I’ve never seen a platform (or industry) more determined to set up its own drama to fail.

Like many Chinese drama viewers already tired from years of blah xianxia dramas, I went: “Meh, another xianxia.”

First, A Moment but Forever’s first trailer 100% did it dirty. If the goal of the producers was to create the blandest, most generic xianxia trailer, they’ve succeeded handsomely.

I barely even registered that Liu Xueyi, one of my favourite actors, was in it. And when it finally did, I went: “Tis a pity, I don’t think I can endure this factory-line xianxia for him.”

Fortunately, I came across a random post ranting about how the promo didn’t do the script justice; I found out more about the story and was intrigued. I read some of the novel, and got really invested in following the drama if it airs.

Then, the drama’s airing got delayed and delayed … and delayed some more, until most fans despaired at ever seeing it. So, when it finally aired I breathed a sigh of relief that I was finally going to see it.

The drama was heavily mocked by China’s very terrifying fan circles; many mocked it for being a “middle-aged fairy drama”, as if people older than thirty don’t deserve to star in this genre for some reason.

Anyway, long story short: The expectations for this drama was so abysmal that most people said it would be a failure. So, I was bracing myself for a tepid xianxia. But I ended up being surprised by it!

Hilariously, on xiaohongshu, most of the comments I saw were: “I didn’t intend to watch the drama, but I ended up binging all six episodes and now I’m going to office with panda eyes”.

Now let’s get to the meat of the review, and why I say it’s worth your while despite its less-than-stellar marketing and appearance.

The story

In the war between gods and demons, the artifact, “God’s Left Hand” used by the Heavenly God Taihe to seal demons, is cut off and falls to Mortal Realm.

Taihe and the other gods fall into an eternal slumber.

The Youhu fox clan, having discovered the artifact, has used it to get rid of their enemies, the War Demons, and establish their dominion over the world. In a realm cut off from the divine, they are now the gods of the world.

The goddess Wu Shuang (Tang Yan) is sent to the mortal realm to take back the Hand, which will kill Yuan Zhong (played by Liu Xueyi), the high priest of Youhu Clan, who is now host to God’s Left Hand.

She enters the Youhu Clan as Ji Tanyin, to become Yuan Zhong’s personal maid. But during her time with Yuan Zhong she discovers that he is not as evil as people say, and that there’s more to the story of the High Priest of the Youhu clan.

What I like about it

Here are big reasons why you should give the drama a try:

The acting is great!

Now, I wasn’t surprised by Liu Xueyi’s performance having followed him from his days of playing second leads (and almost always outshining everyone else). I expected him to put in a great performance, and he seems to have one scene that wows people in almost every drama he’s in. The scene in the prison is really amazing.

Since I have only watched Tang Yan in Blossoms Shanghai I didn’t know what to expect from her, especially in a genre so different from Blossoms Shanghai.

I’m glad to report that Tang Yan is fantastic. Her voice may make some people brace themselves for the dreaded bubbly xianxia girl (TM), but I reassure you that her character, Tanyin, is nothing like that.

She is straight-forward, sharp-tongued, unimpressed by authority and has this “stop wasting my time with nonsense” air about her that I adore. What’s more, she is a very smart, likeable and honourable character. I’ve not seen a character like hers in a xianxia for a long, long time.

The writing is solid

The scriptwriter is the writer of Love and Destiny, a xianxia praised for its plot. She knows the importance of laying the foundation of making us care for the characters.

Sometimes, it does feel as if some things were left out, but it’s by design.

For example, we, the audience knew (or guessed) at the beggining that the little cute fox that woke Tanyin from her slumber was Yuanzhong. We find out that Tanyin has been searching that fox for a long time.

We are left scratching our heads, wondering why she’d care so much for that fox. Only in a later episode do we find out that Yuanzhong had been talking to her through the jade for years, and she grew fond of him. When he abruptly stopped, she couldn’t let him go and wanted to find out what happened to the little fox.

We, the audience are screaming at the screen. “It’s Yuanzhong! The guy you’re trying to take that arm from!”

Only to find out later that she already knew, and we see a scene where she discovered the half of the jade the little fox had spirited away.

Was this because the writer forgot about it and inserted it later?

No, it’s mostly to create a sense of anticipation in the viewers, the “I really need to watch the next episode” feeling that not many writers can pull off convincingly.

There’s no love at first sight either. Both Yuan Zhong and Tanyin started out suspicious of each other. However, you can clearly see their relationship getting warmer and warmer in a logical manner as the series progresses.

I really loved how she wove Tanyin and Yuan Zhong’s stories together, and I can’t wait for them to finally fall in love.

They do not insult the viewers’ intelligence

There’s no Dude Who Tells You What’s Up, something that I really hated in another xianxia that I mildly enjoyed: Love of the Divine Tree.

Writers of factory-assembly-line xianxias are just too lazy these days, turning characters into Exposition Machines that tell us what’s happening instead of showing what’s happening.

For example, I love how they dramatized the strained relationship between Yuan Zhong and Tang Hua. The longing odd looks they send each other, the reactions both have when other people mention their names. You know they have a history, and then we see by episode 6 that they were besties and Yuan Zhong’s imprisonment changed Tang Hua.

I love this careful storytelling, no right-hand man or woman just being Exposition Machine asking: “Hey, you guys used to be best friends, what happened?”

The message and heartbreak of their lost friendship was communicated merely by the actors’ expressions.

I love that they don’t treat us viewers as simpletons who needs everything to be explained to.

Interesting and well-written side characters

This is a rare drama that gives its side characters proper arcs and growth. Except for most of the War Demons, which felt like paper mache villains, most are memorable and fascinating.

It’s a return to xianxia’s roots; it’s deeply philosophical

Many Western viewers have only come to watch xianxia in the last few years. While it’s great that more foreign viewers are now watching Chinese dramas, this is a personal heartache of mine, because what they think of as xianxia isn’t really the “classic” or “true” xianxia of old.

There are many ways modern xianxia like Love Between Fairy and Devil, and Till the End of the Moon have diverged from its xianxia roots.

However, one primary way is that modern xianxia has abandoned the idea that one can become gods through meritocracy and by cultivating the right virtues. In the old tales, anyone can become gods. Even rocks! One attains immortality by cultivating the right mindset, their abilities, and doing good deeds.

Instead, in modern xianxias you see that one becomes gods or immortals because of their race or through mastering some kind of magical spell.

This “you are an immortal because you’re born into a race” is a modern injection from webnovel writers who are possibly influenced by Western fantasy*. And since most modern xianxia these days are adapted from webnovels, we get this transference.

Many long-time viewers like me have longed for a return to xianxia’s more meritocratic, Taoist and Buddhist roots.

What’s more, the purpose of immortals have been lost, with many xianxia dramas focused on the love affairs between immortals, when the many xianxia of old focuses on immortals caring for human beings and rescuing them from peril.

*Many Chinese dramas are adapted from webnovels. I’d say a majority of them. This can be problematic, but that’s a very long story for another day.

What I didn’t like about it

• The drama’s last arc was really rushed, and our villains were dispatched too quickly and unconvincingly.
• That ending. Not a bad and terrible ending by any means. (I’ve seen so much worse. Look at the ending section for more information.)
• Admittedly, the set design and costumes were rough in the first few episodes. There were some costumes and hair pieces that made me go: What in the world was the stylist thinking? But I have to say, unlike most folks in China, it didn’t bother me so much that it turned me off watching the drama completely. That honour belonged to Burning Flames.

At the end, the flaws of the drama is mild to me, and despite my complaints about the ending, it did not spoil the drama or my appreciation of the drama.

About the ending

Click here to reveal my thoughts about the ending

I’m not going to go into much detail about the ending. For that, do read my episode recap and analysis of A Moment But Forever, where I go into detail about my theories about what happened and why I firmly believe it’s a happy ending.

But I’ll be honest with you, when I heard that it was an open ending, I wanted to scream.

However, I was quite relieved after watching the ending that it was not one of those frustrating open endings, but one that firmly leaned towards a happy ending.

In a way, it is thematically fitting for the drama. (After all, the Chinese title, 念无双 basically means “Missing Wu Shuang”, but what can I say?

The ending was unnecessary and for once I want the director to stop trying to be ‘arty’ with endings like these.

Viewers want closure, (and if possible, kisses and babies) and in this day and age dominated by fast food dramas, they do not have patience for philosophical endings. Give them some closure, give them some sugar after so many episodes of bitterness.

I was mostly upset that this open ending would affect its Douban scores. And I was right, It opened at 6.7, gradually rose to 6.8, though in my mind, it deserves at least better than Love Under the Divine Tree’s 7 above rating. (To me, a 7.2 Douban score would’ve been fair.)

I liked Divine Tree well enough, but that xianxia had vastly inferior writing and acting, and it just rubs me the wrong way that it got better marks just because it had a crowd-pleasing ending.

Final verdict: 8.5

Like so many Chinese dramas these days, it is highly flawed, but it came very close to perfection and is probably one of the best written and performed xianxia in years.