Alysha Johnson
Larger than life story yet felt deeply personal.
Once or twice a year, C-dramaland will give us a bona-fide drama that hit all the marks. Story, pacing, acting, directing, music, cinematography, customs, set designs, and the ability to make its viewers spent sleepless nights tortured by the wait for the next episode. This drama is such a drama.
This drama managed to captivate not only because of its story, but how it made me feel so deeply connected to the main leads. I laugh when they laugh, cry when they cry. My heart is full of pain for them. Sometime I hate them for their actions but still able to understand them, their hardship, motivations, and dilemma. This drama didn't just create two characters that made me fell in love. It show me two fleshed out human beings with real trauma and flaws, whose personalities are shade of grey, who make mistakes and regrets them just like how real people are.
More often than not in drama-land, we have perfect leads, clear motivations, and black and white personality. But in Love Like Galaxy, Cheng Shao Sheng is not just immature and stubborn, and Ling Bu Yi is not just ruthless and cold. It's easier to give them these label, simplify their personalities, and get frustrated when they don't act as how we expected them to.
But what we have on hand are just two deeply broken young kids whose heart has never been healed. Two person, whose in their most vulnerable time when they needed love and protection the most, were left abandoned, betrayed and fended for themselves. As a result, they grew up with hardened heart full of thorns. Although only 15 and 21 and respectively, we have two leads that are deeply broken on the inside even when they imitated a prankster and rebellious exterior, or a stone-cold and ruthless mask. But it is also because of this that they instantly connect and found soulmate in each other.
On the surface, this is a love story between Cheng Shao Shang and Ling Bu Yi against the backdrop of war, family conflict, political maneuvering and revenge. Underneath, like the ocean current that is unseen but powerfully felt, it is a story of two young hurt and lost child trying to make themselves whole again through each other.
In the first part, we saw them got together. All should be well right? But does it? Is love enough?
Soon we will see that love is not enough, attraction itself is not enough, just being together is not enough. How can two people who been so devoid of love know how to love? They are like two broken pieces that came together, but their rough edges still end up hurting one another. So step by step, they learn what it take to truly love the other person, as the other wanted to be loved. They clashes, they tumbled, they fight, they make up an understand the other a little more, make compromises but protect their principle, they cry and laugh, serve and protect one another.
But love is not all that there is in this world. These two young souls love one another, but they also love themselves. Just because two people came together and promised life and death doesn't mean that they cease to exist as their own individual. Love doesn't erase who they are. And the decision they make will end up deciding the course of life. What it stake for them larger than life, but their feelings are personal and relatable.
What I appreciated
- There is no headache-inducing harem fights.
- The drama buckle conventional archetypes. We got mother-hen emperor, fearsome but fear concubine, graceful and generous Empress, doting father but strict mother, brute and strong female warriors.
- No useless subplots. Every plots build on one another, and act as catalyst for the dominoes to push the main story forward.
- No useless dialogues, many subtle parallel situation and saying that can be preference in a later point of the drama.
- Satisfying and quickly resolved conflict.
- No useless misunderstanding. Main couples do fight due to personality conflict but both are very good expressing themselves.
- Not much of a cinematography and music person, but I appreciate some beautiful one shot scenes.
- Male lead, Wu Lei, is a prolific horse rider with good martial art skills. He did his own fighting scenes and horse riding scenes, which are just amazing and swoon worthy.
This drama managed to captivate not only because of its story, but how it made me feel so deeply connected to the main leads. I laugh when they laugh, cry when they cry. My heart is full of pain for them. Sometime I hate them for their actions but still able to understand them, their hardship, motivations, and dilemma. This drama didn't just create two characters that made me fell in love. It show me two fleshed out human beings with real trauma and flaws, whose personalities are shade of grey, who make mistakes and regrets them just like how real people are.
More often than not in drama-land, we have perfect leads, clear motivations, and black and white personality. But in Love Like Galaxy, Cheng Shao Sheng is not just immature and stubborn, and Ling Bu Yi is not just ruthless and cold. It's easier to give them these label, simplify their personalities, and get frustrated when they don't act as how we expected them to.
But what we have on hand are just two deeply broken young kids whose heart has never been healed. Two person, whose in their most vulnerable time when they needed love and protection the most, were left abandoned, betrayed and fended for themselves. As a result, they grew up with hardened heart full of thorns. Although only 15 and 21 and respectively, we have two leads that are deeply broken on the inside even when they imitated a prankster and rebellious exterior, or a stone-cold and ruthless mask. But it is also because of this that they instantly connect and found soulmate in each other.
On the surface, this is a love story between Cheng Shao Shang and Ling Bu Yi against the backdrop of war, family conflict, political maneuvering and revenge. Underneath, like the ocean current that is unseen but powerfully felt, it is a story of two young hurt and lost child trying to make themselves whole again through each other.
In the first part, we saw them got together. All should be well right? But does it? Is love enough?
Soon we will see that love is not enough, attraction itself is not enough, just being together is not enough. How can two people who been so devoid of love know how to love? They are like two broken pieces that came together, but their rough edges still end up hurting one another. So step by step, they learn what it take to truly love the other person, as the other wanted to be loved. They clashes, they tumbled, they fight, they make up an understand the other a little more, make compromises but protect their principle, they cry and laugh, serve and protect one another.
But love is not all that there is in this world. These two young souls love one another, but they also love themselves. Just because two people came together and promised life and death doesn't mean that they cease to exist as their own individual. Love doesn't erase who they are. And the decision they make will end up deciding the course of life. What it stake for them larger than life, but their feelings are personal and relatable.
What I appreciated
- There is no headache-inducing harem fights.
- The drama buckle conventional archetypes. We got mother-hen emperor, fearsome but fear concubine, graceful and generous Empress, doting father but strict mother, brute and strong female warriors.
- No useless subplots. Every plots build on one another, and act as catalyst for the dominoes to push the main story forward.
- No useless dialogues, many subtle parallel situation and saying that can be preference in a later point of the drama.
- Satisfying and quickly resolved conflict.
- No useless misunderstanding. Main couples do fight due to personality conflict but both are very good expressing themselves.
- Not much of a cinematography and music person, but I appreciate some beautiful one shot scenes.
- Male lead, Wu Lei, is a prolific horse rider with good martial art skills. He did his own fighting scenes and horse riding scenes, which are just amazing and swoon worthy.
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