Forever Love Chinese Drama Review

Forever Love (百岁之好 一言为定) is a nice surprise for a campus romance drama. I thought it wouldn’t resonate with me when I first found out about it as youthful love dramas tend to be predicable and full of cliches. But I was wrong on this one and it even makes me kind of happy writing the Forever Love review now as I can still feel the lingering sweetness. I will give more details about my thoughts on this drama further down below. Before that, let’s take a look at the cast, characters, and synopsis.

My rating: 7.5/10
Episodes: 28
Type: Romance
Aired: December 2020
Images Credit: Tencent

The Cast Of Forever Love

• Wang An Yu as Jiang Zheng Han
• Xiang Han Zhi as Xia Lin Xi
• Chen Ze as Chen Yi Chuan
• Pan Mei Ye as Gu Xiao Man
• Yuan Hao as Qin Yue
• Yang Yue as Shi Ying
• Zhao Hao Hong as Zhang Huai Wu
• Tong Nian as Shen Wen Yue
• Miao Xi Lun as Duan Ning
• Jiang Rui Ze as Zhuang Fei
• Fan Zhen as Chu Qiu Yan
• Xu Le Wei as Xu Zhi Li
• Zhang Yan Yan as Mrs. Xia
• Feng Hui as Mr. Xia
• Qu Gao Wei as Xie Ping Chuan / Mr. Xie
• Zhang Lei as Zhang You Cai / Teacher Zhang

Main Characters

Jiang Zheng Han

Zheng Han is a Grade 12 high school student with a disciplinary problem but smart and talented in computer programming. He looks stubborn and uncompromising as well as very calculative about money. Zheng Han is not too sociable and takes time to warm up to others.

Xia Lin Xi

Lin Xi is also a Grade 12 high school student and Zheng Han’s classmate. She is an exemplary student and one of the top scorers in school. Lin Xi is the class monitor and has a can do attitude. She comes from an upper middle class family and has a strict mother who dominates the household.

Supporting Characters

Chen Yi Chuan

Yi Chuan is Lin Xi’s classmate and cousin. He has been competing with Lin Xi since young and has always lost by a few marks in their exams. Yi Chuan is a bookworm with a high IQ but low EQ. Hence, he can appear cold and crude.

Gu Xiao Man

Xiao Man is Lin Xi’s classmate and best friend. She only has eyes for Yi Chuan despite being poorly treated by him. Xiao Man is an average student and dreams of becoming a romance novelist.

Qin Yue

Qin Yue is a computer science student at Jing Hua University. He used to be Lin Xi’s neighbor and they have known each other since they were kids. Qin Yue is also Lin Xi’s role model. He has always been taking care of her and encouraging her in her studies. He comes from a rich family who owns an IT business called Lion Group. Qin Yue is also Zheng Han’s friend.

Shi Ying

Shi Ying is Lin Xi’s senior at Jing Hua University. She is in the same batch and course as Qin Yue. Shi Ying has feelings for Qin Yue which is unreciprocated which causes her to turn petty and jealous.

Zhang Huai Wu

Huai Wu is Lin Xi’s classmate at high school. He also admires Zheng Han and becomes his friend. He is among the bottom in the class and has not much interest in his studies. Huai Wu has a strict father who is also a teacher and dean of the school.

Shen Wen Yue

Wen Yue is Zheng Han’s friend who is also into computer programming. She is expressive and outgoing. Wen Yue and Huai Wu attend the same university.

Duan Ning

Duan Ning is Zheng Han’s dorm mate at Jing Hua University and also a fellow programmer. He is seen as a playboy but has feelings for Xiao Man.

Zhuang Fei

Zhuang Fei is Lin Xi’s university dorm mate. She has an inferiority complex and is sensitive about being looked down upon due to her poor background. Hence, she turns jealous of Lin Xi who has what she can’t have.

Chu Qiu Yan

Qiu Yan is also Lin Xi’s university dorm mate and good friend. She already has a boyfriend who comes from a rich family.

Xu Zhi Li

Zhi Li is Qiu Yan’s boyfriend. His family is into the IT business as well while he is sent by his father to work in another company called VX to gain experience. Zhi Li is acquainted to Qin Yue due to their respective family business. He is also an ambitious guy but dotes on his girlfriend.

Mr. & Mrs. Xia

Mr. and Mrs. Xia are Lin Xi’s parents. Mr. Xia is a gemology scholar while his wife is a corporate executive. They often argue due to their different parenting styles and income status. But Mr. Xia will often take a step back to let Mrs. Xia to have the final say. While Lin Xi’s father is more relaxed and wants her to be happy, her mother wants to mold her to succeed in life. Lin Xi trains herself to be obedient in order to keep her parents together.

Xie Ping Chuan / Mr. Xie

Mr. Xie is a top programmer and executive at VX. He is also Zheng Han’s supervisor while Zheng Han is an intern at the company. Mr. Xie admires the young man’s talent and shares a connection with him due to their similar life experiences.

Zhang You Cai / Teacher Zhang

Teacher Zhang is a fierce and strict dean at Lin Xi’s high school. He is also Huai Wu’s father. He doesn’t have a good impression of Zheng Han due to the latter’s disciplinary problems.

Synopsis

Zheng Han is a new student at Lin Xi’s school after having transferred from another institution. He ends up in the same class as her and is always having disciplinary issues. As Lin Xi is the class monitor, she has to make Zheng Han toe the line in accordance with the teachers’ instructions. This leads her to know him better and she finds out that his father’s factory was burnt down and the business went bankrupt. Zheng Han shoulders the responsibilities to pay off the debts and help some of the workers who have lost their jobs.

Hence, Zheng Han will take on any kind of job to earn money including masquerading as a university student to end up being Lin Xi’s maths tutor which eventually angers her mother. Zheng Han is also a maths and programming whizz which enables him to make money by writing programs for others. After starting off on the wrong footing, Lin Xi begins to see Zheng Han in a different light while he appreciates that she cares. They make a promise to each other to study hard to get into the prestigious Jing Hua University.

Just as Lin Xi and Zheng Han begin to develop feelings for each other, he leaves without a word. Lin Xi is angry and heartbroken. She pulls herself together and does well to enter Jing Hua University where she meets Zheng Han again. She is also being pursued by Qin Yue who is her senior and childhood friend.

Forever Love Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Forever Love has a happy ending which is already a given as the whole story is told as a flashback. So, when the drama starts, the viewers are already being treated to a wedding scene. Zheng Han and Lin Xi are getting married. They are happy to finally get Lin Xi’s mother’s blessings as the latter has always objected to their relationship. Zheng Han promises Lin Xi’s mother that he will always love and take good care of Lin Xi. Their wedding ceremony is held at the high school where they first met 6 years earlier. Zheng Han has also becomes a successful man with his own tech company which was started together with their friends.

Is There A Breakup At Any Point?

Once Zheng Han and Lin Xi become a couple, there is no breakup in their relationship. In fact, there is no serious misunderstanding at all between them. The only time they broke up is back in high school but even then, they were not yet dating although they did have feelings for each other. Zheng Han quit school just before the public exams as he needed money for his father’s surgery. He was afraid he couldn’t make it to university anymore and didn’t want Lin Xi to waste her time on him.

Zheng Han and Lin Xi separated again in Episode 27 but that is because she promised her mother to go abroad to study in exchange for funds to help Zheng Han’s start-up company to overcome a difficult period. She didn’t tell him about the agreement she had with her mother. By the time he found out, she was already at the airport. Zheng Han rushed there to meet her.

Lin Xi has never contemplated a breakup. She was contented with a long distance relationship and confident that they will still be together after 2 years. She didn’t want to go back on her word as she knew her mother would never accept Zheng Han then. Zheng Han promised that he will wait for her no matter how long it takes and will marry her once she returns.

Did Qin Yue Confess To Lin Xi?

Qin Yue was dropping hints throughout after Lin Xi entered Jing Hua University and he became her senior. In return, she tried to hint back that he is only like a brother to her. She rejected him outright after he made his intentions clear. Lin Xi also told him clearly that she has chosen to be with Zheng Nan. But Qin Yue found it hard to let go and gave Zheng Nan and Lin Xi problems every now and then.

As Qin Yue’s father’s company was facing problems, they had to rely on the Xu family to help them out. Hence, Qin Yue had to do Zhi Li’s bidding to bring down Zheng Han through underhanded tactics. Qin Yue realized his mistakes when Lin Xi paid him a visit at Shi Ying’s urging. He apologized to Zheng Han and tried to help him out by giving him an investor’s contact to make amends since Zheng Han’s company was in need of funds.

In the end, Qin Yue did not end up with anybody. Shi Ying who has always been in love with him also left his company to become a jewelry designer instead. She is shattered by her illusion of him as a principled man and regrets being petty and jealous of Lin Xi in the past because of him.

Side Couples

Xiao Man is married to Yi Chuan and is already pregnant when Lin Xi returns from her studies abroad after 2 years. Yi Chuan realized that he loved Xiao Man after Duan Ning appeared to have successfully wooed her while in university. He started to get jealous and finally had to admit his own feelings for Xiao Man.

Duan Ning actually loved Xiao Man but knew that her heart lies with Yi Chuan and he was merely a stand-in all along. He made light of the situation that their relationship was all a pretense to provoke Yi Chuan when Xiao Man asked for a breakup to avoid making her guilty. As Duan Ning had expected the outcome, he moved on easily.

Qui Yan still ends up with Zhi Li despite knowing what he had done to Zheng Han because he changed into a better man for her sake. Zhi Li quit the IT industry to venture into the wedding business with Qui Yan. They have a wedding gown boutique and also become Lin Xi and Zheng Han’s wedding planner.

Huai Wu has always been interested in Wen Yue. He kept her company while she was hurting over Zheng Han’s relationship with Lin Xi. In Episode 28, Huai Wu tells Lin Xi that he and Wen Yue are already a couple but the latter argues that they are not.

Forever Love Review – Surprisingly Good

Forever Love is a pleasurable watch for me despite my reservations over campus romance dramas. Many love stories featuring 2 university students will inevitably have unnecessary misunderstandings and breakups followed by a reconciliation for a happily ever after ending such as The Love Equations. Or there will be a lot of awkwardness and shyness like Put Your Head On My Shoulder. Cliches and different degrees of immaturity also often make up part of the story.

However, Forever Love offers something refreshing to me. It is a bit like Love 020 but with a bit more depth to the romance. The similarity is in terms of the maturity and sweetness of the couple. It is youthful romance with a positive vibe to it. While it might be a bit idealistic but it does send a good message to the intended younger viewers that love is about sacrifice, respect, trust, and faith.

A Simple Plot

A simple plot is expected with this kind of dramas. Hence, the story is nothing more than a life journey of a group of high school students about to enter university and their love experiences. At 28 episodes, it has good pacing and doesn’t get dragged out unnecessarily. The high school phase is wrapped up within 6 episodes which I think is just nice rather than get too drawn out like in Le Coup de Foudre. Hence, the background to the couple’s story and a few of the characters are effectively laid out in a concise manner that there is little room for boring stretches.

There are a few of those I love you but you love him/her scenarios which is common in youthful romance dramas. However, I don’t find them to be particularly annoying in Forever Love as the main couple is very clear about who they love and makes it known.

Overall, it is a simple and predictable plot. But you are watching this not for the plot but the way this pair of young lovers show how much they love, support, and care for each other when faced with obstacles.

Great Acting And Chemistry

Both the male and female leads are very young. Therefore, it is commendable that they could play their roles so well for someone with little experience under their belt especially Xiang Han Zhi. You can say that the characters that they play are not too complicated or challenging. But they did manage to make their attraction for each other comes alive on-screen and that is what viewers want to see in a romance drama. So, kudos to them for a job well done.

The chemistry between Xiang Han Zhi and Wang An Yu is definitely there in every interaction despite them being newcomers in the acting department. The way they talk, gaze, and hold each other just makes you automatically root for them as a viewer. Otherwise, romance dramas can get pretty weary without the right chemistry between the leads such as the pairings in Be With You and Midsummer Is Full Of Love.

Inspiring Female Character

Lin Xi is a sweet and adorable girl. But she also possesses a lot of grit which I like in her character. Lin Xi doesn’t need her boyfriend to help her and tell her what to do. She decides what she needs to do and goes for it. She stands up to her mother to protect her relationship and is confident of her choice. Hence, Lin Xi is a very matured character for a campus romance drama. She doesn’t indulge in tantrum or self-pity but is confident of Zheng Han’s love for her which she returns.

My Verdict – Watch!

Even if you prefer more matured romance dramas like Dating In The Kitchen and Love Designer, make an exception for this one. The first few episodes may seem the same as any young love stories but the nature of the main couple’s relationship is a warm and uplifting one when they actually get together as a couple. There is also a tinge of innocence to it as it shows us the excitement of first love and the thrill of a first real kiss.

Minor Complaints

If there is one thing that they could have done more of is to add in more kissing scenes. There is only one great kiss in the drama. I understand that they have deleted one or two of such scenes and they need to keep it relatively clean as this is a youthful romance drama after all. The female lead is also barely 18 when it was filmed. But it is a pity because I think a few scenes could have kisses to add more intensity to the couple’s relationship to heightened viewers’ feelings towards their romance.

One other thing is there is time jump of 2 years towards the end of the drama. So, the story moves pretty fast in the last 2 episodes to wrap everything up. I feel having an extra 1 or 2 episodes to cover that period would have been better so as to add more depth to their love story. As it is, we are offered a very simplistic ending as they gloss over that 2 years.

Worth A Watch

The bottom line is Forever Love is still worth a watch. If you like a pretty and charming female lead with an inner strength, this fits the bill. So would it if you like a supportive kind of relationship in your romance dramas rather than constant misunderstandings like in Here To Heart. I think what makes Forever Love unique is that it will resonate with both the younger and older audiences. There is the innocence of first love which will appeal to the younger crowd as well as the maturity of the couple in nurturing their love and dealing with problems which more matured viewers could relate to.

Overall, I will give this Forever Love Chinese drama review a score of 7.5/10. Watch it for the leads’ chemistry as it drives the drama just like Perfect And Casual and Love Is Sweet apart from the warm romance. Both the leads are also good-looking and fit well together as a couple. Some might find the female lead to be annoying before they get together as she keeps turning the guy down for causing her to become a subject of gossips. But it will get better as the drama progresses and they are one sweet couple. So, hang in there to get to the best parts of the drama once you hop on!