Details

  • Last Online: 12 minutes ago
  • Location: Fantasia
  • Contribution Points: 0 LV0
  • Roles: VIP
  • Join Date: June 20, 2022
  • Awards Received: Flower Award1

BrightSun

Fantasia

BrightSun

Fantasia
Love and Redemption chinese drama review
Completed
Love and Redemption
0 people found this review helpful
by BrightSun
May 7, 2024
59 of 59 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Thank You Cheng Yi.

Rated= 7 ~ 37/50 ~ 7.4
RPG Scene // Mages falling in love in the Enchanted Forest. Staffs summoning cherry blossoms

*edit*
Rewatch Value Rating has changed from a 1 to a 7
I am now such a kiwi that not only did Cheng Yi get me to watch this show for him, I have now found myself rewatching it because of him as I understand that a lot of his characters are tragic with sad endings, whereas this one is a satisfying conclusion. People are more than their face. This was his breakthrough role and I can see why ?
***

I was told that Cheng Yi is still alive at the end of the series so I made it to the end alive with him but feeling just as comatose.

I am starting to pick up on cues in the first few episodes that tell me whether or not I'm going to like a show. This is one of those shows. I initially dropped this at episode 3 but Mysterious Lotus Casebook is defeating every other C-drama as my favourite C-drama right now and I'm a little in love with Cheng Yi and I wanted more of him so I picked it up again just for him. I was honestly not interested in any one else. I was skipping the sister (I found her very annoying) and 6th senior scenes loads of times before I was interested in them. I skipped a lot of side stories. It was around episode 21 when Cheng Yi starts getting tortured was when I finally stopped skipping and paying attention.

The FL not having her 6th senses didn't make a lot of sense to me because she could still see and hear and smell etc so she technically still had them but a minor thing I could overlook. The one thing I had a big problem with was the cheesey battle moments. I found this very cringey at times when Xuangi would unleash her powers and you would get this Power rangers style level up. I would burst out laughing when I was supposed to be cheering her on. She starts off as the typical FL in too many asian dramas. Naive, childish and a little stupid passed off as innocent. Listen, I get that she doesn't have her senses and doesnt feel the same way as others but she falls face first into Cheng Yi's lap while he's sitting in a bath and just continues like, oh, wait, I dropped something and just smiles happily while she gropes around the tub, and my sweet boy is just sitting there, cupping his manhood, speechless. I mean, I laughed but really? That's not innocence, that's just dense.

This pretty much continues until she realises that she's the reincarnated God of War. After that, we lose the naivety, and we get a deeply manipulated and emotional FL instead. Again. This is where Cheng Yi saved me because I would give up with this kind of character and would make jokes about taking a shot every time you hear 'Si Feng'.

But Cheng Yi. I like his work. I like his face. I like his voice. He calms me and I was able to find my grounded centre every time he appeared. He did the best with the character he had been given. He does seem a little bit more stiff in this series but that may be how he's was told to play the character, who's whole purpose is to get beaten and abused through out most of the series. His whole purpose is to love and redeem and the FL which can feel a little flat after a while. But again, my bias saved me here. If it had been anyone else or if I didn't know Cheng Yi, I'd have dropped this series really quickly.

Another notable mention is Liu Xue Yi. This is the 3rd series I've seen with him and he's creeping up beside Cheng Yi in my favouritism. If I didn't know this actor, I would have been wanting to rip his eyes out but I actually enjoyed watching him play an incredibly hateable villain, which makes it easier when you are faced with a character like Hao. He's the worst kind of villain because he's obsessed with his own self righteousness and he's a little psychotic, that I honestly found it a little strange at the end that everyone felt sorry for him while he just faded into dust to be reborn as a mortal, WHILE MY BOY is lying fricking bleeding and dead for the 100th time.

The Jade Emperor is probably the most useless, all powerful character I think I've ever seen.

By episode 40, I was back to skipping again. It lost it's momentum for me and as per trend, the last stretch of episodes just went off the wall crazy that I was rolling my eyes at just how ridiculous and off the wall the plot got. It wasn't enough for Xaungi to be the God of War, she's the Devil Star as well. And was a man. So I can imagine a lot of people just being like huh? by the time they get to those episodes. The ending was also ridiculous but at least it was a happy conclusion. Cheng Yi was Momma while Xuangi ran around drinking and enjoying her mortal life, seeming to have reverted back to her old clueless self. AKA. Si Feng continues to get walked over but this time it's in the name of having fun.

I really loved the characters Teng She and Liu. If I had seen more of them earlier on in the series, I'd paid attention quicker. They were great to watch.

An unexpected big hit of this show is the soundtrack. I am absolute Si Feng in love with the song Love like Coloured Glass. It was ep 28, with a scene on the bridge when I suddenly clicked on the song. If it played before I hadn't noticed but that's what happens when you're not fully invested in a show. You miss things. I immediately stopped the video to look up that song and it's been played ever since.

So again, thank you Cheng Yi. I enjoyed watching you and I got introduced me to a new favourite song.
Was this review helpful to you?