You both Master and Disciple are becoming more and more alike. Each more stubborn than the other - SXM
Indeed! BZH is stubborn in the sense
a. he is dying and he knows he is dying and he is telling those around him that he can tell he is dying
b. he doesn't need HQG's blood because of (a).
HQG is stubborn in the sense
a. she is convinced she can find the antidote
b. because of (a) she insists on bottling her blood and give to her shifu despite her shifu saying no! no! no!
In other words, continuing the trend from last episode, shifu is busy dying, HQG is busy keeping him alive and thus not listening to him, at all. Can you blame her?
Before I start recapping, perhaps an update on Shifu's poisoned state #2;
>>
Yeah, things aren't looking good for BZH and my heart aches. Now before you go crying with so much emotion that Hall Of Emotionless has to change its name, save your tears. You have at least 4 more episodes of tears. It will get worse.
HQG comes back with the flower and she looks for her shifu in what is now the most lax in security sort of place because everyone goes in and out without notice. She found shifu pacing in the beautiful garden, he looks pale, she looks paler with a tinge of blood on the side of her lips and his first reaction first;
Xiaogu, what the hell happened to you?
Of course that is modern speak. BZH of course said;
Xiaogu, why are you in such a state?
Xiaogu happily smiles and shifu, feeling guilty for lying to her, took his handkerchief and in the single longest scene ever, wiped off the blood ever so slowly and she stood there smiling happily but awkwardly and he too is awkward NOT because he is in love with her but because he knew his disciple risked her life over his one lie and he was incredibly touched by her gesture.
He took the flowers and she asked how to prepare the antidote and he said only an immortal of certain skills could do it so he had to take the flowers from him. She trusted him. And here is one of the 3 most repeated lines in this episode;
Xiaogu, I shall need to retreat to meditate and push the poison out. You must practice for the upcoming Sword Competition.
Indeed. And so off he went but Xiaogu, although happy was uncertain. Shifu meanwhile potted the plant and watered it carefully as he ponders what HQG did for him and touched he whispered to himself;
Xiaogu, I have troubled you
Actually it is more like "You've worked hard" which doesn't have much impact since it sounds too positive. "I have burdened you" is also within the same context but I suppose best is that shifu appreciated the effort and knew his condition had caused her much burden and trouble. Hence my choice of translation, "I have troubled you".
Next, she lost her handkerchief. Guess who? Yeap, NMT stole it and used it to threaten her and made HQG promise to lose to her during the competition. HQG readily agreed. And then came the 2nd of the 3 most repeated lines in this episode;
HQG, don't blame me! You owe me! You made me lose everything! I want you to repay me back everything you owe me!
Come on NMT! What does HQG owe you? And in HQG's shoes, will you even do Shifu's laundry, more so cook for him, feed him your blood, almost died fighting some magical beast for a flower that your shifu just name for the sake of it? Will you? Will you?! Exactly! NMT deserves no pity from me. She is a spoilt brat who just blames everyone else especially HQG for everything because she hates HQG. She just can't see past her own snobbery and anger for everything HQG. And guess what? HQG is having a hard time and NMT is probably the least of her problems.
HQG couldn't sleep. She is scared about the lost hankie, after all it revealed her feelings for her shifu. So she went to cook and it was early morning, she went to her shifu's room and heard her shifu cried out once. Opened the auto door and there it was, dramatic music and all, shifu.. ON THE FLOOR!!
I think BZH vomited a lot of blood in this episode. So weak he couldn't get up and she rushed to him and knew he lied.
Shifu! You lied to me! You lied to Xiaogu! The flower can't neutralise your poison!
So she thought, another way, another way and then came the 3rd most spoken line in this episode where shifu finally came clean;
Xiaogu, I am dying. The poison has seeped into my bones, I don't have much time. There can be no antidote for the poison. I will lose my immortality soon and fade into mist.
Poor Xiaogu. She couldn't believe it, refused to believe it and suddenly said;
My blood is poison and unaffected by the cauldron's poison. It could help you! Take my blood shifu!
Of course shifu refused as he said he can't on his principles survive on his disciple's blood and Xiaogu just magically cut her wrist, offered to her shifu and cried;
As long as I can save you shifu, Xiaogu is willing to do anything!
Shifu, shocked at the sight of the blood went wide eyed and...
Next scene, he is on the floor sucking on her wrist as Xiaogu tenderly held her shifu.
That is probably Wallace's widest eye acting ever. Ok, are you confused? If you've read the book or the forums, you won't be. I was only confused over one fact; how come HQG knew her blood could help to calm the cauldron poison? I have never heard anywhere else before this on that so how she came to that conclusion? For the rest, why shifu went wide eyed and all, here is the explanation the series did not tell you;
HQG's blood is irresistible to shifu. It smells good and when he smell her blood, he lost all control and will want to drink it. Whether he knows it will help with the poison or not doesn't quite matter, the point is he lost all control because her blood is absolutely tasty to him. And the only time he will drink fresh from the source is when he lost his mind and control. Also censorship cut out the part he was munching on her arm in crazed look...
More censorship coming.
Next morning, HQG looked at her shifu sleeping in peace and she thought to herself she should have known shifu's personality, having stayed together for many years. Hmmm... how many? She knew her shifu will never tolerate that she has impure thoughts for him, so she must suppress her love for him. Oh, I thought she meant he won't tolerate her keep giving her arm for him to munch on. This girl is seriously one track mind.
Shifu awakens. He was confused, looked confused, maybe am confused but did he know? Did he know he munched on her arm? Yes he did even if he felt disoriented. She quickly rushed to him and he looked.. terrible but so very beautiful. How come Xiaogu never ask shifu "May I comb your hair?" for some normality? He saw her bound bloody wrist and looked guilty. Anyway he assured her the poison is slowly neutralised and hence he shall need to... yeap, retreat, push poison out, etc. Maybe she knew he was lying but maybe she didn't as he .. again yeap urged her to practice for the competition.
But she couldn't concentrate. Even when NMT stopped to tease her cruelly, her mind was out of it and she just walked past Shuo Feng. HQG was busy trying to save her shifu. At night, HQG alone was thinking out loud whether there is a way to make someone forget or control their actions. Earlier she posed the same question to Tang Bao who said the 7 Murder Faction sect knew a certain type of hypnosis and then erase memory. Suddenly someone told her of course there is a way and it was the much missed SQM. Man, I miss him!! SQM noticed how pale HQG looked and blamed it all on BZH. HQG decided not to mention that she promised shifu she won't see SQM again. SQM came to give her some beauty products he made and reminded her a woman must take care of her looks before she losses it. Also to remind HQG to blow the finger bone whistle if she ever needs him. He also knew his presence made her life difficult in Changliu and so he left.
Anyway HQG back at Hall Of Emotionless and again she heard shifu was quiet and all, she rushed in to find shifu again vomited blood.
She rushed to offer her arm. Here the scene where she held a knife to cut her wrist was censored.
But you will see the knife when shifu pushed her away with his internal power. Basically he said no no no no no and so sadly she left. Outside she bound her bloody wrist and SXM arrived and saw her arm.
Note. A lot of people knew her wrist was cut but no one asked why, they maybe just thought she was careless.
SXM asked and she answered she cut her wrist when cooking. She quickly left because he looked suspicious. He went to see BZH, rushed into see BZH still gasping for air and the weirdest dialogue. He urged BZH to quickly settle HQG issue, since he said he noticed her wrist and how she was willing to do anything for him. So does SXM know HQG's blood was special? If not, why he said something like that? I didn't get that part. So BZH gasping said;
I have all along let you enjoy your freedom but for the sake of Changliu and humanity, brother, I am dying and you must accept the leadership at Changliu. You can think about it but don't take too long. I don't have much time left.Believe me, he has at least 4 more episodes of dying state, so brother, you have time.
Xiaogu was troubled. But she stubbornly continued to offer her blood, now in BIG bottles. She even went to the extent of drinking nutritious herbal drinks meant for women who lost a lot of blood giving birth so she can be healthy enough to pump more blood for him. BZH saw it, threw it away in disgust as he could barely contain his urge to drink it. Did I mention it was BIG bottle? She even kept TWO ready!! And guess what? ZX who took the cauldron from SCQ went to see NMT and told her to spy on HQG who went to her room and saw the 2 bottles of blood and HQG and NMT did battle in the room and basically HQG threatened NMT that she can never enter as and when she pleases and again NMT repeated her favourite YOU OWE ME line and I was like thinking maybe HQG should write an IOU to NMT. Crazy woman.
Anyway, BZH told HQG she didn't need to bottle her blood anymore since he was on the mend. And she shouldn't not give a crap about the competition since she had to act normal, if not everyone will know he is poisoned. He was yeap, again the retreat thing. But HQG was so noisy, I wonder how can anyone ever meditate in peace? Anyway did HQG believe her shifu this time? Well, maybe she did because she was happily practising sword with Duan Nian in that one moment of joy and freedom from worries for HQG when party spoiler arrived and yeap, said the same thing to her like you owe me, etc etc. HQG is getting very angry when NMT threatened to expose her forbidden feelings to BZH and I was like go on, do it, prove it the drawing is by HQG, there's no proof! And no one can know who is in the hankie, I mean HQG can say DFYQ since it is not written BZH right? Anyway NMT said she wanted HQG to beg her and made HQG go down on her knees as HQG said why NMT kept torturing her like this when she agreed to lose to her and NMT said she didn't need HQG to pretend to lose, she can win outright (since earlier someone made a bet HQG will win and that triggered NMT's supernova of jealousy) but she made HQG beg and HQG went down on her knees and begged NMT and NMT again repeated the YOU OWE ME line. Hah! HQG had other ideas and I will say YOU GO GIRL!
Earlier, Tang Bao was very angry with Shiyi because she felt everyone was not on HQG's side and was bullying her mother. Not everyone but NMT alone is sorta like everyone. Tang Bao doesn't know about the blood issue but she knows about the hankie since she was there when HQG drew it.
Poor HQG. What a busy busy girl. Saving shifu, finding her hankie, winning competition. She didn't care about the competition, she cared only about the well being of her shifu and her shifu only cared about putting his affairs in order and dying. He stopped short of sleeping in a coffin since he will be mist anyway. NMT is busy being super bitch. And tonight, we have the return of DFYQ whom we learn have been bending the rules when he saved BZH and we all know why he did that but he justified that BZH's gonna die anyway from the poison, he has his own plans. Ahhhh who are you lying DFYQ? I wonder will DFYQ know about the blood issue?
Anyway, whilst it is repetitive, this episode is very enjoyable because you see the extent of how desperate HQG is. Whilst shifu has a point of just giving up and die, since it is pointless, HQG refuses to believe it and does all within her power to save him. If I were BZH I too will be incredibly touched because it showed the depth of her love for him. BZH is also a pretty good liar isn't he?
I however can't stand NMT. I don't get her. When HQG couldn't be bothered to argue with her, she also huff and puff angrily. Like she had to be the centre of attention, whether love or hate. You must wonder, someone like her, will she do what HQG is doing for BZH? I doubt it. She wants the status minus the responsibility, the affection without the consequence, the love without the sacrifice. Selfish bitch and what does Shuo Feng see in her?
And so many questions popped up and unanswered. It felt like certain parts were either deleted or inserted without continuity and it isn't about the blood drinking. Although again there was no explanation why BZH went wide eyed. For these few episodes, my advise to you is to google the forums like SPCNET and read the fans' answers, if not you must wonder, why this and why that. Or you can read my recaps, I will try my best to address them.
Meanwhile acting wise, yes kinda boring to see BZH STILL dying (hey, just the start man!) but not only is Wallace very effective here, he basically gave an elegant, gentle and yet persistent performance of an immortal who has accepted his fate. Not to mention so beautiful at it. Every shot is maximised for his beauty, whether in sickness or in health. Whilst the losing control part should have been the highlight, and it will be in later censored scenes in later episodes, for this episode alone, I feel the censorship is ok. I find more troubling is on the story itself and why characters say certain things.
Everybody else did well but I feel Liying could have been more despondent or desperate. I feel she is not at her 100% in this episode.
Before I end this recap, I must also congratulate the director and cinematographer on some of the most beautiful non CGI shots in this episode. Breathtaking wide shots, the scenery was stunning.
But at the end of the day it is the close ups on Wallace that is the most stunning of all. In fact everybody else seems to suffer from pimples on the forehead but not Wallace. He really is absolutely stunningly beautiful. Perhaps my most favourite shot of him in this episode;
And I must add, I really like SXM and I am hating DFYQ less because come on, NMT, so easy to hate!!
Anyway I am taking this series slowly. Recaps as well. Next episode, more heartbreak, more trouble for poor HQG and shifu continues his poisoned state #3 and still dying. But please, he isn't in love with HQG. NOT YET! Patience. Because when he is, the world crashes and so will our barriers to our emotions. Be prepared with tissues.
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