River Castigation

[mvrdrk]

Managed to watch the end of episode 18 (turns out I stopped 2 minutes before the end last time) and all of 19 and 20. The "River Castigation" is FanLi and GouJian at the river, was what you were talking about? It was ... beautiful!

I watched it over and over again. For me, it feels elegant in Chinese, the English is good, but it lacks something. Borrowing from the younger one who now maintains the Japanese language must be called Japanese-ese to distinguish it from the state of being Japanese, the English lacks Classical-ese or formal-ese or ... I feel like the English should fall into King James or like mode. (Truthfully, the Chinese is nothing special, it just feels special.)

And this is the first time that I can suddenly see an inkling of GouJian x FanLi, which is a delight! That was an "I love you" in the most passionate way. Only, it tickles me more to see it as some sort of muddled up Confucian- love, respect, obey, obligation, scolding, fantasy-gone-wild. Uhh, you know, un-happi n'dins r i, as it were. LOL!

It's stuck in my head, disjointly with boy band boys.

Comments

[rasetsunyo.livejournal.com]

Yess that's the one. Quite something isn't it? I love the writing in Woxin, like you say it sounds perfectly ordinary but it's so elegant and beautiful and right for the period.

It's stuck in my head, disjointly with boy band boys.

Mayhem ensues? 8D

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

so elegant and beautiful and right

That's exactly it. The writing is wonderful. The delivery is wonderful too. I'm going to miss this GouJian, he's humane in a way I suspect the later one isn't.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

The English lacks, period full stop. I don't know a word of Chinese (well, now I know 是不是, she says proudly, and I owe it to the River Castigation) and I could tell just from the sound of the voices that the English didn't match.

sort of muddled up Confucian- love, respect, obey, obligation, scolding, fantasy-gone-wild.

Look- that's the bestest crack there *is*. 'Ohh my lord is hot' isn't a patch on 'ohh my lord is in error I must admonish him with tears in my eyes and pain in my heart and infinite love, for the good of us all.'

he's humane in a way I suspect the later one isn't.

I'm watching him not be it. It's like his surrender to Fu Chai: he's doing what he has to do- what he absolutely must do- to keep his country safe, but this time neither Fan Li nor Ya Yu is on the same page as he is. Politically he's probably right; emotionally they certainly are; it's a tragedy plain and simple.

(It's funny, because when he was prince and even before he went to Wu, he was even more high-handed in his actions and attitudes, but the basic connection was still there. Wu damaged that connection in some very profound ways and the trouble, I think, is that Gou Jian doesn't realize it did.)

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

that's the bestest crack there *is*

And that I'm have to tell him to go submit himself to untold humiliation.

Yes! I love that my friends understand me!

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I think Fan Li gets seriously kerblonxed at just how untold the humiliation becomes. Great perspicaity and foresight, our counsellor, but not much imagination.