I’m getting into the swing of this miniseries more – the further I get into it, the better I can keep track of who’s who and follow the tangled web of what’s going on between the different clans. (I was the same the first time I read The Coast of Utopia; for like half of the first play, I was constantly flipping back to the character list going, “Wait, who’s that again?”) I think I’m also liking it more and more. Having a better handle on all the characters helps, of course, but beyond that, I’m just having a good time.
When Seventh Boy takes a rash course of action in an impulsive moment, he puts the entire Yang family in peril. The Pan family is out for blood in retaliation, with the Elder Statesman Pan trying to influence the Emperor against Seventh Boy and the rest of the Yangs. At the same time, Lord Yang is between a rock and a hard place – he doesn’t want to see an example made of his youngest son, but it’s also his duty to uphold the law and he won’t allow for any hypocrisy.
Today’s update for “things I have straight now”: the Pan family is the clan that includes Pan Hong, Princess Chai’s suitor/Sixth Boy’s rival from the first episode. Now, I’ve always known that Pan Hong and his ilk are bad news, but keeping track of their names is a newer development for me, making it easier to talk about the story. All the Pans are pieces of work, as evidenced here by 1) some shady deeds during the martial arts tournament from the Pan brothers, 2) Elder Statesman’s Pan attempts to tar the whole Yang family with the same brush as Seventh Boy, and 3) the Pan daughter (a royal consort) using her influence with the Emperor to try and sway things in her family’s favor.
I like seeing (nearly) all the Yangs rally around Seventh Boy, even as they all agree that he allowed his hotheadedness to make him do something really ill-advised – it’s a very loving anger, and even as they bemoan his mistakes, they try to shield him from the worst of the Pans’ wrath. And even Lord Yang, for all his strictness and gruffness, cares for Seventh Boy too.
That’s two episodes in a row now where Seventh Boy is the most prominent Yang, which I am of course entirely down for. Leung’s performance of the character, while still green and unpolished, continues to endear me to Seventh Boy. He often acts without thinking, but his heart is usually in the right place, and for all the immaturity that his rashness suggests, he also recognizes his mistakes and doesn’t back down from the consequences. Those scenes of his siblings and his mother rallying around him, trying to protect him? They’re followed by scenes of Seventh Boy not running away from his problems because he’s worried that the fallout would land on them instead. The picture we see here is of someone who’s very young, very earnest, not too prudent, not too patient, and very devoted.
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