ShortCircuit

But the Dowager is three steps ahead of him, she obviously would have known QC was a son of the house, even if illegitimate. What would the Marquis win by stating it? Like... she already KNOWS he had his own son killed.

Is he actually that stupid?!

Wait, don't answer. If he really is that stupid, then the Ding Mansion tragedy is even more tragic - like, seriously, to be brought down by an idiot HAS to hurt more than being defeated by someone who actually knows what they're doing...

Four. One from the prison guards, three at close range from his father's assassin. Last three in the vicinity of his sternum. Let's hope that guy is also incompetent and missed all vital organs.

I'd LOVE to see little legitimate brother go all up in arms against his father because he thinks he had his bro killed. I really think Qin Cang isn't dead - maybe Miss Lin is treating him to save his life. I want to believe, LOL.

SOOOO! Mawwage. Mawwage is wot bwings us togeder... tooday

It totally happened. Let's see a new heir in this mansion, shall we.

I like how the Senior Bro stopped taking her word for it and went to check on Lishan. Who's with me in that they were all probably killed 8 years ago in that place and that the Dowager put the guard on it so nobody ever learned that? So Ye Li might've been alone for 8 years in that place, having to do everything by herself, all alone with the owls and monkeys and the darkness and the rest of it all.

I didn't quite get what Marquis Muyang implied about Qin Cang being actually Zhou Lang. Is he a princely lost relative or what? So is he NOT Muyang's actual son?!

LOL, "you're an assassin, where's your ambition??"

That's precisely the kind of pep-talk she'd give hahaha~

100 gold taels that I don't have that Qin Cang isn't done yet. No body, no death is the rule.

It's based on the same novel series. It's even in the drama description (and it's title in Chinese).

I don't think 36 eps are enough for Saiunkoku Monogatari...

Agree on Smeagol LOL, he even has the colouring for it :D

I did tear up myself because I can put myself in Pete's place a few times in the episode.

Anyway - the most important part for me was that they stayed true to the characters they set up in the eps before. Pete is clueless but all heart and will try and try again and when he fails, he'll get up and try yet again to do something. Niran is (or maybe was, we'll see) a cynical observer, uninvolved in the world around him and with no set goal for his life other than existing. He IS the butterfly for most of his life.

So to see them bond even closer, close enough to save the both of them from the void, is emotional. Or it is to me anyway.

I mean, it doesn't need to induce tears in every watcher, LOL. But it does have depth. Particularly for these two characters. Both are stubborn, but while one is stubborn to do something, the other is stubborn NOT to do anything. And yet they manage to communicate and share a hope for the future.

It's truly poetic to me, particularly given the parable they used. ZhuangZi's parable of the butterfly is truly bothersome, just as much as Plato's allegory of the cave. Both deal with the nature of reality and our perception of it and if you try thinking too long about what's implied there, they're both kind of disturbing for one's peace of mind, LOL. And kind of different, though using some similar imagination twists - Plato argues that there are true and false states, and that one should strive for the absolute truth of reality and ZhuangZi aims to show that both sides of the same reality can be true in their own right - well, I hope I'm not twisting it too much and that this still makes sense, LOL. And THEN you throw in the Cartesian Doubt, and you get really mind-boggling results. (And THEN you get Descartes' Cogito Ergo Sum philosophy base hahaha~) okay enough philosophy for now.

Anyway, most of us get philosophical from time to time and go from (what am I doing in this world/life/time) through (who am I really, deep inside my own true self), (am I good, am I bad, am I virtuous or am I evil *according to one's own moral rules*), to (what do I want to do with my life) etc - and Niran's at a crossroads where he doesn't want to do anything anymore, had no goals and doesn't even want to survive any more. (Another dark place I suspect most of us went through at least once in our lifetimes.) So Pete goes to GIVE him a goal - Niran doesn't have to live for himself, if he doesn't have it in him for now, but he COULD live on for Pete's sake. Because Pete CARES.

So yeah. Everybody would love to see that kind of care in their dark time. Even if it's annoying, to actually realise someone else other than yourself does care and wants you in their lives, even if you're lost and despairing - that's an amazing setting and they did do it well.

But again, it's not an automatic reply-asking part, LOL. If it works, it works. If not... well, that's just how it is.

So I was right :D

No it isn't like that. SHE sees through him, she called him a noisy cicada (and he's exactly that, a cowardly noisy bug). HE thinks he's quite something and imagines she'll "understand" him when he becomes whatever he means to become - an Emperor, perhaps.

Paro and Dev were in love, even after he betrayed her and didn't get his courage in time to stop her marriage. Ye Li was never in love with MJL.

PS In a movie full of beautiful songs, it's Chalak Chalak that I always go to, LOL. Just reminded me to go listen to it again :)

A lot of noble titles were basically empty - of status, power or wealth. Just look at MJL, he's the former's CP's son, he has nothing in his hands but a title. Or MXY - he was condemned and supposed to die with his older brother but got ~forgiven~ at the last minute, why would he be able to hoard any wealth on his own power? Before she healed his legs, even as an ally to the Emperor, he didn't have a lot of chances to make something of himself on the power wielding side. The FL's family was not even noble before they married her mother - they had some petty wealth but it took the mother's dowry to make them rich. And they do have a quite large family to clothe, shelter and feed, LOL.

I felt like outside smaller reception chambers for the Emperor or Dowager Empress, there were one or two throne hall scenes (like when they tried appointing the guy who burst in flames later) BUT. This is a nameless Empire in the middle of nowhere, (was it Da Chu or did I caught it wrong?) - so maybe it's not that wealthy a state anyway LOL. They took decades and a lot of money to build some waterways that the FL and her pet assassin moved through in a matter of an hour or so, not very large.

As for the rest of the sets - they're big, even if the rooms themselves are not large. I mean, they have courtyards over courtyards, separate dwellings for basically anyone of some importance. You can recognise some very used Hengdian buildings, but then, MOST costume dramas use them to control costs.

PS I thought the Dowager's boudoir isn't a grand receiving hall but more of an intimate room for herself and her close friends. I mean, Emperors and Empresses were people too, Maybe some would have liked less grandeur and more intimacy from time to time.

I have a bad feeling about Qin Cang's fate. I hope he deals with his step-bro and his father and gets free of them, but he's already been involved in some shady deals for them so maybe his fate is already sealed...

I thought he was the younger brother to the assassins' gang leader that was involved in some shady dealings related to the Huaixi matter (the almost capture of the Imperial inspector who was later killed). That leader doesn't seem to be ML's friend...

Oh, it looks like our little assassin isn't as useless as he appeared to be. I hope they both make it out of the conundrum.

On third rewatch of the ep, it hit me - that ending LOL. They are 9 people there. And he gets Niran a ring. And that hospital scene, with Pete coming in last and that knowing look they exchanged...

So, let's fit characters to the rest of them. We know who Frodo and Sam are already, LOL.

I mean
Soulmates (check)
Rings exchanged (check)

What else is there? :D

Pete (indirectly): Do you...?
Niran (very clearly): I DO!
Pete (nonplussed): No, not like that!!

I think the part that got devoured, if any, was the defeated part of his soul.

The kid used to have DREAMS. He wanted to DO things. Older Niran had lost that spark.

So the kid soul came back - that means Niran has his flame back and will find a goal in life, not just simply drift wherever the wind takes him.

I thought they made it pretty clear what the symbolism meant, particularly with revisiting their original talk about the meaning of life in the beginning of the episode.

The music is SUPERB. I want this soundtrack - not just the songs, I want the BGM. It's amazing.

In true Pete fashion, he dragged Niran back by following him relentlessly and nagging at him to come back, and when that failed, he turned on the tears. I mean, I couldn't resist those tears, could you? So I totally get why Niran would fold and come back.

Also, Niran looked so young in that hospital bed, I was afraid he'd only come back as his child self and not the world-weary Wu we all came to love. I'm glad they didn't go that way.

...So. They're married LOL. Now for their honeymoon, they get to kill Qi Rong. Good for them! :D

This is one amazing drama. I'm glad I stumbled upon it.