And The Winner Is Love Review

It has been some time since I watched a wuxia drama as the popular productions seem to carry a xianxia theme nowadays. So, I was quite happy to find And The Winner Is Love (月上重火) appearing on screen recently. I was expecting a lot of action apart from the mandatory romance between the leads. But too bad that the drama fails to live up to my expectations. And The Winner Is Love review below will reveal my take on this mainland production and why I find it lacking.

My rating: 6.5/10
Episodes: 48
Type: Wuxia, Romance
Aired: May 2020
Images Credit: Tencent

The Cast Of And The Winner Is Love

• Leo Luo Yun Xi as Shangguan Tou
• Yukee Chen Yu Qi as Chong Xue Zhi
• Zhou Ting Wei as Yuwen Mu Yuan
• Tian Yi Tong as Lin Feng Zi
• Zhao Wen Hao as Xia Qing Mei
• Justin Zhao Yu Xin as Crown Prince Xue Xin
• Bao Tian Qi as Shangguan Zheng
• Patrick Quan Pei Lun as Xue Lie / Prince Lu
• Li Ya Tian as Shangguan Xing Zhou
• Xia Tian as Lin Zong Xing
• Huang Xiao Ge as Qui Hong Xiu
• Sun Zheng Lin as Lin Chang
• Han Ye as Zhu Sha
• Ma Qian as Liu Li
• Zheng Yi Ming as Che Qu

Main Characters

Shangguan Tou

Shangguan Tou is a handsome man who is popular with the girls and rumored to be a flirty playboy. He is intelligent with good martial art skills and has a graceful demeanor. Shangguan Tou is the son of Imperial Advisor Shangguan Xing Zhou and master of Moon Valley. However, he has no interest in politics and has an estranged relationship with his father. Shangguan Tou felt abandoned by him after he was sent to the Sword Manor sect when he was young. He also has an elder sister, Shangguan Zheng, who cares a lot about him and is married to Prince Lu.

Chong Xue Zhi

Xue Zhi is the young and naive mistress of Fire Palace, a martial art sect. Her father is Chong Ye who was the founder of the sect and creator of a set of powerful martial art moves called Nine Stance Technique of the Lotus God. However, Chong Ye went berserk after practicing the moves and killed many innocent people from other martial art sects. He committed suicide thereafter.

Hence, Xue Zhi and Fire Palace have many enemies. She is protected by Chief Guardian Yuwen Mu Yuan as well as 4 other subordinates – Hai Tang, Zhu Sa, Liu Li, and Che Qu. Her father had 2 sworn brothers who helped to build up Fire Palace and developed martial art moves. They were Yuwen Yu Pan and Lin Chang who acts as Xue Zhi’s second father.

Yuwen Mu Yuan

Mu Yuan is the Fire Palace’s Chief Guardian and Chong Ye’s foster son. His father is Yuwen Yu Pan who had since died. Mu Yuan and Xue Zhi grew up together. He is always loyal to and protective of her despite pressure from his grandfather to take over her position as leader of Fire Palace. Mu Yuan secretly loves Xue Zhi but the love is unrequited. He is a stoic man who tends to hide his feelings.

Lin Feng Zi

Feng Zi is the daughter of Lin Zong Xing, the leader of the Sword Manor sect. She is willful and naive. She loves Shangguan Tou but it is very much a one-sided affair. Feng Zi tried to make him hers once by framing him for having slept with her. This got Shangguan Tou expelled from Sword Manor and created a misunderstanding with Lin Zong Xing. Feng Zi’s martial art teacher is Yuan Shuang Shuang.

Xia Qing Mei

Qing Mei is Lin Zong Xing’s disciple. He has a fragile ego and is eager to show his capabilities in order to win over Feng Zi whom he has been in love with since young. But Feng Zi is in love with Shangguan Tou. Hence, Qing Mei is jealous of him and becomes obsessed in defeating him.

Prince Lu

Prince Lu is sent away from the capital to oversee a province in the northeast. This is for his own good due to his heart ailment. He seems to be a kind ruler who loves his wife, Shangguan Zheng. But he carries a secret ambition and is a difficult man to read. Prince Lu’s elder brother is Crown Prince Xue Xin who is a benevolent and upright man. The Crown Prince cares a lot for Prince Lu due to his ill health and assumes he is a good ruler.

Synopsis

The Nine Stance Technique of the Lotus God is a very powerful set of martial art moves owned by the Fire Palace sect. But it cannot be practiced on its own as it can cause the practitioner to go berserk. It has to be complemented by the Lotus Sutra technique. Chong Ye, the Fire Palace founder, killed other sects members after going uncontrollable with the Nine Stance Technique. He then committed suicide because of guilt. As a result, the martial arts world agreed for the manual to be handed over to the reputable Sword Manor sect for safekeeping for 5 years.

When the 5 years is up, Chong Xue Zhi leads the Fire Palace to a congregation of the martial arts sects to discuss how they should handle the Nine Stance Technique and Lotus Sutra manuals. All the sects are coveting the manuals as the moves are supposedly unbeatable. But then the Nine Stance Technique manual gets stolen. Everyone is immediately suspicious that it is Fire Palace’s doing. Xue Zhi and Mu Yuan have to investigate to clear their sect’s name.

As Xue Zhi is Chong Ye’s daughter and owner of the manuals, she is an obvious revenge target by other sects. Shangguan Tou is sent to protect her. Together, they try to uncover the actual culprit behind all the dangers encountered by Fire Palace and Xue Zhi.

And The Winner Is Love Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

And The Winner Is Love ends with a wedding. Shangguan Tou and Xue Zhi get married in Moon Valley. She decides to give up being the leader of Fire Palace to spend a simple life with Shangguan Tou. She asks Zhu Sha to be the new leader instead. Crown Prince Xue Xin decrees that the Sect Alliance promoted by Prince Lu is banned. Fire Palace which has been framed for rebellion and sealed up earlier is allowed to re-open.

What Is Prince Lu’s Plan?

Prince Lu is not able to practice martial arts due to his heart ailment. He feels inadequate and becomes obsessed with controlling the martial arts world. He wants to prove that he could take over and control the sects even without any martial art skills. His behavior and emotions become increasingly unstable after his pregnant wife, Shangguan Zheng, committed suicide due to his cruelty towards her family.

Prince Lu pulls strings from behind the scenes by getting the Hua Shan sect to do his dirty job. People who oppose his plans are eliminated. His ambition is to set up a Sect Alliance of which he controls. His excuse is there should be cooperation rather than feuds among the sects. He justifies his actions by claiming that there should be law and order under the Emperor and the martial arts world should also submit to him.

In the end, he fails to achieve his plan as he is stopped by Shangguan Tou and Xue Zhi who see through his trap. Shangguan Tou passes the evidence of Prince Lu’s crimes to Crown Prince Xue Xin. The Crown Prince persuades the mentally unstable Prince Lu to follow him back to the capital to face the Emperor and the punishment to be meted out.

Is Mu Yuan A Good Or Bad Guy?

Mu Yuan is a good guy all the way. He goes to serve Prince Lu in order to earn the latter’s trust. His plan is to obtain inside information and kill Prince Lu once he gets the chance. Xue Zhi misunderstands him at first as she witnesses him stabbing Shangguan Tou and pushes him off a cliff. But she finds out his plan towards the end. Together with Shangguan Tou, they set up a plan to arrest Prince Lu. But the plan backfires as Prince Lu has already anticipated their moves.

Mu Yuan is captured. Xue Zhi rushes to save him. But it is a trap to kill off Xue Zhi as well. When arrows are fired to kill both of them, Mu Yuan uses his body to shield Xue Zhi from getting shot. He dies as a result.

Did Mu Yuan Confess His Feelings?

Mu Yuan did confess his feelings for Xue Zhi. She was on the verge of accepting him at one point due to Shangguan Tou’s failure to be honest with her. She also thought that Shangguan Tou didn’t care much about her. But then Xue Zhi met Yuan Shuang Shuang and the latter revealed that Shangguan Tou was never involved with Feng Zi. He was framed to create an excuse to expel him from Sword Manor as he was beginning to suspect Yuan Shuang Shuang’s motives then.

On top of that, Shangguan Tou saved Xue Zhi from the Hua Shan sect. He nearly sacrificed himself to ensure that she lives. But Xue Zhi was semi-conscious at that time and thought it was Mu Yuan who saved her. Mu Yuan kept quiet about Shangguan Tou’s sacrifice for his own selfish reason. When Xue Zhi learns the truth, Mu Yuan stands no chance with her especially when she has always regarded him as a brother.

Did Qing Mei End Up With Feng Zi?

Qing Mei and Feng Zi did get married. Feng Zi finally realized that she doesn’t love Shangguan Tou after all when he came begging for a relic to save Xue Zhi’s life. It is Qing Mei who has been with her throughout the years. But Qing Mei has been secretly learning the Nine Stance Technique which is forbidden. Prince Lu uses this knowledge to blackmail Lin Zong Xing into cooperating with him. Lin Zong Xing is angry over Qing Mei’s behavior and expels him from Sword Manor.

This pushes Qing Mei into working with Prince Lu. He masters the Nine Stance Technique with the help of a pill but without truly understanding the moves. Qing Mei also becomes mentally unstable as a result. He loses to Xue Zhi in a battle to prove who is the best martial arts practitioner. Just when he regrets his actions and is preparing to move back to Sword Manor with Feng Zi, Prince Lu demands that he leaves the Nine Stance Technique manual behind. Qing Mei refuses and starts to go berserk. He hurt Feng Zi in the process. Thinking that he has killed her, he commits suicide.

Feng Zi is saved by Mu Yuan. She is brought back to Moon Valley by Shangguan Tou for treatment. By then, Feng Zi is already pregnant with Qing Mei’s child.

And The Winner Is Love Review – Lower Your Expectations!

Just like Love Of A Thousand Years, I feel that the story of And The Winner Is Love could have been better told. As it is, the drama drags quite a bit that one could easily feel bored halfway through. It is a drama that is heavy in conversations which I think is a waste for a wuxia theme. If the producers have invested greater effort and resources to create a more action-oriented drama, perhaps this might turn out to be more exciting to watch. In short, the drama gives us very average fighting scenes. It is still fine if it can make it up with a touching romance but that also falls short that the drama feels boring for a lengthy 48 episodes.

The Plot And Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

The plot development and ending are predictable. There are no twists and turns to give viewers any surprise. I don’t feel a great urge to chase after each episode as the overall story is not compelling enough. I know few dramas can match the likes of Eternal Love Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms but the romance between Shangguan Tou and Xue Zhi seem to be going in circles. While they end up together, it also feels a little forced to fulfil that mandatory happy ending trope. She gave up her position at Fire Palace to lead the simple life that he wanted.

While the political side of things are more interesting to me, the ending is less than satisfactory. We are not really told Prince Lu’s punishment after all that he has done. He becomes emotionally unstable when his plan fails after he has been projected as a cautious and calculating guy with an evil streak throughout. I guess something snaps in him but the way his story ends feels kind of rushed.

Acting And Chemistry

I have always liked Leo Lu’s acting. He excels in tragic roles like Rong Qi in Princess Silver. While he fits the role of Shangguan Tou as a graceful gentleman with his fan, he is not as convincing as a wuxia hero to me. The fights are lacklustre and he fails to emit a commanding presence of a skilled martial artist during such scenes. I’m not saying his acting is bad but perhaps he is not the best choice for the role.

As for Yukee Chen, I last watched her as Zhao Min in Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre 2019. I think she did well in that drama but there is no breakthrough in her performance as Xue Zhi in And The Winner Is Love. Her chemistry with Leo Lu is not the best for a romantic pairing either as it lacks sparks. They look good together but their interactions are missing some sizzles. Think of Bai Feng Jiu and Dong Hua Di Jun in Eternal Love Of Dream or Zhou Fang and Song Lin in Love Designer. You just don’t get the same couple vibes in Shangguan Tou and Xue Zhi.

I also remember the Yukee Chen and Zhao Ting Wei pairing in Ashes Of Love. This time, Zhao Ting Wei’s role as Mu Yuan is more like a brother to her. He portrays a stoic character again in this drama but I think Mu Yuan is someone with a lot more layers beneath that expressionless demeanor. I have no complaints about Zhao Ting Wei’s acting but if he could project more depth to the character, it would have been better.

My Verdict – You Won’t Miss Anything

Personally, I think And The Winner Is Love is a skippable drama. If you are watching it for the wuxia and action-oriented elements, you will likely be disappointed. There is nothing breathtaking about the fighting scenes. And if you are looking for a good romance story, this won’t be that satisfying either. There is a lot of talking, the leads blow hot and cold throughout the drama, and you will get the tiring cliche of hiding things from the lady to protect her kind of misunderstandings.

Given the weaknesses of this drama, I would only give it a 6.5/10 rating for this And The Winner Is Love review. While I don’t particularly enjoy it, it doesn’t mean others won’t. If you are a Leo Lu diehard fan, then this might still be worth a try. This is because his flirty behaviour in the early part of the drama and his smiles can easily melt the heart. It is indeed hard to ignore his charms which he has aplenty!

Furthermore, you might want to watch it for the scheming and power plays rather than the romance. If you enjoy intrigues and behind the scenes plots by antagonists, this might not be so bad after all especially if you don’t mind using the fast-forward button on the boring segments. Otherwise, I would say drop it for something else.

==> And The Winner Is Love is available on Amazon Prime (affiliate link)