Legend of Fei (2020)

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

The Legend of Fei is an intriguing drama.

This is a show that has been highly anticipated since early 2020, and for good reasons too. It is headlined by two of the biggest stars in the Chinese entertainment industry today, Zhao Li Ying and Wang Yi Bo. This is also ZLY’s comeback project since her leave of absence due to her maternity. The drama is an adaptation of the novel Bandits by renowned and award winning fiction novelist, Priest who will be having several more of her novels adapted to dramas in the coming year.

In addition to that, the involvement of a highly experienced production team led by director Ng Gam Yuen who had previously directed Princess Agents (also with ZLY) and, somewhat surprisingly although not uncommon, a team of nine screenwriters were engaged to write the screenplay based on the critically acclaimed source material which had won the Network Literature Biennial Award in 2017. All of this points to a potentially successful blockbuster drama in the making, right? Apparently, as it turns out, not many would agree.

Within the first few weeks of airing, this drama ended up becoming extremely maligned and divided opinions of viewers not only in China but also among international audience, so much so that even on the drama’s MDL page, debates and differing opinions were intensely magnified in the comments board. Personally, I feel that although the drama certainly is imperfect, there are redeeming aspects that warrant folks to cut it some slack and maybe shower some love instead.

In a nutshell, this is a wuxia drama that tells the story of Zhou Fei (ZLY), who hails from a renowned family of pugilists and the 3rd-generation heir of the Snow-Breaking Blade technique created by her grandfather, as she leaves her home in the mountains known as Fortress of the 48 to explore the Jianghu world. She meets Xie Yun (WYB) who joins her on her adventures as they encounter colourful characters, both good and evil and from various sects and affiliations.

This is essentially a coming of age tale typical of the wuxia genre where Zhou Fei, as the FL, meets many martial arts masters who help improve her skills to become stronger and finally battle the villains. Along the way, she finds love but also experiences the tragedy of losing loved ones. Themes of chivalry, heroism, brotherhood and loyalty are interwoven with the underlying romance, overarching mystery and, of course, the climax of the story - the epic final showdown. I’m not an avid reader of the recent wuxia novels but I notice the trend of late where the ML of the genre appears to be physically weaker and less of a fighter compared to the FL, as is the case in this show and another similar one, The Moon Brightens for You. But, I’m not complaining and I think female empowerment is a positive trend for a change.

Production
The production values displayed somehow does not seem to reflect the rumoured big budget of the show, with certain set designs that appeared inferior in quality and even obviously fake. For instance the settings of the forest where majority of the action takes place, the setting of the Spinning Wire Formation of the Ximo River (specifically the “rock boulders” which do not seem all that “solid”), and various other scenes, where the lack of authenticity is visibly apparent.

Probably the biggest gripe of all is on the direction, screenplay and editing for this drama. Contrary to most criticisms that are directed at the acting especially of the leads, I think the directing of the interactions between the characters as well as the pacing of the storytelling should take the most blame. Actors can only work with what they are given and how they are directed to act their scenes. Furthermore, how it is that so much fillers and dragging out of the plot were shoehorned into the story seems rather surprising considering the quality of the production crew. Additionally, the transitions between scenes and framing of certain sequences did come across as somewhat disjointed, which is attributed to the editing department. A mitigating factor was mentioned where principal filming had to be halted midway through due to the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020. However, this is where the final editing and post production process should come in to make the necessary adjustments.

Choreography
The martial arts choreography is not the finest of the genre, it has to be said. A number of the action sequences do not flow smoothly in terms of the swordsmanship, acrobatics, and overall movements. When it works, it can be spellbinding but when it doesn’t, it becomes painfully obvious to see. Granted, there were reports referencing ZLY’s lack of fitness while performing her own stunts and other physical exertions, having just recovered following her maternity confinement. Perhaps, this being the first time a blade/ sabre (dao) is wielded by ZLY’s character instead of the usual sword (jian) resulted in the execution of a different and more challenging fighting technique, the Snow-Breaking Blade.

The same observation applies to all other cast members involved where at times the fighting appeared contrived rather than naturally free-flowing. The awkwardness is exemplified in other techniques such as the Taoist Tao Teh Ching Mayfly formation, Guanxi Yellow and Green Palm, Floating Palm, and Water-Cutting technique. On the other hand, the Lotus Palm, Cloud Impelling Palm and Mountain Sword technique do at least appear more believable and convincing.

Characters
The action stunts aside, I have no complaints with either ZLY or WYB as far as their acting is concerned, and both characters I thought were well written. The issues as I mentioned earlier relate more to the direction rather than the cast themselves. The quality of ZLY’s acting and character portrayals are never in question while WYB possesses much potential to soar even higher through his upcoming projects. I like FLs that are written to be consistently strong not just in terms of physical strength and martial arts prowess but also in mental resilience and fortitude in the face of adversity and tragedy. Zhou Fei is a character that I enjoy watching and she does not succumb to the usual tropes of losing her sense and sensibility or transforming into a damsel in distress that needs rescuing. Likewise the character of Xie Yun as the happy-go-lucky charming and supportive sidekick who hides a traumatic past behind the facade.

There were grievances regarding the perceived poor dubbing particularly that of ZLY and I have to agree. The voice is provided by Liu Rui whose previous works focused mainly on modern dramas like Flash Girl/ Our Shining Days, which sadly lacked the authority and depth needed to elevate the character of Zhou Fei to more imposing levels. WYB’s voice dubbing is provided by Hu Liangwei, whose works include Heaven Official’s Blessing donghua, which is marginally better and probably matches the playful tone of the character Xie Yun.

Regarding the chemistry between the two leads, so many viewers complained about 2 things - that they are incompatible due to the 10-year age gap (ZLY is 33 while WYB is 23) and hence lacks the natural chemistry, and that the FL looked so much older than the actual age of her character who is supposedly a 16-year old teenager. Personally for me, there is no such thing as age gaps when it comes to romance, and therefore I’ll take this as a variation of noona romance which works fine for me. 10 years isn’t a lot even if the female is older and from what I can see, particularly towards the tail-end of the show, the chemistry is apparent to be seen and throughout the entire story progression, the development of their relationship has been slow burn but no less resolute.

As for the second argument, I have to agree somewhat. No matter how much make up applied or soft filters used, it is what it is and there is no escaping that. But look, this is not something that is shockingly unexpected or unprecedented. Tang Yan (37) played a teenage Xiao Yan Yan in Legend of Xiao Chuo, Zhang Lu Yi (40) depicted a 13 year old boy in Qin Dynasty Epic, Tang Wei (38) acted the role of a teenage Sun Ruo Wei in Ming Dynasty, Tan Song Yun (30) played a teenage Li Jian Man in Go Ahead, while Zhang Zi Yi (41) is currently portraying a teenage Wang Xuan in the airing Rebel Princess. For me, good acting with seasoned actors should be the benchmark and that is acceptable to me.

The supporting cast of Zhang Hui Wen, Chen Ruo Xuan, Zhou Jie Qiong, and Zhang Xin Yu gives a decent account of their respective portrayals of Zhou Fei and Xie Yun’s band of friends. In particular, the character development of Wu Chu Chu and her romance with Li Sheng is quite remarkably depicted. Li Yan, however, represented everything I dislike about the annoying females in historicals but fortunately her role isn’t significant. She and the character Yang Jin are truly made for each other, as part of the 3 romantic couples in the show.

It has to be said that a number of villains do not appear all that imposing and intimidating. I’m fine with the colour coordinated costumes and scary masks used to distinguish the bad guys but the respective leaders of the evil clans are simply not all that villainous, in form or substance. Case in point, the Demon Manor’s section chiefs comprising Blessed Dog, Giant Leopard, and Sparrow. The Four Guardians of the Mountain’s Dragon and Tortoise masters are more hilarious and comical than menacing. On the other hand, I do appreciate the Timber Wolf Shen Tian Shu as the leader of the Demons, played by Geng Le who does possess the gravitas for this role. Guo Xin’s Mu Xiao Qiao, the Phoenix master, is one of my favourite (semi)villains in the show and brilliantly gives off Dong Fang Bu Bai vibes. Other villains such as the Snow Wolf and the evil Eunuch are very interesting characters but unfortunately only had limited screen time.

As far as good guys go, I actually enjoyed watching Che Xiao’s compelling portrayal of Li Jin Rong, Zhou Fei’s mother, as a strong woman and competent leader of the Fortress of 48. Dong Xuan’s Duan Jiu Niang is a very likeable character and I suspect she had as much fun playing the slightly deranged role as viewers did watching her albeit for a short portion of the show. Hu Bing, who usually plays the villain, delivers a very charismatic depiction of the legendary grandfather, Li Zheng. I’m a big fan of Zong Feng Yan, who plays Zhou Fei’s father Zhou Yi Tang. This seasoned veteran never disappoints and he seems to excel particularly in historical dramas.

Music
The OSTs for this drama is probably the only aspect done to perfection. Each track seamlessly captures the essence of the story and the scenes throughout. The opening theme truly sets the tone of the show while WYB’s rendition (with accompaniment by the Dizi, which brought memories of The Untamed…) evokes feelings of a dreamy ethereal romance.

1. 《逐浪 Chasing the waves》by 尚雯婕 Shang Wenjie (Opening theme)
2. 《无华 Unadorned》by 张靓颖 & 刘宇宁 Jane Zhang & Liu Yuning (Ending theme)
3. 《熹微 Weak rays of sunlight》by 王一博 Wang Yibo
4. 《如翡 Like Fei》by 王晰 & 赖美云 Wang Xi & Lai Meiyun
5. 《结 Knot》by 胡夏 Hu Xia
6. 《红尘莫欺我年少 Don't deceive me when I was young》by 希林娜依 高 Curly Gao
7. 《采莲曲 Picking Lotus song》by 陈珏 Chen Jue

Overall
Despite the numerous drawbacks, The Legend of Fei does manage to get certain aspects done well enough that even things out and, in my humble opinion, ultimately redeems the entire production. How the drama starts off may leave much to be desired but the improvement towards the second half and the strong finish at the end, with the HEA ending where all that’s well ends well, gave me the satisfaction of completing this drama. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but I did enjoy myself by looking past the flaws only to discover a rainbow after the rain.

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"Remember, your fate hangs on the tip of your blade." ~Zhou Fei

Legend of Fei is not only a Wuxia drama, but it has several cute love stories, an intriguing mystery, and a lesson that all of us should learn from. This drama is based on a popular Chinese novel with the same name by Priest, which I have not read before. (Translated version is only available as machine translation) Two large downsides to this drama were the the terrible editing skills, and unrealistic backdrop that was very obvious from time to time, but the lovable characters and fascinating storyline eventually overshadowed these disappointments. It is quite understandable that many would be unwilling to "wait" more than 20 episodes or so to finally get into the drama, and this is a barrier that everyone should be aware of before attempting the drama. With strong martial arts skills and intelligent thinking, Zhou Fei teaches us that we can achieve our dreams, but achievements are only the result of endless and persistent hard work. With many setting high expectations for a drama with their favorite actors or actresses, this rather low rating isn't very surprising, but I really enjoyed it.

Honestly, I don't even know if this contains spoilers. If it does, please message me about it.

Story-8.0
With the usual pugilistic world (Jianghu), there are admirable heroes who help others, but there are also people greedy for wealth and power. Zhou Fei is born into Forty-Eight Fortress, a sect founded by her grandfather (Li Zheng) known for its good deeds and efforts toward eliminating evil. Growing up, Zhou Fei had always been taught by her parents to only do good, to work hard. Her mother seems overly strict to her, but loves her more than anything in the inside. Zhou Fei longs to please her mother, and to achieve this goal, she plans on becoming a famous heroine. After a series of events, Zhou Fei meets Xie Yun, who appears carefree, and quite annoying. Zhou Fei leaves Fourty-Eight Fortress for the first time, and along with Xie Yun, her two cousins (Li Sheng and Li Yan) and some newly made friends, they start to uncover the reasons for the deaths of her grandfather and many other martial artists. The moves for the martial arts were choreographed fairly well, and it was clear that each actor and actress had put in a lot of effort to perfect their moves. I also really liked the costumes; Although they were simple, they fit perfectly for every character, and the light-weight clothing worked reasonably well to portray everyone's personalities. Each story behind the famous heroes are very motivating, and we learn lessons along with A'Fei. The story starts rather slowly and quite boring (and a few episodes could have been cut), but to make fire, wood is needed, and I promise, as the story progresses, it becomes more and more intriguing. There is no clear plot until episode 20-something, which disappointed many viewers. The story revolves around the idea that evil may seem to win, but oh no, it doesn't. Only with a kind heart can you rule the world.

A very important aspect of this drama is the mystery incorporated into it. An item said to be able to assist one into ruling the world was coveted by countless people, and this didn't exclude the evilest of the evil. In the later episodes of LoF, the main plot is revealed, and things do not cease to captivate.

Acting/Cast-8.5
Legend of Fei has some of the most lovable characters in the history of Wuxia characters, as well as some of the evilest. There were some with some annoying attributes, such as the Third Prince, who I still don't know why he was included in the story. We have quite a few comedic duos that give us quite a show, and each and every character has their own story, no matter if their journey throughout their life was tragic, hopeful, or just mediocre. Here are my descriptions of a few of the most influential protagonists and antagonists:

ZHOU FEI and XIE YUN- A strong-willed young girl, Zhou Fei had wild ambitions, but luckily, her ambitions were to do good for the world. (and impress her mother) She and Xie Yun start on a rather bad note, but friendship quickly links them. She discovers that the world outside of her home is not all that cheerful and fun, but rather dark and scary. A hatred towards the Demons starts to grow inside her after she learns of their countless evil deeds, and she manages to kill many of their leaders through the guidance of many martial art heroes and heroines she meets on her journey. The persistence in Zhao Liying's eyes are present throughout this drama, and her acting never fails to disappoint. (I am not a die-hard ZLY fan) Our female lead matures from a girl ambitious to be the best to a young woman who is admired by the many people she had helped. (may contain spoilers:)With a complicated past, Xie Yun is not your typical male lead. He and Zhou Fei first meet when Xie Yun "steals her father". Underneath his cheerful personality hides an unforgiving identity, which Zhou Fei and everyone else learns later in the drama. This identity isn't very surprising, but is crucial to the story. He is very agile, and always manages to escape the Demons without even exerting too much energy. As talkative as he is, he is also very intelligent, although he doesn't always show this aspect of his personality. In front of Zhou Fei, he is funny but also caring. Although Wang Yibo could be considered a rookie actor, he managed to pull off the complex personality of Xie Yun, which is quite impressive.

Wang Yibo and Zhao Liying do not have that fire chemistry, but their pairing was more than acceptable. It may be disturbing to some that ZLY is 10 years old than WYB, but their interactions in the drama made me forget about this irrelevant detail. Xie Yun and Zhou Fei are our troublemakers, they are really two peas in a pod. They only want the best for each other, and will go to the ends of the earth to save each other.

LI SHENG and WU CHUCHU- Another cute couple, Li Sheng and Chuchu are very adorable as well. Li Sheng never manages to beat Zhou Fei in martial arts, and was rather jealous of her. Later, though, he discovers that he doesn't always need to be #1, because as long as he can use his strong skills to help, he is satisfied. Even though he doesn't have the strongest martial arts skills, his leadership and intelligent are two of his main strengths. I found him particularly annoying in the beginning (because he was rude to A'Fei), but his smart and caring personality eventually stole me heart. His love interest, Wu Chuchu, was born with a silver spoon, but her parents are both killed mercilessly and she spends a large portion of her time with Zhou Fei and Li Sheng on the run. Some of her early actions were very frustrating, because she was doing some really dumb things, but her determination to avenge her parents led her to even start to learn some basic martial arts skills.

LI YAN, YANG JIN and YING HECONG- Oh boy, our three troublemakers. They are quite the trio! These three never fail to make me laugh, especially Yang Jin. His motion of rubbing his head is his most famous movement, and makes him appear dumb and useless, but he has some strong martial arts skills. The actor who portrayed him did a great job in showing his funny but strong personality. His love interest, Li Yan, could be said to be even dumber than Chuchu. I love her as well, but some of the things she did were very unexplainable, and led to all sorts of trouble. She wasn't a very crucial character here, but she did manage to add some comedic elements to the show. Last but not least, Ying Hecong, aka The Poisoner. I didn't really understand his presence until I realized that he was very knowledgeable in poison, and he eventually was a very helpful friend to A'Fei and everyone else, and like the others, after undergoing a tragedy or two, he musters up the courage to stand up for what is right. I loved this trio, they are hilarious.

HEROES/HEROINES- Without the wise and famous heroes and heroines, Zhou Fei couldn't have achieved what she did. Each and every martial artist gave her priceless life lessons, as well as had some of the most beautiful stories. Although most did not have much screen time, they each played a crucial role in fighting the Demons, and passed on their skills to Zhou Fei. Li Zheng and Duan Jiuniang had an unforgivable love story, while Ji Yuncheng was an honest man who couldn't forgive himself for a certain event. Madame Ni Chang was a great woman, and saved Zhou Fei and the others quite a few times. Unlike the Demons, these wise men and women were even willing to give up their life to keep the world at peace, and they probably could have a drama just about themselves!

DEMONS- Demons are demons, evil and merciless. They do not even know what the treasure is, but spent years trying to uncover it. Without these terrible characters, the drama could not have progressed, and the actors/actresses did quite phenomenally as the evil roles they portrayed. I wish that some of them got a closure where they learned the valuable life lesson, but even if none did, their satisfactory ending was enough. Each of the demon leaders had their own detestable personality, and not all of them wanted the treasure.

Music-8.0
The music in this drama wasn't very memorable, but it was far from bad. The OST could have been more delightful with a few more songs, and it was kind of a surprise that Zhao Liying didn't sing any of them. Wang Yibo did, and the tune and lyrics fit quite nicely. As for the background/instrumental music, they were very common in fighting scenes and calming scenes, and were also a snug fit. With the mysterious but upbeat music, the audience could predict that Zhou Fei would win the battle, or that some despicable Demon was about to be defeated. In Forty-Eight Fortress or with our Yunfei couple, the soft music showed us the beauty of peace.

Rewatch Value- 8.0
If I had to rewatch this drama, I would most likely skip the first 10-20 episodes, and go straight to when I started to actually make strong connections with the characters. I did enjoy the second half of the story, and did not skip a single part of it.

Overall-8.5
The start of the drama was a little disappointing and underwhelming but the ending was not, as well as the story as it progressed. Some interactions between the characters were hilarious, while others were tense and dark. We are given three cute couples as we followed the main characters' journey to eliminate evil and help the poor civilians. No matter what happened, Zhou Fei did not give up, and her persistence was the key to defeating the Demons. She and Xie Yun have a very valuable relationship, growing from an unfriendly encounter to unbreakable love. And without the amazing acting of every actor, this drama wouldn't have been able to portray the most important life lesson, which I'll leave for you to discover.

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Watch it for your favorite actor / actress

This is the first review I've written because I find the high rating (7.9 currently) puzzling.
Compared to other dramas of similar rating, I must say this is not on the same level.

I'm fan of the leads, so I'm watching the drama because of them. Unlike other comments, I find the acting more than acceptable (but I haven't read the novel, so I can't say if the characterization matches that in the novel). They are cute individually, but I also agree the chemistry is lacking - despite the cinematographer's efforts into building romantic picturesque scene that's just classically gorgeous (particularly those scene in those last episodes - you know the ones. yum.)

Except those few scenes at the end, the special effect was also horrible in the sense that it pulls you out of the story. The "inner force" is all just fan and wind, and the power feels a bit hallow on screen. The line trap that's virtually invisible is thick as a rope at times, and can just be cut through or repositioned if you're a character that needs to stay alive. It is impossibly deadly if you're a bad guy. The green screen effect and prop so obvious that again it looks more like a school project than a professional production. The editing is choppy. The exact same line repeated in consecutive scenes (as if they filmed it, and didn't know how which they want to use and decided to include both).

The fights themselves are not the most interesting choreography I've seen, and we've all seen these actors execute better fight scenes in other dramas. Every c-drama fight is a dance, but it's like watching a professional dancer dance or watching an elementary school production. The steps are simple - suggestive of a fight more than seeing and feeling it. For a show billing itself as a wuxia, the "wu" (meaning fight) element is surprisingly weak. This got worse in later episodes, where they skip the fight entirely. There is a scene where the character picks up their knifes indicating they are going to fight. The next scene is the bad guy on the ground suggesting there was a fight and the bad guy lost... which leads us to the biggest problem of this story - the writing. The political dynamics both of the court and of the martial arts world were brushed over. It leaves the viewers feeling like all the fights were just random. You're barely invested in the fights. You know good guys will win and bad guys will lose.

The drama has never set any tangible goal for any character. Zhou Fei leaves home for the sake of leaving home - no goals to speak of. Xie Yun's goal is achieved by the end of the first episodes, the rest of the time he's just wanting to live his life. Now, wanting to live his life has been the plot of many leading man, if only there was someone who doesn't want him to do that. But in fact, everyone wants him to just live a normal life and do nothing. So, yeah, our leading man is someone who's entire arc rests on do nothing. One could then say his arc is to support Zhou Fei, but Zhou Fei's arc seems to be supporting Xie Yun. So, again, circling around nothing...

Side characters are largely one-dimensional, and again lacks purposes. So often, I feel like why is that character in that scene? She has no skills and therefore no reasons to join this "mission". Eventually I concluded the actress needs screen time. So, even though there is absolutely no reasons for character x or y to be there, the script put them there because that's where the action is. The acting for some were flat - furthering my feeling of "huh?"

Low music scores because as the show progress, I find the music montages as just a way to fill time. Later episode also had very modern sounding music that pulls me out. I thought I was watching a James Bond movie...

I'm writing this review because I use this site to evaluate what drama to watch - and 51 ep is not a small amount of time. So, if you are fan of the leads, go for it. The plot is simple enough that you can watch it easily in 2x without issues. Honestly, this is a fine show if it wasn't for higher expectations. Had this been a show with no names, no supposedly good source material, and released without fanfare, it would have been just another average c-drama in the sea of internet dramas with rushed script and low production. Some reviews say this is their favorite drama of 2021, I suspect it's only because we're in January...

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Draggy story-line and fake looking studio set. Otherwise a good series.

Despite having 2 of the biggest names in the c-drama industry in Zhao Liying (ZLY) and Wang Yibo (WYB), the “Legend of Fei” will be regarded as a disappointment of 2020. The series will gather a lot of internet traffic, talked about by various fans for its plusses and minuses, dissected over its story lines and its adherence to the novel, discussed on Zhao Liying’s apparent discontent upon completion of filming, etc. To the fans of the 2 main characters, there is nothing wrong with the series. But to me as a hardcore fan of Chinese costume drama, and who just wants to watch quality series, there is plenty that is wrong with “Legend of Fei”. And it is reflected in the Douban’s pedestrian rating of 5.6 score with over 200K reviews.

Before I dwell on why this drama disappoints me, let me highlights the good points about this web-series. The casting is obviously the drama’s strong point. Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo – the 2 main protagonists in these 51-episode costume drama – are highly accomplished, successful, marketable and very sought after actor/actress. Zhao Liying is the queen of c-drama. Most of her drama was a sensation, and this one is special because it marks her return after giving birth to her first child. Wang Yibo is currently the hottest male actor in China due to his success in “The Untamed”. The strength of these 2 main characters alone should give this c-drama considerable mileage and headstart from internet buzz, traffic and interest particularly from both hardcore fans. Even the supporting cast were established actor/actress like Zhang Huiwen (Yimou’s girl), Chen Rou Xuan, Sun Jian, etc.

As of late, there has been many instances in c-drama of pairing older FL with a much younger ML, and this is also the case in Legend of Fei. There is a 10 year gap between ML and FL, but you don’t feel the gap as ZLY looks much younger than her actual age. I don’t think even Yang Mi or Tang Yan could carry the 17-year old persona better than ZLY. Tang Yan was heavily criticized for her portrayal of a young Yanyan in “Legend of Xiao Chuo”. Similarly, Yang Mi did not fare much better in “Legend of Fu Yao” playing a young Mary Sue character devoid of any imperfections, while being protected by the all-mighty Crown Prince of the Five Kingdom. What sets Zhao Liying apart from Tang Yan/Yang Mi is her petite and slim figures which belie her actual age, and that makes playing a 17 year-old Zhou Fei – believable. Did you watch how Zhang Ziyi got blasted for her betrayal of a 15 year-old teenager in the first 8 episodes of “The Rebel Princess”? There were even critics who stated that the producers of “The Rebel Princess” should have gotten a younger actress to play a young Zhang Ziyi. Zhao Liying does not have any issue playing a young Zhou Fei because she looks young. Not sure whether in 5 years time that would still be the case. On an unrelated note, her skin looks flawless on a close-up. You could see skin imperfection on Zhang Huiwen who is an unrivalled beauty in her own right, so it can’t be down to post production magic.

Another plus point to me was the wardrobe. Love them. The costumes on Zhao Liying are simple but beautiful and it outlines her slim figure. Zhang Huiwen is gorgeous in anything she wears. There is not anything particularly hideous that stands out like Zhang Yaqin’s (Fei Kou’er) thief character that made her look short and stubby. The costumes were pleasing to the eye and not too striking in tone and color.

The fight choreography is average at best, and mediocre at worst. Even-though this is a jianghu/wuxia type of drama, there are not very many fight scenes in it. There is not an excessive amount of slow-motion fight sequence either, and that makes it bearable. In fact the whole fight sequences looked slow and choregraphed, and gave the fight scenes rather “unnatural” feeling to them. But at least they are bearable to me – it does not give me that cringeworthy feeling every time Zhou Fei wields the sword and engages or kills the enemies. I like it when Xie Yun uses his qinggong and flies/glides effortlessly from one end to the other. It was beautifully choreographed.

The sound track was nice and I really enjoy the opening track. The CGI was average, and was only limited to very few scenes especially involving animals. There are plenty of CGI involving snakes and the snake charmer, Ying HeCong – a Great Medicine Valley’s disciple played by Leng Jiyuan.

Now why was this c-drama disappointing given all the plusses above? There are 2 main reasons why I believe this is an average series; and disappointing because it has limitless potential from the casting of 2 very famous artistes. Firstly, there is a fake studio setting that keeps popping up in this drama. It is so fake, that it makes me very uncomfortable. The fake studio scenes feature secondary forest, and were used extensively. It was certainly very disturbing to me because everything looked so fake. It reminds me of 80s Hong Kong films and I have not seen this type of mediocre studio-set production in any of 2020 historical costume drama, even from those low-budget ones. Even “Novoland – The Castle in the Sky 2” had a much better studio setting than “Legend of Fei”, and I was very critical of “Castle in the Sky 2” for its rather cheap-looking set. I could understand if they have to use studio setting for a place like the cave inside the mountain where the treasures were hidden, but they could find a nice forest and film the scenes easily rather than building a cheap looking set.

My second grouse was the overall pace of this c-drama. The pace is awfully slow – I mean really slow. I could go and cook myself a dinner, and come back and watch the end of an episode and not miss anything. Fillers are being added to make the drama longer than necessary, and at times, watching it feels like a drag. Too many unnecessary scenes where the 2 main leads just talk endlessly and pointlessly. The scenes before the Demon’s Convention, Episode 29, illustrates my dislikes with the series’ pace -- too draggy. This drama could have been shortened to 35 episodes and we won’t be missing much of the storylines. The whole storylines are not worth 51 episodes especially when the first few episodes were speeded up to quickly introduce the ML (Wang Yibo) into Episode 1. In the novel, the ML and the FL did not meet one another right away. The producers of this c-drama were too eager to get the ML into the action, when there are 50 more episodes to go.

Now the ending – typical. Some will like them, some won’t. I am in the negative camp. My overall verdict of this series is 6/10. Give it a miss unless you are a die-hard fan of Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo.

Story - 6.0/10
Acting - 7.5/10
Music - 9.0/10
Rewatch value - 5.0/10
Overall - 6.0/10

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Extremely Terrible Story Line

I normally don't write reviews. But this drama is so astoundingly, record-breakingly bad that I had to break my own record and write a review for once. I'm usually pretty generous with my ratings, I don't normally score anything under 7. So giving this a 3 means that I literally cannot stand this drama.

To be clear, I found this drama to be bad from the start. But I pushed through because people kept saying it gets better (also because I can never find myself dropping a drama no matter how bad it is). Unfortunately, it never really gets better. I did find the drama a bit more bearable around episode 26 / 27 and thought I was going to finally be okay with the drama. But then I continued watching and it just turned out to be even worse.

Acting - Okay to start off, I don't really have major problems with the acting. It's not spectacular, but it's decent, watchable. As a fan of Zhao Li Ying though, I have to say her acting in this one is not on par with her own standard. There were some parts when you could tell that she wasn't really mentally there because she was just staring off into space. Just by looking at her eyes, you can tell she has spaced out. And that she's tired. She looks really tired and slightly aged in this drama. Maybe she made her comeback too early, I don't know.

Characters - Oh my God. There were just way too many dumb characters. Apart from Zhou Fei and Xie Yun (and maybe head of Disha Shen Tian Shu) all the other characters are pretty dumb. Li Yan gets the award for stupidest character in this drama. She's just so annoying. She cannot fight, doesn't have any common sense, is extremely naive, always gets into trouble and yet she always insists on tagging along. I'm just done with her. All the other characters feel a bit bland too. I think Li Sheng is the only character who had some sort of character development. He changed, still cannot fight really well and does occasionally dumb stuff but he became a bit more logical and mature I guess. But the other characters? No good character development.

A lot of the side characters like Third Prince and that young master from I forgot what mini sect serve no purpose other than being dumb and creating trouble for Zhou Fei and Xie Yun again and again and again and again. Some characters like the generals are honestly pretty useless too. I feel like they supposedly played some important role in the war or something but I always just forget who they're supposed to be. Zhou Fei's parents are also MIA for most of the drama, so again they don't really contribute much.

Story - This is what I have the biggest problem with. Right from the very start, there were way too many supporting characters with their own stories. There were way too many sub-plots that you can't even make out what the main story line is supposed to be. As the story progresses, they (slowly) start to focus less on the sub-plots but by then, you're so confused you still don't know what the story is. And then you get to the middle and you realize that maybe the story line is about this highly coveted treasure / artifact / god-knows-what called Hai Tian Yi Se. So what exactly is Hai Tian Yi Se? You will only find out in the second last episode because guess what? None of the characters know what Hai Tian Yi Se is either!! Yay, so nice. Is this supposed to make viewers more curious and drawn to find out more? Because it only made me frustrated. Also, I don't know if I missed it or what but they never really explain in detail about the tokens of Hai Tian Yi Se is either. It's like just some casual comments here and there about the lock, about the sheath etc. So here I am, having finished the drama and I still don't quite know what the full 5 tokens are :/ I don't think I've ever been so lost while watching a drama. I'm usually the one thinking "have you guys not been paying attention?!" when I see people commenting asking when something happened or asking to confirm something that has already been confirmed in the drama. But with this drama, I'm the one going "wait what is going on? did they already explain this cause i'm lost and i don't know what is happening". They also casually miss out some stuff like whatever the hell happened to Chu Chu's brother? They just casually forgot about him.
Here are also some of the other stupid stuff that they did throughout the drama + about the drama:

- too many flashbacks that make no sense
- having really really long flashbacks in the middle of the battle???
- talking in the middle of the battle
- escaping but then stopping halfway to start chatting and joking around
- Zhou Fei constantly breaking her blades (this never happens in other wuxia dramas but she breaks her blades like nobody's business)
- Zhou Fei and Xie Yun acting cheeky and lovey dovey when there's dead bodies around them (no, the dead bodies aren't even of the villains. THOSE ARE DEAD BODIES OF PEOPLE ON THEIR SIDE)
- catching up to the villain but not killing them immediately, letting the villain escape so they can wreck more havoc in the future
- DOING ALL THE WORK FOR THE BAD GUYS AND LETTING THEM WALK AWAY WITHOUT A FIGHT WHAT THE HELL

As a viewer, struggling to even make out what the main storyline is, IS THE WORST THING EVER! That is a sign of extremely bad storytelling. Need I say more? (No.)

Music - Personally, I don't hate the OSTs. I might even have liked it if not for the fact that I am so repulsed by this drama that I can't even bring myself to like the OSTs.

Production quality - Yeah the editing is pretty bad. Some of it doesn't even make any sense, like they just cut off the scene without any elaboration or explanation or follow up scene. Also there were some parts when they blurred out the face of the body double?? WHAT EVEN

In conclusion, it's a terrible drama. If eye candy is enough to satisfy you, or if you're just here for the romance, sure go ahead then. But if you don't care for the above two, don't bother watching.

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A Kiddie Wuxia

To start and continue watching this drama, viewers need to remain patient. Many of the actions of the main characters are childish but by the middle of the drama, they become more responsible and mature. Nonetheless, the overall writing still comes across as immature and at times, nonsensical. By the end of the drama, I breathed a sigh of relief as I congratulate myself for enduring and completing it eventually.

This drama started shooting with the pandemic hitting shortly after. It stopped shooting until the authority lifted the lockdown. I was really surprised that it managed to finish shooting and cutting, and released within the same year before the end of 2020, all done in a matter of a short few months.

Fierce fighting erupts among viewers on almost every discussion board. Wang Yi Bo’s fans are angry at Zhao Li Ying for playing the female lead as she is a lot older than him, and fans claim they don’t feel any chemistry between the pair. They also attack any viewers who criticize their idol. Zhao Li Ying’s fans come to her defense and attack Wang Yi Bo’s fans. Impartial viewers are also viciously attacked for their honest opinions which can be merciless towards the two main leads and the overall production, and are labeled as haters.

Accordingly, the drama is adapted from a very popular novel, You Fei, which literally means Bandits. However, for the drama, the word “Fei” (bandits) is changed to the word “Fei” (jade) as in the name of the female lead character Zhou “Fei” which means jade. From here, we can see the original story emphasizes on the “bandits” as the 48 Camps imply, but the adaptation has shifted the focus to Zhou Fei (Zhao Li Ying). Many readers claim the original work has been butchered. This is also confirmed by Zhao Li Ying herself when shooting started. According to readers, large sections of the original story were deleted and replaced with badly conceived plots and writings, rendering the whole story fragmented and ruined.

Zhao Li Ying is convincing with her styling as a very young girl who is strong and rebellious. Her makeup may look a bit cakey closeup, but she looks fine from afar. She looks tired and listless though. Wang Yi Bo is perhaps a bit out of his comfort zone but his character as a cocky and flamboyant Xie Yun is adorable and Wang Yi Bo’s acting is passable.

What I Like:
• I like the wuxia elements here – justice and righteousness.
• I like the storyline – the kids mature, each learning their respective skills and take on more responsibilities and become the leaders for their sect. There’s a lurking conspiracy, a treasure hunt, and the fighting for time to save a life.
• I like the OSTs especially the tune played by Xie Yun on the recorder.
• I like the characters of the two main leads, Zhou Fei and Xie Yun, both strong and composed, though the Xie Yun character is also playful and cocky.

What I Don’t Like:
• Horrendous screen writing.
• Camerawork is everywhere and haphazard.
• Special effects are embarrassing.
• Immature script writing. YouTubers can write and shoot better.
• The dialogues can be funny but out of place most of the times.
• Dubbing is off at times, especially with the Xie Yun character as if he’s inhaled nitrogen gas.
• The characters are inconsistent. At times, they show leadership, at times they’re simply dumb. The kids lack the sense of priority and urgency. Everything sounds like fun to them even when they’re under hot pursuit by their enemies.
• The martial arts fighting scenes are inconsistent. Sometimes, they are passable. Sometimes, my cats fight better.

My Verdict
Do not hold high expectations for this drama just because it stars Zhao Li Ying and Wang Yi Bo. Overall, I don't hate this drama, but I don't particularly love it either. And yes, there are kissing scenes – one just for a fleeting moment, the other from afar, and quickly blurred. The chemistry for the main couple is not 100% but also not totally zero. This drama is basically like a rom-com in kiddie wuxia style. Watch it if there’s nothing better to watch.

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Must Watch- One of the best I have seen.

First of all, just. wow. This drama is definitely one of the best dramas since when I first entered the drama world in 2015.

Story: I found it really entertaining and suspenseful, and I like the story from my point of view. Again I repeat my point of view, we all have different opinions so don't judge :). I do feel like there were some mistakes in the storyline, but however, the majority was good.

Acting: The cast is very good, definitely gives you like " heroic" vibes, the directors also made the fighting seems VERY realistic.. It is my first time watching the FL drama and I find her acting very natural, definitely will be watching more of her works. And same with ML. As well as the supporting characters, although they might be sometimes a tiny winny bit irritating.

Rewatch Value: Even though I have just seen 12 episodes and I already started to rewatch so definitely 10/10, Update, I just finished the 51 episodes, for sure will be re-watching the series.


Music: I found the music very nice, and one thing very special is it actually RELATES to the drama. Like it will relate the plot, for example, the sword, lyrics.


For sure a must watch

Warning: I gave this a ten mainly because I feel like this can just be a quick drama to watch, and fill your time, but I wound't obsess over it. However I love it in which its nearly perfect that it keeps you busy for days when you are finishing. THIS IS NOT THE DRAMA FOR DETAILS, :D

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The most boring trending drama

I have high expectation for this drama since I saw the cast. I love Zanillia Zhao in Princess Agent although I dislike that drama for the ending. And I also expect Wang Yibo will deliver his developed acting since I admire him in The Untamed.
However I am very disappointed with the result.

Story: Even after I finished watched this drama, I didn't know what is the main plot of it. Too many stories they wanted to fill in this drama therefore not even one strong plot to outline the conclusion. Plus the slow pace of character development and too many comedic side stories which are unnecessary make this drama really boring. I thought after 20 episodes this drama will get interesting since we will get into the main plot, on the contrast even the story get a little spark, still too weak to make me hook to it. You can find romance, politics, badass hero/heroine, adventure because this drama mixed it all like a sprinkle on cake but you didn't really know which one is the main line of this drama.

Acting: Imho, Zanillia and Wang Yibo has the same acting habit. They are slow to burn their energy. They have to relied on their partner to make them get into their character and act as it. As a result, we will see their developed acting after episode 20. They only have a little bit chemistry, more like friendship than couple. And this drama is lack of emotional scenes hence there is no memorable scene for me.

Overall: Actually they can make a better drama since the main topic of the story is pretty interesting and the casts are actually good actors. Maybe they were too rush on the production thus failed these assets.

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sadly a disappointment-rushed and poorly produced

*This is not going to be a plot summary*
So I just wanted to start by saying: no i haven’t read the novel, I’m a big fan of Zhao liying and Wang yibo (so this doesn't mean I dislike them), and I was looking forward to this for a while now.
-for those that are fans of the untamed, the character yibo plays is quite different and was a pleasant change.

I was quite disappointed with this drama. It seemed super rushed and was lousily put together.
Firstly, the production quality was below my expectations. Trash sets and props. The sets looked extremely fake and by that I mean I could tell half the plants were plastic and the rocks were super fake looking. I'd say a good chunk of the drama takes place in a "foresty" setting and every single time a scene is shot in the forest, it looks identical to the previous shots...(I think they used the exact same forest set for each scene...) The snow scenes looked like someone dumped flour all over the actors and the set. The dubbing of the actors/actresses was poorly done. The fighting scenes weren’t all that memorable and seemed a bit below average considering this is a drama centered around a sword fighting FL and sect. There were no blood spurts when people were killed; to me it looked very poorly choreographed and produced coming from someone who watches a lot of martial art dramas. The screenwriting was just terrible and the camera work was poor with way too many close up shots and meh editing.
Secondly, my main issue with the drama is the story and the pacing. all the way even till the very last episode, it was incredibly boring and slow paced. I breezed through the episodes, fast forward the heck out of the last 20 episodes. Yes, there are a couple episodes here and there where there was more suspense and depth in the plot but after that it just quickly fizzled out. I just feel like the screenwriters were trying so hard to come up with content and keep the plot going. To combat this, they introduce new characters every single goddamn episode (i can literally name 40 characters right now). I’m not frustrated that “oh there are so many characters to remember” but it’s more like they are pointlessly trying to drag the story out in all different directions. There are literally 6 different sub-plots happening, not even counting the main couple. In my opinion, I also didn’t really feel much chemistry between the two leads; in my eyes it was more of a good friendship. The female lead, Zhou Fei, is stubborn and doesn't have much character depth....While watching the last couple episodes of the drama I was asking myself “what is the point of all this? What is this going to build up to? Why mention Xie Yun’s identity if it doesn’t contribute much to the story?” I'm just confused. It seemed like there is this one big overarching plot and arc about to happen yet with the introduction of a new character in each episode, I feel like its straying the drama farther and farther away.
The antagonists and side characters are pretty one dimensional. The costumes for the antagonists gave more of a comedic relief than a villainous aura :/ The acting is fine. Not spectacular but not poor. Wang Yibo and Zhao Liying were great as always, but the rest of the cast didn't really stand out to me.
I will probably clean this review up later but sorry, I just see this drama as a flop with way too many flaws. They tried way too hard to keep this story going for 51 episodes and in all the other aspects failed as well.

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Fei Legend, Flat Lemonade?

When I read about the making of Legend of Fei I felt like a child waiting for its X-mas present to unbox. Just imagine! Our present darlings of c-drama put together, the product teams of Princess Agents and Boss & Me, BTS with carefully orchestrated choreographies, a story based on a Priest novel, how good is that! Once served, this exciting cocktail appears to be a flat lemonade, and I know, tastes differ. That's why I'm trying to explain my reasons in this review.

Story
Legend of Fei (2020) is based on the novel Bandits by Priest. The main characters are Zhou Fei (Zanilia Zhao) the granddaughter of a national hero turned into a bandit for the greater good, and young carefree martial arts hero Xie Yun (Wang Yibo) They find themselves confronted with trouble and decide to work together. During their many adventures they discover some secrets and the true identity of Xie Yun.

To adept a novel to the screen it is necessary to cut some parts and leave out the rest. Unfortunately, this choice wasn’t made. Comedy, romance, action, drama, all of it went back and forth, on and off, slowing the pacing of the story to the very closure. Much greater stress should be laid on the story of the main characters. It didn't happen. In her social media account, Zanilia Zhao likens this production to a Big Mac that turned out to be a flat hamburger. All I know is, this is a Priest novel, and all we get to see is a narrative for children.

Actors
Zanilia Zhao (Zhou Fei) is still a shining star. Male lead Wang Yibo does his very best, eager to prove his actor skills after his rise to fame as Lan Wangji in The Untamed. Unfortunately, WYB has to cope with two major set backs. One, he looks like a boy still wet behind his ears besides Zanilia Zhao. Two, his character Xie Yun is reminiscent of the flippant Wei Ying, his love interest in The Untamed, making it all too clear that Wei Ying was a much better, fleshed-out character than Xie Yun, accentuating the greatness of The Untamed versus the inferior LOF.

Production
Sometimes, a lesser story can be neutralized by the quality of the production. Unfortunately, Legend of Fei is very uneven, just like its pacing.

Verdict
Some episodes are good with beautiful landscapes, choreographies, close-ups, romantic gestures, but soon this feeling evaporates with the bad dubbing, childlike dialogues, cheap looking attributes and so forth. So, I don’t think this series will become my favorite. If you’re a die-hard fan of WYB or ZZ however, you probably end up watching Legend of Fei anyway. So perhaps this is the only purpose of the series. Its reason of being.

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Yunfei <3

I have read many reviews and comments about this drama. Some people like it and vice versa, while i'm reviewing this drama just to share my honest opinion about it. Hopefully can help your consideration to watch this series or not ;) Oh but im a fan of both leads hehehe.

Story-10
In my opinion, the story is pretty good. From the title itself, Legend of Fei telling you it is about Zhou Fei the heiress of South Blade travels around, meeting a lot of heroes, helping them as well as fighting evil. She had a lot of adventures, gained experiences, become stronger and learn to love ayeeee! Then she is willing to do anything to save her loved ones no matter how hard it is. .beautiful! I love how the story starts from zero to a hero and this drama promote a clear conscience as a guide to the righteousness. About the pace of the story, I think it is just normal, im enjoying every scenes. Since this is a wuxia drama, so it has more fighting scenes than the romance awww.. But when the romance starts, you will feel sooooo deeply touched haha. I cant say more, so I give it 10!

Acting/Cast-10
For the acting and cast, I give it 10 as well. You know why, for me they have portrayed their characters very excellent!. I am totally fall for their acting especially and of course our ZLY and WYB. Im watching this drama without even thinking about their real age. Maybe my eyes only, but I found that they really are a perfect couple YunFei <3! Both leads are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to save one another :( While the 2nd couple, Li Zheng and Chuchu is sweet, not to forget the 3rd couple Li yan and Yang Jin..awesome acting.
There are many characters in this drama too especially bad guys lol like the Demons, pathetic clam duh, the Four guardians mountain (except Phoenix master), Yu Wen Zhi etc.

Music-10
Wuhua, Xiwei <333 I love it

Rewatch Value-10
Yes for me it worth to rewatch. Even before it is finish aired, I have rewatch it from the early episode to get a better understanding, and enjoying the leads interaction while waiting for the next new episode. Hehe.

This is my opinion only. Everyone has a different POV right If you agree with me then hi5!

Cheers

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