This review may contain spoilers
OH MAN... this one's gonna be hard to forget
Love in the Clouds has been an absolutely mesmerizing drama that you just cant't take your eyes off of for one second. Did I also mention gut-wrenching and soul-crushing? Yea, they twist the knife a few times, and it really tugs at your heart strings whenever they do. Its honestly been a long while since I've watched a drama with all the elements I'm looking for—enemies to lovers, powerful female lead, one-sided flirting, through the roof tension, enticing storylines, and honestly these all sound common but what's rare is how LITC perfectly executes them.
The story begins with Ming Xian, crown prince of Yaoguang Mountain, strongest warrior in all the 6 realms, beloved saviour of her people—oh, and also, not a man by the way. Since birth, her mother has hidden Ming Xian's true identity as a woman to maintain her own position as Empress, cruelly keeping her at a cold distance with no expectations but for her to train and perfect herself as the crown prince. Every year, a tournament is held to determine which realm gets to receive the "blessed rain", which provides wealth and prosperity to the realm that receives it. After dominating the last 7 years in a row, it is now the 8th year she has participated, and also documents the last few moments before she loses everything she once held dear. Fighting against a mysterious new opponent, Ji Bozai, she's poisoned with the Heavenly Grief, damaging her spiritual veins rendering her powers useless. For the first time ever, shes lost. The Empress, seeing her without her powers, tells her to leave the realm at once with her position at risk, and to undo the gender spell while looking for the cure. Left with nowhere to go, Ming Xian swears revenge on Ji Bozai, and coincidentally, he is the only one with the cure, the Golden Millet Dream. Eventually travelling to his realm, Jixing Abyss, and selling herself to a brothel, she renames herself Ming Yi and begins her countless attempts to get close to Ji Bozai. Opportunities arise, and Ming Xian successfully places herself within his residence as his (pretend) woman, proving useful to him in order to avoid his enemies. Life has never been more complicated for Ming Xian, especially when EVERYONE wants the golden millet dream, and the owner of it seems to have a really hard time trusting people. Ohhh riight, and no one knows where it is or if he really has it. Ji Bozai has not lived an easy life, growing up an orphan in a prison with no one to rely on but himself, enduring hunger, pain, abuse, and betrayals. Appearing out of nowhere followed by a sudden rise of fame, it all seems to be pre-planned, and man is he a cunning schemer. He is NOT going to be trusting anyone anytime soon while on a revenge quest of his own. Attempting to win his actual heart and trust, Ming Yi will do whatever it takes—at the cost of her shedding an enormous amount of fake tears, sacrificing herself multiple times, and meddling with his problems a lot more than he wants her to. Ming Xian becomes closer to Ji Bozai than ever, but when feelings of guilt, hidden identities, and affection arises, who's lying to who, and who's falling for who?
Plotwise, I think they have a nice story set up, I don't agree with the people saying there's no plot/direction. They've got the revenge down, the multiple villains, the different plot twists, nothing that screams no plot to me. However, majority of the time you're really just rooting for the leads to be happy, share genuine moments where they're not pretending, and to finally get together.
Starring ms Lu Yuxiao and mr Hou Minghao. I would also just like to say, Ming Yi's styling in the first 2/3 of this drama is just chef's kiss. Her hair, her outfits, her makeup, it's all so ethereal. If there's one thing to take away from this drama, it's that Lu Yuxiao SERVED FACE. Hou Minghao and lowkey the entire supporting cast also served face (like seriously, they cast a lot of attractive people, like Yu Chengen) but Xiaoxiao, GODDAMN SHE SERVED FACE ON A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL. Also fell in love with her character here where she plays the mischievous, flirty, damsel in distress SO WELL. She really stole the show with this one, and I can't wait to see more of her future projects. Hou Minghao was also amazing, first time I'm watching him btw (always wanted to watch Back to the Brink but never got to it!), I'm guessing he's quite familiar with the cold male lead roles, but watching his character fall for Ming Yi is adorable with his softened eyes, his subtle change in expressions, mixed with a side of jealousy. Really good OSTs sang by these two by the way. These two are the cutest pair in the drama, and real life, and I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope they get another drama together in the future. Like seriously, just put them in a second drama and they'll fall in love. Trust. Really appreciate how much the drama is able to focus on these two main characters and their development without showing too much of the side characters, while also keeping a compelling plot and mysteries you want to uncover as well. Final note, the kiss scenes go crazy in this.
I don't know what else to say, but if you want to watch a romance with a LOT of tension along with the necessary push and pulls, just watch this.
The story begins with Ming Xian, crown prince of Yaoguang Mountain, strongest warrior in all the 6 realms, beloved saviour of her people—oh, and also, not a man by the way. Since birth, her mother has hidden Ming Xian's true identity as a woman to maintain her own position as Empress, cruelly keeping her at a cold distance with no expectations but for her to train and perfect herself as the crown prince. Every year, a tournament is held to determine which realm gets to receive the "blessed rain", which provides wealth and prosperity to the realm that receives it. After dominating the last 7 years in a row, it is now the 8th year she has participated, and also documents the last few moments before she loses everything she once held dear. Fighting against a mysterious new opponent, Ji Bozai, she's poisoned with the Heavenly Grief, damaging her spiritual veins rendering her powers useless. For the first time ever, shes lost. The Empress, seeing her without her powers, tells her to leave the realm at once with her position at risk, and to undo the gender spell while looking for the cure. Left with nowhere to go, Ming Xian swears revenge on Ji Bozai, and coincidentally, he is the only one with the cure, the Golden Millet Dream. Eventually travelling to his realm, Jixing Abyss, and selling herself to a brothel, she renames herself Ming Yi and begins her countless attempts to get close to Ji Bozai. Opportunities arise, and Ming Xian successfully places herself within his residence as his (pretend) woman, proving useful to him in order to avoid his enemies. Life has never been more complicated for Ming Xian, especially when EVERYONE wants the golden millet dream, and the owner of it seems to have a really hard time trusting people. Ohhh riight, and no one knows where it is or if he really has it. Ji Bozai has not lived an easy life, growing up an orphan in a prison with no one to rely on but himself, enduring hunger, pain, abuse, and betrayals. Appearing out of nowhere followed by a sudden rise of fame, it all seems to be pre-planned, and man is he a cunning schemer. He is NOT going to be trusting anyone anytime soon while on a revenge quest of his own. Attempting to win his actual heart and trust, Ming Yi will do whatever it takes—at the cost of her shedding an enormous amount of fake tears, sacrificing herself multiple times, and meddling with his problems a lot more than he wants her to. Ming Xian becomes closer to Ji Bozai than ever, but when feelings of guilt, hidden identities, and affection arises, who's lying to who, and who's falling for who?
Plotwise, I think they have a nice story set up, I don't agree with the people saying there's no plot/direction. They've got the revenge down, the multiple villains, the different plot twists, nothing that screams no plot to me. However, majority of the time you're really just rooting for the leads to be happy, share genuine moments where they're not pretending, and to finally get together.
Starring ms Lu Yuxiao and mr Hou Minghao. I would also just like to say, Ming Yi's styling in the first 2/3 of this drama is just chef's kiss. Her hair, her outfits, her makeup, it's all so ethereal. If there's one thing to take away from this drama, it's that Lu Yuxiao SERVED FACE. Hou Minghao and lowkey the entire supporting cast also served face (like seriously, they cast a lot of attractive people, like Yu Chengen) but Xiaoxiao, GODDAMN SHE SERVED FACE ON A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL. Also fell in love with her character here where she plays the mischievous, flirty, damsel in distress SO WELL. She really stole the show with this one, and I can't wait to see more of her future projects. Hou Minghao was also amazing, first time I'm watching him btw (always wanted to watch Back to the Brink but never got to it!), I'm guessing he's quite familiar with the cold male lead roles, but watching his character fall for Ming Yi is adorable with his softened eyes, his subtle change in expressions, mixed with a side of jealousy. Really good OSTs sang by these two by the way. These two are the cutest pair in the drama, and real life, and I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope they get another drama together in the future. Like seriously, just put them in a second drama and they'll fall in love. Trust. Really appreciate how much the drama is able to focus on these two main characters and their development without showing too much of the side characters, while also keeping a compelling plot and mysteries you want to uncover as well. Final note, the kiss scenes go crazy in this.
I don't know what else to say, but if you want to watch a romance with a LOT of tension along with the necessary push and pulls, just watch this.
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