Madame White Snake

Cast:
Bai Su Zhen (White Snake) – Liu Tao
Xiao Qing (Green Snake) – Chen Zi Han (a.k.a Chen Sha Sha)
Xu Xian – Pan Yue Ming
Fa Hai – Liu Xiao Feng
Lian Qiao – Liu Xi Yuan
Ba Liang – Xie Ning

Synopsis:
Based on the famous Chinese legend, "Bai She Zhuan" is a story that focuses on the love between a mortal man and a snake spirit.

Bai Su Zhen is a thousand-year-old white snake spirit whose goal is to become an immortal. Seeing Bai's earnest and determined attitude, the Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin) has agreed to help her. Following the Goddess's advice, Bai rescues Xiao Qing, a five-hundred-year-old green snake spirit, and the two become almost like sisters.

Their quest for immortality leads them to Half Step More (Ban Bu Duo), a place that exists in between the mortal world and the spirit world. There, they meet two humans who had accidentally stumbled into Half Step More: Xu Xian, a nerdy, weak, but caring young man, and his saber-wielding friend Ba Liang.

Events involving a journey into the spirit world and back: a battle with a monk who's convinced that all spirits are evil, and the snakes risking their lives for the humans and likewise firmly seals their friendship, even overturning the humans' prejudice against spirits. In the process, Xu Xian falls in love with Bai Su Zhen, and she unknowingly starts to like him as well.

However, Half Step More is no place for those two, and Bai is determined to send them back to the mortal world. The journey back requires that they pass through an area where hammers knock away their memories of Half Step More. Xu Xian does not want to go because he does not want to forget Bai Su Zhen, but she will not allow him to stay. Because she has started liking him, she does, however, tell him that as long as he doesn't look back, the hammers cannot hit him. Unfortunately, just as he is about to cross back into the mortal world, the monk Fa Hai tricks him into turning back by disguising himself as Bai Su Zhen. Xu Xian then forgets everything, including his love for Bai.

The Goddess of Mercy once again appears before Bai Su Zhen and Xiao Qing, and she tells them that in order to become immortal, they must collect eight real drops of tears from the mortal world. And so, the two snakes find their way to the mortal world and coincidentally end up in the same town as Xu Xian. They meet again on a rainy day when Xu Xian ends up Bai's boat on its passage across Xi Hu (West Lake). Bai Su Zhen is sad to see that he has forgotten about her while he falls in love with her once again.

As they continue to run into each other on the streets, Bai Su Zhen realizes that she has fallen in love with Xu Xian, and he decides to propose to her. However, since she believes that becoming immortal is still more important, Bai tries her best to repress her feelings but to no avail. Eventually, she gives in and agrees to marry him. She then promises the Goddess of Mercy that once she fulfills Xu Xian's two greatest wishes (one, to be a famous doctor and two, to marry an awesome wife) she will pull herself away and continue with her quest for immortality.

As they settle happily into married life, the forces around them continue to try to pull them apart. From the evil monk Fa Hai to Lian Qiao (a girl who likes Xu Xian and believes that Bai is an evil snake spirit) to even heaven itself, all signs attempt to point out that their love is forbidden, that it is against heaven for a spirit to be with a human.

Bai She Zhuan is the story of how their love overcame these obstacles, and how it transcended even the laws of heaven.

Acting:

Liu Tao as Bai Su Zhen - Many people love to compare her to Angie Chiu who portrayed Bai in the classic series made in the 90s. Liu Tao herself has said that she's an Angie fan and that she wouldn't dare compare her performance to Angie's. That being said, I think that she did an excellent job of portraying a different type of Bai Su Zhen. Angie's Bai gives off a very ethereal feel; to me, her Bai Niang Zi is almost like the Goddess of Mercy herself. Liu Tao's Bai is more down-to-earth. While she's more beautiful than all the other women and while her heart is way too forgiving, she is still just a woman when it comes to Xu Xian.

In an interview, Liu Tao talked about how this role was such a challenge for her, because Bai Su Zhen isn't human and therefore cannot express her feelings through tears. So in those tear-jerking scenes, she had to find some other way to express her sorrow, and she chose to do so through her eyes. I believe she did a great job with that. In every scene, all one needed to do was just look into her eyes, and everything would be clear. Her every gesture, every smile, every look portrayed this version's Bai Su Zhen perfectly.

Chen Zi Han as Xiao Qing – She doesn't have the allure of Maggie Cheung nor the spunk of Chen Mei Qi, but again, this was a different type of Xiao Qing. The producers chose to emphasize the sisterly bond between Bai Su Zhen and Xiao Qing, and Chen Zi Han played that out perfectly. She was the irrational, quick to judge, playful, yet caring little sister that always followed her older sister around. While Chen Zi Han initially seemed a little uncomfortable in the role, she quickly warmed up and became Xiao Qing. Throughout the series, we are constantly reminded of their relationship. Wherever Bai Su Zhen goes, there is Xiao Qing right behind her, every step of the way. At the same time, Xiao Qing also acts as sort of a foil for Bai Su Zhen, and she provides the humor and the sarcasm that help lighten things up. Chen Zi Han does extremely well in those moments where Xiao Qing vehemently expresses her opinions, and we can tell that those are Bai's thoughts as well even though she refuses to voice them.

Pan Yue Ming as Xu Xian – I loved him as Xu Xian. I've always thought the old adaptation was a little weird, because they had Cecilia Yip play Xu Xian. To me, it just seemed kind of awkward even though Cecilia did an amazing job. Yet, I never truly liked that Xu Xian, because he was so weak and useless that I almost felt sorry for Bai Su Zhen. However, in this version, I can definitely see why Bai fell for him and gave up immortality for him. While he is still weak and nerdy, he always manages to make me smile because the little things he does are really touching. And while he's afraid of death, of weapons, of many things, he would willingly die for Bai Su Zhen. Even though he can be so indecisive that you want to slap him, he's a true man when it comes to what really matters. Pan Yue Ming really brought this out. He really became the stumbling, clueless, yet adorable Xu Xian.

Liu Xiao Feng as Fa Hai – I've always hated the monk, and I'd like to applaud Liu Xiao Feng for making me hate him even more. Fa Hai was fleshed out better in this adaptation. Instead of just seeing an old monk who won't mind his own business, you see a Fa Hai who believes that his point in life is to eliminate spirits. He clings to the belief that Buddha wants all spirits gone because they are evil, even when he meets Bai Su Zhen, who is obviously not evil. His refusal to see the truth is what fuels his relentless attempts to separate Xu Xian and Bai Su Zhen. Liu Xiao Feng really brought out Fa Hai's stubbornness and physical/mental blindness. I've never seen someone play a blind man so well. It seemed very natural and not exaggerated at all.

Liu Xi Yuan as Lian Qiao – Her character was created by the producers to be another love interest for Xu Xian. The purpose of her character was also to show how devoted Xu Xian and Bai Su Zhen were to each other even if there were other people who liked them. While that was nice and all, Liao Qian really drove me nuts during most of the series. Personally, I thought she was desperate, delusional, and quite pathetic in her attempts to get Xu Xian even though she knew that he was still in love with Bai. And I almost hated her when she used the “I'm trying to save you from the snake spirit” excuse to try to separate Xu Xian and Bai Su Zhen. However, while I thought her character was somewhat unnecessary, I really liked the actress's convincing portrayal, and I feel sorry for her having to play such an irritating character.

Cinematography, Costumes, and Music:
I loved the scenery, but then again, since the story takes place by West Lake, it has to be pretty. Some of the action sequences weren't quite as good as what you would see in a wuxia series, but the main focus isn't on the fighting. There was quite a bit of computer animation, and while I can see the need for it, it threw off some of the scenes. It's just not as romantic when certain things didn't look very realistic. But such is the trend with a lot of recent series.

I loved the costumes. Liu Tao looked gorgeous, although she tended to look a little more plain once Bai married Xu Xian just because the producers wanted to give off the feel of her fitting into society. Xu Xian looked exactly the way I imagined he would look, and he even reminded me of Duan Yu in "Demi Gods Semi Devils" '97.

Music-wise, I loved the opening theme "Ai Zai Ren Jian" (Love in the Mortal World) sung by Man Wen Jun. The lyrics and the melody were just beautiful; they perfectly described the love between Xu Xian and Bai Su Zhen. The ending theme "Jin Sheng Ni Zuo Ban" sung by Kelly Chen wasn't all that great though. And for those Liu Tao fans out there, you finally get to hear her sing in the very last episode. It's a slow emotional ballad with light accompaniment that isn't very impressionable at first. Perhaps listening to it again might make me like it more. In general, the music can't really compare with the classic themes from the old version, but I did think that it fit this version because it was more emotional.

Last Thoughts:
I know many of you grew up watching Angie Chiu's version of "Madame White Snake", but when you watch this version, try not to compare the two. This is a very different take on the same legend, and the whole feel of the story has changed. The old version has a classic Chinese story feel to it whereas this one focuses on the immutable love between Xu Xian and Bai Su Zhen. So I can't really say that this is better or worse than the other version. It's just different, and I can honestly say that I love it. I've always loved the legend, and this adaptation did it justice.

Official site: http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/f/baisz/index.html