Till the End of the Moon (2023)

GOOD ACTING CANNOT EVEN SAVE THE DRAMA

As the headline said, good acting cannot save the drama.

Good part:
The opening had one of the best c-drama opening I ever watched. Even better than the all time fave ancient drama AOL and L&R.
The depiction of Gods and Goddesses shadow (Idk what they call) is just so majestic. i haven't seen such CGI that I would just go gasping 'Wahhh!!'
The battle scene (and CGI accompanied them) between God of War Mingye and Devil God was beautifully executed.
The way they CGI'ed Devil God power including the eye arrow, the big fire circle behind him just made it believable that he was the strongest of the gods.

To be honest, i'm not a big fan of both Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu but undoubtly they have skills.
Luo Yunxi acting is superb, as both Devil God and the pitiful Tantai Jin and of course Mingye. I have seen him in AOL and he definitely can act. Since I watched this drama after Love Between Fairy and Devil, the comparison is just as clear between Luo Yunxi and Dylan Wang character as both were respective Devil who indecisive whether he wants to become a good guy or a bad guy.
I have seen Bai Lu few works before, Arsenal military and the one where she is a demoness to name a few. This is one of the weakest I must say. Or maybe I was actually affected with how stupid her character was.
With that being said, here's the many bad part:
The dream, is too long. The battle between Devil God and Gods is fucking two episode. It was great and all, but it shouldn't last two damn episode that I was waiting when they will wake up.
After episode 5, the drama just kind fell really really really flat that by episode 15, I was wondering what the hell I am watching. There's romcom here and there in between but it just got so draggy by the time I'm at the current episode 26.
Mind you, I usually just skipped a few parts when it got draggy but this time it also got so repetitive.
The same all misunderstanding game but you recycle and change a bit after more than twice it just got so frustrating. Like someone said, there is no character growth at all. And after 26 episode, shouldn't Li Susu at least hesitate in doing stupid things to accomplished her mission??
Why the hell would you, after all the 'promise not to leave him' and 'stay by your side forever' betrayed Tantai Jin in a broad daylight?? For Xiao Lin whom you know for sure wouldn't be killed by TTJ.
I mean, why???
And what the hell is wrong with Luo Yunxi makeup?? Its just white powder and pink eyeshadow too visible on his eyes, making me wonder if they trying to potray TTJ as a sick person.
And isn't it dumb that everyone knows TTJ can use demon power but y'all just go ahead and send your army of mortal human who had no power at all to attack him with a sword?? A sword??! Against the guy who can command demon power from afar without physically touching you??
And this guy Nian Baiyu, is a great assistant but why haven't he shown his power??
Ye Qingyu is another character that at this point of drama I just thought he shouldn't be given a screentime because of how useless he is to the plot of the story. You thought he was gonna be important because he sits with Prince and talk about this whole utopia world but ended up getting too hungover a fox demon.
Then there's Ye Binchang who's the actor played her made it so believable that she's this conceited woman, psychopath due to unfair treatment she received as a concubine's daughter. Talk about being totally ungrateful. After all, her family is still a wealthy and known family, and she still ended up marrying a prince but woman still victimized herself.
I think that they took Ye Binchang/Tianhuan villainess too far tbh. She didn't even have a self contradiction or dilemma after wake up from the dream and just decide, hey, I want to be the bad guy. I'm glad when the her story about two love lines uncovered in front of everyone and finally they wanted to close the chapter with her being stripped off her title and become a maid.
But no, they decide they wanted to make her killed her grandmother for no concrete reason. I mean yall know she was so conceited after the revealed betrayal on Xiao Lin, but yall decide to let her go home and not be careful around her?? That's stupid.
Tbh, there's so many plot hole that I could just point out that would make this show unbelievably stupid and frustrating.

And right now as i am writing, i'm contemplating whether I should drop this or not.

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I'd be a millionaire if I was paid a cent every time Luo Yunxi vomited blood :)

This was truly a high budget, high-effort, and reasonably well-done project. I really enjoyed a lot of things in this drama, and I think it's quite a landmark for the Xianxia genre (which everyone is exposed to at some point watching C-dramas).

GOOD THINGS:

1. LUO YUNXI is fantastic. Genuinely one of the most expressive and talented actors of his generation. I have never seen a devil portrayed so mercilessly yet fantastically (yes, I have seen Zhang Ling He and Wang He Di). He's probably aided by his background as a dancer, and you can see it in the way he moves across the screen or expresses himself facially. This is also an INCREDIBLY dramatic role which I think many other C-drama actors would have done in a fake/unrealistic way, and I could truly not see another person in this role. I would watch this just for the acting. Other actors are very good as well E.g. Bai Lu, Chen Du Ling, Sun Zhen Ni.

2. The storyline is actually pretty interesting; there is a lot of world-hopping and parallel-universe stuff that's really beautifully portrayed. The costume designer and set designers for this drama were definitely working overtime, and the gorgeous scenes contributed to a sense of world-building here. The parallel storylines were actually influential towards the story's development besides being creative/entertaining in and of themselves, which I really appreciated. That being said, there is character development in this show, though I find it a little bit cliche and even overdone.

3. The OST is beautiful. I think that's the general consensus : ) I do think some of the songs are a little monotonous but overall this OST trumps a lot of other ones I heard. A similar drama I'd say that's not as complex but with a more beautiful OST is Love Between Fairy and Devil.

CRITICISMS:

1. Blood-vomiting and make-up was a little overdone. Doesn't detract from the overall drama to me, but I noticed a lot of people complaining about it.

2. An expansive number of plot inconsistencies*. I think this had the potential to be quite a good drama actually, but I felt it was TOO MUCH that was executed in a way that was NOT ENOUGH. I appreciated the amount of creative effort and inventiveness that went into this work, but the recent 40-episode rule in China really implicated this drama. It's based on a very long and very expansive novel, and by cutting certain scenes, things aren't quite contradictory but not well-explained either. I appreciate a culmination of beautiful ideas- I'm just not sure they were tied together well enough here.

3. I think a lot of the things are pretty cliche. The idea of a tortured soul falling in love and achieving a sort of spiritual salvation is pretty unoriginal, and Tantai Jin's troubled upbringing leading to his devilish downfall is another cliche I notice. It's a giant web of woven cliches with a twist, I'd say. I don't mind cliches, but I found them a little excessive to the point that they hurt some of the plot's suspense.

OVERALL, definitely worth a watch. Very aesthetically pleasing and honestly a pretty good watch the first time around. Only after reflecting does it feel a little weird : (
The hype is understandable whether you buy into it or not.

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Frustrating but good

The story was good. What I couldn't stand in this drama was the unecessary misunderstandings, the never learning from mistakes, the lack of communication on all levels possible, the blaming EVERYTHING on one person based on stereotypes and never doing any form of investigation to make sure you're punishing the correct person even though this is the heavenly realm which should believe in "innocent until proven guilty".

There were several points in the drama where I thought this will all go to shit and I'll just cry in the corner because of the sheer stupidy of the FL but sometimes she manages to redeem herself without me noticing and by the time I notice I go back to saying the same thing because she doesn't really learn untill the last 5 eps. I do like her character she doesn't let people trample on her and doesn't like conflict. (Biased cuz I like the actress)

The ML has the best character development in the entire world.

Conclusion: Well written very frustrating story with a bittersweet ending but from my perspective it was a happy ending. To each their own.





SPOILER AHEAD------------------------------------------------------------------------------










All the characters I loved perished, new characters were introduced at around ep 30 onwards I was confused af and dissapointed. The one character I held most hatred towards, died TWICE and brought me so much happiness has returned but this time I no longer hated her which lead to more confusion.

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Guys don't watch if you have a soft heart like mine ??

I ended this drama in 2 days and lemme tell you something 😭😭 I wasn't ready for the heartbreak I'm suffering I've been crying for the past 2 hours and even rn I'm crying writing this. I thought it was a wholesome enemies to lovers drama and in the end as always they'll have a happy ending but nooooo it didn't the male lead deserved soo much better there wasn't a single person in the whole drama who didn't betray him atleast once ,but the one person who did take his side no matter what he had to kill him by his own hands like why would y'all do him soo dirty 💔😭 all he wanted was to live peacefully with his wife but nooo he couldn't even do that he fully deseeved becoming a villain yet he still didn't and even if you killed him in the let you should've let his wife die with him so atleast they'll both be together in the afterlife but noooo they had to be separated again 😔

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Star-crossed lovers

I'll keep this short and major spoiler free, a little word of advice I can give is that if you want to leave this drama with a happy ending, end at episode 35, if you would like to see a tragic ending, watch till the end
All in all this is a very well acted story with intresting twists and turns, but I wouldn't recommend anyone to rewatch it since its a little bit predictable. I heard they cut down the episode length of it, which makes sense considering how slighly weird the editing can be at points. I think that its initial premise is good, but it unfortunatley fails to fully deliver after the halfway point. That doesn't mean its bad perse, but that it falls victim to the typical issues that plauge many c-dramas, misunderstandings for misunderstandings sake. Even when the characters are intelligent and could just clearly ask, they just don't because the writers need to prolong the story somehow.
The chemistry between the leads is good and is worth the watch, but the story can hold it back at points. Thats why i'm rating the plot 7 and the rewatch value 5, because while its very well produced, i can't ever imagine someone going through this again.
I already knew that it wouldn't be a happy ending, but I wasn't expecting it to have such a non-ending as it did. Like really? thats how you're going to make use of the final moments of the show?

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Great costume and acting

This is my personal opinions so please don't judge me.
What I like is the cast and their good acting skills, their beautiful costume, and the CGI. The storyline it's interesting but I think it's too much drama. What I mean is there's a lot suffering for ML. Bai Lu looks very beautiful here but I don't really like her character here. ML trying his best to prove that he can be a good person and change his destiny but the FL keep misunderstand him. The FL characters from the beginning till the end is no any improvement. Chen Duling acting skills was on point. But for the second couple I think they're storyline is a mess. This drama is good but I'm not feel 'the empty' after finishing this drama.

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You might want to skip the subplot and focus on the scenes with the main leads

First in Broker and now in this, Luo Yun Xi seems to be a pro at leaving the viewers heartbroken. I do not like these kinds of endings, I kept hoping that he would reappear or be reincarnated so they could actually meet again but nope. If going into the drama I had known this, I wouldn't have watched it but then I would have missed out on a decent drama with leads that share powerful chemistry.

Of course there are many scenes that were too dramatic but the show kept things interesting. However after all the suffering these two went through they deserved to be happy together.

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Star Crossed Lovers

This story is beautiful. The novel, Black Moonlight holds the BE Script by Teng Luo Wei Zhi, is one of my favorites. It's a good story and the chemistry between Bai Lu and Luo Yunxi is out of this world. From Love is Sweet to TTEOTM, I really can't get enough of them. However, I'm not a huge fan of the story. I know a lot of people like Bo'er Life, but it was too long for me, it dragged on too long that the storyline was messed up for me. I know why it was in there, but it was way too long, they didn't need the huge story. I enjoyed the YXW and original TTJ romance in the beginning. The LSS and CJM romance was rushed, it was crammed because of the 40-episode limit and the Bo'er Life/YXW and TTJ romance. This drama did not need all of the blood spitting, it's like every episode one of them spits out blood, it's unsettling. I think YBC had this epic potential but then just died out in the LSS and CJM era. The romance I loved the most was Pian Ran and Ye Qingyu. I loved them as a characters. Sun Zhenni portrayed Pian Ran beautifully, I loved their story, every bit of it. It's a great story, however, some of the scenes could be cut so the story wasn't so rushed in the end. If you don't have all of the story, it was surprising how LSS and TTJ had a child. Plus, Yue Fuya was in and out and in the end she wasn't necessary. This story definitely made my cry with the star crossed fated lovers story. The open ending was really nice, it wasn't sad nor happy, it's like a breath of fresh air. The ending seemed rushed, but I understand the 40-episode limit, and I know there was situations and whatnot. This is an amazing xian xia drama, but it's not the best ever. The lyrics to the songs were so emotional, and they really matched the scenes, but it's not the best OST I've heard. This drama is definitely worth watching, but however, not worth re-watching.

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A Refreshing Twist on Dramas with a Side of Blood-Spitting

The story was great. Was a good change from the usual dramas we get. It was enjoyable to watch an anti-hero ML with enough wickedness to make the watch fun. The FL was also good, not the bubbly, air-headed one that we usually get in these kind of dramas like in TLBFAD. She was cute without being stupid and childish. The plot was fairly consistent, minus the whole immortal arc, but that's understandable since they had to cut out a lot of scenes to make it fit within 40 episodes. The story was not slow moving, progressed at a good pace, and was exciting to watch.

For characters, TTJ was of course the best for me. His acting was amazing, and he easily portrayed 4 different characters with ease and charm. Really enjoyed watching him.

Ok, so one big problem I have is with LSS getting so much hate. Really don't understand that. People are saying she didn't love TTJ and didn't deserve him. blah blah blah. For me, her actions made complete sense. I mean, on her part, she did try to trust him. The first time she grew close to him and trusted him, he kidnapped her, took her to Jin and even threatened to kill her. The next time she trusted him, he had her good friend killed by her own hand. Seriously, if your husband makes you kill someone, that would obviously be a big red flag. And she did not have just her own feelings to consider. She had to think about the thousands of people who would die if TTJ became the DG. Then, when she trusts him for the last time, he turns into a DG and tries to kill her. Then, when she still has some feelings for him, he takes out the big-eyed weapon and starts to kill innocent people to force her to abandon him and turn into a god. LSS is not a mind-reader, how the hell will she know that he is doing this to sacrifice himself. If even at this point, she trusted him, then either she would have to be really obsessed with him, or her head would have been empty. For me, LSS was an enjoyable character, who loved when she did, but also knew when to give up to save her people.

Things I didn't like:
The makeup was sometimes too dark and prominent. I mean, sometimes I couldn't even tell if they wanted to portray TTJ as a DG or a bad-ass girl.
The blood spitting. Oh god. Those scenes made me want to spit blood myself. No wonder why TTJ was white as a ghost all the time.
the unnecessary misunderstandings. I mean, they have become a norm in the Chinese dramas, but seriously, do the drama makers not have any other plot devices???
The dream arc. For me, it was quite boring. The naivety and stupidity of SJ was a turn-off for me. I get it that she was innocent and young, but seriously, how stupid do you have to be to trust a person who is obviously your love rival. and why the hell couldn't they both (SJ and MY) just talk to each other. Was the other girl their messenger or something. *eye roll*.

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it was amazing but there could be room for improvements

The plot was beautifully written and the acting was superb. The CGI was gorgeous and the set was amazing.

I'm knocking points down because the pacing of the entire show was slow. I understand that with all the intricacies, every arc was needed, but the decision to slow down some of the scenes were unnecessary. The dramatic scenes felt very "bollywood-esque" with their multiple angles of the same scenes/facial expression. Some of the fighting scenes were also unnecessarily long.
The constant misunderstandings got tiring halfway through the show. Ye Xiwu, as understanding and trusting as she was, didn't trust enough and that was a big character flaw that was never mentioned. While there was a big focus on his undying love for her, it didn't really make sense since she wasn't very sincere to him during their human arc. It was implied that she loved him when the fox demon would tease her, but her actions didn't really proved it other than she didn't kill him right away, and treated him with some kindness because she wanted him to not be evil right away. Everything she did fit with her missions' agenda rather than her own heart.

Also, Luo Yixun and Bai Lu definitely carried the shows, the side actors didn't convince me.

Also the blood was an overkill. And no one got their happy ending. The reason why he chose to save the world was because despite all the miseries, there was the good times that are worth cherishing and saving... EXCEPT the entire series was just tragic and sad and full of betrayal. Literally no one got a happy ending.

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