One of the Best!
I have been putting off this title for soo long cuz I didnt quite like Zhao Lusi in The Long Ballad and I didnt think she would make a good main lead. But she definitely proved me wrong in Love Like the Galaxy. I must admit that this show stands almost at par with The Untamed and The Rebel Princess which are in my top favourite list, and her performance here was spectacular.
The show opened up with 15yo Cheng Shaoshang - FL - finally reunited with her parents who had left her in her grandmother’s care since birth to go for war. On the way home from where her grandmother made her stay, she met with our ML the 21yo great young general Ling Buyi on the hunt for a criminal, which turned out to be FL’s grand uncle (grandma’s bro). She showed him where she suspected the man to be hiding, which was in a strawpile in front of the small hut she lived in. This is where FL caught ML’s eye. It was like love at first sight, though he had only seen her hand at that time.
When she thought her life would be better now that her parents are home, it turned out to be even worse when her tiger soldier mom could not accept the daughter that she turned out to be - illiterate, brash, full of trickery with a loose mouth of rebuttal. The mom tried to make up for those years she lost of raising and educating FL, but it made FL hate her even more due to the harsh educating method. The mom also openly favoured FL’s cousin who was well-read, gentle, and compassionate. As FL traverse her new life with a full family that she couldn’t seem to fit in, she learned to grow into a mature young lady under the wings of the empress when ML asked the emperor for her hand. ML was the last descendent of the Huo clan, which the emperor was hugely indebted to, thus had ML raised by the Empress. With FL, he too traversed his life to avenge the extermination of his clan while at the same time fighting for the woman whom he loved.
I totally totally love love love this show. I love how they are more focussed on the familial affection than romance between the main leads. Although FL had a hard time bonding with her mom, she was on an extremely good terms with her dad, her 2 brothers (1 was actually her twin), and the demure cousin. There was no sibling rivalry at all despite their 15 year-estrangement, which i totally love. Am so tired of sibling fights, bickering and getting jealous at each other all day long. Its non existence in the Cheng Household is totally heartwarming. The only tension would only come from the mom-daughter banter as FL keep stirring up trouble whenever she got criticized by her mom and bullied by other girls outside.
I totally get the FL character. Imagine the emptiness in her heart, she was abandoned as a baby by her family and left in the care of those who doesn’t love her at all. She grew up having to rely on her own self without the ability to love other people. And even when her family returned, she still found herself drowning with her mom’s constant criticisms and complaints of her shortcomings. She was drowning and eager to grab a life line, something that her parents should have provided but failed to do so, and that was why she was quick to accept her first bethrothal and then ML’s, thinking that it was her ticket to freedom.
Although I am not a fan of damsel-in-distress type of character, which the FL is, i totally love her guts. She has no physical prowess, with a body so frail that she would faint at extreme sadness or agitation, but her wit, intelligence and stubborness make up for that. Despite her gentle look, FL is extremely quick-witted, relentless and unyielding. She has no problem talking back to others with a sharp tongue in her defense, against whoever it may be. Her mom failed to appreciate her strengths, but the Empress did, and it is understandable that FL quickly allevated her as a mother figure. I was super satisfied when FL decided to stay with the Empress in isolation, leaving her home without much qualm. Back then, her mom had left her for the loyalty to the emperor, and now when she bade farewell, she said she too chose loyalty to the empress over filial piety. What a great “in your face” moment though FL had not meant it to be a revenge. I loved FL mom’s character because she is a tiger mom like me, but it is still so satisfying to see her take her own medicine. I can’t forgive her for favouring Yangyang and keep denouncing FL in public over and over again.
Leo Wu had proven his talent in The Long Ballad, so I totally know he’d definitely be able to pull off the fierce general look, and a love stricken lover. ML is basically hell bent on taking a revenge on his clan’s extermination, and is ruthless in seeking out the truth. Him being most favoured person of the emperor made him almost untouchable. Although he was busy investigating, he realized he could not miss out a chance at romance too. And so when FL’s first bethrothal was rescinded, he immediately asked for her hand in public, without even asking if she would be okay with it or not. It showed how much confidence he has in himself, and he made sure she could not refuse by shamelessly asking the emperor to do it for him, putting FL’s parents in a tight spot. ML is a resilient soul, very similar to FL, and as they get to know each other, they realized although they very much love each other, they still lost sight of accepting each other’s shortcomings, which had cost them very dearly.
This is the first show ever that I saw where the empress and the concubine got along with each other, and they are not even pretending to be just for the sake of looks. The Emperor is quirky and lovable and I totally ship them three. Their love for the ML and for each other is truly genuine and pure. And as usual, ML’s two sidekicks always get my vote of favourite goofy characters. I don’t know how they do it, but in most of military oriented shows like this, the ML always have two sidekicks with opposite characters, 1 usually serious and 1 goofy and every time, they always caught my eyes and make it to the favourite spot. Ah Qi and Ah Fei, you guys rock!
The fights are excellently choreographed, one of the best I’ve seen without the flying or superhuman sh!t, and this is also the first show that I’ve seen where people don’t vomit blood for every injury they have. In here, even as they were being hit on the abdomen repeatedly, all i see was water or saliva coming out of the mouth, and no blood. Now that is what I call realistic! It is so stupid to see injuries like sword wound or pierced by an arrow or beatings on the butt and yet they vomit blood. Duh 😒🙄 oh and the show doesn’t pull off any poisoning or amnesia trope either. 👍🏼
All in all, the screenplay is so damn good. It is 56 episode long, but it didnt feel like that due to how engaging the story is. And although none of the main and major support roles died, I still cried buckets due to the emotional rollercoaster they put me on. This title couldve gotten an all 10 points from me had they not slacked a bit on the music side. None of the OST caught my ears or stayed in my head, so there goes the music category.
However, this is also the first show that I wished it had a tragic ending. I wished FL died on that cliff on that few last episodes, and ML lived in regret forever. He had not suffered enough for abandoning FL at the earlier cliff scene. Too bad it had a happy ending instead.
The show opened up with 15yo Cheng Shaoshang - FL - finally reunited with her parents who had left her in her grandmother’s care since birth to go for war. On the way home from where her grandmother made her stay, she met with our ML the 21yo great young general Ling Buyi on the hunt for a criminal, which turned out to be FL’s grand uncle (grandma’s bro). She showed him where she suspected the man to be hiding, which was in a strawpile in front of the small hut she lived in. This is where FL caught ML’s eye. It was like love at first sight, though he had only seen her hand at that time.
When she thought her life would be better now that her parents are home, it turned out to be even worse when her tiger soldier mom could not accept the daughter that she turned out to be - illiterate, brash, full of trickery with a loose mouth of rebuttal. The mom tried to make up for those years she lost of raising and educating FL, but it made FL hate her even more due to the harsh educating method. The mom also openly favoured FL’s cousin who was well-read, gentle, and compassionate. As FL traverse her new life with a full family that she couldn’t seem to fit in, she learned to grow into a mature young lady under the wings of the empress when ML asked the emperor for her hand. ML was the last descendent of the Huo clan, which the emperor was hugely indebted to, thus had ML raised by the Empress. With FL, he too traversed his life to avenge the extermination of his clan while at the same time fighting for the woman whom he loved.
I totally totally love love love this show. I love how they are more focussed on the familial affection than romance between the main leads. Although FL had a hard time bonding with her mom, she was on an extremely good terms with her dad, her 2 brothers (1 was actually her twin), and the demure cousin. There was no sibling rivalry at all despite their 15 year-estrangement, which i totally love. Am so tired of sibling fights, bickering and getting jealous at each other all day long. Its non existence in the Cheng Household is totally heartwarming. The only tension would only come from the mom-daughter banter as FL keep stirring up trouble whenever she got criticized by her mom and bullied by other girls outside.
I totally get the FL character. Imagine the emptiness in her heart, she was abandoned as a baby by her family and left in the care of those who doesn’t love her at all. She grew up having to rely on her own self without the ability to love other people. And even when her family returned, she still found herself drowning with her mom’s constant criticisms and complaints of her shortcomings. She was drowning and eager to grab a life line, something that her parents should have provided but failed to do so, and that was why she was quick to accept her first bethrothal and then ML’s, thinking that it was her ticket to freedom.
Although I am not a fan of damsel-in-distress type of character, which the FL is, i totally love her guts. She has no physical prowess, with a body so frail that she would faint at extreme sadness or agitation, but her wit, intelligence and stubborness make up for that. Despite her gentle look, FL is extremely quick-witted, relentless and unyielding. She has no problem talking back to others with a sharp tongue in her defense, against whoever it may be. Her mom failed to appreciate her strengths, but the Empress did, and it is understandable that FL quickly allevated her as a mother figure. I was super satisfied when FL decided to stay with the Empress in isolation, leaving her home without much qualm. Back then, her mom had left her for the loyalty to the emperor, and now when she bade farewell, she said she too chose loyalty to the empress over filial piety. What a great “in your face” moment though FL had not meant it to be a revenge. I loved FL mom’s character because she is a tiger mom like me, but it is still so satisfying to see her take her own medicine. I can’t forgive her for favouring Yangyang and keep denouncing FL in public over and over again.
Leo Wu had proven his talent in The Long Ballad, so I totally know he’d definitely be able to pull off the fierce general look, and a love stricken lover. ML is basically hell bent on taking a revenge on his clan’s extermination, and is ruthless in seeking out the truth. Him being most favoured person of the emperor made him almost untouchable. Although he was busy investigating, he realized he could not miss out a chance at romance too. And so when FL’s first bethrothal was rescinded, he immediately asked for her hand in public, without even asking if she would be okay with it or not. It showed how much confidence he has in himself, and he made sure she could not refuse by shamelessly asking the emperor to do it for him, putting FL’s parents in a tight spot. ML is a resilient soul, very similar to FL, and as they get to know each other, they realized although they very much love each other, they still lost sight of accepting each other’s shortcomings, which had cost them very dearly.
This is the first show ever that I saw where the empress and the concubine got along with each other, and they are not even pretending to be just for the sake of looks. The Emperor is quirky and lovable and I totally ship them three. Their love for the ML and for each other is truly genuine and pure. And as usual, ML’s two sidekicks always get my vote of favourite goofy characters. I don’t know how they do it, but in most of military oriented shows like this, the ML always have two sidekicks with opposite characters, 1 usually serious and 1 goofy and every time, they always caught my eyes and make it to the favourite spot. Ah Qi and Ah Fei, you guys rock!
The fights are excellently choreographed, one of the best I’ve seen without the flying or superhuman sh!t, and this is also the first show that I’ve seen where people don’t vomit blood for every injury they have. In here, even as they were being hit on the abdomen repeatedly, all i see was water or saliva coming out of the mouth, and no blood. Now that is what I call realistic! It is so stupid to see injuries like sword wound or pierced by an arrow or beatings on the butt and yet they vomit blood. Duh 😒🙄 oh and the show doesn’t pull off any poisoning or amnesia trope either. 👍🏼
All in all, the screenplay is so damn good. It is 56 episode long, but it didnt feel like that due to how engaging the story is. And although none of the main and major support roles died, I still cried buckets due to the emotional rollercoaster they put me on. This title couldve gotten an all 10 points from me had they not slacked a bit on the music side. None of the OST caught my ears or stayed in my head, so there goes the music category.
However, this is also the first show that I wished it had a tragic ending. I wished FL died on that cliff on that few last episodes, and ML lived in regret forever. He had not suffered enough for abandoning FL at the earlier cliff scene. Too bad it had a happy ending instead.
Was this review helpful to you?
