Kind of a unique episode today. As loose ends from a few different plots start coming together, they coalesce in the place where Wai Siu-bo’s story began: in his hometown of Yangzhou, in the brothel where his mother works. It’s an amusing full-circle moment as we near the end of the series.
The emperor sends Wai Siu-bo to Yangzhou as his envoy, which means Siu-bo makes his homecoming as a bigshot. He has some fun throwing his weight around after a local official who always had it in for him, but he also takes on Cheng (who wooed Or away from him and has a vendetta against his helmsman,) comes up against some Devine Dragons, and runs into some of Ng Sam-kwai’s foreign allies. Basically, all the adversaries are descending on his mother’s brothel, and Siu-bo has to deal with them all.
There a couple of additional side plots going on. Ng Sam-kwai is set upon by a family of martial arts adepts, and there’s a great moment where the adult son stops in the middle of the fight to fawn over Ng’s white tiger pelt. And before they make it to Yangzhou, we catch up with Or and Cheng in Taiwan, looking particularly at Or’s circumstances there.
By and large, though, this is another episode that’s heavy on the Wai Siu-bo, which is just the way I like it. It’s fun to see him return home, where he weighs the pros and cons of announcing his titles vs. staying incognito—does he want to make people grovel over him, or does he want to have some lowbrow fun without having to worry about duty or reputation? But on the flipside, the grand envoy sent by the emperor himself isn’t too good to get dressed down by his mother! The woman grabs him by the ear and bawls him out thoroughly, as all the while he tries to protest.
Because Wai Siu-bo has so many opponents showing up in this episode at different times, he has to work multiple stratagems, pivoting to address each new danger/obstacle as it comes along. The plot involves disguises, eavesdropping, keeping track of which jug of wine has the sleeping drugs in it, and of course, lots of talking his way out of trouble. One character remarks, “You won’t shut up even when staring death in the face,” and when it comes to Siu-bo, those are the moments when he relies on his silver tongue most of all!
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but one thing I really like about this character and Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s performance is his talent for finding out what people want. When Ng Sam-kwai’s allies have his back to the wall, Wai Siu-bo does his usual “don’t stop talking until you ingratiate yourself with them” thing, but they’re unpredictable and scoff at his more typical temptations/promises. This forces him to switch gears mid-gambit, busking until he figures out what will actually win them over. In moments like this, it feels like he’s crossing a bridge while he's still building it, and it’s always impressive to see him pull it off.
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