If you’re lost on any of the characters, I did a quick rundown of them at the top of episode 1 that you can consult.
Recap
Yang and Pin decide to hide the girl he rescued at her place.
Tian and Jiu fantasize about their future together. Jiu really likes Tian and keeps smiling, but he’s worried about Tian learning his full history with Ma.
Bua is too nice to Song, listening as he tells her he doesn’t think Ma knows where Tian is and suspects both his wives are involved in everything. It’s a start I guess.
Chan admits her involvement with Ma to Yang, but really doesn’t know where Tian is. Jia is listening in and reports to Li. They have a very unspecific plan to find Tian, shift the blame to Chan, and kill Jiu. This means Jia is making more Beetle Orchid.
Pin tells Yang the girl they rescued is addicted to opium and they agree Ma is responsible.
Pao finds Jiu getting food and a paper flower for Tian and Jiu has to fight free. He tells Pao that Tian is okay before he escapes.
Tian wants to go home and Jiu thinks it’s because he’s not taking good enough care of him. Really, Tian is worried about Jiu being killed by his family. There’s music and tender looks.
Pao reports to Song and Li, who are confused by Jiu’s actions. Li comes up with an excuse about negotiations. Nuan was listening in and takes this info to Chan, who doesn’t believe this excuse. Nuan gets MVP of this episode by saying it seems like they eloped, but Chan thinks that’s ridiculous.
Li tries to throw the blame all on Chan and makeup evidence (she’s finally getting ahead of the game) but Song is suspicious of her.
Dr. Qi sends a letter to Song that he has the antidote and has a way of proving Jia and Li’s responsibility. Pao half burns the letter and leaves the fire going. He doesn’t send the estate up in flames but Li finds the letter.
Jia discovers her Beetle Orchid missing and thinks it was Nuan.
Li meets up with Qi to beg him to let her and her son go, giving her usual excuses. Qi isn’t okay with murder, so Li throws the Beetle Orchid she stole in his face. There’s an epic magic dust battle, and Li kills Qi and drags him into the water.
Jia is heartbroken when Li tells her what happens, but understands Li’s motivation.
Jiu brings Tian to his parents’ graves where they profess their love. They go into town and Tian is shy about holding hands but dreams of a future of equality and freedom.
Pin and Yang are there too. Yang sees Jiu and goes after him. Jiu tries to tell Yang that he loves Tian but Yang goes after him with a knife. Jiu stops short of stabbing Yang and runs.
Pin finds Tian. Tian tells her Jiu didn’t hurt him, and writes down a time and place to meet for Bua. Pin tries to tell him about Jiu and Ma but Jiu reaches them first. He apologizes to Pin before shoving her at Yang.
Yang thinks Tian is a hostage but Pin cautiously tells him she doesn’t think that’s Jiu and Tian’s relationship. Yang is tearful as he begs her not to tell and gives her the story. Pin still thinks it’s love but Yang doesn’t agree.
Tian thinks they can’t go on like this and Jiu panics, thinking Tian is leaving him. Tian’s plan is to talk to Bua and then for the two of them to be free together.
Pao reports to Song that Jiu and Tian have been found. Song gets his gun.
Ma finds Jiu and shows up at his door.
Tian meets with Bua and tells her that he’s left home, doesn’t want to go back, and is in love with Jiu. But he’s not telling Bua, it’s really his mom.
Thoughts
Another action-filled episode. All the plotting and scheming are starting to come together in one big disaster. With the exception of a few sweet moments between Tian and Jiu, pretty much everyone is miserable.
In the case of Li, it’s nice to see her misery. She and Jia are in mad denial about their actions and how terrible they’ve become, but it was good to see them crying together over Dr. Qi’s death. Li proved she can do more than order people around by killing Qi herself, which is something I guess. That she did it so Jia didn’t have to is almost sweet. It’s nice to see a positive relationship between women in this kind of story, even if they are both supporting each other in doing terrible things.
Jia’s character in general is fleshed out better than most side-kick-type characters. We don’t know much about her, but we know she had a hard life and was taken in by Qi and then Li. She feels strong devotion and loyalty to both of them, but clearly more so to Li.
Nuan is a bit less nuanced. Oh well. But she’s mostly there for comedy with Chan.
Nuan aside, the woman characters in this show are interesting and layered. They aren’t ridiculous badasses with unlikely physical abilities nor are they crazy-love-obsessed zombies. From Mud to Chan, they have different strengths and weaknesses and abilities and they do what they can given their circumstances. Jia has thrown herself into more than one physical fight and Pin is sensitive and smart about Tian and game for any legally sketchy situation Yang gets into. They’re fun to watch.
Onto the men.
It’s sweet how Jiu was pushing Tian away at first and now he’s the one wanting to hold hands in public and desperate for Tian not to leave him. I love these kinds of reversals in a relationship. I wish we had a little more happy time with them but the show keeps moving and that’s OK too.
Song has done nothing but caused everyone around him to keep secrets that he’s having to pay attention to. It’s a great illustration of a patriarch.