Beautiful Music. Good Chemistry. No Misunderstandings. Supportive Friends. (But boring story)

Although the couples in the drama had a beautiful relationship, the drama was very linear and boring. Had to fast forward most of the scenes once the lead couple get together. However, they do have good chemistry which comes across clearly in the kissing scenes. They are so damn adorable.

What I liked about the drama:
Beautiful Music: It honestly has some of the best music. I like it especially because it reminds me of "Immortal Samsara" one of my favorite cdramas. Even though I can barely understand the language, there's no denying the beauty to it and the subtitles were pretty great.
Good Chemistry: This is the first drama where I have seen Tan Jian Cik act and wow! He has such a great personality and his stylist did such a good job. The clothes, the hairstyle, everything was on point. The actor himself brought a lot to the table, the way he looked at the FL was heartwarming. Even though I like Zhou Ye as an actress, the character was too timid for my tastes. However, they looked good together.
No Misunderstandings: Although the drama was boring, I don't mind that. Give me a boring sweet drama, over one filled with misunderstandings.
Supportive Friends: Each and every character in the drama was so supportive. Even the fans were happy that the Leads got together.

While I wont necessarily come back for a rewatch, this is a good drama for one time watch.

Dammit, now every time I'm watching a wuxia or xianxia drama and there's a male voice singing in the background i think it is Mo Qing Cheng.

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Beautiful! Rewatch Worthy!

Beautifully done. When I first went into the show, I wondered why there were so many episodes (Part 1 & Part 2 included). I was also vary because with Cdramas, the higher the number of episodes, the higher the number of misunderstandings. And the endings usually are very rushed and done poorly. Immortal Samsara was a refreshening change from those dramas. The best part about the drama is the story between the main leads, it has everything that you want to see, romance, angst, bickering, devastation, death, and more so.

This was my second time watching the drama and it was better this time around. During my first watch, I was too blinded by everything Yan Dan suffered to give some credit to Ying Yuan and his sacrifices. What's more, he was man enough to admit that he was wrong to have abandoned her. I have seen a lot of dramas where when the ML abandon the FL for their own good, they seldom admit that they messed up. They even double down and claim that they would do it all over again. But that's not Ying Yuan. What little grudge I held against Ying Yuan for abandoning Yan Dan, I happily let go after completing the second part. I am so glad they finally got the happy ending and peace they deserved. (As much peace Ying Yuan can have with Yan Dan's lively personality in their life)

In this part, Zhi Xi's character was much better portrayed, much more expressive, her feelings for Yan Dan much purer, something that I though lacked in the first part. Even before she sacrificed her life, she had redeemed herself and I was glad to see the sisters enjoy a good relationship. I would have liked to see Yan Dan get married to Ying Yuan in the wedding gown left to her by Zhi Xi.

Overall, this isn't my last time rewatching the show. Another great thing about this drama, the poetry series about agarwood, it was so emotionally charged. Wow! And let's not forget the beautiful music that accompanied each and every moment.

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Heartbreaking & yet that didn't stop me from adding this to my rewatch list!

Writing this review on my second rewatch. I'm already on Part 2, but wanted to drop the review before completing that one since I still have things fresh in my mind.

I found this show as a recommendation of the drama "The Starry Love". When I played the first episode, I kept wondering if one of them was a remake.
The visuals in "The Starry Love" are much better than first few episodes of "Immortal Samsara: Part 1". However, the visuals got better from then on. The effects were more believable.
While effects might have been an issue in the first few episodes, the outfits were always astonishingly good. I coveted many of Yin Yuan/Tan Zhou's outfits.
So, thinking that they were a remake I was committed to watching the entire thing. (I don't mind watching stories with the same trope if I loved one of them)
So, the scene started in the heavenly realm, the dances, sisters born out of twin flowers, immortals forbidden to love, the disturbances from the demon realm, and so on. There were so many similarities. But it didn't take me long to realize that while they shared a resemblance to each other both "The Starry Love" and "Immortal Samsara" tell different stories.

Characters:
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Zhi Xi: The elder sister, twin to Yan Dan, was one of the first characters that made me realize that the differences in the stories. The Starry Love's Ye Tan got a sister who was the sole person who cherished her, however Samsara's Zhi Xi was always envious of her little sister. If you are an average person who has to work hard at everything, then It is easier to relate to Zhi Xi's character more than Yan Dan's, who on the other hand, has always been cheerful and carefree. Someone for whom things always come easily. It was sad to see the how Zhi Xi's allowed others perception of her doubt not only herself but Yan Dan as well. She was so easily convinced that Yan Dan was against her that she played a huge role in Yan Dan's misery. Later, the story tried hard to convince the viewers that she did her best to make up to Yan Dan, but her redemption arc just didn't seem sincere. When Yan Dan jumped off the bridge, we could all see the guilt on Zhi Xi's face but there was no real devastation. It could be because of the actress, maybe she wasn't able to convey her feelings through her expressions. Despite that she was an interesting character, a weak willed woman who tried to save her ass and framed her own sister who wanted nothing but the best for her.

Yan Dan | Bai Piao Liang: The younger sister, twin to Zhi Xi. Okay, before watching this drama, I didn't realize that the actress portraying Yan Dan was the same one from "Go Go Squid" and it was a bit surprising to me. I liked Yang Zi looks much in Samsara. Since I had come off binge watching "The Starry Love", I was also pleasantly surprised to hear Yan Dan's voice, it pretty much sounded same as Ye Tan's. There's also something about Yang Zi, she is such a treat to watch. I have seen her performance in "Ashes of Love" as well, she makes the screen light up with her presence. I wish there were more interesting historical romances with her as a lead. Coming back to Yan Dan as a character, she is a carefree light hearted sprite, who wants to take care of her sister and her friends and write for a living, someone who doesn't really have a lofty ambition but someone who's actually warmhearted. It gives me pleasure to watch such characters thrive and makes me doubly sad to see them suffer. She suffered a lot, framed by her sister, abandoned by her love, punished for crimes she didn't commit. The sad part, through her redemption arc, Zhi Xi was never selfless enough to clear Yan Dan's name. Yan Dan was too giving and forgiving of people who did her wrong.

Emperor Yin Yuan/Tang Zhou: Cheng Yi is wow! Him portraying Emperor Yin Yuan is his best performance I have seen to date. The aura he presents, the stylist did such a wonderful job on his entire look, however that all would have been for naught had it not been for Cheng Yi brining his A game to the picture. He did such a great job portraying the "Couldn't care less about anything" look. The indifference was portrayed so brilliantly, it came as a shock to see him further display a wide range of emotions. Yin Yuan as a character was highly complex . As we seem him put things in motions to save Yan Dan, we also see how Yan Dan didn't measure up to the entire world in his eyes. Granted, he did go through heartbreak, refused to forget her as a punishment to himself, but he never had to question Yan Dan's love for him. Yan Dan on the other hand knew that he abandoned her even though he loved her. After all that Yan Dan was put through, it wasn't much to ask for her to find someone else in the mortal world or to feel something for YuMo, but not enough time had passed for her to enjoy her life that Tan Zhou showed up.

YuMo: It was really hard to consider him as a SML in the beginning, he just seemed like silly comic relief and his story didn't really speak to my heart. I could only see him as a guy Yan Dan could be interested in once he came to the mortal world. He was such a sweet guy that I wanted Yan Dan to give him a chance. Even though he clearly had feelings for Yan Dan and did everything for her, he never tried to sabotage her happiness. This is such a stark contrast to YingDeng's love for Yin Yuan, who thought she was doing her best to protect Yin Yuan but was mostly trying to ensure that he didn't end up with Yan Dan. So, YuMo was a greenest flag in this story.

After watching Immortal Samsara, I have become a huge fan of Yang Zi and Cheng Yi. I wish to see them together in more dramas as main leads. I tried watching "Noble Aspirations" but they don't have enough screentime together to enjoy it fully. They are not even a couple a couple in that.

Advice to anyone who wants to watch it:
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Go ahead! It will make you sob at times but its a beautiful disaster that you won't regret watching.

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Wow!

I did not expect this drama to be so good. It was interesting from the get go.

The female lead pretty much carried the whole show, it was focused on her story and suffering.

It also included her relationships with:
It began with her ill-fated one-sided relationship with Zhong Ye Lan, who she tricked into marrying her.
They she ended up tangled with Zhong Xi Wu, who just controlled her life and decided to make major decisions that included life and death. (Spoiler alert: The real him did seem a bit different than the dream control freak)
She also met Hua Rong Zhou, who was greenest flag, her confidante, savior, and a person who loved her without asking for anything other than her company.

I didn't expect the ending. It was a bit abrupt and I want to see more of FL's journey once she wakes up. Hopefully, there will be a season 2.

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Worth the time spent watching this masterfully written and depicted story!

To begin with, I read some reviews and didn't want to see Luo Yun Xi portray and antagonist characters, however, it's a good thing that I changed my mind. He did a wonderful job in that character, a character that you like in the beginning. But as time goes by, you see how it changes and not for the better. He is one of the few characters that I didn't mind having a redemption arc.

Jin Mi was also one of the best character Yang Zi has portrayed, another was her Yan Dan in Immortal Samsara. When I saw her in Go Go Squid, I didn't think much of her acting skills, but these historical romances changed my mind. She has shown such range of emotions, reminding me of Korean actress Gong Hyo-jin. Coming to her character, I'm glad she had to face the consequences of killing the phoenix, even once she was reincarnated. It was fair.

This drama introduced me to Deng Lun, he and Yang Zi were well-matched in their acting prowess. Xu Feng was one of the greenest flags in Cdramas you'll ever get to see, much similar to Sifeng from Love & Redemption. Even when he tried to hate the FL for what she had done, he found it unpalatable.

The worst character Tai Wei, the heavenly emperor, who raped the woman he claimed to love and just wanted to people to forgive and forget. What's worse, he still claimed to love her. Him along with his crazy wife were the reason Xu Feng Suffered so much. Had they left it alone and minded their actual responsibilities, they wouldn't have meddled in their son's life so much, causing him untold grief. Let's not forget Su Hi, this trio went out of their way to make others miserable.

Just a phenomenal groups of actors that worked together on a well-written story.

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Wow! Why aren't people talking about this one more?

Initially when i saw the cast and roles, I thought that the twins would marry twins and that Chen Xing Xu was portraying both the Male leads, but thankfully that wasn't the case. This is the first time I was introduced to Luke Chen and he was amazing in the role of the third prince.

I also had a lot of assumptions before going into the shows, I thought that the ML played by Cheng XIng Xu would be pretty tame however his story arc was quite powerful compared to that of the Void third prince. His pairing with Landy Li was so fun to watch. The drama didn't have much physical intimacy or even kisses but it was plain to see the lead characters feelings for each others.

I do agree with a lot of reviewers and commenters, the drama has great beginning and ending arcs, however it drags a little in the middle with filler episodes. I like the 3 shards story arc, but it could have been better written. Once they fell in love with her, she just stashed them in places and expected them to stay there no matter how much time it would take for her to find and woo the next one.

And one thing that bothered me, the drama focused too much on forgiveness & sacrifice. Too many characters that shouldn't have been forgiven were forgiven, and unnecessary sacrifices were made for those.

Some Notable Characters:

Liguang Ye Tan
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Loved her right from the beginning. I like watching characters that are open about everything and say what they want. So I pretty much enjoyed watching her every time she was on the screen. She adored Qing Kui and it showed despite her trying to be a hardass at times. What I liked about Ye Tan is that even though she was envious of the way Qing Kui was treated, she never blamed Qing Kui for it. She knew the culprit was her father and she laid the blame right at his feet. Despite being treated like a prisoner all her life, having to hear cruel words from her father, she found it in herself to forgive him because he did all that to protect her. (Nope, still don't care for her father. She almost died quite a few times because of his negligence. When he used those harsh words, he gave others in his kingdom permission to treat Ye Tan poorly. She was starved most of the time, left to be eaten by animal once. People dared to do this because they knew that her father didn't care for her. Her relationship with You Qin was beautiful to watch.

Empyrean Xuan Shang / Shao Dian You Qin
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He was so damn adorable. From the get go, we could see how affected he was by Ye Tan. Once he realized that he liked Ye Tan, he never hid his feelings. He was honest about them, even when he turned her into a walnut and sewed her mouth shut. When he found out that Ye Tan was not Qin Kui, he kick up much fuss about it. He accepted her without creating any unnecessary drama that would be out of his character. He was consistently loyal to Ye Tan (Let's not mention that one shard who was promiscuous for his own good). Qing Kui would never have been a good match for him, she would have probably just gone along with everything he wanted and not changed his life much.

Liguang Qing Kui
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In the beginning, I was a little upset with her character, not because she was favored twin, but I always felt like she could have done so much more for Ye Tan. What upset me even more was that she was a bit hypocritical with Chao Feng / Third Prince, telling him that she disliked people who treated their family badly. However, she was fine treating her father (Emperor Liguang) well when he treated Ye Tan abysmally. This highlighted her privilege, since her father so clearly loved her, she could turn a blind eye to how he treated Ye Tan majority of the time. Ye Tan never blamed her, since she was imprisoned by her own family, treated poorly, she was glad to receive what little she received from Qing Kui. There could be more to the story, maybe she helped her sister a lot more than we got to see but it wasn't depicted so clearly. I did grow to like her character, especially after watching, "Immortal Samsara: Part 1" , where we have another set of twin sisters who were borne out of same root. It just made me look at her in a different way. Throughout their interaction Qing Kui had always been kind to Ye Tan. She always thought the best of Ye Tan and her ambitions of becoming the Demon of the Void. All their interactions were genuine. Even when the whole mix-up happened and she ended up in the void realm she could have blamed Ye Tan for trying to create a mess to get her out of her wedding she wasn't really against of. However, she was quite sane and even looked out for Ye Tan in her own way. So maybe Qing Kui was one of the reasons Ye Tan didn't loose her spirit even after spending 18 years in captivity.

Chao Feng / Third Prince
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The great liar, it was fun to watch him come up with crazy but believable stories to hoodwink Qing Kui, who easily fell for it. The crazy idiot, didn't even realize that he was creating a trap for himself and when he did realize he was quite happy to fall head over heels for Qing Kui. While he appeared quite dashing in many scenes, I do wish his character would have been more imposing and not often defeated by You Qin. I wanted to see them as equals.


Shao Dian Xiao Yi [Heavenly Emperor]
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The emperor, You Qin's father, was more of glory hound, who didn't really care about You Qin as his child. He just wanted to be known as the father of the great Empyrean who achieved the perfect celestial body and saved the world. Even the fix is not permanent, only for a few hundred thousand years, after which he might as well pop out another child to sacrifice, when he himself never had the guts to step up to the plate. Qing Kui was such a decent person and he seemed very happy when she died, that was quite disgusting to see. His expression of glee was present when he found out that You Qin made progress in his cultivation, not really caring that his son was going to die. A decent parent would have been worried about his child, he seemed elated. Its a wonder his wife tolerated him for so long. We all understand sacrifices are to be made, but he could have been a supportive and understanding parent to You Qin. What's more, he was the first one to be an obstacle in bringing You Qin back to life. Even when he came back to life, he just was selfish prick to everyone included.

I'm not a fan of open endings like these so I scrolled down to the comment sections and found this link. This helped ease of the anxiety the I felt after that ending. https://x.com/YoukuOfficial/status/1750867181745688650?s=20

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Good for the first 10-15 episodes.

I didn't read the reviews for this one before going into it, should have. I just wanted to see Garvey Jin in another romantic drama but it was for the naught. His story only got interesting in the last couple of episodes that was the only good part about those episodes.

The story is so bad halfway through. Why can't these people talk things out? What's with keeping the baby from the father? Its not like he is going to be crappy father, the ML was a green flag and honestly would have been a much better father than the mother. As a role model for the child, she should have at least considered how her decisions would affect the baby but no. Once you find out you are pregnant, reach out to the fellow. Stop making decision for the guy, if he said he didn't want to be a father once he found out, then that's another story. But that was not this guy at all.

Just felt like wasted 9 hours watching this. Had to skip most of the scenes since they were not very impactful.

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Both the FL and ML are green flags

Its impossible not to love these two seemingly adorable characters. There is no finding fault. The writes did such a beautiful job and this is one gem worth rewatching. It is like a salve for your heart, especially if you have been traumatized by crappy endings.

The cast was also a treat to watch, all the actors were so visually stunning. The FL's entire family was full of green flags, her brother and her parents. They were so understanding of her and also cherished their daughter so much. A treat for people who understand how precious gentle parenting can be.

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A very engaging drama with depth that moves you to tears.

Ae Ra & Dong Man: They started out strong. Loved the way the progressed. So damn adorable both of them. Coming to the one major conflict they had. When I first watched the drama, I was always upset with Ae Ra. Can you imagine being happy with a partner when you are asked to give up such a big part of who they are? Had Dong Man given up on fighting, he would have resented her and that in itself would have destroyed there relationship. At the time, I was so mad at her that forgot the Doctor's diagnoses and how he said that Dong Man might be unable to hear if he is hit in the same place again.
During my second watch, I could put myself in Ae Ra's shoes. How would I feel if my partner who is at risk of going deaf insists that he continue fighting? She was the one who took care of him, when he thought he had lost his hearing and saw him be miserable. Since something that traumatic happened to him, he was very uncommunicative during the time, as was his right. What's worse is that she was already worried about the fight between him and Tak Soo. So, that definitely put her off the edge.
That doesn't mean she had the right to give him such an ultimatum. Apart from that one aspect, they were good to each other and for each other. I'm glad that they were able to work through it, even though it took Ae Ra some time.

Joo Man & Sol Hee: I see a lot of people going out of their way defending Joo Man for not being able to handle the love & support that many people can only dream of having. That's something I won't praise him for. He wasn't all wrong though. He was rational and tried to tell Sol Hee numerous times that she should look after herself more, but she wasn't listening. But still, they both had such a big communication issue. Even though he was rational, he failed to realize that Sol Hee didn't want to live in a big house. It was something that he decided on his own. She just wanted to be married to him, no matter where they lived. One thing that bothered me about Joo Man is the lack of effort, he could have cared for her the way she did for him, maybe not to the extremes but just a little. If he thought that she was saving up & not getting anything for herself, he could have treated her to things long time ago, way before things went so wrong and he tried to get her that pink dress just because she was an embarrassment to him. The thing with the intern was so ridiculous, he led her on because she reminded him of Sol Hee when she was young. My heart goes out to Sol Hee a bit, had she been with someone like Dong Man, she would have been cherished. What I do not like about her character is that she let too many things slide. She was obsessed with loving Joo Man and he couldn't do anything wrong. She was also willing to overlook things, like when he lied about meeting the intern. They just weren't a right fit for each other. I didn't want them to end up with each other. But sadly they did. Many people would say that this is the way of real relationships, however that's an excuse for not putting enough efforts into your relationship. Not accepting that its possible to beat that low-effort cycle is just as naive as assuming that life is all unicorn and rainbows.

Final note, all actors did a wonderful job portraying their characters.

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We have one of the Sweetest ML with a great character development. (2nd watch)

It is hard not to like Jang Uk. There are so many reasons to like the character, including that he was such a understanding person even to those who hurt him. The creators did a wonderful job picking the cast, especially, Lee Jae Wook who is too damn attractive and charming in all his roles. He was such a green flag in the first season and had great character development throughout it. Even though he started out a bit childish and lazy, he grew into his role and it was just amazing to watch. During my first watch, the story got a bit boring with the other characters but I still completed it. However, during the 2nd watch, I'm focusing on the scenes that include Jang Uk, Mu Deok, & Seo Yul.

Naksu, who soul shifted into Mu Deok's body, sometimes failed to convince that she used to be an Assassin who a lot of people were scared of. While she dropped the ball in some places, there were others that were very convincing. This includes all the crazy ticks she pulled to ensure that Jang Uk grew into his power. (For some reason, this time around, they reminded me of the Sae Roy and Yi-Seo from Itaeon Class, Yi-Seo and Mu Deok's character share similarities in the way they out of their way to ensure that their partners succeed no matter how it happens. Both Jang Uk & Sae Roy had to teach their partners about loyalty & care)

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The ML is one of the greenest flags in Kdrama history. (2nd watch)

The ML was such a kind and nice person from the get go. He had a hard time expressing himself sometimes but once he understood things he avoided making those same mistakes again. And we could hardly call them mistakes.

The FL was nice and all but the the ML stole the show. The 2nd couple were more interesting than the FL, but she was a good partner for ML. Seeing them together makes me feel so warm and happy. The 2nd couple had a breakup that wasn't really needed. I'm not even sure if they ended up together as a couple or just friends. The guy clearly likes her but they spent some time apart and he might have gotten over it. They obviously share some affection but its hard to surmise from the scenes after they met again if they were going to try being together again.

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A lot of adorableness packed in 30 episodes of no silly misunderstandings.

The first 1 or 2 times I tried to watch the drama, I couldn't get past the first episode. Everyone on social media and in the comments were raving about it but I just didn't seem to like the vibe I got from the 1st episode. However, I wanted to watch them be all lovey dovey and decided to give it another go. Still not a fan of the first episode, but from the 2nd episode onwards it was such a good watch. It was warm for me.

Even though I liked them being together, his intense stares sometimes made me feel like this could have easily been a case of serial killer locking on his prey, but thankfully it wasn't.

The actors did such a good job in creating this beautiful drama that has shows such love for all characters, now matter who they were.

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A funnier and more romantic version of the 2016 drama of the same name.

I watched this one first and liked it on the first go. As I was about to rewatch it, I discovered the 2016 drama, which is was watched for the first time, before rewatching this one. Both dramas have their appeal. Where the 2016 drama has more depth and sticks to the crime tone more, this one is more sillier and funny. The ML is both are very attractive, however, even that didn't much endear me to the 2016 drama, as it lacked romance. They dropped the ball on that one.

This 2023 version picked up that ball and gave us better romance, even balancing other genres well. This version clearly has a higher rewatch value for me. (Already seen it twice) Sometimes this silliness is just what we need in life to make us laugh. I liked certain aspects of this story better, especially the part about the FL being the one to loose a friend to murder. It just added more to her character.

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