Michelle Topham

I'm not usually into "pretty boys" as there are hundreds in C-dramas. So many, most of them meld into one for me, unless they have superb acting skills, and then they stand out.

Xiao Shun Yao, on the other hand, isn't stereotypically handsome. He has a thick face, a large nose, and features that are not uniform. He's also a heftier guy than many Chinese actors (hefty being subjective, as no lead actors are particularly thicc in China :).

Altogether, though, and in my opinion, all that makes him not particularly handsome (although I agree with you, he has pretty eyes), but incredibly sexy.

And I'll take sexy over pretty boy any day of the week ;) Plus, he can ACT, and sing, and he loves animals (see video below) -- what a great package, eh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXieFKxLm-Q

Nope. He's still a stunning looking guy. Regardless of his character's personality :)

He was superb in A Dream Within a Dream as well. One of my favorite characters in that excellent drama.

After Episode 24, I've just given it a 1 out of 10 (which I rarely give) as probably THE worst short C-drama I've seen in a long time. A disjointed plot that ultimately makes little sense, Eleanor Lee's horrible monotone, blank-faced performance (I generally like her, but she was terrible in this), some truly amateurish performances by supporting cast, an ending "twist" that wasn't much of a twist at all, stupid scenario after stupid scenario with plot deviations going nowhere, a writer who hasn't heard of the term "show don't tell" ( never ending monologues of banality by numerous characters), and "a messenger hamster". ROTFL.

Throw in the over 6 minutes of flashbacks at the beginning of Episode 23, and I just can't with what an absolute waste of my finite time on this planet this drivel turned out to be. Oh and the 1 out of 10 is for the cinematography. It's pretty.

watch Ep 27 :)

Not in Ep 26 :)

Not so far. She's as useless as she has been since around Episode 5 and I just finished watching Episode 26. Every few episodes, she becomes stronger for a few minutes, then soundly gets her ass kicked and ends up weaker than ever. Every. Freaking. Time.

I held out great hope we might eventually get the strong FL we got at the beginning, but the drama is now almost 3/4 over and the same repetitiveness of FL being strong, gets ass kicked, weak, FL gets strong, gets ass kicked, weak, just keeps happening over and over and over again.

Becoming tiresome at this point. Doubt I'll drop it, as Allen Ren is still brilliant, the fight scenes are excellent, the story is still interesting, and some of the side characters are cool, but it could have been soooooo much more.

I know, right?

If you say so. .

Ye Gods, it's so interesting how someone can make statements about someone they know nothing about, and are absolutely CONVINCED that they're correct :)

And P.S., I liked her performance in Mysterious Lotus Casebook -- sure, she was a bit over the top, but at least she made the character interesting. In this, she's made her as bland and dull as she possibly could.

Yep. She's only terrified that Xin Mei will wander off with Lu Qian Qiao and leave her alone. She has nobody except "her senior", and she has never had anyone in her entire life care about her except her senior, and so it's completely understandable she doesn't want to lose her.

Sure, she's going about it in an incredibly childish way, but she was never taught how to be anything other than an abused child, and that's what abused children do. Act out.

Personally, I like her as at least she has a huge personality, amazing skills and doesn't let anyone stand in her way of getting what she wants. Wish I could say the same about the FL.

Yep. Hope one of the people constantly pursuing her kills her. :) (Sadly, that unfortunately won't happen, as we're stuck with her and her chemistry-less relationships with Lu Qian Qiao). A more worthless FL it would be hard to find. The drama is excellent. She's an idiot.

The usual group of "eternally offended" woke morons are downrating it because the lead actress is still a teenager. That's what they said they would do before it even premiered, and that's exactly what they've done.

Same group of morons that downrated King the Land to a 3 at one point as they were "offended" by one character in it. And, as usual, MDL did nothing to stop the idiocy with this one either. And they wonder why nobody takes MDL ratings seriousl y anymore.

Just finished Ep 24 and, believe me, she becomes more and more useless as it progresses. We're now at the damsel in distress phase, where she relies on the ML to save her every time. Beginning to despise the character immensely.

The side characters are interesting, as is the ML. There is ZERO chemistry between the ML and the FL - am now fast forwarding thru all their scenes, as they've become mind-numbing. Drama is still awesome. Their relationship is not :)

Pace has slowed waaaaay down in the last two episodes, the FL is increasingly useless and increasingly annoying. Hopefully it will pick back up. If the FL gets killed in the next episode, I'd be even happier :)

He's also really young -- just 22, but has a decent acting range for someone barely an adult :) He had a guest role in The King's Avatar (fabulous drama!) and really stood out for me in that one too. Especially as he was only about 15 or 16 at the time.

It's actually a very interesting scenario, with the second season, IMO, being FAR more powerful once you understand the backstory of Season 1. It might seem like two separate stories, but it's not at all.

And remember, if you find the first season slow-going (I did a bit), you can always watch it on 1.5 or 2x speed :)

She's far more interesting than the bland useless FL.

The soundtrack is gorgeous. I've been listening to it on repeat on YouTube Music for days. Then again, it would be as its by renowned Chinese composer Hu Xiao Ou who also composed the music for series like The Prisoner of Beauty, Unveil: Jadewind, Blood River etc. His OSTs are always epic, and this is no different.

Orchestra btw is the China International Philharmonic Orchestra. They also performed the soundtrack for The Untamed, Nirvana in Fire, The Longest Day in Chang'an and several others. Equally stunning music. They place some of the tracks from the dramas during their live concerts.

BTW, I wrote an article yesterday about the Fate Chooses You OST with all the pertinent information if anyone is interested:

https://michelletopham.com/fate-chooses-you-ost-information-composer-lyricist-theme-song-artists-tracks-instruments-and-more/

Yes, you need to watch both seasons or you won't understand the second season or many of the references in it. Forever and Ever is the second season and the second half of a novel, One and Only being the first half of the novel.