Xiao Shiyi Lang

*Viet title: Hiep Dao Thap Nhat Lan

Cast:
Nicky Wu
Athena Chu
Ma Ya Shu
Yu Bo

It’s a Gu Long story. When it comes to stories, Gu Long can do no wrong for me. I love his heroes, even if they are a bit kooky. Xiao Shiyi Lang is no exception. Like other Gu Long heroes, Xiao Shiyi Lang’s martial arts origins are undefined, though he is an exceptional fighter.

Xiao Shiyi Lang (XSL) (played by Nicky Wu), is a carefree thief - think Robin Hood. He has a friend named Feng Siniang (Ma Ya Shu) who has loved him all her life, but he only regards her as a sister. On one particular mission, XSL gets embroiled in the battle for the Deer Carver Sabre, comes into contact with Shen Bijun (Athena Chu) and eventually discovers his hidden past as well as his missing father.

XSL and Shen are almost a case of love at first sight. However, like Romeo and Juliet, our hero and heroine seem destined to be separated from the start. For one, Shen is from a prominent family and is engaged to Lian Chengbi, the handsome and talented son of another prominent family. Secondly, XSL is merely a thief with no past and a tarnished reputation. Despite that and all the drama that ensued, the two do get together in the end, which is a deviation from Gu Long’s storyline, but I found that I liked XSL far too much for him to have such a sad ending so I rather liked this deviation.

There’re two romances going on here, and the entire story is fairly involved. There’s the main romance between XSL and Shen, and the events surrounding them drive the series. However, that doesn’t make the second romance between Feng Siniang and Yang Kaitai any less important. Like XSL and Shen, this couple’s situation seems fairly hopeless, though Shen’s societal position is more prominent than Kaitai’s. Yang Kaitai is the son of Yang Tianzan, who later proves to be one of the two villains in the drama. The Yangs are prosperous horse breeders who run a ranch owned by Lian Chengbi’s family. However, for a budding businessman, Kaitai was completely taken by the thief in Feng Shiniang and completely falls head over heels for her. Once again, despite all the differences and the ensuing drama, Kaitai and Siniang do get together in the end. In fact, this serial ends with their wedding.

There’s certainly nothing special in this story, and it certainly is not accurate to Gu Long’s novel of the same name. However, the cast was very likable with a rather good story backing them up. For a romance, this has more than enough to pull you in. For a traditional wuxia drama, it’s a fairly decent attempt. With the exception of the last fight scene where far more than enough CGI was used, the fight scenes were actually quite good. The hero’s honour wasn’t compromised by his love for the heroine.

As for the villains, they were a little odd. As said, this was a two-volume novel written by Gu Long, so there were also two villains. The first villain was Yang Tianzan, and while he made a good villain, he did not seem to be that villainous and some of his actions were never fully explained. However, since he’s actually the villain you’re supposed to sympathize with, it’s okay. The second villain actually turns out to be Lian Chengbi, which is not at all surprising when you start to watch the series. Lian turns out to be more evil than Yang Tianzan, and I really never liked him at all. I felt a bit sorry for him in the beginning, but he turned out to be far too selfish for my continued sympathy, which is good since he died horribly in the end.

CAST: Well, I’m biased since I rather liked the actors in this serial. Nicky Wu made a very likeable romantic thief with a soul. Athena Chu’s acting was pretty decent here, but her character didn’t really allow her to stretch her wings much. Shen Bijun is pretty much the damsel in distress (and she’s very often in distress) so it’s not going to be a character I particularly love in the first place. However, Chu’s acting was good and the character ended up being rather likeable. There’s also that one portion when Lian was missing, and Shen had to take over the reins of the Lian family. That part was great, and I loved that particular Shen. I adored Ma Ya Shu, and she’s definitely my favorite female of the series. Feng Siniang was lovable and adorable. If you liked her, you would like Kaitai by default simply because he had the good sense to fall for her. The rest of the cast were, more or less, rather good for their roles, but there wasn't a whole lot of character development here. For the most part, none of the characters are particularly memorable, though that doesn’t mean they were bad; it was simply that they weren’t very memorable. However, the guy who played the role of XSL’s father was pretty good and must be noted. (He appears as the eldest Wudang hero in HSDS 2003.) He was funny, and you could kind of feel his annoyance at his only son, who was just ambling through life.

STORY: Like I said, Gu Long’s stories are a favorite of mine, and this one is no exception. It was cute and very likeable. However, this serial deviates from the novel quite a bit, the most notable part being the ending, but I liked it anyway. It’s certainly not Chor Lau Heung or anything like Jin Yong’s works, but it was likeable.

OVERALL: Well, it’s not 5-star material since the basic story wasn’t 5-star material. However, it was a good serial. The romances drew me in. For what was supposed to be a wuxia, it’s not too bad. There’s certainly less “wu” and more “xia” than can be found in your average drama, but that’s what made this one stand out for me. In short, I liked it; I give it 3.5 stars.

Screenshots: http://www.sina.com