The thread is open for you, @GB. And for @Kate, too, if she’s around.
Are you following this now or holding off until you know for sure who the OTP is? Is it the boring guy or the handsome devil?
Enjoy the angst show!
The thread is open for you, @GB. And for @Kate, too, if she’s around.
Are you following this now or holding off until you know for sure who the OTP is? Is it the boring guy or the handsome devil?
Enjoy the angst show!
My dearest @pkml3, thank you for your constant consideration for me and my armchair reviews and comments. I am truly grateful that I get to ‘publish’ my thoughts on your blog.
I’m avidly following this series now by binging 3-4 episodes at a time. I’ll be all caught up in a couple of days. Since I’ve watched without stopping to ‘pen’ my thoughts, I’ll have to do some quick re-watching in order to come back here and share what struck me from time to time.
To your question, the boring guy gets his fair chance, I feel, as does the handsome devil. The thing is that the FL wants stability, monogamy and companionship forever… so I guess her best choice will be the boring guy. Many of us viewers prefer the devil, of course!!! 🤪🤣😇 He’s so much more interesting.
However, I must say that Season 2 has given even the more boring characters something more interesting to do and be. It’s been a most engaging binge-watch so far. I trust that it will hold our interest until it ends at Episode 23 (S1 had 39, and S2 has 23 = 62 episodes!!!). This will be the longest series that I’ve watched all the way through.
From what I read about other people’s comments on the novel(s), I expect that the ending will be mixed or not as HEA as one might like in a fairytale. However, while whom the FL ends up with is always something that will lure us viewers to continue, I really like that Show doles out ‘advice’ about things we may think important to pursue, that it gives us the juxtaposition of relationships to help us compare and figure out what true love may be, that interesting twists give hope. Even the fate of the ‘country’ is interesting with the whys and wherefores laid out for us to understand how things came to be and why they continue as they do.
I’ve always liked this show for its consistency and how clear the plot is and that has been case so far up to Ep 13 in this 2nd season.
I hope you do drop by when you can to leave a ‘Peep!’
EPISODE 1
In my notes I call it the episode of Prefiguring Scenes ie where we get the set up so as to anticipate the future (almost foreshadowing even).
I found myself smiling at the familiar opening credits and the OST. It was great to see the edits of the previous Season’s scenes as a recap. I liked how the show continues from where it left off. This is definitely the advantage of having shot all episodes from the first.
It might be that it takes a bit of time to fully come back to the sentiments I felt during the first season, but upon rewatching S2 Ep 1, I’m fully on board again.
Some highlights:
The wagers: in the conversation between Xiao Yao and Cang Xuan as they sit on the steps after CX’s coronation as king of Xiyan, XY notes that both Grandpa ex-King and CX had taken a risk with each other. CX had wagered that Grandpa knew his vision for Xiyan and would name him King, while Grandpa had wagered that CX would not take the throne by force, which would have been the quickest and easiest way. What I like about this is the element of trust. There is patient waiting without certainty, but a degree of faith and trust in the other person.
I feel that making this kind of bet happens again in future episodes, perhaps more than one circumstance. Obviously we want to see if bets were made wisely and if the bettor made a winning or not.
CX and XY: XY remains blind and oblivious to CX’s romantic regard for her. She returns the Ruomu flower to him, which he had placed in her hair before the coronation. It was a flower he was to give to the girl he loves.
The Weight of the Crown: both CX and XY already start feeling a burden and a greater responsibility because the crown has been passed to CX. This episode he starts to realise that instead of power giving him freedom to do as he pleases, it inhibits his freedom to express his love for XY. While it gave him the means to protect XY, it also kept them apart. The irony was that he had pursued the crown with such intense purpose, in order to keep XY close.
CX had said to his lackey, the cultivated Mulberry: “I once thought the moment I turned Zijin Peak into Zhaoyun Peak, I could return to the past. But even if I plant Phoenix trees all over Chenrong Mountain, what then? One wrong step leads to a wrong path. I don’t think I have any chances now.” He was wondering how at the time, each choice seemed like the only one to make. But somehow they turned out to be wrong choices (because they led him away from XY). (In actual fact, they were right choices if we look at the bigger picture, but not so if we consider the personal cost. This seems to be one of the main themes of this show.)
Some highlights (continued):
The continuation of the sad irony for CX is that he goes on to marry different ladies for political purposes, but not the one he loves. The strategy of using marriage alliances to prevent war is used and repeated. It is a foreshadowing. He looks most unhappy about it and CX again tells XY not to congratulate him on his wedding.
The Location of the Capital : The court argument over where the capital city should be informs viewers in advance of why CX will make the decision(s) he does.
XY’s Bloodline: XY says her (royal) bloodline makes it impossible for her to do as she pleases, for eg. she cannot hangout with Xiang Liu because there would be a decisive battle between XL and CX later. This point about her bloodline is placed here and will crop up again later.
Courting CX : While Xin Yue is thwarted in her attempts to meet CX, A Nian drunkenly gets Grandpa to help her marry CX. He agrees much to XY’s surprise. She thinks he is lying to A Nian. Perhaps he knows better how matters will pan out.
Xin Yue: Her machinations were/are all aimed at getting CX for herself. She has the small-minded and narrow view that she is entitled to be chosen and preferred. She looks no further than to use her friends, family or CX’s wives to try to get into the same space as CX, but he avoids her adroitly. I fancy, however, that if he had perhaps given her more attention and talked her into reasonableness, she would have improved. He neglected Xin Yue, and this might have consequences.
Some highlights (continued):
Xiao Yao and Fangfeng Bei/XL: XY is upset after seeing Tushan Jing on the street and goes gambling alone. Jing and Lirong Chang watch her through a magic ‘TV’ screen and Chang figures out that Jing is in love with the lady but he does not know that she’s the princess of Haoling. The only person who dares to challenge her at dice is Fang Feng Bei/XL, but he changes the stakes to play for Truth or Dare. Never one to back down in a challenge, XY agrees. They proceed to find out what they want to know about each other.
FFB: “Who is the one you like.”
XY: “What a lousy question!” … “The person I like is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
XY asks FFB: “If you were given another chance, would you still choose this path?”
FFB: “Yes.”
XY: “Why?”
FFB: “Because I met someone very important along the way. If I had chosen a different path, I might not have met that person.” (He’s probably referring to her but she thinks he’s speaking of his foster father. )
Outside the gambling den, XY starts fishing for more information. After he congratulates her off-handedly over her engagement, an expression passes over her face and she observes him closely as she asks if he has anything else to say to her. (Like perhaps, he could say if he preferred that she did not end up with Fenglong or might offer her again, the chance to travel around the world with him? At scenes like these, we are teased into thinking that XY actually likes FFB and would have run off with him if only he’d offered her that opportunity.)
FFB : “What should I say?/What do you want to hear?” (The subs say “What should I say?” But more accurately he asks what she wants to hear him say. There’s a subtle difference.)
We see her having thoughts flying through her mind but she cannot admit what she wants him to say.
She tells him that she can make the poisoned pills for him currently, but not after she gets married. She also tells him that she wants to get the poisoned bug removed.
XY: “It keeps giving you trouble. Last time you were tired of it. When you have time, we’ll go to Baili to remove the poisonous bug. … Rest assured that I will still keep my promise to you.” He agrees.” (She is not aware that he probably has borne a lot more in keeping some of the emotions at bay, so that she never is aware, through the poisonous bug, of what he feels for her or how he suffers. This is also a good reminder to us that she still owes him for removing the bug from CX, and that he could call in this debt at any time.)
This episode was really great for getting us all on board again, in remembering the main plot points that will be continued, so that we can sit back and watch them play out.
Some Themes:
Getting what one wants, does not bring happiness.
The greater one’s power, the fewer one’s choices.
The best kings bring unity and peace to the land and its people but at great personal sacrifice.
The simple life brings greater satisfaction.
EPISODES 2 AND 3
Ep 2: The Episode where CX consolidates his power and individuals are reminded about whom they should or should not be with.
Ep 3: The Episode where CX gets a Queen and Jing tries to confirm whom his son’s real father is.
* Jing is still persona non grata with XY, but she pines for a relationship and remains broken-hearted over Jing.
* The person who should be Queen in Xiyan is Xin Yue but CX does not care for her and he wants someone else to be his queen.
* Fangfeng Bei/Xiang Liu is told to let XY go
Xiang Liu with XY would risk ending up in a similar situation as the ‘demon’ Chi Chen and his ‘wife’ Xiling Heng. If ever there was a case of star-crossed lovers in a situation worse than Romeo and Juliet, it has to be Chi Chen and Heng, (and in the future perhaps…XL and XY?).
CC and Heng sort of ‘committed suicide’ but spectacularly on the battlefield, forced to fight to the death against each other. It was the only way to be together and to serve their own people at the same time. That is heartbreak indeed.
We wonder if XY will ever be forced to be in that situation. To protect her, XL will always refrain from crossing the line. It is both intriguing and painful to watch, but I cannot look away.
The longing in his eyes and voice as he asks her to dine with him! She only agrees when he is XL and not FFB.
XY asks XL: “Why is it so hard to find a companion.”
XL: “It’s not that hard. Yet it is indeed hard to find someone with similar tastes, who treats you sincerely and makes your life interesting.” (He is describing who XY is to him, which is why he values her friendship and company).
XY is always interested in XL’s opinions. She asks if she does not marry Fenglong, then whom she should marry.
He gives her a long look and turns to face her with a thought in his mind. Then he dismisses it with a laugh. It is self-deprecating: “You ask me, (actual translation: but whom can I ask) how should I know?”
As if he’d offered himself as a candidate, XY suddenly says something that would block him as her lover from the start: “Anyway the man I marry can’t have a family or be my brother’s enemy.” (Jing is the one with the family, XL is the one who’s her brother’s enemy). XL leaves her, once again lonely and resigned.
NO SPOILERS
General Review of the Series
Just a note on this series and on its ending. It was powerful. What a wonderfully strong, touching, and fitting end to an amazing tale. I loved how nothing was forgotten… events, promises, secrets, … things of the previous Season, were resolved in a way that made sense. All was consistent and all fell into place.
This is one of those rare Shows that leave a hole in my heart at its end, and watching it again just makes it more enjoyable. It was beautiful to watch and listen to, with heart-tugging OSTs and a new soulful melody.
There was enough seriousness and humour, sweet and sour relationships, growth in characters and an ever-evolving plot that went far beyond just romance to keep me enthralled. The pacing was good without fillers, and if there were times that we had long flashbacks, they were relevant and timely.
High praise for all involved in the production (despite the fake look of many things) especially the Writers, Directors and Actors for their commitment and craft in making a series that I immediately find myself missing, now that it is done.
The Ladies
If ever there was a difference in attitude between characters, those on polar opposites might be Xin Yue and Xiao Yao with A Nian.
Both Xiao Yao and Xin Yue had a tough time in their younger years/decades. Xin Yue was ‘held hostage’ by Xiyan and despised. When she was finally freed, she felt entitled to being pampered and to honours and the position of queen, but she did nothing for her people, or even her own family. If ever she was generous, it was to curry favour.
Before the wedding to Cang Xuan, Xin Yue’s mother advised her that she could still change her mind (and not go into a loveless marriage just for the queenship). She refused to give up on her dream to be the highest in the pecking order.
Her Mother reminded her that she would be responsible for managing the royal harem and should lead by example: “Do not focus on vying for favour. What you need is His Majesty’s respect rather than his love.”
Xin Yue rejected this relationship of respect which her father and mother had in their marriage. She wished the king to be in love with her forever. She wanted everything for herself, but in the end lost what would have given her the greater satisfaction, CX’s respect and the love of her ‘brother’.
(This gives me the idea that Lost You Forever could also refer to Xin Yue who cannot have CX by her side, at all, let alone forever!)
Her problem was greed and an unhealthy sense of entitlement. She had not worked for any of the goods that she enjoyed. She could have done something to earn the respect of her people, but didn’t.
In contrast, A Nian started out a spoilt brat of a girl whom I desired heartily to slap from time to time, but she grew into a more thoughtful young woman, less entitled and more giving. She rose to the occasion when she had to and finally rise to queenship too, although it was a bitter-sweet affair. Instead of bemoaning her lot, she took on the role for the sake of the country and to help Cang Xuan.
Xiao Yao was more happy as a commoner than royalty. She knew the common folk and took great joy in serving them with her medical skills. She won respect from all who had dealings with her. Unlike the other 2 ladies, she never saw CX as a means to power, or one from whom to get a comfortable life, or romance. Despite having lost almost everything, she continued on to find ways to be useful, asking only that she have one chosen companion in her long life.
EPISODES 4, 5 AND 6 – XY and XL MOMENTS
In Yingzhou Town, within Haoling territory, XY gets to dress like a man and be a doctor. But in her time off, she’s just a ‘girl’. She is still pining for Jing as seen by her absent-minded plucking on the strings of the Gu Jin, the instrument that Jing taught her to play and which had a role in their ‘courtship’.
Xiang Liu drops by, probably not too pleased that XY is practising (or doing a bad job of it) the musical instrument rather than her archery which he had taught her for her self-protection. He questions her like the ‘master’ he was, about her not practising archery … (a bit of competitive spirit there against the absent Jing?)
XL wants the poisons/pills she had promised to send every 3 months. When she says she’s not been in the mood to make the poisons he betrays his concern by asking quickly: “What happened?” He covers that up by saying: “And you dare to make me wait?”
XL takes over the Gu Jin and proceeds to play and sing a bloody song whose lyrics could be a foreshadowing of what could happen between him and XY ie his heart might actually be cut out for her sake. It was somehow a suitable but disturbing song for XL to sing to XY. And on the literal level, it was also accurate if it ever came to the battle to the death.
Lyrics: “Oh yeah…Please gouge out my eyes. When my blood splatters on your clothes it looks like peach blossoms. As long as you can see me. (It seems this was the song of Chi Chen for his love, Xiling Heng, and he had planted Peach trees for her).
Oh yeah. Please cut out my heart. Let my blood flood the wilderness. Like the peach blossoms on the mountains. As long as you think about me. Think about me.” He stops short without finishing the song, probably because the ending is too revealing of something that XY should not know? Thinking of Chi Chen, whom XL knows is XY’s father, he notes that the King of Haoling has been very good to her (as surrogate father).
In their now infrequent repartee, XL claims to have forgotten the rest of the song. XY dares to rudely comment: “With nine heads, you still forget things?” and rapped on her head by XL as punishment. XY retorts: “Knock me out and see who’s going to make pills for you.” XL smiles slightly to himself.
(I miss those scenes where XY and XL could just be free to go around together on Chubby (or Fur Ball?) to visit remote places, swim or picnic.)
Continued…
Continued…
When XY decides to go along with Fenglong’s request to have their wedding soon, she takes a long time to come up with a final poison Pill for XL as her parting gift. To make it extra special she gets experts adept at using both hot and cold spirit power to help her create the Pill.
The gift is a transparent ‘ball’ with an underwater scene of mer-people in it, commemorating her time with XL when she found that she could breathe underwater because he had previously shared his blood with her to keep her alive.
XL is in his special place in the huge shell and has received XY’s gift. He’s dressed in wedding-red (not the deeper red but a brighter version) as if he’s dressed to be married.
He opens the gift box and is pleased by the Pill. He recalls how XY had naively gone to see the mermaid’s courtship/marriage and been embarrassed by accidentally witnessing something intimate. XL had made fun of her for having a weird fetish. It was an occasion shared only between them, and the fact that it recalled the mermaids’ courtship/marriage made it a most poignant farewell gift for XL, since it was due to XY’s marriage that she would stop sending him poison.
In Haoling, XY is also wearing the same wedding-red, sitting on a rock, looking out to sea, like a bride waiting for her bridegroom. She sees something shimmering which appears to fall from the sky as if it could be snow. It might have been possible for XL to create snow around himself since he had the power to appear or disappear in a snowy swirl. XY looks out eagerly, however she’s disappointed when nothing comes of it.
A Nian asks what XY is waiting for, but she says she does not know. The only one who comes from the sea is XL. It might have been that she expected XL to come see her after receiving the gift, and before her wedding.
A Nian asks XY what she was expecting to happen. XY says she might be waiting for destiny. Whether or not something happened to halt the wedding would be destiny.
(Our shipping hearts want to believe that perhaps she hoped that XL would walk in from the sea and carry her off, so that she would not marry need to marry Fenglong).
Continued…
Continued…
XY’s wedding at the Chishui mansion most appropriately had a water theme because the clan lived next to the sea. Gaining access to Chishui by sea was the easiest way.
XY was in a big boat listlessly getting ready for her wedding. However XL, dressed as FFB, was also on the water in a small raft, and remembering the time he’d met XY and taken her into his boat. She’d been Wen Xiao Liu at that time, dressed as a man and he had transformed himself into a woman to draw XY out. As Wen Xiao Liu she had said: “I am content with my lot. Wherever I go is home.”
XL looks again at the gift Pill and seems to disapprove of this attitude of her’s as he says out loud to an absent XY: “I taught you how to protect yourself, yet you just muddle along and idle around. Did you ask for my permission?/Did you ever ask me for approval or agreement.” (Is he complaining that she’s taking the easy way out by marrying Fenglong instead of fighting for her true love?)
Perhaps the love bug affects XY because she is lost in thought as if she had sensed XL’s disapproval. She does not answer A Nian about whether she likes Fenglong or not.
The wedding begins and XY walks into the wedding hall, noticing only Jing who is in distress at being close to losing XY.
In the middle of the wedding ceremony, both Jing and FFB called out XY’s name at the same time. It was fortunate that FFB’s voice was louder and more commanding, so that Jing did not embarrass himself.
FFB: “XY, don’t marry him.” Guards can’t stop him as he strides forward after causing a minor explosion that tosses the guards aside.
XY : “What do you want to do/What are you doing?”
FFB: “Do not marry Chishui Fenglong.”
XY : “You are now/at this late hour telling me not to marry him?”
FFB: “The ceremony is still not completed. Of course you can choose to not marry him.
XY : “Leave immediately … Do not appear in front o me again.”
FFB: “XY do you still remember the oath you once swore?”
XY remembers it and likely pales: “What do you want?”
FFB: “I want you to leave with me now. “
XY: “Even if you try to destroy me, why do you do it in the most insulting way?”
FFB: “You don’t need to ask the reason. You just need to do as I say. Come with me. Immediately!”
XY hesitates, a swarm of thoughts likely going through her mind.
FFB: “You owe me.”
XY, recalling the oath she had sworn in exchange for XL’s taking on the Poisonous Bug from CX, finally apologises to Fenglong and leaves with FFB.
Continued…
Continued…
Alone with FFB in Qingshui Town XY is incredulous that he had more than enough time to stop the wedding before the ceremony but chose to do it in the most dramatic way, in front of many witnesses.
Conjectures as to why XL chose to stop the marriage this way:
– He wanted everyone to know about it and for the news to spread quickly, and to isolate XY who would not be able to marry anyone respectable for the time being.
– This public humiliation of the great clans and king would lead to FFB’s execution. My guess is that he wanted to ‘kill off’ FFB and be only XL because war against all the clans was imminent and the FFB persona was no longer needed.
– He didn’t mind disgracing the Fangfeng family or Yi Ying in particular, who had played false with poor Jing.
– XY would have nowhere to go, hence it was possible she’d stay on longer with him.
XL has an interesting question for XY: “I have ruined your wedding with Chishui Fenglong. Will you hate me?” (I wonder if he really cares… I think he does, or he would not have asked.)
XY: “Whether I hate you or not, does it matter now? After all, I owe you. When you ask me to repay. I must repay. “
A look that might have been regret passes across XL’s face. He’d have liked a less transactional answer?
XY is incredulous and angry that XL could have stopped the wedding long before the wedding day but did not. By choosing to ruin the wedding, he had ensured that both the Chenrong and Chishui Clans would hold a grudge against her.
XY: “Why do you treat me this way? You dishonoured Haoling and ruined my reputation. I will be despised by everyone in Dahuang.”
He does not reply. She concludes that she was born unlucky and kicks him out of the room.
As an aside in the next scene … it is surprising that the King of Haoling is prepared to accept the more romantic FFB as son-in-law should he choose to marry XY!!!
Continued …
@Monmor
I’m glad to know that you’ve enjoyed Season 1 and are avidly watching Season 2 now. It’s an addictive series!!!
You said:
This is part of the theme for the entire Season 2 or maybe it can be a theme for the 62 episodes overall since the show was cut into 2 to meet regulations but was made as 1 full series. Hence the music, credits, look etc are all totally the same or consistent.
For XY, she says it’s her bloodline that prevents her from doing as she pleases. (Little does she know that her bloodline is only half royal). I note that she chose hanging out with Xiang Liu as an example of why she cannot be free. She did not say Fangfeng Bei or name others but XL. It’s partly because XL is automatically the enemy of Xinyan and partly she always had a deal with and respect for XL.
I believe she also has a regard for him, because she considers him her friend.
Among all the guys, I believe he may have been the only one who (as FFB) offered to take her away from everything to wander the world together (we see this in the Opening Credits) and she had actually said yes, on condition that he gave up everything for her. That has consistently been her stance. She just wanted someone to put her first and never abandon her. If XL had said yes to this, we’d have a very different story!!!
Anyway, this out of the blue suggestion of XL’s that they just up and go away together is a foreshadowing of something that will happen later.
Continued…
Continued…
You said:
He could be speaking more about her than another, but his words could also be applied to Hong Jiang or a figure who would his ‘mother’ of sorts.
The irony: it was because he did care about her that he never let her know. She’d have too many suitors (mind-boggling) and he was actually (as grandpa pointed out) the one suitor she should not have because he and CX would definitely fight it out.
XL spared her all that emotional turmoil but bore it himself. I believe he had the power to hide how he felt from XY, because the Poisonous Love Bug would have given her a sense of how he felt. However, at no time does she figure out that he loves her. She never knew when he was in pain. But when she was emotionally affected, XL knew. I figure that’s why he turned up to see her later when she was missing Jing a lot.
With regards to the other theme of what a true love looks like, we have the examples of CX, Jing and XL to contrast and compare. You can guess who manifests the truest, most sincere love.
Continued…
@MM
Continued..
You said:
The voice singing the song is never confirmed to be XL’s or Tan Jian Ci’s but might be. I called it a ‘bloody’ song because it literally spoke of blood splatter and flooding. That was because Chi Chen and Xiling Heng were the couple who should not have gotten married, since they were on opposite sides of the war that would loom. They prefigure XL and XY.
I put some of the lyrics up in a previous post. For Xiling Heng, Chi Chen did actually plant a whole bunch of Peach trees, whose blossoms really looked like splashes or a flood of blood. They were separated for political reasons but united in death.
You said:
I’m not sure which scene this is. Was it Episode 2? What timestamp?
The richness of this Show comes from the complicated emotional entanglements especially between CX and XY, XY and XL, XY and Jing, CX and Jing, CX and XL, even A Nian. These are the multi-faceted relationships that are so engrossing!
EPISODE 6 – XY and XL Moments
Continued …
The next day or so, XY asks XL who is no longer dressed as FFB, what will happen to FFB.
XL: “He’s made such a grave mistake so he must pay for it with his life.”
XY is stunned: “Fangfeng Bei is dead?”
XL: “Didn’t he tell you? It was just companionship and merely a game. Now that the game is over, he should die.”
XY is in tears, which to an extent is strange, because XL who played the role of FFB is still alive and in front of her. She seems able to separate FFB from XL in her emotions, but at the same time, she trusts both persona as she trusts XL
XL looks at her crying and is perhaps a bit surprised: “An insignificant lowly man. His death means nothing. No need to be sad. Did you take this game seriously and open your heart to him?”
XY: “Yes, I took it seriously because FFB is not like you. You have the power of a Nine-headed Demon, but you have no feelings. FFB is a lowly man with average ability, but he taught me archery, played with me and shared delicious food with me. He brought joy to others. It’s natural to feel sad for such a friend.”
XY adds after a moment: “Don’t worry. When someone like you dies, I won’t shed a single tear.”
XL: “Don’t flatter yourself. I never had any feelings for you. So, I don’t worry at all.”
XY: “Right. We have no feelings for each other. That’s for the best.”
(However, we know that XL lies about not having feelings for XY. He has probably chosen that it is really for the best that XY does not have one more ‘suitor’ to confuse her and XL had already decided on another destiny.)
He watches her march back into the house and slam the door with regret. Inside XY cries for the loss of FFB and outside XL breaks the pen in his hand. He feels all her grief because of the Poisonous Love Bug and is almost as miserable as XY.
Continued…
EPISODE 6 – XY and XL Moments
Continued …
Later, XL sits companionably with XY to drink wine. It’s snowing outside. He asks if she won’t go out for a stroll in a town she knew well. She is indifferent.
XY: “The streets are still the same, but the people have changed. In that case it is better not to see them, so I won’t feel sad.” (XY is an affectionate person, easily attached to people around her).
She drinks a cupful of wine.
XL warns her: “This is strong liquor that was specially made. One cup of it can get you drunk. (XL himself is merely sipping the liquor while XY had recklessly tossed it back.)
XY: ‘No matter how strong the wine, it cannot drown all my sorrows.”
She downs a second cup of wine. She becomes drunk soon after.
XY: “XL you are really a heartless nine-headed demon. An ungrateful demon.
XL: “You knew me well /what kind of person I was from the beginning.”
He looks at her: “Since you dare to deal with a demon, you should have the guts to bear the consequences.
XY: “Yes, our dealings have always been fair.” (But at this point, XL decides not to be fair ie he does not give XY a fair chance to evade being questioned when drunk and when he could use his demon powers!)
He tells her to look into his eyes which have turned red and mesmerising. He probes her mind as he asks XY whom she’d prefer to marry. She hesitates at Tushan Jing’s name but says she is willing to marry Ye Shiqi. (Once again she differentiates as if they are 2 different persons when they are the same person).
But to the question of whom she most wants to spend her life with, she is unable to answer. The conflict inside her results in too much pain so that she passes out and XL promises not to question her anymore. (Might the battle in her be a tug-of-war between Ye Shiqi who loves her unreservedly being the safest bet and XL who holds her heart but whom she cannot choose, because she thinks he does not love her?)
With her head on XL’s shoulder, to XY’s question of “Why?” XL only says “Because….” And stops.
He tells her that she would wake up without any memory of this interlude.
This was preparation for what he would choose to do. Poor XY was an object of desire for 2 other parties, and somehow (we find out later how) the decision of what to do with XY landed in XL’s hands. His questioning was to know what desire was in her inmost heart so that he could choose what would make her happy. One wonders what answer she would have given if he’d asked her if she would want to be with him.
Episodes 6-7
There’s an interesting interlude where XY meets a wizened old granny sitting out in the snow In Qing shui Town. She recognises Tian’er from her time as Wen Xiao Liu, the woman whom Skinny had loved and whom Wen Xiao Liu had to ‘buy’ out of the brothel. Tian’er had become a good doctor’s assistant and received much teaching from Wen Xiao Liu. From this meeting we know that XY has been away for some decades and not hundres of years, since her mortal acquaintance is still alive.
XY is pleased to find out that Ye Shiqi had gone back to visit them in Qingshui Town several times and that he had given old man Mu some assurances that helped him die peacefully. She is touched that Shiqi is considered family by her previous mortal family of decades past.
XY hears how Tian’er is glad she never broke up with Skinny. She notes that time had proved she’d made the right choices. Tian’er says it’s worth it to have experienced both joys and sorrows.
XY: “But people can only see the choice in front of them, and not the future. What if we make a choice right now that makes us sad, won’t we regret it in the future?”
The shoe is on the other foot now, as XY as an apparently ‘younger’ woman asks Grandma Tian’er about making choices in life whereas as older Wen Xiao Liu she’d been the master who gave advice. We might guess that XY thinks she has to choose 1) Jing, or 2) no one. Perhaps she wanted a 3rd choice and wondered if choosing 1) or 2) were both ‘sad’ choices that she might regret later.
Tian’er cannot answer that question: “Even those deities who have lived for hundreds of years can’t answer it. Living a life is like making a journey in the wilderness. Nobody knows what lies ahead. It could be smooth or bumpy. Hence everyone wants a companion to support each other. Life is full of challenges, obstacles, and setbacks, but we try to live our lives.”
XY: “What if you choose and trust the wrong person?”
Tian’er: “Young lady, just remember that if you want something, you must believe that it exists. If you refuse to believe, you won’t give your heart (go all in). If you don’t give your heart, you won’t get what you want at all.” (In other words, one must take the risk. XY has refused to do this. In her relationships, she had conditions that had to be fulfilled before she took the next step.)
XY thinks about this. She wonders if she is the one at fault for the pass that she and Jing have come to. XL stands waiting for her. She says a sweet goodbye to Tian’er who finally recognises her as Wen Xiao Liu.
Continued …
Episode 7 – XY and XL
Continued …
XL and XY stop at the edge of the river, a place where they’d met from time to time in the past.
XY: “This place hasn’t changed. Sadly, you and I can no longer get along as we used to.”
XL: “You are the Princess of Haoling. I am a rebel general. We live in different worlds. No need to feel sad.”
XY: “You’re right. We are from different worlds. I’ve been missing for so long. There must be an uproar out there. You did this, so the Fangfeng Family has to take the blame. FF Yiying will have to shield them from this unexpected disaster. She is Tushan Jing’s wife, so she will get the Tushan Family involved.”
XL: “You think I’m the one who wants to ruin your wedding?”
XY: “If it’s not you, who then?”
We see the flashback scene where Jing dressed as Ye Shiqi had made a deal with XL to stop the wedding, giving him a seal that would open all manner of wealth to him. While Jing had wanted it to be a quiet affair to minimise the harm, XL preferred that he decide how to finish the job.
XL tosses back the seal to Jing, because he wanted to do the job on his own terms: “I don’t need you to tell me what to do or set the price. I decide how you’re going to pay for my help. My word is final. I help you ruin the wedding, and you provide the Chenrong Army with army provisions for 37 years.” (I wonder how he knows exactly when the army would no longer need help).
XY is in disbelief: “Tushan Jing hired you to do that?”
XL: “If you don’t believe me, you can ask Tushan Jing yourself.” Since XL already has what he wants, he lets XY go, but he has a ‘threat’ to leave her with: “Just a reminder, the poisonous bug isn’t removed. If you reveal that I’m FFB, I will give you a painful death.” She turns to stare at him.
He asks if she does not believe him and lets her have a taste of the pain that is like a fire in her chest (over her heart?). She collapses in pain.
XL: “If you don’t want to die, don’t say anything you shouldn’t.”
XY: “Is this why you won’t remove the poisonous bug? How scheming you are, General Xiang Liu.”
XL: “That’s the kind of person I am. You knew it.” He walks away coldly but the viewers can see that he too is suffering the pain in his chest, because XY cannot shield her suffering it from him.
XY manages to get a ride to Jing’s estate and XL watches sadly as her carriage leaves. He thinks: “FFB who accompanied you briefly, has died. You can now enjoy someone else’s enduring company.” He nods to himself, smiling wistfully and then sadly.
episode 2 timestamp 3625. She describes being listless and not interested in any of the activities her maid suggests. CX comes and they talk about their feelings of despair and hope. This scene follows the old uncle telling FFB to let her go in the scene that foreshadows a repeat of her mother’s and the demon warrior’s ill-fated love.
some thoughts on episode 5 CX behaves in a manipulative way to force CX to move to where he is. There is a possessiveness about him that is reminiscient of wife abusers. The grandfather had noticed previously and notes again CX’s attitude towards XY and intervenes. She really does seem oblivious of CX’s romantic interest in her.
episode 6 Why does he stop the wedding the way he does? Is he both protecting her from an association with him that could be harmful to her and/or can he not make himself vulnerable to being rejected by her. Same when he “hypnotizes”her he does not ask if she would want to be with him.
And what does it mean that FFB is dead. Is he really? She mourns him. I had wondered if his appearance is actually different from XL’s but there is a scene where they discuss how he dyes his hair so that would imply they have the same appearance.
I felt very sad at the scene where she finds out many of her old friends who were part of her medical clinic have died.
About the artistry in this drama
Some wonderful cinematography settings and costumes-wedding scenes, blossoms,and ocean scenes of note
Tan Jianxi playing the ? and singing in a style taht I think is a more modern day rendition of that era of poetry and music.
such a strong theme throughout of being caged vs being free to live one’s own life of choice.
Episode 3 There is dialog about how choices narrow as we grow older, Perhaps in the scene with Xinyue and her mother in the discussion of whether she is sure about her marriage to CX. I do not know whether to feel sorry for her naivete about relationships or to criticize her for her power hunger.
I hope I can restrain myself from going on an uncontrollable binge. I think I will watch episode 7 today while keeping better notes.
Hi @MM, you’re up bright and early-ish!
Yes, there are many scenes of foreshadowing of things that might have been or things to come.
CX’s so called love was never ‘pure’. He is the needy, clingy, manipulative type that I’d steer clear of. However, he didn’t ‘know’ himself well enough to reflect on what he was doing. Grandpa, bless his soul, was a deadly tyrant out in battle, but a great observer as a grandad and knew what CX was trying to do.
Some people may not accept that XY could be so oblivious. However, because of their shared history and her innate trust, she was.
I did go into why XL chose that overly dramatic method to stop the wedding. I posted 4 possible reasons (my conjectures only). You can check if you agree with any one or a few of them. Your idea that he wants to enable her to be disassociated from FFB is indirectly possible ie when she has no choice but to go off with him, he’s directly making sure that she’s associated with the rascal, FFB. But because taking away the princess at her wedding is such a rude snub to royal houses and great clans, he’d definitely be executed. That was one way to be disassociated from her.
The idea was to make it as public as possible. Hence no one would ‘want’ her, except the one who would give up most anything or everything for her.
(To be continued …)
@GB I need to reread your thoughts above now that I am more awake!
I was too awake last night after watching these episodes that I had trouble falling asleep!
I do not want to think he is behaving in a way to limit her choices(imprisoning her, in a way).
I want him to have more noble motivations.
I am a little lost in the politics of the show but I wonder if he is behaving in a way to protect her should her lineage be exposed in the chaos that is being foreshadowed. Who better to protect her.?
He knew too that she would probably have an unhappy marriage because she is not in love with her fiance. Pretty presumptious though for him to act on that alone.
I too was very surprised by the King’s comment about FFB.
Continued …
I just had an online meeting and a snack break before coming back.
@MM you said:
My interpretation is simply that XL had ‘killed him off’ so that he would not need to appear in public as FFB again. He no longer wanted to bother about that persona. Somehow, XL seemed to know the ‘lie of the land’, what was going to happen and when. He guessed that he needed supplies for the army for only 37 more years. I’m guessing that he knew that he had to concentrate on the rebels for the next 4 decades, and didn’t have time to be FFB. That persona had been good while it lasted, and it had given him freedom in places that XL could never have entered.
Yes, I think he looked the same, except that as long as FF Yiying acknowledged him as her brother and he didn’t do anything demon-like, he could get away with being FFB. His behaviour was so different: that’s why XY mourned the loss of FFB. FFB was quite a fun, debonair guy to hang out with. He had money to spend and knew places to be. Being with FFB meant that she could get around with a protector among people and have fun.
XL by contrast was a loner. He kept away from people and was not welcomed anywhere. If he appeared, it usually spelt trouble. Either he’d be blasting or killing someone or taking something by force. If he was summoned it was for some ‘business’ where he’d be hired to kill someone. Usually, he didn’t appear at all. I guess no one would usually think that FFB and XL were the same person, however Jing knew and I guess CX might have known as well.
It was only with XY that XL let down his guard a lot of the time. He was okay with being vulnerable with her. When she had outings with XL they were always alone and went to desolate spots. He did show her the beauty of the bottom of the sea and the moon over the water, but they couldn’t have company or other forms of fun.
My guess about why XL killed off FFB is also that he could see that CX would definitely try to unite the country (Dahuang). It used to be just 1 country before it got broken up under families that became kingdoms. Once there was only 1 country, the Chenrong rebels would lose support. As long as they refused to be readmitted into society and toe the line, they were bound to be wiped out by the ruler of the land. Since XL had chosen to throw in his lot with the rebels, he was going to be with them til the bitter end.
Continued…
@GB Thank you that filled in some blanks for.
I did wonder if FFB Just disappeared. I was confused That he might be sentenced to die because of his actions at the wedding. It makes more sense than XL Just stopped being that persona.
Now I understand the political lay of the land better as well.
Thank you , and I look forward to continued.
@MM
You said:
Since you’ve watched Episode 6 and 7, you know that it was not XL who wanted to stop the wedding.
But having done so, there was a noble motive behind XL’s questioning her. He knew that Jing wanted her for himself, but he wanted to know if she was agreeable to it in her innermost heart. By keeping her from marrying Fenglong, it meant that he was letting her choose to get back with Jing. So, he wanted to be sure she was okay with that.
About Jing stopping the wedding. He knew that the only reason XY refused to have anything to do with him was because he’d supposedly gotten Yiying pregnant and married her. However, his investigations were showing that he was not the father of the boy and that he had been tricked into marriage. He might have been presumptious but he really wanted XY to not dash into marriage with Fenglong, on the rebound, so to speak. He also wanted the chance to prove to her that he’d always been faithful to her and that the promises they had made could still be fulfilled.
About XY’s lineage. Although Chi Chen is XY’s father and he’s called a demon, in the novel (I’ve been told… I did not read it) he is not really a demon at all, but he did kill a lot of people so perhaps that’s why he’s feared and called a demon. As Chi Chen’s offspring, XY would be targeted by all those who were out for revenge. However as Xiling Heng’s offspring, she’d have the protection of Haoling. Xiling Heng had agreed to give up being Chi Chen’s wife in order to make a political alliance with the Haoling king, and so that XY could be protected.
Another comment on the artistry. XL’s fight scenes are so good! He looks beautiful with his silver hair and flying robes. His dancing skills enhance the whole effect.
I haven’t watched episodes 7 yet.So I will save reading your above comments until I have, later today.
I want to get in some productive hours first!
@MM here’s something you may like to read: the translation of ‘Lost You Forever’, the novel (51 chapters plus Prologue and Epilogue). I have not read it myself but a quick glance at the prologue gives you a good idea of the setting for this story. If you do read it, don’t omit the Epilogue. It gives us something of XL’s thoughts and motives.
https://koalasplayground.com/2014/03/08/prologue-to-once-promised-a-primer-on-the-gods-and-the-kingdoms-in-lost-you-forever/
Yes, there was a comment before about how his balance and style were so beautiful to watch in the fighting scene. Unfortunately there was only 1 or 2 of them. This show is not a Wuxia so less fighting.
Episode 7
Perhaps XL Took her away from her wedding so that she would not be a very eligible candidate for anyone else for marriage and could possibly still be with jing.
Both XY ans jing when they meet realize that The attitudes they had and their decisions and actions Resulted in where they are now. Sure certain things happenned that were nefarious and difficult, But Ultimately it was how they reacted to those events that led them to.Not be together. There is a recognition that this may be irreversible. This reminds me of the ideas of fate and destiny , which I am still not very clear on.
The conversation with her former protege and an earlier Scene with cx expressed the same theme.
It is interesting that there’s a brief scene where xl recalls her response to his invitation to wander the world with him- That she would say o k if he gave up everything.
Again, an ending scene with the grandfather
Understanding something we had no idea he understood- That FFB and XL were the same person.
More on episode seven
Perhaps x l took her away at the wedding So that, as you suggested, she would not be a good candidate for anyone else As a Marriage partner, Leaving jing as the person who could be her partner, As well as doing away with his persona of FFB. He thinks as she leaves that now She will have another companion. Maybe He was referring to Jing and his thought that she would go away with him(Xl) is still in his mind for the future. I can’t quite remember The sequence of these scenes.
@MM, XL had many opportunities to keep XY by his side. If he had ever been serious about being together with XY, we see that he could have won over her Haoling father as FFB and she really might have chosen him to marry, provided of course that she was the only woman in his life.
The thing about XL was that he always had chosen another path and would stick with it. That path required that he had no family who would derail him or hold him back. As FFB for an instant, he succumbed to the urge to ask XY if she’d roam the world with him, and her answer was Yes if he gave up everything else. We see that he laughed at himself for even suggesting it because he would never give up his chosen destiny. However, the fact that XY had said yes, on one condition, was possibly a sweet memory for XL.
He was remembering this when alone in the camp, watching the rebel soldiers load the grain. I interpret it as him being a bit wistful but not that he ever would seriously consider having a life’s partner.
When he let her go, he knew he was sending her off to Jing to be her life’s partner. At least for his part, I liked that Jing didn’t go around to drag her back but that he waited patiently for her to make her decision. He did tell Lirong that between him and XL, XY had no chance to decide for herself, hence he was doing nothing except wait for her to choose what she’d do and whom she’d want to be with.
Yes, the conversation with Tian’er was significant because XY realised that she had been distrustful with Jing and taken the moral high road instead of finding out if he had been a victim himself. Her reaction had led to their rift. In EP 8 we see that she seeks him out to apologise.
I just finished episode eleven. I found it intriguing how The?
Drama developed the storyline regarding
XYs lineage. We think that it is plotted by a jealous queen at first and then realize that it is a strategy of the king’s. Either through planning or just by knowing each other well CX And the king of Haoling Work together
To give x y another identity to protect herself in the upcoming war. At least this is how I saw it. If they are cooperating this well then they must be going to war because of the issues that will arise with the clans, I suspect.
Yikes I am waching episode 13. Some heavy foreshadowing! None of it good.
Episodes 7-9
XY AND JING
XY and Jing have resolved their differences to a large extent. Finding out that Jing had been entrapped into marriage with YY, XY engineers to get the precious red fish core once given by Hou to YY, to sow discord between them. It succeeds up to a point and proof that Tian is not Jing’s son is recorded in the Ape Mirror.
XY and Jing can finally get together emotionally but there’s still the impediment of the wife.
CANG XUAN AND GRANDPA
Meanwhile CX is not pleased that Jing is back in XY’s life and that Grandpa is not taking his side in discouraging it, after all, Jing is still a married man.
Grandpa: “This is XY’s choice. She’s not a woman from the Zijin Palace. She does not want power, fame or wealth. She just wants a man who’s devoted to her to spend the rest of her life with. She’s found the right man. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen XY this happy.” CX is selfishly displeased.
CX: “Why can’t I be the one to make her happy?”
Grandpa: “If you don‘t want XY to drift apart from you then don’t try to control her life.”
So far CX is used to the idea of acquiring wives for the sake of political stability. However he hasn’t cottoned on to the need to do the reverse ie to not acquire the one he wants.
Politically, marrying the daughter of Chi Chen was not a good idea. There were bound to be more families set against the king for having such a wife.
Personally, if he really cared for XY, then surely making her less than a queen would be humiliating to her. He also failed to meet her basic, express wish for a man who would love only her and have no other family. She would never marry him because it also meant that she would not be free to wander and work as a doctor wherever she wished. But most important of all, she never loved him as a woman.
I kind of wish someone would knock CX in the head to get it through to him… oh wait … I believe grandpa did do something like that! LOL
Episode 10-11: The Rumours that Abound
Xin Yue has a noteworthy dialogue of sorts…. XY has opened her new Rejuvenation Hall with Jing by her side. Queen Xin Yue is peeved that XY is doing well and has another man dancing attendance on her, when CX won’t even enter her room.
Later on the Spring Festival Eve, CX does not even go to have the reunion dinner with her. Xin Yue ironically thinks that she would actually prefer if CX visited the other consorts. At least she would be able to fight for his love against another woman, but when he went to see his grandfather out of filial piety, there was no way she could compete. We know, of course, that CX’s filial piety is fueled by his attachment to XY. He may have visited Grandpa often to get advice, but staying on longer or having family meals was because he wanted to be with XY.
When rumours about XY’s parentage cannot be quelled, Jing thinks at first someone in power like the Queen, is behind it. But the occasion where an ex-general of Xiling Heng dines at the next table to speak about how Heng had declared she loved Chi Chen for centuries, has Jing realising that the person behind the rumours and allowing XY to hear them was CX.
CX was about to start a war against his former mentor and father-figure, the Haoling King. But XY would be caught in the middle as the Princess of Haoling. He had to engineer her dis-association from Haoling.
It’s noteworthy that the Haoling King himself figured out what was happening. He promptly cut off ties with XY as well, while praising CX for being a good student whom he’d taught well. The kings were of the same mind and knew the ‘method’ to employ to gain their end.
I was trying to compare the 3 guys who each had a chance to comfort a distraught XY. They each had something good to bring to the table, but I liked XL’s attempt the most!!!
This is long because I took down most of the conversation, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.
XIANG LIU COMFORTS XIAO YAO
XY is miserable about hearing confirmation about her mum’s affair with Chi Chen, which means that she’s likely really Chi Chen’s daughter.
She goes to Uncle Lirong’s home, finding to her sorrow that he had passed away. She cries over never knowing her father whom everyone, but Uncle Lirong had cursed. XL has been nearby most of the time that she’s been complaining to dead Uncle and XY is upset that he’s heard and seen her cry.
XY: “Why are you hiding in there? Areyou laughing at me?”
He points out that she’s the one disturbing him who came to pay respects to a friend.
XL: “Besides, what’s so laughable about you? “
XY: “Haven’t you heard that I’m Chi Chen’s daughter?”
XL laughs: “So that’s what this is about. What’s funny about that? Tell me about it.”
XY does not respond.
XL: “So the rumours were true. You really are the daughter of Chi Chen.”
XY tells him to shut up.
XL sits beside her: “Aiyah, you suddenly have a new father who is an infamous devil. It’s indeed hard to accept.”
XY tells him to shut up again.
XL adds sagely: “You don’t know Chi Chen. But you must know your mother. She chose Chi Chen. Then you should trust her judgement.” (He has a good point, but XY won’t accept it yet).
XIANG LIU’S SOB STORY
XL embarks on his tale: “No matter what, at least you know who your parents are. You’re better than me. I’m a demonic creature that crawled out of an egg and have no idea who my parents are. As you know, I have nine heads. So I eat more than others. I’ve been struggling to make a living since young. My life has been miserable. People tried to hit me or kill me.
XIANG LIU’S JOKE(S)
Sometimes, my nine heads fought among themselves. Once I was starving. One of my heads almost ate another one.
XY stares at him aghast and asks seriously: “Really?
XL turns to look just as seriously at her: “No.” And he kept a straight face LOLOL.
(XY is miffed but I found the joke very funny!)
XL : “Someone once told me that humans are strange. They have to figure out if they’re happy or in pain through comparison with others. So I told you about my miserable past for your comparison so that you realise that you’re just fine.”
He says up to crawling out of the egg and not knowing his parents and having 9 heads was true as for the rest, (he actually scratches his head!!! LOL So uncharacteristic of XL!!!)
XL: “I got carried away.” He pretends he forgot: “What did I say just now?”
XY laughs and he smiles at her.
XL: “Do you need me to tell you more about my tragic past to make you think that having a devil as a father is actually not so bad?”
Continued…
Continued …
XIANG LIU’S POINT OF VIEW
XL: “Be it you deities or we demons, no one can choose their origin. So why get hung up on something that happened before you were born?”
XY: “Hong Jiang was Chenrong’s general. When you followed him did you see Chi Chen?
He hadn’t: “Chi Chen had died before I followed my foster father.”
XY: “It’s said that Chi Chen was cunning and heartless. But why did he insist on taking the path that was a dead end? (The same question should be asked of XL).
XL: “The war lasted for over 100 years with huge casualties. Perhaps rather than living in pain and mourning for his people, it was better to die. (We bear this in mind for later). “For a general, the best end is to die in battle.”
XY: “What about you? Why did you choose Hong Jiang. Just because he was your foster father?”
XL: “It’s not just that. There were also those who had fought alongside me. We fought together, drank together, and we gathered our comrades’ remains. It’s been centuries. Their bodies have long since turned to dust. But I have nine-heads. It’s impossible to forget something. Even now, I remember their voices and faces.” (So the part about living in pain and mourning the loss of his people aptly applied to XL, since he could not forget his comrades).
XIAO YAO’S POINT OF VIEW ABOUT BEING ABANDONED
XY: “My mother once told me that there are things we must hold on to even at the cost of our lives. Fourth Uncle abandoned Auntie and Cang Xuan. My mother abandoned me. If they were not my relatives, I would find them awe-inspring.
But as a daughter, no matter how awe-inspiring my mother might be, I don’t want to forgive her. XL observes XY with something like concern.
She falls asleep and a snowflake probably made by XL, lands on her forehead to wake her up. He’s gone.
Continued…
Continued …
JING COMFORTS XIAO YAO
Jing has heard what XL said and tries to comfort XY with the lantern showing pictures of her mother in battle. He tells her to look more closely and she sees that the lantern commemorated her mother’s noble deeds as self-sacrifice for the greater good.
But XY is full of self-pity. XY tearfully observes: “They died to live up to the expectations of the people and their loved ones. But they gave birth to me. Why didn’t they raise me? Before they died, didn’t they think of me? Wouldn’t they be worried that I would be hunted down, become homeless, and be tormented in a cage by a nine-tailed fox.”
CANG XUAN COMFORTS XIAO YAO
XY gets home, still angry with her mother. CX has waited for her. He, too had been abandoned by his parents. His worst nightmare was of his mother committing suicide in front of him in order to join her husband in death.
He notes that XY did not want to be called Princess, not because it mattered to her but she was more bothered that her mother had lied to/deceived her again and again.
XY’s dreams had her mother always walking away from her and never looking back. CX can only manage to tell a sleeping, drunk XY that he’s grown up now and no one could take her away from him, and no one would dare to hurt her.
JING AGAIN COMFORTS XY
After the mummy and daddy issues, XY now faces abandonment again in the form of a letter from Haoling, telling her that the king had revoked her title and clan membership. She was now without a family and had no surname.
XY wants to burn all the letters of her ex-dad but Jing stops her. He pours water into her cupped hands which of course flows away so that her hands are empty.
Jing: “You seem to hold nothing. But don’t deny the process because of the outcome. You did indeed have a handful of water just now.”
She appreciates that he had been a good father who had doted on her and gave her everything. The letters show what she had for real.
XY finds that she cannot go around without a surname, and chooses Xiling (her mum’s maiden surname) for herself. Later she tells Jing that she chose it because Xiyan was too lofty and that Xiling and Tushan matched better.
CANG XUAN
Just as Jing is happily thinking of proposing to XY, CX is unhappy to hear that their wedding is soon expected and suggests that the Herbal Encyclopedia should be enhanced to include herbs from all around Dahuang. Grandpa gives CX a look… he guesses that CX is delaying the wedding on purpose.
When XY thinks she should prepare to leave Chenrong Mountain to get married in a year’s time, CX suggests that since compiling the medical book requires a lot of manpower and resources, it would be better for her to do it before the wedding.
He couches it as if when she gets married and becomes the Lady of Tushan she will not be free to do the work. The Tushan elders will make it difficult for Jing when he supports her in her work. So, to spare Jing the dilemma, she decides to postpone the wedding.
Jing is taken by surprise at this postponement just as he was about to propose to XY, but goes along with it, in his usual soft, submissive style.
I had a note about CX: CX is a selfish, ruthless and greedy person when it comes to XY. If he can, he will continually engineer keeping XY separate from others so that he can have her for himself. It’s a possessive love which is not true love. She naively thinks that he really cares for her as a cousin-brother, and that he chooses what is for her good, but he’s not really doing that at all, and this is another form of greater betrayal.
Halfway through episode nineteen and I am emotionally spent. This show is amazing!
I will be back when I can think coherently.
.Now I realize after episode 19 that confusing us about who was the perpetrator of the rumours should have warned me this show likes to trick us into believing one thing is true only to turn that on its head.
I agree with GB about CX’s personality. His behaviours are like those of a modern day husband who isolates and then abuses his wife. I have been feeling afraid of him more than of the demon. This plays out later…..
I also particularly noted, also in an earlier comment and as you also noted, that what seemed and maybe was an unplanned co ordination of the 2 kings, was a strategy to protect XY. I wondered, if 2 warring kings can coordinate with each other in this way, can they not regarding the war. I think you were having similar thoughts. Why not a negotiated peace but that may lead to civil unrest with the clans, possibly. I was surprised that CX had other, revenge fueled feelings for starting the war. We find out that the Haoling king was complicit in the deaths of his parents and XL’s mother.
I was so shocked at first when the Haoling king effectively disowns her and says she is Chi Chen’s daughter.
I am slowly beginning to like Jing more. He seems to be such a cosy comfortable companion to be with. They are so connected. When others criticize him for being weak and indecisive other characters say he is kind. I do not remember the particular scenes.
@GB I am getting better at remembering to take notes while watching and am even more appreciative of the efforts and time that go inot your comments.
Thank you.
I also found this joke funny and so well delivered. I think it might have been here where they exchange conspiratorial smiles.I also found this joke funny and so well delivered. I think it might have been here where they exchange conspiratorial smiles.
I have figured out how to copy and paste to these comments. Only lost my post once.
Congrats @MM on getting around the copy and paste on BOD.
I also only started to like Jing a bit more in the later part of Season 2. He does a lot of things ‘offstage’, so we are never given a chance to ‘admire’ his abilities.
I’m at Episode 14 now at the time when Jing tells Fenglong that he has done nothing guilty at all except for stuff he did to Fenglong to keep XY for himself. I was amused at Fenglong’s amazement that the good, noble, generous Jing was also a selfish man with dark intentions LOL.
= = =
I note that in the Haoling Court, the ministers are urging the Haoling King (HK) to name an heir. They dismiss the princess and suggest a nephew. They also say the heir should be someone cultivated/groomed by the HK. Yet they seem to forget that they could actually be suggesting that CX takes over as heir because her really is the nephew of HK and he really was mentored in statecraft by HK.
My take on the way things panned out between HK and CX is that after centuries of knowing each other, being tutor/mentor and mentee… CX and HK had the same way of thinking. Also, HK had gone against the grain by refusing to marry many women in order to keep peace between the clans. Because of this, Haoling had suffered many decades of war until he finally quelled it. (CX must have observed and decided to take on more wives to prevent the same thing from happening at Xiyan).
Since HK had no sons, I feel that even when he started training CX, he probably had in mind that CX could become the king to unite the clans. It was a very interesting arrangement… the Xiyan uncles were unfriendly towards CX who belonged to their clan (through his mother), so HK offered to take him in to teach him. He is from another kingdom so it’s strange… but he did it because CX was a nephew by marriage (CX’s father was HK’s wife’s brother, I believe. Heng had pleaded for Zhongyi so I take it that Zhongyi was Heng’s brother and CX’s father).
By such close affiliation between the kingdoms, it looks to me that HK might have been hoping that CX whom he groomed, would indeed be the one to unite them. But first, CX had to prove himself in Xiyan. If he could become emperor there, then only would the unification become possible.
Now in these last episodes, we see this hope being played out.
I’m in awe of the thinking behind the politics. So much is done and put in place, just in case. I also wonder if the Great Emperor knew about these ‘plans’. He tested CX’s abilities and resilience for decades before he chose him to succeed him. He might have also guessed the mind of HK with regards to making CX the heir, to unite the land.
Perhaps if I bother to read the novel, I’ll find out how much of this is right. Maybe one day, when I’m bored enough!
Sorry, I made a mistake in the above post. I was watching Episode 13 not 14.
Now I’m in Episode 14 and A Nian and XY meet at the Xiyan army camp. The shoe is on the other foot now when XY finds out to her surprise that A Nian had waited for her to come and teach her to swim as promised. XY too had waited for people who never came.
XY is more surprised that her being the daughter of Chi Chen made no difference in A Nian’s regard for her.
I so enjoy our exchanges.
I may not be able to slow down Now that I am at episode twenty and close to the finish line. My daughter, though, is coming for dinner hopefully sans the dogs..So that will help me slow down.
I will keep notes and also try to post my thoughts on episodes I have already watched.
Yes,A Nian’s character arc is strong.
@MM It’s good to know that we’re both having a fun time chatting about his show. That’s the way it should be. It adds extra layers of fun to the entertainment on the screen.
I recall that I could not slow down watching this series. I just had to know how it ended. My term for it was ‘powerful’. 🙂
I’ll be back later. Gotta get some shuteye!
Episodes 14-15: High emotions in the reunion of Haoling King and his Charges
While A Nian and Ru Shou are more like siblings and she decides to lead the battle against the tribes who had run over to CX’s side, HK lies sick but not as sick as he made himself out to be. Jing comes to see him to bringing a disguised CX and XY.
XY’s insistence on visiting her ‘father’ was a really fortuitous thing. Because of her, CX could not go to war on behalf of the tribes… which meant that he would not meet A Nian on the battlefield and end up killing her (a likely scenario!!)
Instead he is happily reunited with his Master (Shifu). Within the next episode, things have worked out so that CX is named the heir to Haoling’s throne, the Crown Prince that HK had cultivated/groomed from childhood. Not only that, but he is also the one who would best be married to A Nian (whom he could have killed in battle!) who had always cherished dreams of marrying him. In the process, the countries of Xiyan and Haoling would no longer be 2 countries but one and the war would end.
I couldn’t have come up with a better solution. Pity CX does not love A Nian romantically.
I was quite sad at the look on CX’s face over XY being the one to ask him if he was willing to marry her father’s daughter. The problem was that he was willing to marry the other daughter, XY, and not A Nian. (The irony of the question from XY’s lips escaped me at first.)
The theme of the lack of freedom suffered by good kings is repeated here. CX feels like he’s brought home the entire garden but the flower that he loves is not in it. He did not want the garden, just that one flower.
HK agrees: “Sitting in this chair, you seem to have everything. But in reality, you can’t even decide your marriage.”
Continued…
Continued…
High emotions in the reconciliation between XY and her mother
HK brings XY to Baili where stands the house that Chi Chen had built for his wife and daughter. But they had lived there for only a short time (they left probably before XY was born) and never returned. XY had been born in the palace of HK and had not had the chance to use all the toys and clothes that her parents had made for her.
In the battle to the death between Haoling and Chenrong, Xi Ling Heng had used a deadly Solar Flame to kill her enemies but at the same time she’d been burnt. However, Chi Chen had sacrificed himself to save and seal her consciousness in a burnt semblance of herself, so that she could wait for XY to come and see her at their home, where she could apologise to her face-to-face.
It was a very touching meeting which resolved so many questions. I liked that XY got to see that her parents had looked forward to having her, that they had been happy together, and that she forgave her mother and paid respects to her parents with CX.
Xiang Liu in Baili
Unexpectedly on another day, XL turns up at Baili as well and asks for info on how to get rid of the Poisonous Love Bug. He listens to a retainer speaking of Chi Chen and Heng.
After this visit, XL sits in the Shell with Furrball for company. They are both drinking wine LOL.
XL thinks back on how he was surprised that Chi Chen and Heng would have a normal home of their own. XL had looked at the scroll portrait of Chi Chen and Heng and had imagined for a moment, himself and XY on the scroll instead.
He realised that eternal separation or death would have been their fate if they ever got together. But at least for Chi Chen and Heng, they had been together in death.
XL to Furrball: “Instead of fighting each other, it’s better to forget each other.” Something he knew he had to do with regards to XY once he could get rid of the Bug. (We sense from hindsight, that he was steeling himself to do this).
I finished the last episode last night. I watched the last few episodes in a sleep state and missed stuff. Just had to know how it ended. It was a kinder ending than I was expecting.
END SPOILER
XL dies spectacularly. He had been key in rescueing Jing so that XY could have a loved and loving companion. XY is successful as a doctor, publishing her book on medical remedies.
I did feel there could have been more backstory for XL. I thought CX’s character was the best DEVELOPED and very well acted.
I thought the way the politics and the character arcs were intertwined was particulrly well done in this drama and helped avoid any boredom with the politics.
About the reconciiation between XY and her mother, they had the opportunity to say goodbye to each other and resolve their inner conflicts.That scene was where I felt the most emotion.
There is a comment at one point that it is always spring in Haoling, I think that is where all the blossomming trees are. I had been wondering prior to that why there was always a carpet of blossoms.
About CX and Anian marrying. Remember a few episodes earlier her father had said she could marry him. So he probably had that strategy in mind for awhile.
That’s good news that you’ve completed this series @MM! Now you can go back up to read and not fear spoilers. I gave an end-of-series review upthread.
SPOILERS MAYBE
On rewatch, I did find a couple of episodes slow, as you said, but perhaps they brought on the pathos that the following fast paced episodes would not have given us time to feel. I did like seeing the flashbacks of XL and XY. They remind us that regardless of the current situation our characters find themselves in or deliberately create, the sentiments were different in more peaceful times.
XIANG LIU AND XIAO YAO
No matter what it looked like in public, and no matter how transactional its nature, the relationship of XY and XL, hovered between trusted companion, friend, confidant, and possible lover.
I feel that XY could never quite tell how XL regarded her. She decided on the easiest definition ie that she was just his pawn or a person from whom he could get what he needed in return for favours. But in her heart, she was probably always torn. She had a soft spot and a special place in her heart for XL. She knew he trusted her even at his most vulnerable, but at the same time, she knew he would kill CX whom she had vowed to protect.
XL was the one who was clear about how he felt, and because he loved her sincerely, he took care that he should hurt her as little as possible and engineer her happiness as far as he could.
Unlike CX, he was willing to let her go to another man, if she chose it freely.
Unlike Jing, he never clung to her or indulged her.
He took care that he was not overly gallant so that he wouldn’t enter her girlish dreams because he knew that he’d not live long enough to spend all her life with her.
He deliberately kept their interactions transactional because he knew her way of being attached to those who were around her, meant that she would be loyal to them, but this would lead her to greater suffering if he were her friend who would turn against her brother at the proper time.
The favours he did her far outweighed what he demanded in return from her. He gave her the means to defend herself through archery because her spirit power had been depleted. He had sacrificed 1 of his lives the first time that she was unconscious for decades in the Shell, and he sacrificed 2 more to kill the 2 love bugs inside the both of them. I felt it was wonderful how he engineered that she should give her healing blood to him, thinking of it as the end of their transactions, but it was so that she’d pass out. Once out cold, he could kill the bugs and never let her know. I’m not sure but I believe he even gave her back a drop of her own blood to heal her.
I’m glad that at least A Nian was aware that XL really cared for XY, and that she witnessed him losing 2 lives for her.
Perhaps the title ‘Lost You Forever’ could be applied more to XY losing XL forever. Among her suitors, he was the one who loved her best, but she did not even know this, to appreciate what she lost forever. XY ensure that not knowing this, XY could be happy with Jing, never knowing (in a perfect world) what she could have had.
XIANG LIU AND XIAO YAO MOMENTS (EPISODES 20 – 23)
When Grandpa tells XY that the war against Hong Jiang was beginning, she reminisces about the time she lived in Qingshui Town and how she came to know Ye Shiqi and XL. She smiles at the memory of how she’d tried so hard to poison XL but ended up poisoning Shiqi instead.
At the same time XL has returned to visit the original Rejuvenation Hall where Wen Xiao Liu had welcomed him. It’s kind of heartache-y to see Xiang Liu making his goodbyes by himself.
XY recalls the time XL had been injured and had come to her. She knew he could not move so she’d drawn on his face. She had sensed that although he’d looked at her fiercely, he had no intention of killing her.
XL feels in his heart that XY is remembering their past. (He thinks: The shared feeling puts two people in agony). Perhaps he is slightly comforted, since XL falls asleep on XY’s old bed, smiling to himself, imagining her as Wen Xiao Liu as she had been then, protesting that he’d taken her bed, while she slept on the floor.
(EPISODE 21)
XY had accompanied CX to Qingshui Town and returns to the manor where Jing had lived before. Remembering Jing causes a great deal of heartache in XY, and XL feels it too.
He recalls how she had said it was terrifying to have him enter a girl’s dreams.
XY had said: “Although it’s very unlikely, I’m still scared that I might accidentally let you into my dreams. You are no way the type to be in a girl’s dreams. This is probably more terrifying than death.”
XL is poisoning arrows with his blood and says to himself that XY is right.
Continued …
Continued …
Within 2 hours of CX’s arrival, XL is on Chubby/Furrball and firing arrows at CX. He shoots 2 out of 3 arrows and kills Fenglong who placed himself in the path of the arrow to protected CX. XY tries to save Fenglong but finds that he has been poisoned and is stunned to think how she had been supplying poisons to XL who was now using his blood on his weapons, determined to kill CX.
XY realises that her emotions had given away the information to XL that CX was in town. She calls XL out to meet her. He comes walking on the water of the river and notes that she’s aiming her arrow at him. He says wryly that she wants to kill him with the archery skills that he taught her. She sends an arrow into his chest but he’s hardly affected. He continues walking towards her and tells her that if she wants him to die, she must shoot a few more arrows and aim better.
She lets fly a second arrow to just graze his sleeve. She’s lost the desire to kill him. He must have guessed, of course, that an attempt on CX’s life would draw her out to confront him. He refuses to let her just walk away, saying that she should repay him for the many favours he had done for her.
Ever one to be dealing fairly, XY demands to know what he’s after and agrees to give him her blood by slicing her wrist.
XY: “Do you think of everyone except Hong Jiang as a pawn to be used?” She says she now believes that he’s really heartless, cold and ruthless. He says it’s not that he is heartless but that she’s a fool (to ever have thought he was otherwise). While XY’s blood would indeed be valuable in healing the wounded, I believe getting her to drain away her blood was XL’s way to get XY ready to have the Bug removed.
There is a moment of recollection of their shared moments: the night walk on the water to see the moon, the underwater journey, the archery, the time as FFB when he’d almost stroked her face, the time in the Shell when he’d shown a sleeping XY the moon.
XY after her blood has dripped into a collecting flower says: “I’ve repaid your favours with my blood. After this we will be strangers. In this lifetime, I do not wish to see you again.” (Words that she would regret).
XL watches anxiously as XY walks off unsteadily and rushes over in time to catch her before she reaches the ground as she faints. It is only when she is out cold that we see how dear she is to him. He holds her close, wipes away her tears and presses his lips to the wounds in her wrists so that they close up and are healed. He seems to be in tears himself.
Continued …
Continued …
A Nian brings a sleeping XY to Mount Jade and meets XL there.
In the big Shell on the Mount Jade lake, XY still lies unconscious. XL gets hold of her Ape Mirror and smiles at the images of him that she had stored in it. He erases all of them and returns the mirror. He activates the Bugs in both their hearts.
XL notes: “You fool. How dare you plant the Poisonous Bug that joins our lives together. The parasol trees grow old together. The lovebirds never fly alone. Mandarin ducks die in pairs. The love poisonous bug is not removable. “
(EPISODE 22)
TheBug could be removed from CX, because XY had not successfully planted it, since CX had not been willing. XL, however, had been willing, hence the Bug could not be removed, but could only be killed. The Queen Mother on Mount Jade acknowledged later that it was only XL who could have done this, because he had more than 2 lives.
While XY is unconscious, XL moves the Bug inside XY into his own body and kills both of them, which takes away two of his remaining 8 lives. He gives XY back her own blood to help her recover and heals the wounds he made in their joined hands.
XL: “Your bug has been removed. From now on, you and I will have nothing to do with each other.”
He carries her back to land and leaves XY in the care of A Nian and the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother agrees to pretend that she removed the Bug so that XY won’t know that she owed him this favour.
XL explained to A Nian: “Since we are not meant to be, it’s better to not owe each other or linger in memories, as if we never crossed paths.” XL refuses to recuperate on the mountain saying that facing the great Xi Yan army with one life more or less, made no difference. With one last glance at the sleeping XY, XL takes his leave on Chubby. The Shell disintegrates so that no trace of him is left.
Continued …
I am glad you were awake during these episodes.Because I think I missed some of This in My rush to get to the end Before I fell asleep.😊
I have moved on to 365 repeat the year And am thoroughly engaged.
Continued …
The next sad goodbye in store is for Chubby. Chubby refuses to leave him, so he feeds it some of the sleeping draft poison that XY had give him that would make a person or a bird sleep for several days. He sends Chubby off in the bowl he drank from, thanking him for 300 years of service. He drinks from his favourite bottle of wine and finds that he has come to the last drops with XY’s poison in it that she’d made especially for him.
Later on he examines XY’s crystal ball gift closely and inscribes good wishes on it: “May you have strength, someone to lean on and a place to call home. May you be happy. ” The wishes were to counteract what she had said she suffered, when she had first met him: “I cannot protect myself. I have no one to rely on and nowhere to go.”
Since XY had said she feared to have him enter her dreams, he put the ball most appropriately into a smiling, sleeping doll, and wished her sweet dreams. He wanted to add a threat ie if she didn’t sleep soundly and have sweet dreams, he’d do something to her… but he stopped short, because he knew he would not be alive to carry out any threat. Elsewhere, XY wakes up troubled, thinking about the war and XL, and how he’d said for a general the best death was on the battlefield.
In the final battle, XL makes his last stand alone, surrounded by several armies of Xiyan. Both he and Ru Shou appreciate each other’s cleverness, but Ru Shou admits that he was no match for XL in terms of intelligence and if things had been more balanced, XL would not have lost.
Continued …
Continued …
(EPISODE 23)
It takes multiple arrows to stop XL’s attacks, but he does not fall to the ground until later, when the poison in his body causes the arrows to disintegrate and the surrounding area gets covered in a thick miasma emanating from XL. He still has the strength to bring out the pearl, the tear drop that XY had left him in the Shell, and the last thing of hers he has kept for himself.
He moves the pearl to fall into his left eye and smiles his farewell with XY’s tear in his eye.
His final thoughts come in flashbacks of the earliest meetings between him and Wen Xiao Liu/XY.
XL: “XY when we first met outside Qingshui Town, you were all smiles and full of lies. The only truth you told me was: ‘I can’t protect myself. I have no one to rely on, and nowhere to go.” Decades of archery practice allow you to protect yourself. You don’t have to guard against enemies with your body. You found a perfect lover. You have someone to rely on. You’re no longer alone, drowning in loneliness. My blood running in your veins allows you to roam the vast seas. Now you have a place to go. You’ll no longer be chased with nowhere to settle.”
He remembers what he had said before and says to her in spirit that he would no longer be able to protect her, so she had to take good care of herself: “May you live in peace without worries.”
We next see that XY grieves over XL’s death. XY recalls how she’d shot XL and given him her blood. But not knowing then that that was the last time she would see him, she regrets what she had said then. She looks for images of XL in her Ape Mirror and is stunned that he had thought to erase those as well. She feels heartache at his loss, remembering him more as a friend and the times when they were together.
Sometime after XY’s wedding, A Nian gives the smiling, sleeping doll to XY as a wedding gift, telling her to bring it with her on her travels. XY never knew that she carried XL’s gift with her own gift inside it, everywhere she went.
I need to rewatch these episodes. I am appreciating your recaps. ThaNk you
Hi @MM, Yes, I like 365 Repeat the Year too, however I stopped it to complete my comments (more or less) for LYF. LYF continues to tug at my heartstrings. The music is a big factor in creating the sentiments or in making me feel sentimental over the relationships in this Show.
You’re very welcome @MM, it’s a pleasure to put down some more compelling ad hoc thoughts, as long as there’s someone reading them (and acknowledging it!)
I’ve a few more thoughts but I’ll post them later. 🙂
🙂
I’m thinking of the scene where he dies on the battlefield and how meaningful to the whole story and his relationship with x.Y that he pulls out the pearl made from her tears and puts it in his eye.
I think this was such a lovely Way of expressing His empathic connection with her. He took on her feelings and then did everything he could For Her to not be alone and feeling abandoned Even After his death.
@MM, what a good point about the tear and the connection with XY. Through the decades they had the Bugs in their hearts that let him share her feelings of joy and pain. He no longer had the Bug, but he must have guessed that XY would cry for him.
I felt that while XL did not cry for himself, he placed XY’s tear of gratitude into his own eye, grateful for all that he’d had with XY and happy to leave it all in the death that he had chosen.
This got me thinking about how XY cried when she heard about XL’s death. Reading the last chapters of the novel, I came to realise that XL’s death was a great shock to XY. For all that she knew that he would fight with the rebels, she still never expected that he could ever be killed. In the novel, before the final battles, she asked her brother to spare XL’s life, but he could not promise this, of course.
So XY’s tears were of real grief over the loss of a close friend. The novel points out that they had actually spent many decades together at different times, and that it was only with XY that XL let down his guard entirely and was himself. He could be fun and tender and fault-finding, but they had, had good times.
From XL’s point of view, he’d been parentless, friendless, ill-treated and mostly feared as an adult, but XY was the first and only person who teased him, poked him and not in a bad way, but playfully and without any ill-intent. She was his one and only friend, and even without the Bug, they had a bond of sorts between them.
It was most fitting that she left him her tear, and that he had treasured it and applied it to his own eye and died in peace.
Oh my now.I am thinking I would like to read the novel as well. I have tried
Reading a few chinese novels translated into english but they have little literary quality(translation issue) and I find that difficult.
@GB I had tears in my eyes reading your last comments.😥
@MM, thank you for letting me know that you were touched. 🙂
@MM, I looked up my notes on when XY wept the tears (I forgot there were 3 teardrops) in the Shell, and rewatched Ep 32 of LYF1. The things that happened there inform the end and the promise made is fulfilled in the end. So satisfying.
EPISODES 16-23
Some Ad Hoc Thoughts
Balance/Complementary elements – I like that in each individual, there is a balance of good and evil. No one is saccharine sweet or too good to be true.
And characters complement each other. Just one example: Jing’s soft, submissiveness to XY’s quick temper and authoritativeness.
Even the blood of XY and XL were used differently. Hers were given to heal, his to poison and kill.
Not as Expected
Over and again, Show brings up the theme of getting what one wants but then finding it less sweet than expected.
Marriage – A Nian prepares for her wedding to CX, the fulfillment of her dream since she was a young girl. However as a mature adult, she goes into it with eyes open, knowing that it is an important political alliance, and that CX does not love her as a woman. She too has learnt that with great power comes great responsibility and accepts the marriage for the greater good (totally unlike Xin Yue). She’s not as happy or excited as she thought she would be, but she has chosen to be satisfied.
Unification – XL and the rebel army are defeated at last, a dear wish of the Xi Yan kingdom so that Dahuang could be truly unified, but Grandpa and CX congratulate each other solemnly, feeling more regret than relief. They knew that they had lost great men in Hong Jiang and XL.
The Throne – All 3 kings had acknowledged that they sat on the ‘chair’ that made it look like they owned the world but in reality their personal choices were restricted. They would have to live out their lives with companions but without the loves of their lives.
By contrast we see that XL who rejected kingship, who chose not for himself, but to serve principles of loyalty and honour, and the people who upheld them, was able to achieve a happy end, having achieved his aims.
Continued…
Continued…
Mummy-Daddy Issues
Among all the parents, the best was Haoling King. He was perhaps not a very good king… he was in fact willing to sacrifice the nation for his daughters’ happiness. He offered to snatch Jing for XY, and to stop the wedding to CX for A Nian. He put the individual child’s happiness before the state.
CX’s Parents – As for the other parents, it was the other way around. Abandonment of CX, and the deaths of aunt and grandma made him want to depend on XY. In the beginning, he was the weaker one in terms of spirit power, and she protected him. When their separation was forced upon them, he vowed to gain power so as to be able to protect XY,… the last family member he cherished. As an adult, he had to choose repeatedly, and he admits in the last episode, that each time he chose, it was not XY but the throne and all the responsibilities that came with it. Despite that, she was the woman he really loved.
XY’s ParentsThe mummy-daddy issues faced by XY, plus the broken promises made to her, resulted in her losing trust in most people, but at the same time they made her fear being alone. She desperately wanted to rely on someone who’d be with her always. On top of this, with Chi Chen as her father, she faced danger from his enemies. All these drove the plot around XY and explain her choices.
Xin Yue’s Parents – Xin Yue seems to believe that her father had treated her like a pawn to be hostage to Xiyan. Her mother lived apart from her husband (2nd husband) having been married to Fenglong’s dad and then remarried into the Chenrong family. Xin Yue wanted a marriage of love as well as power. She did not see that as greed. In a more perfect world, I guess she could have had it all?
Xin Yue had Fenglong as a stepbrother, however she often considered herself the victim, the one used by the family for their own rise to power. She became calculating and grasping, working towards coveting power for her own security, instead of for the larger good.
She finally admits about herself that for a man who didn’t care about her she had lost her pride, and her freedom. She had become despicable and narrow-minded. She had committed a grave crime. She had inadvertently made her brother die for her. Well at least she became more self-aware and decided to be a decent queen.
Continued…
Continued…
The Alternative Plotlines
What I like about this Writer and this Show is that they give us the other possible way the plot could have gone or give us enough information, so that we can guess. We don’t really need to wonder, ‘what if’.
The Alternative End for CX if he had killed Jing. – Show gives us the Karma Illusion inducing tea so that we get to see what could have been a real possibility. It was probably a thought that CX had played with before. How nice to kill Jing so that XY would depend only on him (CX).
The words that illusionary XY spoke to him tell us what she would have felt if CX had betrayed her in that way and pointed out his greed. It would have been a highest tragedy where CX would have killed not only Jing but himself in XY’s eyes. Grandpa would also have been forced into collusion to protect the country. XY’s sense of betrayal would have been absolute since it involved the 2 family members closest to her.
The karma/reprisal of killing Jing show us what a tragic action it would have been. Grandpa was right to say that it was fortunate the Queen had stepped in before CX could.
The Alternative End for XY and FFB – We have been shown what XL is like and how charming he can be as FFB. We know that if he chose, he could probably have made a relatively good husband (and father?) like Chi Chen. We know that he could have been fun to hang out with, travel with and learn things from. We know what he’d be like angry or playful. We don’t have to wonder, what if XL had chosen to be FFB and marry XY.
I also can imagine amazing fights between the two of them, with XL always holding back with great restraint because he was more powerful. In fact, since it had been XL who first offered to take XY to rove around the world with him, instead of Jing by her side, I could imagine it being XL. Perhaps the only difference might have been that they could travel by Air Chubby, or they could have travelled on or underwater and lived in the Shell, to get to anywhere at all.
Continued …
Continued …
The Complete Resolution of Threads
Chubby – With Chubby/Furrball, we see that XL could have affection for creatures. He wanted to send Chubby away to be safe from the war and to remain so when he was gone. We know he saved Chubby once and appreciated Chubby’s 300 years of company and service.
The Promises – We see that XL and A Nian really kept their word. She had promised to help him at a later time, and he called in this promise. By bringing XY to Jade Mountain and keeping his secret, she would honour the promise to XL.
Similarly, CX remembered his promise to XL to reserve a place in the Chenrong Mountains for the dead rebels.
Jade Mountain/Queen Mother – Even the very incidental character of the Queen Mother on the boring Jade Mountain is not forgotten. We get to see her once again, and to know that her life would soon end. XY remains on Jade Mountain for a while and admits that she no longer hates it but finds it familiar.
Jing’s Return – We see that it was XL who had saved Jing. He had stopped the sea monsters from eating Jing and ensured that Lirong Chang found him.
The Pearl Tear – The only gift XY could leave XL in the Shell when she regained consciousness after 37 years with him healing her, were three teardrops which he turned into a pearl and treasured. Even this is not forgotten at XL’s last breath.
There may be more instances like these, but even these few threads that could have been forgotten, are resolved by the end of the series. Among the many things I liked about this Show, this was perhaps my highest ‘like’.
Kudos to all who participated in bringing Tong Hua’s amazing tale to life. Everything worked well (despite the minor element of the fake look of things), all scenes looked beautifully filmed, and the music accompanied the mood appropriately, often sending my spirits soaring. Yang Zi was amazing in every scene, and she had sooooo many. I was bowled away by Tan Jian Ci after Season 1 and started to watch his other shows. Zhang Wan Yi seems to be another actor to watch. Overall, it was a great series and it’s going to be hard to top this series in terms of the positive sentiments it has brought forth.
Upthread, @GB said of Episode 2/3 XL and XY encounter: “The longing in FFB/XL’s eyes and voice as he asks XY to dine with him! She only agrees when he is XL and not FFB.
XY asks XL: “Why is it so hard to find a companion.”
XL: “It’s not that hard. Yet it is indeed hard to find someone with similar tastes, who treats you sincerely and makes your life interesting.” (He is describing who XY is to him, which is why he values her friendship and company).
XY is always interested in XL’s opinions. She asks if she does not marry Fenglong, then whom she should marry.
He gives her a long look and turns to face her with a thought in his mind. Then he dismisses it with a laugh. It is self-deprecating: “You ask me, (actual translation: but whom can I ask) how should I know?”
As if he’d offered himself as a candidate, XY suddenly says something that would block him as her lover from the start: “Anyway the man I marry can’t have a family or be my brother’s enemy.” (Jing is the one with the family, XL is the one who’s her brother’s enemy). XL leaves her, once again lonely and resigned.”
@Kate wrote:
Although I’d have liked XY to have been smarter about who likes her. I’ve found that it’s actually consistent throughout. Her inner demons seem to keep her sort of still locked up in a cage of her own making. She thinks she’s basically alone and that people like XL come to her to get something. She has it fixed in her mind that it’s transactional.
Sometimes I feel that it’s her self-preservation or defensive spirit at work. She likes XL in a way that’s different from the way she likes Jing and CX, (but she does like him very much, although she may not even acknowledge it to herself). At the same time, she does not ever dare hope that he’d like her in the same way (this part is probably to protect herself from being disappointed/hurt). Her statement about finding it scary to think she might accidentally let him into her dreams, seems to hold true.
@Kate wrote:
Yes, it’s sometimes hard to figure out how the astute, doctor of Qingshui Town could not be aware of what is so obvious to us. Well, if it’s any consolation, she herself (much, much later) realised her mistake over Jing. With CX, she always put it down to their childhood attachment and nothing more. The other thing is that she has always leaned more towards the idea of being the victim, the abandoned one, the one that others break their promises to… hence where Jing is concerned (and even CX too) her default reaction is to believe the worst where she is the one who is being played out. I believe this explains her attitude somewhat. 🙂
I found that I automatically headed back to re-watch Season 1, some days after completing Season 2. With the knowledge of how things panned out, certain scenes take on added significance. Watching with hindsight adds another dimension to my viewing pleasure.
While XY yearns to have someone by her side always, so that she won’t be lonely, CX has a different objective. The story offers us the sometimes ‘parallel’ threads of what these 2 children will do to achieve their goals. At times their paths align, or go head-to-head to create an impasse, and at others their paths will cross and they end up heading in divergent directions.
= = =
In Season 1, Ep 1, Cang Xuan as a child had told his Grandpa, the King of Xiyan that he did not want to become a hero.
CX : “I swear I won’t become like them. I swear I won’t do what they did and leave my wife, my mother, and my children, in endless grief and pain without someone to rely on. I will live on. I will live on well. I will be the King of Xiyan.”
King of Xiyan : “To be the King of Xiyan is even harder than being a hero. It is an arduous and dangerous journey.”
CX : “I’m not scared. I promised my granny and auntie to protect Zhaoyun Park and XY. There’s nothing I won’t do to grow powerful.”
King of Xiyan : “Okay, I will wait to see that.”
We look back now and see that CX achieved the crown of Xiyan and even became the Lord of Dahuang. It was true that he would do practically anything to grow powerful. However, although he did live on and did offer to his wives/consorts and retainers, someone to rely on, he emotionally abandoned his family, which might have been endlessly painful for them.
There are 2 ironies:
1) Ironically, by becoming the Lord of Dahuang and uniting the land, he did become a hero as well, but he would never have what triggered his hunger for power, Xiao Yao.
2) If CX had managed to get everything he wanted and could forcibly add XY to his harem, he’d have become miserable because XY would have been miserable too. He’d have lost his love forever.
Either way, CX would lose XY. With the crown and the responsibilities that went with it as his focus, CX was destined to never have XY.
Season 1 Ep 3… we start to hear of Xiang Liu. He is both made fun of as a demon with 9 heads, as well as feared and respected for being powerful in terms of spirit power, and as an amazing military advisor.
For over a hundred years, Xiang Liu has ranked first on the Xiyan wanted list. But he is capable and intelligent, knowledgeable in military law and able to manage the soldiers well. Instead of killing him, CX is interested in getting him to come over to work for Xiyan. Later we see that his Grandpa and other generals felt the same. It was such a waste to treat XL, with all his talents, as an enemy to be killed.
In Season 1, even XY suggests that XL should consider ditching the Chenrong rebels to go to Xiyan’s side where he’d get more power, and more importantly to her, not be killed.
To the very last, Xiyan offered XL all kinds of lures (even a kingdom of his own) to get him to choose to stay alive, but XL would never agree to be used or to work under anyone or give up his principles. If he had agreed to any terms, he’d have immediately become a disdainful object, to be looked down on as one who turned tail on top of being a demon. He chose wisely the best route that would etch him forever in memory as the fearsome but dignified and loyal enemy, whom Xiyan regretted having to kill.
It took the end of the war and death to raise XL and even Hong Jiang, to a status of almost heroes. They were possibly more respected in death than in life.
Season 1 – The First Meetings of Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu
XY’s sense of responsibility to get spirit-herbs so that Pimply could get married, has her singing a sad song to lure a Fei Fei (one of the spirit animals) out into the open, in the part of forest that XL guarded.
XL hears her singing and sends Chubby down first. Chubby was more interested in the Fei Fei, so XY threw poison at Chubby who collapses. XL is intrigued. He probably knows that the Fei Fei would only respond to a song sung by a female. But XY looked like a man.
XL notes that Chubby had no trouble with tens of thousands of poisonous snakes and Xiyan’s court physicians tried but could not poison Chubby. XL did not expect a physician from Qingshui Town to be so powerful.
XY’s poison of course has no effect on XL, but his interest is piqued, and he has to check if XY is a spy, but more… he would like to make use of XK’s talents in making poisons.
In the course of his interrogation and torture (because XY was impudent), XY is forced to agree to be XL’s person, to provide him with poisons and come when called. It looked like a totally one-sided deal where XY lost out entirely, but from hindsight it was the best relationship that she ever forged, because XL would be the only one who could save her when she was near death and protect her from the Poisonous Love Bug. He saved her more than once, but probably, XY was only aware of the one time that she and XL had been in the Shell as she lay unconscious. And that was the only time that XL had not known that she had been ‘conscious’ of him throughout those years.
Ye Shiqi uses power to get past the guards to fetch XY and XL allows her to leave. XL continues to wonder about XY. When asked who she really was, she had said she might have been not only Wen Xiaoliu, … but she had never divulged her real name. He knew that she was masquerading as a man and hanging out with a man who was masquerading as a poor mortal when he was a high-level deity.
The early S1 meetings when XL comes along to call for XY are likely his attempts to get her to reveal her real identity. In the course of several meetings, they actually became friends.
Continued …
HI GB. For some reason I did not get notification of these comments in my email. I look forward to reading them.
Hi @MM, sometimes I have to re-register that I want emails to get notifications again.
Season 1 Ep 4 to 5 – The First Meetings of Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu Continued …
At Pimply’s wedding, XL turns up with a wedding gift. He says her medicine (poison) is good.
XL asks while watching the mortals outside the room: “You are a deity. When they all die, you might still be as you are now. (Is it worth your while taking an interest in them)?”
XY : “I’m afraid of loneliness. If I can’t find enduring companionship, short relationships will also be good.”
XL tries the wine she made. He notes the poison in it.
XY asks eagerly : “So have you been poisoned?”
Xiang Liu: “Do you really want to poison me?”
XY lies: “Of course not. I’m not one of Xiyan’s soldiers. For now, we’re not enemies. (But she does consider him an enemy). I just want to beat you with hundreds of whips.”
Xiang Liu: “You wish.” (XL finds XY the first person with whom he can have repartee. As for XY, she agreed to hang out with XL for 2 possible reasons. She really was lonely, and she had a deal with XL that she’d go to him when he called her. At the same time, she might have been looking for ways to poison XL.) 😂
Continued …
Season 1 Ep 4 to 5 – The First Meetings of Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu Continued …
When Shiqi is in disgrace for hiding instead of standing by XY against CX, XL comes to fetch XY. He senses at once that Shiqi whom XY had been on good terms with, is now in her bad books.
She admits that her anger is directed more at herself. She had relied on Shiqi to help her and been let down; hence she says: “I know, the more I hope, the more I get hurt. Rather than this, I might as well rely on myself.”
XL : “Deities and mortals are the same. When they’re young, they have parents. When they grow up they have wives, and children to accompany them. “Isn’t it normal to have thoughts of depending on others?” (He’s asking as a demon who never knew his parents).
XY explains that she has no family, (which is not exactly true). When desperate and helpless, she had not relied on anyone. Now that she’d grown up, all the more she should not rely on others.
XY : “Even if I fall, the only one who can catch me is myself.” (This is before she met CX, Shiqi and XL. After this, in various ways the work of saving XY fell to others).
She does a blind backward fall off Chubby into the lake below then clambers back on when Chubby comes down to retrieve her. Still in a bad mood, she provokes and challenges XL to go swim a race with her. (Her nonchalant fall into the water and her goading of XL, reflect how relaxed she is with him which is strange, since he could use his demon powers to harm or kill her at any time. Perhaps it was because they had built up this relationship based on trust and fulfilling deals that XL began to relax more around XY.)
XL, never one to ‘give in’ without a proper deal, agrees to a swimming competition but makes it sound as if he’s deigning to grant her wishes LOL: “Since you’re begging me, I agree.”
XY is taken aback: “When did I beg you?”
(He has cunningly redefined the situation. It’s not that they are entering a competition for mutual fun, but that he’s being magnanimous in acceding to her request.)
XL: “Didn’t you?” LOL.
XY capitulates: “Alright, alright. Let’s say I begged you. Let’s start.”
In the future, XL will be angry that XY lied about not having a family or place to go to, when he finds out that she’s the Haoling Princess. However, because XY had been open with him about her past which resonated with his own, he would take up his other identity as FFB and continue to meet XY to offer companionship (and to be less lonely himself?) and to teach her archery, so that if she really had no one to rely on, she would have the means to defend herself.
Continued…
I’m getting the notifications in my email box again. Your recaps of the first episodes Of season one are motivating me even more to rewatch season one.
@MM, I’m quite chuffed that you’re into watching Season 1 again. I managed up to S1 Ep 7 so far. I was trying to shorten/summarise their initial meetings… too many words!!!
There was one particular conversation that I wanted to focus on, so I may just touch on other stuff and jump into that.
Season 1 Ep 4 to 5 – The First Meetings of Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu Continued …
XY, still in her reckless mood, antagonises XL by teasing him about his nine heads. She sits beside him, nudging him familiarly as if they are bosom buddies and he seems to impassively accept her nonsense, until he doesn’t and uses a mute spell on her. He repays her for her taunts by saying: “Actually, I prefer to eat mortals.”
He strokes the side of her head and sounds like he’s teasing : “Someone like you is just enough for each of my heads to take a bite.” In a shocking move, his fangs appear and he bites deep into her neck.
XL opens his eyes in surprise. He discovers that XY’s blood has immense healing properties.
XL: “You have little spirit power, but your body is a treasure.”
After this, he would resort to sucking her blood whenever he needed a pick-me-up after a fight. (Yes XY was his walking ‘antibiotic’).
After fighting against CX’s men, XL is badly injured and comes to XY’s room to heal. He hears her cursing him but does not take any great issue over it. I find it interesting that he’s in different clothes from the ones he war in the fight, but this set of clothes has his blood on them.( Hmmmm wardrobe department blooper?)
In the middle of sucking her blood he abruptly asks if she’s afraid.
XY: “Yes.”
XL: “Lying again.” (He’s intrigued by the fact that she’s not afraid of him.)
XY: “That day at the Lake, you already knew the secret of my body. I originally thought you would eat me to increase your spirit power. But I didn’t expect you to show mercy. You just drank a few mouthfuls of my blood. Naturally, I’m not afraid.”
XL: “Now I drink only a few mouthfuls of your blood. Who knows which winter I will use your flesh as a tonic to nourish myself.”
XY: “I’m all yours now. You can do whatever you want.”
XL: “Lying again.”
She sees that he has blood stains on his sleeve.
XY: “Who is the person capable of hurting you?” (Heh, she’d like to find out more, to know how to defeat him herself.)
After having enough blood to heal with, he rests on XY’s bed so she has to sleep on the floor, but she discovers that he cannot move for the time of healing and draws 7 eyes with a coal on his face. He’s totally vulnerable, hence it is obvious that he completely trusts XY. She could have called in any of his enemies to kill him at this time.
In Season 2, XY tells her grandpa about this interlude and says that although XL had looked like he was going to kill her, she felt convinced that he wouldn’t.
Later after XL had healed, he checks his blackened face in the river and decides to settle accounts with her slowly for her rude prank, since he thought: “We have all the time in the world”. (They could have had many centuries before them. Most of the time they had together however, was spent by XL trying to heal or help XY. The time was also shortened, because with XY’s help and CX’s ambition, CX gained the throne much sooner than expected. CX also started the war on Haoling pretty soon after consolidating his position in Xiyan and then ended it abruptly by marrying A Nian. Hence the time XL had was decades and not centuries.)
Continued …
Season 1 Ep 6 – The First Meetings of Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu Continued …
Ep 6 – The time that XL would start settling accounts with XY comes quite soon when it’s Skinny’s turn to be married. He wants to marry Tian’er who works in a brothel, and who has to be redeemed so that she could leave it. The brothel manager refuses to let her go. XY seeks out XL to ask if he’s the one who owns the brothel. He takes the opportunity to get a lot of her blood.
XY complains that XL is sucking too much blood and should leave some for next time. He touches her neck in a most suggestive manner and asks when he should cut off her head. She says that night itself was not suitable.
XY : “Such a beautiful night. How elegant it is to talk under the moon. You’d better wait to kill me until the time I really want to kill you.”
XL : “Don’t you want to kill me now?”
XY : “I don’t. You clearly know that I don’t and won’t kill you.”
XL : “I don’t know. … Don’t you hate me?”
XL : “You don’t know but you dared to meet me with injuries. You think I’m a little bunny? Or your nine heads got bumped during a fight.”
He bares his serpent fangs at her with red eyes and she draws back.
XY : “I don’t hate you. I really don’t hate you.”
XY tells more about her past: “Although you whipped me forty times and always exploit me, I don’t really care. Because I’m lonely.” (Perhaps this strikes a chord with XL because he seems to listen more intently).
XY: “I had a strange disease before, so I hid in the deep mountain. I couldn’t meet anyone for decades. Then I met a snake demon. I knew the snake demon wanted to eat me, but even knowing the danger, I still provoked it all the time. Because only it could understand what I was saying.”
XY: “It’s said that Heaven favours the deities but I think it’s the mortals it favours. A mortal is no different from a deity. The only difference is their short life.”
XY points out the moon: “A thousand years ago, it looked just like that. Even the most beautiful scenery becomes boring over time.”
XL looks at the moon and at her. (This might be the reason that he takes her to look at the moon at a later time.)
XL and XY end up sitting side-by-side companionably on a big tree branch. XL asks about the snake demon. XY says it died in an encounter with a 9-tailed fox/gumiho. She had managed to kill the 9-tailed fox after 30 years in captivity. Her story calls up memories for XL of similar treatment when he had been tortured in captivity until he had attacked his keeper.
XL: “You mean that I’m like that snake demon. We’re both the games for you to alleviate loneliness.”
(To my surprise, XY did not negate this at all! This also explains why she keeps poking XL. She’s bored and lonely. In addition with XL, there was even a risk that he might retaliate … so the exciting element of the unexpected was there. Jing, to me, would have been too boring for XY.)
XY: “Who knows. Perhaps to you I am the snake that amuses you.”
XL asks what business she had sought him out for and when he hears it’s for Skinny and has nothing to do with XL himself and sees that she dismisses him immediately when she finds out that he’s not the owner of the brothel, he’s displeased. (Heh, a man always has an ego, you know!! She had merely sought him out to exchange blood for some info and not because he made great company. In later times, they do share more thoughts and XY did value his advice, if he would give it.)
To repay her for this rudeness (XL’s retaliation in action), he makes the branch she grasps break so that she falls from the tree.
XL has the last word: “You at most are that snake’s egg eaten by others. He leaves after landing elegantly on Chubby.
Continued …
Season 1 Ep 7 – The First Meetings of Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu Continued …
After Skinny’s wedding, XY finds Shiqi at the river where he’s been hiding to avoid CX and A Nian. XL comes again and calls XL but Shiqi wants to stop XL from taking her away. It could have been a nasty face off with 4 ice daggers from XL all pointed at Shiqi, but as usual, XY cleared the tension and agreed to go with XL.
XL seems to be in a bad mood so Chubby does a whole lot of aerial acrobatics and then plunges into the sea. XL and XY end up wet and warming themselves before another wood fire. The possible reason for XL’s bad temper are that he’s still being dissed as the lowly snake by the soldiers that he’s been supporting and possibly he does not like how Shiqi is protective over XY.
XY notes to XL that he must be in a bad mood since when he’s like that, he torments her. He asks her about her low spirit power and she tells him more of her story, including how the 9-tailed fox had drained out most of her spirit power.
XL: “I heard that the pain of dispersing one’s spirit power is like bones being drilled and marrow extracted. It seems my forty lashes were too light. I’ll have to find other torture tools.”
XY gives him a look: “Do you think it gets smoother the more you practice, like singing? It’s precisely because I suffered so much back then that I’m really afraid of pain now, more than most people.”
She claims that she shifted from fighting against the fox to becoming silent and uncooperative and even tried to take her own life. XL finds that hard to believe.
XY: “Yes, but I never managed to die. Later on, I went from wanting to kill myself to wanting to kill him.”
XY shifts herself to look more directly at XL: “Our mentality is really strange. You can tell whether you’re happy or not, in pain or not, by comparing yourself with others. Do you need me to delve deeper into my miserable past? I could exaggerate it a bit. I’m sure you would think there would be no other miseries.”
(In Season 2, I recorded these same words and thought that they sounded familiar, but I forgot that they had come from XY. In S2, XL was the one who was repeating them to XY, who was depressed about being the daughter of Chi Chen. He had diligently learnt from her in this scene and tried to comfort her in the same way that she’d shown him. I find that both so ‘human’, so funny that it came from XL, and also quite touching. In that scene in S2, XL had heard XL’s lament and possibly had taken the opportunity to be a friend.)
XL is staring at XY all this time. He’s realised that she’s telling him about her sufferings to dissipate his foul mood. She’s showing him empathy and that he’s not alone in his sufferings. His expression changes subtly.
XL reaches out to touch XY’s head, (I assume in comradeship), but she instinctively covers her head to protect herself. He pauses, recalling how he’d also covered his head when beaten as a ragged child in a cage. He lays a hand on the back of her neck instead and she looks sideways at him in surprise that he’s not trying to hurt her.
XY: “You look quite different tonight. Did something unpleasant happen?”
Instead of replying he rises and walks out to the water.
Continued …
Season 1 Ep 7 – The First Meetings of Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu Continued …
XY watches XL standing on the water of Gourd Lake: “You lived by the water when you were a child?”
He turns around to look at her and holds out his hand in invitation. She’s perplexed. He gestures her to come to him. She looks at his outstretched hand and takes it.
They walk on the surface of the water and XY is thrilled. She’s like a child, happy to be able to jump up and down on the water without sinking, as long as she’s holding his hand.
It turns out that he’s brought her further to the middle of the lake to watch the moon rising as if from the water.
XY: “So beautiful.”
XL has an unguarded, peaceful expression on his face: “Life is precious as long as we can enjoy such views.” (He may be responding to her saying that she wanted to kill herself before.)
XY: “Even the rarest scenery would become dull if seen too often. It will only be meaningful if there’s someone by my side.
XL turns to look at her, because she is the one by his side and conversely, he’s the one by her side. He might wonder what meaning it held because he was with her then. (We recall in S2, that XY recorded their visit to the mermaid: another significant event for them because they had been together.)
XY: “Scenery is dead. Only meaning from people will bring life to it.
(XL watches her with an inscrutable expression and then looks down at their clasped hands. She seems oblivious that what she has said applies to them at the moment. He looks up again at her enjoyment of the moon and smiles slightly.)
(This might have been the moment that their relationship changed from being a purely transactional one for XL. He notices that she’s totally trusting and at peace with him. She has treated him more like a friend than an enemy. Her words thus become significant. The moonscape would always have meaning and life for XL, because XY had said so while standing by his side. In the Shell, even with an unconscious XY, XL had brought her to see the moon when he could.)
IHave so far.Rewatched the first three episodes of the first season.
Few notes
The talking stone is such a clever device to help us understand the background For the military exploits and the family relationships.
Right away the symbolism of flowers is evident.
Very efficient And detailed storytelling. We see The continuity of the ideas and themes As we see them initially presented and remember them from points in the entire series.
The contrast between the characters of Jing and XL is highlighted in the second And third episode. This time around I like jing moore from the beginning because I have watched his character develop in my previous watch.
He was so abused and yet, as xy points out, Still kind. The scene where they are eating and he is giving her water and a napkin.Just the way a woman might with a man, Endeared him to me. One of his strengths is endurance. The lyrics that accompany him in these episodes. Make it pretty clear, Now in retrospect, That he is The man for her.
On the other hand we have a very clever introduction introduction to xl
As children play a demon game. Again such a clever way to introduce his character.
I think the scene where he has her whipped illustrates how he puts loyalty to his military mission ahead of Interpersonal caring. I am thinking he treated her this way because he needed to make absolutely sure she was not a spy.
There is a point in these episodes where she says she wants to be The doctor x y for life.
Every time she cuts her wrist to give blood gives me Such a visceral reaction.
In these episodes CX Is presented as looking for XY by showing his business venture in mulberry wine and the Blossoming tree on his Front patio. Again the stone spirit Plays a role in searching for x.Y. We see that his feelings for the younger Princess are Confused with his feelings for x.Y.
I have started my sweet monster to watch when I need to wind down. It is better this way than a standalone watch I think.
My sweet mobster
@MM I guess I also came to appreciate Jing’s character a little more in my rewatch than in my first watch or so. I could never abide his just standing in 1 spot to wait for her for hours (or days?), just because he said he would. I disliked his being overly submissive or how he only said ‘yes’ and at the most chose to do something different from her orders, without saying ‘no’. Even how he chose to die with her rather than try until the end to get out with her from the fire, that time she was attacked. There might have been extenuating circumstances, but those are not made clear in the Show.
However, while in his own capacity he only wanted to be an ordinary person with XY, as the head of the Tushan Clan, he was quietly planning for the longer term, for peace so that business would prosper and benefit the country as a whole. He actually had his own spies to keep him informed, and he could smuggle/get all kinds of dangerous things from wherever.
In S2, he answered CX’s question about why he had supported CX from the beginning and his answer was that he could see in CX, the potential to unite Dahuang. So Jing entered the ranks of those far-seeing thinkers like the Great King, the Haoling King, and CX who put the big picture of the country’s good first. To achieve the bigger goal, all opposition had to be quelled.
Then we have the Chenrong rebels who had their own picture of how they used to be a great kingdom too and should not submit to another king. They were faithful and the others who accepted Xiyan were the turncoats. Unfortunately, Hong Jiang who took care of XL was a rebel, and so XL, (although looked down upon and feared as a demon), chose to uphold the principles of his foster father and stayed with the rebels until the end. It was only in death that he earned the greatest respect and honour.
The reason that it becomes easier to accept Jing as XY’s choice is that he actually fulfilled her deepest desire to have a companion who put her first. Better still, they shared the same dream to be ordinary people, to serve where they could and to just live out their days in peace. They achieved what XY’s real parents, Chi Chen and Xiling Heng had wanted, as well as what CX’s parents had wanted. Unfortunately, the parents’ generation were torn apart by war. Hence the desire to establish peace once and for all.
I was trying to summarise the many events in which the lives of CX, XL and Jing got intertwined without another 3 posts that make walls of text. I was looking for the links and clues that had been inserted to help us know what to expect in S2. Perhaps I’ll try to squeeze a lot in just 1-liners with my thoughts in between.
I’ve decided to hold off commenting on the links with S1, but I’ve not stopped rewatching S1. It’s fun to note the many conversations that will get their fuller responses and added significance with S2.
I can see the thought processes of Grandpa Great King in his treatment of CX and hear even so early on, CX’s realisation that by being a good king, Grandpa had hurt him and XY and himself as well, in the process. All this has been put in place for the overall theme. Being good rulers, being responsible towards the people, etc meant being bad parents, grandparents,…
On rewatch, I noted when Jing started on his quiet task of promoting CX. The promises he made with XY (which he never broke!). The promises XY made with CX (which she also never broke!)
She said that she would stand with CX and if Jing became his enemy, then Jing would become her enemy as well. That explains totally why she could never be with XL.
While for the first half of the series, XL was more someone she feared, respected and wanted to maintain her end of the bargain with (to keep supplying him with poison), it was as FFB that she grew fonder of him. But in both persona, he was someone she could hang out with when bored. He ensured that she was not lonely, something she feared more than death!
XL for all that he too was fond of XY, never failed to take opportunities to pay her back for her ‘lies’ or failure to keep up with her end of their deal. At the same time, she was always his ‘person’, as promised, and whenever she needed help, he would save her.
It was fortunate that they made that pact when she was Wen Xiao Liu, since it would not have happened if she had been the Princess all along. They would never have developed any bond or friendship. It was fortunate because XL was ultimately the only one who could save XY more than once.
Overall, it might have been that they only kept 1 secret each from each other. XY never realised that she had been with XL on that boat trip when he’d dug for info on how she felt about him and engineered her coming in close physical contact with him. She also never told XL that her consciousness had been awake for decades with him in the Shell. They never fully revealed how much they each meant to the other, knowing that nothing could have come of it.
You just made me think more about the title. It is like they are lost forever to each other from the start. Lost to each other to the extent that they did not even consider the other as a possibility for a lifetime partner.
Now that is sad.
@MM I just rewatched the part where FFB asked XY to travel the world with him. For a moment there, I felt that he really meant it. XY challenged him of course to give up everything first, then she would go with him. She meant that he should give up the task to assassinate CX again. But we know that as XL, he had to give up a lot more than that. Hence, he didn’t agree to her conditions.
Yes, the title could mean what you say as well. They never had a chance to be a couple for life, and they knew it.
I am enjoying your Comments even though I have stopped rewatching episode 1 for now.
I was also thinking of this drama when we were watching snowfall. Even though there are so many layers in this drama to go back to, The story line is never opaque Even on first watch.
Snow fall is the kind of drama.I might have considered rewatching but it is not coherent enough to make that worthwhile to me. It feels like such a shame.