[Mainland Chinese Drama 2019] The Legends 招摇

[fancia]

I wish they keep the part like in the novel where ZhaoYao was angry at the pill seller because of her becoming fireworks after her time had finished. In the novel, the seller said that they had researched it and human find fireworks to be beautiful; they make it like that so the human will find it beautiful instead of sadness LOL 

[Fenny Liong]

Hey guys,just wanna ask it is true that FL and ML is dating in real life? Or is just rumour?

[Alila Nguyen]

33 minutes ago, Fenny Liong said:

Hey guys,just wanna ask it is true that FL and ML is dating in real life? Or is just rumour?

 

You mean Xu Kai and Bai Lu? Nah, I doubt it. Like I love them together, however, c-ent is like no no to dating, especially when Xu Kai is on a steady raise, and Bai Lu is relatively new herself. They are also pretty young, so in any case, if they value their career, they will push off any feeling and think it’s the drama, and won’t be acting on it, unless they are getting reckless lol, in which case, they won’t last long :/ I rather they follow the ruby and Wallace route, be friends for a bit, get a stable career, and see who they love  plus the dating rumour is always occurred for every drama’s leads >_> it’s how they sell the drama lol

[Fenny Liong]

1 hour ago, Alila Nguyen said:

 

You mean Xu Kai and Bai Lu? Nah, I doubt it. Like I love them together, however, c-ent is like no no to dating, especially when Xu Kai is on a steady raise, and Bai Lu is relatively new herself. They are also pretty young, so in any case, if they value their career, they will push off any feeling and think it’s the drama, and won’t be acting on it, unless they are getting reckless lol, in which case, they won’t last long :/ I rather they follow the ruby and Wallace route, be friends for a bit, get a stable career, and see who they love  plus the dating rumour is always occurred for every drama’s leads >_> it’s how they sell the drama lol

 

The rumour spread last year when they film the drama so maybe its true the rumour spread to sell the drama lol..But I hope someday its gonna be true coz I like them together..and they have 1 drama that they work together as couple too right? But I forget the title,its look like about militer or something. Hope its gonna be good like the legends.

[sakisuki]

Where there is smoke there is fire! I wouldn’t be surprise if they are. Their chemistry off screen is beyond colleague. The Majority of netizen believe that are. When asked, XK gave a pause then smile and did not deny but instead diverge the subject and both of their agency never follow up on the rumor. The biggest news that got attention was XK supposedly stay over night at BL’s place (only burry images were available). At least that’s the news I’ve come across. Feel free to update us. 

 

Anyhow, it doesn’t even matter, I feel like young lovers in showbiz never last anyways. 

[Fenny Liong]

12 minutes ago, sakisuki said:

Where there is smoke there is fire! I wouldn’t be surprise if they are. Their chemistry off screen is beyond colleague. The Majority of netizen believe that are. When asked, XK gave a pause then smile and did not deny but instead diverge the subject and both of their agency never follow up on the rumor. The biggest news that got attention was XK supposedly stay over night at BL’s place (only burry images were available). At least that’s the news I’ve come across. Feel free to update us. 

 

Anyhow, it doesn’t even matter, I feel like young lovers in showbiz never last anyways. 

 

Yes,I actually feel like you do,young lovers never last..but Tang Yixin and Zhang Ruo Yun couple they have long relationship,so its rare I guess..

 

Btw guys,is vikii still not take this drama? So hard to watch without sub,can understand about 1-2%. The other source only gave 6 ep that have eng sub..so sad..

[Alila Nguyen]

1 hour ago, Fenny Liong said:

 

Yes,I actually feel like you do,young lovers never last..but Tang Yixin and Zhang Ruo Yun couple they have long relationship,so its rare I guess..

 

Btw guys,is vikii still not take this drama? So hard to watch without sub,can understand about 1-2%. The other source only gave 6 ep that have eng sub..so sad..

 

Viki possibly trying to making back their losses after picking up “I will never let you go”, apparently that drama is pretty bad. And while “goodbye my princess” has good rating and is getting positive feedbacks from audiences, it seems to be one of the two drama that currently create buzz (the other is the legends), it has pretty terrible acting from the female lead even though she’s pretty, and with the storyline, I just don’t think it will be that massive. And since viki possibly burn a lot of money on minglan, they run out of money to buy the legends lol. Out of their 4 new c-drama, only minglan has the potential to make money back, but even that feel doubtful, I know minglan fans swear it’s as good as nirvana in fire, however, plenty said it’s super boring with a snail speed. Then there is haolan, which tank badly, and after Yanxi, the fee for haolan possibly inflated >_>

 

The legends is supposed to be a light humour drama (from the book impression), so they think it’s like I will never let you go, I think they are kicking themselves right now, and with them burning most of their budget on minglan and haolan, it might be awhile before they pick up the legends sadly

[Fenny Liong]

PP already eng sub for ep 7 yeay !! I think PP just sub 2-3 ep in a week...

[clpomelo]

20 minutes ago, Alila Nguyen said:

 

Viki possibly trying to making back their losses after picking up “I will never let you go”, apparently that drama is pretty bad. And while “goodbye my princess” has good rating and is getting positive feedbacks from audiences, it seems to be one of the two drama that currently create buzz (the other is the legends), it has pretty terrible acting from the female lead even though she’s pretty, and with the storyline, I just don’t think it will be that massive. And since viki possibly burn a lot of money on minglan, they run out of money to buy the legends lol. Out of their 4 new c-drama, only minglan has the potential to make money back, but even that feel doubtful, I know minglan fans swear it’s as good as nirvana in fire, however, plenty said it’s super boring with a snail speed. Then there is haolan, which tank badly, and after Yanxi, the fee for haolan possibly inflated >_>

 

The legends is supposed to be a light humour drama (from the book impression), so they think it’s like I will never let you go, I think they are kicking themselves right now, and with them burning most of their budget on minglan and haolan, it might be awhile before they pick up the legends sadly

I've been trying to offset my "Legends" thirst by watching the "I will never let you go" and "Goodbye, My Princess" but basically what you said...IWNLUG is really bad. The Legends, in contrast executes the humor so well, it's so subtle! IWNLUG tries to be slapstick and it really ruins the show. GMP is just super angsty and the leads aren't very good actors - BL and XK's performances are good, but in comparison to IWNLUG's cast, they're like Meryl Streep and Daniel Day Lewis A-Stars. 

 

Viki definitely made a mistake for not picking it up, sigh. Once you get past episode 3, you're hooked! It's hard not to fall in love with Zhao Yao and Mo Qing!

[xienrue]

@sakisuki Agree that there is no smoke without fire. Their interaction in BTS is cute. If they are not couple, I believe they are a very close friend at least. Close friendship with opposite gender is quite different compared with the same gender; in a way that friendship almost always making other people see them as couple while they are not. They are not just colleague in work for sure. No a mere colleague got touchy like they did; not to mention with eastern culture they are lived in. And their chemistry on screen doesn't need to be questioned. I am smitten .....

 

However, while I am agree that being a real couple in real life can help bringing more chemistry on-screen, I think this is not an absolute. Just yesterday, out of desperation of waiting Monday to come with new episodes, I tried watching Sweet Combat starring Lu Han and Guan Xiao Tong (I think that is her name). The story was proved to not be my taste early on, so I skipped and just watched few last episodes (with lots of fast forwarding). I am sorry to those who loves the drama, no offense to you, but I cannot find chemistry between the main couple (even though I realized later on that they are dating in real life). Dunno if it the acting fault, script fault, or whatever but the romance scenes felt flat and stiff.

 

Back to topic regarding our drama. @Alila Nguyen It will be quite sad for us if what you have said about Viki is true. Sigh ..... It will be their loss and our loss. But to be fair, I also never thought that this drama would be this good. In the beginning, I didn't even plan to watch this, thinking that it would be another boring romance with another stupid missunderstanding female lead that would soon change to damsel in distress that needs to be saved. How wrong I was! I am happy that I gave this drama a chance and tried to watch the first two episodes. I was sold right away. About Minglan, I cannot accept it is rated as high as Nirvana in Fire. Minglan in my mind is a romance drama while Nirvana in Fire is about politic, loyalty, and brotherhood (with a little romance mixed in).

 

Zhao Yao is really the female lead that very much into my taste. It is very difficult for me to like female lead in all the drama that I have watched all my life. I hate damsel in distress, but I also hate femme fatale like character. It is very rare for a historical (fantasy or true story) drama to have a balanced female character that is strong in character but also know how to place herself in front of her man. Zhao Yao doesn't need a man in her life for her to live, yes. But when love finally touches her, she willingly shares part of her with her partner, respecting him, and letting herself enjoy the protection that he offers. Moreover, Zhao Yao is doing that without losing herself. She is still her-strong and stubborn-self and will able to hold herself when needed.

[frostflower14]

Found some stills 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alila Nguyen]

2 hours ago, xienrue said:

@sakisuki Agree that there is no smoke without fire. Their interaction in BTS is cute. If they are not couple, I believe they are a very close friend at least. Close friendship with opposite gender is quite different compared with the same gender; in a way that friendship almost always making other people see them as couple while they are not. They are not just colleague in work for sure. No a mere colleague got touchy like they did; not to mention with eastern culture they are lived in. And their chemistry on screen doesn't need to be questioned. I am smitten .....

 

However, while I am agree that being a real couple in real life can help bringing more chemistry on-screen, I think this is not an absolute. Just yesterday, out of desperation of waiting Monday to come with new episodes, I tried watching Sweet Combat starring Lu Han and Guan Xiao Tong (I think that is her name). The story was proved to not be my taste early on, so I skipped and just watched few last episodes (with lots of fast forwarding). I am sorry to those who loves the drama, no offense to you, but I cannot find chemistry between the main couple (even though I realized later on that they are dating in real life). Dunno if it the acting fault, script fault, or whatever but the romance scenes felt flat and stiff.

 

Back to topic regarding our drama. @Alila Nguyen It will be quite sad for us if what you have said about Viki is true. Sigh ..... It will be their loss and our loss. But to be fair, I also never thought that this drama would be this good. In the beginning, I didn't even plan to watch this, thinking that it would be another boring romance with another stupid missunderstanding female lead that would soon change to damsel in distress that needs to be saved. How wrong I was! I am happy that I gave this drama a chance and tried to watch the first two episodes. I was sold right away. About Minglan, I cannot accept it is rated as high as Nirvana in Fire. Minglan in my mind is a romance drama while Nirvana in Fire is about politic, loyalty, and brotherhood (with a little romance mixed in).

 

Zhao Yao is really the female lead that very much into my taste. It is very difficult for me to like female lead in all the drama that I have watched all my life. I hate damsel in distress, but I also hate femme fatale like character. It is very rare for a historical (fantasy or true story) drama to have a balanced female character that is strong in character but also know how to place herself in front of her man. Zhao Yao doesn't need a man in her life for her to live, yes. But when love finally touches her, she willingly shares part of her with her partner, respecting him, and letting herself enjoy the protection that he offers. Moreover, Zhao Yao is doing that without losing herself. She is still her-strong and stubborn-self and will able to hold herself when needed.

 

The part about viki is just my guess, I do hope I’m wrong, but I’m like checking viki literally every few days in hope of seeing the legends. While I have no worry of getting to watch the legends as the Vietnamese group is doing such a good job, but dear lord the lag... it’s so popular that the first 24hrs is lag central! Every 5mins, it stops for a good 5mins to load, I cried every night the past week, since I just started binge watching it like 10days or so ago, and finished 23eps in 2 days >_>, then waited 4days for 27-32. So to see it on viki would help reduce this stress lol! (Even if viki is slower in sub by like a mile! Because I can rewatch faster and easier on big screen).

 

i was actually excited seeing Ariel Lin coming back, don’t care about ZBB, and at first, I was like cool, the story about a beggar poor girl, but as I read on, it’s literally the usual pretending to be a famous lady that get involved with palace politics, and her love interest is the crown prince...... after reading that, I’m like nope, not even bother lol. And then the last episode was so bad that literally all the news outlet I went to have to do an article on it lol! To say how crappy it end lol! Or how crappy the series is in general!

 

and yea, the acting in GMP is pretty bad, apparently, the main actress’s greatest skill is open her eyes really wide for every emotion! Not to mention untouchable lovers literally plagiarism GMP’s novel, so I felt like one is enough >_>

 

about sweet combat, no offend but as soon as I see the name Lu Han, I would dodge. Saw QXT a few times, and while her acting isn’t bad, it’s not that strong. But Lu Han’s acting is down right bad. That series is in competition with pretty Li Hui Zhen of dilireba for the worst rating in douban lol.

 

about the legends, i started to become interested when I saw Bai Lu (after reading a news article on how the main actress for legends just has a so so look! Didn’t know bai Lu was in it, read the article first then saw the poster and I’m like bai lu is so so look???? Wth????), so I gave it a try, and yup, 3eps in, love it! in the same series with QXT, Bai Lu literally stole that show >_> she’s the reason why I stopped watching that show, because I didnt want to hate bai lu lol. Not because of her character arc, or how she act (she acted so well, I was very very surprised), but because I don’t want my bad thoughts of the untouchable lovers stain my view on bai lu (not to mention her character has really bad ending >_>) . To this day, I felt very much betrayed by that series lol! Hate series that go here is your main couple, then spend half of it on the second couples.... I got hooked on the series for the main couple, not the second one >_> (that got introduced 1/3 or half way through). i like second couple if they just stay second lol, not taking over the screen and become lead >_>

[xienrue]

@Alila Nguyen You are so lucky that the subbers in Vietnam seem so active in subbing chinese drama. I have seen lots of them in YouTube. I understand a little mandarin (even though I can only recognize less than dozen of characters in writing), so watching raw is still bearable for me. But when the conversation goes to explanation with mumbo jumbo vocabulary, I lost it ..... I wish to be able to understand the conversation in detail instead of just getting the gist of it. Sigh .... my pain ......

 

Untouchable Lovers actually is very bad in term of story and acting. Could not feel the female lead love toward the male lead at all. But well Song Wei Long has good visual and I needed to see how it ended so I held on. Xu Kai really has come a long way from that drama. I nearly could not associate him with Shen Yue from Untouchable Lovers when I watched The Legends for the first time.

 

Hmm, the way you people talk about "I will never let you go" and "Goodbye my princess" make me curious on how bad they are. Perhaps I will try watching some MV first.

 

By the way, there is no other GIF released for this week episodes other than posted by @DontEatMyKimchi? Usually there are more. Dunno why it is rather quite this week. Are they trying to keep the surprise?

[frostflower14]

8 minutes ago, xienrue said:

Untouchable Lovers actually is very bad in term of story and acting. Could not feel the female lead love toward the male lead at all. But well Song Wei Long has good visual and I needed to see how it ended so I held on. Xu Kai really has come a long way from that drama. I nearly could not associate him with Shen Yue from Untouchable Lovers when I watched The Legends for the first time.

 

I could only watch the first 16 episodes of Untouchable Lovers. The rest of it turned into a jumbled mess that the scrip writer just made up,coz it did not follow the novel at all and was accused of plagerizing Eastern Palace/ Goodbye My Princess. So I missed out on seeing Xu Kai in that drama. Did his character get a happy ending?

 

Looks like Xu Kai’s next period drama will be Zhao Ge, which is a retelling of the Da Ji story. His character will be Yang Jian, the god with three eyes except he just got Zhao Yao’s red line on his forehead (ha ha)

 

[Alila Nguyen]

@xienrue @frostflower14 I like the first 16 eps of untouchable lovers, and song Wei long was indeed an eye candy! First 16 ep has a lot of flaws but was lovely still. But as it reaches 30s, i couldn’t stand it any more and drop it. I don’t think I see Xu Kai in it, only saw Bai Lu.

 

i haven’t personally watched GMP or IWNLYG, but the Vietnamese news site I followed literally do a lot of audience’s reactions plus pictures. And they don’t tend to be wrong lol. I know I shouldn’t trust a newspaper in term of watching drama, but I tend to (most of the time) able to pick what I like to watch regardless of what the newspaper said lol. Like I know minglan is good by the masses, but my impression of ZLY’s drama has long been bad... and princess agent is like the one that turn the tide. Basically, she’s so famous, her drama has a high chance of doing what untouchable lovers did (making second lead couples has about just as much screen time), the story got diluted, the episodes got drag on (because she’s famous and they need to milk her), so to save the annoyance I just don’t bother with her drama. And that’s also why I don’t bother with AOL (though I watched the first 2 eps, never not giving a drama a fair chance lol, though my fair chance is only the first few eps, I’m sorry but if you need to watch 1/3 to judge how the drama goes, and in these days and ages, it means 20 eps, you might as well go back 15 yrs ago when TVB produce series that is 20eps long and the story was good!), AOL plot got diluted when they increased the eps from 36 to 60 >_>

 

@xienrue if you decided to watch IWNLYG, and if you by chance like it, 

Spoiler

just don’t watch the last two episode. I read a review, and this reviewer love the 2nd male lead, and said the series is really good but she has to pretend the ending never happen lol! (Her review is just about the 2nd male lead, while other reviewers said the story gives the second male lead way too much room when he got zero chance of being with the main female lead - diluted plot again!). And many quoted it as “having the worst ever ending in drama land”!

 

[Fenny Liong]

@Alila Nguyen Xu Kai play role as the servant of the ML in untouchable lover,but I think He's not eye candy in there lol... For IWNLYG I think ariel lin is bad for acting crying,its too weird the expression when she cry,personaly I just watch IWNLYG till 35 ep and drop it but the article said that all the supporting role died in the end,just the main dont died...GMP I dont like the storyline so I skip it..

 

For minglan sure the storyline slow and boring for around 20 ep...its around ep 25 above I think it began quite interesting and I think its booming coz the main lead are couple lol..

 

So my conclusion is the legends is still the best with the good storyline and Strong FL lol..

[xienrue]

4 hours ago, Fenny Liong said:

He's not eye candy in there lol

I bet they just down-toned him in there so he was not competing with Song Wei Long . I checked Untouchable Lovers again few days ago and confirmed that Xu Kai face is the same. When you already know him in Yanxi and Zhao Yao, you will notice him more in Untouchable Lovers.

 

@frostflower14 Just checked the trailer for Zhao Ge, it seems Xu Kai role will be pretty much minor there. Have to say he looks wonderful . I like the setting and story. Perhaps I will check it out when it airs.

I forgot what was Xu Kai character ending in Untouchable Lovers. But as far as I remember it was neither happy nor sad. Since his character was only supporting at best, we didn't get any character development for him that would make us care about his romance.

 

[Alila Nguyen]

2 hours ago, Fenny Liong said:

@Alila Nguyen Xu Kai play role as the servant of the ML in untouchable lover,but I think He's not eye candy in there lol... For IWNLYG I think ariel lin is bad for acting crying,its too weird the expression when she cry,personaly I just watch IWNLYG till 35 ep and drop it but the article said that all the supporting role died in the end,just the main dont died...GMP I dont like the storyline so I skip it..

 

For minglan sure the storyline slow and boring for around 20 ep...its around ep 25 above I think it began quite interesting and I think its booming coz the main lead are couple lol..

 

So my conclusion is the legends is still the best with the good storyline and Strong FL lol..

 

Yea, like I said, if I have to do a 25hrs to like something, it’s not worth It lol! If you think about it in term of western series, that’s the first whole season out of the window... and everyone knows the start of the season is what hook people in. And yes, part of minglan’s success is how well FSF and ZLY market their coupling.

 

and yes, my conclusion is the same as you, so far ZY is the strongest female character I’ve seen in dramaland lol. She dare to love, dare to hate, strong on her own, know when to cut tie, and know when to start a relationship, none of this “loyalty to stupidity” stuffs lol.

[rainnie98]

5 hours ago, Alila Nguyen said:

@xienrue @frostflower14 I like the first 16 eps of untouchable lovers, and song Wei long was indeed an eye candy! First 16 ep has a lot of flaws but was lovely still. But as it reaches 30s, i couldn’t stand it any more and drop it. I don’t think I see Xu Kai in it, only saw Bai Lu.

 

i haven’t personally watched GMP or IWNLYG, but the Vietnamese news site I followed literally do a lot of audience’s reactions plus pictures. And they don’t tend to be wrong lol. I know I shouldn’t trust a newspaper in term of watching drama, but I tend to (most of the time) able to pick what I like to watch regardless of what the newspaper said lol. Like I know minglan is good by the masses, but my impression of ZLY’s drama has long been bad... and princess agent is like the one that turn the tide. Basically, she’s so famous, her drama has a high chance of doing what untouchable lovers did (making second lead couples has about just as much screen time), the story got diluted, the episodes got drag on (because she’s famous and they need to milk her), so to save the annoyance I just don’t bother with her drama. And that’s also why I don’t bother with AOL (though I watched the first 2 eps, never not giving a drama a fair chance lol, though my fair chance is only the first few eps, I’m sorry but if you need to watch 1/3 to judge how the drama goes, and in these days and ages, it means 20 eps, you might as well go back 15 yrs ago when TVB produce series that is 20eps long and the story was good!), AOL plot got diluted when they increased the eps from 36 to 60 >_>

 

 

I recently try watching IWNLYG, but it didnt last for me (no offense to those who love the show), and i feel that the acting wasn't that great. Or maybe cause I was much too spoiled by Zhao Yao which has left an indelible impression on me. The acting in ZY is so good (Bai Lu and Xu Kai are really great here), and ZY's impressive character as such a daring, strong and independent female lead who could both love and hate so intensely and fight her own battles is totally to my taste. Kudos to BL who got her character right down to the dot. 

 

As for Minglan, you really need to have patience. I wouldnt say the show is bad but the pace is slow and can be quite boring. I havent even finished the show even though I started when it first aired and I m not sure i will ever finish watching. For me, the reason I even watched it is because Zhu Yi Long is in it, they were marketing the show with him so much at the beginning at first i mistaken that he is the ML, lol. But it's not a show I would recommend to people who have limited time for drama or to people who enjoy a faster pacing in their dramas.

[Rouzmary]

Don't know about Viki and all it entails regarding the buying of rights & stuff, but personally I think Minglan was a 50-50 deal for them because Minglan is a specific type of drama.

Not everyone can appreciate it. Most people would deem it slow & boring because of it's pacing.

But for those like me who can admire the details put into it, the "slow" pacing wasn't there. It was fully & completely rich. We just enjoyed the way we got to immerse ourselves in the past and Minglan's life. Because it really is almost like a life story shown to us from Minglan's childhood to adult life. Personally, I absolutely loved Minglan. It was very refreshing and we rarely get such dramas. It had no messed up/draggy middle part. The whole drama is a beautiful flowing river.

As for it being compared to Nirvana in Fire, can't say for sure because I have yet to see NIF myself, but from what I do know of NIF - they have different plots and main objective/focus so it's wrong to compare them in that regard, but from the way their respective plots are executed/directed/showed to us? Yes, they do seem to be of the same caliber.

 

As for Never Let you Go - from trailers already knew and the little bits and pieces I watched to confirmed it - that one will not be to my taste. The "comedy" it has...it's rather crude? Fake? Way too made up? Plain annoying?

The actors are good, we know that, but the roles they got are not. I don't know why there was/is such huge deal about NLYG but I for one knew that one would flop. So Sad Viki fell for it.

 

Don't know why some say Good by My Princess actors are doing badly. To my eyes they are performing their roles very well + for Viki that one should be also good and offset some of the NLYG badness, because it's very well received in China and I think also internationally. I am among those who love it. Well, we actually have a kind of love/hate relationship with it, but only fans will understand XD

 

Untouchable Lovers - I kind of want to see it, but since 90% people say the drama might as well be 2 completely different dramas with the same cast, I'm skeptical to watch it.

 

Actually,  I think GMP and The Legends will help raise the main cast to fame & recognition because both lead actor pairs are truly excellent with their characters & portraying them. It also helps that both dramas are superbly written/directed (thou sadly The Legends fails in editing department T____T)

 

If NLYG has indeed sucked away Viki's funds with it's fail and hopefully Minglan at least covered it's own cost, GMP should bring in some money.

I really hope Viki will pick up The Legends. I keep checking it every 2 days in hopes there might be official sub.