This review may contain spoilers
Moonlight Mystique or A Collection of Unfortunate Sacrifices
While I love Bai Lu, I think I was ultimately kind of disappointed with this drama, and I was so excited, too. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I feel like the last 3 xianxia/historical dramas that she has done are like- the same character. I feel like Bai Lu is capable of choosing different kinds of characters, but for whatever reason, it's getting to a point where it kind of feels like I've been watching her play a specific kind of character in several different dramas with not really much of a variation - just different goals in mind.
Ultimately, at some points in this drama, I felt like everything that was happening was either to prop her character or revolved around her character, which made sense because she is the main character, but when literally everyone dies, it's not fun anymore... and when I mean everyone dies; literally, everyone that was worth remembering or a proper support character dies. The entire show is, in a very short summary, just a collection of unfortunate sacrifices.
Mu Jie for example was saved in Rong Xian's resentment illusion with Fan Yue's powers but yet despite being saved has to sacrifice himself in the end...which made it pointless for him to be saved to begin with. The Fox Clan's issue, by the way, is still not solved. The emotion tree will literally continue to need high spiritual energy from another demon to continue to flourish in another- who knows - thousand years or so. The water stone given to Bai Shou is literally an irreplaceable treasure from the Fox Clan. Tian Huo's death was also strange. It was like she was the last person left so the writers had to think of a way to kill her off. Unfortunately and conveniently, Fan Yue is brought back to life at the last second because heaven said, "Oopsie!" I would have honestly maybe preferred it if heaven said, "everyone will come back in one form or another" and left it there. If this were the case, I feel like the ending would have made more sense.
I found Bai Shou and Fan Yue's relationship boring - there was no nuance - just: I'll sacrifice myself for you and vice versa. Not even, it's a lot of Bai Shou going, "My life is my life. Your life is your life," and then someone proceeds to try to sacrifice themself for the other. Fan Yue dying all the time got boring really fast, and he got soft way too fast. In comparison to how he was presented in the first few episodes, the subsequent episodes after Ning'an felt like I was watching a different person. I could not get emotionally attached to either Bai Shou or Fan Yue, so whenever one got hurt, I really did not care as much as when any of the support characters died.
This show isn't without any positive aspects. I was honestly surprised with how Bai Shou got lectured by Fan Yue when she broke into the forbidden room the first time and got yelled at for thinking only about herself. There are several small moments when someone gets lectured into trying to be understanding to other people's situations, which I found really cute that the show is trying to send a message to be more compassionate towards others. There are some life lessons in this drama I think maybe a lot of people don't usually hear, which I feel could be important. Some of the arcs were interesting too. I think the attempt that they had at addressing difficult things, such as someone doing horrific acts but not inherently being a horrible person, is interesting. I absolutely prefer characters like this over cookie-cutter "green flags" because it gives the characters more depth and nuance, so I was happy they were included. For example, Qi Feng massacred those who he believed were behind massacring his clan or did wrong to him and his clan, and Fu Ling became Zheng Yu's slave after being brainwashed. Both were groomed since they were children, and both have done horrible things, but they were not born this way. If they had grown up in better circumstances, they would have never done any of the things they did and when they sobered up from their situations, they became pitiful characters that I wished could have a shot at living on. Unfortunately, there was no justice for these characters. The main leads didn't even get to Zhen Yu, the one who did all this. Zhen Yu died happily saving Mo Li...
*Note: I am very impressed with the costume design and hairstyle choice for Fu Ling. I am a sucker for pretty hairstyles. At first, it was a bit confusing for me to tell why Fu Ling liked Chong Zhao so quickly, but when you later find out about how she had a crush on him since she was a kid, it made more sense- at least they tried to rationalize that amongst the many things that might have been questionable.
As a standalone drama, this really didn't captivate me as much as I wished for it to. I would absolutely recommend watching this if you turn off your brain and if you enjoy frivolous dramas. If you are an overthinker like me, perhaps this isn't the drama for you. I watched the entire thing because of Bai Lu initially and then for Dai Lu Wa as Fu Ling, but if it were any other actresses, I may not have stayed to watch the whole thing.
Ultimately, at some points in this drama, I felt like everything that was happening was either to prop her character or revolved around her character, which made sense because she is the main character, but when literally everyone dies, it's not fun anymore... and when I mean everyone dies; literally, everyone that was worth remembering or a proper support character dies. The entire show is, in a very short summary, just a collection of unfortunate sacrifices.
Mu Jie for example was saved in Rong Xian's resentment illusion with Fan Yue's powers but yet despite being saved has to sacrifice himself in the end...which made it pointless for him to be saved to begin with. The Fox Clan's issue, by the way, is still not solved. The emotion tree will literally continue to need high spiritual energy from another demon to continue to flourish in another- who knows - thousand years or so. The water stone given to Bai Shou is literally an irreplaceable treasure from the Fox Clan. Tian Huo's death was also strange. It was like she was the last person left so the writers had to think of a way to kill her off. Unfortunately and conveniently, Fan Yue is brought back to life at the last second because heaven said, "Oopsie!" I would have honestly maybe preferred it if heaven said, "everyone will come back in one form or another" and left it there. If this were the case, I feel like the ending would have made more sense.
I found Bai Shou and Fan Yue's relationship boring - there was no nuance - just: I'll sacrifice myself for you and vice versa. Not even, it's a lot of Bai Shou going, "My life is my life. Your life is your life," and then someone proceeds to try to sacrifice themself for the other. Fan Yue dying all the time got boring really fast, and he got soft way too fast. In comparison to how he was presented in the first few episodes, the subsequent episodes after Ning'an felt like I was watching a different person. I could not get emotionally attached to either Bai Shou or Fan Yue, so whenever one got hurt, I really did not care as much as when any of the support characters died.
This show isn't without any positive aspects. I was honestly surprised with how Bai Shou got lectured by Fan Yue when she broke into the forbidden room the first time and got yelled at for thinking only about herself. There are several small moments when someone gets lectured into trying to be understanding to other people's situations, which I found really cute that the show is trying to send a message to be more compassionate towards others. There are some life lessons in this drama I think maybe a lot of people don't usually hear, which I feel could be important. Some of the arcs were interesting too. I think the attempt that they had at addressing difficult things, such as someone doing horrific acts but not inherently being a horrible person, is interesting. I absolutely prefer characters like this over cookie-cutter "green flags" because it gives the characters more depth and nuance, so I was happy they were included. For example, Qi Feng massacred those who he believed were behind massacring his clan or did wrong to him and his clan, and Fu Ling became Zheng Yu's slave after being brainwashed. Both were groomed since they were children, and both have done horrible things, but they were not born this way. If they had grown up in better circumstances, they would have never done any of the things they did and when they sobered up from their situations, they became pitiful characters that I wished could have a shot at living on. Unfortunately, there was no justice for these characters. The main leads didn't even get to Zhen Yu, the one who did all this. Zhen Yu died happily saving Mo Li...
*Note: I am very impressed with the costume design and hairstyle choice for Fu Ling. I am a sucker for pretty hairstyles. At first, it was a bit confusing for me to tell why Fu Ling liked Chong Zhao so quickly, but when you later find out about how she had a crush on him since she was a kid, it made more sense- at least they tried to rationalize that amongst the many things that might have been questionable.
As a standalone drama, this really didn't captivate me as much as I wished for it to. I would absolutely recommend watching this if you turn off your brain and if you enjoy frivolous dramas. If you are an overthinker like me, perhaps this isn't the drama for you. I watched the entire thing because of Bai Lu initially and then for Dai Lu Wa as Fu Ling, but if it were any other actresses, I may not have stayed to watch the whole thing.
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