Chinese Drama 2023
The Starry Love (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)
Love When The Stars Fall poster
- Genre: Historical Costume Drama Fiction, Xianxia
- Release Date: 16 February 2023
- Origin: China; from Honey Trilogy
- Cdrama: 40 Episodes
Cast
- Chen Xingxu as Empyrean Xuan Shang / Shao Dian You Qin / La Mu / Mei You Qing
- Li Landi as Princess Ye Tan
- Luke Chen as Third Prince Chao Feng (Third Prince of Void)
- He Xuan Lin as Princess Qing Kui
- Cao Jie as Fei Chi
- Zhou Zhan as Lord Qing Heng
- Yolanda Yang as Beast Queen
- Qin Tian Yu as Di Lan Jue
- Gong Zheng Ye as Zhu Jiu Yin / Zhu Duan Shan
- Jigmey as Ding Yun (Second Prince of Void)
- Dai Ya Qi as Zi Wu
- Ji Tian Yu as Jia Lou Luo
- Russel Tang as Prince Chen Yuan Li
- Jiang Xiao Lin as Wu Dai (First Prince of Void)
- Bai Yu Fei as Hu Sui
- Wang Li Na as Man Man
- Cao Bo as Gu Hai Chao
- Chen Si Che as Bi Qiong
- Xia Ming Hao as Li Guang Yang
- Wang Ruo Xi as Su Shui
- Zhang Hao Xiang as Er Lang Shen
- Michelle Hu as Empress Chen Yuan
Snippets
- 11 April 2020: Good news for the fans, like me, of Ashes of Love and Skate Into Love. Apparently, the third book of this Honey series will combine the cast of both Ashes of Love and Skate Into Love into the final drama of the trilogy which will be called Love When The Stars Fall.
- I don’t think the above will happen as there were different castings.
- 29 September 2021: The filming ceremony was held today.
- 2 Feb 2023: This drama had been retitled from Love When The Stars Fall to The Starry Love.
Episode 1
I really like the first episode. I even shed a little tear at how miserable the first 18 years of Princess Yetan’s life were.
The blurb says that at the beginning of time, all creatures were given purity and impurity or Superego and Id. Anyway, there were four realms which are guarded by the heavenly immortals. Chaos tried to destroy the world but the immortals were able to seal Chaos in Guixu. However, a tree started to flourish because its roots were being nourished by Chaos. The tree started to bloom a twinflower that can absorb both purity and impurity. The immortal tried to chop down the tree but the bloom flew to the mortal realm and went into the stomach of a pregnant Empress who was about to give birth.
The Empress died in childbirth after having given birth to twin girls.
The girls were treated differently. The firstborn, Princess Qing Kui was a personification of kindness and goodness perhaps because she was only shown kindness and given everything and more and loved by the Emperor.
Princess Ye Tan however had a different upbringing. She is feared and treated like a jinx because her mother died after she was born and then her nursemaid died as well. The Emperor had her incarcerated at a young age. She hardly saw him and if she did he would tell her that she was evil.
Princess Qing Kui was the only one who approached her but in secret as she was not allowed to see her young sister.
But at last, they reached the age of maturity; the marrying age. Princess Qing Kui is betrothed to the Immortal Crown Prince, Shao Dian You Qin while Yetan was to marry the Void Prince.
Yetan does not want Qingkui to marry a boring prince and live a boring life so she plots to kidnap Shao Dian You Qin.
But her plot went awry when the people she hired turned on her and she was saved by Shao Dian You Qin from them. She made him misunderstand that she was the princess he was engaged to.
Enjoyable first episode💜
Episode 2
Chaofeng was in the Capital to assassinate his brother, Wu Dai, the First Prince of Void. But Shao Dian You Qin and Yetan prevented Chaofeng from carrying out his mission, thus Wu Dai was saved.
Wudai wanted to find out who tried to harm him and just spotted the vanishing figures of the immortals (Shao Dian You Qin and Yetan). Wudai also noticed Chaofeng who immediately said that he was in the Capital with his men to protect Wudai while on his wedding march. Chaofeng then blamed the immortals as the assassins.
Ye Tan asked the help of the Prince of Beast Realm who was her friend. He was Di Lan Jue. She asked him to create havoc during the wedding procession. To make the immortals fight with the void and while they were otherwise engaged, to snatch her and her sister;
Di Lan Jue did create mayhem but it did not turn out as planned.
While Shao Dian You Qin was chasing after DiLan Jue, Chaofeng exchanged the princesses in their respective carriages after he head a conversation between Yetan and her maid that she pretended to be Qingkui with the immortal.
So Qingkui ended up in the Void Realm, bravely accepting her present situation and hoping her sister will somehow rescue her.
Meanwhile, Yetan ended up at the immortal realm. Poor Shao Dian You Din had to suffer her screeching especially when they had to cross the Love Bridge, to test whether they were soulmates.
The feisty Yetan annoyingly behaved out of character. She shrieked and squealed throughout the short crossing. Her character is annoying.
She was as surprised as Shao Dian You Qin when they managed to complete the ritual
Yetan as Qingkui was welcomed warmly by the immortals and they showered her with gifts which she became possessive. She warned Shao Dian You Qin’s assistant not to steal anything.
When she was finally alone in her palace, she asked Man Man, the beast maid she smuggled to the heavenly realm how to put all the presents into her handkerchief.
Man Man realised that Yetan was planning to do a runner.
Episode 3
Qingkui’s experiences at the Void Realm does not bear any resemblance to her life in the mortal realm. Her fragrant smell was a subject of contention. She was deemed to alienate their royalties so the maidservants from the void took her to their bathing pool and scrubbed her skin until she was red raw.
Afterwards, she was presented to the king and queen of the void realm where she met the princes.
Wudai, the first prince was the King’s favourite because Wudai is brave and strong, although not very bright. The second prince was Ding Yun, the Queen’s favourite. And the third prince was of course Chaofeng, who was considered a reprobate even for the Void Realm.
Apparently, Yetan will be married off to the prince who would be decided as the crown prince after a contest scheduled in the next few days. Wudai and Dingyun were introduced to ‘Yetan’.
Yetan/Qingkui was expected to drink a toss to the princes but Qingkui realised that it was blood wine. As she was brought up to observe formalities, Qingkui took a sip which made her sick.
Chaofeng pretended to be so drunk, he staggered to where Qingkui was and asked his parents why they did not introduced him. He then bumped into Qingkui which made her drop her glass of blood. He then quickly told her that he will protect her and called her Princess Qingkui.
Qingkui realised that he knew who she was. Later on, they had a chance to speak.
Chaofeng lied to Qingkui. He told her that the exchange in the carriages was done by Dingyun. Qingkui bought the lie.
Meanwhile, at the heavenly realm, Yetan was letting herself known and not in a good way. She used a garter for the legs as a hair ornament which the heavenly emperor did not appreciate.
During the banquet thrown for her, big bowls were brought in and placed in front of the immortals, one was also placed in front of Yetan. She was excited to partake in whatever was in the pot as she was famished. But when she opened it, pure oxygen came out, and noticed that the immortals were enjoying theirs.
Shaodian tersely explained to her that immortals do not eat food.
Yetan was so hungry. Later on, she sent Manman to find her anything to eat. Manman came back with handfuls of red physalis-like fruits. She ate some and found them delicious.
She was worried about Qingkui and was thinking of communicating with her by carving a message on her arm that she knew her twin would see. But Qingkui got there first and sent messages to Yetan.
Yetan was desperate to leave the immortal realm. She went to see Shaodian. But something was happening to her. The fruit she ate was aphrodisiac. She can’t control herself so she jumped on Shaodian who got a second-hand effect of the aphrodisiac from her forced kiss to him.
Episode 4
For a time, Shaodian was into Yetan but he was able to control himself after a while.
Shaodian continued to create mayhem. She is a law unto herself. When she saw the sacred bull, all she could think of was beef steak and yummy offals. So the poor bull ended in a hotpot.
A passing Qing Heng was forced by Yetan to eat an egg and partake of the beef steak.
When everything was gone, she managed to escape the realm but poor Shaodian was being berated by immortals who lost the one phoenix egg they were hoping and waiting to hatch. They also said that a much-loved thousand-year-old tree was chopped down by the princess to use as firewood.
He was then told that the princess was gone.
Gone to Wangliang City to meet up with her sister. They did meet and would have gone back home but void soldiers saw them. They agreed to go on separate ways so they can escape.
Shaodian finally found Yetan and took her back to the realm while Chaofeng saved Qingkui from the void soldiers. He told her that she and her sister could only be safe if she goes with him. He will protect her.
Qingkui was innocent and Chaofeng is rather gorgeous so she believed his many lies.
Episode 5
To prevent Yetan from leaving the realm again, Shaodian put a tracker on her which causes great pain whenever she thinks of leaving.
Yetan managed to communicate with Qingkui who was so happy to learn that Yetan is safe. Qingkui told her younger sister that it was better that she went to Void rather than Yetan because she does not want Yetan to suffer being shunned. She is so good, Qingkui.
To make herself busy, Yetan explored the realm more and found that some of the deities had been gambling secretly. So she joined them in a game of mahjong.
She learned from them that to get rid of her tracker qi, Shaodian must die because her qi was part of his primordial energy.
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Episode 35
The Heavenly Emperor and the Void king got together to end the power of the twin flower girls which they said was to ensure that the four realm’s stability is not compromised.
Shaodian, Chaofeng, Qingkui and Yetan were bound by firey rope of energy.
Qingkui told them that the power of the twinflower is shared between her and Yetan, without the other, the power will be gone.
Qingkui sacrificed herself for her sister, she told Yetan that she hoped they would still be sisters in the next life as she cut her throat with a sword despite the three shouting for her to stop.
Episode 36
Yetan was absolutely gutted, She wanted revenge. And she did. Her first stop was the Void. She rescued Chaofeng while killing the Void King.
Episode 37
Yetan is a total badass. She was proclaimed as the new leader of the Void but not without conflict. Wu Dai was angered at the death of his father and would not submit to Yetan.l
Yetan would have killed him but Chaofeng told her that WuDai was devoted to Qingkui. So Yetan ordered to imprison Wu Dai instead.
Yetan said that they are declaring war against the Heavenly Realm.
The Heavenly Emperor learned that Yetan did not lose her twin flower power so he ordered that Youqin should be sent down to finish off Yetan.
When Er Lang Shen complained about sending the Empyrean master down, the Heavenly Emperor said that Youqin would not remember Yetan because the Stake of Oblivion has been planted on Youqin.
The Heavenly Emperor went to see Youqin especially to glean whether he had completely forgotten Yetan when he said that Youqin must kill the demoness for the sake of the four realms.
Youqin asked who was the demoness, the emperor said Yetan and Youqin did not have any reaction aside from agreeing to bring down the heavenly army with him to kill the demoness.
Right at that time the Empress came to visit her son and overheard the conversation. She tried to tell Youqin that he can’t kill Yetan but Youqin told her he had to go.
The Empress told the Emperor that he was heartless and that he was only using Youqin to consolidate his own position as heavenly emperor. In her anger, she told the emperor that she resigned from being his empress. She would like to go back to her Xia Clan.
The Emperor told her to cease and desist with her plans.
Meanwhile, Youqin had reached Void with his army. When Yetan was informed of this, she cheered up and went to meet Youqin.
But he said that he had come to kill her. He used his star formation to trap and kill her but the old Shaodianyou had already taught her how to dismantle the formation. As to the sword fight, they were almost equal because he taught her his sword skill as well. But then she did not want to kill him, she wanted him to remember her as she seemed to have forgotten her. He bested her and would have finished her with his sword at in the end he had this compulsion to stop.
Then Qingheng, Ziwu and Di Lan Jue turned up to support Yetan. Youqin was surprised but he told his army to retreat.
Qingheng explained to Yetan that Youqin does not remember because the Stake of Oblivion was placed on Youqin.
Yetan was so unhappy. She was missing Qingkui and Youqin.
Her father, the mortal Emperor, turned up all worried for her. Yetan thought that her father would tell her to forego going for revenge but instead surprised her by saying that he will stand side by side with her to defeat the Heavenly Emperor.
Episode 38
Yetan invaded the Heavenly Realm. She had a confrontation with the Heavenly Emperor, who ordered to take down Yetan.
What he did not expect was Youqin showing up telling the Emperor that his mind might have forgotten but the heart had not.
Yetan told the emperor that blood need not be shed because all she was really after was the soul-absorbing lamp.
The Emperor sneered and returned the lamp to Yetan who gave it to Su Shui.
Su Shui tried to release the souls of her family and clan after waiting for 10,000 years for this event. But to her anger, no spirit was left.
The Emperor said that his father killed them all and he was proud of it.
Yetan used her energy to destroy the Emperor’s qi but let him live as a normal being. He can no longer cultivate or create formations.
Su Shui was upset that Yetan did not kill the Emperor and left in a strop.
Meanwhile, Youqin was grateful that Yetan did not kill his father.
Back at Void, Su Shui had a psychosis attack where she saw her dead clan looking all forlorn and disappointed so she promised them that she will avenge them herself.
Episode 39
Yeah, Su Shui was so eaten up with rage, all she could think of was to create chaos that would bring down the four realms.
So she met Yetan who thought that her friend was finally ready for a sisterly reconciliation.
Yetan was shocked to find herself plunged by Su Shui into the eye of a vortex of no return where her twin flower power will act as a catalyst to thrust the Four Realms into total pandemonium.
Episode 40
Despite what Su Shui did to her, Yetan was heartbroken to see her friend vanish into nothingness. Yetan was being pulled in deeper and deeper by the gravity of the swirling orbit. Her power was not strong enough to resist. Then she saw the welcome figure of Youqing evading the dark wind to get to her.
It was almost impossible but he did eventually manage to hold on to her. Now the journey back out of the eddy was something else.
At the edge of a mountain, Chaofeng, Qingheng, Ziwu, Di Lan Jue, Gu Hai Chao were all using their qi to ensure that the vortex was stable enough that Youqing and Yetan can get out. It was a torturous flight.
Yetan had an epiphany. She realised that she and Qingkui were not born as twin flowers to absorb impurity and purity. Their role was to be the fulcrum for unity. They are the basic or stabilising force that will support the Four Realms. So with the last of her might, she pushed Youqing out of the vortex and into safety while she stayed.
Everyone was begging her to come out but she said it was her fate. Then she vanishes
This time, Youqing had an epiphany himself. Yetan told him that as he is immortal, he will live long so she will come back to him one day. He assured her that he will try to live for a very very long time and will wait for her for all eternity.
Youqing became a different man, again.🤣🤣 He became sickly. The heavenly doctor said that there is nothing physically wrong with Youqing but his psyche is greatly compromised. So his illness is psychological as if he had lost the will to live.
His only reason for living was to find a way to make the tree at Guixu root up again, grow and bloom a twinflower. But he can’t find any book or ancient document on how to make this happen.
A very chastised-looking heavenly emperor turned up. He announced that the successor of his heavenly position will be Qingheng.
Qingheng was absolutely shocked but the other immortals including Youqing and the Empress were all for it because Qingheng is highly qualified for possessing purity of heart and mind.
The Emperor then said that he might have a way how the tree from Guixu would grow again. He said that all the immortals should work together to revive the garden of Dingzhou where the Guixu tree was. The flowers and vegetation will encourage positivity and elemental productivity 🤣🤣🤣 for the other species to spring roots.
Everyone was all for the idea. Suddenly Youqing found his calling. He will proceed to Dingzhou pronto to start digging and mulching and growing fruits and veg as well as flowers. The others were happy to go too.
The news traveled fast to the four realms.
Chaofeng immediately packed his bags and announced that he will immigrate to Dingzhou to wait for Qingkui.
`Within a year, the once cloud of dust and gas had turned into a pastel color of loveliness. It became the place to go to for holidaymakers.
There was a reunion that included Emperor Tun who greatly misses his two girls
The Guixu tree had rooted and then from it flew a twinflower. Everyone was happy but somehow there is something missing. An immortal said that the flowers needed nourishment so Chaofeng gave his blood qi to the Yetan flower while Youqing gave his blood qi to the pure Qingkui
And that was how the drama ended, everyone developed green fingers and became horticulturists and admiring of the glittering twin flower of the Guixi tree.
Aww wait, Zi Wu was heavily pregnant by the Beast Di Lan Jue. Will she give birth to the twinflower pop girls?