Ben Yue (2022)

I love this drama as a spinoff but......I will (probably) never make peace with the ending.

More to how I feel about the ending at the end of my review, if you don't mind ending spoilers, or spoilers in general then read on!

Let's start of with the actors, the male lead Vin Zhang (Zhang Binbin), really did an amazing job in featuring four different characters in this story: God of Moon(Yue), Lu Li, Luo Ge and Dark God of Moon(Dark Yue), each have their own distinct personality, and I'm so glad he uses his own voice in this drama!!

This isn't the first time I see Zhang Binbin to be honest, since the first drama I ever watched him in was as Li Zing in Ten Miles Peach Blossom, and I did like his character in there, even when he had made that one mistake that caused his tragic fate at the end. Back then he made an impression for me, enough to still remember him all these years, but my love for his acting and his character portrayal has cemented in this drama(Song of the Moon)! I love how he portrayed his emotions well, and I really, really love him as Luo Ge! I got to say that while I don't like to see pain being inflicted upon Luo Ge, Lu Li or God of Moon, but I will be lying if I say I didn't enjoy his pain-scenes or scenes where he expresses pain/suffering because he is JUST THAT GOOD in acting out those scenes that made it believable!! I love his love for Liu Shao and how he expresses it through his micro expressions (when he's holding back in openly expressing his love for her), so no matter what I never got tired of scenes that have him in it! He can literally carry the show! I love Luo Ge as a character, because he is one of the most reasonable male leads I have seen in a long time! I also love the way he loves the FL (Liu Shao) as well, and I do see chemistry between them!

Also, I just want to touch on the fact that Luo Ge is NOT weak, and it really bothers me how some people don't know how to pay attention to the story at all to be saying this. People need to bear in mind that spiritual powers aren't limitless, if you overuse it, then it can worn you out, and it could also put your life at risk.

It has been stated several times in the story already that Liu Shao's spiritual powers influence Luo Ge, their spiritual powers are both mutually destructive on each other, if they were to use it on each other. Without spoiling too much of the later-story, you can see later what will happen when the extreme Yin energy does to Liu Shao. So this alone, along with what the Immortal Master said to Luo Ge earlier when he(LG) was helping Liu Shao open her Qi Hai to help her cultivate on her immortal path, he got hurt in the process, when the symbol on Liu Shao's forehead (which was God of Sun's divine spirit) activates. Luo Ge got hurt because he withdrew some of his powers in the last minute, so Liu Shao life was save. If not, not even her bracelet would have saved her in the end. She would have died..

So in context of understanding that situation, every time when Liu Shao is hurt/injured, and Luo Ge use his powers to heal/help her, it hurts him in the process, and we can make a conjecture here because Liu Shao is fine each time when Luo Ge heals her or use his powers on her, and only Luo Ge is affected by this, shows that Luo Ge is holding some of his extreme yin energy/powers when he use it on Liu Shao, when he does that you can say that it leaves him defenseless against Liu Shao's extreme yang energy so this hurts him....When he is hurt, just like everyone else, it takes time to recover, and it was pointed out that when Liu Shao is beside Luo Ge, he can't recover back fully (that's why Immortal Master was so against them being together). So what Liu Shao is like to Luo Ge when he's injured is similarly opposite to what Wan Shui is to Liu Shao when she is hurt (after Luo Ge received the three lightning punishment in her place instead). Wan Shui said that him being near her will benefit her recovery quicker because of the medicinal effect of Wan Shui being the 10,000 years king herb. But for Liu Shao, unfortunately that doesn't benefit Luo Ge because of their conflicting spiritual powers of being extreme yin and yang.

Even when he was already injured, he can still cast the formation in the yin-yang cave, that strong formation does not come without great spiritual powers, you need to have enough spiritual powers to be able to use it... So let's refresh our memory here, and put these into step by step, Luo Ge was already injured earlier because of the conflicting powers, then he went and set up the formation in the yin-yang cave.... And then when he returns as he was trying to recover back his spiritual powers, the evil spirit have to continue to throw all these at him where he have to use up (again) most of his spiritual powers to seal them all into the sphere when he was in the Bone Melting Pool.... So honestly, can anyone just cut him a break there... Even Wan Shui said it himself, that he can't continue on like this, because he will eventually die... And again, spiritual powers aren't limitless. People need to understand this... BUT even when that is the case, why don't people ever consider the fact that yeah, Luo Ge wasn't at 100% of his powers, but he can still stand his own against the Evil Spirit and what the Evil Spirit throws at him... Isn't that good enough to prove that he's strong, and NOT weak!

Moving onto the Female Leading actress Xu Lu who portray her character as Liu Shao, this is the first I've seen of her, but I do think that she's not as bad as some people make her out to be, I don't mind her acting cute/having a different side to her where she only shows towards Lu Li/Luo Ge because I see that is a form of affection she has for Luo Ge. Some people don't like her character, but for me, I don't mind it, since I don't think she's weak at all. Strong female characters doesn't necessarily have to be physically strong... Because those who are physically strong but lack the brains and not mentality strong, are female characters I don't really like. What's the point of having physical strength but your heart is weak. I also disagree to how some calls her the weakest female lead in Chinese Drama's like if they really think that then just WOW! They have NOT seen any yet! To me, Liu Shao is 1000x better than the FL to Ashes of Love (Jin Mi). At least Liu Shao actually works hard to cultivate and get stronger to becoming a God, unlike Jin Mi (Ashes of Love), where she just so stupid and takes it for granted and get her cultivation handed to her on silver platter! Jin Mi to me is the WORST FL ever!

Main pairing Luo Ge x Liu Shao is my favorite in this drama, and I have made quite a few MV's on them as the drama was airing, so if you're interested, you can check it out here: https://mydramalist.com/discussions/ben-yue/84027-mv-sharing. I love Luo Ge and Liu Shao relationship, because when I think of the main pairing, I picture them as touching and sweet and I really love how they are always supporting each other and that's the kind of relationship that appeals to me and I love Liu Shao strong love for LG and how she always there to support him! They also both have trust in each other, which is an appeal to me as well. This is refreshing to see instead of the usual misunderstanding so I honestly don't know why some people say is boring! When there's no trust in a pairing and there's misunderstanding they complain! When there's trust between a pairing they still complain! Can they just make up their mind and stick to it! Even when the focus was dragging on for the 2nd pairing..... I never get bored of seeing Luo Ge and Liu Shao moments when they come onscreen. During those times, I see them like a married CP almost like this is what their life will be like when they are married! So for me, I will always love the main pairing no matter what! I also love their domestic life during these times almost like they are married and how I pictured them to be like when they are married and protecting the three realms together and Liu Shao is cultivating her powers as we can see. If those actually paid attention to it at all, the main pairing did have their own developments very early on. But I guess we can watch the same drama but feel very different to interpreting the drama. That's all I have to say.

2nd pair A Fu x Luo Ning: To be honest I did started of shipping the second pairing at first and was looking forward to their story, but over time I just got to the point of not seeing a future for them anymore. If I am going to say my feelings on how I describe this pairing is disappointing and unhealthy. Disappointing comes from the fact that A Fu actually fed her the Phoenix tears against her will. This wouldn't have happened if he trusted LN's love for him a little. He should know what Phoenix tears does and in the end he ended up punishing himself for this... Unhealthy because I can't picture a future for them. It got to the point where it felt forced coming from A Fu side because he would rather lock her up and not respect what LN really wants. Yeah they love each other but I don't see it as a healthy relationship and honestly I don't see A Fu genuinely cared for LN and her feelings when he plotted to hurt those she cared for. He was the one who destroyed their future. Did he ever consider how LN would feel when he plotted to kill or hurt those she care for? -_-

This drama has 2 alternate endings, which is according to the choices made by Liu Shao! (Well I know there's a secret ending was filmed but got deleted, and I am still pissed about their decision to delete that perfect ending for me)! T__T

Ending 1(Ep 39) is when Liu Shao decided to sacrifice herself to save Luo Ge from the evil spirits by drawing it all into her, because her being the God of Sun (reincarnation)/that has the Sun Spirit, her powers are Yang, and the Evil Spirit is tied to Yin(which is the power from God of Moon), so when Liu Shao draws the Evil Spirit into her, because of their conflicting opposite powers, they will both in the end die from it. In this ending, Liu Shao made the decision to sacrifice herself to protect Luo Ge and release him of the Evil Energy. This ending is more tied to the Novel ending, although not exactly the same reason, but it's the same where Novel Liu Shao sacrificed herself and God of Moon in the end, was looking all over the world, and with great efforts to find her again, which is similarly to how the ending played out in this episode (Ending 1). In the Novel Extra's it was revealed that God of Moon was able to find Liu Shao again, and they managed to get their happy ending!

In terms of the main pairing ending goes , I felt like ep39 touched me more... I felt more emotional in that one even when it didn't have an on-screen happy ending. Between one of them who have to "die"(sacrifice), I rather that to be Liu Shao not Luo Ge...Lu Li "died" in Liu Shao's arms back then so I felt like ep39 ending where it shows that scene where Liu Shao "died/sacrifice" herself is like a contrast to that part. Tbh, I prefer Liu Shao's choice in ep 39 ending better since that's how I see she would decide on her end especially when she have been saying all along that the person she wants to protect the most is Luo Ge. I still love what she said to Luo Ge that "10,000 years ago, Yao Ling have to painfully kill the one she loves, 10,000 years later, Liu Shao can finally protect you" ~ that's a powerful quote for me that I love. It kinda gives a sense of growth to her character for me since this time it's her turn to protect him instead of the other way around.

I really urge viewers to NOT skip it since you're missing out such an emotional heartfelt episode if you do IMO. Even if Liu Shao "died" in ep39, I didn't have doubt that she will come back, and get their happy ending in the end, just like in the novel. I love Luo Ge so much and seeing him died again just doesn't sit right for me. I just felt episode 39 ending coherently makes sense to me. I much rather they stick to Ep39 ending, where they have Ep40 wrap up to Luo Ge finding Liu Shao again that would be nice since that would tie in similar to Novel!

Ending 2 (Ep40) - This ending is when Liu Shao have no choice but to kill the Evil Spirit (Dark God of Moon), so in the end, Luo Ge have to "die" for that to happen... I'm not saying I don't like some of the scenes in episode 40, I'm just saying I don't like the ending scene in episode 40 since it raises questions for me... If they changed that ending to the ending to the deleted secret ending (will touch on this later) I would say I happily accept that at least it doesn't leave doubt. In this ending, Liu Shao said at the end that she hopes that her dream (which is in context what she wish for) will come true, and she said and implied through what she said is her dream (wish) is for Luo Ge to come back to her and then we see that scene of Luo Ge being back shows her wish has been granted. When it comes to the ending I want it to leave no doubt and this is why I am not happy with how it ended since it's open for interpretation. At first I was confused about this ending, but after watching that final episode several times. I ended up picking some details on my end. GOD, YOU REALLY NEED TO BE ABLE TO PICK UP SUBTLENESS WHEN IT COMES TO THIS DRAMA!!

So when Luo Ge "died", we see that Liu Shao was playing with her Corroding Harp where you see both Luo Ge's Moon Sword and Moon Bell was there. And you know what the effects of Corroding Harp actually does. Then we have Liu Shao was wandering the mortal realm and she saw A Fu and Luo Ning reincarnated, so this signify there's a time skip here (seriously writers, you can't even put in that effort to tell us this?!) And then in that ending scene, we saw Luo Ge using his fan to tap on Liu Shao's shoulder lightly to show that he's back.. And he have his moon bell back with him even when this was kept with Liu Shao in the immortal palace..

I honestly wish the ending to Ep40 was handled better... But after watching that ending scene in Ep40 again a couple of times I do think he's back but can they not exchange a few words or something... I think Luo Ge have his full memories intact and there's a time skip after he "died" before he can form a physical body to return to Liu Shao again. And lastly Luo Ge did promise her that he will return to her... So while this ending scene to Ep40 felt rushed but he did return... So yeah.. while subtle but the hints is there..

Secret Ending - Is coming from this deleted scene, where they did filmed it, but was not included in the Finale. To whoever made the decision to delete this scene, you really make a stupid decision for doing so, because this would have been perfect at the end for ending 2 then what we were given! (Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLCqJyUn4Hc). In this ending, Luo Ge 100% did return to Liu Shao in the immortal palace, and when he returned Liu Shao ran up to him and hugged him and scolded him for why he took so long to come back, I really like this ending and I am still sad why they would delete it....THIS will always be my fav ending!

In terms of story, I enjoyed it, it is fast pace, yes, but it was good enough to make me want to watch each ep after the ep ended. I didn't have a problem understanding the story, and what I love about this drama is when I finished the episode it made me want to watch more! I also love how this story made me want to make guesses and theories about what actually happened, and I like it when some of them I analysed was right! Although I have to admit that I was wrong about my views on Hei Yue (Dark God of Moon). With that being said, I will be lying if I said I don't enjoy Dark Yue scenes when he's being intimate with Liu Shao... For me, I guess this is one of the reasons why I love Vin Zhang, that is, no matter which character he plays as in this story, even if it's the evil God of Moon, he still perfected it to the point that it's hard for me to really hate him you know! LOL

In terms of faithfulness to the Novel? SOTM is NOT faithful at all.. The Story direction, and Character portrayal is completely changed in the Drama. So I can only take this as a spinoff. Which is sad, seeing how I love the Novel on my end. Maybe one faithful part in the Drama was at the end, Luo Ge was searching for Liu Shao again.

Characters I love in SOTM: Luo Ge, YueGuang, YaoLing, Lu Li, Liu shao, He Na. To an extent I love Zhang Binbin portrayal as Dark Yue, and even when he's back as Luo Ge, I love him in that dark costume! I also love Shang Yurong and his Shijie relationship, I am happy they get to be together in the end. Xie Lingqi was a jerk at first, but after learning his back story, I came to like his redemption arc.

Rewatch Value: I will watch this again, but only on the scenes I love/enjoy.
Fast forward scenes for me: A Fu, Baifeng, A Fu and Bai Feng plotting, A Fu x Luo Ning scenes...
Sad that Lan Chi (which he is a Novel Character) did not make it into the Drama, since I love his interactions with God of Moon in the Novel, but then, the Novel and Drama is very different so... Not surprising though...

Editing to the drama side of things, I do agree it went downhill, and honestly, I will never forgive the editors/those who deleted some of my favorite CP scenes that I know it was filmed but never made it to the aired version. It's a huge insult to the actors doing their best to play out their scenes, but in the end, it just went down the drain. It's not the actors fault but those who chose to delete them!

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