Best Choice Ever

Oh so boring! :(

Unfortunately, yes. The trailers and reels would make you think it’s a romance story between Yangzi and Xukai, but it’s really not.

The drama revolves around Mai Chenghuan and her family, centering on her relationship with her mother. The mother has a really annoying character where she talks too much and constantly interferes with other people lives. Too much screen time were given to both the parents which I did not enjoy. The other couple which is her best friend and little brother also did not interest me one bit.

The first half focused mainly on the FL relationship with her bf of 3 years, whom she didn’t know was the son of a very wealthy family. Somehow forced to get married, she finds there’s too many differences in their social status and creates conflict with the future mother and sister in law. These scenes were so frustrating to watch. And her own mother never learns- even after breaking off the relationship, she secretly held an engagement party , tricked her to attend it and it was SUCH A MESS!

After that it gets boring, a grandma dies, she inherits a hotel and navigates her way to run the hotel, whilst getting closer to xukai and liking him… really not that interesting.

So unfortunately will be dropping this. I just fast forward too too much just to get to their kiss scene in ep26- and even that was a lack of chemistry and let down. Definitely not recommended.

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Mai ChengHuan's growth to independence

TLDR: If you've read the discussions on Viki and MDL, you will have seen the overbearing, annoying and toxic mom labels. I won't deny that the mother was portrayed very well by actress He Sai Fei. And many people who are unfamiliar with Asian culture may not understand her portrayal, so they dropped the series because of her, even though she eventually strives to understand her children better, and they reach an understanding. Also, if you're just expecting a RomCom, this series is not for you.

This drama is more about family life and the relationships between the family members. Not many of us will have the economic background as the Mai family, who are living in government housing, and where the parents' big dream is for the government to demolish their building so they can collect the relocation money and move to the suburbs. Mr. and Mrs. Mai have sacrificed enough to be able to send their two children to college, and ChengZao had scholarships while also tutoring while attending school. He's in his early 20s and still sleeps on a cot in their living room. Older sister ChengHuan is 29 and diligently works in the hotel industry. She wants to be independent and to be able to alleviate her parents' difficult life. As her mom increasingly interferes with her life, the fragile balance between filial piety and independence breaks, leading to a public row between her and her mom.

Things I liked:
- the very gradual and realistic change in the relationship between Yao ZhiMing and Mai ChengHuan. They started off on the wrong foot. From my perspective, he fell first but could only support her without her knowing about it.
- Yao ZhiMing and Mai ChengHuan being there for each other, physically present and emotionally available, was the most romantic thing. Viewers define romance differently. Some go for the big ring, flowers, chocolate. Me - someone to hold me when I'm down and someone to listen so I can hear myself think.
- ChengHuan's journey growing up with an overbearing mom to being able to speak up for herself, not second-guessing herself, but being able to stand up for herself was a joy to behold.
- the friendship between siblings ChengHuan and ChengZao. They're the only ones who know their parents and know what the other is going through.
- the friendship between ChengHuan and MaoMao. They have each other's backs.

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Love every second of this

This was such a great show.

It was a family drama and watching this family grow from where they stated to where they finished was such great entertainment. The whole cast was amazing.

The mother was so annoying in the start but you came to understand her and her story by the end. Every character grew so much from the first episode. I just loved every minute of this. I loved all the storey beats although I do feel there was a LOT happens in the last 10 or so episodes, they could have stretched it out. Who am I kidding I just want more of this show.

One gripe is I would have really loved to see a proposal scene between Chenghuan and Zhiming, that was the only thing that felt unfinished. I want my romantic proposal!! lol. Even better if it had been Chenghuan proposing to Zhiming. But alas, it didnt happenthefore it was docked 0.5. :)

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An appealing, and interesting urban cdrama

Best choice ever is an interesting family drama which started with a comedy but seriousness at the same time. Best choice ever is indeed an interesting family drama.

There are four characters I loved the most in this drama and those characters are; Mai chenghuan, Yao Zhiming, Mao Yongxin, and Mai Chengzao.

What I loved about chenghuan is her principle, determination, decisiveness and ambitiousness. There's also the love she has for her whole family, and when she's taken a decision, she always stand by that decision.

There's also Yao zhiming, a successful businessman who only seeked profit in whatever he does. Furthermore, he had little trust in people, the only one he trusted was his secretary 'he dong'. But he later changed his view of life upon getting to know chenghuan. He discovered the true beauty and meaning of life.

There's also chenghuan's best friend "mao yongxin" who married early but later decisively got a divorce. What I liked most about her is her desciveness.
And there's also chengzao. He studied law, but found it hard getting into a top law firm.

Among these characters, there's chenghuan who had a failed relationship but didn't allow it to affect her determination. Zhiming who didn't believe in true love but unexpectedly fell in love with chenghuan. Yongxin who no longer believed in marriage, changed her mind when she fell in love with chengzao. And there's chengzhao who reunited with, and married the woman he's loved for more than a decade.

In conclusion, best choice ever is a very realistic urban cdrama. The reality acting, happenings of life, and comedy are what made it unique. And really, anyone who chooses to watch this drama won't be disappointed!!

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awesome

- This drama was truly awesome.

Firstly i watched this mainly for the 2 mainly characters they were v well matched and complemented each other.

Secondly they love story was unique in the sense that 1 new what they wanted. Despite how that came together, each with respect for each other. Although the mom did annoy me in the beginning, she did eventually grow on me and got to understand her and enjoy her.

Thirdly I loved the dynamics of the story unfolding and how very grateful and thankful can go alone way in life. And family can get through situations in life.

Definitely a good drama and well wry written story

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UNDERRATED DEFINITELY DESERVES A HIGHER RATING!!

When i started this show i literally had no expectations, for one it was a female centric chinese family drama(most of which are generic), there was an ex-bf and his annoying family, the fl's annoying mother and worst of all the pathetic ratings on mdl..But dont let any of these stop you from watching this show


pros:

1) All the characters are realistic and their reactions to situations also seem human, no one is excessively kind and they react the way a normal person would in most situations

2) parallels between characters: i think that there are a lot of clever parallels drawn by making certain similar characters in order to prove that the environment you were raised in matters more than money, xie jialiang's father's mistress grew up in poverty just like MCH but she turned out to be greedy and cunning whereas MCH is caring and diligent, we also see some comparisons between MCH's ex and Zhiming, although both of them are rich, zhiming was forced to be independent and opportunistic and he learned to cherish his loved ones due to all the loss he faced whereas xie jialiang turned out to be timid because he was used to always getting what he wanted and not having to fight for anything(hence not being able to protect MCH)

3) The pacing: I have to say the pacing was absolutely perfect for most of the show and i think that the breakup/resolving of issues with mom all took the perfect amount of time

4) One of the biggest issues i have with certain female centric shows is that they force the fl to choose between love and career (although this may be realistic) but im glad that the fl didnt have to give up on either and got the best of both worlds

5) The ML....YAO ZHIMING OMLL...He is the epitome of husband material, there are so many shows where the ml ends up "helping" the fl and basically the intelligent fl is dumb in comparison but this man was so respectful, he never made decisions for her, he always stood by her side when she needed him, he tolerated her mother even when they were not together and he was RESPECTFUL. after hearing his grandmas will he did not throw a tantrum or make some plot to steal the hotel(this may be the bare minimum but its still so gentleman like) and he always lets her know when hes jealous or uncomfy with a situations (hes literally such a green flag)


(may contain spoilers below)
cons:
I only really have one con and thats a pro in itself in a way? SO the fl's mother never really got the retribution but on the flip side i think that its very realistic she didnt(so technically not a con)

she lived in the country side and was very uneducated and she got married at a young age for a better life but was still stuck in the circle of poverty and she lived most of her life as a mother, she had no other identity besides a mother/wife and so her only job was to worry about her husband and children and make decisions for them....I wish they hadnt given a her mom a terminal illness at the end because that literally felt like they gave her physical pain in return for the emotional trauma she put her kids through, it feels really weird hating on a sick character and i felt like she should have changed more.....BUT I personally also feel that the chances of an asian mother changing her personality and habit of nagging is one in a million (lmfao) and most people cant change the way they behave so yeah i think it wasnt that bad

one other thing that was weird was how many rich people were around her, shes like a real life rich person magnet(I'm still waiting for my grandma to tell me she is secretly a millionaire T-T)

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Beautiful Slice Of Life Drama

Only up to Episode 16 has been released, but I’m really enjoying the storyline. So sad they only drop 2 a day, but better than waiting weeks in between.

The lead and supporting actors are really presenting the story well, and of course I already have my favorite characters. (The grandmother of course!!) It was also refreshing to see the FL , although exceptionally generous, not back down with one of her coworkers. *more often than not, the jealous coworker is let off the hook.

**wishing my Chinese was good enough to read the book this is based off of.

Looking forward to seeing which direction this will go!!

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Really a great show. Worth watching!

I am here to give a review about this drama after watching 16 episodes. After lighter and princess and hidden love, this is the drama that has surprised me. I mean story acting is next level. The FL killed it by her performance in this drama. I liked her from Go Go squid, she was so cute and childish there. But in this drama she is mature, brave and smart FL. And also the ML ( xu kai ) was so handsome and cute in this drama. This is not the typical romantic Chinese drama where the rich boss ML fall for employee FL. It's totally different drama. It's shows how you value your family, how you support them and how much you love your family. I really can't wait for the other episodes.

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