Nirvana in Fire

[cahn]

I am having SO MANY FEELINGS about Nirvana in Fire right now. I just finished episode 27, so I'm exactly halfway through. (Don't spoil me! :) ) I took a while to ramp up but now I'm at the point where I'm sneaking ten minutes here and there whenever I can watch because it's sooooo good.

Basically, this is a complicated drama with a ton of characters and a ton of subplots all of which I think turn out to be related at the end?? The big drama is the fight for who is going to rule after the Emperor; at the beginning there is the Crown Prince but also Prince Yu, who is competent and powerful, and both are vying for the ascendancy. They both find out that the man who wins the fight for the throne will need to have Mei Changsu (henceforth MCS) on his side. MCS is the head of a powerful martial arts sect (despite not being very strong or martial-arts-oriented himself) and is a master strategist.

...so that's the beginning.

As usual, I shall now ramble on in a way that will probably make no sense if you haven't watched it:)


-At the beginning my favorite character would switch every episode (Mei Changsu! Meng Zhi! Xia Dong!) but for a while now my consistent favorite has been Consort Jing. She's just sooooo awesome and so calm and so wise and so perceptive and the nicest person EVER, yet with so many thoughts behind that head. (Also zdenka has had to put up with a whole bunch of my going "What?? She just went to the Inner Palace to see a sick lady and NEVER CAME OUT AGAIN?? gaaaaah!" This was revealed a bunch of episodes ago as a throwaway comment but I am still not over it!)

-Mei Changsu is so fascinating, it's really cool how the writers make me both feel so hard for him and make me go "OH MEI CHANGSU NO" within the course of a single episode. It is becoming more and more clear to me that there can't be a happy ending for him (not least because his character arc involves him always putting the greater good (I think) of his goals over hurting individuals, but also because he just is looking more and more fragile) but I just really want him to run off with Nihuang and for both of them to live happily ever after and make super-cute babies (what?? wouldn't they be super cute??), okay?? Well, no, part of what I love them for is that they put duty over personal happiness. But still! (Don't spoil me for him either dying or living happily ever after!)

-Xia Dong is probably my second favorite character (although right now she is vying with Jingyan for the title). She's so great, super-competent, doesn't suffer fools gladly, more perceptive than is quite comfortable for everyone else. (1) My heart breaks every time her husband is mentioned (2) I would super watch a spinoff where Nihuang and Xia Dong fight crime.

-Prince Jing took a while to grow on me because he doesn't look at all happy for a large number of episodes, but when That Smile comes out. I just. The way he's so happy when he's with his mom (I just love Jingyan and Consort Jing together!) The way his heart is totally visible in his eyes sometimes when he talks to MCS. JUST TELL HIM WHO YOU ARE ALREADY, MCS.

-Marquis Yan is totally amazing. That was an amazing reveal. I am in awe of how this show takes hitherto minor characters and makes you realize they are amazing. (See also Jingyan, whom I wasn't really expecting to be that interesting, and... really... everyone else.)

-JINGRUI <3333333 :((((((((((

-Jingrui and Yujin are the cutest!

-The Zhuo family <3 :(((((((

-Fei Liu cracks me up pretty much anytime he is on stage.

-aaaaand as soon as I post this I'm gonna go watch the cliffhanger that Ep 27 left me on, CONSORT JING

Comments

[philomytha]

Ha, I knew you would love it! Marquis Yan is one of my favourites too. That reveal about his backstory, and the whole bomb plot where MCS is so angry with him because he isn’t thinking long term, I love it all.

Fei Liu has my husband and I in stitches all the time because he is so, so exactly like Philomythulus, it’s incredible. I’ve never seen a character even a bit like him portrayed before. The scene where MCS uses him to give Tingsheng a present happens all the time in my house...

And Consort Jing is absolutely the best <333

[cahn]

Marquis Yan's backstory was soooooo cool! And yes, the bomb plot where MCS is like "That's such a waste of time, clearly you should be playing the long game like me," hee!

Ohhhhh, that's so interesting that Fei Liu is like Philomythulus! I love Fei Liu like burning. That scene where he gives Tingsheng a present (or MCS uses him to) is the best!

CONSORT JING <333333 I watched Ep 28 and now I love her even more. Oh man, she totally knows who MCS is and why he can't tell Jingyan, and those paired dessert trays are so adorable, it's so "don't forget to give one to your little friend!"

[skygiants]

genarti and I are about ten episodes beyond you, I think? We were watching very slowly while she was in Montreal, but now we're going faster and I am simultaneously so excited to finish and so sad about the prospect of soon not having any more!

I spent the first twenty episodes or so saying, increasingly loudly, "ALL I WANT is for Jingrui to have a GOOD BIRTHDAY," in the hopes that somehow the narrative would hear me and make it so. It did not. :(

[zdenka]

I spent the first twenty episodes or so saying, increasingly loudly, "ALL I WANT is for Jingrui to have a GOOD BIRTHDAY," in the hopes that somehow the narrative would hear me and make it so. It did not. :(

Oh no. :( And if anyone deserves to have a nice birthday, it's Jingrui!

[cahn]

I was going extremely slowly (I started literally months ago) but lately I have been speeding up quite a bit :P :) Although we have various things going on so I might not be able to watch for a week or two, but I fully expect after that to be going fairly fast. (Unless I can convince my friend to watch along with me, in which case I've promised her I'll slow way down so she can catch up. But that may not happen.)

:( I... did not spend them saying that, partially because I did not realize just how much of a mess his birthday was going to be. (He is so nice!)

[eglantiere]

welcome to the nif madness! the worst best part of this show is that normally a person like. inhales 54 episodes, screams into the void for a while, and then BEGINS AGAIN. not that it happened to me or anything.

marquis yan can get it, oh yeah. and consort jing just keeps reaching peak awesomeness and then surpassing it. all the female characters are just so good and complicated and unfolding slowly slowly slowly.

mei changsu is really a story in OH NO in motion ;___;

[cahn]

I can SEE WHY! I am massively sure there are about six million things in the previous episodes I didn't get. There is so much going on and I was so lost in the beginning!

CONSORT JING. I have just watched 28 and she totally knows who MCS is and why he can't tell Jingyan and ahhhhhhhhhh

Mei Changsu :(

[zdenka]

You know pretty much all my NIF opinions (except the spoilery ones) because I've been telling them to you as you go along, so I don't need to repeat them here. :) But I'm really happy you're enjoying it! And I really enjoy hearing your thoughts and feelings on this show.

(Also zdenka has had to put up with a whole bunch of my going "What?? She just went to the Inner Palace to see a sick lady and NEVER CAME OUT AGAIN?? gaaaaah!" This was revealed a bunch of episodes ago as a throwaway comment but I am still not over it!)

There is no putting up with! This is a completely reasonable thing to be disturbed by. I get the impression that she was supposed to be there for a while taking care of Consort Chen rather than, like, being kidnapped on an afternoon visit, but that doesn't make the whole "ooops, somehow she's a concubine now and not allowed to leave" thing any better.

I will have some fic recs for you when you finish the series. :)

[cahn]

:D Thank you for enabling me :D

IT IS SO DISTURBING. And there keep being things like learning she used to really like to travel! I mean, no wonder she bakes elaborate desserts for Jingyan! Argh.

YAY FIC RECS! I am being so good and staying away from fic! (I got horribly spoiled for FMA by going to look for fic halfway through, and I still regret it.) I want alllllllll the fic for Consort Jing, and for everyone else too.

[zdenka]

I will happily continue to enable!

Consort Jing. :( I mean, the things she does in her limited space are really cool, but it's still sad for her to be limited like that.

Yes, resist the temptation! I'm still annoyed at myself for spoiling myself for a major twist in a cnovel by listening to a translated fansong -- I was like two or three chapters from the end and all the dramatic plot stuff had concluded, and I thought, surely there can't be anything major to be spoiled for now. AND THERE WAS.

[cahn]

Consort Jing. :( I mean, the things she does in her limited space are really cool, but it's still sad for her to be limited like that.

YES :( I mean, I guess if a big part of what she did was raise Jingyan to be the kind of person who would make a good Emperor, that is nontrivial, but even that's over with now, and she isn't involved in politics...

...I have looooots of inchoate Thoughts about the parallels and differences between Consort Jing and Abigail/King David. I have always wanted to write a fic about Abigail being a mom -- my first Yuletide, I wrote an Abigail & Bathsheba, and ever since then I have had a lot of backstory floating around in my head (including that she raises her son to get the heck out of David's dysfunctional court). Though I imagine Abigail to be rather more political than Consort Jing (though it seems clear the latter understands the politics completely (and has mostly passed that along to her son), she just refuses to get drawn into the cesspool).

[forestofglory]

I'm only a couple of episodes ahead of you -- but this show is so good. I share many of your feelings! Consort Jing is so great. And am also mad about her getting stuck in the place! But I love her desert making -- its so cute. Go moms who feed people!

[cahn]

Yessss so good! I love Consort Jing and her cute little matching dessert boxes for Jingyan and MCS. (She TOTALLY KNOWS.)

[forestofglory]

There was even more focus on the cute dessert boxes in episode 29! I love them!