Ice Fantasy 幻城 - Episode 5 (Recap)

The quest for the ice crystal begins! First up, the Healer Tribe. As their name says, they're all healers. There is human tragedy too, because the young son of the Healer Boss is about to be forced into a marriage with a woman he does not want. Oh, and Prince Shi surprises us all by ... well, turning into a hot namja.
SakiVI: A lot of Prince Shi's existence is a mystereeeeeeeee! The hot namja part doesn't hurt, though.
JoAnne: Both brothers are attractive but yeah, Shi... yum.

 

Episode 5

His little bro may just have exploded (actually, he turned into a fire ball, as we see later (suggests that Shi has Fire Tribe links))(haha, what did I say? YES), but Kasuo does not know that! Despite Li Luo's strong objections, he goes to the Fire Camp to bust him out. He is quite pissed off and pulverizes all the fire soldiers with his ice magic.
Which was cool. 
Which suggests that those guys up on Ice Mountain were just SUPER lame.

Fire Princess is like "ha, here you are, I've been waiting". Darling, Kasuo, especially when pissed off, is no match for you and your whip. He is too gullible though, our Kasuo. She tricks him into a tent and towards a fake Shi and then traps him behind a wall of magic fire. Luckily, Li Luo freed herself from his ice shackles and comes to his rescue.
Fire Princess alternates between bravado and some actual sly cunning.  Also, how long does it take to do a pompadour like that each morning?
And will that earring stretch out her lobe so that it's not even with the other one?

Fire Princess: "How dare a mere mortal threaten a Princess?"
Li Luo: "Oh, I've been trained to kill gods."
Hahaha. The on/off switch for fire gods is in their neck. Good to know, I guess?
I really like the females in this (minus the Mermaid, but more about that later)
Aw, I find the Mermaid cute. It's her nose. It's really adorable. But my favorite in this is Yan Da, the Fire Princess.
I do not like the Mermaid's face. At all. Yan Da's a bit sexual predator-y for me to really like her at this point, but there are glimmers. Li Luo is really the 'it' girl for me in this.

Li Luo and Kasuo leave, the Fire Princess chases them. Or does she? There's a fire ball in the forest and it dives into a lake ... Princess, that's not Kasuo! Shouldn't she know Kasuo would be an ice ball? She doesn't know that and goes fishing with her whip after the thing - and lo and behold! A half-naked, pretty gorgeous man emerges from the lake. Semi-unconscious. Who could that be?
Some Fire Princesses have all the luck.
The fireball went by so fast I didn't really see it, so when she randomly fished him out of the water I was thinking, "What? a dead body? how did they know there'd be a body in the water?  Is this a special lake of corpses or something? Damn, he's fine. I wish he weren't...oh, he's NOT dead. Good!"

You'll be in trouble, Fire Princess, there is no Prince Kasuo and no Prince Shi around (well, older brother is watching her fish from behind some trees, but she doesn't know that)! She does not care much about Daddy's sure wrath later because she found a half-naked man to take home. (Good looking half-naked man. Good looking makes the difference. If he hadn't been good looking, she wouldn't have cared.) (Nor would we have.) Once he's in her tent, she prods and pokes him. That wakes him up. When asked, he says yes, he has seen a little boy: he came and stole his clothes when he was bathing! Lucky for you that you kept your pants on, because I'm thinking the Fire Princess would have poked you elsewhere too otherwise.
The way she moved and squatted was so funny. Yes, we get it, you're a tomboy warrior princess. 
That's okay, she can be the tough one, he can be the pretty one. That's perfectly fine.

He says his name is Yun Fei. She makes him her slave. I like your style, Fire Princess! You like a man, you enslave him.
See, Fire Princess rocks!
I think they should have named him Yei Fun. (Ha!)

Uh-oh, people. You know what? This gorgeous young man is in fact ... Prince Shi! I still don't think that exploding and aging about 20 years is normal for Ice Princes though. He's as puzzled about the affair as we are. 
He's surprisingly calm about it.
I swear to you that when I made that joke about him exploding and said puberty hits like a bitch after 100 years...I had NO idea this was coming. Maybe I'm psychic.

Kasuo thinks he'll meet his brother again on his quest, seeing how Shi will also go for the crystal. Fair enough. Off to the Healer Tribe! But first, there is need to talk (after moping and playing the flute for a bit. He found that in the Fire Camp, where Little Shi dropped it before he became Big Shi). Remember, he sacked his bodyguard? But now, he claims he didn't ask her to leave earlier (that's bullshit, as we see in a flashback), but I guess he's just sorry he was so unfriendly.
Wasn't Shi sick?  If so, why assume he'd go on quest?
Sick people do get better, unless it's a KDrama.

He frees her from her duties as an "envoy" though. She says fine, then I can go wherever I want. He is sad about that. But she says: I'm no longer your bodyguard, but I'm now your friend! and the place she most wants to be is by her friend's side. Awwwwwwwww. Look how happy that makes him. To explain the concept to him, she says that friends quarrel often, but they also make up - like they just did.
Aw, so sweet.
He's the dorkiest prince ever. I do like him.

He continues smiling his little pleased infatuated smile, like she is the most wonderous thing he's ever seen and she pulls out a bottle of wine. That's not at all like the wine he knows from the immortal realm! But that makes it all the more exciting for him.
So was anyone else reminded of QIHM, where she teaches Boong Do that friends always kiss?

While Big Bro is once again feeling the stirrings of love, Little Bro remembers how he turned into a fire ball and lost Kasuo's flute. He doesn't have time to ponder his inability to communicate with Big Bro though because the Fire Princess wants to see him. To show off, actually: she is taking a bath. And she forces him to look at her. She is very, very beautiful, but our Prince Shi isn't visibly moved. I understand, he was about 8 years old a few hours ago! (the God equivalent).
He handles it all so coolly, being an Ice Prince and all. 
I reject the theory that he's a kid trapped in a man's body. Well, any more than any man ever is. He is pretty. If I were the Fire Princess I'd be taking a bath, too. Slave, wash my back! Slave, shave my legs! Slave, rub lotion on me! Yes indeed.

She tries her best to seduce him (she has him rinse her back!) but he completely kills the mood by saying he knows a woman much more beautiful than her: his mother. Pffft. He also suggests she should put some clothes on to not catch a cold. Haha.
I saw the BTS for this on Viki and they were all laughing.
I'm betting the Fire Princess kinda likes the attitude. I sure do.

After Li Luo educates Kasuo on the awesomeness of her unicorn Turnip who sniffed out the location of the Fire Camp through Prince Shi's ripped garment, they arrive at the Healer Tribe (I thought it was really difficult to find? Oh well, maybe not on some days). Kasuo thinks it's awesome there and so well organized! All tribesmen are doctors or doctors to be and they can heal mortals as well as gods.
Turnip probably found that healer camp for them.  Turnip is amusingly sassy for a unicorn.
Why is he named Turnip, though?  
Cause it's white?

Unfortunately, the female Fire Brat is already there, talking to the Healer Boss. She says she'll stay for the wedding. Oh, whose wedding?! She really only wants the crystal though. Healer Boss says: it's been too long since we got it, we have misplaced it. It's gone. In fact, he always believed it was just a legend. Suuuuuuure.
Are the Healers human or immortal?
Going by their leader, just pains in the ass.
But human.

It's Healer Boss' son (Huang Tuo, played by Wang Duo) who is getting married, only he really does not want to. He is in love with another woman. He doesn't know her name and he has only seen her once but it's her and only her. He's clearly a nice and talented guy, so we must be on his side. I'm even willing to find this romantic.
Bit sad for the bride, though.
Maybe she's in love with someone else too, though.

The bride is just arriving in a palanquin. With her rides a fearful female warrior, "no ordinary person", as Kasuo observes. From time to time, there are Healer Tribe people with "a natural aura of malice", that can kill patients if too strong - and even people around them. Therefore, they have no choice but become poison manipulators and warriors. Dramafever subs call her "Luna" (Lu Zizhen). I don't feel like looking up what the viki ones said (but it was definitely not Luna). The bride and the warrior with the natural aura of malice are sisters.
The warrior is so gorgeous!
Viki just called her Yue Zhen, I think. I like her.

The wedding is supposed to be the next day, and Daddy is quite set on that wedding and locks his son, who threatens to run away, up. The bride's family is very wealthy and Healer Boss needs that money to stay in power. Between this and him looking like a cosplay Roman noble in a porn movie from the 70s, I do not like him. At the same time, Fire King hears about the crystal lie and suggests Fire Princess should sabotage the wedding. The Healer Tribe is naturally weak and if they can't forge this alliance, they will be an easy target. Fire Princess likes this. She calls her boytoy and gives him a potion that makes him a defenseless slave.
She knows she has to take action to keep him in line because, yunno, captive.
I'm all for a little role playing but some of her behavior verges on seriously icky.

Huang Tuo tricks his guards and runs away ... straight to Kasuo and Li Luo's hotel room (by coincidence). The guards are after him so our God-Mortal-Ensemble try to hide him under the bed (since he promises to give them access to Chief Healer in the Herb Palace). But how to make those guards go away? Li Luo says: "get on the bed" and "take off your clothes". Since he does not react fast enough, she simply pushes our Ice Prince down and climbs on top of him. He is totally flustered and says "this isn't right" and "it's too early" etc. (awww, darling) (laughing SO hard, he's adorable), but she doesn't listen and rips open his outer garment. Only to hit the next layer. Ahahaha.
Guess he gets cold easily.
So do you think the Ice People run hot to keep warm, and the Fire People run cold not to burn up?

Naturally, the guards don't believe their lies (because they're still wearing their boots while on that bed) and thus, Huang Tuo (who is highly amused by Kasuo and Li Luo under the bed) reveals himself. But does he go with the guards? Of course not! He immobilizes them and they flee the city. Well, great, cause now they're wanted. With real wanted posters!
They should hurry and do the deed, then, since any breath could be their last.

But UH-OH, defenseless slave Prince Shi enters the sad bride's chambers disguised as servant (she is sad because she has to marry a man who ran away from her) and gives her a "calming broth" (which is clearly a potion) to drink. 
Ouch, this won't go well.
Well I don't like THIS at all.

Comments

Not a dull second in this drama! I am not even kidding when I say that, this is hugely entertaining (and actually quite tongue-in-cheek). I'm basically laughing through all the episodes. If you take this drama serious, you're making a mistake.
I told you so!
Who, for one moment of their life, could ever take this seriously?

Prince Shi! First a fireball then a beautiful, adult, sexy man! The Princess who makes him her slave! His way of talking to her (like a total brat) and how that riles her. I really like their relationship, even though I'm not quite sure I am ready to ship them together. He clearly has some relationship to the Fire Tribe and as JoAnne suggested not too long ago, if Mermaid Concubine lay with Fire, he could very well be Fire Princess' BROTHER.
As we've seen in Shine and Go Crazy, these ancient tribes practice endogamy.  So, they probably won't care.  Plus, they all seem to intermarry plenty with each other to the point where they're probably all part-siblings anyway.
I will ship them if his calmly dismissive manner makes her increasingly flirtatious and pouty. Despite her being the boss, it would make him the one in control. Sexy. 

I'm also starting to like the Fire Princess more and more. She's a bit evil - naturally, with her family - but she isn't really mean. Well, she is, but not to everyone. Also, this woman is gorgeous.
She's a real firecracker!
There are moments when I kind of like her, but not all that much. Not yet. Also, I find her tacky as hell. I much prefer Li Luo's get up, which is just as costume-y but doesn't seem tacky at all.
Victoria Song is so damn beautiful!

Kasuo and Li Luo's relationship is just so sweet. I like how our god is fascinated by this woman and clearly drawn to her, but also quite insecure at the same time, because her world and her behavior baffles him. It's the perfect set-up for sweet romance. He seems so happy to be around her! Too happy, maybe. I know they will break my heart. And I'm not ready for that.
They are so lovely together. Let's enjoy them as is for now.
Could they even have a future together? Would he just freeze her womb with his little ice babies? Plus the whole immortal/not immortal sadness...