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.)