'Love Like the Galaxy' is absolute nuts - and I'm here for all of it!

As I write this, the note next to the thumbnail of the next two episodes says 'Available in one day'. I have checked and refreshed this page on the app several times in the past 24 hours and over the past few days as well, always harboring this miniscule hope that ju....ust maybe they slipped and decided just this one time to release the new episodes earlier - dreams are free after all. But, it is as it was the last time I checked, and I have to wait. Usually this is no problem. If there has to be a wait for new episodes of a drama I am watching, I just wait or get into a different drama altogether while I patiently wait for enough episodes of the on-going one to be uploaded before going back to it. But that is hardly the case this time around! For some reason, it seems almost impossible to put down this drama series. As I cautiously read through the comments by fellow viewers - a feature of this platform I both love and hate (a story for another post) - I see that I am not alone in this eagerness and impatience. There are tons of comments expressing impatience for the next episodes to be released, some confessing to having gone to watch on an external platform because they couldn't wait any longer and many, like me, who said they were re-watching the past episodes while waiting for the new ones.

So, with the abundance of things on TV and no end to the selection one can make, what is it about this drama series that has hundreds and thousands of people glued to their screens and eagerly awaiting the next episodes while consciously hating the thought that the series will one day, very soon, draw to a close?

The story of this Chinese drama centers around a young girl, Cheng Shaoshang, who is of marriageable age, 15 years by Han Dynasty standards, which is the supposed time setting for this drama. Through the devious scheming of certain extended family members, she is left behind by her parents, both soldiers, as they respond to their emperor's call to war for their country. Being left behind, has led to a string of detrimental circumstances for this young girl who has to learn to fight her way to survival in the hands of the people she has been entrusted to. Despite the continuous stream of money sent home for her upkeep and other matters by her warring parents, she has been left formally uneducated , crude, unruly and untrusting, getting by under quite deprived conditions in the countryside with her personal maid, while the rest of the family lives on in pomp in the city on her parents' good graces. During this process, she has learned to rely on no one but herself, making use of whatever resource is available to her to defy the powers that be in her family and has somewhat succeeded.

All this however changes when at the news that her parents impending return, she is sent back to the capital. Before being dragged back to avoid her parents detection of the family's abandonment, she incidentally helps our male lead, the revered and feared General Ling Bu Yi uncover a part of a plot he is investigating, which sparks his curiosity for this lady whom he only hears but does not see during the interaction.

From here on, we are introduced to and taken on a journey that involves several desperately flawed characters, very human and realistic in their presentation, with a quest of their own as part of a well-connected overall plot. We come to pity Shaoshang, affectionately called Niao Niao, after finding out to what extent she really has been left to the dogs, but quickly sit up in awe of her scheming ways and a degree of annoyance but also understanding at her naivete and untrusting nature. We fall in love quickly with our courageous general but are quick to realize how utterly dangerous he is as well and have to decide if we are in love with his resoluteness in all things or terribly afraid of his unforgiving nature and vendetta and determination for retribution. After his clan's annihilation and the mystery surrounding it, he is hellbent on one goal and one goal only and although this is what we know rom the start, we soon discover that there are things we don't know as well. We are frustrated by our female lead's mother who after being away from her daughter since her birth, is struggling with reconnecting with her to the extent of belittling her in front of everyone and favoring others over her but also we can't help but wonder why exactly she is making these moves and if there is something we are yet to discover about her or if it's just the growth path she is on. There is also the emperor, who may just be our favorite emperor from a fictional Chinese historical drama. We don't mind that he loves our male lead a tad bit more than his own children and does not hesitate to show it but we also wonder if he is hiding something and just how much are our hearts going to break when we find out what exactly it is.

The character plots are endless and frankly leaves the viewer with no boring moments. The actors themselves blow the drama out of the ballpark with stellar skills and believable acting that takes us through a rollercoaster of hilarious moments, well-written dialogue, beautiful imagery, crafty devising and of course heart-wrenching moments that will definitely leave no eyes dry. Annoying characters are so annoying one could pull their hair out, hated characters leave absolutely no crumbs in executing their parts and the characters we love come in shades of love with a generous serving of flaws which we can't help but relate with.

The direction, screenplay and costumes have not even been mentioned so far and yet all those have been executed to a T. There are several individual themes that could be explored within this drama but would make a post like this one too long, so I'll reserve those for later. However, if you haven't seen a Chinese drama series before, you may want to test the waters with this one. If you are a veteran but on the fence as top whether to give it some of your already maxed-out time, you won't regret giving it your attention. If you are already watching this drama, I would love to say hi and to get your thoughts on it too.

For now, I watch the previous episodes to pick up any clues I may have missed previously and really, just to give myself a second, third and even fourth dose of the wonderful storyline and moments that mark the developing love story between Ling Bu Yi and Cheng Shaoshang, while I wait for the next episodes to be uploaded and hope that the series doesn't actually end. It's that good!

I just hope it is after all, a happy-ending for our leads.