Legend of Shen Li (與鳳行)

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I watched the first half while it was airing and then it got locked because I was busy. So, I had to wait and put aside a streaming fund to get it unlocked and finish it out. At first, I was really enjoying it. Then I had to ruin it by reading the novel. Yes, I continued reading while I put aside a fund and actually have time to finish it. It wasn’t a mistake in the sense of faithfulness to the novel but more like other factors. I must say, it was about 85% accurate to the novel. Obviously, they had to fill some stuff in to allow the viewers to see different characters’ perspective and all. That was understandable. I guess, in a way, I was already spoiled by the storyline so I got impatient when additional scenes came around and just wanted to get to the end. The other reason had to do with some characters involved.

Main Cast:

• Zhao Li Ying (趙麗穎) as Shen Li (沈璃). This was another all powerful role for her so it wasn’t hard. It was just different in background and all. Not saying those to reduce her effort. I just meant I felt she already nailed it, she didn’t need me to praise her more. The fight scenes were amazing and usually was her highlights so the production team did use that to the max to boost her character. It was the right call. I also liked her no-nonsense personality throughout, which was consistent enough. There was also her humor, which might not be done on purpose but her words at times and her reactions to things were hilarious (mostly at the beginning when things weren’t serious yet). She also portrayed the vulnerability side of her character well.
• Lin Geng Xin (林更新) as Xing Yun (行云) / Xing Chi (行止). I actually liked Xing Yun more. I know, I know, they’re technically one and the same and it was portrayed by the same actor. But consider that a compliment, lol. Because he was able to bring out the characters and made it different because of the plot development. Although Xing Yun possessed the same playfulness and teasing as Xing Chi, he was more humble in some ways. It was probably the same reason why Shen Li fell for him in the first place, because he was different than those royalties. Perhaps, it was because he didn’t have any power so it was easy to be more humble, lol. But the sincerity was seen and I felt like he was less pretentious. Again, consider that a compliment because LGX was able to bring out a different side of the character when he was portraying Xing Zhi. Xing Zhi was too controlling for my taste and too pretentious. Yes, I do understand through different descriptions (in the novel) and the extended scenes in the series that he had lived too long, seen many thing, and was lonely. I got all of that. It was just that, it was just trying too hard to get readers (for novel)/ viewers (for the series) to sympathize with him. Sometimes, I wonder if Shen Li pitied him or really loved him later because he was the same as Xing Yun (as she came to realize). Oh yeah, the author changed it and made him too perfect so it made me more annoyed. Yes, he was possessive as hell but it was dismissed as caring and wanting to protect the one he loved (which was true to an extent). Some more scenes were added to boost his character up even more (and even I was touched by it). It still didn’t erase some stuff though. He often dismissed Shen Li’s words on purpose and used his power to trap her at times. I completely understood why after how he almost lost her. But it irked me with the power imbalance and how he did whatever he wanted, she had no say. He did lose his power later but I don’t know. I just have to say if he wasn’t portrayed by LGX, I wouldn’t consider liking him at all. Harsh regarding the character, but once again, LGX did a good job portraying the roles.
• Xin Yun Lai (辛云来) as Mo Fang (墨方). He was actually my favorite character. Yes, jaw drop, I know. I actually really liked him while watching at first and before learning he would become the traitor later. I thought it would be unforgivable and was prepared to hate him, already disappointed that such a character had to become a villain. However, when I read the novel and later continued watching, I sympathized with him more. With such a background and past, it was hard to blame him. Was it unfair to those who he hurt? Yes. But he was poisoned (the mind mostly) by the person who brought him up and taught him he must do those things to help his father. The fact that he was hesitant throughout and tried to fight back made the difference. It was all in vain and he had to die in the end to stop himself from hurting others (because he was no longer control of his own body). At first, I even thought how different the plot would have been if he had been with Shen Li instead, considering how they had a similar background and trying to overcome the feuds of both families. Then there were details revealing how her mother helped his father ages ago. So, they weren’t that different but had to overcome their past. How would it have been if she tried to help him overcome the worst and then they try to heal together because of what their parents did? But I changed my mind after watching some more and analyzing the plot further. I decided I was the odd one out and that Shen Li was better off with the opposite attract plot. If she was with Mo Fang, he would listen to her more and spoil her more but that didn’t matter since she liked who she liked. As for the actor, this was my first time watching him and contrary to some complaints, I thought he fended really well. One of his best scenes was when he was possessed by Fu Sheng and his composure and execution of Fu Sheng’s characterization was on point with being cruel and despicable versus how when he was himself again and was trying to take control of his body, trying to stop Fu Sheng from torturing Shen Li further. The struggle with the character made it fascinating to watch and made me sympathize with him even more.
• He Yu (何與) as Lord Fu Rong (拂容君). Shen Li’s fiance. He was considered the player of the Divine Realm, so he was dubbed as the bad guy from the start. Or at least it seemed that way. But he became my second favorite character regardless of novel or series. Call me crazy but the humor got to me. He was too funny to hate. Was he annoying at first, causing trouble for Shen Li and Mo Fang? Yes, but he was still funny and was probably the comedy relief of the series. He wasn’t irredeemable either since he did learn and grow throughout. Oh yeah, another potential actor. He sure had charm and was good at the comedy scenes. (Comedy is really hard so consider this a compliment.)

Supporting:

• Jackie Li (李嘉琦) as You Lan (幽蘭). She was described as a thin person and was quite a beauty (according to other fairies) in the novel. I felt like they swapped her and Rou Yi just because. At first, she was jealous of Shen Li hence causing trouble for her yet later changed her mind when Shen Li saved her from the lion. In fact, it got even more interesting that she became Shen Li’s ally during one of the crucial moments. Too bad her character was soon resorted to only having comical scenes (although I enjoyed some of the ongoing conspiracies with her brother, the other parts made me cringe because of the inappropriateness of the situation). They discredited her so bad that they even changed the part where the Heavenly ruler wanted to kill Shen Li to letting him help Shen Li’s master save Shen Li. (Well, they tried but failed at that part and it ended up being a goofy scene instead.) Having You Lan save Shen Li would take like five minutes to make, so of course, they can’t have that. They have to stretch it across several episodes and sticking in lots of other stuff before allowing You Lan to reach the correct path. Yet because it was revealed Xing Zhi was actually keeping Shen Li safe by having her imprisoned, so it was automatically You Lan’s fault for releasing Shen Li.
• Zeng Li (曾黎) as Shen Mu Yue (沈木月). Shen Li’s master. She was the one who raised Shen Li. In the novel, she was disguised as a man in front of others. So, when she appeared as herself near the end, some people, including Rou Yi, were confused of her presence. Obviously, Shen Li knew her truth form. Yet it seemed to be a secret of some sort. It was mention at one point she had more support in disguised form. She had an equally good relationship with Shen Li, even if she was sometimes too harsh on Shen Li. The series expanded a bit on her character, which made sense. The part where she learned Shen Li had fallen into the East Sea and how she mourned afterward was really touching. She was the one who told Shen Li about Shen Li’s parents’ history, not the whole Shen Li saw the stories in the scrolls. Maybe the production team thought it would be unconvincing with the story being told from one person only so they opted for the scrolls’ version instead. What was funny was how, in the novel, she told Shen Li not to hold back on Mo Fang because he was a traitor (after guessing Mo Fang was the son of Liu Ming and his concubine) yet didn’t she make an exception for Shen Li’s parents? It was like the novel and the series were full of contradictions, depending on whose side someone wanted to take.
• Xuan Lu (宣璐) as Liu Yu (琉羽). Shen Li’s mother. I haven’t watched anything of hers since The Untamed and that one wasn’t doing her any good for me. (I have to clarify ‘for me’ because she was quite popular with fans from there on–and good for her–yet wasn’t quite so for me.) Anyway, I didn’t know what to make of it when I saw her name on the cast list. But was just tuning in for the humor mostly, so was curious how she would fit into the whole story and what kind of role she was portraying. I completely forgotten to look for her since the story took a serious turn. I didn’t know if she had appeared already. Then I saw that she was going to portray Shen Li’s mother, I realized it wasn’t going to turn out well, considering my bias views of the character since reading the novel. When she finally appeared, I wanted to smack the writers for changing her story arch (and realized later the author had changed her mind about making Shen Li’s mother a willing participant of the schemes of a thousand years ago). Yes, the majority were the same. But the whole making her so innocent and kind and only thought of finding another alternative to prevent more people from getting hurt was really a stretch. They went all that way to explain that she meant well? That Liu Ming was her master after all so she couldn’t really go against him. Yes, they went that route. Or more like the author wanted to change the details hence the current situation. There were a lot of vague things in the novel and it left them room for creativity but I found it really interesting how they allowed for her and Xing Zhi to have good story arches that justified a lot of their behaviors yet threw Mo Fang under the bus time and time again. Yes, I’m still harping on that. I still can’t get over it. I will one day after I’m done with this and move onto less infuriating things. But now, I had to get it out. Once again, NOT this actress’ fault since she indeed did fulfill her role and brought out the characters well the way it was intended according to the script. Fans of hers probably loved it that she got to play another sweet character. Yet for me, I felt it was an easy way out for the character, so that was why I was frustrated, NOT because of the actress. In the novel, she actually agreed and went along with her master’s plan, NOT a helpless individual standing aside and was afraid of her master hence wanting to seek some other way out. This was probably to make Shen Li feel much better about her parents’ history and let her parents become the heroes in this story. Yet it felt like rewriting history because someone didn’t like that other version. When I say someone, of course, I meant author, because she changed her mind. She had every right to but I was just bitter that she did Mo Fang so wrong just because. If it was changed to how Liu Yu agreed and gone ahead with it yet later realized how wrong she was and apologized before her death for the part she played in it, then I would have accepted it more. Yet, no, she had to be the goody-two-shoe who did no wrong and had a heart of gold.
• Liu Guan Lin (劉冠麟) as Emperor of the Divine Realm (天君). At first, I knew he looked familiar but wasn’t able to place him. Then I hunted down more info and away from all those beard and all, I found out who he was. I last watched him in Meng Fei Comes Across. I liked him in there so thought that was funny he appeared in another hilarious role, even if unintentional. How was it? I felt so bad for him. From the start, he can’t win. He indeed was just trying his best. In the novel, I wanted to strangle him later. Yes, that bad. When he found out how much Xing Zhi cared for Shen Li and even brought her back to the heavenly realm, he wanted to eliminate Shen Li by giving her a potion that will kill her soul but will preserve her body (she would be like a zombie). So yeah, he wasn’t winning any favors with me by that point. If it wasn’t for You Lan who tipped Shen Li off and helped Shen Li escape, the worst would happen. I mean Shen Li could still fight it with all her might, but that potion was indeed powerful so better not take any chances, considering how Shen Li was still recovering from her wounds. Of course, that plot was eliminated and made into a comedy and continued with the direction of the series, that he meant well for the most part. He was just doing his best.
• Qiu Xin Zhi (邱心志) as Liu Ming (六冥). Mo Fang’s father. This was one of Qiu Xin Zhi’s more interesting roles of recent. I haven’t watched him since Douluo Continent and this was indeed a great contrast to that. However, he pulled the role off brilliantly as the power driven maniac that he was. He didn’t care for anyone but himself yet kept justifying his actions by stating he was doing it for his realm. The fact that he didn’t care for his son either and was just using the kid as a tool to achieve his goals was tragic.
• Joe Xu Hai Qiao (徐海乔) as Feng Lai (鳳來). Shen Li’s father. His performance was nice and convincing. I was able to see the various stages of how he learned different things and became more aware of others around him. He was more humanized because of the way Liu Yu taught him. There were always more things to learn but he was able to cope better. His struggles were also obvious through different incidents he went through. He had great chemistry with Xuan Lu, which I was a bit surprised, but must admit their change in story helped them greatly. Of the three major characters who had a major effect on the war of ages ago, they sure were given an easy way out yet it was inevitable. They were Shen Li’s parents after all. And his name was given by Liu Ming in the novel, not Liu Yu. He was given to Liu Yu to take care of afterward. And there was no struggles or tortures with him trying to fight Liu Mang because all three were a united force to one common goal. Even if he didn’t understand as much as the other two and could be considered the most innocent of three because of his mental development. And if one had to say it, he learned from Liu Yu so anything she said was a go for him.
• Vanessa Wang Yi Yao (王伊瑤) as Lady Jin (金娘子). When the East Sea discourse already happened and then the aftermath, her appearance was a fresh breath of air and carried the series through during the later parts. Because seriously, I was feeling bored half to death already with the side additional details that had steered away from the main plot. She was so straightforward and lived how she liked.
• Wei Zi Xin (魏子昕) as Fu Sheng (苻生). He was described in the novel as having a youthful appearance so this was another miscast. No surprise since they wanted him to look so evil the audience have to hate him or something. I already hated him so the appearance thing didn’t really matter anyway. Regardless of whatever tactics he resorted to, I thought he was indeed loyal to his master and refused to give up. Even justifying using his young master’s body to complete his so-called mission.

Others:

• Huang Can Can (黃燦燦) as Fairy Ming Shu (明书仙子).
• Tan Yan Yan (谭盐盐) as Bao Jin (宝琴).
• Wang Miao (王苗) as Fu Hua (抚画).
• Li Zi Feng (李子峰) as Qing Ye (清夜) / Gu Cheng Jin (顧成錦) / Jing Yan (景言).
• Huang Yi (黃羿) as Xiao He (小荷) / Jing Xi (景惜).
• Hu Dan Dan (胡丹丹) as Shi Luo (施蘿) / Ye Shi (葉詩).
• Zhou Xiao Chuan (周小川) as Shang Bei (尚北).
• Li Yi Nan (李逸男) as Bei Xiao Yan (北小炎).
• Hou Tong Jiang (侯桐江) as ().
• Dong Jie (董潔) as Yun Niang (雲娘).
• Song Ning Feng (宋寧峰) as Zhou San Lang (周三郎). Yun Niang’s husband. He died in battle and was able to ascend to the upper realm yet lingered by her side all these years.
• Liu Chang (劉暢) as Qian Ji (千機).
• Li Jie (李解) as Jing Xi’s father (景惜爹).
• Zhao Ke (赵柯) as Jing Xi’s mother (景惜母).
• Chen Lu Xi (陳露茜) as Rou Yi (肉ㄚ). Shen Li’s loyal maid. She was described as chubby yet cute in the novel. So what happened? The production team not liking that someone on Shen Li’s team not looking all nice and thinly (according to current time’s beauty standard)? I liked her but I felt she had taken over You Lan’s scenes and ended up appearing at the wrong places so it was like a slap in the face somewhat.

Likes:

• Cast. The majority were chosen really well and brought out the characters convincingly. I might not agree with how the production team approached parts of the plot but I agreed with the majority of their casting choices.
• Costumes and makeup. Surprisingly, both were good for this one, so I merged it instead of having separate like some other reviews. Both brought out the characters’ personality well throughout.
• Soundtrack. It was unique and nice. It aided the story greatly.
• Effects. The effects for magic and different energy sources were done well, not too messy nor too much like some series. I especially loved the parts where they did the phoenix effects for Shen Li’s scenes. It was really beautiful and breathtaking.

Dislikes:

• Length. This should have been 34 or 36 episodes. I say this coming from a place of love. Because some scenes were really unnecessary. Especially, the scenes after Shen Li fell into the East Sea and You Lan just knocked Fu Rong unconscious time and time again to have access to his memory. I meant, once or twice or even three times were enough to emphasize how she wanted to see Shen Li and Xing Zhi’s past together. Yet, the repetition became ridiculous. Also, the scenes having to do with the East Sea Emperor coming and crying was also somewhat unnecessary. I meant maybe the humor tossed in wasn’t the best. (Don’t say I overreacted, the music indicated it was supposed to be humorous). I meant some of us have been crying for 15 minutes already (NOT kidding) because of Shen Li’s death (not really, but still) and the aftermaths, so planting those scenes in there was more infuriating than helping. Because it was so out of place.
• Adding the confrontation scene between Xing Zhi and Mo fang in the snowy mountain to make Mo Fang more hateful. Seriously, that was a cheap shot. It was the part where Xing Zhi and Shen Li separated to find Fu Sheng (who was now possessing Mo Fang’s body). Xing Zhi appeared and helped Mo Fang and Mo Fang asked him why Xing Zhi did it. Xing Zhi said Shen Li would have wanted it. The back and forth between them led to a flashback scene of how Mo Fang and Shen Li met at first and their dispute. It made Mo Fang looked like an asshole–regardless of how it was clarified later he misunderstood Shen Li and vouched to stay by her side from there on (because of how she saved him and didn’t hold a grudge against him). That was not in the novel because he made sure to behave and hid himself within the soldiers, not wanting to stand out or attract attention. It made sense if he wanted to be undercover for Fu Sheng. That scene was seriously out of place. Also, at the end of the flashback, Mo Fang said to Xing Zhi that he followed Shen Li since that time and if Xing Zhi hadn’t appeared, it was implied his and Shen Li’s relationship would blossom into romance or something. Xing Zhi agreed. Fu Sheng interrupted them and taunted Mo Fang by saying he should go against Xing Zhi because Xing Zhi took Shen Li from Mo Fang, etc. Fu Sheng also reminded Mo Fang if Mo Fang completed the mission and they win, Mo Fang would have Shen Li by his side. Xing Zhi then said it seemed like Mo Fang had sown his own ending, so he deserved this outcome. Um, again, this scene never happened in the novel so it made Mo Fang looked terrible on purpose. Fu Sheng did use Shen Li as a bargaining chip to convince Mo Fang to go forward with the plan–aside from the fact that he had to save his father. Yet it was never clarified whether Mo Fang did it out of his selfish desires or he was trying to delay having to harm Shen Li even more (because he had seriously developed a family-like bond with her over the years). Yet the series decided they must patch up Xing Zhi’s reputation and even boost up his image even more hence sacrificing Mo Fang (considering how he already betrayed them). What was one more thing to put on Mo Fang, right? It seemed to work for others but that had the opposite effect on me and made me even more annoyed by the plot. I had to force myself to finish this because I never finished Princess Agents (mostly due to its length). What actually happened after the snowy mountain scenes was Shen Li and Xing Zhi got out of the cave and decided to return yet Xing Zhi made his own decision and brought Shen Li back to his realm, not consulting her nor respecting her wish to return and check out the other place. It was explained that he couldn’t lose her again so he decided that on his own. The series didn’t want to damage his reputation completely so they added in the part where she helped him patch things up with the painting. Then the imprisonment happened. It was like they knew it would make Xing Zhi look bad and unreasonable at that part (even if he meant well), so they had to make Mo Fang look even worse. Again, by doing that, they made me dislike Xing Zhi even more. The icing on the top of the cake was adding in the part where it explained that the real reason why Xing Zhi wanted to keep Shen Li in the upper realm was because Fu Sheng was looking for her and that she was the last item Fu Sheng needed to complete his plan. Wow, what a reach. What a way to make Xing Zhi look reasonable and trying to make him all shiny like always. It made sense that as a powerful god he knew things more than the usual immortals but that was a real stretch. (Again, the author changed her mind but I was really sore she abandoned her plot so much like that.)

Discussions:

• Novel vs. Adaptation: It was unavoidable that not everything could be transferred to the screen. But it was surprisingly faithful to the novel. Like I said before, it was about 85% accurate. Some stuff moved around and there were additional scenes but they were already quite faithful. And then after ranting like crazy on here, jumping back and forth between different sections as I watched, I thought I should check more carefully who adapted the script. Yes, after all that, it finally occurred for me to check. The answer? It was the author herself. So, I guess this was a second version for her? She had a change of heart about a lot of things? So, I will just leave it and say that I respect her vision but won’t dive into any of her works further in the future. This isn’t to say she’s not a great author. She had achieved great success with so much of her works reaching a wide audience and many loved them. However, it’s not my cup of tea. I’m once again in the minority. So, I will stay away and not force myself to read or watch and then rant. It’s counterproductive and senseless.
• Betrayal. Okay, I thought about this a lot, especially during the scenes where Shen Li found out she was betrayed by Mo Fang. When I was reading the novel, I wanted to finish it quick so I didn’t analyze as much but I did feel Shen Li’s pain and the damages Mo Fang caused, regardless of how reluctant he was. He did cause the death of those soldiers and citizens. There was no dodging. But somehow, what he did to try and redeem himself, I felt for him and felt there were lots of things he couldn’t control, having been told by Fu Sheng how he had to save his father and it was his rightful duty and all. As I watched it unfold and how the production team approached it, it got to me even more. Was I just bias because I sympathize for Mo Fang because there were less scenes describing him doing all the destructive stuff in the novel? The series sure brought it into focus with how much damages was done, especially how they extended the story arch for that one guy who had a family to go back to and all. Was it to make Mo Fang more hateful and make the betrayal more painful? Shen Li said betrayal was the worst and was unforgivable. But what about her mother? Yes, I pivoted. But the theme was still the same with betrayal. Her mother also caused a lot of pain and deaths by helping her master create those puppets ages ago and only seemed to have a change of heart after meeting Shen Li’s father and wanting to protect her family. If one wanted to say Mo Fang wasn’t good because he didn’t care for others, he just wanted Shen Li, it was the same as Shen Li’s mother who didn’t care to listen to Shen Mu Yue and only cared when it affected her personally and her little family. So, how was one more forgivable than the other? Just because the other person was Shen Li’s mother? The novel never covered thoroughly and just allowed things to fade because it was in the past already. But it seemed unfair to disregard Mo Fang with just a few words. He did struggle a lot and didn’t really want to do all the killings and even ended up choosing to die in the end with whatever power he had to left to control his body. Did that erase all the things he did? No. But it proved that he was willing to stop. In the sense of control, Shen Li’s mother could have chosen differently and not follow her master’s plans but she actually agreed with him and helped him throughout. If one was to say she didn’t have a choice, it was her master after all, what about Shen Mu Yue? It was her master too and she chose differently. Did she have to face the wraith and have to fight him later? Yes, but she chose differently. So don’t say Shen Li’s mother didn’t have a choice. According to Shen Mu Yue’s recounts of events, after the puppets were created and were out of control, some people started to change their minds about it because of the destruction YET Shen Li’s mother continued to stay by Liu Ming’s side and supported him. I had to go back and read it again carefully as to not falsely condemn Shen Li’s mother. Yet that was true. And if Shen Mu Yue’s recounts weren’t reliable then that would be another thing. Perhaps, it wasn’t reliable after all since Shen Mu Yue forgave Shen Li’s mother and tried to help her yet wanted Shen Li to kill Mo Fang? Mo Fang’s situation? It was harder because Fu Sheng said it was his father and grilled it into his brain every second of the day all these years. If Mo Fang didn’t listen? It didn’t matter, Fu Sheng proceeded with the plans anyway, disobeying all commands. Mo Fang was a puppet at best.
• Regarding Xiao Zhan’s missed chance. There were reports / rumors about Xiao Zhan being chosen for the roles Xing Yun/ Xing Zhi. There was also reports saying Zhao Li Ying’s side contacted Xiao Zhan’s side but he didn’t respond so they reached out to Lin Geng Xin to invite him instead. The result? Complete success. This was due to the fact that there were people waiting for their reunion since ages already. So, of course, fans latched onto this drama. The two briefly reunited in The Hotel of Forgotten Memories mini movie and some of its commercials. But that was awhile back. So fans of the pairing were, obviously, excited for this new collaboration. The reason for Xiao Zhan’s absence? He was busy shooting The Legend of the Condor Heroes movie. So, it was schedule conflict of some sort. I was actually surprised the two never collaborated before and was wondering if they would ever collaborate in the future before learning this piece of information. It was not the right time. But maybe in the future? Because I would like to see those two work together as well.

Recommended? I think if you’re a fan of both Zhao Li Ying and Lin Geng Xin, yes, definitely watch it. The production was actually really good if you want to be fair to them as a series only. And if you didn’t mind about some details (like me). Yes, even if I wanted to throw away the novel completely, I still didn’t like Xing Zhi’s possessiveness.

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