![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Review: Nirvana in Fire 2: The Wind Blows in Chang Lin (瑯琊榜之風起長林) (2017)
As the sequel to Nirvana in Fire, I was disappointed with this drama. While there was scheming and court politics, it was straightforward and simple, and not the nuanced take that I expect from a well-written court political drama.
This was a character journey as opposed to a story that was focused on scheming. Despite that, I found the characters to be lacking. This drama relied on pre-existing tropes established in the original Nirvana in Fire, rather than the characters acting on their own to establish their personalities and relationships.
It’s an okay historical drama, but it’s lacking in comparison to Nirvana in Fire. I only found myself enjoying the drama in the last quarter of the show, in the final story arc.
Spoilers. Also, I wrote this super late so sorry that this is very disorganized!!
Story
The story focused on the next generation after that in the original Nirvana in Fire. Xiao Tingsheng was the son of the third prince who was wronged, and the adopted son of Xiao Jingyan, who was the Emperor before the current Emperor. Xiao Tingsheng had two sons, Xiao Pingzhang and Xiao Pingjing. Pingzhang was the smart and capable one, and Pingjing was the rash one who wanted to be a martial artist in Jianghu instead of having to conform to the laws of politics.
I’d say there were two major arcs in the story. The first was focused on Xiao Pingzhang, with Puyang Ying as the villain. The second major arc was focused on Xiao Pingjing, with Xiao Yuanqi as the villain. Xiao Pingzhang’s death directly influenced Xiao Pingjing’s character development, and that is why I consider Xiao Pingjing the main character.
The Empress did not approve of the close relationships between the Emperor and Xiao Tingsheng, resulting in the close relationships between Xiao Yuanshi and Xiao Pingjing. Puyang Ying was an advisor to the Empress. However, he had an incentive to see the downfall of the Liang Emperor as revenge for the Liang Empire’s refusal to help his own Empire during a time of plague. Puyang Ying manipulated the Empress into unleashing a poison on the citizens, attempting to bring about another plague like the one he had suffered through.
Along the way, Xiao Pingzhang became poisoned. I kind of forgot some of the events, so bear with me. I believe Pingjing had become poisoned as well, and Pingzhang decided to use his life to save Pingjing’s. As a cover, Pingzhang went to war and died in battle, leaving only Tingsheng and Pingjing. Before this had happened, it was revealed that Pingzhang was not the biological son of Tingsheng, and that Pingjing was Tingsheng’s only biological child. All of this led to Pingjing picking up the responsibilities of Pingzhang, becoming more involved in politics.
During this time, Puyang Ying and Xiao Yuanqi had been cooperating in their treachery, both seeing an interest in the weakening of the royal family. However, as Yuanqi grew in power, he killed Puyang Ying to hide evidence of their cooperation.
The Liang Emperor (Xiao Jingyan’s son) passed away, resulting in Xiao Yuanshi sitting on the throne as a child emperor. Before his death, the Liang Emperor named Xiao Tingsheng as Yuanshi’s regent, much to the distaste of Empress Xun, now the Empress Dowager.
In the second half of the show, Pingjing led the Changlin army to fight at the border. In an attempt to get rid of Pingjing, Xun Baishui convinced the Emperor to forbid Pingjing from mobilizing his troops. However, Pingjing went ahead in order to protect the borders, and accepting that he would be considered a traitor. Upon his return, Tingsheng supported Pingjing, though he also understood that he had defied the edict. Tingsheng passed away due to an illness, and the Emperor stripped Pingjing of the Changlin troops.
Yuanqi continued to accumulate power, though his conquest of neighbouring kingdoms was really just his cooperation with foreign powers dressed up to look like conquest in front of the Liang Emperor. Yuanqi eventually decided to mobilize and move in on Yuanshi. Yuanshi, understanding that he was in danger, asked Xun Feizhan to seek out Xiao Pingjing to help him. Xiao Pingjing did return to the capital, having recalled the Changlin troops.
Yuanshi had Yuanqi executed and the Liang Empire prepared for war with Donghai. Yuanshi having Yuanqi executed was a sign of him growing to be a leader and having his own sense of leadership. However, I thought it was kind of dumb that Yuanqi turned good at the very end and gave our protagonists materials on Donghai. It felt like it was angling too much for a third installment, when that moment should have focused on Yuanqi’s own ideals, which were always about himself and not about the country.
The takeaways from the end was that Yuanshi was maturing and would be a capable leader. Pingjing got his wish to be a free man unbound by the laws of the court. Granted, it’s understood that if the Liang Empire ever needs him again, he will rise up to the occasion. It was a big happy ending for all.
There’s a lot I haven’t mentioned about the story, including all of the storylines with the women. But I’ll cover them in the character portions.
My first issue with the story was that it did not contain the nuance that I had come to expect from Nirvana in Fire and other well-written court political dramas. In court political dramas, while there are protagonists and antagonists, there’s a sympathetic undercurrent to all of the characters. It’s understood that all of the characters in the palace are just trying to survive in a cutthroat environment. However, Nirvana in Fire 2 pushed all of the villainy onto two characters, Puyang Ying and Xiao Yuanshi. Even though Xun Baishui put in motion much of the treachery against the family of Xiao Tingsheng, I felt like the show wanted us to forget about it at the end. In addition, I felt that Xiao Yuanqi was less a sympathetic villain and more of a power hungry one. He was not an entirely cold man, he had people he loved, but I felt that they didn’t tie well with his political ambition.
I felt that the characters in Nirvana in Fire 2 were not well written. I felt that we were told of the personalities and relationships between characters instead of seeing them in action. Any interactions to show their relationships felt shallow because the characters weren’t deeply involved in the politics that would have pushed their relationships to show those feelings. For example, Xun Baishui had accused Xun Feizhan of being loyal to Xiao Pingzhang and Xiao Pingjing because he had romantic feelings for Meng Qianxue. That was brought up out of nowhere, and it added nothing. Most of Feizhan’s interactions with Xiao Tingsheng’s family were with the brothers, and he didn’t interact a lot with Xiaoxue as much over the course of the story. Another example was Meng Qianxue’s relationship with Lin Xi. Xiaoxue simply asked to be Lin Xi’s jiejie and that was how they became friends. I know it made sense for them to be close considering Lin Xi’s growing relationship with Pingjing, but the way it came about didn’t really convince me. Xiao Tingsheng, Xiao Pingzhang, and Xiao Pingjing also fell into this trap where we told they were smart, loyal, powerful but they didn’t convince me. But I’ll get into it in their character sections.
Overall, I think this story had some hero tropes that kept it from being a court political drama. It was really more the story of a hero.
Production
In terms of production value, this show did look good. It had a high production value. However, it leaned heavily on the iconic looks from the first Nirvana in Fire. Several outfits I saw in this drama reminded me heavily of some of Xiao Jingyan and Mei Changsu’s iconic outfits.
I think the acting quality varied. But I think the good actors still stood out. I’d watched Wu Haochen in Miss S and I knew he was a good actor, and he did shine despite my gripes with his character. However for actors like Liu Haoran and Huang Xiaoming, I felt that their characters were bigger than their acting.
On that note, this show had some weird directing. One scene that stood out to me was when it was revealed to Meng Qianxue that her jewellery box was keeping her from having children. The show completely skipped over the actual conversation, only showing us the before and after, which I felt was incredibly cheap. We only showed Pingzhang coaxing Qianxue into conversation, and then in the next scene, Qianxue was in tears. If they weren’t cowards, they would have showed the conversation.
Characters
Xiao Pingjing
Xiao Pingjing was the hero of this show. Everything happened so that we could see him become who he became, which was the King of Changlin, the General of the Changlin army.
From the beginning, I thought he was annoying. The first time he met Lin Xi, he was anxious about his brother being injured, but he was rude to Lin Xi because of it and I think that spoke much about his rash character.
A major writing flaw stood out to me in the first few episodes. He had solved one of the first mysteries of the drama, showing his quick wit. However, soon after, he was shown interacting too casually with the Crown Prince, and Empress Xun was visibly displeased. He also visibly defied Empress Xun on matters of parenting Xiao Yuanshi. For a person so intelligent, it was inconsistent and clearly just a plot device to show Empress Xun’s growing suspicion of Xiao Pingjing.
Pingjing came into the forefront at around the midpoint. That was when we found out that Pingjing was Tingsheng’s only biological son. The story wanted to veer us into agreeing that even though Pingzhang was not Tingsheng’s biological son, he was a suitable heir because he was responsible and smart. It felt odd that the story brought up that conflict and then had Pingzhang die so that Pingjing, the biological son, could inherit the mantle of Changlin anyway. Perhaps I would have found this arc more convincing if the two were both biological sons and therefore on ‘equal footing’ in terms of the right to inherit. I think Pingzhang being the son of Lu Yuan was supposed to be a bit of fanservice because otherwise that storyline went nowhere.
Pingjing’s biggest period of growth was when he led the Changlin army to the border. He asserted his loyalty to the Empire by fighting at the border, even against Imperial edict, because it would otherwise be very dangerous for the Empire. Chinese people are familiar with the story of Yue Fei, the general who defied repeated orders to return because he needed to defend the border, but ultimately returned to his demise. Staying to defend the border against wishes is an act of loyalty to the country.
Due to having defied the Emperor’s orders, Pingjing was to be punished. Under normal circumstances, he probably would have been executed, but considering his good relationship with Yuanshi, he simply had his post taken away and sent Pingjing to mourn. After his mourning, Pingjing was finally able to live the free life he wanted on Langya. He was with his sister-in-law and his nephew, he reconciled his relationship with Lin Xi.
But when the Empire called, he knew that he had to help. That is one theme that is always consistent in good historical drama films. If you are born into this life, you can never escape it. Pingjing could never escape the fact that he was the King of Changlin now, that he was the cousin of the Emperor, that he was the protector of the Liang Empire. Qianxue and Lin Xi both knew this and let him go to Yuanshi, who really needed him at this time.
Pingjing’s relationship with Lin Xi started on a rocky note. As I said above, he was rude with Lin Xi and she held it against him. It was especially disappointing to Lin Xi because Pingjing was her betrothed. Over time, they grew close. He would confide in her, ranting out his heart, and to his delight, Lin Xi would comment, showing that she was listening the whole time. Their relationship took a bad turn as Pingjing was upset at the nature of Pingzhang’s death, and he was also upset that Lin Xi had hid his dad’s illness from him. They were apart for a long time after that, but eventually reunited and reconciled at Langya, where Lin Xi revealed her identity, and they decided they’d get married, only to be interrupted by the troubles in the Capital. But at the end, Lin Xi was there again, waiting for him and they’d be together forever. But if I’m being honest, Lin Xi’s relationship with him was really an accessory for Pingjing. I barely mentioned Lin Xi in the story, because she didn’t have a big role. But I’ll expand more in her section.
When Pingjing was mobilizing the Changlin army, some of heroism felt unearned to me. We were supposed to see him as a man with deep wisdom and passion. I can accept that he was the chosen one, because he was born into and left in a certain set of circumstances (being born the only biological son of Xiao Tingsheng, being the only remaining heir of the Changlin household). I can believe that he needed to protect Yuanshi, because they were close. I can sort of believe that he was a patriot who needed to protect the country, because of the manner of how he had defended the border, but also because the country was Yuanshi and he cared for Yuanshi. I couldn’t believe that he was a quiet leader who was wordlessly biding his time to wait for the Changlin army, because he was never a person who kept secrets, even after he matured. I felt that the show wanted him to be a leader in the same way that the heroes of Nirvana in Fire have always been, quiet and strategic. It didn’t make sense for two reasons. One reason is that once again, that’s not his personality. He says what he means. The other reason was because I never felt like he was his brother Pingzhang’s successor. Pingjing is so different from his father and brother and he’s never going to be the same kind of leader.
But some of the heroism felt unearned to me as well because when had Pingjing represented the country? Even when he defended the border, it felt like a personal act rather than an act of patriotism. Perhaps it was because up until that point, he had been so set on becoming a free soul in Jianghu. He had barely spent time in court, and I can’t say for sure that he was a good statesman. So he didn’t feel much of a patriot to me.
Nonetheless, he had his wish granted. Yuanshi granted him leave, Pingjing paid respects to his family, bid his farewells, and reunited with his love. It was a big happy ending for him and him specifically.
Xiao Pingjing’s character writing was inconsistent, and I think the writers wanted him to fit certain boxes that didn’t fit his character, for plot reasons. And for that, he was not a strong enough main character to carry this entire story on his back. He was supposed to be Nirvana in Fire 2’s version of Xiao Jingyan, the rash but honourable one. He was rash, but he wasn’t really honourable. His heart was never quite in the right place because he always just wanted to live life. As the spare of two sons, he was fully ready to not have to participate in politics ever again and he made it known. He created problems, he didn’t realize the trouble he was creating for other people. So while Xiao Jingyan had sincerity, I can’t say that Pingjing was as sincere as Xiao Jingyan.
Xiao Pingzhang
Xiao Pingzhang was Nirvana in Fire 2’s version of Mei Changsu, the sickly strategist. But again, he did not live up to his predecessor.
Pingzhang was originally an accomplished general, but had become injured in war and was sickly from then on. Nonetheless, he was smart and capable, and he was a very worthy heir to the Changlin household. He attempted to rein in his brother but struggled at times because of his rash nature.
Pingzhang’s main nemesis in the first half of the show was Puyang Ying. I forgot the exact happenings, but Pingzhang was forced to poison himself in order to achieve his goals. Pingjing was hurt as well, but Pingzhang ultimately decided to give up his life for Pingjing without consulting Pingjing. Xiaoxue was very upset as well that he had made the decision unilaterally. And I think that was something that bothered me. It was an easy decision for him to choose his brother, and all he did was accept that he would widow his wife, that he would give up a future with his kids. The way that Pingzhang went off to war was meant to hide the truth from his brother, and it was supposed to give him an honourable farewell. It didn’t strike me as honourable though. Maybe that’s the difference between Pingzhang and Mei Changsu. Mei Changsu would have used his impending death as an advantage, perhaps taken someone down with him. Pingzhang wasn’t cunning enough, he was someone who worked in the light. But because of his inability to do anything other than to save Pingjing’s life, it made him look like an incapable strategist. I kind of expected more from him. Him giving his life in return for Pingjing’s is on brand, but for him to ask his wife to just accept that feels unfair, especially since he was always supposed to be the smart one between him and Pingjing. He would have been the kind of guy to make sure everything at home was fine before he left, and he did not do that.
Xiao Tingsheng
Xiao Tingsheng was the son of the wronged third prince, and the adopted son of Xiao Jingyan. He was the closest confidant of the Liang Emperor, much to the chagrin of Empress Xun. He didn’t have a big role in the story now that I think about it, as it was mostly Pingzhang and Pingjing that the story focused on.
I don’t know where to put this so I’ll write about this here. When Pingzhang died, Tingsheng let out a roar in grief. That scene just felt a bit fake to me, like the director was trying to force me to feel something I didn’t feel, something that didn’t fit my image of the character. Of course, Tingsheng loved his sons; I don’t question his grief over Pingzhang’s death. He just didn’t strike me as the kind of guy to show his grief in that way. I would have thought him the kind to want to hide and cry. The roaring kind of grief…it doesn’t work on everyone and I don’t think it suited his character.
After Pingzhang died, Pingjing took up control of the Changlin troops and he went away. He was still upset over the way that Pingzhang had gone, and so he and his father didn’t reconcile before he went away. Tingsheng didn’t kick up a fuss about this, he knew that Pingjing’s coping mechanism was to hide. While Pingjing was away, Tingsheng was regent for Yuanshi. So both father and son were under political pressure.
When Pingjing returned from the border, the two finally reconciled. Tingsheng acknowledged Pingjing’s bravery for what he had done, and he agreed with his actions, but he also agreed that Pingjing had defied an Imperial Edict. In court, Tingsheng resigned from his post too but his illness caught up to him and he collapsed and later died.
Now that I’m writing about him, Tingsheng really didn’t have as big of a role. I can’t really remember any of his major actions.
Meng Qianxue
Meng Qianxue was the wife of Xiao Pingzhang, the descendant of Meng Zhi, and a martial artist. I hate to say this, but Xiaoxue (and Lin Xi) were both characters who had no purpose but to be love interests.
Xiaoxue and Pingzhang were supposed to be in a loving relationship and that was kind of shown, but their affection never really felt anything other than surface level to me. Maybe it was because I didn’t find Pingzhang convincing as a character. One of the first times we saw them go through trouble together was when it was revealed to Xiaoxue that she couldn’t conceive, and the show completely skipped through all of the work it took for us to see her fall apart.
Xiaoxue was friendly but that was it. She befriended Lin Xi on a whim, with no other reason just to get to know her. Maybe she was nosy because she knew there was something special about Lin Xi. Xiaoxue made jokes with Pingjing and she looked after him. But we never got to see Xiaoxue do anything of her own volition and that prevented her from ever developing as a character.
Xiaoxue was obviously very upset when Pingzhang was poisoned, and she was even more upset when Pingzhang decided he’d give his life for Pingjing. The entire ordeal felt clumsily handled because it felt like Pingzhang wasn’t even considering Xiaoxue’s feelings. He didn’t do anything to help her ease the pain. He just expected her to accept it. Maybe there was nothing he could do. But I think there could have been something.
He did leave her with child so I guess Xiaoxue still had a child with Pingzhang. But that hardly changed Xiaoxue’s position in the story. She still had barely anything to do. Perhaps it was because she was a woman, because if she was a man she might have taken Feizhan’s role in the story, basically what Meng Zhi did in Nirvana in Fire.
By the end of the story, Xiaoxue remained on Langya with her son.
Lin Xi
Lin Xi was Pingjing’s betrothed, the daughter of a close comrade of Xiao Tingsheng’s. She first came into the story as Pingzhang was injured. Pingjing was rude and rash to her, and that gave her a bad impression of Pingjing right off the bat. Afterwards, Pingjing would repeatedly hang around her to try to win back her favour. What would happen is that Pingjing would talk to himself while Lin Xi was working on her medicine and herbs. After his long rambles, Lin Xi would add a comment or two, showing that she was actually listening the whole time. I admit that Lin Xi and Pingjing were pretty cute at times like these.
Lin Xi had a bit of a role at the beginning when she discovered that there was something suspicious with Xiaoxue’s box. And that set in motion the story line that would lead to us finding out about the treachery from Yuanqi’s mother.
Otherwise, Lin Xi was mostly a peripheral character, which is disappointing. When I think about Mu Nihuang in Nirvana in Fire, she too is a character who isn’t so involved with the court politics. Unfortunately as a woman, her role was limited. However, she helpd Mei Changsu and Xiao Jingyan in putting together their plans towards the end of the show. She was involved, she helped. I can’t say the same for Lin Xi or Meng Qianxue. Perhaps it was because the story wanted to give these two characters more dramatic romantic stories, which required them to be apart from their romantic partners.
The fact that Lin Xi could be away from the story for long periods of time without the story suffering prevented me from ever being convinced that she was Pingjing’s love that he wanted to be with forever and ever. I know two people don’t have to be together all the time to be madly in love. But the only times I felt they were in love when they were apart were literally when Lin Xi was brought up.
Lin Xi showing up at the very end for Pingjing and her to be together forever, and them reconciling their love was a weird way to end the show, because the handful of episodes up until that was about saving the country and Pingjing as a person. Their love never really drove Pingjing and it was weird for that to be the end note.
Liang Emperor
The Liang Emperor was Xiao Jingyan’s son. He was close with Xiao Tingsheng, as they’d grown up together. That unnerved his Empress, but he was completely ignorant to that. Not surprising though. As a result of his close relationship with Xiao Tingsheng, his son Yuanshi was close with Pingjing which irked his empress even more. I feel like we don’t know too much about the Emperor’s tenure as a politician. I assume that he was mostly a decent ruler without any huge problems. He also didn’t have any huge issues of succession. Yuanshi was his oldest heir, and we found out at the end that he had two other sons but they were much younger.
On his deathbed, the Emperor naturally declared Yuanshi his successor and Tingsheng his regent. It was obvious to everyone, but the Empress was still displeased with it.
Empress Xun
Early on, Empress Xun expressed displeasure at her son’s close relationship with Xiao Pingjing. This was fully shown when Pingjing had come to visit Yuanshi after a long period of time away and greeted him very casually, tossing him up in the air. Pingzhang was absolutely alarmed at Pingjing’s behaviour because it was improper but also because the Empress was clearly against it. Later on in the conversation, Pingjing openly disagreed Empress Xun when she put forth her plans for Yuanshi. She and Pingjing were pitted against each other early on.
Puyang Ying was an advisor to Empress Xun and he was able to manipulate her into doing his bidding. As such, Empress Xun was responsible for the poison that spread within the Empire, and that would eventually lead to her demise.
After the Emperor died and Yuanshi ascended the throne, Empress Xun became the Empress Dowager. She became more openly defiant of Xiao Tingsheng, going so far as to walking in during court assemblies. She and her brother, Xun Baishui, would work together to try to get her son to work against Pingjing, and they did somewhat succeed.
When Yuanqi attempted to usurp the throne, Empress Xun was forced to commit suicide as her actions had caused the plague that had harmed many, including Di Ming, a general who supported Yuanqi. Her actions had hurt people that he cared for. She committed suicide in hopes that Yuanshi could live. So in her last act, the show wanted us to remember that she was still a caring mother.
For much of the show, Empress Xun was a villain as she was against Pingjing. However, after her death, Yuanshi reasoned that all his mother did was to secure his rule. She might not have the most reasonable interpretations of the political landscape, as Tingsheng’s family mostly didn’t have interest in taking the throne, but she couldn’t have known that, and she just wanted her son to be safe from threat.
Xiao Yuanshi
Yuanshi was the eldest son of the Liang Emperor. He was close with Xiao Pingjing. However, as he grew older, his mother didn’t approve of their close relationship. She felt that Pingjing was disrespectful of Yuanshi and would be a threat to his rule.
As Emperor, Yuanshi nonetheless still trusted the adults around him very much. He trusted his mother and uncle Xun Baishui. He also trusted his uncle Xiao Tingsheng and his cousin Xiao Pingjing. That put him in trouble as they tried to pit Yuanshi against the others. Moreso Empress Xun and Xun Baishui trying to get rid of Xiao Tingsheng and Pingjing. They tried to convince him that Tingsheng was treating him like a child and not respecting his command. They managed to convince him to write the edict to forbid Pingjing from mobilizing at the border. But of course, given that Yuanshi cared for Pingjing, he merely removed his troops so that he would mourn, rather than executing him.
Yuanshi became aware of Yuanqi’s true feelings about him during the rebellion. He realized that any respect for him was false. So I think Yuanshi’s command to execute Yuanqi was partially out of resentment. But that was his decision. By the end of the drama, he’d seen some things and he’d matured, and I think he understood that he’d live with his decision.
Yuanshi didn’t want to let Pingjing go, but he did anyway, only asking that Pingjing write back. But they both knew that if Yuanshi was in trouble, Pingjing had an obligation to return, not to Yuanshi personally, but to the country. It just so happened that Yuanshi was the country.
As a side note, we see that Yuanshi has two younger brothers, Yuanjia and Yuanyou. Clearly he cared for them. I just thought it was cute that the Emperor, who is already a kid himself, has two kid brothers who are even littler :3
In the last few episodes of the drama, it felt like the focus of the drama had shifted to Yuanshi as he was changed by the events and became a different person. He’d seen his mother die in front of his eyes, he’d seen his most trusted people turn on him, he was so close to death. But he learned that there were those who were loyal to him for no other reason than that he was the Emperor, and he understood the responsibility he held on his shoulders in order to earn that loyalty.
Xiao Yuanqi
Xiao Yuanqi was the big bad of the drama as Pingjing was the big hero of the story. They started off as friends, cousins technically. Yuanqi’s father was executed before he was born on account of some kind of treachery against the Emperor back then. But the Liang Emperor granted leniency on Yuanqi and his mother and he still grew up with a title. We had some fun scenes with Yuanqi and Pingjing at the beginning. I really thought they were going to be a crew together and I was kind of disappointed when I realized Yuanqi was going to be the villain lol.
Yuanqi’s mother was plotting treachery against the Emperor as revenge for the death of her husband. We never really found out what he had done, but I think we’re meant to accept that it was reasonable because Xiao Jingyan had commanded it. Nonetheless, it was found out. Yuanqi’s mother was forced to commit suicide by her brother, who’d found out that she was responsible for the death of their sister, who had found out about her crimes against the royal family and the family of Xiao Tingsheng.
Yuanqi was manipulated by Puyang Ying to feel hatred towards the royal family and the family of Xiao Tingsheng as well. He began to collaborate with his uncle the Marquis of Mozi. He began to learn how to fight and he began to leak information to them as well. Yuanqi also reached out Xun Baishui as a collaborator, and he leaked information to him too. After Puyang Ying’s ordeal, he fled, but Yuanqi killed him in order to prevent anyone from knowing about their collaboration.
On the surface, Yuanqi continued to work with Pingjing but he was leaking information. As well, he used his connection with Xun Baishui to rise up the ranks, including marrying Xun Anru (who he was in love with, but it helped that she was from a good family). He also collaborated with Marquis Mozi so that Yuanqi would appear a successful general, and he eventually gained the rank of Junwang.
Both Xun Baishui and Xun Anru grew suspicious of Yuanqi around the same time. And it was around this time that Yuanqi began to put in motion his plan to usurp the throne.
Despite Yuanqi being one of the more fleshed out characters in the story, I felt the drama still dropped the ball on him in some regards. Yuanqi was resentful of the royal family and Xiao Tingsheng’s family in the same way that his mother was. It’s a pity that his attitude barely changed from his mother’s. The only purpose his mother had was to die so that Yuanqi would be moved enough to take action.
His love for Anru wasn’t quite that convincing either. He’d only seen her once, so I couldn’t really believe that he was so infatuated with her as the story wanted us to believe. That being said, the scenes after Pei’er had died and Anru had grown afraid of Yuanqi were some of the best horror I’d ever watched. Anru being completely under the control for Yuanqi was so chilling and I thought it was really well executed if the purpose was for us to feel horror for Anru.
Yuanqi wanted to take the thrown from Yuanshi. He felt that the only difference between them was that they were born of different fathers. That much was true. But it felt like Yuanqi’s character was getting a bit messy because of how many strings connected back to him. I think it would have been neater to just keep revenge as his greatest motivation. But then we wouldn’t exactly have a good reason for Yuanqi to rise up the ranks. I just felt like Yuanqi was shouldering a lot of villain tropes.
As I mentioned, I thought it was lame that Yuanqi gave up all of his materials on Donghai at the end of the drama. Why would he do that? Did he really just suddenly believe that he was a traitor? Didn’t he identify more with Donghai anyway if he was collaborating with his uncle? The attempt for the writers to redeem him didn’t make sense.
In any case, I thought Wu Haochen was a good actor already, and I appreciated seeing him show a more villainous side.
Xun Baishui
Xun Baishui was the Imperial Uncle, the brother of Empress Xun. Like Empress Xun, he did not like Xiao Tingsheng’s influence over the Emperor. He consistently collaborated with every villain this show had, to the point that his nephew that he raised, Xun Feizhan, grew distrustful of him. Xun Baishui with his sister convinced Yuanshi to write that Imperial Edict that would put Pingjing in trouble.
Xun Baishui only changed his ways towards the end, when he suspected that Yuanqi was up to more than he initially realized. The stakes were higher this time because Anru was already married to Yuanqi and Xun Baishui was worried for her safety. At this time he and Feizhan reconciled a bit too. He started working together with Yue Yinchuan as well. However, on the way to one of his meetings with Yue Yinchuan, he was assassinated by Yuanqi’s people.
My problem with Xun Baishui is that despite consistently working with every villain, he had a hero’s death. I think Empress Xun was a little more sympathetic because her aim was still to protect her son. Perhaps we’re meant to believe the same for Xun Baishui. But I felt like his crimes were glossed over because his last act was that of a just one.
Xun Feizhan
Xun Feizhan was the nephew of Xun Baishui and a commander in the palace. He was basically the Meng Zhi character of the show in terms of function.
Towards the beginning of the show, Feizhan was growing distant with his uncle Xun Baishui as he felt that he was involved with some suspicious people. It was never really confirmed but Feizhan grew distant nonetheless. Feizhan was also a protective brother/cousin to Anru. But for much of the drama, Feizhan was more of a character of function.
Feizhan kept in contact with Xiaoxue, and Xun Baishui accused him of being in love with her. I mentioned this before, but this was so out of left field, because it added nothing to the story, and also because we barely saw it. All of Feizhan’s interactions with that family were with the brothers, and it felt cheap to attribute his loyalty to Xiaoxue when he’d done all of this in cooperation with the brothers. Maybe Xun Baishui was just trying to rile up Feizhan.
Towards the end, Yuanshi asked Feizhan to seek out Pingjing to help him in the Capital, and the two returned to rescue Yuanshi. The two of them snuck him out for his safety. While Yuanshi and Pingjing escaped in the secret tunnel between the Changlin manor and Mei Changsu’s old manor, Feizhan fought against Yuanqi and was deeply injured. However, he was eventually rescued and nursed back to health.
Honestly, I grew a lot fonder of Feizhan’s character in the last few episodes whereas I barely cared for him in the first 40-odd episodes. He just had nothing to do. But when he was seeking out Pingjing and planning with him, we finally saw his character in action. He was meticulous, he was noble, he was thorough. We saw some of this behaviour too when he was suspicious of his uncle, so I guess I liked him in those times too. But I really found like he shone in those last few episodes when he was planning with the crew.
I thought Feizhan was going to die and was surprised that he lived. I guess I don’t feel too strongly about him dying or not dying.
Xun Anru
Xun Anru was a niece of Xun Baishui.
In the early episodes when she was unmarried and still living at home, she’d unknowingly slip intel to Feizhan about their uncle’s activities. It was from Anru that Feizhan would find out he was having secret meetings.
When Anru was first married to Yuanqi, nothing seemed off. He did care for her. However, things changed after Pei’er revealed what she’d heard to her, basically his collaboration with the enemy. That upset her, as she couldn’t believe her husband to be a traitor. However, what upset her even more was when Yuanqi had Pei’er put to death for her words. Soon afterwards, Anru found out she was pregnant. And her uncle Xun Baishui died. Anru was so upset and so ill, it was inevitable that she’d lose the baby. No matter what Yuanqi said to her would not comfort her because she knew what kind of man he was now.
Min’er suspected that Yuanqi’s female guest was the assassin of her father and that was too upsetting for her. I’m not sure what Yuanqi said to her to get her to calm down (and I don’t think it was implied either), but she helped Yuanqi and the assassin leave the city, only for Yuanqi to kill the assassin to clean his trail up. That upset Anru as well.
Apart from him being a traitor, he was also a cutthroat person. Add to that his very controlling behaviour. Like I said, it was akin to horror on Anru’s part.
During the rebellion, Anru was fed up. I thought it was interesting that she had her own sense of identity. She was not willing to be a traitor just because her husband was. In so many historical dramas, wives are just expected to accept the identities their husbands thrust upon them, but Anru was not willing to do that. Unfortunately the only way she knew how to escape that was to kill herself.
Anru was definitely an interesting character. Unfortunately despite her high station, she was still powerless in the face of her husband. But she acted out in a way that she could, taking control of her own life.
Puyang Ying
Puyang Ying had suffered through a plague in his own country. He blamed the Liang Empire for the ills of his people and his family and he sought revenge. Thus, he manipulated Empress Xun to unleash a poison on the Liang Empire to replicate the ills upon his own country. He was the main villain in the first half of the drama, and Pingzhang’s nemesis. He successfully killed Pingzhang, but Puyang Ying himself was killed by Yuanqi to cover up their collaboration.
Pei’er
Pei’er was Anru’s servant, who’d come with her to Yuanqi’s household with Min’er. Pei’er had stumbled upon signs of Yuanqi’s treachery, including seeing one of Yuanqi’s followers bury a sword that I guess was a symbol of his collaboration with others. She’d also overheard a conversation between Yuanqi and the female assassin.
Pei’er had become very ill over what she’d heard. When she revealed the news to Anru, Anru did not believe her, and Pei’er was ready to lose her life. Unfortunately, Yuanqi had overheard their conversation and had her executed. Anru asked that Pei’er jump into the lake as her execution. Perhaps it was to give her a sense of control over her own death. But it was later revealed by Anru’s aunt that Pei’er had always been good in water, so perhaps Anru had done this purposely to save Pei’er’s life.
And Pei’er did survive. She was saved by Yue Yinchuan and she revealed what she’d heard about Yuanqi to Yue Yinchuan, who worked with Xun Baishui to investigate Xiao Yuanqi.
I would have liked Pei’er to have better closure though. The only closure we got was that Yue Yinchuan’s right-hand man was planning to propose to her. But what about Pei’er? Did she know what happened to Anru? Did she reunite with Min’er? Her story line was way more important than getting married.
Yue Yinchuan
Yue Yinchuan came into the story very late. He was the general who saved Pei’er and learned about Yuanqi’s treachery. He had already suspected Yuanqi of shenanigans and Pei’er gave him more information in terms of where to look. Yue Yinchuan also started working with Xun Baishui to investigate Yuanqi. Yuanqi was wary of him because he’d put forth some theories about the Liang Empire’s relations with foreign powers. Xun Baishui had planted Yue Yinchuan closer to him which also unnerved Yuanqi.
At the end of the drama, Yuanshi had Yinchuan meet Pingjing outside of the city walls, and he was part of the group who planned Yuanshi’s rescue. Yinchuan had good knowledge of the situation inside the walls and helped them plan.
I really liked Yue Yinchuan in these scenes. He too was a get shit done kind of guy. We saw that he was diligent, sincere. Like Feizhan, and yet not really quite the same. Or maybe that’s just my type lol.
At the end, Yinchuan met Pingjing before he left for the outside world once again. They discussed how Yinchuan was smart, but not so smart as to lose his honour.
Themes
Escaping politics
Of course, one can never escape court politics if one was born into it. Pingjing was born connected to the royal family. Him ever wanting to be a character in Jianghu was always a distant dream. When the capital came calling, he would always come running.
Revenge
A strong theme as it was in Nirvana in Fire, except revenge was more of a motivator for the villains in this drama.
Overall
It was an okay drama, but again, don’t compare it to Nirvana in Fire. This drama has flaws and some writing inconsistencies that prevented it from being as good as Nirvana in Fire. The acting varied, but the character writing prevented any character from really being the best version of themselves.
This was a character journey as opposed to a story that was focused on scheming. Despite that, I found the characters to be lacking. This drama relied on pre-existing tropes established in the original Nirvana in Fire, rather than the characters acting on their own to establish their personalities and relationships.
It’s an okay historical drama, but it’s lacking in comparison to Nirvana in Fire. I only found myself enjoying the drama in the last quarter of the show, in the final story arc.
Spoilers. Also, I wrote this super late so sorry that this is very disorganized!!
Story
The story focused on the next generation after that in the original Nirvana in Fire. Xiao Tingsheng was the son of the third prince who was wronged, and the adopted son of Xiao Jingyan, who was the Emperor before the current Emperor. Xiao Tingsheng had two sons, Xiao Pingzhang and Xiao Pingjing. Pingzhang was the smart and capable one, and Pingjing was the rash one who wanted to be a martial artist in Jianghu instead of having to conform to the laws of politics.
I’d say there were two major arcs in the story. The first was focused on Xiao Pingzhang, with Puyang Ying as the villain. The second major arc was focused on Xiao Pingjing, with Xiao Yuanqi as the villain. Xiao Pingzhang’s death directly influenced Xiao Pingjing’s character development, and that is why I consider Xiao Pingjing the main character.
The Empress did not approve of the close relationships between the Emperor and Xiao Tingsheng, resulting in the close relationships between Xiao Yuanshi and Xiao Pingjing. Puyang Ying was an advisor to the Empress. However, he had an incentive to see the downfall of the Liang Emperor as revenge for the Liang Empire’s refusal to help his own Empire during a time of plague. Puyang Ying manipulated the Empress into unleashing a poison on the citizens, attempting to bring about another plague like the one he had suffered through.
Along the way, Xiao Pingzhang became poisoned. I kind of forgot some of the events, so bear with me. I believe Pingjing had become poisoned as well, and Pingzhang decided to use his life to save Pingjing’s. As a cover, Pingzhang went to war and died in battle, leaving only Tingsheng and Pingjing. Before this had happened, it was revealed that Pingzhang was not the biological son of Tingsheng, and that Pingjing was Tingsheng’s only biological child. All of this led to Pingjing picking up the responsibilities of Pingzhang, becoming more involved in politics.
During this time, Puyang Ying and Xiao Yuanqi had been cooperating in their treachery, both seeing an interest in the weakening of the royal family. However, as Yuanqi grew in power, he killed Puyang Ying to hide evidence of their cooperation.
The Liang Emperor (Xiao Jingyan’s son) passed away, resulting in Xiao Yuanshi sitting on the throne as a child emperor. Before his death, the Liang Emperor named Xiao Tingsheng as Yuanshi’s regent, much to the distaste of Empress Xun, now the Empress Dowager.
In the second half of the show, Pingjing led the Changlin army to fight at the border. In an attempt to get rid of Pingjing, Xun Baishui convinced the Emperor to forbid Pingjing from mobilizing his troops. However, Pingjing went ahead in order to protect the borders, and accepting that he would be considered a traitor. Upon his return, Tingsheng supported Pingjing, though he also understood that he had defied the edict. Tingsheng passed away due to an illness, and the Emperor stripped Pingjing of the Changlin troops.
Yuanqi continued to accumulate power, though his conquest of neighbouring kingdoms was really just his cooperation with foreign powers dressed up to look like conquest in front of the Liang Emperor. Yuanqi eventually decided to mobilize and move in on Yuanshi. Yuanshi, understanding that he was in danger, asked Xun Feizhan to seek out Xiao Pingjing to help him. Xiao Pingjing did return to the capital, having recalled the Changlin troops.
Yuanshi had Yuanqi executed and the Liang Empire prepared for war with Donghai. Yuanshi having Yuanqi executed was a sign of him growing to be a leader and having his own sense of leadership. However, I thought it was kind of dumb that Yuanqi turned good at the very end and gave our protagonists materials on Donghai. It felt like it was angling too much for a third installment, when that moment should have focused on Yuanqi’s own ideals, which were always about himself and not about the country.
The takeaways from the end was that Yuanshi was maturing and would be a capable leader. Pingjing got his wish to be a free man unbound by the laws of the court. Granted, it’s understood that if the Liang Empire ever needs him again, he will rise up to the occasion. It was a big happy ending for all.
There’s a lot I haven’t mentioned about the story, including all of the storylines with the women. But I’ll cover them in the character portions.
My first issue with the story was that it did not contain the nuance that I had come to expect from Nirvana in Fire and other well-written court political dramas. In court political dramas, while there are protagonists and antagonists, there’s a sympathetic undercurrent to all of the characters. It’s understood that all of the characters in the palace are just trying to survive in a cutthroat environment. However, Nirvana in Fire 2 pushed all of the villainy onto two characters, Puyang Ying and Xiao Yuanshi. Even though Xun Baishui put in motion much of the treachery against the family of Xiao Tingsheng, I felt like the show wanted us to forget about it at the end. In addition, I felt that Xiao Yuanqi was less a sympathetic villain and more of a power hungry one. He was not an entirely cold man, he had people he loved, but I felt that they didn’t tie well with his political ambition.
I felt that the characters in Nirvana in Fire 2 were not well written. I felt that we were told of the personalities and relationships between characters instead of seeing them in action. Any interactions to show their relationships felt shallow because the characters weren’t deeply involved in the politics that would have pushed their relationships to show those feelings. For example, Xun Baishui had accused Xun Feizhan of being loyal to Xiao Pingzhang and Xiao Pingjing because he had romantic feelings for Meng Qianxue. That was brought up out of nowhere, and it added nothing. Most of Feizhan’s interactions with Xiao Tingsheng’s family were with the brothers, and he didn’t interact a lot with Xiaoxue as much over the course of the story. Another example was Meng Qianxue’s relationship with Lin Xi. Xiaoxue simply asked to be Lin Xi’s jiejie and that was how they became friends. I know it made sense for them to be close considering Lin Xi’s growing relationship with Pingjing, but the way it came about didn’t really convince me. Xiao Tingsheng, Xiao Pingzhang, and Xiao Pingjing also fell into this trap where we told they were smart, loyal, powerful but they didn’t convince me. But I’ll get into it in their character sections.
Overall, I think this story had some hero tropes that kept it from being a court political drama. It was really more the story of a hero.
Production
In terms of production value, this show did look good. It had a high production value. However, it leaned heavily on the iconic looks from the first Nirvana in Fire. Several outfits I saw in this drama reminded me heavily of some of Xiao Jingyan and Mei Changsu’s iconic outfits.
I think the acting quality varied. But I think the good actors still stood out. I’d watched Wu Haochen in Miss S and I knew he was a good actor, and he did shine despite my gripes with his character. However for actors like Liu Haoran and Huang Xiaoming, I felt that their characters were bigger than their acting.
On that note, this show had some weird directing. One scene that stood out to me was when it was revealed to Meng Qianxue that her jewellery box was keeping her from having children. The show completely skipped over the actual conversation, only showing us the before and after, which I felt was incredibly cheap. We only showed Pingzhang coaxing Qianxue into conversation, and then in the next scene, Qianxue was in tears. If they weren’t cowards, they would have showed the conversation.
Characters
Xiao Pingjing
Xiao Pingjing was the hero of this show. Everything happened so that we could see him become who he became, which was the King of Changlin, the General of the Changlin army.
From the beginning, I thought he was annoying. The first time he met Lin Xi, he was anxious about his brother being injured, but he was rude to Lin Xi because of it and I think that spoke much about his rash character.
A major writing flaw stood out to me in the first few episodes. He had solved one of the first mysteries of the drama, showing his quick wit. However, soon after, he was shown interacting too casually with the Crown Prince, and Empress Xun was visibly displeased. He also visibly defied Empress Xun on matters of parenting Xiao Yuanshi. For a person so intelligent, it was inconsistent and clearly just a plot device to show Empress Xun’s growing suspicion of Xiao Pingjing.
Pingjing came into the forefront at around the midpoint. That was when we found out that Pingjing was Tingsheng’s only biological son. The story wanted to veer us into agreeing that even though Pingzhang was not Tingsheng’s biological son, he was a suitable heir because he was responsible and smart. It felt odd that the story brought up that conflict and then had Pingzhang die so that Pingjing, the biological son, could inherit the mantle of Changlin anyway. Perhaps I would have found this arc more convincing if the two were both biological sons and therefore on ‘equal footing’ in terms of the right to inherit. I think Pingzhang being the son of Lu Yuan was supposed to be a bit of fanservice because otherwise that storyline went nowhere.
Pingjing’s biggest period of growth was when he led the Changlin army to the border. He asserted his loyalty to the Empire by fighting at the border, even against Imperial edict, because it would otherwise be very dangerous for the Empire. Chinese people are familiar with the story of Yue Fei, the general who defied repeated orders to return because he needed to defend the border, but ultimately returned to his demise. Staying to defend the border against wishes is an act of loyalty to the country.
Due to having defied the Emperor’s orders, Pingjing was to be punished. Under normal circumstances, he probably would have been executed, but considering his good relationship with Yuanshi, he simply had his post taken away and sent Pingjing to mourn. After his mourning, Pingjing was finally able to live the free life he wanted on Langya. He was with his sister-in-law and his nephew, he reconciled his relationship with Lin Xi.
But when the Empire called, he knew that he had to help. That is one theme that is always consistent in good historical drama films. If you are born into this life, you can never escape it. Pingjing could never escape the fact that he was the King of Changlin now, that he was the cousin of the Emperor, that he was the protector of the Liang Empire. Qianxue and Lin Xi both knew this and let him go to Yuanshi, who really needed him at this time.
Pingjing’s relationship with Lin Xi started on a rocky note. As I said above, he was rude with Lin Xi and she held it against him. It was especially disappointing to Lin Xi because Pingjing was her betrothed. Over time, they grew close. He would confide in her, ranting out his heart, and to his delight, Lin Xi would comment, showing that she was listening the whole time. Their relationship took a bad turn as Pingjing was upset at the nature of Pingzhang’s death, and he was also upset that Lin Xi had hid his dad’s illness from him. They were apart for a long time after that, but eventually reunited and reconciled at Langya, where Lin Xi revealed her identity, and they decided they’d get married, only to be interrupted by the troubles in the Capital. But at the end, Lin Xi was there again, waiting for him and they’d be together forever. But if I’m being honest, Lin Xi’s relationship with him was really an accessory for Pingjing. I barely mentioned Lin Xi in the story, because she didn’t have a big role. But I’ll expand more in her section.
When Pingjing was mobilizing the Changlin army, some of heroism felt unearned to me. We were supposed to see him as a man with deep wisdom and passion. I can accept that he was the chosen one, because he was born into and left in a certain set of circumstances (being born the only biological son of Xiao Tingsheng, being the only remaining heir of the Changlin household). I can believe that he needed to protect Yuanshi, because they were close. I can sort of believe that he was a patriot who needed to protect the country, because of the manner of how he had defended the border, but also because the country was Yuanshi and he cared for Yuanshi. I couldn’t believe that he was a quiet leader who was wordlessly biding his time to wait for the Changlin army, because he was never a person who kept secrets, even after he matured. I felt that the show wanted him to be a leader in the same way that the heroes of Nirvana in Fire have always been, quiet and strategic. It didn’t make sense for two reasons. One reason is that once again, that’s not his personality. He says what he means. The other reason was because I never felt like he was his brother Pingzhang’s successor. Pingjing is so different from his father and brother and he’s never going to be the same kind of leader.
But some of the heroism felt unearned to me as well because when had Pingjing represented the country? Even when he defended the border, it felt like a personal act rather than an act of patriotism. Perhaps it was because up until that point, he had been so set on becoming a free soul in Jianghu. He had barely spent time in court, and I can’t say for sure that he was a good statesman. So he didn’t feel much of a patriot to me.
Nonetheless, he had his wish granted. Yuanshi granted him leave, Pingjing paid respects to his family, bid his farewells, and reunited with his love. It was a big happy ending for him and him specifically.
Xiao Pingjing’s character writing was inconsistent, and I think the writers wanted him to fit certain boxes that didn’t fit his character, for plot reasons. And for that, he was not a strong enough main character to carry this entire story on his back. He was supposed to be Nirvana in Fire 2’s version of Xiao Jingyan, the rash but honourable one. He was rash, but he wasn’t really honourable. His heart was never quite in the right place because he always just wanted to live life. As the spare of two sons, he was fully ready to not have to participate in politics ever again and he made it known. He created problems, he didn’t realize the trouble he was creating for other people. So while Xiao Jingyan had sincerity, I can’t say that Pingjing was as sincere as Xiao Jingyan.
Xiao Pingzhang
Xiao Pingzhang was Nirvana in Fire 2’s version of Mei Changsu, the sickly strategist. But again, he did not live up to his predecessor.
Pingzhang was originally an accomplished general, but had become injured in war and was sickly from then on. Nonetheless, he was smart and capable, and he was a very worthy heir to the Changlin household. He attempted to rein in his brother but struggled at times because of his rash nature.
Pingzhang’s main nemesis in the first half of the show was Puyang Ying. I forgot the exact happenings, but Pingzhang was forced to poison himself in order to achieve his goals. Pingjing was hurt as well, but Pingzhang ultimately decided to give up his life for Pingjing without consulting Pingjing. Xiaoxue was very upset as well that he had made the decision unilaterally. And I think that was something that bothered me. It was an easy decision for him to choose his brother, and all he did was accept that he would widow his wife, that he would give up a future with his kids. The way that Pingzhang went off to war was meant to hide the truth from his brother, and it was supposed to give him an honourable farewell. It didn’t strike me as honourable though. Maybe that’s the difference between Pingzhang and Mei Changsu. Mei Changsu would have used his impending death as an advantage, perhaps taken someone down with him. Pingzhang wasn’t cunning enough, he was someone who worked in the light. But because of his inability to do anything other than to save Pingjing’s life, it made him look like an incapable strategist. I kind of expected more from him. Him giving his life in return for Pingjing’s is on brand, but for him to ask his wife to just accept that feels unfair, especially since he was always supposed to be the smart one between him and Pingjing. He would have been the kind of guy to make sure everything at home was fine before he left, and he did not do that.
Xiao Tingsheng
Xiao Tingsheng was the son of the wronged third prince, and the adopted son of Xiao Jingyan. He was the closest confidant of the Liang Emperor, much to the chagrin of Empress Xun. He didn’t have a big role in the story now that I think about it, as it was mostly Pingzhang and Pingjing that the story focused on.
I don’t know where to put this so I’ll write about this here. When Pingzhang died, Tingsheng let out a roar in grief. That scene just felt a bit fake to me, like the director was trying to force me to feel something I didn’t feel, something that didn’t fit my image of the character. Of course, Tingsheng loved his sons; I don’t question his grief over Pingzhang’s death. He just didn’t strike me as the kind of guy to show his grief in that way. I would have thought him the kind to want to hide and cry. The roaring kind of grief…it doesn’t work on everyone and I don’t think it suited his character.
After Pingzhang died, Pingjing took up control of the Changlin troops and he went away. He was still upset over the way that Pingzhang had gone, and so he and his father didn’t reconcile before he went away. Tingsheng didn’t kick up a fuss about this, he knew that Pingjing’s coping mechanism was to hide. While Pingjing was away, Tingsheng was regent for Yuanshi. So both father and son were under political pressure.
When Pingjing returned from the border, the two finally reconciled. Tingsheng acknowledged Pingjing’s bravery for what he had done, and he agreed with his actions, but he also agreed that Pingjing had defied an Imperial Edict. In court, Tingsheng resigned from his post too but his illness caught up to him and he collapsed and later died.
Now that I’m writing about him, Tingsheng really didn’t have as big of a role. I can’t really remember any of his major actions.
Meng Qianxue
Meng Qianxue was the wife of Xiao Pingzhang, the descendant of Meng Zhi, and a martial artist. I hate to say this, but Xiaoxue (and Lin Xi) were both characters who had no purpose but to be love interests.
Xiaoxue and Pingzhang were supposed to be in a loving relationship and that was kind of shown, but their affection never really felt anything other than surface level to me. Maybe it was because I didn’t find Pingzhang convincing as a character. One of the first times we saw them go through trouble together was when it was revealed to Xiaoxue that she couldn’t conceive, and the show completely skipped through all of the work it took for us to see her fall apart.
Xiaoxue was friendly but that was it. She befriended Lin Xi on a whim, with no other reason just to get to know her. Maybe she was nosy because she knew there was something special about Lin Xi. Xiaoxue made jokes with Pingjing and she looked after him. But we never got to see Xiaoxue do anything of her own volition and that prevented her from ever developing as a character.
Xiaoxue was obviously very upset when Pingzhang was poisoned, and she was even more upset when Pingzhang decided he’d give his life for Pingjing. The entire ordeal felt clumsily handled because it felt like Pingzhang wasn’t even considering Xiaoxue’s feelings. He didn’t do anything to help her ease the pain. He just expected her to accept it. Maybe there was nothing he could do. But I think there could have been something.
He did leave her with child so I guess Xiaoxue still had a child with Pingzhang. But that hardly changed Xiaoxue’s position in the story. She still had barely anything to do. Perhaps it was because she was a woman, because if she was a man she might have taken Feizhan’s role in the story, basically what Meng Zhi did in Nirvana in Fire.
By the end of the story, Xiaoxue remained on Langya with her son.
Lin Xi
Lin Xi was Pingjing’s betrothed, the daughter of a close comrade of Xiao Tingsheng’s. She first came into the story as Pingzhang was injured. Pingjing was rude and rash to her, and that gave her a bad impression of Pingjing right off the bat. Afterwards, Pingjing would repeatedly hang around her to try to win back her favour. What would happen is that Pingjing would talk to himself while Lin Xi was working on her medicine and herbs. After his long rambles, Lin Xi would add a comment or two, showing that she was actually listening the whole time. I admit that Lin Xi and Pingjing were pretty cute at times like these.
Lin Xi had a bit of a role at the beginning when she discovered that there was something suspicious with Xiaoxue’s box. And that set in motion the story line that would lead to us finding out about the treachery from Yuanqi’s mother.
Otherwise, Lin Xi was mostly a peripheral character, which is disappointing. When I think about Mu Nihuang in Nirvana in Fire, she too is a character who isn’t so involved with the court politics. Unfortunately as a woman, her role was limited. However, she helpd Mei Changsu and Xiao Jingyan in putting together their plans towards the end of the show. She was involved, she helped. I can’t say the same for Lin Xi or Meng Qianxue. Perhaps it was because the story wanted to give these two characters more dramatic romantic stories, which required them to be apart from their romantic partners.
The fact that Lin Xi could be away from the story for long periods of time without the story suffering prevented me from ever being convinced that she was Pingjing’s love that he wanted to be with forever and ever. I know two people don’t have to be together all the time to be madly in love. But the only times I felt they were in love when they were apart were literally when Lin Xi was brought up.
Lin Xi showing up at the very end for Pingjing and her to be together forever, and them reconciling their love was a weird way to end the show, because the handful of episodes up until that was about saving the country and Pingjing as a person. Their love never really drove Pingjing and it was weird for that to be the end note.
Liang Emperor
The Liang Emperor was Xiao Jingyan’s son. He was close with Xiao Tingsheng, as they’d grown up together. That unnerved his Empress, but he was completely ignorant to that. Not surprising though. As a result of his close relationship with Xiao Tingsheng, his son Yuanshi was close with Pingjing which irked his empress even more. I feel like we don’t know too much about the Emperor’s tenure as a politician. I assume that he was mostly a decent ruler without any huge problems. He also didn’t have any huge issues of succession. Yuanshi was his oldest heir, and we found out at the end that he had two other sons but they were much younger.
On his deathbed, the Emperor naturally declared Yuanshi his successor and Tingsheng his regent. It was obvious to everyone, but the Empress was still displeased with it.
Empress Xun
Early on, Empress Xun expressed displeasure at her son’s close relationship with Xiao Pingjing. This was fully shown when Pingjing had come to visit Yuanshi after a long period of time away and greeted him very casually, tossing him up in the air. Pingzhang was absolutely alarmed at Pingjing’s behaviour because it was improper but also because the Empress was clearly against it. Later on in the conversation, Pingjing openly disagreed Empress Xun when she put forth her plans for Yuanshi. She and Pingjing were pitted against each other early on.
Puyang Ying was an advisor to Empress Xun and he was able to manipulate her into doing his bidding. As such, Empress Xun was responsible for the poison that spread within the Empire, and that would eventually lead to her demise.
After the Emperor died and Yuanshi ascended the throne, Empress Xun became the Empress Dowager. She became more openly defiant of Xiao Tingsheng, going so far as to walking in during court assemblies. She and her brother, Xun Baishui, would work together to try to get her son to work against Pingjing, and they did somewhat succeed.
When Yuanqi attempted to usurp the throne, Empress Xun was forced to commit suicide as her actions had caused the plague that had harmed many, including Di Ming, a general who supported Yuanqi. Her actions had hurt people that he cared for. She committed suicide in hopes that Yuanshi could live. So in her last act, the show wanted us to remember that she was still a caring mother.
For much of the show, Empress Xun was a villain as she was against Pingjing. However, after her death, Yuanshi reasoned that all his mother did was to secure his rule. She might not have the most reasonable interpretations of the political landscape, as Tingsheng’s family mostly didn’t have interest in taking the throne, but she couldn’t have known that, and she just wanted her son to be safe from threat.
Xiao Yuanshi
Yuanshi was the eldest son of the Liang Emperor. He was close with Xiao Pingjing. However, as he grew older, his mother didn’t approve of their close relationship. She felt that Pingjing was disrespectful of Yuanshi and would be a threat to his rule.
As Emperor, Yuanshi nonetheless still trusted the adults around him very much. He trusted his mother and uncle Xun Baishui. He also trusted his uncle Xiao Tingsheng and his cousin Xiao Pingjing. That put him in trouble as they tried to pit Yuanshi against the others. Moreso Empress Xun and Xun Baishui trying to get rid of Xiao Tingsheng and Pingjing. They tried to convince him that Tingsheng was treating him like a child and not respecting his command. They managed to convince him to write the edict to forbid Pingjing from mobilizing at the border. But of course, given that Yuanshi cared for Pingjing, he merely removed his troops so that he would mourn, rather than executing him.
Yuanshi became aware of Yuanqi’s true feelings about him during the rebellion. He realized that any respect for him was false. So I think Yuanshi’s command to execute Yuanqi was partially out of resentment. But that was his decision. By the end of the drama, he’d seen some things and he’d matured, and I think he understood that he’d live with his decision.
Yuanshi didn’t want to let Pingjing go, but he did anyway, only asking that Pingjing write back. But they both knew that if Yuanshi was in trouble, Pingjing had an obligation to return, not to Yuanshi personally, but to the country. It just so happened that Yuanshi was the country.
As a side note, we see that Yuanshi has two younger brothers, Yuanjia and Yuanyou. Clearly he cared for them. I just thought it was cute that the Emperor, who is already a kid himself, has two kid brothers who are even littler :3
In the last few episodes of the drama, it felt like the focus of the drama had shifted to Yuanshi as he was changed by the events and became a different person. He’d seen his mother die in front of his eyes, he’d seen his most trusted people turn on him, he was so close to death. But he learned that there were those who were loyal to him for no other reason than that he was the Emperor, and he understood the responsibility he held on his shoulders in order to earn that loyalty.
Xiao Yuanqi
Xiao Yuanqi was the big bad of the drama as Pingjing was the big hero of the story. They started off as friends, cousins technically. Yuanqi’s father was executed before he was born on account of some kind of treachery against the Emperor back then. But the Liang Emperor granted leniency on Yuanqi and his mother and he still grew up with a title. We had some fun scenes with Yuanqi and Pingjing at the beginning. I really thought they were going to be a crew together and I was kind of disappointed when I realized Yuanqi was going to be the villain lol.
Yuanqi’s mother was plotting treachery against the Emperor as revenge for the death of her husband. We never really found out what he had done, but I think we’re meant to accept that it was reasonable because Xiao Jingyan had commanded it. Nonetheless, it was found out. Yuanqi’s mother was forced to commit suicide by her brother, who’d found out that she was responsible for the death of their sister, who had found out about her crimes against the royal family and the family of Xiao Tingsheng.
Yuanqi was manipulated by Puyang Ying to feel hatred towards the royal family and the family of Xiao Tingsheng as well. He began to collaborate with his uncle the Marquis of Mozi. He began to learn how to fight and he began to leak information to them as well. Yuanqi also reached out Xun Baishui as a collaborator, and he leaked information to him too. After Puyang Ying’s ordeal, he fled, but Yuanqi killed him in order to prevent anyone from knowing about their collaboration.
On the surface, Yuanqi continued to work with Pingjing but he was leaking information. As well, he used his connection with Xun Baishui to rise up the ranks, including marrying Xun Anru (who he was in love with, but it helped that she was from a good family). He also collaborated with Marquis Mozi so that Yuanqi would appear a successful general, and he eventually gained the rank of Junwang.
Both Xun Baishui and Xun Anru grew suspicious of Yuanqi around the same time. And it was around this time that Yuanqi began to put in motion his plan to usurp the throne.
Despite Yuanqi being one of the more fleshed out characters in the story, I felt the drama still dropped the ball on him in some regards. Yuanqi was resentful of the royal family and Xiao Tingsheng’s family in the same way that his mother was. It’s a pity that his attitude barely changed from his mother’s. The only purpose his mother had was to die so that Yuanqi would be moved enough to take action.
His love for Anru wasn’t quite that convincing either. He’d only seen her once, so I couldn’t really believe that he was so infatuated with her as the story wanted us to believe. That being said, the scenes after Pei’er had died and Anru had grown afraid of Yuanqi were some of the best horror I’d ever watched. Anru being completely under the control for Yuanqi was so chilling and I thought it was really well executed if the purpose was for us to feel horror for Anru.
Yuanqi wanted to take the thrown from Yuanshi. He felt that the only difference between them was that they were born of different fathers. That much was true. But it felt like Yuanqi’s character was getting a bit messy because of how many strings connected back to him. I think it would have been neater to just keep revenge as his greatest motivation. But then we wouldn’t exactly have a good reason for Yuanqi to rise up the ranks. I just felt like Yuanqi was shouldering a lot of villain tropes.
As I mentioned, I thought it was lame that Yuanqi gave up all of his materials on Donghai at the end of the drama. Why would he do that? Did he really just suddenly believe that he was a traitor? Didn’t he identify more with Donghai anyway if he was collaborating with his uncle? The attempt for the writers to redeem him didn’t make sense.
In any case, I thought Wu Haochen was a good actor already, and I appreciated seeing him show a more villainous side.
Xun Baishui
Xun Baishui was the Imperial Uncle, the brother of Empress Xun. Like Empress Xun, he did not like Xiao Tingsheng’s influence over the Emperor. He consistently collaborated with every villain this show had, to the point that his nephew that he raised, Xun Feizhan, grew distrustful of him. Xun Baishui with his sister convinced Yuanshi to write that Imperial Edict that would put Pingjing in trouble.
Xun Baishui only changed his ways towards the end, when he suspected that Yuanqi was up to more than he initially realized. The stakes were higher this time because Anru was already married to Yuanqi and Xun Baishui was worried for her safety. At this time he and Feizhan reconciled a bit too. He started working together with Yue Yinchuan as well. However, on the way to one of his meetings with Yue Yinchuan, he was assassinated by Yuanqi’s people.
My problem with Xun Baishui is that despite consistently working with every villain, he had a hero’s death. I think Empress Xun was a little more sympathetic because her aim was still to protect her son. Perhaps we’re meant to believe the same for Xun Baishui. But I felt like his crimes were glossed over because his last act was that of a just one.
Xun Feizhan
Xun Feizhan was the nephew of Xun Baishui and a commander in the palace. He was basically the Meng Zhi character of the show in terms of function.
Towards the beginning of the show, Feizhan was growing distant with his uncle Xun Baishui as he felt that he was involved with some suspicious people. It was never really confirmed but Feizhan grew distant nonetheless. Feizhan was also a protective brother/cousin to Anru. But for much of the drama, Feizhan was more of a character of function.
Feizhan kept in contact with Xiaoxue, and Xun Baishui accused him of being in love with her. I mentioned this before, but this was so out of left field, because it added nothing to the story, and also because we barely saw it. All of Feizhan’s interactions with that family were with the brothers, and it felt cheap to attribute his loyalty to Xiaoxue when he’d done all of this in cooperation with the brothers. Maybe Xun Baishui was just trying to rile up Feizhan.
Towards the end, Yuanshi asked Feizhan to seek out Pingjing to help him in the Capital, and the two returned to rescue Yuanshi. The two of them snuck him out for his safety. While Yuanshi and Pingjing escaped in the secret tunnel between the Changlin manor and Mei Changsu’s old manor, Feizhan fought against Yuanqi and was deeply injured. However, he was eventually rescued and nursed back to health.
Honestly, I grew a lot fonder of Feizhan’s character in the last few episodes whereas I barely cared for him in the first 40-odd episodes. He just had nothing to do. But when he was seeking out Pingjing and planning with him, we finally saw his character in action. He was meticulous, he was noble, he was thorough. We saw some of this behaviour too when he was suspicious of his uncle, so I guess I liked him in those times too. But I really found like he shone in those last few episodes when he was planning with the crew.
I thought Feizhan was going to die and was surprised that he lived. I guess I don’t feel too strongly about him dying or not dying.
Xun Anru
Xun Anru was a niece of Xun Baishui.
In the early episodes when she was unmarried and still living at home, she’d unknowingly slip intel to Feizhan about their uncle’s activities. It was from Anru that Feizhan would find out he was having secret meetings.
When Anru was first married to Yuanqi, nothing seemed off. He did care for her. However, things changed after Pei’er revealed what she’d heard to her, basically his collaboration with the enemy. That upset her, as she couldn’t believe her husband to be a traitor. However, what upset her even more was when Yuanqi had Pei’er put to death for her words. Soon afterwards, Anru found out she was pregnant. And her uncle Xun Baishui died. Anru was so upset and so ill, it was inevitable that she’d lose the baby. No matter what Yuanqi said to her would not comfort her because she knew what kind of man he was now.
Min’er suspected that Yuanqi’s female guest was the assassin of her father and that was too upsetting for her. I’m not sure what Yuanqi said to her to get her to calm down (and I don’t think it was implied either), but she helped Yuanqi and the assassin leave the city, only for Yuanqi to kill the assassin to clean his trail up. That upset Anru as well.
Apart from him being a traitor, he was also a cutthroat person. Add to that his very controlling behaviour. Like I said, it was akin to horror on Anru’s part.
During the rebellion, Anru was fed up. I thought it was interesting that she had her own sense of identity. She was not willing to be a traitor just because her husband was. In so many historical dramas, wives are just expected to accept the identities their husbands thrust upon them, but Anru was not willing to do that. Unfortunately the only way she knew how to escape that was to kill herself.
Anru was definitely an interesting character. Unfortunately despite her high station, she was still powerless in the face of her husband. But she acted out in a way that she could, taking control of her own life.
Puyang Ying
Puyang Ying had suffered through a plague in his own country. He blamed the Liang Empire for the ills of his people and his family and he sought revenge. Thus, he manipulated Empress Xun to unleash a poison on the Liang Empire to replicate the ills upon his own country. He was the main villain in the first half of the drama, and Pingzhang’s nemesis. He successfully killed Pingzhang, but Puyang Ying himself was killed by Yuanqi to cover up their collaboration.
Pei’er
Pei’er was Anru’s servant, who’d come with her to Yuanqi’s household with Min’er. Pei’er had stumbled upon signs of Yuanqi’s treachery, including seeing one of Yuanqi’s followers bury a sword that I guess was a symbol of his collaboration with others. She’d also overheard a conversation between Yuanqi and the female assassin.
Pei’er had become very ill over what she’d heard. When she revealed the news to Anru, Anru did not believe her, and Pei’er was ready to lose her life. Unfortunately, Yuanqi had overheard their conversation and had her executed. Anru asked that Pei’er jump into the lake as her execution. Perhaps it was to give her a sense of control over her own death. But it was later revealed by Anru’s aunt that Pei’er had always been good in water, so perhaps Anru had done this purposely to save Pei’er’s life.
And Pei’er did survive. She was saved by Yue Yinchuan and she revealed what she’d heard about Yuanqi to Yue Yinchuan, who worked with Xun Baishui to investigate Xiao Yuanqi.
I would have liked Pei’er to have better closure though. The only closure we got was that Yue Yinchuan’s right-hand man was planning to propose to her. But what about Pei’er? Did she know what happened to Anru? Did she reunite with Min’er? Her story line was way more important than getting married.
Yue Yinchuan
Yue Yinchuan came into the story very late. He was the general who saved Pei’er and learned about Yuanqi’s treachery. He had already suspected Yuanqi of shenanigans and Pei’er gave him more information in terms of where to look. Yue Yinchuan also started working with Xun Baishui to investigate Yuanqi. Yuanqi was wary of him because he’d put forth some theories about the Liang Empire’s relations with foreign powers. Xun Baishui had planted Yue Yinchuan closer to him which also unnerved Yuanqi.
At the end of the drama, Yuanshi had Yinchuan meet Pingjing outside of the city walls, and he was part of the group who planned Yuanshi’s rescue. Yinchuan had good knowledge of the situation inside the walls and helped them plan.
I really liked Yue Yinchuan in these scenes. He too was a get shit done kind of guy. We saw that he was diligent, sincere. Like Feizhan, and yet not really quite the same. Or maybe that’s just my type lol.
At the end, Yinchuan met Pingjing before he left for the outside world once again. They discussed how Yinchuan was smart, but not so smart as to lose his honour.
Themes
Escaping politics
Of course, one can never escape court politics if one was born into it. Pingjing was born connected to the royal family. Him ever wanting to be a character in Jianghu was always a distant dream. When the capital came calling, he would always come running.
Revenge
A strong theme as it was in Nirvana in Fire, except revenge was more of a motivator for the villains in this drama.
Overall
It was an okay drama, but again, don’t compare it to Nirvana in Fire. This drama has flaws and some writing inconsistencies that prevented it from being as good as Nirvana in Fire. The acting varied, but the character writing prevented any character from really being the best version of themselves.