*No outright spoilers, but I’m brushing up against the edge of a few here.*
I’ll be honest: knowing that this show is 40 episodes long, I’m a little surprised at the developments here. But then, it’s my understanding that the series is based on a book, so I imagine there are plenty of places for the plot to go that I’m not expecting.
The emperor is determined to take out Ngo Bye once and for all, and he enlists the help of Wai Siu-bo to do it. Siu-bo’s new position at the emperor’s side brings him opportunities and renown that he never could have dreamed of, and he basks in it. But his orders from his master, Hoi Goong-goong, are at odds with the emperor’s interests.
I was expecting a lot more cat-and-mouse interactions between the emperor and Ngo Bye before we come to a major, open clash, but while the book definitely isn’t closed on this storyline, we move ahead on it faster than I would’ve guessed in this episode. The emperor displays some shrewdness/smarts along with some of the more slippery tendencies I observed in the last episode. I suppose it comes with the territory, but he’s good at placing those beneath him in riskier positions than he’s prepared to go himself. While some of this, in fairness, has a strong practical reason behind it, you can’t deny the self-serving motive either.
The story with Hoi Goong-goong takes a big step forward too. Important things come out, both in terms of his arrangement with Wai Siu-bo and his desire to get his hands on the Ming book (although they’ve stopped referring to the Ming aspect and instead call it the “sutra in 42 chapters.”) He’s an interesting character, because he’s most definitely up to something and I can’t forget how dangerous he proved himself to be in Siu-bo’s first encounter with him, but I am curious to see what he’s up to and what he’s really about.
After several episodes of narrow escapes by the skin of his teeth, Wai Siu-bo is comparatively more comfortable here. A lot is asked of him, but he stands to reap some nice rewards for it. He gets to make eyes at a comely maid serving the empress dowager, important figures in the emperor’s court treat him with respect, and he receives a lesson in making government work to one’s benefit. On the latter point, I’m really intrigue by his interactions with Prince Hong, one of the emperor’s officials. I can’t tell if Hong is just a greedy bastard who’s genuinely taking Siu-bo under his unscrupulous wing or if he has some kind of sneaky intention toward Siu-bo. Either way, their scenes keep me on edge as Siu-bo experiences some flickers of conscience that get drowned out by the sycophantic generosity of his new pal.
A couple things to note about Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s performance in this episode. While his acting is certainly broader than it is later in his career, as he’s now a master craftsman of subtlety, he still displays an early talent for saying a lot in the unspoken parts of his performance. It comes out in little things, like the sullen or derisive facial expressions he makes when Hoi Goong-goong lectures him, knowing that his master can’t see. This is nice display of Wai Siu-bo’s spirit and attitude, combined with his ongoing self-preservation skills (plus, he’s swiping food from Hoi Goong-goong’s dishes the entire time.) I also really like a scene where he’s attending the emperor in his imperial study and plainly bored, stretching and fidgeting while the emperor consults with his lords. It highlights the fact that this isn’t Siu-bo’s world at all; he’s uneducated and doesn’t have any experience in a highly formal setting like this, and he doesn’t really have a good sense of what he’s supposed to be doing.
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