[TV Commentary] “The Journey of Flower” Episode 22

The Journey Of Flower <花千骨>
Also known as : Hua Qiangu

2015 Mainland Chinese drama
Language : Mandarin
Number of episodes: 50

Cast: Wallace Huo, Zhao Liying, Andy Zhang, Jiang Xin

Some abbrevations
HQG – Hua Qiangu
BZH – Bai Zihua
SQM – Sha Qianmo

More similar posts at http://p2e-hqg.blogspot.com/

EPISODES 22

Your weakness is you trust too much – Dongfang
Then who can I trust? – HQG
No one but yourself – Dongfang
No! I trust Shifu, and I trust you! – HQG
Alright, alright. I take back what I said – Dongfang

Strange episode because it feels disconnected to our main love story and I don’t get the whole Shu Shan twin mystery aka Yun Yi or Yu Yin or Yun Yin or whatever. I can never catch the name. I was about to exclaim the actor really could portray 2 different characters until I checked the cast list again and this is what I got;

Gao Hai (¸ßº£) as Yun Yin (ÔÆÒþ)
Gao Jiang (¸ß½) as Yun Yi (ÔÆôè)

And I googled and this is what I got;

They are actual twins??

I gotta ask Shifu! Shifu, what do you think?

Yeah, seriously!!! No wonder one is thinner, etc but they look like the same, like.. twins! I know, I sound like an idiot. I am shocked. Clever! Very clever!

But the entire episode 22 is such a strange episode. I get the importance, but I don’t get the relevance. It seems the villains in this series will have their own things to do and will do them and disappear months on end to do their things which is totally unconnected to what their leader asks them to do and then reappear and disappear in the story as and when it is relevant for them to appear and disappear and by this time you must be wondering what is the point of this paragraph, the same as my question to what is the point to the twins mystery? Except to confuse the hell out of me AND for the first official death of a leader of a sect since Shu Shan’s leader’s death?

Of course this episode shows the “trust” between our BZH and SQM. When SQM was accused of murdering (cruelly it seems) a sect leader which we have seen earlier (the one from Mt Tai Bai), BZH was quick to say;

That is not SQM’s style. If he wants to kill someone, he will first make a show of it to the world, he won’t do so quietly.

When SQM kidnaps HQG to his lair, HQG was worried what those sect leaders will do to her beloved heavenly handsome shifu and SQM was quick to say;

Don’t worry Little Thing. In this world, only I could harm your shifu. The rest won’t be able to even touch him one bit

Which tells me these 2 men know each other perfectly well. If one isn’t head demon and the other head immortal, they will probably have a good laugh and be BFFs.

Actually who killed leader of Mt Tai Bai? No answer just yet. Certainly not the Evil Twin since why would he disrupt his own crowning moment as Shu Shan’s new leader? Certainly not SQM, no reason to do so. Moreover the sacred item is no longer at Mt Tai Bai, why would he bother to kill the leader which is a perfectly legitimate question asked by BZH. So right now the answer is don’t know.

What I don’t get is the total disrespect Ni Mantian’s dad for first, Shu Shan leader aka HQG, next Chang Liu leader aka BZH and finally demon lair leader aka SQM. He better be a great fighter, if not he just offended 2 out of 3 most powerful beings in the realm and the 3rd one happens to be closely related to the other 2! Why should BZH even say “I will give you an answer; if my disciple indeed is an ally of the evil sect, I will not let her go”. I mean why BZH? You should do a Dongfang on them, aka like how you answered Dongfang who was questioning you when you rushed in to sweep HQG off her feet when she had a nightmare (again someone manipulating things);

Why are you in her room? I mean even if you are her shifu, and she your disciple, you’re still a man and she is still a woman, it is highly inappropriate to be in the same room at this hour

And what did BZH say?

It is none of your business

THERE!! That is the answer to give those disrespecting old fools! I don’t get the politeness.

And also, I like how BZH looks at Dongfang;

No it is not jealous stare but rather “I don’t trust you” stare and he doesn’t like how HQG is dependent on a man who he doesn’t quite get. Hey! The feeling’s mutual, like in this favourite scene of mine for this episode where HQG had a nightmare, shifu rushed in, put her to bed like any shifu acting like a guardian will do (again I am reluctant to use fatherly because we all know these two will end up snogging and what nots so that is wrong word to even begin using to describe them) and HQG is now even more hero worshipping her shifu who can do absolutely NO WRONG in her eyes, as it should be. BZH even smiled!

Of course after Dongfang’s rebuke, BZH now sits outside her room and gave the ultimate lullaby. Lucky girl! Of course again with hindsight we all know the consequence of this sweet gesture; one refuses to admit his love, the other refuses to let him not admit his love, thus BZH again turns another woman into Zixun. But before that, let’s see 3 reactions;

HQG sleeping soundly;

Shifu can play his Guzhen;

Dongfang rather jealous. Well, it is YOUR fault Dongfang! YOUR FAULT!

HQG routinely gets invitation to leave her shifu; like Dongfang who did ask her to leave with him and again SQM in this episode. Her answer is always the same; she can’t because in her heart she has vowed to be by her shifu’s side forever. Her shifu meanwhile never quite say to her you can’t stay here etc etc but well, with his simple gesture of a lullaby tonight, basically he has grown very very fond of his own personal calamity which is not reminded to the viewers in this episode. No worries; the whole calamity plot will pop up when it is convenient to pop up, same as how her touches weakened his powers which suddenly no longer exists and to which there is a perfect explanation, except this series never bothered to explain.

You know I don’t like Dongfang but sometimes I feel Dongfang does have HQG’s interest in mind whenever he does things like how HQG wanted to go to see the mysterious masked seer to find out who killed the Mt Tai Bai leader and Dongfang did a double take and asked her why should she do that. His way of discouraging her and we all know who that masked guy is. But still, Dongfang is a double edged sword; he’s kind and yet he is selfish; he is good and yet he is bad. He is earnest and yet he is a liar. If BZH is said to be dual in this sense, then Dongfang is clearly the guy with 2 masks. BZH has only 1 face, and he is quite plain in the things he does and the things he know.

Still, the story is so disconnected. I don’t get what is the relevance of the twins and to our main story and whilst I enjoyed the performances, the costumes, the story thus far, I feel the momentum to the excellent moment where HQG hugged her shifu to tell him he is all she has and all she ever needs is now sorta slowed down to show other people’s story that I frankly don’t care, except for SQM.

Now SQM is intriguing. Whilst BZH feels SQM is not the sort to do “little” things to annoy anyone, he acknowledges SQM is evil personified. But thus far in this series I haven’t seen SQM do anything remotely evil. Flamboyant, yes, flirtatious, yes, bombastic, yes but evil? Where? Except maybe at Shu Shan where he killed his own men to appease BZH or something, that is kinda bad but truly evil? Show me because if not, I am getting quite fond of SQM!

Also one thing I must point out; I know HQG is super cute and I super love her as much as all handsome men super adore her because she is so adorable or as some say, adorkable. But surely someone would have run her through the whole passing of the baton process in Shu Shan segment? Surely Dongfang would have stayed up late at night or someone from Shu Shan like the missing elders explaining to her where to stand, what to say, what to do??

Acting wise, no comment. Excellent all round. Special mention to Ma Ke who is quite simply magnetic as SQM and someone should just tell SQM that HQG will never ever accept his invitation to live with him. Ever. Why I specifically mention Ma Ke is because he got a huge role, that demands a huge presence whilst dressed in drag and right now, he is performing amazingly well.

Also to my Wallace, handsome as ever and tonight, lesser layers of clothing which must be a relief to him then. I saw an interview of him and poor man kept wiping the sweat off his forehead. So beautiful though.

And one last mention; to my favorite blue costume that made a brief comeback, in male and female version;

Oh by the way this episode answers a question of mine aka does BZH sleep? Yes he does or rather he rests because when HQG was waken by her nightmares and shifu rushing in to check on her, she did say “I am sorry shifu to disturb your sleep” or something like that.

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This commentary is written by Funn Lim, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com and was originally posted at http://p2e-hqg.blogspot.com/.

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