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Love of Nirvana: Spoiler-Free Mini Review

Jul 25
3 min read

Updated: Sep 21

Love of Nirvana Poster with Ren Jialun and Landy Li

Title:

Love of Nirvana (2024) 流水迢迢

Platform:

WeTV, iQIYI, Viki, Youtube (free)

MDL & Douban Rating:

8.2 & 6.8

Genre:

Period Idol Romance/ (light) Wuxia

Episode Count:

40

Parental Guidance Rating:

TV-14: I'd say more of a TV-16 vibe for violence, blood, and torture. Get ready for some C-trauma. lolz.

Starring:

Ren Jia Lun (Under the Power)

Landy Li (Coroner's Diary)

Jeremy Xu (The Autumn Ballad)

Gao He Yuan (Wonderland of Love)

RBTS Rating:

7/10 Stars: An enemies to lovers romance filled with angst, revenge, and Stockholm Syndrome. It's decent for the type of tangled love story it is, but isn't for everyone.


Cast From Left to Right: #RenJiaLun, #LandyLi, #JeremyXu, #GaoHeYuan


Synopsis:

Xiao Wu Xia, the young lord of Yueluo City, lives in hiding as Wei Zhao in Liang Kingdom, seeking to uncover the truth behind his family's fall and capture the sole survivor of Prince Qi’s case. His plans are disrupted when Jiang Ci is injured and taken in by Pei Yan, who seeks to uncover the forces behind the chaos. As they bond, Jiang Ci’s innocence and Wei Zhao’s tragic past lead to mutual affection. Together, Wei Zhao, Jiang Ci, and Pei Yan unite against the Liang Emperor to protect Yueluo City and create a just world. @MDL




Spoiler-Free Mini Review:

Love of Nirvana felt like the spiritual success of Goodbye, My Princess with its angsty romance, generally confused Female Lead, and trashcan love interests. Why are all these men so crazy!? Although it has the iconic "Nirvana" in the title, it has NO relation to Nirvana in Fire or Royal Nirvana. I did, in fact, go in thinking it was a spin off of NiF, but I figured out they were not connected real quick. lol.


Ren Jialun in a mask in the C-Drama Love of Nirvana
Not every idol romance needs a half mask. Why make every Male Lead Bane?

The romance is a true enemies to lovers, and I appreciate that the narrative held true to that premise. Too many times the leads are merely rivals, or fall in love after one episode when the marketing emphasized the inclusion of the trope , but it was not the case here. There is a danger to making the leads actual enemies in that it also made it hard to root for them as a couple, especially since the ML was so awful to the FL. I think homegirl would be better off solo. Stockholm Syndrome hit her hard. All the men were truly just awful. As was the electric guitar music. Landy Li (FL actress) did a good job with the material, and Jeremy Xu (2ML) was very Jeremy Xu. I've never been impressed by Ren Jia Lun (ML actor), and this didn't change that.


I, by no means, hated Love of Nirvana. The female lead was actually an interesting character and the political plot had meat to it, but there was just so much crazy. Which can be fun. But it wasn't always. I'm torn.


Love of Nirvana Cast Poster

Story=3.5 (Would have been more solid had it been less crazy), Acting=3.25 (FL carried this), Production Quality=4 (Solid), Ending=3 (Passable I guess but C-Trauma), Enjoyability= 3.5 (Fine)


Trailer:


Director: #ZhouJingTao (Archives: The nanyang Mystery, A Journey to Love, Guardian)

Screenwriter: #XiaoLou


*Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images used on this blog. All images belong to their respective copyright holders and are used for commentary and review purposes. All reviews, opinions, and statements expressed on this blog are my own and are intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. They reflect my personal thoughts and interpretations and should not be considered as factual.



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