Xianxia C-drama Till the End of the Moon with Bai Lu and Luo Yun Xi Continues Strong Youku Viewership But Opens Low on Douban with 6.2 Ratings
It’s hitting the midway point for xianxia C-drama Till the End of the Moon and so far I’m still entertained but it’s not going to become my fave xianxia drama of all time. Luo Yun Xi is fantastic despite his less than imposing physical stature, onscreen he’s commanding a strong presence and that’s all that matters. Bai Lu is radiant in her myriad hair and outfit looks it’s totally a feast for the eyes. The antagonists are matter-of-factly boring and annoying but the third set of OTP leads are cute enough as screen filler. I think my one quibble are that the leads are made out to be hate to love you and would work better if they did a lot more hate/making out and tear your clothes off type of angry interactions but they got together way more cute lovey dovey and that takes out the tension in their relationship for me. I wanted more angst and instead got chaste fated romance and that’s not a good use of their chemistry IMO.
6 is a decent rating and I didn’t expect more as the drama has construction problems. The plot is predictable and gathers cliché elements, the behavior of the protagonists and antagonists has no depth. They are limited to one-dimensional characteristics.
Luo Yun Xi’s acting is good as expected, but the writing of his character is inconsistent due to the speed at which the events around his progress.
I don’t mind his physique as I recently finished watching a series that had a tall, muscular actor with zero presence and acting skills. Luo Yun Xi fits the physical description of Tantai Jin and is bringing him to life.
Here is the first time I have seen Bai Lu and I am satisfied with her work. The only thing I wish is that Ye Xiwu doesn’t continue to go downhill, as a character she has the most writing problems.
TTEOTM is a basic drama but for some reason I haven’t felt like dropping it yet.
Somehow I wanna you spill the beans on that tall muscular actor so I can check on it 🤣
Tantai Jin does not have an imposing stature, so the actor is perfect for the character.
This drama is one of the many in this genre like those before where the fans of the actor and actresses like Chen Dou ling, Bai Lu, Luo Yunxi love it, others looking from outside just based on the quality of the show itself probably not! As such, the Douban rating reflects that polarization in views, thus this rating!
There are people who can’t separate their considerations from the plot objectively so….
Actually there is also a third group, who haven’t watched a total of 5 episodes from the series( or even 1) and have been spreading hate and criticism since before it even started. And their criticism is only based on the trailers. I’m not a specific fan of any of the actors ( the fox lady seems really cute though), but I liked the original work and despite the changes and some rushed plot devices, I’m still enjoying the drama, and I was astonished by the amount of hate it was getting on weibo due to some shallow reasons( many of them had nothing to do with the script or overall quality of the drama) it’s one of the better xianxias in recent years.
That is common for majority traffic actor’s dramas unless they were not big to start with. Other xianxias like Immortal Samsara was seriously not that good in my book BUT it’s hard to ignore the fact it had A LOT of haters because of Yang Zi popularity. The Starry Love did not have popular traffic actors so I actually felt like relatively, their rating is inflated because they DON’T have haters since other dramas like Immortal Samsara, Love Between Fairy and Devil all and now TTOETM all have a significant amount of hate ratings.
6/10 says it all how most of the viewers feel about the drama. The rating is even higher than I’d rate it. This drama has been overhyped and aggressively promoted all over Weibo by the production team. I had high hopes before watching the drama because I did think both main leads were decent actors. But the plot is really underwhelming and as some one pointed out in the comment section, predictable, which is also a common weakness of most of the C dramas I’ve watched for years. I’m more impressed by the fantastic CGI and the costumes than the scriptwriting and the directing, let alone ML’s flimsy physique that doesn’t really help at all.
I’ve quit watching It’s wasting my time.
He doesn’t have to look muscular. But he doesn’t have to look scarily scrawny either. I don’t see any appeals in a ML with that sort of looks even his role is a victim of all kinds of abuses. I’m not criticizing his acting. I’m just being honestly blunt with the fact that how unhealthy his appearance appears. I can’t root for a character like that.
I think you guys are body shaming and this is quite cruel. This is an actor who was maliciously beat up by a stunt worker in his previous drama so hard that he had to be hospitalized, had his mouth sewn with stitches and could only drink through a straw for about three weeks prior to shooting the drama. I shudder to think that his hard work and sacrifice to shoot this drama in spite of his poor health is being maligned by keyboard warriors hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. Do try to look it up on the internet for the full story.
Nobody believes the injury story as you tell it. Well, nobody apart from his stans.
Luo Yunxi has been unhealthily thin for a few years now. It has nothing to do with this accident. Or do you mean to tell people he has had this injury for years?
He has been getting progressively worse and it blew up when the rescue drama aired because his condition was terrible. His team even addressed it or tried with some nonsense of how he got better. He didn’t. He is like this even today.
There is no body shaming here. This man has a problem that they aren’t addressing and that is dangerous. For his health, I hope somebody in his environment finally gets the guts for some tough love and finds him the help he needs.
And, no, audiences being uncomfortable with a person with an ED on their screen is also not body shaming, especially in a toxic culture where super skinny is already promoted as a goal. It is called asking the right questions of why this is promoted. And he is being promoted as some really hot man by his team. Don’t expect people to just accept this as promotion of health when he is obviously unhealthy.
@Shrug This drama is the only way to justify his unhealthy weight since Tantai Jin is described as extremely skinny. But in real life, it is worrying that Luo Yunxi continues like this.
Like it or not, he should look like that because the character is described as almost in BONES.
There are good acting but not a good plot. This is a common occurrence in Chinese productions. One factor outweighs the other. Censorship and regulations are excuses because even when the elements that were limited are removed, the plot of the novel still has coherence, unlike the drama that only relies on misunderstandings between the protagonists.
that man really is the living image of tantai jin but i won’t continue watching because i didn’t like the changes they made in the characters’ behavior just to make them likeable to the audience when there was supposed to be character development. those changes ruined the plot.
Even if Tantai Jin remained rotten like in the novel, the audience would find a way to excuse his behavior. Men are put on a pedestal even when they are fictional.
I’m getting more and more disappointed in this drama with each episode, will be dropping it.
The actor doesn’t have an intimidating appearance but his acting makes him a great screen presence.
the logic should be in the drama. it bothers me to have to resort to the novel to understand the reason for certain actions of the characters. i feel like i am playing an interactive game.
I only like that it was decided to have the actor wear Tantai Jain’s gaunt and worrisome look. Likewise it would have been nice if they had kept his personality traits. I doubt it was to avoid criticism because the actor’s appearance unleashed a lot of it, so why change the character’s demeanor?
Good leads’ acting, so-so script.
The plot here is based on misunderstandings one day and promises of love the next.
Tantai Jin and Ye Xiwu are only smart and reasonable when it is convenient for the plot. 90% of the audience hates Ye Bingchan and Minglang but I’m disliking Ye Xiwu. She’s like a yo-yo with emotional amnesia.
Here we go again: YXW acting behind TTJ’s back just to make another misunderstanding.
Team Bingchang and Minglang. At least they are decisive. The know what they want, doesn’t give up and will destroy anyone who gets in their way. They are not epic antagonists but they do not have severe inconsistencies like the protagonists.
LSS betraying TTJ at every turn is getting old.
Pretty disappointed with LSS’s character, she can be clever one minute but clueless the next one. I always wait for competent female characters in C-dramas and nothing.
Writers didn’t know how to segue into making Tantai Jin “evil” again because they made him too good so they made YXW/LSS as the scapegoat.
LSS’s character and decisions to betray TTJ are dumb… but I’m not giving up on this drama yet.
I’ll wait for the climax next week.
Characters will probably remain undeveloped so I don’t plan on watching another episode anymore 😊
I’m only continues to watch it at the last week of the release, it kinda give a headache to wait it slow release 😔. The plot very exciting but give 3 days to wait 😖 sometimes I have to repeat latest episode many time.
I’ll wait for the episodes to progress and skip straight to the Immortal Arc. I read a scrip leaked and if what was written is true, the plot of the Immortal Arc could be good.
With a plot and direction that seems like the creation of an amateur team, I wouldn’t expect it to get +7.
It is basically like watching the nth remake of a Jin Yong novel with different actors and the same plot.
The story is very formulaic, nothing new here to see for those who have watched any other xianxia drama which is disappointing, some scenes seem almost copied and pasted.
The one thing keeping this drama from falling flat is the acting of both leads which is good, even though the modern mannerisms of the female lead feel out of place.
The reverse Cinderella story line was enjoyable for the first 10 or so episodes but as soon as the past life little mermaid (clam) story arrived I was like NOOOOOO are we really going there again, and yes, we did. Now I am watching at 16 x speed and waiting for a white-haired sprog to appear.
BTW, The clam princess story was not the past life of the female lead. That was a dream and a different character.
Thank you I know they said it was a dream but it played out exactly like a past life. I still think they will at some point continue that story in the present and some how repopulate the Mohe river with the Clam tribe.
Because this drama is not good. Youku has spent an immense amount of money to push it and it still only managed a 2.6 and now it is dropping. You can’t force popularity when organically it isn’t there. Money can only do so much.
LYX also bet on this a lot, his team spent a lot on promo and it only turned into a boomerang. Lesson learned – choose wisely where you want to do hyper aggressive promo or it will backfire.
Yeah, that’s a 6.2 though…anyways it’s not like youku was expecting douban to make money for them. The market share however,has been working for them and that’s pretty much enough in terms of moneymaking.
Yeah, no. I was talking about Datawin. It maxed out on 2.6 and most of that was pushed by Youku’s marketing. For Youku that is all right. Generally speaking, it just means decent. It is not even a small explosion (small hit) which would be if it had passed 3. Let’s not even go into higher territory. There are objective ways to measure success even in Cent and this drama ain’t it.
Oh honey, I know all about C-ent (worked for years🤦♀️) and this is waaay more than decent. For a platform like Youku, this is the biggest hit they could get. They’re very happy with what they’ve got there. Also, in terms of market share it is considered a HIT by all standards(the last hit being LBFAD). Between this and LOA ( in summer probably) and the sleeper hit that was starry love, Youku is considered to be having a good time.
I have no comment on the quality of the show though as I still haven’t found the time to watch it.
Sure you did. Spare me. If you actually did, you would know that even for a small hit this would had to have broken 3 on Datawin. Didn’t even come close, topped out at 2.6
Is this fine for Youku itself? As I said above, sure. It is decent. Is it generally a hit? Not even a small one.
Find someone else who doesn’t know anything about cent, you can tell them porkies, not me.
I like the drama very much.
Just a few days ago, LYX’s fans got so worked up with a barrage of angry comments defending their idol and the drama. I’m not seeing any of them here. Could that be also qualified as a boomerang? Lesson learned – do not worship a man who isn’t God.
I wasted my time on the first 9 eps before dropping it. The storyline is nothing new and predictable. Other than CGI and costumes perhaps, nothing else has wowed me to give a high rating. But LYX’s fans refused to take objective critiques of the drama and started to attack anyone disliking it. Now they should have come up with something persuasive to convince most viewers. Everyone is hiding now instead.
@Shayeli, PLZ write something legit and readable at least for people to understand !
Moron, I had forgotten to comment that it’s the same thing Xiao Zhan fans did to me when I commented that I didn’t enjoy his drama with Yang Zi.
@Shayeli, you’re a typical example of uneducated netizens, who don’t have etiquette in their dictionaries, being filthy mouthed and cussing all the time. Whoever offended you because of Xiao Zhan’s drama has nothing to do with your obnoxious behavior here at all. Don’t use that as an excuse to justify your incivility. People don’t respect you usually cuz you don’t deserve it.
The most consistent walking red flag ML in Cdramaland so far is Lie Cheng Yi/Gu Xiao Wu in Goodbye My Princess even though by no means it was a perfect drama. Because at that time the scissor of the censorship wasn’t sharpen to today extend yet.
They whitewashed TTJ too much but sacrificed YXW. The latest eps anger me so much. But yet I will keep watching till the end…haha. The main point that attract me is the acting. So as long as their keep doing what they are doing in acting department, I’m good to go..
based on the douban rating and comments here, looks like I dint miss anything from not watching it
So far it’s perfect for me, since I didn’t really like the flow of characters in the original work. The drama version is hitting the right spots… and the true angst is yet to come
(lyx is nailing this character😋)
Well that was expected, many of my favs never get anywhere on douban😅 it’s been long since those ratings have lost their meaning for me
As for the drama, well…I haven’t read the novel everyone talks about and I do get confused by the drama from time to time, there are some inconsistencies and choppy editing but the actors are doing a great job and their flawed characters are interesting for me. The close to one hour airing time flies by and I find myself waiting impatiently for the next one, which doesn’t happen to me often with cdramas. That definitely means sth…..
Douban ratings have no meaning, whether good or bad. They are more reliable when not a lot of people rate but Douban is controversial for a reason. They delete ratings if paid enough, leave obviously organised bad ratings, again if paid enough etc. Generally speaking, even if not perfect either, Detavin is the only still objective indicator of success.
For me, this is like a guilty pleasure show that I keep watching despite its big flaws, script-wise but also quite honestly direction-wise, because, let’s face it, who can actually sleep in all that head gear and be chill about it. I think that if I managed to get out of that unending god-and-clam dream, and back to Tantai Jin territory, I will manage to finish the show, even with a lot of skipping. I do agree though that they should have gone the passionate love-and-hate affair way rather than the lovey-dovey one, because it feels weird and also not consistent with the characters of either the ML or the FL, who are certainly not the teenage romance kind of people.
The good part about the show is I think its original premise (an immortal going back in time to prevent the devil God of becoming the devil and killing off her entire clan) and the leads, she is likeable and of course beautiful, he is mesmerizing in a certain way and as it has been said by others, manages to own his scenes even if he’s probably not the most imposing-looking man in the world. To be honest with you though, I thought his best scenes so far was while he was still an abused hostage but with a diabolical edge!
not sure if I’ll keep watching. story is draggy.
Tan Taijin Pros: I think Leo’s physical looks makes a good TTJ. He’s supposed to be this suffering hostage prince. Do people expect him to be muscular and toned? Acting-wise, yeah his skinniness can be a little distracting, but his costumes fills him out more and the drama really focuses on his face which does have screen presence.
Tan Taijin Cons: His character development with YXW. I said it before – I don’t know how he went from hating YXW to willing to sacrifice his life for her (before the MingYe arc.) In the novel, he might try to help her out here and there, but never at his own expense until he realized his feelings for her when she died. And I don’t remember him crying in the novel unless it was from pain. They modified his personality in the drama and didn’t fully explain it. I also dislike how he was humanized in the drama version – he became a better person post MingYe arc, but in the novel, he was always selfish up till her death. In exchange, to make him the better ML, they sacrificed YXW’s character to make her seem like the evil one. Another minor gripe for me is that Leo himself seems to be a very self-contained actor (much like Vin Zhang). Meaning he is a perfectly good actor and in control of his emotions. However, I haven’t seen him exhibit good chemistry with his female leads (I know ppl are gonna argue with me about this point, but I’ve only seen him here and in Ashes of Love and both times I just didn’t feel it.) This is true for Vin Zhang too. The PLOT/actions are sweet, but the chemistry is lukewarm at best.
YXW Pros: BaiLu portrays her adequately.
YXW Cons: I’ll say that I’m not a fan of BaiLu’s acting. She tends to overact and underact in certain scenes sometimes and for some reason, her makeup makes her look a lot older in the drama (it’s distracting). But she performs adequately and is watchable. I dislike how they wrote her actions in the drama, but I did like how they were gonna make her reveal TTJ’s inner demon bone – until they were interrupted. But what she did behind his back made her a really poor FL. She had no choice in the novel as TTJ wasn’t going to help her no matter what, but in the drama, she has a choice. And she chose to lie instead. It’s just a really bad developmental writing.
I sorta agree with your observation about LYX’s lacking chemistry with his costars. I don’t feel it neither even if fans raved about their chemistry to the moon. I also agree at your comparison with Vin Zhang.
I’m not a fan of Bai Lu’s heavy makeup either. It kinda showed her lack of confidence in her own looks? It looked so fake with Chinese-opera looks 24/7 in the drama, even when she went to bed or just got out of bed or was badly injured. Such a joke! Lol.
I don’t feel like this is a Bai Lu thing, but the make up/editing team thing. Bai Lu has had very dressed down make up in other dramas. I have a huge problem with the make up even on male lead. Why does he have on dark eye shadow and red lips? Even as Ming Ye, the makeup looks terrible!
It’s just my guess and also my question. Noted the question mark at the end of my statement? I’m not sure. That’s why I put a ? What I’m sure is that her heavy makeup doesn’t help with the storytelling.
@somebody, why are you so determined to throw shade on a show you gave up? Are you trying to persuade others to agree with you??
I really like this series. Over the top drama, beautiful costumes, make up, cgi, and fight scenes… ticks all the boxes of a great xianxia. Despite its low Douban ratings, I still like it. In fact i love it!! I can’t wait till the next episode airs!!
LOL. Fans of the drama raved it to the moon. But not all the viewers have to enjoy what you like. Please respect different opinions. I feel that there’s a cult following either the ML or/and the FL and therefore any critiques aren’t acceptable in their eyes. I’m not throwing any shade! I have my preference and I don’t claim my preference should be the truth of universe. I expect everyone in this free society to stand by the same norm for respecting different opinions too. I’ve just exercised my freedom of speech to express my own opinions. But some people in this comment section don’t seem to have the same kind of civil mentality, perhaps to do with upbringing that gravitated towards authoritarianism?
The male lead’s acting is good, but the plot is not for me. I’m tired of hate-love relationships and misunderstandings. If I want to watch him, I can simply look for compilation of his scenes or another drama.
Aw, that’s quite harsh… Personally, I never really go to cdramss for very high quality. They are most of the time simply feel good, slow burn and easy to squeeze in daily life hectic schedules. I liked this one; it has nice setup, good acting, and a pretty fast pacing for a fantasy romance. Also, beautiful to look at. Easy watch…The flaws have not disturbed my viewing pleasure at all. I didn’t read the novel but my friend read it and was saying it was a mess (just her view and taste, not to offend the fans) so if they managed to make this out of an original work of questionable quality, I think they’ve done a decent enough job.
There are high quality C-dramas, but curiously, they do not become popular especially if they are not released internationally. The work done here is decent, no doubt about it. However, I had high expectations for the production. I expected an epic story and not a circle of misunderstandings. The writing of the characters is accelerated to the point that it is difficult to me to empathize with them.
The drama is very good. Thanks all the team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYUoMElrhW0
The story behind Leo Lou’s injury. C-ent is a dangerous place.
The actor is the living breathing version of Tantai Jin. Luckily he looks like the character description in the book. I think he is the best thing they got right in the production.
But unfortunately Tantai Jin complexity was lost in the drama.
I’m disappointed because I had waited for it for more than a year.
I will watch it because there are acclaimed series that I did not enjoy. Either I’ll end up liking it or you won’t – but at least it will be based on my own opinion. And it doesn’t mean that enjoying myself is going to make me ignore the flaws.
It’s unfortunate, since Luo Yun Xi deserves to have a good script.
His next drama will be Youku so good luck.
I like male lead’s acting here. He conveys the crazy and psychopathic good. He has no problem suddenly transforming into a loving character, and then into betrayed/hurt.
And even though I know he’s thin for the character, I’m worried he’s going to stay like this forever.
Nah. He was stuck thin in that rescue drama as well, it has nothing do with his character, he has been like this for a while.
I hope his team find him genuine help because he needs it. If you actually saw his raw photos you would think he looks fat in this drama, it is really bad without editing. This isn’t a metabolism issue, it is an ED issue.
When you have an actor like Luo Yunxi, who can do wirework, why give him a fight scene where he just twirl and poses?
I hope he chooses good scripts in the future. I am aware that his acting is good but I will not force myself to watch a bad project just because of him.
A perfect series with the best actors.
As someone who doesn’t really like the genre, I find myself getting carried away and looking forward to the next episode, I even watch VIP…
The actors, the chemistry and the dynamics between the main actors simply wow, the plot, the costumes, the effects, the graphics, the dialogue, everything is perfect.. Those who don’t watch lose!!
If they don’t like what they are watching, they certainly are not losing anything when they drop it.
Spot the stan game is fun.
I think the actors are doing the best they can. Luo Yun Xi probably picked this role because the male character is supposed to be an interesting anti-hero. Most of my complaints have been with the make up and editing team. While I appreciate the vibrant colors in this xianxia compared to others in the past, they went overboard sometimes to the point where I found it tacky. They changed the story and made Tan Taijin way too easy to sympathize with. He’s supposed to be a remorseless devil god! The editing also feels choppy and characters’ motivations aren’t always fully fleshed out. I am still watching and overall still thing it’s a pretty decent drama, but do not think of it in the same realm of TMOPB or LBFAD.
I agree with you. I hope the next arc will be good. If it becomes a solid arc, I wonder if it will make me forget the inconsistencies I’ve seen in the drama so far.
This I agree, he is too nice for someone who is born paycopath and also suffer from abuse for years… the more bad he is, it’s actually will highlight how much change li susu brought… sad the drama didn’t rake note of that
Agree, actually i really hate the novel. But the strong point i (and mostly other people) remember from this novel is how evil the ML to the point no turning back 😂 so it make me confuse why they change the character and plot so much (‘-‘)?
He won’t because his agency just had a very bad financial report released on the HK stock exchange early this year. The revenues and the profits for the agency are going downhills rapidly. His agency needs to get as much as possible from him cuz he was said to have been contributing over 60% of the profits to the agency. His agency has been pushing him on a high pedestal so that his fans can continue to worship him without regard to his development as a skilled actor. He will be busy with making money for himself and his agency. The development of his acting chops is not his priority.
What acting chops, let’s be honest lol Guy can’t act to save his life. Or write.
Problem really is with his agency but the government has taken several shots at it, some people ended up in jail and in the end, they are still doing their thing. He is just a front for their operations.
@Shrug. We are basically on the same page. That’s what I meant. He has very limited acting chops, perhaps because neither is he motivated to improve himself nor given chance to develop so.
I thought they did a fantastic job of choosing Luo Yun Xi as TTJ. Yes, the actor is too skinny in real life and that bothers me, but seeing as how they are describing his character in the series and understanding what he went through I can see why they chose LYX as TTJ. LYX physically matches the weak, fragile, and starved hostage prince TTJ. And, when he turns into the demon lord, he definitely got that evil aura around him without trying too hard. On the other hand, Bailu’s a good actress but I thought she didn’t visually match the character although she’s still pretty.
Koala, I’m making a specific request. Please moderate your comment sections to some degrees. Certain people have a fetish to insult others with different opinions by repeatedly swearing with words such as “stupid” and “moron,” etc. Please remove their comments. Thank you.