Han Dynasty C-drama Love Like the Galaxy with Wu Lei and Zhao Lu Si is on Track to Be My Favorite Drama of 2022

It takes a village to raise a child so the saying goes, and similarly it takes an fully well-written story to deliver a true drama powerhouse. I’ve enjoyed and even loved dramas on the strength of the OTP alone but that rush of feeling evaporates after the drama is done, like consuming cotton candy. The dramas that stick with me like the sinew to the bone are ones that not only have an amazing OTP but also a gripping cohesive story with a fleshed out supporting cast of interesting characters and stories. Those dramas are few and far between, which makes it all the more special when one shows up. That unicorn has shown up again in the form of 2022 summer C-drama Love Like the Galaxy adapted from a novel. The Chinese title for the drama which is split into two parts is Part 1 星汉灿烂 (Xing Han Can Lan which means The Stars are Brilliant) and Part 2 月升沧海 (Yue Sheng Cang Hai which means The Moon Rises Over the Ocean).

The drama stars close aged leads Wu Lei who is 22 in real life and plays 21 year old ruthlessly efficient on the outside with a marshmallow core just for his bae inside General Ling Bu Yi (also called Ling Zi Sheng) with 23 years old Zhao Lu Si as the 15 year old mentally intelligent but uneducated socially sideways daughter of a lowly general Cheng Shao Shang (also called Niu Niu). I never knew this type of emotionally f*cked up alpha general with equally emotionally f*cked up weird science girl would hit all my I NEED THESE TWO INJECTED INTO MY VEINS level want and then also get an entire complex, nuanced, fascinating world constructed with interesting good and bad guys feels like icing on the cake. The drama has aired up to 42 episodes to date (out of 57 total) so join now and finish out the next three weeks on this amazing ride.

Love Like the Galaxy is the love story of I-have-no-time-for-bullshit-I-have-to-avenge-the-deaths-of-thousands-in-my-family-and-troops young General Ling Bu Yi and this super-weird-for-her-social-times-but-luckily-for-her-also-super-pretty little young lady Cheng Shao Shang. He falls in love with her AT FIRST SIGHT (but having crossed paths before sight unseen) and it’s not even strange in the least because he’s as emotionally stunted as she’s socially inept and together they are like two random puzzle pieces from different puzzles that fit together perfectly in shape and design. Go figure. C-netizens call him “081” (Ling Ba Yi which sounds like Ling Bu Yi) and call her “33” (San San which sounds like Shang in her name Cheng Shao Shang). They have a fairy god-daddy who happens to be the Emperor of the Han Dynasty and the world’s biggest Zaddy and also if he lived in the modern times a total Bachelor avid watcher. He dotes on Zi Sheng and can’t want to see him married and will move heaven, hell, fake beatings, order dates, anything to make it happen. C-netizens also call him “Wendy” since he is the Emperor of Wen (Wen Di hence the Wendy).

Shao Shang is the youngest daughter of a military family and her poor upbringing is the root of all her emotional tics and fears but luckily her parents are loving (Dad in a positive way and Mom in a passive aggressive way) and she has doting older brothers and a sweet older sister cousin. Life is good if she could just marry a nice low ranked nobleman’s son but alas she’s destined for greater things and fate brings her to Ling Bu Yi and he’s like a dog to a bone, he missed his first chance but grabs the second one and the majority of the middle parts of the drama are these two trying to stumble their way around communication and falling in love with each other.

Emperor Wendy has two amazing wives, the Queen is kind hearted and gracious and Consort Yue is sharp and decisive. There is zero palace politics with these three and they are three of my favorite characters. They are human and flawed but among all the adults in this drama these three clearly deserve to be ruling over the world and get shit done right. Wendy is the CEO trying to run a company and making sure every department is functioning even if he has to let little things slide, the Queen just wants to be a good role model and has the softest heart in the land, and Consort Yue is the Slayer that calls out everyone’s bullshit, says what people are thinking but don’t dare say, and is 100% doing the right thing over family ties. These three keep our 081-33 ship plowing through treacherous waters thick and thin.

There are so much shippy moments you might even wonder when did 081 learn to be a loverboy in between investigating murder, mayhem, and his “talk to the hand” way keeping 500 ladies in the capital away from him. Either our Shao Shang activated his latent loverboy genes or he always had it in him and was just waiting for the one and only to lavish it all on her. Initially he does so in his my way or the highway way but later learns to work to give her what she wants and not give her what he wants. If you love swoony romantic moments then this drama is for you – we have save her from a burning fire princess carry, save her from an impending sword stab, she pulls out his arrow, he dangles over a building ledge with her koala clinging to him, he asks for her hand in marriage in front of the entire royal family, she accepts despite her mom eviscerating her self-worth in a misguided attempt to keep her from the gladiator arena that is royal family politics, he brings heavy backup to their engagement party and destroys the witchy royals out to get her, they go see the stars and dream about their future, she kisses him in public at the Queen’s birthday party, he beats up 8 high ranking officials after their daughters push her into the lake, she embroiders an embarrassing set of mandarin duck armor wings and he proudly wears it to battle thinking its chicken wings, and I can go on and on. These two babies are so broken individually and healing together, Wendy is absolutely the stand in for all the viewers in wanting these two to get married, have babies, and just be happy for once in their still young but much too abused lives.

The drama has tons of supporting characters, at last count over 30 speaking parts of minor to major importance in one plot development after another. What’s great is that every character fulfills his or her purpose and story lines are probed, resolved, and moves into the next one. The antagonists one after another get their comeuppance in satisfying ways whether just bitchy daughters of officials to corrupt politicians to royal relatives to even scheming princesses. The nice ones are incompetent but bleeding heart Crown Prince, wise 2nd Princess, laser focused 3rd Prince, and womanizer but harmless 5th Prince. The baddies are jealousy clouded Crown Princess, money grubbing 3rd Princess, and entitled spoilt 5th Princess.

Consort Yue says what we all want to say around annoying and entitled people and anytime she shows up it’s popcorn time! Other great elder characters include the harangued to death King of Ru Yang, the grandfather to cousin to the royal family Princess Yu Chang. She is actually quite cute because her tactics are so dumb and limp, with her completely useless feminine virtues which are all just showpieces like she is and of no value to a real man who has no time for bullshit like Ling Bu Yi in his partner in life, and she will never understand that. General Wan’s Mom (Qi Qi’s grandmother) is also steel balls no bullshit type, that she realized our 33 figured out the collapsible bridge construct and lured the men hungry witches of the capital on it to fall into the lake is the type of great supporting character writing I appreciate. The drama doesn’t have a single filler moment and the quiet times are spent exploring the world of the Han dynasty social and familial norms which are presented with restraint.

The OTP is ride or die in this drama and that it completely sells they are each other’s soulmates even when Shao Shang has three fiancees through the course of the story is what makes it so good. The last drama to make viewers feel that all the men in her life have their own strengths and weaknesses yet are worth their pitstop in the female lead’s life as lovers or even just a friend was Bu Bu Jing Xin, to date the debate over 4 and 8 rages on, with an occasional chime in about 14. Love Like the Galaxy feels like a more romantic laden version of Nirvana in Fire, thoughtfully written in every plotting and detail, which is quite serendipitous since it was the breakout drama for male lead Wu Lei who played little teen Fei Liu the urchin bodyguard to Hu Ge‘s consigliere male lead. I did find the first two episodes of Love Like the Galazy did neither lead any favors as he was too cold and stiff and she came across as passive aggressive and plotting. But the drama absolutely takes off in episode 6 with the unforgettable Winter Lantern Festival that showcases so many different plot threads with a side of visual sumptuousness.

Wu Lei as General Ling Bu Yi is an easy performance and character to swoon over, he is wiry and taut 100% of the time until he meets Shao Shang and then slowly that 100% decreases to the percentages when he’s around her and he softens so meaningfully. The own voices in this drama contribute to how much I love it, the line readings are so engaging as it projects additional nuance for each character. Zhao Lu Si isn’t acting school trained and yes her enunciation isn’t as precise as it can be, but she sounds like a 15 year old smart aleck with emotional abandonment issues and I love hearing her voice in this drama bring Shao Shang further to life. Wu Lei is doing better on the dialogue but Zhao Lu Si has the leg up on the acting, at times he can be a smidge too stiff but she is so natural as she navigates Shao Shang leveling up and growing up with a loving and a supportive basically adopted parents in the Emperor and Queen behind her.

The complaints on Love Like the Galaxy have died down on the costumes having Japanese influences, which was less due to cluelessness from the production and mostly due to the Han Dynasty clothing actually influencing early Japanese clothing in the same era. The complaints now are all around how slow this drama is releasing new episodes, and by slow I mean it releases 2 episodes every Tues/Wed/Thurs so 6 episodes a week. Most streaming dramas release episodes every day during its run so C-viewers are used to that and find the four days of waiting before the next release interminable. I’m used to two episodes a week thanks to K-dramas so this is fine by me, as much as I do want to watch more it’s not a deal breaker. The slow release is reportedly due to the post-production having to live edit the costumes to take out the Japanese similar elements as well as one supporting character (General Wan who is girl boss Qi Qi’s dad) had the original actor get cancelled for misconduct in real life so a new character filmed the scenes in a green room and his face has been AI grafted onto the body of the original actor who filmed and doing that so seamlessly takes time.

Now that I’ve waxed rhapsodic on Love Like the Galaxy, a forewarning that the final stretch forthcoming is going to be close to rocks fall down level traumatic for our OTP before it heads to a likely happy ending. This week’s episodes are going to be the straw that breaks the camels back as Ling Bu Yi finally avenges and takes out the Hidden Boss behind his entire family’s slaughter but in the process sacrifices his hard won love with Shao Shang. I did say she had three fiancees in this story and Ling Bu Yi is fiancee #2. With that said, as long as she’s not married anything goes especially when the man who loves her and only her and basically will burn the world down if it crosses him is around. I think there are 3 more weeks left of airing so join this squee worthy and intelligently written drama now. Please be patient and don’t FF too much even if scenes involve side characters because there are a lot of important plot points and seeing how it all unfolds and plays out has been as enjoyable for me as watching the delicately sweet romance of the two leads.