#pangzi

The sequence where Wu Xie sees Ning drowning with a lock of hair from a Forbidden Woman encircling her ankle and then tries to save her despite her trying to sabotage them in every possible way in true Ning fashion, and then running out of air and drowning instead, is done in such a painful, bittersweet way that I was left in disbelief for a while. There's no shock involved, just a dull resignation that yes, this is how Wu Xie is, and we also realize that he is not expecting to be rescued when he feels himself sinking. After the high octane sequence to break free of the tomb, this scene seems almost cathartic—like a release that is almost anticipated because of the way it unfolds.

We see Wu Xie's face as he drowns, and there is no regret, no struggle, no bitterness in that face—just calm resignation. That instantly catapults this Wu Xie into a realm of maturity much beyond his years here.

Then we see a figure swimming towards him, and the entire sequence after that is pure poetry.

It's something that cannot be transcribed in words, but I'll try, anyway. It feels dreamlike, unreal, yet rooted in the reality of Xiaoge undoing the ties on the jacket and putting it on Wu Xie, and we see a shot of his hands doing up the buttons on the jacket, pulling up the hood and then slowly pushing Wu Xie towards the surface. The final shot is of a figure slowly drifting up towards the light and then the next shot is Wu Xie waking up in a hospital bed with daylight streaming in. It's not always that I find good cinematography in my DMBJ adaptations and forgive me for being a little giddy about it.

I'm sure others will gif this scene and I will reblog it a hundred times, but for now, I will stare at my potato quality screenshots and think of the messianic way in which Xiaoge descends to the depths to save Wu Xie, the almost carplike movements he makes and then drifts closer, the hair falling over his face and making him appear truly otherworldly in these shots. It's the sense of being saved unconditionally, without any calculations, without any expectations of reciprocity that creates the feeling of awe. Xiaoge's help descends like a gift, without any desire for exchange or commensurability, and okay, that is bound to change a person who receives it.

So when Wu Xie wakes up and asks, where's Xiaoge, I understand him, so does Pangzi, although he is justifiably annoyed with the question because Pangzi was the one watching over him for three days, while Xiaoge left.

This is one adaptation that I'll be rewatching time and time again because it feels like a love letter to canon in a way few other adaptations are, and I think it's the NPSS effect, which I hope sticks around for a while.