Ling Long (2021)

Man made goddess.

This fantasy drama is set in Sichuan, a world that is being torn apart by internal strife, corruption and disillusionment after the people are abandoned by their goddess. The young ruler Yuan Yi sets out to restore faith, peace and prosperity to his land by seeking the return of the goddess. This brings him to a remote village that is occupied by a tribe whose sacred duty is to contain the deadly earth fires from erupting and engulfing their world. There he encounters Linglong, a young girl with inexplicable powers and her father Huotu Xin. They are semi-outcasts in the village as Linglong's mother was an outsider who disappears as mysteriously as she appeared. Is Linglong the key to bringing back the goddess to Sichuan?

I have to give top marks for how mythically gorgeous this fantasy world looks - especially the fabulous flying fish ships. This drama's premise around this magical fantasy land and its man made goddess is very interesting and I really enjoy how the world building takes place slowly as the mysteries of the past and the origins of the goddess are revealed. The problem is that the plot peaks at that point, meanders around before limping to an unimpressive and dissatisfying ending.

I really enjoyed Yuan Hong's performance as Linglong's father in this drama and find it to be the drama's most memorable and enjoyable relationship. His heart warming, comical rapport with Zhao Jinmai's Linglong regularly had me grinning away and made me continue even after the plot lost momentum. This is one of the best portrayed father-daughter relationships I have seen in c-drama. I am so glad I watched this because I really needed to wipe the (not good) images I had of Yuan Hong after Rebel Princess. He is an incredible and smoking hot actor and I wish the drama was written around his character Huotu Xin, who is much more interesting than the titular character Linglong. That is one of my main gripes - the titular character Linglong is not that interesting and her relationship with Yuan Yi is sweet but does not make a lasting impression. Sadly the China market is idol-focused and there is limited room for actors like Yuan Hong who are ageing out of lead roles.

I love realistically written, opaque and intriguing characters with conflicting agendas, which is how many of the other main characters are written. That makes them so much more interesting than the OTP that I care a lot more about them and am dismayed at how callously they are dealt with. Even Li Sha and Yin Xiao are much more interesting both in terms of their personalities and abilities than the OTP. Not only was I rooting for both Wu Yuan and Yin Zhuang at the same time, I was also rooting for Wei Shengyan and Huotu Xin at the same time! It is incredible that this drama manages to resolve such win-win triangles in a way that manages to disappoint someone who is rooting for both angles. Wei Shengyan is a smart and curiously likeable protagonist who suddenly does stupid, self destructive things to force the plot towards the ending the writers wanted. I don't want to spoil the end so I will just leave it at lots of stuff happens, there are many sacrifices but Sichuan is not necessarily a better place and I don't care that much about the winners.

I enjoyed many aspects of this fantasy drama and can recommend it as a decent filler drama to watch with low expectations. I rate it 7.0.

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Goddess or Science Experiment Monster?

The Blessed Girl/ Ling Long is a drama production made by Tangren Media along with Tencent. This drama takes place in Suchuan a fictional continent. The drama narrates the story of Ling Long (Angel Zhao), who is allegedly a "goddess" / an experiment monster made by the villains. Meanwhile, Yuan Yi (Lin Yi) is the powerless young emperor of Suchuan. Together, they embark on adventures and challenges along with others to seek peace and stability in Suchuan.

The production of this drama is exquisite, and we can see that its budget is mostly spent on CGI. The CGI in this drama are really well-made in my opinion, especially the sceneries and fish boats. Then again, there are some scenes were the CGI are average/ terrible; but it is still bearble. In addition, the color schemes are really beautiful, it is rare to see historical dramas with this kind of color schemes. The color combination are bold yet goes along really well with each other. Also the styling and costumes of this drama are very immaculate and intricate. And the OSTs are also very beautiful, it managed to successfully encapsutlate the essence of the story.

The plot of this drama is not straightforward, there are a lot of flashbacks and memory travelling which may be arupt and confusing. The characters of this drama are not really well-written, the motive of their actions are not really known to the viewers which is a minus, and there are also some plot holes in the drama. However, I love how this drama highlights the relationship between Ling Long and her father. It is really heart warming to see how his father sacrifice and protect Ling Long at all costs even though he is kinda powerless.

The actors acting are average. Angel's acting is okay but Lin Yi's acting is very stoic. There are not many skinship in this drama, however, the chemistry between them is there. I personally think 40 episodes is too much for this drama. It gets really draggy in the middle, and there are a lot of unnecessary fillers. If this drama only has 24/26 episodes, it would be much better as the plot would be more straightforward and simple. The ending of the drama is not straightforward, it kinda hangs. So I am guessing there will be Ling Long S2.

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