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extrapenguinOnly two left, and the night is still young. I'll finish this today, it seems.
Jingmom is the best at politicking. Sending the servant with the soup at exactly the right time to pass a message, confining Consort Yue, keeping people from the Emperor, managing the servants well... All too often people confuse "feminine power" with simply accepting what the menfolk do and base their recs and criticisms accordingly. Well, Jing-fei is what traditionally feminine power actually is: the ability to smoothly manipulate, influence, manage behind the scenes, all without being noticed by one's targets. She also gets recognition as a canny player from her allies!
The plot where Xia Jiang accuses MCS of being Lin Shu was, well. MCS admitted to it to sow doubt in the Emperor's mind and thus he and Jing caused Xia Jiang to overplay his hand – and the Emperor saw it as a plot to make worse his relations to Jing by bringing up memories of Chiyan. For all Xia Jiang knew the Emperor, he forgot one thing: the Emperor will never believe that what you tell is the plain truth. (Eunuch Gao's bit at the end, "I don't believe he's Lin Shu because Jing let him enter the Xuanjing Bureau", was well played on his part. I wonder whether he actually got inducted into the Jing faction or if he, too, wants a less plot-ridden capital.) And then the scene where the Emperor tries to poison MCS and Jing threatens to drink the poison himself. Like, grabs the poison cup out of MCS's hands and brings it towards his face while staring at his father. And then says "I don't want others to suffer because of me" and pours the poison to the floor. Unf. Hearteyes.
And then Jing goes off to have flashbacks galore and also cry. Later on, when he accepts that MCS is his bestest friend Lin Shu, their interaction is poignant and tragic and sweet. There's bonding in Prince Qi's cell, there's little smiles all over the place, MCS smiling when Jing calls him xiao-Shu, MCS letting bits of his native personality of Lin Shu through... My heart. Too bad MCS only has some months to live and also wants to die away and alone, far from anyone who knew him as Lin Shu! Though the grass making an appearance means that it'll be used – probably not in the "ten people give up their lives to cure him" sense, but Lin Chu may figure out some way to actually give MCS the decade he told Nihuang about.
Lin Chu is an ass towards Fei Liu. At least this prompts MCS to have adorable moments with Fei Liu. Yeti Man Nie Feng is ridonkulous and I cannot take him seriously. I think I'd have liked it better if Nie Feng had stayed dead – let Xie Yu have his one moment of callous grace, bringing the actual Nie Feng's remains home to Xia Dong. Lin Chu is right about MCS needing some slightly better plotters in his circle – the scheme where Meng Zhi claimed that Prince Jing's guards captured Xia Dong and brought her back secretly to spare Minister Cai from humiliation was excellent, well done Lin Chu. At least Xia Dong and Meng are good enough actors when prompted?
What happened to that woman of Qin Banruo's that Lin Chu brought? Seems she'd have been useful. Bringing back Xia Jiang's wife just so she could spite him by telling his son to take him as a warning – ouch, that must've hurt. Her info was nice, especially since Jing's bride (Lady Li?) got a crowning moment of awesome with her "Were you that thorough in the service of the Hua Zu?" (She's a lot like Jingmom, I think – appears guileless, actually pretty adept at her craft of manipulation.) Consort Yue (Xian) seems to have truly lost her mind for no immediately obvious reason. Was it just her fall from grace to a seemingly unworthy rival?
Yujin is precious and good for helping Xie Bi on his journey to bring home Xie Yu's corpse. Jingrui's return was, well, rather well-timed and announced in the most dramatic manner possible. The scene with MCS essentially guilting Liyang into doing the letter thing! Jingrui finally realized that MCS is related to the Chiyan case, good boy.
The scene at the Emperor's birthday, with Liyang dramatically walking through the rows of dancers, was extremely well-shot and visually impressive. And then, when she says her plea, the people joining her: Meng with a nice flick of his cape, Nihuang leveraging her position as Lin Shu's betrothed, Cai Quan because it's the right thing to do, and then all of the rest of the ministers. Wow. I honestly think that that is some of my absolute favorite minutes of TV ever. Excellent cinematography.
Jingmom is the best at politicking. Sending the servant with the soup at exactly the right time to pass a message, confining Consort Yue, keeping people from the Emperor, managing the servants well... All too often people confuse "feminine power" with simply accepting what the menfolk do and base their recs and criticisms accordingly. Well, Jing-fei is what traditionally feminine power actually is: the ability to smoothly manipulate, influence, manage behind the scenes, all without being noticed by one's targets. She also gets recognition as a canny player from her allies!
The plot where Xia Jiang accuses MCS of being Lin Shu was, well. MCS admitted to it to sow doubt in the Emperor's mind and thus he and Jing caused Xia Jiang to overplay his hand – and the Emperor saw it as a plot to make worse his relations to Jing by bringing up memories of Chiyan. For all Xia Jiang knew the Emperor, he forgot one thing: the Emperor will never believe that what you tell is the plain truth. (Eunuch Gao's bit at the end, "I don't believe he's Lin Shu because Jing let him enter the Xuanjing Bureau", was well played on his part. I wonder whether he actually got inducted into the Jing faction or if he, too, wants a less plot-ridden capital.) And then the scene where the Emperor tries to poison MCS and Jing threatens to drink the poison himself. Like, grabs the poison cup out of MCS's hands and brings it towards his face while staring at his father. And then says "I don't want others to suffer because of me" and pours the poison to the floor. Unf. Hearteyes.
And then Jing goes off to have flashbacks galore and also cry. Later on, when he accepts that MCS is his bestest friend Lin Shu, their interaction is poignant and tragic and sweet. There's bonding in Prince Qi's cell, there's little smiles all over the place, MCS smiling when Jing calls him xiao-Shu, MCS letting bits of his native personality of Lin Shu through... My heart. Too bad MCS only has some months to live and also wants to die away and alone, far from anyone who knew him as Lin Shu! Though the grass making an appearance means that it'll be used – probably not in the "ten people give up their lives to cure him" sense, but Lin Chu may figure out some way to actually give MCS the decade he told Nihuang about.
Lin Chu is an ass towards Fei Liu. At least this prompts MCS to have adorable moments with Fei Liu. Yeti Man Nie Feng is ridonkulous and I cannot take him seriously. I think I'd have liked it better if Nie Feng had stayed dead – let Xie Yu have his one moment of callous grace, bringing the actual Nie Feng's remains home to Xia Dong. Lin Chu is right about MCS needing some slightly better plotters in his circle – the scheme where Meng Zhi claimed that Prince Jing's guards captured Xia Dong and brought her back secretly to spare Minister Cai from humiliation was excellent, well done Lin Chu. At least Xia Dong and Meng are good enough actors when prompted?
What happened to that woman of Qin Banruo's that Lin Chu brought? Seems she'd have been useful. Bringing back Xia Jiang's wife just so she could spite him by telling his son to take him as a warning – ouch, that must've hurt. Her info was nice, especially since Jing's bride (Lady Li?) got a crowning moment of awesome with her "Were you that thorough in the service of the Hua Zu?" (She's a lot like Jingmom, I think – appears guileless, actually pretty adept at her craft of manipulation.) Consort Yue (Xian) seems to have truly lost her mind for no immediately obvious reason. Was it just her fall from grace to a seemingly unworthy rival?
Yujin is precious and good for helping Xie Bi on his journey to bring home Xie Yu's corpse. Jingrui's return was, well, rather well-timed and announced in the most dramatic manner possible. The scene with MCS essentially guilting Liyang into doing the letter thing! Jingrui finally realized that MCS is related to the Chiyan case, good boy.
The scene at the Emperor's birthday, with Liyang dramatically walking through the rows of dancers, was extremely well-shot and visually impressive. And then, when she says her plea, the people joining her: Meng with a nice flick of his cape, Nihuang leveraging her position as Lin Shu's betrothed, Cai Quan because it's the right thing to do, and then all of the rest of the ministers. Wow. I honestly think that that is some of my absolute favorite minutes of TV ever. Excellent cinematography.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-22 18:46 (UTC)Also the scene where Jingyan takes the poison away from MCS. Or Jingyan's face when someone else says that MCS=Lin Shu and he realizes it.
I found Lin Chen annoying at first, but he has a beautiful scene with MCS/LS near the end and now I like him a lot better. Also, he's funny.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-22 19:47 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-22 19:46 (UTC)Also, now I know that MCS was also a yeti once.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-22 20:18 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-19 05:36 (UTC)