kakashi: Nail-biting, heart-crushing and incredibly suspenseful. Are you ready for the heartbreak?
JoAnne: I reject this reality. In this fantasy. Do not want.
Episode 6
We're on the eve of battle - all the students get to lead their own troops, but Ninth and Seventeenth are selected to stay with their Shifu. In the Master's command tent, the Heavenly Lord's three sons have gathered ("they have come for the experience") as has the White Goddess Yao Guang. See? No grudges, she's firmly on Mo Yuan's side. I'll let JoAnne comment on Mo Yuang's new communication device (helmet).
When I stop giggling. I particularly love the little metal ponytail but I feel like it should be articulated so that it swings in the breeze when he strides manfully across the plains. He's so handsome, though, isn' the?
Ling Yu (that is Ninth) gets to lead 10'000 soldiers as vanguard. Si Yin will follow Mo Yuan with the main force. Mo Yuan also talks a bit about his 7 times 7 formations and that the Ghost Lord is not to be taken lightly. Yes ... my heart is beating really fast now. Vanguard?
Is this outfit made out of gum?
Gum lace?
Sleep is elusive - Si Yin steps outside and stares at the empty field in front of them, thinking about all the corpses that will litter it soon (actually not, because most of these people seem to just dissolve once they die, I'm guessing because of censorship? No dead mutilated bodies?). Mo Yuan tells her to think about it this way: that this war can bring at least 70'000 years of peace to the world.
That's not actually very long though, when she's been a student for 20'000.
And then, he teaches her that top secret sealing spell, the one to imprison someone in that Bell of the East Emperor. Hmmm, so she can perform the spell as well? That means he knows a) exactly who she is (Fox Princess) and b) what's likely to happen later.
We knew he knew, though. The first part, at least.
And I know they're f***** when Zhe Yan attempts to get his Fuxi Zither that was sealed under Kunlun Mountain. All its strings break. That's a horrible omen.
I laughed and said there's ALWAYS a warrior with a damn zither, what's up with the zithers, China? And then the strings broke and I thought 'ooooops'.
Then, this:
Those white things in the sky ..... those are not birds, but men, as we soon realize. That's all part of Mo Yuan's formations!
I thought they were butterflies. This battle formation was cool AF.
Here are the Ghosts ... that Beast, I haven't introduced it yet, is the
Golden Lion Beast, Ghost Lord Qing Cang's mount. What exactly are they? Soul animals? Familiars? Do only the Ghosts have them? I guess not, because Si Yin's 4th Brother also has one, a phoenix.
2P! I saw 2P! Don't die, you weak baby. Redeem yourself! Well, maybe he has to die to do that.
And our Celestial crowd. I don't mind those princes, but they have zero experience. Actually, nobody has any, except for the Goddess and Mo Yuan.
'We're here for the experience.' It's not fucking Burning Man, guys.
Oh, and here is Ninth and his vanguard force.
I love Ninth. But right about here I was mostly thinking 'who wears white to a war?'
Ugh, the Demons.
I swore to God last night that those were the Ninja Turtles behind the Smurfs.
And then, it begins.
Seriously, so handsome. And serious. Calm, capable, tender, handsome...we wantzzzz.
It doesn't look like the Ghosts stand a chance at all, but as we know and fear ...
Honestly, this was the coolest looking battle I can remember in a long, long time. Maybe ever.
... Ghost Lord knows how to break the formation. It's downhill from there.
Let's go find that bitch Xuan Nu. Oh hey, there's that man-eating mega stalk of asparagus again.
The vanguard (yes, Ninth :((() is the first to be pulverized. He comes up against 1st Ghost Prince Li Yuan. Despite Seventeenth's rescue attempt (the only weapon she uses is her Fan) and Li Jing's (late) intervention, Ninth gets gravely wounded.
Nobody else gets punctured up like this, why precious Ninth?
I think Si Yin would have died there with Ninth if her 4th brother had not intervened (unexpectedly and bravely, because he's awesome like that, he wasn't even part of the armed forces) and beamed them into the command tent. But help has come too late for Ninth ... nobody, not even Mo Yuan, can save him now.
This is just wrong. Wrong! But then again, what other Kunlun death short of Mo Yuan's would have worked here? It was inevitable from a story perspective. I still hate it.
The moment Si Yin tells Mo Yuan that their tactical information was stolen by Xuan Nu - she overheard the Ghost Princes talk about it - he realizes just how their situation is. The formations are pre-arranged, they cannot be changed at short notice. It means that 200'000 Celestial troops perish, just like that. The Celestial Army is defeated.
Well, shit.
But are they? While 4th Brother takes his sis out of the tent at Mo Yuan's behest (she of course thinks she's to blame for this mess, because she is the one who met Ji Ling and set it all in motion - something her brother quickly talks her out of), and everybody in that tent begs Mo Yuan to be able to get involved, he comes up with a daring plan. It involves a suicide mission with 100'000 men, which are to create a diversion. Mo Yuan will lead them, he declares. No wonder he sent Si Yin out. Imagine the fuss she would have made.
He's the God of War. Aren't Gods invincible? He'll just have to go into seclusion for a really long time, right? Do you hear that note of panic in my voice? Because it is there, let me tell you. It is there.
One brave guy steps up - he has 100'000 soldiers with him, the entire Su Jin clan. He is willing to sacrifice himself and all of them (this, by the way, is the father of a little girl of quite some importance we will meet in one of the upcoming episodes). No, she will lead them, says Yao Guang, stepping forward. If an unknown soldier does it, the Ghosts will become suspicious and not fall for the trick. She knows it's a suicide mission, but she promises Mo Yuan she'll battle him again the day she returns.
Very noble of you and we accept. You're still not going to win Mo Yuan. He belongs to Si Yin. Well, to Bai Qian.
It works. With the help of the two Fox children, who volunteer to lead the troops that are left with no generals (note that the Heavenly Lord's sons are all words but no action)
(must we repeat? they're here for 'the' experience, not 'to' experience. It's basically a sightseeing trip), the Celestials are able to turn this around - but the price is high, so high... As expected, Yao Guang perishes. She was awesome in the end, RIP. Soon, they have the Ghost forces surrounded, but we all know that there is a little something in the possession of the Ghost Lord, right? It is not surprising that he would rather see the world destroyed than surrender.
'I will not surrender! Instead, I will....kill all of us!' How does that make any sense at all, you idiot?
If he can't have it, nobody can have it
.
He activates the Bell. It's starts sucking up people and bits and pieces of the world. I don't think we'll ever see them again.
Ain' t nobody gonna ring that bell.
The only one who can stop this now is Mo Yuan (Si Yin, the brave soul, tries, but she is no match for the Ghost Lord), but we know what it will cost. First, a fierce battle between the God of War and the Ghost Lord, during which both men wound each other. The energy they unleash is unreal. Then, Mo Yuan kicks the Ghost Lord into the Bell to seal him in - and follows. "Wait for me", he whispers before he gets sucked in, looking straight at Si Yin.
That broke my heart a little bit, Kakashi. He had hopes of them being together some day. I thought he loved her without hope.
The Bell explodes, shrinks to its normal size and clashes into the river. A lonely body drifts slowly down. It's Mo Yuan ... his soul is scattered. Shattered is my heart.
Find the pieces. FIND THEM.
His sacrifice ends the war ... and buys the world 70'000 years of peace.
Again, this does not seem like much time, relatively speaking, so it's a very high price to pay. The Ghost Tribe surrenders (Si Yin needs to be subdued by her fellow students not to murder them all on sight.)
(I bet that really hurt 2P and his sister, both.) The meddlesome Gods (mainly Dong Hua, who shows the first emotion we've ever seen on him at the word that Mo Yuan is gone) start machinations to make sure Li Jing and not his evil brother Li Yuan succeeds the throne.
And the Golden Lotus ... it withers.
Bye-bye. Actually, at first I thought it died because Mo Yuan is gone, and so he's not there to protect it, which was his mission. And then I thought, well - I know that ghostly guy shows up again down the road so...that means that Mo Yuan HAD TO DIE in order for the Lotus to become human? Which means Heavenly Father knew that? FUCKER.
Comments
Damn, can I breathe again?! This was incredibly emotional and even though we saw this coming (all that talk about the Bell was such a giveaway), it's still very hard to deal with. I know he knew it would come to this, but he might have hoped it wouldn't. What the heck does "Wait for me" mean?! Does he want to come back? How does this soul scattering business work?! Why is it 70'000 years? Why did he give her the spell?
I guess in case he died before the bell was employed?
Ah, I was very angry at a few people after all this, mainly those Heavenly Bastards. The sons who came to "get some experience" did absolutely nothing and even told Mo Yuan to reconsider when he came up with the only plan to save them all. Idiots. Well, no wonder with a father like theirs. But more of that later. Dijun also gets on my nerves with his bored detachment. Wanna bet he could have stopped it all? But maybe he is one of those "fate"-believers that do not want to meddle in the ways of the world. Still, idiot.
I believe that Dijun is playing a long game (starting with his retirement) and this is one of those situations where you have to break some eggs to make an omelet. So to speak.
The most awesome (apart from Si Yin, who is just so brave and loyal) was 4th Fox Prince again. See, this is selfless action. Coming in even though he wasn't even part of the army and volunteering to lead troops, being super supportive of his grief-stricken sister again... I really heart him. Please keep him safe, show. Seeing Ninth killed was bad enough. I really liked that boy.
With you, 100%.
CGI wasn't perfect, but it also wasn't bad at all for TV. Comparisons with Games of Thrones are always inevitable nowadays, but such a comparison is unfair. GoT films only one or two huge battle scenes per season and only about 12 episodes altogether.
When I do not even mention CGI (usually because I am laughing hysterically) - you know I am in love with a show.
