I was really looking forward to this drama after falling in love with Ren Jia Lun in Under the Power, but unfortunately, this is not going to be a good review. For those who loved this drama, you might want to skip this review.

I will quickly run through my 7 criteria and leave comments to the end

1. "Sleepness Night": 2/5 ★★☆☆☆
2. Emotional Rollercoaster: 2/5 ★★☆☆☆
3. Natural and Intelligent Story Telling: 3/5 ★★★☆☆
4. "Loveable supporting Role": 5/5 ★★★★★
5. "Proper Pacing": 4/5 ★★★★☆
6. Technicalities: 5/5 ★★★★★
7. Solid Finale: N/A

After being disappointed with Audmn Cicada (I made it not past episode 3)
This drama started out well. I liked the world setting, the cheerful and dorky character of Nalan Yue, and all the 3-dimensional supporting characters who have refreshing personalities and background stories. I also enjoyed the careful-crafted fighting scenes and the good songs.

However, this drama takes a really rough turn towards the middle and the story went nowhere.

First, the main villain, Rong Jing Feng's behavior is really comprehensive. He turned from a rather normal head of a clan to a complete killer machine who massacred everyone at his own daughter's wedding. One cannot see through the motive of his behavior. The reason might be fear for revenge or losing his power, but his behavior's inconsistency is irritating.

Besides, the chemistry between both of the main couples is missing. The initial falling in love between Nalan Yue and Rong Hua was almost completely cut out by the makers' crazy editing. One should not forget that it is the strong trust of Rong Hua in Nalan Yue that supports most of the second part of the drama. If this foundation was not built properly in the first place, the whole plot becomes unconvincing.
Then, the romance between our second couple, Rong Su and Lu Yi Zhou, even arose more strangely. How did Lu Yi Zhou fell in love with Rong Su in the first place? The maker wanted to show a conflict between their personal desire vs. their duty, but I am not sure whether this is due to bad acting or bad character design, it did not come out well. Instead, it was a blurry back and forth between the two that was puzzling for the viewers.

Moreover, it is the below-average acting of Alen Ren that disappointed me the most. Despite understanding the reason behind Nalan Yue's "black-washing", I wished that the personality change and acting could have been more granular. Logically, whatever tragic happened to Nalan Yue, he is still himself. His cheerful character's 180-degree turn to a person with almost only one expression left just left me unsatisfied. A great example of depicting these internal conflicts can be observed in other dramas such as Goodbye, my Princess.
In Under the Power, Alen Ren successfully demonstrated a very natural transition from an overbearing boss to a loving boyfriend using micro-expressions, wonderful gazes, and gradual changes in demeanors. I was not able to observe his in Love in Lifetime.

Finally, the latter half of the story just went all over the place, with the two main leads not really sure which sides they are on, what they are really trying to do, what their relationship towards each other is, and who even the villain of the story is! So that's where I dropped off without turning back, despite having spent my time on 36 episodes.

All in all, I am still a firm believer in Alen Ren's skills and am still waiting for another great piece after Under the Power. Unfortunately, Love in Lifetime is not that.

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Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:

After having watched many dramas and also written several reviews. I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
2. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster, etc.). The degree on how much I care about the fate of the main leads.
3. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think that this looks fake.
4. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have the proper motivation behind their actions.
5. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
6. "Technicalities": professional camera works and shots, fight scenes, color grading, lighting, editing, music, sets, costumes, use of CGI, etc. I try to grade this in relation to the drama budget, so a low-budget drama can equally get a high score when used at the right place
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that start to lose their grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.