-hearted watch.

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You cant stop wanting to watch this!

This is truly a refreshing drama, with such a great cast, lead, acting and chemistry between everyone.
The story is very well written with the entire plot feeling right and well balanced.
I LOVED SO MANY THINGS ABOUT THIS DRAMA, MAKING IT A MUST SEE!
--->the male & female lead are strong, wise, smart and beautiful actors, seeing how they fall for each other felt real and true, displaying great on screen chemistry
--->the costumes and hair made me wanna die on the spot. beautiful, strong, nomadic and very attractive for the male side
--->the story and rivalry between the clans and the lead makes it more harder and wanting to see the leads being together
--->adored seeing a story of two characters on the same level of importance falling for each other, working towards each other with small steps, side looks, trusting and thinking of each other all the time YET they knew their responsabilities and loyalty. A very mature aproach to such a story
--->for me, the best so far was the beixuan arc, seeing Xuan Lie rising to being the Wolf Lord and Qilou learning their culture

DOWNSIDE
--->some characters were SPOT ON ANNOYING, making stupid decision and being a pain in the back for the story (Princess Qingkou/Quimin)
--->some toxic stupid moments between the lead could have been resolved on such a simple level, just by communicating but knowing the story plots, of course they cant let them be
--->the CGY was worse on some episodes but what can you do

OVERALL:
Worth every second of watching
A very original and unique story, but the characters are the best of this entire production

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Could Have Been But Not

So, this is the first historical drama of Song Wei Long that I ever completed. I tried Untouchable Lovers but got bored and dropped it. Acting wise, I still find the emotions lacking from him. Same expressions I've seen him on Go Ahead and Find Yourself. As for Angelababy, I've only seen 3 of her dramas. This is the 3rd. I think she did better in General And I.
Storywise, I got hooked on the first 20 episodes. I'm not a fan of slowburns, but the story of the side characters got me interested. I should say, kisses were well executed by the leads. There are just some instances that are far stretched too long. Like, the FL's playing hard to get of her emotions and ML needs to die first before she finally admits her feelings. Like, WTH, you're carrying his child, yet, still needs to play hard to get. Afterall, she almost died too. Honestly, I felt sad for Qi Min's character. It's not his fault that he fell in love with FL. He was kinda betrayed at his own wedding. And yes, I truly admire how he was honest about his feelings up to the end. I also felt sad for the other side characters. It seems they all loved the wrong person. Thankfully, there's one couple who I find have a sweet fluffy romance....and that's Luo Qi and Xiu Kun.
I like the Father of the Jun's. He was able to raise his daughters well. I'm really not interested in the political aspect of the story, so I won't delve into it further.
Overall, this could have been really a good drama. I enjoyed the humor in some aspects. but, the chemistry of the leads just seem bland. Another thing that I didn't seem like was the the time lapse of 1 year towards the end. I mean, what's the sense of the leads going back together, when in the most crucial moment of your wife giving birth, as a partner, you weren't there. Even talking about having twins, yet, the kids should have an appearance at least.
As for the ending, it didn't gave me a feel good vibe, as a lot of tragedy has happened. And yes, most of the characters didn't get their own HE. Not to mention, most of them have unrequited love.
If you're into a feel good romance, I wouldn't recommend this for a rewatch value. But, if you like Song Wei Long, this drama is for you.

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Will get better the more you watch

This drama is the type that intrigues you and gets you to watch because of the interesting storyline and characters. I haven't finished an angela baby drama in a long time without leaving it unfinished. Maybe the last time I watched her was in a movie. Angela baby acting as a man was a bit forced and unnatural, but maybe that's also due to majority of the audience being used to her acting as a woman. It was a good start as I believe this may have been the first role where she had to pretend to be a man.

As the drama proceeded, maybe after you get in 3-5 episodes, most of the characters are very likeable. Can't say the same for the cousin and his father, but we're supposed to dislike them, so at least their acting was good and they were a good duo. The princess is also very good at responding to rejection and just very funny at times too. Xuan lei and his best friend, they have a very tight friendship & they're both pretty handsome. Xuan lei and angela baby have good chemistry that doesn't feel forced.

I liked how there was a good balance between work, romance, friendships, family, action, & politics among the kingdoms. Relationships were complicated back then and now. They faced societal pressures, familial pressures, responsibilities and duty to their king. It was a lot, so I understand why certain dynamics played the way they did.

Still better than an american movie I watched a couple days ago that was mediocre & too predictable, but didn’t really get me attached to any of the characters or intrigued to get to know the characters more. That's why I prefer the slow build up of asian dramas. There's character development, actual romantic gestures, and actually getting to know one another without doing the deed right away unlike most american movies & shows do back then and till this day.

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Good story and visuals

I enjoyed the good story line, plot development through fast paced episidesdes, in his historic drsma, Song Wei Long acted out his roll very well and he was thr best make lead here. But Angela baby, although one of tge prettiest faces in Chinese drama, really needs to show different emotions in her face and manner. her acting us rather flat and monotonous regarding of mood or situation called fir in scenes.
Just the same, a good drama to watch.
I think this is one of Angelababy's comeback dramas after being absent for a while. I really hope she can devote into a good actress in the future. On the contrary Song Wei Long has developed into a good actor since his early dramas. we don't rely on just his great looks but can enjoy his good acting skills now.

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It just gets worse as it gets nearer to the end

Well to start off, it was kind of silly the lack of brains the wolf king has. i had just finished a show where they were too smart, and now there was no smarts at all. it's like his whole personality and role was just about for some reason liking her specifically very quickly, and then making that the most important thing ever. on some level, I kind of liked this character as irresponsible as it sometimes is simply because he did a good job being sentimental and loyal although that may be moved a bit too fast. and you at least need a little bit of brains or you get yourself killed. a lot of their problems weren't that unsolvable but I felt they weren't very sharp. i felt like the people who wrote this did so with trying to figure out how to make things go wrong.Rather than make sense. felt like they wanted us to cry over things as much as possible. but it was a bit too forced. and it was a pretty annoying the the emperor of the northern country being such a terrible guy and then he goes and saves him. oh my god it's so old this trove saving evil emperors. sure.It's his brother, but he just had to get there at the last second, and things just had to go perfectly wrong for the guy rebelling

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An enjoyable watch of everlasting love

The story focusses on Jun Qi Luo,from Yannan,who gets captured by the to be wolf lord of Beixuan,Xuan Lie,who is searching for Jun Fei Fan,Baigong's heir,for resolving the mystery of his parents death 12 years ago.
Angelababy as Jun Qi Luo/Jun feifan, is smart, practical,kind,matured,dedicated,skilled and intelligent woman who is well known for the weapons she designs as Baigong's heir.
Song Weilong as usual,shines as Xuan Lie,who is smart,brave,confident.His love for Qi Luo is undeterring and exceptional!!
How the both of them solve all the difficulties that come their way and pass all the hurdles to be together at the end forms the next part of the story.
The pace is good with very few boring moments.Costumes,sets, locations,all are very pleasant to watch.
All the actors fit their roles perfectly.
Overall it is an enjoyable and a decent watch!!

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