Wow, I feel like I just ran a marathon, tired but so satisfied. Period C-drama Love Like the Galaxy ended today with 56-episodes, the production released the final 10 episodes in one swoop and assembled the available cast members for a live watch stream. As expected, the entire drama that started with General Ling Bu Yi investigating black market weapon sales led up his finding out the truth about his family’s slaughter and he took out the Hidden Boss that was his so-called dad Ling Yi in the LLTG version of The Red Wedding. It was brutal but satisfying and then afterwards he left poor Shao Shang to pick up the pieces, but not before she went full Mulan and galloped a horse to rescue him in her version of “Get Yo Man!” Then came the 5 year separation before the remaining bitches who hadn’t yet tried to back stab (or direct stab) Shao Shang came around to get their turn at ineffectual revenge before getting their comeuppance.
The Queen gave up her position to Consort Yue so the only son who can be the next Emperor Third Prince becomes Crown Prince, before dying so gracefully and telling Shao Shang and Bu Yi to please just be together already. But it’ll take a few more life and death rescues before these two stubborn and hurting babies FINALLY GET BACK TOGETHER and cue Wendy having an adorable tantrum that he can’t attend his precious sonby Bu Yi’s wedding off the countryside so it doesn’t count and those two have to come back to the capital and get married in front of him again. The post 5 year arc did feel rushed and based on reports LLTG was supposed to be over 60 episodes and reportedly about 10 episodes worth of screen time was cut mostly on the back end. The final scene all the leads together gazing up at the stars as we bid farewell to this impeccably rendered dramatic entertainment. To help with LLTG withdrawals, go watch the cast live stream, leads Wu Lei and Zhao Lu Si couldn’t be there in person but video connected in and their banter is off the charts adorbs. It took me 7 years since Nirvana in Fire to love another C-drama this much, thank you to the YiShang (Ling Bu Yi-Cheng Shao Shang) couple for hitting a homerun.
This drama is so visually sumptuous and even to the end it didn’t disappoint or skimp on the set and costume pieces. 081 and 33’s flight after kill your fake dad who murdered your real dad The Red Wedding was so gorgeous albeit heartbreaking, I’m usually able to pick a side on who is right (or right-er) but this one I can’t. He had to get revenge, and he had to not implicate her even if she said she wanted to be implicated. Because it goes against not just his principles but also how much he loves her. He can’t see a hair on her head harmed how can he allow her to walk the doom path with him. And she’s not wrong either, he didn’t give her a choice and even if he did and she chose death with him he wouldn’t let her. It’s the impasse that doesn’t have implications on life together because how often could this predicament happen for them going forward. That’s why the Queen is right, just let it go and move on together again. These two are so broken they can only be with each other, and any of the witches that covet 081 like Princess Yu Chang or Luo Ji Tong will never understand they can get a body but not a soul if he ends up with them. Yuan Shan Jian got that which is why he’s totally redeemed for me by the end. And my guess is a lot of cut scenes are his, with Shao Shang during her 5 years in the Palace as he kept her company.
I loved that in the aftermath of now General Huo Bu Yi’s burn it all down murder fest, he got the pass for massacring Ling Yi but had to get shipped off to the borderlands for using the Tiger Seal the Crown Prince lost to unlawfully move the troops. That the Emperor was fair and just continues to seal my love for Wendy, who goes from running a country to being the biggest OTP shipper around on a dime. Those two also needed to be apart to get through those feelings of guilty (him) and hurt (her), because time apart softens the visceral agony but reminds of the love and longing. It’s the best medicine.
The drama really went all out to give a closure for everyone, including a surprise final arc appearance of no longer a fetus Lou Yao and no longer a spoiled bitch He Zhao Jun. We got to see all the princes and princess seemingly better off and/or better people and the ones who got the ultimate smackdown (i.e. death) are ones who kept on pushing their own twisted anger and agenda. Would I be like Wendy and want to see a wedding as the ending? Nah, no ceremony would add more to how much I love these two and how much I know they love each other. All that capital city pomp and circumstance never called to them. They are only so beloved because of how much they care for those they love, from the lowly maid/soldier to the highest Queen/Emperor. I would love to see them setting up their own home, having kids, being barf-inducingly cute whether privately or publicly, and knowing they earned it.
If C-ent knows the perfection they have on their hands they would cast Wu Lei and Lu Si in another drama, but then I kinda don’t want that because I want them to stay forever my 081-33, him that bitter fueled murder boy open to love with his one in a million soulmate and her the uneducated but intelligent girl with a chip on her shoulder taking zero shits from anyone.
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I am glad they ended on a good note. Everybody did an amazing job. I watched English translation of a portion of the live stream and I could swear Wu Lei proposed marriage to Zhao Lusi in one of the most swoon worthy part of the broadcast. She made a confession to Zisheng ( but I am not five, I could tell it was really to Wu Lei not the character)lol and according to the translation he responded by saying let's get married then laughed. I screamed. Overall, a great experience. I can't wait to binge the ending myself.
He did teasingly propose to her, he said "let's go get registered" which means get the marriage certificate. I luff these two so much, babies old enough to fall in love and even get married in real life but still such young sincere chemistry.
Does anyone have the livestream link to share please?
the #lovelikethegalaxy hashtag Twitter has snippets:
https://twitter.com/search?lang=en&q=%23lovelikethegalaxy
omg I love this drama so much its perfect. to think that both of them were 21 and 22 while filming this wonderful young actor and actress! kudos to zhao lusi and wulei and ofc to all the casts, director, scriptwriter they are all brilliant !
I remember encountering super young breakout stars and just being a different level of impressed because that felt like natural acting talent rather than learned ability, neither one is better than the other of course.
The tears I dropped for the last few episodes were unreal. I really love her relationship with the queen. This drama was quite fast paced, and each conflict was resolved quickly. Even with an additional 10 episodes, I don't feel like it would've been draggy. Nonetheless, it was a great drama, with great acting, and every character seemed to have a purpose in the story. I loved it so much! I hope there will be another great one coming up to take it's place in my daily drama watch :)
I would love to see a director's cut just to spend more time with these characters. But I can also understand why the last five episodes in particular felt like half the story was missing, because part of me doesn't need to spend all that time with the OTP apart. If I had to see more of that witch Luo Ji Tong trying to glom onto 081 or 33 moping in the Palace that might be too frustrating even if every detail is quality fare.
Me too, I feel a bit sorry to Yuan Shen but I'm not exactly missing the scenes of him and 33 in that 5 years. Or Luo Jitong either (but she had it coming). Just glad to have the angst parts short and cute parts longer!
[SPOILER ALERT] I agree, I don't need to see more of that two faced Luo Jitong or dwell too long on them being apart. But I could have used a bit more 081 and 33 time after his return :). It was conflict after conflict. Almost no down time between Luo Jitong, Wang Yanji, and the rebellion. I also would've really enjoyed seeing the Emperor force them to get married again while he was there to make it count lol. I mostly miss the fun and loving parts of this drama. I'll probably start my rewatch now haha.
Since I stumbled on Asian Dramas, Love Like The Galaxy is the best I have view. It pulled out every emotion in me, I almost ran out of tissue. Loved it; enjoyed it; couldn’t wait for the next episode. But, I am so broken that a “grand wedding” was not in the finale. I longed to witness the union through a wedding that was put on hold so many times. I will try to get over it.
I don't have words. Just a Cdrama fan who feels totally vindicated for all her love and angst and lost sleep over this drama.
I've never paid as much attention to those 2 as in in this drama. I have to say the writing and production quality of this drama made an insanely chemistry laden pair of lovers immortalized now in my memory.
I love Ling Buyi and Cheng Shaoshang. Those 2 were made for each other.
I've been thinking that if it another set of actors I don't think I would love Ling Bu Yi and Shao Shang this much. He makes Bu Yi strong on the outside but deep inside so broken and so much a kid of 8 years old and watching his entire family slaughtered and never emotionally moving from that moment. That Wu Lei can subtly convey those two extremes makes me connect with his character. Same for Zhao Lu Su, never a fan but now totally a fan, we watched Shao Shang grow in the drama much as Lu Si's acting improved as the drama went along.
For me it's already a perfect ending. As long as i know they're together, im happy.
I love NIF, but i won't compare these two. But have to agree that, after NIF, no drama is as amazing as this drama. I love goodbye my princess but seriously, not as epic as this one. Im curious about the cut scenes, 10 episodes are a lot! But i prefer to not watching css with anyone else but buyi. That's it.
Thank you for posting this article. Im not a fan of a certain ending, but i do love this ending.
Hope to see these two in another drama, i wont mind it's modern or wuxia. Their chemistry got me speechless. Wont mind either from reel to real tho. Lmao
I don't care LLTG to NiF other than LLTG is the first drama SINCE NiF that I loved this much and also felt had such exceptional production and script quality all around. Such a labor of talent and love.
Well said M’s. Koala. These two are different but both are darn amazing. This is the first drama for me as well after NIF that I’ve been this passionate about. The last time I drew a relationship diagram for my mom was NIF and that was way back. Since then I’ve watched dramas I enjoyed but not to the same extent where I want to read everything about it, watch BTS after BTS and just be giddy over the moon when I find others who love it as much as I do. Thank you for coming out of hibernation and writing this second post on LLTG. I was hoping you’d mention this show as I read you daily and was bummed when I didn’t find anything… then you dropped a full on deep and detailed post a few days ago and then this post. Ah!!! Love!
Ooos meant Ms. Darn auto correct. :)
Koala, you should learn from the commenters here how to write the 'correct' Chinese names, where to put space, where to put capital letters, where to put apostrophe. If they can, you can do it too. Even Simu Liu knows. This is your personal blog so I won't nitpick about grammar, even a bit misinformation I can tolerate, but names, names should be correct. And this applies to other countries' actors too, not just Chinese.
Sure. What names are incorrect, I'll fix it.
China's name format for english goes like this, you space out the surname and the first name and capitalise them. If the first name consists of 2 words like 凌不疑 whereby the surname is 凌 and first name is 不疑, then you should spell as Ling Buyi, not Ling Bu Yi. Same goes for surnames with 2 words, 欧阳娜娜's surname is 欧阳 and should be spelt Ouyang Nana.
But I also understand some countries spell chinese names like you do, so perhaps you can spell them differently depending on which countries they are from. And personally, I think that for chinese celebrities, it would be better to use their chinese names instead of english names like Wu Lei instead of Leo Wu.
@4ever
There is a reason Chinese entertainment uses also English first names. They choose to do it. My guess is that's for the international audience. So, why shouldn't international bloggers and outlets not use the alternative self-chosen names?
@eJc
The thing is, how many chinese celebrities promote outside of China using their english names? I can accept using the english names for people like Jackson Wang, Lay and Cyndi Wang because they had promoted themselves with those names internationally. It's jarring to see people calling Wu Lei as Leo Wu and Zhao Lusi as Rosy Zhao when they have always only introduced themselves on broadcast with their chinese names.
@manji
I don't know if you wanted to sound patronizing and very rude But you do!
It seems like you have no manners. In my opinion,commentators are guests on personal blogs. If you have a pointe of criticism be nice about it and suggest constructive improvements. Like @4ever did.
BTW, are you (always) flawless? Who are you to "tolerate" things that aren't perfect in your eyes? Different countries different styles of language.
This may help: https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/chinese-culture/chinese-culture-naming
"Given names with two syllables/Chinese characters may be written together, hyphenated or divided into two. For example, 小平 could be written Xiaoping, Xiao-Ping or Xiao Ping. However, it is advisable to write both words as a single unit (e.g. Xiaoping) to clearly indicate that it is one name."
Pinyin prefers given names with two syllables written together whereas Wade-Giles like you said in other countries write it separate or separate with a hyphen.
If your issue with my use of given name separated then it's not an "incorrect" way as again all three are used and depending on the country preference and the system.
I use given names separate with no hyphen for consistency, as Mainland China mostly does given names together and Taiwan does given names apart but with a hyphen and I freaking hate hyphening even my own name I don't use a hyphen unless it's filling out passport and official documents.
Since this is a personal blog, unless I'm flat out wrong such as writing a given name first then surname or combining Pinyin and Wade-Giles spelling in a Franken name like calling TW-actress Joanne Tseng 曾之喬 Zheng Chih Qiao rather then picking one or the other in Wade-Giles Tseng Chih Chiao her name in Pinyin is Zheng Zhi Qiao.
Sorry for the cultural lesson lol.
Come on KoKo I’m here for it!!! 🥰🥰🥰👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 You better say it! 😜
Thank you so much for writing your thoughts
Love this drama so much, one of the best drama which I’ve seen in ages. All casts done an excellent jobs especially our young leads WL and ZLS. WL done brilliantly, he will have much brighter future.
You're welcome! I don't want Wu Lei to just take drama after drama, he's so talented I hope he doesn't do idol xianxia stupid fare just for the buzz, but also not only serious dramas because we need him in smart swoony stuff like this.
i hope he gets offered similarly complex roles in the future. such a young dude, but he's able to tap into a great well of pathos. hoping for big things for him in the future.
totally agree! i hope he picks his projects wisely unlike other grown up child actors that have wasted talent and time on xianxia and cotemporary rubbish ie. yang zi... i will forever enshrine her character in battle of changsha as her best 'grown up' character... forever a challenge balancing popularity and good quality productions in chinese dramaland.
Thank you so much, Ms. Koala for this treat. This drama has really brought me out of the rabbit hole. It's difficult to put into words how much I love everything about it. I may have to re-watch it until my gray hairs are all out.😂🤣😍😊 Thank you everyone for enjoying this drama as much as I did. Congratulations to everyone involved in making this epic production!
If I was still recapping this drama would bring me out of hibernation to recap. It's THAT good.
That would have been a real pleasure for all of us if you had the chance to recap this amazing drama, Ms. Koala. Actually, I've been a quiet fan here since reading your thoughts on Damo, WHIB, or your recap on TK2H among many others you've written before. However, I understand that you have not been recapping as of late. I'm sure writing this article on LLtG already took so much from your time. It is greatly appreciated, Ms.Koala! Thank you.
Also, just like you Ms. Koala, I hope they will release a director's cut for this drama. I would like to savor every bit of interactions from 081-33 that I could I see should they release one. All the best to ZLS and WL, as well as everyone who was taken part in this drama!
To the producer,writer,director and everyone who worked hard to come up with such a wonderful show,i give my thanks to all of you!you make us happy for giving us an amazing show to watch.to lei and lusi...great acting!love u both!hope to see you both on your next projects.more power!