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extrapenguinBecaus apparently I cannot help myself. Oops. Also, did they run out of budget for lighting, or are they trying to signify something with the sudden gloominess?
My very absolute favorite trope is people being their own downfall. Here, Prince Yu sealed his destruction with his own actions from way earlier and by denying the wrong crime. Earlier, in ep 37, he overdid the accusations against Jing and Jingmom, and the Emperor got suspicious. Now, he just sits still, defeated, moping. Qin Banruo will still try to get him to get up and scheme, but I suspect that he is done and done for. Yu is a good villain – he gives a good speech and he knows when to give a good speech on being defeated. And also when to cry.
These eps were very Xia Dong-y, which I very much liked. The best lie is the truth and all that, and misleading the Emperor with the truth was very well done. Her begging her Shifu while he interrogates MCS was very well done.
The conversation between Xia Jiang and MCS was amazing. (Though tbh, my favorite line was "Your tea is quite terrible.") Xia Jiang is canny and good, but MCS is excellent. The Wujin pill was a good play by Xia Jiang and I'm not sure what Meng and Jing would've done had MCS's already extant state of poisoning not canceled the Wujin pill. And it was as Marquis Yan predicted: Xia Jiang did not understand the bonds between people, and did not know that Xia Dong had heard the truth, and thus did not foresee Xia Dong in time. Xia Jiang has also with his actions eroded the Emperor's trust in the Xuanjing Bureau more than Prince Qi or Prince Jing's words ever did.
Jingmom is still the canniest political actor, deftly evading what needs to be evaded and otherwise being the reed that may bend in the wind but will always rise. She knew xiao-Xin was the traitor, and knew that the plot needed xiao-Xin's cooperation to work. She also knew that Jing really needed to hear the confession. She's also good at manipulating and interrogating the Emperor without him realizing it.
Her dear son Jing, on the other hand, is still impulsive and honor-bound and I love him. In the original interrogation, he came across well. The displays of Jing's loyalty to MCS – even after all of the Yu-caused suspicion – were touching. And the bit where Jing cries over Lin Shu! (His mother was in quite an awkward spot, trying to comfort Jing when she knows Lin Shu ain't dead. She did lay the groundwork for the eventual identity reveal, though.)
I do wonder how ministers Shen and Cai came at exactly the right time. Cai doesn't seem like he'd be suggestible at all, so a lot of hints and clues dropped at exactly the right times? Shen's cooperation? Afterwards, Cai's fervor was a delight to watch, and Shen using Jing as a means of comforting Cai was aww-worthy. Jing gets his faction just by being himself and not engaging in faction-building!
My very absolute favorite trope is people being their own downfall. Here, Prince Yu sealed his destruction with his own actions from way earlier and by denying the wrong crime. Earlier, in ep 37, he overdid the accusations against Jing and Jingmom, and the Emperor got suspicious. Now, he just sits still, defeated, moping. Qin Banruo will still try to get him to get up and scheme, but I suspect that he is done and done for. Yu is a good villain – he gives a good speech and he knows when to give a good speech on being defeated. And also when to cry.
These eps were very Xia Dong-y, which I very much liked. The best lie is the truth and all that, and misleading the Emperor with the truth was very well done. Her begging her Shifu while he interrogates MCS was very well done.
The conversation between Xia Jiang and MCS was amazing. (Though tbh, my favorite line was "Your tea is quite terrible.") Xia Jiang is canny and good, but MCS is excellent. The Wujin pill was a good play by Xia Jiang and I'm not sure what Meng and Jing would've done had MCS's already extant state of poisoning not canceled the Wujin pill. And it was as Marquis Yan predicted: Xia Jiang did not understand the bonds between people, and did not know that Xia Dong had heard the truth, and thus did not foresee Xia Dong in time. Xia Jiang has also with his actions eroded the Emperor's trust in the Xuanjing Bureau more than Prince Qi or Prince Jing's words ever did.
Jingmom is still the canniest political actor, deftly evading what needs to be evaded and otherwise being the reed that may bend in the wind but will always rise. She knew xiao-Xin was the traitor, and knew that the plot needed xiao-Xin's cooperation to work. She also knew that Jing really needed to hear the confession. She's also good at manipulating and interrogating the Emperor without him realizing it.
Her dear son Jing, on the other hand, is still impulsive and honor-bound and I love him. In the original interrogation, he came across well. The displays of Jing's loyalty to MCS – even after all of the Yu-caused suspicion – were touching. And the bit where Jing cries over Lin Shu! (His mother was in quite an awkward spot, trying to comfort Jing when she knows Lin Shu ain't dead. She did lay the groundwork for the eventual identity reveal, though.)
I do wonder how ministers Shen and Cai came at exactly the right time. Cai doesn't seem like he'd be suggestible at all, so a lot of hints and clues dropped at exactly the right times? Shen's cooperation? Afterwards, Cai's fervor was a delight to watch, and Shen using Jing as a means of comforting Cai was aww-worthy. Jing gets his faction just by being himself and not engaging in faction-building!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-19 23:44 (UTC)