This review may contain spoilers
Sigh,,, this is why I can't do xianxia cdramas
For some reason I can never find myself finishing a xianxia cdrama, and Love in the Clouds was the furthest along I've ever gotten before dropping the ball and searching up the ending/spoilers. What can I say? I guess I'm an impatient viewer.
The scenes are gorgeous, the music is enticing, the acting is off-the-roof, the leads look dazzling together, and the clothing/stages are rich and stylish. I ADORED the first 20-ish episodes and was literally staying up all the night because of the characters' chemistry, the fast-paced plot, and stunning cinematography to tie it all together. The separation around ep 23 was the last straw for me though. After that I sped through the next couple of episodes and called it quits before checking the ending out.
While I WANT to love xianxia dramas (and I enjoy reading them!), there are too many exasperating romantic tropes for me to follow as a viewer. I love the worlds that they build, the magic systems, the complex plots and hidden identities, but for some reason all of this intricacy HAS to get tagged onto amnesia plots, betrayals left and right, and characters making dumb decisions for the sake of storyline progression. And while I do admit, Love in the Clouds didn't necessarily have those components, they still dragged out the romance and angst for longer than needed, and to the point where I just wasn't enjoying the couples' dynamics knowing there were so many lies/secrets between them.
But anyway, here's what I loved in the beginning:
❀ Powerful main leads!! | The beginning fight between the main leads was exciting and fresh. The different leads are quite powerful and I was excited to see the FL rise back up to power after damaging her spiritual vein... until I couldn't wait that long. Like bruh. I was anticipating some epic fight scenes but unfortunately her character did not deliver. The actors themselves are spectacular, my heart definitely felt some sort of way when they cried lol. But then they started crying too much and I stopped caring.
❀ Bedazzling cinematography | God I loveee the world-building in xianxia stories and how immense they can be. The background music matched the action and plotting schemes so well and in general it was just so immersive. The bad fox guy (Xun Ming) arc around ep 11 was just epic. The tension between the leads was SO well-done and Xun Ming's whole background being unraveled was executed perfectly.
❀ Cute dialogue | The show definitely had its comedic moments whether through sound effects or light-hearted dialogue and I really did enjoy the characters' interactions - special shout-out to the companion beasts and side couples who were all so cute.
And then it falls off after ep 20-ish:
✕ Cycling plots | Bad guys carry out their scheme -> FL suffering to save ML -> ML saves the day -> rinse and repeat. Although I guess you can argue the "FL is saving the ML through her suffering" although I would counter why is one executed with pain and torture while the other is executed with magical fights. And again I would counter to that to be fair, the ML does get his own dose of suffering. But xianxia, oh xianxia, WHYYY do y'all love suffering main leads. I get having angst, but at some point you're doing the characters a disservice by using their actions as a driver for these tedious storylines. Like come on it took the ML 25 episodes to realize the FL's true identity? It's 2025 pleaseeee. I do like his character but his brain must be a rock. And the FL taking so long to clarify her identity was just... ugh, maybe I'm an impatient viewer. I don't need to read paragraphs of analyses on the characters' trauma to justify their decisions. Noble idiocy is just what the name implies - the character is noble, and they're an idiot. We love them as leads because they like to self-sacrifice for the greater good, but that doesn't make them a smart cookie. And honestly maybe that points to lazy writing but that's a rant for another day.
✕ The push-pull of me and the leads | I really wanted to like them - and I did, in the beginning. But the writing truly did them a disservice and while the actors did an amazing job in conveying the characters' emotions and actions, I was constantly in a tug-of-war between really cheering them on and rolling my eyes at them. And the eye-rolling won.
✕ Romance logic just out the window | It was sooo good in the beginning. I loved their kiss scenes, and I think the leads had pretty good chemistry (they certainly looked great together, especially the rare moments when they fought/plotted together). But bruh none of this angst in ep 20+ makes sense when SUCH a good foundation for their relationship was already made. The ML was even like "I trust you" -> proceeds to dump her because of lack of trust. They LITERALLY know their feelings for one another because of plot requirements (like walking through the marriage road or the soul severing device that forced the truth) and they STILL engaged in mutual suffering and pining afterwards. Like HUH???? All of this and for WAT.
(I know, it's for the plot) BUT -
Such a strong romantic foundation was established and it just felt, idk, gimmicky and shallow to go through that cycle of self-sacrifice and unwillingness to reveal the truth afterwards. Like give me back the emotional energy I used up in the first half, damn it!
OVERALL
This was a good reminder that xianxia cdramas are just not for me. And of course this is a case of "it's you, not me," because if I was a more patient viewer I think I could have sat through 12 more episodes of pining and lying and self-inflicted suffering and silence (when there should have been a confession), but unfortunately I am not, and I won't be trying a xianxia again until they figure out a new and improved way to introduce tension into a story.
The scenes are gorgeous, the music is enticing, the acting is off-the-roof, the leads look dazzling together, and the clothing/stages are rich and stylish. I ADORED the first 20-ish episodes and was literally staying up all the night because of the characters' chemistry, the fast-paced plot, and stunning cinematography to tie it all together. The separation around ep 23 was the last straw for me though. After that I sped through the next couple of episodes and called it quits before checking the ending out.
While I WANT to love xianxia dramas (and I enjoy reading them!), there are too many exasperating romantic tropes for me to follow as a viewer. I love the worlds that they build, the magic systems, the complex plots and hidden identities, but for some reason all of this intricacy HAS to get tagged onto amnesia plots, betrayals left and right, and characters making dumb decisions for the sake of storyline progression. And while I do admit, Love in the Clouds didn't necessarily have those components, they still dragged out the romance and angst for longer than needed, and to the point where I just wasn't enjoying the couples' dynamics knowing there were so many lies/secrets between them.
But anyway, here's what I loved in the beginning:
❀ Powerful main leads!! | The beginning fight between the main leads was exciting and fresh. The different leads are quite powerful and I was excited to see the FL rise back up to power after damaging her spiritual vein... until I couldn't wait that long. Like bruh. I was anticipating some epic fight scenes but unfortunately her character did not deliver. The actors themselves are spectacular, my heart definitely felt some sort of way when they cried lol. But then they started crying too much and I stopped caring.
❀ Bedazzling cinematography | God I loveee the world-building in xianxia stories and how immense they can be. The background music matched the action and plotting schemes so well and in general it was just so immersive. The bad fox guy (Xun Ming) arc around ep 11 was just epic. The tension between the leads was SO well-done and Xun Ming's whole background being unraveled was executed perfectly.
❀ Cute dialogue | The show definitely had its comedic moments whether through sound effects or light-hearted dialogue and I really did enjoy the characters' interactions - special shout-out to the companion beasts and side couples who were all so cute.
And then it falls off after ep 20-ish:
✕ Cycling plots | Bad guys carry out their scheme -> FL suffering to save ML -> ML saves the day -> rinse and repeat. Although I guess you can argue the "FL is saving the ML through her suffering" although I would counter why is one executed with pain and torture while the other is executed with magical fights. And again I would counter to that to be fair, the ML does get his own dose of suffering. But xianxia, oh xianxia, WHYYY do y'all love suffering main leads. I get having angst, but at some point you're doing the characters a disservice by using their actions as a driver for these tedious storylines. Like come on it took the ML 25 episodes to realize the FL's true identity? It's 2025 pleaseeee. I do like his character but his brain must be a rock. And the FL taking so long to clarify her identity was just... ugh, maybe I'm an impatient viewer. I don't need to read paragraphs of analyses on the characters' trauma to justify their decisions. Noble idiocy is just what the name implies - the character is noble, and they're an idiot. We love them as leads because they like to self-sacrifice for the greater good, but that doesn't make them a smart cookie. And honestly maybe that points to lazy writing but that's a rant for another day.
✕ The push-pull of me and the leads | I really wanted to like them - and I did, in the beginning. But the writing truly did them a disservice and while the actors did an amazing job in conveying the characters' emotions and actions, I was constantly in a tug-of-war between really cheering them on and rolling my eyes at them. And the eye-rolling won.
✕ Romance logic just out the window | It was sooo good in the beginning. I loved their kiss scenes, and I think the leads had pretty good chemistry (they certainly looked great together, especially the rare moments when they fought/plotted together). But bruh none of this angst in ep 20+ makes sense when SUCH a good foundation for their relationship was already made. The ML was even like "I trust you" -> proceeds to dump her because of lack of trust. They LITERALLY know their feelings for one another because of plot requirements (like walking through the marriage road or the soul severing device that forced the truth) and they STILL engaged in mutual suffering and pining afterwards. Like HUH???? All of this and for WAT.
(I know, it's for the plot) BUT -
Such a strong romantic foundation was established and it just felt, idk, gimmicky and shallow to go through that cycle of self-sacrifice and unwillingness to reveal the truth afterwards. Like give me back the emotional energy I used up in the first half, damn it!
OVERALL
This was a good reminder that xianxia cdramas are just not for me. And of course this is a case of "it's you, not me," because if I was a more patient viewer I think I could have sat through 12 more episodes of pining and lying and self-inflicted suffering and silence (when there should have been a confession), but unfortunately I am not, and I won't be trying a xianxia again until they figure out a new and improved way to introduce tension into a story.
Was this review helpful to you?
