Hmm. Before starting today's episode, I went back to episode 17 to the Lotus Pier trio's arrival in Yiling, and double-checked the subtitles about the place where they were staying. Then I checked the subs on the Youtube version, and they were basically the same, so I'm still unclear as to what the connection is between that house where they were staying with Wen Qing and the obviously military compound that was specifically the Yiling Supervisory Office. I guess I'll just have to make up something. 😅 It's frustrating that I'll have to do so, though, because I feel sure the dialog should have (or rather probably did) actually specified what the deal is there.
Anyway.
Disjointed rambling notes to follow read more tag, complete with spoilers in among the incomprehensible thoughts and nonsense.
Oh, god, why do I always cry?
The continued reunion between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli is so sweet but also so tormenting, knowing how the story goes from here. 😭 They've moved to a private room and Jiang Cheng is just watching, letting them have their reunion, since he's already had his reunions with them.
Wait, why am I even writing this down? This is after my AU point, so it never happens.
Ugh.
I've gotten into a habit now, I guess.
Anyway, Nie Huaisang's shouted "Wei-xiong, Wei-xiong!" from outside the room proves that I was at least on the money with having him totally willing to intrude on others' private moments. 😅 Whoa, though; Wei Wuxian's shoulder automatically turned away from Nie Huaisang's hand when he reached out to grab his shoulder in his relief at his friend's safe return. That caused a jarring and awkward pause for everyone. But since my AU ended up preventing the whole "three months in the Burial Mounds" thing, I guess that's not really an issue in my fic?
I do wonder why I had it in my head that Wei Wuxian took to addressing him as Huaisang-xiong instead of Nie-xiong, though. 🤔 Maybe that's what happened in the book? Either way, it's not happening here, so I guess I gotta change all those places in my fic. 😰
Um.
Okay, so then--after a shot of Lan Wangji not quite being able to approach Wei Wuxian in Qinghe, and just watching him through a doorway--we go to Nightless City and a soldier running in to inform Wen Ruohan that Wen Chao is dead. He's brought along Wen Chao's sword, the sheath of which is still splattered with fresh blood.
How is the blood still fresh?
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng had time to walk from the Yiling/Yunmeng area to Qinghe, and this messenger (after somehow obtaining the sword from the outpost that was now in the hands of the clans allied against the Wen) had to bring that sword all this way. Blood is a liquid like any other. It dries after a while; it would 100% be just a dried smear after a single day, and this has got to be at least a week later. So whose blood is that?
Maybe a different messenger brought the sword back to Qishan and was killed for his trouble (though by who is a good question) and then this guy brought the sword in?
I...I don't get it.
I know it's just for dramatic effect, but I don't get it.
(Also, should Wen Ruohan really even care that Wen Chao is dead? Dude was useless. And obnoxious.)
(Somewhat surprisingly, Wen Ruohan turns out not to be the type to kill the messenger who brings him bad news. Though if the messenger had failed to run away in terror when ordered to get out, then maybe he would have killed the guy.)
The next scene is a banquet at Qinghe, and I am already cringing before it starts. I am going to force myself not to write anything about it unless it's actually significant for my fic in some way.
Ah, okay, this is actually relevant: he has his dizi tucked into the side of his belt in this scene. So I'm free to have him put it in the side, not just in the back. (I recall a later scene where he puts it there.)
So much for forcing myself not to take notes. 😅 After Nie Mingjue simply observes that Wei Wuxian doesn't have his sword and asks why, then Yao-zongzhu starts giving him grief about it, and Jin Zixun adds more nastiness. Nie Huaisang tries to prevent an argument by asking Wei Wuxian to tell them about how he killed Wen Chao. (He's such a good friend! (Until a certain someone murders his brother...))
Wei Wuxian's response is one I might want to find a place for in my fic: "An evil person naturally met his bad end."
And then...nope, nope, not gonna start writing out a summary of the whole episode. That is not the point, and none of this happens in my fic. (Jin Zixun doesn't even show up for another year after this point, in fact.)
Ugh. I hate Jin Zixun.
I mean, I know I'm supposed to hate him, but....wow, did they go over the top in making sure he's hateful from the word "go."
He's spouting all this crap and delaying the meeting, and everyone is clearly appalled by him, even his own cousin! But for some reason they all just let him go on and on and on before Nie Mingjue finally shuts him up. I wonder if this scene is why they decided to change it so that he was older than Jin Zixuan, because otherwise Jin Zixuan would have shut up him as soon as he started running his mouth off.
Wait, why is Nie Huaisang at a strategy meeting? I know he's the clan heir and all, but he's not exactly taking part in the war. (In fact, in the novel he spends the whole time at Cloud Recesses where he'll be safe.) I wonder if he's there purely to increase his screen time, to make sure the audience doesn't forget about him? Or something? (Maybe just because there aren't any other Nie Clan characters to include...?)
So, after the inexplicable scene of Jiang and Nie Clan men tormenting and even killing Wen Clan civilians as they're driving them towards what the subtitles called "the Wen Clan's slave camp," we're back at the meeting, and suddenly everyone seems to know exactly what the Yin Iron is, even though episode 7 told us that no one except the most important Lan Clan elders remembered its existence. 😅 I suppose they were all told about it in the three months we missed...?
Anyway, it's in this scene (not after the exploding herm battle, like I remembered) that Wei Wuxian promises to provide a countermeasure to the Yin Iron in a month's time. Thus the rough figure I came to earlier, that the drama made the two year war into a four month one. 😰 Accounting for travel times, it's probably more like five or six months, but still a long haul away from two years. (Then again, there's also the show's rather absurd declaration that without his sons, Wen Ruohan no longer has anyone capable of leading his armies. It's like, um, it's a very large clan. Setting aside that he must have other family members--nephews, cousins, etc--there's the fact that countless ambitious people will rise up to take the place of the fallen heirs, because that's how humanity works. Also, what's to stop him from leading his armies himself if need be?)
....I know it's like magical and whatever, but I really do think that trying to block a blow from a sword with a bamboo flute is gonna get that flute chopped to bits. And Chenqing is definitely bamboo, so... 😅
It does make a good visual, though.
Ahh.
This whole section of the show is more and more painful to watch. Seeing Wei Wuxian going down into the depths of his lowest point, and all the torn expressions on everyone's faces (especially the three people who care most about him), is just agony. This section is so much shorter in the book, making it so much less agonizing for the reader.
I feel like--except for a few brief reprieves here and there (many of them named a-Yuan)--there will not be joy again until we're in the present. 😭
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