Ice Fantasy 幻城 - Episode 19 (Recap)

kakashi: Did you think Kasuo could not become more pitiful than he already was? Wrong. In this episode, he gets force-kissed and possessed and separated from Li Luo. Yes, I really felt for him. What horrible destiny. 
JoAnne: I don't know, it's almost becoming funny.
What "becoming"? This show is funny through and through! 
SakiVI: good thing he's still royal with all that money and real estate, or life would really suck.

Episode 19

Lan Shang is on the prowl. She knows that Kasuo is all defenseless and wants to grasp this opportunity. But Mermaid "Saint" forbids this sinful activity. Good. Inside the chamber, the Ice King transfers his frosty powers to his son. He remains almost entirely impotent though, even after a lengthy treatment. All he manages is to eject a bit of white stuff. From his fingers.
Oh good, then, it's not just me getting that vibe.
They're all on drugs. Once they come off, they'll see they're really all doing boring office jobs in our world. Kasuo is getting a taste of reality here. 

The problem, the Ice King, realizes, is Kasuo's pact with the Sword Fairies. They are squatting in his body and have already sucked up all the power the Ice King injected. This is Kasuo's Mom, being sad. But she's so beautiful!
Can't really tell under all that make up...
It's hard to see, true.

This is the Ice King, sadly gazing at the Ice Veil who is melting.
How come he gets white eyebrows and really white lips but no one else does?  I like the way his lips are just casually frosted.
To show he's aged a lot in this job.
Like Obama.

Then, he does some restoration magic. I hope you tried this before? Oh, maybe it's just preservation so it won't get worse. Someone steps behind him and adds his powers to his. He thinks it's Kasuo. Guess again.
Shi looks younger and younger every episode. I mean, that's 16-year-old boy face minus acne, is it not?
Yes, it is, and he is so pretty! Squeee!

Again, no thank you. But at least, Ice Daddy smiles at Shi. Just then, Lian Ji turns up and starts praising her son, telling the Fire King that he should be the next king. I honor your motherly love, woman, but this is hardly a smart thing to do.
It's practically Goryeo up in here, thanks to this woman.
She has to fight for her son who has been rejected and ignored all this time.  

Now, she is lovely.

Our Emo Prince is taking a walk to clear his mind... and happens upon some playing children. Oh friggin no! He suddenly starts light-pulsing and the fairies in him start screaming: "Souls! Soooouls! Tasty souls! Suck away their souls quickly!" And he's dragged towards them by their lust for souls.
There's no almost about it, this is is absolutely hilarious.
True.

Luckily, Shi intervenes in time!!! Kasuo is heart-broken... Shi has an explanation for what just happened: The fairies can't go back into the sword because Shi is now its master. Or maybe the fairies don't WANT to leave FSF's tasty body?
Feeding on the misery, yes indeed. Sidenote:  My favorite thing in this scene?  They gave no fucks about seating those wigs properly - there was real hair poking out all over the place.
If Kasuo would just cheer up, smile a bit, do that laughter yoga exercise where people just laugh and get their endorphins up, see a comedy, he might just eject those misery-loving fairies.

In the Fire Realm, Shuo Gang thinks it's a good idea to "relaunch an attack" on Snowblade City. He should be thankful his sister cares enough about him and things in general to caution against this idiocy. She proposes to go into the city and sneak around for a bit instead, to find Shi's weakness. Pssst, I think she actually just misses Shi very, very much and that's a perfect excuse to go see him.
I hope Shuo Gang isn't left-handed. Things could get pretty painful for him.
I hope Shuo Gang gets killed off fast. That's all I ever think about him.

Kasuo agonizes.
So, the usual.

I actually feel for him this time. I know he tends to mope too much, but this is horrible. No more powers and now possessed by evil spirits. Behind him, someone approaches on horseback. It's Li Luo and her friend slash wannabe lover. Qin Chu thinks she should go console him, but she says he clearly needs his privacy. Wow, Li Luo, Respect.
Yes, since he needs his privacy, let us sit here and watch him in his torment.
Li Luo is all sorts of awesome.

That concept is alien to Lan Shang, however, who comes running and does NOT leave him alone even when he asks to be. He walks away and Miss Dippy shouts: "I love you!" Seriously. How can she be THAT dense? She makes this about herself and her suffering and then.... force-kisses him. Just WOW.
Number one: his face. Number two: didn't he already reject her quite clearly?
I have otherwise been okay with this character, and I like the actress, but this is the point where I started to hate her for being a downright pest.

The worst of this is not that Li Luo has to watch this in silence. The worst is that the sword fairies wake up again and now want to eat Lan Shang. It looks like this (I'm thinking that would be useful for reading at night):
Come ON. I cannot seriously be the only one laughing.
Tis very silly, true.

Turnip/Snowdash nickers and that has Kasuo turn his head ... he stares at Li Luo and slowly, slowly, Kasuo returns to normal. He stammers her name, over and over, but she just turns Snowdash around and leaves. It's pretty heartbreaking. No, Lan Shang. Nobody cares about you. Go away. Kasuo clearly does not care about Ice Tribe traditions and marrying mermaids. He never wanted to be king in the first place. Leave him alone, all of you!
So Li Luo soothes the demons, quite literally. But why did she leave like that? Was she confused about what she saw? Disgusted?
Sometimes Li Luo is too noble for everyone's good.

Only Shi understands.
He is way too obsessed with someone he thinks is his blood relation.

A somewhat off-color Kasuo is on the ice, staring into the sky... when Li Luo approaches from behind. His face lights up (not with evil fairy fire). He tells her he does not want to be Ice King. He wants to leave. She vows to always stay by his side, wherever he goes. He walks towards her ... and tells her he loves her. And he wants to marry her.
So she came back?

She hesitates for a second, then smiles and says she will marry him. He can't marry Shi in that world. Li Luo is the second choice. He reaches out his arms and hugs her ... but the ice underneath them is starting to break! They cannot help but step away from each other... they try to reach out, but it's in vain. They drift further and further apart.
He stepped on her foot.

Kasuo jerks awake on his bed. His father is next to him and thinks it's funny that his son was calling out a woman's name in his sleep. Of course, that smile quickly vanishes when he hears that that woman is a mere mortal. Go away. We hate you. Yes, we hate you!
Aww, sad dream.

He orders her out of the city, never to return. The Ice Queen thinks that's a bad idea, given Kasuo's fragile state of mind, but the Ice King won't reconsider. Not until Shi tells him it would be bad form to send her away without publicly honoring her at the upcoming banquet, given her considerable contribution to their recent victory. The Ice King allows it, but then adds that Kasuo has to spend more time with Lan Shang while he recuperates. Quickly, Shi says he will do that. Kasuo is too moody, which will not please Lan Shang.
Is he going to go as Shi or as Ka Suo though?
Lan Shang is nuts if she doesn't go for Shi here. Look at that face!

Shi takes his task seriously, haha. He sends her a note under Kasuo's name to meet under the Cherry tree and then says his brother isn't feeling well, so he sent him instead. That just makes Lan Shang's jealousy flare up. Shi says come on, Kasuo can like several women at the same time. Haha. He then "dances" with her, while his mother proudly watches him from behind some bushes and hopes he will win her over.
Just weird.
Marrying Mermaid royalty is the height of marriage, like marrying a school teacher nowadays in Korean dramas. 

She also thinks to herself how much better Lan Shang has it then her .... when the black smoke appears and says: "She is nothing compared to you." and calls her the most beautiful princess in the immortal realm. Flashback to when she was young, and apparently happy. Say what now? Black smoke, do you know Shi omma?
Im guessing the answer to your question is yes.
Oh wow, that black smoke is so romantic!

Kasuo mopitates in the forest, when his momma comes along. She, too, watches him from the distance, as he tries to do some ice magic. In vain. But he remembers teaching Little Shi about ice magic and gets even sadder. Momma too. After nightfall, she is sad on her balcony, where the Ice King joins her. Daddy thinks this is no time to be sad though - Kasuo should get ready to marry the Mermaid. Wow, you cruel, cruel asshole.
I'm sure he has his reasons. You know how kings are.

He claims that it is to save Kasuo though. Because... only if Kasuo marries Lan Shang and "turns her into human form" (=sleeps with her) will she produce the Teardrop Charm. And only the Teardrop Charm can lead them to legendary but real Sacred Snow Mountain. And only if they find Sacred Snow Mountain is there hope for Kasuo.
Uh, why can't someone else marry her and get the tear drop charm and then use it for Kasuo?
Why do they have to make me about-turn and sympathize with Lan Shang for being potentially used like this?

The Ice Queen realizes that the Teardrop Charm is also the reason for why the Ice King married Lotus/Lian Ji. He says nothing. Remember this conversation for later, people. It's kinda important.

Flashback to the Ice King when he was much younger. His Ice King father, gravely ill, ordered him to marry a Mermaid for the Teardrop Charm in addition to his first wife, despite his oath to her to love only her for the rest of his life. Well, like father, like son.
All I could think when he asked his son which was more important: his wife or his father's life? was that his father was old and sick and his time was past and all the stuff that people do to stave off the inevitable is always a bad idea, and that his promise to his wife was more important.  But then, I'm not a king.
This is very Confucian thinking as far as I understand it: parents over kids. 

Comments

Interesting. Yes, I'm actually intrigued. And yet, it's horrible. Kasuo really does not have it easy in life, poor sod. I guess he's allowed to mope a bit.
I remain a very detached observer.
Give in already!  
I would just like more Shi. And Yan Da. And Lian Ji. And that Dream Tribe Princess. I like her too.