I will admit, I was pretty excited for Immortal Samsara. Xianxia dramas are always exciting to watch. You have out of the world costumes and new rules to follow. I was a little surprised the ratings weren’t higher while the show was airing, but I still wanted to watch it.

Yang Zi has mixed reviews in regard towards her acting and I understand. I did like her in Ashes of Love, which she was in four years ago, so I would think her acting style should have changed a little. She’s pretty much true to her craft, but for the life of me, something felt a little off in this drama. I think maybe it was the way she dubbed her voice? Her voice is deeper, which I appreciated, but her acting didn’t shine through.

I thought Cheng Yi has some strong and weak moments in the drama as well. I thought he was okay in Love and Redemption, but I felt like he was a lot better in Immortal Samsara. I didn’t care for his cold stoic personality, after watching The Love Between Fairy and Devil, there is a way to act cold, but not dry. I appreciated the scenes when Chen Yi was lively and living in the mortal world.

I don’t think it’s fair to compare this drama to the classics because this drama’s tone is very different. The classic dramas rely heavily on angst between the leads. This drama didn’t have high angst, which I appreciated it.

In a world where one couldn’t love, what could go wrong? Once I realized that was the focal and theme of the show, I thought, oh no, how is this going to play out for 61 episodes? It’s a plot device that carries a lot of holes.

How can the immortals be robots, they can’t love, but they can be happy, kind, loyal, etc. They show a range of emotions and all of those emotions come from love. Oh, so you are saying, you can be a person with emotions, you just can’t be in a relationship with someone? It just doesn’t make sense.

The first 20 episodes were okay, some reviewers liked these parts more, for me, it was hit or miss depending on if the scene was fast pace or not. I enjoyed the main leads getting to know each other, but I did feel like they caught feelings real quick.

I enjoyed the second arc more when they were in the mortal world. Yes, very much like the classics, (reborn into another life) but for these 30 something episodes, it was just fun, light and I enjoyed all the little issues the main leads (including secondary ML) went through, because they did it together. It was like I was watching an entirely different drama.

The drama could have been cut down 10-20 episodes, there was a lot of dialogue and non-fun side stories. I didn’t connect with any of the side stories, which is rare for me in a long drama. The drama focused so much on the main storyline, you couldn’t connect to any secondary character (except for the secondary ML).

The main leads go through the up and down hardships of their relationships and I was actually fine with this, but towards the end, it did get a little too much and I was kind of worn out. It also didn’t help that I wasn’t a fan of the OST, so I wasn’t moved as much as I could have been. The music was very dated.

I did enjoy how much the ML loved the FL and he never wavered or thought ill of her. This was very different from the classics. I wanted the FL to be strong-willed and she was that.

Overall, it was an okay drama with okay acting and not so okay OST. I think it’s worth watching if you are a fan of the genre, actors or long dramas. It will pass the time.