JubpaJub

Huan Zhu, the web drama adaptation/spin-off of Huan Zhu Ge Ge, began shooting today.

Synopsis:

Modern girl Lin Sui Sui accidentally transmigrates into the world of Huan Zhu Ge Ge, but this is a faulty version where the plot has “collapsed”. Lin Sui Sui becomes a palace maid working for the Empress. She eventually realises that to leave this world, she has to somehow fix the plot points that have gone wrong and restore the original storyline. Along the way, she got tangled up with a palace guard, Jing Yuan, which causes a butterfly effect to a series of unexpected events. With her fragmented memories of the plot of HZGG, can Lin Sui Sui bring the characters back to where they were originally supposed to be?

Cast:

Hu Lian Xin as Lin Sui Sui

Luo Yi Zhou as Jing Yuan

Yan Xu Jia as Wu Ah Ge

Huang Si Rui as Xiao Yan Zi

Yuan Zi Ming as Er Kang

Xu Yuan Yi Na as Zi Wei

(I know none of these people…well, I’ve heard of Hu Lian Xin and that’s it. And for a moment I thought XYZ was Ruan Sisi in New Life Begins but apparently not.)

Han Xiangjian's outfits in Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace  如懿传

The first time I read Mockingjay, I was probably about 12 and had only really read either middle grade fantasy or other YA dystopia books, and even though I was a voracious reader, because I’d always been reading Chosen One novels, I had no way to contextualize that this series was different.

The ending where Katniss gets into the president’s mansion and kills Snow was my EXPECTATION. It completely fried my brain when she didn’t make it and instead Prim died and Katniss had her mental break. I fully did not understand what was going on, or why it was more realistic and more powerful that Katniss WASN’T the one to storm in and kill Snow. My understanding, from other books, was that Katniss was always in control. She was the Mockingjay after all, so how could she not be? District 13 was Katniss’ ally, Coin was the GOOD GUY (until the Prim thing).

Then, re-reading as an adult, all of this HORRIFIED me. Katniss’ desperation, the way that 13 stood by for 75+ years while the other districts suffered, Coin using Katniss and the propaganda throughout.

The whole point is that Katniss is NOT a Chosen One.

Her status as accidental symbol of the rebellion comes with power, but in order to use that power, she must submit to being controlled, ultimately losing many of the things most important to her. AND SHE DOES, because she doesn’t want the power just for herself. Isn’t the biggest reason she agrees to be the Mockingjay to defeat Snow and free the districts?

And then it happens AGAIN in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes except SNOW actually DOES think he’s in a Chosen One novel.

In direct contrast to Katniss, he sees HIMSELF as the Chosen One. So of COURSE Tigris stays up all night to help him. Of COURSE Gaul singles him out among his classmates. Of COURSE Lucy Gray is able to win (ONLY with his help, of COURSE). Of COURSE he isn’t going to spend his whole life as a Peacekeeper, he’s Too Special. He’s Going to Be President Some Day.

And this, this self-obsession, especially combined with his ambition, and the expectation that those around him can and SHOULD be manipulated (because they are lesser-than in Snow’s eyes) is what lets him rise to power as a fascist dictator.

Katniss placing flowers around Rue's body in the arena. Thresh sparing Katniss because she was kind to Rue, even though he was making it that much harder for himself to win.

Haymitch going back for Maysilee after hearing her scream even though their alliance had been broken. Haymitch holding her as she dies the same way Katniss did Rue.

Coral's "I can't have killed them all for nothing" when she realizes she's not going home. Lamina cutting down Marcus at great personal risk. And, my favorite moment in tbosas, Reaper collecting the bodies of his fellow tributes, his peers, even the ones who tried to kill him, into a pile. Taking the weapons from their hands. Closing their eyes and crossing their arms in the best approximation of a proper burial he can manage, covering them with the Capitol flag as a makeshift shroud.

The Games bring out the worst in people, yes. But despite the extreme circumstances, despite the exterior pressure of the Capitol, despite the fact that it could mean pain and heartbreak and death, it also shows that people have an enormous capacity for goodness. That even in a situation purposefully designed to make empathy impossible, people can't help but have it anyway.

"A woman must not only be obedient and sensible, but also know me and understand me. But not understand me too well, just enough to converse intelligently with me. Knowing me too well or too little isn't to my liking."

Don't you usually go to work with Jeongwon? He had to go in early for an emergency surgery. I'm going to buy him coffee. Are you guys married, or what? You're so good to him.

Absolutely no one:

Jung Kyung-ho: