The Legend of Shen Li (2024) Final Comments

Although The Legend of Shen Li ended a few weeks ago, aspects of it linger in my mind. From all metrics the much touted reunion of the leads Lin Gengxin and Zhao Liying appears to be a commercial success because the showrunners which includes Zhao Liying as an executive producer know what the audiences want. The two final episodes tacitly acknowledge the problems and mistakes of the leads’ previous collaboration, Princess Agents, focusing on what the audience wants and fan services the heck of out the resolution. Open or cliffhanger endings which are becoming something of a staple in costume dramas are seldom well-received because the people who write them don’t understand what an open ending is or what the ramifications of using them are. Cliffhangers are worse especially when there are no financial commitments to actually continue the story. Thankfully there’s nothing sleight of hand going on here. It’s all fairly straightforward and the leads get their much deserved happily-ever-after after they do one more good deed for an old benefactor by concluding a successful matchmaking project.

Without a doubt the Legend of Shen Li is derivative. An observation not unkindly meant. My previous remarks in other posts certainly acknowledged this. It doesn’t do anything particularly innovative and the narrative hums along predictably. That doesn’t make it bad. Borrowing and referencing is not necessarily a creative faux pas if done well.

For the most part Shen Li repackages the fantasy medium and tropes to good effect. The fact that it doesn’t take itself seriously increases its likeability factor. To a large degree it presents itself as a superhero origin story with all the usual superhero dilemmas. The character of Shen Li is gifted although it isn’t clear at first why that is but the answer comes hurtling through space in the final phase during the big showdown with the drama’s antagonists. She’s Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel with a cause instilled from birth but no knowledge of where her powers come from. Her sense of responsibility is high but when she encounters the ancient deity Xing Zhi first as a mortal, and then as his all-power self, she wavers ever so slightly. He wavers too. All too often he’s reminded that it’s a bad idea to keep hovering around her but for the first time in his very long life an urge to revolt against the natural order comes to the fore. Moreover he’s been largely living alone. He’s the last of his kind and all manner of world-ending scenarios are likely to occur if he goes off script as it were. At least that’s the rumour. Of course he’s well aware of the consequences of letting his emotions get the better of him but when she goes AWOL, he goes berserk.

But is it really misbehaviour to love Shen Li? Is it really against the will of Heaven to love her in particular? Although it’s not stated explicitly, the answer seems to be “no”. Unlike what Xing Zhi thinks, falling in love with Shen Li is the catalyst for a whole series of encounters which will ultimately lead to the final elimination of the story’s Big Bad. What it was in the end seemed to be a much needed once for all time house cleaning that was biding its time. It felt like all the major players were on the edge of their seats waiting for that fearful ill-defined something to happen. That was certainly in the air after the first major breach of the seal. Xing Zhi loving Shen Li, I daresay, could have always been part of the grander plan. Whatever else he was sent to do, there was always a clear line that it was within his purview to assist in unlocking Shen Li’s full potential. And save the universe as they know it.

During the rough and tumble of the final conflict, it is implied that Mo Fang an ally turned antagonist is as much a victim of birth as apparently everyone else. Like all the “special” people in this show, he brought to this world for a single purpose — to do the bidding of his masters. Ultimately to become the vessel of a far more pernicious ruthless entity than himself. As he shuffles off this mortal coil he declares that he has never been able to do what he wanted his entire life. A tragic refrain to modern sensibilities. He’s been robbed of agency. He wasn’t allowed to love the female lead and he was nothing more than a pawn. Woe is him. Unfortunately for him the needs of the many outweigh the desires of the one. On the other hand, there are those who have the power to do whatever they want only to become agents of chaos and their attempts to reshape reality leaves behind a destructive aftermath of human casualties.

The most significant growth arc goes to Fu Rongjun. The bath-loving grandson of the divine realm who goes from being quite useless to putting himself forward in the great last battle. From being concerned merely with petty things, he grows into a healer fit for purpose. He’s not the ideal candidate for a marriage meant to unite two worlds but when he’s forced to exist outside the comfort zone of his bathtub, the world seems to be a better place for it. He even does a lovelorn demoness a favour.

Peace as is demonstrated can never be taken for granted and has to be fought for by every generation. The spiritual/divine realm had become complacent living off the fat of other people’s sacrifices and dedication to their detriment. There’s always some autocrat or megalomaniac on the horizon who thinks they know better how the world should be ordered. Unfortunately for the ordinary folk they have the resources to wreak serious havoc. Killing people isn’t their goal necessarily but forcibly moving people around to do their bidding is.

It is fashionable in C dramas to turn everything into a zero sum game even when there’s no need to. The pressure to be unpredictable or to offer up an unexpected ending seems to be driving some really bad finales in recent years. Thankfully here like good fanfiction, the writer(s) give the target demographic what they want. They assume rightly that most sign on to see the lead’s chemistry reproduced and to rectify the missed opportunity that was Princess Agents. Two people you’ve been rooting for actually end up together without the baggage of angry speculations about the meaning of the final scene and its implications for the rest of the story. An extended fix-it fic that disgruntled watchers of Princess Agents were perhaps hankering for.