Love Song For Illusion - Letsreviewtogether

Streaming Platform: Rakuten Viki
Korean Show: Love Song For Illusion
Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Episodes: 16
Duration of Episodes: 67 mins
Cast:

Translation Team: Troubled Hearts Team

Description from Viki:
“Crown Prince Sajo Hyun (Park Ji Hoon) has a secret: His alter ego Ak Hee works in a downtown store, where nobody knows of his true identity. Traumatic events from the past have left deep scars on his psyche. His path soon crosses with that of Yeon Wol (Hong Ye Ji), the revenge-motivate descendant of a fallen noble family. She too is hiding her real identity, becoming an assassin as she plots her vengeance against the King…

But a twist of fate leads Yeon Wol to lose her memory. She ends up in the royal court, where she is set to become the Crown Prince’s concubine. This ignites the fury of Geum Hwa (Ji Woo), the Crown Prince’s ambitious wife. Tensions begin to rise further when Yeon Wol starts to develop feelings for Sajo Hyun. Will this duo even learn of one another’s secrets – and could love one day come calling for them?

“Love Song for Illusion” is a 2024 South Korean drama series that was based on a webtoon by Vanziun and directed by Lee Jung Seop.”

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YAAHOOOO!! It’s finally that time!!! Park Ji Hoon I’m coming for you!!!
If you saw my other post you will know that I am a big fan of Park Ji Hoon and have eagerly waited for Love Song For Illusion to come out and have eagerly waited for all the episodes to air so I could binge watch it! And its FINALLY HERE! It’s FINALLY time!!
I cannot wait!! But I’m also nervous D: What if this isn’t any good??? The rating on Viki isn’t as high as I thought it would be and that makes me bite my nails. This has made me take a step back and a deep breath to know that I need to not go into this with such high expectations because that’s what I got… High expectations.
I’m trying to curb them, I really am but I’ve been waiting so long for this show and so long for Park Ji Hoon… Should we just have a picture of him so we can all appreciate him together?? Yeah yeah you right… Of COURSE we need a picture of him so we can all appreciate him together! …. Even that man’s crying face is attractive.
He has played in a few things but my two favorites are Weak Hero Class 1 and At a Distance Spring is Green.

*Pauses and stares in admiration*. The Man is handsome, no way around it, he’s just handsome!
Alright alright, back to the blog review. Le cough.
….. Ugh he just looks so handsome in that picture!!!

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A big thing for me with stories is if the script is well written. Because even if you have shabby scenery, bad music or silly costumes, if you’ve got a great cast and a great script, magic is still made!! An example of a show that immediately comes to mind is: Order of the Sommelier. This was made in 2022 but it has a pretty cheesy costume/scenery set and you can immediately tell its reaaaaally low budget. But the main leads were great actors and carried the story very well and the script was written very well in my opinion! It was something new, fresh, adventurous and connected all the dots together. I thoroughly enjoyed that one and really hope they remake it with a much higher budget and more episodes than just 12!! I feel like that one would be high up on people’s lists!!

But anyhoo! Lets do this!!!

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Alright… just clicked into the first episode and I’m already pleased with the start up intro piece.
It’s dark, full of aguish but doesn’t give the entire series away in one rip and introduces the main characters.
The first 18 minutes was freaking great. Already so much heartache and heartbreak. I really cannot wait to see how this series progresses! I’m literally bouncing off my seat trying to contain my excitement.!
Ahahahaha the “AAAHHHHH” was hilarious.
Noooooo our little baby looks so sad and haggard 🙁 Oh my heart.

Okay so far I am interested and its intriguing!! We’ve got a split personality going on and this makes me so curious to see what is going to happen and how Park Ji Hoon will play this character.

So far everyone is playing their parts good and Park Ji Hoon is playing both his characters phenomenally!
Episode 3 minute 18… such a incredibly well done scene. Goosebumps.
Park Ji Hoon with long hair… Man looks delicious!

This is such an interesting concept! Both personalities are fighting each other for control and yet there seems to be a weird mix of a… third?
I’m not sure!
This story is definitely more of a slow burn which makes me a bit antsy as I like my stories to have a more stride-full pace but either way I am enjoying it so far.

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I’ve been binge watching this series and so far its been incredible. This isn’t my typical kind of story that I like as it deals with a LOT of Palace politics and the same ole story of someone overthrowing the King and him being evil, along with your typical family drama that comes with this type of Palace story.
However with the added plot twist of the main characters alter ego added into this, the story is interesting and engaging enough for me to keep watching.

However wrote this script deserves a RAISE! There is a lot going on in it but unlike a lot of others that I’ve watched, this is clear headed and you can follow the storyline and all the things are connecting to each other.

I knew this story would be more of a sad version but I didn’t expect such a “heavy” feel to it. Everything is perfect and everyone fits their characters well.
The music is haunting and beautiful and I think I will have to download some of the songs later on!

There is some cute moments with some cute laughs here and there throughout the show, episode 6 when he is put in commoners clothing was a super cute scene, he was so unsure of it lol.
The end of episode seven felt like such a betrayal even though technically it would not be if he did proceed with his actions.
And the end of episode 8 had the heart in sadness, it was full of heartache… but how do you compete with that? How do you deal with it when half of each of you have no control? Such an interesting concept.

Also lets just talk about episode 9! It was quite the episode and we gained a lot of powerful insight here. And I just gotta say… The scene where Park Ji Hoon is running??? Aaahhhh its SOO majestic!!! HAHAHA!
ALSO THE END OF EPISODE 9!!! AHHHHH The absolute ANGUISH this man portrayed!!! It was a true goosebump worthy devastating anguish, the kind you feel in every single cell of your body… This is the type of such despair that he had to have pulled it from his personal life because of firsthand experience…. What did he going through? What do we know about Park Ji Hoon? I am genuinely curious.

Things are moving along and the end of episode 10 was INTENSE. What is going to happen from here??

Also, lets take a moment to appreciate the fact that Park Ji Hoon is an Incredible actor. We already know how much effort and work goes into playing a single character, trying to learn everything about them and immersing yourself to thoroughly in that role that you become them. It takes a lot of hard work and mental toll, especially if they are playing a particularly tough character.
This man Park Ji Hoon, is playing TWO complicated characters! His duality is incredible!!! I can only imagine how he prepared for both roles, I am truly impressed with him, He is simply stunning.
Playing both characters separately yet at the same time blending them together. I don’t have enough praise for him! His very being has been emerged with these characters and his acting is incredible. He has definitely improved from his other shows and even back then he was incredible. I love watching the differences between the body movements and the talks and the expressions. He’s literally Killing this role!!!
There are amazing actors and actresses out there but there are some that are simply born to Act with incredible skills and incredible emotional awareness.
This man is one of them! And Lusi Zhao is also one of these rare talents.

On a side note, I wonder how Park Ji Hoon’s voice is doing? He’s had to harshly yell at lot throughout the episodes D:

I really love how they are portraying his mind and the characters, I absolutely love it because it FITS so well.
Also I had had sympathy for the wife at the beginning and then lost it for her…

My heart feels so bad for Ak Hee 🙁

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Ack. I am TELLING YOU, this MAN CAN ACT!!! This story takes a pause and goes into one of my most hated troupe lines of losing ones memory.
Thankfully he plays it perfectly and makes it work.
The fact that he can switch SO well from each personality is truly amazing.
He has two different personalities with his normal character but we get to see a third new innocent and pure personality type of character. He nails the expressions SO WELL. Gahk. Just don’t have enough good things to say about Park Ji Hoon!

Soooo I am not happy with how episode 14 ended. I feel like it was such a useless scene that literally did NOT need to happen. Really quite irritated with it honestly. It was so senseless. But alas, I digress. I know WHY they did it but it makes me mad!!!

Eunuch Neung is so stinken wholesome <3 He is my favorite character beside Park Ji, he is so cute!

…. And we finished it! The last episode wrapped everything up but still left you guessing a bit on who was in control.
I liked how they finally had him defeat himself and realize it was him all along holding himself back.
Although I will point out that how they made him become a crazy enemy seems kind of far fetched… Ak Hee wasn’t a villain until the very end and even then I don’t see a villian, I see someone just desperate to be loved and accepted… Although AGAIN, this IS part of His Majesty’s mind so he is wanting that himself and fighting it because he doesn’t know how to truly understand that someone cares for him… anyway fascinating stuff.
The ending scene was beautiful to me. I feel like it fit both the male lead and female lead very well.

Honestly while I didn’t like the Queen, I understand why she did the things she did and I thought her fate at the end was fitting.

I am going to rate this a 9. While I thought the actors and actresses all did INCREDIBLE!!! And the scenery was wonderful and amazing, the music fit and had some beautiful chill moments.. in fact I downloaded the one song from the song… The script is what is handicapping me right now.
It just lacked overall and if they had done something different I think this would have been an absolutely breathtaking series.
This same storyline is constantly the same when it comes to Kingdom and someone wanting to overthrow the King and it’s always one of the children. I honestly think if they would have taken this idea of the main character having two personalities and done it differently it would have skyrocketed.

So while I AM a bit disappointed in how this storyline ended up being, it was still VERY well done and I recommended giving this a watch!! If for nothing else, simply to admire Park Ji Hoon. Hahaha!!

What did you guys think? Was this high up on your list?

Let’s Review Together <3