Review of Best Choice Ever / 承欢记

I used to never like Chinese dramas. I don’t know why, but I think it was because I was trying to force myself to watch the hardcore wuxia like ones when I had never seen anything like that before. It was too out there for me at the time, but when I recently started getting back into Chinese learning, or putonghua specifically, I began watching more of the contemporary dramas.

And it was Only for Love that finally got me hooked on these dramas. If you look at the television reviews section of my blog, you’re going to see that I’ve spent a lot of time recently reviewing a lot more Chinese shows.

It was during this little kick that I picked up Best Choice Ever. I was a bit weary about it because the synopsis didn’t seem too far up my alley, but then I decided to watch it solely on the fact Xu Kai was in it. I didn’t care for his character in Falling Into Your Smile, but I recognized his name.

This was how I spent about a week watching this show all the way through. After that I went into Fry Me To the Moon, which is an upcoming blog post in the next month or so on this site.

Let’s get into the review!

A hotel worker in Shanghai gets caught up in the world of high class hotel management—and love.

Our main character in this drama is Mai Cheng Huan, who is an average middle class girl in Shanghai. She lives with her parents and brother in a pretty small apartment, and they don’t have much, as seen by the complaints of her mother throughout the show.

Cheng Huan is dating Jia Liang, whose family is rich, and her mother is pushing for marriage into that family because of the fact they’re wealthy. However, they treat Cheng Huan very poorly, especially his sister, and this causes further conflicts throughout the show, especially as her mother pushes for this to happen.

As we dance around her romantic life and the drama that comes with it, Cheng Huan’s work becomes complicated too. She works at a prominent hotel chain in Shanghai, where her boss is Yao Zhi Ming. He seems cold but efficient, and when she’s accused of something major, they have to clear that up now.

Zhi Ming finds himself crossing paths with Cheng Huan and her family, especially as he needs to do business with Jia Liang’s family as well. When Cheng Huan is sent to a different office, though, he finds himself trying to see her more, even getting a residence in the apartment complex she is now watching over.

Romance fans, you’re not going to entirely get what you want in this series, as it really doesn’t focus on their relationship. Some of the biggest focuses on this drama are the ones involving the family members, especially Cheng Huan’s mom. She just kind of needed a chill pill sometimes.

At the same time, Cheng Huan and her mother discover that the grandmother they constantly visit (they’re not related by blood) is actually Zhi Ming’s grandmother. She lives in a nursing home (an upscale one to boot), and that leads to more misunderstandings when Cheng Huan’s mother insults Zhi Ming.

When the grandmother denies, there’s even more drama as she names Cheng Huan the heir of a big hotel company that was expected to go to Zhi Ming. Now, there’s friction through this, even though Zhi Ming continues to help her and sort through his romantic feelings.

Overall Thoughts

I think this was just an okay drama. There were moments where it really shone, but I found the family drama aspects to be overdone a bit, especially at the end when there’s a shocking moment and everyone goes on high alert.

Towards the end, I found this difficult to get through because of that, and I felt like the show could have ended a little bit earlier than this many episodes. 24 would have been a sweet spot, but it kept introducing new plot twists.

That said, I’m glad I watched it. I’m starting to think that Xu Kai kind of just plays the same character in every drama I’ve seen him in, but hopefully I find something else where he breaks out of his mold and archetypes.

Go watch this if you have not already and want to!

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