Novoland: The Castle In The Sky 九州·天空城 - Episode 9 (Recap)
kakashi: We get to see the Wingkind Emperor in action (as Wingkind Emperor) and he looks hotter than ever. That's not the point though. The point is that he is kept on a short leash by the Regent, his uncle, much to Tianyi's dismay. We also get some Mad Queen backstory.
JoAnne: Oh but I beg to disagree. That is most definitely the point. It's like a breath of fresh air. Hot give me hot I need HOT.
Good Lord. Hot.
Another haughty looking guy is speaking up for him. He is a Minister and related to the groveling dude: meet Xue Lin (Liu Junxiao).
Go away. Bring back Hot.
Feng Tianyi cares very little not at all about the Xue Family's honor and we immediately know that's a mistake. He orders Xue Su executed immediately and leaves, glaring at Xue Lin - who frowns back at him.
There he is, there's Hot. Ooh but that look was kind of ...hmm.
Fuling is readied for the dinner now - wow, she looks gorgeous in the Wingkind clothes and overall getup! But how strange, nobody among the palace maids has ever heard of a maid called Xiao Xue. She is brought to the pavilion, where Tianyi is waiting for her. Smiling very fondly. Then complimenting her on looking very beautiful. And the Emperor even cooked for her again.
Awww, slightly less hot, more on the adorable side. And she is lovely, Fuling is. I could watch her again in something else.
At what stages they are interrupted by a winged figure in pink - who flies to the platform and then starts performing a dance (called Flying Mythical Bird Dance). How extremely awkward. Her face is half-hidden behind a veil, but of course, we have recognized her way before she unveils - it's the "maid". Truth is, her name is Xue Fei Shuang (Ju Jingyi, a member of SNH48), she is a Princess, the sister of Minister Xue Lin and she has the hots for our Wingkind Emperor. They're childhood friends and all. She is also extremely rude to Fuling, and tries to "mine" Tianyi.
Wow. I hope he shuts that down fast.
Tianyi, however, tells her to fuck off. A bit more politely. A bit. Pouting, the pretty princess walks away. Fuling, be careful!
Back to Hot, thank goodness.
After the meal, Fuling and Tianyi walk around for a bit. They're shy with each other, awww... but then, Tianyi sees Xue Su, whom he had ordered executed, sauntering about in full arrogance. Emperor snaps, but the guards are near. Pei Yu (I like him!) explains to him that the Regent intervened and pardoned Xue Su. Tianyi rages about it, but what can he do? He is not of age yet and has no final say in things.
I think Fuling should make him feel better, don't you? He's so frustrated. (Yes, I like Pei Yu. He seems reasonable and interested in keeping peace.)
That ends their date rather abruptly, and Fuling is left alone, wandering the huge palace. Suddenly, Tingjun appears and wants to take her away, because this place is dangerous! She cannot go, Fuling says, the Emperor's wound hasn't healed yet. Tingjun questions her loyalties, and suddenly, his hands are full of blood from killing her father and he becomes really menacing (she calls for Tianyi for help, ha!)... ah, it's but a dream!
Interestingly enough, the best Tingjun has ever looked is right there, sneering.
Shaken, Fuling looks at the dagger she puts under her pillow every night and cries. Later, she really wanders the huge and lonely palace and comes to an interesting room with a glass harp wall. A person is sitting there, listening to the music. At first, I thought it was Tianyi, but it isn't! It is a man who does not identify himself, but could be a music master of sorts?
I immediately assumed he was the Regent.
Fuling is engrossed by the music, but she hears that something is off, too. One of the cups - she identifies it right away with her super-hearing - has a crack! The music master is quite impressed (he did not notice). I am too, she is quite knowledgeable about things.
She has hearing superpower though.
He talks about a princess the Wingkind had, once, who could sense a pearl below 10 levels of bed mattresses. Oh! Does that tale exist in China too?! He says she resembles that woman a bit. And he invites her back the next day to be "his ears".
He's attractive here, though as we go on I find him less so. Mostly because he's a big moper.
Oh, Huanzheng has assembled his device! He laughs gleefully and then removes a huge stone from the wall with it. Clever boy. He crawls out and into the corridor behind it (one of Jishu's secret passages?) ... and into the section of the palace in which Jishu is kept. Nice.
Huanzheng is a boss.
Jishu is still under that mask the Queen put on him, clearly suffering. Huanzheng immediately recognizes the "Lovers' Restraints"-mechanism tying him to the chair, a mechanism invented by Jishu himself. Luckily, fanboy Huanzheng knows everything about it. And even begins to open the first "knot". Someone's at the door though! Very quickly, Huanzheng leaves, but promises to come back.
Dilemma: I like to see Huanzheng, but Jishu not so much. I hope they don't spend a lot of time together.
It's the Queen who enters, looking both insane and sad - and she removes the mask, to find the real Jishu underneath it. Transformation complete! She reminisces about how she saw him for the first time and fell in love immediately. She was only a lowly princess, born from a lesser woman. But Jishu seems to have noticed her among hundreds of other women.
Well there was his first mistake.
The Queen is clearly obsessed, talking how she searched for him, a shadow of him for years and years - but he says she was the one who destroyed everything between them. We see how he leads her to a secret room (some of the mechanisms he triggers are familiar, we saw them before), where he can be alone with her.
Perhaps one of them will kill the other.
It holds his most valuable inventions, including a machine to collect all the Pollen from the Shooting Star (it optimizes the collection process). She listens to his lecture on the Wingkind Nobility and Pollen with googly eyes.
What did they do to him to make him look like this? It's so weird.
And then, he shows her a machine that can turn Pollen into energy - what
the wingless humans need to fly. He made it for her, specifically, so
that they can fly together. She immediately imagines it bigger, a city in the sky ... Sky City. Their home in the skies.
Hold up, girl. He wants to take you flying. He didn't say anything about living together forever.
Alas, she stole the blueprints, gave them to her father, the king - and soon after ascended the throne, despite her lowly status. Well, she did it to be good enough for him, Jishu ... so she claimed back then. But he wants nothing more to do with her. Well, all in all, this explains things.
Yeah because that was bullshit. Is he a king? Why did she need to be queen to be good enough? Nope. Nuh-uh. Not buying it.
Still don't care about them.Where's my Hot?
Feng Tianyi had reason not to want to go back indeed. Being treated like this must make his blood boil. Imagine sentencing someone to death (well, not that I want to imagine) only to hear shortly after that your uncle considers this contrary to the national interest and cancels your order? Just like that?
Wow, it's just like if the leader of some country wanted to do something and sent out an order and then lots of citizens and lawyers got together and complained loudly and then some of the judges got together and said hey, not so fast buddy! Except in this case, well, you know.
And then this princess (of the same clan) ... she is trouble. She thinks Tianyi is hers because she was there first but this isn't Kdrama.
Smite her. I already don't like her. Smite her hard.
JoAnne: Oh but I beg to disagree. That is most definitely the point. It's like a breath of fresh air. Hot give me hot I need HOT.
Episode 9
While Fuling is being bathed by this (rather suspicious) "maid", our Emperor is on the throne - fuming, but goooorgeous. He is screaming at a groveling man called Xue Su, who assures him he is "innocent" (but clearly isn't). No, he is utterly corrupt, guilty of embezzlement and nepotism, of mistreating workers etc. etc.Good Lord. Hot.
Go away. Bring back Hot.
There he is, there's Hot. Ooh but that look was kind of ...hmm.
Awww, slightly less hot, more on the adorable side. And she is lovely, Fuling is. I could watch her again in something else.
Wow. I hope he shuts that down fast.
Back to Hot, thank goodness.
I think Fuling should make him feel better, don't you? He's so frustrated. (Yes, I like Pei Yu. He seems reasonable and interested in keeping peace.)
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| Don't you think he looks more like the collector doll version of a person than an actual person? |
Interestingly enough, the best Tingjun has ever looked is right there, sneering.
I immediately assumed he was the Regent.
She has hearing superpower though.
He's attractive here, though as we go on I find him less so. Mostly because he's a big moper.
Oh, Huanzheng has assembled his device! He laughs gleefully and then removes a huge stone from the wall with it. Clever boy. He crawls out and into the corridor behind it (one of Jishu's secret passages?) ... and into the section of the palace in which Jishu is kept. Nice.
Huanzheng is a boss.
Dilemma: I like to see Huanzheng, but Jishu not so much. I hope they don't spend a lot of time together.
Well there was his first mistake.
Perhaps one of them will kill the other.
What did they do to him to make him look like this? It's so weird.
Hold up, girl. He wants to take you flying. He didn't say anything about living together forever.
Yeah because that was bullshit. Is he a king? Why did she need to be queen to be good enough? Nope. Nuh-uh. Not buying it.
Comments
They really were in love, these two. In contrast to my commenters, I actually do care about this pair - because the Queen intrigues me. She is so crazy! I liked that she was the one who betrayed him for power; but power she wanted so that she could be with a genius like him. It's sweet and crazy ... she's been obsessive from day 1. Oh well ... let's see what she does to Jishu next!Still don't care about them.Where's my Hot?
Feng Tianyi had reason not to want to go back indeed. Being treated like this must make his blood boil. Imagine sentencing someone to death (well, not that I want to imagine) only to hear shortly after that your uncle considers this contrary to the national interest and cancels your order? Just like that?
Wow, it's just like if the leader of some country wanted to do something and sent out an order and then lots of citizens and lawyers got together and complained loudly and then some of the judges got together and said hey, not so fast buddy! Except in this case, well, you know.
And then this princess (of the same clan) ... she is trouble. She thinks Tianyi is hers because she was there first but this isn't Kdrama.
Smite her. I already don't like her. Smite her hard.