Fei Hu Wai Zhuan (2022)

Sensuality and Death

It was a very good series. I got pretty emotional while watching it. There was a lot of action, a lot of fight scenes. There were too many hit-and-miss scenes and too many deaths. As such, the feelings that spread to those left behind, of course, passed on to me while watching. My only reservation from the drama was Qin Jun Jie. I love her very much. I watch your shows. Nice, fun player. He's into comedy. There are plenty of action and fight scenes in this series as well. Of course he wins them all. But the actress is already tall but thin. She doesn't have a flamboyant body. Not athletic. Also, it is recommended because they don't dress according to him. He looks both very thin and frail in those clothes. So, you say, what kind of hero is this? So that was not taken into account. When did it come to mind, in the last scenes. If only they had remade the clothes there. The actor would have displayed a more imposing, more tidy stance. I put a minus here. Otherwise, I really liked the cast. Valuable players. Liang Jie, Xing Fei, Lin Yu Shen, Ye Xian Ming, and others were very, very good. They fit well in their roles. Our supporting players were also excellent. The effects of the series on being so beautiful and watchable are huge. Of course, there are many mistakes, redundancies, things that should not be, fantastic events. There may be people who didn't like it, but I watched it with passion. I like. It was the kind of show I loved. And when there are famous actors and strong players, the pleasure of watching increases even more. I congratulate our director for this. He's been very busy. God bless your hands. It is an ideal series for those who like action and fight scenes, who enjoy emotionality, a little love and romance, friendship events. I advise.

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Classic wuxia in an age of extinction

Side Story of the Fox Volant is a call back to wuxia shows of the past. The martial arts displayed in the show are a wonder to see. I recommend the drama just for the beautiful fight scenes, which are well-directed, choregraphed, and performed.

The plot is based on one of Jin Yong’s earlier novels, and I found it to be one of the darkest, most brutal ones (as opposed to some more nuanced and humane of his works). There are no redemption arcs. The heroes seek revenge and actually kill their enemies in a gruesome way. There’s torture, truly evil characters, and no happy endings for most protagonists. As with many C-dramas, I found that the pace was sometimes uneven, and the last few episodes were not up to par with the dozens that had preceded them.

The cast is globally good. Lively, genial, innocent, charismatic, I found Qin Jun Jie to be a very compelling Hu Fei. In Listening Snow Tower, he had to play a completely different character (the male lead who is cold and restrained), and I was surprised by how warm and charismatic he could be. I also liked Xing Fei’s portrayal of the tormented Yuan Ziyi. She stood out for me as a complex female character, who is not just the male hero’s love interest but has her own agenda and storyline.

But my absolute favourite was Lin Yushen’s Miao Renfeng!!!! I remember watching the 2019 Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber’s adaptation, and thinking that the actor playing Yang Xiao, Moon Sect’s Left Messenger, was very handsome, dignified, and cool. Well… Lin Yushen’s Miao Renfeng is that, time one billion!!! He is the perfect soulful-eyed, melancholic hero, the too noble, peerless martial artist in a world in which the ways of the jianghu are disappearing. He steals every scene he’s in, especially when he gets to fight!

The production value was Tencent quality, that is, high. The OST was memorable. And did I say the martial arts were magical?

Like many shows, it has its flaws, but it’s a drama that every old-school wuxia fan should put on their watchlist!

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Questionable Casting

I was excited for this to air as I really enjoyed watching Lin Yu Shen in his many supportive roles in varies historical dramas. The first episode took off with a promising start. But overall story was average with mediocre dialogue at best. Nothing witty or memorable.

Costumes: some of the best I've seen. I always appreciate the fine details of these elaborate costumes. The FL had almost daily outfits.
Fight scenes: great choreography and no shortage of them.

I wish the casting matched to the characters age.

You have the drama start off with ML at the age of 13. He's smart can save bunch of people with his quick thinking then he leaves. BOOM! 5 years later he should be (18 or at least under 20) but looking like a 35-40 year old. All his youthful smarts disappeared, and he got himself almost killed many times over. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Good thing FL came to the rescue! Now the FL has a lot of historical dramas under her belt, but there was 0 chemistry between her and this ML.
Mid way through FL left and came in FL2 the poison girl. Again, this character rescued ML a million time because she's smarter than him. Somewhere along the way ML's Kungfu improved 10x and in a flash ended with an anti-climatic finish. What I call an EASY way out with so many stereotypical C-dramas.

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A tale of truth and revenge

Hu fei,played by Qin Junjie,loses his parents at a young age and believes that they were murdered by his sworn uncle,the martial hero,Miao Ren Feng.He sets out on a quest to avenge his parents death,and meets Yuan Ziyi,played by Liang Jie,who is a very studious,sincere,upright person who stands for justice even at the cost of her life.
Together,they encounter and bring down a tyrannical lord who had been the cause of suffering of a town.
Though Hu fei develops feelings for her,she restrains herself and sticks to her original plan of becoming a nun.
I liked this part of Junjie and Liang Jie,loaded with incredible actin scenes set in the backdrop of ancient China.Both of them excelled in action scenes particularly,apart from acting.
Then he meets Hero Ren Feng who lost his sight.In order to cure him,he meets Cheng Ling Su,played by Xing Fei,in the poison hand medicine valley.
The latter part focuses on finding out the truth of his parents death,kingdom and its politics,poison valley and it's hidden conspiracies and making the martial world a place for and of justice.
All the actors gave their best performances.
From the beginning to the end,it was truly engaging with not a single boring moment.
Action scenes and martial arts fights deserve a special mention which are fantastic and delightful to watch.
Truly a worthy watch.

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The miserable and melodramatic love affair of the so called Heroes'.

First of all, Welcome back? Hahaha! I can't believe it took me 2 months to finish this drama. It was dragged so much I almost forgot to continue watch it. I seriously got plenty to say, so shall we start?

Why is this Wuxia full of unnecessary dramas!? Can we just focus more on Fighting, shall we?

My disappointment and distaste over this show started when they first revealed Nan Lan. Her character introduction was a big turn off and maybe it's my intuition but at that very moment I just knew something eerie is bound to happen and I prove myself right because as the drama goes on the more horrible the story progresses. My expectations gradually getting tarnished and eventually crashed by how they terribly transition the story from all the great Wuxia action into a melodramatic mess they got themselves into. I was dumbfounded on how they took a huge leap from having the best raw and realistic martial arts executions into a brow-raising and overly tiring dramatic display. Like, how am I supposed to digest that?

It felt like the show was suddenly terrorized by some unknown disease that made it heavily focused on Love and Family affair. Even at this point, I still have that lingering irritation from the amount of tolerance I invested to finish all those episodes because I hate fast-forwarding and leaping through scenes and episodes. It's like I paid so much money to watch my favorite show only to be served by some crappy and bland illustrations. Just imagine how disappointing that was! It doesn't even help that Miao Renfang as a Husband is a total red flag. I mean, come on! I understand that it's his greatest mission to find the killer of his sworn brother but man! You got a wife and daughter to take care of. I was so pissed cause he's so irresponsible and selfish that I even find Tian Guinong a better father and husband. Well, he techinically is. He just lacks better opportunity to fully demostrate it as he was consumed by his ambition to be hailed the best.

Moving with our 3 main Leads, I feel like every single build up they did to make their characters romantically connected all went to drain. Hu Fei and Zi Yi's parts were actually great and I enjoyed it a lot but I would lie if I say I hope for them to be together. I feel like Zi Yi's personal dramas exhausted me almost the same as Miao Renfang and Nan Lan's. Her reasons were logical and understandable but she's just too complicated to my liking. Cheng Lingsu on the otherhand is my best pick. Her vibrant and amiable aura automatically made me drawn to her. Not to mention her prominent expertise in both medicine and poison. It's just too bad the script writer hated her so much. They went all out with the 'Love and Family Affair' theme only to destroy it all at the end. How tragically fucked up is that? Unbelievable!!

There are only 2 things I would commend this drama for. First, is their mind blowing martial arts execution for almost all of the fight scenes. It is more Human-like—authentic, raw and realistic. It is very different to all the Wuxia's I have watched all these years who had indescribeable and ridiculous Kung Fu skills. Second, is how satisfying they carried out the deaths of all the major antagonists on the story. I love how Feng Yiming got his death right infront of his father while Feng Tiannan getting slaughtered felt extremely satisfying. But above all, no one can beat Tian Guinong's unuttered defeat. Man was clobbered down, HARD! Incapable of fighting while pierce through by a sword and eventually got pierced again by a spear. Real definition of Vanquish!

P.S. I won't mention those pathetic Disciples of Medicine Valley and the Poison King himself cause I find them irrelevant. I don't even know why they persists till the end when they could've been eliminated much earlier. Honestly, those pathetic fools doesn't deserve recognition. They're like the guinea pig of this story... bunch of sacrificial lambs.

Story - 8.5, I'm being kind and considerate when I decided for this score. Thank god they still got prominent Martial Arts executions to vouch their lack of better decision when it comes to their absurd story progression. + The satisfying deaths of the Antagonists made it bearable and fulfilling.

Acting/Cast - 9.0, I don't really have any specific preferences when it comes to the artists but I must say that I'm quite pleased by the set of actors/actresses of this show. Specially, Xing Fei & Lin Yushen.

Music - 8.0, Among all the music from this drama, I only appreciate the Ballad song they usually use on the sad/tragic scenes. Aside from that everything is non-existent. Well, I can also remember the opening theme. I kinda like the suspense build-up tone to it.

Rewatch Value - 6.0, Sorry not sorry! But I won't watch this again. God knows how this show made me stray away from watching dramas for 2 months simply because I can't just leave a drama hanging and watch another one cause that's not my thing and I take my reviews/commentaries seriously. I guess, I'll just avoid Qing Dynasty dramas since it feels like they're more on the overly dramatic theme I'm not that fond of.

Overall - 8.5, I contemplated quite a bit with this rating but I just realized this is the highest I can go with this drama. The story's sudden transition to the Love and Family affair ruined it for me. It felt like they got no better plot in mind so they've decided to just go all out with it...which is really disappointing for me. I'm not even lying but it feels like this dramas is consist of 15% Wuxia and 85% Love affair. Doesn't that sound crazy and tiring???

IF you find my reviews helpful please let me know.

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Hardcore Wuxia

No excessive use of CGI, realistic wuxia scenes with great fight choreography. Cinematography and OST were really good too. I havent read the book yet but not a fan of how the relationship developed between ML and FL.
Idk if Qin Junjie was the person for the role, another actor might have been better?
Stars of the show for me were Xing Fei and Lin YuShen.
The stories/plots of the side couples weren't the best for me either. Like it didnt make much sense and it just felt like tragedy all round. Come on, you gotta balance a story, it cant all be tragedy, we deal with enough crap on real life.

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Miao Renfeng didn’t have the Qing Dynasty hairstyle.

Don't say that the costume of this drama Side story of Fox volant is wrong because Miao Renfeng did not have a Qing Dynasty hairstyle in the drama. Obviously, this place was deliberately done by the screenwriter and the director. Especially in the villa, when a group of so-called heroes with Qing Dynasty hairstyles. The story of Side story of Fox volant is similar to the story of martial arts “Love in Between”. The martial arts heroes VS. the imperial officers. Except there’s less tears shedding in Side story of Fox volant than Love in Between. Love in Between has a happy ending while Side story of Fox volent has a sad ending. I am a bit disappointed with the screen writer Bai Yi Cong because at the end Hu Fei didn’t have any love for his life, there’s only friendship.
Director Lian Yi Ming is good at choosing a role. Character understanding, good martial arts design, Qing hair styles and clothing are all online. Every actor is so appropriate. The most outstanding role is Yuan Ziyi. Hu Fei, Miao Renfeng, Cheng Lingsu, Ma Chunhua, and Nan Lan. There’s a lot fighting scenes and there’s many poison sucking blood to save lives. Hu Yidao was poisoned, and his wife helped Hu Yidao sucking blood. Miao Renfeng was poisoned, and the rescued woman helped Miao Renfeng sucking blood. Cheng Lingsu watched Hu Fei's poisoning deepen and deeper. She made up her mind to take out the seven-star begonia from the spiritual position of Master and hold it, and then suck out all Hu Fei's poisonous blood with her mouth. Cheng Lingsu said that Master did not record the solution to this poison because he knew that no one would sacrifice his life to save people. But Hu Fei was terminally ill for her, so she would rather save his life. Although she really wanted to see Hu Fei's beard, it's a pity that she couldn't wait at that time. Cheng Lingsu lay on Hu Fei and died happily and peacefully. Hu Fei killed Shi Wanqi with his own hands. He buried Cheng Lingsu in the snow cave and buried it with his parents and Miao people. Before the anniversary of her death, he will go to worship in person. In a blink of an eye, Hu Fei has grown into a bearded hero, and Miao Ruolan has also grown up. She asked why Hu Fei had always worn the pan jade pendant. Hu Fei told her the story of the pan that the pan was now Wei Tuo. In this life, his love with Yuan Ziyi and Cheng Lingsu, his family affection with his parents, and his love with Miao Renfeng and others were all like pans. In an instant, he bloomed in an instant and then disappeared quickly disappeared.
I love the sound tracks that sound very sad and suitable with the sad ending.
I think Side story of the Fox volant is the best Chinese martial arts in 2022. I love all the characters Hu Fei, Miao Renfeng, Cheng Lingsu, Ma Chunhua, and Nan Lan. I hope China will shoot more martial arts drama like this one anytime soon.

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Very good, despite being a Jin Yong story. ;-P

I loved this, most of the time.
I'm not going to talk about how good of an adaptation it is, because I've not read the story and there are other reviews for that.
I'll say though - some people mention that the characters were altered and "wicked" ones were made more sympathetic. That it "dilutes" the story that was originally much more cynical.
Well thanks for that, thank goodness!
It's a Jin Yong story, so you know it's gonna end tragically, and it sure does. But I appreciated that it was made lighter and less depressing throughout.
I will also say that I still hate the everpresent wuxia concept of heroic sacrifice of life/happiness for duty.
OK, wuxia blasphemy over.
Overall thoughts before a list of random stuff: The show is well done and works on almost every level. Its look is quite striking - contrasty and mostly well and interestingly lit. The fights are well choreographed, but sometimes suffer from overly rapid edits and quick cuts, it's disorienting. The truly important moments deliver the impact. Music is actually memorable. The characters are well defined and most of them complex. The actors have great chemistry and even the child actors for Hu Fei and Xiaomei were very good and entertaining. There's some dodgy dubbing, Peter Ho's character for instance and the two little sons. Most main characters sound very good though.
Random thoughts:
- buddhism is fucking dumb and cowardly
- all this love and all of it unfulfilled, almost like that's one of themes. Still salty about it tho.
- poison girl is bae, in every adaptation of these stories I've watched actually. Loved her.
- Hu Fei has a thing for strong girls who tell him what to do. I can relate.
- Qin Jun Jie actually looks like he could fight, an extremely rare thing for a wuxia protagonist lately. Sad, but we take those.

I'll probably rewatch this someday, because it's genuinely good. But man, I might just turn it off a bit before the very end.

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TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!!

I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm geniunely fuming. I'm literally lost for words. I cannot describe the hype I had for this drama just a month or so after Heroes. We are in 2022 people and we are getting such output from the modern day screenwriters. This is a prime example of a small man in a huge suit; the cast was brilliant and I won't take that away from them as they did their best to fulfil their parts, the music was bang on as it was the right music for the right type of drama and the effects just came in time, the editing was also bang on but they were all let down by the story. That story writer let them down massively; You literally cannot turn your back to your actors and the rest of the team like that.

Let's first delv into the story: It was basically drag and you kept going towards the wrong road but you kept on still. The story hits me like one written by an arrogant or amateur writer, am sorry! That's how I'm feeling right now. I would kindly want to know why that young girl (Xiaomei) was kept in the drama for that long and even given all that screentime and why was she playing the role of an adult. Then we go on, why did those two young kids suddenly become an issue in the climax episodes then theree's also the medicine sect story with the silly disciples who were to be honest introduced poorly to the story. My main issue if you're to ask me is the useless side stories (Maybe it's what the story is all about: "Side story") in the drama. The mistakes in this drama put straight: The Feng Tiannan story shouldn't have gone on for that long, Guinong and his wife carried on for too long, The medicine sect disciples were really pointless Xiaomei's role misplacement. And that's just a tip of the iceberg.

To sum this drama, it's just poor. Poor from the writer and the rest of the team had to try their best to get the drama into line but it was too late for me. I carried on watching because I wanted to see the last episodes of the fights. The drama itself is definitely not worth your time - you serious drama watcher. It's just like Legend of the nine tails fox if you have watched.

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As far as Jin Yong adaptations go, this one is subpar. It does have a few bursts of brilliance, but every time I rewatch it I see more flaws. It’s hard to get past the poorly-written characters and hammy acting.

Lin Yu Shen is a brilliant actor who needs no dialogue. He can convey so much emotion with just his eyes, gestures, and micro expressions. His Miao Ren Feng is both a hero and a victim. Unfortunately, he spends way too much time being a victim, especially of a loser like Tian Gui Nong.

Qin Jun Jie is a bit of a miscast here. He can act, although his smile is less like a hero and more of a rogue. His demeanor is more suited to irreverent roles like Linghu Chong or Wei Xiaobao, but not a straight up hero like Hu Fei. Unlike the cliffhanger in the book, Hu Fei does get closure on his relationship with Miao Ren Feng in a very emotionally-charged scene. I’m ok with them killing off Miao, but I have a big problem with Hu Fei not avenging his death. For someone whose entire journey is about revenge and justice, this feels like a betrayal of Hu Fei’s character.

Hu Fei’s two love interests are woefully underdeveloped. We only get to see the tough side of Yuan Zi Yi but not nearly enough of her tragic backstory, making it hard to understand her motivations and why she would choose nunhood over Hu Fei. Cheng Ling Su is too perfect to be real or interesting.

The screenwriters really don’t know what they’re doing in making “gray” characters, especially with the likes of Tian Gui Nong, Nan Lan and Fu Kang’an. They waste so many scenes trying to show Tian as a family man only to undo it all at the very end, painting him as a flat, irredeemable villain. As for Nan Lan, the actress couldn’t grasp the complexity of the character. Instead of a woman being torn between two men, she just toggles between them like a light switch. And Fu Kang’an somehow gets his own love story which drags out like a boring palace drama.

Then there’s the overacting the nth degree, especially from veteran actors like Peter Ho and Liu Xue Hua. Many of the supporting actors are so exaggerated they might as well be cartoons. The climatic scene with the extras is just cringe because the director somehow decides that extras can act.

The fight scenes are competent, keeping the wirefu to a minimum. But even the best kungfu choreography is no good if viewers don’t care about the characters. Except for Miao Ren Feng, the rest of them are either annoying or forgettable.

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Realistic Wuxia drama-don't expect happy ending because there is no happy ending in life also

The most realistic wuxia drama because the cast is not heavily with makeup


need to watch each so that you can understand the secret lies between each character
From beginning to end the plot rises in each episode from the first meeting till the last episode
If you expect a happily ever after story just don't watch this story
This story is so realistic there is no happy ending it's just the way how we move on with our life
AT first, i thought they will not go deep down into Mioa renfeng live but this show has another story plot for miao renfeng
which i hated the most her wife the most selfish human being
How can she just go back Miao renfeng and want to live again with her ex-husband after she betrays her ?
She just wants to perfect husband and wife relay in Miao Renfeng but he couldn't give up and suddenly have heart changes. So so so shellfish
After she can't conceive suddenly she remembers Miao.
But badass Miao just doesn't care after she leaves he still feels hurtful but for martial arts, they need to have a brazen heart and come back to take her child, which is what you can know he is a really responsible father and wants to leave martial arts but he so many enemies that why he can't leave martial arts so sudden.

For Hu fei and Zi yi love story i think is the most realistic one, from the very first moment she really appreciates Fei in her from the moment she dragged Fei body and the moment she prays sincerely to buddha to heal Fei you can know she really loves Fei. Because she already tagged with Tianshan Sect which practices Buddha way, she cants go back to Fei
It is really sad when the last moment she becomes a nun crying and the last moment she sees Fei before going back to her sect.

Really sad that most of the characters have died because want to save their loved ones,
If you really look into this drama deep down you can see that they have their own value

Please watch this drama even though they do not have any popular ML or FL but each character is portrayed really well

The last realistic wuxia drama that I watch The legend of condor heroes that has Liu yifei in it
after that most of the wuxia drama mostly ML and FL is heavily make-up and dyeing their hair which is obviously really ridiculous

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