pardon me, thankyou

He starts beating the man who was going to hurt Miao Jing and he PTSD flashbacks to his horrific past and it all overlaps and he literally starts beating the man to death with his bare hands...

And she rushes out of the car, and tries to hold him as he's beating a man to death! Trying to restore him to sanity through sheer love and aaaaaaa

The way she cradles him, the way she tries to hold his bloodied hands, when he's utterly out of his mind, his hands literally covered in blood, and when she saw him at his darkest - saw what violence, what insanity he's capable of, what danger he can present. And yet, she doesn't even pause. Even as he starts freaking out and literally clawing at himself...

The first words he says when he comes to...

And her response, immediate and without hesitation? AS SHE HOLDS HIS BLOOD-COVERED HANDS TO HER FACE?

The way he clutches her like a drowning man, as if he can meld himself into her or her into him aaaaaa

I was telling @aysekira that Russian historical shows remind me a little of Chinese historical shows pre 2021 - i.e., the makers put stuff there that might not fly in a modern setting.

The conversation between Paul and his instructor about Peter the Great is one such example.

The instructor talks about Prince Alexi, Peter's son who Peter executed with his own hands for being a traitor and Paul goes "but what if he wasn't a traitor, it's a justification after the fact really" and the instructor goes and lists all the horrible things Peter did, saying what a monster of a person he was - wrecked Russia financially, mocked religion, ruined his wife and children, killed people for no reason etc, and does it all sotto voce and then adds loudly but we remember him as a great czar and builder of St Petersburg (and then adds though StP was built by Elizabeth.) LOVE IT