*A couple broad-strokes spoilers that don’t go into detail.*
Penultimate episode! In some ways, it definitely feels like it, while there are other parts that I don’t think quite got the buildup they needed. Also, we’ve possibly gotten our last New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre extended flashback!
In the last episode, the lion-killing event went in an unexpected direction. The sects are no longer completing for the privilege to kill Xie Xun—instead, they’re preparing to band together as a common enemy approaches. Where Zhang Wuji’s love life is concerned, an important secret is revealed, and Wuji realizes once and for all where his heart lies.
The lion-killing event has felt like such a big plot over the past several episodes that I was surprised to pivot away from it so close to the end. It sort of makes sense, because the enemy that’s bearing down on all the sects has been a major one in the series, one that’s caused a lot of damage and has been on the warpath for a while. But at the same time, they haven’t been emphasized in the story recently. When I realized that this was how we were leading into the finale, my reaction was less, “Of course, everything has been building toward this moment!” and more, “Oh right, those guys are still around.” Which, for me, makes it all feel a little less epic than the story is aiming for.
Still, there are aspects of this plot that appeal to me. After Zhang Wuji has spent so much of the series trying to build bridges between various sects, it’s gratifying to see them rally and fight alongside one another. Nicely done, Wuji!
The one person who’s not fully brought into the fold here is Zhao Min. She still regularly wears her male disguise while the martial arts stuff is going down, but it’s obvious to everyone that it’s a disguise, which only makes them wonder what she’s hiding. And of course, none of the sects have forgotten how she moved against them earlier in the show—some of the masters she abducted were killed, and plenty of warriors aren’t in the mood to be forgiving about that. There’s a great moment in the episode where a group of warriors come to confront her while she’s with Zhang Wuji, and his expression as they round on her is simply a force to be reckoned with. It’s an early example of Tony Leung Chiu-wai deploying his soulful eyes to maximum effect!
As I said, this episode seems to finally settle the question of the love polygon. This is where the flashbacks come in, as a few major bombshells are first dropped and then explored. We recontextualize past events through a different vantage point. There’s an incredibly weak defense of a terrible act, and Zhang Wuji reels at the stuff he learns here.
But while the revelations of the episode might seem poised to clear the way for the “last woman standing” in the race for Zhang Wuji’s affections, I like that Wuji himself doesn’t frame it that way. It’s not really about These Are the Reasons Why I’m Choosing You and Not Her. Instead, it’s much more about his own feelings. There’s a nice scene where he compares his immediate reactions when something big went down with each of the four women who were in love with him, and that helps him see where his heart is. Which I like—he’s spent a lot of time focusing on who he’s supposed to love or how he’s supposed to act, so it’s good to see him really examine how he feels about all this.
Also, just a quick bit that made me smile: there’s a scene where Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min are discussing times when she’d been framed for crimes that weren’t her fault. Even though Wuji believed the frame job at the time, he’s now relieved that he wasn’t able to take revenge on Miss Zhao. He says, “Actually, I should thank you—if you weren’t so smart, I should have killed you already,” which is weirdly sweet? Hehe!
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