This review may contain spoilers
The Yang's Legend & Tian mian Formation
To me this is the best adaptation of the making about the Yang heros & heroines. I've watched this drama more than 10 times over the course of 25 years and my favourite character in this drama is Ye Leut Hou Nam - the creator of Tian Mian Formation.The centre of the drama revolves around Muk Gui Ying (FL). It talks about her love with the ML protagonist Yang Zhong Bao in the Yang family and her life as a widow in S2 however for many fans, the ML is YLHN who is the antagonist in S1 as the drama pretty much detailed his journey of love & redemption from being the badass guy in S1 to the most loving guy in S2.
In S1, YLHN helped the Liu's to invade the Song's but he only did it because he was the Prince of the Northern Han and want regain his family's lost territory from the Song's. This makes him the bad guy since he has to fight the Yang family, who are the general of the Song. Both MGY and YLHN studied from the same master so they are very skillful in kung fu and feng shui, MGY was also destined to be YLHN's wife so she married him he could have easily gain back his territory however MGY falls in love with YZB, who is a Yang and changed their fate and this makes them enemies.
Why do I and almost all fans love YLHN so much even though he's the bad guy? Well he is just a 'perfect package'. He's not only smart, talented, artistic, rich, strong, decisive, arrogant, but with Gilbert Lam's performance, he is also very beautiful and elegant. I don't think any actor could have portray YLHN as perfect as Gilbert. His character was so well written we cannot hate him, even if he kills anyone in his way :). And the fact that beneath that vicious act and cruelty lies a lonely soul full of burden and torture that only Yang Bai Feng, the maid of the Yang family can truely sees and makes her falls in love with him. They deeply love each other but also understand their responsibilities and opposing nature, YLHN cannot forget his duties and promises to his father to regain their territory from the Song and YBF cannot betray the Yang family to follow YLHN side.
All the casts performed their roles very well even for minor characters. Amy Chan was my favourite MGY till date and she was already famous before this drama, so there is no complaint in her performance. While there is a huge age difference between Gilbert Lam and Annie Man in real life & in the drama, they look so cute together in their roles as YLHN and YBF. I love Vincent Chiao as an actor but I must admit that Gilbert's performance, character and story in this drama outshine Vincent's by a mile, making him more of a ML than 2ML. To us the leads of S1 were MGY and YLHN who just have their own love line and ending. The intro song sung by Amy Chan herself is a masterpiece even if it was composed over 25 years ago, you would want to keep listening to it over and over again. Oh and I forgot to mention the amount of clothes YLHN wears in S1.... he has so many in his wardrobe & they all look beautifully on him whether he wears the Liu's or the Song's style.
S1 ends with YLHN's defeat and disappearance from his own Tian mian formation, a formation which he created himself with the aim to trap the Yangs inside & kill them. The formation was deemed to be unbeatable until MYG gave birth to her son naturally broke the formation and severely injured YLHN. So the Song's remained in ruling and the Liu's lost the war. While MGY and YZB lived happily with each other with their son, viewers are eager to know the fate of the second couple YLHN & YBF after his sudden disappearance from the battle.
(See S2 for comments on ending!!!)
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This review may contain spoilers
Beautiful Love story with a heart wrenching ending
I'm writing this review in MDL for the first time because to me LIP is a unique masterpiece combining both wuxia & xianxia genres. Though LIP is part of the 3 series of Fox Spirit Matchmaker, it is the prequel of the 3 series and is the only series which focus on the love between human to human rather than the love between immortals, demons and re-carnations.WARNING Spoilers Ahead !!!
STORY: The story centers around a group of individuals who want to make peace and reunite the demons and human world as one family. But in order to do this freely they had to wear masks to conceal their identity and to protect those they love. With the male lead Hong Ye as the young master of Wangquan clan and the female lead Huai Zhu as head daughter of the Dongfang clan, two of the five most powerful clans in the Yiqi alliance, they and the rest of the masked members embark on a journey seeking justice for the innocence and punished those who have wronged them. Their journey to unify the 2 worlds is almost impossible but they always has hope to defy fate & say no to evil even if it costs them their lives.
ROMANCE/LOVE - There are 8 couples in the drama and each couple gives us a unique love story - There is selfless/ sacrificial love from Baimu Yao Jun for Du Niang Zi or Cuiyu Ming Luan to Mu Mie, there is love that like of titanic for Mu Xiao Wu & Yang Yan, there is solid pursuing love from Qing Mu Yuan to Zhang Zheng, there is love that develop from friendship/ childhood sweetheart that of Wangquan Zui & Yang Yi Tan, there is slow burn love develop through mutual understanding between Wangquan Hong Ye & Dongfang Huai Zhu , there is eternal love that lasts for hundreds of years from the devil lord Jiu Huo to black fox Jia Lan and there is sweet unrequited/ unconfessed love from Li Qu Zhou to Dongfang Qin Lan and although it all ends in tragedy their love was healthy, poetic, deep and mature. On top of that there is no love triangle & no misunderstanding (other than a little of that between Mu Mie & leech demon CML), something we would rarely see in wuxia or xianxia genres these days. We also experience the most unconditional and protective love between the siblings for one another, especially the love between the masked individuals as a team. I also really appreciate how the two leads fully trusts and respect each other choices, their love was really maturely sweet.
CHOREOGRAPHY/ CGI- Other than the first 2 episodes the CGI was great and the choreography was especially beautiful and perfect. I love the bamboo solo sword and solo flute choreography from Hong Ye and Huai Zhu. I must say my favourite fighting scene of the whole drama was episode 16, where half of the masked team fighting with Jiu Huo that scene was eye-catching. The fighting scene between the masked team against Black Fox in episode 32-33 was also great, however sadly the team did not fight her as a team and ended up dying.
ACTING: This is the first drama that has all handsome and beautiful superstars in a show. The acting from all the stars from main, supporting to guests were phenomenal. I must praise Ding Yi Xi for his skills in delivering both roles as Zhang Zheng & Anaran at the same time brilliantly (Episode 23). The main leads Liu Shi Shi & Zhang Yun Long may not look like a suitable match for their character in the first few episodes but as the drama progresses it is clear that they are very perfect for the role as Wangquan Hong Ye & Dongfang Huai Zhu especially the last 4 episodes (Episode 33-36). Their acting was very real, they really get you to feel Hong Ye and Huai Zhu’s happiness, loss, sadness & grief in a short amount of time. Their tears have definitely broken my heart.😭
ENDING (SPOILER): I have expected this to be SE as this drama was a prequel for the other 2 series of FSSM - RMP & S&B but actually witnessing almost everyone in masked team dies and none of the living couple ends up with each other is heartbreaking. The last 5 episodes breaks my heart, especially when Hong Ye black turned grey hair in a day, there are no words to explain my feelings for him other than "i’m broken for him". Along with the death of his beloved wife Huai Zhu, Hong Ye's heart has completely shattered. That young swordman full of energy, love and smile is no longer there, what is left is a half dead grey haired 26 years old father continue to look out for his people while forever in mourning for the loss of his beloved wife & his sworn brothers and sisters.
I would have preferred Hong Ye died in that battle along with the rest of the team because Hong Ye does not deserve an ending that is worst than death. But of course, if he had died there would be no Fugui in season 3 . I just hope that in Sword & Beloved, Fugui can finally understand what Hong Ye has been through for him to become who he is and that Hong Ye can finally rest in peace and reunite with his loved ones.
FAV LINES: There are a number of good lines from all the couples however I the lines spoken by Dongfang HuaiZhu in the last episodes are the ones that really broke my heart.
YYT to CML: "Between my life and A Zui's, I would choose hers without a second thought"
CML to MM: "Even if it came late, it's still good. Thank you for being the proof that I was truly alive and truly loved"
QMY to ZZ: "Those who truly love you.... will want you to live for yourself"
DFHZ to TSYY: "In the mortal world, each meeting means lesser time together. I'm envious too that humans and demons can renew their fate in the next life. But Hong Ye and I... we seem to have used up all our luck just to meet each other." “We don't have much time… but I will love him (Hong Ye) infinitely within the limited time we have.” 😭
DFHZ to WQHY: "Never give up on finding your sword spirit, because the man I love has always been a legendary hero"
What I learned from this drama is a lesson that: Human life is finite but the love for the people is indefinite. There are things we as humans can do and cannot do, however we must not loose love & hope.
In general if you want to experience what is meant by true deep mature love then feeling loss guilt grief then this is the perfect drama for you. I just hope you won’t fall into depression like me afterwards 🤣
Why is my rewatched value 9/10? Because the end really saddened me and I don't think I can bear to watch episode 32 to 36 again. However I must admit that the ending is what makes this drama a masterpiece and that ZYL's dressing in grey hair was super handsome though his character is super torned at the time 🥰.
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