Oh boy, this drama is going to end with us needing a bucket, yes? A bucket to catch the river of tears sure to come, because the just released official MV of the closing theme song for the upcoming period wuxia drama King of Lan Ling convinces me there is no way in drama Heaven or Hell the OTP is going to get a happy ending. They are too cute and too in love and entire Kingdoms are at stake, clearly one or both will bite the dust in the end. The most high profile C-drama left to premiere this Summer is hands down the King of Lan Ling starring Feng Shao Feng as the titular King, Ariel Lin as his beloved soothsayer goddess, and Daniel Chan as the love and country rival the King of the Kingdom of Zhou. This drama finished filming last year and trailers and stills have been floating around for quite some time, but it’s nice to see fresh material released as the mid-August premiere date approaches. Much as this is a fictional account of the legendary life of the King of Lan Ling Gao Chang Gong, there is no way SARFT would have approved this drama if in the end he doesn’t die since in history he totally dies (rumored was he was forced to commit suicide). Witness the no-airing hell that the drama adaptation of Da Mo Yao is currently stuck in with SARFT, all because in the novel the real life historical figure of General Huo Qu Bing of the Han dynasty was turned into a love-sick puppy and in the end faked his own death to be with his beloved. To say that fictional take ruffled feathers is an understatement. So if we all accept going in that Gao Chang Gong is going to die some glorious death for his beloved and/or country, then we’ll all be able to enjoy the pretty without worry too much about the sad ending. We know it’s sad and we’re ready for it! And there will be tons of pretty here – the drama is produced by Taiwanese producer Chen Yu Shan who did Autumn’s Concerto and Material Queen, and the slew of pretty boys in addition to the two leads also include George Hu and Shawn Wei. While Taiwanese rock group May Day does the opening theme song based on the famous tune of The Battle March of the King of Lan Ling, C-songstress Della Ding croons the ending theme which is a love ballad and the MV only consists of OTP romantic moments. I dig that. Check out the official MV below and we’re less than a month away from this drama’s long-awaited premiere.
Official Closing Theme Song MV – Della Ding “In the Palm My Hands”:
not feeling the drama, but the song is beautiful, love Della Ding’s voice
Oh God, they look adorable and doomed (you may say that we’ll be ready because we know it ends badly, but that is optimistic, as far as I am concerned. I am sure I’ll be a wreck).
It’s my most anticipated for 2013.
A non-rhetorical question – how come Da Mo Yao is stuck in SARFT hell but Yu Zheng’s dramas never have problems sailing through? I mean, much as I adored Gong, not only was it pretty much Hanadan with queues, it gave the Eighth Prince a happy ending! And then there is that horrific Beauties of the Emperor that hooks up Xiang Yu and Empress Lu Zhi. They make DMY seem like a history recitation,
I think it’s cuz DMY has Huo Qu Bing (a famous historic patriot) run off with a girl and become a deserter and abandon his country. The true HQB was well known for sacrificing himself for his country and dying in battle, so many people (including the SARFT) think that DMY’s depiction of HQB is an insult to Chinese history/patriotism…
I think Yu Zheng also knows how to pick his battles better than Tang Ren (the production company behind Da Mo Yao). I think TR started shooting before SARFT had even given its preliminary approval, so that’s Strike One. Also, even though Beauties of the Emperor was supposed to be a “re-imagining” (ha) of Xiang Yu/Lu Zhi, when SARFT threw its weight around and strongly objected, YZ changed the names in the final product. Compare that to TR, who if rumors are to be believed, absolutely refuses to kill off HQB or anything of the sort despite that being what SARFT wants – so Strike Two.
I think TR would’ve been smart to take a page from YZ’s book and simply change the name of HQB’s character to something not HQB. They could’ve kept him as a great general – just not the HQB who’s venerated in Chinese history. However, at this point, even that tactic might not be able to save DMY anymore, if SARFT is so fed up with TR that it would rather choose to prove its point by perpetually blacklisting DMY.
I forgot to add – don’t let me falsely raise any hopes up, but it seems like there MIGHT be a chance of a HEA for our OTP in Lan Ling Wang. All the same, I’m going to prepare myself for a rocks-fall-down ending anyway, since that’s generally what happens in these kinds of series.
In the MV above, there’s a brief scene of a disheveled Feng Shao Feng/LLW discretely looking in on Ariel Lin/Yang Xue Wu, who’s rocking a baby in a crib.
In a video clip that I saw a month or so ago, LLW commits suicide/drinks poison by order of his brother the emperor, and in the meantime, YXW is spirited away by the Emperor of Zhou (Daniel Chan’s character), most likely by request of LLW, since once he’s dead, he can no longer protect her from his enemies. YXW is also pregnant, by the way. At the end of the video clip, LLW awakens in a vault, and from piecing together information from the trailers, it seems that George Hu’s character meddled with the poison so that LLW would appear to be dead after drinking it but was in fact only put into a deep sleep.
Thus, it’s possible that YXW gave birth to her and LLW’s baby, and LLW came to find her after he revived.
Such an ending could pass muster with SARFT since LLW couldn’t exactly go back to his brother/the emperor and say, “Hey, you tried to kill me but that didn’t work out, so please let me fight for our country again, even though you tried to kill me in the first place because I was too good at defending our country.” Also, LLW’s legacy/legend is half-mythic anyway, and he’s not nearly of the same national/patriotic importance as HQB or Yue Fei, so meddling with his ending a bit shouldn’t give SARFT nearly the same aneurysm as casting HQB as a lovesick deserter.
@ V:
I think you’re right about the reasons for DMY’s ban. YZ knew how to play his cards right whereas TR really pissed off the SARFT with their stubbornness.
Also, thank you for giving me hope about the LLW ending! I know history says he died, but I really want to see a happy ending for our LLW OTP! You’re right about how LLW is half mythic, half historical, so if the drama ended the way you described it, it shouldn’t piss off the SARFT the way meddling with HQB or Yue Fei would. It’s different because HQB and especially Yue Fei – these 2 characters are almost synonymous with patriotism, so messing with their stories will offend many people including the SARFT.
Excited for this drama to air. Itching for something good to watch!
Ockoala, I love it when you post about chinese/taiwan dramas because there are not as many english websites that give coverage. Support!
Della Ding has an amazing voice which is suited to both modern and traditional music!
I am excited for this drama!
I’m not buying the leads chemistry – it feels more excessively cheesy and dramatized. As much as I like this director, I’m not feeling the romance so will probably have to say no to this.
Does anyone have an idea about where this drama might be available with English subs? Thank you.
viki has a page for it.
Thank you 🙂
BEAUTIFUL VIDEO.
BEAUTIFUL SONG.
OMG I’m teary already. History says that King Lan Ling was forced to drink poison by his evil imperial family and his wife was said to have become a nun…
I think this drama’s gonna have a sad ending cuz in one of the earlier trailers it showed a prophecy that Ariel’s character would love a man destined to die, and before Ariel’s character went out into the world, her master warned her about it…
Can’t wait!!! If I can recall correctly I believe Della did the opening or ending songs for Autumn Concerto! Beautiful voice! Thanks for the updates!!!
OMG I’M SOOOOO HYPER FOR THIS DRAMA!!!!
btw can someone translate this beautiful song 😀
I have just finished watching upto the 19th episode online (in chinese). This is a really good C-drama. I have anticipated this drama for a long time and so far, it has not let me down.