Legend of Fei (2020)

The sword and her shield + A bunch of naive and troublemaker supporting characters!

"Don't always bother about the ending. The ending you want may not be what others want. Why don't you just follow your heart? - Madaam Nichang

This whole drama as the title suggests, is all about Zhou Fei and her adventure to get stronger and powerful while protecting the oppressed people by fighting the demon sect.

Looking back... We can divide this whole drama into 3 major parts. First (1-20 episodes) would be the introduction of the FL and how her love story started and went on while improving her skills by going in missions and meeting several masters who taught her techniques to better build her martial arts skills. Second (21-40) is her pursuit to deepen her romance with Xie Yun while strengthening her skills by gradually defeating some mid to high ranking enemies. Lastly (41-51) is where she deals with everything on her way while achieving great heights with her fighting skills to vanquish the main villain and to achieve peace and order.

Everything considered, I'd say that this drama did good in terms of the FLs improvements when it comes to her martial arts skills. Although I'd also admit that some of it is simply ridiculous at some point (For example is the way she dealt with the enemies during the rare-medicinal-plant searching is plain questionable and stupid) but one thing I love about it is that they never went extremely overboard and it was a rather stable process of hardwork, strong will and perseverance.

If anything, one of the main problem I've had with this is the amount of foolish and burden side characters they have. It made the story slower and more eventful in an irritating way. I honestly felt like things could've been resolved quickly without their stupid interferance and random interventions. They're always the major reason why things are escalating badly and I hated how they constantly do it without suffering heavy consequences. Mind you!! I'm not talking about 1-3 characters here, it is beyond that! Probably around 6-7 maximum. Just imagine!!

And even when I admire and appreciate how they executed this very thought of "Stay calm, be brave and you'll win" there's always a limitation to everything! I hated how they can still freaking take their time like they're on a field trip while all the mess is happening— Sense of crisis and urgency was sacrificed for some romantic scenes... Which is stupid. And lastly, is how their kindness tends to bite them back, always. I detested the constant kindness and sympathy they showed to their enemies only to be betrayed right at the next moment.

Anyways, looking at the brighter side. I just love the CPs in this drama. Despite their incompetence and flaws, they managed to liven up the whole vibe of the show and make it more exciting and fun to watch. Of course! special mention to our Main Leads who devoured everyone in terms of chemistry. Wang Yibo's smile is so enchanting and charming that you can get lost in it. I swear!

Lastly, the Ending... I'm still hesitant whether to feel good or displeased about it. It made me go "that's it? after all the chaos and fighting?" because of how simple and fast it all went on after all the dramas. It's disappointing how they settled for less after going through great lengths to build up and intensify the whole story. It was very underwhelming and unexpected in a negative way. A waste of energy, time and money. Well, I guess, atleast they all got happy ending? Lol

P.S. "True love, means you can't even stand her eating someone else's dishes" I just love this phrase so much. + Their love language of pulling each other's hair was such a bliss to see. <3

Story - 8.0, Actually, It wasn't bad. It just that they added so much unnecessary plots and dramas that made the story boring and bland here and there. Would've been better if they stick on solving problems without making the supporting characters a bait and stop them from being completely reliant to the Main leads to rescue them. Also, they could've invested on a more signifant and impactful ending. Unfortunately... they did not!

Acting/Cast - 9.5, Acting is actually good. Oh God, Wang Yibo is mesmerizing while Zhao Liying deadass nailed it. I just wish to get more smiles from her specially during the lighter and romantic scenes. Also, better character improvement and structure for the CPs. They all shined but their roles made them seem incapable. it irked me!

Music - 9.5, The overall BGM is good and I love how I can feel at ease listening to them while watching the scenes. The only issue I got with it is that they often overlaps with the conversions in almost the same volume as the dialogues; to the point where it's distracting me already. They should've focused on better music placement and sound control i'd say.

Rewatch Value - 8.0, If i were to watch this drama again, I'd probably do a lot of skips and will only watch the moments I find memorable and fun. The story was dragged so much in the middle so watching it as a whole would be a tough job for me to do.

Overall - 8.5, This is considerably a good drama with its flaws and imperfection. I just think that improvements could've been implemented in various areas to make the characters and story more structured and exciting to watch.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know

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A little more skinship! I would have found good...

The story contained many little annoyances, script annoyances, but I don't want to overstate them. For example, the idiots of the stronghold, Deng+Sheng, let themselves be provoked to come out during the siege, so that enemy Tian Shu can also come in. So what qualifies the idiot Li Sheng to take over the leadership of the Strongholds later on, instead of the capable FL, who was beaten disgustingly by Mom throughout her youth? Well, that's just a small note on the side.

Overall, the story was still nice, with the nice little big romance and non-stop adventures. A love story, with no messy love triangles, no brutal torture, no nauseating forced marriages. Thank you.

Intermittent boredom spots were sometimes distracting, but I was able to grab an occasional beer from the fridge during that time.
I didn't notice the age difference of the main characters. Zhao Li Ying is cute after all and easily passes for much younger. Even if she sometimes looks like Tweety, the lunch of Tomcat Sylvester. And Yibo did his thing well, too.

Side kick Li Yan was annoying, her articulations alternated between screechy and super screechy, she should have been left out. This marginal character had an outrageous amount of screen time. Li Cheng, the boring loser, also had too much of it and all at the expense of the main couple.

A lot of reviews here, I can relate to. Guys, you are all right. But what the heck, entertained myself quite well and give this thing a 9.

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What a waste, it could have been so good, but it wasn't...

I tried, I really did. I literally watched 32 episodes of this and it was pretty hard to keep going.

This is basically just a sappy adolescent feeling love story superficially wrapped in a weak plot. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's nice to look at on the surface, but as you go on, you start to realize that there is just no suspense or actual point. Zhou Fei has training wheels on most of the time and sometimes just plainly seems to not know wtf is going on, but suddenly becomes a fighting genius randomly. She's like Goku, 90% dumb, 10% badass when it counts. And Xie Yun is supposed to be so damn smart and capable, but he does plenty of redundant dumbsh** too.

There is no hardship for these main characters, Zhou Fei is going to be victorious no matter how dubious the situation seems, so don't hold your breath. And certainly don't worry about Xie Yun, because no matter how dire his fatally poisoned situation appears, he's not going to die either, in fact, I started to feel like he wasn't even in any real danger early on.
One minute there's no cure or poison strong enough to counter what he's been poisoned with, and then one episode later they're off to find the poison that can counter what he's poisoned with. And does Zhou Fei find this contradiction of information (ie. plot hole) important enough to ask questions about? Nope, she's just gonna' go get the thing, it's not as if anything about it had to make sense to her. 😂

Literally all the time they point out that he's very badly poisoned, they tell you this so many (many, many) times, it's the most poisonous poison to ever poison. But you know, it's only going to almost kill him every time he does something he shouldn't because if he did the poison will kill him...eh. But it doesn't, it only almost does, over and over, almost. Can't be that bad then, seeing as how he released the seal for the poison to (very prematurely and pointlessly) try to get involved in a fight in which he made about 10% difference to the over all out come of. And all for love, guys.

So yeah, it's just a very, very drawn out love story with no reason to worry about any one, because nothing really bad actually happens.

All that said, the acting wasn't bad, just the writing and plot. Too inconsistent, no suspense and sometimes pointless side stories, it's kind of like watching a lame anime where you stick around just for the attractive scenery. I mean, their outfits (especially Xie Yun's) were really great, so stylish and great colours too. Visually, in terms of character appearances, very nice job. But that's not enough to carry a show. I think the biggest issue for me was that I was looking forward to this show and was disappointed. They should have just advertised it as a love story with a little bit of fighting drama, so that what's on the label matches what's inside; as it was, I was only intrigued by this intriguing drama for about ten episodes.

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Developing Martial Artist

The cast jive very well together. The chemistry between Zhou Fei (Zanilia Zhao) and Xie Yun (Wang Yibo) was on point.
The series focus on the making of an upcoming young martial artist’s journey, which includes a range of life’s rainbow, family love and issues, love and love issues, obstacles and her own personal growth through all.

Zhou Fei grew up under the shelter of a stellar grandfather, who was a grandiose martial artist during his time. The she was under the wings of her parents. Her grandfather established, built, and protected the 48 Fortress. Many sects tried to breach Fortress but failed to do so because of Zhou Fei’s grandfather and her parents, specifically her mother. Her mother was extremely strict with reasons of course – survival. She was more so tough on Zhou Fei than others, as she was in the line up of being Young Master of the Fortress. Little did they know that they had their own little martial artist within their family.
The impenetrable Fortress was not so impenetrable for Xie Yun, the Prince of the former dynasty. He managed to not only break in but dazzle the occupants of the Fortress by breaking through one of their most secured entrance. Little did he a Zhou Fei know that they would end up lovers. Situations presented themselves in such a way that the rebellious Fei got what she had wanted for years, to venture out of 48 Fortress. However, little did she know that this journey will make her into a refined martial artist. Fei experiences many different aspects of the world of Martial Arts and was able to learn from many renounced teachers. We see her character growth throughout the journey, and we also treated to the subtle bloom of her and Xie Yun’s love story.

This series is not about an established martial artist, but a developing one. I like the fact that the creatives took the time to develop Fei’s character as such and were able to weave in her and Xie Yun ‘s love story without taking away from the actual story and everyone had enough screen space as needed and the interaction between the characters were on point.

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Fast pace, good plot, great acting, brings back memories from the Wuxia drama era!

In the last couple of years, the c-drama market has been saturated with a lot fantasy/xianxia based period drama or court/palace based dramas, so "The Legend of Fei" feels a little bit like a breath of fresh air. If you have watched the TVB Wuxia dramas back in the days, you will feel a sense of familiarity that this drama brings.

Story:
The plot is fast paced so each episodes goes by very quickly. Again, bring me back to the old days of the TVB Wuxia era when these dramas used to be around 30 episodes and there was no 'fillers' for the sake of making more episodes to earn money. Although "Legend of Fei" is 51 episodes, from what I have seen of 12 episodes, they sure crammed in a lot in those episodes. Episodes 1-10 has a lot of elements that contributed to world setting, character setting, and plot setting/foreshadowing elements, and then starting at episode 11, we started to see things pick up (11-12 are must watch episodes). The most important thing is that, 'Legend of Fei' captures the essence of 'rivers and lakes', the core element of what is important in a martial art story. The interesting thing is that YouFei as the heroine seems to have taken the 'hero' script that is typical of martial arts drama, who throughout the storyline roamed the marital arts world, learned different martial arts techniques from people she encountered, and make fellowship along the way as she get closer to becoming a more powerful martial master.

Acting/Casting:
I was a little worry at first about the casting but after the first couple of episodes and seeing the chemistry between the two leads, I said that this casting choice is very good. I think I understood why they casted Wang Yibo for Xie Yun. Xie Yun is an extremely active and lively character, if you cast an older actor to play this, he may come off as 'greasy' and it would not look good. The Xie Yun played by Wang Yibo is very lively and adds a lot of comedy to the episodes. He's actually a very talented actor, body posture and facial expression/management are impeccable. Youfei played by Zhao Liying, at first I was a little concern about her age as she's playing someone who's way younger than her actual age, but because of her baby face, it's not noticeable at all. Her strong point is that she's able to grab the emotional parts of Youfei very well and this gives her the ability to connect with the audience with the character.

Music:
Both opening and ending song are great, specially the ending song by Jane Zhang and Liu YuNing. Some of the background music are also great, very authentic martial arts feel and it fit the scenes very well. For example, the instrumental piece in the the drinking scene between Youfei and XieYun, when Youfei got drunk and lean on XieYun's back. At first he mistaken it as her leaning on him on purpose and started to smile until he found out that it was because she passed out drunk.

Rewatch value:
I do have to say that I'm not too fond of this director's choice of scene cutting, he has a tendency to blur the background to the point where it looks a little fake and he love close-up face shots. You may wonder why you can't remember the character names well but can remember their faces very well...the reason is because of this. And it really test the actor's ability for facial management and sometimes you can see the detail of pores and skin blemishes on some of the actors' face. I have to say that both of the lead actors have great skin. Despite the technical flaw, this drama only gets better with each rewatch as you catch more detail through each run.

Overall Summary:
If you like martial arts drama, this is a must watch. If you value a good storyline with interesting characters this is for you. It feels fresh among all of the period dramas that has been released in recent year. The chemistry and interactions between Youfei and XieYun is top notch.

After reading some comments on the drama page, I want to say a few words. As a long time c-drama watcher since the early 90s, I have watched the rise and fall of Hong Kong and Taiwanese dramaland and the rise of mainland dramas. In recent years, I'm not happy with the status quo of how c-dramas has come to be and produced - it has shifted focus away from good scripting and acting towards trope heavy and filler based dramas that has little substances. C-dramaland has lost its originality as one drama after another started to look the same.. Few Wuxia dramas are being make nowadays and the few good ones are far in between, for example "Nivarna In Fire". But even that and Princess Agent was not able to capture the essence of "Rivers and Lakes" that you typically seen from the Jing Dong dramas and older TVB Wuxia dramas. This is why I treasure what I have seen in this drama so far. There is an originality element to it that's not common in this era of c-drama. And the icing on the cake is that the focus has shift from a male hero to a female hero.

I hope "Legend of Fei" maintain the quality of the storyline throughout and if it does, it will be a gem, a treasure among c-dramas.

(This review is done up to episode 12. I will update as I watch more episodes!)

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The best drama series of 2020

The production team seriously has done a very good job in adapting the novel into this drama series. Especially the casting team. They are geniuses! Every actors fit into their roles perfectly. I love the chemistry between Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo ♡ Tbh, I was not a big fan of Zhao Liying (but I like her) at the past. But she is super fantastic on this series. Now I'm a big fan! ♡
Wang Yibo, I always love him. On Legend of Fei, his acting is superb! I got carried away with the emotions that he portrays. When Xie Yun cried, I cried too. That is how good his acting is!! The action scenes are amazing. They are so natural. I can predict that I'm gonna keep rewatching this drama series again and again when it has completed later!! One of the epic drama series of the century.
The OST - my gosh!! We can know that they prepared it well. I like the opening and the ending soundtracks. They represent the story so well.
I love Xi Wei sung by Wang Yibo very much. I can feel Xie Yun love and longing for Zhou Fei on the song. Perfect ♡

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I gave up after episode 30!

This drama could have easily been a 10/10 but the storyline was dragggggggggggggggggggggged out. Producers in China should consider 30-40 episode dramas instead of having 50-70 episodes. More (episodes) is not always better. This drama reminds me so much of the The Legend of the Condor Heroes. The main difference is The Legend of the Condor Heroes is focused on the male lead, and The Legend of Fei is focused on the female lead. They both travel around and meet new fighting legends who are willing to teach them new fighting skills. They both have someone they like traveling alongside with them. The pros of this drama are the fighting scenes, and the male lead flirtiness. The cons are the dragged out storyline, and the length of time it's takes for the female lead and male lead to actually become a item (don't tease us with romance, and take 40+ episodes to give it to us).

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I loved, loved loved loved the main couple, Zhou Fei and Xie Yun. They had exactly the dynamic that I enjoy most in het couples: she was the one who punched noses and asked questions later, he was more of the thoughtful type, still able to hold his own in fight very well but glad to leave the butt-kicking to his other half. And they were so very sweet from the get-go. Four eps in and they were already so soft for each other, it was wonderful. Them deserved 10/10, all thumbs up, adored it etc. Also, their whump was ah-mazing!

The rest, though... Trying to go epic on a shoestring budget - it showed, really - just doesn’t pay off. I really didn’t care much about the overall story, the Disha, the war and whatnot. The other couples were cute, certainly, but not really memorable. And the villains were very, well, cartoonish with their Laughter O’ Doom(TM) and so on. Oh well.

But Zhou Fei and Xie Yun, Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo, respectively, made the drama worth it for me, true. Also, I’m glad that the series introduced me to Chen Ruoxuan who played Zhou Fei’s cousin, Li Sheng, I think he’s an actor worth following in the future - and he has a very extensive portfolio of dramas in the can already, so... nice.

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Wise drama!

My favourite things of this drama are wise dialogues and very good acting!The plot is better one after one episode and I can understand the plot completely after watching the whole. Martial arts are good. The drama can show what is true love. Yes,if you love someone,you can love like XieYun& ZhouFei. They care each other and try to help and support each other. Xie Yun is very wise and he truly loves his country and doesn't want war and he loves peace. Zhou Fei is very strong and tries to protect others. The plot is very good and we can learn how to live peacefully and help others. One of my favourite dramas! I love Legend of Fei.

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