** SPOILERS ALERT **

This drama is the one that made me realize that Chinese drama are definitively worth watching. I admit I'm not an expert because I only watched a few of them but I often felt like the production and acting weren’t very "high quality" in those I began to watch and then fast forwarded at x2 speed or ultimately dropped... But in Love between fairy and devil, the production team did an amazing job, in terms of the cinematography and editing, the costumes and set, the CGI, and of course the acting. I don’t really know about the budget that was put in this drama, but it was definitively an amazing experience to watch, because each scene felt like an artwork on its own. Even the intro/outro are worth watching! A lot of thought went into the production and the costume department (each set of the drama is stunning, the Moon Palace for example is the one I loved the most). We could see and feel the cultural difference between the fairy people, the “demons” (from Heishi city, I apologize if it’s not spelled correctly) and the moon people and so the world-building didn’t feel like an afterthought. It’s indeed very satisfying to watch and explore, especially as an international viewer who isn’t very familiar with China’s legends and culture. The thing that also made me fall in love is the soundtrack, it’s not often that I’m so captivated by the music in a drama but here, the intro wasn’t even finished that I went on youtube to search for the song.

Now for the story, it’s exactly what I want in a romance/fantasy drama. The premise is maybe a little bit cliché for some (the big bad villain falls in love with the cute and kind girl) but even though I absolutely love this trope on its own, in this drama the trope was reinvented and handled very well! The “fall in love” part was so natural and didn’t appear all at once, whether it is from the FL or ML side. I love fluffy stories in general and here the fluff was 100% present. But not to the point where it becomes cringey and hard to watch. Again, the feelings between the FL and the ML appeared progressively and naturally, and despite the curse put on the ML, the viewer didn’t doubt his feelings for one second because the screenwriter and the director knew exactly what to do to make subtle references in terms of editing and also in directing the main actor: his smallest gesture toward the FL had meaning, even at the start of the story. I’m saying that because in the first episode, in which the FL sees the ML for the first time and “falls” into his heart (she suddenly is transported into a desolate place, covered with snow with a frail looking tree), she had already put her mark there, because at her touch, the tree began to grow and that’s what made the ML feels for her, even at the very beginning. This metaphor was maybe overlooked by the viewer at the beginning (it certainly was for me haha) but it held all its meaning when we finally understand that the tree represents in fact the ML’s love force. The poetic meaning behind those subtle references was what made the relationship between the FL and ML so easily acceptable and “shippable” for the viewer.

Furthermore, the actors were also fantastic and made all of this truly work. The chemistry between the FL and ML was of course off the charts and the chemistry between all the cast was also perfectly handled. The secondary characters all had a story of their own and it wasn’t hard to like the majority of them, apart from the fairies’ supreme lord who I thought didn’t have much substance to his character… But oh well, he wasn’t the main focus so it’s not very important. I also liked that the drama took the most from its actors’ talent. For example, the “body switch” scenes between the FL and the ML were so well done, I just couldn’t believe what kind of self control and talent one has to have to succeed in these kind of scenes without making the viewer uncomfortable. But here, I just had to laugh because the contrast was so intense and we truly had the impression that they switched bodies: the mannerism and their way of speaking were perfectly reproduced by their counterpart. Of course, I can’t talk about the actors’ talent without mentioning the angst in some scenes… And well all I can say is that I cried multiple times, I just couldn’t stop myself. Despite the sadness of these sequences, I feel like they were necessary to the story because it reinforces the deep connection and love between the main leads. Their love was equal and they each sacrificed their lives for the other… What can I say, I absolutely adore those kind of stories in which the feeling of love transforms and incites to do and be better to your loved ones and even to yourself. And in this drama, it was definitively the case: of course the ML had the most incredible transformation, but the FL also had a pretty impressive arc (especially when we consider the final episodes’ events but I don’t want to spoil too much so I will stop here in case someone who didn’t watch the show read this comment).

All in all, I think the best thing about this drama, despite not being very action-driven, is that it doesn’t leave the viewer feeling bored because all the feelings and relationships are enough to entertain and satisfy. And that’s a real success for me, someone who doesn’t like when the drama is longer than 25/30 episodes. I will just say that the middle part of the drama, when they’re in the mortal world, was maybe a little too long for my taste, but it’s only because I didn’t really like the idea of the fake weddings lol. And I will finish by saying that the ending could have been longer. It makes perfect sense in the context of the story of course, however I wanted to see a “real” wedding taking place in the final scene, even 1min would have been sufficient. But that’s just me nitpicking, the ending is happy enough that I definitively feel satisfied after watching 36 fantastic episodes, I just wanted to see even more of them. xD