Time quickly rolled around to Saturday once again.
Over the course of the week, the popularity of 'To the Moon' had spread throughout the entire film and television market. A huge number of drama fans suffering from a seasonal drought, now thoroughly intrigued, paid on sakuraNet to catch up—ready to join the weekly viewing army tonight.
Night fell.
Unlike the previous few weeks, tonight's online discussions across the major streaming platforms were no longer completely dominated by 'The Crimson Magician'.
Instead, the volume of discussion around 'To the Moon' was no less intense.
People were strange creatures.
From the very beginning, 'To the Moon' had told its audience clearly:
This would never be a happy ending story.
River was already dead.
Johnny was on the brink of death as well.
At best, the most "perfect" ending possible would be Johnny truly landing on the moon within a fabricated dream.
Yet the moon itself was nothing but barren land.
No rabbits.
No, River.
And yet, the audience still hoped for a turnaround.
They hoped the screenwriter could somehow—by a method beyond imagination—reverse this tragedy into a blissful, happy ending.
Even if it meant a deus ex machina.
That kind of thinking was understandable. Even if Deus Ex Machina felt cheap, it was still infinitely better than watching beloved characters march toward inevitable death.
Just like in Su Yan's past life, when Furukawa Nagisa was revived in 'Clannad'—
Which fan ever questioned the logic of that miracle?
People only praised it endlessly.
However, once episode 8 aired, the story mercilessly shattered all such illusions, unfolding the plot in the cruelest possible way.
In this episode, the key supporting characters—Neil and Eva—finally realized that no matter how they implanted the idea of "going to the moon" into Johnny's childhood memories, his memory world never changed.
The reason was simple.
He didn't want to go to the moon.
What he wanted… was to go to the moon to find River.
The desire to "go to the moon" only came into effect after River's death.
So no matter what they did, as long as River was still alive, Johnny's memories would not change—and the mission would never be completed.
At this point, a rift formed between Eva and Neil.
Since Johnny's emotional obstacle was River—
And since implanting dreams of becoming an astronaut from childhood onward simply wouldn't work—
Then all they had to do was remove the obstacle.
The memory-altering device they used truly could rewrite memories.
Once River's existence was erased from Johnny's childhood, his later memories would trigger a chain reaction. Through the combined effects of the machine and his own brain, an entirely new life would be reconstructed.
He would never meet River.
Never marry her beneath the lighthouse.
Never spend a lifetime by her side.
River would be completely erased from his life.
And Johnny, guided by the implanted idea of "going to the moon," would study diligently from elementary school onward, eventually becoming an astronaut, achieving his so-called ultimate dream.
But—
What meaning did such a "trip to the moon" even have?
Johnny wanted to go to the moon because he wanted to see River.
If River's existence was erased from his life, then why would going to the moon matter at all?
"Unfortunately, our job—and the contract he signed—only requires one thing: that he goes to the moon."
Eva said calmly to Neil, who tried to stop her.
Even though both of them knew Johnny's true, underlying wish was to reunite with River, that desire was not written into the legal contract.
Taking preemptive action, Eva used her authority over the device to restrain Neil and activated the memory machine first.
She entered the command to delete Johnny's childhood memory of that night when he met River.
What followed was the most tear-inducing sequence of the entire series.
In Johnny's reconstructed life, every experience he shared with River lost its foundation once that initial meeting was erased.
On screen—
During middle school, Johnny and River did not go see that movie together.
They brushed past each other at the cinema entrance, strangers.
At school, he never gathered the courage to speak to her.
He never rode horses with her across the grasslands to help treat her condition.
He never placed a ring on her finger beneath the moonlight.
In the reconstructed memories, Johnny was alone.
But when a teacher asked him in class about his future dream—
He finally answered:
"I want to become an astronaut. I want to go to the moon!"
This time, "going to the moon" meant something purely physical.
His dream was simply to go to the moon.
It had nothing to do with River.
Episode 8 ended here.
It ended with Johnny, upon graduating from middle school, passing by the top student River in the hallway—without exchanging a single word.
In this reconstructed world, until graduation, he never spoke to that girl even once.
He never even glanced at her.
And at that moment, viewers everywhere were collectively reduced to tears.
Eva had succeeded.
She had reimplanted Johnny's most fundamental desire, allowing the machine and his own mind to rebuild an entirely new life.
As long as the machine continued running, decades of this new life would be reconstructed within moments—until it reached the endpoint of "going to the moon."
Johnny's true memories—those decades spent with River—would be overwritten completely, erased without a trace.
When episode 8 finished airing, the viewers who had still been clinging to hopes of a healing turn completely broke down that very night.
What were they even expecting?
This drama's screenwriter was Su Yan, after all.
That day, 'To the Moon' and its comment section fell once more.
["Go die, Su Yan, you bastard. You're not just cruel—you're heartless. How could Eva, played by Gu Qingyuan, possibly be this cold? You just didn't dare let Neil do the dirty work because you were afraid of being scolded!"]
["Oh my god… I don't even know how I recovered after that ending. River and Johnny are not saying a single word at graduation and just passing each other—it's too cruel. I'm crying as I type this."]
["Episode 7 was already bad enough. How could episode 8 do this? Eva knew Johnny's dream was to see River—and she just erased River from his life?!"]
["I'm completely broken. Su Yan, why don't you want to be human even once? What's the point of writing something this painful? Does it earn you an extra dollar?!"]
["There are still two episodes left—brothers, is there any chance for a turnaround?!"]
["What turnaround?! River's memories are gone—how do you turn that around?!"]
["But the story can't possibly end this smoothly. If Johnny just forgets River and goes to the moon, there's no way they can stretch that into two more episodes."]
["Exactly! So what if the memories are gone? Does his love disappear just because the memories changed? I think there has to be a turnaround."]
["But even if there is… what's the point? The real River is already dead. She spent her entire life wanting Johnny to know who she was—and she never succeeded."]
["Stop talking… if you keep going, I'm going to cry again."]
["Third time now—doesn't producer Shinozaki Ikumi review the scripts at all?! How did this even get approved? She's a bad woman too!"]
["Su Yan, I don't know if you'll be able to sleep tonight—but I definitely won't!"]
Fast asleep in his rental apartment, Su Yan had no idea that his emotional value had skyrocketed again overnight.
There were only two weeks left until 'To the Moon' reached its finale.
In his dreams, he was already imagining a future where he left Sakura TV and filmed whatever he wanted—spreading the same soul-crushing emotions he once experienced across the hearts of drama fans in Xia Nation.
Early the next morning, Su Yan woke up, skimmed through some online comments about 'To the Moon', then immediately closed the app.
As expected, he was getting flamed again. Better not look and ruin his mood.
"They say things come in threes… My fans should be used to it by now, right?"
He looked a little awkward as he headed out, even putting on a mask—just in case some enraged drama fan tried to surround him.
Back in his previous life, after 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' aired, Gen Urobuchi was labeled "the Warrior of Love" by fans.
After 'To the Moon', Su Yan felt he might earn a similar reputation.
"Well… who knows," he chuckled.
"With the system lottery, anything's possible. What if I pull something like 'Daily Lives of High School Boys' next?"
He didn't have much experience with comedy, but the probability was never zero.
When he arrived at the set early that morning, everyone seemed distracted.
The fan uproar last night was even worse than the week before.
If nothing unexpected happened, this week's ratings would rise again.
Last week, they were already fifth for the season.
If they rose again this week—
Could 'To the Moon' possibly squeeze out one of the A-tier dramas?
Time quickly approached noon.
"Cut—pass!"
Shi Peihua's voice rang out on set.
The scene where River enters the Aerospace Center and meets Johnny for the first time was finally complete.
The two actors playing young Johnny and River let out long sighs of relief.
After more than twenty takes, they finally nailed it.
Just as everyone was about to break for lunch—
Shinozaki Ikumi and several senior staff members received a message from the TV station.
"'To the Moon' episode 8 ratings: 3.96%," Shinozaki Ikumi read softly.
She looked up at Su Yan and Gu Qingyuan.
This week—
'The Crimson Magician' ranked first with 4.15%.
'The Gate' ranked second with 4.01%.
'Imperfect Divorce' sat at third with 3.95% before episode 8 aired.
Last week, 'Blue Summer' ranked fourth with only 3.89%.
Episode 8 had already confirmed that 'To the Moon' surpassed 'Imperfect Divorce'.
And if tonight's broadcast of 'Blue Summer' scored even lower—
Then 'To the Moon' wouldn't just be beating an A-tier drama.
It would break into the top three for the season.
And directly challenge the season's second-highest-rated drama—
Sakura TV's pride, produced under Akasaka Yoshitoki—
'The Gate'.