Season 1 of Andor is over, and I miss it already. However, it also means we’re resuming our weekly A Little TLC(w) reviews, with Y tu Luna también going back to once a month for the time being. Since it’s been a while, here’s the last Duke of Mount Deer review I posted.
And so we return to the latest installment of the Young Tony Leung Chiu-wai Careens from Crisis to Crisis show! I remember being a little apprehensive when I started this series (and I don’t know why, because I enjoyed The Yang’s Saga,) but I’ve been having a great time.
Because Wai Siu-bo isn’t what you’d call a discrete traveler when he’s on a secret mission, it doesn’t take him long to realize the empress dowager has sent unscrupulous warriors after the same man he’s been tasked with finding. This kicks off a race to Wutai Mount, where the best hope of defeating the empress dowager is said to be hiding in a temple.
We only get a few scenes at the palace this week. Because the emperor has been trying to move against his stepmother without tipping her off to his true plans, he has to forestall her in roundabout ways. This leads to him increasing security immediately outside her home to “protect” her from “insurgents” rumored to be afoot. The empress dowager, in turn, doesn’t tip her hand, but she’s too smart not to realize what’s going on. It’s all very “I know that you know that I know….”
It’s another fun episode for Wai Siu-bo. I mean, they all are, aren’t they? It starts with him lording it over one of the empress dowager’s men when his new warrior handmaiden gives the guy a smackdown, and he makes a show of snatching up a letter the man is trying to keep hidden, an act that would have more bite to it if he could read. And it ends with him and his handmaiden pulling out all the stops to avert disaster in an impressive bit of improvising, even for Siu-bo.
Speaking of this handmaiden, Sheung Yee, her storyline thus far is unfortunately regrettable. She was gifted to Wai Siu-bo in the last episode from her grateful mistress, and while giving humans as presents is bad enough, Siu-bo isn’t exactly ignoring how beautiful she is. As he’s already demonstrated with Princess Muk and Fong Yee, he tends to start calling pretty women his wife shortly after meeting them, and with the dutiful Sheung Yee, he’s already toy with the idea of a wife #3. Not great.
Aside from that uncomfortable side plot, Wai Siu-bo is in good form here. He has a talent for recognizing how to get what he wants out of someone and modulating his approach accordingly. Leung plays that side of him well, going imperious with someone he can intimidate, flattering with someone he can charm, and boldly deceptive with someone he can’t sway. Siu-bo doesn’t always work the right angle on the first try, but he always figures out what makes someone tick eventually.
And yet, for all his cunning and all the intense situations he’s been involved in since the start of the series, there are parts of him that are still very immature. In this episode, once they arrive at the pivotal temple, the monks are… shall we say, slow to act, and Wai Siu-bo simply can’t with all the meditating. I get a kick out of him going out of his mind with boredom, shouting, “He has been sleeping for four hours! Even if the sky fell, he wouldn’t know about it!” Also, even though he can’t wear it because he’s on a covert mission, he’s still all about the fancy jacket he has to signify his new position, and he can’t resist telling people about it—love it!
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