Love of Thousand Years (2020)

Best read between the lines/suspense drama for me

I understand the spoilers of this drama because like them, I also dropped because of the reviews I've read but when I was watching Zhao Lusi's Love like the galaxy, I was enticed to look for more of her dramas and I remembered this again. It was my paid annual leave that I was so bored and don't know what to do so I took patience watching every episode in details and alas! It got me hooked in episode 4 until the last episode. I even rewatched it for the nth time, can't remember how many times but every time I have free time, I watch it again and honestly, I lost interest to watch other chinese dramas, I only watch Zhao lusi's dramas but this is the drama I watched countless times, second the LLTG along side Leo Wu and the Hidden love 2023 along side Zhen Zhe yuan, I only watched her drama with Yang2 2 times but this Love of a thousand years was the most I rewatched because I can feel the intense look on ZYC's eyes that I haven't seen with ZYC's other dramas with other Leading ladies.

I assure everyone who will give time to watch this won't regret it.

For the ending explanation based on my understanding:
Since it is a love between immortal and mortal, I think from the spriritual lamp being broken and scattered in the universe, Fu Jiu Yun(ZYC) gathered his energy and made another universe for ZLS and with her family to live in peace since he is a Deity.
I concluded this based on their conversation in each episode about ZYC's wish for ZLS. He wants her to live in peace without suffering and heartaches, spoil her with the richest in the world.

I would appreciate any comment or feedback but this is my analysis after all we are watching a fiction drama here.
But the best about this drama is the chemistry and how the main lead carried his part as the deity to spoil the mortal who he loves very much

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Somehow better after a re-watch

I completely agree with most reviewers who have criticized the show's script. It was difficult to put the dots on i, lacking coherence and essential parts to make the story understandable.

I thought at first it was the actor's, Zheng Ye Cheng's, fault but then I watched a couple of behind-the-scenes clips and concluded that Zhao Lu Si and Zheng Ye Cheng had incredible chemistry which doesn't surprise me because every male partner she worked with and loved her. She is funny and natural. It was clear as day they liked each other. This reminds me that I need to change my review of the drama “Under the Power”: the issue was never Zheng Ye Cheng, it was the actress and the script/director. Anyway, “Love in a Thousand Years” was good but it could have been THE drama of the year with better edits.

I had to wait for many episodes to understand he saw her die and be reborn 10 times within a thousand years. It took me many episodes to grasp that he loved her but didn't want to force her to reciprocate his feelings; hence, he became her protector. But even then, it was a struggle to understand. His constant smirking was bewildering until I realized it was an immortal's indulgence towards his beloved mortal.

I think the part that was terribly edited was the transition from new face up to immortal mountain. I needed more from the immortal who helped her, why did he changed his mind, how did she learn magic, etc. What happened during those 3 years was missing and this was important enough that I would have understood better the story.

The sudden shift in Lusi Zhao's character's love interest without any discernible transition only served to highlight the poor writing of the script. While the idea of true love spanning a thousand years and the protagonist waiting for his love interest to be reborn multiple times was intriguing, the sudden change of heart was utterly inexplicable.

On a positive note, the chemistry between the actors was very good. All the actors were good though. I like both main leaders. I follow their career close.

So yes, I recommend this drama but keep in mind that the script is unclear and it will take time to understand the full story.

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A Waste Of A Good Story

Love Of Thousand Years could really have been an epic like Love And Destiny and The Untamed if it is better laid out. But the producers have wasted a good story to me. It does have a few things going for it to make it watchable though. Firstly, the main leads make a cute couple. Zheng Ye Cheng and Zhao Lu Si did their best to display the pull of a forbidden relationship as they toy with each other. They display a chemistry that makes it easy for viewers to root for a happy ending for them.

Secondly, I feel the main cast acted well in all their roles. At least, I did not cringe at their acting throughout the drama. Zheng Ye Cheng has the aura of a flirtatious immortal and he is able to capture on-screen attention with his stares. Zhao Lu Si gives me the vibe of a carefree princess who has matured due to the tragic events that she has experienced. Molly Wang has an arrogance and evilness in her character that are tempered with self-doubt and a desire to let go. She is able to portray a character in conflict with herself. As for Liu Yi Tong, he did well as a man wrecked by guilt and loathing because of his father’s betrayal.

Finally, Love Of Thousand Years is really a good story if you ignore the editing and details. The pacing is quite good as it doesn’t really drag on and on like some longer dramas. I know it is hard to overlook the drama’s weaknesses but do give the story a chance regardless of the ending. I think it is an interesting one but just that, it has not been fully taken advantage of to give viewers a truly epic tale.

Why You Should Drop It
Now that I have told you why you should watch Love Of Thousand Years, I should also warn you where it fails. The first thing that could put people off is right at the beginning. The drama starts with Angelina Jiang as Princess Yan Yan. Just as you think she is the main actress, that changes immediately to Zhao Lu Si in the second episode. So, the lady that Jiu Yun loves in the first episode has a totally different face in the second although they are supposed to be the same person. The plot requires the face change but to some viewers, it takes away the romanticism that is important in a love story.

The next thing that could make you drop this is the poor editing especially in the last episode. The scenes jump without proper explanation of what is going on. It could also be because the story is not being told in a right way with many things being left out and unexplained. Without the details, the drama is full of plot holes and guess work.

Another thing that annoys me is the flashbacks. It is fine to have flashbacks to emphasize a certain point or feeling but it shouldn’t be overdone. In Love Of Thousand Years, I find that they have inserted one too many flashbacks that repeat the same scenes. Perhaps they want to lengthen certain episodes but I find them to be unnecessary.

Finally, the ending for this drama sucks. There is no proper clarification as to what happened. I know some dramas do leave room for viewers’ imagination such as Legend Of Yun Xi. But this really takes it to another level when viewers are unsure if everything is a dream, a rebirth, or just a story in a painting.

My Verdict
As much as I want to, I can’t really give a high rating for this Love Of Thousand Years review. A score of 6.5/10 is perhaps fair given its weaknesses as laid out above. I wouldn’t really recommend you to watch it if you are very particular about having a good ending for your dramas. This one is most probably going to leave you disappointed.

It is also a pity that they have censored some of the kissing scenes. I know even modern dramas like Here To Heart have to take out steamy scenes to comply with the strict rules. You have the sweet moments for the main couple here but if you are expecting a bit more kisses to let you feel the love between them, it is going to fall short compared to, say, The Love By Hypnotic with its numerous intimate scenes.

Having said that, you can still watch Love Of Thousand Years for Zheng Ye Cheng. I like him from Love 020 and he has definitely matured with this role as the flirtatious Jiu Yun. Speaking of being flirty, I still prefer Ethan Juan’s Wuji in Legend Of Fuyao but then, I’m sure many female viewers can’t resist Zheng Ye Cheng’s handsome boy looks either. 😍

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I'm a fan of Zhao Lusi and I tried to finish this series ..I think this series is okay but too typical of a costume period drama.

Another thing is that the role they had for Lusi in this series was a bit annoying. (gets into trouble, cold and ungrateful to the people who tries to protect her ?) 2/3 of the drama she's focused on avenging her people regardless of the lives she could hurt to achieve it. I'm glad she made a turn towards the near end.

Most of the cons are mentioned in the previous reviews so I won't go through it here. But it's not the kind of series that I would rewatch....

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Waste of my time!

I am a huge fan of Zhao Lusi.. although her roles are not very diverse, I love every time she tries to portray these cute characters. I have pretty much watched all her dramas except this one. When it came out, I was so busy that I didn't have time to watch. After it ended airing, there were so many bad reviews about it but I wanted to try it out myself. I had been contemplating it ever since and finally made some time to watch it and now I feel like I really wasted my time.

First of all, the storytelling was really bad. I heard the novel itself was really well-written but the way drama tells the story was so confusing. Only after reading the comments, I found out that Fu Jiuyan had been following Qin Chuan for ten lifetimes or something like that. The ending was so confusing too because I didn't know whether it was a dream or did the spiritual lamp redo the whole history. The story sequence didn't make sense to me too. 90% of the time Qin Chuan wanted revenge for the Li Guo but I feel like she was just being stupid and dumb. Xuan Zhu's character development was supposed to be emotional but her acting lacked a lot for me to feel sympathy for her. I think most of the actors except Zhang Ye Chang did a very okay job with their roles and nothing stood out. Zhang Ye Chang did play his role well and if the other actors could work well with him, this drama could've been ten times better.

Second, there was no chemistry between the main leads. I feel like if the storytelling shaped the POV from Zhang Ye Chang chasing her ten lifetimes, maybe it would've been better. But because the story started from Li Guo being invaded and Yan Yan having to run away, I felt like the whole story weighed on her. So her falling in love with the "wick of the spiritual lamp" felt so unnecessary. I feel like Qin Chuan, Zichen, Xuan Zhu, and the 2nd prince felt like a better squad, and Fu Jiuyan being a smaller role. The two leads didn't even spend a lot of time together for most of the episodes and it was Jiuyan helping her from behind.

I feel like this drama had the potential to be a great success if it met the right cast and the right staff working on it. The story wasn't very bad to start with but the way it was told sucked. Zhang Ye Chang is a very capable actor and I was definitely convinced by his role as Fu Jiuyan and look forward to his future works. However, Zhao Lusi like I said isn't a very diverse actress. This kind of role did not fit her because here wasn't much comedy in the latter part of the drama. She isn't fit for this serious role. Maybe only if she worked on roles like this she could build her experience.

Overall, I would say this drama was really a waste of my time. However, I'd still end up watching this because of my greed to finish all Zhao Lusi's works so I can't say I regret it. But the OST was nice lol

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So I randomly came across this while looking for dramas and I ended up quite enjoying it. It was not some really complex storyline but it was good for a pass time watch. The drama was like portrayal of progression leading up to the goal of our leads and how their love grew along the way. I liked the pacing of the drama and they did well for having 30 episodes only because usually we see costume dramas have 50 or more episodes. The script could definitely have been better honestly but that's on the writers. I would have liked to see more development of characters. And the show had many other flaws too but I don't know if it's the mood I watched it in because I didn't particularly care about them.

Now as for the cast, they did a good job with what was given to them. The best part was the chemistry between Zhao Lusi and Zheng Yecheng. The drama was sweet, had lots of funny moments, Scenary was pretty in parts, action sequences were satisfactory. I loved the OST. The soundtrack is just gorgeous.

One major gripe I had was the ending. It was just confusing and the last episode seemed like a waste. I wish they could have done better with it. The ending felt like make of it as you will and just left me unsatisfied.

Anyway, overall I enjoyed the drama. It was not on some exceptional category but it was nice and a good watch. I won't mind re-watching it again and I hope I can see the pairing of the two main lead actors again in the future.

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Could have been much better

I don't like to write bad reviews but in this case the show had the makings of something much better than it turned out to be and for me that's sad.
Your main couple FuJiuYun and Qin Chuan seemed to come out of nowhere to me at the end. FuJiuYun obviously loved her from the beginning but she didn't even know he existed, and when she did she thought he was more an annoyance than a love interest. By thee time things might have started heating up between them they went their separate ways for a while and she actually spent more time with her childhood sweetheart and the 2nd prince than she did with him. Then in the span of one moment she turns around and states he's the love of her life and she wants to die with him! it had almost no build up and although the actors where great the story left potholes regarding their relationship that could not be covered up.
Another thing that could have been done better in my book was, the show was called 'love of thousand years' yet only on a few occasions did FuJiuYun even drop hints that he had been watching her that long. There were no flashbacks into past lives, no discussions among the immortals about how long he had been watching. Nothing! it was like the past thousand years of him watching and protecting was something insignificant and could be pushed under the rug. Why bother including it in the title if you aren't going include it in the show?
The third thing I had a problem with was the end. Now I haven't read the book so maybe that makes more sense but the show didn't. Did she go back in time? was it a dream? did everyone come back to life in some alternate universe?......if she went back in time why didn't her face change back again?........it just didn't make sense. As for loosing Qin Chuan her memory of FuJiuYun, again it didn't explain why that would happen. To suddenly get pulled into the painting and find him there was a semi good ending but it seemed to concentrate on everyone but its main leads in the last episode.
The music and costumes where great and the acting was super. The ML and FL had good chemistry, in the little time they had their relationship. It was the plot that let it down. I hope I can see these actors again in something that shows off their skill properly.

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I love this drama very much. I only had one hiccup and that was trying to understand the last 3 episodes. I had watched them like 4 times to get what the story writers were doing. I finally did. I hope that whoever watches understands the ending as well. The acting and the romance were livid. Zheng Ye Cheng who played Fu Jiu Yun did excellent with this character. I want to see more of him. Zhao Lu Si who played Zhao Lu Si Di Ji/Qin Chuan, I just love this actress, she is just incredible with her acting skills. Every time I see her perform in a drama, she works hard to turn into the character she is playing. This actress had me so emotional. This will be a rewatch for me. The fantasy and the martial art were good. The two main leads had me not so focused on the fantasy world which I love but my focus was on the story this time. I thank all the supporting actors and actresses as I always do because they also worked hard. The visuals were also good. Do not skip episodes are you will find yourself going back to watch them and understand what happened.

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Girls don't need to trouble themselves with family or country's revenge and hatred.

It feels like you get beaten over the head with this line all the way through the first part of the show. I don't like the sentiment that we shouldn't seek justice for our families or our people just because we should live and let go. I especially don't like the narrative that because we are women we shouldn't go for that and instead should shove our morals and integrity aside and just consider having a fun and chill life with someone. Because if we do try to follow our own path, moral code, values, love and respect for our family and fellow countrymen, the show scriptwriter will make sure to beat us with the idea that revenge is bad and women can't do anything and need to be saved all the time. I wish I was joking with this statement, but then again I have seen this whole thing in its entirety. The amount of times the female lead goes about her plans completely recklessly and then needs to be rescued exceeds the amount of patience I had to watch it happen.

If I squint, it might be forgivable that she doesn't use her brain if that is just a part of her personality but the problem is, she lacks having any in the first place. In fact, the first actress that appears as the female lead has portrayed a completely different person from the second actress which made the transition between the two so jarring and questionable over the course of the rest of the show. I tend to like Zhao Lusi's acting but I have felt the very lack of it in numerous serious scenes that could have been done better. It often left me with a weird feeling of what the show wants us, as the viewers, to consider it to be. The comedy sure is there but with such a grim starting point, I have found it quite weird to swallow after the first episode.

Now here comes the biggest problem in the whole show, which is the plotline and its arrangement which most of the time doesn't make any sense. We start off with a big event, then there is a whole load of nothing but creepy behavior from the male lead upon his very disinterested female lead. Then there is this idea that the female lead should feel sorry for something she has done to the second male lead as if we didn't see the shitfest that happened in episode one. Why? Just for the sake of tying in the romantic aspect of the story while the female lead herself has absolutely zero interest in any of that. It comes off as so ingenuine and cheap that I wasn't sure what I was even watching.

All of that gets somewhat rectified in the second part of the drama where the plot starts unwinding at a rapid pace. There the romance and love scenes between the leads truly flourish and were enjoyable to watch. That is if I understood where such big romance came from in the first place. From the male lead, we understand that there is a big obsession due to plot exposition but when it comes to the female lead and her abrupt flip in feelings towards him, the transition makes zero sense.

The secondary couple suffers even more, as their scenes are boring and we are not given an explanation why the second male lead likes the second female lead; it just sort of happens as if it was there the whole time, even though she had nothing likable to him in the first place. I think there is a pattern here when it comes to shoddy romance writing.

The villain couldn't have been more cartoonishly evil so they made sure to give them the super evil-themed villain laugh as well. I guess if you gotta go the whole way, you just gotta.

The supporting cast besides the second couple I have found more enjoyable to watch, but sadly just like everyone else in this story, they never get any character growth. I understand the show writers; if you can't even make your own main character bearable to watch in terms of basic intelligence and logical reasoning or your main selling point (romance) believable, then fleshing out other characters would be a really difficult task to do.

The only thing I liked and never skipped in this drama was definitely the OST, as the song is bittersweet and tells of a story better than the one we got in the end.

When it comes to the ending, as you would expect after this essay of a review, of course, it's been stamped with the Chinese drama endings seal of approval. I honestly don't find it to be bad, albeit extremely confusing unless you have read the book or you have your fun at theorizing what did the writer want to say. Speaking of the book, I think the majority of the issues with the drama version could have been avoided if they revamped the order of the plot and added more backstory to the main characters. It would have helped to build upon that connection that they have shown later on in the show, as well as this great love of the male lead who has silently watched the woman he adores from afar for many years. Hey, Guardian has done it well, they could have too. Even if it meant extending the show length to another ten to twenty episodes.

All in all, I expected more and so should you.

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2nd watch a year later made it better for me

Watched this over a year ago and receny completed watching it again. It may have been my liberal use of the fast forward button before that made me understand and enjoy this series this time around.

I was so confused the first time i watched this causing depletion of my interest that itched for that fast forward button. I can now say the reason is the switched of the leading character wasnt done smoothly. The transition could have been done better.

Zhao Lusi did improve in her transition acting since this series. She is awesome in fun, comedic and quirky roles but in this series, I believe she was still on the learning phase for transitioning role from comedy to serious character role. Her acting nowadays is way, way better than from this series. She excels in smoothly transitioning roles.

Production wise, it is obvious the set, wardrobe and props were invested on heavily. I wish they took parts of it to invest more on editing.

The story plot is challenging and truly could have been a great one.

Rewatch value, like I mentioned here, I am doing this review after rewatching it over a year later. I honestly like this series more now than the first time I watched it. So my recommendation is reserving judgment after watching it the second time. Giving it a bit of time can make a difference based on my own experience.

All casts in this series were awesome and seemed to have portrayed their role well. It is interesting that I even noticed the acting of couple of extras who didnt have a line - just a facial expression.

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