This review may contain spoilers
A love story and a man every woman dreams of having
Shadow Love is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those who like romance and fantasy.I will be focusing my review on three aspects of the drama: the female lead, male lead and the chemistry since this is romance heavy drama.
Cheng Lei as Jin An, Duan Ao Deng.
This is my first drama of Cheng Lei and this drama has converted me into a fan of his. He slayed his roles as Jin An, Duan Ao Deng and the man in the black. He has expressive beautiful eyes which he uses fully to his advantage to convey wide range of emotions. His acting was excellent 😙. His micro expressions were sooooo good and they made me believe in his love for Li Shuang. The way he stares at Li Shuang melted my heart every single time without fail.
His character as Jin An is the greenest C-drama male lead. He’s attentive, caring, funny, intelligent and physically attractive. I appreciate the drama showed how he made friends with the female lead’s friends and confided in them. This is so refreshing to experience.
As Duan Ao Deng, HE IS HOT AND SEXY!!!! 🥵🥵🥵
He exudes alpha male energy and commands the room the moment he walks in it, yet at the same time he’s so soft and submissive to the female lead despite him losing his memory of her and supposedly hating her. At the end of the day, the heart knows what it wants.
Man in the black - the superhero who always saves the day for the female lead.
Can you imagine what you will get when these three characters merged into one? It’s a perfect LOVER, every woman is dreaming of having!! Hot, Sexy, Caring, Funny, Intelligent, Attentive, Always there when you need him, Strong on the outside but soft and submissive on the inside when he’s with you!
I would like to believe that most of the female audience imagine ourselves as Li Shuang at one point. Myself included, of course!
Song Yi as Li Shuang
I watched a few of Song Yi’s dramas in the past but couldn’t really recall what’s her acting was like.
Some might have doubted whether her physique fits into a characterisation of a female general. I could see where people were coming from. Having said that I would say her portrayal as a female general who despises wars was spot on. She brought humility to the role. Her crying scenes made to cry with her, you felt the emotions she felt. I couldn’t imagine anyone else play Li Shuang’s role and achieve the level of chemistry he has with Cheng Lei.
Chemistry:
OH MAN! The chemistry is EXPLOSIVE between the leads, it is honestly one of the best parts of this drama. The drama spends 30 episodes to build the main leads love story which I appreciate. The chemistry is built through quiet glances, act of service, and the little ways they start to care for each other. There’s always this underlying tension when they’re both on the screen. It’s emotional, not just romantic or physical — which makes it feel so much deeper.
There’s this constant pull between them, even when Duan Ao Deng forgets his love for Li Shuang.
Like the way he instinctively gives her candies, helps her fix the rooftop and agrees to whatever she requested. You can feel him falling in love with her all over again.
Ending:
It’s satisfyingly no rush happy ending. The only complaint that I have was the drama didn’t show them having kids!
All in all, this is a highly recommended drama for those who like beautiful romance story.
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This review may contain spoilers
A piece of art. A well written, directed and acted drama.
This drama is well written, directed and acted. Three combos in which are very rare nowadays. It has a great cinematography, costumes, dialogues and humor (Yes your read it right! The humors are so good and on point. You may be crying at one moment and then the next second you could be laughing like a crazy. The humors never failed you make you laugh even after you went through a roller coaster ride of emotions).Anyway, this is my first time writing a review about a drama. I am still having a major withdrawal and writing this review at 2.30 AM.
I didn’t have much expectation when I started this drama. I watched it purely because of Zhao Lusi is in it and this is my Wu Lei’s first drama (apart from NIL).
It ended up becoming one of the best Chinese dramas I have ever seen in a long time. I love it with my heart and soul. Never have I thought, I would be this invested in a drama. I literally looked forward to Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Now I have watched all episodes with no more episodes to look forward to, I feel the emptiness. It will take some time for me to move on. Sounded like a breakup, right?
Story:
The story is a breath of fresh air with a great pacing and character development.
It’s mostly about growing up, family, and love, and little palace politics with a good amount of creative humor!
This drama is partly about the growth of Cheng Shao Sang (CSS). She was left by her parents with her male descendants favoring grandma and evil aunt since birth to go for war for 15 years! She lacks familial love and the abandonment shapes her character. She becomes an independent, vengeful, and smart teenager. As LBY describes her, she dares to love and hate. She’s loyal to those who treat her well and does not hesitate to revenge those who wrong her. She experiences a major heartbreak and grows to become a mature and poised woman.
The romance in this drama is not your typical Chinese drama romance where the leads typically fall in love fast and hard where sometimes you will question what makes they fall madly in love with the other. While the Ling Bu Yi (LBY) falls in love with the CSS quite fast and decides she can be the only one early but he doesn’t pursue her right away since he has higher priorities at times.
However, CSS takes her time to get to know and fall in love with LBY. She is not the one who gives her heart away easily and once she does she’s all in. And she’s not the one who forgives easily once you wrong her.
The palace politics in this drama is so different from the usual palace drama where you will anxiously wait for the consort or empress to turn evil. Because that’s so common, isn't it? But no, that will not happen in this drama. I won’t spoil it too much for you. You need to watch the drama to find out what I mean.
Acting:
Wu Lei - I was blown away by this young actor! He is definitely on another level, a very capable actor at such a young age.
His portrayal of Ling Bu Yi is top notch. Ling Bu Yi is not your typical perfect Chinese drama male character without any flaws. He is definitely a morally grey and complex character. He is ruthless, cunning, scheming, capable, intelligent yet loyal and loving. He carries heavy burden of the past on his shoulder. It’s consuming his whole existence and cost him the love of his life.
Wu Lei brought this character to life! With his portrayal, you will feel bad for LBY for all the things that he went through in life at such a young age. You can feel his pain, his love, his regrets and his despair. He portrays LBY’s dark side so well.
Wu Lei is so good at fighting and emotional scenes. His eyes are very expressive. You can feel his love for CSS through his gaze.
Zhao Lusi - What can I say to this lovely bubbly girl. She surprised me once again.
I have watched a lot of her dramas and become a fan since Who Rules the World. Her acting in this one is on another level. It is definitely her best work so far.
Zhao Lusi successfully portrays CSS’s multi layered character. Through her portrayal, I was witnessing CSS’s growth from a naive, playful, vengeful, stubborn and reckless teenager to a mature, poised and wise woman.
I love the fact that Lusi uses her own voice for this drama. Her line delivery is great. You can feel the difference in her line delivery for teenager and adult CSS.
Her micro expressions, comedic expressions (no doubt for this one) and crying are so good!
The rest of the cast have done an excellent job in bringing their characters to life. As an audience, I was made immersed into their stories. I cried, laughed and smiled along with them.
I have quite a few of my favourite supporting characters. From loyal, clueless and funny Ah Fei, loyal, reliable and serious Ah Qi, the kindest and most graceful Empress, the straightforward and fair Consort Yue, lively and matchmaker Emperor, kickass and no bullshit Qiqi, and strict and strong CSS’s Ah Mu, and many more.
Cinematography:
OH MY GOD! I love the cinematography a lot! It’s of a high quality and definitely one of the best I have ever seen. I will give you some of the best scenes that I like in term of cinematography where I think are captured very well (not in a particular order):
1. The lantern festival when Ling Bu Yi sees Cheng Shao Shang for the first time
2. Gingko trees where LBY bids CSS his first good bye.
3. Shouchun battle
4. Heart to heart talk between LBY and CSS after 5 years separation where they go their separate ways.
5. Bridge scene in Guo village
6. Star gazing in final episode
Hair Styles and Costumes:
Before the drama started, I saw ZLS’s hairstyle and costume from some posters and I can say I was not a fan at first. But I changed my opinion after seeing the drama. The costumes are very well designed and fit the characters. And the hairstyle has grown on me as well.
Make up:
The make up skills are so good with attention to details. They make wounds look so real and convincing. For instance, Ling Bu Yi’s wounds after rescued from cliff, CSS’s fading black eyes, shaoshang string wound on LBY’s wrist.
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