Yu Long

Yu Long (aka Miss the Dragon) is about dragon king Yuchi Longyan (Dylan Wang) who falls in love with mortal girl Liuying (Xudan Zhu) and sets out to protect her through four lifetimes. It might not have the best writing, direction, cgi and acting, but the sweet romance between the leads is irresistibly charming. The second couple is also delightful.

At times funny and sometimes heartbreaking, it is generally lighthearted, a refreshing break from heavy and tiresome dramas laden with intrigues and misunderstandings. It portrays the first blush of pure, innocent and unselfish love, untainted by jaded and toxic emotions that try to depict love in heavier dramas. The earnest desire of Yuchi Longyan to love and protect Liuying and her reincarnations is enchanting. Who can resist a supremely handsome and faithful dragon king who believes that "Love is not icing on the cake but sharing weal and woe; it's not selfish possession but long-term protection"?

If your first thought when reading the synopsis is that a story about 3-lifetimes of (mostly) unrequited love sounds tragic, tedious, and mono-chromatic, then you're exactly right. Admittedly the cast and filmography are gorgeous, and each of the FL's incarnations were moderately interesting, but it was hard to care when the main plotline (the love story) just kept repeating. Eventually there is progress and some resolution, but 75% of the story feels like you've already been there, done that. On top of that, although there are several prolonged kiss scenes, it's hard to sense much passion, so that's kind of a let-down too. In short, I'm sure there are plenty of folks this type of story would appeal to - I myself just don't happen to be one of them.

The director did a good job emphasizing how emotionless the Dragon King and Ice Star are. Neither have experienced mortal emotions, and both are falling in love with females. Dylan Wang and Yang Dong act this perfectly.

The scenery and costumes are beautiful, and the dragon is long, typical Chinese type, that looks like Dylan. The sound is disconnected, like old movies sound, but doesn't mar the experience. One thing I like about these actors is they have natural looks, NOT the huge eyelashes, basketball boobs, and big fish lips.

I've seen criticism of the actors for underacting and overacting. Those are both typical of fantasies. The characters matched the original story. Many people either don't read the book, or don't realize that actors are directed--they emote the way the directors tell them. They also do multiple takes of each scene. An actor may be asked to raise an eyebrow or move differently, or the script changes. Then the desired takes are pieced together to make the show. Please people, look at some outtakes and reshoots before watching a main story so you understand that this is not real.

'Been wondering whether this drama was the first one Dylan made, albeit shown later, as he seemed like a newbie here. He is much better in Meteor Garden. Or perhaps it was because it was his first fantasy drama? His movements were sometimes not in sync with the special effects, though that would not have been his fault but whoever had the job of synchronizing actors' movements with special effects. Apparently, this is a low-budget drama and it shows.

Having said that, despite the less than stellar quality of the drama, I was able to finish it, thanks in large part to Dylan's mesmerizing presence. Once he is onscreen, you just want to keep watching.

The story of a dragon king's first and eternal love spanning his beloved's four lives, the romance is so sweet and pure even holding hands becomes exciting.

I watched this after watching Love Between Fairy and Devil, which was epic. These are the only two c-dramas I've ever seen. They were strangely similar, the exact same tropes expressed in the exact same way, but Yu Long was like a very very rough draft of Fairy/Devil. The first couple of episodes were laughably bad - the acting wooden, the chemistry between the romantic pair nonexistent, and the makeup lines on their faces visible. But they started to warm up; and half way through, it was like they changed director and writer. The show becomes engaging. I would like to know what happened during the making of this series, how they turned the ship around and if someone said 'we could make this good' and then went on to do Love Between Fairy and Devil.