Xiao Shiyi Lang

Cast:
Xiao Shi Yi Lang - Nicky Wu
Shen Bijun - Athena Chu
Lian Chengbi - Yu Bo
Feng Siniang - Ma Ya Shu

Plot:
I think I do not have to go through much of the plot. Basically Xiao Shi Yi Lang (Xiao) is a thief who happens to disrupt the wedding preparations of Shen Bijun, who is supposed to marry Lian Chengbi. As expected, Shen and Xiao fall in love, but in order to please her granny and help maintain the Shen manor, she has no choice but to marry Lian. Their paths cross as Xiao turns out to be the protector of the Deer Slaying Sabre that has been under the protection of the Shens all this time.

The bad guys here are Xiao Yao Hou and Lian, whereby the former is actually a Lian and is out to get the sabre and get rid of Lian, while the latter is actually not a Lian and turns out to be a real baddie. He is really mean to Shen and keeps on hurting the people around her in order to try and snatch her away from Xiao.

On the sideline, there is Feng Siniang who has been secretly loving Xiao since she saved him as a kid, and Yang Kaitai, who is in love with her. His father Yang Kai Zhan turns out to be Xiao Yao Hou. There is also Lian's younger sister and her love affair with one of Xiao Yao Hou's henchmen.

I watched this version after having caught the TVB one, and I must say that this version is really, really much more entertaining and enjoyable compared to the TVB version. Although much of the plot differs, the characters and the plot of this version are definitely more engaging and comical. I laughed endlessly watching their interaction.

Xiao Shi Yi Lang:
Nicky Wu (whom I absolutely adore) played Xiao to perfection. If you were to compare Felix Wong's portrayal with Nicky's, I think Nicky definitely gave us a better feel of Xiao as a carefree, fun-loving, playful and romantic lover, all rolled into one. While Felix's portrayal had not much of a character and made one guess on and on whether he and Feng or Shen were ending up together, Nicky's portrayal was very clear. From the beginning till the end, it was very clear that he loved Shen, and one will be amazed at the sacrifices he made for her.

Nicky's performance was splendid. He made me laugh alot, especially when he made fun of the people around him and gave that very michevious smile that would melt your heart. He portrayed the playful nature of Xiao convincingly, and made you really crack up.

Compared to his portrayal in the other series 'Treasure Venture', his character here certainly had much more life. Thumbs up Nicky, I certainly did not pick the wrong heartthrob to drool over.

Shen Bijun:
Athena is definitely much more lovable and adorable than Anne's portrayal of Shen in the TVB version. Admittedly, it seems that is due to the considerable age and time differences. In this version, Shen only just got married while in tht TVB version, she had already been married for quite some time. Shen's character here was playful and sweet and very gentle, you will like her much more than Anne's portrayal. But the frail side of Shen can be a little irritating, she was constantly plagued by some illness or injury, and she was quite irritatingly stupid at times. Perhaps this was because it was clear to us viewers that Xiao was so in love with her, yet she misunderstood his intentions not once but twice, and even stabbed him once. But perhaps that just showed more clearly how much Xiao loved her. As the show progressed, it could be a bit boring watching her because her character was very weak and constantly injured, but in the end, her rosy personality came back and her happy reunion with Xiao showed why they both made such a cute couple together.

Lian Chengbi:
Yu Bo's character is by far the character with the best improvement from the TVB version. Although I absolutely have no idea who this actor is, he is really good-looking and looks like Singapore's Christopher Lee, but without the wrinkles. Lian started out as very charming, but you will slowly see how his suspicions of Shen caused him to ill-treat her and finally caused him to divorce her (which ironically allowed Shen and Xiao to be together). Lian was really sly and evil to the core. This evil within was brought out by his jealousy towards Shen and Xiao, but somehow you feel pity for him because no matter how evil he was or how ruthlessly he tried to harm Xiao, Shen never stopped loving Xiao. This guy was really psychotic at times, especially how he locked up Shen in a metal casing with spikes in it. This actor was really good at playing Lian, he played it with such relish that you almost believed that the actor was like that. And on top of that, he is really good-looking.

Feng Siniang:
I liked Maggie Siu's portrayal of Feng in the TVB version and the actress even more, but after watching this, I liked Ma Ya Shu's version even better. I think that Ma's portrayal is closer to Gu Long's Feng, who is supposed to be a very bewitching woman. Ma played it really well, she was extremely teasing, coy and flirtatious, you will enjoy the scenes where she twirled Yang Kaitai around her finger. Although she could be a little whiny at times and it is frustrating to see her so indecisive about Yang, it is still enjoyable to see her trying to hide her affection for Yang from Xiao.

Yang Kaitai:
Although this version's Yang is slightly different from the TVB's version, whereby this one is a horse-breeder while the other is a gentlman whose father owns a bank (if I'm not wrong), I prefer the TVB's version. The TVB Yang was blur and foolish, but not stupid. This one seemed to be a bit stupid at times, whereby he seemed to have no mind of his own. Moreover he isn't as good-looking as the other actor.

Xiao Yao Hou:
Both versions differ greatly, but TVB's version had a Xiao Yao Hou who was more skilful and charismatic. But this version had a Xiao Yao Hou who had two sides, the evil side whereby he treated his disciples like junk and the loving, fatherly side to Yang.

Other minor characters:
Ni Qiu - This character served Yang. He was highly irritating.

Lian Chen Jin - Lian's younger sister. She too was irritating and it was not neccessary for her role to be present.

Bai Yang & Lu Liu - These two old men were experts at using poisons and were bound to serve Lian faithfully. They ended up committing evil deeds as instructed by Lian, but managed to turn over a new leaf in time. Bai Yang was foolish and irritating, but Lu Liu was more decisive and you will be more appreciative of his character.

Yu Lao Lao - Nanny to Shen, very whiny, also very irritating.

Er Guo Tou/Xiao Pei - He was Xiao's father. As Er Guo Tou, he was also very irritating, but later on he improved as Xiao's father.

Couples:

Xiao and Shen:
Amazing chemistry right from the beginning. As Xiao was charming Shen, he was also charming the viewers. Both were very cute together, loved each other very much and you will see the hardship that they had to go through, caused mainly by Lian, of course.

Lian and Shen:
Not much to say, never really much of a relationship to begin with since he never reallly trusted her and she never really loved him.

Feng and Yang:
Funny couple. It was funny to see Feng trying to stop herself from liking Yang, and whenever Yang tried to leave her, she threw a tantrum.

Feng and Xiao:
Clear from the beginning that they were just brother and sister.

Costumes:
Xiao's clothes were bewildering, you have no idea what he was wearing. Sometimes he looked as if he was wearing a body suit. Later on in the show, his clothes became a bit ninja-like, but overall, Nicky looked good in them.

Lian's clothes were nice and he had nice hairstyles which really made the actor look dashing and suave. Later on he donned this weird red outfit, but still cut a fine figure. The red outfit was really queer, it had some bra-like thing in front and made me want to burst out laughing.

Shen's clothes were typical of a lady-like demure character.

Feng's clothes were nice and very colourful. Initally, it was one set of clothes in bright baby pink, blue and purple. Later on she wore this nice black and gold outfit. Ma looked really pretty in her clothes.

Favourite moments:

a) All of Xiao's moments with Shen - very sweet and funny too.
b) First meeting of Shen and Xiao, both cut their palms on the same hand, as if they were destined to be together.
c) Last scene of both of them, when Xiao teased Shen that if she did not want to marry him, he would wait until she grew old and wrinkled, and see whether she still didn't want to marry him. Their expressions were very funny.
d) Scenes where Shen talked back at Lian - see the spunky side of her.
e) Feng trying to hide her liking for Yang.
f) Xiao managing to trick his father into revealing his identity.

Theme Songs:
Nicky Wu's - Zhuan Wan:
A very typical 'wuxia' song and one is likely to like it at the first time of hearing. Beautiful music.

Nicky Wu's - Yin Man:
I have not had a chance to hear this song in full, only heard on one of the episodes. It was not bad, slightly more pop-ish.

Athena Chu - Ni Wo Zhi Jian:
This song is kind of unusual, not your typical wuxia or even chinese song. You need some time to listen to it for it to grow on you.

Overall:

This show is very good, a good balance of romance and sword-fighting. It is a bit draggy at times, but what I like about it is that it does not have those typical episodes whereby the hero or heroine falls down some cliff or meets some weird characters and then the five to six episodes are spent regarding those few characters. This show is quite cut-to-the-chase and there is not much deviation from the main plot. It manages to entice the viewer to continue watching one episode after another. Overall, it is very enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys wuxia shows.