User reviews

The Legend of the White Snake has been motive to a handful of movies and tv shows already, but the fact that this one is available on western streaming platforms with decent subtitles finally makes this story accessible to non-Chinese audience. And it does a good job. The recurring music theme of the characters is fitting, character attires and scenery support the immersion and the character development is, to most extent, convincing. The dramaturgy might seem somewhat cliché and seem overboard from time to time ("I save you!" - "No, I save you!" etc.), but then again, this is also the case with many modern US shows where we're just more used to it. A basic knowledge of Chinese culture helps to understand certain characters' reactions and behaviour, mythology and Buddhism play a significant role as the story develops.

The stern facial expressions of most of the main characters struck me dull from time to time although it probably fits the expected behaviour of "middle-class" characters at that time. The CGI is not exactly state-of-the-art, but it's sufficient to deliver the message. Xiao Yan though delivers an outstanding performance in her role as Xiao Qing. She delivers her character an authentic way, displaying a range of expressions and emotions probably wider than the rest of the cast combined.

One can easily binge-watch this show as a kind of Chinese version of "Charmed". Took me longer than one week-end to finish it, but it was very enjoyable.

The CGI is amazing, first of all. The actors and actresses did great too. However I felt like the plot had been dragged out a bit somewhere in the 20 something episodes, and the ending was kind of expected..? I mean to be fair this drama made me cry twice it's really good BUT I still feel like the plot could've been better.

Parts of this series re just really funny and I love the mix of drama, mystery, Buddhism nd Chinese mythology, The effects are good - though Chinese CGI still hasn't got animals quite right. The two leads do their jobs but don't have much chemustry but Green Snake - Xiao Yan steals the scenes in eveeything she is in. Several other actors are really good with a few like Monk and the four Immortals a bit iffy. Production values and the costumes are really good, the photography a bit strange at times. Good to see "middle class" life and rge workings of medecine at the period. The story zips along well, never got bored, but perhaps a more focus on one main villain would have been better, Anyway very enjoyable and worth binge watching as I did on Netflix.

I personally enjoyed every episode to the final episode. The costumes, CGI, cultural attire, accuracy in delivering and representation of modesty and respect within the culture

This is the first Chinese series I've watched. I was on YouTube looking for the trailer for the animated film "White Snake" and I stumbled upon this series. That's how the great adventure in watching Chinese fantasy series began for me. For me it was an extraordinarily pleasant and relaxing series. The actors were chosen extraordinarily well. It is an enchanting series with a story that surely reaches everyone's heart.

The filming is strikingly beautiful and all actors and actresses are so well chosen and act with sincerity. There is plenty of emotions going through the whole venture. A well versed martial monk with 2 ingenuous snakes to contend with looking so beautiful in their women form and the ever pragmatic main subject always calm and plenty of reverence throughout. Spectacular in so many ways and it should be viewed again and again.

I've seen several iterations of this 'Legend', most well known is the version starring Jet Li, which was a pretty big budget movie. A tale of forbidden love, between humans and Demons, and the obstacles both Heaven and Earth put in the way of two love birds.

This Legend of White Snake is a 36 part made for TV series featuring three not-so-well-known actors: 'Meglong Yu' as Dr. Xu Xian and TWO stand outs IMO, both ladies - 'Jingyi Ju' as the White Snake (Lady Bai) and her trusty sidekick The Green Snake (Qing) played by Xiao Yan. Lady Bai is both smart and beautiful, Qing is cute and hilarious. The Dr. and supporting cast all do a commendable job also.

Expect to laugh, cry, boo, cheer and be entertained. I've binge-watched TLOWS - twice - and so might you. Highly recommended.

Seriously in this series the buddha guy is really annoying.

Why is it not very interesting? I'll tell you...because the same situation (setup, execution, twist, and resolution) happens over and over and over again, every 4 to 5 episodes. You never get anything new. You know who the bad guys are, and what they'll try to do.

Which leads me to another gripe of these shows. The bad guys are known to all. Even the good guys. But the good guys go about their merry lives in such an artificially inflated state of obliviousness, that you groan loudly and lean on the fast forward button. The protagonists ignoring danger, never being prepared, always being REACTIVE instead of PROACTIVE, becomes so very tiresome.

And the antagonist demons?

Well, the centipede demon was kind of cool....and got a paltry 3 episodes.

The fox demon was also cool, and gets a mere 4 episodes.

The boring, redundant, annoying as hell Toad demon? Well, that ridiculous character gets close to 30 episodes. All backed by the annoying Ryui character, who is such a whiny POS, that you can't even consider her a true villain. She is such a buffoon of a character.

Throw in a lot of other forgettable characters, like Xui's sister, and you've got the makings of a show that simultaneously goes nowhere AND you know it is going nowhere. Nothing ever gets resolved to satisfaction, and the character's choices prolong the most ridiculous scenarios simply to fill the run time.

This one makes Eternal Love look like an above average show...and that's saying something.

Nicely done for a Chinese production I though was Korean. Enjoyed bingewatching

I was watching the show, Unrequited Love-7. The leading couple is teased by being compared to The Legend of White 🐍. That made it an easy choice as to what to watch next. Let me make it easy for you: Don't bother. It isn't worth your time given the many better shows out there.

I love Chinese fantasy. So, I went into TLOWS expecting to love it, which carried me through half the show. I ignored irritation after boring irritation until I finally realized that TLOWS is really, really bad. (Still finished it - waste of time). Its plot slithers around w/out going in a clear direction. It's frequently pleasant & the characters are likable, but it's boring. It stays in the dust & never lifts to greater heights. The primary couple is simply goodness in silk robes, but they're dull. I suppose we could say that it goes into snake-like Brumation.

The logic is insulting at times. Xu's older sister is often a veritable moron in the way she looks at things. She doesn't seem to understand that Bai & Xu are married ~ Ruyi is not part of their relationship. Xu's amnesia doesn't change that. Another example is when Bai believes her own presence is the problem. Ing points out that Ruyi is a schemer. Bai shouldn't let Xu stay around her. Bai lamely replies that Ruyi truly loves Xu & would never hurt him. On the contrary! Ruyi's actions not only caused the current mess, but she has done /nothing but/ endanger & HURT others! There's betrayals w/ insufficient justification - it all happens too easily & is often the opposite of what was previously established. At one point Xu is focused on Bai & what he thinks is a wrong strategy to deal w/ a demon oppressing the family. He calls in the monk to help... w/ BAI, but NOT the demon doing the oppressing? Ridiculous. There's plenty more examples; they pile up. I started to actively hate it north of ep30, & by ep34 my fangs came out.

Lots of viewers enjoyed it, however. Maybe they hadn't seen Handsome Siblings-8.7 or Ancient Love Poetry-8.6 yet. Now /those/ are good fantasy shows. This show has groundwork for something spectacular but it never leaves the pit. The following is from the notes that I took when it still 'had' me.

Per Wiki, TLOWS "is a Chinese legend centered around a romance between a man named Xu Xian & a female snake spirit named Bai Suzhen. It is counted as one of China's Four Great Folktales..."

Tim Pei is Fa Hai, a fighting monk. His Shifu has foreseen a bad omen: A dangerous 1000 y/o evil spirit is in Lin'an. He equips Hai w/ a bowl to catch the demon & an elaborate pixie cane to 🆔 sinister forces. Hai is strictly forbidden to act w/o a sign from the cane. He wants to eliminate Qing, but the cane 💘 her. This monk is adorable. Don't get your hopes up. The monk has the potential to be the best romantic lead of the show, but monks are celibate.

Ju Jing Yi plays 🐍 spirit "Bai" Su Zhen. She's just cultivated into her human form after a millennia of effort. She is kind. She wouldn't dream of hurting people; she wants to be a Buddhist. Request denied: She must live as a human first. Humans have emotions, & Bai must learn how to overcome emotions. Off to 🌏 she goes, where she gets to experience the most wonderful thing on 🌎. Love? NO! FOOD!

Early on she meets physician Xu. She knew the doctor's previous incarnation but finds the current version lacking. He notices her, she's beautiful afterall, but she's not impressed. She leaves, unimpressed. Yu Meng Long plays Dr. "Xu" Xuan (often called Hanwen). Bai encounters a darling young boy whose mother is very ill & offers to help. Guess who's already treating the woman? She clashes w/ the good doctor once again at the patient's house. Each thinks the other is a scammer. As attraction builds, though, he ain't gotta chance. One day when she doesn't want him to leave, she conjures a rainstorm. Still, a more willing victim may not be found. In the end, the romance is cold blooded & nearly emotionless, sadly.

In the meantime, Ruyi is also out to entrap Dr. Xu - into marriage. Yu Lang plays shyster Jin 'Ruyi'. Selfish Ruyi is the source of most of the conflict in the show. Li Lin is one of the best characters as Xu's brother i/l & the constable. Prince Mu looks alittle like Chachi (Scott Baio) from Happy Days.

We haven't even gotten to our 4th lead yet. Xiao Yan is Xiao 'Qing', a naughty 🐍 deity. Qing's exactly what the good monk is looking for ~ to kill. The actress is adorable & the best thing about the show. Asian culture interchangeably translates the words deity & demon, but it's not exactly the Western/Christian concept of demons. In Chinese fantasy, demons can be good, & many are. In TLOWS & many other stories, cultivating power is excessively difficult. For demons, the same result can be achieved by devouring humans, & who doesn't love a shortcut? Many succumb to the temptation. Demons get a bad name from that. Early on, Qing has clashes w/ Bai, but it only sparks Qing's interest. Abandoned by her mother long ago, she's lonely. She was cultivating into a man. So far, she's managed to become 80% woman. When the quest starts (she opts to follow Bai) her cultivation stops, so they are two Sassy-lassies traveling together. Wait. Cultivating into a man is more difficult & takes more time than cultivating into a woman? The opposite should be what's true. Given their reproductive organs, women's bodies seem more complicated than men's anatomy. Even the creation story shows man as a warm-up & woman as the final prototype. Jusss sayin...

Most of our protags clash w/ a 🐺 demon, Lady Nexin. She soon has our 4 protags plotting against e/o. The centipede demon - the really bad monster - is also on the prowl. While the leads are, intermittently, looking squint & wide-eyed at e/o, things are increasingly dangerous. Children have already started disappearing from Lin'an. Soon demons & other bad guys are impersonating our protags causing greater confusion.

"Predjudices are not formed in a day." "We differentiate between demons & humans w/ our hearts." The primary theme is racism. Though genetically human, Ruyi is the actual demon in TLoWS. The monk is the one who struggles w/ the issue & must ultimately fight the monster w/in himself before it takes control & changes /him/ into a demon. When Qing helps Monk Hai fight the centipede, Hai is forced to re-examine his presuppositions. "Common people seek benefit, but wise people seek the core..." once Bai passes on her essence to Xu to heal him, she's no longer fully a demon, & he's no longer completely human. As a literal thinker, this is a conundrum for Hai, & he spends a good deal of the show working it out. We also see a person who is indwelt by a demon accuse another person of being a demon. The message is unmistakable: We are all blind to our own stuff, & we are often what we hate the most. That's one of the funniest (and most tragic) things about racism. The very word is a lie. What is race? There is only the human race, w/ its many ethnicities. Ethnic groups are just large, old families. We all hail from what is now the Middle East & Ethiopia. Scientists & theologians agree - we came from 1 woman. Race & racism are just pride-based lies that we've all decided to believe. It is hard enough to find a decent human being. Limiting yourself to 1 shade of skin makes the challenge all the more difficult.

They do have fun clashing up Qing & the monk. Once he realizes he can't kill her, he thinks it's a good idea that she sit & copy scriptures. She's totally flummoxed that anyone would think copying scriptures is a good way to spend one's time. "All the joy in the world comes from one's desire to help others. All the misery in the world comes from one's selfishness. Sadness & happiness are nothing but thoughts," he reminds her. She reminds him that he has no idea what fun is! What would have been fun is if those two paired up. Monks are celibate, though. Sigh.

There's beautiful shots & lovely action, despite somewhat clunky special effects. At the 🏮 festival they look into e/o's eyes & everything stops. Next, the background blurs by, while they stay frozen. They have fun showing the deities' true forms as translucent overlays, particularly in fight scenes. The opening looks like a Maxfield Parrish / Thomas Kinkade collaboration. Costume & design are usually beautiful in a Chinese fantasy piece, & such is the case here. I love the girls' hairdos, & the wedding headdress is especially nice. Shazamed: A song, by Ju JingYi.

I'll finish w/ a transcription tip & other fun facts: GRUE. The Chinese, historically, don't differentiate between green & blue. So you might see Qing's 🐍 form referred to as green. The thought of not differentiating between basic green & blue takes me straight to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in The Devil Wears Prada - "But what you don't know. Is that that {Qing} is not just blue. {She's} not turquoise, {She's} not lapis. {She's} actually cerulean." ;)) Bai returns to Mt. Emei to bolster her power. Mt. Emei is a real place. Located close to the country's center, it's the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Finally, you might notice swastikas floating around the screen. The Nazis co-opted this symbol from ancient times. Per goog "In Chinese, the swastika is called "wan" which is a homonym for the Chinese words "ten thousand" & "infinity". It's a symbol of immortality, longevity, the universe, God's manifestation, & creativity." It's also fascinating to see the traditional Greek scrolling on blankets & architecture. These are small evidences that we came from a common origin. We're 1 race.

QUOTE📢

A moment of beauty may lead to a lifetime of love.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣5 📝4 🎭7 💓4 🦋2 🎨7 🎵/🔊7.4 🔚6 ▪ 🌞4 ⚡4 😅1 😭4.5 😱4 😯6.5 😖2 🤔3.5 💤6.5

Age 12+ Language G0d@mn

Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned

Re-📺? Not a chance.

This is apparently a classic in Chinese literature thus you can find different interpretation of it and for me, this is the best. Every frame is a painting, every detail has a purpose and every character evolves independently from their origin or alignment. For those of us who play computer games, this drama has it all: adventure, action, mystery, filosophy and romance. Love is the common element for every character's expansion independently from whether they are demon, human or fairy. You will find yourself laughing, crying, upset, joyful, sad, etc... You will basically go through all the emotions throughout the entire drama. The show is impregnated with Taoist Buddhist wisdom and beliefs which renders the drama introspective and profound. Make sure to watch this on a big screen in a dark room because there are many dimensions, colours and landscapes that have the power to totally absorb you into the story. The acting is brilliant, every single character is so convincing that you totally believe them. I'm watching the series for the third time and every time I discover something new. A big applause to all of those involved in the making of this particular version of the classic.

This is like nothing you have seen from China before.

You will know instantly wether you will like it.

It is a fantasy about Gods and their relations to mortals when on Earth.

It is so calmly presented, very chilled.

And it is so desperately beautiful to watch.

Entrancing really.

The story is interesting enough to keep you coming back episode after episode. It is sad when it finally ends and there are no more adventures to watch.

The direction of the actors cleverly shows how Gods behave differently to the mortals . Very charismatic.

The implementation of the magic is pretty good too. Not blockbuster, but understated ,believable and psychedelic but just to the right amount.

The costumes are stunning. An incredibly beautiful colour palette.

Makes it worth having a well set TV picture so you can really appreciate the artistry of the sets ,costumes and skyscapes.

Everything else with a fantasy edge I have seen from Asia is a bit naff ,over acted and frantic.

This peerless.

Loved this Cdrama Actually I won't watch romantic genre but this one changed my perspective. There's lot of dramas are there to worth Watch VFX effects were little disappointing overall it's a good item for binge watch.

Really cheesy soapy Fantasy love-story, but hell, it's perfect for some escapism, forget all these boring shows that look like today's reality. The sets, costumes and camera work in this are amazing, the acting is half-decent or better from most of the cast (Xiao Yan / Green Snake is really seriously good) and the story is super cheesy and soapy, but it's definitely enjoyable, especially if you watch it as a winter season "fireside" story.

It starts out very romantic and you think you know where it's going to end up, but it gets pretty weird toward the end and a lot of absurd things happen very fast that I didn't expect. But you know what, despite this strange rushed ending I was still left with intense nostalgia about this show, so I expect to want to re-watch it someday.

...so why not a good fantasy?

What I liked:

1. I love these old Chinese myths. And the computer graphics, while pretty klutzy, gave this story a beautiful romantic feeling.

2. Loved the Buddhist philosophy of kindness and compassion woven throughout.

3. I'm not a reptile person. But the snakes shown here were really appealing. They had sweet faces and a soft, gentle demeanor - at least when they were small. Even the large snakes weren't particularly scary.

4. There was something innocent and touching about this story.

What I didn't like

1. THE PLOT - Holes galore. Mind-numbing repetition. You've heard the saying: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." In this series, the same character pulls the same stunt over and over.

And the same oblivious fools go for it every time: "Oh, woe is me. I'm to blame. You tried to tell me, but I didn't believe you. Can you forgive me?" After the third or fourth time, I, for one, was praying for a divorce.

2. BAI - uncommunicative, and unknowable. Her ability to effectively state pertinent facts and feelings ranges from zero to none. Not a good idea to marry someone without first telling him/her that you're a demon, a snake, and 1000 years old.

3. XU XIAN - yes he's virtuous, yes, he's likable. He's also weak, feckless, boring, and something of a dimwit. He shows as much passion as a dried up prune. He's continually manipulated by the same whining, sniveling lowlife.

4. THE ROMANCE - These two (you know who I'm talking about) act like an old married couple before they're even married. "Dear, will you pass me the salt?" "Of course, Dear."

5. DEITIES - They act like arbitrary bullies. When justice is finally dispensed - a certain snaky character who has always been honest, sincere, kind, reverent, loving and virtuous is sent to the pokey. Another reptilian individual who frequently indulges in murderous rampages gets off scot free.

6. ENDING - rushed and inexplicable. Certain characters (Zhang Yutang) disappear without a trace and are never heard from again.