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Ashes of Love chinese drama review
Completed
Ashes of Love
4 people found this review helpful
by justjacky
Apr 3, 2023
63 of 63 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 5.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Second male lead stole the show. The rest is too much filler and repetition.

There is much praise about this drama and it did not quite deliver for me. I loved the cinematography, visual effects, the acting was top notch but the actual story fell flat for me. It started off well and even though it had interesting premises I wasn't captivated by the plot. Too much filler and too many characters doing exactly the same thing again and again and again. Too many convenient plot devices and people doing things only to move forward the plot. Oh and by the end of the drama, almost all the characters had (without spoiling) the same type of trauma. It just felt like lazy writing.

My main issue with the drama was that as much as heartbreaking the romance is for the main leads, I never connected with them. It was actually very instant love for me considering one of them couldn't even feel love. And romance is my main focus when watching dramas. In fact I was so invested in the second male lead story that by episode 35 I was happy if they dropped the romance and it was only about his journey. He was actually what saved the show and made me finish it. In fact around episode 50 I found myself skipping lots of scenes because I just wanted to finish it.

Second male lead stole the show for me. His story was so well done. His character development is so well done. The main male lead is an excellent actor but unfortunately I found after the first half of the drama his personality was reduced to "being in love with the female lead" and "occasionally a cool warrior". It's like the whole purpose for him being in the drama was to be the love puppy of the female lead. There is so much more it could have been done in terms of writing.

Overall I feel it's a good drama but not for me. Too much focus was put on the love triangle which wasn't even a love triangle. I didn't like the ending of the second male lead and how they turned his character so probably that's why I wasn't happy with this drama. But I did enjoy lots of moments and definitely cried a lot. The drama moved me emotionally, especially the second male lead story which was worth watching.
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