Are you ready to dip you toes into a Chinese fantasy drama that mixes cheesy special effects with great story telling? Do you want something you can’t stop binging to the point you will probably be lacking in sleep for a few days? Then this might be the show for you. Come find out the Pros and Cons to watching Love and Redemption.
Pro – Stellar Storytelling
This drama is such a great story! Who wouldn’t love two enemies being sent to cultivate on earth and fall in love, not realizing that they are actually immortal enemies? Add in a bunch of quests to force our heroic OTP (One True Pairing) to overcome all while being sweet and swoony. It’s the stuff great dramas are made of.
Con – Cheesy Special Effects
So…The special effects for this drama are bad, even by cheesy Chinese CGI level bad. I will be honest that this was almost enough for me to kick it to the curb in episode one. So glad I didn’t let that stop me because the special effects are well worth the annoyance to get to the good story that is being told.
Pro – Swoon worthy OTP
This is another thing that didn’t click right away. Watching the first episode, I found myself wishing that the leads were more established actors. However, before I knew it, I was cheering for our sweet and innocent couple. Then I was totally swooning over the romance that was filled with miscommunications and cute innocence. Twenty episodes in and I am ready to figuratively murder anyone that gets between Si Feng and Xuan Ji’s fated love. I need them to have a happy ending ASAP. Yes, I know there are still many ups and downs for them to overcome, but I can’t help but be invested with them every step of the way.
Con – Difficult finding quality subs & HD
This show is not being subbed on any of the main locations. However, there are some fan subbers working on the project and if you need help finding them then contact me on social media. I am happy to message you the link for hard subs.
Would I Recommend
Uhm, heck yes! I have been on a massive binge watch and I can’t stop clicking next episode. I’m loving this story and the main couple has earned their place on my top OTPs of 2020 list. I suggest everyone go and start this immediately so that i have someone to fangirl with.
Until my next cracktastic binge,
Kmuse
Dramas With a Side of Kimchi
I’m so glad you’re enjoying this show. Me to it’s so good, I’ve actually let myself fall behind because I have some time off so I’m going to binge the heck out of the episodes that are subbed.
The Amin song for it as well is so so good, a friend of mine who doesn’t particularly like Chinese shows is hooked on that song and listened to it all the time.
I also find that although it’s 59 episodes long it’s one of those shows that you could sit and just binge the heck out of it for sure
I’ve finished watching it and it’s a must watch
Great show, very satisfying ending. It was recced to me because it has a more passionate kiss between main leads than most of the romances in this genre seem to. Which it delivered on. What I didn’t expect was a certain gender fluidity that gets revealed near the end of the story. I saw something coming in terms of gender but often Chinese TV is super cringey when it comes to that. Not in this case. Nothing that crosses the line of Chinese censorship (it’s more heavily, heavily implied) but it still has an intensity and without any characters doing the “no homo” dance. I didn’t know how much I needed that.
I also thought the writers/director did a great job putting in a kind of calming anticlimactic ending, instead of cutting you off in an unsatisfying way like Ashes of Love does. (They cut out material from the novel that brings the story back to earth, which I think was a mistake.)
The only thing I didn’t like is that a certain character gets tortured for what feels like ages and it’s hard to watch and I didn’t care for how the situation was resolved.
The CGI isn’t anything special but the story didn’t rely on it. There are occasional CGI sequences that make you wince but in the end I didn’t really care about that part.
The one thing I would point out, and it’s something the fansubbers commented on as well, is that the characters talk a lot. A lot. Dramatic scenes with a lot of tension where things should be happening quickly get stopped for more talking. And talking. On the one hand, it’s nice in that unlike a lot of romances, characters confront each other and share information instead of keeping farcical misunderstandings going forever. But on the other hand in some situations nobody would stop and have a rambling conversation, they’d be in a panic running around. Makes you feel like you don’t know how to feel watching certain scenes.
Hi Kmuse,
I heard you talk about this drama in your Chinese drama podcast where you said you binge watched 20+ episodes without stopping. For you to stop your life, it had to be something special. That was me this past weekend and then I had to go to work on Monday today so I had to stop watching. I am really seriously worried- I have guests coming over this weekend and I was supposed to spend the past weekend and this week cleaning – how am I going to stop watching long enough to clean my dirty house is going to take a huge amount of self control.
I love this drama so much! It is up there with The Untamed and Ever Night (the first season) As I am watching I am totally immersed, I especially love Si Feng – his quiet strength, his unwavering loyalty and ethics and his TOTAL love for Quan Ji. As soon as he fell in love with her, his whole life changed and became his encompassing love for her, his willingness to give up everything, including his leadership in his sect, his life, his family and his way of life, all for the happiness he experiences being with her and loving her. There was not a single doubt or wavering and I loved his immediate recognition that having love and happiness in his life brought meaning to his life and was worth giving up everything else. Totally swooning is an understatement, lol.
I am so happy you enjoyed it! This is a drama that needs more buzz because it is so good
I started watching it because I just need to watch some period show.
I have seen Crystal Yuan in a previous show but was forgettable.
And who is that main actor? His features look a little soft under that mask in Episode 1.
By Ep 2 , I was intrigued by the story.
By Ep 3 , I was in love with the main couple.
By Ep 4, I was in love with SiFeng
By Ep5 , I was in love with Chang Yi the male lead
By Ep 6 , I lost all sleep. And had to chase the story.
Now I am re-watching the drama the 3rd time. And counting.
And my greatest discovery for 2020 – CHENG YI. Which rock has he been hiding last 9 years of his life ??
I have watched countless Chinese period shows and never heard of him. Till I was mesmerised by his wide range of expressions in his eyes in Love and Redemption.