#spoilerific

AHHHHHHH SO MUCH HAPPENED

- Zhou Xun knows Guan Hongyu and Guan Hongfeng have been sharing Hongfeng’s identity all along (Zhou Shutong pretty much knows this too, but whether or not she’s going to act on it, probably not unless she’s forced to)

- Liu Changyong died because he ingested the poison in his peanut milk tea. While Zhou Xun insists he didn’t poison the tea, he told Zhao Xincheng that he was “involved” in his death, whatever that means. 

- The hypothesis that “the gang” have come up with (brothers + Liu Yin + Cui Hu + Lin Jiayin) is that someone intended to poison Guan Hongfeng or Zhou Xun because Shutong is pretty much the errand girl and it wouldn’t be a surprise if she had bought food for them. Based on this, and based on Zhou Xun saying that he was involved in Lao Liu’s death, I wonder if Zhou Xun knows who wanted to poison him but poisoned Lao Liu instead. He did have a sinister look on his face when he admitted this to Zhao Xincheng, but I don’t think it was because he was the culprit, so my guess was because he’d figured it out. 

- Ye Fangzhou is somehow involved in everything, as the gang has figured. He spoke with An Ting after the ordeal with Wang Zhige (and An Ting was apparently a witness in Guan Hongyu’s case), Ye Fangzhou was supposedly in contact with Qiao Shen, also he dated Shutong and has reached out to her now, which is rather coincidental. He’s just involved in way too much to not be suspicious. My guess is that he was doing shady dealings in the arms business, and since the police were onto him, he created all this shit to frame Guan Hongyu (who I guess was convenient?), but now that everything’s unraveling, he thinks he might just have to kill the Guan brothers to clear it up? I’m not certain about this but it’s a work in progress.

- Zhou Xun told Guan Hongyu not to tell Hongfeng about the fact that Zhou Xun knows about their shared identity, and Hongyu does this, not bringing it up. Why? Maybe Hongyu wants to wait and see until Lao Liu’s murder is cleared up before he wants to throw this wrench in the mix. Or, if Zhou Xun is convicted and in jail, then he won’t even have a chance (not for a while, at least) to accuse and investigate Hongyu.

- There’s got to be a bit more to Han Bin. He says he’s helping Hongfeng and Hongyu because I guess he just feels friendship with them? Hongfeng asked him if he was a criminal, and Han Bin replied with the fact that Hongfeng is not a police officer anymore. My guess is that yes, Han Bin was a criminal. I can’t figure out if he’s good or bad. It just seems a bit too convenient that he’s this smart guy helping out Hongfeng and Hongyu. I can’t help but think he has an ulterior motive.

- I wonder what Zhou Xun’s flashback was supposed to reveal. From the night of the Wu family murders, Zhou Xun saw an interaction between Lao Yongchang and Zhou Shutong. At that time, he didn’t know they were parent and child (he learned that during the course of the show). He also went to the crime scene later, where he had to feign the fact that he knew Wu Zheng. Wu Zheng was an undercover cop and Zhou Xun was his handler. Hongfeng was also there, as head of the squad, and it was there that Zhou Xun and Hongfeng found out that Hongyu’s DNA was in the house. There was a short scene where two of the police officers were searching the house. One of the officers thought it was weird that a box was kind of empty and the other officer dismissed it. I wonder if this comes back later.

- Short note but I kind of love how bro-ish Zhou Xun and Zhao Xincheng are. They give each other shit all the time, but they understand each other on a fundamental level.

- Also, I thought it was kind of careless than Hongfeng said he never drank and yet Hongyu drinks often and in front of other people. This seemed like a big thing that Hongfeng should have clarified with Hongyu. This slip up rubs me the wrong way because it seems way too careless for the Guan brothers. As for the slip up that Zhou Xun pointed out, relating to when Hongyu implied that was the first time he’d pointed a gun at Zhou Xun, I thought that was far more believable because in both situations, Hongfeng and Hongyu were thinking on their toes and that’s an understandable slip up. 

Predictions and other questions: 

- If Hongfeng is involved in the actual committing of the murder of the Wu family I will actually riot. My image of him is that of a good, morally upright man, and it would kind of suck if that wasn’t true. We already know that he was around the crime scene that night, because An Ting saw Hongfeng (thinking it was Hongyu) walking on the street. What for, I don’t think we know. If it was to tamper with the crime scene that’ll be sucky. I had an inkling that maybe the DNA in the house was Hongfeng’s and not Hongyu’s (since they technically share the same DNA, and probably only Hongyu’s is in the database because of his prior run ins with the law) but there is another possibility.

- That possibility is if I am right about there being something missing from the box in the Wu family’s house. If that’s the case, then I would think that the person who is doing the framing switched out the murder weapons. Maybe this person wanted to frame Hongfeng but like I said, because only Hongyu’s DNA is in the system, Hongyu was framed instead?

- I wonder if Zhao Qian is related to the case, more than just being An Ting’s sister. Is she doing anything else to abet An Ting’s crimes? I think it’s probably implied that she’d cleaned An Ting’s house before she and Shutong went to search it as cops.

- Jiayin’s task is to protect Qiao Shen, so I guess he’s going to be brought to Jingang as a star witness. But what will Qiao Shen testify about? His connection to Jingang is that he was connected to Ye Fanzhou, and also because Ji Jie’s phone had called the bar that he frequents. So he’s probably an informant for the arms industry. 

- I think Ye Fanzhou will be dealt with swiftly. He isn’t smart enough to scheme that well, so I think he will do something rash and then get himself shot or something like that.

- Zhou Shutong will definitely have a big part in the next two episodes. Having been on Guan Hongfeng and Guan Hongyu’s tail for the past months, she’s collected tidbits about them that no one else knows. And when the time is right, in a crucial moment of accusation, I think she will use that information. Whether it’ll be for or against the Guan brothers, I don’t know, but my guess is that she’ll use that information to find out the true murderer of her father.

- There’s a lot that Zhou Xun still hasn’t revealed. Other than the fact that Wu Zheng was his responsibility, I wonder if there is any other reason why he’s so invested in the case. I mean, that’s reason enough for him to be so invested in the murderer. He was looking at the photo of his family and I think he himself was pretty shocked that the murderer would kill the wife, mother, and two kids, even though they were innocent. But I also wonder what Wu Zheng had uncovered in his undercover endeavours; it’s probable that that’s what brought on his murder. I just wonder how important this information is to Zhou Xun.

- Why does Zhou Xun still suspect Guan Hongyu? Maybe it’s because Zhou Xun really is a logical guy and Guan Hongyu really just looks like the most probable guy given all the facts. In their talk on the tennis court, Zhou Xun said that he needs to re-examine Hongyu, like anew. What new information did Zhou Xun discover? 

- Does Liu Yin serve any other purpose in the story? Hongfeng had asked Hongyu why Liu Yin was helping them. I think of that too. I mean, sure, it’s fun to be part of a super secret investigation, but it’s a tad bit suspicious.

- Like Shutong, I think Han Bin will come in at a crucial time to drop some truth bombs. Or not, he might be a villain and might work against the Guan brothers.

Spoiler-ish below the line. End of Shadowbringers spoilerific

I’m really  happy that Kayn is wearing a Black Temple era cloak. It’s very satisfying. 

Anyhow. Here they are, at each other’s throats. You get tasked with making them stop fighting and choosing one of them as your second in command. 

Altruis the Sufferer felt that Illidan was becoming what he hated and split away. If you did ALL of Nagrand, including ye olde long quest chain for this bloke, you wind up killing four Illidari leader types for him. 

Kayn is pissed because those four that Altruis had killed were brothers and sisters in arms. 

They simply cannot see eye to eye. 

So far, disregarding the whole “you are a commander” narrative of the beginning quest, I’m getting the impression that the Illidari aren’t evil in the cackling mustache twirling way, though some of them do seem to get great enjoyment from the power they gain, but that they are people for whom the ends justify the means. 

They stick to their convictions and achieve their goals at any cost. 

But they also have a sense of brotherhood. They, for example, express remorse for the loss of one of their own. I feel like they don’t have to be solitary creatures as some people were speculating, but I digress. 

We’ve seen the ends justify the means theme before, likely several times. The one that sticks out to me at 2am is the Blood Elves. While not all of them knew they were hitting the fel, there were some that knew and it was worth it for them to cure everyone’s withdrawl by using the unsavory means that they did to end their people’s suffering. I’d say it’s a central theme.

This seems like an anti-hero ideal to me. 

Where a hero will do the right thing to reach the end result, an anti-hero will do whatever they can to reach the same ends. 

Deadpool spoilers below the cut. 

Spoilers below! For a possible outcome at the end of the game! Read with caution.