Before I get going on this, I am going to have to say a couple of things about this series that everyone I know on Facebook has heard many time. One, stylistically this show is outstanding! The use of these panning comic book panels at times during the episode and as a sign that the episode has come to a close is well done and a cool touch. Also some of the camera angles used are both unique and innovative without being film school ostentatious or gratuitous. Two, I've noticed strong parallels between this show and the American show Leverage. Gexiao is Nate, the Mastermind. Hu is Elliot, the Hitter. Sanniang is Parker, the Thief. Xiaomei is Sophie, the Grifter (even though in this case the Grifter is male, he's a master of disguise and instead of being a really bad actor, he's a really bad singer. Also, I'm fairly sure Xiaomei is a full-on homosexual, but that isn't portrayed negatively other than Hu calling him "sissy" as a nickname) The comparison also continues with the criminals helping the downtrodden and Gexiao being a functioning alcoholic.
Now onto my take about the seventh episode...
This episode started off with bringing the arc from the last 2 episodes to a close, a short epilogue if you will, before starting the next arc, "The Flying General" A masterful cricket trainer goes unbeaten for 28 years and has this cricket called "The Flying General" (hence this case's name) that he's managed to keep alive for 10 years! Old man loses for the first time and gets beaten to death, The Flying General gets taken by the bad guy and old man has his shit busted up and burned. Enter the son and his wife and then Yi Mei Zhi comes to give their aid. And that's the breakdown in a nutshell.
But of course there's more going on in this episode than just that. The son is pretty much an allegory for sexism. Like a blatant sexist to the point where when Gexiao and Sanniang meet with him, he'll only directly speak to Gexiao, which ticks Sanniang off but that's no surprise. Ri'er (the son) even treats his wife like shit, slapping her for her reminding him of his father's last wish (which was to not go after revenge other than to reclaim The Flying General) and even saying that she was disparaging his father's name by doing so!
What a dick.
We also learn in this episode that Sanniang has a fear of insects. When she was a girl, the man and woman who was raising her took her out to the forest, gave her their last biscuit, and ditched her out there...at the man's urging of course, the woman had come to think of Sanniang as her daughter, but they were so poor that the biscuit was the last thing they had. Guy is still a prick, but I digress a bit. Anyways, when she was out there alone in the forest, she got scared by some bugs, with a cricket flying into her mouth that she swallowed (free protein!) and that's why she's so frightened by bugs that she won't use her superior lightfoot to just steal The Flying General. That would make for a really short episode, let alone an arc that'll span two and a half episodes.
It's kinda nice to see a series like this where nobody (other than the Yi Zhi Mei team) is sympathetic. Well, maybe Bingbing, because she's Ri'er's wife and is trying to keep the family's moral compass true, but that's it. I'm hoping that by the end of this arc, he has a turnaround...because the redemption thing is a good plot payoff.
You can find this series at ancientchinese.net just join the free forums and give a "thank you for uploading" reply to the thread and download away! And tell them Sakebito sent ya!
No comments:
Post a Comment