Modern C-drama The Best Thing with Zhang Ling He and Xu Ruo Han Ends Run with 6.5 Douban Ratings and More Coverage About the 60 Kisses and Male Lead’s Swollen Lips than the Plot
I don’t know which title is blander for this modern C-drama, the Chinese title of 爱你 (Ai Ni) or Love You/Loving You or the English title of The Best Thing. It’s like creativity and originality took a nap during naming session. To be fair to the drama, its adapted from the novel Loving You Is the Best Thing I Have Ever Done so both titles just took a piece of the PG novel title lol. Back to the drama itself, it was short and sweet and seemed to have the fastest run as it premiered like two weeks ago and already ended, and opening Douban ratings are a respectable 6.5, nothing to write home about but at least not getting washed with complaints and critiques. It’s basically your vanilla love story between an Oriental medicine doctor and a hotel management employee with the requisite meet cutes, emotional back stories, and healing through love.
I tried hard to watch it because OMG male lead Zhang Ling He and his visuals are unreal in this drama, like he leveled up in modern form, but between female lead Xu Ruo Han‘s self-aware acting and her distracting chipmunk size front teeth I could not continue. The most interesting thing about this drama is probably all the purchased buzz around the sky high 60 kisses between the leads, and the rumors during filming that Zhang Ling He was unhappy with the number of kiss scenes in the original script and Xu Ruo Nan demanding the director add more because she was making a very aggressive pursuit of Zhang Ling He in real life. It ended with him filming so many kiss scenes his lips got all chapped and swollen and was captured by BTS shots from filming. Can’t make this up lol, and in that regard can’t say I don’t see where she’s coming from though asking for more kiss scenes is so unprofessional girl.
I don’t watch cdrama but I just came here reading that spicy title lol. What is this really about? How does an actress have so much power to add so many kiss scenes? Is she a bigger actor than the ML?
I did not realize there were that many but honestly this drama dragged a bit…too much slice of life but still had cute moments and did not get interesting until her ex tried to come back like the ex from hell lol….yes he is handsome here but her teeth are so distracting as you mentioned but she did well…just too drag drag driggedy drag for me. I liked the bonkers drama called Filter. I did not think I would but it was more interesting as it reaches the end. For a crazy funny good laugh I recommend Filter not the best drama but not boring.
I agree with you on FILTER — not your typical romance drama. It was unique, entertaining, fun, and yet emotionally satisfying. It actually had themes and social commentary which you could discuss, instead of just counting the number of kisses. Highly recommend it. I didn’t watch The Best Thing, but it seems like a typical contemporary romance, which doesn’t really interest me. But if you are looking for that sort of drama, I’ve heard The Best Thing delivered it.
She just has an overbite (like Golden Age Hollywood actress Gene Tierney who was strikingly beautiful btw)…I think it gives her some character and makes her unique. That’s so refreshing seeing people with imperfect smiles imo. Park Bo Gum or Gu Zi Chen’s teeth for instance are scaring me tbh (too white/straight…it looks ridiculous and not that much believable when they’re playing in historical dramas for example)
Chen Zhe Yuan and Bai Lu’s teeth are far from perfect but they’re still beautiful in their own right and talented people of course.
I don’t like Zhang LingHe’s visual here. The make-up is too heavy and made him look unreal and animated.
Anyway, I couldn’t bring myself to watch this drama. I dropped it midway. I can’t understand the logic behind the far too many kisses. Truthfully, too many unnecessary kisses ended up leaving the kiss meaningless. It took the tension away from the couple. Plus their kisses are just kisses and since they became meaningless, as viewers, it’s hard to feel anything. So, that brings back the question on what’s the purpose of the kiss if in the end, viewers ended up feeling nothing.
Sounds like gossip. Isn’t ZLH top billed here and would have more say? But idk, nonetheless, this show was very sweet. I liked how it was pure fluff without any angst. That rating is actually approrpiate because there’s not much story here but it is a very pleasant, relaxing watch.
Kind of embarrassing that all there is to talk about is how many kiss scenes there are. Also he is the bigger star and top billed so I don’t believe the FL could “demand” more kisses to be added to the script.
This is a comfort drama. Not a lot happens but that’s why I like it. The cinematography is quite beautiful and serene. If you like shows like Love Me Love My Voice, Amidst a snowstorm of love, and Road Home then you’ll love this drama.
I agree with the comfort watch. I watch this together with The First Frost and like both dramas. TBT is more chill and fluff while TFF has some intense moments and fluff. I have the disposition for both right now so it all worked out well for me. Others might have different moods for dramas at a time.
Reminds me of how I preferred Love Game over Pearl Girl when both aired last year. If my mood permitted it then, I would’ve watched both tbh but it didn’t.
Xu Ruo Han has been stuck in those boring modern romance cdramas
@Sirey she is doing a new period drama but not sure who’s the lead
Here is more reliable source of how successful is the drama :
Broadcast Index :
Top 4 : Filter 82.88
Top 3 : First Frost 83.13
Top 2 : Going North 83.44
and No 1 is : The Best Thing 84.64
https://www.msn.com/zh-cn/news/other/%E8%BF%91%E6%9C%9F%E6%92%AD%E6%94%BE%E6%8C%87%E6%95%B0top10-%E8%99%9E%E4%B9%A6%E6%AC%A3-%E5%98%98-%E5%9B%BD%E7%8E%8B%E5%9C%A8%E5%86%AC%E7%9C%A0-%E5%86%B2%E7%AC%AC6-%E9%9A%BE%E5%93%84-%E7%AC%AC3-%E5%86%A0%E5%86%9B%E7%9C%9F%E5%80%BC%E5%BE%97%E8%BF%BD/ar-AA1AK0pB?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ASTS&cvid=bbdd0db32c4f4e52ba63c70ff4e9f352&ei=10
Agree!! This post is a rage bait and a hate post for Xu Ruohan I think. I’m currently watching and it’s actually one of the most comforting but still very realistic drama about healing from a long term relationship and finding new happiness. People are so easy to manipulate and be manipulated by media these days and this post is the example of it. People jump on the hate train too fast that it’s concerning.
First they are degrading Xu Ruohan’s facial feature (which is natural and beautiful by the way) and it’s not like I don’t know people has beauty preferences but please don’t use it as an attack.
After that OP also mentions a rumor which is not backed up with real evidence and again, use it as an attack. If it is a rumor then be careful with spreading it, you never know what really happened.
Also, Douban rating of 6,5 is actually considered good and to help you understand better: Story of Peral Girl’s rating is 6,3; Go Ahead (which was HUGE and won many awards, also got a korean remake) is 6,9; and The First Frost is 5,4!! (How??) So don’t use Douban rating as a point of judgement. Many susccessful dramas only earned 5-6 score and it’s still very good.
Watch it if you want, and if you don’t want to then at least don’t crap about it.
Yap, I also agree with you. this post is so negative towards xu ruo han. I don’t understand why people judge her features when I think she is one of only few actress who have that natural features. I don’t think that she demanded more kissing scenes.
This seem like BS , actors get paid for their kissing scenes seperately , so it would have cost the production a lot , especially that most of the kisses get cut out in the end , she definitely can’t force him to do kissing scenes he doesn’t wanna do, look like silly gossip made by his fans to make him more attractive.
I have lost count of the number of times Zhang Ling He and kisses are mentioned together. Poor guy, I can’t imagine he can be proud of that.
The title was hilarious:-) Swollen lips .. lol
I prefer TFF. For this one, still on ep 21. Haven’t had time to continue. But girl… i didnt expect it. And Ling He had no word for this??? And how? Are they now an item? What a move, girl. Lol
This drama is forgettable. I watched a couple of eps and then dropped cuz the plot had nothing to sell LOL. ZLH did look more attractive in modern dramas than costume ones IMO, at least less makeup. What to say about XRH? Sigh. This actress has had the same aura and acting across the board. She sorta ruined the dramas of two actors that I like. One drama is this one, and the other is the one costarring with Li Yun Rei. Also why is her mouth always open like lose valves? LOL. That couldn’t be unseen.
this drama is my comfort zone, it’s like nothing groundbreaking happen but I just like seeing the character together.
I do understand the conflict of the show though, it’s very relatable, it just the pacing is quite slow. Despite that, I really like this one. It’s my highlight of the week
saw maybe the first 10 episodes. It’s alright. I don’t think Xu Ruo-han was in much of a position to demand kisses. Guessing some producer or investor request it since this is the sort of drama where there isn’t much drama. It just want to float on the coffee shop music vibes.
I usually find Xu Ruo-han a bit hard to watch, but she or the director has managed to make it work. Zhang Ling he does look better in modern dramas, but he also looks younger, especially when they have him getting around on an electric skateboard, so it was weird to see him as a doctor.
Why lie about something you know nothing about? Where is your source that she demanded more kisses. Sick of you POS wannabe writers always crapping on female actresses you don’t like because they happen to have a lead role with male idols you could never breathe the same air with! Removing Koala’s Playground from my feed because this place is trash.
Oh my gosh what a negative person towards the lead actress. Stop judging her features. First go and look yourself at the mirror then talk about others features. (Koala ‘s playgrond) I think he /she is over obsessed fan of zhang linghe. Not just this person but many people in comment section are so negative like WTF is their problem.
I find it very hard to believe she can ask for more kissing scenes… She is really not even a established actress incomparasion to Zhang Ling He…
To be honest, C-dramas is really so much cleaner…remember those years when young Hong Kong actress needs to take on Cat 3 movies to get a place in the industry. Of course not every actress did that but some did by will. And not all were by choice. Many suffered from mental/psychological issues later in life..
I watched ZRH and Miles Wei in Perfect and and Casual. I think ZRH is very pretty and can act quite well. Other issues are their personal matters so it doesn’t really concern us.
i never see a worst and trashy article in long time lol
you can have opinion but put baseless rumor are evil
I actually kind of enjoy this drama. No angst. Simple and comforting. Zhang Ling He is very much of a green flag in his role – a character that exists only in dramas. But, I enjoy it and I like their chemistry. Hope they get to work together again in future. Zhang Ling He please do more modern series.
I also think the ex looks good too. I remember him in meteor garden but it looks like he has not broken out with better roles.