Sword and Beloved (2025)

Not Much Sword, Secondary Stories Add Romance, & a Tired Cheng Yi in a Fantasy That Drags

It starts as a promising light fantasy drama with themes of transcending fate and choosing one’s own path, but it becomes nonsensical and dragged, making it hard to stay engaged. I actually had to force myself to finish the final episodes.

Main Story & Acting

The main romance between Cheng Yi and Li Yitong is disappointingly flat. They share zero romantic spark or emotional connection, not even a believable friendship, more like polite strangers. While the script itself keeps them distant, their chemistry never develops.

Cheng Yi, in particular, feels detached and tired, lacking the emotional intensity and focus he once displayed in Love and Redemption. His performance here feels stoic, repetitive, and emotionally absent, as though he’s acting but not fully present in the role. It’s hard not to wonder if something might be affecting him personally, given his recent performances have also felt less invested.

Supporting Stories

Thankfully, the two secondary romantic storylines provide some relief. These side couples bring energy, humor, and genuine chemistry, even delivering the only kisses in the entire drama. Their playful interactions and lighter tone make them far more engaging than the main leads, and at times, their stories completely overshadow the central "romance".

Action & Production

The sword fights are heavily CGI-enhanced, with lots of wirework, glowing swords, and energy effects. Instead of showcasing real martial arts skill, the combat scenes feel more like digital spectacles, flashy but emotionally empty. The result is a sense of AI-style choreography that looks artificial rather than exciting.

While this style may fit a fantasy setting, it sacrifices the raw authenticity of traditional wuxia fights, which I personally miss.

Themes

The drama aims to explore ideas of fate, destiny, and following one’s heart, but it never achieves the emotional or philosophical depth it strives for.

Final Thoughts

If you have nothing else to watch, it’s passable, otherwise, it doesn’t offer anything particularly new or memorable.

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Cockroach Dad, Incest 12851, Pointless Deaths, Catastrophic End

Sword and Beloved is a bait-and-switch. The “Sword” is meh, especially compared to Blood River, which aired at the same time. The “beloved” is the cruelest joke: there’s zero romance between the ML and FL, and their only hug, lasting mere seconds, exists solely so the ML can kill the FL to retrieve a grieve seed from her.

Rumu and Wengyuan’s deaths are utterly unnecessary and contribute nothing except a cheap attempt to wring some sadness from viewers.

The show wastes roughly half its episodes on the 2nd ML’s cartoonishly evil father, who keeps popping up like a cockroach, and on the FL’s obsessive, villainous 12581 spider brother, who is hell-bent on turning his own sister into an object of incestuous fixation.

A decent first third, a frustrating middle, and a catastrophic end. The writer, director, and producers are permanently banned from my screen.

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