*Brief spoilers for episode 16.*
Enjoyable episode. Zhang Wuji is on a new adventure with a new frenemy(?)—looking forward to seeing where it goes!
We’ve had another time jump. After learning that Zhu Jiuzhen and her father were just using him to try and ascertain the location of the Dragon Sabre, Zhang Wuji ran away from them, hiding out in a cave for years. He’s been studying a long-lost martial arts manual he discovered and chilling with his monkey buddy, but it’s time to get back to the real world. Evading the Zhus once again, he’s injured and finds himself at the surly mercy of Ugly, a brusque young woman who keeps helping him despite her claims that she never helps anybody. Elsewhere, the righteous sects are marshaling their forces to move against Ming, but when one of the demon sect’s leaders catches wind of their plan, they worry about possible counterstrikes.
There’s more non-Zhang Wuji stuff than we saw in the last episode, but I don’t mind it. As the sects come together, we get their plans for vengeance, but there’s also a burgeoning romance between Master Song, the son of one of the Wudang brothers, and Miss Zhou, an Ermei disciple who joined that sect after meeting Wuji as a child. (Honestly, this can be a tough show to write about, because there are just frillions of characters. How prominent will Master Song and Miss Zhou be? Goodness knows.)
We also check back in with Zhang Wuji’s old charge Buhui, who’s now a somewhat spoiled teenager. She lives with her dad now—Master Yang, the Ming leader who once abducted her mother—and she just been given a new servant, a timid girl named Miss Zhao. I like the dynamic between the two girls and am curious to see where the show’s going with it.
As I said, Zhang Wuji has spent the time jump living in a cave, out of reach of the Zhus. Even though that monkey cracks me up every time he appears onscreen, I’m glad that Wuji ultimately leaves the cave and rejoins the action, despite being quickly sidelined with two broken legs. Thanks to his new studies in martial arts, he’s leveled up—before he leaves the cave, he punches a hole in the rock to hide the manual—and he’s braver and more confident, but he’s also still the same Wuji, as we see when Ugly crosses paths with him.
I’m really liking the dynamic between these two. Despite Ugly’s cranky demeanor and constant declarations that she doesn’t care about anything and anyone, she keeps tending to the injured Zhang Wuji in between insulting him. In their interactions, Wuji seems to recognize that her cantankerous rudeness is a front to protect herself, and he consistently responds to the goodness he believes is hidden underneath. When she asks what he thinks about her looks (she’s sensitive about a large disfiguration on her cheek,) Wuji simply replies, “I don’t know. I feel peaceful when I am with you. I believe that you won’t hurt me, and you will be nice to me.” Tony Leung Chiu-wai does a nice job balancing Wuji’s new martial arts mastery with his continued sweetness.
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