meganbmoore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
meganbmoore) wrote2010-04-11 03:02 pm
meganbmoore) wrote2010-04-11 03:02 pm
cdrama: Men and Legends, eps. 5-32
I kept meaning to post on this as I was watching, but never did. I think because, while I really liked the main characters (Well, there was a while there where I was flipflopping and liking Feng or Yuan, but rarely both at the same time. Also, for some reason, I found it harder to forgive a brief stint as an arsonist with no apparent casualties than I did to forgive spending half the series as a hitman/enforcer.) and some of the supporting characters, the main plot ended up boring me a bit. Which is sad, because I like the setting, and the Chinese/Japanese politics of the 30s are pretty interesting. From what I hear, though, that’s usually the case with Chinese series set then? Maybe it’s just one of those things that doesn’t hold up well as an extended dramatization. Though, I also seem to prefer my wuxia with swords and magic swords made of ice and colorcoded assassins and such.
I have to say, though, that this has the most melodramatic, angst-tastic ending of a wuxia that I’ve seen since the end of Chinese Paladin. I mean, CP still wins, but M&L tried.
Spoiler:
Specifically, Siyu gets tossed in a heat-torture-chamber by the Japanese, and then locked in and left there to die since they’re going to blow up the warehouse anyway. Feng finds her but can’t open it and so there’s an extended montage of their stroking each other’s faces while she’s dying.
Though, uhm, I spent the whole time thinking about how he could be spending that time trying other things to save her? Also, he’s like, the only man in the entire series who doesn’t carry a gun, and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t bulletproof glass.
Then the series ends with Feng not seeing Yuan and Yu off as they go off to live peacefully in the country or something while he angsts in the forest, staring forever and ever at the grave Siyu made for him when she thought he was dead early in the series.
Of course, uhm, I knew Siyu was doomed when she agreed to marry the villain to get Feng out of jail, and then Yuan literally beat Feng unconscious in the rain to keep him from interrupting the wedding.
But CP still wins, what with Ling Er smearing her blood all over Xiao Yao’s face as she’s dying while he carries her, and then he angstily carries her corpse around for ages. Until he remembers they have an infant daughter so he decides to angstily raise her while wandering ancient Japan.Baby girl, I hope your daddy finds a few cheerful frirnds along the way, what with everyone he knows having Tragically Died. Or turned into birds. Also, I kinda wish the sequel was about you.
But really, while both are such melodramatically over the top that I love them in the “laugh with inappropriate glee” way, they also really annoy me because in both cases, the heroine essentially dies to be the final step in the hero’s transition from boy to man. This is also true in Return of the Condor Heroes, in a way, except that (A) Yang Guo thinks Xiao Long Nu is alive, but will return to him in 20 years, not knowing that everyone else thinks she’s dead, and that was a lie Huang Rong thought up on the spot to keep him from committing suicide by jumping off the cliff after XLN, and (B) she doesn’t actually die, even though the rather convoluted plot largely serves the same purpose.
I love you, wuxia, even when you’re obsessed with Tragic Deaths. Just not when your Tragic Deaths are women Tragically Dying to Turn Boys Into Men.
I have to say, though, that this has the most melodramatic, angst-tastic ending of a wuxia that I’ve seen since the end of Chinese Paladin. I mean, CP still wins, but M&L tried.
Spoiler:
Specifically, Siyu gets tossed in a heat-torture-chamber by the Japanese, and then locked in and left there to die since they’re going to blow up the warehouse anyway. Feng finds her but can’t open it and so there’s an extended montage of their stroking each other’s faces while she’s dying.
Though, uhm, I spent the whole time thinking about how he could be spending that time trying other things to save her? Also, he’s like, the only man in the entire series who doesn’t carry a gun, and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t bulletproof glass.
Then the series ends with Feng not seeing Yuan and Yu off as they go off to live peacefully in the country or something while he angsts in the forest, staring forever and ever at the grave Siyu made for him when she thought he was dead early in the series.
Of course, uhm, I knew Siyu was doomed when she agreed to marry the villain to get Feng out of jail, and then Yuan literally beat Feng unconscious in the rain to keep him from interrupting the wedding.
But CP still wins, what with Ling Er smearing her blood all over Xiao Yao’s face as she’s dying while he carries her, and then he angstily carries her corpse around for ages. Until he remembers they have an infant daughter so he decides to angstily raise her while wandering ancient Japan.
But really, while both are such melodramatically over the top that I love them in the “laugh with inappropriate glee” way, they also really annoy me because in both cases, the heroine essentially dies to be the final step in the hero’s transition from boy to man. This is also true in Return of the Condor Heroes, in a way, except that (A) Yang Guo thinks Xiao Long Nu is alive, but will return to him in 20 years, not knowing that everyone else thinks she’s dead, and that was a lie Huang Rong thought up on the spot to keep him from committing suicide by jumping off the cliff after XLN, and (B) she doesn’t actually die, even though the rather convoluted plot largely serves the same purpose.
I love you, wuxia, even when you’re obsessed with Tragic Deaths. Just not when your Tragic Deaths are women Tragically Dying to Turn Boys Into Men.