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An Eternally Dreadful Love

At first, 58 episodes seemed perfectly reasonable. The drama introduces a huge cast—Mo Yuan and his disciples, Zhe Yan and Bai Zhen, Li Jing, Xuan Nü, Yan Zhi, Zi Lan and the different clans—and makes it seem as though all these characters will have stories of their own.

Unfortunately, most of them are barely developed after the opening arc, even though many are more intriguing than the main couple. Instead, the drama spends countless episodes repeating the same cycle: Ye Hua refuses to explain himself, Bai Qian misunderstands him, Su Jin schemes, and Ye Hua suffers or sacrifices himself. It is especially frustrating to see ancient, highly respected gods behaving with less emotional maturity and common sense than ordinary adults.

The title “Three Lives, Three Worlds” also feels misleading. Si Yin, Su Su and Bai Qian are not truly three different lives, but the same person under different names and circumstances. I expected the same souls to meet across three genuinely separate lifetimes.

The visuals are also strangely inconsistent. The physical sets, costumes and locations show that real care and money went into the production, which makes the poor CGI even more confusing. Even by 2017 standards, many of the creatures, battles, magical effects and heavenly landscapes look surprisingly artificial—sometimes more like video-game cutscenes than part of the same beautifully designed world.

I later learned that the novel begins when Bai Qian meets Ye Hua and A-Li again, revealing the past through flashbacks. That structure makes much more sense. In the drama, the audience already knows everything and simply waits for Bai Qian to catch up, turning potential mystery into endless delay.

The music, cast and fantasy world are memorable, and the opening episodes make it easy to understand why the drama became so popular. My disappointment comes from how much potential it had. There was enough material to justify 58 episodes, but instead of exploring its fascinating world and supporting characters, it reduced everything to one repetitive romance and then rushed through the ending.

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