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Love & Hate. Misunderstandings. Plot Twists. It had the potential but didn’t fully deliver.
This drama had such a potential with its uniquely set up plot but it sadly didn’t fully deliver. Honestly, I feel like Bai Lu and Joseph Zeng are the plot because I only finished this story for them. The main components of this drama is a mix of love & hate, misunderstandings, angst and plot twists. The drama is about the feud between the main leads, who are Gods created from the same source, similar to ying/yang.
POSITIVE:
- Bai Lu and Joseph Zeng slayed. Their performance and on-screen chemistry was brilliant. In fact I’d say they are the plot! I finished the drama only for them. In fact, it was my first time seeing Joseph properly, and I’m now a fan!
- Second female lead. I went through so many emotions with this girl. I hated her, didn’t care for her, loved her. Her story appeared to be cliche at first but ended up being very unique. The daughter-father story arc was unexpectedly really well done.
- Plot twists. Ok I’ll give them that, the writers knew how to fool their audience. Usually in cdrama, they do this stupid stuff of showing everything the bad guys are doing. But this time, it was hidden and only in the finale episodes we got to see who the bad guy was.
- Nice angst. As a xianxia angst lover, the emotional scenes hit me hard and I loved it. But the rest… is another topic.
NEGATIVE:
- Plot/characters. My main issue with this drama is that the script spent so much time creating plot twists, that it neglected to properly fresh out its characters. In general, all the character's interactions (except the leads) felt like plot devices to reach the next plot point. The dialogue either was forced or lacked at certain scenes. There were many characters that popped up just for that one plot point and nothing else. For example, the Goddess of Time was so random. You could argue she was there because of the leads tribulation. Cool, but she still popped up out of nowhere to move the plot forward and then disappeared. Same with the God Elders (or whatever they were, it’s not like it was explained). I’m not asking for their whole backstory but at least show us something to make them look more real.
The plot twists were cool but at the same time the drama took TOO long to get to them. Most scenes, in between the twists, were kind of boring and draggy. The non-linear storytelling made the drama messy. There was a lot of back and forth with flashbacks, timelines etc. The issue wasn’t that it was hard to follow but that it took too long to get to the actual point. Hell, the female lead spent the whole 10 episodes pretending to be someone else. For what? It could have been done in 5 episodes. I get that the writers were banking on suspense and mind blowing twists but the way everything was set up ended up feeling artificial to me.
Another thing this drama focused on was tribulation and learning valuable lessons. Well, I know about human nature, I know about these lessons etc, it’s nothing new. What I wanted to see was characters who could resonate with me on a deeper/human level. And honestly, the only two that did were the female and second female lead. The male lead had the potential but he felt more like a background piece in the second half. The rest were more like cardboards.
- Second male lead as plot device. This annoyed me tremendously. His character had potential to be somewhat cool. But what did the writers do? They USED him for all the plot twists which made him feel like a shell of a character. Seriously, aside from being devoted to the female lead, he literally had zero personality and interests.
- Misunderstandings. Xianxia is known for this cliche trope. I usually don’t mind that but here it took most of the drama to get to it. The reveal of why there is a feud between the leads was delivered in a nice angsty style but at the same time not so shocking because it was literally shown in the trailer.
- Second couple = wasted potential. Instead of the guest couple (disciple-demon), that nobody cared about, I would have liked the focus to be on the second leads. Yes, it didn’t fit the story of them falling in love BUT IF the second female lead’s tribulation happened earlier, it would have left the door open for that too. Or at least friendship if nothing else.
- Visuals. They were decent but at the same time, the producer was totally stingy with the setting designs and CGI. And not even a special episode? Bai Lu deserved better.
- Side characters blah blah Literally nobody stood out, I didn’t care about anyone except maybe the healer Li Mo but even that is a stretch. The human sect disciples, all the immortals in the Nine Heavens, they were just plot devices.
- Dubbing. Minor annoyance for me but the leads being dubbed was criminal.
- Ending. It felt like a cheap trick to satisfy the audience. In general, the final episodes were very underwhelming with a random (but at least hot) villain and lackluster fight scenes. The fact that the male lead was barely there was criminal.
OVERALL:
This story had the potential to be the next Till the End of the Moon but it sadly didn’t deliver. I don’t like to compare but TTEOTM is still the best xianxia of Bai lu for me. In fact, I wasn’t a huge fan of Moonlight Mystique but it weirdly feels like it was more fleshed out. Both Feud and MM have their pros and cons so I feel they are on a similar level. Decent but not that great. I really wanted to love this drama as Bai Lu is my number one Queen. At the start, I was totally obsessed with the lead’s love story but somehow the second half got boring and the final episodes were a let down. In conclusion, it's hard for me to recommend this but if you love xianxia and Bai Lu, I guess give it a chance.
POSITIVE:
- Bai Lu and Joseph Zeng slayed. Their performance and on-screen chemistry was brilliant. In fact I’d say they are the plot! I finished the drama only for them. In fact, it was my first time seeing Joseph properly, and I’m now a fan!
- Second female lead. I went through so many emotions with this girl. I hated her, didn’t care for her, loved her. Her story appeared to be cliche at first but ended up being very unique. The daughter-father story arc was unexpectedly really well done.
- Plot twists. Ok I’ll give them that, the writers knew how to fool their audience. Usually in cdrama, they do this stupid stuff of showing everything the bad guys are doing. But this time, it was hidden and only in the finale episodes we got to see who the bad guy was.
- Nice angst. As a xianxia angst lover, the emotional scenes hit me hard and I loved it. But the rest… is another topic.
NEGATIVE:
- Plot/characters. My main issue with this drama is that the script spent so much time creating plot twists, that it neglected to properly fresh out its characters. In general, all the character's interactions (except the leads) felt like plot devices to reach the next plot point. The dialogue either was forced or lacked at certain scenes. There were many characters that popped up just for that one plot point and nothing else. For example, the Goddess of Time was so random. You could argue she was there because of the leads tribulation. Cool, but she still popped up out of nowhere to move the plot forward and then disappeared. Same with the God Elders (or whatever they were, it’s not like it was explained). I’m not asking for their whole backstory but at least show us something to make them look more real.
The plot twists were cool but at the same time the drama took TOO long to get to them. Most scenes, in between the twists, were kind of boring and draggy. The non-linear storytelling made the drama messy. There was a lot of back and forth with flashbacks, timelines etc. The issue wasn’t that it was hard to follow but that it took too long to get to the actual point. Hell, the female lead spent the whole 10 episodes pretending to be someone else. For what? It could have been done in 5 episodes. I get that the writers were banking on suspense and mind blowing twists but the way everything was set up ended up feeling artificial to me.
Another thing this drama focused on was tribulation and learning valuable lessons. Well, I know about human nature, I know about these lessons etc, it’s nothing new. What I wanted to see was characters who could resonate with me on a deeper/human level. And honestly, the only two that did were the female and second female lead. The male lead had the potential but he felt more like a background piece in the second half. The rest were more like cardboards.
- Second male lead as plot device. This annoyed me tremendously. His character had potential to be somewhat cool. But what did the writers do? They USED him for all the plot twists which made him feel like a shell of a character. Seriously, aside from being devoted to the female lead, he literally had zero personality and interests.
- Misunderstandings. Xianxia is known for this cliche trope. I usually don’t mind that but here it took most of the drama to get to it. The reveal of why there is a feud between the leads was delivered in a nice angsty style but at the same time not so shocking because it was literally shown in the trailer.
- Second couple = wasted potential. Instead of the guest couple (disciple-demon), that nobody cared about, I would have liked the focus to be on the second leads. Yes, it didn’t fit the story of them falling in love BUT IF the second female lead’s tribulation happened earlier, it would have left the door open for that too. Or at least friendship if nothing else.
- Visuals. They were decent but at the same time, the producer was totally stingy with the setting designs and CGI. And not even a special episode? Bai Lu deserved better.
- Side characters blah blah Literally nobody stood out, I didn’t care about anyone except maybe the healer Li Mo but even that is a stretch. The human sect disciples, all the immortals in the Nine Heavens, they were just plot devices.
- Dubbing. Minor annoyance for me but the leads being dubbed was criminal.
- Ending. It felt like a cheap trick to satisfy the audience. In general, the final episodes were very underwhelming with a random (but at least hot) villain and lackluster fight scenes. The fact that the male lead was barely there was criminal.
OVERALL:
This story had the potential to be the next Till the End of the Moon but it sadly didn’t deliver. I don’t like to compare but TTEOTM is still the best xianxia of Bai lu for me. In fact, I wasn’t a huge fan of Moonlight Mystique but it weirdly feels like it was more fleshed out. Both Feud and MM have their pros and cons so I feel they are on a similar level. Decent but not that great. I really wanted to love this drama as Bai Lu is my number one Queen. At the start, I was totally obsessed with the lead’s love story but somehow the second half got boring and the final episodes were a let down. In conclusion, it's hard for me to recommend this but if you love xianxia and Bai Lu, I guess give it a chance.
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