8.5/10 - I love this version! It’s not perfect or anything but in my opinion, its the better take on the Taiwanese version. I felt all the things I don’t like in the T-version were corrected here. I guess since this is the latest from all the ‘Fated to Love You’ versions, they took the best part of each version and make it their own which in my opinion is a nice touch to this much beloved story.
But despite that, I found that the things I love the most about this C-version is their original scenes. I especially love the imaginary conversation Jiaxin had with Xiyi in her head and all the underlaying depth of that conversation. I love how the script pointed out that 'the path they walked together is too short, yet the regrets they left behind is too deep.' Or the scene where Xiyi hugs Jiaxin for the last time and tell her not to blame herself over Xiao Ximi's death and his 'I love you' one last time while shivering -- how come anyone not breaking up watching such scenes? ;_;
Even if they took the original scenes, I personally think they revamp the whole scene to a new height with a better script. The birthday scene was done really well in which Xiyi confessed without knowing it was Jiaxin in the bear costume. Or both of their conversation after the kiss at the hotel are especially brilliant. I love it when scriptwriter wrote this touching and creative script that touch the deepest of our hearts. It is simple yet can highlight their deep regrets and sadness.
The story is not perfect since I have my problem with the way some of the plots are handled but overall, this drama is a good adaptation. I thoroughly enjoyed it and ended up becoming a fan of the actors.
I’m a millennial, I’m always going to root for an outspoken female lead whose winning HOWEVER the female lead…
I cant stand Li Xiao either. She is portrayed as someone with bravery, determination, hardworking and most of all straightforward. But unfortunately, all these qualities are only on the surface level as when the character was developed by the writers, she becomes someone unlikable instead to my dismay. Her layers of characteristic is like peeling an onion, the more you peeled, the more you finds flaws in it. Despite the good qualities that I listed above, she actually ended up being self-righteous, insensitive, impulsive and most of all a hypocrite person. I don’t mind flaws in characters but when the flaws are never addressed or corrected but instead being glorified and glamorize instead, that's when I have a problem. Throughout the story, we've seen her in her high horse where she judge everyone with what she thinks is right. And this fact never got addressed till the end and she remains the same person as she is at the beginning of the drama -- with no character development at all. :((
7/10 - The drama is sold to me after the first 10 minutes of the show. I love the conversation of 'A Footless Insect Without Feet' (lol) between Zimo & his Editor Wu Yu. I love the complexity of the whole Chinese language and when it comes to Chinese Literature, the complexity of the language is upped even more. So this whole scene was a good start to make me sucked right into the drama.
One of the whole premises of the drama is to portray the everyday struggles of people living in this modern world. This is a drama with people who are flawed and struggled to live their lives. It can be depressing at times since the drama mirrored the real life so much. From how difficult it is to make a living, to how difficult to do the job that you dream of to how you might struggle to get into something, but other people with no passion at all got in and become successful instead. Due to this, it might not be popular with audiences but I actually enjoyed watching the struggles of the characters and how they come terms with it.
8.5/10 - I actually really love this drama. Its fun and simply hilarious. I really love the progression of the love relationship between Xia Ke and Xing Yun. It just progressed naturally instead of being shoe-horned to us. Their spending time together just naturally happen or merely a coincidence. Xia Ke tries to protect her from bad relationships but he didn’t cock-blocked her and he is not doing things just out of jealousy. I love that for the fact, he's not jealous (since he didn’t realise his feelings yet at that time) so many of his actions are not resulted just because Xing Yun is in a relationship. He only learns his feeling gradually when he realised how he just always wanted to have her around him all the time. It’s funny how all the people knew that he likes her but he himself isn’t aware of it. It makes sense as they started their relationship as a boss and an employee so for them to realise the attraction very much later makes sense.
The highlight of this drama would be the relationship between Xia Ke and his sister! I love how she love to troll him in front of his employees haha!
Such a fun drama. It definitely makes a good re-watch. And I would recommend as well to people since it is after all a good office romance drama. The one where all characters have their own lives and challenges and their lives are not centered on love alone but other things as well.
The good: - Xing Zhaolin as Xia Di. I can’t get over the fact that he's only like 21 years old when he did this but he acts very convincingly as someone who supposed to be in the late 20's. He is probably the 2nd youngest in the casts yet his character look and act the most mature. And that confident! Guys with confidence are really attractive! Enough said. He is an outstanding young man so many of his sayings are the reasons what drove Lin Feng in her life. - Li Kaixin as Lin Feng. She may not be pretty like other Chinese actresses and she supposed to play a tomboy here but there's something about her that makes her interesting. She is indeed very different and we can clearly see why Xia Di falls for her. One thing is her attitude to always admit faults and apologize for it and another is her persistence attitude in everything. She knows what she wants and fight for it -- really hard. - The relationship between the leads. It’s very minimal romance but they are very cute together. Particularly because Lin Feng, despite being a tomboy, acts cute when she’s in love. All her weirdness and quirkiness -- that most people didn’t find special are the very main reasons why Xia Di falls for her. He laughs the most watching her weird antics. And most of all, he always find something special about her everytime he met her. From her martial arts skills to her earning money to support him, she's a special girl without a doubt! - The trust that the leads have towards each other. This is the part that I liked the best. You can throw many things to them, but one thing for sure, they have undeniably trust with each other so other people's evil ploy to destroy their relationship is only like a child's play. - The friendship -- Xia Di & his friends and Lin Feng with her friends. It is portrayed beautifully especially Xia Di’s friendship with Fan Yang. - Very fun earlier episodes and last episodes. They handled everything so well in the last couple of episodes. I really like it a lot. It could go wrong in so many ways but they handled all the mess really well. - The plot twists! I love the plot twists! I didn’t expect it but I kinda sense it since they left many clues for us earlier on. - An awesome theme song! I couldn’t get over how good and awesome is the melody and lyrics. I never skip the intro since it is that good. :D
The bad: - Really evil, manipulative and crazy 2nd lead girl; Fan Ling. She's crazy, really obsessive and ruin a lot of fun stuffs in the drama. I think the only good thing about her evilness is the boundaries that Xia Di puts on her. He legit avoid her advances like he hates the very idea of it. And how Lin Feng said she is like a 'litmus test' for her relationship with Xia Di lol. - A few dumb plotlines that we could go without. The mother plotline is the worst as she is no doubt abandoning her daughter for her career and didn’t contact her for a freaking 10++ years. The disease part is okay and I'm fine with it but why they didn’t tell her is just dumb. Or anything that happened on the mountain 5 years ago, it all could be solved by watching the GoPro isnt it? From Liming summit to Fan Yang falling. :P - Too little mountaineering activities. For a 'sports' drama, I expect more action regarding this.
It’s still a fun drama at the end of the day. It makes you smile and fun all around. There are many good sayings in the drama but my favourite is: 'If you do something wrong, go correct it immediately. Moreover, work hard to do better. It’s not terrible when you do wrong, its only terrible if you continue doing it.'
9.5/10 - This drama is without doubt the best romance drama in my book. Full of fluffs, hilarious & crazy chemistry…
And the ending is literally the best ending for a drama! They dedicated the whole episode solely for the ending. It didn't feel rushed like other Chinese dramas and they gave us enough time and closure for our lovely couple and their happiness. The ending scene is truly perfect! The conversation they had at the lake is literally their relationship in a nutshell. From Lian Cheng brilliant teasing to Tan'er loves for money -- I love the dynamics of their relationship. They are definitely a relationship goal.
'No matter when or where, Whatever person we become, I will find you, Fall in love with you, Marry you a thousand of times, For lifetimes, for generations, Never separating....'
9.5/10 - This drama is without doubt the best romance drama in my book. Full of fluffs, hilarious & crazy chemistry is the 3 things to describe The Eternal Love series. I love how the love story of Lian Cheng & Tan'er are told without any pettiness or games, with a lot of hugs & kisses and most of all, they genuinely look and act like a true married couple in love. If you are looking for a great romance drama with a fun storyline, then this drama is for you.
While I love the 1st season, this 2nd season is without doubt miles better than the first one in term of everything. It got better budget, better script, better plots, better acting, better styling, better costumes -- basically better than the 1st season in term of everything while still maintaining the same heart & soul of the 1st season that we all love. I loved the plots involving 2 Mo Lian Chengs, the confusion it caused Tan'er and the hilarity it caused, the butterfly effects, the fight for the throne, basically everything from beginning to end. The plot is very simple but at the same time very fun and interesting.
8.5/10 - I actually enjoyed a lot of monologue in the drama. The one that I like the most is when Zhihao said…
And the revelation at the end of the drama is really nice and unexpected. Everything makes sense after that -- on why Shiya attracted to Zhihao and why there are always this strange & explanation connection between them. Not only because Zhihao taste delicious but because they are connected together since that day -- as her body remembers his touch and it was his touch which save her from that dark incident. A perfect ending to a complexly fun drama. All around an enjoyable and entertaining production – the one which is perfect for a rewatch everytime you want to have a good and amusing time.
8.5/10 - I actually enjoyed a lot of monologue in the drama. The one that I like the most is when Zhihao said that ''He likes being alone where no one disturb him, he has a lot of time to himself -- until Shiya comes into his life and change everything. Then he realised that kind of life actually an extravagant to him thus he dares not to dream about it -- not that he hates it. But now he has felt it, he wants to continue living this new life with Shiya.''
And I love it how Zhihao didn’t need words or explanation later to understand Shiya's love towards him -- he is the one who felt her sincerity thus other people words didn’t convince him otherwise.
8.5/10 - This type of drama is not exactly my cup of tea but I unexpectedly really enjoy this -- like really enjoy it. The leads are super cute, likable & lovely together and the storyline is just simple, entertaining and just overall made you in a happy mood while watching it.
Apart from that, what I love about this drama is the very pretty cinematography and directing. Mostly all of their romantic scenes together are just like a perfect picture with very nice props and background. The drama is like a collection of many beautiful pictures put together. This is one of the dramas where you realise how important is the directing as the director used a lot of props to make everything looks so pretty, beautiful and breath-taking. From the usage of umbrella, hanging lights on trees, lamp posts light at night to theme park or garden backdrop, every of their romantic scenes together are so pretty and perfect as a photobook material. Coupled this with the leads' attractive features and Shiya's great fashion, each scene is like a beautiful photoshoot pictures.
And the OSTs, its really perfect and just beautiful. I don’t know why but C-dramas OSTs are really my cup of tea -- from the sweet melody to the heart-breaking lyrics, everyone seemed to have their own theme song -- even Shi Huan (I didn’t expect the 2nd part ending song is actually from his POV). :D
8/10 - The drama is full of fluffs and the romance between the leads are told without any pettiness. Their love wasn't one sided but balanced as they both willing to sacrifice for each other so we understood their deep love towards each other.
The plot is interesting and fast-paced and the scripts is very simple without over dragging so everything is solved very fast without many heartaches. Pure romance through and through and for once, a married couple who actually behave like a true married couple in love with lots of hugs and kisses. :D
The plot centered around the bed but tbh, the only magical thing about the bed is that it increased the lust of people who sleep on it to 9586583% lol
8/10 - Despite all the positive reviews that the drama got, as someone who is a bit picky, I found that many of the plots were never being explored to its full potential. The great premise was there, but the writer obviously lacked the capabilities to expand the script to be even greater. This mostly masked by the great portrayal of the characters but there are many instances on they just glared through the matter with no justification and explanation. The great offender would be the Kung Fu of Ice that Xing-er possessed which were never explored. Not to the mention the Leader of the Afterlife Camp which seemed to have no problem when Yuwen Yue destroying his agency and took away his spies (lol) to the Moustache Man who doesn’t seemed to have purpose but just love to create trouble and influencing the politic in Wei, Yan & Liang states. Not to mention the useless Liang spies that despite their great potential and capabilities -- never actually achieve anything despite being the real mastermind of the conflict between Yan & Wei. But despite that I'm was adamant to give the drama 7.5/10 for being entertaining but in the end, it deserved 8/10 because of the great ending and how heartbroken it made me feels.
4/10 - The whole thing is bad. Just terrible. The budget is low and the costume just look like cheap costumes people wear when they cosplay at comic con.
7/10 - I don't know, usually movies that involved songs and bands have good music from my experience so far but only one of the songs in this movie stood out for me. The overall movie is okay but not something I will watch again for sure.
The message about the sacrifices that mothers are willing to make for their children is obviously the highlight of the whole story. I actually really like the end as you may not end up with someone who you love the most but life could be happy and fulfilled as well if you ended up with someone who love you unconditionally.
You should! Literally the best C-dramas I have ever watched. The mind games in Chinese historical dramas are in another level compared to Korean or Japanese historical dramas. You gonna need to pause to understand/appreciate how these people using strategies and mind games to defeat their opponents.
8.5/10 - Its been such a looooong time since I've seen a good mystery drama like this! The last time is Maou & Ryusei no Kizuna which is like 12 years ago.
The plot is very interesting and the plot twist at the end is very unexpected (kudos to who manage to guess since the writer actually gave us various hints in the script). The leads' sexual tension is great (lol) and I love how despite they are not supposed to love each other, their relationship is not toxic at all. They comes terms to their feeling very early and everything moves very fast.
The girl is so pretty -- honestly the prettiest J-actress I have ever seen in my decades of watching J-dramas. And I have no idea who is the male lead but he emotes really well so all his emotional scenes are great.
I finished the drama in one day since it is that addicting. And those Japanese sweets -- I'm willing to pay good money to taste all of it! 8D
There are a lot of audiences that are not satisfied with the ending. But for me, the ending is great due to the…
I guess it comes to the question on who the King really fall in love with. The King starts to waver when the found out The Queen's grace behind her actions. She appears as someone arrogant & unruly (Bong Hwan) but she did something that help him with his dream of creating a better Joseon (So Young). So it was always been So Young's grace that made him fall in love with the Queen while Bong Hwan's un-princess like behaviors are the flaws (as he mentioned during his confession) that he accepted once he knew he had fallen in love with the Queen. In the end, it was So Young, the same little girl that he met when he was at his lowest point of his life -- the one who moves his heart -- the girl who fought for justice when she doesn’t need to considering the high status she’s in. But the writer did point out in the end that the King felt something is missing (Bong Hwan) when he looked at the Queen's Dictionary which I personally think is a nice touch to indicate he also appreciate Bong Hwan as well.
There's no injustice was done to Bong Hwan as once So Young is gone, his feelings towards the King is gone as well. His loves for the ladies didn’t fade even when the Queen finds himself falling for the King in the later part of the drama indicating the real Bong Hwan has never been gone -- he just co-exist with So Young at the same time. He still feel excited when he sees pretty women and wanted to be close to them even when he already accepted his confusing sexual identity. So now So Young is no longer part of him, he no longer feel attracted to the King anymore as can be seen at the end which he appears to happy & contented. Now So Young is no longer in his body, he just return to his former self.
And So Young has always had part of Bong Hwan's personality as well since in the beginning. Remember when she was called 'witch' by the court maids? When the King saw her terrorizing her court maid, it didn’t feel weird since she was like that as well before Bong Hwan entered her body. But after that, like how she influences Bong Hwan's to be more kinder and towards righteousness, Bong Hwan also influences her as well like how she can expressed herself more (through swearing) and now she can expressed more radical idea like court maids can get married at the end of the drama.
So due to this, I feel its truly a great ending. Everyone got what they want at the end and no injustice was done to any characters. They could go through the route that Bong Hwan accepted his fate to be in the Queen's body forever or Bong Hwan is the reincarnation of the Queen from the past life (which explain why his feelings to the ladies and the King legit as they are the same persons) but the writer chose this route which in my opinion is great as well.
But despite that, I found that the things I love the most about this C-version is their original scenes. I especially love the imaginary conversation Jiaxin had with Xiyi in her head and all the underlaying depth of that conversation. I love how the script pointed out that 'the path they walked together is too short, yet the regrets they left behind is too deep.' Or the scene where Xiyi hugs Jiaxin for the last time and tell her not to blame herself over Xiao Ximi's death and his 'I love you' one last time while shivering -- how come anyone not breaking up watching such scenes? ;_;
Even if they took the original scenes, I personally think they revamp the whole scene to a new height with a better script. The birthday scene was done really well in which Xiyi confessed without knowing it was Jiaxin in the bear costume. Or both of their conversation after the kiss at the hotel are especially brilliant. I love it when scriptwriter wrote this touching and creative script that touch the deepest of our hearts. It is simple yet can highlight their deep regrets and sadness.
The story is not perfect since I have my problem with the way some of the plots are handled but overall, this drama is a good adaptation. I thoroughly enjoyed it and ended up becoming a fan of the actors.
One of the whole premises of the drama is to portray the everyday struggles of people living in this modern world. This is a drama with people who are flawed and struggled to live their lives. It can be depressing at times since the drama mirrored the real life so much. From how difficult it is to make a living, to how difficult to do the job that you dream of to how you might struggle to get into something, but other people with no passion at all got in and become successful instead. Due to this, it might not be popular with audiences but I actually enjoyed watching the struggles of the characters and how they come terms with it.
The highlight of this drama would be the relationship between Xia Ke and his sister! I love how she love to troll him in front of his employees haha!
Such a fun drama. It definitely makes a good re-watch. And I would recommend as well to people since it is after all a good office romance drama. The one where all characters have their own lives and challenges and their lives are not centered on love alone but other things as well.
The good:
- Xing Zhaolin as Xia Di. I can’t get over the fact that he's only like 21 years old when he did this but he acts very convincingly as someone who supposed to be in the late 20's. He is probably the 2nd youngest in the casts yet his character look and act the most mature. And that confident! Guys with confidence are really attractive! Enough said. He is an outstanding young man so many of his sayings are the reasons what drove Lin Feng in her life.
- Li Kaixin as Lin Feng. She may not be pretty like other Chinese actresses and she supposed to play a tomboy here but there's something about her that makes her interesting. She is indeed very different and we can clearly see why Xia Di falls for her. One thing is her attitude to always admit faults and apologize for it and another is her persistence attitude in everything. She knows what she wants and fight for it -- really hard.
- The relationship between the leads. It’s very minimal romance but they are very cute together. Particularly because Lin Feng, despite being a tomboy, acts cute when she’s in love. All her weirdness and quirkiness -- that most people didn’t find special are the very main reasons why Xia Di falls for her. He laughs the most watching her weird antics. And most of all, he always find something special about her everytime he met her. From her martial arts skills to her earning money to support him, she's a special girl without a doubt!
- The trust that the leads have towards each other. This is the part that I liked the best. You can throw many things to them, but one thing for sure, they have undeniably trust with each other so other people's evil ploy to destroy their relationship is only like a child's play.
- The friendship -- Xia Di & his friends and Lin Feng with her friends. It is portrayed beautifully especially Xia Di’s friendship with Fan Yang.
- Very fun earlier episodes and last episodes. They handled everything so well in the last couple of episodes. I really like it a lot. It could go wrong in so many ways but they handled all the mess really well.
- The plot twists! I love the plot twists! I didn’t expect it but I kinda sense it since they left many clues for us earlier on.
- An awesome theme song! I couldn’t get over how good and awesome is the melody and lyrics. I never skip the intro since it is that good. :D
The bad:
- Really evil, manipulative and crazy 2nd lead girl; Fan Ling. She's crazy, really obsessive and ruin a lot of fun stuffs in the drama. I think the only good thing about her evilness is the boundaries that Xia Di puts on her. He legit avoid her advances like he hates the very idea of it. And how Lin Feng said she is like a 'litmus test' for her relationship with Xia Di lol.
- A few dumb plotlines that we could go without. The mother plotline is the worst as she is no doubt abandoning her daughter for her career and didn’t contact her for a freaking 10++ years. The disease part is okay and I'm fine with it but why they didn’t tell her is just dumb. Or anything that happened on the mountain 5 years ago, it all could be solved by watching the GoPro isnt it? From Liming summit to Fan Yang falling. :P
- Too little mountaineering activities. For a 'sports' drama, I expect more action regarding this.
It’s still a fun drama at the end of the day. It makes you smile and fun all around. There are many good sayings in the drama but my favourite is: 'If you do something wrong, go correct it immediately. Moreover, work hard to do better. It’s not terrible when you do wrong, its only terrible if you continue doing it.'
'No matter when or where,
Whatever person we become,
I will find you,
Fall in love with you,
Marry you a thousand of times,
For lifetimes, for generations,
Never separating....'
While I love the 1st season, this 2nd season is without doubt miles better than the first one in term of everything. It got better budget, better script, better plots, better acting, better styling, better costumes -- basically better than the 1st season in term of everything while still maintaining the same heart & soul of the 1st season that we all love. I loved the plots involving 2 Mo Lian Chengs, the confusion it caused Tan'er and the hilarity it caused, the butterfly effects, the fight for the throne, basically everything from beginning to end. The plot is very simple but at the same time very fun and interesting.
And I love it how Zhihao didn’t need words or explanation later to understand Shiya's love towards him -- he is the one who felt her sincerity thus other people words didn’t convince him otherwise.
Apart from that, what I love about this drama is the very pretty cinematography and directing. Mostly all of their romantic scenes together are just like a perfect picture with very nice props and background. The drama is like a collection of many beautiful pictures put together. This is one of the dramas where you realise how important is the directing as the director used a lot of props to make everything looks so pretty, beautiful and breath-taking. From the usage of umbrella, hanging lights on trees, lamp posts light at night to theme park or garden backdrop, every of their romantic scenes together are so pretty and perfect as a photobook material. Coupled this with the leads' attractive features and Shiya's great fashion, each scene is like a beautiful photoshoot pictures.
And the OSTs, its really perfect and just beautiful. I don’t know why but C-dramas OSTs are really my cup of tea -- from the sweet melody to the heart-breaking lyrics, everyone seemed to have their own theme song -- even Shi Huan (I didn’t expect the 2nd part ending song is actually from his POV). :D
The plot is interesting and fast-paced and the scripts is very simple without over dragging so everything is solved very fast without many heartaches. Pure romance through and through and for once, a married couple who actually behave like a true married couple in love with lots of hugs and kisses. :D
The plot centered around the bed but tbh, the only magical thing about the bed is that it increased the lust of people who sleep on it to 9586583% lol
The message about the sacrifices that mothers are willing to make for their children is obviously the highlight of the whole story. I actually really like the end as you may not end up with someone who you love the most but life could be happy and fulfilled as well if you ended up with someone who love you unconditionally.
The plot is very interesting and the plot twist at the end is very unexpected (kudos to who manage to guess since the writer actually gave us various hints in the script). The leads' sexual tension is great (lol) and I love how despite they are not supposed to love each other, their relationship is not toxic at all. They comes terms to their feeling very early and everything moves very fast.
The girl is so pretty -- honestly the prettiest J-actress I have ever seen in my decades of watching J-dramas. And I have no idea who is the male lead but he emotes really well so all his emotional scenes are great.
I finished the drama in one day since it is that addicting. And those Japanese sweets -- I'm willing to pay good money to taste all of it! 8D
There's no injustice was done to Bong Hwan as once So Young is gone, his feelings towards the King is gone as well. His loves for the ladies didn’t fade even when the Queen finds himself falling for the King in the later part of the drama indicating the real Bong Hwan has never been gone -- he just co-exist with So Young at the same time. He still feel excited when he sees pretty women and wanted to be close to them even when he already accepted his confusing sexual identity. So now So Young is no longer part of him, he no longer feel attracted to the King anymore as can be seen at the end which he appears to happy & contented. Now So Young is no longer in his body, he just return to his former self.
And So Young has always had part of Bong Hwan's personality as well since in the beginning. Remember when she was called 'witch' by the court maids? When the King saw her terrorizing her court maid, it didn’t feel weird since she was like that as well before Bong Hwan entered her body. But after that, like how she influences Bong Hwan's to be more kinder and towards righteousness, Bong Hwan also influences her as well like how she can expressed herself more (through swearing) and now she can expressed more radical idea like court maids can get married at the end of the drama.
So due to this, I feel its truly a great ending. Everyone got what they want at the end and no injustice was done to any characters. They could go through the route that Bong Hwan accepted his fate to be in the Queen's body forever or Bong Hwan is the reincarnation of the Queen from the past life (which explain why his feelings to the ladies and the King legit as they are the same persons) but the writer chose this route which in my opinion is great as well.