Beloved of a Lifetime

NO SPOILER "Till the end of the moon" as a low budget drama - I enjoyed it

If you wanted to know what would look like "Till the end of the moon" as a low budget short-length drama ? There you have it. I enjoyed it though.
The story : On the day of her wedding, the immortal Shang You survives the massacre of her entire clan by Si Yuan, the Dark Lord of the Underworld. To seek revenge, Shang You disguises herself as Meng Li and infiltrates the underworld...

The main topic of this drama is a revenge during which the heroine tries to save her loved ones and redeemed herself. Like in real life, the road to happiness is not a peaceful road and she will have to suffer setbacks and learn about herself before knowing the truth. Just because of that, this drama is worth watching.

The story is narrated on several lifetimes during which the heroine is trying to uncover the mystery of the annihilation of her clan. Even if the plot is simple, I was still interested in knowing the end of the story. Once I recognize the main elements of TTEOTM, I wanted to know exactly what version the cast and crew were going to present.
I was satisfied with what they came up with. It was entertaining, I even cried at a particular moment. And that surprised me. It was nice watching this drama.

Pros :
- I liked that it ressembles so much to "Till the end of the moon". You will recognize, who is Ye Bing Chang, Tan tai Jin, Li Su Su, Xiao Lin, Pian Ran, ADG, Di Mian, Qu Xuan Zi, the Fleeting Life/Bo're Dream ...
- I liked the way Female Lead approaches and seduces Male Lead.
- Liked the way the emotionless ML slowly learns what is love, as Shang You seduces him.
- Good chemistry between the lead.
- Appreciated the acting.
- I liked how the Sect head master is moving. It is like he is dancing. I saw him "pop & lock" like a Hip-Hop dancer. It made me smile.

Cons :
- Simple plot.
- Male Lead is expressionless for a longtime during the first and second arc.
- The CGI goes with the budget. It is not top notch, but I wasn't so disturbed about it.
- Main antagonist is one-dimensionnal.

Overall:
Simple but cute story with Xianxia elements and good chemistry between the lead.
I liked the ending. It would be the ending I would have wanted for TTEOTM. Here I got it and I was happy.
If you like Xianxia love story taking place during several lifetimes with a satisfying ending.
This drama is made for you.

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Pretty Show w/ Rushed Ending

This show was definitely pretty. Pretty sets, pretty overlay / scene change screens, pretty (and varied) costumes, and of course... pretty actors 😅🤷‍♀️. One of it's positives is that it also had above average cgi for being a mini drama (I have absolutely seen worse cgi in full length shows, let alone what's normally shown in minis).

Actors/Actresses that stand out:

Zhong LiLi as Shang You will possibly make you want to slap her or strangle her for how dumb and naive she is she is at certain points of the show. Not EVERY one who says they will help you has your best interests at heart girl...

Guan Yue as Si Yuan was amazing to watch for multiple reasons. One, he CAN act and he CAN emote. This show required him to NOT do that and I swear the director told him "no, stop, too much, more stone face...." The fact he has expressions and "acts" well later in the show after he would HAVE emotions makes me convinced this is the fact. His scenes of self-punishment were 🔥 and his white-hair transformation was 🙈.
Yin Rui as Feng Shancha was a VERY complex character that had you feeling bad for her one second and wanting to kill her yourself the next. She obviously has a good ability to elicit emotions with her face. She has a trigger warning scene happen TO her.

The plot... tries. It starts out clear and focused but as it goes on it slowly begins to devolve until we get to the last couple episodes where they cram way too much plot into too little run time. This causes characters to flip suddenly, threads to drop completely, and sudden final reveals to lose their emotional impact because they come from nowhere. Warning, you will NEVER find out WHY the ML was blind and near the FL in the 1st episode 🤷‍♀️.

Honestly, the show needed to be 30 episodes at least to better develop that ending.

Finally, the original title is 3 Lives Without Sorrow and it's "obviously" supposed to be a 3 lives show but don't bother trying to scratch your head trying to count which "life" they're on; it won't make sense. We'll, maybe it will... another user said this show is "basically" a mini-drama version of TTEOTM but I've yet to see that yet so can't say what the parallels are.

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very bad pacing

The show had a promising storyline, but unfortunately, its execution fell short in several areas. One of the biggest issues was the pacing—it felt rushed at times and dragged in others, making it difficult to stay engaged. Certain scenes seemed to be cut abruptly, leading to a lack of continuity and making the plot hard to follow.

Additionally, the acting left much to be desired. Rather than immersing viewers in the story, many performances felt flat and unconvincing, making emotional moments less impactful. The show also relies heavily on narration instead of strong visual storytelling, which takes away from the experience. Instead of allowing the characters’ actions and expressions to convey the plot, we are told what’s happening, which can be frustrating.

Another noticeable flaw was the lack of attention to detail in both the production design and storytelling. Small but significant elements that could have elevated the show were overlooked, making it feel dated rather than fresh and innovative. Given that this is a 2024 release, one would expect a more refined and well-thought-out approach.

Overall, this show had so much potential but didn’t quite deliver. With stronger direction, better editing, and improved performances, it could have been an enjoyable drama. Hopefully, future projects from the team will learn from these shortcomings and strive for a more immersive and polished experience.

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