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 hides Chan and then later confronts her with Yang, who forces his mom to apologize.

Mud isn’t happy about Lady Pin, not because of hurt feelings but because she’s working for Xiaotong. Xiaotong is losing money because of the Japanese soldiers visiting her brothel and Ma’s shady actions. Mud is going to seduce Tian and get his help. Xiaotong though, is confused as to why Li was okay with Mud seducing Tian.

Tian is forced by his mother into taking Pin on a date, but the date is taken over by Yang. Then Tian abandons them both to chase after his candy man, only to walk into a vegetable cart and fall down.

Yang and Pin bicker until he explains he doesn’t want his brother forced into anything. He knows Pin’s family owes Li over some property and is nasty about her doing this for money. She tosses water in his face.

Pin leaves but her shoe breaks and she falls. Yang checks her injuries and apologizes. He does what he wants and feels she should as well. She points out that neither she nor Tian have his level of freedom.

Something is up with gravity because Tian and his candy man, whose name we’ll someday learn is Jiu, fall down together in some hanging sheets. They look into each other’s eyes. 

Jiu’s wound is bleeding again. Tian takes care of him and offers to hide him from the soldiers in his home. Jiu is unfriendly and rejects him. Then Tian’s shirt gets caught on a nail and Jiu has to cut his sleeve to free him. Because cut sleeve and metaphor.

Yang sees this and thinking about it later, realizes his brother’s secret. He runs to hug his brother, promising to support him.

Meanwhile, Jiu kills someone. He’s working for Ma, doing dangerous jobs in return for medicine for his sick younger sister. He supports her and his younger brother. Despite his coldness earlier with Tian, Jiu has Tian’s handkerchief and is thinking about him.

Li is trying to push for the wedding to happen right away which angers Tian. Li thinks he should marry quickly, have kids and do what he wants in secret, like other homosexuals. Tian hates this idea.

Unfortunately, the brutish Dong overheard. He goes straight to Chan and tells her he knows Tian’s secret, but Li cuts in and uses her higher position to get him to come with her. He blackmails Li for some future large payment. 

Yang is ready to support and help his brother. He goes to Pin to tell her Tian won’t marry her but won’t explain why. She has fun making wild guesses until he reluctantly smiles.

Dong beats up another worker but when Tian steps in and fires him, Li rescues Dong. Tian is upset until Yang and Bua cheer him up. But he knows there’s something more to Li’s actions. 

So do Nuan and Chan. Chan pulls out a valuable family heirloom to bribe Dong. At the same time, Jia shows Li some big green bugs with mushrooms growing out of them. These are Beetle Orchids. They are an important part of the story.

Li and Jia meet with Dong, but he demands more money in the future. Jia throws glitter in his face, he starts coughing but escapes.

The night has become a family affair, with Li, Jia, Chan, Nuan, and Bua all looking for Dong in the dark. Jia finds him first and drags him across the ground. 

Thoughts
I love a good mix of ridiculous antics and sincerity.

On the one hand, we have Dong laughing maniacally with evil pleasure, getting glitter in the face, and finding himself the prize in a bizarre nighttime treasure hunt. 

On the other hand, we have Yang growing up and learning to be more responsible. For a few minutes, it looked like he and Lady Pin are going to become an annoying couple bickering about nothing. Thankfully they both cut to the heart of what’s going on quickly. He doesn’t want his brother to be forced, and she’s desperate. In defending herself, Pin gave Yang insight into his brother’s lack of freedom. 

That Yang goes from that conversation to seeing Tian’s cut sleeve and thinking about Chinese opera and putting all the pieces together, is an interesting moment. Compared to Dong’s more dramatic discovery, it’s a quieter, sadder moment.

Did Jiu really need to slice a part of his sleeve to get Tian free? No. But. Symbolism.

I still don’t know how to read the equating of liking Chinese opera to homosexuality. Clearly, heterosexual people like it. And Yang has known Tian his entire life, so I can assume he has a lot of memories to draw from. I feel like I’m missing something.

Anyway, the show continues to be on Tian’s side. When Tian is threatened by his mother with marriage, all the sound/music cues indicate impending doom. When he falls to the ground with Jiu, we get the light happy music. 

Li’s attempts to force her son are the worst, but Bua’s blithe ignorance was also hard to watch. Interesting that it comes from a woman who was unable to fit into the traditionally expected role. She said she has value even without children, but doesn’t questions Tian following the rules of marriage and children to be in charge.

I like Yang’s solution to handling those rules – they just need to change.