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Can'tttt stop crying
I just finished watching Love In Pavilion yesterday, and I'm still heartbroken. I liked this drama from the moment I saw the trailer, it got me so excited! Episode 1 was so satisfying that I instantly got hooked and started following the episodes every day.The story is great, the pacing is well done, and the actors are all so beautiful and attractive. But whyyy did they have to kill off so many characters in the last few episodes? I just can't believe it, it broke my heart.
One of the most emotional moments for me was in Episode 35, when Wangquan Hong went to Dongfang Huaizhu's house. The deep sorrow on his face made me cry so hard. Why did they all have to go through such deep trauma? And when all the Mask members died... I had no words, just tears.
This cdrama is now added to the list of shows that made me cry so hard. I really hope Sword and Beloved can heal this pain with a happy ending.
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A Time Paradox Not Fully Explained - Tragic but Fascinating Story
If you are looking for a drama packed with first-tier good-lookers, this one delivers—big time. With a star-studded cast including Liu Shi Shi, Zhang Yun Long, Ding Yu Xi, and Meng Zi Yi, the screen practically glows. Even the guest roles are top-tier, featuring fan-favourites like Peng Xiao Ran, Hou Ming Hao, and Chen Yi Qi.At the heart of the story is Dongfang Huaizhu, who falls for a mysterious masked vigilante—leader of the Mask Gang, a group fighting for justice in the shadows. She does not know his face, but love blossoms. When she discovers that her masked hero is actually Wangquan Hongye, head of the YiQi Alliance and the powerful WangQuan clan - someone she deeply mistrusts, she is devastated—and abruptly ends the relationship.
Things take a darker turn when Huaizhu is captured by the Demon Lord Jiu Huo, transported 20 years into the future, stripped of her memory, and turned into a demon. Hongye and the Mask Gang must time-travel to rescue her, but standing in their way are formidable foes—Jiu Huo and his lover Jia Lan, who seek to plunge the world into eternal darkness.
But here is the twist: according to the history they learn in their time-travel, 18 years ago which is two years after their time-travel, they perished in a devastating war against Jiu Huo and Jia Lan. The YiQi Alliance collapsed, and the noble families were destroyed. This war happens after their time-travel, which means they go into war with full knowledge of who they are against.
If they return to the past, they are essentially walking into the very war they already lost.
Can they win this time? It introduces a classic time-loop paradox that is never fully explained. Logically, if they return, nothing would change as history has reflected the full outcome of that return.
Yet somehow, some things change—and some things do not. How is that possible? The drama does not offer a satisfying answer. In the end, the time-loop logic is left unresolved, relying more on emotion than coherence.
Despite all the loss and sacrifice, I am not easily moved—but I will admit, seeing the team fall apart under demonic manipulation tugged at something. And the ending? Quietly tragic in a way that lingers.
On a brighter note, the OST is excellent, with a lovely closing theme that captures the emotional tone beautifully.
All in all, despite a few narrative stumbles, I still rate this highly. A solid 9/10 for its strong cast, visual appeal, emotional beats, and unforgettable moments.
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Such and emotional ride with wonderful characters.
I'm going to say that even though I found the first 4-5 episodes really boring and slow, I'm glad that I picked it up again. I fell in love with the story because once it got going it never let go. I was happy to finally find a Xianxia that hooked me after Moonlight Mystique and that took time. Love in Pavillion was it! I loved the characters every single one had their nitch and made me root for them. I couldn't help and feel sad for most of their endings.And that was the thing with Love in Pavillion, it made you care so much about their characters and this world that once it reached it's tragic ending you can't help and be heartbroken. I haven't watched Red Moon Pact yet but I decided to give LiP a chance and I'm glad that I did because it took me on an emotional journey.
The love story's here are beautiful too. Although Zheng & Mu Yuan were my favorites I adored Hong Ye and Huai Zhu too even if all their ends are painful. Now, I wait for HZ and HY's son story and hoping it hurts a lot less. But knowing the tragedy of Fox Spirit Match Maker series, I won't hold my breath.
Highly recommended if you are in the mood for a good xianxia with great characters all around, excellent acting and beautiful music. But beware this will yank your heart out in the end.
9.5/10
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Yet Another Xianxia C-Trauma
Respectfully, I thought this was going to be a HE. The sheer number of C-traumas coming out this year is killing me.Being based off of a novel, the arcs were quite typical and predictable. There was no surprise really (not even at the deaths) that all this happened. While tropes can be good if done well, I was a little disappointed that such a STAR-STUDDED cast was given a bland script. What probably played a part in making this script boring was the dilution that had to happen to fit the huge amount of content into 36 episodes. It felt like there were too many characters (each were equally interesting), yet not enough time to build a tangible connection with all of them. If I had to list the biggest flaw, it would be that the dilution of the plot made it so bare bones that it felt like a generic xianxia plot.
One reviewer did mention that every single person felt like they could act and I agree. Every actor in there displayed a degree of competency when it came to acting. But again, I wonder if the cast could have been cut down a little since there were characters in there that felt extraneous. I really did wish that each couple/duo had more time to shine on screen (it didn't feel like it was enough). There will never be another drama where you get to see so many established and rising stars on the same screen, so I lament the potential this drama had.
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Pretty to look at but the leads didn’t quite win me over
Love in Pavilion has some gorgeous visuals and a fantasy world that’s fun to get lost in, but honestly, the leads left me a little frustrated at times.FL is elegant and strong on paper but sometimes her acting feels a bit stiff or overly dramatic which made it hard to connect with her character in emotional scenes.
ML is charming but he can come off a little flat or too serious, and their chemistry doesn’t always hit the mark, some of their romantic moments felt awkward instead of natural.
The story itself is beautiful and the production is impressive with costumes and a magical vibe that really pulls me in. But pacing is uneven and a lot of middle episodes drag with repetitive or predictable plot points. Some supporting characters are underdeveloped and certain plot twists feel convenient rather than earned. While it’s still enjoyable for the fantasy world and story concept, the FL and ML performances sometimes hold it back from being truly amazing. It definitely could have been stronger with more consistent leads.
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at some point i started dreading dongfang huaizhu's vacant eyes
pros:-everything is very very pretty, everyone is very very pretty
-some good interpersonal relationships
-I liked the ml too
-it was fun to see a bunch of popular actors just popping up everywhere
cons:
-it is boring, it put me to sleep many times before I finally gave up. even just thinking about the story long enough to write a review is making my eyes roll back in my head out of boredom.
-the fl gave us nothing. lss can't really do a lot of expressions to begin with but this was... extreme. she might as well have been a mannequin the entire time. I had enough of her annoying sister with a 'heart of gold' too.
-a revolving door of popular actors meant the script had to be stretched wide and thin to accommodate them all which didn't work. I have yet to see an ensemble fantasy romance drama that worked.
I actually think liu shishi and zhang yu long could make an interesting cp, this just wasn't the drama for it.
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Everyone has given their best to the audience even though this drama did not end well but I really understand why the directors chose the storyline like this, it is because the Directors still follow the original plot and did not change what happened in this universe. I think everyone should be given appreciation to the team of this drama, the actors/actresses, writers, directors and crew team.
You all have done your best!
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Awkward portrayal of beautiful concepts
The ending was already shown in fox spirit match maker red moon. i have been curious how my devoted hongye became the terrible father and husband he was portrayed to be but they white washed him. The hongye in this series cannot be the same terrible father as the lore says. All the love stories were great concepts. The cast is blessing to the eye. The main leads were eldest of their home thus they were very reserved in character and love it was a new dynamic. This layed a good base for the upcoming drama. All the main characters died like moth to the flame for nothing.Was this review helpful to you?
The drama has its own beauty and grace. A different kind of grace, especially the main romance in the beginning. As the main plot continues with the villain, the romance lost some of its artful beauty - you could say it was replaced by the game-like storytelling. Those of you who are also gamers maybe know what I'm talking about. Your typical RPG-storyline: a group of heroes is built - growing as the story continues - to fight the big evil, that is terrorizing humanity. You have your different places where the main group travels to, to solve smaller side-stories, that are still important for the main plot. And everything results in the big fight at the end. Thankfully in the last episodes, the story rediscovers the beauty and gracefullness of its initial love story as well.
And at this point I can't quite differentiate between my subjective and objective opinion about the last events. Because they added another - imo - unnecessary side villain to the story. I also think many characters had a questionable fate at the end. At some point I can understand the storyteller's intentions for the later purpose - at the same time I don't like it at all, because the way it happened felt unreasonable.
What I really love about this drama were its many different couples. You get so many awesome and unique characters and so many great couples you can root on. This feels somewhat refreshing, since you don't have to concentrate on only one but a whole bunch. It definitely never gets dull.
The music played a big, big deal in this one. It was powerful and strong, connected you to the current scenes while you got swept away by its emotions.
Visual effects supported the fighting skills greatly and made them look stunning without going overboard.
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Don't get attached to the characters
This one left me a bit speechless. It started off so good and I was getting used to each character. I really loved their bond whether it was family or friends.In the Bamboo pavilion, there was really love LOL such a cliche thing to say because of the title 'Love in Pavilion'.
Who knew what they saw in the future was really going to happen. I had high hopes that they could out smart that fox demon.
I was wondering if I missed something. I thought Dongfang Qin Lan had powers. If so, why did she became so "weak" like she couldn't fight.
Fast forward, it was a bittersweet love story for Huai Zhu and Hong Ye like she had to become his concubine.... that stressed me out and I think I didn't understand fully the reason. One thing about these leads is that they love their family so they will make sacrifices to do what's necessary. I am glad that Huai Zhu is smart and this will make me want to watch part 3 and hoping their child will have a happy ending atleast.
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It's Not Amazing, Not Bad, Just Watchable
It’s not bad. The storytelling is not boring enough that you wouldn't want to tune in for tomorrow's episode, but also not interesting enough that you would be raving about it to all your friends. It's not infuriating in that there is no plague of "noble idiocy", unreasonably villainous characters, unnecessary conflicts springing up out of nowhere solely for the purpose of giving our CPs a reason to be pushed together. This author has set up a complex and logical world and the characters are logically flowing along in it.And the ending is tragic but they set you up well for it (even if you don't have any context from the other drama/books, you should be able to guess who will survive or not if you're listening closely to what the characters say). And there’s not unnecessary tragedy and losses along the way.
+10 points because every male actor is incredibly good looking and makes watching super enjoyable.
I am a long time Ding Yu Xi fan, but before this drama I was starting to doubt his acting ability when re-watching his older dramas (they kind of lose their spark after the 3rd/4th watch). But now in an ensemble cast where he is not the ML and I can do side by side comparison with other lead actors at his level, I can pick out what makes him so great. The way he uses his facial muscles, how his expressions are actually distinct from one moment to the next. The way he tried to give the impression that he is reacting to the situation in real-time and is not just the plot armored “perfect guy”/ “always keep his composure as if I know what’s coming next in the script”. So this drama was good for restoring my appreciation for DYX.
So nice production overall, but only an 8.0 because it has no re-watchability factor.
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GOOD C-DRAMA WITH LOTS OF EXPLAINING ISSUES
ALL THE POSITIVE SIDES OF THIS DRAMA ARE COVERED BY OTHER REVIEWS SO I WILL JUST GET TO MY POINT.THESE ARE THE FOLLOWING CONFUSIONS ONE MIGHT HAVE AFTER WATCHING THE DRAMA AND THERE ARE NO EXPLANATIONS TO THEM.
-: So First of all Who taught MU MIE , YANG YITAN'S nephew clairvoyance? when they were in the future 20 years later Mu Mie himself said that it was not YANG YITAN who taught him clairvoyance moreover when MU MIE was a toddler Yang YITAN had already died(in the future acc. to MUZHOU) . YANG YITAN is also dead in the present time line so what will happen to MU MIE?
-:Next thing is that they should have shown what happened to QINLAN at last. Although I know she and her hubby were later hunted down and killed by RENFENG leaving behind YUECHU.
-:And now the BIGGEST CONFUSION, in the beginning of RED MOON PACT it was shown that TUSHAN HONG HONG killed/heavily injured a LADY BLACK FOX (Shi ji ,former chief of Tushan )700 years ago to stop human demon war who later made a come back
but according to this drama the BLACK FOX is formed from the resentment of JIA LAN who died 500 years ago which means the BLACK FOX was born 500 years ago. Moreover at the end of RED MOON PACT it was shown that TUSHAN HONG HONG killed the BLACK FOX herself. So WANGQUAN FUGUI son of HONGYE will kill which BLACK FOX. Are there Multiple BLACK FOXES or only one which keeps on regenerating from the endless hate? I think MULTIPLE BLACK FOX theory can be true as JIA LAN was also a BLACK FOX. So if I want to describe or differentiate it then there might be 3 BLACK FOXES- JIA LAN , the one formed from JIA LAN'S resentment and LADY SHIJI(BLACK FOX) , main villain from RED MOON PACT or they might be only one person .
-:One more thing this TUSHAN GRIEF TREE was a matter of emergency. So why didn't TUSHAN HONG HONG help HONG YE and HUAIZHU fight it. That thing was also important for TUSHAN'S well being. I don't find the reason why she won't fight the Black Fox with them .Moreover if she fought with them the story would be totally different right? They only made TUSHAN YAYA give some advice, permission and moral support . This doesn't make any sense .In RED MOON PACT HONG HONG did anything just to protect the Grief tree, didn't even let it have a small scratch so why so ignorant now? I know Yang Mi's cameo might had been a difficult thing to achieve but without her involvement the above mentioned things doesn't make any sense.
P.s -I do know these dramas are standalone but can't help and ponder about these things as they are connected by generations...
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