Miss the Dragon

THE DELIBERATIONS OVER FATE & KNOWLEDGE

As a theme-digger, let me detect for you some less obvious layers of meaning in the C-drama „Miss the Dragon.” There is more to discover & savour than meets the eye.

THE VALUE OF SCIENCE
Our times call for a redefinition of the value of the ‘certified’ facts & interpretations. The centre of the evil in this drama is a large rotunda library, run by the Heavens, calling for awe. At its centre, the Immortal of Fate is an individual of refined appearance & pleasing demeanour, responsible for attaining, storing & distributing the bulk of ‘received’ scholarly literature, but can indulge in providing evaluation or interpretation…

His visitors accept the library with utmost reverence. Qing Qing’s attitude is the opposite: she detests the written word, even though she knows that her negligence in education will deprive her of immortality. Being given “The Book of Reincarnation”, which would spare her suffering, she puts it back. Both idolatry of books & total disrespect prove wrong.

While the cunning Immortal of Fate makes a deliberate abuse of authority in source selection, the inexperienced Dragon King clings to the worst possible references out of his lack of the ability to judge their relevance or intention of authors. He follows a “bad book” & a brothel show, which almost ruin his budding relationship with Liu Ying.

PROFESSIONALISM & ETHICAL ATTITUDE
The position, independence, perception by superiors/colleagues/clients, amount of leisure determine our ethical attitude. Likewise backwards: our morality decides if our work will serve or disrupt the community.

We see it at play from the first episode, when the Immortal of Fate encourages the Dragon King to steal the Ancient Golden Armour. He does not use the imperative ‘steal’ – just toys with the hero’s anxiety & ambition. The Dragon King has already been burdened with an unjust accusation (the misappropriation of the Stone of Nuwa), leading to the Heaven’s thunderous wrath. As a recidivist, he will be doomed…

Each time we meet the Immortal of Fate, this smooth operator takes a step towards mischief. He makes grand use of Qing Qing’s obsession with appearance (her own & the handsome librarian’s) to confront her with the merciless Lord of Luofeng Pavillion, by advising her to pull at his most tender strings.

The heavenly library has a second enterprise profile, a very nasty one: a commission-house for all sorts of shady magical artefacts, poisons pushed as medicines, harmful headbands etc. To get these, a client must offer the most precious piece of their body, being even informed that the business is illegal.

The Immortal of Fate’s corruption has a form of a vicious cycle: he is armoured with unearned authority, with no surveillance from above or objection from beneath. But he is not free from unearned disregard, too: for Qing Qing he is not a suzerain but a plain librarian. Such occurrences even raise the Immortal’s contempt towards his working environment and make him indulge in exploiting the naivety of his client. He knows he can venture offering her a crucial book because she is likely to turn it down. He goes as far as to delete pages from the record on Lord of Luofeng Pavillion. He spends his entire life in the library or at courts, having no pastime, craving for none. While privately visiting the Dragon King at the pool, he is still ‘at work,’ scheming.

Lord of Luofeng Pavillion has a profession that collides with his inborn personality but corresponds to his current embittered state of mind. He feeds people Lethe (memory poison he had also taken willingly) and guides them into oblivion, genuinely believing that this is the right path away from suffering. A crack appears when Qing Qing twits her spontaneity into his ear, pleading for mercy, rekindling buried memories & instincts. Each twit enlivens the past and finally pries the cold heart open. However, Lord’s two unhealed traits guide him back dangerously close to his professional failure & private misery: the susceptibility to evil authority & the inability to communicate effectively.

Various hilarious but serious observations may be drawn from the interaction between the Dragon King & other professionals: the Immortal of Fire & the Immortal of Rain. Worth following is the insight into Ayu’s tortured state of mind, as she tries to extricate herself from the post of Goddess of Rain, imposed on her by circumstances. Facing the imminent revelation of her incompetence, ‘the loss of face,’ Ayu pleads guilty. Not to Heavens, but to common folk. Having repeatedly suffered violence at work as a merchant, she still has deep respect for her imperfect community.

COMMUNICATION INEFFICIENCY
Many C-dramas involve motives of amnesia to prevent a character from communicating with others, revealing crucial facts, sharing emotions. Here we have the motives of reincarnation and Lethe drink. Interestingly, Liu Ying’s every reincarnation involves a different pattern of selective, incomplete forgetting. Every lifespan leaves an imprint on her itinerary soul. Her friends are obliged each time to adhere to a different range of secrecy. Of course, with Qing Qing around, Liu Ying & her later selves quickly pick up the essence of her accumulative past. Also the Dragon King’s yearning for outspokenness allows her to peek into it.

We do not doubt that Xue Qian Xun has grown ready to confess surprisingly soon, but his sincerity is handicapped by the half-forgotten hurt, years spent at the heartless truth-pruning office. Qing Qing yearns for any sign of appreciation from him, yet her obsession with his perception of her face & intellect makes her deaf to his appraisal. His introverted attitude, enhanced by the gravity of his post, gives priority to silent musing (the content of thought). Her extroverted manner, enhanced by the habit of constant nervous pleading for herself, gives priority to chaotic vocalisation (the form of thought). That stalemate of form & content, of the willingness & inability to give & receive, can only be broken by a thunderous interference.

Worth noting is Liu Ying’s maturing openness, as she learns to refuse to reciprocate men’s favour, gently but decisively. In two lifetimes she let circumstances impose marriage, but as general Chen Yue she informs Lu Zheng about her feelings to another man, without causing excessive suffering. Then, as a small girl, she is ready to assert her worldview, aware that her sincerity puts her future at the cultivators’ sect & her immortality at stake.

CONTROL OVER FATE
When Ayu decides not to drink Lethe and vows to gain control over her fate, we might expect her to become what she wants. But it is her father and uncle who channel her fate at her rebirth as Chen Yue. Being strong and skilled in martial arts still has nothing to do with freedom of choice. The fourth incarnation gets close to it, but the heroine is made to die on the day of gaining maturity. It may mean that life is too brutal to grant full independence even to the fourfold refined personalities.

The Dragon King & his beloved remain smitten by the tides & ebbs of fate. The strongest character, the only truly friendly counsellor, eager to lend useful objects and give a helpful hand, is Xue Qian Xun, who manages to adjust the frantic torrents of fate for himself & others, but even he falls victim to the poisonous spell by the Immortal of Fate.

OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN
This serious drawback is present in all C-dramas known to me, alas. Male characters have the responsibility to provide a background for female. Here, we have a man-pillow, a walking purse, a face-canvas for drawing ridiculous patterns; even emperors are objectified as spouses or sources of admiration & promotion. Only the Immortal of Fate is the independent one who exploits, but he dies violently shortly after revealing his aim.

GLITCHES & FLAWS
The greatest flaw of this C-drama results from its greatest merit. The engagement of Deng Wei was a priceless acquisition, but placing him in a role other than the main proved disruptive. Unintentionally, this cautious placement did injustice to the rest of the cast, who are all professional, devoted & expressive to the extent required by their roles. Deng Wei is not an actor, he is a wizard.

Another flaw of this series is the amount & final affirmation of sadism. We see many facets of cruelty, the most disturbing instance being the pervert atrocity of Dongluo’s Crown Prince, rightfully punished. But in the final fight against the Immortal of Fate, the Dragon King chooses to indulge in a similar type & intensity of cruelty. This time we are forced to believe this excess is justifiable.

Preoccupied with his beloved’s affairs throughout the series, without a wider scope of concern for the world, the Dragon King turns into a rebel eager to sacrifice himself in a desperate assault against the unjust Heaven. Not the change itself but its abruptness is unconvincing and leaves enough space for doubt whether it was the hero’s deliberate act or just the ill-considered result of a momentary surge of despair, worth his regret.

One more flaw connected with psychological portrayal is how cold Liu Ying & her next selves can be. She forgets her newborn child, wandering & musing about her feelings. The child never reappears, though minor persons like Marble do. We never get to see the emperor she marries or learn about her struggle to develop a bond. Although she gets 60, we see her preserve a youthful appearance – no trace of emotional wear. Her coldness towards ‘brother’ Lu Zheng is also conspicuous.

APPEAL
Qing Qing went a long & painful way to respect her face. C-drama is this one spark of hope left to preserve dignity, creativity, modesty, true development, faith in humanity & more, to avoid the Western ‘aesthetics.’ One of the greatest threats is the indulgence in unnecessary plastic surgery & tweakments as breach of authenticity, as interference in actors’ & actresses’ integrity.

Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.

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Too much

This drama felt like four separate dramas, which is just too much.

Lets start off with the things I liked:

- visually beautiful
- the cast is not too bad
- the dragon king was fun to watch
- the second couple was the saving grace of this drama. Their story was coherent and the way they gradually and naturally fell in love was fun to watch
- the first life is fun to watch
- the third life was also interesting

Things I didn't like:

- the female lead was four completely different people in all her lives, so there was a disconnect. She looked like the same person, but her personality was completely different, making it hard to make a connection between the original girl that met and fell in love with the dragon.

- lots of cliches and previously done storylines

- the chemistry between the main leads was almost non existant. Not sure if it's the writing, making the female fall in love with the male lead over and over again in 4 lives or just the fact that the actors didn't have any chemistry to begin with

- repetitive and predictable storyline

All in all, it's not too bad, but there are many dramas out there that are much better.

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Too. Much. Flash.Backs

This was a cute Chinese Fantasy drama. It’s a bit similar to Eternal Love ( aka Ten miles of Peach Blossoms) when the female lead, Liuying, saves a wounded white snake who’s really the dragon king who has cultivated for thousands of years. The dragon accidentally kills one of the female characters, saves her soul, and in return, promises to guard Liuying’s reincarnations through three tribulations. I watched Dylan Wang (Meteor Garden) to see how he played this role. I guess he was ok here. Just a little stiff with some scenes. The female lead Barbi Zhu (Eternal Love) carried herself here pretty well. I watched her as the villain in Eternal Love and she was amazing in that drama. The side characters were pretty great. Be warned, though, that there’s a lot of flashbacks here, and I was a bit annoyed by it until the last episode where it wasn’t really necessary. They could’ve shown us a good ending, too. I can’t say it was sh-itty, but then it wasn’t that good either. I was heartbroken at the end. Boo.

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Season 2

I didn’t like the sad eding of the story. It was heartbroken for me and also depressive because I was so attached with their emotions. The characters were very real to me. There is a proverb, "patience is better but their fruit is sweet". Mr. Dragon waited till four reincarnation for getting their SOUL UNITED by GETTING MARRIED with the heavenly blessings. The ending was like their soul was nearby but their union was not fulfilled. What's the point of their staying close with each other without getting married! They have waited for so long! So much patience! And they could not fulfil their dream of getting together and giving birth to children as the sign of their celestial love!!

The immortal of fate was corrupted but the heaven Supported his evil deeds and did not give Justice to Mr. Dragon! What kind of an unfavourable injustice this is? Does heaven ever make any fault in making judgements? Mr. Dragon should have got Justice. He should have gotten a respected job in heaven, immortality along with his lover and got married in an earthly way, should have brought out sign of love. His character should have been successful but he was given injustice.

The drama could have been finished beautifully when Yuchi was with general feng because she is a strong lady not like the other girls. And instead of Becoming strength, Mr. Dragon's girlfriend has become his weakness. She should have been smart and strong and fought along with Yuchi to bring out the real face of the traitor, finish him and get Justice from the heaven because heaven never does injustice to anyone. So, ehy should they die!
Season 2 should be made and their love story should be presented with a happy, strong and confident ending along with women empowerment. This time Yuchi, Liyuing and the immortal of fate should be reincarnated and Justice should be done to make the drama get a successful ending with detailed activities and fighting scenery.

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Light entertainment

Perhaps it's because I'm new to C-dramas and Xianxia, but I don't get all the negativity about this show. Yes, the script is iffy with plot holes everywhere and a lot of repetition, barely justified by the fact that we see the main female character going through four different lifetimes with recurrent elements in each one of them. However, I found this drama entertaining for the most part. It's fantasy after all... does it need to make perfect sense? More attention to detail would have made a big difference though.

The acting is a bit stiff to start with but it evolves throughout the story and it isn't nearly as bad as I was made to believe. I imagine that was how the actors were asked to portray their characters. I came here after watching Love Between Fairy and Devil and I can see glances of Dylan Wang's Dongfang Qing Cang in his portrayal of Yuchi Longyan, aka the Dragon King. The second storyline involving another couple's love story could have been interesting but it dragged on for too long without giving us much information. I liked the character of Xue Qian Xun [Lord of Luofeng Pavillion] but his counterpart Qing Qing came across as childish and a little bit irritating at times.

I thought that I wouldn't enjoy the third story arc when the female lead is a General. The idea of a war, political plotting and fighting wasn't that appealing to me... But this part became my favourite in terms of the storyline and the acting. I think they should have ended the drama after that somehow. Instead, we're dragged into yet another life that was supposed to show us a superior level on the "cultivation" journey of this woman's soul but rather felt like a regression to the first, naive incarnation of herself.

The visual effects and characterization aren't the best, especially compared to those of LBFAD (since I don't have much else to compare it with). Some of the early fight scenes remind me of a video game when you chose a weapon to unlock powers while the character stands stills doing nothing. But this story is based on a video game after all.

It's unlikely that I would rush to watch it again. I'm sure there are better fantasy stories waiting for me in Dramaland. However, if like me, you want to see more of Dylan Wang or any of the cast's work and fancy some light entertainment, give it a go - it's not terrible.

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It's a love story

In truth it's a love story. What's endearing is how our heroes manoeuvre the confusing ways around love. And that sacrifices and patience are definitely included when it comes to love. It's a love story worth watching what with the beautiful OST. I love the calmness in Yuchi as he goes through many lifetimes for the love of his life which started off by wanting to return the favour she gave him. Instead of returning the favour only, he ended up being by her side, protecting her for lifetimes. And in Xue Qianxun's case his cold demeanor is no match for a bubbly blue bird. And watching him changed around her was also a joy to watch. There's a lesson to be learned in this drama as in any dramas too....but hard to learn when you're already in love....that is not to simply do whatever your loved one asks of you. That's what Yuchi did when LiuYin asked him to save her mistress....and this starts off the many lifetimes they both had to live through before having a chance of being together.

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The love story of a girl and a dragon! I will love you for 4 lifetimes !

I love wang he di!! So of course I will watch this drama!I must say overall its a good drama. This gave me the vibes of Love of three lifetime, going through love and separation.

The love story of a girl and a dragon. The female lead saves a hurt dragon which she mistakes as a snake. She takes care of him and they build a relationship . The female lead has this strong ora that can help to repair the torn " Sky net" from letting the evil creatures hurt the humans. So the heavenly deities are after her, but the male lead does all he can to protect her. The male and female lead have to be separate for 4 lifetimes before they can be together. In her first life, they try to change her fate she marries a guy who can help her. She also gets her memory wipe away., but she slowly remembers the male lead and their love story. She drinks the forgetting potion and starts the second life. In the second life she is a farmer's daughter and eventually becomes the Sky girl who helps make it rain for her land. The third lifetime she is a general., and the fourth lifetime she is reborn into the Kun lun sect and trains to become a hunter of the evil creatures.

To be honest their story got a little bland, because it was mostly the male lead protecting the female lead from a distance. He truly loved her, which was very touching and heart breaking.

The second leads story was what kept it going I liked both the second male and female lead. The second female lead is a bird spirit. She is the best friend of the female lead. The female lead saves the bird spirit and they become friends. The bird spirit aka second female lead was there for all of the female lead's 4 lifetime. The bird spirit has a really cute love story with the second male lead who is charge of helping with when people die and their spirit gets reincarnated. He is an icy cold character compared to the bird spirit ( who 's cheery and cute) .Their love story is also bittersweet.

In the end it takes a sudden turn and someone who you dont expect to be evil is evil!!!

The female and male lead makes a cute couple but their kisses arent convincing, with the exception of the last kiss... More like a plant on the lips then kissing....

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If not for the sad ending I would have given it a perfect 10

First of all the Dylan wang factor made me watch the show, I didn't follow any recommendations whatsoever. The other cast was also excellent but Dylan is my fav ... As far as story is concerned, I am not impressed but not disappointed either . Few stances felt like bit of a drag ..like she had to live four lifetimes before she can stay with him .. honestly speaking it was boring . Though It was a love story but the romance was lacking ... Their chemistry was indeed awesome still I couldn't find many happy couple moments between them ...it was sad and heart breaking ... secondly the repeation of fireflies,fallen patels, butterfly and fireworks scenes was too much ..I mean like come on! man! give us some variation she is living four different lives and you are showing everything pretty much the same.
Parallel leads story was much more in focus for first 20-25 episodes.
the character of female lead is quite weak and has given very less importance ,like it was all about her yin soul other than that her role in the show was not much influential. In fact the parallel female lead stole the show for me. She is bubbly and sassy I loved her. Still I must say both actresses were beautiful and very much loveable.

After that comes the fight scenes and VFX ..those were great .. Chinese dramas are best known for the VFX/fight scenes anyway.

Music was lovely ... It was soothing and very apt for the them of the show.

Parallel leads and side actors were equally talented .. each and everyone of them (from parallel lead's side kick to cat demon ) delivered the best.

Last comes the ending ... See! I don't mind sad ending but for this one I wanted a happy ending ...no !! Seriously !! Let me explain ... I don't feel sad when characters who happened to be living as lovers shared some moments get seperated... But in their case it was prolonged wait ... Suffering , regrets and feelings of missing each other ..for freaking 200 years he was waiting ... She also was subjected to four lifetimes just to be with him ....IF THESE TWO DON'T DESERVE A HAPPY ENDING, I DONT THINK ANYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD DOES.

It was sad blame it on the writer who screwed the ending just because he/she wanted to showcase his/her experimental mindset ..( GO TO HELL ! writer)

So everything was perfect ... But story itself written by an average writer who I don't know might be thinking of himself as Shakespeare.



Drama is totally worth a watch and rewatch as well

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Not a perfect xianxia drama, but fairly entertaining.

Initially, it looked a bit nonsensical, but it got better from around episode 18-20 onwards, when Liu Ying was reincarnated as Feng Chenyue, a brave general. Actually, it was a refresher, as the previous 2 lifetimes: Liu Ying and Ruan Ayu looked like damsels in distress (which bothers me!) And the chemistry between Dylan and Bambi stood out at that part. Otherwise, the main parts were pretty meh :( I prefered seeing their offscreen interactions. They would have much better chemistry in a modern drama, like Tom and Jerry type.

I think that the writers of MTD wrote Dylan's character as an eye-candy than an actual protagonist. This doesn't show his true potential. He's a much better and a more expressive actor than what is shown in MTD (although he was expressive in his and Deng Wei's scenes).

The show savers of the show were actually the funny scenes here. Like, when Qingqing often catches Yuchi Longyan and Xue Qianxun in an awkward position whenever they argue XD and many more XD plus the trio: Yuchi Longyan, Xue Qianxun and Qingqing, when they interact! Lol they put me to splits XD XD XD and ofc, the Feng Chenyue part, which was the most interesting and the best written part. And I have to add: the chemistry between Dylan and Deng Wei (I wish this was BL though).

The second leading couple also had good chemistry and were very entertaining. I wish the main cp was as well written as them.

Out of all the characters, my favourite is Qingqing and Feng Chenyue. They are the only characters which stood out.

All of the actors did a decent job in their performances.

The writers needed to do better. The plot had loopholes, some scenes made me cringe a bit, a lot of parts were cheesy, but I liked that sudden twist in the tale. This is not a perfect drama, but according to me, it's a good one-time watch, although the trailer showed a lot of promise.
And overall, if you are expecting a lot of entertainment, like pure entertainment, some comedy, then this if for you. If you're looking for serious logical xianxia drama and not eye-candied characters, then it's ok to give it a miss.

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Master Piece of 2021

Cast is amazing. It really interesting cool drama makes us cry and laugh. Dragon King's love is really a rare beauti thing in this show. Specially love the friendship b/w the 1st lead &2nd lead. I like this story (also for the 2nd lead)bcoz of this two main lead char has never misunderstood each other.
The drama was good but I really don't want to support it becoz of it's unsatisfied Happy ending. I really want 1 more episodes from the production for a proper happy ending...
Love the 2nd lead (a lonly star& blue swallow),hope they stay together forever.

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