Love Like the Galaxy: Part 1

Amazing FL, very good character

I just finished Love Like the Galaxy, and it's truly a great drama. Before talking about the drama itself, I want to highlight the incredible acting performance of Zhao Lu si, which easily contributes to 90% of the show's success. She portrays her character so brilliantly and convincingly!

I also really liked the Emperor's character. It's a refreshing change from the tyrannical and/or overly strict rulers we often see. In this drama, the Emperor is genuinely likable and often very entertaining, which makes him a particularly enjoyable character to watch.

As for the drama itself, I loved watching the female lead with her "I don't know the rules, and I'll do whatever I want" attitude. That's mainly what kept me binge-watching episode after episode. I found the story very interesting for the first 30 episodes, but I lost interest a bit during the next 15. The way the plot developed started to bore me somewhat, but the final episodes were very enjoyable.

To conclude, I had a really great time watching it. It's not an absolute favorite of mine, but it's definitely a high quality drama, carried by a truly outstanding actress.

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I'm still new to Historical Cdrama but really liked this one. I really liked the main characters who are flawed. Both of them at times come across as Selfish and it's nice to see that instead of perfect characters. Their childhood and circumstances play a huge part in shaping their personalities.
And their relationship took it's time to develop even though the ML falls for the FL early on, there is the fact he doesn't really understand her and when she brings it up, I like the way how he takes some time and comes back to her and explains things. At the same time even she introspects and wants to give it a chance.

The Emperor was amazing and the 2 Empresses ( I am gonna consider both of them as Empresses only) are amazing and their relationship with the Emperor and each other is shown realistically but I wish this extended to other female characters.

Things I didn't like - The amount of screeching by women characters. Even the FL's mother who is supposed to be in the military and who I think can easily order (control) people with just a look at times screeches.
There are a lot of female characters who are just reduced to be evil and manipulative (in a comical or dumb way) and the whole women being women's worst enemy ( even though we had one amazing Empress relationship) was way OTT.
The amount of time they spent on this, they could've shown it on the actual villains of the story.

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Lmao. I was taking Love like the Galaxy in as a 56 episode drama, not a drama with two parts. I finished watching this part, part 1, the first 27 episodes, no problem. It was enjoyable at the time, but idk. I feel like after watching it, it wasn't memorable. I don't really clearly remember what happened the whole time. I watched this to see Wu Lei and Zhao Lusi together, but in the beginning where their relationship wasn't built yet was kind of slow to me. I don't really like slow paced dramas, so maybe that's why it wasn't as memorable to me. However, I don't remember disliking it at all or forcing myself to watch it at all. I don't know what spell this drama put on me that made me enjoy it then forget it straight after. My review just sums it up: I don't know how I feel about this. I rate it an 8.5 because the cast is good, and the story seems good. I just can't seem to remember the whole thing. (Ignore my rating for music, unless it's really good I just put a two for everything)

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Love Like the Galaxy is a beautifully made drama with strong performances and a well-developed story, but it’s one that takes its time — sometimes a little too much. What really stood out to me was the acting. Both leads did an amazing job bringing emotional depth to their characters, and their chemistry felt genuine and layered.

The romance builds slowly, and while I appreciated the emotional complexity and growth, the pacing occasionally felt long and dragged in parts. Still, when the story focused on the relationship itself, it was deeply engaging. The emotional tension, the misunderstandings, and the gradual shift from distance to closeness were all handled well.

The female lead’s journey was especially compelling — watching her grow, learn, and stand up for herself added depth to the story. The male lead’s devotion and intensity made the romance feel meaningful, even when the plot slowed down.

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Where Trauma Meets Romance and Chaos

Let’s get into it, because I’ve got thoughts. I don’t usually review dramas, but Love Like the Galaxy deserves one because I was invested, emotionally held hostage, and slightly stressed by it for weeks. I still catch myself rewatching episodes just to relive the rollercoaster.

This drama had everything I love: enemies-to-lovers, generational trauma, royal politics, betrayal, broken characters pretending they’re fine — the whole buffet. But did it also make me yell at my screen? Oh, absolutely.

⭐ The Good: Chemistry, Chaos, & Cheng Shaoshang
The chemistry between Cheng Shaoshang and Ling Buyi was crazy. Wu Lei and Zhao Lusi were cooking on set, no doubt about it. Their relationship was a beautiful, messy tangle of pride, misunderstanding, mutual attraction, and personal trauma. It wasn’t a fairytale romance — it was two stubborn people fighting their feelings, fighting themselves, fighting everyone, while falling in love anyway. Delicious.

Shaoshang’s character? Loved her. She was cunning, petty, reckless, funny, hurt, and lonely all at once. Zhao Lusi brought humor, but underneath it was this silent ache of a girl pretending she didn’t care about anyone — when all she really wanted was love and belonging. Been there, girl.

But the show did that annoying thing where they tried to make the audience love her by dragging everyone else through the mud — especially her mom. And that’s where we get into my problems with this drama.

😒 The Bad: The Mother-Daughter Mess
Cheng Shaoshang’s mom was done dirty by this script. Yes, she was emotionally cold. Yes, she didn’t know how to be a mother after being gone for years fighting wars. But the drama wrote her like some wicked stepmother instead of a complicated, traumatized woman who didn’t know how to reconnect with her child.

It was all: “Poor misunderstood Shaoshang vs. Evil Judgmental Mother.” Lazy. Real relationships — especially ones with that much distance and trauma — are messy. But the writers weren’t interested in messy. They wanted drama.

That whole court scene? Embarrassing. I wanted to throw something. It was clearly just a setup to make Ling Buyi look like the knight in shining armor when he stood up for her. And don’t get me wrong — I love a good man defending his woman moment — but NOT at the expense of a decent character arc for her mother.

Imagine if they actually gave us proper emotional payoff and a balanced reconciliation. Instead, they gave us villain-mom until almost the very end, rushed her “redemption,” and called it a day. Please.

😑 Female Characters = Cardboard Copies
And while we’re dragging things — what was going on with the other female characters? Every single one: loud, jealous, evil, in love with Ling Buyi, obsessed with power, or just plain stupid. Rinse, repeat. The women were either angels (like Third Aunt) or complete disasters. Nothing in between. And don’t get me started on how the older women were just bitter, wrinkly versions of their bratty daughters. Lazy writing. Again.

It felt like women in this drama only existed to hate each other or get embarrassed by the men. It was tiring, repetitive, and honestly beneath a drama that could’ve been legendary.

🏰 What I Liked (Besides the Romance)
The Emperor filling the “father figure” role for Ling Buyi? Loved it. Ling Buyi’s trauma made sense, and the writing there actually worked.

The Hua City and Lou Yao arcs? Peak. The drama was on fire in the middle episodes.

Court politics and palace life? I ate that up, honestly. Fake smiles, hidden agendas, backstabbing — I LIVE for that.

Another part of this drama I don’t think gets enough praise is the relationship between Empress Xuan and Cheng Shaoshang. While everyone else was scheming, judging, or throwing Shaoshang under the bus, the Empress stayed soft, steady, and calm. She wasn’t just royalty — she was grace personified.

The way she quietly guided Shaoshang, protected her without overstepping, and offered that motherly warmth that Shaoshang was starving for? Beautiful. And honestly — better parenting than her real parents half the time.

And can we TALK about the camera work during their scenes? Soft focus, warm lighting, those beautifully framed shots with the palace gardens or soft interiors? Cinema. The costumes? Silk, elegance, embroidery like art — absolute cream of the crop. The costume department deserves a raise.

Those moments between them were like little oases of calm in a show otherwise full of chaos, yelling, and emotional breakdowns. A+ dynamic.

📉 The Ending: Where It Started Falling Apart
Now, about that ending… I don’t know what happened, but the relationship between Shaoshang and Ling Buyi started losing that spark. It’s like the writers put all their effort into the buildup, the tension, the almost-love… and then when it finally happened, they didn’t know what to do with it.

The communication between them got worse, not better. Their relationship started to feel like they were constantly dragging each other through emotional tests just to prove their love over and over again. Exhausting. Give these two therapy, please.

As for the mother’s redemption… blink and you missed it. They crammed her redemption arc into the last minute like someone realizing they forgot to do their homework five minutes before class. After all that conflict, they gave us a weak “oh I guess I misunderstood you” resolution. It felt unearned. I wanted tears. I wanted yelling. I wanted healing. Instead, I got a polite handshake. Tragic.

If they had stuck the landing — given us a stronger, messier, realer ending — this could’ve been a 9 or 9.5 easy. But instead, it gave mid energy right at the finish line. Disappointing.

❤️ Final Thoughts:
Did I love this drama? Absolutely.
Did it frustrate me? Every other episode.
Do I still rewatch clips of Ling Buyi loving Shaoshang like she hung the moon? You know I do.

Final Score: 8.5/10.

A beautiful, chaotic mess of trauma, romance, bad parenting, and good cheekbones. If you love historical with messy leads, flawed families, and the occasional toxic palace auntie, this one’s for you.

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A solid “A” drama

It’s been awhile since I watched a historical c-drama. I’m happy that I got back to the genre with Love Like the Galaxy.

It’s a delightful drama with all the usual tropes. The “tropiness” however did not grate on my nerves. That’s mostly because the characters grew consistently from the beginning to the end. All these usual tropes were organic parts of the story. They did not seem contrived and created just because. I guess I’m one of the jaded ones. The tropes do not give me the feels anymore. Most of the times they seem as interesting as a shoe polish. I was pleasantly surprised by this drama.

All except one thing - the way most of the eligible young ladies are jealous of Niao Niao. And the script constantly pulls them down to elevate Niao Niao. Even a simple dance performance by the princess fails because the group falls on each other. Because why? She did not practice enough? That’s lazy writing. It’s low-key misogynistic. I’m not going to cry anti-feminism. I’m watching the dramas for entertainment and not enlightenment. But the young women in the show are petty and frankly plain dumb. Their diatribes against Niao Niao seem like proverbial red flags to the bull. They at times are added only for Ling buyi to come to spectacular rescues of Niao Niao. They are so petty, that it’s not even funny. That was the one trope that had me RME. It was alright the first time, not the second or the third or the tenth time.

Anyhoo. That one thing aside, this drama was a delight to watch. I love how all the characters are superbly imperfect. There is no shining halo behind a single character. Even the epitome of the kindness Empress, fails to raise her daughter well. The kind and adorable Emperor is oblivious to his Empress’s pain. Zisheng and Shaoshang are imperfect enough for them to grow and evolve. Really good stuff.

Zhao Lusi, IMO, was perfectly cast for this role. She really portrayed that stubborn, independent yet vulnerable Niao Niao in all her glory. Niao Niao wants to be acknowledged for herself, not just a fiancée of so and so. She yearns for parents’ love yet at the same time she doesn’t mope and drown in self pity for the lack of it. She is loyal to those who show her kindness but not blind to overlook their wrongdoings. I loved how she is practical during her first betrothal to know that it is not a love match and is ok with it. She is not entering it blindly. Zhao Lusi faithfully portrayed all those qualities that make Niao Niao a fascinating main lead. I am thankful beyond anything to not have her talk in fake baby tones. Brownie points from me. ;D

Leo Wu as Ling Buyi nailed it too. The way this stoic general softens when he catches her glimpses is fascinating to watch. He also has his own story line. He does not become a love puppy even after their confession. He maintains his personality. That credit goes to the story but also to Leo Wu for portraying these traits the way he does.. IMO his performance is a step ahead of Zhao Lusi. One shout out to the fight scenes, especially the one at the gate. It was fantastically shot. It shows how tactical his mind is. It shows his awareness of his surroundings even in the midst of his fight. Again good stuff.

All the supporting characters and the cast selected to play them made this drama what it was for me. It’d be a stupidly long review if I were to go in details for the, may be some other time.

All in all, I loved it. Give it a try if you haven’t already.

Oh and PS; may be extra point to the chemistry between our ML and FL. To use the cliched adjective, it’s sizzling.

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Roller coaster ride and not much going on.

Is it too late to write a review?

This is a drama that gives out a roller coaster ride of emotions, not much fluff since I understand this is only part 1 of the whole story.

Anyhow, I was crying buckets at the first few episodes because of the relationship the FL has to her family. How can they be so cruel specially her mother?! (It's a good thing I watched Hidden Love first since I don't know if I'll get over her treatment to the FL in this drama). It gets a little bit light when the brothers arrived and the FL develop friends. Laughing out loud because of their antics and playfulness, I just love her relationship with her father, two brothers, cousin, and her best friend.

And then comes our ML, he's just too rigid and stoic for my liking, and I remember skipping this drama for a long time because of him. Sorry. Anyway, he didn't showed much emotion all throughout part 1. But I saw a glimpse of their chemistry during the scene where FL was helping him take the arrow out from his body, it was a little bit hooowwwt *wink*!!! So I'll reserve my final judgement until I finish the whole drama.

I just don't understand why they have to drag the part when FL got engaged to another guy, why, oh why it took so many episodes? The other guy didn't offer much to the whole story anyway, and because of this I found myself skipping a lot of scene. When they officially break the engagement, it's just a few more episode until the finish of part 1. Bleeh. And then immediately the ML swoop in, do they need a buffer before they start the official love story?! I honestly don't know.

One thing I really like is ZLS, she's really good here. She doesn't need to say anything, her pitiful looks is enough and my tears are flowing. OMG

This part is a solid 8 for me because of the emotions I felt while watching the first half of the part 1. I found myself anticipating the next episode even though there isn't much happening, I guess it's a good thing, right?

Now I'm off to watch second part.

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???

Ling Bu Yi, le fils adoptif de l'empereur Wen et un général talentueux et impitoyable de l'armée des armures noires, était en mission personnelle pour découvrir des vérités cachées sur le passé, qui avaient conduit au massacre d'une ville entière et de son clan quand il a rencontré Cheng Shao Shang lors d'une mission pour appréhender un fugitif dans un village rural. Le jeune Cheng Shao Shang avait été laissé pour compteparce que ses parents étaient partis combattre à la guerre. Négligée et sans instruction, elle avait été une épine dans le pied de sa tante et de sa grand-mère jusqu'au retour inattendu de ses parents après de nombreuses années passées au front. Ayant toujours manqué d'une famille aimante, Shao Shang avait hâte de retrouver ses parents, mais les nombreuses années de séparation ont inévitablement conduit à une certaine séparation. Shao Shang, cependant, est imperturbable et déterminée à vivre pour elle-même, et sa nature indisciplinée et audacieuse, ainsi que son esprit vif, commencent à attirer l'attention de pas mal de personnes dans la capitale, dont Ling Bu Yi. (Source : kisskh) ~~ Adapté du roman "Xing Han Can Lan, Xing Shen Zhi Zai" (星汉灿烂, 幸甚至哉) de Guan Xin Ze Luan (关心则乱).

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