Love beyond the Grave

LBTG: inspiring mysterious world but it falls flat fast

I just started the first episodes and so many great things to say! but in 3 words: intruiguing & great vibes! 🔥

THE WORLD OF LBTG:
I love this fictional setting! i almost want to call it whimsical but it would take away the depth of the characters... its eerie but just enough, it's witchy but just enough. I can feel the direction is really controlling the vibe depending on the scenes and we already have great symbolism of elements: the tree, flowers, birds, colours, wind, cold....etc. We do see lots of death , the show puts it at quite a distance from the viewer so far...
I am waiting to see the world unleash to another level at some point! The ost is really helping here ! and also Dilraba's acting!

STORY+ ACTING:
I'm loving the main leads, and although it takes a few episodes to pick up the pace but the story and journey looks so fun and interesting! First episodes are making way for an exciting complicity between the leads

DIRECTING:
i realize that directing makes a huge different in the success of a show, knowing it's also the director of lost you forever, we can see the humour style and the boldness of characters give way to an enjoyable journey. i'm definitely tuning in!


It doesn't feel larger than life kind of story, because i think they really nailed the spirit sovereign character with what she does and how her boundaries are so far. i'm waiting to see the other details of the male lead side! It may evolve further but i appreciate that the story is focused so far.

i also love the OST so far it's exactly how i'd imagined this world would be! and the cinematography quality!
OK BUT THEN WHAT?

UPDATE: the story was underwhelming halfway through. i really wanted to like it!!
I know some people had read the novel, i didn't. So I wasn't gonna project the grandeur of the story beyond what the show is giving us. aside from Simu, everyone looks too theatrical Ml is also aloof, and the arcs feel brushed off... i didn't keep watching until the separation arc, maybe tension built there...

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Best Xianxia drama of the year (2026)

This concept of exchanging the five senses feels new and refreshing among the xianxia dramas I've watched. The unique storyline, which involves a predestined relationship between spirits and mortals, really piques my interest. Especially with the dominance of FL, I feel like this year is one where women dominate the male field. From UJ to LBTG, these dramas continue to showcase strong women without having to disguise themselves in men's clothing. I appreciate it!

The last 5 ep tho... my eyes hurt now from crying so much earlier. Especially when He Simu, who was left by Duan Xu, ached to the point of being choked up. Her cries of not wanting to be left felt painful. Their wedding, which I had been waiting for and imagining with smile and joy, was filled with tears.

The two individuals who initially only had hidden intentions, turned out to be bound and compatible with each other, then fell in love with each other but had to separate because their different worlds drew me into their world so that I smiled widely like an idiot seeing Duan Xu seeking He Simu's attention, getting irritated every time Yan Ke appeared on screen, crying when they suffered. Like, my emotions are going up and down because of them

The costumes were beautiful, the ost are so good especially the singer when i hear his voice i know it's my fav (Zhou Shen). The cinematography was stunning, I was also happy when I found familiar faces in the supporting characters such as the actors who played Jang Ai, Yan Ke, Mai Zi, Han Ling Qiu and Duke Pei.

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Best Fantasy Romance Drama of 2026

This drama is the best of fantasy romance between a mortal and sovereign spirit. Needless to reiterate Dilraba strong performance as HSM and strong pairing with Arthur. Plot wise it may have a few plot tweaks but it didn’t deviate from the essence of the novel and the storyline is well paced and neatly connected. Applause to not only DILRABA BUT to Arthur and the supporting casts. 👏 also. Special mention for the young actors as Chen Ying Applause also to The director and executive producers- fantastic CGI, cinematography, OSTs, and beautiful costumes with accessories. This drama has truly stepped onto international stage. This is a rating of 10 for me after rewatch.

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Emasculated Sad Boy general and the wishy-washy Sovereign looking for her 23rd lover!

See i eat it up when we have a pathetic yearning ML completely a loser for the FL and I like Arthur since the time of L&P. But gosh, did his character annoyed me to the point of getting on my last nerves! There is a fine line between a MAN being yearning loser for his woman and a emasculated sad lover boy. This drama can't seem to distinguish between those two. To make it worse, he is portrayed as a ruthless general 😑 (like why would you ruin this established image of ruthless generals created by Zisheng, Duke Su etc?!). In which world, do generals behave like that? The wars are only described in 2-3 lines while he gets repeatedly harmed and kidnapped to the point of being a burder on her! Poor girl has to babysit the so called general half of the time! Half the time is spent on a pity party because he has nothing to say while the SML goes away reminding him of his worthlessness in the FL's life!

While Dilreba shows her usual grace and beauty with occasional sad yearning looks, the wishy-washyness of the character breaks the deal for me. The boy says you would forget me and i would become the 23rd and she says nothing, providing him no assurance. So, if we go by the first OE, he may just actually turn into another 23rd! Explains why i did not feel anything at their ending when i usually end up with a broken heart during such endings. I was glad that the drama is finally over.

That being said, the drama ha d alot of potential in the beginning. A mysterious woman and an skeptical genaral bound to doubt her was an interesting plot. A woma as the Sovereign makes it more unique, absolutely adore women in power. The first 10-15 episodes were good. There were problems but I expected them to be solved along the development of characterization. So, imagine my annoyance when the shows keeps going round and round with no development in the FL or ML's characters! 40 episodes of nothing!

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Utterly disappointed

(Before anything else let me make it clear that Xianxia/Xuanhuan is not my cup of tea and rarely I find myself completing the whole drama in this genre.) The drama is everything what you would expect from Xianxia/Xuanhuan. The set design looked okay but the CGI just didn't do justice to the environment, to accentuate the beauty of the scenes and it looked all flat and lifeless because of it. I loved the way they introduced Reba with that lamp thing and all, she looked beautiful and definitely had the presence of a spirit lord but as we go forward they challenged my notion that anything would look good on Dilereba. Oh my goodness what terrible costume choices. I mean in one scene she is strolling in the market of common folks with such vibrant colour and those dangling headgear, what an interesting way to mingle in the crowd by standing out the most! And it is not just the costume, even the makeup has started to bother me a lot with each passing episode. Why is everyone looking so pale and plastered? They already have a beautiful cast!
In terms of acting both the actors are in their comfort zone...and for the first time I feel Reba should really try some antagonist roles because she ate that one scene as an evil spirit. Loved her hysterical laughter there. Arthur on the other hand is not a grumpy, cold person...he is smiling a lot here, quite a lot that it is overshadowing all other emotions. It is so empty at times that I can't believe he is the same actor from 'Lighter and Princess' and the onus is on poor direction and weak writing. There is so much disconnect that I can't feel the emotions, the chemistry and even the world building is so bad that I don't believe in any character.
None of the side characters, except for the little boy and sml, held my attention and to be honest none of them gave warrior vibes to me. There is so much more than just dialogues to a character to make you look like a fierce seasoned warrior and they look anything but that. They don't feel believable. I was yawning and constantly skipping many scenes where main leads were not involved.
Now that I have seen many dramas where battle scenes are so breathtaking and I know what they are all capable of, it has raised my expectations a lot so here battle scenes in particular did not leave an impact whatsoever. Or maybe it is just because we directly entered into the battle part without much story building and attachment to the characters...for instance take assassin part, did anybody actually feel any pity or sympathy with ML? It was just a passing scene, and with better story building it could have such a great impact. There were some weird editing parts but that can be ignored. I was cutting this drama so much slack only because of the main leads and simply because I have seen their earlier works and I know what they are capable of. Despite having so much potential and interesting plot, it feels soul less and if people are extremely enamoured by it then it is simply because they are fans of the cast and having few lovey dovey scenes is more than enough for them. For me atleast it feels soul less. I have been patiently waiting for a moment where I could really feel attached to it but I was left utterly disappointed. And to think I have been waiting for it for such a long time...I would not recommend this drama to anyone unless they are fans of the main leads only then you will have the patience to watch it till the end.

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Watchable, but with problematic CP and plot

LBTG was still watchable despite the plot holes and some unrealistic elements of the characters/story.

Most of the actors filled their roles well. The story stayed focused on main characters, not too much on side stories. The costumes and CG looked awesome!!! 👏 🎉🎊

My very pleasant surprise was Dilraba making me like HeSimu a lot! I read a bit of the novel and didn’t like it much, so her performance exceeded all my expectations. 👍 👻 Thank you so much for the hard work! It truly showed, and as a fan, I’m proud of you! 👏 🎉🎊 Also, Hesimu looking breathtaking here was a BIG plus 🥳🤩

I was also taken by surprise by Hesimu/ Yanke dynamics. Such tension and twisted passion! This was the first time I saw WJM acting, so I was excited to see how well it had worked out! I also liked Hesimu and Chen Ying dynamics. They were so cute. Haha 😊

For the main couple, I tried to give it a chance for about 10+ episodes, but it just didn’t work for me. The unbalanced relationship was hard to pull off, but a solid acting from ml could have saved it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case here. When I watched, I didn’t see DX’s thoughts, I saw the actor thinking of what to say next, when to tilt his head, when to smirk, etc. His postures seemed forced and awkward. Except ep. 8 where he had some cool moments, his overall acting was very jarring. It interrupted the flow of the scenes. At times, it even felt like they were not in the same TV series. 😵‍💫🎬

Another reason I felt that the romance didn’t work as well as it could be was how the writers seemed to be conflicting with their ideas. Hesimu yearned for tastes of life, but most of the time, she was just very lonely. She liked humans, but never suggested to become one. It was a little difficult to believe that their romance was THE great romance of her life by the way they portrayed her (cold, pragmatic, decisive). If he were her first love (or within the first 5 or so), then maybe. But 23rd??? This factor from the novel actually made it hard to believe that her love was deep enough to give up her inmortality for anyone. In the series, though he was her only curse bearer, they made it so that she stopped asking for the exchange, or she dropped him the moment she needed to run an errand. She surely loved him, but then the writers would reduce that feeling by making her leave him easily again. They tried to show her love by having her kill a human for DX, but it felt unconvincing because it was unnecessary at that particular moment. It seemed like it happen just to move the plot in certain direction. The writing confused me as an audience whether how romantic/unromantic this story was supposed to be. 😅

In the end, a huge relief for me was that they chose to end with Hesimu live on, still retaining her spirit powers. Without her powers, she would lose identity as a character. The alternate ending with a goddess showing up at the end seemed like a cheap way out of the problem.

I would still recommend this series to people who aren’t bothered by this pairing. If the actors were your favorites, then this would be a must to watch 🎬✌️

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Beautiful Unique Love story

The story is unique and I really like it. It evolves around the unequal and very different lonely souls. Both yerned for love and both had fear in relationship.
The ghost queen afraid of the departing of the one she loved so she afraid to love. The mortal afraid of loosing the important in the heart of his beloved, so he cling and sacifice everything including his life.
You can understand both He Simu and Duan Xu. Both actors/actress did a good job conveying this relationship and it is beautiful. The music, the CG and costume are all great. All of the other actor/actress did well. The story is believable and cause you to think.

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I had gone through all negative reviews, and was expecting the worst

Chinese dramas usually have the same issue- unrealistic storylines, with over exaggeration and rushed romance at the end.

Which means...
We are used to it, do not really take it as a negative, but more of a "we cannot change it". That's the Chinese style.

Saying that, the reviews that said the plot is crazy and that the FLs actions and past doesn't make sense, THEY DO.
From episode 1 we say the FL isa "bad" woman, however she does help a man, saves his kid (twice) and makes him happy with "magic tricks". That's her. Supposed to be mean, but knows wrong from right. It only gets better from there.

One negative issue I have is the ML doesn't suit the role, great as an actor but not as the ML here (personal opinion, does anyone else agree?)

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Nice Idea with poor execution

Love beyond the Grave is a drama that you want to stay in the grave. The story is about cougar Goddess who tries to have fun in the mortal world and gets attracted to a young lad who is following her like slutpuppy everywhere. This was at least what I saw until ep 20, i can't endure more even though Dilraba is amazing actress and stunningly beautiful. The plot was developing in such a slow paste I was forcing my eyes open at some scenes. What I see in last year and in 2026 is that these 40 episode dramas are unnecessary stretched and the side plots and characters are just boring filler material.

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Character integrity is sacrificed for the sake of a forced romantic plot.

I want to love the general who is willing to sacrifice his life, but at the same time, I cannot forget the violation of personal space he committed when he bit the female protagonist's neck. Even though she didn't mind it much due to her sensory naivety and weakened senses, it goes strictly against the values I hold regarding a woman's dignity.

Furthermore, as the Ruler of Spirits, the female protagonist forbids other spirits from interfering in mortal affairs, yet she constantly meddles herself. She provides weather reports to a human general, which ultimately determines the army's victory—is that not interfering in mortal matters? She uses magic to defeat attackers targeting her sedan chair—is that not interfering in mortal matters? She uses magic to aid the male protagonist in war just so he would agree to exchange senses with her—is that not interfering in mortal matters? She even gives a human an amulet that protects him and harms those who attack him—is that not interfering in mortal matters?

She forbids spirits from killing humans, yet she eventually kills a human to protect the one she loves. If other spirits do it out of physical hunger, she does it out of a desire for love. She forgets that life and death are not within her power, but in the power of fate. She has become exactly like the people she has been punishing, all because of her personal obsession. If she wanted to protect her loved one, couldn't she have adapted to human strategy? Why fight humans with magic? It is unfair. Although she eventually punishes herself because of one life that truly died at her hands, in my view, she should have punished herself the moment she provided that weather report—information no human could possibly understand.

My disappointment isn't because the drama was poorly produced, but because, to me, the characters were poorly written. When the writer suddenly decides to make the female protagonist punish herself after killing a human, do they not realize they are mocking the character they previously wrote as someone who enjoys abusing her power?

He Si Mu is like someone who once burned down an entire forest without feeling an ounce of guilt, only to suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears because a single garden flower withered in her hands. Should I feel pity for her, or should I simply laugh at her? 😏

Overall value : 2/10
Rewatch rating: 0

The Reasons:

Destruction of Character Integrity (-3): The protagonist is no longer a fair "Ruler," but rather the number one lawbreaker in her own world. The writer makes her look like a "corrupt cop"—punishing others for the very same mistakes she has repeatedly committed herself.
Narrative Hypocrisy (-3): The writer seems to be "mocking" their own character. Having her punish herself at the end feels like a cheap redemption arc after spending numerous episodes abusing her power for the sake of a romantic plot.
Ethical Violation (-2): The neck-biting incident remains a major stain on the male character for ignoring the female protagonist's autonomy and dignity.

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