When The Legends started to stray from the book …

the legends bai lu xu kai
Hey guys! Checking in with you as there’s only three days left until the final episode of The Legends 招摇. The series is based on the novel by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang 九鹭非香 who is also one of the writers for the series. 

 
the legends bai lu
When it first aired, the drama attracted quite a lot of fans. The novel itself already had the good bones of what could be a potentially interesting drama – spirited kick arse female lead and a good looking, devoted (and powerful) lover. Add that to a scriptwriting team helmed by the successful novel’s author and a drama with great potential could be in the cards.
 
Then somehow, some way, things headed south.
 
the legends bai lu xu kai
In the latter half of the series’ episodes, that strong start seems to have tanked as viewers expressed their disappointment in many things. Firstly, the unnecessary changes introduced to the original story with the obvious intent to draw out screen time. Now as far as dragging out the screen time goes, this is not something new in the drama industry. 
 
the legends bai lu xu kai
As we’ve mentioned before, many dramas are guilty of prolonging the story to maximise their profit margins. Look, after all the efforts put towards bringing Jin Xian to life the first time, and the good guys finally extinguishing him with phoenix fire seemingly for good, who here recalls the ridiculously cliched zombie-ish scene where Jin Xian so easily comes back from the dead… yet again?!
 
Apparently, this was one of the moments when the story line started to move sideways and left novel readers totally clueless about what was going to happen next due to changes in the original content. Moreover, it seems the plot has been reduced to a repetitive retelling of memories added in to kill time.  
the legends Jiang Wu
Secondly, the fact that less air time has been given to our two main protagonists Bai Lu and Xu Kai has had viewers scratching their heads wondering whether the scriptwriters are confused as to whom the lead characters are (sarcasm intended). This is another classic screen filler tactic, air time bumped up for supporting characters such as Jiang Wu, played by Dai Xu. Unfortunately, such changes came at the expense of the character development getting thrown out the window. 
 
the legends xu kai
Also, talking about the effort to stretch things out, I guess being the son of the Demon King meant enemies getting overpowered too quickly. So Li Chenlan suddenly seems to have been made weaker to allow for more conflict and more drama? Eh? What? Even the brazen Zhao Yao becomes insipid and uncharacteristically tolerating towards the second lead Jiang Wu. She has also been blamed for failing to act in a couple of deaths tacked on to the story for seemingly no reasons other than to have dramatic deaths. 
the legends chinese drama
 
With so much delaying tactics and “water injections” introduced up to this point, is it any wonder that viewers are quite worried about how it’s all going to end? 
the legends
The Legends is supposed to be THE happy pill to counteract that tearjerking Goodbye My Princess which aired quite recently. With Goodbye My Princess’ emotionally charged finale still fresh on audience’s minds, a sad (un-book like) ending for The Legends will definitely be a tough pill to swallow. 
 
 

10 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    April 1, 2019 7:28 AM
  2. Usi

    April 1, 2019 9:20 AM
  3. Anonymous

    April 1, 2019 10:23 AM
  4. Anonymous

    April 1, 2019 5:10 PM
  5. Anonymous

    April 2, 2019 4:05 AM
  6. Usi

    April 2, 2019 8:37 AM
  7. BookLover_95

    April 3, 2019 12:56 AM
  8. Anonymous

    April 26, 2019 5:24 PM
  9. Anonymous

    April 28, 2019 4:28 PM
  10. Heidi

    May 30, 2019 2:58 AM

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