Bringing you a news bulletin from Breakdown Palace (yes, foot fetishism still thrives)

[dangermousie]

Clearly I spoke about the angstlessness too soon - ep 8 became wall-to-wall angst. Now there is the wuxia I know and love.



While Guo Jing and Huang Rong were their adorable selves (and voices of sanity), the bulk of this episode belonged to the beyond dysfunctional Wanyan/Yang family dynamics. Between poor Papa Yang having to pretend not to know his clinging loving Xiruo and Yang Kang finding the truth about his heritage from Mu Nianci, the Palace became Breakdown Central.



Firstly we find out that the reason Daddy Guo and Daddy Yang got hunted down was because Wanyan Honglie fell in love with Xiruo when she nursed him. I loved the scene - I just can't hate Honglie at all despite it all - he has been a good husband and father.















In the epic fight between the two old enemies who love the same woman, I am afraid I am on Honglie's side when he points out that Yang Kang does not know his parentage and that both mother and son are happier where they are and that Papa Yang could have looked for them sooner. Still, Honglie was the one who took the choice away from them! That is why I love this story - not too many things are black and white.









This scene of Papa Yang refusing to acknowledge Xiruo and pretending he does not know her (mindful of what Honglie said about her having a better life here) just broke my heart.



























And then she tries to kill herself.





In the other corner of Worst Guarded Palace Ever, Mu Nianci broke in only to run into Yang Kang. A side note - I like Nianci but she has the self-preservation instincts of a gekko. Let's see - you fought this guy repeatedly and he's beaten you soundly every time. He is the Crown Prince of this place. You broke into his residence. Things to do may be many but they probably do not include calling his mother a whore and him a bastard and trying to futily kill him again. There is no earthly reason her head would not end up on a spike!











My mind went into the gutter :)



After defeating Nianci he is beginning to wonder - his old doubts raise themselves again (I find it fascinating how much of his character is shaped by arrogance as a Prince and insecurity due to rumors about his birth).









Ah yes, the cat is almost out of the bag! Seriously, Nianci's self-preservation instincts are nil - if YK was the kind of monster she accuses him of being, she'd be dead and buried a while ago. But I think she is being especially harsh, even recklessly so, precisely because she is fighting her own forbidden attraction to him.





































And the lightbulb goes on and she realizes the truth and whose son he really is. The world is about to finally come tumbling down around Yang Kang.











Oh yes, he is having a nervous breakdown of epic proportions. He even stuffs a rag in her mouth so she would stop telling the truth. I feel quite horrible for him - to realize your very identity is a lie is a huge huge thing and that the man who's brought you up and whom you love like a father is a hereditary enemy - ouch.



































Their chemistry is insane.



















OK, I was joking about the foot fetish earlier but it actually seems to be true. It's the second time when instad of trying to make out he washes her feet - he seems to do it as a way to de--stress which is plenty bizarre. There is no way anyone would convince me he is not a foot fetishist. This said, his lost questions make me sad.























Meanwhile, hello largely-absent from this ep Guo Jing and Huang Rong, my islands of sanity.

Comments

[kycoo.livejournal.com]

Daaang Yang Tiexin looks so young. It sure doesn't look like he's been through much despair these eighteen years. *shot*

It's a good thing Nianci isn't ticklish. :P

And awww, Guo Jing is adorable in the last picture. Just ditch the braids, Hu Ge, come on.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Tiexin looks in his 40s to me which is ppropriate but I do wonder about how hard he looked for his family when he couldn't find them in 18 years :P

It's a good thing Nianci isn't ticklish. :P


I don't think he could love a woman who wouldn't sit there reverently inhaling and turned on while he soaped up her instep.

Tiexin looking for his wifey

[ockoala.livejournal.com]

Uhhm, one major gripe that Wanyan Honglie has right is this: Yang Tiexin WAS NOT looking for Xiruo and his son (like you said, how hard was it to find them). His #1 priority was looking for Guo Jing. Remember, he promised his dying sworn brother he would make sure his wife and son was alright. And he put that as a priority over his own wife and son (again, the Confucian ethics at work here). [which is why I'm all, yeah, Yang Tiexin, you kinda lost me there, man).

The purpose of the sparring was to locate Guo Jing, not YK. Its only too ironic that he unearthed YK through the sparring match, then accidentally ran into GJ who was lurking.

Re: Tiexin looking for his wifey

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The thing is, Tiexin may be a great hero and a Confucian ideal but he is a lousy lousy husband and father. He ditches his pregnant wife in the middle of battle to rescue a friend's wife and then never bothers to look for her? He is not winning husband of the year awards any time soon.

Ironically, Honglie was a much better husband and father than the heroic Tiexin could ever be - I can't see Tiexin caring for a woman that much or raising an enemy son with love. Yeah, right, that will be the day!

I confess if I were Xiruo, I'd pick Hubby N.2

I also find it interesting that Tiexin may be the Confucian ideal but I'd much prefer someone like his grandson who, when he is separated from the woman he loves, actually goes and goes and looks for her everywhere.