Lost Tomb ep 7 and 8

[marycrawford]

I am still enjoying the Iron Triangle's shenanigans a lot, but it's okay if I just


fast-forward through Sunglasses Guy's entire subplot right? ...right? I'm not feeling it, and the various hinky stereotypes aren't helping.

OTOH I'm particularly loving the dramatic irony moments where we get SO CLOSE to Wu Xie confessing his secret to Pangzi - first with the sudden drunken poisoning and then again with the "energy pills". Wu Xie reassuring Pangzi by saying "Trust me, I will die before you" is, uh, not to cross the streams or anything, but that is a peak Shen Wei moment. That is about as reassuring as "Luckily, I am used to pain". His little FACE!

Comments

[naye]

Uuuh yeah Sunglasses Guy's subplot in vague jungle South-East Asia real racist. It's incredibly uncomfortable and doesn't add any value to the main story until the last 5 minutes or so of episode 11. After the conclusion of that scene in 12 you can skip to the end of episode 13 without missing anything but het romance and the same stereotypes you get in an 80's Hollywood movie only from a Chinese perspective.

[marycrawford]

Ah thanks for the details! That's good to know, and I will gladly keep fastforwarding through the rest of the B plot except for the moments you mention, because yikes. I hope it doesn't take up much if any of the remaining episodes.

[naye]

The way I cope with this B-plot is by being grateful that they had entire things to shoot that didn't involve Zhu Yilong, because if he'd been in all the plots (as much as I would have loved that) then he would probably have keeled over from overwork. Apparently he had over 1000 scenes to film as Wu Xie which is more than any role he's previously had, so...yeah, I'm just watching the B-plot go by seeing breathing space for Zhu Yilong. It helps. A little. ^^;; (I hope future B-plots are less racist though because y i k e s.)

[marycrawford]

Less racist and homophobic feels like such a low bar, and yet - sigh. I really hope so too.

And man, that's a good point about Z1L's work schedule. Especially as the scenes are all so active, jumping and crawling and so on, and I know stunt doubles exist and I assume he had some, but even so, what a workload. (I still really want a whole long scene where nothing happens except the Triad eating hotpot...)

[naye]

...ooooh The Iron Triangle! I read "Triad" as "Chinese Mafia" and was only vaguely confused because Erbai does seem to have some shady business going on but OHH. And yes I would 100% watch 45 minutes of the three of them having hotpot and going to karaoke. ♥

yet - sigh
An excellent summary.

[marycrawford]

Hahaha woops sorry, I will try and remember not to use the word triad when talking about this show (or other chinese contemporary shows, really, if I ever watch more), I can see that could be super confusing.

But yes let us have the Iron Triangle just goofing off and eating all the best hotpot, and oh yes karaoke! Wu Xie and Pangzi's little song/dance moment while they were drunk-poisoned was just adorable.

[naye]

Wu Xie and Pangzi's little song/dance moment while they were drunk-poisoned was just adorable.
Shellfish hands that get you high is a very nice narrative touch. Good job tomb builders! They really wanted those prospective tomb raiders to...uh...party on?

[xparrot]

Until proven otherwise I am assuming Sunglasses whole arc is filler, a la old anime, and mostly put in to get some het romance in (as that seems to be a cdrama requirement; I've so far only seen one cdrama (out of dozens by now) that didn't have any romance plot or subplot) and they knew better than to try it with Wu Xie!

But ahhhh the way they play with Wu Xie's secret (and even if Pangzi doesn't actually know, the way he snaps in the drunk scene hints that is something he fears already...with Wu Xie's survival instincts it's not a surprising fear...)

And yeah, there is a particular type of accepting angst that is a Zhu Yilong specialty...! (Wu Xie doesn't have Shen Wei's self-worth issues really, but he's still so very willing to put his life and health on the line for what he thinks is more important... whether his friends agree...)

[marycrawford]

they knew better than to try it with Wu Xie!

Haaaa yes that's at least a cheering thought! I didn't know het subplot was a requirement, but I can see they're going there and I will be happy to skip it, even if it's a shame about the single recurring female role in the show so far.

(and even if Pangzi doesn't actually know, the way he snaps in the drunk scene hints that is something he fears already...with Wu Xie's survival instincts it's not a surprising fear...)

Yeah, I really liked how that scene started out as comedy and then turned into such a revealing moment for both of them. As you said earlier, Pangzi's character is really good for this, the hairpin emotional turns like that, and like you said, he has reason to fear that Wu Xie will not live to grow old.

a particular type of accepting angst that is a Zhu Yilong specialty
That is a lovely way to put it, ahhh. Zhu Yilong plays all these subtle shades of emotion SO well, and I'm so glad he has a secret to protect here and isn't just a straight-up action hero.

[xparrot]

The mood shift in that scene is so good, it's definitely one of the ones I was thinking about.

And yessss this is the perfect role for Zhu Yilong, he gets to run around being all physical but he also gets real emotion to play (and also h/c, which he is scary good at; you believe his pain, whether physical or emotional)

[trobadora]

As far as I can see, the only redeeming value in Sunglasses Guy's plot is that he and the mute woman are both very pretty. But you can get that by watching a gif or something without having to put up with the racist stereotypes.

Wu Xie reassuring Pangzi by saying "Trust me, I will die before you"

Oh, that was such a good moment!

[marycrawford]

Yeah, there certainly is enough pretty to go round (I appreciate Xiaoge taking his shirt off all the time!) so I feel like I'm safe to skip if that's all that I'm missing. :D

[no_detective]

i am so disappointed in the b-plot being, you know, really fucking awful in SO MANY WAYS bc i've really enjoyed the sunglasses actor elsewhere (also he's ridiculously hot) but yes: i recommend skipping the lot.

Wu Xie reassuring Pangzi by saying "Trust me, I will die before you" is, uh, not to cross the streams or anything, but that is a peak Shen Wei moment - GOD YES. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

[marycrawford]

I appreciate the support in just skipping stuff! I usually watch everything once (like, say, the Hanga arc in Guardian - watch once, skip it forevermore) but this time I am just refusing.

I want to watch WU XIE, admire all the lovely lighting on Zhu Yilong and alllll the closeups. And the angst. And the suffering. <3

[sakana17]

More flailing because: drunken poisoning! the "energy pills!" OH WU XIE. I felt like Pangzi suspects something's going on.

Zhu Yilong is soooo good in this. And, disappointing b-plot aside, the series so far (I've only watched through episode 8) is way better than I'd braced myself for. thevetia watched two of the earlier series and from what she told me, they were...not that good.

Not liking Sunglasses Guy. Not liking that storyline. The only thing that caught my attention in those scenes was that the actor playing the girl's brother is the guy who played the older brother in episode 18 of Guardian. (Underground fight club, older brother who thinks Wildfire is responsible for his younger brother's death.)

[marycrawford]

I think you're right, Pangzi can crack jokes but he's no dummy, I bet he's putting things together. I wonder when he'll find out! I remember being a big fan of not having Shen Wei's secret identity last for all 40 episodes, I thought the show did a beautiful job with that, and I'm curious how this will go.

the actor playing the girl's brother is the guy who played the older brother in episode 18 of Guardian.

WOW good eye! That's so impressive to me, I'm terrible at recognizing actors.