When I saw that Ehlo Huang finally made it up to the main lead guy (again), I just couldn’t resist. And because it’s an ancient drama too. Even if it’s SETTV doing it. (YES, I know it gets repetitive and super annoying that I kept implying I don’t like SETTV dramas YET kept diving in. I just couldn’t resist it when it’s one of my favorites and it’s a weak spot.) Anyway, I tried watching the first episode and cracked up so hard I couldn’t stop. It was sort of a parody to the White Snake legends more than an actual serious approach. Yet that was the purpose so I continued on.
For this post, I want to touch on some of the key characters first. Maybe I’ll backtrack and do some other types of topics later for future posts.
Athena Lee (李燕) as Bai Su Zhen (白素貞) aka the White Snake. I don’t remember watching her in any other series but she was really cute as Bai Su Zhen yet could also be quite scary at times too. It made sense because when she saw injustice matters, she would jump in to help others. She wasn’t a doormat in the sense of letting the evil demons from harming others, but I felt really bad for her and thought she should just leave at times when it was just too much. For once, I don’t blame her for being so naive or too trusting at times because people back then weren’t as complicated as now. Or more like the girl population got sheltered too much. Even if she was the snake demon who lived thousands of years already but she wasn’t as in touch with some of the human realm or would know of human nature as much as she would with demons in two shakes.
Ehlo Huang as Huang Yu Rong (黃玉榮) and Xu Xian (許仙). YES, he portrayed himself as an actor but it showed that he was a player in here hence getting some sort of ‘karma’ for his past misdeeds and ended up in the legendary Madame White Snake story. As the story progressed though, he had become more and more like Xu Xian (like how Fa Hai was saying that the longer they stay in the story, they would become more and more like their supposed identities that were given to them by the power of the book). Around the time that episode 28 rolled around, I practically just wanted to strangle him altogether. Okay, I got it that the whole ‘demon’ thing was really scary for a normal person like him, considering how he was already trapped in the ancient world and trying to survive. But confiding in Xiu Ying? And him confiding in Xiu Ying was why I mentioned about him becoming more and more like Xu Xian than before because he was so cunning and devious in a sense when he was Ehlo. Or what we would call modern-day sharpness since people back then weren’t that corrupted like him. Yet he was becoming more and more like Xu Xian with his dullness and trusting in others so easily versus others. Honestly. I seriously hope it would pass soon and I just finished episode 29 recently. Acting-wise, Ehlo didn’t disappoint at all. He was hilarious and natural, even if there were times that it required exaggeration. He still managed to pull it off.
Sunny Lee (李亮瑾) as Liu Xin Hui (柳心慧) and Xiao Qing (小青) aka the Green Snake. She portrayed two roles. In the modern part of the story, she was the director, Liu Xin Hui, of the Madame White Snake production that they were filming. Then when Ehlo got transferred into the story of Madame White Snake, he saw her as the Green Snake and thought she was playing a trick on him and ended up scolding her. It wasn’t until later that he realized she wasn’t Liu Xin Hui and was actually the Green Snake. I didn’t really pay attention to her when she was Liu Xin Hui since it was really strange at first and I didn’t even know where this was going, but when she was Xiao Qing, she was really cute and her character really grew on me. Regardless of how she was so mischievous at times, but I found her so lovable and loyal to the White Snake.
James Chang (張維錫) as Fa Hai (法海). He was someone from the modern time too yet got stuck in the Madame White Snake story for too long that he had forgotten his real name. However, he was still able to remember some of the events relating to the modern world so he ended up being buddies with Ehlo for most of the story while they tried to figure out a way to return to the modern world. For a character like Fa Hai, he was so lovable, considering how some past adaptations hadn’t really favored him as far as plots were concerned. (Yet I later realized how SETTV was breaking down the choice of characters. Ehlo was the arrogant main guy; Bai Su Zhen was the typical pitiful, naive girl; Xiao Qing being the supportive friend/loyal servant; Fa Hai was the 2nd main lead who would do anything to help the main girl but wouldn’t get anything. YES, I’m picking on SETTV again but I couldn’t help it. They had it made out with their past typical formula already. So it wasn’t like that was news.) I really want to hang on some more and hope that he wouldn’t turn against them for some final twist though. I meant I hope it would be different this time and continue to stay that way, even if that meant typical SETTV formula.
STACY as Shao Xiu Ying (邵秀英) and the Golden Frog Demon and Lisa. In the modern time, she was Ehlo’s supposedly girlfriend Lisa but wasn’t acknowledged and he sort of ignored her after several dates or something. Forgot since it was WAY in the first episode. But when he finally traveled to ancient times, she was the Golden Frog Demon who was disguising herself as Shao Xiu Ying. Perhaps, I shouldn’t blame Ehlo too much for trusting her at times since she was a look-alike comparing to his modern girlfriend so he felt the similarities? (Because even if he was the pervert before too, but he wasn’t that trusting with her. He would try to do whatever he needed to do with what the book was saying and get out of there.) And oh yeah, she completed the typical SETTV formula with being the wicked girl who made the main girl’s life miserable.
Li Fei (李飛) as Xu Guo Tou (許過頭) aka Ku Gua Tou (苦瓜頭). At first, I thought they were putting in some character with buckteeth to mock and make fun of people with buckteeth so it was a turn off for me. Yet I later learned to really like this character. Though he could get into crazy schemes with his young master at times, he was really lovable as a loyal servant. I must agree with Xiao Qing that he was the only one within the Xu family who really had a ‘heart’ regarding what happened as of recent episodes. He really cared for Bai Su Zhen as his ‘shao nai nai’ (少奶奶) and Xiao Qing as his master (師父).
So, as I said earlier, I managed to catch up on most of the episodes already. Though still wondering where this all was going, I managed to follow some of the cast on Facebook and saw both James and Sunny posted pictures with words that said they had wrapped up already. James even mentioned that it was 40 episodes. So it would be finish airing like next week? I’m glad since I don’t want it to drag out anymore. It’s not like it’s long since each episode is barely half an hour. But it’s supposedly a comedy after all so wrapping it up after some more trials would be appropriate instead of dragging it out like the daily or weekend soaps. Last, but not least, major kudos to the cast for remaining so pro and cheery when they have to shoot an ancient drama in the peak of summer!
*All images were captured by DTLCT
Fascinating! And as a great fan of the under-rated Yu Robg, I definitely want to catch up with this one.
Hope you will enjoy it! It’s in dialects but it was quite easy to understand. At least it seemed simple enough if you had followed and recognized some characters from the daily/weekend soaps.