Gnh. I thought of something I wanted to say before the spoiler tag, and forgot it again. 😭
Maybe it was to note down that yes, although I didn't comment on it in the notes at the time, Lan Wangji did indeed shed a tear during the Nightless City Massacre. Well, duh.
Anyway.
Rambling and incoherent spoilers follow.
Thankfully, they don't deal with the Nie Saber Tombs in my fic, because the Netflix subtitles decided to translate the name of their location, so it's being called "Walker Ridge." Ugh.
But I need to pay close attention to everything we learn about how Nie Clan cultivation works in this episode, because I want to make sure I'm talking about it correctly in my fic. (Or rather, I need to establish if they've changed how it works in the drama, or left it as it was in the novel. Which means I'll have to transcribe everything Nie Huaisang says on the subject and then compare that to what he says in the official translation of the novel, so I can make my best guess as to whether or not his speech on the subject was the exact same one in the original language. Hmm. Actually, that may not matter. It just matters that I get it right, because I had to address that briefly in the fic, and I feel like I got it wrong. (Though I will also have to rewatch the Fatal Journey movie as well, to compare what's said there. (Though I may fast-forward through some of the goofier bits.))
Anyway, I feel like they have some problems with Fairy: the puppy is too small and obviously super-friendly. The dog in the book is described as being much larger, so that the regular people of the town jumping out of the dog's way made sense. In this, it's understandable why Wei Wuxian is cowering in fear, because of his phobia, but the people jumping to make a path for this sweetie-pie puppy...that doesn't make sense. If Fairy was twice that size (like Great Dane size instead of malamute puppy size) and had an unfriendly demeanor, or was barking and growling at the people between itself and its master, that would make a lot more sense.
Whoa. Okay, in translating Wei Wuxian's question about how the Man-eating Ridge could not be dealt with by the Nie Clan, the subtitles say that Qinghe is "administered" by the Nie Clan. That actually does imply that there is no longer a civilian government, and the cultivation clans are all the government that remains. That's probably a translation issue more than anything else, but...
LOL! OMG, Google Translate app on my phone fails again! Okay, so in the midst of the guy in the street explaining to Wei Wuxian that the new leader of the Nie Clan is "Mr. Don't Know" we get a flashback of Nie Huaisang sitting there in his brother's seat and saying he doesn't know and please don't ask him, and generally looking adorably helpless. (And he, too, has lost his little side locks. I think that's definitely intended as sign of youth, then, or not yet being accepted as a responsible, respectable member of adult society. (Which certainly explains why Wei Wuxian never loses his!)) On-screen text appears to remind people of his identity, but Netflix doesn't bother to translate it. (This also happened with Lan Sizhui's first post-flashback appearance, but in his case the Google Translate app got everything right, though it wasn't sure what to do with "zi" and left it alone, instead of saying "courtesy name.") His name is correctly identified by the app as "Nie Huaisang." Or rather I should say that the app has enough sense to get that that's a name and not try to translate it. It did not understand whatever the second, smaller line of text said, and instead insisted that it said "eat healthy food." 🤣 Why do its mistakes always end up being about food?
Admittedly, because that was the phone taking a picture of the screen on my laptop, it likely had the characters completely wrong, as the picture was a bit fuzzy and grainy. (In fact, the first time I tried to take the picture, it didn't read one of the characters as being a character at all, and translated the whole thing as "Nie Huaisang's diet," which is also pretty darn amusing.) But the depth of the mistake is still really funny.
Ah. Okay, so here Wei Wuxian is talking about Nie Huaisang as "Huaisang-xiong." But he never used it to his face during the flashback. Hmm. I don't even know how to handle that. I guess that means I can leave his POV just identifying him as "Huaisang" and him talking about him as "Huaisang-xiong," but need to change it to "Nie-xiong" when they're actually speaking to each other. (It's odd to me that when some of them say "xiong" the "ng" is basically not even there (it sounds like "sho" when Nie Huaisang says it) but for some of them (like Wei Wuxian) you can still hear the "ng." I wonder if that's a regional difference in pronunciation?)
In the novel, it's a Maze Array around the saber tomb. The subtitles describe this as a "Disorientation Trap." I wonder if that means I need to change the Maze Array I have in my fic to a "Disorientation Trap" or if I can just leave it. Mine is set up by Baoshan-sanren to protect her mountain, so it's a different thing set by a different person. Though I suspect it's the same term in the original language in both cases, just a matter of different translations. 🤔 I'll have to put that on the back burner of my mind...
Huh? When did he get his Compass of Ill Winds back? Is that the one the cultivators had in the second episode? (Wait, come to think of it, didn't Lan Jingyi have one for some bizarre reason? Maybe Wei Wuxian "borrowed" it from him?) I feel like he didn't have one on him in the novel. Oh, but I should note what it looks like, since I still had him invent that in the fic.
Only by "note" I mean "take a screenshot" only it turns out that today Netflix is not cooperating with screenshots. 😰 Crappy phone photo will have to do for now, since I don't know that it matters for my fic anyway. If it matters later on, I can always load up the episode on Youtube and take a screenshot there.
Why are all the candles lit? How are all the candles lit? That makes zero sense. Unless we're to take it that Jin Ling lit them all in passing, in which case they wouldn't even need the compass because they could just follow the light.
And why am I noting any of this? It's irrelevant to my fic.
Oh! What does matter is that it does seem as though sabers do not have sheathes. (Which would make it dangerous to carry them on one's back, I would think, but we do see Nie Mingjue with his saber on his back during the flashback.) I'm pretty sure I gave Baxia a sheath in the fic, so I'll need to change that. (Hmm, wait, though. I should double-check the indoctrination camp episode when Nie Huaisang hands over his saber. I thought it had a sheath there...)
At various places during the flashback (and some places yet to come in the present) they've tried to pretend ghosts and such don't exist, and that death is just the end of you. (Also, Wei Wuxian has said he doesn't know where he was for the last sixteen years. As opposed to in the novel, where he clearly has at least some memories of being a ghost/spirit, since he reflects, on realizing how he was drawn into Mo Xuanyu's body, that it's unfair for him to be trapped by a spell for evil spirits, since he was so well-behaved as a spirit!) But here they've gone back to the novel text and it's very clear that Wei Wuxian has extensive experience dealing with the spirits of the dead.
*sigh*
Anyway, transmission of spiritual energy is done by pointing two fingers at the person receiving, after holding those fingers upwards. In this case, Lan Wangji seemed to hold them directly towards his own forehead before aiming them at Jin Ling's forehead, but that's not been the case previously. (He's also holding the unconscious youth directly, but it's unclear if that means he's gotten over his distaste for touching others or if emergency situations overrule it. (He would, after all, have had lots of practice allowing others to touch him over the decade in which he was raising a-Yuan into Lan Sizhui.)) In my fic, I think I had it more coming from the palm. (*cough* May have been influenced by a more dramatic instance from a different show... *cough*)
Hmm.
I was totally mistaken about this being the episode where they talk to Nie Huaisang, apparently. I mean, there's ten minutes left, so maybe they start that conversation? But right now of course Wei Wuxian has fallen into Jiang Cheng's hands (and of course unlike in the novel he has his own face, so it's not even a question of realizing his identity due to various tells like his terror of dogs, but just the matter of seeing him without that mask on) and in the midst of their...um...conversation(?), there's a flashback to baby Wei Ying running away from a dog in terror in the streets of Yunmeng, and running to be sheltered in Jiang Yanli's arms...but just like with Fairy, the dog isn't even remotely acting angry or scary. I know they didn't want to put their actors at risk (all the more so in this case, since it's a child actor) but it does hurt the verisimilitude. They could at least have found larger and less friendly-looking dogs. 😰
Not that that is even slightly relevant to anything... (This is a terrible, terrible genie I have unleashed, and I cannot seem to get it back in its bottle... 😅)
Oh. To add to the tally of Cast Members with Visibly Pierced Ears: Jin Ling
Again, the hole in this shot looks very dark, like it might be slightly infected. 😰 It's much harder to notice that sort of thing when it's looking healthy. (Just as proof that I notice weird details that I really shouldn't that have nothing to do with earlobes, I've also noticed a few shots where they go in so close on Wei Wuxian's eyes that you can see the rims of Xiao Zhan's contact lenses. 😅)
Anyway, yup, the scene with Nie Huaisang won't be until tomorrow's episode.
Been a long time since I brought out the full list of tallies. (Though I think I probably should have added a fair number of things to both the powers lists that I ended up not adding because...how do I put this? Like after a certain point I became inured to the "this is just how they like to portray things" and felt it was less "oh, look at this specific power this character has!" Also I probably should have added some stuff to the romance tally, only for a while there I was feeling too grumpy to get all squee about anything. Because reasons.)
Anyway. Current tally lists.
Things Added to Highlight the Romance: 11
Crazy Wei Wuxian Powers: 10
Cultivator Powers: 17
Mistranslations of "shufu": "Grand Master" "Clan Leader"
Cast Members with Obviously Pierced Ears: Meng Yao, Lan Wangji, Nie Mingjue, Jin Ling
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