Cheng Huan Ji (2024)

Appropriateness!

This would be a short review for me. I do not have issues with the performances. Everyone were at their very best and I salute all of them. The only thing that disappoints is appropriateness of the story line against the title and against the cast. For me, Yang Zi and Xu Kai must not be billed as main casts to this drama but instead the Mother (I'm sure, Yang Zi and Zu Kai would not mind being "The Real Support" casts here, LOL). Also, the title should not be Best Choice Ever. They could have thought of something more appropriate.

I understand that this is family oriented drama and not a romance-inspired piece, however, I felt that our main leads were "Used" as come ons to gain audience. I felt betrayed, LOL!

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Are you irritated by He Sai Fei's acting as Liu Wan Yu?

If you find yourself irritated by He Sai Fei's acting as Liu Wan Yu, then this drama has successfully moved you.

"Best Choice Ever" might initially seem like a drama that follows a classic formula, but upon deeper examination, we can discover rich and complex narrative layers. The drama aims to delve into the dynamics of traditional Chinese family life against the backdrop of Shanghai.

From a critical perspective, this drama succeeds in several aspects but also raises some questions. Yang Zi, in her role as Mai Cheng Huan, delivers a stunning performance, showcasing her character's transformation from a constrained child to an independent woman. However, the question is whether this transformation is portrayed with enough nuance or if it appears overly idealistic.

Xu Kai, as her co-star, makes a significant contribution to the drama, but the relationship between their characters sometimes feels forced and unnatural. Their chemistry, although having intriguing moments, can be inconsistent at times.

The most notable aspect is the depiction of the complex and emotional mother-daughter relationship. This is a very strong element in the drama, providing insight into the social pressures and expectations faced by women in Chinese society. However, the drama occasionally falls into stereotypes and doesn't fully succeed in challenging these norms.

The production of this drama, with its beautiful music and stunning cinematography, is one of its strengths. The carefully written dialogue invites deep reflection, but at times it feels didactic and lacks substance in portraying the complexity of human emotions.

Overall, "Best Choice Ever" is a drama worth watching, with some truly evocative moments. However, as a work of art, it still has room for growth and improvement, particularly in character development and more authentic interpersonal relationships. The drama offers an intriguing reflection of society but needs to explore further the true depth and richness of its narrative.

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surprisingly disappointing

I was really looking forward to this drama given the cast, however i have to say that i was fairly disappointed. This was barely a romance it was rather a story of how a mother controlled her family with verbal abuse and blackmail. If they didn't fall in with her wishes she would become hysterical and scream abuse at all around until everyone would bend to her will. Any romance that there could have been disappeared into the background it was barely noticeable.
When i think about the overall impression now i see the wonderful character of Grandmother who was a wise and beautiful lady who cared deeply about the people around her, and a screaming manipulative mother. I cannot for even a moment understand how this was being presented as a loving family. the Romance faded into nothingness. The ML and FL did their best with what they were given by the writers however they were not given much to work with, I do wonder if this was the outline and script that they signed up for in the beginning.
I do not really know why i watched it until the end of the series.

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A wasted opportunity.

I came into this drama thinking it was a romance with a side of comedy but I was pleasantly surprise to find a family drama.

Everyone does a really good job in the roles they were given and have great chemistry but you should know this drama leans more into the realism of how relationships actually work in a chinese family nowadays than what westerns countries are used to consume.

I found myself surprised, really, to find this kind of story of a meddling mother to the point of annoyance and a family that would actually enable her actions, until the breaking point. And then when things didn't go her way, she made everything worse. It got to the point where no matter how much I understood she was coming from a place of good, there was no justification or explanation for her.

I have been watching asian dramas for decades now and it's been a long time since I find myself watching a drama with these family dynamics, which it's a reminiscence of early 2000s kind of story and, worse, outdated.

Another weak point, it's that this drama simply didn't have enough story for 37 episodes. If this would have been a 20 something episode long drama, focused more on leading lady's work life, it would have been far more interesting.

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Se puede pasar de largo

Un drama que lo definiría, sin pena ni gloria, es más, bastante aburrido y cuenta con 37 episodios En realidad como ya leí varias reseñas y coincido con aquellas que exponen que el drama se trata de la relación entre madre e hija y que Xu Kai tiene un rol secundario. Desde luego hay buenos momentos que hacen que uno, no llore por el tiempo invertido.
Jamás se me ocurriría volver a verla y creo que dentro de una semana ni me acuerdo que la vi.
Además, quiero destacar que esta madre protagonizada por He Sai Fei es tóxica, para todos los integrantes de la familia, ella es el centro y todos los demás son objetos de su pertenencia. Pero es un personaje débil que los demás integrantes de la familia, hija, marido y hermano la van llevando como pueden por el bien familiar. A pesar de todos los problemas que ocasiona. Pero podemos decir en su favor que es una madre que cocina y se preocupa por su familia.
El personaje principal interpretado por Yang Zi, es demasiado perfecto como para ser real, en honor a la verdad ella es la madre de su madre y también tiene un crecimiento importante como empresaria y como hija. Recién en el episodio 28, tienen una charla donde ambas se sinceran y pueden encontrar un punto para mejorar la relación, pero son muchos capítulos repetitivos de lo mismo que llegan a aburrir.
Muy linda la relación de la protagonista con su abuela protagonizada por Wu Yan Shu como
Chen Shu Zhen o Grandma Mai.
Xu Kai, como Yao Zhi Ming tiene una buena actuación, su papel es el que más crecimiento interno tiene. Hay algunas escenas románticas bonitas y él es muy atractivo.
El drama tiene comedia, pero nada que destacar, todo siempre subordinado a esta relación madre e hija, la historia secundaria acompaña a este drama, es una historia de sostén sin mucha importancia.
La actuación de todos es buena, pero el guion a mi gusto soporífero.
De acuerdo a lo visto mi opinión es que mires otro drama, demasiado hincapié en las relaciones familiares, que desde luego son importantes en la vida de uno, pero me parece que en China hacen un culto de ella.

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It’s not the best choice, but it’s a good choice to watch

It took me a while to accept that the protagonist's mother caused a lot of drama until the end of the series, being very unnecessary and disrespectful, not looking like an elderly lady, but rather a spoiled teenager with no limits, it's okay that with age we have to accept some difficult phases like the empty nest, seeing her children face their own problems, but she had no maturity, she just did what she wanted all the time, that was so ridiculous. What would this lady have to complain about? her daughter-in-law and son-in-law are honorable, decent, successful people who take care of their children, but she still wants to rule over her children and treat them as if they were children and do emotional blackmail until the end. Despite this unbearable character who had very few improvements during the episode, the other characters are well constructed, the relationships develop and create great connections. I really liked the drama. I liked the development of the story that served as the backdrop for the novel. It's a slow burn romance with a fun enemies-to-lovers twist. The two protagonists acted very well and are beautiful! I would recommend this drama with a very large dose of patience.

It's not the best choice to always choose to watch it comma, but it's a good choice.

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Nosy mother, evolving daughter

Even though I didn’t like the story very much, and Yang zi has been choosing dramas that are more about family, relationships, and development of relationships with parents I thought her acting was some of the best she’s ever done . Xu Kai was playing in his role of executive which he’s done numerous times I didn’t think his role was stretched as much as Yang zi’s role. I think it was great acting with a so/so storyline special props to Nai nai who again was amazing in her role as support! I think her character really helped develop Huan Huans, and Yao’s character and their relationship. I also think that this show really demonstrated well how hard it is for a working family to be able to survive in the city like Shanghai with its rising costs. It also shows the dichotomy between the rich and middle class, which is so inherent in Shanghai. overall, I thought the main storyline was interesting and even the secondary romance was interesting to watch develop in its own set of circumstances, which were not the norm as well. I thought the way the Director handled this was really well done. Normally I skip over the secondary storyline as it’s usually just filler, but in this case, it was developed in a way where you really felt for the male secondary lead and his struggles his character was really well developed as well. You could see him growing from young graduate into a man.

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This is really more of a family drama with a side of romance

**This is just my opinion. I truly appreciate all of the hard work and dedication that went into the making of this drama. Thank you.**

I think that I read the summary for this drama wrong. I thought it was just telling me a bit about who the main characters were and what they were going to be dealing with. I assumed, wrongly, that the romantic relationships would be the primary focus. What it ended up being was a family drama with a side of romance and a heaping helping of hotel/work drama.

I have nothing against either work or family dramas. This drama though, put too much focus on Liu Wan Yu, Mai Cheng Huan's mother, her machinations, interference, greediness, emotional blackmail, etc. and their impact on her family. It just felt endless. I continued to watch it, hoping that eventually it would pay off but, spoiler... no such luck. It continues all the way through until the last 30 minutes or so. I have never wished for them to kill off a character so much. She drove me crazy. The work/hotel/life portion was just boring. Other than when they were setting something up for a future scene, it was tedious.

There was a bit of romance. I know that they wrote it in there because there ended up being two couples. Unfortunately, I didn't find it romantic at all. There were multiple confessions by more than one person and the only times there was any attempt to do something romantic was when she didn't want it. I still think that's very odd. I fast forwarded through some of the scenes towards the end so I might have missed something but it's doubtful. How can they not have gone on any romantic dates?

The actors were very good. My favorite part of the whole thing was Wu Yan Shu's performance as Yao Zhiming and Mai Cheng Huan's grandmother. She was an absolute delight! She brought out the best in her costars.

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Annoying Supporting Characters

As much as I love the ML and FL, the mother of FL is the most annoying and irritating character.
It’s not about being poor and full of pride but she herself shows disrespect to her own family.
I have seen dramas that mothers can be annoying but this one is the worst!!!
I would skip parts of other shows to skip to the good part but this I skipped every time the mother is on scene.

XU KAI is really good!!!! Can’t wait for another show of him
YANG ZI is great!! They made so much excellent chemistry.

Again, this is a terrible plot for mothers that belong to “poor” or working class group belittle theirselves more for bad attitude.

Most mothers are protective- despite of being poor gives pride to the family. But from beginning to end, the FL mother is one reason not to watch the show.

If you want to enjoy the show- just skip the mother part. Plus the actor herself is not good either.

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GET TO KNOW YOUR MOTHER BETTER SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND HER & ACCEPT HER UNCONDITIONALLY

At first, I thought that this drama would be like just focus on the love /cp love story, but it is mainly telling us in detail how a woman's life changing. From a girl - teenager - lady - wife - mother. Half of the total episode a telling a story Chenghuan striving for her career & personal development. The struggle to fulfill the norm's expectation to a woman. With lack of effective communication with her mother too.

But at the end, we know her mother's perspective. It hurts my heart so much as I view my situation with my own mother is similar to Chenghuan's. Our mother is not an angel, a superhero but we need them forever. Just like us, the children, makes a lot of mistakes. So, dear all daughters & sons, please understand your mother and love them unconditionally.

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