The thread is open.
I’m opening threads according to the mystery arcs so we can discuss the mysteries to our hearts’ content.
Episodes 1 to 5: The mystery of the beheaded bride –> This is included in my First Impression thread
Episodes 6 to 10: Dark secrets in the purple bamboo grove
Episodes 11 to 15: The monster of Samyuan village
Episodes 16 to 20: The ballad of the Shuangqing Troupe
Spoilers abound so read at your risk.
Let’s enjoy the show!
Ooooh! Thanks for the threads by the mystery, @pkml3!!
I’m still recovering from the ‘crime horrors’ of Ep 6-10. What a horrible household! No wonder the real Qin Wan’s father moved out and never went back home.
This has a strong commentary on the lot and status of women. The irony is that the women (even until today in various cultures) are the very ones who perpetuate the ill-treatment of girls and women. It was interesting to see how far women might be shown to come into their own in this Show.
I know, right?
Even after discovering that all the unearthed skeletons were of girls, the wife of the 3rd brother still looked down on her newborn granddaughter. In her mind, that “branch” of the Qin died because a daughter was born instead of a son.
And the funny thing here is it’s really only through the daughters that a bloodline or lineage is guaranteed. Without DNA testing, the husband/father can only trust his wife/mother’s word that the child is his issue.
Note: This will be a point Shen Wan will make to Yan Chi in a later episode (I forgot when but please tell me if you find it, @GB)
And the new cousin Yan Li (he’ll be introduced in Ep 16) will also mention this.
I’ve a strange feeling that the screenwriter is developing this bloodline/lineage topic into a major thread. If you remember now, Prince Jin (the deceased friend of Yan Chi who was defended by Shen Wan) was rumored to have killed the concubine of HIS FATHER. That was a weird affair….
Oh well, the change in the mindset really begins at birth.
@ pm3 Your thoughts have me thinking more about the syphilis thread- transferred through blood and otherwise. One of the worse ways intimate partners can hurt each other. And unfortunatley on the upswing in the real world.
I think there is a lot in this drama to pick up on.
@monmor,
Re. the syphilis
I think it’s used as a symbol to the problem of the Qin’s Third Qin Son or Third Branch.
For one, there’s a contagion of syphilis but it’s hidden from view. Remember? that cousin (the illegitimate/concubine son) wore a hood to hide the disease. The father had the disease but it’s hidden, too, from the rest of the family. The cousin got cured, however, because he sought medical help from Shen Wan.
Well, the serial murders is like a contagion, too. And since it’s kept hidden from view (e.g., bodies thrown in the well, well sealed tight with a slab of stone, garden closed off), it continues without impunity.
For another, syphilis is traceable. The source can be found.
Likewise, the serial killing can be traceable. In fact, this is what the bad cousin and the bad maid/daughter (Sorry, I forgot their names) wanted Shen Yan to do. They wanted her to trace the source of all the deaths (the murderous 3rd Qin Son) so they could have their vengeance for the deaths of the maid’s family.
In keeping with your thoughts about the parallels between the murderers and syphilis, I think she was only treating the skin symptoms and not the disease. Just as the rash is a manifestation of the disease of sickness, The murders are Manifestation of psychological deviation.
Maybe relevant, Maybe too abstract to be relevant.
@MM, I’d think she wanted to cure the disease (and probably could), but while she could help the patient handle the syphilis, rooting out the evil that led to the murders was a different matter. She could point the way to dig for the truth, but the evil in human hearts was not something that she could cure.
Syphilis , at that time in history was not curable, not until penicillin in the 20th century. Mercury was used but that was a case of the cure being worse than the disease or at least as bad. It was not even necessarily understood that it was s*****y transmitted although I think someone did reference that idea In the drama. Syphilis was seen as a punishment for moral failure.
I was not thinking of any of this when I was watching. Relates back to our discussion in the group rewatch about the value of voicing our thoughts.
They are actually getting into rather advanced medical topics for a historical chinese drama, as I guess we have seen before. That is, if I am correct about the reasons for the deaths in the third arc.
Episodes 6-10 @pkml3 you wrote in the First Impressions thread:
This is definitely itself a theme for the whole series, since Wan will consistently use forensics to pinpoint the killers.
We see this erroneous idea in her Cousin Qin Shen who found that her forensics skills were bringing justice to bear on him. He wanted to silence her by killing her. Of course even if he’d succeeded, her disappearance or death would not have let him off.
This scene is ironic because as you pointed out before, it was the same cousin and Cai He who were trying to draw Wan’s attention towards the well in the Purple Bamboo forest to have the corpses of the many girls revealed to indict Qin An. They only wanted her to help wreak revenge on Qin An but they did not foresee that she would go after them as well for the current murders. Or perhaps Cousin thought he could run away with Cai He before the evidence came to light.
I agree, @GB.
For me, one of the big clues that the screenwriter put forth this mystery arc is the purple bamboo branch. The killer had deliberately placed the piece of bamboo in the dead maid’s dress to lure SW to investigate the grove.
I consider the purple bamboo branch as a symbol of:
a. manipulation. And Yan Chi correctly pointed out that all the coincidences are in fact connected, and that a mastermind was leading them to discover all the deaths in the purple bamboo grove.
b. the 3rd branch of the Qin family that CaiHe wanted to wipe out.
In Episode 10, SW tried to make her wicked cousin Qin Chen see that he was being manipulated by CaiHe. She was the real mastermind or puppeteer, and she was pulling all the strings. Of course, he vehemently denied it.
Cousin: Wan, I always treated you well. Could you please let us go? If you delay telling [Prefect Huo] for just one day, I’ll take CaiHe away tonight.
SW: What about your wife and her unborn child? What about your mother and sister?
Cousin: Things have come to this point, I can’t worry about all that anymore.
SW: (astounded) Chen! For CaiHe’s sake, you’d abandon your wife and mother, even commit murder and patricide?
Cousin: If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be in such a miserable state today.
SW: Did I force you to kill Lianye, to kill Concubine Liu, to kill Liu Chun?
Cousin: That was their karma. Since I discovered [my father’s] true nature, I’ve wanted him dead every single moment. He doesn’t deserve to be my father. He doesn’t deserve to be human. They all deserve to die!
SW: Chen, you’re determined to take CaiHe away. But have you asked what she wants? Does she truly want to go with you?
Cousin: CaiHe is the purest, and most wonderful woman in the world. I treat her with all my heart, of course she wants to come with me.
Oof!! This man got so played well….
SW: For revenge! She endured for eight long years. Now, [your father], the main culprit, is still alive. The third branch of the Qin still enjoys their wealth and glory. Do you think she can accept that?
Cousin: (in denial) I’m the one who wants revenge. For the sake of my future, she has already given up on revenge. She urged me to marry Xinlan to help me connect with the Yue family. She even gave up being my concubine. She has sacrificed so much for me. How could I make her abandon her blood feud?
SW: (still reasoning with him) If she truly gave up on revenge, then after [your father’s] crimes were exposed, why would he still poison him? Do you know the person who put musk in Xinlan’s medicine was none other than your so-called kind and wonderful CaiHe?
Cousin: You’re talking nonsense! CaiHe would never harm anyone.
Ugh! There’s none so blind as those who refuse to see.
SW: If you don’t believe me, you can investigate yourself. Find out who said you had fainting spells, who sent your maid to get musk from the medicine storage, who gave the medicine with the mineral poison to [your father’s] attendant. What she wants is not just to make everyone who hurt [her mother, Concubine Yang] pay with their lives, she also wants the Third Branch of the Qin family to end without descendants.
Brava! Our heroine is just spitting facts after facts.
Cousin: Shut up! I won’t allow you to slander her. Not anyone!
And he begins to strangle SW.
Do you see now what I mean by the screenwriter dropping a big hint about the central theme of the mystery?
The bamboo branch (scientifically, it’s called the internode) symbolizes the 3rd branch of the Qin family that CaiHe wanted cut down so she manipulated the precious son to do the dirty work for her.
@pkml3, yes I’m beginning to see what you mean. The best way to recognise the clue though, is to watch the end of the arc and then back to the start of the arc to sift through the clues. I did notice that the old lady kept mentioning the third branch of the family (possibly the family of the 3rd son?) and the persistent reappearance of the purple bamboo internode.
So the challenge now is to recognize the clues Before
We watch ahead!
@packmmule Thank you for the fun suggestion of watching for these clues.
I am on episode fifteen so there’s going to be some new clues.
When I am not engrossed in the happenings I will try to go back to the Beginning of the other arcs.
@pm3 You Reminded me of the scene of the daughter who goes with the false prince, leading to the climax of the third arc. I listened to her talking about being in love and thought how deluded she was. It did not bode well.
@monmor,
And the annoying thing about this cousin is that you’d think she would have learned her lesson after her near death experience. But noooo… she’s got her eyes on the son of the rich Pang family primarily because she was dazzled by the Shifang Inn.