Ice Fantasy 幻城 - Episode 52 (Recap)
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.
Well, that's unexpected. I wonder what drives the details of these returns.
Is it because of the curse that Shi thinks these things, or is Shi just letting out all his angst?
At Snow City, they puzzle over Shi’s whereabouts and settle on him being as confused as Li Luo and Lan Shang, which means he’s probably lost his ways.
The Fire King keeps gobbling up souls in the meantime, in secret. I wonder whether there’s a limit to how many souls are healthy for you? This is what YuanJi did to become so powerful. Yan Da on the other hand is missing Shi like crazy … but the new Fire Tribe General comes to challenge her to a match. He knows she’s fought alongside Kasuo and wants to find out more! In the skirmish that follows, his mask flies off and Yan Da recognizes him …. it’s Ying Kong Shi!
I can't imagine she hates this.
He’s all … who? She soon realizes he has no recollection of who he was and daddy makes quite sure she cannot talk to him any further. To him, he is a gift, a tool of revenge. He picked him up at the border (with red hair So why did that happen?) and heard him rage about how he wanted to kill Kasuo. Fire King knows how to seize an opportunity like this! He made sure to brainwash Shi with further stories about how horrible Kasuo was to him, only because he is of a different tribe. He swears to take horrible revenge on Kasuo. Yan Da doesn’t like this at all - since it only means more suffering for her beloved Shi. But daddy threatens to kill her … or rather him! if she dares tell the new Shi the truth.
Oh, then I guess she can hate this.
Dad even tried to tempt her into staying quiet so that Shi would live with her and the rest, but as usual, she'd be way down the list while he pursued his mission.
Dreamer does his Dreamer-thing … but he cannot find Ying Kong Shi’s dream. That probably means Shi doesn’t know who he is!
I imagine a big file room filled with cabinets of dreams, all labeled with the name of the dreamer and filed accordingly. I guess if you don't know who you are, you go under 'misc'
There is more though. Dreamer did enter his sister’s dream. She hugged him and told him to stay (= not go back to Dreamland) and “the twin stars will eventually meet". (good for them!) He calls it a “premonition dream”. It means that Ying Kong Shi will surely meet Kasuo again. (Oh?) They just need to wait patiently. (Oh?) Dreamer warns against searching for Shi in the open, because otherwise everybody will get wind of his disappearance and that will put him in danger. Yeah, about that…
Funny, I'd have thought her saying 'don't go' and 'twin stars will eventually meet' meant something about them, Xing Gui and Xing Jui or whatever Dream Lord's name is.
Dreamer and Kasuo are a bit sad together about how much they’ve lost and talk about the demons in their hearts, born from their sorrow and guilt. Okay, boys. Let's move on!
The new Shi hears voices screaming to “kill him, kill him”! and I don’t think he’s doing fine. And then …. he hears the flute. Kasuo is playing on his flute! Or rather the leaf, sorry. The new Shi stops the sound with a blast … but he is confused. The flute he lost when he threw his white garbs into a lake of fire. I think it’s still lying there on the ledge, not melting. It’s a magic flute after all!
After everything he's been through, it would be surprising if Shi weren't a little crazy. Think about it: he gets blasted from boy to man in seconds, then he has to pretend a bunch of things good and bad to protect his mother and his brother, then he finds out he's neither fish nor fowl, then he dies and becomes a fairy, and now he's something completely new. That's a lot.
True.
The Mermaid Saint tries to get Lan Shang into her old beauty routines (I took notes), but she has no mind for it. She’d rather be on her unicorn and hunt or kill enemies! (hint, hint) Li Luo on the other hand is horrified about her manly clothes. Before she goes to Kasuo, she changes into something very ladylike and puts on a new wig. Kasuo: "You look lovely in any outfit". Haha. He’s a man after all.
Ohhh, I see what's happening.
The hair is terrible.
They have dinner with the scoobies (Healer almost doesn’t recognize Li Luo, haha and Chao Ya was urgently called back by the Bears, so she isn’t there). The banquet is a merry affair and they discuss how Kasuo and Li Luo pretended to be married way back when they went to the mortal realm. More happy memories. When Kasuo gives her fish, she almost throws up. Hint, hint.
We get it.
Okay, Li Luo freaks out completely when everybody starts talking about her wedding night (they didn’t have one indeed) and leaves. Later, she is supposed to meet with her fellow Guardians, but she comes all dressed up and shy and compleeetely changed. And she can’t drink anymore!
Suddenly, there are warning signals - someone is invading the realm!
We cut to many murdered children. Oh, wait ... one is lifting its head!
They aren't dead, they're just playing dead. When Lan Shang bends down
to take a look, one of them - she's the leader! - threatens her with a
knife to the throat. Alright! She says she's "not the Young Lady of the
Truthless Tribe of Sacred Snow Mountain". And her name isn't Yan Huang.
Don't surrender!
Huh?
She's telling bad lies.
Oh, they can only lie. How clever. Apparently,
they're the legendary tiny immortal tribe of Sacred Snow Mountain. The
children are starving. Lan Shang, in full control of the situation, has
them fed and given wine. She smiles contently. She's got this.
Later, Kasuo goes to visit his Granny in the forest. She has no powers anymore and her memories are leaving her. She’s still fairly happy, which is good, because not all demented people are. She thinks Kasuo is She Mi. Yes, uncanny resemblance. She is horribly sad she has lost her Fallen Star Scepter (that's her wooden stick). Kasuo tells her he has it (he has?), but in fact, he hasn’t, because that scepter flew out of the castle. Yes, I’m confused too. Dreamer tries to stop it, but the Fallen Star Scepter wants to go home. Okay?
Where is home? That place where Granny was a guardian?
It flies to that Saints' platform. Oh please, I hope they're not still alive?! No, the Scepter is just "drawn to the sacred magical cubes". And a riddle is saved! Remember how there only were six saints and we were all dying to know why? Now we know! Because the seventh cute was ... brace yourselves ... hidden in the Fallen Star Scepter! Incredible! Granny was the 7th Saint.
So she was Granny, plus some guardian, plus a saint? Or really, she wasn't one of the saints, but she was in possession of one of the saints? Wait, if she was a saint, plus a guardian...uh. I think there's a contradiction in there but I can't be sure because it's too confusing and I no longer care enough to try and map it out. Actually, I never cared enough to think very deeply about any of this. It might be how I survive, in the end.
Kasuo asks Xing Jiu for his magical cube. He has an idea...
I'm the only one who isn't watching anymore or didn't watch to the end and I am quite certain what happened.
They switched souls. See, you have to say you wanted Lan Shang back in her own body continuing her life from where it left off, and the same for Li Luo. And now I'm thinking that's not correct either, just that you want them back in their own homes and bodies and healthy all around.
I'm just glad we have Shi back. Even if he doesn't know he is Shi. He is badass. I like Shi badass. I don't like his red hair though.
I can't wait to see the pictures.
He looks good no matter what hair.
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.
Episode 52
The new fine Fire General looks a bit familiar, don’t you think? Ha! It’s Shi! But he has no memories as well - or rather, he has false ones, believing it was Kasuo who had him suffer and killed. Wow, that old story again. But it seems to still be working!Well, that's unexpected. I wonder what drives the details of these returns.
Is it because of the curse that Shi thinks these things, or is Shi just letting out all his angst?
 |
| My baby has a bruise :-( |
I can't imagine she hates this.
Oh, then I guess she can hate this.
Dad even tried to tempt her into staying quiet so that Shi would live with her and the rest, but as usual, she'd be way down the list while he pursued his mission.
I imagine a big file room filled with cabinets of dreams, all labeled with the name of the dreamer and filed accordingly. I guess if you don't know who you are, you go under 'misc'
Funny, I'd have thought her saying 'don't go' and 'twin stars will eventually meet' meant something about them, Xing Gui and Xing Jui or whatever Dream Lord's name is.
 |
| Their obsession with each other was incestuous. |
The new Shi hears voices screaming to “kill him, kill him”! and I don’t think he’s doing fine. And then …. he hears the flute. Kasuo is playing on his flute! Or rather the leaf, sorry. The new Shi stops the sound with a blast … but he is confused. The flute he lost when he threw his white garbs into a lake of fire. I think it’s still lying there on the ledge, not melting. It’s a magic flute after all!
After everything he's been through, it would be surprising if Shi weren't a little crazy. Think about it: he gets blasted from boy to man in seconds, then he has to pretend a bunch of things good and bad to protect his mother and his brother, then he finds out he's neither fish nor fowl, then he dies and becomes a fairy, and now he's something completely new. That's a lot.
True.
Ohhh, I see what's happening.
The hair is terrible.
We get it.
Huh?
She's telling bad lies.
Where is home? That place where Granny was a guardian?
So she was Granny, plus some guardian, plus a saint? Or really, she wasn't one of the saints, but she was in possession of one of the saints? Wait, if she was a saint, plus a guardian...uh. I think there's a contradiction in there but I can't be sure because it's too confusing and I no longer care enough to try and map it out. Actually, I never cared enough to think very deeply about any of this. It might be how I survive, in the end.
Comments
The show hasn't officially told us yet, but it seems pretty clear what has happened between Lan Shang and Li Luo, right? Should we tell our readers (who all know anyway?)I'm the only one who isn't watching anymore or didn't watch to the end and I am quite certain what happened.
They switched souls. See, you have to say you wanted Lan Shang back in her own body continuing her life from where it left off, and the same for Li Luo. And now I'm thinking that's not correct either, just that you want them back in their own homes and bodies and healthy all around.
I'm just glad we have Shi back. Even if he doesn't know he is Shi. He is badass. I like Shi badass. I don't like his red hair though.
I can't wait to see the pictures.
He looks good no matter what hair.