Love Is Panacea (2023)

Hope versus despair. But, the story is going astray.

Story (6 out of 10)

Love is Panacea perhaps is not everyone's cup of tea. It is a drama, but not dramatic. Its comedy is not comedic/ funny. It is not romantic enough, and not giving us emotional roller-coaster like in LYX's previous romantic comedy and romantic tragedy (e.g. Love is Sweet, Till the End of the Moon). You won't be able to binge watch it or be addicted to it because it is too flat and boring (sorry).

I have finished 20 episodes so far and I want to drop it. After the Lacaya arc, this drama lost its strenght i.e. the story theme. When they highlight Huntington Disease, I thought it would become Chinese "1 Liter of Tears". When they showed economic and social issues as well as the moral dilemma around the society and people with terminal illness or incurable disease (poor Sukun and his AIDS, the tragic general with brain tumor, etc), it is really hit my emotion and sympathy. This arc is like an introduction for the Huntington disease part. I prepared myseld to cry so badly, but... nothing is happened after that.

From Lacaya arc, I learnt that life is basically a tragedy. Many people are unlucky to have a full and free life. Unhappiness is bound to happen. In this context, doctors as part of privileged, powerful, and well-off group in society, plays a big role in bringing back happiness to people' heart. But, when they are back to China, to a luxurious city where nobody is struggling to live, those morale and inspiration are gone! It turned out to be a cheap romance, toxic, inhumane, and full of jealousy. Can't they just focus on the medical story, the support, and healthy romance so we (especially with medical conditions) can relate and feel heard? The story lost its promise.

It is a relief that in the beginning, this drama depicts Dr. Gu as a mature and experienced man as well as a professional and dutiful person. His idealism is the moral of the story. He is a person who have faith, "Instead of letting them die in despair, why don't we let them put up a fight? Sometimes love may create miracles. Everything is worth it when you're with your loved ones." His faith is the premise of this drama. How reliable is his faith to face the next challenge when his beloved is the one with incurable disease? This faith makes him the strongest character (emotionally, intellectually, and morally). Will he always be strong? Nope. Back in China, he turned out to be like an immature young boy, chasing after a woman who repeatedly push him away. The story forgot he is a very much adult. His charisma is destroyed. Why should romance make a person less intelligence? I am so disappointed with his character declined development.

And for the female main, Su Wei'an, her depressed personality is not interesting. We understand how an illness can rob many things from a person. But, the story didn't give us enough explanation for her depression or disappointment (the root cause why she wanted to end her life). Did she has a dream that she invested everything to achieve it? Did she has a family that she wants their happiness so much? Did she has a life that is so promising in other eyes? No exploration about those. And, she knows she had a psychological problem, but why she didn't meet any counselor to get help? Her decision is not logical, in fact she was formerly a medical student and definetely learnt about that kind of thing. She doesn't possess positive mindset and strong mentality, which make me wonder how spoiled is her upbringing?

Other weak parts:
Music. Not memorable. Boring. No banger.
Antagonists: Wen Ran, so egoistic. How could she be a doctor? Dr. Li, insane. How could she be a psychiatrist? I want to punch their faces!
Support characters: Jiang Muying, she is so good in Lacaya. But, in China, she lacks contribution to the story. She is just a side-kick and secret keeper for female lead. Fang Mingfan, he takes so long to solve his phobia, and at best, he is just a commentator of love between the main leads.

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couldn’t finish even though I wanted to

oof.
I love the ML and FL. Their acting was what kept me coming back. Because I stopped in the forever episode land of them not being together, I forgot what their chemistry was like. I think it was good?
The supporting actors also did well.

I felt there were a lot of plot points that were done one too many times. It became old and I felt the plot was going no where for multiple episodes. I might try and finish it later but I don’t know if I have the patience or the will.

Also, there were two annoying female characters that just about killed me with their audacity. Ridiculous.

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Focus on medical stuff ruined it

Disclaimers first: 1. I'm not a fan of medical drama's 2. I am a fan of Luo Yunxi, which is why I watched this drama.

Yunxi is the only thing worth watching in this drama. Well, no that's not entirely true. the other actors give it their best effort with the material at hand, but that material is bad.
In itself, the story has potential: Brilliant medical student getas devastating diagnose of huntington's disease and drops out, going travelling to make money at odd jobs. Meets her brilliant professor on other end of the world and they fall in love. She holds off due to diagnose but love will be love. Simple enough, right? you could do so much building off of that. But what happens in this drama is emphasizing the medical side. Research for a cure. Ok, that's one way to go with this and even that can turn into a good drama. But not with lengthy dialogue on medical stuff, competing researchers, full explanations of experiments and such. I fell asleep more than I watched.

Besides the medical, we have the familial. One dad passed on the same disease, one dad is a cheating bully. The stepbrother is the main rival and many issues have not been spoken about on both sides. This is potential fireworks, but it's not. Or it's too far into te second half of the story and it leaves us empty-handed. Unfinished.

The main couples chemistry is non-existent. Luo Yunxi gives it his best effort and you can see him digging deep, but theres no reciprocation, I did not feel anything. No butterflies. It even looks like they don't really want to kiss eachother. No lipmovements . Horrible.

The last 2 episodes were the best. Where we moved away from the medical jargon and could focus on the relationships. That should have been done sooner, and shows what could have been, but will never be.

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Love can't heal all, but it can make you enjoy this drama a lot!

The word panacea comes from the Greek: panakēs, meaning "all-healing,” it describes a mystical remedy for any disease. In current use, panacea is most often used to decry a remedy that falls short of what some claim it can do. Love is Panacea is not a show about how love conquers and heals all, it's a drama that shows that, while love can be a powerful motivator to achieving great things and helps to cope with hardships, ultimately it's not a magical solution. There only is a strenuous and unbiased medical research. Love is Panacea is therefore not a medical drama in the classical sense, rather a show about the ethics and process of medical science and research. Luckily, that's right down my alley.

The plot and script is the strongest, when it’s focusing on the hardships of medical research and coping with a deadly disease. If you go into this, expecting a romance, you might be disappointed. Not only is this not the focus of the show, the romantic scenes are written and directed inadequately. It’s the worst in the first arc in Lakaya, because they additionally relied on exoticm, which made it hard to watch at times. But it does get better after they are back in China! There are still some unnecessary cliché scenes with questionable editing, but if your love for Luo Yunxi, medical science or angsty romances "Love is Panacea" is an enjoyable and complex modern drama! I only wish, they wouldn’t have ended it so abruptly.

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Sad Ending

Story about a girl who had an incurable disease ,and it's a genetic. To make it curable she did everything but she got nothing . Her aunt also had this disease. she tried everything to save her but she failed and then to till last breath she fought for it .
A boy who was a doctor met with her accidentally in a foreign country . She was a good translater so she started work with him . Slowly slowly they both having some sort feeling with each other than the boy realized that he had fallen in love with her and proposed her but she declined him because of her disease which she had never told to him. He pursued her she couldn't controlled her feeling and accepted him . But one day she realized that if she dies then he would go through the heartbreak and because of this she disappeared from his life .
This part of the story had filmed in foreign country and had taken more than 10 episodes and this part of story was bored. They could finished it in 5 episodes.
Rest part of the story had filmed in China. In this also starting five-six episodes were boring . In Rest part had shown how they met again ,how he knew about her disease and so on . Story was good but episodes were boring . Story had some romantic scenes which balanced the drama . Only to know the ending I bared some of the episodes .
Bored drama but story was good. I hate sad ending.

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Love Endures ... and Yet

This series had a lot of heartwarming moments. But it also had a lot of filler scenes that made a very touching and thought-provoking drama more tiring and exhausting. The FL and ML chemistry was touch and go. Yet their commitment to the greater purpose was solid. THE OST was sweet. Yet, the storyline missed steps in keeping the audience engaged past the original plot. Alot of the sub plot and relationship scenarios started to become more distracting than plot driven. It seemed as if the writers took notice in the last episodes and started to bring things together in a smoother way. All in all, this series focuses on an unconditional love in the face of adversity fueling hope for a brighter tomorrow.

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Female Lead Actor

I sympathised with Zhang Ruo Nan when people critized her acting skills in certain series, but I have to agreed with them.

Her acting has never improved, it still feels as if she is an amature.

A quote about her acting that I have read;
"As a viewer, I cannot feel her emotions or hear the mood. She needs to improve on attracting her audiences attention.* [sic]

Some good series with the best male actors, and Zhang Ruo as the main role. These series got bad ratings despite its brilliant storyline.

- Everyone wants to meet you. Good acting by, Zhang Zhe Han and Riley Wang.

- Defying the storm. Good acting by Hu Yi Tan and Zhang He

- A date with the future. Acting by my brilliant William Chan

Luo Leo in this drama, and all the series he has starred in, he is instrumental at what he does. Unfortunately, he has to work extra hard when him and the FL has no chemistry.

A few series that he was paired with the wrong FL and cost the series poor ratings. However, the acting

- Broker best actress Victoria Song.

- Lie To Love worst actress Cheng Xiao.

- Light Chaser Rescue. Janice Wu.

- Love is Panacea Ruo Nan

Leo acting is fantastic along with the second FL and ML, including supporting roles. #GreatCastingThere

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yet another show to release before Wanning comes home :(

I have been waiting for Immortality for eons now, this is yet another show that was filmed wayyyy after hyx and got to be aired before it.

This is not that bad, but it isn't that great either. The story/plot is very bland and boring. It's the same set up as a bunch of other shows. It's supposed to be a medical drama. It kind of is, I mean they talk medical stuff, but none of it seems right. They can't show the surgery really. The surgery scenes are not realistic in the slightest, all they really show is the characters hands all bloody. The surgery's also happen the same day as they talk about it which makes no sense. Not much of this show makes sense, but if you look past that I mean... you have Luo Yunxi and that man is beautiful. He's too good for this show, but I digress, it's all we have until hyx releases. piste

Relationship dynamic is just just copy and paste. They hate eachother at first, guy falls for girl, girl kind of falls for guy and then plays hard to get and runs away, guy gets upset and heavily pursues her, girl won't give in for longggg time, blah blah. It's upsetting, because once they finally get together it's pretty cute. I really enjoy their moments together once they are a couple; sadly, we don't get to see much of it though because it takes a while for them to finally officially get together.

Acting-wise is okay. Luo Yunxi is amazing as always, putting in his best effort and far exeeding in delivery. The FL Su, is just okay. She isn't unbearable to watch, she just doesn't have much range. Her facial expressions remain the same pretty much throughout the whole show, with a constant grimace on her face because she is running away from her feelings towards the ML.

I like the side characters. FL's best friend is honestly more likable than the FL herself and ML's side kick is decent too. They have a cute romance I guess.

The scenes in Lacaya are kind of low budget. The dubbing over in French isn't too good, some of the plots that go on make no sense. The one I can't get over is in the fist episode I think where the FL "saves" some guy after he gets in a car accident. It's pretty wild. So she sees this car accident, rushes over to help the person in the accident, but doesn't say anything to anyone about what she's doing. They just assume she is some doctor and then she brings over a drill to drill a whole in the guys head, while still not saying anything. Obviously, everyone is freaking out, but she just drills away and the guy seems dead. The police come and arrest her and she finally says like "oh! I was saving him!", but like what??? I get she was saving him, but still, it's dumb. She gets put in jail and then bribes the officers so she can make a call and gets the surgeon working on the guy to come to vouch for her. Obviously, the surgeon is the ML and he does vouch for her. It isn't brought to court or anything, nothing about the law is really brought up and this all happens within the span of a day which is crazy. Then she wines about having to pay a fine and somehow gets it reduced. It's wayyy crazier than how I'm describing it. Honestly, I recommend watching the episode, cuz gee is it entertaining. It makes zero sense and you lose braincells watching, but wow. There's more crazy things too honestly. The script is pretty bad, but bad in a way where you are entertained, not too boring.

In all honestly, I am only watching this for Luo Yunxi. If you are a fan of him, you will enjoy this show. He's in it a lot, and yes, he plays the same character he has played in every modern drama he has ever been in, and yes, it is a waste of his potential and acting skills, but he is so fun to watch. He plays a pitiful "chad" like man who simps very hard for the FL. He is just great in this. He looks so beautiful too, the styling department did a good job on this one. 8/10 and all of that goes to lyx. Love him <3.

Last remarks:
Finishing this show, I just feel it is a bit empty. The plot is interesting and I just feel like the show went about everything in the most boring way. I only watched for Luo Yunxi haha.

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Just couldn't finish it!!

Well I started this drama with alot of expectations and sadly it just couldn't deliver for me. I dropped it after 21 episodes.

The main issue for me here was the story. The writing was extremely lazy - plot holes , slow pacing of the story and how the character arc went. I do love a slow burn romance but this seemed rushed and slow at the time like I know it doesn't make sense but from leads meeting to their interactions and their journey to love was just not organic.

The only thing I liked about this drama was the male lead and his acting. It is what made me push till 21 episodes ngl. That 8.0 in acting is just for him to be honest. The female lead kind of infuriated me at times. I just couldn't relate to her not being honest with male lead about something life threatening , assuming things and having the clueless same expression in almost every scene. The writing for her part was way worse than the whole story.

The chemistry between the leads looked a little forced to me. I kinda liked the story of second leads better than the main's.
Usually when stories don't work for me, its the acting / chemistry that saves the day! But this drama literally was 'NO' for me in both the departments.

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If you haven't seen the ending, don't read this

Well the drama wasn't that great, but I also can't say it was bad ...
I watched this drama primarily for Leo ،
His work has always been very wonderful, and I like his acting, as well as his beautiful and gentle appearance However, for the first time, I did not like a drama he was acting in!
Perhaps many will object to my opinions ...but I did not find any compatibility between Leo and the The girl who was with him ، I felt that there were no feelings!! , and I was not affected by anything.
I don't know if this was the case only with me, but I also felt that it was very boring to have 34 episodes. This is too much for the events.
I feel like this drama should be about Huntington's disease only, not about love !
Because I never saw love, well don't tell me that only a kiss represent love? In addition, why were the events not explained in the last episode? I didn’t even know whether the girl carrying the disease was still alive or dead.
Although Leo saw her, they did not clarify whether this was a real? of his imagination? , except that he was very sad before giving the speech , and even after seeing her, I did not see happiness on his face?!
This is the first time I don't like one of Leo's dramas!
who agrees with me ???
thank you for reading !

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I honestly watch it for Luo Yun Xi

It had a lot of potential, but they ruined it with the same jealous secondary character.

Gu Yun Zheng is a neurosurgeon. He is a serious person with a moral attitude, always thinking about work, good at everything. Luo Yun Xi as always gave his best. 1st time I saw Luo Yun Xi character having a grandfather & dad (although their relationship is bad). Where in previous dramas of his, I watched either they were dead or abroad.

Su Wei An is a medical student drop out. She is a money-minded, carefree, reckless kind of person. 1st first seeing Zhang Ruo Nan, she did well.

Many may feel annoyed or angry with Li Wan Tong but I liked her. She wasn't the jealous or cringy kind of person who was pursing ML. The way she used to pursue Gu Yun Zheng was funny & enjoying to watch. The scene where she gave Gu Yun Zheng her period schedule was funny, this kind of straightforward-character is rare in C-Drama.

I liked Jiang Mu Ying, need a friend like her.

I hate Du Yun Cheng & Wen Ran. Most annoying characters.

I feel Lacaya part was unnecessary. They would've started it when they started dating & after that Su Wei An found out about her illness. In this way, we would have seen Gu Yun Zheng support & love for Su Wei An. Instead of the story of Du Yun Cheng & Wen Ran they should've focused on the journey of Gu Yun Zheng & Su Wei An to the clinical trial.

They shouldn't have cut the last 6 episodes. They should keep it 40 episodes. Many important scenes are missing because of this.

Like the OST

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