Moondae22

Moonlight mystique as the name suggests the drama is Purple- elegant themed...but sadly it doesn't has a proper direction .The story started as Bai Shuo gathering the contemplations to get stronger, for revenge . But as the story continues the determination to take revenge gets dimmer to the point that it doesn't exist anymore! if they could direct it properly , had a good script and a proper production team with good camara-editing skills had done it, it could have been a good Xianxia!
Also, characters have good backgrounds to make them complex but somehow they ended up being one dimensional !
A clever yet arrogant female lead
A self made demon lord who suddenly became fool in love...
A immortal 2nd male lead who is annoying as hell
A demon 2nd fl who is evil but somehow survives every time someone tries to kill her...
Problems ---
■⁠■1)**The male lead**■⁠■⁠
The problem with male lead is that he is supposed to be a complex character. But the bad script writing made him a confusing character.
When fl's city destroyed, her father was dying he didn't care and gave her ghost grass that can cause slaughter in the city . He wanted to see if fl becomes evil and consume ghost flower in exchange for human lives . He didn't seemed a kind character. He tried to kill her, use her ,didn't help her other than bringing her to her father to gather the emotion . Then he suddenly fall in love with her? Why ? As a bossy demon lord who lives his life for revenge and power suddenly fall in love with a human girl ...like "you are the first girl treat me this way "...then suddenly it reveals he was always a kind demon who tries to save others !
If you compare his character background, it is closer to Xie Wei(SOKP) or Yan Zi Jing (TSOPG) . Sadly his character is a let down . I don't dislike the fact that he is kind and approachable ( a different approach to show a male lead) . But something is still missing in his character......
ARP is really good actor. loved him in the blood of youth . And he is looking pretty here . But here it feels like he's more focused in looking pretty rather than bringing the character alive or expressing Fan Yue's sorrowful and cheerful emotions precisely....... The makeup and costumes are gorgeous but it's distracting to focus on the character "Fan Yue" ....
⁠■⁠■⁠2)**The female lead**■⁠■⁠
who doesn't love a bold and smart female lead? I like Bai Lu and her acting is spectacular. Don't know what to feel about Bai Shuo. She is bold but she doesn't think before she acts .If Fan Yue was not kind imagine how her situation may have become! She orders and shows her feelings directly. Yes I love character growth but Bai Shuo's character doesn't give justice to her complex background.... I initially liked when she was determined to become an immortal to pay off the kindness. But she ended up becoming a brat .if she wasn't Xingyue reincarnation and without contemplation stone would she be able to pay off the kindness? at least let her put efforts in cultivation than just focusing on blame games and making her an arrogant character........
⁠■⁠■⁠3)**Cinematography and production**■⁠⁠■⁠
camara work is worst here . I don't know the budget but it feels too flashy like short cdramas that only focused in looks .Fighting scenes are very stiff and awkward and they talks more than doing the actual fight... (villains try to explain why they need to kill them and protagonists give them life lessons) ...the set is looking very cheap too ....the demon lords only have 1 or 2 followers (they didn't even bother to add some security-servants, anyone can come and go even in the secret rooms)and immortal sects looking like Wuxia beggar sect! Even the god realm is kind of like a flashy set only with 4-5 people including protagonists and antagonists...
And it's too colourful that it's visually disturbing sometimes...
⁠■⁠■⁠4)**story*⁠*■⁠⁠■
The story doesn't has a main plot. The script gave past stories for every single character that they forgot to put weightage on the main scenario. Even the villains are boring!
And the direction already spoiled us on what's going to happen next ! They could have added good amount of suspense and cliff hangers ! ( It has elements like hidden identities and past stories but they wasted the potential to create a tense atmosphere and mystery) . Sadly it doesn't makes you eager to know what will happen next ....
It neither gives the seriousness of Till the end of moon nor gives the comedic relief like love you seven times or love between fairy and devil ....
They tried to mix both and caused confusion .Many things are not explained clearly. Sometimes we're shown a character who is evil but suddenly script telling us they're good and vice versa...
Telling us directly Fan Yue is a kind demon, 2nd lead has demonic obsession ,Fu Ling was forced to do the evil things etc...they could have just shown us the complexity-depth of the characters and let us decide, rather than giving flashy and dramatic description like short cdramas!..... (Tantai Jin was more complex character in TTOTM, but other characters didn't had to describe his true nature!)
⁠■⁠■⁠5)**The chemistry*⁠*■⁠■⁠⁠
The biggest let down is that there is no foundation of relationship between ml and fl. And it's quite hard for me to watch a relationship without foundation and proper conversation. and I prefer slow burns more.. it's just too sudden, they were trying to kill each other and then suddenly they wish to die for each other... Same goes for the dynamic between 2nd ml and 2nd fl too..... why Fu ling suddenly fall for him and is it possible to love her when she made him kill innocent peoples and practically abused and tortured him(CZ) ? The answer is yes! Second ml went for an undercover mission and saved her two times and now he's in love with her cause of Stockholm syndrome and she's Baixi(over some childhood notes he's willing to drop 10 years of love for Bai Shuo!)...+ I'm amused to see how characters are rotating 180° .. Memory loss doesn't makes a person evil and psychopath!....not a single love story is well written....
⁠■⁠■⁠6 )**Fate of the one well written character**■⁠■
Personally I liked the character Qi Feng( his motives and character is well written). And I think the proper hate emotion needed from Qi Feng. He was abandoned, sacrificed, handicapped, betrayed and used . When they collected hate from Baize clan ... I thought writer has plan for Qi Feng only to watch him die insignificantly an episode later... And maybe cause of the bad script writing ARP couldn't portray the feelings Fan Yue should feel after witnessing the tragic incidents and they moved on from the incidents like nothing happened....
It's shocking how Fan Yue isn't raged over tiger clan or stone clan(they could have at least tried to save Qi Feng as they took advantage of Baize clan bones and responsible for his physical damage).It was not necessary for Fan Yue to develop seven star curse if he was planning to forgive them all. He could have chosen to become a saint instead of a demon king...
⁠■⁠■⁠7)**Finally**■⁠⁠■⁠
There are a lot of tragic stories. But they have no emotional connection with the audience .So, instead of feeling sadness, it's looking rushed and feels nothing when a character dies . There is blood bath and they tried not to make it gore so it is kind of like childhood fairytale sad stories. The characters are moving on from the tragedies very fast too .And the same sad Ost every time making it annoying. [ They totally overused the Ost ]
Of course Bailu acting and visuals of ARP is really good (not to mention the beautiful makeup and costumes ...still I wish the costumes were a little moderate at first and upgraded step by step rather giving goddess like outfits from starting. Specially Bai Shuo's Outfits . sometimes it feels she's the master of moon palace for her majestic costumes ...)and the angsty Ost is good as well ..but that's it !
■■**After 40 episodes**■■
I still watched it cause of Bailu ,the purple-aesthetic theme and was hoping it will get better. But maybe my expectations were high and I prefer stories with depth and development ....I didn't enjoyed this much ....
Still I appreciate CHS's and DLW's psychopathic acting as Mo Li and Fu Ling ... I enjoyed the opening 4-5 episodes, Rong Xian arc and few eps in 30s . Also, ARP's acting on last few episodes improved a lot , the kissing scenes were good...
There are many plot holes and dramatic corny plot twists...So ,turn off your brain if you wish to enjoy..
If you don't mind storytelling concept (Most of the time script will directly tell the facts and doesn't care about the understandings of the audience)
If you are fan of the leading actors, enjoy childhood fairytale themes, you can give it a try.... it's not for me.....