Chinese Drama: Legend of Fuyao (扶摇)
Broadcast Date: 6/18/2018
Airs: Monday-Thursday
Total Episodes: 66
Leads: Yang Mi & Ethan Juan
Synopsis: As an ordinary girl who was born as a slave in the great Xuanyuan Sect, our heroine, Fuyao grows up being jeered and looked down upon by everyone around her. Meeting our hero while he is under the disguise as the crown prince, our heroine knows our hero is not what he appears to be and wants nothing to do with him but what is a girl to do when the man keeps rescuing her? Unafraid even when she knows there are those who are planning for her demise, our heroine bravely heads towards a certain death only to unexpectedly become the receiver of an invincible fighting technique.
Together with our hero and the help of her loyal friends, Fuyao will discover her real identity as a princess, stop evil plans of the villains and finally, find a way to bring peace to the world and those she loves. In short, an epic (the happy ending kind) journey for our heroine as she fulfills her destiny to become an empress and the beloved queen for our hero.
Ninja’s First Impression:
I only had time to check out the first five episodes, but I am feeling pretty good about Legend of Fuyao so far. I had walked into this one feeling a bit of trepidation about our hero’s character because I just couldn’t quite imagine Ethan Juan playing in a C-fantasy Wuxia especially since up to this time I have only ever seen him in present-day dramas. I was so stuck on my past image of Ethan Juan, the promo posters for Fuyao couldn’t assuage my nagging doubts either. Thankfully, my fears were for nothing. I am not sure if I would go as far as saying Ethan Juan looks better in his Wuxia ensemble as oppose to his modern dramas but he certainly is doing just fine looking the part as our hero. As for Yang Mi…well, she is an old hand when it comes to this type of dramas so I figure she would have no problem handling such a strong heroine character and indeed that proves to be true.
Going with a traditional Wuxia story set up, our heroine is currently on the path of transforming from a small fry where everyone and their dog wants to take a swipe at to a great heroine that everyone (especially our foolish villains) bows down to. Our hero is the “mysterious mentor” that guides our heroine through the countless dangers…dangers that of course just end up propelling our heroine further on her journey to greatness. With this type of storyline, it is often tempting for the director to either go too slow or too fast on the story set up but I have been impressed thus far with Legend of Fuyao’s pacing which I personally feel like it’s perfect.
It is obvious from the title of the show, Legend of Fuyao is a story that focuses heavily on our heroine and her journey of becoming a great empress despite her status as a lowly slave. However, as opposed to some of the other shows (with heroine heavy plot) where the hero often gets kicked off the sideline, this show has done a great job (at least in the first five episodes) in giving our hero meaningful screen time while still keeping the focus on our heroine. All in all, I am pretty hopeful about this one but of course, with a total 66 episode count we are still early in the game so let’s hope Legend of Fuyao can keep up the good work.
ps. Yang Mi and Ethan Juan also have great on-screen chemistry. There were a lot of doubters (myself included) about this on-screen pairing before but I guess we should’ve all learned our lesson after Eternal Love (2017) with Mark Chao (Yang Mi was also the heroine in that one).
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I just want to know if this drama will have a happy ending?? Do you have any idea??
From the synopsis, it sure sounds like the story should end well. Kinda your typical Wuxia novel where our hero/heroine goes from a small fry to a legend that saves the world…exactly my favorite kind.
Based on your input, I said, “Why not give this one a try now?” I was going to wait then do a marathon.
OMG!!! It is beyond phenomenal. You know a show is really good when out of the blue you are wondering what will happen next, and then you regret starting it because you have to wait for the next episodes (I caught up with everyone else), and then and then…. You get the drift
I highly recommend and concur with you that this is a “must see”
OMG, I have the same problem. I started watching and now I’m like obsessed, waiting for the new episodes every day. Huhuhu. But it’s also so much fun! Can’t wait for it to end and at the same time, i never want it to end! 😀 haha. I super love the fight scenes too.