The Legend of the White Snake (2019) First Impression
I would like to preface this with the information that I am only somewhat familiar with the original tale and the only other retelling I have experienced thus far was the White Snake animated movie of 2019. For this series I’ll be going off of the English subtitles from Netflix. Additionally I am a queer individual, so expect some queer reading on my part. Mild spoiler warning for the first twelve episodes of the series!
In light of Netflix removing the series soon I have decided to sit down to watch it before then and ended up binging the first twelve episodes in one day. Needless to say I really enjoyed it and would like to get my thoughts and appreciation out here.
To briefly touch on the visuals before getting into the characters and story, the overall vibe I got is comfortable. Like it is colourful but not oversaturated. The costumes are pretty but not over the top, similarly the makeup is clearly there but looks simple enough to not be distracting to me.
The CGI is stylized. It doesn’t try to bend over backwards to be photorealistic and I personally like that. It work for me, it’s, again, comfortable to watch.
Continuing with the characters, the one that stood out to me right away and who I grew to like very quickly is Xiao Qing.
She reads very queer to me starting off with her cultivation of a male human form for so long despite being afab. Now this was due to a desire to protect her mother and attempting to follow established gender roles thusly in a way, though she also had no apparent personal issue with it other than the transformation being a little more difficult, likely because it is a bigger change.
Then she basically flipped to a female human form on a dime out of convenience, so she could accompany Bai Suzhen. Her gender non-conformity persist in that form and all this combined to me paints a picture of her not quite caring about her own gender as such. Nevertheless I wouldn’t put any specific label on her, both because it would not be my place to do so and because I don’t see any for her other than maybe gender non-conform in a general sense.
However you cannot tell me she doesn't have a small crush on Bai Suzhen at least in the beginning.
Aside those things, the small quirk of her enjoying food is very adorable too. So far she has undergone some good character development as well becoming a better person and learning from her elders while still being true to her personality, I quite like that. One would think she’d be an annoying character at first, but she grows into a solid and likeable person.
Now to actually start from the top in terms of characters, beginning with the strong female lead Bai Suzhen.
Not only kind and compassionate, she gained enlightenment through the presence of Guanyin go figure how that might have factored into this, she is also very educated and skilled in martial arts. She is kind but not a pushover, strong willed but not obnoxious. Both a healer and a fighter depending on what is needed at the moment. Capable of handling herself, but not rejecting help when offered. All in all she’s just a great person and a highly likeable protagonist in my eyes.
The supporting ladies like Xu Jiaorong are wonderful as well when they come up, being very helpful where they can.
The male protagonists are nothing to sneeze at either! Of course our male lead Xu Xian is a kind and caring physician already making him quite likeable.
Additionally he falls in love with Bai Suzhen specifically because she is his equal and shares his values. Seeing them work together and help each other as physicians is so cute and really makes you root for them.
He is not without flaw however, much like the rest of the cast, and I am not just referring to his health troubles. While not being a particularly big character arc so far he does grow as a person and his past thus also his past growth is revealed, making his a well rounded character.
Then we have Li Gongfu.
He might not be quite as bright as our leads but is still capable in his job. He is also aware of his own shortcomings and accepts help and advice. And of course he is very loyal to his wife and clearly loves her, which is just so nice to see.
And the four immortals, which are initially with Qing and then Bai Suzhen as well, are great support characters. Funny, caring and useful! The one fight scene where they displayed the abilities of their animal forms was particularly enjoyable to watch.
So far the antagonists have been well balanced usually through an antagonist lady being paired up with antagonist men and both taking equal part in causing trouble. They have also been fleshed out rather nicely with motivations and goals as well as personal grievances.
Plus some were even somewhat sympathetic, particularly the mother who yes has done very bad things undeniably so, but has been pushed to a degree to act like that to begin with. Really a more tragic character than outright evil in my opinion.
Then we have Jin Ruyi of course, who is the classic jealous love rival.
Rather early on I developed hopes for her undergoing character development. Not necessarily in the direction of outright getting along with Bai Suzhen, but maturing, learning to see Xu Xian as his own person and subsequently letting those two be even if she might not like it. And I was pleased to see such an arc beginning towards the later end of the first twelve episodes.
She is not quite where I would like to see her yet, but she clearly has undergone development becoming less spoiled after tragedy struck her. And she can’t be blamed entirely for still being stuck to Xu Xian given how she has been strung along for a scheme by the Hu Kexin.
When speaking about character development we cannot forget about the monk Fahai.
In previous iterations he has been mostly an antagonistic force, but this time around he is here to learn! With a kind master to start him on his journey he still had to make the decision to follow his instructions of not harming the demons if his cane does not deem it necessary. Thusly he is gradually unlearning his prejudice and seeing the nuance in the world more instead of viewing it purely in black and white.
Jingsong, oh Jingsong, he messed up and he messed up big time, a supporting character turned antagonist in my eyes.
If he had decided to help with Xu Xian’s poisoning, like I believed for a moment he might, I could have seen him getting redeemed. But now that he is still so stuck in his ways and completely disregarding Bai Suzhen’s agency, no matter how ‘well meaning’ he might be, he has lost me. His mouse form is still funny though.
Last but not least shout out to Guanyin, my favourite bodhisattva, always happy to see her.
On the story overall there is not much miscommunication being the cause of problems, it is mainly other people deliberately trying to keep our two leads apart. However the two physicians have clearly growing wise to this and do not trust other peoples’ words about each other so easily anymore.
The theme of nuance is woven throughout those first twelve episodes and I am expecting this to continue. The protagonists have their flaws, some technically good people are shown to do bad things for one reason or another and some antagonists aren’t all bad either and generally have a motivation behind their actions.
In summary while it is mainly a romance drama, there are also plenty of funny moments, intrigue and suspense. I would definitely recommend giving this series a try if one has even a modicum of interest in it.
