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The Legend of White Snake: Dropped Drama Diaries

Aug 18
3 min read

Updated: Sep 20

The Legend of White Snake C-Drama Poster featuring Yu Menglon and Ju Jingyi

Title:

The Legend of White Snake (2019)

Platform:

Viki, iQIYI

MDL & Douban Rating:

7.6 & 4.4

Genre:

Xianxia/ Period Idol Fantasy/Romance

Episode Count:

36

Last Episode Watched:

16

Parental Guidance Rating:

TV-14: Blood and Violence

Starring:

Yu Meng Long (Eternal Love)

Ju Jing Yi (Veil of Shadows)

Ziao Qing (Special Lady)

Tim Pei (The Legend of An Le)

Feng Jian Yu (Youthful Glory)

Cast From Left to Right: #YuMengLong, #JuJingYi, #XiaoYan, #Timpei, #FengJianYu


Synopsis:

Spirits have walked unnoticed through the mortal world since the dawn of time. Parts of this world, yet separate, these immortal beings are regarded as nothing but legends by the humans around them. But what happens when these two worlds collide? Provoked by the actions of a seemingly sly human, an ancient snake spirit takes on a human form in order to prove him a fraud. Convinced she’s doing the world a favor, Bai Su Zhen challenges Xu Xuan to a contest of skill, but what starts as a heated rivalry soon turns to a burning passion. Faced with opposition from every side, Bai Su Zhen and Xu Xuan’s love is put to the test time and time again. @MDL



Non-Spoiler Thoughts:

The Legend of the White Snake, as the title indicates, is a retelling of the famous Chinese folktale about a romance between a mortal man and a snake spirit. It's considered one of China's Four Great Folktales and its traces can be seen in fantasy stories (like Xianxia's) even to this day. It originated in the Tang Dynasty with the first recorded appearance in the Boyi Zhi collection, and each dynasty that followed had its own iteration. In the late Qing Dynasty it found newfound popularity as an Opera, which traditionally has the two leads both played by women (It's a Peter Pan The Musical situation). For more on the folktale, check out the video below:



Now, with that bit of context out of the way, let's dive into the drama: Legend of the White Snake thy color grading is sepia. Holy cow, is it Twilight in here? This is the white cast all those beauty influencers warned me about in my youth. The desaturation was intense, as was the skin blurring. I don't know if that is what was to blame for me not recognizing Ju Jing Yi in the drama, or what, but I didn't know girlie pop was was the lead here until I made this review. Which is gobsmacking because I, at one point, stared at her face for 16 episodes. It's a blessing though. She really toned down the Ju Jing Yi-isms and all the lipgloss, and I will take the wins I can get with her.


  • Ju Jing Yi from Legend of White Snake

Top: Veil of Shadows, Bottom: Legend of the White Snake. These dramas are 6 years apart, so obviously she's aged (amazingly), but I didn't realize it was her lol


The leads had no chemistry, the secondary couple wasn't that interesting and it was all a real bust. I never felt like Xu Xuan really cared about Bai Su Zhen, and vice versa, which is an issues as their relationship is supposed to be the heart of the drama. I'm not going to comment on the individual acting due to the Male Lead, Yu Meng Long, tragically passed away at the age of 37.


This drama is a skip for me. If you are interested in watching an adaptation of the folktale, check out these dramas instead:



Story=2.5 (Classic but here it is below average), Acting=1.5 (wooden), Production Quality=2, Enjoyability= 1.5 (below aver.)


Yu Menglong in the rain in a still from Legend of White Snake

Why I dropped:

  • Terrible color grading and too many filters

  • Slow/boring story

  • No chemistry between leads


Trailer:


Director: #ZhiLei (Feud, Rebirth For You, I a Class of Her Own)

Screenwriter: #YangTao (Wish You All The Best, Princess Agents)


*Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images used on this blog. All images belong to their respective copyright holders and are used for commentary and review purposes. All reviews, opinions, and statements expressed on this blog are my own and are intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. They reflect my personal thoughts and interpretations and should not be considered as factual.



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