Love Like the Galaxy (Part 1 &2): Spoiler-Free Mini Review

Jul 10
2 min read

Updated: Aug 17

Title:	Love like the Galaxy (Part 1 & 2) (2022)
Platform:	Viki, Youtube, WeTV, iflix
MDL Rating:	*8.9*
Genre:	Period Idol Romance
Episode Count:	56
Parental Guidance Rating:	TV-14: Violence, bloodshed (seriously), brief torture, suicide.
Staring:	Leo Wu as Ling Bu Yi/Zi Sheng (Male Lead/ML) Zhao Lusi as Cheng Shao Shang (Female Lead/FL)
RBTS Rating:	4.8/5 Stars (This is more reflective of enjoyment than quality, but I feel what I feel)

Stay tuned for my full review!

LLTG has a huge ensemble cast. This isn't even everyone lol.

Spoiler-Free Mini Review:

All Hail my very first C-Drama, Love Like the Galaxy. I saw a random clip on Youtube about "Cinderella" and I thought this was a Chinese retelling lol. It's not, those thumb nail people are trolls. What caught my attention about the drama was how similar it felt to the BBC Period Dramas of my youth. There were so many interesting character studies, moral complexities, laugh out loud humor, and commentary on class that captured the feel of a Charles Dickens. The Female Lead even reminded of Jane Austen's Emma, and like that character, found her harder to like in the early episodes before her character growth. This was not the case for me though! But Be Ye warned: I am an avid LLtG and Shoashang apologist.

The drama splits its time between family dynamics, romance, court machinations, and... revenge! The majority of people are not dubbed! Miracles! For a Chinese show this is a masterpiece lol. LLtG has a phenomenal ensemble cast and every character is so layered. It balances the humor and serious moments well. There are some more intense moments with brief torture scenes and sword fights, but it stayed within the TV-14 sphere.

Towards the end it will feel like you’re missing episodes. You are not crazy, but you are not in fact missing episodes. When the show came out, China had just passed an episode count limit law, so more was filmed, but wasn't included due to the episode limit, so the show cut out a couple storylines.

While not objectively the best C Drama in existence, this is my favorite. I read all 5 volumes of this novel and boy is it different. In the book the FL is a 22 yo modern girl who is yeeted into 13 yo Shoashang's body. The ML is cray, she has extra brothers, her mother isn't as bad, and the story is not interconnected. These screen writers really did the Lord's work-- rarely, is a drama better than the book, but it is in this case!