mooc

Well, 2ML is not sticking to the FL to be her friend.
How many times does the 2ML grabs the FL by her shoulder, touches her face etc etc....Do male friends do that to their female friends? a big NO.

Like I said, 2ML in Cdramas make the FL look like a fool. No women who has dated would be so ignorant as to why a guy is sticking her and keeps touching her.

Probably the worst trope currently in Cdramas, especially when FL is not aware of her brother wanting to shag her.
Second worst is girl dating brothers/cousins or having sweet interactions with them.
Third worst would be the guy dating sisters (have not seen this trope played in any Cdrama though, hence third worse)

Why do Cdramas 2ML come across so awful?

And because they come across as awful, it makes it look like FL is stupid to stick around them.

And to juice it up, should have the ML date the cute colleague from the office who is after him. Their fluffy interactions before the FL might wake her heart for the ML.

Spot on,

For me TMPB is not a love story.
It is story of Bai Qian. It's basically the FL story.
It's about her first love,
It's about her central aim in the series, to bring back her master,
it's about her tribulations to become a goddess,
it's about her second love who we all pretend is the ML.

There really is no ML in TMPB. Ye Hua is just a plot device to show the growth of Bai Qian.

There is only one lead in this series & thats Bai Qian. There are numerous supporting characters who accompany her in her journey & one of them happens to be the Ye Hua.

For all who think otherwise, pretend Ye Hua did not exist in TMPB, we would still have a great story of Bai Qian.

Now imagine ALP without ML or FL...there is absolutely nothing to the story.

Opposite for me,

ALP is way way better than Eternal Love.
In ALP, the central theme for both ML and FL is their love for each other. It's not about other things. 'other' things are there as plot devices to show the love of ML and FL.

On the contrary, Eternal Love has nothing to do with it's name sake.
Only ML was invested in love.
FL on the other hand had ML may be on 3rd or 4th on her list of priorities. She had other more important things to do and uses ML to reach her goals. Right until the ML death, you don't get any sense of "Eternal Love" from FL towards ML.
After his death, all her crying and drinking just came across as fake. She never showed it when ML was alive or showed her desperation to be with ML.

SML,
This slime ball is using his Female Student to hit on her sister.

Eventually these two will end up but how in the world can the fact that this dude was hitting on FL and using the sister only to end up with the sister.

Episode 3 confused me.

FL goes for family lunch with her childhood sweetheart and both sets of parents are talking about marriage.
In another scene we meet FL ex-boyfriend who is mean her.

The FL parents did not know she had a boyfriend? Why would they be going all cute about them being childhood sweethearts who are destined for each other?

Just could not understand the whole set up, writing is horrible and editing is terrible.

Wonderful first 8 episodes.

Great ML and FL characterization. Like how the story revolves around the main leads and supporting cast is there to support them and not take canter stage.

Wow, thank you.

I really mean it. Thought I was the only one here who felt the "brother" falling for the FL was creepy as hell. She was thinking he was a brother to her & the brother was having kinky thoughts.

All the SML actions become suspect at that point. He only ever cared for the FL because he wanted to have a relationship with her & used her thinking of him as brother to achieve that.

This trope is carried across numerous Cdrama's & as rightly pointed out, it is incest.

Sadly, this series did not do it for it.

I could feel the Eternal Love of the ML for the FL.
All I could feel from FL was how she used ML for her own goals. Her crying for an episode at the end does not make up for how she came across as some one for whom ML love was never top priority.
She had her own more important things to do, which I guess is fair enough - just should not have named the drama as 'Eternal Love'.

The best drama in it's genre.

This is what you look for in an epic love story, an unwavering love between the leads, angst, sacrifice and a happy ending.

The story of the leads is breath-taking. What they go through, their longing for each other and the lengths they would go to protect each other.
The two actors did a phenomenal job in carrying the multiple roles they portrayed.

This is by far the best Xianxia drama ever, followed closely by Love and Redemption and Ashes of Love.
This is an example for future Cdrama writers and directors how to make an epic love story. You need both the leads to be invested in love for it to be epic.

I think the writer & director are aiming for cool girl & pure guy thing but in most dramas the FL come across as undeserving the ML.

Have seen couple of dramas (unfortunately) this year 'Dr Cutie' & 'A love so romantic' where at the end of the drama, I wished the ML would end up being alone than be with the horrible FL.
In both these dramas, the FL runs away with the brother of ML.

I doubt there would be many people in reality who would run away with sibling of their lover and even consider dating them but Cdramas portray these angles so regularly.
This is just disgusting and makes the FL look absolutely horrible, creepy and pathetic.

I think the Cdrama writers and directors need some therapy where they are made to write 1000 times 'sibling of your lover is not your backup lover or future lover'..

I love all kinds of tropes, even brothers falling with a girl/ sisters falling in love with a guy.
BUT
these complicated stories have to be done very carefully.

'falling into your smile' is one of my fav dramas this year. It had typical ML who is your typical Cdrama ML and FL was typical Cdrama FL.
It was so much fun and was directed so well. The ML has a brother and that brothers interactions with the FL were a hoot and one of the best ones in the drama.
Similarly 'Ancient love poetry', which probably will be one of my fav all time, has standard tropes but the whole thing was done masterfully.

The first love/pure love/older woman-younger man tropes work for me...
What don't work though is siblings falling in love with same person and crossing boundaries that should never be crossed.

Just to make the whole comparison lot more uncomfortable, how would it feel if the ML had feelings for the FL and the FL's mother? I know bringing the FL mother is crossing a different line but the comparison is very apt. the relationship feels disgusting when the mother is brought in. It should be disgusting when the sister is brought in as well. After all the blood relationship exists in both cases.

Sister and mother of the girl you love are your sister and mother as well & vice versa for a girl. These relationships are something you love and cherish for what they offer us in our life with the one we love.

I wish Cdramas would cut down on the trope or do it tastefully. In many dramas the brother of ML even thought the FL is dating the ML keeps going at it. It just left a terrible taste for me.

It's not like these creepy love triangle adds anything to the actual story, it does not.

Take this show for example - had it been a family friend of older friend of ML, it would have worked so well but it just had to be the brother. What exactly does this serve to the story line?

Watch Episode 7,
The flash back says it all.

It moot to argue something when the FL herself is seen as pining for the ML's brother. She wanted commitment, which the brother never did.

Don't mind triangles, in fact my fav show this year is 'Siege in Fog', an absolutely fantastic love triangle which was well done.

Just for comparison, let's do a gender reversal.
How many Cdramas in last decade has FL and her sister having a love triangle with ML?
How many Cdramas have ML loving FL sister first and then moving on to FL?
How many Cdramas have ML having sweet romantic moments with FL and her sister?

How many times in a drama did you have 2FL syndrome where the 2FL is the FL sister?

Have not watched any...did you?

in fact in most of these dramas, ML is only and only committed to FL and does not even as much as glance at other women - which in turn makes the ML poorly written or FL not as much invested in love as ML. If this was one off drama, it can be understood but this year many dramas followed the same script.

It just points to poorly written dramas, probably written teenage girl who has little understanding of love and ZERO understanding of men.
These dramas look like fantasies of girls who are Mary Sue and want to end up with a "pure" guy who has never looked an inch away from FL in his whole life.

All I want is variety in dramas & not the same crap of a story line with different actors, ML and his brothers falling in love with the FL just adds to the misery of watching same crap. For me that angle all but kills a drama.

IRL would you ever date a person who dated your sibling?!! Or even ever consider romancing that person. There are FULL STOPS in life, no matter how difficult the situation is. Siblings lover is a FULL STOP, it's not a comma or a condition. It's a hard FULL STOP.

There are some really wonderful Cdramas this year but many of them are pathetic with same kind of ML and same kind of FL.

You need to watch episode 7 then. I am calling out this stupid trope in Cdramas that happens in every other drama.
This is not the first time you saw this message from me because this is not the first time this troubling trope has played out in Cdramas.

Compared to ML, the 2FL comes across much better.

FL openly rejected ML, she pines and cries for other guys in front of him and yet he continues to hit on her.
For good measure add in creep factor where he forced himself into her house when she did not want it.
Even now FL likes his cousin and he simply just keeps forcing himself on FL.

Yeah, compared to ML, 2FL self esteem is much better and comes across less creepier.

Then the ML should back off from the FL.
She clearly is in love with the ML brother and has multiple times rejected his advances.

If SML should back off from the ML,
then the ML should back off from the FL as well.

Another crappy drama where the FL will end up dating both brothers.

The ML has classic Cdrama Eunuch syndrome.
Have no idea why this year there are so many crappy Cdramas with FL's dating brothers and ML's who behave as if they have not hit puberty yet.

Yes she does.