To say that Love and Redemption is the surprise hit of late summer is most probably true. With the show’s great premise and fresh storyline, the stunning sets and costumes, and most importantly the amazing chemistry between Cheng Yi and Yuan Bingyan and the rest of the cast, it’s no wonder people can’t stop watching! But lately the show seems to find itself in a pickle as the story advances toward a direction some viewers find completely unsatisfying.
Criticism
Like any drama adaptation, modifications in the original plot to suit the drama’s purposes are to be expected. And in most cases, it’s not a problem as long as the changes improve the plot for the better and not detract from it. For Love and Redemption however, as we move past the halfway mark and closer to the end, more and more viewers have said that the adjustments to the original story are “just too much”. And that it also feels like the writer is creating drama for drama’s sake by writing in too many misunderstandings.
Another thing fans of the novel have taken an issue against is how the writer is making everyone else appear stupid to make Sifeng’s character stand out more. They said that the script seems to be skewed towards Sifeng as the hero by “dumbing down” Xuanji’s character. You’ll see how Xuanji keeps accusing Sifeng of lying to her and asking him to explain himself when she’s actually quite smart in the book. Most of the “good” folks too including Xuanji’s sister Linglong and her dad were more sensible in the novel as opposed to how they are constantly harping on about Sifeng being the enemy.
Viewers have also pointed out that the story which should be about Xuanji’s growth seems to send a message that friends and family don’t mean anything as only love can save her. On the flip side, Sifeng’s sacrificial love is shown to be too angsty and his character simply too pitiful. Netizens actually kept tab of the number of times he spit blood, and the numbers ran up to 42 times in the 44 episodes that aired! Why in Episode 27 alone where the main couple cycle through 9 lifetimes, he spit blood 9 times!
Love and Redemption’s Screenwriter Responds
With so many unhappy fans threatening to stop watching, LaR’s writer Liu Fang later came out to explain her side of things. She said the novel did a great job in worldbuilding as well as developing personalities for the characters. However for it to be translated well to the small screens, there are kinks and gaps that need to be filled out.
With regards to Xuanji’s current situation, Liu Fang said that it’s all part of a planned progression for her character who’ll have lots of growing up to do. She will make mistakes but she’ll own up to them, learn from them and make things right. As for the confusion between demon and god identities, she said “Gods also have demons. Demons are not necessarily bad. People often have weaknesses. There is no high or low, only good and evil.” To further emphasise this point, Liu Fang closed her explanation by saying “In this story, both humans and demons are mere chess pieces, they are the victims of this battle. In the end, what we hope to achieve is to end the thousand year fight and return to the integration of the three realms. Identity does not mean anything. We’re only talking about good and evil.”
Source: 1
Enuit
Creating extra drama is so normal I don’t even care about that. Unless the arcs are boring and redundant.
What I would complain is how boring this show is. I am amazed nobody complain, I am feeling like all the praises are very fake and embarassing. They only sounded like what paid fans would say. Something so below averaged, and people are trying so hard to act like it is the best thing. I can pinpoint how bad everything was from the very first episode, and I continued and continued like fans say but all the later episodes never improve a little bit from first episode. Yuan Bingyan is another Zhao Liying, their dramas aren’t at least average at the very mimimum. Somehow, lots of keyboard warriors give out good ratings and good reviews on things that aren’t even watch–able.
3naVIP
Wait wasn’t this drama shot in 2017? I could be wrong somebody correct me…but I do understand the concerns though. I haven’t read the book yet since there is no english version and we have to Google translate it and you know how it works..As long as they get a happy ending (I hope) I’ll be happy…
Agassi Phoenix
I think everyone opinion differs. So, yes first few episodes are average going. After episode 25, climax part of story begins. please watch this drama till the last end . It’s very thrilling and good . The chemistry between two lead is as strong as that of any other hit historical drama. So, according to me even it doesn’t hit the box office but it has be above average rating . Because the drama is good .
I give 8 1/2 out of 10 …..
mika
just because you dont like it, doesnt mean everyone should have the same opinion as you ? lol
Mika
@Enuit
just because you dont like it, doesnt mean everyone should have the same opinion as you ? lol
Enuit
@Mika
? For 10 episodes straight, water injections 90% of the time everything so redundant. One thing finally happen for 10 minutes, then another 10 episodes straight full of water injections. ???
Call those master pieces, my foot. ?
There are lots of great dramas out there, from the very first episode, godzillion things already happened. Every episodes are important, not dragging the time to create a longer drama for more money.
And reviews and ratings are still very honest, people would point out the flaws unlike dramas with paid warriors.
Ntarry
hello——l was right with you almost until the end ,l watched the drama and finished it and totally let myself forget it until today when l came across the book on novel updates——l promptly came to the comments when l realised its the book that LaR is based on coz l was hoping to find people complaining about how _differnt_ the drama was ……lm satisfied so l will definitely try the book …anyway l agree with you ,dramas insubstantially wrong but the last thing l would judge the author and whoevers in charge for making it longer to make more money …..heck l would have made it a 2 seasons drama if l made more money ….she didnt solely adapt it for the enjoyment of her fans😂😂
Ntarry
insubstantially long*
H. D
Every one is commenting in YouTube or here how the show is getting super media cover and paid fan, glad some had vision and saw what is obvious, paid fan and viewers are sure for this drama, I mean the cast both leads are not the best actors nor the Writing is that good while there are other drama with better cast and writers and didn’t make it that famous… I mean if this is a hit where is the logic, look at earlier popular drama there was a reason to their hits like cast chemistry, or amazing writers.. Etc
MCH
I haven’t enjoyed a Xanxia this much since AOL and TMOPB! The leads chemistry is really good and the ML really grew on me. I do agree that is a lot of angst and blood spitting, but the ML does it really well in my opinion and I can’t wait till the latter episodes when the FL grows and ML can receive all the love he deserves! The leads’ chemistry is off the charts! I highly recommend this drama and no, I’m not a paid fan. I don’t even know how that works!
laila
Honestly, I couldn’t even get past the first few episode because it was wayyy too cringey for me. A lot things from just episode one alone made me go wtf so many times. I am not sure if it’s just the acting or whatever but I heard that there were a lot of angst in the later episodes of the drama, so I might just continue it. I do like angsty dramas. lol I mean, that was why I wanted to watch it at first but the earlier episodes killed it for me. I think with how plain looking Chu Xuanji looks makes it hard to watch for me. She is prettier with make up on and when she is dressed up too. Cheng Yi looks good tho. lol But anyways, to each their own.
Natalia
I can see there way to many salty people here mad because their bias dramas doesn’t make success like this one. There are plenty of “famous” actors dramas with bad plot and boring history, the point is, actor’s popularity only won’t make the drama famous, it need to be good and this one is amazing. Keep the salty comments coming!
ELISANGELA
You have your opinion, but he is not unanimous. We all have our own opinion. The story is passionate, the actors (all talented and super beautiful). With a lot of poetry, special effects of the first magnitude. Such a perfect ost. I put this drama together with (Ten miles of Peach Blossons (chinese), Goblin (korean), A korean Odissey (Korean). I love this oriental style of making stories (the sensitivity, the poetry). this in world culture.
clea
I do enjoy the show… but sometimes when its too long, i worry that the story telling might get distorted due to dragging for profit….. so far so good…. i like the lead actress and the male lead. will go read the book after a while even if not translated and using MTL.
Yui
Wow, so many ‘criticisms’ but then, when it comes to preferences, no one can blame.
This drama is top 3 fave cdramas besides go ahead and love yourself. I’ve watched other wuxia dramas but this one is the best in my humble opinion.
The chemistry is good. The story is kinda slow but not as meh as others. I dont even know the actors, lol.
I could understand why this drama is popular. It’s like a hate love relationship.
It’s better than some other popular dramas with big names.
Vee
This isn’t my cup of tea at all so I dropped it in early episodes but even I can tell why this would be popular. Xianxia romance with pretty CGI, angsty and complicated romance that last several lifetimes with super devoted and nice looking MLs are always popular.
Tina
The comment from that one user Enuit is the most toxic one I have ever seen. People have different tastes and feel differently about drama, music, arts, etc. It is perfectly okay to dislike and express opinions/disagreement politely; every drama has its own flaws, but when he talked down on the drama and especially the fans, insulting how they were so fake and disgusting, three other fingers were pointing right at himself. There are genuine fans like myself who love LnR, the actors, and actresses. We do know it’s not perfect, but we enjoy all the good things the show brings to us rather than focusing on some flaws and becoming toxic about the drama. Go somewhere else to love/enjoy your favorite shows rather than coming here to hate.
Enuit
It’s not an opinion only I have. From mouths to mouths, if I talk to 50 people who have all different tastes, and they all agree this is bad, then it’s a really bad drama. It’s like asking everyone to sample some soup with no salt in it, and whoever dares to say it’s salty must b salty themselves when the soup don’t even contain salt at all. How online was able to include nothing except good reviews only, with a super high score, does not make any sense. This is coming from people who watch lots of dramas of the same genres and read through lots of reviews. If you don’t read lots of reviews like us, you don’t get it. It would sound like blaming to you, cause you don’t know about stuff we saw, you only know what you think. If you ever check out any other dramas at all, just pick anything of your choice you think is better than this, go read what people say LOL!! The ratings will not be high and reviews are really honest. There will always be good and bad mixtures in the reviews because people are super honest.
This is not the only drama I am able to detect having keyboard warriors, of course there are a few others too I will not bring up. I understand there are some real fans but that’s only a few. If you don’t watch a lot of dramas to know what makes a good and bad dramas, and you also don’t read through lots of reviews too, then you don’t know what we know. Not saying all fans are paid but there are fishy things in it, and again it’s not as if this is the only show with paid fans.
Tina
There arelots of assumptions going on on your side. First, Ive watched Chinese period dramas for years, including the famous TMOPB and AOL. Even though I dont like TMOPB, but i need to give credits when its due, and the opinions of others who think differently matter even if its just one person. The issue I got with you? downright rude and utterly disrespectful if you ever got time to go review what you have written. Second, I read comments on MDL almost everyday for spoilers although I do not actively engage in discussions, and there are also critiques that we generally agree on, but again, the good the drama brings to us outweighs the bad points; thats why the comment section is flooded with more of good review. To assume someone knows nothing of the reviews and genre just because she likes what you do not like, you keep using distractions to win the argument. Third, just because all the people you know agree on this drama being bad, that doesnt mean its the accurate representation of the whole population. How do you select your sample for survey? stratisfied, cluster, snowball? How is your survey proven so scientifically accurate that you can disregard and consider those who think otherwise are wrong? All in all, you are too confined to your own little opinion that you think those who think otherwise are either ignorant or wrong. I have no issue with you not liking the drama, not a bit, as I stated before the drama got its flaws; i have problem with your attitudes and disrespect towards other people’s opinions and preferences.
Enuit
LOL Tina sounds paid tbh this isn’t rocket science where you need all these proofs of concepts. All that’s required is 1 tiny simple thing call “LOGIC.”
There’s a food competition, somebody brought boiled water and they won the prize. How do I prove water isn’t the best, all the people presented happen to love water? I have no proof but of course but I’m not stupid, how realistic is it that boiled water would win as a best dish out of all other complex dishes? LOL! This show is full of super long conversations. We learned to watch dramas even at young ages like 5 or 6 cause of how fastly paced and action packed the dramas are. This show? Full of talking and no action at all, anybody would give up under 10 minutes or below, especially kids. All I’m saying is the rating and reviews are super unrealistic, I don’t think that’s offensive unless you’re paid to protect this show you would be angry. There are lots of confused people like me who found this utterly boring. We are completely puzzled about the hype. If the hype is extremely low and I still say they paid fans then I would be wrong, but this is something sitting at the top like it’s ruling drama land but the problem is it is very below average. If I approve this kind of act, next year’s dramas will get even more boring but paid fans will continue to say it’s even better than the a little bit better one last year. I guess it’s useless talking to somebody who doesn’t read. I already said it’s people who have different tastes and it’s not like I “know” them either. Who’s having attitude and blaming who. Either a paid fan is angry or it’s somebody who can’t stand honesty and the truth.
Tina
First, when people do genuinely like something, and you turn out so disrespectful by calling them paid/fake/embarrassing/ignorant, thats the trigger, and Im surprised you dont feel you were rude and offending people. Second, there is behavioral statistics used to analyze people’s pattern of behaviors, what most like, and what not, and that is science. Rambling and adding some fallacious analogies from time to time with an attempt to solidify the argument, that isnt even logic. If you cant prove in a proper scientific way then accept it your opinion or your friends’ represent literally NO ONE and not the most right or superior as you believe or try to make them appear be. In fact, if you are that passionate about drama industry, then do them some justice by having an appropriate standard scoring rubric as a tool for evaluation. Lastly, the point isnt even about whether the drama is generally good or bad. Its about your attitude of belittling people who like what you dont and acting all expert and more experienced than others, assuming others know less and therefore not agreeing with you. Some people know its more than just merelywatching and reading. People connect to drama in different ways; their personal experience, values, expectations, etc, and the angles from which they look at the drama. This drama fit well for some people in those aspects. Just because you cant connect, that doesnt mean you can categorize those who can as “ignorant” “fake”&”embarrassing”. Your attitudes and disrespect towards others and the groundless ego in drama judging field are what got you into this. Overgeneralizing based on one own’s tiny point of view and making fallacious negative assumptions about other people and things around are not even logics, and they do tell alot if you do have any. I dont wanna waste time reading more of the fallacious arguments you have to present nor associating with you anymore. Hope you get better with logics and attitudes as you age.
Xuan Yi
I kind of agree with Tina, I’m sorry to say that but I just don’t like toxic people. Well, I hate toxic people, I’ve met a lot of toxic people whether it’s 黑粉 (hei fen) or people from mlbb and even other games. Just saying, I’m not a paid fan. I’m a fan of Cheng Yi gege ever since 2 years ago, during the times when he acted in The Legend of Chusen. I’m a fan of Bai Shu gege (Teng She) ever since 2017 when I watched X-FIRE. I watched Listening Snow Tower and yes, there are so many amazing casts you see in Love and Redemption who appeared in Listening Snow Tower too, like Bing Yan jiejie (Xuan Ji), Cheng Yu gege (Liu Da Ge), Li Ze gege (Di Lang), Lu Peng gege (Qing Long), Meng Ni jiejie (Yu Ning) and of course our Bai Shu gege too. Honestly, I did not read the original story of Love and Redemption but as for the drama, all the casts really expressed their feelings very well and I can say that Love and Redemption is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Like what Tina said, all people have different opinions but being toxic is another thing. When I read Enuit’s comment, I felt nothing but toxic and hurt. I’m a huge fan of Love and Redemption, you just don’t know how fabulous and fantastic Xuan Ji jiejie, Cheng Yi gege, also the remaining casts are. Just a kind warning, please don’t be toxic especially when there are true fans like some of us who really love Love and Redemption, I hope you can learn your lesson though. Another thing is I really have to say Cheng Yi gege (Si Feng) really improved so much, and he really touched me from the bottom of my heart. To the standard that I feel that Si Feng is one of the best fictional character ever alongside with Zi Xuan in The Destiny of White Snake. Talking about the The Destiny of White Snake, Xue Yi gege (Hao Chen Shi Xiong) really did a great job too, we can feel the hatred we have for the character Hao Chen himself but always seem to like Xue Yi gege whether he’s the villain in the shows uwu Always supporting Love and Remption and I hope there are more true fans hehe :’)
Enuit
Way to go water! More injection please!
maritza
Amor y redención este drama me tiene atrapada el elenco me parece que lo realice muy bien no se porque hablan de la actuaciòn de ella si le queda tan bien de ingenua a mi parecer no puedo decir mucho porque no e leido el libro pero si los directores cambiaron el drama deben ser para darle otro enfoques,
Cherry
Love and Redemption is my favorite drama ending 2020 I absolutely love the actors I have my sisters watching it as well. I got my sisters hooked into cdramas with TMOPB and Legend of Fuyao we watched those dramas together binging. We are now highly addicted since TMOPB and LOF we are binging this one together as well. To the TOXIC Anti Fans keep hating bitches this drama is TheBOMBdotCOM WE LUV IT
Yuri
What is LOF??? Hopefully it’s not Legend of Fei, bc FYI it’s not even out. If it is Legend of Fei, sounds like somebody is paid here. To say good stuff about things they didn’t even watch yet, they forgot what they seen and had not seen. RFLOL.
Nina
@yuri LOF – Legend of Fuyao ?
if you know how to read. she said it above. pathetic
Yuri
Legend of Fu Yao = LOFY ?
khaly
I think @Enuit is a paid hater.
Lisa
@khaly, I think you might be right! ^^;;
I’ve just finished Love and Redemption, and the characters really grew on me. I usually skip long fighting scenes, as I do for most dramas I watch. (I’m just not into fighting scenes due to the blood and violence), but I couldn’t help but watch Cheng Yi’s fighting scenes. How can someone be so full of grace, yet power when fighting? Seriously! I’ve never heard of this actor before, but now I’m surely going to check out his other work. Crystal Yuan is cute, At first, I didn’t find her pretty, but her acting is on point as the naive and cute character, without being annoying. Some actresses who act naive characters are too annoying before their character development occurs. In this drama’s case, it was so natural and fluffy in the beginning. Anyways, hope more people can enjoy this drama for what it is – nice entertainment!
Kim
The most hideous comments I have ever read on here are from @Enuit. I can’t believe there are people like you in this world. You have not live in the shoes of these two main leads and you’re over here making salty comments like you know it at. You’re so critical about this drama, is this how you live your life? Instead of wasting your time relying back and trying to prove your point, use your time on something more beneficial for your life. You can go ahead and live in that little bubble of yours and assume that people are being paid as fake fan. I wonder if you’re also being paid to write this? Hmmm. Well I enjoyed watching Love and Redemption and the leads have one of the best chemistry. I have seen so much improvement in these two leads and they don’t deserve these kind of negativity.
@tina you are absolutely awesome with your responses! We don’t need these kind of toxic people who think they know it all.
khaly
@Lisa, I’m with you on the fighting scenes. I like his facial expressions during the fighting scenes and all his moves are real! I saw some behind the scene clips that show Cheng Yi really practiced for his role. I’m glad I stumbled upon L&R. I like the characters and really enjoyed this drama series. I love the wholesomeness ending. After L&R, I definitely will check out more of the male & female leads’ projects.
ASTER
@Enuit, you are probably a paid toxic fans. Not all who commented here and give positive review in the drama LaR are paid fans. Most of them are really honest and voluntary fans who love the drama itself. Well as Tina said, not everyone have same preferences but being toxic fans is another issue and most toxic fans are the paid ones to destroy such wonderful work of others. I wonder if you try watching the drama before giving your damn comments. I really hate toxic fans. You are just showing how your personality in real life is worst than a damon’s attitude. Being a toxic, you are just showing how unlovable person are you. If you dislike one’s work better keep silent and focus on your own business that make you happy. Remember, there will always karma in what ever you do in this lifetime. Just spend your time doing good things than destroying other’s hard work. Don’t act as if you know everything and don’t just base your perception to other’s opinion coz their opinions are not even your opinion. Good will always reign over bad at the end of everything.
Love and Redemption is a good drama with all the casts work so hard to give a satisfying result to viewers. If this is not your cup of tea then better simply find what suits your satisfaction rather than implicating other’s happiness. AND FYI, I AM NOT A PAID FAN ALSO. Keep that in mind, I am telling here, not all who comments here with good reviews are paid fans. @Tina, I am here with your fight and to all not toxic fans over there.?
Vivienne Shrestha
I really liked Love and Redemption and I am not a paid fan. I read the comments of fans above and I agree with them. The acting is really good that I used to re-watch some scenes. There is indeed lots of misunderstandings but the end satisfies all. I loved the twists and turns. It was a roller coaster ride. I recommend this drama. And waiting for S2.
Thong yovmey
Love and redemption. So excellent for chengyi and bingyan