Big_Red_1011

Wonderful review as always. For those who are interested in reading the source material, for the full story you have to read the second novel too (another 1300-1400 chapters) as it fully concludes the storylines (even the origin of the green vial is only explained in the second novel). There is an ongoing donghua (animated) version that people enjoy and is available for free on YouTube. It has advanced quite a bit past live action, but will take years to finish up (only have done about 1/5 of combined two novels).
Finally, for video game fans — they are working on a video-game adaptation too. But even without a video game, watching drama DOES feel like playing a game because Han Li constantly has to fight for survival, level up, get better gear/equipment, etc.

Now we all want a modern drama with the leads 😊 And, yes, longer modern arc would’ve been great but it definitely wouldn’t make censors very happy. As of now, creators could pretend in front of censors that it was all a dream while everyone else would know it’s a 4th lifetime.

What Hunter described would happen in Season 2, theoretically. And it’s more complicated than that But, to add to the pain of Miss Mo, Han Li will learn much, much, much later in the novels it IS possible to cultivate without the spiritual root.

I’ve never watched the donghua (or read the source novels), but everything seemed pretty clear to me. True, I did have some questions (like whether origin of green vial will ever be explained) but those were mostly about future events.

I like NGW and how she fits in the overall story of both novels, but — to be fair — HL ends up with multiple women in the end, so everyone is happy, I guess 😁

Minki4 explained everything well in another comment under your post, but — basically — the drama doesn’t show when/how SJ ended up in the modern world with the memories of their previous 3 lifetimes together. But using what he knows about LTY (like she likes resorts), he’s been trying to get in touch with her.

The ending is that way because of censorship rules (as you probably know). But this drama did a very good job throughout the show of emphasizing certain things that make it pretty clear everything was not a dream.

It’s pretty definitively a happy ending. A lot, a lot of hints throughout the series and at the end tell us about that. But the creators have to make censors happy so they aren’t able to put it in big bold letters THIS WAS NOT A DREAM! 😁

We all do :)

Yes, the creators gave a lot of hints that this is going to be the 4th lifetime for the leads together. They just couldn’t come out and say it because of censorship rules. In addition to what you said, SJ stayed behind and missed his flight waiting for LTY. And their ending scene on the staircase is a callback to their initial staircase scene.

You are very close to the point where romance will be turned up to 11 (by C-drama standards) and then some things will happen to make the plot more interesting/change it up. But, at its core, this drama is about our heroes’ fight against the bad sects and the eternal love between the leads.

The chemistry between the leads is sizzling ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

I’m thinking of watching it too 😁

Yes, continue :)

The ending was about as good as they could make it without running afoul of the censors. For the censors they had to make it seem like a dream, but — for the fans — they threw a lot of hints this is going to be their 4th lifetime together.

Yes, in a perfect world we would have a few episodes in the modern day.

People think the fact that ML didn’t leave to take his flight (at 6:30 pm) and waited for FL to show up means he has memories from their past lifetimes and now FL obtained those memories too after the incident. Not to mention Chinese-language references (like his company being called Three Mountains) and this project being for a vacation resort and FL loving vacations & relaxing.

The Makeout Central picks up around mid-10s (sorry, don’t remember exactly). They have a lot… someone said 20+, but I think we stopped keeping count eventually 😁

For great modern romance I’d highly recommend: “The First Frost” (so, so good 😊) and “Fake It Till You Make It” (only 14 episodes + special; probably most realistic look at adult romance in a C-drama; amazing soundtrack). If you want a lot of laughs, “The Day of Becoming You” is hilarious (it’s about body swapping, but carries a good message). “You Are My Lover Friend” is also mostly funny (although there’s a business conspiracy as a secondary storyline) and sets standard for friends-to-lovers dramas. On K-drama side, I’d recommend “Love Scout” from earlier this year (great romance of people in mid-30s with ML who is the greenest of green flags). I’m actually more of a modern dramas specialist, so feel free to ask me anything :)

L&P is very good but not great (about 8.5 on MDL scale). leads have great chemistry that people like but you have to watch it expecting the circumstances surrounding ML going to prison to be kind of dumb (cliched). Will give some other recommendations in a second comment.