Jiu Chen gets what he wants.

Love and Destiny is a beautiful drama. It surpasses all others in terms of aesthetics. The costuming, the locations, the casting is all top notch. Sadly, as much as I'd like to tell off all the nay-sayers who say Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms is a better story; in truth, they're right. Love and Destiny's plot is not unique, it wains after the second arc and the ending is rushed with no build up.

Love and Destiny is more of a character drama than a romance for it focuses on the development of Ling Xi. Every time the drama pulls away to other characters there's nothing new to see. There is a side couple; Yun Feng and Qing Yao, who develop a satisfying relationship. Aside from that, the drama is not daring enough to flesh out other characters and develop their own unique story-lines. It's always playing it safe. It's about Ling Xi and War God's love for her.

As far as Ling Xi goes; she is an interesting and relateable character. She starts off immature and bubbly, becomes guarded after hardship then by the third act, she's a mix of both. While I liked seeing her become wise to the world, a part of me missed her bubbliness because it complimented her male lead's icy personality. She became cold. Seeing her tell off enemies just felt petty and I missed the Ling Xi that had compassion even for monsters.

Then there's War God, Jiu Chen. While being a major character, he is the weakest part of the drama. He never changes, unlike his leading lady. There's no humbling low point that he goes through, nothing that you can really empathize with. War God is always powerful, in charge and controlling. No fault with Chang Chen's acting, but his character felt like a fantasy of the ideal guy, not a real person. Secondly for a supposedly mature character, he makes a lot of callow, impulsive decisions regarding Ling Xi; leading to my second issue.

For a "love" story their relationship strikes me as unhealthy. He kills her twice, doesn't communicate properly, makes decisions for her, doesn't respect her choices and is dangerously more powerful. When he pursues Ling Xi to such testosterone driven levels and with her inability to fend him off; it feels borderline abusive. To call that a mature relationship is an insult to actual mature relationships. Did I mention he called her dumb, weak and useless?

The second lead, Jing Xiu undergoes what I think War God should have undergone. He loses his power, position and suffers a trial in the mortal realm. There was also more focus on his back story than Jiu Chen's. On top of that, I found his relationship with Ling Xi to be more respectful and honest. Unfortunately, If you like his character, you will not like his ending... at all.

I truly wanted this to be my all time favourite drama but after giving it a hard look I'm realizing how superficial it actually is and it hurts to say it. Yes the acting was good and yes the characters are attractive but Love and Destiny's beauty is only skin deep.

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