Surprise, everyone! Or maybe not-so-surprise, since a number of you know about this already.

Basically, after lots of persistent gentle lobbying by lovely folks like Ele and JJ, I finally bit the bullet and said “yes” to their request of having a group watch of c-drama Love Like The Galaxy, here on the blog.

So yes, we’ll be having a group watch of Love Like The Galaxy, right here on the blog, and here are all the details that you might want or need!

Why this Group Watch?

Those of us who’ve seen the show, love it a great deal, and I know I’m not alone when I say that when I finished it, I thought to myself that this was a show that I’d like to rewatch, sometime.

This is a chance for those of us who’ve wanted to rewatch this, to rewatch it together, in tandem.

This is also a chance for those of us who haven’t watched this before, but have been thinking about it, to watch it – and have a community experience alongside.

How a group watch works

Let me clarify upfront that this is not a live watch party, so you don’t have to worry about timezones, and whether you’d be available to join, when the episode notes go live.

This is more of what I like to call an aligned watch experience, where we agree to watch 4 eps a week, and then be ready to discuss the episodes, when my episode notes get published on the blog.

Some folks will be able to jump in right when the notes go live, coz their schedules and time zones align, but others will jump in whenever they are able, later in the day, or week, and the conversations can go on all week, until the next episodes get discussed.

You get to watch on your own time, and chime in on your own time, but it is still a shared community experience, where everyone watches in tandem.

Does that makes sense?

The notes for this group watch

I’ve actually already covered this show on an episode-by-episode basis on Patreon, back when Show first aired, in 2022.

Instead of writing new episode notes for this group watch, I thought I’d use the notes that I’ve already written for Patreon, here in this group watch.

Mainly, it’s because I’ve written more than 20,000 words (almost 30,000, if memory serves 😅), and I just don’t think I have many more words to write, for a whole new set of episode notes.

But this way, there’s something in place to anchor the group discussion, without my having to write new stuff – AND, it’ll give everyone a better idea of what you can expect, on Patreon!

Win AND win, yes? 😁

Why you should watch

Allow me to quote myself; this is what I wrote about Show, in The Short Verdict section of my review of this show:

A gorgeously shot, epic love story that works out to be wonderfully addictive and immersive.

The entire cast is pretty great, but it’s really our leads Wu Lei and Zhao Lu Si who ground this one for me, with their nuanced portrayals of their characters, and their fantastic shared chemistry.

Show isn’t perfect, and there are some rough edges in the presented narrative, but it’s nothing some lens adjustments can’t fix.

Importantly, Show knows how to serve up the romance, and make me swoon into a flailing puddle on a regular basis, and I consider that to be Show’s biggest strength. 😁

Absolutely recommend, especially if you enjoy a dose of swoony romance. ❤️

Trailer:

Lens adjustments

Here are a few things that I said in my review of this show, around lens adjustments.

I’m pasting them here, because I think it might be helpful for the new viewers among us.

1. Our drama world is big

Our OTP romance is the heart and soul of this drama, and Show does a good job of making it front-and-center a lot of the time, but there are also times when the focus shifts to other things and other characters.

It’s a natural effect of our drama world being so large and sprawling. Hang in there, though, because the focus always comes back to our OTP, eventually.

2. Sometimes logic gets stretched

..And it is often in service of nudging along the OTP relationship. Just roll with it and enjoy the feels, is my advice around that. 🥰

Of course, it’s also true that Show stretches logic at other times, and it has nothing to do with furthering the OTP relationship.

I’ll talk more about that later in the review, but again, just rolling with it is probably the better way to enjoy this show.

3. The later episodes can feel a bit choppy in particular

Show was reportedly heavily edited to get it down to the 56 episodes that aired, and this does seem to show up, especially in our later episodes.

Sometimes the movement between plot points can feel jerky and disjointed and not very elegant at all.

Knowing to expect that helps.

4. Show does get a little dark at times, especially towards the later episodes

Show starts out more fun and lighthearted, but because there are weightier things in our story that need to be dealt with, Show does lean into its darker side, in our later episodes.

Knowing to expect that helps, too.

Logistics and other details

Schedule: Saturdays, starting 23 March 2024. Posts will go live at 8:00am, my time (GMT+8).

Romance: Yes. Very much yes. 🔥😍

Commitment: 56 episodes. 4 eps a week = 14 weeks.

In other words: We will discuss E1-4 on Saturday, 23 March 2024.

Where to  watch:

Show is available on Viu, YouTube, Viki, and WeTV.

If you know of another platform that has it, please share in the comments!

Getting around geo-restrictions

If you’re geo-restricted, a VPN service would help you get around that. Not only does it provide online safety, it also gives you access to lots of great geo-restricted content.

I personally use NordVPN. You can find my review of NordVPN here.

You can use my affiliate link (here!) to enjoy up to 67% off, plus 3 months free for a friend, with prices starting as low as US$3.99 per month.

An article on why it’s not illegal to use a VPN to access legal streaming content can be found here.

In closing

..That’s about it, really! I really hope that you guys are excited for this group watch, and I hope you’ll have a great time, discussing the show!

Please go forth and enjoy your first set of episodes – and remember to tune in for the Open Thread posts, going live starting next Saturday! ❤️