Lost love in times is based on the novel Drunken Exquisiteness
Drunk Linglong.
Cast:
Liu Shishi (Cecilia Liu), Chan Wai-Ting (William Chan), Xu Haiqiao, Gong Jun
Episodes:
56 Episodes and one season
Genre:
Historical Fiction, Romance, Fantasy
Summary:
Qingchen is the Grand Sorceress of the Mages, sheltered by her teacher Elder Xixie and the Head Sorceress, Tao Yao. Yuan Ling, the fourth prince of Great Wei, is known as the God of War, having never lost a battle since becoming the commander of the army.
Both Qingchen and Yuan Ling are part of the “Dual Star” destined to meet and fall in love. However, their love is foretold to bring disaster upon the world. Aware of this, Qingchen tries to suppress her feelings, but fails, as Yuan Ling shares the same emotions.
The current king, who seized the throne by killing Yuan Ling’s father, is not the rightful ruler. Yuan Ling, as the true heir, eventually overthrows the king and claims his birthright. After ascending the throne, he proposes to Qingchen, and she accepts.
Despite opposition from many, their wedding day arrives but so does the disaster. The seventh prince, Yuan Zhen, launches an attack on the wedding altar with the help of a dark sorceress in an attempt to seize the throne.
To prevent calamity, Elder Tao Yao gives Qingchen the sacred Nine Pebbles of Transformation, allowing her to alter the timeline. In the new timeline, no one knows her true identity. Qingchen is determined to prevent Yuan Ling from falling in love with her again, believing that doing so will avert the foretold disaster.
But to her shock, the seventh prince, Yuan Zhen, is a completely different person in this altered timeline. Now, Qingchen must navigate this new reality, ensure Yuan Ling becomes emperor, and find a way to return to her original timeline all while struggling against fate and her own feelings.
Characters & Performances:
Both Liu Shishi and William Chan were brilliant in their roles. Gong Jun, with his silly antics, was quite adorable in this drama. He constantly follows his fourth brother and is in love with Caiqian, who is the cousin of the 7th prince.
I found the character of the Crown Prince somewhat lacking maybe it was written that way, but there was no real character development for him. On the other hand, the character of the 3rd prince was quite pitiful, and the actor portrayed it to perfection. You could feel his pain just by looking into his eyes.
The malice and viciousness of the 9th prince were so convincingly acted that for a moment, you’d believe he might be like that in real life too.
Overall, I think every single one of them delivered brilliant performances.
What I Loved:
What I really loved was Qingchen’s strong character. She wasn’t a Mary Sue yes, she made mistakes, but she did everything in her power to help Yuan Ling, and even Yuan Zhen in some cases. Maybe that’s why, due to her strength and resilience, both brothers ended up falling in love with her.
Yuan Zhen’s character in the alternate timeline was brilliant. He was a strategic mastermind with strong principles a complete opposite of his power-hungry self in the original timeline. He knew when to stop his advances and respected boundaries, which made his growth even more compelling.
Yuan Che, played by Gong Jun, was a delight. His innocent and goofy nature always brought a smile. He was silly in love and did everything he could to assist his brother.
Elder Tao Yao and Elder Mo were incredibly supportive of Qingchen. Even though they didn’t initially know her true identity, they trusted her judgment and stood by her side. The bonds and relationships in the drama were portrayed beautifully, making them one of the most touching aspects of the series.
What I Didn’t Like:
What I didn’t like was the A’Chai tribe arc I honestly don’t understand why the director included it, as it didn’t contribute much to the overall story. The A’Chai tribe princess, Duoxia, fell in love with Yuan Ling, unaware that her own childhood friend and the A’Chai tribe’s general, Mukesha, was also in love with her.
In an effort to pursue Yuan Ling, Duoxia came to Great Wei proposing a marital alliance, hoping that if the Liang state ever attacked, Great Wei would support the A’Chai tribe. When she met the emperor, she boldly declared her desire to marry the fourth prince, not the crown prince.
That was certainly a bold move, but at least she had the courage to follow her heart. Even the crown prince backed out of the arrangement, as he was in love with someone else.
In the end, Yuan Ling married Duoxia on his own terms to protect Qingchen, as the emperor had threatened Qingchen’s life. However, Mukesha ultimately betrayed Duoxia’s trust, and both he and Duoxia perished together. This entire subplot felt disconnected from the main story. I think the plot would have been just fine without this arc.
Another shocking element was the reveal about Yuan Ling’s mother she is the leader of the dark sorceresses. Yet no one suspected her for so many years. Although there were some signs of suspicion, the emperor remained blind to them, likely because he was in love with her.
In fact, he had even married her after killing his own brother she was his brother’s wife. That twist felt dramatic, but somewhat unconvincing given the lack of earlier buildup.
Final Thoughts:
The drama was good, but I didn’t quite understand the ending because it wasn’t clearly explained. In the end, it seemed like both timelines merged. In the first timeline, Prince Zhen was evil and Elder Xixie died.
In the second timeline, Elder Tao Yao died and Prince Zhen was noble. But in the ending, they showed Prince Zhen as the emperor and mind you, it wasn’t the evil Zhen, but the noble one.
The scene where Elder Tao Yao and Elder Xixie meet, I perceived it as Tao Yao from the first timeline and Xixie from the second timeline so it felt like a happy ending for both of them.
After all the heartbreak and bloodshed, Qingchen and Yuan Ling finally ended up together happily. Yuan Ling gave up the throne to Prince Zhen, and the emperor secluded himself from politics. Everyone received a fitting ending.
One thing that felt repetitive and dragging was Prince Ming (the ninth prince) and his constant confession of love for his dead wife. Like dude, we get it you loved her. If you can’t move on, at least don’t harm innocent people.
But no, he became the ultimate villain alongside Yuan Ling’s mother, Consort Lian. Prince Ming committed every evil act possible, and yet the first time he was cornered, he was saved by his brother, the third prince, who was close to him.
The second time, when we thought he would finally face retribution, he was saved again this time by his sister-in-law, Luan Fei, who was in love with him. Like, seriously… can it get any weirder than this?
Apparently, this same sister-in-law also played with the crown prince’s heart due to the ninth prince’s manipulation. Prince Ming was finally killed near the very end by Yuan Ling and thank goodness, because no one came to save him that time.
As for the other major villain Yuan Ling’s mother her ending was quite abrupt. She had this fantasy of reuniting with her dead husband from the first timeline, and in order to achieve that, she wanted to kill Qingchen. But when Qingchen told her that both she and her husband were already dead in the first timeline, she was heartbroken.
After that, it wasn’t clear whether she killed herself or became a star or what happened — she was simply pulled toward the Nine Pebbles of Transformation when they were activated again. It felt unresolved.
Then there’s the 12th prince, who was the guardian of the Nine Pebbles all along and was secretly helping Qingchen. Nobody suspected him for his strange behavior. I mean, the king was so paranoid about the mages, yet he never suspected that his own son could be connected to something magical. That part didn’t make much sense.
The entire drama revolved around the prophecy of the Dual Stars, and yet, in the end, the Dual Stars reunited. So what was the purpose of the prophecy after all? According to it, if one rises, the other must fall. But that didn’t happen. I don’t understand what happened to the other characters when the timelines merged I really wish the drama had explained this better. It made the ending feel incomplete for me.
Out of all the brothers, the crown prince escaped the scene of power, and Prince Che was left unconscious although there’s a spin-off series that explores his story. So, in the end, only the 7th and 4th princes remained in the spotlight.
There were too many filler episodes. Some could have definitely been cut to make the drama shorter. I think 50 episodes would have been ideal. But that’s just my opinion maybe some viewers enjoyed the pacing the way it was.
Rating:
I would have given it 4.5 stars, but the dragging at the end really got annoying so 4 stars.
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