Love Better Than Immortality

Love Better Than Immorality is like eating ice cream for dinner. You know it’s not the best option, you know there is no nutritional value and you’ll probably be hungry again later, you know there are better things in the fridge… but dang it, sometimes you just want sweets. This show is 40 short episodes of decadent high calorie deliciousness that hit all the romance beats required without wasting any time on… you know… a plot. It’s like Love in the Air for the heteros: As in the male lead is aggressive and touchy-feely, shamelessly inappropriate, and will be spending his time getting as close to your lips as humanly possible.

There is a lot of kissing in this show: For a cdrama (important disclaimer). It’s not the good stuff, the open mouth crazy passionate kind, but it’s still really sizzling… probably because it is a cdrama, and for a cdrama those extended closed-mouth kisses feel scandalous.

gifs by @thedramaden – link

The official plot is that in the future everyone has achieved immortality but apparently none of them experience love any longer – so our leading female “gives it up” by going into a simulation. I dunno, whatever, just go with it. This is never referenced in any way again. She does not bring any insights from the future with her (this is not Joy of Life – if you want a useful time traveler, I recommend that absolute gem of a show), she never speaks of the future or references it, she doesn’t seem to miss the ultra-modern sci fi world nor does she have any trouble whatsoever adapting to the world of the past. The “comes from the future” situation is just a contrivance, like the vast majority of the plot points in this show, just a series of events you are briefly shown or told were of great importance but really don’t mean much to the narrative. (further discussion of plot holes, random thoughts, and huge abandoned story threads in spoiler section below)

Cause there is only ONE narrative line – and that is WHICH BOY IN THE LOVE TRIANGLE WILL SHE CHOOSE? Will it be the dashing and handsome knight in shining honor, bound by integrity and duty, with his cute stand-offish nature and surprised blushing? Or will be it be the villain, the slinky demon clan leader who immediately starts putting the moves on our girl before she can catch her breath? It isn’t much of a mystery as she’s making out with one pretty early on in the show… and barely gets a hug from the other. So… you know… the outcome is assured. I don’t consider that a spoiler.

And that’s fine! Obvious choice love triangles are fine. I mean that sincerely. Sometimes you don’t really want to be antagonized by your romance stories. You want it to be pretty clear who the fated dude is and just watch the romance unfold with all the little conflicts and resolutions along the way that will build up their love and trust in each other. And this show delivers that. Tied with a satin ribbon bow (aka a grand gesture to illustrate undying true love), like a box of Godiva chocolates.

The chemistry between the two lovers in this show is unbelievably good. I have seen shows with both of these leading actors before – so I was already a fan.

The leading female, Zhao Lu Si, was also in Love Like the Galaxy (good show), The Long Ballad (actually her romance with the guardian knight dude was my favorite in this), Romance of Tiger & Rose (cheeky and cute but I just wasn’t vibing), Who Rules the World (good – I’m halfway through this currently), and The Last Immortal (I loved this one personally). She’s a tiny cutie who excels at these playful, plucky characters and has a really expressive face. She’s a treasure.

He’s like Cheng Yi’s horny cousin

The leading male, Li Hong Yi, is a handsome man with a slight lurch which serves him well. He always seems to be looking up at you through his eyelashes, like a seductive vampire, even though he’s taller than nearly everyone in these shows.

Bad posture has never looked so good on a man!

He also has an unmistakable light swagger (like he’s walking on air) and this low voice you have to lean in to hear – which again serves him well. He has mastered a neutral facial expression that forces you to pay attention, hoping to see the hint of a smile or the dart of his eyes. You are DRAWN IN. I’m not sure how much of this is just good physicality acting versus this is just how he is as a person. Whatever it is, it’s spellbinding and very sexy.

He’s also a great actor, so when the role demands it he can sell you on whatever emotion he’s going through. I was mesmerized by him Blood of Youth (super fun martial arts drama), which refrained from having any serious romantic plotlines whatsoever, so imagine my surprise when he slid onto the screen and starts putting the moves on his lady within the first episode.

And our boy has MOVES.

more gifs by the amazing @thedramaden – link

I’ve read a bunch of grumblings or whatever over this show for its “incest” plotline. So let me just touch on that briefly in case you are the type to cringe away from such things. Since our girl from the future transplants directly into the body of another girl, with zero memories of the other girl’s existence, she is at a disadvantage… because other characters in the show remember her (or rather, they remember the other girl, follow along with me here). Our leading male takes advantage of her memory loss and quickly tells her that he is her older brother. I know our girl is a gullible thing, but I don’t think she really believed this ploy much, as they were flirting and hugging and kissing and lounging about in her bed all the time.

Regular nightly visits to your bedroom to cuddle with your sibling are mandatory in this world.

The sibling story was rather a lie they both agreed upon that gave them an excuse to canoodle freely, or at least that is how I interpreted it. That it made zero impact once it was revealed he was NOT her brother lends credence to this theory of mine. And the fact that they continued to call each other brother and sister up until the last episode, like a pervy pet name and a joke shared between them, also makes it clear it’s more of a naughty role playing kink than anything else.

So yeah. They had kinks.

screensaves from @dangermousie – link

They were a matched set of flirtatious, naughty souls. I found it charming. But I realize this only one lens, and others can easily view it was creepy or gross too. Fair. Listen, I grew up on Flowers in the Attic and weirdly sexy movies like Close My Eyes, and those were real siblings in those stories. So maybe I am more immune to this plot line and more open to be it being used as a kink (not that I am supporting incest, people, I’m just saying taboos have always been used in story-telling because they hit buttons that engage us in different ways). And exploring how those taboos can be used and are often linked to kinks is just human nature. Haven’t ya’ll read Erotism: Death & Sensuality by Georges Bataille before?

Anyways, without going further into the rabbit hole on this one let me just say if you are looking for a short breezy villain romance with little plot but a whole lotta sexy shenanigans then this is your show.

Overall Rating: 9/10 – A cute, slightly pervy villain romance.

For more musings about this silly little fun show – including the gay side couples, the bizarre lack of ANY plot, and more – follow me into super spoiler land…

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Review – A Journey to Love

This show is a road trip movie inside a political historical drama with a romance thrown in to make us all weak in the knees. It’s outstanding, people. We are talking flawless immersion. The editing, the music (ya’ll the music is exceptional! – including the sound effects used to comedic perfection), the sets, the costumes, location shooting, horses galore… a lot of money was spent on this show. Well spent.

It’s the writing, though, that really shines. Dialogue that shifts from official and political to playful and casual. There’s witty banter. Believable interactions between friends and strangers. Complicated politic situations presented in ways that were easy to follow. Nothing feels forced or quickly patched in with a trope, characters just feel natural and naturally complicated.

This drama is full of gossiping, bickering, matchmaking, and interesting people will surely win you over.

collection of gifs by @zishuge – linklink link

The story is relatively simple (kinda sorta): A small group of elite warriors are tasked to deliver a young princess disguised as a prince to a neighboring kingdom, rescue a royal who is hostage there, and try not to die along the way. There’s the core group of guards in charge (our fab 5!), who have all been to war together in the past and have a shared history, and there are other guards and servants, as well as the young princess and her advisor. After a few weeks of travel everyone in the traveling group is familiar with each other… and growing increasingly comfortable and casual around each other as each episode progresses. It’s a very organic development of relationships.

They are eavesdropping and comfortably joking around. Let’s face it, there wasn’t much for entertainment on long trips back in the day so you learned to entertain yourself and each other. These people had paper windows, ain’t no secrets in close quarters.

Front and center of this motley crew are the leading lovers. We shall call them MURDER MOM & DADDY NING.

Our female lead is a female assassin, a master chameleon, a deadly martial artist, and also a woman with a heart (though she would vehemently deny it). She was the top assassin in her secret organization before faking her death and going rogue. Murder Mom is on a mission… to avenge the death of her (mother substitute) patron queen and to honor her last request (which is to get knocked up).

I may be in love with her. I mean… LOOK AT HER! Some people just win the genetic lottery, eh?

Murder Mom… or Ren Ruyi (formerly Ren Xin) of the Scarlet Guard Assassins is played to perfection by Cecilia Liu / Liu Shishi and voiced by Bai Xin Zan. No one could have played this role better. She is the definition of beautiful badass. Her posture, her facial expressions, her athleticism… her natural dominatrix vibes… and Bai Xin Zan, whoever you are, your voice is velvet deliciousness and I ain’t mad about the dub.

gifs by @storge – link

Daddy Ning, our male lead, is a military leader who has become jaded and wary of the intentions of the government (yet ironically remains stoically patriotic). But no one wants to let this tall glass of water pop off to early retirement while he’s still useful to the cause so he’s blackmailed into escorting the princess to the neighboring country.

With his caring eyes and carefree smiles, he is instantly lovable as the leader of the pack. He’s not all smiles though, this dude can shift like lightning – going from humbled subordinate to brutal assassin, from stern leader of men to kind father figure within a five minute stretch.

Daddy Ning… or Ning Yuanzhou, leader of Liudao Hall – is played by Liu Yuning. He’s 6’2”, multi-talented, and very handsome… in an almost cartoon animal sort of way, am I right? Like the Disney fox Robin Hood or something… but the anime version… I dunno, I can’t quite put my finger on it but he’s got distinctive facial features. His voice has a very pleasing timbre to it, too. He’s got a tiny bit of an overbite which gives him just a hint of a lisp or a breathy rounded quality when he speaks. I really love his voice. Did I mention he’s 6’2″? Which is apparently like being 7’2″ in China, I dunno, cause he seemed huge this whole show.

go hide behind that huge tree, baby girl! gifs by @01432853 – link

The romance of Murder Mom and Daddy Ning is top tier and feels fresh and exciting. They’re both pushing middle aged (for that time period 30 years old was well over the hill). They’ve been too busy murdering people all their lives to form any romantic relationships. There were interesting dynamics and motivations driving our lovers together and apart. I’ve never seen anything like this romance, so it really stuck with me. Applause once again to the writer for giving us such a nuanced and impactful relationship.

Here’s when they clicked for me as a couple.

There’s a scene in the second episode (yup, 2nd episode and I was like they are OTP!)… our leading man is calling out our leading lady for being deceptive by calmly but calculating pressing his fingers into a wound on her shoulder. He’s just so politely savage about it, too. It’s such a wonderful character establishing moment because she’s crying and sticking to her disguise as a helpless maiden even though he obviously does not believe her b.s. even a little bit. He’s hurting her, yes, but he’s also showing her that he knows she can take the pain and he does not find her helpless.

And then as they’re standing there staring at each other there is a sudden flicker of attraction between them… both their expressions subtly change… I was holding my breath, ya’ll. It looked like they were second guessing all their life choices.

Then our baby boy shows up, breaking the spell, and she bites our huge male lead on the wrist (like, she digs in too! girl is gonna mark that big tall man as hers!) and he finally releases her. He seems flustered and bewildered looking at these teeth marks deep into his skin, like who is this woman??!!

gifs by @xiaolanhua – link

I was in heaven.

From then on our sexy assassin starts to actively tease him in all these subtle ways, while still maintaining her guise around others, cause she knows he sees her as she is – a tough and cunning woman and not some helpless person in need of rescue. She keeps revealing more and more of her real personality in these small little moments and you can tell he’s totally mesmerized and also quite wary cause this lady is not something he can control. Hmm hmmm – I was already shipping them hard.

Their cues to each other are so subtle but they always pick up what the other is throwing down (and no one else does – it’s like a secret twin language). Their martial arts training is so good they can sense each other from a distance. And their interactions are so unique, as they are both professional liars (Daddy Ning the Gaslightling King, eh?). So they’re relying on what’s unsaid and their shared awareness of the game they’re playing though they’ve both drawn different lines that keep blurring.

Yum Yum Yum, my complicated creatures you spoiled me real good in this show. It’s gonna be hard not to compare all future couples to these two.

Not to mention they’re both so gorgeous. They are the perfect couple (and it’s okay to hate them a little for it, everyone else does too).

When they fight back to back it’s like… poetry. Murder Machine couple activated! This ride or die pair had my whole freakin’ heart.

gifs by @peachblossomdream – link

Be prepared to be swept up into the whole #couplegoals relationship, too. For an assassin / warrior pairing, these two are shockingly touchy feely. The cuddles? The amount of hugs and tender moments in this show… ugh… how dare they encroach upon my bitter heart like this!

If nothing else watch it for these two.

Though they aren’t the only dynamic duo in this show.

There’s also my two besties, Daddy Ning and dandy Yu Shisan whom we shall call Playboy. These two come across like a divorced couple more often than not. Their constant bickering, playful bullying, and yet undeniable magnetism is extremely fun to watch.

gifs by @heymeowmao – link

They just know each other so well. Close like siblings, who can torment each other without ever questioning the unconditional love shared between them. It’s just… there. I mean, the yin and yang is all in the outfits so need I say more?

who goes to battle in white? this guy is a trip.

And Playboy is such a riot.

He’s got bisexual king energy off the charts, prancing around over dramatically, swishing his robes. He will definitely be one of your favorite characters as how could he not be? He’s so adorable and funny and ridiculous.

gifs by @heymeowmao – link

Speaking of characters you are bound to love, let’s dish on my favorite characters in the show: The Teenagers.

I’m just going to give you an overview of the young apprentices of our lady assassin Murder Mom: Yandere Extremist Li Tong Guang and Princess Yang Ying. The Princess of Wu was also a fun character but I’ll leave that for you to discover. And I can’t write about our other teenage baby boy for… reasons (see spoiler section). So let’s dig into our young nobles.

Princess Yang Ying is the young lady the whole team is responsible for escorting across the border. She’s disguised as a Prince (badly) and is nothing but terrified and uncertain as the show begins. This sort of pitiful, helpless character can come across as cringey or unlikeable if not handled correctly, but thanks to great writing and even greater performance by He Lan Dou she is one of the most gripping characters in the show. Our sweet little lady naively signed up for this political mission, completely unaware she’s in way over her head… though it dawns on her real fast, ya’ll.

Murder Mom is tasked with teaching her. Curriculum: the art of deception, politics, and how to top men.

Watching our little princess’ slow but steady growth over the course of the show is a rewarding experience. Every inch of her progress was hard earned, too. I would have loved more of her story at the end, but we’ll get to that in the spoilers section.

Maybe this is a bit of a spoiler… but Marquis Li Tong Guang is Murder Mom’s former disciple who has an unhealthy attachment to her (understatement of the decade – he is batshit crazy about her, emphasis on crazy).

But for the first half of the show, before he meets her again, he’s just this calm and calculating upstart. A devious badass, plotting and scheming, winning battles and playing women like chess pieces. There’s a ferrety quality to him… or maybe I just saw this meme and stuck with me.

He’s deranged over his master and is absolutely shameless in throwing himself at her feet and acting the fool. Like, he is not trying to hide it. At all.

People who’ve gone insane for love are some of my favorite characters, the more fucked up and intense they are the better. So needless to say I was well fed by this young illegitimate noble and all of his petty, bratty behavior and extreme jealousy. Towards Daddy Ning, of course, but also towards the young Prince/Princess who is currently under his master’s care.

gifs by @ladynamie – link

The tantrums this boy pulls!

I’m not even sure I’d call this crazy in love. It’s more accurately described as severe PTSD or a trauma response or psychosis or something (whatever, a psychologist I am not). Let’s just say our Marquis has got ISSUES. Our boy is NOT OKAY. Unhinged, if you will.

And his femdom kink is off the charts. (Ya’ll, this show goes there. Often.)

top two pics by @numerodix – link

I cannot say enough about how this shifu-obsessed yandere elevated this otherwise amazing drama to an OMG I AM SO ON BOARD FOR THIS CRAZY MESS drama. The writer obviously reads danmei novels, am I right?

The actor tears this role to shreds and I could not take my eyes off him. Chang Hua Sen, I’ll be looking for you in other dramas.

I also really appreciated how obvious the age differences were between the characters in A Journey to Love. The teenagers (our princess, the crazy marquis, the princess of Wu, and the adopted “son” of Daddy Ning and Playboy) acted like teenagers.

Listen, it’s quite difficult to write a realistic teenager (as is evidenced by 90% of all televisions shows depicting teenagers). They are often written too cool, too well spoken, too aware, and too mature. Not the babies in this show, though. They felt so authentically young and messy.

Real teenagers have flashes of being articulate and self aware, but this is a time in your life that trial and error rules the land. You’re figuring stuff out. You’re fun and silly when you’re not morose and brooding. You’re getting things wrong all the time. You embarrass yourself a lot. You’re shifting between moods and fighting hormones all day long. You’re daring but not calculated. You can revert back to childishness when things don’t go your way. And most of all, your focus is turned more towards yourself than other people cause this is really the era of figuring yourself out… so that’s only natural.

The teenagers in this show are all learning how their actions affect other people, which is one of the biggest lessons that must be learnt to become an adult.

I’m really fighting the urge not to write a novel about this show right now. It’s just so good!

With that said, I will be the first to admit my interest slightly waned in this show once they got to Wan and the thick of the political saga kicked in. I took a nice viewing break around episode 24 and gave myself some time before going into the second half of this show. I’m glad I did, too, cause holy shit. I’m not sure if you’re aware of what the ending has in store for you but suffice to say there will be tears. War has its casualties, ya dig?

I’m a pacifist, but I love these intense depictions of heroism and patriotism in historical war dramas. It’s idealistic and delusional… but how nice is it to dream, eh? Is that not why we tell stories? To picture the world we’d rather live in?

Daddy Ning is patriotic in the extreme, always ready with an inspirational speech about the pride of the country or whatever, while simultaneously loathing the actual leaders of the world he lives in. To him the country is all the people in it and he fights so they’ll have a better life, but the vast majority of the people’s problems are directly created by the government he works for. And sometimes he seems very aware of it, but five seconds later he’s like “I would never kill the political leaders, I will die for them as will we all!” It’s an interesting feat, actually, how he can maintain these two conflicting realities in his head. Cognitive dissonance, thy name is Daddy Ning.

Murder Mom Ruyi, on the other hand, knows that unchecked patriotism is a trap but she keeps her mouth shut when the men are gushing over it. She has no problem at all slicing up a problematic political leader from any country, be it male or female. You get ’em, honey, love you for it.

A Journey to Love – Overall Rating: 9.5/10 – When Murder Machines Fall in Love

Let’s gush over details together… oh yes, I could go on (and I did!) so if you’ve already seen it and are so inclined, come with me into spoiler land…

SPOILERS BELOW!

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Lost You Forever – S1 – Chinese Crack Cocaine! I Need More! – A Review

I have literally written, deleted, re-written, deleted, edited, and finally just abandoned a full-out analysis or overview of this show because…. it’s just too good? It’s like Coffee Prince. Some shows you should just watch – and let them take over your life as only the best shows do.

Season 2, the conclusion to this show, is rumored to start airing in July…. so I wanted to drop something before then to try to inspire as many people as I could to watch Season 1 now – so we can all watch the final season together.

So here is why you should watch Lost You Forever – Season 1:

The YEARNING!

The absolute pure longing going on this show will give you heart palpitations. This show had me talking to my television, kicking my feet into the air, crying into my ice cream, sighing and screaming as I watched these romances unfold.

But other than the harem of hot guys our leading female has gathered around her and the coma inducing sizzle of pent up lust and desire between so many people… it’s just an amazing character-based drama.

Lost You Forever is about how good qualities and ideals can be warped by trauma, twisted into dark attributes instead of positive things. The four main characters are all good people with good intentions but their perception of the world and their behavior has been catastrophically shifted by extreme experiences (torture, abuse, family members trying to kill them, strangers trying to kill them, these are not fun times). Even when they are aware of their faults they are unable to overcome how trauma has rewired their brains.

In this way the antagonists of this show are the protagonists themselves. There is no villain or evil within the story that is greater than the destructive forces within our good guys. This is a show about internal battles and wars.

Because of this, the show truly stands out from the norm and shines as a deeply moving and emotionally gripping tale. More than they are failed by others, the characters fail themselves, becoming their own worst enemies. It is difficult to imagine anyone viewing this show and not seeing hints of their own destructive patterns and behaviors in the narrative. And just as we are our own biggest critics as well as our own greatest cheerleaders, you will be both frustrated and sympathetic to the characters in the show… hating them in one episode, rooting for them in the next.

Whether it is ambition, loyalty, or duty, the three men in this story are unable to grasp it without tearing themselves apart. Ambition at the cost of humanity, loyalty at the cost of love, and duty at the cost of freedom.

BACHELOR #1 – THE COUSIN

The ambitious brother/cousin of our leading female, who has been faking his personality for so long I doubt he even knows who he is without a mask… but ooo la la in those scenes where he’s fake smiling but turns around and that smile just slides off his face to reveal this ruthless, cold expression of calculating emotional void. I squealed.

Even when he’s genuinely happy it feels weird and strained, as if he’s uncomfortable with the whole concept. He’s the biggest psychopath/sociopath in the show but you probably won’t realize it very often cause he presents himself as this extremely polite, reasonable, even charming rich guy in most eps.

I really loved this creepy repressed dude, despite his creepy repressed crush on his “sister.” Honestly, it was just more fuel on the fire to my “this guy is deeply troubling and I am intrigued verdict. I freely admit to loving The Borgias, okay? Something may be wrong with me – I blame reading Flowers in the Attic at an impressionable age. I excuse a lot of nonsense in the fictional worlds.

BACHELOR #2 – BEAUTIFUL MALEWIFE

Tortured and abandoned, our next leading man was literally plucked out of the mud by our leading female. After she saves his life he becomes utterly devoted to her – like a dog, honestly. A beautiful, elegant dog. My goodness, this man is just beautiful.

Every time they show his hands on screen, I lose my mind a little – his fingernails are perfect oval glass. Just like the leading female, I want to brush his hair and tuck him into bed and fuss over him like the lovely flower he is.

Who’s my good boy?

gifs by zishuge – link

His shy little smile makes me crumble into a million pieces.

I would die for him.

But like I said, ain’t no one perfect in this show. And this ethereal angel baby, whose greatest asset is his undying loyalty and devotion, tears himself apart trying to serve two masters.

BACHELOR #3 – MONSTER BOY

Our third leading man isn’t even a man, he’s a monster thank you very much, and demons don’t bother with men and women, it’s just male and female (the gender politics of the demon race! I love they brought this up on two separate occasions in the show). He’s a stunningly gorgeous nine-headed serpent demon war general and he is here to use and abuse you if it serves his purpose.

While doing so, he might also offer you a shoulder to cry on or take you for a nice walk on water… but don’t be fooled, this guy is very clear as to where his priorities are. Work always comes first for our serpent baddie. And he’s very good at his job (assassin murder machine deluxe edition).

gifs by @zhouyes – link

He’s your weekend boyfriend, your vacation hook up, your sexy side dish. The guy you can be yourself with because you don’t have to worry about seeing him the next day.

gifs by @dramascene – link

Like everyone alive, I adored him from the very beginning… lounging about on tree limbs, feeding cute creatures to his gigantic bird, blackmailing our female lead to work for him after he had her whipped and literally stepped on her. Uhm… stop making violence sexy, sir.

He’s cruel, he’s confident, he’s capable. But he’s also broken and lonely and needs love, don’t you baby? I can fix you I know I can, ouch stop biting me you ridiculously handsome beastie, or don’t, you know, whatever…

gifs by tianzhens – link

Listen, I know he’s everyone’s favorite. He’s my favorite too. He’s a vampire who drinks poisons like cocktails, how can we not love him?

Only the best shows can make you want both sides of the love triangle with equal fervor, I get it, I do. But the OTP is obvious. What we want and what we need are often different things. But our leading female is smart. What she wants and what she needs are the same thing.

OUR LEADING LADY-MAN

The female lead is a “dude” for about half the show until she returns to her female identity (as things go in Xianxia shows – why are they all so freakin’ gay? I luv it). She values trust above all else but her fear of abandonment causes her to constantly test those around her, forcing them to impossible standards, never fully committing lest she be let down again. The security she demands is unreasonable, for there is no bond that can never be broken or a partner that will never fail you. Things and people are malleable and make mistakes. Relationships that last are built upon mending, refining, and forgiveness.

This actress was born to play this role. The female lead is so feisty and playful and smart. I was happy when she was happy and devastated when she was sad. I am deeply attached to her life story and need season two.

She also has magnetic chemistry with the three main leads – so it’s even harder to pick a favorite ship. She behaves differently around each of them, too, which only adds more complexity and realism to the entire show. Character development galore! It’s a smorgasbord and not only will you be well fed but they’re gonna give you enough to take home as leftovers and enjoy again later when you can’t stop thinking about them.

So that’s it for now. Just… watch it. Dissolve into the steamy pile of emotions.

Though I will warn you the first episode is jarring. The opening scenes were pure confusion and melodrama, so don’t be thrown off by it – just TRUST. It’s a lot, with murder and mayhem at funeral, crying children pledging to watch out for each other forever, random bullying, and more pledges between the two orphaned kids who are prompted separated for decades. With only ten minutes to left in the first episode, we jump to the “current time,” get a short explanation of the politics of the show, and see of our now grown royal orphans. From then on it’s smooth sailing – and I’m talking NO SKIP episodes, just excitement and humor and romance and thrills and chills and devastation. So stick with it through the bumpy first ep.

Oh, and in this show the deities, humans, and demons all live in the same world. There are three kingdoms (well, two by the end of the first episode), but they are not divided by the people and creatures that live in them. There’s no heavenly realms or demon realms in this one. As I’m new to Chinese fantasy, this threw me off for a while, so I thought I’d mention it here.

Lost You Forever S1 – Overall Rating 10+/10 – A Flawless Story About Flawed People

We’ll see how it all wraps up with the second season, but right now in my world it’s tied with Till the End of the Moon for favorite Chinese drama. I’ll be back after Season 2 for a full spoilery mess review full of pics and gifs and memes… promise.

Until then… enjoy for this funny F-M-K game with light spoilers for eps 1-13.

powerpoint by gizkasparadise – link