When last we left our problematic secondary characters, Sheng finally got back his memories.
But elsewhere, his sister is about to get murdered
Then the Physician’s husband shows up to stop his Fox Demon wife because he knows everything. He’s known since she saved him and knows it was all for him. He kowtows and apologizes to Mu Yao and Guo.
Fu Yi is hanging with his childhood bestie when the Fox Demon arrives with Mu Yao. Fox Demon pretends she’s helping the Phantom Demon, but poisons her. The Phantom Demon fights back by controlling everyone with silk threads, including Fu Yi.
Fu Yi and Mu Yao fight, but she can’t kill him. Then he remembers her and comes back to himself.
He tells the Phantom Demon he’d rather die than betray his principles as her puppet, and cuts the threads. Everyone collapses, including him. In Mu Yao’s arms, he declares his love and dies.
The Phantom Demon turns into a green orb that will destroy everything around it. Guo is no help, but Wen Xin appears and saves everyone. Except Fu Yi.
Sheng and Miao Miao hang with Liu Niang
Who tried to kill Sheng last episode, but now they’re good. Liu Niang gives Sheng his Mom’s memory pearls, and we get more flashbacks.
Sheng’s mom sent his Dad away to protect the mountain. She saw the future and knew they had no chance to survive together. I don’t think they survived apart either.
He hoped one day humans and demons could be together. She gave him the mind-control bracelet that forces people to fall in love. Romantic.
More importantly, Sheng is glad his parents loved each other. And now, he can control Crescent.
One question remains: Sheng’s memories shouldn’t have started returning earlier. I’m guessing this ties into him being like Miao Miao, and not really from this world.
Fu Yi is just mostly dead
The Fox Demon uses her demon core, sacrificing herself, to save Fu Yi. I’d be sad, but I remember that Demons can be resurrected.
So does Wen Xin. But rather than tell her husband, he gives him a book. This is tiresome Wen Xin.
I’m glad Fu Yi is back. Considering he just returned from the dead, it’s amusing he’s realized what has been done cannot be undone. But he means moving forward rather than dwelling on mistakes.
The Cold Silkworm is dead, but Wen Xin can use the Phantom Demon’s cocoons to fix the map.
Our band of heroes reunite like they’re back from vacation
Seriously, no one cares about the end of the world.
Wen Xin works on the map while remembering how angry he was with Mu Yao’s father for flattening the mountain. He’s the one who destroyed the map the first time.
Later, he’s attacked by Sheng near the shadow rock. Sheng knows that Wen Xin knew everything. He wants to know who the person imprisoned in the Mu dungeon was, the woman who sang like his mom.
Mu Yao’s dad thought killing Sheng’s Mom would make him the Heavenly Demon Catcher. But by killing her and gouging her Crystal Heart out, he created the Resentful Woman.
So the person in the prison wasn’t Sheng’s Mom, because Mei died. Wen Xin feels tremendous guilt for not helping Mu Yao’s Dad back then. He thinks if he had, things would have been different. His shadow shows his deep regret. So he’s warning Fu Yi away from the trap he is stuck in.
Wen Xin doesn’t know how the Resentful Woman got out, but Sheng does. She tricked him into bringing a poison that helped her fully shed her Mei form and escape.
Sheng wants to use his demon core to bring Mei back. Wen Xin thinks this could kill him and doom everyone. But Sheng is determined enough to kowtow.
Wen Xin reluctantly agrees, but later looks serious in his room alone with the finished map. Mu Yao comes in and looks at the map. She sees the Resentful Woman is…
What end of the world?
It’s New Year’s! Time for having fun together. We get another hint that Sheng isn’t from here either, as he remembers snow once Miao Miao explains it to him. Then they make dumplings, have a flour fight, and build snowmen. It’s not exactly building tension.
After, Sheng talks to Mu Yao about how it will all be over soon. But Mu Yao beats Sheng to a dramatic self-sacrifice moment. That night, Wen Xin sends her into the Demon Trap Tower.
The next morning, everyone discovers what happened. The Resentful Woman was inside Mu Yao, and Wen Xin knew this whole time. That’s why he originally sent Fu Yi to watch her.
Miao Miao feels like this ending is familiar.
Sheng knew this entire time. After he let the Resentful Woman out, Mu Yao massacred the Mu family. She told him to remember she’s the Resentful Woman and grabbed his head. But the hairband threw her back and returned Mu Yao to herself.
Sheng kept it from Mu Yao all these years, and it’s also why he never wanted her to go after the Resentful Woman.
Wen Xin justifies himself by saying that sacrificing Mu Yao was the only foolproof way to save everyone. Also, all the demons will be sacrificed so her soul can be obliterated. So, not everyone will be saved. Just people.
At least Wen Xin knows he’s the villain and plans to die with Mu Yao and the demons. Sheng wants to kill him now. Wen Xin says the formation cannot be stopped now. They always say that.
So our heroes go into the Demon Trap Tower after Mu Yao
Including Cui Cui.
The tower is 9 worlds spread across 3 reals. The top world is lovely. Everything after that sucks. To travel to each level, they need to pass through karma gates.
On the top world, they meet demons who remember Fu Yi. They’ve cleansed their sins, reached the top, and are looking for the exit, like Fu Yi promised. But they can’t find the way out. Because that’s another lie from Wen Xin. They were trapped in the tower to use in the formation to kill the Resentful Woman.
The demons are upset, but Miao Miao calms them. Fu Yi believes the exit must be at the bottom of the tower, not the top. The demons tell them how to find the gates.
Cui Cui is blasted away by the first gate when he touches it. Fu Yi realizes the key to getting through is determination. But they want Cui Cui to stay at the top level and help the other demons escape. Cui Cui cries as they leave him behind. That’s heartbreaking.
We get a montage of them fighting their way down
Outside, Bamboo Grandpa scolds Wen Xin while they watch. Wen Xin says they won’t change anything. Bamboo Grandpa doesn’t want them to reach the bottom floor because it will kill them all. Got a better idea, Grandpa?
Despite the earlier build-up, we don’t see much of the Demon Trap Tower worlds before they reach the 8th floor. They’re tired and injured. Fu Yi opens the last gate and collapses.
Each time he’s opened a gate, he’s suffered a backlash. He wanted to be the hero and save Mu Yao, but now he’s too injured to go on.
He urges them on. The weakness is the stone pillar at the bottom of the tower. If broken, it will collapse the entire tower. But first, they need to slay the Resentful Woman, or she will escape.
Sheng drags Miao Miao through the closing door.
I like how all the conflict centers around relationships
From Bamboo Grandpa and his failed romance with a bird demon to Liu Niang’s sisterhood with Mei, relationships are the, er, heart of this show. People do the right thing for love. People do the wrong thing for love. Romantic love. Deep friendship. I like how that’s woven into the story.
On the other hand, Sheng’s secret knowledge of key facts that he suddenly, undramatically reveals 29 episodes in is frustrating. They could have done a lot more with this reveal.
And, to have our characters go through all this growth only to end up back at not communicating and making self-sacrifices is frustrating. But I’m glad Wen Xin is a jerk. I’m tired of wise old characters in dramas lying to and manipulating the main characters because “that’s what they need”. He’s already done that anyway.
The writing of this show is frustrating because there’s some great stuff, like the characters, the relationships, the world, and the humor, but it also feels half-baked. All the setup with Sheng’s demon half and Miao Miao’s powers and the game plot hasn’t led to anything. Even here, the Demon Trap Tower had that big setup, but we barely spent time in it.
A show like this makes me wonder what kind of production constraints might have happened. There are plenty of behind-the-scenes reasons why a show doesn’t live up to its full potential. It could be anything from the budget to the wrong person making creative choices.
Everything will wrap up in the next two episodes, and I like these characters enough that I want to know what happens, but I’m not explacting a completely satisfying ending.
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