This week, Thunderbolt takes a left turn to resolve side conflicts, or even new minor conflicts it thought of, mostly to boost up the status of our main cast. It’s still enjoyable, in an admittedly predictable way. We have a guy literally flirting with his sword, a yaoi love where a guy willing to put his life at stake to save his partner, and a backstab where we have this ridiculous line as a climax: “These are… swords!!!!!”. First off, I hope Enigmatic Gale scheme against Dirty Cop goes beyond this humiliation as it’s underwhelming at best. It’s true that it takes guts for him to trick the Dirty Cop in a factor that he was most confident in: his special glasses. It’s the scheme goes right in front of his eyes, but he’s too arrogant to realize the trick. Freak-out Dirty Cop is nice and all, but I hope this is only a warning from Gui Liao.
Lang Wu Yao, on the other hand, is on his way to the suicide mission. This must show how much he cares (in an unhealthy way, that is) for Shang Bu Huan since I don’t see the reason why they would just join forces to beat the enemy. Isn’t two head is always better than one? This leaves Shang Bu Huan the opportunity to sneak out to his other boyfriend, Gui Niao. The moment I see the man having enough time and pleasure to go fishing again with the glasses on no less, it gives me such joy.
Finally, Di Kong, under a new alias Lou Zhen Jie, basically goes through episode talking about how much devotion he is with his sword, and further demonstrates how he isn’t necessary a vessel under her power. I must say the subplot regarding these guys from the Sen Chin Fortress a bit unimportant, especially at this late in a game. But it does offer an interesting scenario: the holy swords wielded by these guys versus this massive evil sword. I’m a bit disappointed that Seven Blasphemous Deaths loses its cool the moments it sees its krypnotye – by her power it should be more excited the more powerful the opponent has. But the Fallen Monk proves once again he doesn’t need the power of the sword to triumph, as he destroys the holy swords by his bare hands. The only take out from this turn of event is that it isn’t the sword, but Di Kong himself, will prove to be the final threat for Shang Bu Huan and the gang. Hopefully, Enigmatic Gale finds someway to be relevant with this feud as well. He’s hardy connected to the main plot, given he himself hasn’t met Di Kong, nor the Evil Sword, onscreen at all.
He is clearly making the sword swoon there 😛
But yeah, I’d say its actually good thing that Seven Blashemous Death is capable of feeling fear, because it means that as antagonist she isn’t stupidly arrogant when she know she is in danger. Like I get feeling Lou has bit of problem with being fanatic so he clearly would fight to the death for the sword without realizing that might screw her over afterwards <_<
That said, both protagonist and antagonist both have the whole "qi channeling" ability thing huh. I'd take it that they are much more evenly matched than antagonist of first season was
The reason that Lang is fighting alone is that they agreed it was too risky for Shang as he can fall for Seven Blasphemous Death’s charms. If that happened, the sword index would fall into Zhen Jie’s possession, and Lang would be in a worse position if he has to fight Shang too. At least Lang can fight blind. So Shang was expected to keep running away to protect the sword index, using the demon bird to flee if needed.
It is a little weird that Shang would let his partner fight alone, but I’m guessing he’s shaken that Lang’s predictions have all come true, so he is likely doubting himself and also blindly trusting Lang at the moment.
I’d say the scheme against Dirty Cop already goes way beyond just humiliating him. He doesn’t just suffer the humiliation of losing face with the Dong Li merchants, but because his stolen merchandise was sent back to Xi You, he’ll probably lose his status there as well. And going by the previous episodes, seeking money and status seem to be his main goals in life, so Enigmatic Gale is definitely hitting him where it hurts. In one fell swoop Enigmatic Gale took Dirty Cop’s position as a powerful government official away from him and instead turned him into a fugitive wherever he goes.
I’ll admit the Dirty Cop subplot isn’t all that interesting though, so I also hope it’ll be tied to the main plot soon.