The Problematic of the Unproblematic

kynkari: We are in the home stretch! The demon has been vanquished by Murong Bai and the village has been saved! If you were here for the pretty, stick around because the pretty shows back up during the credits in some hilarious BTS/outtakes. SakiVI: Murong Bai is my hero - or would be if he was alive . For a girl who had a big crush on Murong Bai and then was engaged to him, Xiao Mei doesn’t seem at all put out by his tragic demise. Instead, with Murong Bai’s smouldering ashes still sifting through the air, she and Dachui make heart eyes at each other and he tries to kiss her. Everyone staring makes Dachui  nervous and the mood is killed. Dammit! I'm annoyed with her lack of grief for my precious sacrificial lamb.

kynkari:  It is my humble belief that this is the best part of the movie.  My opinion has nothing to do with the fact that Murong Bai is a “spank-me-until-I’m-cross-eyed”  evil bad boy in this section.  Not at all. *coughliescough* SakiVI: It is in fact my total belief that this is the best part of the movie, and it's completely because Murong Bai turned sexy evil bad boy. Settle in and grab some popcorn. We have lots to cover and plenty of Ma Tianyu visuals.  Squee! I'll just get my tea. Anyone who guesses who this is, gets a Jaehyo pic.

kynkari: We left our story with Dachui being frightened by a friendly pig demon and running headlong into a portal in the woods. SakiVI: All totally normalish so far. My hat might do that too if I met a talking pig in the woods…

kynkari: About a year ago, I curled up under a fuzzy blanket with some Funyuns and my unicorn slippers to watch Netflix. “We have a recommendation for you,” Netflix boldly claimed. “You will love it and will surely forgive us for canceling our original series Marco Polo, starring the panty-disintegrating Remi Hii.” SakiVI: Hmmm, I wasn’t so picky about watching on Netflix. And Remi Hii was the only good thing on Marco Polo. I was skeptical, and still bitter about Marco Polo, but I hit play out of curiosity. My innocent eyes were immediately assaulted with images of ethereal Chinese elves cavorting in a frozen landscape and whipping their Party City white wigs around in the mystical wind. I was convinced that I had stumbled upon Chinese fantasy porn. It’s arguably very bad porn, then.

SakiVI: This is a hilarious episode, and, we get Shi and Yan Da, yay! But Yan Da is a bit weak, boo. On the other hand, she has a doppelganger who may be evil, but is rather fun. Also, I'm setting a rule: anyone who mentions a Not Ice Fantasy Series show in the comments, has to upload a picture of Jaehyo. kakashi: Hilarious? More like CRAZY. This show is insane . JoAnne: Look! Look! It's my Dreamer! I could dream of Jeannie, but no, I'll dream of this guy.

SakiVI: First of all, a clarification: singer Cheng Tong and Ming Na's kid sister, Le Le, are not the same person as I had thought in the last recap. Apologies to fans of those actresses/characters/both. Second, this episode had some hilarious product placement. kakashi: This is a lot of fun and not at all like I expected. I really like the tongue-in-cheek humor. Frankly, I'm not paying an awful lot of attention to the story, but I don't think that's needed anyway. JoAnne: I think you're safe on that one, Kakashi. Episode 3 We see Luo Luo's two managers. Yang Dan is calling movie directors for roles for Luo Luo, and Male Manager is doing a face mask. He seems pretty useless, lol. No one will work with Luo Luo, though, and all are working with Cheng Tong instead, because she has been blackballed by Da Qin, Mr Evil's corporation. One director offers to get Luo Luo into some charity party so that people don't forget her entirely, m...

SakiVI: Again, thank you to WS for the subs! So, we get a bit more setup in this, and Luo Luo's character gets fleshed out a bit more, and, we see Mr Evil a bit more, and we get a Mr Icy for a bit. Come to think of it, there are bits and bits and bits in this. kakashi: I was struck in this episode by how stylish this version of Ice Fantasy is . JoAnne: They upgraded Kasuo to a big-boy flute, I see.

SakiVI: Wonder of wonders, Kashuo isn't totally annoying in this first episode. He even has some testosterone. Reincarnating over time and galaxies clearly did him some good. kakashi: I laughed my way through this first episode. It's really, really funny! They're pulling their own leg so hard it might fall off.   JoAnne: Is his wig a little bit different? Maybe that was all I needed. *wiggles fingers hello at pretty Dreamer in the background*

kakashi: We did it, my friends! We're at the end! We are still alive! Can't say as much about most of the Ice Fantasy characters, but that couldn't be helped. Millions of fans hated the ending, but I totally love it. SakiVI: I was sad at the ending. I was also annoyed. I'll explain why below. JoAnne: I am so looking forward to this!

kakashi: I can't with this show. I particularly like the zombies we get to see in this episode though! And that's a lot, coming from me, because I abhor zombies! SakiVI: Oh, were there zombies?  Hard to tell with this lot. JoAnne: Ooooh, I like zombies!

kakashi: A grand (NOT) battle between Ice and Fire begins in this episode and Kasuo learns that the Veiled Lotus is quite demanding. Gains and losses, dude! You should have listened. SakiVI: The battle was a bit slow. And once again, Yan Da showed herself the only sane person on this show. JoAnne: Flame is feeling the burn, I guess?

kakashi: They find out. I repeat, they find out. Every one of them finds out what happened. Incredible. SakiVI: I thought they'd stay stupid forever. JoAnne: Just because they know doesn't mean they won't be stupid.

kakashi: In an incredibly twist, they .... no. I lie. They still don't know about the switch. But we're having a competition for Lan Shang's hand! And endless discussion about who is going to kill whom, potentially. SakiVI: I didn't bother rewatching this one. JoAnne: Is the Power of Emo making Kasuo's hair darker? Where are the blue eyes?

kakashi: Dare we hope that .... no, they do not find out. SakiVI: Flame looks good. JoAnne: He looks like he's marching in a Mardi Gras parade, stoned out of his mind.

kakashi: Well. If you thought people would finally find out about the soul-swapping in this episode .... Kasuo gets some sex though. SakiVI: Yay, I guess. But the closeups of the actors' nose pores was seriously unsexy. JoAnne: Everything about this drama is seriously unsexy. Oh wait..Yuan Ji is sexy. He's dead though, JoAnne . 

kakashi: An incredible episode, in which Li Luo refuses to have sex with Kasuo. SakiVI: He was rather sweaty. I was a bit put off myself.  JoAnne: I bet he cries after sex.

kakashi: This episode gives us Kasuo trying so, so hard to get Li Luo (Li Shang?) to remember their love. I would feel sorry if he wasn't so dumb. They were really cute, these two. Way back when. Also, Lan Shang (Lan Luo?) has a really hard time. For her, I do feel sorry. SakiVI: I love Lan Luo and think this is how a Mermaid Crown Princess should be.  JoAnne: Is she going to impale herself on Turnip?

kakashi: Let's see how the Lotus mess-up develops. We're also getting quite close to the end. It fills me with a mixture of panic and glee. SakiVI: As I mentioned before, this latest villain looks like he has a cold sore.  JoAnne: And wears his brains on the outside. I really do not like this look.

kakashi: Kasuo tried, but it's one massive fuck-up. I would be sorry for him if I could stop laughing. He is such a failure. JoAnne: I'm not so sure he failed, exactly. No one bothered to ask about the details. In Western horror stories when you bring someone back from the dead they are always very different and you are rarely glad in the end. I don't know what to expect from a Chinese story, but he did exactly what he was asked to do . SakiVI: See, you have to word things verrrry carrrrefully in wishes.    

kakashi: We get to the goddamn Lotus. Yes, really. They made it. All will be good now. JoAnne: Sorry, I can't help but picture beardless Mark Chao smiling, now. SakiVI: focus, this is Ice Fantasy! And yes, the Lotus. But it's my lovely Lotus that I'm concerned about.