Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty II To the West Episode 3

Testing loyalties

Lu LingFeng is a mess. He is distraught, driven and determined that his only course to keep the peace in Chang’an is to destroy the mural. He doesn’t care if it costs him his life and has gone toe to toe with both royals demanding it to happen. The crazed artist puts his two cents in by finding Lu an adequate executioner. Lu is just ready to finish him off when Su and Princess intervene. The princess offers even more derangement by offering Lu the chance to assassinate her. This at least rattles him enough to toss his spear and prostrate himself before her. He has still not given up solving the case personally and is demanding Su to return his journal. There is a paint called flying light that is renowned for its lifelike effect in paintings. The muralist is being asked to consider it and he is adamantly opposed. It is made of rare items and he considers it a cheat. XiJun was impressed with this response and offered to be his disciple once mural completed. There is another substance being made by masked persons that includes the livers of the victims. They are still waiting for the official that was supposed to have been killed when Sun Wang was accidentally targeted. Su pointed out to Lu that these officials were appointed by the crown prince. Lu pointed out that Sun Wang was by Princess and they both surmised the wrong official had been murdered. They contacted the official and warned him that he was most likely next in line and should stay hidden at home with a guard. He is getting cabin fever and resentful that instead of celebrating his new promotion, he is being forced to stay isolated at home. This animosity between the princess and crown prince is tiresome. The entire last season of drama presented the crown prince as caring for his aunt’s health and welfare, but yet she persists in thinking it’s all an act and they are political enemies. Her own side suggested she kill Lu not realizing he is her son. The artist has absolutely no remorse whatsoever for stirring up rumors and discord. He is pleased with the attention. This reaction from Lu is why I am glad his birth status will never let him rule. Once he determined his cause was righteous, he failed to notice the link of murders with crown prince appointments. Once again he fits the evidence to his train of thought rather than follow the evidence to where it leads. On another front there is now enmity between him and chicken Fei. He truly despises the doc for lying to him about his friend. While his intentions were good to keep Lu calm while restrained in cast, he didn’t count on Lu finding the truth out so quickly. Here I give Lu a pass for his grudge. For all the help Fei has provided, this lapse in judgment became a huge betrayal that Lu might not recover from. This has dealt him a blow on every level and may have permanently shelved their trust and friendship. In this case the doc didn’t read the room correctly about the depth of friendship between Guo Zhuang and Lu LingFeng. Had he been aware, I think he would have handled this differently. I have no clue if their friendship can survive this or not because right now I think stubborn arse Lu would rather die than get medical treatment from him. This episode really pronounced the emotional impact of friends and family around us and the impact of distrust and guilt on those ties.

Read More