Book and Sword 02

[AnalyticChick]

Originally posted by cheek
I didn't like the latter part of this series but I have to agree ZWZ and ZZZ are both hot!

It's interesting that you have ZWZ and ZZZ as opposed to CJL and ZZZ or even ZWZ and GL. I agree that as an actor, I have the utmost respect for ZWZ's skills, both in martial arts and in theatrics. But CJL just rubs me the wrong way. And then there is the vestiges of Nie Feng hate I have to overcome (or embrace).

The Night YYT Spent In Prison
YYT has managed to put himself in prison. I swear that the case for masochism grows stronger and stronger every episode. He also feels that the RFS-ers weren’t getting enough of a challenge only saving one captured brother. So now he is under the (actually not-so-watchful) eye of ZZZ as well.
Pity the hours of makeup Mr. Tse had to undergo to get that perfect “Just beaten within an inch of his life” look. However, it is hard to imagine how someone who was repeatedly stabbed and cut by Qing officers the night before could not only stand and speak so lucidly, but could also lie down for such long stretches of time. Must be another one of YYT’s secret powers in addition to possessing the ability to make random female extras fall in love with him.
LYZ is with him as well because, you know, she sorta has this thing for him. So he angsts, she tries to take care of him, and then he plays the invalid angle to get her to scout out WTL’s condition for him. Which she does, obviously, because of that thing we talked about earlier. You know, maybe if I don’t refer to it by name, they’ll just get over it quickly and LYZ can move on.
For I really like LYZ. Unlike some others in the show, I respect the sentiments issuing from her mouth as those which a normal, rational, competent human being would say. I can always postulate at, even if I don’t agree with her motivations and actions. That being said, LYZ, even if you figure out what’s happening to WTL, YYT won’t stop being sad. I personally just think his face is broken.

Back At The Ranch
Although they are rebels, please don’t think of the RFS-ers as some gang of uncouth, savage bandits. Watch as they exchange smart repartees among themselves. Marvel at them partaking in that most elegant and sublime of pursuits – Go. Truly, they are all gentleman of honor. But who is this? Why, ‘tis their leader, the talented scholar/warrior CJL. Bearing bountiful fruits and magnificent pieces of artwork, I see. But now some less elevated segments of the group cannot fathom the grand and enigmatic strategy CJL has for his seemingly mundane purchases. And they have the gall to walk off. After all, telling his top-secret and oh-do-wonderful plan at this point to the men and woman who have followed him into and out of death would just be so gauche, don’t you know?
A line of dialogue that really struck me.
CJL (referring to his brilliant yet secret plan): It seems as if nothing can be put past our Martial Zhuge.
But dude, he’s your chief advisor. Why would you want to or need to hide anything from him? The whole point of having people to bounce ideas off of is so that you can bounce and thus by definition share your ideas. CJL obviously has a few things to learn about leadership.
Anyone else find it funny that they always talk about saving WTL, never breaking out both WTL AND YYT. Yeah, I thought so.

What I Hate About Loving Supporting Players
If anyone doesn’t know by now, I go through the episode and clip whenever ZZZ comes up. This is one reason why the segments with ZZZ in it are more thoroughly covered in my posts – because I rewatch those scenes rather than just fast forward through them to get the gist.
Thus scenes like this kinda irk me. He’s in it, but I have this other dude (the emperor, if you’re wondering) as well. You say you don’t want a QL monologue in your clip – too bad. Oh and they’re talking about how to deal with CJL if you are so concerned. The usual villain “let’s mess around with the hero a bit before delivering our final blow” type of thing.
A mistake that QL, as well as his two henchman make time and time again is that more Qing soldiers will make a difference in the fighting. From what we’ve seen so far and will see, whether you have one Qing soldier or one thousand seems not to matter in the long run. Eventually, the hero will just burn through all of them, completely fresh and unwearied in spite of his previous efforts, and force a duel with the main bad guy. Who will lose, of course. At this point, please also refer back to the header of this section.

Behold the Power of Omniscience
You know, the characters would all have a better time of it all if they could watch this series beforehand. Seriously, just rent it from their neighborhood video store and just focus on the parts that apply to them. Thus, YYT will realize that LB is NEVER GOING to leave her husband for him. LYZ will likewise realize that YYT is in love with another woman and otherwise direct her attentions.
Another reason I like LYZ is because she actually questions herself. She (finally) asks herself why she is being so good to YYT. Although her wild fluctuations through the street and repetition of said question in broad daylight may strike the good folk of that village as certifiable, she does seem to come up with an acceptable answer by the time of her fade-out.

Consensus Building
Since the RFS is keeping such good tabs on the Qing entourage (and vice versa, might I add), they know that something is up when WTL is not being publicly paraded through the streets or brought out of the city. They figure out that something must be up, which you can basically assume anyways because the Qing fellowship is, after all, the bad guys. Finally, they decide (or rather, CJL decides) that the RFS needs to wait and lay low to formulate the Grand Plan for Ultimate Success. LB here breaks in with her belief that WTL wouldn’t want his brothers to get hurt or captured on his account. Passing over the obvious irony of that sentiment, that is a pretty sound point. Let’s assume the Qing manage to capture one of the RFS-ers every episode or two. Even if the RFS has about fifteen named members to it, this series is forty episodes long. You do the math.

Empathetically Not Iron Chef
LB goes to cook for the guys because, as you should have figured out by now, she is a girl. But her dishes taste terrible. The RFS-ers plan to eat with gusto anyways to make her feel better. Pity no one told ZQ. Seriously, that girl needs a muzzle on her. Wonder where you would be able to get a human-sized on in the Qing Dynasty?
Anyways, CJL appears to do damage control. However, if he didn’t vacillate so much, they probably would have gotten WTL out by now. But we won’t talk about that.
Then LB sits down to her dishes and even she thinks they are bad. Ha, ha, isn’t that funny? Because, like, she’s a girls and she can’t cook. Oh those wacky Qing people.

Quasi-Interlude
LYZ, let’s just go find ZZZ if you are so adamant in seeing WTL and reassuring YYT. We know that’s what all this is building up to. Besides, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Note the lack of a gratuitous screenshot. I am getting better, honest I am.

The Meeting
If I was of the reductive school of writing, I could just put down that “CJL and QL meet” under this heading and leave it at that. From what you no doubt know about CJL, and QL, and their relationships and links, you probably have a good idea what these minutes consisted of. But since I am not (page count on this word document already up to 18 and I’m not halfway through yet), here you go:
CJL leads his followers up the conveniently paced local mountain so they can spy on the base their enemies have established inside the local “Ya Men”. Because nothing tells you more about your enemy than their choice of roofing material.
And how does the famed Martial Zhuge figure out what his boss is thinking? By believing in the goodness and goal-orientation of CJL of course. For his troubles, he gets to go off and babysit the Zhous. Sometimes I wonder why XTH bothers.
After a while, CJL catches sight of some highly skilled (he tells from their stride because that’s what skilled wushu practitioners can do. Go to this comic by Tang for a graphic representation) yet strangely servile men up the mountain till he gets to…beautiful qin music.
At first CJL gets blocked by QL’s henchman (ZZZ not included because that would just be too funny and QL is going “incognito”). Even though his master is obviously waiting for this guy to disturb him, the bigger lackey puts on his indignant demeanor in dealing with CJL and his pageboy. He also, sadly, overlooks a prime opportunity to kill said pageboy for insolence. But the seeds of hate are there which does reassure me a bit.
So the two main characters finally meet. There is a period of spastic camera panning between the two’s “intense” faces as the music lathers itself into a frenzy in the background. Finally, QL introduces himself as “Dong Fang Er” and CJL makes up the brilliant pseudonym of “Lu Jia Chen” Sometimes, I don’t think he is trying anymore.
CJL and QL talk. The subtext machine works overtime and then some because both obviously realize who the other is. Fake smiles and pointed statements are exchanged under the thin veneer of civility. And throughout it all the two are just really smug. Even when CJL’s fingers are blatantly not moving in time to the prerecorded qin music which he is supposed to be playing, he looks oh so pleased with himself..
So QL and CJL have THE conversation. You know, the ”the Qing Dynasty does good by the masses and the emperor tries his best, no it/he doesn’t” difference of opinions that one has come to expect from any meeting of a RFS-er and a Qing cohort. Refer to earlier posts for my personal opinion on this issue. But I think it’s funny that QL almost gets CJL to admit to high treason. Good debating skills, that boy.
Finally, at the end of this, the first of no doubt many such exchanges, QL asks for and received CJL’s fan in exchange for his gold encrusted ancient qin. Well, now we know why the Manchus place so much emphasis on fighting. Because they sure as heck wouldn’t cut it in business.

Casing The Joint For Dummies
Once back at their base, the RFS-ers gawk at the beauty of CJL’s new qin. Thankfully, our Great Helmsman Chen has already figured out that there was something special and different about this “Dong Fang Er.” So he decides to pay him a nocturnal visit, taking ZBS with him for backup. That’s actually convenient because QL is sitting in his chamber with his henchmen apparently waiting for someone to break into his house and assassinate him. So now we know what the Qing cohorts do with their free time.
And, at the risk of beating this point to death, it is now and will always be QL’s tea.
Unfortunately, a (cross-dressing) black shadow has the same idea. The RFS-ers save him (her) because they are nice like that.
QL finds this amusing as he believes this a show of courage by the RFS. Thus, he tells his soldiers to stop fighting with CJL and company. There is an absolutely civil exchange between QL’s henchman and CJL concerning CJL’s visiting when “Dong Fang Er” is out and CJL rescheduling which is slightly surreal considering the context.
To QL as well, if any sort of rabble (RFS and not) can just waltz into your “heavily protected” inner sanctum, it doesn’t speak to the skill and bravery of your attackers as much as reflect on the ineptitude of your security system. ZBS’s wugong is really elite, but LYZ can’t be considered the best fighter in this series. Even she manages to circumvent the insane number of soldiers you brought in to protect yourself. Once again, why is there such an absolute dearth of competent (i.e. non-cannon fodder) fighters? Is the Qing Dynasty skimping on medical insurance or what’s going on?
Finally we get some heavy-handed foreshadowing of QL’s interest in ZBS. ZZZ and the other henchman look slightly aghast at the idea of being replaced. Also, at the idea of having to take another hostage instead of just wiping everyone out like real men do.

CJL’s Fan of Righteousness
As a tangent, I would like to touch on CJL’s weapon of choice – a fan. His uber martial arts skills aside, a typical fan has a range of about a foot, to be generous. Contrast this with the guys using swords and poles with ranges up to 6 feet and more. Also, fans don’t have sharp edges. Although this helps CJL not injure himself, it doesn’t scare people as much when you hold the blunt edge to their jugulars.

Bad At Planning, But Good At Brainteasers
It’s okay XTH, even if CJL doesn’t value your work, you can always prove your intellectual superiority by solving ZQ’s (plagiarized) brainteasers. It’s actually pretty clever in that lateral thinking kind of way. If anyone wants to know the details, feel free to PM me. Admittedly, XTH does tell ZQ that real intelligence is not in these small tricks. His point is a bit weakened, though, when he then proceeds to dupe ZQ with another one of these “insignificant” quasi-lateral thinking problems (The wine cup one).
Aside from the XTH/ZQ interaction in this scene, I thought it was interesting to note how close ZQ has gotten to the Ninth Brother (the cute one). He treats her well and is very accommodating. As well, he tries to help her become more intelligent, quite an ambitious effort on his part. Might I sense another nascent love triangle?

The Rebels Of The Not-So-Round Table
I’m sick of recapping these RFS planning sessions. They have a meeting. Anyone who has had any contact with the corporate world knows the substance of such things. Anyways, it is decided (coughcough CJL decides coughcough) to save the two captives by stratagem rather than by force (why, I’m still not sure) and to wait until the enemy starts moving. The paintings that CJL bought yesterday just happen to piece together to form a detailed map of the area. Apparently, there is a mountain pass nearby that is appropriately shazxardous and on the road to Beijing. Got that? Good, I’m done.

Let’s Make Fun of the Dumb One!
Okay. I’m not the biggest fan of ZQ, but even I think this is going overboard. So XTH plays another trick on her to deceive her with his finer intellect. When the rest of the RFS-ers find out, they laugh at her ignorance and carelessly toss off solutions to the problem that she had so diligently labored on for so long. Cut her some slack - not everyone can be as skilled and gifted as you. This reminds me of when Virginia Woolf in “A Room of One’s Own” makes the point that men put women down in order to make themselves feel superior. Come on guys, be part of the solution, not the problem.
So then when ZQ runs off to go wallow in (loud, screeching) self-pity, I actually feel for her. But then the series introduces XTH peeking in on her and overhearing ZQ cursing his future wife and sons (ironic foreshadowing alert) and the whole thing turns comic. Because they’re the comedic relief, dontcha know?
Eventually, ZQ gets mad enough to pick up a quite large boulder and chuck it. I know exactly how you feel. However, if just happens to land near XTH and to get her back, he decides to pretend it had hit and killed him. I bet the real Zhuge Liang wasn’t so petty. But ZQ, being what she is, really thinks XTH is dead when he finds his ”corpse”.
Sigh. Sometimes, I really hate this series.

Also. Please note that screenshots directly related to the running commentary/episode guide will be coming to an end. I will be doing requests though, so if you want something specific, you can always PM me and I'll include it into the next posting. Also, I may just post up random screenshots from the series at intermittant periods.

[AnalyticChick]

Originally posted by AnalyticChick
Aside from the XTH/ZQ interaction in this scene, I thought it was interesting to note how close ZQ has gotten to the Ninth Brother (the cute one). He treats her well and is very accommodating. As well, he tries to help her become more intelligent, quite an ambitious effort on his part. Might I sense another nascent love triangle?

I just finished episode 20 and I SO called the love triangle five episodes before. I am so the psychic.
Personally I prefer the ninth brother because his sunny personality meshes better with ZQ's. I also think he's much cuter (even with the highlights), but that is probably besides the point.
Note also that I have officially sunk to the level of quoting myself. Not a good sign. Won't someone come out and play?

[Lady Riddel]

well I agree, CJL's role as Nei Feng kinda ruined it for me (sorry, don't know the actor's name). They got such a nice cast why ruin it with hiring an actor who makes such crappy series (to anyone who gets offended by this, I don't know what I'm talking about so let me apologize in advance).

Anyway, I agree, we need less canon fodder. We all know that the main characters can take out all the nameleses uniformed hunchmen but I guess they just look cool killing them.


Good work analyzing the episodes, I check the forums just to see if you've updated.

post more pics of LYZ and YYT if you can. They are so cute together

[alecforever815]

i'm a bit confused, do u guys mean zwz's role as nie feng in feng yun (wind and cloud)? cuz u guys use cjl, i'm assuming u mean zwz rite?

[Lady Riddel]

well that was what I was talking about. hmm were we talking about something else?

[alecforever815]

no ,it's jut that zwz (zhao wen zhuo ) is the name of the actor who played cjl. so when u guys said cjl played nie feng, i thought it was part of the book and sword plot that i had overlooked or something.....then i realized that nie feng (not nei feng) is the name of the character zwz is playing in feng yun (wind and cloud) so i assumed u guys meant zwz playing nie feng in real life, as opposed to cjl pretending to be someone in bookand sword plot

[AnalyticChick]

Originally posted by alecforever815
so i assumed u guys meant zwz playing nie feng in real life, as opposed to cjl pretending to be someone in bookand sword plot

Hehe. That would amuse me.

Random RFS-er: Oh head helmsman, we need to plot again to figure out the great and glorious scheme we must use to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.
CJL/NF: I know, I will just use my L33T "qing gong" to infiltrate the emperor's complex and raze it to the ground with the blue bolts of light I shoot from my sword. Then the Qing Dynasty must fall! Mwhahaha and bring me some hair dye while you're at it.

Your wish meet my command.
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This is pretty indicative of their relationship at this point. Nothing tugs at the heartstrings like a good unrequited love in the morning. Once again, Mr. Yu, let me point out that Miss Lin is both female AND unattached. With the male/female ratio what it is in this series, you really should weigh your options more carefully before rejecting a girl.

[Lady Riddel]

awww that is too cute. ^_^

[AnalyticChick]

Romantic Force Too Great…Cannot Resist…
This scene is insanely cute, cripplingly romantic, and just overwhelmingly sweet. Nothing snarky can be said. However, some LYZ/YYT shippers may just drop die of a glucose overdose. There is just something about a girl pining for her incarcerated lover who is reciprocating the good-will by performing a mellifluous woodwind tune for her. Even though he is inside the (minimum security) prison and she is on top of it, the song, and thus their love, knows no boundaries.
Finally, there is this really adorable ginger kitten which augments the general cuddliness of this scene. Sun Li also holds her own pretty well in the “cute” category.

So My Daughter Just Ran Away From Home. How Bout Them Dolphins?
Apparently, no one cares about ZQ. She has not come home for a whole night and her dad basically shrugs it off. Once again, I am surprised at how these Jiang Hu figures manage to rear their progeny to adulthood. Its way past ten o’clock and the Zhou patriarch definitely doesn’t know where his daughter is. Even if he can rationalize her disappearance, shouldn’t he be a little more concerned about her general welfare. Considering also that he killed his son not so many episodes previously, he should probably pay a little more attention to his only surviving child.
Of course, XTH, with his immense intellect and knowledge of what transpired last night must have some inkling of the emotional damage he has wrought on such a young and naive girl’s psyche. Or not.

If there’s somethin’ strange in your neighborhood.
The RFS-ers, in their newest ploy to outwit the Qing Dynasty, decide to convince the reinforcements (all twenty of them) that there are ghosts running around so that the soldiers would become scared and desert. Given the ingrained cultural convictions of the Chinese people and the propensity to believe in the supernatural, I would say this is one of the smarter things they have come up with. But then again, this stratagem (falsely) assumes that reinforcements make any sort of difference fighting-wise.
It all plays out pretty well. They drill holes in the trees to create spooky sound effects when the obliging wind blows through the branches. Then, they plant one of the RFS-ers (since they’ve got so many of them anyways) as a local old geezer explaining how a virulent plague a couple hundred years ago carried away a lot of villagers who have then decided to come back and haunt their final resting place. Lots of extras look suitably spooked.
By the way, the Qing uniforms are kick-***. Cut well and colorful, without sacrificing that special “I am MAN” flavor. I approve.

Obstipesco Interlude
Random Qing Officer (RQO) finally makes it into the city. He meets with ZZZ, who might or might not have actually smiled at some point in this scene. I’m still trying to figure it out. Anyways, he is pleased that RQO got all his troops to this village in the middle or nowhere in such a speedy fashion. Instead of, you know, lolly-dallying and having Zhang DaYen chop your head off if and when he gets angry.
ZZZ, as always, is concerned with the rebels. RQO is more upset about the ghosts haunting his troops. ZZZ is distinctly not amused and takes it out on a nearby table. He then tells RQO that there will be no disobedience or insubordination among HIS troops. All cowards will get killed on the spot as a testimony to Qing might and irrationality.
This whole exchange shows us that ZZZ obviously has control issues he needs to work out. But he is so darned sexy when he is In Charge…and he’s always In Charge.

Who You Gonna Call?
In the Qing camp, they’ve managed to find a soldier whose previous career was as an exorcist. He does the whole thing with the paper and the sword and the dancing around that is supposed to scare ghosts away. Well, I don’t see any ghosts around, so I guess he did a good job. However, since his little dance isn’t effective against those RFS-ers, one comes and snatches a soldier off.
Segue to ZQ getting/already drunk off her posterior in an unnamed little shop. The clerk is trying to get her to leave, but since she has the sharp pointy object in her unsteady hands, he doesn’t press his point very much. ZQ, inebriated as she is, does bring up the good point that if her father killed her brother for revealing the location of WTL (a virtual stranger), he must be preparing to kill her as retribution for causing the death of XTH (by now a good friend). She decides that an honorable seppuku would be a better way to go than to be murdered by your own father. In the meantime, the quirky, plunky, “humorous” music is playing in the background because, after all, there is nothing funnier than senseless death
Just then, due to divine intervention and a dearth of competition in the food and beverages industry, RQO steps into the door leading two of his henchmen. The clerk tries to tell them that they are closed (guan meng), but the RQO rightly observes that the shop’s doors are still literally opened (cai meng). And who should stumble in onto this cozy meeting but the now entirely drunk ZQ. She overhears their dialogue (or read it from the shooting script beforehand) and offers to beat up the ghosts plaguing their camp.
Segue to the army camp. The RFS-ers in white robes, undone hair, and bad eye makeup are going around scaring the living daylights out of the easily susceptible soldiers. Come on guys, they aren’t THAT bad looking. ZQ plunges headlong into this mess. The RFS boys are suitably alarmed because they seem to be unarmed and she is flailing a rather pointed blade around. To make matters worse, she falls right into the face of XTH, whom she thinks is dead and really a ghost. Thus she runs screaming away right into…
The wine shop. The RQO and gang, seeing ZQ so shaken and incoherent (as opposed to just drunk and incoherent), decide there really are ghosts in the forests. One henchman wants to just get out as soon as possible. Do I sense a RFS plot coming to fruition? But then the RQO points out that they really need to get ZZZ to believe in ghosts as well for them to be able to just up and leave. Oh well, better luck next time RFS boys.
There is a short intermission in here to show ZQ burning paper money for XTH and generally babbling in a generally endearing way. No really. I am starting to warm towards her, especially since it is clear this series hates her. Shortly, XTH comes up and his presence scares her because she thinks he is dead. Anyways, this is all very funny because they are the comic relief.

GHOSTBUSTERS
Or rather, ZZZ. Because he comes upon the tattered and inexplicably burning army camp with a very fixed WTF expression on his face. Peeved by the display of mindless incompetence around him, and lacking a convenient piece of furniture to take his anger out, he instead kills one of the soldiers who has had the bad fortune to stagger near him. It is a testament to the intelligence level of your average Qing soldier that it takes the third body for them to figure out that whining to Zhang DaYen about ghosts (or anything else for that matter) is a very bad idea. And once again, (extremely forced) order falls on the Qing camp.
And the way I reckon it, if the series hadn’t wanted me to fall in love with ZZZ, they wouldn’t have given the man so many damn close-ups. Seriously, I don’t see how it’s my fault at all.
Oh, and LYZ sneaks into the camp and pulls the uniform off a dead solider. Although there only appear to have been a handful of soldiers, no one notices this new face. As we have covered before, your average Qing soldier is as observant as, well, your average RFS-er.

Like Kicking A Puppy, Repeatedly, With Steel-Toed Boots
ZQ wakes up in the RFS camp. Ostensibly, LB came upon her in the woods on another one of her nightly jaunts through the forest. In any case, ZQ lathers herself into a frenzy about killing XTH and the perceived consequences. Due to the nature of Chinese customs, ZQ never explains to LB why exactly she is so worked up and so LB never has the occasion to tell ZQ that XTH is, in fact, very much alive.
What then transpires is, IMHO a really awful exercise in sadism. Basically, the Zhou patriarch, the pageboy and CJL respond as if she has killed XTH and demand retribution. ZQ acts nobly, in that she recommends death for her actions and begs them not connect her father with her “sin”. CJL finally tells them to cut it out, which earns him brownie points in my book. To be fair, LB also looks vaguely uncomfortable throughout the proceedings.
So after making the poor girl cry for her crime and making sure she has learned her lesson (of what exactly, I’m not sure. Maybe not to throw rocks around? Or is it not to trust the RFS), they bring out XTH who disparages her intelligence in believing him to be dead.
But then it turns out that ZZZ has moved a large part (about 12) of the reinforcement soldiers away, basically because the officers under him are all pansies. ZQ’s drunken tirade also helped. Everything is then dully forgotten as the music swells to the triumphant fade out.

Oh Yeah, I Was Wondering Why You Were In The Credits
As the screen comes up again, we find ourselves in the Chinese Southwest. Cut to the requisite death and burning destruction set-up. Apparently, the Qing Dynasty has not only been making trouble for the RFS. HQT and her merry band of Muslims have also been targeted. What can I say about the Manchus? Sure they might be racist (in toeing the RFS party line), but at least they’re equal opportunity discriminators.
HQT fears this may only be the beginning to the Qing aggression. Though to be fair, there isn’t much out there for the Qing’s to covert. I mean, how much desert can one empire really need? In any case, HQT’s trigger-happy brother wants to attack the Qing Dynasty. Her Wise and Thoughtful father urges caution. She, combining the best of both worlds, offers to go on a scouting mission before making any sort of gesture. She makes clear though, that she had the spine necessary to go to war with the Manchus if need be. But she would want that fight to be on her terms. Atta girl.

ZQ Gets Tricked. No, Really?
The RFS-ers want to get rid of their slightly overenthusiastic, overgrown bundle of cheeriness. They set up a fake gambling parlor and ply her full of wine until she passes out from it, or has died of alcohol poisoning. Either way, she won’t be following them on their next adventure.
ZQ-less, the RFS-ers sneak/waltz into the Qing army camp and scare off the entirely too impressionable soldiers with the patented ghost routine. After sneaking into the main armory, they proceed to carry off a vast amount of dynamite. Among the more interesting things that the RFS-ers left in the armory were a brace of cannons and sets of wicked looking armor. If nothing else, I commend this series for its sense of continuity.
RFS-ers come back from their romp. ZQ wakes up and is told she has lost a sizable sum of money. Being the honest and gullible girl she is, she ponies up the money and the RFS-ers leave with this filthy lucre.

Foiled Again
ZZZ is walking (striding?) with his officers. They discuss how the ghost stories have ravaged morale among the troops. ZZZ is, again, not pleased, but what are you going to do? We all know you are competent (He sees through the RFS tricks and knows exactly what they are after. Than again, the RFS have never been masters of the sublime), but your officers and men are just atrocious. ZZZ also wants his camp guarded so that a single drop of water could not pass.
That’s actually quite ironic considering the next scene we get is that of LYZ (who is somewhat larger than a drop of water) rendezvousing with her crush. She wants to save him, but he won’t leave without WTL. Like all unrequited loves, she caves and tries to find a way to get WTL out.
Drawing on that time honored tradition, LYZ decides to set fire to WTL’s tent and thus force them to move him, allowing her to rescue him in the ensuing confusion. Good plan. Pity she hadn’t counted on ZZZ. So he swoops in. Apparently, he is incapable of walking because all his entrances are replete with triple flips and summersaults and all manner of acrobatic goodness. In any case, he forbids anyone to leave, killing two more of his soldiers as proof of his hard-coreness, and then moves to beat up the ringleader, namely LYZ. She is down in a few passes, but her master comes fortuitously and spirits her away. ZZZ, an actuary at heart, decides to move his whole command right then and there.
I am presently vacillating between giddy excitement and dire fear of a LYZ, ZZZ meeting. On one hand, more screen time for ZZZ is always a good thing. On the other, there’s the whole unrequited love and assassination business.
Sigh, I can never win.

She’s Good
LYZ is with her master in the middle of a forest. I assume it is the same one with the spooky trees. He is berating her for her general impulsiveness and recklessness. She listens patiently, and then manages to convince him that her playing spy from within the ranks of the Qing army would do much to further the cause. Also, she points out, it would be a good learning experience, what with the constant mortal danger and all. She is counting on her Dad’s stolen plaque and her master’s L33T skillz if anything should go wrong. Due to her charms, eloquent arguing and girlish whining, her master agrees, though hesitantly. She, obviously, is thrilled at the prospect of seeing her boyfriend again.

What Was That Line About The Plans Of Mice And Men Again?
Okay, new plan. We wait until ZZZ gets to this really steep and treacherous gorge after a night of hard traveling. Therefore, his troops must all be super tired. So we fight our way in, fresh as daisies, and we save WTL and YYT. LYZ, as a spy, is going to help us tons. And this time, everything will go the way we planned. Right guys?

[alecforever815]

ur writing is relaly fun to read, the sarcasm is really funny.......and wow u spend a lotta time on series

[AnalyticChick]

Originally posted by alecforever815
and wow u spend a lotta time on series

Yes, yes I do. I really don't know how long I can keep this up, but we'll see. Though I really enjoy writing them so maybe I can make this a long term project. As long as someone besides me is still reading them...

Also, for people who have seen (the entirety) of this series, can you tell me who this is?
Click on Me
I was flipping through pics on Asia Phen and I saw him. Who? What? Is the Qing finally getting some more competant officers?

[Lady Riddel]

lol. Your subtitles are priceless. Someone should really post this in the review section on the main page. Excellent writing. Don't skim on the LYZ and YYT tong pics plz, I need my daily dose of Awwww.

[Lady Zhuge]

I would read your episode guides just because I love sarcasm and witty remarks, but I haven't seen this series yet and don't want to be spoiled. However, I am in the process of downloading the first 5 episodes, though.

[AnalyticChick]

Originally posted by Lady Riddel
Don't skim on the LYZ and YYT tong pics plz, I need my daily dose of Awwww.

You should really check out Asia Phen for the LYZ/YYT lurv. There are some nice, posed pics there for your perusal. B&S is under "ATV/Asiaview" productions. They have it under "Shu Jian En Cho Lu" IMHO, there aren't NEARLY enough pictures of certain characters (coughcough), but you take what you can get.

I have been toying with the idea of eventually just going up to spcnet, presenting him/her with the huge finished product and thus demanding recognition. Becasue you really don't need to have seen this series to feel the B&S love. In any case, I'm having fun. Besides, I'm always uhh, "honing my analytical reasoning, critical thinking and writing skills" as well as "improving my spoken Mandarin through emperical
conditioning". Yup - that's the ticket...

If you care, it's up to 25 pages on word and pretty much stuck there until I get through exams. But then - SENIOR SPRING!
At the risk of this turning into my livejournal, I will now stop.

Also, I made this really kewl wallpaper, but it's too large (1.37 MB) to attach or post on my Photobucket account.
This makes me sad.

[Lady Riddel]

hehe thanks for the link. But I was just kidding about the pictures. the site is awesome nonetheless.


Yea you don't need to see the series to enjoy your episode guide. Mainly it pokes fun at wuxia cliches which we really don't get enough of especially since there are so many lame cliches that you never readlly think about especially if you grow up watching this stuff like I did.

[alecforever815]

i have NO�@‚b‚k‚t‚d who that guy in the pic is..................sry

u can email me the wallpaper and i can post it up for u if u want

[AnalyticChick]

Eh. Just got Diablo II yesterday (I know, I'm about 2 years off the curve in everything). Am having much fun running ragged over the hordes of evil with my assasin (and consequently not recapping B&S). Considering the character type was obviously supposed to be Asian, and that it has L33T martial arts skillz, I really wanted to name it "ZhaoZhong". However, I then took one look at the character model and changed my mind.

Also, it is interesting that my strategy in Diablo, that of running in and taking care of the big baddies first before moving onto the horde of "Fallen" is the exact opposite from what everyone is doing in Book and Sword. However, the main villians actually ATTACK YOU while you are trying to take care of all their underlings in this game, a point that both the RFS and Qing Dynasty could do well to emulate.

[earth4477]

I think the best version its tvb's 1980's version since its overall good & have a good themesong & cast.

did anyone watch it?
what did you think of it?

[AnalyticChick]

A few things before we begin.
I felt, as I was looking over this again, that this chunk might have one of the more skewed perspectives of the lot. This stems fom the fact that I hadn't been thinking about Book and Sword for a couple of days now and upon reviewing this episode to snark on it, noticed that hey, ZZZ is really hot.
Also, I'm having problems with my F drive, and I'm too lazy to just reboot my machine so I could cover the last two minutes or so. In an case, there is a really cute YYT/LYZ shot that I will post up next time I can get my disk drive to work.
As always, any comments, feedback, or questions from my adoring public would be vastly welcome.

That Girl Is CRAZY
After the fade in from the (IMHO, really cool) beginning song, we see ZQ…with a spear…waving it about in a menacing manner…preparing to eviscerate the RFS boys. Hold up. I know that I haven’t been paying much attention to you lately, B&S, but isn’t ZQ, a good guy (well, technically girl)?
So it turns out that ZQ is angry at the FRS-ers, not for belittling her so many times for their own personal enjoyment, but for not planning to take her along on the foolproof and therefore entirely innocuous plan to save WTL. Immediately, she zeros onto XTH and proceeds to scream at him in that oh-so-cute-and-charming way she has of abusing her vocal cords and my ears. XTH, knowing this sure as heck isn’t the good fight, gives out the command that ZQ be allowed to come with them to face certain death.

It’s Good To Be The Emperor
Again, lest the point remain unsaid, the tea – it is belonging to QL.
We open on a calm QL and an apparently agitated lackey. Since this guy is in a surprising lot of this series, I guess I should give him an acronym. I personally refer to him as the henchman who isn’t ZZZ, but we can shorten that to OH for “Other Henchman”.
So OH, well versed in the fine art of intelligence, knows that the RFS are on the march. From the first scene and the utter lack of subtlety in which the twenty odd RFS members and allies moved out, this tidbit should not have been hard to garner. In any case, QL says he knows already. Whether he REALLY knew beforehand is unimportant. The important part is that he’s the emperor and OH looks suitably impressed and humble at QL’s not quite revelation of his plans. We do know, though, that it has to do with the positioning of Zhou Hwai’s troops. And we know it will be good and devious as QL has his sneaky face on for his close-up.

Come Play With Us!
In case there aren’t enough participants in the inevitable fray to take place later in the episode, we get the Muslim band led by HQT creeping around at night. They break into Zhou Hwai’s camp (which looks remarkably like ZZZ’s camp…) and sneak a look at the armory where they find some cool looking, full-body metal armor.
You know, these rebels don’t have anything on REAL guerilla warriors. After all, both the RFS and HQT’s band have let pass opportunities to destroy their enemy’s main weapon depositories. After some real nice conniving (in the case of the RFS) or sneaking about (in the case of the Muslims), what the good guys have figured out is that the Qing army uses weapons and likes to keep their vital organs protected in battle.

And So It Begins
Kay now. The RFS are rolling rocks stuffed with explosives (which they snitched from ZZZ) up a cliff to prepare to ambush the Qing soldiers and save WTL – assuming, of course, that they don’t blow him up first. In any case, we have a quite touching (are there any other kind?) LB interval when a random RFS brother urges her to rest, but she persisting on because she just needs her huggy-bear back so badly.
So in the midst of this honest labor, we catch sight of the brains of this operation, namely CJL and XTH standing on the bottom of the cliff supervising the action. More specifically, this means that while all the other brothers are grunting and puffing up the cliff with boulders in their arms, CJL is waving his fan about and talking to XTH while his pageboy looks on in rapt admiration. Isn’t it nice to be the management?

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting
The Qing caravan rolls around and once again I am justified in why I watch this series.
But first we see LYZ, in the guise of a Qing soldier, run off from behind a boulder. Run, Sun Li, run!
Then we get the obligatory setup of “But Zhang DaRen, the cliffs, they are so steep. Can’t we just give in to reason and…” “Of course not! The emperor ordered us to take this pass. Do you want to go against the emperor’s word?” It amused me to see that throughout this exchange, which takes place on horseback, my favorite Singaporean compere turned villain absolutely CANNOT make his horse stand still. Once again, I wonder why they picked him for the “fighting and horseback riding” role. Probably because his company is putting up the money.
As the caravan makes its way through the pass, the RFS boulders from the sky drop down. I really don’t understand why the series made such a big deal about the RFS packing the rocks with explosives because the volatile quality of the dynamite is never utilized at all. Instead, they speed up at a nice constant acceleration of 9.81 m/s2 (free fall negating air pressure) to crush whole passels of hapless Qing soldiers.
ZZZ, surveying the scene, orders his troops to keep on rolling. Does this remind anyone else of the Charge of the Light Brigade? In any case, he has got his soldiers sufficiently scared of him so they follow behind, even though determined looking RFS-ers materialize both in front of and behind the caravan.
CJL and ZZZ then carry on one of those faux-polite conversations that cultured adversaries exchange before beating the stuffing out of one another. ZZZ, again, looks to be the same age as CJL, if not younger in the cut-away, but what do I know? Finally, in the grand tradition of upper management everywhere, CJL gives the command to “Advance” and ZZZ the command to “Protect the Cart”. So they start to fight, CJL with ZZZ I mean. And in case anyone was still wondering who to root for, CJL is helpfully wearing a suit of pure white while ZZZ has on an outfit of sinister black.
There is fighting. Swords clank, the RFS-ers look hard-***, lots of stunt people fall. For the sheer fact that LB’s swords DO NOT shoot out colorful bolts of light, I love this series. And it also just looks so darn cool.
So LB makes her way to one of the carts, breaks the lock to find…YYT! He is, of course, elated. Her face falls faster than stock prices in the Great Crash of ’29. Mumbling a half-hearted exhortation to her comrades, she leaps off in search of her one true heart, leaving YYT to look sad. Luckily, LYZ is here to make him feel better – or not. She tries to “save him”, but skitters when two of the RFS boys swoop in to bust YYT out. Finally, LB finds the right cart and breaks the lock. WTL literally leaps out of his confines and he and his wife have a touching, teary, heartfelt reunion on top of the prison cart in the middle of everyone trying to kill everyone else. Cut to YYT looking sad.
ZZZ, sensing things aren’t going quite as he had hoped for, makes the tactical decision to take WTL hostage. Okay, considering the RFS’s annoying little habit of nobility, he can probably get away with it. WTL says that death won’t faze him, but then again ZZZ really doesn’t care about that particular opinion at this point. LB, to make matters worse, goes on her knees and vows to follow her husband in death. More insulting ZZZ’s parentage from the RFS peanut gallery. And then ZZZ gets to defend himself by reminding us that he has his own resolutions and loyalties. And how. He moves to kill WTL, but is stopped by CJL’s agreement to let him go in exchange for WTL’s life. No one realizes, or probably only ZZZ does, that his is still the sharp edge to WTL’s jugular. Mass exodus of people creeping to the left of the screen.
In any case, OH suddenly appears at the cliff top and fires off a flare arrow. From over the horizon comes the cavalry (in reality a bunch of armored up Qing soldiers) to save the day. ZZZ looks vaguely surprised that, hey, the Qing Dynasty really didn’t send him to a senseless death after all. He smirks. I swoon.
So the RFS-ers, seeing this change in the wheel of fate, revert back to what they do best and start blindly attacking the guys wearing full body armor and carrying really large tower shields. Somewhere in there, LYZ comes in and tries to get YYT to save himself, but because she is not LB, fails. The RFS leaders then engage in a quick conference to affirm that they have in fact been hoodwinked. To set up future plot lines, ZZZ at this point pings XTH with his sewing needles of doom. Also a setter-upper, CJL throws a jade pendant to WTL and tells him a place and a date. Because we still have about 33 episodes of this thing to go, the RFS do not in fact get annihilated at this point, but instead get their hides saved by the Muslim band. Exeunt omnis.
Also, in case anyone was wondering, and in my most humble and unbiased opinion, ZZZ so rocked that scene. I frankly do not see how other people miss the extreme coolness of ZZZ and of Guo Liang who plays him so well. All my EEE, truly, do belong to thee.

Cleaning Up Is So Hard To Do
It is on an unhappy top secret base that we pan into. Everywhere is the sick, wounded, and dying. In the air is the mournful call of the erhu. It is additionally revealed that both YYT and XTH are missing. Looking at the silver lining though, CJL and HQT are once again in the same province.
Apparently, ZZZ’s sewing needles of doom (which he has hit the tenth brother with, as villains are wont to do) have the ability to plunge into a person’s flesh without breaking the skin. Okay. I’ll buy this. The guys from Wudan, of course, are all about those needles.
LB, seeing this scene of wreck and ruin for the sake of one man (namely her man) runs outside to feel guilty in peace. CJL comes out to comfort her (something which he should be quite good at by now). This time, HQT comes along as well and between the two of them manage to convince LB that victory will be theirs! Someday.

The Uses Of A Female Companion
From the destruction of the battlefield, ZQ rises up. So she managed to survive the onslaught. She goes and finds XTH, who has evidently survived as well. Fancy that. Sensing the arrival of cannon fodder, he tells her to feign death. Obligingly, two Qing soldiers happen along on ZZZ’s command to make sure everyone is truly dead. Instead of just sticking all the corpses with the sharp point of their swords, they instead decide to rely on their infallible sense of “live-dar”. XTH, however, is a bit feistier than most corpses and manages to bash the heads of one soldier when they bend down to check his vital signs. ZQ takes care of the other one. Exhausted from the effort, XTH and ZQ grab the two horses of the recently departed Qing soldiers. Then they ride off into the horizon…together. Now isn’t that sweet?
For our second vignette, we have LYZ scouring the battlefield for YYT. She finds him, barely alive yet still kicking, and rejoices. He, however, messes up this heartwarming meeting by doggedly asking after WTL. LYZ, denying him nothing, tells him that he has been captured by ZZZ. He wants to go after his Fourth brother immediately, but she suggests that he rest up before preparing to take on ZZZ again. Being too weak to rebuff her, YYT gets led off screen by LYZ.

XTH and ZQ, Sitting In A Cave
As the header aptly indicates, XTH and ZQ are in fact sitting, or rather squatting in a rather dank cave. He is sick and feverish from overexposure and those darn sewing needles. There is some nascent sense of concern on her part, which is always good for a romance. Eventually, she agrees to remove the needles from his shoulder, the alternative of course to watching him die. So without disinfection or sanitation, she cuts up XTH’s shoulder to the bone in order to pull out three sewing needles with her unwashed fingers. He passes out shortly thereafter, but manages not to succumb to infection. After all, I’ve always said there was something special about that boy.

An Effective Meeting. And No, That Isn’t An Oxymoron.
The Qing cadre debriefs after the quasi-debacle that was the big fight. In contrast to the RFS, QL is clearly in charge and so the meeting progresses at a brisk pace. They concisely pin down why their plans failed and QL is informed of the Muslims’ connections to the RFS. Though both his advisors urge quick, decisive, punitive action, QL thinks it best to focus on one indignant minority at a time. Then OH comes in with the pendant and the note from WTL/CJL inviting QL to come to Hu Nan to view the moonlight on the lake in a month’s time. This move by CJL causes QL to further admire his composure, intelligence, maturity, and general coolness. After all, there’s nothing like the praise of an enemy to establish a hero’s mettle. Finally, over the many worried and downright concerned glances passed between his three lackeys (ZZZ, OH, and ZH – Zhao Hwai), he accepts the summons And that’s that.

Because It’s My China - All Mine
QL is speaking to OH, or rather speaking at him. He says that as emperor of all China, he should be able to go anywhere that he pleases, anytime that he pleases. After all, is not all this beautiful land, houses, peoples, horses, and tea his to do with as he wishes? If he let the expectation of certain death faze him, then he would be worse off than a mere Head Helmsman of the RFS. OH still looks unconvinced, but QL says he will be taking ZZZ and ZH, so he should be set. More screen time for ZZZ is also perfectly fine by me.

CJL Does Stuff
Yes he does. He paces. He drinks tea (from the same serving that QL uses, incidentally). He gets consoled by his pageboy about working too hard. And he waits. And waits. Luckily, here come some RFS-ers to alleviate his tedium. No one seems to have any news about the missing parties. However, the Muslims and the RFS manage to form an alliance based on the “enemy of my enemy” principle. And the whole vigilant do-gooder attitude as well. Plus, their leaders have the hots for one another.
So now CJL has moved outside in his general moping and introspection. He writes some calligraphy, really beautifully in fact. Whatever else you can say about CJL, that boy’s got some really fine penmanship. HQT comes out and they have a Tender Moment. She teaches him to write his unhappiness into the dirt so the wind can quickly efface it from ground and heart. Happy things, like YYT’s inexpressible and all-consuming love for LB, should be carved into stone. Significant looks are casually thrown around, smiles are beamed at one another and I think I might have caught a joined hand in there somewhere as they talk about their childhoods. In other words, things are really starting to heat up now.

XTH Apologizes, ZQ Listens, Pigs Fly
Basically all you need to know is in the header. This is the slightly tedious, but extremely necessary initial “how their hate turned to love” scene. Because eventually they will be sleeping together if the ending clip is to be trusted. Therefore, it would be best to lay the foundation early.
The other day, I was listening to my xiang sheng cds and noted a sentiment that I think is particularly apt at this time. So the comedian is complaining about the length of television serials. Apparently, they started out as one episode, then turned into two volumes, and now are spiraling from forty episodes and up. He further comments about how a budding romance might get started in episode one and not get resolved until a hundred episodes later. “In all that time”, he says indignantly “I could have just found a girlfriend myself.” Hehe.

[AnalyticChick]

Here is the screenshot as promised,
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You know, they are really cute together. But then again, Sun Li is cute enough to pull off the "aww"-ness with just about anyone.