Ice Fantasy 幻城 - Episode 43 (Recap)
kakashi: But hello! Granny, is that you?!
JoAnne: Oh Holy Hell, what now?
SakiVI: Pffft.
I was wondering...do they just face whatever's behind the door, which has been waiting there for whomever appears, or is it going to be tailored to them specifically at the moment of opening so they have their own fresh new terrible challenge that's specific to them, or does it just magically match because Faaaaaaate?
The latter because that will drag things out and might make some people (not me) care about the Scoobies as people.
In they go! And you might have guessed it, behind every door waits a personal demon:
Fairy Princess Chao Ya is assaulted by "yellow warblers", a type of fairy extinct by crocodiles (because of Chao Ya, who allied with the crocodiles and turned a blind eye to the yellow warbler's plight. Boo).
Let me get this right. Her big regret is some birds?
Just when I thought she couldn't get any more annoying, too.
Healer Huang Tuo meets his demented father, who is chained to a chair a demands to be freed. And wants the ice crystal back. When Huang Tuo says it's been returned to the Ice Tribe, his father screams and insults him, pulling against his chains until his hands are bloody.
Well okay, this one I get.
I get it, but I don't care at all about it.
Toxin Luna meets one of her lovely sisters, but inadvertently kills her. Just by being there. Harsh.
Also this one. Damn.
Eagle Man Pian Feng meets Chao Ya's mother, the missing fairy queen, who insults him for falling in love with her daughter despite his lowly status. When he insists, she sound-blasts him. It looks painful.
Well this sucks. He has to relieve the pain and humilation of daring to love the girl he already lost in real life?
Pian Feng suffers a lot. :-(
Bear King Liao Jian enters a bedroom, in which he finds Chao Ya making out with Pian Feng. Dude. Bwahahahahahahaa! Pian Feng accuses him of deliberately ripping him apart from the Fairy Princess and taking advantage of the situation when he was exiled. But! In truth, Chao Ya is only in love with one guy: Eagle. And then they fight and Pian Feng wins. First time I felt really sorry for the Bear.
I like Bear. I always have. And I bet this IS his deepest fear, and I totally sympathize. Notice how that damn fairy isn't even thinking about either one of these guys? All she's thinking about are some birds.
Omo, Jo is right. She doesn't care which of the guys she is with, she just wants a consort.
Kasuo is in the Snowy throne room where he meets all his ghosts. Li Luo, Lan Shang and Shi. Li Luo waits for him with flowers in her hands, but Lan Shang turns up and accuses him of throwing her under the train. Well, she doesn't know what a train is, but metaphorically speaking. When she attacks Li Luo, The Deicide appears in Kasuo's hand and he stabs Lan Shang with it. Only, she turns into Shi that very second. And when he takes him into his arms, it is Li Luo. Duuuuude. Totally messed up. And then, they all disappear.
This guy needs serious help. He is allllllll fucked up. Damn.
That is the short version of what happened, though.
Dream Lord Xing Jiu finds himself standing on a steep cliff. And he jumps! And looks almost happy as he falls. All the others start dying too.
Oh, wow. He feels a heavy burden as the Dream Lord, I didn't realize that went along with his power. I like him, so I feel sad. I know someone else here won't care a fig, though.Nope, hahaha!
... and all of a sudden, they're outside Snowblade City the Original Version again. Oh, did they pass the test? They were inside some dreamworld just then and remember? You can only get out of them through death. Mr. Dreamer figured it out! He is so smart. Well, in fact, he has his dreams warded against outside interference (makes sense in his job) so the Tree Monster couldn't tamper with them much.
Tricked me! I was feeling all sympathetic for him and he was smiling because he was tricking the doors! I like him even more now. Except...uh...they're still outside.
Tree Monster declares he is the only one who passed the test though - they have to leave. Kasuo demands to meet the Imperial Priestess. The Monster refuses, but Kasuo notices something curious: a trinket on the Monster's belt that he has seen before ... with his Granny. Uh-oh.
OH shit, no way. Well, we knew there had to be more to Granny than we were seeing.
I hope we find out the point of having Granny in this show other than to be Kasuo's Numba Won Fan.
He starts calling for her and here she comes! What Granny though... she is the Imperial Priestess Feng Tian who guards the entrance to Sacred Snow Mountain. Oh. Ohhhhhhhh. Is this why she didn't want Kasuo to ever go near it? Nice hat, Lady. Her costume is beautiful. All the actresses are so lucky to wear the gorgeous clothes in this show. She declares that everything is the opposite here. Is she the opposite too then, Kasuo muses? She calls herself the weakest immortal in this mysterious realm. If they can't get through here, they are doomed. And she disappears in a flash of white light.
I have some thoughts formulating but honestly this is a tricky thing.
No thoughts from me.
Our travellers are a bit down after that and go rest in some room that ... is just there. They wonder what's up with Granny. Is she in league with Yuan Ji?! Fooling them all for so long?? Yan Da sneaks in too, invisible... listening to them makes her so tired she decides to take a nap. Yes, this really happens. Anyway, Dreamer says they need to face their demons to win this challenge. But how?
I feel you, Yan Da.
Yan Da is adorable.
Kasuo decides to take a walk outside for a bit - Yan Da follows him. Kasuo totally notices her, but when he calls out "who is it?", Dreamer steps out from behind a rock. He's sneaky. Once again, that's why I don't like him: total sneak. Together, they solve the riddle though: the demons of their minds are their loved ones. Who would dare hurt them? But what if they would not have to fight their own demons - but someone else's? Kasuo: two thumbs up!
Uh, if I can't bear to hurt my loved ones, I can't bear for YOU to hurt them, either. The key point would be not hurting them. It's not going to be controlling who does the hurting.
Alright, they go back to the entrance and demand to take the test again - and when they get the chance, they enter through other doors than yesterday.
Wait, so that means that whatever was behind the door was always behind the door and it was Faaaaaaate that led them to their original, correct door. Unless...it was the second option and it was created by them opening the door but will then just be there from then on until defeated. Yes, I'm thinking about this rather than laughing myself sick over Kasuo FINALLY being allowed to kill himself, even in a dream.
I'm laughing at Kasuo fulfilling his dream of killing himself in a dream.
They go up against her and in the process, Dreamer gets badly hurt. Can Healer save him? Kasuo just stands there and watches everything, but in the Ice Realm, the Deicide awakens! It unburies itself from underneath the Cherry Tree and flies through the dimensions to join its master. Awww. Just a big puppy, really. And Xing Gui dreams ... her brother is in trouble!
I hope he's okay. I really do like Dreamer.
He'll be fine, don't worry. He's the Ice King's James Comey: he's not going anywhere.
When things start to look dire for his friends, Kasuo makes a move ... and manages to blast Granny/Goddess/Priestess away. He catches her in his arms before she can hit the ground. Oh, what a relief. She isn't dead - just unconscious. Behind all of them, the Deicide lands.
She isn't dead YET, then?
To be honest, after Old Nine Gates, I'm scared of noodles and curtains...
Anyway, I'm sure it will make them stronger as a group. Are they in yet?
On the strength of this episode, I feel like I would have liked this as a book.
The book was good. No Yan Da, though.
JoAnne: Oh Holy Hell, what now?
SakiVI: Pffft.
Episode 43
The Scoobies follow the Tree Monster and get to the front entrance of the original Snowblade City. There are several extra doors there and the task is ....... you've guessed it, to enter those doors and face whatever is behind them. All of them need to pass the challenge if they want to enter Sacred Snow Mountain.I was wondering...do they just face whatever's behind the door, which has been waiting there for whomever appears, or is it going to be tailored to them specifically at the moment of opening so they have their own fresh new terrible challenge that's specific to them, or does it just magically match because Faaaaaaate?
The latter because that will drag things out and might make some people (not me) care about the Scoobies as people.
 |
| Kasuo, now also a motivational speaker Motivational speakers are usually emo at heart. |
Fairy Princess Chao Ya is assaulted by "yellow warblers", a type of fairy extinct by crocodiles (because of Chao Ya, who allied with the crocodiles and turned a blind eye to the yellow warbler's plight. Boo).
Let me get this right. Her big regret is some birds?
Just when I thought she couldn't get any more annoying, too.
Well okay, this one I get.
I get it, but I don't care at all about it.
Also this one. Damn.
Well this sucks. He has to relieve the pain and humilation of daring to love the girl he already lost in real life?
Pian Feng suffers a lot. :-(
I like Bear. I always have. And I bet this IS his deepest fear, and I totally sympathize. Notice how that damn fairy isn't even thinking about either one of these guys? All she's thinking about are some birds.
Omo, Jo is right. She doesn't care which of the guys she is with, she just wants a consort.
This guy needs serious help. He is allllllll fucked up. Damn.
That is the short version of what happened, though.
Oh, wow. He feels a heavy burden as the Dream Lord, I didn't realize that went along with his power. I like him, so I feel sad. I know someone else here won't care a fig, though.Nope, hahaha!
Tricked me! I was feeling all sympathetic for him and he was smiling because he was tricking the doors! I like him even more now. Except...uh...they're still outside.
OH shit, no way. Well, we knew there had to be more to Granny than we were seeing.
I hope we find out the point of having Granny in this show other than to be Kasuo's Numba Won Fan.
He starts calling for her and here she comes! What Granny though... she is the Imperial Priestess Feng Tian who guards the entrance to Sacred Snow Mountain. Oh. Ohhhhhhhh. Is this why she didn't want Kasuo to ever go near it? Nice hat, Lady. Her costume is beautiful. All the actresses are so lucky to wear the gorgeous clothes in this show. She declares that everything is the opposite here. Is she the opposite too then, Kasuo muses? She calls herself the weakest immortal in this mysterious realm. If they can't get through here, they are doomed. And she disappears in a flash of white light.
I have some thoughts formulating but honestly this is a tricky thing.
No thoughts from me.
I feel you, Yan Da.
Yan Da is adorable.
Uh, if I can't bear to hurt my loved ones, I can't bear for YOU to hurt them, either. The key point would be not hurting them. It's not going to be controlling who does the hurting.
- Dreamer gets to reason with the yellow warblers
- Luna hypnotizes/kills (?) Huang Tuo's father
- Huang Tuo goes up against the crazy Luna sister Yue Zhao
- Bear meets and defeats his mother-in-law
- Eagle meets and has to fight ... himself. Oups. He learns a lesson: his demons came from his sense of inferiority. He has to get rid of that. He stabs himself - his mirror image does the same, Problem solved.
- Chao Ya tells Kasuo's three lovers to stop arguing and plays them a tune on her harp. They dissolve.
- Kasuo ... haha. Yes, he is the one who gets to stand on the cliff and jump. That was easy.
Wait, so that means that whatever was behind the door was always behind the door and it was Faaaaaaate that led them to their original, correct door. Unless...it was the second option and it was created by them opening the door but will then just be there from then on until defeated. Yes, I'm thinking about this rather than laughing myself sick over Kasuo FINALLY being allowed to kill himself, even in a dream.
I'm laughing at Kasuo fulfilling his dream of killing himself in a dream.
I hope he's okay. I really do like Dreamer.
He'll be fine, don't worry. He's the Ice King's James Comey: he's not going anywhere.
She isn't dead YET, then?
Comments
This episode wasn't too bad! I like the "defeating your demons" thing. And I think these demons are much better than the Old Nine Gates demons! Noodles! Curtains! It really made a lot of sense what our guys saw behind their doors and it actually revealed quite a bit about their characters. But imagine how embarrassing if other people saw your utmost fear or the thing you feel the most sorry about! I cringe at the mere thought.To be honest, after Old Nine Gates, I'm scared of noodles and curtains...
Anyway, I'm sure it will make them stronger as a group. Are they in yet?
On the strength of this episode, I feel like I would have liked this as a book.
The book was good. No Yan Da, though.