Watched all 40 episodes of China's Till the End of the Moon (2023). The Devil King threatens to destroy the Four Continents and Three Realms and all living beings within. Li Susu, the daughter of an Immortal, volunteers to travel to the past, retrieve the evil bone from the Devil King's body, and then kill him. She practices The Loveless Way on her path toward becoming a goddess, and is confident that she will succeed in her mission--until she develops feelings that conflict with her cultivation.
The story takes the viewers not only through the past, the present, and the future but also through at least three parallel existences in which the characters play a variety of roles and engage in a variety of relationships. The overall design of the series is polished, and the costumes, magnificent--they are not recycled from previous productions. Due to the expertise of everyone in the make-up and lighting departments, Luo Yun Xi, Bai Lu, and even Sun Zhen Ni are at the height of their beauty in every episode.
One can sense that the creators and crew are in love with Luo Yun Xi and are developing him as China's Keanu Reeves, but Bai Lu manages to outshine him with her masterful acting. She demonstrates that every role she plays is carefully interpreted--she is, amazingly, a different person in every character she plays--unlike Luo Yu Xi and Sun Zhen Ni, who retain acting mannerisms and tricks from previous series they appeared in.
The series, unfortunately, dwindles from Episode 33 onward, as though the writers could not agree on how to give it a proper ending. There are too many gadgets and gizmos that appear out of nowhere, and the special effects featuring cataclysms eventually become boring. In the end, the story is really about the Yin and the Yang within the Self, illustrated, strangely, not as Taoist philosophy but in a dissonant, Western, Jungian manner--we get an overdose of I love you/I hate you, truth/lies, life/death--albeit providing a perfect vehicle for Luo Yun Xi, who, because of his expressive eyes, easily projects masculinity/femininity, good/evil, and an entire range of emotions.
There are continuity lapses, as can be expected from all multi-episode movies. In Episode 11 a dangling jewel from the king's crown is missing in some shots and is suddenly there in other shots. In Episode 20, Bingchang says goodbye to her husband Xiao Lin while she is looking down, but in the succeeding shot she is looking up. In Episode 25 Ye Xiwu blows on sweet porridge that has logically run cold after all those hours. In Episode 26 Ye Xiwu's purple eye due to the world-alluring jade transfers from right to left, possibly because of reverse shots. It is also quite discombobulating when a character spits blood and shows that his teeth are covered with blood, but in succeeding shots his teeth are the whitest; this first occurs in Episode 27. I still have to watch a xianxia in which tea is poured and does not spill on the table; something must be wrong with all of those spouts. The title is perplexing because the series really has nothing to do with the moon, either literally or figuratively, unless the writers are making an indirect reference to the passing of lunar years. And, as with other xianxia, the music track diverges from the Chinese and goes Indiana Jones, especially in battle scenes.
Having said all of this, I love xianxia because they demonstrate that philosophy can justify evil when theology cannot. Indeed, morality should never be based on religion but, rather, on the greatest good of all, and religion frequently has nothing to do with that.
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