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Eps 1 to 5: The mission at the Yezhou Garrison
Eps 6 to 10: The mission at the Yezhou banquet
Eps 11 to 14: The mission back in the military camp
Eps 15 to ??: The mission in JiYang Town
For Xiao Jue, his mission is to capture Chai Anxi, whom he believes betrayed his father and caused the death of his father and so many Xiao soldiers. He must capture Chai Anxi before Minister Xu’s right-hand man, Chu Zhao does.
For He Yan, her mission is to convince people in JiYang that she’s Xiao Jue’s ultra-feminine wife and that they’re completely besotted with each other.
Episode 16 is my favorite episode so far. Will try to write about it when I get home.
Leaving @Welmaris’ comment here.
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In Episode 15 we get the Cdrama guqin version of the iconic pottery wheel scene from the movie Ghost. The view from Shallow Island wasn’t great, though, because XJ had his upper body tightly wrapped in layers of clothing.
Leaving @Welmaris’ comment here.
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Episode 16 spoiler
There’s a scene in Episode 16, played for humor (at first) that has many elements of our leads as a wedding pair: bright red of HY’s dress, bridal chamber, and red veiling. The tone turns serious after a stumble lands XJ on top of HY…but of course someone barges into the room to break the mood.
That scene was funny, @Welmaris.
First, it looked like the bridal chamber because of the red decor.
Second, XJ was trying to preserve HY’s innocence but HY called out people like him because they were hypocritical prudes.
Third, they tussled over the screen and ended up falling on top of the “pornographic” screen.
Fourth, the running joke. FeiNu saw his boss on top of HY and assumed that they were doing something naughty. Poor guy!
I think he’s kinda resigned to it, though.
Moving @Kate’s comment here.
*****
Loving the romantic interludes in Episodes 16 and 17 and the FL’s 10 truths during the masked ball.
‘I was once a General’ and ‘I am in love with the Moon but the Moon does not know it.’ How’s that for evocative hinting? She points back to their wistful moon gazing together and the almost moon gazing opportunity a couple of episodes back that was so beautifully done.
I also loved the ML’s desire to give the FL her heart’s desire and for her to be free of masks in Episode 17. This far far exceeded any strategic play acting and was very romantic and courtship like.
I liked the way they were able to go deeper in conversation surrounded by the obligatory fireflies with the impromptu overnight star gaze and snooze on the sampan.
Satisfying romantically. Will watch again.
I haven’t watched Ep 17 but will write about the moon on the blog.
Thank you again @Packmule for reposting. I hope you enjoy Ep 17 as much as I did.
I should add that it was a masked dance not a masked ball – I want to manage expectations here.
But the show cleverly made the most of it by setting it up with a mini-backstory and these two unpleasant noble women trying to humiliate the FL!
@Packmule3, on your moon phases post I transcribed the conversation of HY and XJ as they were on the sampan gazing at the moon, stars, and fireflies.
Although this show is keeping me hooked, there are plot holes that frustrate me. We are supposed to believe XJ spent much time with HY as a masked youth, into young adulthood (marriageable age, when HY as He Rufei ran away to escape an arranged marriage). It is confirmed in Episode 22 that only HY (as masked student He Rufei), no other of XJ’s academy peers, was trained in military techniques unique to General Zhong Wu and the Xiao family. But how can HJ, a top scholar and martial artist who became a clever general, who can sniff out spies from minimal clues, not recognize all this time that He Yan is the He Rufei from his past? In Episode 17 With her mask on, and with HY’s ten secrets including a claim she was a general in a past life, why wasn’t XJ able to put together the clues with his memories? Is she his blind spot?
Another plot hole and trope is XJ saving HY from drowning in deep water. When HY was fighting the Wutou general, the river water didn’t even reach up to their horse’s knees and hocks. When the Wutou general fell back into the river, spear through his chest, the water was so shallow that his corpse was suspended above the water as the spear tip embedded in the river bottom. But when HY fell into that same river, only feet away from the dead Wutou general, she sank and sank and sank. What? Did she fall into an alternate watery dimension? Granted, if she were unconscious, she could drown even in shallow water. Even if there was a channel in the river with deeper water, there would have been current moving HY: she wouldn’t be floating, suspended, waiting for XJ to swim down to her bringing the breath of life. I suppose it would be far less romantic to see XJ stomp through shallows and drag HY’s face out of the water by snatching her topknot.
Noble idiocy rears its ugly head in Episode 22. At the wooden bridge, after their sword fight, He Yan tells XJ almost all her backstory except the bits most important to him: that she never met, or plotted, with Chai Anxi; and that she did not willingly delay aiding the Xiao army, but brought her army as soon as she received word of their dire need. Maybe there’s a translation problem in the English subtitles, missing nuances in speech discernable in Mandarin, but it seems He Yan personally took responsibility for the timing of her army’s arrival at the Mingshui Battle. The implication is that it was within her power to arrive earlier, but she chose not to. Why would she want to give XJ that impression, if it’s not true? She tells XJ she wants to investigate to uncover the truth, but doesn’t share her suspicions with him.
As for XJ’s mindset at this juncture, he’s hurt and angry, but stops from taking rash action. He doesn’t kill He Yan, and allows her to resume her role as a recruit in the Xiao army. She goes back to her old squad at Yezhou Garrison.
In Episode 21, when Chai Anxi awakens and he has a verbal confrontation with XJ, his misunderstanding of the circumstances of his son’s death are cleared up; he realizes he acted wrongly, unfairly causing a multitude of deaths in the Xiao Army. XJ scolds him, “Mr. Chai. As deputy general, how could you distrust the commander who had fought alongside you for years? And as a father, why did you underestimate the son you raised yourself?” In the same vein, XJ should ask himself, “How can I distrust HY, who has helped me, supported me, and fought for me unwaveringly since joining the Xiao Army? Why do I underestimate the person who was my friend at Academy; who worked her way to becoming a respected general (the only tarnish on her career being the questionable circumstances that tarnished his own father’s career); who I, myself, trained after she appeared at Yezhou Garrison; and who has navigated many life-threatening situations with me, displaying courage, wisdom, and loyalty?”
I wish this drama had hinged the boy-loses-girl phase of this romance on something stronger than this weak misunderstanding. Why do I say weak? Because XJ has evidence that HY was, herself, the victim of the setup that killed his father and wiped out much of the Xiao Army. On the bridge, after their sword fight, HY says she was poisoned and blinded by her brother, who then tried to kill her. She’d previously told XJ that her family abandoned her at the temple when she became blind. XJ should be clever enough to remember saving a blind woman from drowning in a temple pond, and now believe it was attempted murder, not attempted suicide (which he assumed despite her denial). XJ overheard what HY said to her assassin, Ding Yi, after slashing his eyes, that it was repayment for his killing a blind woman. XJ knows He Rufei’s sister, He Yan, is reportedly dead. How many more clues does he need to realize that He Yan, the person he’s known (although under assumed name & gender), and her brother, He Rufei, are not conspiring together; rather, He Rufei is trying to eliminate He Yan because he fears she would expose and oppose him.
Brief comments which I will develop in more detail in a future thread.
Episode 20
I found this unexpectedly moving – the story of the Princess and HY’s Master. I wonder too whether our main leads have experienced the journey with the other characters to encourage their own resolution of misunderstanding and obstacles put in place by circumstances and others.
Episode 22
The fight and conversation on the bridge. Visually powerful – excellent use of a bridge to express rupture rather than meeting.
I was also frustrated. Frustrated with the FL for not having her story together. She knew this was a critical moment and stuttered and muttered instead of putting together a full account. Sometimes when she needs her inner female general her inner little girl shows up instead which is unfortunate in this case because the ML’s outraged military hero meets that inner little girl – he isn’t ‘Daddy’ now.
The ML chooses in the moment to react and o discard all evidence of her sacrificial loyalty and her belief in his goodness in the face of the Yue City flooding.
Am I asking too much of them both? Probably and the following episodes show the ML taking steps to discover the truth when he has had time to absorb what he has discovered. But could he have given her a tiny bit more grace in that moment? This is a very cruel time.
Episode 24 (?)
The embroidered sachet with the horse on it! That’s precisely how I would embroider a horse! I loved it.
Just checked: the embroidered sachet/purse shows up at various points and is crafted in an earlier episode much to the consternation of the noble ladies trying to train up the FL in feminine skills, but is actually gifted near the end of Episode 25.
There are plot elements in this show that just aren’t hanging together, in my opinion.
We learn that the real He Rufei lived at the temple long term, in poor health and expected to die, until Prime Minister Xu provided him a miracle cure, under the condition that He Rufei become his lackey.
He Rufei was known as Miss He at the temple, so I assume he also had to do a transgender masquerade throughout his youth and into adulthood. Or did he live in seclusion all those years, to keep his true gender and identity secret?
We are supposed to believe that the real He Rufei, in poor health and posing as a woman, somehow developed martial arts skills and learned enough of military tactics to seamlessly step in as general of the Fuyue Army.
Presumedly at the direction of Prime Minister Xu, He Rufei, posing as General of the Fuyue Army, betrayed Xiao Jue in Court. Before that day, had XJ & HR ever crossed paths? I doubt it, since He Rufei spent his life tucked away in the temple. So why does He Rufei hold so much animosity toward Xiao Jue? Because Xiao Jue unmasked him in Court? Xiao Jue didn’t cause He Rufei physical injury, HR’s uncovered face wasn’t unpleasant to look at, and XJ was punished for using his sword in Court. What is He Rufei’s beef? I know, I know…He Rufei is a villain, and for plot purposes he doesn’t need a reason for being evil. But I think this script would be stronger if he had a more believable backstory.
Whoa. Just read thru the comments. Yes, I have a general feeling that whoever should be controlling for coherence along the line (how to produce..not sure where that would be but I would say in the initial stages..) In general I would say that the show picks up standard tropes eg. jealous women in Yijang become allies, hastily, but uses them shallowly and cynically only to toss them away.
So, my two cents — I like shows which live up to their promises, so whenever HY and WJ have a serious conversation general to general, I am happy.
I loved the idea that WJ is the Moon.
I really found the whole female scenes in Yijians cringey (I have lots of trouble with the ‘female-centric’ knockoffs flooding the screen, dont like politics in my art please).
Really liked the siege and battles. The tacky water rescue pretty much wiped that out, not bec of the depth (so often psychological) but for the dea that the writers actually thought they could get away with the ‘helpless female’ at that point.
And on the water, how did she escape from being tossed off a cliff blinded, into the water presumably. I havent bee comfy since then.
Wish too the her master hadnt been dragged in at practically the last minute. The Princess had an interesting story but I was so annoyed that I FF’d over it.
Watching only out of amiability towards yall, and love of pc3’s prose. Were I on my own I would have stopped by now.
sorry, i really didnt control for fill-in pronouns and capitalizations etc. Too hasty. Apologies for making any reader do acrobatic guessing for my meaning.
I will try the other browser next time.
@ibisfeather, I also wonder why I keep watching this show, which is inferior in terms of script compared to other Cdramas I’ve watched. Perhaps I like the exercise of recognizing its flaws. Also, I am invested in the relationship of the ML and FL: their being equals in terms of experience, knowledge, and skills is refreshing. That’s why lack of consistency in the script is frustrating.
Episode 29 has some lovely moments in it.
The little embroidered horse pouch plays a significant role again, and there is moonlight , moon imagery and much more…
I do feel they may have improved the little horse’s design just a tad — the horse’s coat is looking a little less random. But I suspect this may go beyond useful observation!
@kate@IF@welmaris I enjoyed episode twenty nine. I hope this drama can sustain itself until the end, despite the flaws.