Chinese Drama: Lost Love in Times
Broadcast Date: 7/13/2017
Airs: Thursdays & Fridays
Total Episodes: 54
Leads: Liu Shi Shi & William Chen
Synopsis: A young sorceress of the mysterious Mingyi Tower, our heroine Feng Qing Chen saves our hero, the fourth prince by chance when he was framed by the king and forced to jump off a cliff by his brothers. Falling in love with our hero, Qing Chen decides to marry him despite the strong opposition to their union (including the heavens itself) from all sides. Believing their love would conquer all, our two leads move ahead with their wedding…until Yuan Ling’s brother mobilizes a coup on the day of the wedding ceremony and our heroine is forced to cast a powerful spell to create a different space dimension…one where the hero doesn’t know her and one where she promises to not let our hero fall in love with her.
Ninja’s First Impression:
I have been SO excited for this one to air! I wasn’t sure how much time the writer would spend at the pre-BIG spell portion of the story at first, but judging by the break neck pacing of the first four episodes we are obviously going to be speeding right past this part. I have always had this weird fondness for plots that involve reunions between ex-lovers where one of the two has lost memories of the other so I am happy that the writer will be devoting most of the time to that part of the story. The only problem with the breakneck speed though is that the story feels rushed and lots of plot holes everywhere. However, I am assuming both of those problems will go away once we are done will the background story set up…at least I really hope they will.
On a happier note, I am very satisfied with the casting choice so far. William Chen looks heart stoppingly handsome as always and Liu Shi Shi is also doing a good job portraying our very conflicted heroine. The two leads’ relationship progressed so fast in the first four episodes that there really wasn’t time for much sizzling awareness moments, but what the director managed to put in was enough to show that our two leads do have a good chemistry together.
All in all, a bit flawed but very promising start to Lost Love in Times. Looks like this coming week is when the big time/space spell happens so I am eagerly waiting to see if that will fix my minor complaints and make this one addicting.
Bonus mini recap…because I am too stubborn to go to bed:
Lost Love in Times Episode 1-4
In the middle of her important sorceress test, our heroine Feng Qing Chen looks up with surprise when she sees a man about to fall to his death. Using her power to save the man, Qing Chen curiously checks our hero’s injury before informing him that he has landed in the forbidden forest of Mingyi Tower and it would be in his best interest to leave as soon as possible. Knowing full well that she would be in big trouble if her master discovers the injured man but too soft hearted to just leave him to die, Qing Chen decides to hide him until his wounds heal.
Puzzled when the injured man remains unconscious even after his wounds have healed sufficiently, Qing Chen finally resorts to threatening our “unconscious” hero until he decides it’s time to wake up. Not about to get kicked out of Mingyi Tower especially knowing his brothers are all stationed right outside waiting to kill him, our hero convinces Qing Chen to show him around.
A surprise visit from her master who tells her about the 4th prince falling off the cliff and hands her the emperor’s seal for safe keeping finally tips off who the injured man’s identity… along with his real purpose for showing up at the Tower. Turns out, our hero, Prince Yuan Ling is actually not the son of the current emperor. The current emperor is the hero’s uncle who not only killed his father for the throne but then forcefully took his brother’s wife (hero’s mother) as his own. With the Mingyi Tower’s help, our hero’s mother was able to successfully hide her pregnancy and convinced the current emperor that Yuan Ling is his own son. Already weary of Yuan Ling’s fame among the people, the current emperor becomes fearful of our hero once he finds out that Yuan Ling is his brother’s son.
Charged with protecting the royal family, Mingyi Tower has been entrusted with the sacred seal and the old emperor’s decree that will make Yuan Ling the next rightful emperor. Willing to bury his family feud in order to avoid the blood shed that will bring to the common people, Yuan Ling is ready to make peace but the emperor and his many sons are determined to kill him.
Paying the emperor a personal visit, Qing Chen’s master hopes to exact a promise from the emperor to not seek Yuan Ling’s life anymore. Unfortunately, the emperor lies to Qing Chen’s master and he ends up dying from the wounds he sustained while fighting the dark sorceress. (Plot hole: The dark sorceress used to be part of Mingyi Tower but they are somehow so powerful that they could hurt our heroine and kill her master rather easily.) Realizing there is not a way to placate those who are set to kill him, Yuan Ling revolts and takes his rightful place at the throne.
With her master dead, our heroine is hit with grief and heavy responsibility to take care of Mingyi Tower. Undaunted by the heroine’s repeated refusal of his proposal, Yuan Ling is convinced that Qing Chen’s place is right next to him as his queen and not wasting away alone forever as a sorceress. Worn down by Yuan Ling’s persistence, Qing Chen finally agrees that once a Sacred Sorceress has been chosen by Mingyi Tower, then she could put down her responsibilities as a sorceress.
Dismayed and stunned when Qing Chen turns out to be THE Sacred Sorceress, Yuan Ling refuses to accept Qing Chen’s request for him to forget her. Faced with our hero vehement demands “I can’t forget you. Can you forget me?!”, Qing Chen calmly reminds him of the old prophecy that predicts an emperor’s union with the Sacred Sorceress will bring destruction to the land. Unbeknownst to our hero, there is actually a second prophecy that says when two stars meet, unrest will begin and ends with the death of one of the star. Since we are piling on reasons why our two leads shouldn’t be together, they are of course the two stars. To add insult to injury, as the Sacred Sorceress, Qing Chen is also tasked with the job of choosing a wedding date for the new emperor and his future wife.
Frustrated by Qing Chen’s continual talk of responsibilities and calm demeanor as she encourages him to marry some other woman, Yuan Ling plants an angry kiss on Qing Chen then declares that heaven’s will or not, she will be his queen.
As expected, Yuan Ling’s choice for his queen was met with fervent opposition (except our villain, the seventh prince who controls the dark sorceress and is planning his own ascension to the throne ). Ignoring the cries of opposition, Yuan Ling sends a decree to Mingyi Tower to first take away Qing Chen’s title as Sacred Sorceress then orders her to marry him on the date she has already chosen. Moved by Yuan Ling’s determination to go against heaven and earth for her, Qing Chen finally decides to throw caution to the wind. Not realizing Qing Chen is coming to him with the resignation to die to save him (remember, one of the two stars has to die) Yuan Ling smiles with relief and excitement once he finds out that Qing Chen has formally asked to withdraw from Mingyi Tower.
Thrown into a snowy mountain to face deadly attacks coming at her from all sides, Qing Chen meekly accepts the deadly ordeal that is the precondition of leaving Mingyi Tower. While our heroine is fighting for her life, Yuan Ling has barged into Mingyi Tower to demand to join Qing Chen on her deadly ordeal.
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