This review may contain spoilers
SCAPEGOATING & BETRAYAL STUDY OR… MANUAL?
“Once you fall for someone, you are no longer indestructible” (Jing Lan An)Below is an evaluative analysis of some themes detected. As I have no evil bone, my appraisals revolve around the creators’ intentions, to a lesser extent around content or methods. Art is expected to elevate those ready to fly & leave the flightless in peace till they can take wing. It should not reinforce or initiate anti-ethical traits.
MDL does not provide a scale “Ethical value,” so I use the “Rewatch value” to subtract points for any anti-ethical potential, even unintentional. After all, only morally robust works deserve (re-)watching. Technically, the story, acting & music are on a very high level, little to subtract, but the general impression is laden with moral reservations.
TOUCHSTONE OF TRUTH
Main topic is the struggle to the last drop of hope, strength & free will to remain decent in face of the greatest adversity – betrayal. While Tan Tai Jin passes the trial with surplus, yielding more trust & honesty than his environment has earned, it is Ye Xi Wu & her sect (except Zhao You & Qu Xuan Zi) to fail at this touchstone.
WILL WITHIN FATE OR FATE WITHIN WILL
“The Devil God wasn’t born to be evil. His past is his only weakness” – hears Li Su Su in the void. Then it gets contradicted.
If the community had not been vexing Tan Tai Jin out of his mind, would the evil bone get activated nevertheless to complete his radicalisation, or would it remain dormant, like the spleen? The plot might have used its complexity not just to travel back & forth in time but to present multiple alternative plots, like in “The Deliberations of Love” (2023) or “Love Game in Eastern Fantasy” (2024). It need be said that China discourages multiple reincarnation & time travel in fiction, esp. of ‘gods,’ historical persons or couples; dream convention is used to circumvent this taboo.
Though the evil objects operate autonomously, the ‘devil fetus’ has a free will. He can try to prevent absorbing these weapons, as they get activated only when all three enter his body. Thus, a lot of guilt for the final scene must be attributed to Ye Xi Wu, who would not set aside her prejudice, take time to think about the invalidity of her father’s instructions, analyse Tan Tai Jin’s mindset (readiness to cooperate, worthiness of trust), advise him on his participation in keeping the weapons away. Paradoxically, what was required of the couple to save the world was mere passive resistance.
However, do not let the modern dictate of perfectionism force you to judge Ye Xi Wu too strictly. Her time-travel was imposed hastily, with scanty erroneous instructions. She was neither prepared nor impartial. Mortal, unaided, in concealed mourning, in one room with future ‘devil,’ burdened with the mess left by the former inhabitant of her body.
Unfortunately, the heroine later missed countless opportunities to trust & communicate – till the All-in-Distress Way got ignited. To defend her once more: her paralysis of trust is a defence mechanism in face of cruelty, a primordial survival mechanism, instinct stronger than the will. Sadly, Ye Xi Wu felt real love as late as the last episode. Extremely postponed, in comparison with other C-dramas employing the motive of a woman faking affection to get revenge.
VIOLENCE STUDY… OR MANUAL?
She did try… but the scriptwriters encouraged her by circumstances to raise the whip. When external actions still proved insufficient to corrupt her internally, they submerged her in the dream where she was shown as a radicalised demon able to kill & rape. She refused to get mentally engaged in violence till the last episode, but imagine how many viewers would not! Moral/Rewatch value – 5 pt.
HATRED AS ENCROACHMENT UPON UNIVERSAL BALANCE
Tan Tai Jin’s extreme case proves that the experience of unearned hatred is the strongest determinant of all aspects of future life, even seemingly unrelated or dependent on sheer probability. Therefore, persons deliberately indulging in injustice should be perceived as white-gloved, slow murderers. Hatred is virally accumulative, so in a broader context haters should be viewed as trespassers upon collective fate too.
I cannot fully relate to Tan Tai Jin as victim. My experience in receiving unearned hatred is impressive, so I can acutely feel the intensity of his rage & helplessness. In Tan Tai Jin’s world, hostility is a by-product of the justifiable defence mode of the society, misdirected due to superstition. Where I subsist, hostility aims at dissolving society bottom-up. There, the target is each person trying to be evil (or accidentally accused). Here, they hit the decent. There, the promoted values are ethical responsibility, intellectual depth & cultivation of talents. Here, these are grounds for ostracism. There, the way out of violence is to show willingness to do better. Here, you can only either degenerate down to your oppressors’ level, or pretend so.
Notice the awful, anti-intellectual quality of the prejudice shown: e.g. stigmatising a person for what happened before birth. Moreover, when people driven by natural anxiety corner Tan Tai Jin, the next surge of violence comes from common sadists (incl. children, servants), using that opportunity to discharge their atrocity on an easy prey. Some oppressors even go as far as to tamper with evidence, e.g. the magical ‘video recording’ is trimmed & zoomed in to erase the context of pushing Cen Mi by Cang Jiu Min. The blind society also has different measures for malice – no prevention, punishment or reflection on Ye Bing Chang’s cruelty stemming from mere discontent with being second (while Tan Tai Jin deals so much better with being the lastest of the last).
DIGNITY VS SURVIVAL
Where violence is omnipresent, victim’s dignity is traded for survival. If Tan Tai Jin had not chosen to bark like a dog on his oppressors’ command, he would not have reached adolescence. The raven affair shows that he knows how to claim bloody restitution, but he opts for just a nominal amount.
PREJUDICE AS QUICKSAND
Tan Tai Jin understands that prejudice feeds on the responsiveness of the victim. Tossing & struggling is counter-effective, as it reinforces the swamp suction. This is also why his response to the first awkward reconciliatory gestures by Ye Xi Wu is cautious interest rather than relief.
The rapid shift from despised victim to the glorified king is very unlikely in real life. The quicksand keeps the mind in state of paralysis; faith in humanity is impaired, even if one changes one’s environment & social role. The target of prejudice starts off with very little cogency, a factor indispensable for gaining subjects’ respect (not the reasoning, not the victories, not even the free soup).
EMBRACING THE IMPAIRMENT
Tan Tai Jin is born without an ability to feel & understand emotions, lacking a love thread. This is an inborn impairment, yet crucial to the specific metamorphoses prior to the final purgatory procedure. Learning to feel from scratch is an impressive achievement.
Love thread is also absent in Pian Ran’s heart, but not from birth. The woman knows its value & remembers her life with it. Having lost it, she adjusts her life accordingly, & her environment seems to accept it. Torn between the urge to live on & the desire to cling to the dwindling hope for reunion with her soldier, she stays calm, as her act of giving the thread was her choice. It is only on learning that it was misappropriated that she grows furious.
Instead of being perceived as a crippled nine-tailed fox, she has managed to create a brand for herself: a seven-tailed fox is viewed as complete & legitimate, no less than a nine-tailed one.
MUTUAL CONDESCENSION
Ye Xi Wu’s attempt to fulfil her mission at the moment her elders had imagined to be right (the spikes) only brought suffering, frustration & distrust. But when both sides of the sword understood their inevitable role & got prepared, not even an interference from beyond could stop it. Fate also gratified their postponed ordeal with a child.
EUTHANASIA, SELF-SACRIFICE & DEADLY PHOBIAS
Last episodes show Cang Jiu Min’s deliberate preparation for self-sacrifice. To get Ye Xi Wu involved in assisted suicide, he artificially evokes repulsion, fear & pain.
During this preparation Zhao You, with soul intercepted by evil force, urgently implores his apprentice to end his life mercifully. Thus, Cang Jiu Min gets a foretaste of what Ye Xi Wu will feel as his suicidal accomplice.
Ye Ze Yu’s variant of self-sacrifice is the voluntary participation in battle with imminent death. More valuable yet underrated is Ye Qing Yu’s self-sacrifice reflected not in dying or moaning, but in hiding his suffering & taking up abandoned down-to-earth responsibilities.
Pay attention to phobias reflected in the way villains die (rats+burns, poisoned porridge).
EPIC ETHIC FALL
Xiao Lin, role-model for Tan Tai Jin, is a Faustian hero-to-antihero. Driven by an impulse to yoke prohibited lore, the idol’s reincarnation ends up disempowered, reprimanded, discarded by his follower. Taught a moral lesson by the ‘Devil God.’
Xiao Lin wields refined intuition (switched off in every contact with Ye Bing Chang). He guesses the soul swap from Ye Xi Wu’s change in behaviour (unlike Tan Tai Jin, who lives close to her).
Deng Wei’s role gave him little space to unfurl. Few minutes for us to bask in his mild, feline half-blinks. His ‘going awry’ is oddly satisfying to watch, reminiscent of Liu Xueyi in his best fallen angel roles.
WARPED MEMORIES
We witness a deep misunderstanding among Tan Tai siblings as to their shared past (the guilt for face burn is misattributed).
For survival aims, human brain remembers injustice stronger than its lack. When Tan Tai Jin chooses to recollect the questionable crumbles of experienced goodness or neutrality, it shows his exceptionally resilient unrewarding faith in the obscure humanity.
OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN
The prolonged & exaggerated scenes of male suffering & female initiation to violence are so disturbing as to raise a serious question about the authors’ intention. They are also the ones culpable for the plot prolixity. Even if the new Ye Shi Wu has to be careful not to evince abrupt changes in behaviour, there are faster ways to discreetly back off from the barbarism. Down with the glorification of abuse!
Ye Xi Wu’s forced compliments & favours are to artificially evoke emotion in Tan Tai Jin. This man is in need for genuine, patient, therapeutic love. Acquiring his feeling through deep insincerity – even if meant for a ‘greater good’ & even though he is not a saint – is as condemnable as Sang Jiu’s act of raping.
The problem is not that atrocities are shown but that we are evidently expected to accept them.
Pian Ran’s propensity for fleeting affairs also borders on the objectification of men. However, she is sincere towards Ye Qing Yu, explains her state of mind & her limitations, gives him a choice. If only Tan Tai Jin could have enjoyed this level of subjectivity in his relationship, the world might have been saved earlier.
GLITCHES & FAILS
Too many acts are technical actions for the plot, not characters’ free, wise or consistent choices.
Introduction & abandonment of characters, e.g. Sang brothers, Fu Yu.
Ep21: Ye Xi Wu’s lipstick gets paler.
Ep29: two bruises on Ye Qing Yu’s face disappear & reappear.
Ep39: Li Su Su has no marks on her throat, though held up & burnt.
Make-up is exaggerated, face & neck mismatch. Evil characters are too Halloweenish. Abundant haemorrhages distract from the plot.
OST: “Not Over” borrows far too much from “A Fleeting Blossom with Timely Rain” from “Love of a Thousand Years” (2020). Almost identical harmonious structure, speed, instruments, crucial clusters of notes, duet structure, interlude. Coincidence excepted; similarity beyond the limits of inspiration! For the sake of the other, potentially authentic pieces with nice mellow mat quality, I only subtract 5 pt from Moral/Rewatch value.
OST: In the refrain of “Silent Moon” a minor note intrudes upon the major structure within the mediant: a crude dissonance, strangely frequent in many OSTs. If I were Hu Yanbin, I would sing the required E instead of Es; let them fire me if they will. I subtract 1 pt from OST scale.
APPEAL
Let me here again plead with all persons involved in C-dramas to discourage harmful interference in actors' & actresses’ faces: plastic surgery, tweakments, toxic substances in make-up. This will even reflect the recent (2026) demand of China’s main video platforms to promote Xi Jinping thought, to show beauty through nature, simplicity & meaningful content, to promote consistency of appearance with China’s history & tradition, to avoid excess or distortion.
Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.
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INTELLECTUAL FEAST WITH MORAL POISON – PART 2/2
Due to the word limit I had to divide the review in two parts. Before reading the following, please get acquainted with Part 1 (published under Season 1).LOVE AS A NON-LINEAR PROCESS
Many works treat love as fate, or a momentary decision of the heart or the mind, or a steady progress. Here we have a very complex process: turmoil, reversal, denial. An excruciating mixture of soul-searching & risk-calculation, filled with fear of the unknown, with doubt as predominant force.
The relationship between Xiao Yao & Tushan Jing starts with contemptuous indifference, as she throws a stone at him lying wounded in the bush & leaves (though a doctor, she evinces as little empathy as the snake demon would). She acknowledges his humanity only on noticing their similarity, when he reaches for a flower like she did once. She becomes aware of his masculinity when he is able to stand up. Later he would again be supine many times (wounded, unconscious, floating) but she would never cease to respect him as a man, her yearning would grow. Many times she regresses to stoicism or brutality, e.g. she steps on his piece of bread, calls him names, urges him not to follow her etc. Human body has no mysteries for her as a doctor, neither in terms of beauty nor ugliness; thus, for them the experience of gradually discovering each other physically is lost forever. As a compensation from the fate, Tushan Jing receives certainty of the woman’s acceptance of his appearance. Sadly & alarmingly, later her mirror contains “photos” only of Xiang Liu, not a single one of Tushan Jing. Their personalities differ, she is more productive & proactive, has a talent for archery (like Xiang Liu) rather than music. It is much later that they find a passion to share – the medicine encyclopaedia. However, they develop a feeling based on their perseverance to remain non-evil. It is the small gestures, the chores, the furtive smiles that build up with time as an unshakeable edifice of mature love.
The hesitation takes maximum momentum in the relationship between Xiao Yao & Xiang Liu. She is unwilling to own how difficult it is to extricate herself from this introvert’s attention. Apart from a humane wish to help a person in need, she discerns in his mute expression something that makes him worth more goodness than many non-evils. When she decides to free herself from the connecting bug, it is not just out of concern for her safety, but also to spare his integrity. Her desperate act of piercing him with an arrow, then missing the next hit, then deliberately cutting her veins for him thrice – all within one minute – show the state of utmost emotional disarray. Still, no love is possible between them because of the ‘formation’ inflicted to her heart & mind by years of torture.
HUMAN SHORTCOMINGS
Xiao Yao shows an astonishing level of blindness to feelings: with Cang Xuan almost fainting of desire next to her face, towards the end of the series, she still fails to notice & understand the nature & intensity of this feeling. All the love radiating silently from Xiang Liu’s body & face gets lost on her, too. Being healed in his shell, her detached spirit starts acting weirdly childish. It gets worse with the passage of years & her increasing boredom. The barking at the casino is one more example of infantile behaviour.
Cang Xuan fails to recognise his sister, which makes me doubt if he loves her & if he is perceptive enough to be a ruler of people. He also fails to deal with shortage of grains. Another issue is the young king’s susceptibility to intoxication. He takes drugs that would naturally impair his body, soul & intellect. He also keeps drinking before serious events, knowing he would act & speak irresponsibly. Please pay attention to the Grand King’s face, as he hears Cang Xuan’s drunken confessions: an expression of regret for having appointed such a weak man, lacking self-control, as his throne successor.
NEGLECT OF CONTACT
Xiao Yao is open-minded & expressive, longing for interactions & a steady relationship. Though a princess, she never excludes demons, foreign officials or veterans, other clans form being close to her & communicating with her. Surprisingly though, she would not visit her adoptive family till most of them die of age, never inquires about them, has no idea Ye Shi Qi pays them visits every couple of years. She lingers to go to Li Rong Ji, as well as to start a quest for her biological father. Unforgivably, she strengthens A Nian’s complex of inferiority in wit.
Cang Xuan was once a hostage & so was Chenrong Shin Yue. However, they do not get to share their experiences & remain married strangers.
Both cousins have a much too pompous attitude towards themselves & underline their martyrdom in speech, gestures & mimicry, including even an unjust blame towards their parents. Compared to them, Xiang Liu is notorious for concealing his feelings, suffering, merits, unwilling to use it in his rhetoric for any goal. This makes him more trustworthy. Yet also this gets him abandoned, killed & forgotten.
The king of Xiyan does not read crucial letters or reports prior to making a decision that affects future generations. Having spoken with Cang Xuan only few times, he makes him new king without delay. Later, as a retired king, he presents himself as a perfectly communicative individual, sharing wisdom abundantly.
The village storyteller takes great care to deliver accurate information, but as it is with old legends, much of it gets warped with time.
OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN
This omnipresent C-drama flaw is also here. The impressive number of suitors is a well-known tool to present the heroine as an exceptionally worthy individual. So is Tushan Jing’s attitude or the face-painting challenge.
QUALITY OF ACTING
The invaded sitting together with invaders, victims commiserating with harassers, love rivals helping each other, fated siblings consuming poisoned flowers in unison – the pace slows down to make us believe we also belong to the realm of deities with thousands of years at disposal. The conflicts between sentient beings are never wild. They are like negotiations.
Performance is proficient with no exceptions. The actors have even managed to soften the Freudian air to make their characters more lifelike & lovable, to mention Xiang Liu’s soft song as well. Praiseworthy are support roles too, such as the epic one-to-one battle between A Nian & Yu Jiang, or Li Rong Chang’s picturesque 'phew!'s.
This C-drama excels in conveying messages in a subtle way, e.g. when Chishui Feng Long visits Xiao Yao, he seems reluctant to leave the Go game, afraid to face her lest he gets rejected. Equally subtle is Grand King’s reaction: he stops playing, as if he wanted to encourage him to stand up & approach her.
Deng Wei seems to be taking deeply into consideration viewers’ feedback. Once he got reproached for outshining main actors & in the next drama we saw him modestly withdrawn. He got praised for that & in the next series (the present one) he moved even more to the shadow, for which he received the heaviest backlash. Then he would reappear in a 2025 drama “Love of the Divine Tree” and behold – he is a churning rocket furnace there, earning viewers’ applause.
In China, there is a culture of self-improvement & a demand to know one’s own place, to contribute to the society just the right amount & quality. Therefore we, non-Asians, must be extra cautious with evaluation. If it is not perfectly honest or precisely formulated, it may unnecessarily hurt & misguide.
Let me submit my evaluation of Deng Wei’s acting skills. It will be my first review entirely in Chinese. Here it goes: 好.
GLITCHES & FLAWS
As Cang Xuan admits metaphorically regarding his harem, he has brought too many flowers to the garden, but the one he needs is absent. Yet also literally, there are superfluous references to many flower species:
- flower of Ruomu, a tree on which the sun rests every evening, symbol of balance between heavenly order & human intervention, meant to be given by Cang Xuan to his future love,
- pointiana tree (mistaken for phoenix tree), symbolic of female royal power, present in all places where Cang Xuan expects his sister to root in,
- tree peony or Rejuvenating Flower on Xiao Yao’s forehead, corresponding to the one planted & given to her by Tushan Jing, stands for female beauty, love, wealth & status,
- plum vs mulberry wine, i.e. Tushan Jing & Cang Xuan competing for Xiao Yao’s favour,
- peach tree, planted by Chi Chen whenever he missed Xiling Heng, grows abundantly on Mount Jade,
- divine tree on Mount Dushuo, used in tea for realistic karma hallucinations,
- reef flowers opening at Xiang Liu’s touch,
- recurring proverbs about trees,
- Xiao Yao’s flower-eating habit – sweet memory of childhood, but also ability to make do in hard times before fruit is available.
Haoling supposedly did not participate in wars for ten thousand years, but in the same episode we learn that it joined the battle between Xiyang & Chenrong. The daughter of the king has never heard.
Xiao Yao is in excruciating pain after her husband has been killed, but Xiang Liu does not feel it in spite of the connecting bug.
The demon who imprisoned Xiao Yao in childhood was a face-changing children-devouring nine-tailed fox. I was actually expecting Tushan Jing to confess he were the one.
Some curtains & fabrics are machine-embroidered.
APPEAL
This drama should make us realise how important it is for the soul to keep the face intact. As usual, let me implore everyone who can turn the direction in which C-drama as a genre evolves to discourage unnecessary permanent or harmful interference in actor’s and actresses’ faces: plastic surgery, tweakments, toxic substances in make-up. Let the Western culture promote insincerity if it must, while the Eastern may serve as a refuge for authenticity-seekers.
Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.
EDIT 19.03.26. Tried singing the OST. High vixen howlability factor. Raised the grade to 9.5.
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INTELLECTUAL FEAST WITH MORAL POISON - PART 1/2
Let me share the booty of a theme-hunting trek to the bottom of the C-drama “Lost You Forever.”TODAY’S CIVILISATIONAL CRISIS AS THE KEY
A possible key to understanding this drama comes from today’s civilisational crisis. The war is not evil vs good. It is evil against non-evil. Evil is offensive, uses good as a disguise. Non-evil is in self-defence, without masks. Fascination with evil is characteristic of inexperienced persons who have yet to learn the hard way how foul the evil actually is. Once you experience the pain of physical or mental torture, you cannot imagine embracing it willingly. No matter if the person inflicting the pain evinces positive traits, noble objectives, kinship.
From EP1, this series was bound to divide viewers into opposing camps: those who got captivated by the nine-headed snake demon & those who appreciated the nine-tailed deity fox. In Chinese mythology, the snake brings flood, mire, infertility; the fox – life & family; it turns female (refined from the roughness of masculinity) after 15 years.
When Xiao Yao prefers to drown rather than let Xiang Liu kiss her, this rejection works on her subconscious layer. When she stands alone at the altar, vowing eternal love to the missing Tushan Jing, her consciousness has consolidated the decision.
Cang Xuan’s attempt to draw her away from that altar is like bereaving her of her maturity, ripping out of her the essence of her lifelong experience, acquired through blood & tears. Separating her from her icon of non-evil would be like killing them. Indulging in obsession, the young king develops resemblance to Chenrong Xin Yue…
ATROCITY – DEPICTION OR GLORIFICATION?
Brutality is evident in this drama. It permeates not only throne disputes, but also love, friendship, leisure, evident even in the awfully graphic depiction of meat dishes. I acknowledge that the story has impressive depth & you can bask in subtlety with no detriment to dignity, but there is also this gloomy side that covers the bright one.
It is decisive if the aim is to show to what extent atrocity is potentially present in life, or to glorify it to bewilder the viewers, stimulate crudest instincts, intimidate the non-evil. The intention is crucial.
The story did influence us morally. It tore a cleft between a few quiet observers (e.g. Hyperborea) & many acknowledged reviewers virtually devouring Tushan Jing (& the innocent actor), teaming up to find a fault on him, to mob him, to bereave him of his merit, exploiting his desolate state, wounds, damaged meridians. Moreover, though it was expressed explicitly that his renunciation of vengeance is deliberate, with awareness of the risk & price, it has obstinately been misinterpreted as one more weakness, to hit him yet harder & directly compromise Xiao Yao’s core wisdom.
I feel exasperated among so many Tushan Hous & Fangfeng Yi Yings…
My rewatch value will be 5: arithmetic average of 10 for the intellectual value but 0 for the misuse of violence.
Down with the glorification & relativisation of evil, justification of abuse, trivialisation of hurt!
TAOISM VS FREUDIANISM
On one hand, this work is rich in references to the Chinese heritage. There are quotations or phrases that follow the spirit of Taoism (naturalness), Confucianism (human coexistence), Buddhism (suffering vs desire).
Examples:
- “What is gained cannot make up for what is lost” from the ancient “Records of the Three Kingdoms,”
- Xiao Yao on maturing – “The broader the sky, the narrower the paths people can take,”
- Grand King on empathy – “My pain makes me relate to others who are in pain,”
- Xiang Liu on self-knowledge – “People need to evaluate their happiness or misery only by comparison with others” (similar to the proverb “Comparisons among men often kill those who compare”),
- Xiang Liu on love – “Parasol trees grow old together,”
- Tushan Jing on talent – “A tall tree is bound to attract phoenixes” (as in proverb: “When a tree is tall, phoenixes will come,”
- Xiao Yao on endurance – “Waiting is like putting the heart on top of a knife” – the Chinese word for patience is made of two elements: heart & knife. Xiao Yao is young but feels as if she were approaching the end of her life. Moving forward is her strategy of survival. She admits we cannot control two most important things: life & death.
On the other hand, the drama’s cosmology is marred with analogies to the Freudian vision. Id, ego, superego – respectively: Xiang Liu, Cang Xuan, Tushan Jing – are the drives here. The first one subconscious, unspoken, beastly. The second – self-assured & self-promoting, conscious of the reality, utilitarian. The last one – the wisest, transcending them all, self-sacrificing. Reactions of both orphans are Freudian too: they are haunted by alleged betrayal by mothers who died. Xiao Yao remembers feeling abandoned. For her, heroism is irresponsibility. Cang Xuan feels jealous that his mother chose to live for his father, not for him.
The creators evidently have a solid knowledge of modern psychology. Unfortunately, they seem to be focusing on aberrations rather that processes & mechanisms. We witness results of the unresolved trauma, sado-masochism, cannibalism, schizophrenia, depression, self-mutilation, suicidal tendencies, extreme introversion, Stockholm syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder for numbers (15, 37, 300, 400), germs (early A Nian) or flower-eating.
Dissociative identity disorder manifests itself in the lacking or shifting face: Xiao Yao, Xiang Liu, the nine-tailed fox, Xiling Heng (face burnt & replicated as A Nian’s mother), Tushan Hou’s warriors, Zuo Er (ear), Cang Xuan (visit to Haoling during war). Dyed hair, impersonation or changing names are also sources or signs of instability of identity.
Proclivity to incest: in ancient China marriages between cousins were discouraged, esp. when the fathers were brothers. During the Ming dynasty they were even banned (but judging from the hanfus & insistence on Confucian world-view, this drama is a fantasy on the Song times). Regardless of the gender of the parents who are siblings, marriages between cousins are likely to give offspring prone to congenital defects, esp. in families with the history of such close marriages. Cang Xuan’s obsession with his cousin may reflect his inner desire to have everything in this world available to him, under his control. Also Xiang Liu has an unclear relationship with Chi Cheng: he pays respect at that demon’s grave, Li Rong Ji mistakes the one for the other. I was expecting Xiang Liu to turn out to be Xiao Yao’s half-brother.
ARE EVIL & NON-EVIL REALLY SEPARATE?
We might be satisfied with a clean division of characters into evil & non-evil ones. Yet this drama features mostly complex characters with inner fight. Xiang Liu has nine heads but only one heart. He takes without consent, boosts misery, misinterprets fearful obedience as willing participation. If you try to assume that his blood-sucking act is symbolic of a yearning for the physical closeness, I must disappoint you – watch him discard her casually each time after that act is complete. But then that look…
To evaluate the Machiavellian Cang Xuan’s decision to raid neighbouring countries, including his Master’s, we need an answer to the question: does the country need a war? In China’s history, consolidation was seen necessary to bring favourable development. But Cang Xuan’s employment of propagandists & calculated crypto-altruistic help to the civilians to deal with the flood are reminiscent of globalisation & ‘peace missions.’ Cang Xuan sees war as na ‘effort,’ human losses as justifiable. Calculating approach to life is also a post-trauma life strategy.
Tushan Jing says his heart is too small to contain the whole world, only one person. He has an inner strength of forgiving, a discerning eye which knows whom to love & support. He stands for the civilisation-making force that gets cast away by brute force. Many viewers have been tricked into believing that this paragon of meekness has no dark side. Yet his vice is demonstrated explicitly. Even Xiao Yao fails to notice it, though Xiang Liu takes her twice to a place…
At the underground arena where gladiators kill to survive, Xiao Yao is overjoyed when Zuo Er wins. But she does not take a larger perspective: Zuo Er’s victory equals the death of 40+ gladiators. It is the Tushan family who rents the casino & the perfectly likeable Li Rong Chang is the one who runs it. If you have any hope that only Tushan Hou knows about the den, in S2 we see his brother calmly observe the illegal underground business he profits from. The glass is like a TV screen; Jing is as indifferent as a Sunday Netflix watcher.
His shipping agency is also shady. He delivers any shipment to or from Xiang Liu without inquiring what is inside. Let alone his populistic military advice.
The careless ‘woof-woof’ pronounced by Xiao Yao during both visits to the casino is her subconscious denial of the fact that though Tushan Jing is her private harbour of mildness, he is responsible for exploitation & loss of many innocent lives traded for sadistic fun of his clients.
Tushan Jing & Xiao Yao change identities & devote themselves to medicine. However, by leaving Tian as the family chief, they ruin the chance of saving the orphan from inheriting the infamous casino.
So where is the dividing line between characters lovable & those worth contempt? It lies in their readiness for introspection & remorse. Observe that everybody who matters for the plot feels bad about him/herself: guilty, unfulfilled, limited. Both siblings admit having an overall negative personality. Xiang Liu will not contain any notion of not being ‘a villain.’ Tushan Jing expresses himself as an ‘unfaithful scoundrel’ & ‘rogue.’ Conversely, inveterate villains, like the 5th & 7th uncles, the Matroness Tushan, Fangfeng Yi Ying or Tushan Hou, do not feel a need for self-evaluation.
End of Part 1. Please follow Part 2 (published under Season 2).
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VIEWERS CHALLENGED TO RETHINK & REFEEL THEIR ATTITUDE TO SCAPEGOATING
Below is my evaluation of themes & techniques found at a closer observation in the C-drama “The Journey of Chong Zi.”TEST ON AUDIENCE
The main theme is the condemnation of scapegoating of an innocent girl who grows into a femme fatale by force of her environment’s warped perception of who she potentially is.
There are countless works on this subject-matter. Here, however, the authors manage to… split the audience. The tool is the creation of a beautiful heroine endowed with weaknesses & provoking viewers to utilise these. Just like the candidates for the sect have to jump from rock to rock to reach the shore or fall into the abyss, we also pass or fail a test of humanity.
Viewers who have had similar life experience and/or empathy, relate to Chong Zi, treating her shortcomings as a secondary matter. Having experienced or envisioned fight for survival & loneliness among the crowd, you are prone to understand her quirks are either scars or self-defence responses. Her appetite is the reflex to years of hunger. The habit of tugging at clothes is despair to keep someone engaged. Even the fact that she is not eager to learn is related to thwarted hopes for any investment in herself to start paying off. She has not quit the survival mode, her PTSD. Her persistence in honesty is proof of a strong will. She even avoids white lies & thus deserves a better love than Luo Yin Fan’s, who keeps her misinformed. Her resilience at the difficult age of puberty is simply astounding.
Viewers who fail to see these psychological mechanisms see a troubled & troublesome individual, with underdeveloped social skills & unsteady emotionality. Some will stop at this. Some will find her defencelessness as an opportunity to project their atavistic deficiencies (easy target). Earnestly, do they not resemble Sima Miao Yuan, Ting Xue, Min Yun Zhong or the baozi thief lyncher?
FLATNESS VS ROUNDNESS + VACILLATION
For disambiguation: a flat character is one who remains unchanged; a round character evolves. Main characters tend to be round, but it is not a prerequisite. Flatness is not inferiority: it can denote a timely selection of the right path. Flat ones serve as points of reference, but can be fully-fledged too.
Most characters entrench themselves in obsessions, incl. Luo Yin Fan. He undergoes improvements as the master of the reincarnated Chong Zi, responding to her desire to start eating well, granting her more freedom. However, he clings to insincerity. The first & only radical change happens in the last episode, as he decides to revoke his overprotection & sacrifice himself. Worth noting is the way he accumulates thoughts before a short utterance & how decisive his protective movements are. Zhuo Hao & Qin Ke soon pick up this feature.
The most solid personality is Qin Ke’s. He seeks to appease every conflict; if mediation has no effect, he takes the blame on himself. He exudes doubtless pureness, unlike the volatile Mu Yu or the mercurial Zhuo Hao. Qin Ke’s exaggerated modesty might partly result from Deng Wei’s awareness of viewers’ reception of an earlier drama, “Miss the Dragon,” where his vivid rendering of a supporting role outshone the whole cast: here, he seems to be restricting himself, leaving room for Xu Zheng Xi’s character to bloom. Thus a modest, self-restrained character emerges, serving others & refraining from being served. His reincarnation in the extra episode might be a tribute to his pillar-like consistency.
The roundest characters are Wan Jie & Zhuo Hao. Life forces them into attitudes foreign to their natures. Also Dragon King, Leng Wan Li & Yin Shui Xian are round. Wang Yue turns out to be exceptionally responsive for a villain.
Chong Zi goes beyond the flat-round paradigm. A frantic pendulum, lost between the opposite forces, trying to adopt but rejecting. This vacillation accelerates to disorientation & exasperation. It deliberately gives us a taste of pain such friction must cause.
POTENCY OF MORAL CONCESSION
Moral concession is commendable, its improper use is destructive. Observing Luo Yin Fan’s adamant protection of Chong Zi with an inherent demon element, our heart feels right, but our logic cries for caution.
Instances of misdirected or excessive concession abound. The authors display special tenderness towards Demons’ world, except Wang Yue’s attendant.
Demon agents among Immortals, Yan Zhen Zhu & Mu Yu, repetitively seek to expose Chong Zi to the contact with the demonic objects, murder an innocent person to frame the heroine & force her environment to break the last bond with her. Yet she keeps treating them with trust.
Immortal Min Yun Zhong crowns his lifetime of hypocrisy with a heroic death. Yu Du’s blind loyalty calls for punishment – instead, he survives to usher next generations into the new order.
Being or becoming a mortal is viewed as more meritorious & enhancing chances of survival. When Chong Zi & her master meet the notorious village bully, they talk generously to him, show support. Ting Xue is allowed to survive. Sima Miao Yuan gets violently mutilated in a way C-drama generals do. She is granted a possibility to execute herself & earns Qin Ke’s compassion.
Goodness or neutrality do not pay off – we witness the tragedy of the benevolent Zhuo Yun Zhi, the ‘converted’ Wan Jie, the withdrawn Dragon King & his spouse. Unmerited concession is granted to men’s possessiveness in courting: Luo Yin Fan, Mu Yu & the early Zhuo Hao.
In this unfair world, Chong Zi is equipped late (upon her desperate request) with rudimentary knowledge & a blunt weapon, victim to her inborn disposition, difficult childhood, overprotection, abuse, her inconsistency & inaptitude to learn.
TESTING THE DOOM’S LIMITS
Both main characters recklessly flirt with doom. Luo Yin Fan naively leaves his beloved one in prison & even lets her experience twice the same ordeal with hooks. He gives the reincarnated apprentice the same name. He welcomes the unknown red snake. He does nothing to trace agents.
Chong Zi shifts between the opposite camps, believing each time to be accepted. She disregards signs, e.g. Wang Yue’s repeated assertions of being a good man. She discards orders & friendly advice by Luo Yin Fan, Wan Jie & Zhuo Hao. She forgets to check on Hong Dou, then on Qin Ke. She takes oaths too lightly: ‘pinky swear’ with Qin Ke, assertions to stay home, even public declaration to fight on the Demon side. Wang Yue’s incredible leniency lets her break this promise & elope from the altar; no punishment comes from other Demons.
VARIOUS WAYS TO MATURITY
Two sets of modes of adolescence can be detected. Chong Zi gains hard lesson as an orphan, then takes a step back under an overpotective master. Reincarnated & introduced into a decent Wen family, she grows more ladylike, but the ‘demon scent’ makes her reach the same quicksand as an earlier uncouth findling.
As an opposite, Zhuo Hao sets off at a great advantage. He disrespects his father & will not share his aunt’s considerate disposition. Little does he realise how hurtful his behaviour must be to Chong Zi, for whom human wilfulness used to be daily bane. His maturity comes with unrequited love, loss of his father & the vicissitudes of the universe indifferent to his splendid self.
The 9th princess Sima Miao Yuan is prepossessed with the snobbish assertion of her alleged experience & moral qualifications – but proves locked in a state of conceited puerility so intense as to pose danger to herself & others.
As an opposite, the prince Qin Ke evades his parents’ support, relying on his own development. When Sima Miao Yuan’s parents lose power, he provides solace. Though not enjoying her presence, he acts brotherly & discreetly.
THE ESSENCE OF HOME
An interior is an important home-making factor. Chong Zi’s first home ever is exquisitely furnished, with bright woodwork, sunlight, comfy bed & rich library. There is no kitchen, but the resolute girl turns an incense burner into a stove to prepare a koi fish.
The Demon home is surprisingly liveable, with elevated aesthetics & functionality, flowers, figurines & fancy bed. This reflects the oddly welcoming nature of this realm: even intruders are treated like guests, given kind directions.
An ambivalent interaction between Chong Zi & her kidnapper ‘uncle’ turns the arid, crushing Land of Tribulation into home.
OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN… & MORE
This inherent flaw of C-dramas is also here. A crowd of suitors serves as proof of the heroine’s value. But also of her master, chosen among such valiant rivals.
Women are also targets: the allegedly upright sect leaders make use of Gong Ke Ran as a living bait (her uncle among them), like hunters do to female birds.
Chong Zi keeps hearing 3rd-person remarks from the Immortals, meant to question her capability of thinking, feeling, deciding for herself. Though at times they seem to accept her cleverness, charm & sharp tongue, it is a patronising attitude. Let us add the suitors’ careless language: ‘silly girl,’ ‘ugly girl.’
GLITCHES & FLAWS
- Mortals scarcely shown. The motive of a promising mortal sect Fusheng drops.
- Disregard for countrymen. Two negative comparisons by main characters.
- Forgotten demon creatures (cat, snake) or objects (Kunlun incense, fruit lantern).
- Convention taken for granted. Viewers expected to know that C-drama Immortals are generally hypocrites. That postpones their understanding of the discrepancy between the sect rules (no violence, even revenge) & their behaviour (scheming, human sacrifice, judging a priori, no intention evaluation, little use of Yu Du’s predicting capabilities).
- Selecting a young actor for the ‘uncle’ (Gao Han should urgently be cast in a major protagonist role soon).
APPEAL
The world is not likely to shake off its obsession with questionable beauty standards soon. Believing that Asian cultures attach importance to the ‘face’ as an ultimate value, please keep C-drama free from the unnecessary plastic surgery and tweakments.
Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.
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THE DELIBERATIONS OVER FATE & KNOWLEDGE
As a theme-digger, let me detect for you some less obvious layers of meaning in the C-drama „Miss the Dragon.” There is more to discover & savour than meets the eye.THE VALUE OF SCIENCE
Our times call for a redefinition of the value of the ‘certified’ facts & interpretations. The centre of the evil in this drama is a large rotunda library, run by the Heavens, calling for awe. At its centre, the Immortal of Fate is an individual of refined appearance & pleasing demeanour, responsible for attaining, storing & distributing the bulk of ‘received’ scholarly literature, but can indulge in providing evaluation or interpretation…
His visitors accept the library with utmost reverence. Qing Qing’s attitude is the opposite: she detests the written word, even though she knows that her negligence in education will deprive her of immortality. Being given “The Book of Reincarnation”, which would spare her suffering, she puts it back. Both idolatry of books & total disrespect prove wrong.
While the cunning Immortal of Fate makes a deliberate abuse of authority in source selection, the inexperienced Dragon King clings to the worst possible references out of his lack of the ability to judge their relevance or intention of authors. He follows a “bad book” & a brothel show, which almost ruin his budding relationship with Liu Ying.
PROFESSIONALISM & ETHICAL ATTITUDE
The position, independence, perception by superiors/colleagues/clients, amount of leisure determine our ethical attitude. Likewise backwards: our morality decides if our work will serve or disrupt the community.
We see it at play from the first episode, when the Immortal of Fate encourages the Dragon King to steal the Ancient Golden Armour. He does not use the imperative ‘steal’ – just toys with the hero’s anxiety & ambition. The Dragon King has already been burdened with an unjust accusation (the misappropriation of the Stone of Nuwa), leading to the Heaven’s thunderous wrath. As a recidivist, he will be doomed…
Each time we meet the Immortal of Fate, this smooth operator takes a step towards mischief. He makes grand use of Qing Qing’s obsession with appearance (her own & the handsome librarian’s) to confront her with the merciless Lord of Luofeng Pavillion, by advising her to pull at his most tender strings.
The heavenly library has a second enterprise profile, a very nasty one: a commission-house for all sorts of shady magical artefacts, poisons pushed as medicines, harmful headbands etc. To get these, a client must offer the most precious piece of their body, being even informed that the business is illegal.
The Immortal of Fate’s corruption has a form of a vicious cycle: he is armoured with unearned authority, with no surveillance from above or objection from beneath. But he is not free from unearned disregard, too: for Qing Qing he is not a suzerain but a plain librarian. Such occurrences even raise the Immortal’s contempt towards his working environment and make him indulge in exploiting the naivety of his client. He knows he can venture offering her a crucial book because she is likely to turn it down. He goes as far as to delete pages from the record on Lord of Luofeng Pavillion. He spends his entire life in the library or at courts, having no pastime, craving for none. While privately visiting the Dragon King at the pool, he is still ‘at work,’ scheming.
Lord of Luofeng Pavillion has a profession that collides with his inborn personality but corresponds to his current embittered state of mind. He feeds people Lethe (memory poison he had also taken willingly) and guides them into oblivion, genuinely believing that this is the right path away from suffering. A crack appears when Qing Qing twits her spontaneity into his ear, pleading for mercy, rekindling buried memories & instincts. Each twit enlivens the past and finally pries the cold heart open. However, Lord’s two unhealed traits guide him back dangerously close to his professional failure & private misery: the susceptibility to evil authority & the inability to communicate effectively.
Various hilarious but serious observations may be drawn from the interaction between the Dragon King & other professionals: the Immortal of Fire & the Immortal of Rain. Worth following is the insight into Ayu’s tortured state of mind, as she tries to extricate herself from the post of Goddess of Rain, imposed on her by circumstances. Facing the imminent revelation of her incompetence, ‘the loss of face,’ Ayu pleads guilty. Not to Heavens, but to common folk. Having repeatedly suffered violence at work as a merchant, she still has deep respect for her imperfect community.
COMMUNICATION INEFFICIENCY
Many C-dramas involve motives of amnesia to prevent a character from communicating with others, revealing crucial facts, sharing emotions. Here we have the motives of reincarnation and Lethe drink. Interestingly, Liu Ying’s every reincarnation involves a different pattern of selective, incomplete forgetting. Every lifespan leaves an imprint on her itinerary soul. Her friends are obliged each time to adhere to a different range of secrecy. Of course, with Qing Qing around, Liu Ying & her later selves quickly pick up the essence of her accumulative past. Also the Dragon King’s yearning for outspokenness allows her to peek into it.
We do not doubt that Xue Qian Xun has grown ready to confess surprisingly soon, but his sincerity is handicapped by the half-forgotten hurt, years spent at the heartless truth-pruning office. Qing Qing yearns for any sign of appreciation from him, yet her obsession with his perception of her face & intellect makes her deaf to his appraisal. His introverted attitude, enhanced by the gravity of his post, gives priority to silent musing (the content of thought). Her extroverted manner, enhanced by the habit of constant nervous pleading for herself, gives priority to chaotic vocalisation (the form of thought). That stalemate of form & content, of the willingness & inability to give & receive, can only be broken by a thunderous interference.
Worth noting is Liu Ying’s maturing openness, as she learns to refuse to reciprocate men’s favour, gently but decisively. In two lifetimes she let circumstances impose marriage, but as general Chen Yue she informs Lu Zheng about her feelings to another man, without causing excessive suffering. Then, as a small girl, she is ready to assert her worldview, aware that her sincerity puts her future at the cultivators’ sect & her immortality at stake.
CONTROL OVER FATE
When Ayu decides not to drink Lethe and vows to gain control over her fate, we might expect her to become what she wants. But it is her father and uncle who channel her fate at her rebirth as Chen Yue. Being strong and skilled in martial arts still has nothing to do with freedom of choice. The fourth incarnation gets close to it, but the heroine is made to die on the day of gaining maturity. It may mean that life is too brutal to grant full independence even to the fourfold refined personalities.
The Dragon King & his beloved remain smitten by the tides & ebbs of fate. The strongest character, the only truly friendly counsellor, eager to lend useful objects and give a helpful hand, is Xue Qian Xun, who manages to adjust the frantic torrents of fate for himself & others, but even he falls victim to the poisonous spell by the Immortal of Fate.
OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN
This serious drawback is present in all C-dramas known to me, alas. Male characters have the responsibility to provide a background for female. Here, we have a man-pillow, a walking purse, a face-canvas for drawing ridiculous patterns; even emperors are objectified as spouses or sources of admiration & promotion. Only the Immortal of Fate is the independent one who exploits, but he dies violently shortly after revealing his aim.
GLITCHES & FLAWS
The greatest flaw of this C-drama results from its greatest merit. The engagement of Deng Wei was a priceless acquisition, but placing him in a role other than the main proved disruptive. Unintentionally, this cautious placement did injustice to the rest of the cast, who are all professional, devoted & expressive to the extent required by their roles. Deng Wei is not an actor, he is a wizard.
Another flaw of this series is the amount & final affirmation of sadism. We see many facets of cruelty, the most disturbing instance being the pervert atrocity of Dongluo’s Crown Prince, rightfully punished. But in the final fight against the Immortal of Fate, the Dragon King chooses to indulge in a similar type & intensity of cruelty. This time we are forced to believe this excess is justifiable.
Preoccupied with his beloved’s affairs throughout the series, without a wider scope of concern for the world, the Dragon King turns into a rebel eager to sacrifice himself in a desperate assault against the unjust Heaven. Not the change itself but its abruptness is unconvincing and leaves enough space for doubt whether it was the hero’s deliberate act or just the ill-considered result of a momentary surge of despair, worth his regret.
One more flaw connected with psychological portrayal is how cold Liu Ying & her next selves can be. She forgets her newborn child, wandering & musing about her feelings. The child never reappears, though minor persons like Marble do. We never get to see the emperor she marries or learn about her struggle to develop a bond. Although she gets 60, we see her preserve a youthful appearance – no trace of emotional wear. Her coldness towards ‘brother’ Lu Zheng is also conspicuous.
APPEAL
Qing Qing went a long & painful way to respect her face. C-drama is this one spark of hope left to preserve dignity, creativity, modesty, true development, faith in humanity & more, to avoid the Western ‘aesthetics.’ One of the greatest threats is the indulgence in unnecessary plastic surgery & tweakments as breach of authenticity, as interference in actors’ & actresses’ integrity.
Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.
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This review may contain spoilers
Abundant themes and ideas with a major ethical reservation
„Love of the Divine Tree” harbours an impressive number of themes in the neat chain of causality. However, some ask for ethical reconsideration, so prepare for a bitterness overload.YIN & YANG. It is pleasing to observe how these clash when the two strong leads are confronted, then gradually mix and form a delineating curve. When the plot tears them apart, the yin and yang start rattling anew, searching for a new equilibrium.
Su Yi Shui is tagged as a sample of yin. He displays a total immersion in a belief or feeling. All he needs is freedom and appreciation. His opening up to love reveals his hidden nature of a giver. After the loss of his master, his remorse grows immense till it blocks his ability to participate in life fully. Followed by a short period of calm, his amnesia phase sees a radical depletion of his potential.
Deng Wei in this role is brilliant at expressing those wuthering heights, this wild turmoil – especially by means of one-second movements, gestures, glances, outbursts with graded volumes of fury, longing or regret. He is immersed in this character so deeply that each cell seems to play the role. He is a black diamond of hundred facets, each imprinted as a dark hot flash in our memory. The dignified frame and silky movements add to the impression. Note the actor’s awareness of the meaning a body position may convey: when exposed to a comparison against Wei Jiu, Su Yi Shui chooses to stand half-turned away from the crowd: perplexity and unwillingness to participate. Regardless of the prevalent Asian standard of beauty, he has been adorned with wavy hair; both black and white wigs match the complexion. Alert – he cannot hold a baby safely.
This character would not be complete without Xu Yi Ming and Zhang Jing Yi, performing scenes from Su Yi Shui’s childhood. The scene with the mother’s door shut is truly heart-rending. I am not in favour of stripping actors of their natural voice, but the selected voice actor (Sun Rui Yang) yields a matching timbre for exasperation.
Mu Qing Ge vel Xue Ran Ran is a specimen of yang, with self-certainty, pride, joviality. Her readiness to take responsibility, straightforwardness, lack of fear or regret are also bright. A lady in red, her broad smile and directness in flirting challenges to surpass the Chinese convention of modesty.
Han Zhi Xiang did well in depicting both the mature master and the budding apprentice. Worth noticing is her capability of presenting the purged memory, the unprepared youth. When confronted with the masked stranger, she tosses all the paper spells at him. The voice actress (Duan Yi Xuan) did her work so diligently that I thought there are two.
RESOCIALISATION. The subjugation of Su Yi Shui is not an isolated occurrence. Mu Qing Ge has a vocation, an innate tendency to rehabilitate. Apart form building a mixed-ability team of apprentices, she manages to convert Wei Jiu, as soon as Tu Jiu Yuan has cracked his callousness. She also reshapes the world-view of the sects that once killed her, and catalyses a bond between two ex-enemies.
The prolonged presence of Spirit Spring inside Su Yi Shui’s heart is a symbolic reminder that childhood abuse drags on, requiring time, empathy, willingness on both sides. Unfortunately, the drama involuntarily challenges the boundaries of interference in another person’s integrity.
OBJECTIFICATION OF MEN. In most C-dramas man has to serve woman, which is hardly acceptable. There is a heavy load of possessiveness in Mu Qing Ge’s acts. The chains she put on her apprentice are no different from those of the Eternal Sect or in his nightmare. After the memorable scene with lamps, she ruins the mood by insisting twice on his eating fruit and drinking alcohol. Once means an offer, twice is coercion. The scene in which Su Yi Shui receives cat pets and starts purring (vol up!) shows that the heroine fails to respect his dignity.
SHORTAGE OF TRUST. We gather enough evidence that the young man knows his aim, the risk of hosting an evil force, and his eagerness to quit crime once he breaks free. The prophetic book shows merely a dispute who would become the new emperor – not the end of the world. Princes’ rivalry has always brought a bloody fight. So Mu Qing Ge had better advise rivals to take a duel, instead of bloodshed that depletes the army. Su Yi Shui does not pose threat to humankind, his intentions deserve no distrust. Unlike Dun Tian, with whom she shares her plans.
LACK OF SENSE OF JUSTICE. Mu Qing Ge disregards the long list of persons Su Yi Shui’s father once ordered him to eliminate. A punishment for the past would serve as a practical guidance better than irrational blame of potential future crimes. The worst example of validation of cruelty is the justification of Su Yi Shui’s mother through her dishonest letter. At the Marrow Cleansing Pool, supposed to accept cultivators after they leave their obsessions, Xue Ran Ran and Dun Tian somehow manage to retrieve theirs.
FALSIFIED HISTORY. The opening legend is all twisted on purpose. Mu Qing Ge is its main victim of accumulated superstitions that brought about a ‘witch process’ and foddered the hypocrisy of observers. Even Su Yi Shui’s hitting the formation wall is misinterpreted as his attempt to kill his master. The legend leaves out Mu Ran Wu’s enactment.
COMMUNICATION ISSUES. Much plight results in insufficient communication. It was given the form of a muteness spell. In spite of her eloquent quirk, Mu Qing Ge / Xue Ran Ran proves unable to circumvent the spell (by gestures, metaphors) or detect its symptoms on others. She seals Su Yi Shui’s and Zeng Yi’s mouths, being aware of ensuing injustice. Note her negligent attitude to other sects and her sister as regards the information flow. She indeed is warm but frank towards Su Yu, and reasonably instructive towards the rehabilitated Wei Jiu.
Mu Qing Ge fails at overhauling information gaps. She takes Su Yi Shui’s integrity as obstinacy. Having been around her sister or Dun Tian, she remains unaware of their evil nature. As Xue Ran Ran she is unable to recognise her master in Ling Xiao. When she talks deprecatively about Su Yi Shui to his rival, the content is abusive enough, the wording even more.
BASIS OF LOVE. A drunken kiss brings pain. Trying to reignite love to regain memory, the leads hastily kiss and fail. It shows that love needs an emotional basis, not physical. When forced it can be unrewarding. It takes work to find and maintain a point of convergence. What triggers Su Yi Shui is a promise of a home, light, good food (alco and cicadas excluded!) and understanding.
LOVE AFTER LOVE. This is relevant for viewers who experienced the loss of their beloved. It touches subtly upon the aspect of age difference in a relationship, attitudes and expectations, similarity vs sameness.
APPROACH TO THE LOSS. Unlike many dramas indulging in time travel, this one disdains the idea. Changing one’s fate is possible, but only in alignment with its temporal development. We must embrace the bygone. The greatest offence is made by the worst villain, Dun Tian. His family love is vitiated in confrontation with the spirit of his wife, whom he grabs by the throat. Mu Ran Wu is punished for ousting a person, Su Yu for drawing someone unwilling. The conflict between particular interest and common good is relevant here.
INSTABILITY AS A CIVILISATIONAL THREAT. There is a symbolic scene at the invaded Mount Wester, with dilapidation and nauseatic rolling movement of grey, disintegrated settings, and the death of the Reincarnation Tree. It may stand for today’s world’s decay, atomisation. There is nothing left to adhere to, no point of reference.
TRAP OF PROFESSIONALISM. Mu Qing Ge is so self-assured in her moral teaching skill that she trespasses the boundaries of Su Yi Shui’s integrity. Even if the outcome turns out to be right, it is not THANKS TO but IN SPITE OF the intrusion. He separated the good he received (love, home, sacrifice) from the accompanying bad.
Mu Qing Ge’s sect’s recruitment pattern is gathering youth whose talents fail to comply with the expectations of the competitive sects. She is adamant in defending them – and proves right. Su Yi Shui’s process of recruitment proves wrong: what matters is devotion, mere skill is insufficient, pride is disruptive.
The married leads organise chores to reflect their past turn-taking at supremacy. This model builds independence and yin-yang completion. However, the eldest son should have been taught to wipe off his stain.
NOTES
The flow gets disrupted by redundant verbalisations, reappearance of longish proper names. Still fewer in comparison with the artifact data in “The Blood of Youth”. It makes a viewer feel like a PC gamer, having to “select the weapon” to be allowed to move. The imagery also needs trimming: too many symbolic trees, twigs and one-use beasts.
OST: some phrases will stay in my memory for long. However, I reserve max 10 pt for creative masterpieces like in “The Blue Whisper” or “Kill Me, Love Me”.
The YouTube version might be abridged. Probably this is why it is not clear when Wen Hong Shan claimed to be disfigured by Mu Qing Ge, when Wang Sui Zhi left the Wester, when Su Yu got poisoned or when Tu Jiu Yuan gave birth. For final battle resolution, it took an irrelevant dragon immortal and her motionless child.
APPEAL
My appeal concerns everybody involved in determining C-drama’s future development directions. The genre has become a chance to evade being under the fusillade of the Western convention: this one spark of hope left to preserve dignity, creativity, modesty, true development, faith in humanity and more. Please avoid the Western ‘aesthetics.’ One of the greatest threats is the indulgence in unnecessary plastic surgery and tweakments as breach of authenticity, as interference in actors’ and actresses’ integrity, in their sacred bodies and countenances – the beautiful mirrors of their souls.
Written by a nationless spirit confined in the decaying Mid-Europe.
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