There's also the cute side characters/couple that are so adorable.
I love how both the main lead would do anything for anyone they cared/loved n how much they loved each other it was just so sweet many dramas always have something where there's some kind of trust issue or where ones a little too jealous to the point of overboard but this was just amazing.
Now onto my lovely prince zhan many may not like his character bc of what he did but then i felt like he's such a sweet boy he was willing to do anything for Qing Chen but sadly he's just a second lead :(
The only thing that I didn't like was like slow subbing which is not the dramas fault at all but then I had to wait forever bc dramefever the only one that got the licenses for it took a whole moth to freaking start subbing the first few episodes n that the director had to add duo xia who wanted so desperately to be with ling at one point but it was good that he never swayed for her or anything lol cause I would've flipped out if he broke Qing Chen's heart in anyway when she did all of that just for him.
Overall I'm just in love with this dramas so yes I definitely recommend this drama if you want to watch something that brings out all your emotions but not annoyingly bad or just sad like some other shows that I've watched. Btw the music tho it's amazing I've noticed that Chinese dramas always have amazing music to accompany their shows lol none of it are like ever bad.
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1This review may contain spoilers
Okay, this show does a really terrible job of explaining itself so imma clear it up for those who have watched it and are confused or those that haven't and are interested in doing so. I'm not sure if the issue lies in the translation or in the writing itself, but either way, I gotchu:Convoluted explanation:
Qing Chen utilizes a set of nine stones to reset the universe after the love of her life nearly comes to a fatal end. However, doing so is not without consequence. Firstly, no one will remember her, nor can she reveal her identity. Secondly, she'll only have a predetermined amount of time before the flower of life wilts, which loses a petal whenever the major players in that timeline die and/or as time passes. And thirdly, if she doesn't recollect the scattered stones before her time is up, her existence will be wiped from the history of the universe and everything she has done up until that point will be nullified.
Simple explanation:
The basic premise of this show is that a girl (Qing Chen) goes a year into the past to change the fate of the love of her life. It obviously can't be that easy because the writers have another 45-ish episodes to write, so there are rules: she only has roughly 6 months to recollect the scattered stones that acted as her time machine and return to the future. If she fails, she disappears from the universe (including people's memories) and, as mentioned above, everything she has done up until that point will be nullified.
(If you haven't watched it yet, stop reading now if you want to avoid spoilers)
So what does she do? She devotes all of her efforts to saving Ling, her true love, and basically blows off searching for the stones because... Selflessness?? I guess?? Honestly, when it comes to dramas like these, the overall consensus is that any "genius" character is just a brilliant fool... Mostly for plot convenience. When the writers need them to pull some miraculously impossible solution out of their ass, they do, and when the writers need them to play dumb and overlook something blatantly obvious, they do. And that about perfectly sums up Qing Chen. She's a brilliant fool and victim of cheap plot manipulation.
She SHOULD be concerned about finding the stones. She SHOULD value her life. Why? Because if she doesn't find the stones, or if she dies, everything she went through to save Ling will go to waste— he'll still die at the hands of his power-hungry brother from before she went back in time, she just won't exist to witness it. It basically invalidates everything she is putting herself through; it's like devoting tons of time and effort into a video game with the intention to just delete the save file halfway. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.
There are so many plot holes, so many I've lost count. They pulled a J.K. Rowling "Prisoner of Azkaban" so many times. What do I mean by that? Well, the whole premise of "Prisoner of Azkaban" is that Harry and Hermione fuck with time to fix a bunch of shit, but that mechanic is never visited again in the subsequent books because... Well, because it was hellish to write about so J.K. Rowling just casually opted out. Plus, it would've destroyed her tragic plans for the the story (since everything could be fixed by time travel), making it boring, repetitive, and predictable. TL;DR? "Lost Love in Times," like "Prisoner of Azkaban," is another example of— say it with me now— PLOT CONVENIENCE.
Then again, they must've done something right since I did watch it until the end, which is rare for me these days. I gotta give it to China— they've got political turmoil and domestic upheaval down to a science. If you can keep track of all the characters and side stories, you won't be disappointed by the amount of detail that goes into the corrupt and ceaseless competition for power. WITH THAT BEING SAID...
What a cheap excuse of an ending. It's the epitome of "oh shit, we wrote ourselves into a corner and the characters don't have their happy ending. Whelp... SCREW IT. FAN SERVICE TIMEEEE."
Don't get me wrong, I love me a happily ever after, but I'd rather a tragic ending that makes sense than a forced and poorly executed happy ending. Period.
*deep breath*
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But the best part of this drama, is the visually pleasing production and costumes (for the most part).
Story (7/10)
The director has a gift for tweaking changes to novels to tell the story much better than its original work. But despite efforts to flesh out each character or every plot development, it fails to build any real momentum to keep viewers interested or invested despite the length. Overall story is decent though boring... (yes I've said it!), and characters are balanced. The main plot and focus of romance end up downplayed to make room for supporting elements and subplots, something they could do without, or at very least, cut out of a lot of.
Acting (7/10)
Chemistry between the leads is a real issue and one I fail to be convinced by. And more so when sold about a love so great each is defying odds to be together. This lack of chemistry prevents any real emotional connection to the couple. Multiple times throughout the drama I didn't feel the leads were in love until they declared so, but this was more so in the earlier half.
With all due respect to William Chan, his acting range is limited at best. If anything he has the visual presence to pull off alpha male prince and eyes that command charisma easily, if only he knew how. As a fan of Cecilia Liu, this is far from a standout performance and even disappointing, when you consider the kind of performances she is capable of.
Xu Hai Qiao as the second lead Yuan Zhan is probably the best performance/actor, and between the main characters whose actions and feelings for the one he loves is at all believable.
Music (7/10): Music is good overall. Ending OST is nice
Rewatch (4/10): premise more exciting than actual story, and a whooping 56 episodes that failed to keep me interested the first time means an unlikely rewatch for me.
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STORY:
My favorite combination ever is fantasy+romance+historical so I was very hyped for this, as were many others. The fantasy aspect of the sorceresses was really cool (possibly the most unique factor of the show for me); their costumes were pretty and all their powers and all that were just really pretty and well edited. Really loved Qing Chen's golden butterflies. But I'd wished that there was just a liiiiil more fantasy scenes which brings me to the next point; politics. There's loads of it in Lost Love in Times as expected in historical dramas.
Throughout the 56 episodes, you see how most of the brothers come together and it's especially nice to see them looking out for the Mages and Qing Chen. Then there's the romance which I thought was a bit of a letdown. I didn't really see it being the main focus which I thought it would be considering the whole title and all but after the first half of the series, it kinda felt that the romance died out a bit.
Also, another thing that bugged me was the lack of extras in the show. During scenes when both parties went to battle with one another, their armies looked small and not thousands. Of course, its not possible to bring thousands to the set but it wasn't well manipulated to look it. So in regards of the setting of the people, it wasn't that convincing. But other than that, the set looked alright and also super gorgeous at the valley.
ACTING/CAST:
I thought Qing Chen & Yuan Ling's love story was a beautiful one but how it was portrayed made it look a tad lackluster. It really is a shame because I absolutely adore Cecilia and William. Overall, their chemistry was believable but barely, in my honest opinion. They had a good amount of kiss scenes though, some of which made me squeal a lil.
The entire cast is great and their acting is decent, nothing shabby. I loved Yuan Li's most out of all the brothers because his character was the most interesting. It's not explicit but their bromance was a nice watch. Side couples were OK, nothing that cute. I didn't find myself hating any particular character wholeheartedly so the acting isnt a wow for the evil characters.
MUSIC:
I think the music was the one that really cut it out for me, the OST was very beautiful. William's song was it man; its so good, so heartbreaking. His voice is haunting. The rest of the OST is amazing as well and its out on spotify so yay.
REWATCH:
I don't rewatch dramas so I wouldn't judge base on the rewatch value.
OVERALL:
I really had high hopes for this and I think it had immense potential but it had let me down quite a bit. I was debating between a 7.5 or an 8 but ultimately I chose an 8 because it is a good watch with some intelligent characters, solid OST and a splash of cool sorcery power coupled with romance, but a believable one or not, I'll leave it to you to decide. So if you really like political, historical dramas with a twist of fantasy perhaps this is more for you :""")
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The Story itself started off a little chaotic because as the summary states the FL uses her powers to reset the universe which happens REALLY early on in the 56 episode drama because of this everything felt rushed and I didn't really believe in their chemistry. In Universe 2 though you get to see a more gradual buildup of mutual feelings between the ML and FL. The Story is filled up of Political intrigue, War, Magic, and Romance. But unfortunately around episode 30+ the drama starts stalling and I started watching it on a speed of 1.30x just so I can finish the drama that I've already given 30+ hours of my life to complete. The ending left me with mixed feelings because some questions/character endings were left unfinished.
As for actings the cast did an AMAZING job, the only reason I gave this a 9.5 rather than a 10 is because one of the main villains in this Drama, Yuan Ming wasn't a believable villain, there were scenes were he'd be glaring and it never felt truly menacing to me. He just annoyed me every time I saw him on my screen.
The music was fine, personally I didn't pay much attention to the music.
And as for the Rewatch Value is a no from me, because a drama really has to WOW me for me to want to watch that again when there's so many new one's coming out, this was by no means an awful drama, but I wouldn't describe it as a favorite either, it's just good.
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Difficult & hard to connect to the characters at first
The first six episodes make you feel like everything is going way too fast, almost thrown at you, that it makes you want to step back for a bit. But it's packed full of action and sincere sentiment that you stick around. After the first six episodes, it's well worth it and watching the series progress makes me feel invested in the show. The preview of the connections between the characters makes me want to see how things will work out now that changes were forced upon them.Oh I love this! So much to say but no way to be sure I get it all & I'm much too lazy to site every episode I've looked at soooo here we go:
First off, all these princes are fine, hotties!! Each with their own appeal, uniqueness & intelligence that just makes it possible to love something about each of them. <3<3 We have Prince Li (Xu Jia Wei/Jovi Xu - Mr. Adorable!!)
Prince Li's the man!!
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1001 Chinese Nights
This drama has to be one of my very favourite dramas ever.It's like a Chinese version of the Tales of 1001 Nights. It feels like someone is narrating the story to us, but that person isn't seen or heard. It's like a Chinese version of "The Saragossa Manuscript", wherein you always feel like you are peeking at the characters from a distance. This has the cinematography of a 1960's dark Eastern European fairytale wherein you always feel a little bit ill at ease. In fact, this IS a retro Eastern European film, shaped into a Chinese tale, which has many tales woven into it.
Will you be able to tell the ML and SML apart? No, no you will not, at least, not on the first viewing, but that somehow becomes part of the charm of it all. Cecelia Liu is a beautiful treasure of an actress that has been in quite a few remarkable dramas, of which this is definitely one. Everyone seems perfectly cast to me. The stylized shots with the massive headroom dwarfing the characters, with dark eerie curtains always off to the side, gives a sense of conspiracy at every turn. There was maybe too much dialogue from the antagonists and other side characters, which I just skipped through, some random characters that didn't even need to be in the story, quite frankly, but every character, good or bad, was filmed in an eerie glow, highlighted by eerie music. It's a drama that makes you feel like you are in a world ill at ease with itself, which, again, is the 60's-70's Eastern European cinema hallmark.
This dark Eastern European drama in Mandarin, will make you feel weird, as Eastern European fairytales always do, but it's a good weird!
At the same time, all the Chinese drama tropes are present here. The impressive variety of poisons. The big, round antidote "energy ball" pills. The blood spitting, the fainting, the Qi damaging and mending. The evil empress, the fighting for the throne, it's all here to proudly exclaim that you are, indeed, watching a Chinese costume drama.
If you like 60's European art films like The Saragossa Manuscript, except with less sexual innuendos and content, or if you like those retro Czech cinema fairytales, but with better costumes and visual effects, then you will love this drama. I do recall some parts had way too much dialogue (especially when it came to exposition that we could have easily figured out for ourselves), but you can just skip those moments. I think this is a weird and eerie masterpiece that evokes the retro dark cinema of an alternative reality.
Hilarious inconsistancies (very 70's Eastern European low budget!) and things to watch for:
I had a bit of a fast rewatch of some sections.
Firstly, when the FL is magically "tied up" with CGI magic, only to wake up with what is obviously just dry straw around her, which she has to get the ML to help release her from.
The opening song and accompanying graphics are quite bad! The very last note of the song is so hilariously off-key, as well as the music not fitting the tone of the drama whatsoever.
The wigs are giving every single actor an automatic face-lift. They are so pulled back that it is quite ridiculous. Characters would have serious headaches 24 hrs a day if they wore these hairstyles in reality.
Zheng Yi Cheng makes a brief and forgettable cameo as a mystic timelord. I'm sure he only lowered his hood to raise the ratings.
FL is linked to the ML in body, and they faint at the same time, which is a very cute/ funny touch. Then, she proceeds to be knocked out just a little bit later, and he doesn't faint as well, for some reason, but does feel when she pokes a message into her hand.
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One of my favorites
Of course, you should be warned that it is virtually impossible to write a review without some level of spoiler, so here we go:This is one of my favorites. It was an unexpected favorite since I generally despise time travel plots. That being said, this one did it in a way that was not annoying: rather than the time paradox (which is why I don't like TT plots), they used the 'split universe concept' as when, time changes, a new timeline is created. Even though neither the paradox nor alternate timelines is realistic, for some reason, the latter is way more tolerable.
I was not much interested in William Chan until this show. He's not conventionally handsome, but I definitely became a fan of his after this one. Dimples get me every time.
The plot has a few holes here and there, of course (for example, how exactly did the emperor destroy the MAGICAL sect!? Aren't they magical and powerful!? Also, she tried to change the time to save her love, but then ended up killing tons of innocent mages when the timeline changed...so what exactly was accomplished there?).
The relationship between the leads is solid. Misunderstandings do not last long, they clarify things quickly, and you don't get frustrated. The SFL, despite being in love with the ML, does not do all sorts of bat $**** crazy things to get the ML, she ends up accepting that he loves someone else and even becomes friends with the FL. Same with the SML (you will end up with a bit of SMLS, but the ML is worthy so it won't be that bad). He does not try all sorts of manipulative things to keep the FL by his side and ends up supporting her happiness no matter what--even if it does not include him.
Costuming and set design was very well done. I liked the costumes of male actors especially. It was all very consistent and even with a few appreciated details such as the FL's earrings were always in the french hook style that would have been common in an ancient period (not the clearly store bought hooks, though you could see those on the other actresses). The males' wigs very rarely came off in the back (common in lower-budget productions, it must be hard to get the back to stick down, which is why they should use the braid option a la "I Will Never Let You Go" [even if its not historically accurate, in my opinion its better than the clear indication of an improperly secured wig]). Now, the actual hairstyles of the males especially left much to be desired as the ornaments over the top knots were almost always hideous (and why did the Chief Mage have a beehive for several episodes!?), but that's a minor objection. And the accessories designer was clearly in love with baskets and spikes as that was a common theme in headgear. And the FLs costume designer was clearly in love with knife pleats, but we can let that slide.
The soundtrack was good, it was used appropriately, I was not annoyed with any of it. The fight scenes were pretty bad @$$, but they could have done a better job of faking full-size armies during the battle scenes--or just skipped battles scenes altogether.
Rewatch: I've only watched the entire thing once. I've gone back and rewatched all the FL/ML scenes, but in reality will find myself watching the next scene because it is well done altogether and then will realize what I'm doing and fast forward to the next romantic scene. ;P
All in all, I recommend it--especially to those skeptical of time travel plots. There are those, of course, who would disagree, but that is the beauty of Asian Drama Land. There's something for everyone.. :D
PS. I wanted to add that I disagree with her giving up all her magic in the end and the ML is all happy because he can now protect her instead of the other way around. Pffft.
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It Lost me between Episode 7 and Episode 14 before it started holding my interest again; and since the story is about Mages, we finally get to see some more fighting & magic in Episode 16 in the secret chamber under the Celestial Dance House, where it starts to pick up momentum for me until the final episode.
The intermittent songs with flashbacks were so cliché they should have been omitted and used for the more 'Campy' frivolous, romantic dramas.
In this last decade, viewer's have become more sophisticated in their tastes, even as Sound & CGI technology excels. It's time to change the style and advance to a more cinema-like quality with the 'Wow' factor and ditch the old over-used plot tricks. (ie... mid-episode songs; having to give air underwater to pretend a kiss; corny 'flirt' music in the background while man and woman banter back and forth with meaningless stale words; and the 'catch and swoop' as an excuse for them to hug and get close). Seen it sooooo many times, isn't the audience getting bored yet? Aren't the writer's tired of scripting the same old thing?
On a positive note, the core basis of the story is compelling and the costumes and settings are appealing. I gave this a high rating for it's integral quality, any misgivings that I mentioned were just my opinion and should not have any negative impact to dissuade others from enjoying this series, because it does hold high entertainment value. Maybe we're just starting to expect more in this digital age and to execute the masterful presentation of a story, it needs to compliment the great special effects and discard the hokey banal components of yesterday.
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LLT is one of the most interesting Chinese drama that got me back into watching other Asian films than Korean & Japanese. LLT was the first Chinese drama that I watched from beginning to end without skipping without bordom. Also discovered many actors I will continue to monitor for their future projects, especially Cecilia & Willam. Armature Ma Marry talented and gorgeous; funny how she was portrayed in LOVE O2O as inferior beauty to the heroine while she surpassed everyone in the series. Hope to see more of her in main cast.
Complex relationships and influence between characters was fascinating. Fantasy theme was beautiful and mysterious. All characters were charming, especially the chemistry between the main hero & heroine, their dedication to each other, strength under pressure, and sense of humor in midst of danger was admirable.
Another change from old Chinese films: happy ending! ^^
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