The long-ass Zhou Zishu post that needs to stop living in my brain
Interlude 2: Beiyuan&Co
SPOILERS
I don’t actually remember if faking Beiyuan’s death is mentioned on the series, and it’s pretty obvious ZZS didn’t come to them for help because he didn’t want to be saved.
Still, I kinda wish they had ZZS say something along the lines of ‘didn’t want to accidentally lead the prince to your doorstep’, instead of Beiyuan’s weird ‘he doesn’t do friendship’ monologue. Of course, Beiyuan and Wu Xi could have come to his help of their own volition regardless, but, as far as protagonist characterisation goes, it clashes pretty badly with ZZS just expecting Beiyuan to take care of all his affaires while he runs off to exact his revenge.
The long-ass Zhou Zishu post that needs to stop living in my brain
Interlude 1: Han Ying
I like Han Ying, but, objectively speaking, he doesn’t really have to be in the story.
SPOILERS; and canon-typical Bad Things
And, for this very reason, he didn’t need to die, neither plot-wise, nor narratively-speaking.
With everything that happens right afterwards no one even mourns him properly.
If he truly wanted to get ZZS the glazed armour, the smart thing would be to wait for all five parts to be found, using the resources available to the prince.
And it would have made way more sense for him to be there to arrange the exodus, than to say he meticulously listed two dozen names in his dying delirium, and WKX unerringly remembered every single one (and figured out which one would be their leader, and found a way to approach him and convince him he was indeed HY’s emissary, rather than an unimaginative loyalty check…)
If they felt getting to stay by ZZS’s side was too good of an ending, couldn’t they just have HY die on the way out of palace?
The long-ass Zhou Zishu post that needs to stop living in my brain
Unlike the novel, where perspective switches between chapters, the series – well, the relationship part of it – is largely from Zishu’s point of view, so it isn’t explicitly spelled out, but, when you think about it,
SPOILERS; and canon-typical Bad Things
by the final episode Kexing, of course, has his own reasons to want to die: his revenge is done, his one Important Person is dead and the other is about to follow.
When you think about it some more, WKX, as the inherently awesome character who went through hell as a child yet managed to grow up into a capable and relatively well-adjusted adult, would probably pull through, given time, – while ZZS, with the special brand of immorality he gets, is way more likely to drink himself to death.
Of course, time is something they don’t have, due to a stupid choice WKX made to save ZZS from the consequence of a stupid choice he had made as a result of WKX ultimately stupid choice to fake his death, which, in a frustrating loop, serves no other purpose but to put the characters on the path of destruction.
The long-ass Zhou Zishu post that needs to stop living in my brain
Part 3: "Just around the corner
(Waiting high upon the hill / Someone buried in an avalanche / That's the kind of gig / I can really dig")
SPOILERS; and canon-typical Bad Things
For book-Zishu, taking the Nails is actually an act of defiance: he rigged the system and bought himself three years of actual, not illusory freedom with 18 months of torture – good for him.
Making random ‘Old Bi’ the last remaining member of the sect series-Zishu already led to slaughter casts the whole situation in a very fucked-up light, but that was probably unintentional. The real point, I assume, was to show how his past is well and truly buried and he has nothing left to lose, thus launching his character arc on an upwards trajectory; or parabolic, should the One Good Thing he manages to find be snatched away from him.
That, however, is not the case.
Meeting his soulmate on its own is clearly not enough to bring Zishu out of his funk. But then, by the grace of screenwriters with considerable help from said soulmate, he is given a child to raise, a bunch of little brothers to torment mentor (plus Han Ying who totally didn’t have to die, but that’s a story for another time) and old friends able and willing to go into considerable trouble to help him. But, instead of grasping the second chance and trying hard to do better this time, – ZZH just grabs the first available excuse to die anyway.
There is probably a diagnosis somewhere in there. But it’s not how heroic fiction is supposed to work.
The long-ass Zhou Zishu post that needs to stop living in my brain
Part 2: ghost of Mary-Sue
IDK if I was expected to know from somewhere that ‘Ghost Valley’ is just a pompous name for a bad neighbourhood, but, between the way he was introduced and endless ‘monsters hiding in plain sight’ comments, I spent the first twenty or so episodes genuinely believing Wen Kexing was some kind of a hundreds-year-old spirit, or demon, or smth.
SPOILERS; and canon-typical Bad Things
But then he was revealed to be an (extra)ordinary human, who made a pun out of his name, became the youngest Valley Master ever and just happens to be awesome in everything he does. It still makes sense, since he had to be pretty awesome to survive everything he had gone through, so no questions about his awesome martial arts and survival skills, but who the hell taught him music? Or – forget poetry – to read beyond those however many characters he had been supposed to know by the age of eight?
That doesn’t actually bother me all that much. As I said, for a long time I just assumed he had magic, and, once you accept his inherent awesomeness, his personality and character arc make perfect sense, up to and including utterly crazy parts. The real problem here is that, with WKX being such a – well-written, but still Mary-Sue, ZZS, whose own awesome skills get no use past e3 or 4, gets relegated to relatable character: in that embarrassing way where you recite "To be or not to be" as ‘me in given circumstances’, but the hardest dilemma you ever faced is whether to put sugar in your coffee when you’re supposed to be dieting.
> Sure, I wouldn’t have wanted to be saddled with responsibility for my one sibling at 18, let alone 16.
> Sure, I would have run to the first available adult for help.
> Sure, I’m pretty good at my job, but I still clang to the safety of having a supervisor as long as possible;
> Sure, there are plenty of things I wouldn’t mind kicking my teenage self for.
Perhaps that’s why it’s so unpleasant to contemplate the Seven Nails and all their implications;
and so frustrating that ZZS just keeps stepping into the same pile of crap again and again and AGAIN.
The long-ass Zhou Zishu post that needs to stop living in my brain
Part 1: 'Just because the blacksmith had, in fact, got a nail' (and, yep, I know that's not how the quote actually goes 😋)
I do wonder how novel-compliancy is supposed to work in “Word of Honour”, since it was my subsequent impression that the whole point of “Faraway Wanderers” is the love story, and all the gory details are just for provocative decoration.
Anyway, it’s definitely not relevant for the plot of the series that the Nails are Zhou Zishu’s personal invention meant to keep Window of Heaven in line, so why not leave them as a random torture device he, yes, uses on himself conflicted between grieving the destruction of his sect and still needing to put the least evil crown prince on the throne, – except the prince finds out and decides he doesn’t need a half-dead chief of secret service, leaving Zishu without his last remaining life purpose and therefore wandering around blackout drunk: in perfect position to start the story yet with no WTF undercurrents that ultimately lead nowhere?
But, whatever: I do like my characters of interest morally grey and actively re-evaluating their life values, and my personal JCS-Judas rule still applies: we are allowed to feel sorry for a character who feels bad, regardless of what he had done to deserve it, provided he has pretty, ahem, arias; so let’s pretend it’s all some noblesse oblige crap we mere mortals can’t fully appreciate, and keep watching: after all, weren’t we promised unlikely friendship and ghosts?
Re: this post by @arcticfoxbeyond (my thoughts exactly);
more specifically, this comment:
"You were an artist" Lol
I guess I stopped paying attention once I'd realised where it was going (to the gutter, that is), but did they really have Aziraphale say "You were an artist"?
Because my first assosiation would be
"So you were an artist! Big deal! Elvis was an artist, but that didn't stop him from joining the service in time of war. And that's why he's The King, and you're a schmuck."
The long-ass Zhou Zishu post that needs to stop living in my brain
INTRO: I was thinking; that's dangerous pastime
***
Long story short, I didn’t technically like “Word of Honour”.
But not in the saNe (no, I didn’t mean ‘same’) way I disliked, say, “Wednesday” or “Picard”: where I quietly realised those interpretations were not for me, switched off in the middle of e2 and went to rewatch Sonnenfeld’s movies/TNG instead, –
– but in the gleefully unhinged way I dislike de***el or GO2: where I feel the burning need to whine for hours on end about what precisely I dislike, and then probably go and write an extremely niched fanfic about it.
So, here goes.
SPOILERS; and canon-typical Bad Things
Just like with de***el and GO2, I should have known from the very beginning.
Because, as vaicomcas has recently pointed out, the only thing you know about otherwise unknown entity is that they pulled you out of Hell, and your first reaction is to kill them dead?
Or, you finally don’t have to hide your 6000-year relationship, and you only call when you need something?
Of course, I went back to SPN s4 already aware de***el had grown into a major pairing, and GO2 comes after GO1. “Word of Honour” popped up on my ‘you might also like’ list, and I didn’t have any pre-established expectations: so 10 minutes into e1 I had to pause, rewind, figure out how the character’s name is spelled/pronounced and go back to check the synopsis, because, wait, *that* is our protagonist?
Let me get this straight: you cheated your way out of horrendous punishment to which you didn’t hesitate to subject your subordinates, you kept serving the jerk who ordered you to do that and you plan to atone for your misdeeds by spending your last years, what, sunbathing blackout drunk?
I was afterwards surprised to find out all of that is more or less novel-compliant; except book-Zishu is an unapologetic take-it-or-leave-it arsehole, while the series seems to want me to feel for him 🤔
Kudos to ‘Faraway Wanderers’ – the novel – for being, to my knowledge, the only work of fiction to describe the correct course of action in case you find yourself in possession of a piece of a super-dangerous thingy you personally have no intention of reassembling:
“What about the real key?”
“Lost, since I threw it off the top of the mountain,” Wen Kexing answered slowly, narrowing his eyes.
And for the other main character being considerably less whiny and annoying.
Seriously, I know you’re trying to say ‘I don’t want to live in the world where my most important person is no more’, but all I can hear is ‘I’d rather die, leaving behind two dozen loyal followers (and a child I promised to raise), than at least try to clean up the mess (of my own doing)’.
Objectively speaking, ‘Follow your heart’ is a flawless series. It’s got vivid imagery, engaging plot that doesn’t revolve solely around romantic relationship, and attractive actors playing compelling characters: with women managing to be strong and competent without losing their quirky and nurturing demeanour, and men knowing when there’s no shame in learning to cook and resolve an argument through discussion – and when violence is truly the only appropriate answer. Well, the male lead is kind of a Mary-Sue, but that can be written off as him working hard to overcome his deficiencies, or something, and thus isn’t truly annoying. All three pairings have plausible dynamics and good chemistry, – and none of them even dies on their wedding day.
Although it’s less about fake-science/supernatural and more about love than I hoped, I ended up enjoying it immensely. But, like that proverbial child who didn’t speak before the age of six because there was nothing to complain about, I tend to get invested into stories I technically don’t like.
And, guess whose synopsis promised me an adventure with politics and ghosts and no romance whatsoever?
I should probably just unsubscribe from GO tag altogether, but it warms my vindictive heart to see so many people woeing over how GO s3 could possibly become *this*, – and to continue not giving a damn, since I already went through all my anguish after s2.
Anyway, saw a post on my dashboard on “how comes the creators of s3 couldn’t find a way to write in a second kiss in a meaningful way?”
Closed the page so I wouldn’t be tempted to answer and now can’t find it again, – but I am tempted to answer anyway, so *jumping on chair with hand in the air* may I, may I?
Basically, the reason why neither A&C nor their relationship could possibly have any significant development in s3 is very simple.
As I said back then – to vast displeasure I had to clean out of my comment section – that’s because s2 was a pile of rubbish that inevitably spilled all the way down to s1; with "the kiss" plugged on top like a gaudy artificial flower, to make it look pretty and worthwhile.
And, just as I suspected, despite all those tall promises of sneaky plans and surprise resolutions, s3 has, predictably, failed to find a big enough rug to sweep all the rubbish under.
Thus, there was no other choice but to pretend they always meant to have a giant pile of rubbish in the middle of their living room.
And then, when the stench inevitably became unbearable, they had no other choice but to throw all the rubbish away, along with their one good table buried underneath.
So all that was left is a pathetic faded artificial flower in a beer bottle, which they now have to put right on the floor and pretend it’s highly fashionable minimalistic design🙄
The only parts of ‘Sailor Moon’ I truly like are the song and the transformation scenes, and I can’t quite remember if I managed to finish s1e2 of ‘Wednesday’; nevertheless, this crossover-fusion-thingy keeps living in my brain, for some reason.
So everyone on this side of tumblr post what you’re currently working on. How many times you’ve frogged it (had to take it down and re-do it for those who aren’t familiar with the term.) and if you haven’t yet, post how many times you’ve lost count of your stitches or what row you were on.
I’ll go first.
I’m working on an apple plushie and I’ve lost count at least 10 times and frogged it 30 times BECAUSE ROUND 8 IS MY WORST NIGHTMARE
Last thing I worked on was from a few months ago. I'm currently edging a wing shawl in a lighter gold color and will hopefully have time to work on it again someday.
My Mum ordered a leftover-yarn quilt for her birthday. The simplest square design, but still had to 'frog' it three times, because my geometry sucks and I can never calculate the length of the initial chain stitch correctly 🙄
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