I've seen a lot of C-dramas. A lot of them are quite bad, and a lot of them are mediocre, and rarely do I stumble across what I find (subjectively) to be a gem: TTEOTM is one of those rare findings, with its interconnected storylines, immense number of jam-packed ideas (everything, everywhere, all at once), and superb acting... also I watched this directly after some widely liked dramas such as 'Love Between Fairy and Devil' and 'Hidden Love', so you could say I'm picking this one out from a set of some of the 'better ones.' I would advise you to stop reading here and start watching, but the review so far doesn't do anything to convince anyone. Let's dive into it a little:

FIRST, start with the ACTING.

It's magnificent. In a sense, there are dramas where one good actor carries the show, and interactions between the characters (what netizens call chemistry) is pretty lacking. Luckily, TTEOTM not only avoids those pitfalls but puts on quite the show; in fact, I'd argue the acting is so great that you could just watch Luo Yunxi (ML) and Bai Lu (FL) stand next to each other on a computer-generated battlefield for forty episodes and be reasonably moved.

As for individual actors, the star of the show is still Luo Yunxi. He plays half-a-dozen characters quite literally (Tantai Jin / Ming Ye / Devil God / Old Devil God / Cang Jiumin / Tantai Jin Devil God) and manages to make all of them distinctive and memorable. With a variety of expressive postures and gestures, his work here is definitely the best I've ever seen in a C-drama. The death glares from the beginning to the resignation at some points is all magnificently done, and for the record, I've seen a variety of heroes and villains portrayed by various actors- none quite make you feel the plethora of emotions and storyline as deeply as Luo Yunxi here in TTEOTM. It's not just tears shed for a simple but tragic storyline (which happens often, I find), but hollowness and internal conflict upon learning of his childhood, fear when watching the terror he manages to inflict as the Devil God, and contentedness/sweetness for his portrayal of Cang Jiumin (very, VERY much loves the FL). The distinctiveness of the characters he plays, I believe, even edges out Dylan Wang's Dongfang Qing Cang by far... a feat difficult to achieve as Dylan played a spectacular 'devil god' in Love Between Fairy and Devil.

Bai Lu's acting is always very pleasant and charming to watch, and I find her to make cute scenes even 'cuter.' I do think the personalities she plays are somewhat similar and representative of her true personality (to an extent), so the performance does not stick out to me that much... it's definitely great though considering the fact that it's Bai Lu and I love to watch works in her repertoire. Second leads such as Sun Zhen Ni (plays Pian Ran, a charming and flirtatious female fox devil) and Chen Duling (plays the antagonistic character that's kind of a plot twist... not really) portray their characters exceptionally well too, creating a sort of connection between them and the viewer.

SECOND, the STORYLINE.

Going into C-dramas, I have a sort of resignation towards finding an actually logical plot with good execution, so instead I look for a culmination of creative ideas/concepts. If you're one of the people who watch for logical behaviors, etc., I might warn you against this drama. It does have its fair share of strange plot holes especially towards the end and offers relatively questionable explanations for the reason things play out as they do. You might have to fill in your own gaps, and to me that's okay when watching a show simply due to my expectations (if I wanted to see something logical, I'd just neighbor-spy).

But I don't think that should deter you from watching, to be honest. The number of different arcs/storylines in this drama can be a lot to digest, but I think they're all meaningful and used properly. It's also the reason this drama is so great. None of it is fluff for the sake of fluff (the story does not sacrifice itself for the sake of a romance) or unimportant to the ultimate missions that face the characters.... it has a place in explaining the development and history of the setting (World-Turning Jade is an interesting twist), cleverly developing the relationships between characters (Ming Ye/ Sang Jiu is very important, imo) and furthering the plot/story. The way a lot of loose ends are introduced and ultimately tied back together towards the ending of the drama is masterfully done, so much so that the few logical errors/predictable behaviors of characters are forgivable (subjectively). There are just so many creative and inspirational concepts and ideas in this drama that deviate from the typical, predictable 'steam-engine-moves-forward-and-only-forward' storylines. It reminds me, truly, of 'Everything, Everywhere, All at Once'- which had its fair share of plot holes and possibly a slightly simpler plot than this (also more modern, to point out the obvious). I really appreciate the writers and original author of the novel for creating such a piece; most C-dramas need something more complex to show for, and they need that to an immense degree. Nothing is sacrificed for the story here.

I do think the character development for all the characters (even relatively minor ones) is really impressively done. Of course the focus is on Tantai Jin, but when we see even Ye Xiwu's older brother (so called coward) fight for the sake of his nation and people towards the end makes you realize that everyone really has an arc. Despite some repetitive, predictable, toxic behaviors of certain characters, the justifications for their motives typically make enough sense for me to accept given their individual personalities. I also appreciate the basic intelligence given to the characters which is way too rare in C-Dramas.

Finally, unlike many others, I appreciated the sad ending, thinking it's reasonable for how the ending developed. Otherwise, the ending would be pretty rushed, and that may not be to be the story's further. You could make it romantic with Tantai Jin's return... but I don't really get the point. It ended in an organic way rather than something really 'forced', and served as a conclusion to what I think is a story more than a set of scenes.

LASTLY, the OST:
Zhang Lei's First Time Loving was the star for me (I recommend it)... in general, it's a decent soundtrack, but not the best I've ever heard. I do think the accompaniment in certain scenes was done really well.

EXTRANEOUS THINGS:
- Maybe a little lighter on the makeup, especially the red lipstick on Tantai Jin...
- Beautiful outfits and well-done CGI... you could watch this just for the fight scenes

Please do watch this, it's one of the best C-dramas I've seen thus far in terms of ideas and acting : )