Forever And Ever C Drama Review

Forever And Ever (一生一世) is the sequel to One And Only. It is indeed a great feeling to watch something sweet after the sadness of the prequel. There is the anticipation for a happily ever after closure for the couple after so much of suffering previously. So, I guess most viewers who enjoyed One And Only will go on to this drama because their story would seem incomplete without the sequel. But is the modern version of the couple’s love story as good as the historical one? Find out in my Forever And Ever review below.

My rating: 7.5/10
Episodes: 30
Type: Romance
Aired: September 2021
Images Credit: iQIYI

The Cast Of Forever And Ever

• Allen Ren Jia Lun as Zhou Sheng Chen
• Bai Lu as Shi Yi
• Ci Sha as Mei Xing
• Wang Yue Yi as Hong Xiao Yu
• Jack Lok Ming Jie as Zhou Wen Chuan
• Wang Rui Xin as Zhou Wen Xing
• Luo Hai Qiong as Qin Wan
• Feng Jia Yi as Zhou Sheng Xing
• Liu Ruo Gu as Zhou Sheng Ren / Xiao Ren
• Jin Li Ting as Tong Jia Ren
• Gao Xu Yang as Du Feng
• Long Bin as Uncle Lin
• Wang Li Yuan as Old Madam Qin
• Cai Gang as Mr. Shi
• Kong Lin as Mrs. Shi
• Ai Jia Ni as Wang Man / Xiao Man
• Johnny Huang Jun Liang as Lin Fei
• Zhao Ya Mi as Lian Sui

Main Characters

Zhou Sheng Chen

Zhou Sheng Chen is a chemistry professor and researcher. He is a very intelligent guy with a high IQ but clueless when it comes to romance. He is reserved and shy. Zhou Sheng Chen is the type who prefers to listen than talk and hence, is not an expressive person. He is also calm and methodical. He is the eldest son and recognized heir of the Zhou family.

Shi Yi

Shi Yi is a talented voice actress and dubber. She is a pretty and cheerful woman. Shi Yi also tends to have dreams and flashes of ancient historical events revolving around a general and crown princess. Mei Lin is her agent and good friend while Yuan Yuan is her teenage cousin sister.

Supporting Characters

Mei Xing

Mei Xing is Zhou Sheng Chen’s lawyer and loyal friend. Zhou Sheng Cheng trusts him completely and appoints him to handle all his business affairs related to his family assets. The Mei and Zhou families are old friends.

Hong Xiao Yu

Xiao Yu is Shi Yi’s flat mate and best friend. She is a reporter and Shi Yi’s relationship advisor.

Zhou Wen Chuan

Wen Chuan is Zhou Sheng Chen’s younger half-brother. He is a jealous man who despises Zhou Sheng Chen for having all the privileges by virtue of his position as the eldest son of the family.

Zhou Wen Xing

Wen Xing is Zhou Sheng Chen’s younger half-sister. She is a sickly young lady with a heart ailment. But she is cheerful and kind. She cares a lot for her eldest brother and also has deep romantic feelings for Mei Xing who only regards her as a sister.

Qin Wan

Qin Wan is the matriarch of the Zhou family. Her husband was the heir but has since passed away. She is an influential and stern woman who wants to have a say in her sons’ marriage partners. She has a cold relationship with Zhou Sheng Chen.

Zhou Sheng Xing

Zhou Sheng Xing is Zhou Sheng Chen’s second uncle. He has been handling the family’s investment funds while Zhou Sheng Chen was working abroad.

Zhou Sheng Ren / Xiao Ren

Xiao Ren is Zhou Sheng Xing’s teenage son. He is a student and dislikes the stifling home environment of the Zhou family. Xiao Ren likes to hang around Zhou Sheng Chen and Shi Yi.

Tong Jia Ren

Jia Ren is Wen Chuan’s wife but has feelings for Zhou Sheng Chen. She also has a friendly relationship with her mother-in-law, Qin Wan.

Du Feng

Du Feng is Shi Yi and Xiao Yu’s new neighbor. He is a civil servant.

Uncle Lin

Uncle Lin is Zhou Sheng Chen’s driver and a distant relative of the Zhou family. He watched Zhou Sheng Chen grow up and sees him like a son.

Old Madam Qin

Old Madam Qin is Qin Wan’s mother. This means she is also Zhou Sheng Chen, Wen Chuan, and Wen Xing’s maternal grandmother. She is old and suffers from memory lapses.

Mr. And Mrs. Shi

They are Shi Yi’s parents. Shi Yi is their only child and they dote on her. Mr. Shi is an economics professor.

Wang Man / Xiao Man

Xiao Man is a tailor and comes from a family who has been doing tailoring for generations. The Zhou family is their old client. Hence, Xiao Man and Wen Chuan know each other since they were young. They are also ex-lovers.

Lin Fei And Lian Sui

Both of them are workers in the Zhou family residence. They are also distant relatives of the Zhou family. Lin Fei is also Uncle Lin’s nephew.

Synopsis

Shi Yi is a voice actress and she is doing voice over for a drama that features that Junior Prince of Nan Chen and designated Crown Princess Cui Shi Yi. She is naturally drawn to the story as she has always had dreams about historical events that feature these 2 people who seem connected to her past life. Her name also bears resemblance to the Crown Princess’ name.

While at the airport, Shi Yi hears the name Zhou Sheng Chen being called. This is the name of the Junior Prince of Nan Chen. She is attracted to him at first sight and asks him for his contact. He gives her his email address and they end up communicating via email for 6 months.

Zhou Sheng Chen is a chemistry professor and researcher. He is also the eldest son and heir of the Zhou family which is a very wealthy and traditional family with a large clan of relatives. The rule of the clan is that the eldest son will control the majority of the family assets once he is married. Zhou Sheng Chen is not interested in running the family business but needs to control the direction of the family investment funds and weed out the irregularities. Hence, he needs to get married and sees Shi Yi as an ideal candidate.

When Zhou Sheng Chen proposes to Shi Yi that they get engaged, she surprisingly agrees although they have not dated. Gradually, he falls in love with her but his complicated family relationships start to give them trouble including his disapproving mother.

Forever And Ever Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Forever And Ever has a happy ending. Shi Yi and Zhou Sheng Chen get married with a wedding in the last episode. The very last scene is of the couple in their wedding attire in their bedroom. As they are about to kiss, Shi Yi stops Zhou Sheng Chen and tells him the happy news that she is already 3 months pregnant before the camera pans away for the drama to end.

Before that, Zhou Sheng Chen has also drawn up an agreement to relinquish control of the family assets to Xiao Ren in 10 years’ time on the condition that their funds are invested in the local industries rather than abroad. Qin Wan is also welcomed to remain in charge of the household as she has put in a lot of effort to protect the family’s interests over the years.

Zhou Sheng Chen’s Parents

The actual relationships among the different people in the Zhou family are only revealed gradually as the drama progresses. It is a complicated family with secrets carried over from the previous generation.

Qin Wan is Zhou Sheng Chen’s stepmother. His biological mother was raised by Old Madam Qin who treated her like a daughter. Their families were distant relatives. However, his parents relationship did not get the approval from the Zhou family elders. So, his father left his family but after his wife died a few years later, he agreed to the elders’ wishes to marry Qin Wan. He returned to the Zhou family and his son became the designated heir.

Back then, Qin Wan and Zhou Sheng Xing were lovers. But her mother forced her to break it up and marry Zhou Sheng Chen’s father instead. It is not clearly explained why Old Madam Qin did so but I presume she wanted Zhou Sheng Chen to get his rightful place in the Zhou family. After all, she regards Zhou Sheng Chen as her own grandson since his biological mother was like a daughter to her.

Wen Chuan And Wen Xing

Wen Chuan and Wen Xing are twins. They are also Zhou Sheng Xing’s children and this is the secret Wen Xing is alluding to in Episode 24. Shi Yi finds out about it in Episode 25 while chatting with Old Madam Qin. Zhou Sheng Chen already knew about it before his father died but has never mentioned it to anyone until Shi Yi brings it up with him. He knew that his father and Qin Wan were never close.

The past history also explains why Qin Wan doesn’t really like Zhou Sheng Chen. However, she knows she had been unfaithful towards the man she married who had also kept quiet about the twins’ paternity. Thus, she does want Zhou Sheng Chen to inherit the family’s wealth rather than supporting Wen Chuan who is her own son. It is her way of repaying what she owed Zhou Sheng Chen’s father.

It is also part of the reason why Qin Wan doesn’t want Sy Yi as a daughter-in-law. Instead, she wants Zhou Sheng Chen to marry someone from a powerful family who can back him up against internal enemies within the large Zhou clan.

Why Wen Chuan Hates Zhou Sheng Chen

Wen Chuan is not only jealous of Zhou Sheng Chen’s position as the eldest son of the family, he also needs to cover up his crimes from being exposed when Zhou Sheng Chen takes over the family business. Thus, he uses underhanded tactics to scare Zhou Sheng Chen including threats to Shi Yi’s life and beating up Mei Xing. Wen Chuan even falsifies Wen Xing’s health report that prevents her from having surgery and quarrels with her when she was sickly.

In the end, Wen Xing dies of heart ailment in Episode 24. Before she dies, she gives Shi Yi a recording of what she has done. Wen Xing apologizes for pushing Shi Yi into the water during a boat ride. She planned it to scare Zhou Sheng Chen as she hoped the latter would then take Shi Yi away and leave the family. Wen Xing did so because she doesn’t want her 2 brothers to fight and hurt themselves.

Wen Chuan is unrepentant despite being grounded at the ancestral temple. When his mother advised him to surrender to the police for his crimes, he takes Shi Yi hostage in Episode 28. During a struggle, both of them fall one story down. Wen Chuan dies while Shi Yi falls into a coma for a period of time before reawakening in Episode 30 for a happy ending.

Is Jia Ren Zhou Sheng Chen’s Ex-Fiancee?

Yes, the betrothal was arranged by their families when they were young. Jia Ren loves Zhou Sheng Chen but he was never interested in her. The betrothal was cancelled when Jia Ren’s elder sister married Zhou Sheng Chen’s uncle.

She then ends up marrying Wen Chuan hoping that it would instigate Zhou Sheng Chen to react. Wen Chuan also left Xiao Man to marry Jia Ren because he thought doing so would enable him to curry favor with his mother. As they are just using each other, they finalize their divorce in Episode 18. Jia Ren then plans to move to Beijing to work.

Did Xiao Man And Wen Chuan Get Back Together?

Wen Chuan returns to Xiao Man after his divorce and she is revealed to be pregnant in Episode 23. However, she suffers a miscarriage in Episode 24 after Wen Xuan causes Wen Xing’s death. She also doesn’t agree with Wen Chuan’s plan to escape and run away from his crimes. Hence, Xiao Man leaves Wen Chuan despite his cajoling to run away with him.

The Other Side Couples

• Xiao Yu and Du Feng end up as a couple. She tells Shi Yi that they are dating in Episode 22.
• Although Mei Xing is smitten by Shi Yi, he didn’t express her feelings for her as she is Zhou Sheng Chen’s fiancee. Shi Yi brought up the subject very briefly with him in Episode 23 but he has already let go of his feelings for her by then. Mei Xing has realized that it is Wen Xing that he should cherish instead. He was heartbroken when Wen Xing died.

When Did Zhou Sheng Chen And Shi Yi Get Together?

Zhou Sheng Chen proposes to Shi Yi that they get engaged in Episode 3. Their first kiss is in Episode 9 while in the car. Zhou Sheng Chen asks Shi Yi to register their marriage in Episode 11 to which she agrees. They consummated their relationship at the end of Episode 15 and move in together in Episode 16. Their wedding is in Episode 30.

Forever And Ever Review – Could Be Better

After what some would describe as a masterpiece for One And Only, Forever And Ever feels a little lacking in comparison. Personally, I prefer the prequel as the story is better executed and directed in a way that really draws you in to experience the protagonists’ emotions. There is a good plot and cohesion to the overall story. On the other hand, the modern version in Forever And Ever has a slice-of-life feel to the drama. The villain is a 2-dimensional character with little depth to his story. The main couple dominates the screen time with little relationship development for the side couples.

I’m not so sure if viewers would really enjoy Forever And Ever if they have no idea of the prequel. As it is, I think the satisfaction of the drama mainly comes from the healing aspect of seeing the couple being together at last after being forced apart in their past lives. If I were to consider Forever And Ever as a standalone drama, I think it could be boring for some. But it does provide insights into a traditional Chinese family that comes from old money. It is also different from the usual as the romance starts after their engagement.

Not Much To The Plot

The drama thrives on being shy, courteous, and sweet for the main couple. The majority of the screen time is about their relationship development whereby they get to know each other better with the female lead taking the initiative to make the male lead learn the art of romance. There is also Zhou Sheng Chen’s very traditional and complicated family which Shi Yi has to handle and in the process learns more about her man. So, there is not much to the plot unlike romance dramas such as Love Under The Full Moon or The Day Of Becoming You. Instead, Forever And Ever is a collection of events that happen to bring the couple closer together.

The other thing that the plot fails to do is to create an effective and emotional link between the main couple’s present and past life. Maybe it is intentional to get past China’s strict censorship board. I don’t know. Only Shi Yi is shown to have some dreams and flashbacks of the past and these are also not clearly explained. For those who have watched One And Only, we will be able to make the connection. But for viewers who have no idea at all, I think the lack of a clear explanation would take away an important emotional aspect for the drama.

Can You Watch Forever And Ever Without Watching One And Only?

My answer would be yes and no. Yes, because the plot is simple to understand. Even without watching One And Only, you wouldn’t feel lost as the sequel is mainly about the couple’s romance and the male lead’s family relationships. It is not like The Eternal Love Season 3 whereby you would be confused if you don’t watch the first season of the series.

Having said that, it is also a no if you want a better appreciation of the couple’s love for each other. Otherwise, it would seem unrealistic that a talented lady like Shi Yi would agree to get engaged to Zhou Sheng Chen when they have hardly dated. There are also references to the prequel in Forever And Ever in terms of a few verses and scenes. So, it is cute and satisfying to see some of their likes and habits in their past lives replicated such as Shi Yi’s love for pomegranates. Most of the characters in the modern drama also seem like reincarnations of the characters in One And Only. But these are not mandatory for you to understand the story in the sequel.

In short, it really depends on individual preference if you should watch one without the other. I know some viewers skip One And Only as it is too sad and would rather just savor the sweetness of Forever And Ever. So, you can certainly do that too. My own take is that One And Only is to prime you up for the sweetness in Forever And Ever after all that bitterness. This way, all the fluff and sugar would be magnified in the sequel as you would have a deeper attachment to the couple and a heavier desire to witness their happiness.

Acting Is Great But…

I think there is really no doubt that Allen Ren and Bai Lu have great chemistry as an on-screen couple. Their acting is also very natural and easy on the eyes as they feed off each other’s vibes in their interactions. That is already very obvious in the prequel and we get to see a continuation of that in this drama. Or perhaps it is the other way round since they shot Forever And Ever before One And Only. Whatever it is, these 2 leads are capable of making viewers swoon with their natural affinity for each other.

While the acting and chemistry are great, I’m just not so sure why Zhou Sheng Chen has been written to be such different characters in the 2 dramas. Prince of Nan Chen is a man of few words but full of charisma. He is certainly not shy or clueless when it comes to romance but only holds back because of duty to king and country. But Zhou Sheng Chen has been transformed into an awkward, shy, and totally blur man in Forever And Ever when it comes to romance. Yes, he is still a genius but he has lost that charisma that Prince of Nan Chen has which to me, is a pity.

My Verdict – Watch If You Are A Fan

Suffice to say that if you are a fan of One And Only, then Forever And Ever is a satisfying watch. It is like a cure for the pain from the prequel. The chemistry of the leads help to carry the drama through given that the plot is nothing great. The story development could certainly be more well-planned especially on the villain. Perhaps the producers want the drama’s focus to be on the main couple to make up for the angst in the historical version. It works to a certain extent but it also falters when the male lead is made out to be too innocent and courteous towards the woman he loves.

I guess if you like your male lead to be a shy and clueless man who doesn’t understand romance, then this drama will be a potential hit for you even if you haven’t watched the prequel. Some viewers do see that as cute and sweet as the female lead becomes the proactive one to guide him. While I do see love and sweetness in the couple, I also sense a lack of passion in the romance. This couple is the polar opposite of the one in You Are My Glory. It is not about the lack of kisses and skinship, but an absence of “fire” and desire in the relationship especially on the man’s side which is kind of unrealistic given that they are deeply in love.

For this Forever And Ever review, I would give it a score of 7.5/10. There are no annoying quarrels and breakup in the romance which are pluses for viewers. But the last few episodes that lead up to the ending are all predictable. It is not bad overall if you are a fan of the series and don’t mind more innocence to your romance.

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