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A Deeply Moving, Memorable & Magical Must-Watch
Deeply, deeply romantic and moving. Together with the epic main theme by Sa DingDing, there were more than a few moments of tears for me. The cinematic silhouettes of the main couple blew my mind throughout. Visual art!
There are moments of sacrifice (and resurrection, too) here, you’re not escaping any epic xianxia without them lol. But truly…it’s okay (versus that feeling of viewer hollowness/anger when it’s just an emotional jackhammer and character loss feels like a story crutch to play with our emotions). Everyone here mattered to this world. All were carefully chosen, and their decisions made with courage, bravery and thought.
Bai Lu is solid as ever, it’s so very easy to like her in roles like this because she always brings it, the only flip side being…it’s Bai Lu again being excellent. I wish there were floods of other actresses hitting fantasy character home runs every time. Ao Ruipeng is surprisingly reserved, but it works.
They both play dual roles, and his previous more playful/flirtatious incarnation was the one I badly wished they’d flipped to the current version we spend way more time with. Their chemistry is stronger in past because of it, too. This is a minor whiny complaint in an otherwise fabulous drama.
All side characters and their stories are fleshed out and touching. You get to know all of them a bit, and you care. You visit their homes, their pasts, their people as you travel through this gathering-the-clues/items one-by-one story. Loved it!
Wardrobe/makeup/hair are beyond exquisite and world-class. Wardrobe-wise, MM is the best xianxia I’ve seen so far. So many are wall to wall bedazzled modern rhinestone-y ultra modern synthetic looks. The team here went with nature-inspired touches here, florals, etc., more few more intricate cotton or silk and matte looks as well as the cool diaphanous, flowing synthetics, keeping the magical, fairy-like and ethereal feel very high while toning down the kind of oversaturated tacky, shiny, polyester-ish to a low roar. If this team ever paired up with director Guo Jingming, my eyeballs would explode right out of my face.
The result of all this wardrobe/styling eye candy was Bai Lu has never looked as cute/pretty as she does in her fox clan dress/hair (or her red gown), and everyone’s makeup throughout was absolutely stunning. The sets were gorgeous - bright colors like an Easter basket, dark and moody violets and magentas, rich, eye popping autumn pumpkin oranges and reds, the whole thing is a visual feast. CGI/green screen stuff is incorporated fairly well, but not always perfect (contrast issues).
Dad is played by same actor as Fated Hearts’ cantankerous Master healer, so he was an instant like.
Singer Sa DingDing’s majestic, shake your fist at the Gods opening sequence plays throughout, and it’ll go on your best drama songs ever list. She also appears here in a small role as Master Sun, and her final appearance both blew my mind and made me literally shout out loud, “PERFECT!”
Entire soundtrack is excellent - every damn song. That’s so extremely rare (for me).
Overall, Moonlight Mystique is a solid A. IMO, the mains were a respectful, caring and functional partnership but definitely lacked some of the raw chemistry fireworks of, say, Love in the Clouds or Love Between Fairy and Devil. But as a whole, it’s a beauty of a drama and one I’ll watch again eventually. It’s that memorable.
There are moments of sacrifice (and resurrection, too) here, you’re not escaping any epic xianxia without them lol. But truly…it’s okay (versus that feeling of viewer hollowness/anger when it’s just an emotional jackhammer and character loss feels like a story crutch to play with our emotions). Everyone here mattered to this world. All were carefully chosen, and their decisions made with courage, bravery and thought.
Bai Lu is solid as ever, it’s so very easy to like her in roles like this because she always brings it, the only flip side being…it’s Bai Lu again being excellent. I wish there were floods of other actresses hitting fantasy character home runs every time. Ao Ruipeng is surprisingly reserved, but it works.
They both play dual roles, and his previous more playful/flirtatious incarnation was the one I badly wished they’d flipped to the current version we spend way more time with. Their chemistry is stronger in past because of it, too. This is a minor whiny complaint in an otherwise fabulous drama.
All side characters and their stories are fleshed out and touching. You get to know all of them a bit, and you care. You visit their homes, their pasts, their people as you travel through this gathering-the-clues/items one-by-one story. Loved it!
Wardrobe/makeup/hair are beyond exquisite and world-class. Wardrobe-wise, MM is the best xianxia I’ve seen so far. So many are wall to wall bedazzled modern rhinestone-y ultra modern synthetic looks. The team here went with nature-inspired touches here, florals, etc., more few more intricate cotton or silk and matte looks as well as the cool diaphanous, flowing synthetics, keeping the magical, fairy-like and ethereal feel very high while toning down the kind of oversaturated tacky, shiny, polyester-ish to a low roar. If this team ever paired up with director Guo Jingming, my eyeballs would explode right out of my face.
The result of all this wardrobe/styling eye candy was Bai Lu has never looked as cute/pretty as she does in her fox clan dress/hair (or her red gown), and everyone’s makeup throughout was absolutely stunning. The sets were gorgeous - bright colors like an Easter basket, dark and moody violets and magentas, rich, eye popping autumn pumpkin oranges and reds, the whole thing is a visual feast. CGI/green screen stuff is incorporated fairly well, but not always perfect (contrast issues).
Dad is played by same actor as Fated Hearts’ cantankerous Master healer, so he was an instant like.
Singer Sa DingDing’s majestic, shake your fist at the Gods opening sequence plays throughout, and it’ll go on your best drama songs ever list. She also appears here in a small role as Master Sun, and her final appearance both blew my mind and made me literally shout out loud, “PERFECT!”
Entire soundtrack is excellent - every damn song. That’s so extremely rare (for me).
Overall, Moonlight Mystique is a solid A. IMO, the mains were a respectful, caring and functional partnership but definitely lacked some of the raw chemistry fireworks of, say, Love in the Clouds or Love Between Fairy and Devil. But as a whole, it’s a beauty of a drama and one I’ll watch again eventually. It’s that memorable.
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