I watched this drama as it had high ratings, but I liked it less and less as the episodes progressed. As a xianxia romance - it had all the xianxia elements needed for a compelling story. Still, the romance got tiring as the story progressed, misunderstandings kept piling up, and it had an underwhelming second half and ending.

Love and Redemption could have easily been an excellent romance if the lead characters were a little more balanced. The earlier episodes were the best as it was light. The imbalance in the relationship between Chu Xuanji and Yu Sifeng could be attributed to Xuanji’s lack of the five senses. I sympathized with both the leads, Sifeng, with his undying love and Xuanji not understanding it due to her loss of six senses. But as she starts recovering her senses, I found her character to be childish, easily manipulated, and frankly not reciprocating the affection Sifeng kept pouring onto her.

Coming to Yu Sifeng, while I appreciate an ML who is unwavering in his love for the FL, the repeated hurt and near-death situations the ML had to go through got a little ridiculous, and I stopped feeling hurt for him as the episodes went on. I liked Cheng Yi’s portrayal of Yu Sifeng, but it felt one-dimensional as the story progressed. Among the main cast, he and Liu Xue Yi, who plays Hao Chen did a good job.I have never been as frustrated watching a villain go about his villainous ways as when I see Hao Chen/King Bailing and have to give props to the actor for his portrayal here.

Christal Yuan’s character, however, was endearing at first, and she had undeniable chemistry with Cheng Yi, but as the plot progressed and the story wanted to show us a more mature Xuanji who recovered her senses and who is the God of War -- she was not convincing to me. She felt stubborn and arrogant and way too easily manipulated. The number of times the FL was manipulated and never once stopped to think was frustrating and honestly regressed her character. Add to that the way she kept fluctuating between misunderstanding him and wanting to kill him made me pull my hair out.

I also did not like the self-righteousness of all those sect leaders and was really hoping to see them die, but it seemed like they got off too easy and never had to pay for any of their

I liked the secondary characters a lot. My favorites were Teng She, Wu Zhi She, Purple fox, Ting Nu, and Liu Yi Huan. Honestly, I just kept watching the show because of their stories. The ending tied all the loose ends but still felt unsatisfactory to me. For all the pain I went through for 50 + episodes, it all seemed to come to a close without any real consequences to all involved, and I could not find an emotional high/satisfaction from the ending.

I liked the OST, especially the opening by Liu Yuning.

Overall, I will never recommend this to anyone and wish I could get my time back.

4/10