Sword and Beloved Episode 1

Fu Gui’s bday

The episode opens with an eerie view of Eastern City. The city is riddled with dead bodies and demons. Cheng’s team has come to battle but they do not last long and a message is sent to WangQuan manor. HangYe responds by sending his son to the site. Fu gui finds the remnant of citizens trapped in a spell to donate their essences to demon king Huodou. The demon thought all was won with hellfire til Fu gui comes out unscathed and returns some flame of his own. The Demon is defeated and the few humans still alive are offered aid. It is noted that one is a survivor due to spider silk sewing up injuries. FuGui notes a small spider demon and spares her for her good deed. This is noted by the mistress of the spider cave as she sees this as a vulnerability for the soldier later. Lady Feng is a disciple with the YiQi alliance that has her eyes on FuGui. She definitely has her own style and will not be deterred from presenting herself as she chooses. However, this does not necessarily present her at her best and she finds herself rebuffed by her love interest. Spider 12580 saves 12581 by promising to get intel about the soldier. She starts by befriending Lady Feng and delivering a letter to FuGui. It is his bday and the young lady wanted to make it special for him. This did not work out as she planned, but this did help 12580 meet FuGui in person. He remembered her act of kindness and lets her stick around. She reminds him that things can be beautiful. HongYe has changed a lot in the last 20 yrs. After the black fox battles he has focused exclusively on the YiQi alliance and his son’s soldier training. He has left no room for anything else. He has tried to drive the point home that a soldier’s only purpose is to kill demons. He has completely dismissed that soldiers fight best for home and hearth and that demons and humans could coexist. He thinks his emotions is what caused the loss when it was most likely due to his best idealism suppressed by his father when he matured. He has Beloved Wife on HuaiZhu’s memorial but not mother. He has never let Fu gui honor his mother or shared her memorial with his son as a somber part of his son’s bday. It was heartbreaking to see him denounce his younger self when FuGui tried on the mask. He only sees failure that FuGui has yet to do Heaven Earth strike. He will accept nothing less from his son. HuaiZhu’s last wish for their son was to be one who could wield both sword strike and fire from both families. She saw him as the means to keep the peace. I think she would be very sad that her son was given no memories of her and that HongYe has succumbed to the evilest portion of YiQi alliance which was to kill demons indiscriminately just for existing. This is a very far cry from the hope they had for the future. HongYe is a shadow of himself and acknowledges his bad parenting. What he refuses to do is recognize that by letting HuaiZhu’s wish rumble around in his head he is forgetting the spirit of what they wanted to do. It is a very bleak world FuGui has been raised in and truly a wonder that he can see the kindness of a small spider demon and find it valuable. This is the third installment of the series that follows the life of HongYe’s and HuaiZhu’s son. 20 years have passed and unfortunately the YiQi alliance is the strongest power. This is not a good thing and a sad regression from the hope the masked sect wanted to bring to the world. The story does a good job of flashbacks from past to present filling in some of the why’s of HongYe’s parenting. Production did a good job with making the Eastern City eerie and while the spiders had mixed reviews, I like them. They are Tim Burtonesque with 12580 a brighter happier hue than the rest. I find myself melancholy along with FuGui who has never celebrated a bday or the life of his mother. He is reduced to demon slayer in the eyes of his whole world. It is a sad and lonely existence for him.

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Like a beautiful tragic poem

Wangquan Fugui is the young master of the Wangquan clan who's burdened with the responsibility of being the most powerful member of the family and a 'Soldier' who hunts down demons. His father, Wangquan Hongye, is a poor man who carries old scars from his past of losing his friends and loved ones. Buried in guilt, he vowed to never let his son walk the same path as him, which turned him into a cold, distant person who would push his only heir to his limits, to be able to master and wield the 'Heaven and earth' sword technique. The way Wangquan Hongye treats Fugui was unacceptable as a parent, but in my humble opinion, Hongye's actions and decisions stemmed not only from the burdens of both his past experiences, but also from a sense of foreboding from his dreams. He didn't want to break the promise he made with his late wife, Dongfang Huaizhu, and to avoid his wife's sacrifice from becoming all for naught. Although I haven't watched the prequel, [Love in Pavilion], it breaks my heart to watch these broken people consumed in their own anguish. A father who can't forgive himself for his past actions and mindsets which dragged the people close to him to their demise, and a son who want nothing but the love and acknowledgement from his father; both of whom are suffering from their inner demons... As long as their inner demons run wild, we won't be seeing any redemption arc especially for the father, who had long thrown his heart to the abyss. He would just be headstrong about fulfilling the last wishes of his late wife and taking on the responsibilities of protecting mankind in his new, strict and heartless ways, in contrast to his kind-hearted younger self...The opening episode is just like a sad poem, a requiem of sorts, that bring us back to the past which shaped the lives of the Wangquang father and son of present time... The BGMs and the hums in these songs were laced with nostalgia, heartbreak, regret, and most importantly,... hope...

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