Moonlight mystique as the name suggests the drama is asthetic and elegant themed ...only if they could direct it properly and a proper production team with good camara-editing skills had done it, it could have been one of the best and enjoyable Xianxia !
Also, characters have good backgrounds to make them complex but somehow they ended up being one dimensional !
A clever yet arrogant female lead
A self made demon lord who suddenly became fool in love...
A immortal 2nd male lead who is annoying as hell
A demon 2nd fl who is evil but somehow survives everytime someone tries to kill her(I call this kind of character as cockroach character in donghua lol )...
Problems ---
1)**Male lead**: The problem with male lead is that he is supposed to be a complex character. But the bad script writing made him a confusing character.
When fl's city destroyed, her father was dying he gave her ghost grass that can cause slaughter in the city . He wanted to see if fl becomes evil and consume ghost flower in exchange for human lives . He didn't seemed a kind character he wanted to kill her , didn't help her other than bring her to her father to gather the emotion . Then he suddenly fall in love with her? Why ? As a bossy demon lord who lives his life for revenge and power suddenly fall in love with a human girl ...like "you are the first girl treat me this way " trop ...then suddenly it reveals he was always a kind demon who tries to save others !
If you compare his character background is closer to Xie Wei(SOKP) or Yan Zi Jing (TSOPG) . But sadly his character disappointed me . I don't dislike the fact that he is kind and approachable ( a different approach to show a male lead) . But something is still missing in his character...... Fan Yue should have been more mature character who guides Bai Shuo.
ARP is really good actor. I loved him in the blood of youth . And he is looking pretty here . But here it feels like he's more focused in looking pretty rather than bringing the character alive . The makeup and costumes are gorgeous but it's distracting to focus on the character Fan Yue . If you ask , who's Fan Yue ? The first answer will be " A pretty demon lord ?" ....... I'm quite disappointed with the male lead .
2) **the female lead** :who doesn't love a bold and smart female lead? I like Bai Lu and her acting is spectacular. I don't know what to feel about Bai Shuo. Leave her in Squid game or Alice in borderland kind of worlds she will be the first one to die . She is bold but she doesn't think before she acts . If Fan Yue was not kind imagine how her situation may have become! She orders and shows her feelings directly. Yes I love character growth but Bai Shuo's character doesn't give justice to her complex background.... I initially liked when she was determined to become an immortal to pay off the kindness. But she ended up becoming a brat .if she wasn't Xingyue reincarnation and without contemplation stone would she be able to pay off the kindness? Writer at least let her put efforts in cultivation than just focusing on blame games , stone and making her a arrogant character. And I really hope Bailu does a different kind of character. Her recent fl characters are overlapping with each other......
3) **camara works ** -- camara works is worst here . I don't know the budget but it feels too flashy like short cdramas that only focused in looks ....the set looking cheap too ....the demon lords only have 1 or 2 followers and immortal sects looking like Wuxia begger sect !
4) **story** -- story wise it's not bad . But the direction already spoiled us on what gonna happen next ! They could have add good amount of suspense and cliff hangers ...but sadly it doesn't makes you eager to know what will happen next ! ( It has elements like hidden identities and past stories but they wasted the potential to create a tense atmosphere and mystery)
It's neither gives the seriousness of Till the end of moon nor gives the comedic relief like love you seven times or love between fairy and devil ....
They tried to mix both and caused confusion..
I don't understand why they have to explain us what the characters are like ... telling us directly Fan Yue is a kind demon, 2nd lead is immortal yet has demonic obsession ...they can just show us the complexity and depth of the characters rather than making it flashy and dramatic like short cdramas..... My problem is why other characters have to describe and without the description we won't be able to know if the characters are good or bad . Biggest example is Fan Yue... (Tantai Jin was more complex character in TTOTM, but other characters didn't had to describe his true nature!)
5)The chemistry: the most important thing is that there is no foundation of relationship between ml and fl. And it's quite hard for me to watch a relationship without foundation and proper conversation... it's just too sudden, they were trying to kill each other and then suddenly they wish to die for each other... dynamic between 2nd ml and 2nd fl was interesting at first but 2nd fl is way too evil to feel empathy for her character and 2nd ml is way too annoying..... same goes for them too why Fu ling suddenly fall for him and is it possible to love her when she made him kill innocent peoples ? The answer is yes! Second ml went for an undercover mission and saved her two times. He's even willing to die for his obsessive abuser stalker! It is stockholm syndrome XD not love ! toxic relationship vibes .....
There are a lot of tragic stories. But the problem is they have no emotional connection with the audience. There is blood bath and they tried not to make it gore so it is kind of like childhood fairytale sad stories. And characters move on from the tragedy very fast too . The good characters are dying easily while annoying characters surviving . And the same sad ost everytime making it annoying.
Of course Bailu acting and visuals of ARP is really good (not to mention the beautiful makeup and costumes ...still I wish the costumes were a little modarate at first and upgraded step by step rather giving godess like outfits from starting. Specially Bai Shuo's Outfits . sometimes it feels she's the master of moon palace for her majestic costumes ...)and the angsty ost is good as well..but that's it ! Turn off your brain if you wish to enjoy . There are many plot holes the first starts with ---
why Bai Shuo didn't used contemplation stone to break the barrier when her father was dying..... ( Like she broke CZ's barrier)
For me , I hate stories where I can't connect with the leads ....
If you enjoy fairytale kind of xianxias or you're fan of the leading actors you can give it a try ....
... It's not for me ....