Ackery

I do agree with wuxie1627 above, that ZYC treats BJ as his young brother, even though BJ seems to admire ZYC too much.

I do enjoy this drama -obsessed with it honesty-, but I do believe it was wrongly advertised. Even though it couldn't be as MJTY, since they are different genres, it was advertised as a dark fantasy drama -extremely depressing and angsty- judging from the trailer, and that wasn't really the case.

The thing is that BL's are banned in China. Even dramas based on same sex novels like The Untamed were censored and ended up being "bromances" ( even though for people that knew or were more observant, it was evident the main characters were not just friends).

So, you can easily keep watching disregarding that aspect of it, because you will not truly "see" it because of the ban. Even if it is portrayed in different ways, you still may not notice, if you are focused on the relationship between WX and ZYZ. And honestly, GJM will never confirm it. It's you who choses from which lens you will be watching it.

For me, it is evident that the director has inserted many homoerotic connotations not only between ZYC and ZYZ, but also between LL and ZYZ, but it was evident from the get go -and it is not the first time he is doing it-. The fact that the female lead is underdeveloped further proves this point. But, if it was just the two male main leads, it would probably never see the light of day cause of the censorship board.

Conclusion? This could never be an actual bl -because of the ban-, so you can watch it judging it by your own perspective as a romance drama.

Great comment! I agree and it is obvious by how well written and complex their characters are.

And the way, I actually didn't want to see it anyways 🙃

I feel that we will either get a flashback much later or it was the director's choice, cause he didn't want to show that type of over-affection between those two characters. After all, this would be the first actual hug in the series, at least from what I remember.

For me, she is there for censorship purposes and it got even more evident in ep. 26.

I personally do enjoy and prefer the ZYZ + ZYC relationship. Their dynamics, chemistry and generally their scenes are very impactful and powerful and I think that was also GJM's purpose. Most of the "big" scenes are between ZYZ and ZYC and not between other characters.

But like you mention, WX is an extremely underdeveloped character which is unfortunate, cause from the first few eps I expected her character to be completely different. More layered and complex.
She is weak, which is okay -and is acknowledged in the series-, but most of the times when something important or life threatening happens, it seems that she is there for no reason. She is just shouting names and crying, doing basically nothing and it is also apparent by the way the director is "using" her. When the relationship between ZYC and ZYZ gets a bit "non platonic" suddenly he remembers to show WX's face just to remind us the FL is there.

GJM has used homoerotic undertones in his dramas before and for me it is apparent he is doing it in this one too -and it is not subtle at all-. It's not just the scenes, but many other things like the symbolism behind many things happening -even had a convo about the actual chinese phrases that are uses in some cases that prove it-. But, it was a bad choice to actually not develop the FL. She had to be better written, because for a drama to be great, all characters must be developed -if not equally, at least to some degree-.

Exactly...

Been saying this from the get go and it was even more evident in ep. 26. It feels like she is there for the drama to pass censorship. Even directing wise, it feels like GJM makes her face pop up when things get too bl-y.

The problem is that her character is extremely underdeveloped which is a pity cause she could have been pretty great, if they kept the vibes from the first few eps-.

It's a love or hate drama. I personally love it a lot.

Don't take douban rating into consideration. Besides the "fandom wars", Cnets hate the director -since he is a very controversial figure- and I am sure that is partly why it has such a low rating on douban.

The production quality is insane and it is generally a very easy and entertaining watch having "free will" as the main theme. Even though the drama has comedic elements, the main characters truly go through a lot, but it is well executed most of the time.

If you ask me, give it a chance and judge for your own. If you like aesthetics, mythology and (b)romance, I think you will enjoy it.

I think that some characters are splendidly written and others are unfortunately extremely underdeveloped, but it is an entertaining watch!

Thank you!
I do ship them romantically, but as you are saying, it doesn't really matter if someone sees them like that or not, cause it is evident that they are soulmates in a way or another.

"The drama also shows in the few flashbacks that LL is slower to understand the human world or learn certain human traits akin to a frog in a well when compared to ZY"
-> I generally agree, but I would add that aside that, from what we were shown, it seemed like ZYZ was also more eager to learn about humans and he seemed to have a type of admiration towards them -and it is always easier to understand something when you really want to- comparing to LL. Plus, ZYZ seemed to visit more often the mortal world comparing to LL, so it is natural that what we see make it seem like it is easier for him to learn. After that, it was the experiences that made them have opposite ideas about mortals and choose different paths.

"When LL realised humans could exploit and torture low-level demons, he became completely emotional and reacted badly. LL was wrong to kill all humans in the medicinal shop, including the customers who knew nothing of what was happening underneath the shop. That also shows LL unable to parse the specifics of context for this situation accurately. ZY was naive to touch the Ever-Burning Wood without first exercising some caution, which could have destroyed ZY but fortunately it only became absorbed and part of him."
-> Agreed. LL aside, I think his choice to kill everyone was human-like. Not only in real life when people tend to punish everyone instead of the one at fault, but also in the drama (with all demons getting ostracized, when not all of them are evil).

I won't dwell much on the ZYZ x LL story cause I think we have both analyzed it a lot. All I want to mention, is that both ZYZ and LL are deeply flawed characters with each of them making mistakes and wrong choices. Like I have mentioned in the past, I don't dislike ZYZ and I also don't dislike LL.

Both of them have different perceptions of the world, and are both on the extremes -or at least were- (LL considers humans bad and ZYZ considers them good). Both of them had their reasons to do what they did under those circumstances and they have completely different mindsets.

What happened to LL was considered as a punishment worse than death by LL, but probably for ZYZ it was merciful. They are two people that are and were always opposite.

Same with ZYC. We can't truly compare cause they were different species, but choices are choices no matter how you were raised and no matter what you have been through or what you are. ZYC chose the righteous path and LL didn't.
We can't compare their way of living, cause LL's was harsher, but that doesn't mean he was forced to turn the way he did. Same with all humans. Many abused people turn into abusers, but not everyone does. Many people that grew with love end up being kind, but not all of them do. Not every wounded person turns "bad" and not every loved person turns "good".

And the thing is that at the end of the day there is no good and bad or black and white. No evil and kind people, just people/yao with different experiences and different choices -both good and bad- and all the characters in the drama fall in this category.

Conclusion? GJM being all poetic 😂

I don't know what I should comment about episode 26, but the love story between Zhao Yuan Zhou and Zhuo Yi Chen (call it platonic, brotherly or romantic, doesn't matter) is portrayed immaculately. It is an epic journey of two souls that, despite their differences, got to understand one another in a way that no one else could ever understand them and formed a bond that would never break.

I won't talk about their heart to heart conversation in the beginning of the episode, nor the plead of ZYC to ZYZ ("please don't die"), but I must talk about the final scene of ep. 26.

Zhuo Yi Chen chose to remain frozen, pledging to keep company to that beast for eternity. He chose himself and he reconciled with death.
One of the ultimate purposes of all beings is to die without having regrets for the life they have lived and by mentioning Bai Jiu in his last moments and his will for him to be saved, even when he is not there, is just heart shattering to say the least. The way he turned his head around, waiting for his "death" was devastating.

And then, we have ZYZ. The demon that always sought death. The one that hated himself; hated the despair he had inflicted. The one that fought to get as close to ZYC as possible to try to save him, knowing that it could cause his demise.

When he touched him, and how, in the end, they both shared "death", was soul crushing to watch and at the same time poetically beautiful.

Very well said! I wish I could save comments.

You're welcome 😊

They are 😭

You brave. The other day I blocked a few people because of that 🙃

Doubt has good acting and a very interesting plot, but it is way too slow.

The slow pace is not the "this actually contributes to the general atmosphere" (like Beyond Evil), but more the "we need to have 10 eps instead of 5".

But plot is intriguing enough, so I'm still watching, but wouldn't really recommend if you are not 100% in the mood for something veryyy slow.

Girl, you are playing a dangerous game!

Very well said!

I won't hide that I laughed when they threw him all that expensive vegetables in a previous scenes and Pei Si Jing was just standing there being a queen.

But YL and bromance with ZYC in that scene and the first one where he was the only one defending him -> perfection!

Same 😂😂😂

Love to read your comments, especially the sandwich one below that I may or may not find relatable.

Oh you have a point, I totally see it! The enemies trying to "kill" each other turned into bickering partners.

I'm loving the (b)romance! It is insane.

Tian Jia Rui was phenomenal this episode and so was ZYC!

Hope to see him more in the future! Costume dramas fit him perfectly and he looks ethereal.

Keep your murderous tendencies for later. I feel it will get worse and I will join you.