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
Tian asks a worker about Nuan’s location, then buries Jiu’s letter and a box of Beetle Orchid. Nuan sees everything and reports it to Chan, and they go to dig it back up.
JIa and Li return home where Song is waiting for them. He pulls a sword and demands to know what they’ve done. Tian walks in and is horrified. He makes his father put down the sword so they can get on with the day.
Xiaotong shows up and Li wants them to get started without Ma or Chan. Li is the only one in the family looking happy. Yang looks ready to cry. Song announces the marriage and Tian’s taking over leadership.
Chan interrupts and reads Jiu’s love-letter out loud. Tian’s secret is OUT! For the first time ever, a member of the Song family doesn’t immediately deny the truth.
Because Tian set this all up. Tian explains he just wants respect and to be himself. Not only that, he claims he killed Dong. Song slaps and shakes Tian, then collapses.
Chan keeps Tian from the sick room and Yang follows him outside. Tian wants Yang to take care of their parents. Li comes and slaps Tian. After Yang leaves, Tian tells Li he knew she was going to die by suicide. He’s taking responsibility, and she can visit him in prison.
Li sobs and tries to stop the police from taking Tian while everyone watches from the window.
Xiaotong worries that Ma will use this to take over the association.
Jia checks the box Tian buried and discovers it really has Beetle Orchid in it, so what did they hit Ma with?
Bua serves Song tea and listens to him whine about Zhang’s curse. She tries to get him to do something about Tian. But Chan shows up, then Yang, and the usual yelling ensues.
Jia figures out that Ma was hit with sleeping dust.
Which is why he’s looking terrible but alive at the front gate with a ton of soldiers. He kills the police, beats Tian, and drags him towards the house.
Xiaotong and Mud see this and bail. Li and Jia are coming back to the house when they see this and stop.
Song and the rest of the family come out and Ma uses a gun on Tian to keep control of the situation. Ma reveals that Li tried to kill him. Chan tries to stop Ma and gets beaten. He reveals everything she’s done too.
Chan, bleeding and crying, apologizes. She wanted Yang to be loved and get attention but didn’t think things through. True.
Song takes the blame too late for anyone to care, and Ma is ready to kill everyone. Li and Jia are at an upstairs window, and with eye contact and hand motions get Chan in on their plan. They work together kill the soldiers with Beetle Orchid, but Ma gets away.
There’s chaos as Ma gets more soldiers and the family runs. Nuan is shot dead. Song, Tian, and Pao get caught by Ma. Yang escapes with Bua and Chan while Li and Jia go back to rescue the others.
Jia gets the Beetle Orchid in Ma’s face this time and Li offers the antidote in exchange for her family. Ma is going to kill her and take it instead.
And then… Jiu shows up! He kills the soldiers while Li and Jia take down Ma.
Jia gets a cut on her hand, which is also covered with Beetle Orchid.
Jiu and Li try to untie Tian and Song but there’s no time, Ma is coming back with reinforcement. Jia says they need to run but Ma won’t kill the men while they have the antidote.
Song stares rudely at Jiu and Tian’s tender moment, as Tian tells Jiu to save his family. Jiu promises to come back for him and runs with Jia and Li.
Thoughts
Nuan has a surprisingly sad, sudden, and meaningless death. I guess she represents all the nameless workers that get shot while the wealthy family survives. Then there are the soldiers, who seem to spawn and die like video game characters. Lucky for Ma there’s an endless supply of them.
But yaaaay! Everything finally came to a big, climactic disaster! Tian managed to keep his integrity amidst it all too, by using his family’s usual tricks and lies not to deceive, but to get the truth out. He even seemed to be smiling a little bit as Chan revealed the truth. Not that the situation wasn’t awful, but that there was also a lot of relief in it for him.
Li’s plans fail so badly that not only is Tian not the head of the association, he’s on his way to prison. Tian aside, it’s satisfying to see everything go wrong for her.
Nothing like the threat of annihilation to bring the family together. Song’s useless realization that his failure as a patriarch is a contrast to Li and Chan finally working together to actually save their children and everyone else.
Jiu’s entrance, skillful takedown of the soldiers, and meaningful eye contact with Tian are all pretty sexy. He may be an assassin who accidentally let his sister get hooked on opium, but it’s not hard to see why Tian is in love with him. Song’s probably staring at their tender reunion because he’s jealous.
While I don’t mind sloppy plot stuff in soapy shows, the reasoning behind them not being able to untie Song and Tian and get them to safety is almost too flimsy. Almost. I get it, they need Tian and Song to stay captured for the drama to keep going. Those most of have been some amazing knots.