Mix Reviewed Xianxia C-drama Till the End of the Moon Wraps Today with Even More Polarizing Ending
Till the End of the Moon is over, peeps! The best part is that it ended, we can be put out of our misery. The worst part is that it ended, we can never see what this drama could have been if it was done properly. The last month has been a fun ride for me, the strong buzz and chatter for this drama comprising of both fan love and detractor hate has pumped life back into somnolent C-drama land and made it entertaining to watch the drama even if the drama wasn’t all that entertaining itself. The story was a giant hamster wheel of fated to be bad poor abused bae trying to escape him fate and falling deeper into it, giving Luo Yun Xi the chance to showcase great acting even in a thankless role. He was intense and restrained at all times, perfectly balanced to carry the entire drama on his slim shoulders. Bai Lu did her best but she had even less to work with, none of her characters were likeable and her actions ended up being the catalyst or the plot device. The good third OTP was offed too early and the annoying as shit secondary OTP of Boring and Jealous could have been cut from the drama and the time used for better plot builds. The ending is what it is, I hated it on principle but wasn’t emotionally invested by then to care anymore. But fans must be spitting blood and after all that copious blood spitting in this drama perhaps it’s just meant to be.
But character writing has no relation with actors’ skills.
Up. Up. 🙂🙌
In C-dramas they have a tendency to ruin the writing of female characters coming from novels to satisfy the sexist audience. In what I have seen in the past year, female-centric stories have been altered to give prominence to men. It’s disappointing and unfair. Li Susu’s character is complex in the source material and here, she was presented poorly.
I agree with you. It’s still a big problem in C-drama land.
Male actors have more bargaining power because they attract more fervent fans and thus have better “statistics” on paper. Most dramas right now are adapted from online novels which are usually from the female character’s perspective, and more material has to be shifted to the male actor to make the weights of the lead roles more equal. This means that a lot of times the female characters are undermined. Even top actors are subjected to this. This is why you often see extensions of the plot related to the male characters. But when the reverse is the case, you still see male actors requesting for absolute screen time (see how Li Yitong dropped Wu Geng Ji).
Wow. The audience is mostly female, so I’m surprised they hold such sexist views while they have no problem watching C-dramas where women fight over a man or portrayed as useless.
And arghhh why do they gotta change something?! Just adapt it as is from the novel 🫠
agree with you completely, I wished for a better ending but the last episode was such a drag and the CGI could have been better. It’s unfortunate when special effects detract from the story instead of enhancing it. I fast-forwarded a lot. I’m glad it’s over
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So much potential and Luo Yun Xi was great but the PLOT, ugh!!! and I love Bai Lu but not her character here, UGGH!!!
Devastatingly disappointing. All the CGI, costume, acting and make up cannot compensate for such a SH*T ENDING.
I think I’m definitely shelving cdrama for some time.
If they weren’t censored with the ridiculous new requirements with the 40 ep limit and the three month in between seasons or if the Chinese audience had a bigger attention span than a hamster the show could’ve been so much better. Sigh … I’m more pissed at what could’ve been. I would pay good money to get a directors cut but of course the censors had already banned the availability for those to international audiences.
I keep seeing this argument and I don’t understand where you got this.
They weren’t censored to cut everything into 40 episodes. One season has to have 40 but you are allowed multiple seasons, see IS, LLTG or SB that should air this summer. All of these have split over 40 episodes into seasons.
I don’t know who told you that 40 is the absolute maximum but they are lying to you.
TTEOTM was supposedly 58 eps divided into 2 just like Immortal Samsara and Love Like The Galaxy but right before it aired there is a new regulation popped up that stated it have to have a gap of min. 6 months between 1st and 2nd season hence they cut off 18 eps. Whose want to wait for 6 months?
@Lady Bird
I thought 3 not 6 but I really wasn’t paying attention.
Everyone will wait if it is good. In the west, people wait all the time but the key is the material being worth the wait. Chinese would have waited too.
But that is the point isn’t it? The material needs to be good enough. And they obviously didn’t think so if they cut so much. What is done is done I suppose.
So, I’m not missing anything by dropping the series early. GREAT!
Was this drama a rinse and repeat in terms of plot? Yes absolutely. But it was still fun for the most part. My only gripe is killing off Pan Rian too early on and thereby ending the most adorable an enjoyable couple of the show. The second couple deserve to be eradicated from the plot line completely. Thankfully for Chen Duling the Mo Nv character was at least interesting but all of Deng Wei’s characters were annoying and boring. TTEOTM was basically a one man show for Luo Younxi who delivered the most complex and interesting character but I also enjoyed his chemistry with Bail Lu. The ending isn’t so bad considering we’ve seen worse *cough*MemoriesoftheAlhambra*cough*. Overall would definitely say it was fun watching the drama and especially the costumes were gorgeous to look at. Now I’m looking for the next addicted Cdrama to watch.
I am not watching. What happened please?
Guy die
It should have at least after all the prolong sadness a very happy ending, or at least he can be reborn and marry Bai Lu….I am not a fan of sad ending, after 40 episodes…
I really like the premise of True Love actually changing a person and the trajectory of their life–it’s realistic as much as it is fairytale–so I’m thankful the story let Taintai Jin conquer the tainted/scarred/corrupted pieces of himself, like all humans have. For as much as the plot kept saying Taintai Jin is “bad, bad, bad”, almost everything he thought, said, and did was pure, and if not pure, genuine. Gratefully, the stupid EVIL bone did NOT have MORE POWER than the GOOD that was evident in so many characters, including Taintai Jin, Li Susu, and everyone else fighting for good. I’m an optimist who believes good always ultimately wins out for humanity, and I’m glad that even after all the crazy back and forth in this drama lol, good winning out made sense at the end of this story too!
The ending could have been better executed, IMO. Since the beginning the relationship is toxic with too much extra baggage and it was never meant to end up happily ever after.
Personally I don’t mind sad ending done right. But this is just lazy ending.
I wish it had a happier ending to it
I was SO looking forward to this drama. It did have potential, but it obviously took the wrong path. It’s a shame it never took flight and I got easily side tracked and had to rewind, but didn’t need to. I will watch until the end, but it sounds like a disappointing end.
This show had SO MUCH potential. I’m doing a long rant because I have the same passionate love hate relationship with this drama as Tan Taijin and Li Susu had with each other. I loved the premise of the story tackling the whole nature vs nurture debate. I loved that our male lead wasn’t the most sought after prince of the heaven realms. I loved the vibrant colors compared to the sterile pale pastey xianxias of the past. But I’m also mad at a lot of things!
Luo Yunxi did such a great job portraying this complex character and doing multiple roles. I can see how he approached each character differently. However, I felt like they spent so much time on his character and making him sympathetic, that I did not understand any other character’s motivations. For example, I did not understand why Ye Bingchang hated her family so much. Besides Ye xiwu being a total psycho, the rest of the family seemed fine. Maybe not the most loving, but her father seemed upright. The grandmother helped her go home in the end when she was punished by Tan Taijin and told her no matter what they’re her family. Yet she chose to murder her grandmother. The action just seemed so extreme. Bai Lu is great actress and really delivered the emotional scenes, but they edited the story to make her character so annoying.
Also, I felt like I had zero closure for some characters like Ye Qingyu. Yes, I know he’s the masked king protecting the kingdom, but then what? We even saw the hologram of Pang Yizhi in the end, and wasted 5+ minutes of Gongye Jiwu turning evil and getting saved by Mo Nv. I would’ve really liked to see even a glimpse of Pian Ran returning to him after Ye Qingyu dedicated hundreds of years leading a lonely life to bring peace to the people. Can’t they have a happy ending? Why only the most painfully boring couple have a happy ending?
Also, regarding commentary on the costumes, I thought the female costumes were amazing. Most of the male costumes were fine too. The only ones I didn’t like were the super feathery ones they put on Luo Yunxi. C’mon he’s not a bird demon! I also didn’t like Ming Ye’s wedding outfit. Those dragon shoulder pads were tacky.
I could’ve used a better OST. The songs were okay, but the music didn’t hit me with all the feels that LBFAD, TMOPB, or AOL did. I still feel the emotional angst those dramas gave me when I listen to the songs.
Lastly, bravo to the team on beating Cheng Yi’s record for blood spitting. Those little watery red lines on their chin were really distracting for a lot of the emotional scenes I should’ve been crying.
In the source material, there is a happy ending. The devils get their own homeland filled with all the energy they need with a barrier to limit their exposure to the other realms. Li Susu becomes their queen while the daughter is a brat whom frequently threatens to eat the other demonic children. She still a child after 500 years since she has a phoenix bloodline.
In this version the heroine goes searching for tantai Jin periodically but never find him. Instead the daughter sneaks out once and find his reincarnation and we have our happy ending. Then they finish with a special about Jin time in the sect which they showed partially in the drama series
Well I enjoyed it all the way through the end. I never go in xianxias with high expectations and considering that I didn’t even like the novel the drama version came out as a winner to me. One of the better xianxias I have watched, with gorgeous costumes and set design plus good acting. I was also ok with the ending, I thought it made sense for their characters and story and had even predicted it to end like that more or less.
The ending was disappointing. After all of the physical, emotional, and mental suffering TTJ endured throughout the drama, he deserved to live happily ever after with YXW. The ending proves that “bad things happen to good people.” I understand their romance is meant to be doomed like a pair of star-crossed lovers, but at least let them die together. In Bo’re life, YXW died. In life on earth, YXW died again. Then, in celestial life, TTJ died. Although I understand why he must die, I disagree with the ending. I’m wondering if the writer hates TTJ as much as his bullies.
Being a goddess, I wished that YXW would have helped TTJ become a better person in a better way. YXW was filled with prejudice against TTJ. Her noble acts hurt him. I expected more from her also because she had witnessed his childhood life in the maid’s nightmare. TTJ is the devil’s fetus, but YXW is the devil’s helper. She played with TTJ’s mind. She dropped him like he was a terrible nothing to her when she had enough and gave up on him. Then, she expects him to be okay and get himself back together by himself. I’m like, “Lady, you are messed up too!” I’m glad that after everything TTJ went through, he didn’t become the Devil God 100% and start killing the whole world. I don’t care about a second season where TTJ and YXW can be together with their daughter. I want a remake of this drama.
I was checking Wikipedia. I noticed Bai Lu would play the same characters in Season 2 of Til the End of the Moon. But, when I checked Luo Yunxi’s profile, I didn’t see Til the End of the Moon Season 2 listed under his profile. Is this because Luo Yunxi may not be in Season 2? 🙁
Maybe there will be a different actor playing TTJ in Season 2.
There is no season 2. They originally planned to split it into two parts like other shows to work around the episode limits. However, I think some new rule came into play where you had to wait some amount of months before you can release the second part, so they decided to just cram everything into one.
Yeah, YXW really ruined the middle arc for me. I wanted to care, and be sad when she died and he refused to let her go, etc. And all I could think instead was, “Dude, you can do better. She never believes in you or trusts you. Forget her.” Her actions don’t even make sense with her character – supposedly at the water festival she decides to tell him everything and that she trust him etc. But then can’t even talk to him about letting Xiao Li (or whatever) go and instead trues to give him a sleep powder so she can sneak out and stay gone for days…like how did she think that would go? Then they tell her that he used a spell on her and made her kill XL – if id been her I wouldnt have believed that. Like, prove it. Sure, she knows soemone did it, but frankly id have suspected her sister more than TJ. Then when they tell her that her grandmother died, she immediately decided TJ killed her and has zero doubt about it. What? Why? The while wedding is a cruel farce, and the only part that made me sad was when he was embroidering the veil because he was so happy and she was already planning to betray him. Had she just told him the truth he was already a good enough person they could have worked together to try to conquer the devil lord, but instead she decides -again – that he’s an evil monster. Then she wakes up and magically changes her mind again and is now in love with him and finally believes in him like she should have already. I don’t know if it’s because of edits, or what, but it’s whiplash and weird, and ruined a chunk of the show for me. I’m in the minority that actually liked the last five episodes, but I think part of that is because at least the character motivation finally makes sense. At least when she starts to hate him it’s because he manipulated her into it instead of it being pretty random.
Is there gonna be a season 2?? Please reply. I am dying to know if ttj will have his happy ending or not. I am not from China so it’s hard to get news about chinese shows. Please tell it there gonna be a season 2. I m in love with TTJ.
For me the best drama with the best actors!
The graphics, the shots, the effects, the colorful costumes, the music… everything is wonderful!
It’s a shame they didn’t extend the series with more episodes, many things would have been clearer for people who had a hard time following the plot.
I must mention that I find LeoLuo Yunxi as a phenomenal actor, talented at high levels!
He literally carried the whole series on his shoulders Bravo.
Must point out
This is the first time I watch a series in this genre until the end and really find myself looking forward to the next episode (usually I would stop at the very beginning..)
I definitely recommend and am already watching again and many things become clear.
Hopefully people will learn from this series how important proper communication between people is, and to remember that there is karma, do good and you will be good
Peace 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Is there gonna b a season 2? I hated how ye xiwu inserted those spikes in ttj and he still cared for her…. I mean come on man, so many time he proved his love but she was soo heartless. Yes she has shown love by bringing blanket in fever, treating his poison but that was all her mission, not love. Meanwhile ttj loved her a lot. Also the ending was just so so so horrible. For me the serial ended at 35th episode. The better ending could have been that the devil God could have come into some other person (which also happened) and xiwu and ttj would have killed him together and would live in peace, in TTJ kingdom, which he left for her. He sacrificed a lot, he should have gotten his power, kingdom, respect and everything back. And at the end there should have been love making and romantic scenes, which ttj deserved at the wedding night, where xiwu inserted those spikes. We deserved and needed 2 episodes of happiness, after watching so much of injustice towards TTj.Simple and happy. Duh! Please tell if there is gonna be a season 2, as I am not from China, I don’t know how to follow Chinese actors.