Watched all 59 episodes of China's 2020 Love and Redemption, about several pairs of lovers on missions and adventures through the Heavenly, Mortal, and Demon Realms--a xianxia version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, especially with the eventual revelation of secret identities as the plots unraveled. The main protagonists are 16-year-old Chu Xuanji of the Shaoyang Sect and Yu Sifeng of Lize Palace. The overall backdrop of the narrative is that the members of the Demon Realm are attempting to revive the Mosha Star to rule over all three realms, while members of the Heavenly Realm and the Mortal Realm are out to prevent this from happening. There are four mortal sects on earth that keep spirit keys for that purpose: Fuyu Island in the east sea (the moon blade), Lize Palace in the west sea (the dragon seal), Dianjing Valley in the north barren lands (the seven-star plate), and Shangyao sect in the mainland (the crystal lamp).

I enjoyed the succession of reincarnation through nine lifetimes in Episodes 27 and 28, and the albeit bizarre transformation of Chu Xuanji into Rahu Ketu and then back to Chu Xuanji in Episode 55. The earlier episodes feature a lot of split-screen scenes. As in The Untamed, fade-to-black lap dissolves are used, and an innovation I've never previously  encountered in other xianxia: extreme close-ups of hands and of fists, usually clenching fabric, to convey emotion rather than the usual reaction shots of characters' faces.  

There are continuity glitches. In Episode 12 Chu Xuanji is shown toying with an ink brush over a clear table, then in succeeding shots she is shown eating with chopsticks, the table suddenly filled with dishes. Head angles and eye directions do not match in some cut-to-cut shots. Many of the the landscapes are painted for matting, which was charming in its own way because it made me feel like I was virtually inside Chinese paintings. There were times, however, when concrete slabs looked like they were made of styrofoam or Urathane.

Because of the age bracket of the main protagonists, many of the scenes are mawkish and filled with adolescent misunderstandings. Some of the tender moments seem contrived, and the many grammatical errors in subtitling do not help any. Moreover, 59 episodes were really too long, so that there were unnecessarily repetitious flashback and protracted sentimental scenes that obviously served as padding. The real excitement begins in Episode 33--more than halfway through the entire series. That the Heavenly, Mortal, and Demon Realms are equal and coexistent was very interesting. And, thankfully, in the end, there was both love and redemption for everyone.