I don't have high hopes for this series. It's the kind of series that starts veeeery slow, to the point, you have…
Please be patient. It is only 4 episodes in, and still 8 more episodes to go.
This was based on a novel that is much more slow burn than this. It is already progressing quite well as of EP 4 in the series, faster than in the novel.
On the other side, there are those who dislike and bemoaned the changes that made this story/development progress faster in the series than the original novel.
I think the excess of school scenes is making BL boring, in my opinion
For a Taiwanese BL series, to be honest, many of them are not set in school setting. For example, all of the latest HIStory series are not set in school, HIStory 3 Trapped is not school setting too.
Thus, for this Taiwanese production to feature school to me is fine - let’s not compare it to Thai BL that is often saturated with high school setting drama series.
I just realised that Benjamin Tsang also appeared in the trailer for the novel Miracle which aired in early 2021, which later on was adapted as Kiseki: Dear to Me in 2023 but with different actors.
Watched that trailer before, over 3 years ago - no wonder I realise now why Jiang Tian’s actor looks familiar. To be honest, he looks even better here in The On1y One!
helppp comments about this series being slow and boring is getting on my nerves, you probably wanna skip to the…
Let’s not attack back or demean other BL series here even if we may be frustrated with those who kept on repeating the slow and boring part / this series being about stepbrothers when it is not.
Just my opinion, as I am someone who usually appreciate the character and story more than appearances.
However, I personally think that this preoccupation over whether the actors have beard shadow or stubble or not, or whether the production team managed to conceal them distract from the true value and beauty of this series.
(Personally, including myself when I was that age, people at the age of 17 or even younger can have beard too, and considering this - I don't think it's an issue if they somehow showed that, that is precisely what being natural is. This is what attracts me to this series, that it appears natural rather than idealistic and unblemished.)
Of course don't get me wrong, there are those who place a lot of emphasis/value on those details too, and that is actually fine. Just sharing my thoughts here.
4. Regarding the stepbrothers trope (which as we all ought to know, Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang aren't really legally even stepbrothers as others have mentioned and explained here before)
Well, that's what a popular trope is, in whichever products (be it novel or drama series) - just like soul transmigration, enemies to lovers, rebirth, mutual pining, high school, blue shorts of Thai school BL dramas etc., they are what makes certain novels or series popular. Each countries have their own unique tropes and identities, and this series is the same as well.
Just as in even large blockbuster movies with their own tropes - like zero to hero, plot armour, sudden surprises, all of which made us to go to the theatres to watch them. All these are what we are looking for in what we watch (albeit the reality that different people have different preferences, what we like and what we don't like).
But yes, again, this series shouldn't really be classified under stepbrothers trope, more like 'almost-stepbrothers, but in the end, not stepbrothers' trope.
3. Regarding the age of the casts (that are 28 and 30 to play characters that are 17 or so)
Again, without spoiling too much about the novel, the later part of the story involves few years jump after the current timeline (at least 5-6 years). By which time, the main leads will already be close to or in their mid-twenties. Casting those who are 17/18 will have problem as then they may be too young for the later part of the story.
Then, casting those who are too young have its problems too, as if they contain some rather hot scenes, then some people may also complain that the actors seem to be/are underage. The current Thai adaptation of Addicted Heroin has this issue as one of the main leads is only 16.
Essentially, it is difficult to satisfy everyone or make everyone happy with the choice of cast, be it age, appearance or whatever. I personally believe that the director and the production team did a good job in choosing Benjamin Tsang and Liu Dong Qin for their roles, and we can see the result in how they have acted so far in the past four episodes.
2. Another additional reason why the series may have to be somewhat different from the novel
Continuing from my previous point - this series is twelve episodes long versus other popular danmei adaptations made in Mainland China such as The Untamed (50 episodes), Word of Honor (36 episodes), Heaven's Official Blessing (60 episodes planned, 24 released in 2 seasons), Immortality (50 episodes planned), and even Addicted Heroin (15 episodes released, but to finish the whole story would probably need about 50 episodes).
Thus, since this Taiwanese production is shorter in number of episodes, it cannot fit all the details that other popular danmei and novel adaptations could afford. Usually many of those longer productions have bigger budgets, and as it is well-known, this series (The On1y One) is banned in Mainland China, where many/most of the fans are in, I feel that the director and production team did not want to take the risk to make long, extended, detailed series (30-40 episodes long) without the guarantee that this series would be successful.
Most of the original novel fans are in Mainland China, and if they cannot support this series through the legitimate channels available to this series, it is rather difficult for the director and production team to risk it by following fully the very slow-burn nature of the original novel (that's what I can say about the novel without spoiling more about it).
1. Why the series may have to be somewhat different from the novel
I feel that it is partly due to the different nature of novel and series. When you get a novel, whether hardcopy or e-version, usually you can get the entire product. And if you are really obsessed over it or like it very much, you can finish it all in one day. This way, the story can be as slow burn as the author wanted it to be.
However, in the series, especially since we are only getting 2 episodes per week (which is already good, considering many series are usually only one episode per week) - the story cannot be too slow burn - or else some if not many may drop it entirely even before they get to the development part.
(Already shown here with how some people in the comments below were complaining about the slow burn nature of the couple's development - imagine if the development is even more slow burn like how it's in the novel, let's say with ten episodes before they finally kiss or progress with their relationship) - once the viewers drop the series, they may not continue watching afterwards.
Hence, in the limited time available in the twelve episodes of this series, they have to adjust the story so that we can get the most out of the time available.
(The fact that this series is 55 minutes without any advertisements and sponsor promotion common to many other BL series, we already have more time, but with just twelve episodes, it's still limited, especially against Mainland Chinese drama series that often have at least 30, 40, 50 or even more episodes)
Can you spoil (with the spoiler tag of course) to me what those characteristics are? I haven't read the novel…
This matter was mentioned before in this page - and as you mentioned if the series really want to fully explore this and portray the homophobic avoidance of Jiang Tian, his past experience and Sheng Wang’s determination to stay away from Jiang Tian, it will require many more episodes than currently planned.
Many if not most of the fans of the original danmei novel are from Mainland China where this series is banned from - so it does not make sense for the director and the production team to please the novel fans by fully exploring every aspects of the novel given that their support through legitimate channels may be limited at best.
There are already some people who voiced their dislike of the slow-burn nature of the first four episodes - imagine how they might have reacted if the relationship is even more slow burn than this - let’s say ten episodes just for them to even realise their feelings for each other and kiss.
If that’s the case - this series will need to have at least twenty episodes. Without knowing how successful it may be, despite the popularity of the novel, I feel that the production team chose to decide which part to cut and modify to keep it to twelve episodes (which is already good with 55 plus minutes per episode) to keep it within their budget.
I love the deep conversation between Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang during the leaves sweeping scene.
With the earlier scene when Jiang Tian was treating Uncle Mute, this showed (subtly) how Jiang Tian has chosen Sheng Wang to be his precious one.
Jiang Tian: 'If there is only one person in the world who can understand you, that person is truly the most important one'
(To me, while it was referring to Uncle Mute and Old Zhao, it was also indirect reference from Jiang Tian to Sheng Wang - he was looking at Sheng Wang when he said 'That person is truly the most important one')
Then...
Jiang Tian: 'There was no present before, so the past was important'
Jiang Tian: 'But now, we have the present so the past is no longer important, so I want to live in the present'
This is likely a reference to his past time when his father and mother were still together (before anything that happened between them - not going to spoil any detail here from the novel)
While Sheng Wang also has a similar experience of losing his mother when he was young, and he always looked back to the past, missing his mother each day.
With this conversation - Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang opens themselves to each other, and they are the 'present' that needs to be cherished, and now that they have each other, they can begin moving on from the past.
Jiang Tian even then already thought of a future of them together:
Jiang Tian: 'Why do you want to stay in the present? There's a better future waiting for US.'
1 
This was based on a novel that is much more slow burn than this. It is already progressing quite well as of EP 4 in the series, faster than in the novel.
On the other side, there are those who dislike and bemoaned the changes that made this story/development progress faster in the series than the original novel.
Thus, for this Taiwanese production to feature school to me is fine - let’s not compare it to Thai BL that is often saturated with high school setting drama series.
Watched that trailer before, over 3 years ago - no wonder I realise now why Jiang Tian’s actor looks familiar. To be honest, he looks even better here in The On1y One!
Link to the Miracle novel trailer:
https://youtu.be/SfAavpwtTJw?si=ZG8ynmP906N1gwEx (Original)
https://youtu.be/qmVd5ROSopQ?si=YqiBtqMo2sbCq4Oj (with English sub)
Let’s share our thoughts positively! 😊
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxwoWVfEU_0 (Original Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9npmXIR0k8 (With Pinyin Lyrics)
Verse 1:
Nǐ lái guò nǐ zǒu
You've come here, and you're leaving
wǒ ài guò wǒ tòng
I loved it though it hurts
wú fǎ yǒng bào de nǐ ràng wǒ zhuì luò
Though unable to hug you, you make me fall
-
wǒ shì zhe xiàng nǐ zǒu qù
I try to walk towards you
cái fā xiàn nǐ zǎo mò mò zài wǒ shēn hòu
I realised only then that you had been silently behind me
fǎng fú hēi yè yǔ bái zhòu zhǔ zǎi tiān kōng
As if night and day dominate the sky
-
gù shì de jìn tóu dào dǐ zài nǎ lǐ?
Where is the end of the story?
Shì bù shì ài qíng yóu shuí lái jiè dìng?
Who can define whether it is love or not?
Nà yàng de qīn mì méi yǒu rén néng dài tì
No one can replace that kind of intimacy
-
Reff:
wǒ men de xiāng yù rú yín hé de guǐ jī
Our encounter is like the trajectory of the Milky Way
bù néng jiǒng bì xiàng zhè yī chǎng dà yǔ
Can't avoid a heavy rain like this
wǒ men de qīng chūn rú dìng gé de shí jiān
Our youth is like time that is frozen
cǐ kè yǒng héng wǒ xiàng zhe nǐ kuáng bēn
I am running towards you, now and always
zài hēi àn gǔ dǐ nǐ huì jiē zhù wǒ de xīn
In the dark valley, you will catch my heart
-
Verse 2:
shuí yě zài táo bì mìng zhòng de zhù dìng?
Who is also running away from destiny?
Zuì yuǎn de jù lì bù shì wǒ ài nǐ
The farthest distance is not that I love you
shì wǒ zài zhè lǐ nǐ què bù gǎn kào jìn
I'm here but you don't dare to come close (to me)
-
Reff:
wǒ men de xiāng yù rú yín hé de guǐ jī
Our encounter is like the trajectory of the Milky Way
bù néng jiǒng bì xiàng zhè yī chǎng dà yǔ
Can't avoid a heavy rain like this
wǒ men de qīng chūn rú dìng gé de shí jiān
Our youth is like time that is frozen
cǐ kè yǒng héng wǒ xiàng zhe nǐ kuáng bēn
I am running towards you, now and always
-
Verse 3:
xiàn zài ràng wǒ men zì yóu de fēi ba
Now, let us fly freely
xiàn zài ràng wǒmen jìn qíng de ài ba
Now, let us love as much as we can
xiàn zài nǐ zhōng yú shì wǒ
Now, you are finally mine
wǒ zhōng yú shì nǐ
I am finally yours
-
Reff:
wǒ men de xiāng yù rú yín hé de guǐ jī
Our encounter is like the trajectory of the Milky Way
bù néng jiǒng bì xiàng zhè yī chǎng dà yǔ
Can't avoid a heavy rain like this
wǒ men de qīng chūn rú dìng gé de shí jiān
Our youth is like time that is frozen
cǐ kè yǒng héng wǒ xiàng zhe nǐ kuáng bēn
I am running towards you, now and always
zài hēi àn gǔ dǐ nǐ huì jiē zhù wǒ de xīn
In the dark valley, you will catch my heart
However, I personally think that this preoccupation over whether the actors have beard shadow or stubble or not, or whether the production team managed to conceal them distract from the true value and beauty of this series.
(Personally, including myself when I was that age, people at the age of 17 or even younger can have beard too, and considering this - I don't think it's an issue if they somehow showed that, that is precisely what being natural is. This is what attracts me to this series, that it appears natural rather than idealistic and unblemished.)
Of course don't get me wrong, there are those who place a lot of emphasis/value on those details too, and that is actually fine. Just sharing my thoughts here.
Well, that's what a popular trope is, in whichever products (be it novel or drama series) - just like soul transmigration, enemies to lovers, rebirth, mutual pining, high school, blue shorts of Thai school BL dramas etc., they are what makes certain novels or series popular. Each countries have their own unique tropes and identities, and this series is the same as well.
Just as in even large blockbuster movies with their own tropes - like zero to hero, plot armour, sudden surprises, all of which made us to go to the theatres to watch them. All these are what we are looking for in what we watch (albeit the reality that different people have different preferences, what we like and what we don't like).
But yes, again, this series shouldn't really be classified under stepbrothers trope, more like 'almost-stepbrothers, but in the end, not stepbrothers' trope.
Again, without spoiling too much about the novel, the later part of the story involves few years jump after the current timeline (at least 5-6 years). By which time, the main leads will already be close to or in their mid-twenties. Casting those who are 17/18 will have problem as then they may be too young for the later part of the story.
Then, casting those who are too young have its problems too, as if they contain some rather hot scenes, then some people may also complain that the actors seem to be/are underage. The current Thai adaptation of Addicted Heroin has this issue as one of the main leads is only 16.
Essentially, it is difficult to satisfy everyone or make everyone happy with the choice of cast, be it age, appearance or whatever. I personally believe that the director and the production team did a good job in choosing Benjamin Tsang and Liu Dong Qin for their roles, and we can see the result in how they have acted so far in the past four episodes.
Continuing from my previous point - this series is twelve episodes long versus other popular danmei adaptations made in Mainland China such as The Untamed (50 episodes), Word of Honor (36 episodes), Heaven's Official Blessing (60 episodes planned, 24 released in 2 seasons), Immortality (50 episodes planned), and even Addicted Heroin (15 episodes released, but to finish the whole story would probably need about 50 episodes).
Thus, since this Taiwanese production is shorter in number of episodes, it cannot fit all the details that other popular danmei and novel adaptations could afford. Usually many of those longer productions have bigger budgets, and as it is well-known, this series (The On1y One) is banned in Mainland China, where many/most of the fans are in, I feel that the director and production team did not want to take the risk to make long, extended, detailed series (30-40 episodes long) without the guarantee that this series would be successful.
Most of the original novel fans are in Mainland China, and if they cannot support this series through the legitimate channels available to this series, it is rather difficult for the director and production team to risk it by following fully the very slow-burn nature of the original novel (that's what I can say about the novel without spoiling more about it).
1. Why the series may have to be somewhat different from the novel
I feel that it is partly due to the different nature of novel and series. When you get a novel, whether hardcopy or e-version, usually you can get the entire product. And if you are really obsessed over it or like it very much, you can finish it all in one day. This way, the story can be as slow burn as the author wanted it to be.
However, in the series, especially since we are only getting 2 episodes per week (which is already good, considering many series are usually only one episode per week) - the story cannot be too slow burn - or else some if not many may drop it entirely even before they get to the development part.
(Already shown here with how some people in the comments below were complaining about the slow burn nature of the couple's development - imagine if the development is even more slow burn like how it's in the novel, let's say with ten episodes before they finally kiss or progress with their relationship) - once the viewers drop the series, they may not continue watching afterwards.
Hence, in the limited time available in the twelve episodes of this series, they have to adjust the story so that we can get the most out of the time available.
(The fact that this series is 55 minutes without any advertisements and sponsor promotion common to many other BL series, we already have more time, but with just twelve episodes, it's still limited, especially against Mainland Chinese drama series that often have at least 30, 40, 50 or even more episodes)
Many if not most of the fans of the original danmei novel are from Mainland China where this series is banned from - so it does not make sense for the director and the production team to please the novel fans by fully exploring every aspects of the novel given that their support through legitimate channels may be limited at best.
There are already some people who voiced their dislike of the slow-burn nature of the first four episodes - imagine how they might have reacted if the relationship is even more slow burn than this - let’s say ten episodes just for them to even realise their feelings for each other and kiss.
If that’s the case - this series will need to have at least twenty episodes. Without knowing how successful it may be, despite the popularity of the novel, I feel that the production team chose to decide which part to cut and modify to keep it to twelve episodes (which is already good with 55 plus minutes per episode) to keep it within their budget.
This series deserves 8.4 or 8.5 if not more.
With the earlier scene when Jiang Tian was treating Uncle Mute, this showed (subtly) how Jiang Tian has chosen Sheng Wang to be his precious one.
Jiang Tian: 'If there is only one person in the world who can understand you, that person is truly the most important one'
(To me, while it was referring to Uncle Mute and Old Zhao, it was also indirect reference from Jiang Tian to Sheng Wang - he was looking at Sheng Wang when he said 'That person is truly the most important one')
Then...
Jiang Tian: 'There was no present before, so the past was important'
Jiang Tian: 'But now, we have the present so the past is no longer important, so I want to live in the present'
This is likely a reference to his past time when his father and mother were still together (before anything that happened between them - not going to spoil any detail here from the novel)
While Sheng Wang also has a similar experience of losing his mother when he was young, and he always looked back to the past, missing his mother each day.
With this conversation - Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang opens themselves to each other, and they are the 'present' that needs to be cherished, and now that they have each other, they can begin moving on from the past.
Jiang Tian even then already thought of a future of them together:
Jiang Tian: 'Why do you want to stay in the present? There's a better future waiting for US.'
:)