THE L WORD GENERATION Q MASTERPOST

Back when The L Word Generation Q Seasons 1 and 2 aired, I was inspired to write about it and in particular about Dani Nunez and Gigi Ghorbani. But season 3 was such an unmitigated dumpster fire and the awful way some of the characters were handled (cough-Gigi-cough) that I refuse to waste any of my time writing about it. But seeing as so much work (and thought) already went into it, I’m posting this master-list for any who might want to go through them. I posted all of these on my Tumblr blog and it is way too much work to publish these posts here individually, so I’m not going to do that.

Gigi Ghorbani on The L Word Generation Q

The L Word Generation Q – Is Dani into Gigi – Part 1 of 2

The L Word Generation Q – Is Dani into Gigi – Part 2 of 2

The L Word Generation Q – Bette and Gigi

Can you please do an analysis comparison of Dani’s growth as a person in her relationship with Gigi compared to how she was in her relationship with Sophie?: Link

Question cause I wanna know your thoughts. On the night where Dani, Gigi & Micah went out, Gigi runs into Bette and I think this is the scene where Bette tells Gigi she isn’t enough (correct me if I’m wrong tho) Do you think that’s why she confesses to Dani afterwards? As a sort-of rebound?( I dunno… i always found that kinda off, how she moved so quickly from one to the other): Link

how would you deconstruct the “Are you hitting on me?” statement by Dani. Gigi clearly wasn’t seeing this coming and was slightly taken back by the upfront question from Dani and when Gigi says no, it seems like Dani is slightly taken aback and confirms by asking “but you are not sure” as if she wanted her to say yes and for things to move in other direction: Link

Have you done the comparison of Gigi and Bette’s date and Gigi and Dani’s non date? If not can you?: Link

The L Word Generation Q – The Bette and Dani Fight

About Dani’s feelings for Gigi and Finley showing up at her house: Link

What did you think of the scene where Dani shows up at Gigi’s office & Gigi gives her an excuse but Dani straight up calls her out on it by saying “maybe you just didn’t want to see me” Do you think Gigi was surprised by that?: Link

Dani’s scene with Nat and Alice.

I hate Rodolfo for the way he treats his daughter. But I can’t help but keep going back to him saying to Dani that he thought she’d end up with someone like Gigi. Do you think it influenced the way Dani viewed Gigi ? Was it something that nudged her in Gigi’s direction?: Link

the scene in Dani’s apartment where she says to Gigi “you sound like Sophie”. With Gigi’s reaction, I felt like she was a little upset for being compared with Sophie. I think it is because she already had feelings about Dani but and the “ex comparison” thing was something she didn’t like a bit. What do you think?: Link

in the scene where Dani tells Gigi she’s easy to talk to and Gigi responds by saying “not everyone would agree with you.” The look on Gigi’s face after Dani says “fuck ‘em” has always struck me as odd. It’s almost like Gigi is surprised by Dani’s response, or wasn’t expecting that reaction?: Link

I want to say that your analysis of GINI scenes are amazing. I’m curious to know if you analyzed the GINI hottest scene from episode 8 of season 2. If you did please send me a link. If you didn’t I really want to know you thoughts about it (the bode language and the other). Also what do you expect from season 3?: Link (Really clowned myself in this one, didn’t I?)

I wanted to ask you why Finley seems to be obsessed with Dani. Link

Thinking about how Marja said GINI came to be cause they couldn’t bring in a lot of actors because of Covid and how Dani was supposed to date around…had that happened do you think Gigi would’ve still been interested in Dani? Link

What did you think of the scene where Dani shows up at Gigi’s office & Gigi gives her an excuse but Dani straight up calls her out on it by saying “maybe you just didn’t want to see me” Do you think Gigi was surprised by that? Cause I personally think she wasn’t expecting Dani to come and apologize but she loved every minute of it when she did: Link

How would you deconstruct the scene where Sophie said to Dani “Because I know you” after consoling Dani in Ojai and Dani’s response was a deadpan “Do you?” to that? Link

The other day on YouTube I read something along the lines of “Gigi mentors/mother’s Dani too much and she’ll eventually get tired of her, what Gigi needs is an equal as her partner not someone that’s emotionally immature” What do you think? Do you think Gigi will ultimately get tired of Dani? I’m actually kinda curious cause Gigi herself said that she eventually tires of her partners. Link

I also think one of the main differences between Bette and Dani is that Dani is willing to learn from her mistakes and actively tries to change for the better. I think this was shown in how she went about in starting a relationship with Gigi. We know that her relationship with Sophie started with Sophie cheating on her then girlfriend with Dani and them “fucking in a bathroom stall” the first night they met. Before starting anything with Gigi, Dani actively made sure Bette was okay with it because she knew they were dating/had just broken up at the time. Link

Hey, thank you for all the analysis. Can you do a deeper analysis on the scenes from the time Gigi tells Dani that her feelings have changed to the time Dani ends up at Gigi’s doorsteps just before their first kiss. I am particularly interested in the park bench scene. I feel there is a lot of subtext in their conversation. Also, curious on what made Gigi tell Dani about her feelings after Dana’s. Curious if you think the events at Dana’s influenced her to just go for it. Link

Thanks so much for keeping us alive post end of season 2. Would love your take on the epic kiss in the rain scene in 207! Link

Hey, Thank you so much for every post you have written about Dani and Gigi. Your posts make me appreciate them more and also grateful to have found this corner of Internet where I can obsess over these two. That being said, I have one more question. I am not surprised that Dani is into Gigi. Gigi is super awesome and there to support her in Dani’s toughest moments and common who wouldn’t love Gigi back. I am curious about why Gigi is into Dani? Link

There’s this look on Bette face when she sees Gi and Dani at the bar in the love shack episode (episode 6 I think). I’m curious what you thought of it. Was it – huh, Gigi moved on too soon look? Or something else entirely? Thanks. Link

What do you make about the scene with Bette’s reaction towards Gigi/Dani being close at the bar during the karaoke scene of episode 6 if she didn’t “give a shit about Gigi” and was pretty much done with her by then? Link

Hi, thank you for your analysis they’re good :). What so you think about the it’s LA I’m sure there was traffic scene? Because for me GIGI kind of let her of the hook easy. That was inconsiderate of Dani. I was curious about your opinion for that scene. Thank you 🙂 Link

My Journey To You – Thoughts and Impressions Part 2 of 2 – The Characters

Part 1 is here.

The format of the post will be as follows:

• 1) Yun Wei Shan
• 2) Gong Zi Yu
• 3) Their Relationship
• 4) Shangguan Qian
• 5) Gong Shang Jue
• 6) Their relationship

Spoilers below, beware all who enter.

Yun Wei Shan:

On paper, Yun Wei Shan seems like a perfectly fine character, she’s empathetic, kind in an unkind world and willing to go to extremes (even putting her life on the line) to protect those she loves and cares about. The problem is just that though. In a book, we would have access to her thoughts and her perspective which would make for interesting reading. But when viewed visually, it’s not as compelling. Visually, you have a character who seems to have the range of 2 expressions and there’s no sense of internal conflict. Take her ‘allegiance’ to Wufeng for instance. From the very beginning, we, the audience, can tell that she’s not truly aligned with them or their ideology. She doesn’t agree with their methods and if not for her foster sister, Yun Que she would have quit long ago. Not even the poison that Wufeng uses to keep all their assassins in check, would stop her.

What I will commend her characters for is her innate kindness. She is kind in a world that should have snuffed that light out a long time ago and yet, it persisted. This was in no small part due to her bond with Yun Que. She wasn’t simply a dorm-mate, a fellow assassin. She was a sister in every sense of the word. She had someone to care for and protect. Even her mentor, Han Ya Si, is not like the cold and unfeeling mentors we meet later. You can tell that he genuinely cares about those under him. For all intents and purposes, he raised these women since they were children and unlike the others, he doesn’t view them as tools to be used and then discarded when no longer useful.

When she goes to the Gong Family as a prospective bride, we also know that Yun Que is dead, her one tangible tie to Wufeng is gone. She’s now thrust into this family that Wufeng claims is their arch-nemesis but throughout the show, we never find out what her actual mission is, what is she after? Why was she sent? She’s clearly not supposed to kill anyone. Evade discovery, but then what? We never find out. But because she’s not particularly loyal to Wufeng, there’s never any sense of conflicting desire inside her. So in that sense, she becomes a very one-note-character.

In terms of character growth, there is very little. Throughout the series, her one desire for freedom which, in a sense she does achieve (if you ignore the last 5 minutes of the show) All her life, she’s been told what to do and that love is a weakness. At the end, she chooses to stay with Gong Zi Yu and embraces her love for him and those around her.

Gong Zi Yu:

Gong Zi Yu is perhaps the weakest link among the four main leads. If Yun Wei Shan’s growth seemed negligible, Zi Yu’s felt unearned.

I understand what the writer and director were going for, they set him up as a contrast, unlike the other clan warriors who are cold and calculative, he was warm and kind. He starts off the series as someone who doesn’t much care for the Gong family traditions, preferring instead the company of courtesans, he likes poetry and music. However, with the sudden death of his father and brother, he’s thrust back into the family and worse into the role of Sword Wielder (SW), the leader of the Gongs. To officially become the SW, he must pass 3 tests and this is where things become a little strange. He passes them with ease and it feels unearned because while others who trained their whole lives took considerably longer to pass those tests, he came in with essentially no training and aced them all.

Now, you can be special but the fact that you are “special” must be made noticeable in text, like foreshadow it, or leave subtle clues that hint at it. The show does none of this and instead just asks the audience to believe it. That is not how you write a compelling character.

He’s also probably the least mature character in the show (and I’ll get to big reveal in a bit) but his blatant disregard for the Gong family protocols more than once, illustrate his cavalier attitude. Another way of looking at this is that he breaks tradition because he wants to create a better world for the generations to follow but all of that gets negated at the end.

The big reveal at the end, where we realise that everything that happened since Yun Wei Shan’s reveal as a Wufeng assassin, was his grand plan does not make sense one bit. It comes completely left of field with little to no set-up at all. There was no foreshadowing, no little seeds left by the writer/director, little things that the audience could notice upon rewatching the show. In their effort to be ‘unexpected’, they sacrificed coherent story-telling.

Even his relationship with Yun Wei Shan is boring. I get that it was meant to be sweet but sweet will only take you so far especially in a show where the tone is anything but that. I know we’re meant to swoon because of how steadfast he is when it comes to her but there are times when it seems straight up stupid. She is an assassin who has infiltrated his family and her mission could possibly be to kill him or someone close to him. Unlike the audience, he doesn’t know that she is kind and even if he sees it, how can he know that it’s not a facade? This also makes it seem like their relationship has no stakes, like what could she possibly do to make him doubt her or vice-versa.

I know you could be thinking, “but this is a healthy relationship.” Okay but how is it healthy? It would have been if they explicitly trusted each other and communicated (like A Dream of Splendor, now that was a healthy relationship) but Zi Yu and Yun Wei Shan don’t do that either, at least she’s not always honest. If we’re meant to believe that they do indeed communicate, then we need to see it, you can’t plug it in as an extension of a previous scene and call it a day.

One of the best ways of making a compelling couple is the push and pull of the relationship and this ship had all of the ingredients; The Assassin and The Target, both suspicious of each other but inexplicably drawn together, so much sexual tension and angst. Instead, all we got was bland love at first sight and then sticking through it.

Shangguan Qian:

Shangguan Qian is the other assassin sent by the Wufeng (why send only one when you can send two and double your chances of success) and her character is infinitely more delicious than Yun Wei Shan’s.

Shangguan Qian is very hard to pin down and stays so pretty much till the end of the series. Her motives are complex and you can never tell just whose side she’s on. I also love the way she gradually warms up to the Gong brothers. I think that Wufeng feeds it’s assassins a lot of lies about the family and her being with them, i think starts to dispel some of the myths.

She is also set-up as a foil to Yun Wei Shan. Where Wei Shan is kind and straighforward, Shangguan Qian is cold and unpredictable. Her demeanour makes sense when you look at her relationship with her mentor, Han Ya Qi, who in contrast to Han Ya Si, does seem to view his pupils as expendable. He recognises, correctly, that the only person Shangguan Qian cares about her is herself and that’s because of the world she was raised in, caught in a perpetual dance between survival and death, there was little time for luxuries like love.

But even here, the show and Shangguan Qian surprise us. At the end, we learn that Han Ya Qi did take steps to protect Shangguan Qian and when he is at death’s doorstep, alone, she does come back for him and tries to save him. The Shangguan Qian we met at the beginning of the series, would have left him there to die without a backward glance. Her time with the Gongs and especially with Yun Wei Shan and Lady Wuji, gave her glimpse of what life could be like, it’s subtle but it’s there. Every time Wei Shan helps her without asking for anything in return, there’s always a beat where you can tell that Shangguan Qian is wondering what her motives could be. She never trusts the other women fully, they are after all Wufeng assassins but I do believe, by the end of the series, her opinion of them is kinder at the very least.

I also loved how unapologetic Shangguan Qian is. She’s not sitting there wringing her hands, fussing over things she has to do. To her knowledge, if she fails her mission, she dies. Her mentor doesn’t seem to care beyond training her, she has no one to fall back on. She has a job to do and she’s going to do it to the best of her abilities.

I must also talk about the actress, Lu Yu Xiao, and her performance. Her character is someone who is always on alert, always plotting her next move, carefully observing those around her for weaknesses she can exploit. She goes from seductive to hurt to unaffected in a beat and conveys it all through her eyes and the minutest of facial expressions. Her performance is so understated and it’s a pleasure to watch.

Gong Shang Jue:

Gong Shang Jue is the resident emo dude and he is easily one of the best characters in the show. He makes no bones about his opinion of Zi Yu and for the most part, his criticisms are on point. He is also an incredibly traumatised character, having lost his mother and younger brother during the previous Wufeng attack. His zeal, therefore, to find and root out any and all Wufeng assassins who could have infiltrated the family makes sense, he’s already lost the people closest to him, he doesn’t want to lose any more. He is so single-minded that he doesn’t even spare his own prospective bride when he suspects her of being from Wufeng.

Unlike Zi Yu, Shang Jue realises why the Gongs put in the protocols that they did. At the beginning of the show, he is painted in a more antagonistic light (this is to land the big reveal at the end) but you can see that Shang Jue doesn’t really care about power. His quest for the position of SW, is more about keeping his family safe and he believes that he is the best candidate for that job.

His cold exterior only ever cracks when he’s with his other brother Gong Yuan Zhi (he’s the resident psychopath) With Yuan Zhi, you can see what Shang Jue could have been like, if not for the events of the past.

The relationship between Shang Jue and Shangguan Qian is a treat to watch. There was so much sexual tension between them, so much suppressed yearning, I loved it. Theirs was such a cat and mouse game with each constantly trying to outwit the other.

Is it a healthy relationship? Not really, he literally interrogates her and threatens to torture her even more if she doesn’t talk. But he’s not someone who is demonstrative of his emotions and feelings, like I don’t think he knows how to open up. But with Shangguan Qian, his cold heart begins to thaw and you can see that in their interactions.

Every time, Shangguan Qian initiates physical intimacy or tries to, you can see the confusion on his face and the inner conflict. On the one hand, he doesn’t fully trust her and is suspicious of her motives, but on the other, there is a part of him that genuinely likes and yearns for it. There are instances where he wants to reach out to her or touch her but always holds himself back.

Shangguan Qian is also only ever honest with Shang Jue, she tells him the truth and I think a lot of their later interactions (at least on her part) are largely genuine.

They are also unnervingly similar to each other, both owe their allegiance to something larger than themselves and are shaped by their trauma (Shangguan Qian with the loss of her entire family and Shang Jue with the death of his mother and brother) They are drawn to each other despite everything because they see that they are the only people who are capable of understanding exactly what the other is going through.

What differentiates them however, is that while Shang Jue is driven by loyalty, Shangguan Qian is driven by vengeance and therein lies their greatest obstacle, the one thing that neither is willing to compromise. They are so beautifully written and executed that, even knowing that it could never work out, they still make the audience root for them.

And yet, by the end of the show, they are both fundamentally different people. Shang Jue chooses to let her go when he finds out she’s pregnant and instead of going back to Wufeng, Shangguan Qian chooses to stay in a small isolated house with azaleas planted around the house. She chooses to peace and safety for her unborn child over her thirst for revenge.

If there is to be a season 2, a Shangguan Qian and Shang Jue reunion is inevitable and I for one, would love to see how that unfolds…

My Journey To You – Thoughts and Impressions Part 1 of 2

My Journey To You is a 2023 fantasy, Wuxia show (shows/films that are based in ancient China with martial arts warriors being capable of superhuman feats, like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). It was highly anticipated owing to the amazing trailer (one of the best I’ve seen.)

Plot: The series tells the story of Yun Wei Shan, a spy longing for freedom, who infiltrates the Gong residence to complete a mission. In the eerie and treacherous Gong residence, she encounters love and friendship, embarks on a journey of self-discovery, and finds the determination to move forward. Together with the rebellious nobleman Gong Zi Yu, they grow and mature through their shared experiences. Streaming source: Iqiyi. (via mydramalist)

It stars: Yu Shu Xin (Yun Wei Shan), Zhang Ling He(Gong Zi Yu), Ryan Cheng (Gong Shang Jue) and Lu Yu Xiao (Shangguan Qian), Tian Jia Rui (Gong Yuan Zhi), Jolin Jin (Gong Zi Shang) and Sun Chen Jun (Jin Fan)

Written by: Edward Guo.

Series directed by: Edward Guo & Luo Luo

To keep the post from getting obscenely long, I’m going to split it into two. This post will be about the technical aspects of the show. Part 2 will focus on the characters.

I’ll talk about everything I liked before I get into the stuff that I didn’t.

Right off the bat, this show has some of the most gorgeous characters you’ll come across and this applies to both the men and the women. The costume and make-up departments do an amazing job making already attractive people look ridiculously attractive. They also help the actors really inhabit the world seamlessly. The costumes are especially incredibly detailed and intricate, you can see the care that went into crafting the look for each of these characters. Shout-out to Huang Wei (costume designer) and Shi Hui (Make-up)

One of the best aspects of the show is the cinematography by Wei Hong. This show is aesthetically beautiful, so many absolutely stunning shots. Chinese shows (and Korean shows) love slow-motion shots, and while at times, it can be a bit much, this show makes great use of them, especially during the fight scenes.

The cinematography is helped to a great extent by the excellent production design, courtesy Jiyao Zhang. Like the costumes, the production design too is detailed and intricate. The world feels fully realised and yet also lived in. Each of the different clan mansions, the Front Hill and Back Hill are so incredibly different and distinct that you can immediately tell where you are. An insane amount of hard work went into the show and it shows in every frame.

You can tell that they had a good budget to work with and every bit of it was spent on making the show look as stylized as possible, there is not an ounce of realism to be found here, cue slow-motion beautiful hair flying shots. (Every day I bemoan my inability to make gifs) But the screengrabs below illustrate the beauty of the show, it’s so gorgeous that you could literally use screengrabs as wallpapers.

The fight scenes in the show are some of the best I’ve seen. They are intense and thrilling and always coherent, you can always tell who’s fighting who. The fight scenes are also so aesthetically pleasing, like an exceptionally deadly dance. Really commend the fight coordinators for the amazing fight choreography and the actors who pulled it off so convincingly. These fights weren’t easy and add in the freezing conditions and you have some really tough shooting conditions.

Now, we come to the not-so-great stuff.

First off, the marketing. The show was marketed and advertised as an action fantasy show and while there is action and it is excellent, it’s not an “action” show. The main focus of the show is on the characters and the internal power struggle of the Gong family. There are also whole scenes, sometimes making up the bulk of an entire episode which are just conversations. I’ve seen a lot of viewers disappointed and it makes sense. they thought they were coming for action and instead they got verbose conversations.

The pacing also comes to a near-halt in some of these scenes and instead we’re treated to lengthy expositions which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it becomes tedious when it happens repetitively.

Now, let’s come to the worst thing about the show, it’s ending, specifically the last 5 minutes. This end is ridiculously, mindbogglingly bad when you consider that there is almost no confirmation on a 2nd season. It’s just such a bad idea to end on a cliffhanger like this. If they wanted to leave things open for a potential 2nd season, they could have ended with the Wufeng elders coming together at that character’s home, possibly to hold them ransom or something, like literally anything else.

if you’re planning on watching this show and I do recommend it, keep in mind that it does get slow and don’t watch the last 5 mins of the show. Trust me, you’ll like the show a whole lot more if you follow that approach.

Part 2 is here.

Story of Kunning Palace – Jiang Xue Ning – Part 2

Part 1 is here

NING’S ALLIANCES AND INFLUENCE – FIRST AND SECOND LIFE:

The one thing that stayed consistent with both ‘lives’ was Ning’s ability to cultivate relationships with people around her. There is something about her that draws people to her.

In the first life, she had Zhou Yinzhi and You Fangyin. Zhou Yinzhi was never truly trustworthy, always more interested in furthering his own ambition and keeping his neck safe. The only reason he stayed loyal to Ning was because her ambition far outpaced his own. You Fangyin’s loyalty was purer, she stayed by Ning’s side even at the cost of her own life and safety.

In the second life, things are very different, with Ning trying to actively make changes and in doing so, she won over and also changed so many people she came into contact with.

There was of course You Fangyin, who remained steadfast as ever. But her relationship with Yan Lin matured. She was open and upfront that while she cared immensely for him, she was not in love with him and he took it well. (I’ll do a deep dive on the relationships in a separate post) Same with Shen Zhi Yi, she went from someone who actively harassed Ning in life 1 to becoming one of her staunchest supporters and protected her in the court (true love and probably the healthiest of all her potential suitors). Then we have Xie Wei, who probably underwent the greatest amount of growth. And finally Zhang Zhe and with him, she actively tried to undo the mistakes of her past.

NING’S PERSONALITY:

One of the aspects that I loved about Ning is that, whether it was life 1 or 2, she was very clear when it came to her objective. She pursues her goal with a single-minded focus and is capable of thinking ten steps ahead while keeping track of possible obstacles. In the novel, we have access to her thoughts quite a bit of it is just inner monologue) and they’re great insight into her character and her growth through the story.

Her arc in life 1 is a great example of just how dedicated she in when she sets her mind on something. Think about it, she becomes the empress with all of the cards stacked against her, with no backing at all, it was all her own doing. That is admirable and impressive.

Ning thinks that in life 1, she was too clever for her own good and all she wants to do in life 2, is stay under the radar and live a boring life. In most other stories, there would have been a perceivable shift in her thinking, like she would be more noble after being humbled in her first life, and that’s just not the case. She is still very much the same person, capable of being just as callous and cruel as she used to be. This aspect is more clear in the books because we have access to her thoughts. I was concerned about how they would pull this off in the show, but thankfully they did a great job.

She remains cunning and conniving throughout the story, it’s just that she chooses to focus her considerable mental resources to protect she comes to care about. And she is single-minded in that regard as well, even willing to put her life on the line if it means that she can save them (when she was willing to whisk away Shen Zhi Yi, while fully aware of what it would cost her.)

CONCLUSION:

Was Ning “evil” in her first life? She did what everyone around her was doing and continued to do throughout the narrative with the Xue family vying for control of the court, Xie Wei with his own vengeful vendetta among others. Are her actions somehow more heinous because she dared to be ambitious and work to make that ambition a reality?

Under that hardened shell was someone who was deeply hurt and let down by all those around her, it is any surprise then that she would want a modicum of control over the course of her own life? We have this idea in our heads that people, specifically women, should be kind to the people around them and I reject that idea. Ning didn’t have to be kind and if she did, who should she be kind to, her useless family, the people who mocked her or the women who tried to trip her up?

Ning tells us that, in the previous life, she reached the zenith of power by using people indiscriminately and she very clearly views this in a negative light. But I don’t think that’s necessarily true.

Let’s review shall we, the person she dumped most callously was Yan Lin. After he loses his family and is exiled, Ning tries to convince Shen Lang to bring him back, in fact, this was something she always intended to do.

We can assume (like in life 2) that she actively took care of and protected You Fangyin which is why she stayed by her side. I think Fangyin is an inherently decent person, if she found Ning being genuinely evil (like the Xue family) I don’t think she would have stuck around.

When she realised that she was at the end of her rope in life 1, she chose to sacrifice herself to save Zhang Zhe’s life. She didn’t need to do that. If she was truly as callous as she thought she was, she would not have spared another thought for him.

I think that Ning is her own greatest critic. Taking into account, the setting of the story, Ning sees her ambition as dishonourable. Women are meant to work behind the scenes and not make too much noise. Power struggle within the harem? Perfectly fine, because that is a woman’s space. But the wider society? How dare a woman have ambitions beyond marriage and children! While Ning is fairly progressive, she’s not immune to the subconscious social prejudices of her time.

It is no surprise then that Ning thinks she was evil but as the viewer/reader, we know that she’s far from that. She’s not the conventional, dull, do-gooder female lead we usually get. Instead, in Ning, we have a nuanced and complicated female protagonist who takes back the reins of her life. She is calculating and manipulative but she is also capable of being incredibly selfless. She uses her skills to protect her loved ones but also does not shy away from using those same skills to take down people who would do her and hers harm.

Story of Kunning Palace – Jiang Xue Ning – Part 1

There was something I wanted to touch upon about Jiang Xue Ning (Xue Ning) specifically the part about the first life.

All we know about the first life and her actions therein are largely from Xue Ning’s perspective. Since we’re limited because of this perspective, it is also hard to judge just how “evil” she was. She certainly judges herself very harshly but let’s dig a little deeper.

For the purpose of clarity, I’m going to break this up into a few key points that I think would illustrate what I’m trying to say, the post is split into 2 parts:

PART 1
1) Early Life
2) Desire for power and control.
3) Ning’s desire to be loved.

PART 2
4) Alliances in first life and her influence in 2nd life
5) Ning’s Personality
6) Conclusion

EARLY LIFE:
Wanniang, Xue Ning’s father’s concubine, switched her own daughter with Xue Ning, partly out of spite because she was being thrown out and partly because she wanted her own biological daughter to have a good life (a massive fuck-you to the Jiang family)

On her deathbed, Wanniang confesses to Xue Ning about what she did and that she has informed the family as well. Once, Ning’s back home, she’s faced with a family that she knows nothing about. Her father, in her first life, was largely indifferent towards her, her mother was outright hostile (she remained the same for a large portion of the 2nd life as well) and finally there was Xue Hui, the usurper. Her entire life, up until that moment had been a massive lie and one that had absolutely nothing to do with her, she was just unfortunate to get caught in the crossfire.

If we look at things from Ning’s perspective, she was raised by Wanniang and thinks that Wanniang didn’t really care about her, she talks about her insecurity both in the novel and show, when she says that Wanniang would sometimes look at her as if trying to see someone else in her face, or that she’d suddenly pull away from Ning. It was only later that Ning realised why that was.

At home, she always felt like an interloper. She knew that when her mother looked at her, she saw Wanniang and would not let go of that prejudice. Her father had no influence at home (he’s repeatedly told that he should leave the home front to the wife) and the sister, who is so damn virtuous that there’s no way that Ning could compete with her.

Her ambition then, to become the empress, makes complete sense, it stems from wanting power and control over her life.

DESIRE FOR POWER AND CONTROL:
This is tied to her early life where she felt that she had no control. It is easy to see why she would want to be the empress because the only person more powerful than her would be the emperor. But never again would she be left unable take the reins in her life. I’m going to go in deeper into how she did that in another section.

Her pursuit for power and control stems from her perceived lack of either in her life. She felt like she didn’t have any agency, all of the things that had happened were due to other people and the decisions they made, no one considered Ning’s feelings or what she might want to do.

That she pursues Shen Lang is for 2 reasons, his older brother is sickly and sooner or later, it would be Shen Lang on the throne. The 2nd is that she sees it as balancing the scales. Since Xue Hui took everything that was meant to be hers, she would take Shen Lang, it’s that simple. It’s fortunate that Shen Lang is a decent man and while Ning was never in love with him, she did care about him.

DESIRE FOR LOVE:
Ning herself would beat up anyone who dared to say that she was driven by her desire for love. Now, some might be thinking that in that case, why did she rebuff Yan Lin who so clearly liked her? That’s partly tied to her desire for power and control. She’s so incredibly haunted by what her life was like, everything that was taken from her and feeling unwanted by her own family.

She knows that love doesn’t mean a damned thing if she’s still powerless and ultimately her need for power overshadows any tender feelings she might harbour for Yan Lin. She feels used by the people who should have been looking out for her. Ning thought that Wanniang didn’t love her and she could probably deal with that if she got along with her ‘birth’ family but she instead found herself alienated from them as well. I imagine she felt that there since there was no one in her corner, no one to protect her, she would have to do that herself but that also came from a place of hurt and disappointment. Her attitude towards and treatment of the people in her first life reflects her vindictiveness, she’s going to use them to get what she wants.

Ning’s actions in the first life are largely driven by her hurt and the all the trauma she’s experienced. Imagine coming home to your “family” and realising that you’re the outsider. Her desire for power and love are so deeply intertwined that I doubt that Ning herself could differentiate between them. She’s been hurt by people who should have cared about her, accepted her, and she will be damned before she lets anyone else do that again. It never occurs to her that there are people who could genuinely care about her and moreover she doesn’t let herself consider that they might care.

It is only once she comes back that she has more information and context and she spends more time with people like Xie Wei, Shen Zhi Yi, Yan Lin, etc that she realizes that maybe she was wrong. Time and distance allow her to see people more clearly now that her judgement is not clouded by her prejudice, by her hurt. It’s why she realizes that Shen Zhi Yi is very clearly in love with her (that’s just not up for debate) and even at the end of the first life, when Xie Wei gave her the knife, maybe he did want her to have something to defend herself with. Xie Wei had to know what Yan Lin was doing every night but being an ally, he probably didn’t want to alienate him, so instead gave Ning the dagger to protect herself with.

In keeping people at an arm’s length lest they hurt her, Ning doesn’t realise that she’s also closed herself to people who might genuinely care for her and I think she does realise that. It’s just that she figures that it’s a fair trade, she’s convinced that love and regard won’t last in the long run but shared interests will (hence her relationship with Zhou Yinzhi) but she only had to look at You Fangyin to know that people do have the ability to surprise you.

Click for Part 2

GYEONGSEONG CREATURE SEASON 1 PART 2

Wow, this was such a roller-coaster. It was everything I expected it to be and then some. Let’s get into it. As always, beware of spoilers.

To start, let me congratulate myself on guessing correctly that it was indeed Nawol-daek who gave up Tae-sang’s mother’s name. The way it was shot and edited actually made it pretty clear.

I also guessed that the threat would widen but I didn’t anticipate that there would be a massive time-jump between seasons 1 and 2. That actually raises so many questions which we’ll get to later. For now, I am very happy with the way the season ended. The show actually made it very clear just how things would go and in that respect, the foreshadowing was done well.

The pacing of the show is absolutely amazing. Having seen Part 1 when it first came out and then Part 2 just a few minutes ago, I am still not complaining that they decided to split the season. I think it may actually have been a good idea because that division was like the calm before the actual storm and I think that brief respite was necessary. When your characters are in a constant state of peril, it can sometimes make the audience disconnect because it almost becomes monotonous, the stakes no longer matter. Here, they definitely did.

The writing was also super tight with no fluff and this surprised me, once it got dark, it didn’t really try to lighten the mood with levity which a lot of other shows might have done. I think that also ties in with the subject matter and the gravity of just what they were showing. The brutality is ever present and for the perpetrators it was matter of routine which made it all the more horrifying. But when you view the other person as sub-human, it becomes easy to justify your actions irrespective of how heinous they may be.

Part 1’s focus was wider in terms of the number of characters we were introduced to and once Part 2 got going, that focus shrank so it only paid attention to Tae-sang, Chae-ok, her father, General Kato and Yukiko Maeda. The others were still there but they were no longer central to the plot and that was okay.

I admire Tae-sang’s drive to protect the people he cares about. His character went through perhaps most growth, starting from indifference to putting his life on the line multiple times to save Chae-ok. He didn’t have to do that considering he met her not too long ago but he does it anyway. He also doesn’t try to hold her back (as he tried in Part 1) and I liked that he keeps telling her that they both have to live, he gives her hope when there really didn’t seem to be any.

Chae-ok was still an absolute badass. There is a problem that a lot of dramas have where they start off with a kick-ass female character but as you get closer to the climax, she gets de-powered to prop up the male lead. I was so happy that they didn’t do that here. Chae-ok is nothing if not persistent, no matter how many times she gets knocked down, she still gets back up. There is a fire within her that nothing could put out, you could try to intimidate her but it wouldn’t get you very far.

Chae-ok and her father were always going to go back to the hospital, there was no way they would leave Seishin there at the mercy of those psychopaths. It was also always clear that her father would be the one who wouldn’t make it out. I think that when he realised just what they had done to her, he lost something within him. Death would have been better than what she had been subjected to.

The primary focus in the show was always Chae-ok and her mother and the bond between them and it wasn’t random, it all paid off in the end. It was the memories of Chae-ok that reawakened Seishin’s humanity, made her more than a mindless killer. Her final gift to her daughter was the Najin so she could live. In the end, Seishin was finally free from her tormentors, in giving up the Najin, she died but she died knowing that her baby was alive.

I had a feeling that Chae-ok would become like a hybrid form of the monster. We saw that with her mother, she was different from the other people who were infected with the Najin. She still had control of herself and if not for the anthrax, I think she would have managed to retain her humanity. Considering how Seishin reacted, it would make sense that Chae-ok would also be more in control than say Myeong-ja for instance. It’s also why Kato was so curious about her and tried to infect her.

Kato took Myeong-ja’s baby and that child is definitely a hybrid. If they have any hope of defeating it, they would a hybrid of their own. But with the time-jump, I don’t know how Maeda and Kato will figure in Season 2 since it seems to take place with a considerable time jump (in the 80s perhaps?). Unless they’ve been experimenting and have figured out a way to live longer. Especially Maeda, considering her burn injuries, I’m curious to see what form she will take in Season 2.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions like

• How does the time-jump make sense?
• What is the history between Maeda and Seishin? They hinted at it in Part 2 but didn’t give any definitive answers. Did Seishin cause the death of someone close to Maeda, who was it, how did they know each other?
• How is Ho-jae related to the Tae-sang?
• What is the meaning of the scar on Ho-jae’s back?
• What did Chae-ok do all these years?
• How do her powers differ from Seishin or even Myeong-ja?

I may get into some of these questions because there are answers we can glean from the show. But I’ll make a separate post about that so that this one doesn’t become obnoxiously long.

This show was an epic ride from start to finish and while it didn’t give us the conventional happy ending some expected, the ending it did give us is excellent. It sets up the next season perfectly while still giving a good closure to season 1. I can’t wait to what season 2 brings us.