Flash Review: The Eternal Love [China]

I really wasn’t planning to write a review for this show, you guys.

I’d randomly picked this one up in the thick of my drama rut, and really got into it for a while.

But then, this show stopped working for me in a whole lotta ways, and I then suffered quite a bit of viewer’s regret for dragging myself to the finish line, in (futile, futile) hopes that this one would pick back up.

Remorseful, I was going to file this one away in a corner of my brain, in the “bad decisions I’d rather not think about” pile, but then today, I realized that I really ought to at least warn you guys about this one, since we’re friends and all. Right?

Side note: this show’s not to be confused with the cracktastic Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms, which is also known as Eternal Love. Confusing much?

STUFF I LIKED

Going in, I already knew that this show’s production values were on the low-rent side of things, so the (sometimes laughably) basic sets and repeated costumes didn’t bother me much at all.

In fact, I found that there was quite a lot to enjoy in this show, and was happily marathoning it with a vengeance – at least for a while.

Here’re my favorite things about this show, while it worked for me:

1. Mo Lian Cheng (Xing Zhao Lin)

You guys know that when I find a male lead swoony, it can do a lot to lift my viewing experience, right? Well, in this case, I hafta say that while Xing Zhao Lin as Mo Lian Cheng took a while to grow on me, I was quite suitably smitten, once he did.

Not only was Mo Lian Cheng full of smarts and fighting skillz, he was also charismatic, regal, and pretty sexy to boot. I enjoyed his heady mix of mischievous smirk and broody intensity, particularly when he was honing in on his leading lady. Ahem.

2. Qu Tan Er / Xiao Tan (Liang Jie)

Liang Jie plays the dual roles of the quiet and submissive Qu Tan Er and the outspoken, impulsive Xiao Tan.

While I feel that Liang Jie’s features lean a little too modern to properly blend into a period setting, and that took away somewhat, from the believability of her Tan Er character, I do feel that she did a solid job playing the dual roles overall.

At first, I found our modern heroine Xiao Tan a little too rough and brusque in manner and behavior for my taste, but I did appreciate her never-say-die, can’t-get-me-down disposition, and she grew on me after a while.

3. OTP movement & development

One of the crackiest things about the early stretch of this drama, is the interest that Mo Lian Cheng takes in his new wife. In a surprising turn for someone who finds himself saddled with a wife whom he didn’t choose, Mo Lian Cheng seems genuinely fascinated by Xiao Tan.

As a result, we get lots of up-close-and-personal, OMG-I-can’t-breathe moments between our OTP, as he regularly swoops in without warning, to join her in her personal space.

So much heady, cracky goodness, y’all.

4. Jing Xin (Sun Yi Zhu)

Another bright spot for me, was Xiao Tan’s maid Jing Xin.

Sun Yi Zhu is effortlessly expressive as Jing Xin. One minute, Jing Xin is bright and cheery, and the next, she’s chagrined and concerned, and Sun Yi Zhu manages the entire range of expression with aplomb.

On top of that, she’s got pretty great comic timing too. I liked having her on my screen, a lot.

5. General pacing

Even though Show doesn’t really explain the workings of its fantasy setup, and I therefore couldn’t understand a whole bunch of stuff (including: how did Xiao Tan time travel to this place? How is this world related to her modern world?

Why are there 2 weird hooded figures running around who seem to be from a completely different fantasy world?) the story seemed to trundle along at a pretty brisk pace.

I didn’t have time to get bored, and felt content to soak in the mounting OTP chemistry while I trusted that Show would reveal everything in good time.

WHEN THIS SHOW STOPPED WORKING FOR ME [SOME VAGUE SPOILERS]

At my peak, I was watching up to 4 episodes of this show a day – which was a Big Deal, considering that I was still in the midst of my drama rut.

The thing is, at about the halfway point of this show, I began to realize that I was still watching several episodes a day, but it just.. wasn’t as enjoyable anymore.

I wasn’t clicking on the next episode because I was hungry for more cracky goodness; I was clicking on the next episode partly out of habit, and partly out of hope. I was hoping that Show would somehow regain its initial cracky flavor. Sadly, it never did.

Essentially, too much politicking and too much fantasy magicking got in the way. I mean, seriously, you guys. There was just So. Much. Going. On.

On the politicking front, we’ve got people scheming for the throne, with a good amount of tears, poison, stabbing, fighting and dying going on.

Not to mention a very bitter Queen Mother with the crustiest lipstick in the history of Dongyue, pulling puppet strings to muck things up even more.

As if that isn’t bad enough, Show goes full-on fantasy on us, with a whole other-worldly dimension opening up. Baddies, bigger baddies, ugly black smoke, second lives, third eyes, tribes and silver wigs: that about sums up my impressions of that facet of things.

The characters that I cared about basically never stood a chance; they essentially drowned in the big narrative mess that Show created by trying to do too much at the same time.

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

On the upside, our lead couple doesn’t die, and appears to be given a happy ending. On the not-so-upside, uh, very little stuff actually makes sense.

I’ll admit that I kinda zoned out at all the protracted “dramatic” fighting between the good guys and the Big Bad Guy Trapped In The Secret Place.

But I did register that the good guys barely won the battle, and both Xiao Tan and the Revived Essence Of Mo Lian Cheng Who Now Remembers Her were injured in the process.

And just when I thought everything was over, Xiao Tan is picked up by some kind of Reverse Gravitational Force and is sucked away into..

…the modern world, where she wakes up in that ancient bed that supposedly time-traveled her to Dongyue in the first place. And then, Modern Mo Lian Cheng, looking way less cool without his mane of glory, appears before her and they run into the light, holding hands.

Yes, it is as utterly ridiculous and as bemusing as it sounds. Sigh.

Which is why I felt I just had to come out and warn you guys about this one.

Or, y’know, commiserate with you, if you’ve already had the misfortune of finishing this one yourself. (At least you’re not alone?)

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Cracky fun at first. Key words being, “at first.” 

FINAL GRADE: C

OPENING SONG:

I couldn’t find a proper teaser for this show, but the opening song does a pretty good job of giving a bit of a flavor for the show – for when it was good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wo_n_Bzjss

WHERE TO WATCH:

You can check out this show on Viki here. It’s also available on YouTube here.

GETTING AROUND GEO-RESTRICTIONS

If you’re geo-restricted, a VPN service would help you get around that. Not only does it provide online safety, it also gives you access to lots of great geo-restricted content.

I personally use NordVPN. You can find my review of NordVPN here.

You can use my affiliate link (here!) to enjoy up to 60% * off, with prices starting as low as US$3.29 per month.

* This used to say 73%, but because NordVPN’s changed the way it calculates the discount, it now says 60%. BUT, it’s the same great price, starting from US$3.29 a month!

An article on why it’s not illegal to use a VPN to access legal streaming content can be found here.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

14 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Alva
Alva
5 years ago

I wanna thank you profoundly from the bottom of my heart for this review. I was in episode 20 and could barely finish it anymore. I could feel the ending wasn’t going to be satisfactory but I didn’t want to waste my time watching it to find out. I much would prefer if they had stayed in ancient China.

kfangurl
5 years ago
Reply to  Alva

Aw, I feel you, Alva! Glad I could save you at least the last couple of episodes. I personally wish I’d dropped out right when things started going downhill, but it’s hard to do when Show was so cracky at first. I just kept hoping that things would recover their cracktastic flavor, but they never did. And yes, I would’ve much preferred if they’d stayed in ancient China too. That ending felt strange and tacked on, especially since they never did explain the mechanics of her time travel. Oh well. At least you got out before you got to the end..? 😅

Pat
Pat
5 years ago

Loved it and have watched it several times, and I understood the entire time travel thing as well. I thought and still think it’s great-and I’m from America. Will watch it again and if possible, I will try very hard to watch the sequel

kfangurl
5 years ago
Reply to  Pat

Glad the show worked for you 🙂 I didn’t take to the second half as well as you did, but I did love the first half a whole lot! 🙂

Kat
Kat
5 years ago

I give it to the actress because I could tell immediately when she switched personalities. I liked the lead couple though there wasn’t anything new with the plot. The normal conniving women etc. I think I skipped almost all the supernatural stuff when I realized it was just ridiculous which meant by the end, I was skipping almost whole episodes. So I guess I can say I watched most of the first half and little of the second. Also, the guy who played the emperor might be the worst actor ever.

Kat
Kat
5 years ago
Reply to  Kat

Oh, and I think your C is generous 😉

kfangurl
5 years ago
Reply to  Kat

Heh. The generosity is mostly for how cracky I found the earlier stretch. And for the Mo Lian Cheng early swoony. 😉

kfangurl
5 years ago
Reply to  Kat

OMG the emperor! I have to tell you, the first time he showed up onscreen wearing his sparkly gold hat, I wondered who he was, and thought maybe he was some fortune teller guy or something. I was gobsmacked to realize that he was, in fact, the emperor! 😂 Yep, he was terrible. As was the Queen Mother. You were smart to skip all the supernatural stuff – you definitely didn’t miss anything!

Lu Yi Fan
5 years ago

I totally agree! The beginning was so so good… truly cracktastic! And then it just started going downhill… and took a nosedive bleh. I really wanted to recommend this drama to others but can’t bc of the 2nd half. A shame bc Xing Zhao Lin really won me over despite the terrible hair. He’s got the height and screen presence for a good ancient/costume drama lead.

kfangurl
5 years ago
Reply to  Lu Yi Fan

Hi5, looks like we had the same experience with this one! It’s funny, I did think the hair was weird at first, but once I clued in to the Xing Zhao Lin sexy, I actually thought the hair suited him. Clearly, it’s the rosy fangirl lens at work! 😂

Timescout
5 years ago

Well, Korea isn’t the only place to have these ‘starts out fun, goes off the deep end later’ dramas. There are plenty in China too and I’ve watched my fair share (before giving ’em Das Boot). 🙂 The thing is, it’s not possible to always predict how a drama will turn out, so this kind of ‘mishaps’ are bound to happen.

kfangurl
5 years ago
Reply to  Timescout

Truth! It’s really quite impossible to predict how a drama will turn out, and I feel like this one took it to the extreme. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever quite been buoyed so high by a drama, only to be ‘rewarded’ with SO much WTH..! 😂 When this was going well, it was such great fun! Which is why I felt like I owed everyone at least a little bit of PSA – so that fewer people would be burned by this one. 😝

dramajunkie
5 years ago

I finished this drama in two days. I only watched till episode 19 or 20.

kfangurl
5 years ago
Reply to  dramajunkie

Heh. In this case, I’d say you were smart to drop out before the actual end. You saved yourself a few episodes of nonsensical angst – which is better than how I did! 😝