My first 10/10!

I'm a relatively-seasoned Asian drama watcher and this is my first 10/10. Even other titles that I've loved and obsessed over haven't gotten ratings this high. I scored rewatch value a little lower as I don't know honestly how much I will want to rewatch it, but it's otherwise really perfect. I won't go on and on on why because there are plenty of other reviews that do just that.

My only tiny gripe which isn't enough to even really knock off any points for? Minor spoilers below:

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I don't know how much the things with the Hua people mattered. I think it did add a layer of shock to Prince Yu and Xia Jiang's ties and added a layer of complexity to motives, but it kinda fizzled out. I'm also a little perplexed on why they started hinting at the Princess Consort (Prince Jing's new wife chosen in the last few episodes) was treated with suspicion but in the last second, Surprise! She's on the good side. Ok that's all it amounted to.

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Refreshingly unpredictable

This is probably the highest I've rated a drama, especially a modern one since I prefer Chinese costume dramas. I picked this up because it was widely recommended and am glad I did. I thought initially it was very shounen-anime-esque (Tournament arc, superpowers), but no it's definitely distinctly Chinese in many ways and not cliche. There are SO many surprises and very unpredictable, which I loved. I hate when I can predict how things will go, and even if you think things will fall into a trope, it always surprises you.

I won't make this a long review as there are others that go in-depth already, but overall I'd consider it nearly perfect with the exception that the I didn't particularly care for the humor of the first few episodes. After that the humor is genuinely hilarious (not cringey like the first 2 episodes), and it handles the serious aspects so well also. Storytelling, acting, music, visual effects, pacing, were all very good. Visual effects and pacing are especially impressive because Chinese dramas tend to not do as well in these aspects (no hate, I love Chinese dramas but I think even the biggest fans will agree on that).

There definitely needs to be a season 2 considering the ending (not all aspects of the main mystery are revealed). I believe the manhua it's based on is still ongoing so we'll see what a second season will bring us!

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Understated but well-done

A little slow in the middle which is where I've deducted the points, but fortunately it's not a long drama so it's not endlessly dragging. Beautiful and understated, really tugs at your heart string both with their love but also with the grief you'll feel at the end. Not a well-known drama (probably because it's exclusively on iQIYI subscription as far as I know), but a gem!

This is my first drama with Ren Jia Lun but he and Bai Lu do a great job at playing restrained characters but their love is palpable. There was an online blog review I read (Cyn Lynn) that mentioned that typically, Bai Lu's acting always carries a bit of her real persona in there, but in this Bai Lu the actress is completely gone and she fully embodies Shiyi. I fully agree! A lot of people find her character boring but she is strong in her own way, acting in the confines of her noble status, but she uses her smarts to assess dangerous situations and act accordingly, so that only people equally as smart can catch wind of what she's thinking.

The supporting characters and their relationships are also beautiful; sometimes there are side couples that I just could care less about but I deeply cared about all of them.

I'm glad that I read spoilers because I probably would have passed out crying if I went in blind. I put a lower rewatch value simply bc it is very slow, but other people in the comments on iQIYI mentioned they've rewatched several times.

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Even my favorite dramas normally only get up to 9.0 or 9.5 so that's considered really high, just an FYI.
It's beautiful, healing, and delightful. The characters are complex but even ones you may not initially like (such as initially-stern Aunty Feng who later smiles to light up a room, surly old Grandpa Yang who eventually comes around even if still surly), you'll grow to love. My favorites are the children and Granny Xie ("A'Nai" as A'Yao and Hongdou call her). I won't go on and on about everything I liked since many other reviews already covered it.

I also have a special place in my heart for this because the grannies and aunties remind me of my family and family's friends (as you know, in Chinese and other cultures, you address your elders as grandpa/grandma/uncle/auntie even if they're not blood-related). They touched me in ways that other cdramas modern and costume have not; though it's a slow drama, it's because all characters are fleshed out to feel real.

Minus half a point mainly because:
1. A bit draggy, but mainly on storylines about supporting characters I wasn't as invested in like Mr. Ma (the guy who is always meditating in the beginning) and the musician's romance.
2. The English songs used are annoying. Why do modern C-dramas always use English songs?? The non-English songs are good, though I wish they used some of them more (like "Hao Hao De" by Sa Ji was only used like twice despite how good it is, while they used other songs a bit too much).

These are just nitpicks though, which is why I only took off half a point.

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Warm and comforting

First of all, I know that my ratings are all 7's and 8's, which many might think is low, BUT if you look at my other reviews you'll notice I have never given anything a 10 because I feel like giving everything you like a perfect score makes it lose its meaning.

Overall this is a great, heartwarming drama. I don't care much for the family politics and stuff about the ML's research lab, but I can't say that it's bad or poorly written, as it's actually just fine. I just didn't care about it as I mainly wanted to watch this to heal my heart after One and Only (as most people did). On its own, this is actually still a very cute drama; their awkward interactions are squeal-worthy because it just makes the romance feel so genuine and honest. It's like high school awkwardness but with adults, but not in an infantile way. They are both mature adults who understand the world but are new to romance, so it gives me the warm fuzzies. Great for older people like me who aren't really into high school romances but still love the innocence of first love romance.

Obviously there are characters that you dislike (Zhousheng Chen's mom), but there are also family members you adore like the grandma and Zhousheng Ren. The kind supporting characters also heal your heart.

As a sequel to One and Only, the connections are very subtle, especially if you are not fluent in Chinese (as I am not). I actually had to read Cyn Lynn's blog for episode recaps as she draws more attention to the connections: https://cyn-lynn.blogspot.com/2021/09/forever-and-ever-recap-and-review.html

That being said, the connections do make everything all the more sweet, so it's still very nice.

Overall the drama does have some angst, but not within the main couple's dynamic itself, which is the most important. Their previous lifetime was so sad, they let nothing stop their love now that they finally can be together in this lifetime.

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Just watch for Luo Yunxi + Bai Lu, the rest is whatever

This is worth watching for Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu's chemistry alone. The business stuff is fine but I personally don't really care about that, the 2nd couple (Xu Li and Li Xiaochuan), nor the SML rival (Du Lei) at all. I just want to watch the main couple be cute together, and they definitely did not disappoint. They were cute and funny together and made my heart go pitter patter. Chemistry between the two leads is 10/10, everything else is 5/10 for me. It's better than a lot of modern cdramas, but I just don't care. I don't think things were poorly executed, don't get me wrong; modern office dramas with business dealings and jealous coworkers just isn't my jam, so keep that in mind that that lowers my ratings. I'm usually more of a costume-drama watcher; I just watched this because I wanted to watch LYX and Bai Lu make out some more since they were so great in Till the End of the Moon.

I knew that, as with all dramas, after they finally get together, there would be other shenanigans to drive them apart. I was amused by some of the business dealings they had in the first 10 episodes and stuff about Li Xiaochuan's project (no spoilers), but otherwise only care about the main couple. Once they finally got together, I just read episode summaries to get an idea of what would happen, and skipped to the end.

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Better than I expected but still not great

This series is very divisive: people love it or hate it/couldn't even get through it. After watching it I can see exactly why. If it was entirely bad or mid, that's one thing, but there is so much potential and there are genuinely good aspects that kept me hanging on. Each time I wanted to drop it for one of the negatives, there was still enough positives that I was intrigued enough to watch a little more, then a little more.

Negatives:
-Cut scenes not only took out some of the kissy-face stuff we craved but it also made the story hard to follow at times or just made moments we were really looking forward to fall flat (like a key scene we've been waiting for so long to see got cut and only part of it is shown via a freaking FLASHBACK). The ending sucked, thank goodness they gave us the extra episode (that was actually filmed and not just a voiceover reusing old scenes!)
-Tonal shifts felt like whiplash. They may have been able to spin it as a dark comedy but the comedic parts were too slapstick and the dark parts were really too brutal.
-Yukee Chen's acting was better than I expected but still needs work. You can read other reviews, I won't dogpile on her.

Positives:
-The story was actually quite intriguing; not just the premise but enough of the story through the whole series has just enough interesting aspects that as I said above, kept me curious and wanting to see it through, despite the negatives. I wish someday we could see the whole thing uncut.
-The FL is not stupid and the couple trust each other. Obviously the plot needed there to be a few times where ML rushes to her aid but that's mainly early on when he doesn't realize she's capable of handling herself. As things go on they trust each other; there's even one time when she's captured as a trap for him but he doesn't go rescue her, assuring his aide that she can figure out the situation herself. There's other times when he had to act out but she trusted him to not hurt her. Other than one instance of noble idiocy, they're mostly pretty understanding of each other.
-Dylan's acting was good, he could do both the cold smoulder as well as convincingly play a man who isn't actually cold at heart but is tired of putting on the facade. Some people didn't like that he fell for the girl early but I think it made sense in this way. Usually the cold ML is truly cold but melts for just the ML, who then changes him; in this, he's never actually cold at heart but has had to pretend for so long that he's tired of it and found refuge in being able to lower his guard with her.
-Yukee Chen's acting was better than expected. She was funny and devious but in some serious moments she actually was quite chilling.
-Peter Ho's acting was very convincing, a bit too convincing in fact, it was honestly frightening

I rated the rewatch a bit higher because I think after watching, you can then know where to skip to watch the good parts. You can also find most of the cut scenes on YouTube to fill in gaps.

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