Nirvana in Fire Rewatch: Episode 13
Jun. 10th, 2019 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kraitThere are so many good, tense, double-layered conversations in this episode! There are also lots of suppressed emotions, and the deeper elements of the show are beginning to surface.
Yujin shows up convinced that Sir Su is on death's door because gossip in the city says he's so ill he's turned away all his visitors. Sir Su looks suitably pleased that his trolling worked:
Clearly a man too ill to have guests.
Yujin's history and home life:
Yujin brought fruit and Jingrui with him for this visit, and we get some heartbreaking glimpses into Yujin's home life: he always feels alone in his house on New Year's, because his father leaves right after the ancestor ceremony to resume his studies. His father is always away at Taoist temples meditating; neither he nor Yujin even knew the Empress had been ill, though she's Yujin's aunt. Later, we learn a little bit about Yujin's mother, and see exactly how little his father values him.
Prince Jing's courtly education:
This is such a great episode for Jinyan's development; you can see Jingyan developing his instincts for the kind of twisty political thought an Emperor needs to understand. When he discusses the gunpowder case with Shen Zhui, at first he's naively surprised that the illegal firework factory is still operating so long after Minister Lou's arrest. Give him credit, though - Shen Zhui only has to say, "Obviously, there are other beneficiaries" and Jingyan makes the leap: the Minister supported the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince must be maintaining the illegal factory.
It's no wonder that he's angry and on edge when he comes to visit Mei Changsu, who pours gasoline on the fire by emphasising his own scheming nature to Jingyan. They argue it out like lawyers, and Mei Changsu gives a little ground but maintains his own choices.
There's another delightful moment of Jingyan Learning About Politics, too; he's surprised that Mei Changsu knows about the gunpowder smuggling case, then connects the dots himself: "Of course. Shen Zhui is someone you recommended I befriend. You'll definitely keep an eye on him."
Mei Changsu's inner conflict:
After being caught out in the matter of hand gestures, he's clearly torn. I think half his vicious explanation of his manipulative treatment of Tong Lu is an attempt to defray suspicion after Jingyan brings up Mei Changsu's telltale 'thinking' gesture, but the other half is an attempt to remind and convince himself. See how unlike Lin Shu I am, he's practically shouting, as he points out Tong Lu and explains how he trusts this man completely, but nonetheless keeps control of his family.
The divide between Lin Shu and Mei Changsu plays out again immediately afterward; Mei Changsu having deduced who's behind the gunpowder smuggling, sweeps to his feet and commands Li Gang, "Prepare my coach. I need to go out."
The next minute we see Mei Changsu standing on the steps, looking at Doctor Yan. "Physician Yan, I really have an urgent matter and I need to go out," he pleads, in the tone of a child perplexed at being denied a toy. "See how warmly I'm dressed. Moreover, Fei Liu and Li Gang will be going with me. Don't worry. See, the snow has stopped. I'm sure it will be all right."
(I may have mentioned once or twice how much I love Doctor Yan. That's still a thing! His response is, "I will decide if it's all right!" and "If you come back horizontal, it will destroy my good reputation!")
On the surface this scene is hilarious, not to mention adorable, but coming right after the previous scene it's also a mirror of Mei Changsu's struggle between selves: the commanding Marshall who gives orders and expects to be obeyed becomes a man subject to a doctor's orders, who has to resort to trickery in order to ride in his own coach. Ouch.
If anyone can make a video clip out of this couple of minutes, please say so? I will give you links and times, because I want very much to be able to link it or embed it here!
Justice versus anger:
Mei Changsu confronts the person behind the gunpowder smuggling, and untangles his reasoning. He sounds like he's discovered something surprising when the culprit's motives begin to unfold; "So after all these years of planning, you only want to kill him," he says, like he can't quite believe in such limited ambition. The culprit has a long grudge against the Emperor, with one mistreatment piled upon another, and it touches on the Chiyan case via the death of Consort Chen and her son. Mei Changsu lays out for him how little his attack will hurt the Emperor, compared to other people. "You are not taking revenge. You are just venting your anger," Mei Changsu concludes.
Aside from pretty strongly hinting that he himself opposes the Emperor, Mei Changsu doesn't make any direct comparisons, but Episode 10 gave us ample evidence of how carefully planned and meticulously targeted Mei Changsu's own revenge is, and how its aim isn't only to topple the Emperor, but to ensure that the next Emperor has honourable and reliable supporters to undo the damage.
In conclusion:
Mei Changsu knows that, when giving your entire life over to a plan to replace your Emperor, the first step is making sure the new one is worth it.
Edit: There are no major spoilers beneath the cuts, but the comments do contain some spoilery discussion!
Yujin shows up convinced that Sir Su is on death's door because gossip in the city says he's so ill he's turned away all his visitors. Sir Su looks suitably pleased that his trolling worked:
Clearly a man too ill to have guests.
Yujin's history and home life:
Yujin brought fruit and Jingrui with him for this visit, and we get some heartbreaking glimpses into Yujin's home life: he always feels alone in his house on New Year's, because his father leaves right after the ancestor ceremony to resume his studies. His father is always away at Taoist temples meditating; neither he nor Yujin even knew the Empress had been ill, though she's Yujin's aunt. Later, we learn a little bit about Yujin's mother, and see exactly how little his father values him.
Prince Jing's courtly education:
This is such a great episode for Jinyan's development; you can see Jingyan developing his instincts for the kind of twisty political thought an Emperor needs to understand. When he discusses the gunpowder case with Shen Zhui, at first he's naively surprised that the illegal firework factory is still operating so long after Minister Lou's arrest. Give him credit, though - Shen Zhui only has to say, "Obviously, there are other beneficiaries" and Jingyan makes the leap: the Minister supported the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince must be maintaining the illegal factory.
It's no wonder that he's angry and on edge when he comes to visit Mei Changsu, who pours gasoline on the fire by emphasising his own scheming nature to Jingyan. They argue it out like lawyers, and Mei Changsu gives a little ground but maintains his own choices.
There's another delightful moment of Jingyan Learning About Politics, too; he's surprised that Mei Changsu knows about the gunpowder smuggling case, then connects the dots himself: "Of course. Shen Zhui is someone you recommended I befriend. You'll definitely keep an eye on him."
Mei Changsu's inner conflict:
After being caught out in the matter of hand gestures, he's clearly torn. I think half his vicious explanation of his manipulative treatment of Tong Lu is an attempt to defray suspicion after Jingyan brings up Mei Changsu's telltale 'thinking' gesture, but the other half is an attempt to remind and convince himself. See how unlike Lin Shu I am, he's practically shouting, as he points out Tong Lu and explains how he trusts this man completely, but nonetheless keeps control of his family.
The divide between Lin Shu and Mei Changsu plays out again immediately afterward; Mei Changsu having deduced who's behind the gunpowder smuggling, sweeps to his feet and commands Li Gang, "Prepare my coach. I need to go out."
The next minute we see Mei Changsu standing on the steps, looking at Doctor Yan. "Physician Yan, I really have an urgent matter and I need to go out," he pleads, in the tone of a child perplexed at being denied a toy. "See how warmly I'm dressed. Moreover, Fei Liu and Li Gang will be going with me. Don't worry. See, the snow has stopped. I'm sure it will be all right."
(I may have mentioned once or twice how much I love Doctor Yan. That's still a thing! His response is, "I will decide if it's all right!" and "If you come back horizontal, it will destroy my good reputation!")
On the surface this scene is hilarious, not to mention adorable, but coming right after the previous scene it's also a mirror of Mei Changsu's struggle between selves: the commanding Marshall who gives orders and expects to be obeyed becomes a man subject to a doctor's orders, who has to resort to trickery in order to ride in his own coach. Ouch.
If anyone can make a video clip out of this couple of minutes, please say so? I will give you links and times, because I want very much to be able to link it or embed it here!
Justice versus anger:
Mei Changsu confronts the person behind the gunpowder smuggling, and untangles his reasoning. He sounds like he's discovered something surprising when the culprit's motives begin to unfold; "So after all these years of planning, you only want to kill him," he says, like he can't quite believe in such limited ambition. The culprit has a long grudge against the Emperor, with one mistreatment piled upon another, and it touches on the Chiyan case via the death of Consort Chen and her son. Mei Changsu lays out for him how little his attack will hurt the Emperor, compared to other people. "You are not taking revenge. You are just venting your anger," Mei Changsu concludes.
Aside from pretty strongly hinting that he himself opposes the Emperor, Mei Changsu doesn't make any direct comparisons, but Episode 10 gave us ample evidence of how carefully planned and meticulously targeted Mei Changsu's own revenge is, and how its aim isn't only to topple the Emperor, but to ensure that the next Emperor has honourable and reliable supporters to undo the damage.
In conclusion:
Mei Changsu knows that, when giving your entire life over to a plan to replace your Emperor, the first step is making sure the new one is worth it.
Edit: There are no major spoilers beneath the cuts, but the comments do contain some spoilery discussion!
no subject
Date: 2019-06-12 08:33 am (UTC)Mei Changsu knows that, when giving your entire life over to a plan to replace your Emperor, the first step is making sure the new one is worth it.
But the goal that he's working toward is not replacing the Emperor, it's getting justice for the Chiyan army. Putting Jingyan on the throne and ensuring a better future for Da Liang is a secondary goal and conveniently one supports the other, but if they didn't... I'd love to read that fic :) I'd also be interested in the AU where e.g. Jingyan is dead and MCS still has the same goal, only now he has to do it differently, and he'll also be able to decide who of the Crown Prince or Prince Yu becomes Emperor and neither would be very good.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-14 04:25 am (UTC)But the goal that he's working toward is not replacing the Emperor, it's getting justice for the Chiyan army.
That's true; replacing the Emperor is, like, Step 94, and can't happen till after the Chiyan Case outcome is reversed. My sentence should have been giving your entire life over to a plan that includes replacing your Emperor, because that's definitely less of a goal for him and more of an afterthought, or just eventual consequence.
Which means Mei Changsu planned Step 94, a minor sub-plot of his master plan, better than the Marquis planned his entire one-point plan! :D Marquis, I expected better of you.
I'd also be interested in the AU where e.g. Jingyan is dead and MCS still has the same goal, only now he has to do it differently
I vote he makes Consort Jing the next Empress. :D
no subject
Date: 2019-06-14 09:47 am (UTC)The Marquis is so good at projecting an aura of calm competence that I tend to forget how stupid and without foresight his assassination attempt was. Nobody's perfect ;)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-15 05:39 am (UTC)I think he did put a lot of foresight into his plan; he deliberately used the fireworks factory to cover his tracks, and even Mei Changsu took quite a while to figure it out.
He just didn't put any... aftersight... into it. No calculation of the fallout radius, or the relative degrees of hurt it would inflict on his enemies versus bystanders.
But yeah, that aura really breaks down when Mei Changsu gets under his skin! Growling and yelling are the complete opposite of how we've seen him prior to that scene, and it definitely gives a deeper layer of characterisation to him! All that Taoist meditation and withdrawal from the world was a lie, or at best guilt, not to mention what it adds to his scheming with the Princes.
I love this show so much for things like this. <3
(Also: *excellent* icon!!)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 11:32 am (UTC)I don't remember, do we know what the occasion was for him to try it now and not before? Just opportunity?
I don't dare rewatching an episode because then I would want to rewatch all of them and I don't have that time rn...
Thanks :)
no subject
Date: 2019-06-16 11:55 pm (UTC)You should totally rewatch just one episode... *tempts* :D But no, I feel you; I'm going much slower than I would like, because my time is also limited and there's so much I want to read or rewatch!