*Spoilers for episode 37.*
We’re still in the midst of the lion-killing event, and things have just gone up a notch. Both in terms of the martial arts and the personal stakes, everything has gotten more intense.
In the last episode, it was revealed that Zhou Zhiruo has married Master Song. Ermei sect comes out strong at the lion-killing event, and Mrs. Song (née Zhou) has won the opportunity to claim Xie Xun as her prize. To get to him, she has to defeat three master Shaolin monks, and commands Zhang Wuji’s help to do it.
Okay, catching up with some spoilers from the last episode. I’d previously thought that Master Song was sincere in his regret over betraying Wudang sect, even though I certainly didn’t think that meant he “deserved” Zhou Zhiruo. But it seems clear now that he’s not her happy ending. On the contrary, Mrs. Song is in her scorched-earth villain era, and Mr. Song is the mercenary prince at her side to help her go after what she wants. Their ruthlessness at the lion-killing event shocked everyone—and when the folks attending something called the lion-killing event thinks you’re going too far with the violence, you’ve definitely gone too far!
Master Song and Zhang Wuji were both injured in the previous episode, Master Song gravely so. Wuji offers to try and heal him as an attempted olive branch. Despite everything that’s happened, he still thinks he can get Song Zhiruo to see reason and join his side in rescuing Xie Xun. But for a learned young man, he can be pretty clueless, and Zhao Min is the one who needs to point out the flaw in his logic: Mrs. Song is obviously still hung up on him, so healing her rebound husband isn’t likely to endear Wuji to her.
Zhang Wuji spends a good chunk of this episode on his back foot. In addition to fumbling things yet again with Song Zhiruo, he freezes up when other members of Ming sect let him in on a plan to swipe Xie Xun from Mrs. Song if she’s successful in beating the three monks. “We can’t do that, we already agreed to the condition,” he protests. Over the course of the show, Wuji has learned many times that the world isn’t as black-and-white as he might like it to be, but there are still occasions when he can be a bit too rigid, leading with honor instead of practicality.
And throughout the episode, Zhang Wuji’s interactions with Song Zhiruo are interesting. When she calls on him to aid her in fighting the monks, she’s chilly and condescending about it. He takes what she dishes out, meekly replying, “Okay. I will obey whatever Mrs. Song tells me to do,” and leaving his own sect wondering why he’d take such disrespect. Partially, I think, he believes he deserves her scorn after what happened at their wedding. And partially, he doesn’t know if he’s convinced her to help save Xie Xun or if she just wants him to have a ringside seat when she kills his godfather—if there’s any hope for Xie Xun, Wuji doesn’t want to jeopardize that, so he treads very lightly.
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