Fandomilicious Spamius

Oh my goodness, Anon! I could not feel you more, and this show is so chock-full of powerful and heartbreaking do-anything-for-you friendships that you are literally spoiled for choice because you want to give your heart to every single one of them, but there is only so much heart to give and so many amazing non-romantic bonds.The vanishingly few romantic relationships absolutely take back-burner to the amazing friendships.

The answer to your question, in short, is an eardrum-shattering, resounding oh my god YES. In fact, I’m going to have to make a list of Meaningful Platonic Relationships, because this show can’t have a single character without beautiful and painful platonic attachments. disclaimer: This list is not complete, because if it was, it would be unending.

Warning: Minor allusions to preseries events, but nothing detailed/nothing you don’t learn in the first episode or two. Plus, going in with a bit of a heads-up will alleviate some of the inevitable and brain-bending confusion when the show smacks you in the face with its huge ensemble cast in the first two episodes.

Mu Nihuang and Xia Dong: The badass general and the smart executive investigative officer have a terribly wonderful and complex friendship. Both value their friendship highly but find themselves at odds because their relative places in the Big “Betrayal” put them on opposite sides. Despite that, they get along well, but there’s an undercurrent of tension.

Xiao Jingrui and Yan Yujin: These small, soft boys have the gentlest and most powerful friendship powered by faith in each other and Yujin trying to drag Jingrui out to have fun so he can forget his overwhelmingly messed-up family situation and the weird political implications it comes with.

Xiao Jingrui and Yan Yujin and Mei Changsu (who has way too many names so I’ll just use that one) + more: These two have a lovely friendship with MCS, and it’s Jingrui’s friendship with MCS that brings him to the capital in the first place, to “recover from his illness.” They all get along well with Fei Liu well, too. Bonus Tingsheng in the image below. Jingrui not pictured.

Consort Jing and her son, Jingyan: Want beautiful family bonds? Look no further. Consort Jing (AKA: Jingmum) is a remarkably intelligent and intuitive doctress and strategist without whose help nothing of consequence would have happened, and she loves her son (and her son’s supposedly deceased best friend *wink wink nudge nudge*) more than her own life.

Jingyan and Mu Nihuang: Childhood friends drawn together by tragedy. Both extremely competent kickers of asses and takers of names.  Nihuang “lost” her betrothed in the supposed “rebellion.” Jingyan lost one of the most powerful friendships you will ever have the pleasure of sobbing about. (x)

Mu Nihuang and her little brother, Mu Qing: They will never fail to make you smile. Mu Qing is entirely aware of his sister’s strength and competence but is very Smol and also is invested in her happiness in adorable little brother ways.

Consort Jing and Consort Hui: They’re just so sweet and supportive. Want a show where the ladies are relevant to the plot, varied, complex, amazingly characterized, intelligent, independent, and supportive of each other? Look no further.

Mei Changsu (also known as Lin Shu and Su Zhe because every self-respecting genius strategist needs at least three names to try to carry out a plan to bring justice to the unjustly murdered) and his hotheaded and relentlessly Good former best buddy Prince Xiao Jingyan: I’m not gonna lie. This one here is without a single doubt the ultimate meaningful platonic relationship, and heartbreakingly multi-faceted. On one level, viewers are ever aware that MCS is, in fact, Jingyan’s supposedly-dead beloved best friend, whom Jingyan still grieves even after more than a decade. On the other, he’s a shrewd strategist and advisor trying to help the out-of-favor warrior prince gain power in court. All of these relationships will break your heart and stomp on it. This relationship is the source of probably a good 90% of the Feels in this show. But hooo boy it doesn’t end there! (x)

MCS and General Meng: Despite his martial prowess, General Meng is a genuinely guileless, kind fellow whose friendship with “Mei Changsu” goes way back. The combination of MCS’s shrewdness in service to seeking justice and Meng’s well-meaning kindness is the sweetest. These two are adorable and I love them.

MCS and Fei Liu: Fei Liu is a very young, skilled fighter whose interests are relatively simple but whose love and loyalty for MCS are unmatched. He and MCS are unrelated, but have a relationship much like older brother and younger brother, with an extra layer of sickly scholar and scholar’s young bodyguard.

MCS and Lin Chen: Lin Chen is the ultimate troll. He is highly intelligent and takes no shit but quite enjoys slinging it. He and MCS are a platonic match made in heaven and annoy each other to death. It’s a beautiful friendship, with an added layer of patient and longsuffering doctor. (x)

MCS and the entire Jiangzuo Alliance: Li Gang for best Mom 2KFOREVER. They all love and are exasperated with their leader, MCS, in equal measure. (x)

Some more: General Meng and Fei Liu, Jingyan and Tingsheng, Lin Chen and Fei Liu, Li Gang and Zhen Ping, Yan Yujin and his dad, and so many more.

And this…. this doesn’t even cover all the amazing platonic relationships, only some of the most interesting or prominent ones. Any romance in the show, while present, pales in comparison to the friendships and family bonds. This show will take every Feel you have at your disposal and batter them in the best way.

Ihave liked Nirvana in Fire a little bit differently than I usually dowhen I fall for a book/movie/show. I tend to focus on characters andthey are what makes me like something and stick with it. Here itwas the storytelling that has grabbed me by the ankle and chained metomy laptop for several days, as I’ve binge-watched the whole thing.I have been immensely satisfied with the outcomes and theconsequences of the initial setup, and with the fact that it was allso cleanly done – the goals and the circumstances set, executionconsequent and the actions actually having a follow up. I’m notsaying it was devoid of loose ends or always completely believablesometimes – videXiao Jingyan’s complete inability to see through all the slip upsmade not only by Lin Shu – but those disbelieves were a consequenceof creating an additional tension between characters, so I didn’tmind at all.

What I think Ienjoyed most was the machinations coming true and seeing theorchestration of them. It was full of suspense, but not for theviewer, which I think is a great choice to make by the creators,because the viewer is often credited with less comprehension skillsthey have, and we end up with big reveals that we’ve seen throughdecades ago. I didn’t feel like it was the case here – we couldinstead watch the reactions of the characters, which was much moreinteresting for me.

Sayingall this, I wasn’t as deeply connected emotionally with thecharacters as I usually am, when liking a thing (book, show, etc.)this much. The uniqueness of liking NiF for me was this: I’vestayed engaged throughout fifty four episodes despite not zeroing onthe characters. The plot was actuallyinteresting enoughfor me, for once. That’s like, my private major kudos for NiF.

It wasn’tabout any plot twists, and not even about rooting for any particularoption to win – I could have easily watch with equal interest andsatisfaction the demise of prince Jingyan and Mei Changsu’s plans.Which doesn’t mean I didn’t have personal faves and dislikes.Ugh, consort Yue. Ugh, the first Crown Prince. I found them a bit toocaricatural, and was relieved when their arc has ended and they wereremoved from action. Though, I must admit, Jingxuan was a very goodcontrast for Jinghuan, and consort Yue for consort Jing. So, as I’vesaid, even when I didn’t like someone, their presence have madesense as they accentuated well all the others around. Oh, and Xie Yu?Nightmare, a complete nightmare – but what a wonderful villain!

Oh, andanother thing that was very interesting for me – this was a Chinesedrama made with the Chinese audience in mind, and therefore used sometropes, visual shortcuts that for a European were not always clear, Isuspect also sometimes not even visible. It was very interesting forme to try and understand things I were presented – like the factthat nobody had ever kissed on screen. When Mu Nihuang and Lin Shuhugged, were they actually hugging? Were they kissing passionately?Were they kissing reverently? Or when the Emperor was holding a handof one of his consorts – was that the equivalent of a kiss on thecheek or was he actually drawing moral support from hand holding? Isimply don’t know, because I don’t have enough required knowledge– a state very in line with my education, and I found that alsostrangely satisfying. It was a lot of fun for me to try and piecethose things and try to find an explanation for them.

Followingthe trope of the satisfaction and touch – the lack of touching! Iswear, it was so interesting to observe all the ways emotionalcloseness could be expressed either by reverence when following theetiquette protocol or verbally, without ever being overt with it.Coming from the perspective of creating and sustainingtension? Awesome.

Diving intothe characters more deeply – my favourite thing about Mei Changsuwas that he was actually the Left Hand, not just some stand-in withgood morals. He was committing morally questionable choices for thegreater cause, and he was not always apologetic about it. I felt likeperhaps the storytelling was trying to suggest to me as a viewer atthose points that because he had good morals (or Xiao Jingyan as amoral compass that he believed in) and was working for the prosperityof the Empire and its moral rejuvenation, then he should be absolved– but I read it as  mere suggestion, and so I didn’t feel it asobnoxious attempts of the narrative to convince me. I could make myown observations about his choices and morality, and in the end tojudge if he was a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ character. He was neitherand it was the best thing about it.

Mei Changsuwas also an excellent counterpart and a parallel to the princeJinghuan. Ah, Xiao Jinghuan – his was my favourite arc of them all.His and Changsu’s choices were actually quite the same – theywere trying to scheme mercilessly to get what they wanted: power. Thefact that they had different principles and goals (Changsu: devoidthe court of corruption, make the rule of the Empire just and goodfor people; Jinghuan: gain the prestigious title of the Emperor andall that follows it) doesn’t change much, when you look at it fromthe perspective of what they have sacrificed to get it (and aside ofthe results and whether they succeeded). Also my favourite part ofJinghuan is that he is actually not a villain. He is a product of hisupbringing, provenience, life circumstances and environment he livedin. Not once he does something that would have a root in this. Hiswant of power? Coming from his ambition, of course. But his ambition?Where does that come from? Oh, here it is, look, expectances ofothers (especially his mother and father the Emperor) and the role ofprince he had, and there were not many variants of it he could choosefrom, if he wanted to have respect and prestige.

The morebeautiful and delightfully satisfying to watch is his fall. My mostfavourite scene of all the show was that one, from the episode 41:

“Ban Ruo,were I not a Noble Prince, would you still come to see me today?”

“Iwould.”

“What ifI was exiled and made a commoner. Would you still come see me?”

“YourHighness, those are all imaginary scenarios, why worry about them?”

“Youwon’t come, right? That’s logical, you are a strategist and alsoa descendant of the Hua people. You have an unfinished mission. So,naturally, you need to find someone worth supporting. Now, that Ihave fallen, you will obviously not come to see me again.”

“It isn’tlike that, your Highness.”

“I’mtired. I really don’t want to fight any more.”

Inthis very moment we see Jinghuan completely and irrevocably crushed.Here also manifests a second extremely important thing – theacting. Victor Huang has delivered,is what I’m saying. I feel like a lot of this show could fall flatand the narrative choices could just not make sense (not thisparticular one, but others), if not for amazing acting skills of mostof the cast. Victor Huang or Hu Ge made like 60% of their characterswith just a frown, a smirk, a tip of a head. And they made thembelievable. Lin Shu still deeply in love with Mu Nihuang afterthirteen years? Absolutely obvious. Jinghuan at the end of his ropein this scene? Guys, I have honestly believed for a second that thisperhaps is how they are going to deal with him. Of course, Ban Ruomade that obvious later that it won’t be the case, but if itdepended solely on Jinghuan, I was convinced he would just stop andlive out his days as a melancholic version of prince Ji. Which, Ithink, would be not such a bad thing for him.

Thatscene though, ah – Jinghuan stripped completely bare, finallyrealising he doesn’t have anythingin his life. No power, no respect, no love of his people. Everythinghe has is superficial and coming from his lifestyle, the faithfulnessof his subordinates coming from their own ethos rather than fromgenuine feeling of being treated well. And that is what I thinkreally defeats him, his failure and the awareness of not havinganything sincerely meaningful in his life. Ban Ruo he still trusts,because he knows her (even better now, when he’s aware what sheactually wants from him) and doesn’t care as much as he did for theconsequences. His goals, I think, shift from gaining the status toavenging the fact that he can’t have it. I think at this point hedoesn’t believe in possible success, maybe leaves like 10% ofstupid hope, but most of all he wants to sing his swan song, to showthat he still can execute things, even if they won’t have all thedesigned results.

I wasn’tvery satisfied with that swan song, to be honest, from the emotionalpoint of view. I thought it could have such a great outcome if theywould let him live defeated as he was – but the emotional tormentswould be a good material for a different type of show, not asplot-reliant as this one. I would love a fix-it fic where this wouldbe explored, ahhhh. He could be depressed and trying to improvehimself, so he could finally gain something emotionally meaningful inhis life and also perhaps he would be using all the perks of hisnoble-and-rich life as he liked them very much, he could be an artpatron or something like that. Oh yes, gimme that goodness.

I really likedMei Changsu’s arc, even though it felt a bit artificial, buildingthat tension between him and prince Jingyan. When they were togetheron screen, though, it worked so well, because the actors had a greatchemistry between them. I mean, Hu Ge has excellent chemistry withjust about everyone, is what I’m saying. To be honest, I liked toothat his story with Mu Nihuang was tragic in the end. It feltappropriate, having all those ends cut abruptly – it was aphenomenal choice to actually let him die instead of finding somemagic cure in the last minute, as it often is and as I have expectedsubconsciously. Him dying was what tied this story as it should betied, leaving people grieving but remembering his impact on the fatesof the Empire, exactly the way he wanted.

A great touchwas also this moment when Lin Chen says that he doesn’t know thiswhole Lin Shu, that Changsu is his friend. It is him, not some shadowfrom the past he is helping. He saw something worthy in Changsu andhe isn’t founding his opinions about him on the past – and that’sso different from most of the people that surround Mei Changsu (ofthose that he can confide in).

Theemotional distance between the characters I found a thing of marvel.The loneliness of those who wield power was very well executed –and not the obvious one, as in case of prince Jingyan (can you noticehe was not my favourite? Like, you know, lovely but in a mashedpotatoes way) – but the less obvious, with those who had a supportsystem at first glance. Lin Shu is willingly depriving himself fromthe people who would love to co-carry his burden and is trying tofind a balance when they try to hero-worship him. Prince Jinghuan hasvery obedient subordinates that he half doesn’t pay attention, halfconvinces himself they love him as they should because of his naturalbirthright and innate nobleness (a beautiful example of the effectsof classism in praxis)and in fact has no one to lean on except his mother (which comes withits own set of expectations). The Emperor has a court full of peoplehe has to keep carefully divided and even those who are technicallysupposed to fulfil the role of emotional support (his consorts) areexploiting him, because he exploits them. Yum, yum, yum.

On the otherhand there are friendships – the other strongest point of thisshow. I haven’t been shipping any pair here, because thefriendships were so engaging. Like Yan Yujin and Xiao Jingrui forexample? Another arc I loved, including the cruelty of Mei Changsu’schoice to go through with his plan that would affect his friend. Alsowhat amused me endlessly was the fact that the general atmosphere ofNirvana in Fire was so loaded and serious, that whenever one of thesetwo precious boys, Yujin or Jingrui, appeared on the screen, it waslike an automatic comic/tension relieve. Their dynamics was adorable,light-hearted and young, and their choice to stay friends despite thefallout and the distance, and to treat each other exactly the same asthey were before, with kindness and care, was what warmed my heart.