A Little TLC(w): The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Season 1, Episode 32 (1986)

*Spoilers for episode 31.*

Quick side note before we get started: I've watched the Thunderbolts* trailer at least half a dozen times since it came out. Bucky and Yelena are giving me that itchy-brain hyperfixation feeling. I'm currently between "things," so it's good to feel a new wave of love and enthusiasm, but I wish my brain hadn't picked a movie that's not coming out until May!

We’re in the home stretch of The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre now—we’ll see if the current trajectory of the story will carry us to the end, or if there are more big shakeups on the way. Regardless, this is an exciting episode that picks up the drama from episode 31 and continues to run with it!

At the end of the last episode, Zhang Wuji found his Seventh Uncle murdered. Zhao Min warned him he was being set up, and to be sure, his other uncles discovered him at the scene. Now Wuji’s being pursued by Wudang Sect as a killer, and he needs Miss Zhao’s help to clear his name.

There’s a lot going on here. More about the corruption within Beggar Sect, including blackmail, ties to the treacherous Shaolin monk Cheng Kun, and dissent within the ranks of the sect. Xie Xun and Zhou Zhiruo were captured by Beggar Sect, and while Zhang Wuji is able to rescue Miss Zhou, his godfather has disappeared. Wudang Sect, thinking that Wuji murdered Seventh Uncle, has turned on him, not realizing they have a real traitor in their midst.

Oh, and a potential alternate love interest has shown up for one of the women in the polygon. This guy just casually drops the line, “You look like an angel. I must have been good in a previous life to be able to talk to you.” If these two get together, it could help clear the way for Zhang Wuji’s eventual endgame (which, for my money, is looking more and more likely.)

Things have gotten more complicated for Zhang Wuji since the last episode, and not just because of the whole “being falsely accused of murder” thing. He was already conflicted about working together with Zhao Min in episode 31, but it’s gotten even trickier now that he’s recovered Zhou Zhiruo. She feels none of his uncertainty about Miss Zhao—not to mention she’s insecure about Wuji’s feelings for her. But it becomes clear that Wuji won’t be able to clear his name without Miss Zhao’s help, putting him in a position where he needs to sneak around on his other allies to work with her.

Speaking of which, Zhao Min is still gonna Zhao Min. She’ll align herself with Zhang Wuji and do anything she can to help him, but she’s not looking to endear herself to anybody else. During a tense standoff with Wudang, Wuji tells her, “Miss Zhao, you can’t be rude to my uncles.” Without missing a beat, Miss Zhao replies, “Me being rude? They are just a bunch of old men who couldn’t distinguish between right and wrong.” Hee!

I’ve talked before about how Zhang Wuji’s honor and nobility can almost make him feel a little too good sometimes, and here, we see how his honorable nature can come back to bite him. Because he always deals with people fairly, even his enemies, he can miss when someone’s about to blindside him. And because he tends to give people the benefit of the doubt, it hurts when the people he cares about won’t do the same for him. Yes, it’s dangerous to be falsely labeled a murderer and have all the warriors of Wudang after you, but for Wuji, the biggest blow here is the realization that his uncles think he’s capable of such a thing.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai does a really nice job capturing Zhang Wuji’s dismay and sadness over this turn of events. I love his soft, forlorn delivery as he says, more to himself than anyone else, “I didn’t kill Seventh Uncle…” He just can’t believe that anyone would think that of him. There are moments in the episode where Zhao Min has to pull Wuji out of his feelings and get him to focus on the more pressing task at hand, and while he’s generally able to pull himself together, that hurt never goes away.

Other Doctor Lives: Jessica Jones: Season 1, Episode 9 – “Sin Bin” (2015)

*Episode premise spoilers, but I’ll avoid any major specifics.*

I get that I sound like a broken record on this, but I really love this episode too. For me, Jessica Jones is great at letting tension simmer until it rises to an explosion point. It’s really compelling to watch, and the cast knocks it out of the park in this taut episode.

After a lot of big plans that didn’t pan out or hinged on Jessica taking huge amounts of risk on herself, she feels like she’s finally in a place where she can have the upper hand on Kilgrave. While everyone around her has strong opinions about how she should handle this, she works to do it her way, digging deep into what makes him tick in order to finally take him down.

Even though many episodes in this season are built on a premise of “Jessica plows ahead with a bold/dangerous plan to get Kilgrave,” it’s to the show’s credit that, to me at least, it doesn’t feel like the series is spinning its wheels. Instead, each plan is something new. Each requires Jessica to try different tactics, and while we learn a little more about who Jessica and Kilgrave are each time, their respective reactions are also internally consistent. Now, after a lot of time spent chasing and coming from behind, Jessica’s ahead for once. It’s really interesting to see what she does in that situation, as well as how Kilgrave responds to it.

It’s also a strong episode for some of the other characters at well. We start putting together an important piece of the puzzle about Simpson, we get to see Trish and Jessica working together to try and unravel a mystery, and Jeri, the shark lawyer who has a combative professional relationship with Jessica, is drawn more directly into the main plot. I haven’t talked much about Jeri in these reviews, but Carrie-Anne Moss does well with the role and she has some great scenes in this episode.

One thing I want to say, though, is how we’ve been seeing Malcolm recede after a couple of really strong showings earlier in the season. As a fan of both the character and the Jessica-Malcolm friendship, that’s frustrating, even if Eka Darville makes the absolute most of his brief appearance in this episode—he’s 100% here for Jessica to support/help her in any way he can, but he’s also not down with her evasions and doesn’t put up with inexcusable behavior from her. As Luke disappears to make his own show and Malcolm lose some screentime, the white feminism of the show stands out more. I’ll admit to liking and having liked plenty of shows or movies that show up for white women but drop the ball with characters of color, but I’m trying to be more attuned to it and not letting them off the hook when they could do better.

David Tennant, as always, is great. There are a lot of fascinating things going on with Kilgrave here. First up is the most obvious: for once, he doesn’t have the upper hand, and Kilgrave is not someone who’s used to not being in control. It’s really cool to see how he tries to manipulate people to regain that control in a situation where his powers aren’t in play. And just generally, I like his relationship to control within himself. On the one hand, he’s someone who, for most of his life, has gotten everything handed to him literally at a word, so there’s a big part of him that’s just this walking id of self-gratification. On the other, his abilities wield so much power so easily that he’s had to learn to be careful with his words in certain situations. It creates a neat dichotomy, and here, there’s a great tension between his barely concealed rage at his present circumstances and his delicate manipulation of the situation.

And man, he’s just such a bastard. To me, Kilgrave isn’t the sort of “likable villain” who gets woobified by fans and eventually rehabilitated, like the MCU’s Loki or Spike from Buffy. When I say I love to hate him, I mean it’s masterful to watch how terrible he is. With every smug smile, every long game, and every cheap manipulation, Tennant just has such a strong command of this character, and it’s really effective.