Classic Chinese Fantasy story with Love, Angst, and Family Drama

So, I'm probably one of the few that JUST watched Eternal Love: Three Lives, Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. I'm glad they shortened the tv drama to just "Eternal Love" from the title of the book. Whew, what a name :)
To start off, I read that this story reminded people of Ashes of Love, which I absolutely LOVED. Ever since watching the 60 or so episodes of Ashes of Love, I was heartbroken and so tired. Ashes of Love is one of those drawn-out dramas where it will rip out your heart, put it back together again, only to rip it out again. But this review is about Eternal Love, sorry for the rambling.
I've only watched Yang Mi and Mark Chao in fantasy/wuxia dramas. I find these two actors portray wuxia/historial dramas very well as they both have extraordinary talents in the various roles they've played.
I hesitated to watch Eternal Love because I didn't want to feel the same emotions that Ashes of Love gave me. Again, that drama was brilliant but after weeping with sorrow, joy, and elation over the characters in the show, I was physically and emotionally drained.
While Eternal Love didn't leave me with the same feelings as Ashes of Love, it was still long enough (58 episodes) to really pull me into the storyline and live the lives of the main characters. Eternal Love is one of those fantasy dramas that you have to watch just to experience a range of emotions (I don't like dramas that are too easy - there needs to be a good range of emotions).
The main characters, Bai Qian and Ye Hua are ill-fated lovers. Destined to fall in love but pulled apart for thousands of years in between their fated love stories. The "three lives" part comes in with mostly Yang Mi's characters, which are Si Yin, SuSu, and Bai Qian. In reality, there is only one character - Bai Qian, the High Goddess and Queen of the Fox clan. But there are three lives due to the circumstances she put herself in and that others put her in. As was explained later on in the story that Bai Qian had to go through love trials, the show didn't really explain that part in detail. It was just shown to us her sad and tragic circumstance that wasn't entirely her fault. I liked all three "characters" but felt SuSu was where Yang Mi really shined. Yang Mi played all of her roles quite well, with SuSu being more vulnerable and showing her range of acting skills.
Mark Chao's character, Ye Hau, the Crown Prince of the Heaven clan reminded me a lot of his character in Ying Yang Master. They both wore black clothing and had a very stoic and serious demeanor. I understood why Ye Hua was that way and I'm glad they made him more serious rather than a flimsy playboy that you find in other fantasy/wuxia dramas. Ye Hua was intelligent, kind, and brave and the moment he met Bai Qian, his character completely changed. He felt real love and emotions for the first time and he was determined to keep that and never let go.
The side characters were all interesting, especially the ones that helped Bai Qian. There's a side story of Bai Fengjiu and Dong Hua that had their own tragic love story. I guess there's another Eternal Love spinoff with these two.
My favorite "villains" were Ghost clan royal prince Li Jing who was handsome, tormented, and was overall a good person. He fell in love with Si Yin whom he immediately knew was a girl in disguise as a man and after that, his own story took a tragic turn as well. Poor Li Jing - tried to do the right things but had many obstacles along the way -namely his "wife" the evil and selfish Xuan Nu. I also liked Yan Zhi, the sister and royal princess of the Ghost clan. The young Fire Qilin was quite adorable too, especially his costume.
There are many characters in Eternal Love, and they all played a critical role in the drama. I liked that all of these characters were easy to keep track of. Some had longer appearances which revealed more of their character and motives, such as Su Jin (evil character) and Bai Fengjiu (good character). I think they all did a pretty good job with the roles they were given.
Overall, Eternal Love isn't too complicated nor too light-hearted. There aren't any heavy handed plots or side storylines that got confusing. As I said, all the characters play a role in this drama and their roles blended well into the entire series.
Two side things I must note: 1 - the girls fawning over Ye Hua got a bit tiring and contrite. Yes, he's a single, sexy, high powered male God that every Immortal wants. But come on - let's stop it with the every girl must act like lovesick puppies trope. 2- there is a sexual situation in the story which some reviewers either liked or disliked. While I don't condone such acts, I can see why Ye Hua did what he did. It wasn't graphic or anything, but he's a flawed character who has never experienced romantic love and has to reign in his emotions at all times. Of course once he meets the love of his life he's going to get a little crazy in the love aspect.

Spoiler here for the ending if you don't want to know...


It is a happy ending (YAY!!!) I dread sad endings or cliffhanger endings where you're left guessing or wondering what actually happened. If I'm going to invest at least 40 some episodes of a TV show, then it better have a happy ending, haha!
The ending was explained and I was satisfied with the ending and the happy outcome of Bai Qian and Ye Hua.
I was sad however for Ghost clan princess Yan Zhi and Kunlun student Zi Lan, whom they developed a loving and trustworthy relationship while they were in the mortal world. In my mind, I hoped they were able to reconcile and be together as a couple. They were both so cute and kind to each other, how could they not have their own happily ever after?
Overall, Eternal Love is your traditional good versus evil, High Immortals versus regular Immortals, and lots and lots of misunderstandings!!! Oh, but what good drama doesn't have misunderstandings? That's how they torture us viewers :)
There are elements of death, sexuality, and bad judgments, so this show might not be suitable for children. The mortal realm was fun to watch but the show didn't delve too much into it. Of course in the mortal realm there are bad and good people just like in the Immortal realms!!! There are also serious family drama with the Immortals just like the mortals...which makes you realize that the Gods aren't so perfect after all, are they? :) The mystical and fantasy aspects of the nine-tailed foxes were also a delight to watch, although the CGI wasn't the greatest :)
I recommend Eternal Love. I was able to watch this in less than a week and pretty much nonstop, ha!!!

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A touching and well acted story

I'm a sucker for these extravagant, powerful, touching historical dramas. I would rank Princess Weiyoung high up along with Ashes of Love. The series was engaging and interesting and can easily be watched repeatedly.
The acting is superb in Princess Weiyoung. From the two main leads to the secondary characters and even the smaller characters in between. I'm really impressed with the ML and FL and read online that they're married in real life. How fun!!!
Princess Weiyoung is a dynamic story of history, war, love, tragedy, enemies, friendship, and a whole lot of court drama. The clever plotlines of the enemies particularly the two Princes, made this story so much fun.
Overall, Princess Weiyoung is a clever and well written story. The acting is phenomenal, you can't help but root for the two leads, but also feel a connection with the others.
The Prince Na'an did a splendid job. He was a cold and emotionally disconnected person. But also a bit ambiguous in nature. I couldn't help but feel bad for him due to his abusive childhood which caused so much PTSD. Therefore i think that was why he was the way he was.
A somewhat tragic ending but at least the ML and FL had some happy years together.

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