nineveh_uk: Illustration that looks like Harriet Vane (Default)
[personal profile] nineveh_uk
TL:DR It's brilliant, watch it!

One of the highlights of the past couple of months has been Chinese 'historical' costume drama Nirvana in Fire. I saw this mentioned online a year or so ago and thought that one day I should get round to it, and occasionally saw it again, and when I reached the end of season 3 of Black Sails and had re-watched the 2015 and 2017 cross-country skiing world championships from the sofa and still there was no end in sight to lockdown or coronavirus, I thought it was time to give probably cheesy, certainly gorgeously-costumed Chinese drama a try.

I am so, so glad I did. One, occasionally two, episodes a day has been my mainstay over the past month. I'm 30 eps in now, with a glorious 24 to go, and I love it. Who would have thought that people sitting opposite one another having conversations, which is a good 80% of the scenes, could be so riveting. And yet it is. Every single episode I sit there going "no, you're not going to are you? You are! Oh you cunning bastard!" about a whole range of characters.

NB I've kept this basically spoiler-free other than the basic premise as revealed in the first episode. No spoilers, please! This is one I need to watch to the end unspoiled (except for the rather silly thing I am aware of.)



Plot/set-up summary

12ish years ago, General Lin, his teenage son (Lin Shu) and his army of 70,000 were wrongly accused of involvement in a plot against the Emperor and were all slaughtered. Somehow Lin Shu secretly survived and thanks to a case of plot-function-itis/magical TB his appearance has completely changed and he is ready to enact the revenge he's spent all this time plotting, though with a bit of a time limit, as his doctor is dubious as to the chances of his living another two years.

Meanwhile, back in the Court, a hive of scum and villainy and gorgeous robes, the Crown Prince and his brother Prince Yu (and their respective mothers, there are some really enjoyable female characters) are both scheming to remove the other's power base to insure that they inherit when their father the Emperor dies (not that he appears ill, but of course these are hazardous times). LangYa Hall, the ancient Chinese equivalent of Time magazine, gives both Yu and the Crown Prince a 'prophecy' - to have the 'Divine Talent' as your spin doctor is to have the world. Who is the Divine Talent, they ask? Could it be this famous figure from the world of martial arts and wisdom who has just arrived in the capital in a very thin disguise covering his ‘true’ identity as an amazing martial arts leader, Mei Changsu? It could! Could this possibly be a set up? Of course it could...

It is fair to say that NiF, with zero nudity*, zero swearing, far fewer scenes set on ships or in brothels, and very limited blood, is in many ways the polar opposite of Black Sails. Except that for all the differences, both lead characters and the plot are driven by an obsessive quest for revenge/justice against a great power, while themselves suffering secret pain. And if that means that they, or the innocent, get hurt, well that’s just what happens. Admittedly the protagonist of NiF tries quite a lot harder than Captain Flint not to hurt other people, but he doesn't hesitate to do it if he has to, and when he does, he is brutal.

Tune in now for cunning plotting, amazing costumes with truly ridiculous hair ornaments, fighting, and people exchanging a wide variety of Significant Glances** indicating various cunning plotting***, nefarious plans, suspicion, stoicism, ruthlessness, guilt, and of course doomed love.

Here is the trailer. Click on the closed captions box for English subtitles.



I've been watching it largely on YouTube (there are a couple of different English subbed versions, this one has the Viki subtitles), but there are a few episodes missing, so those I watched on Viki, which is official but has really annoying adverts, presumably unless you subscribe. I should probably look up which is the version with the best subtitles, but this one is perfectly adequate and I like the footnotes as to what various honorifics mean.

Delayed: Complete YT series here.

ETA Oh God, I am halfway through ep 33 and it is encapsulating the agony of viewing! The Emperor is unsure, Consort Jing is so clever, and her son really, really needs to acquire a political brain fast. So much is said so calmly, but it is devastating underneath. This is why I love it.

ETA 2 Finished ep. "Xiao-Jingyan, why do you not have a brain?" I could have died. It is so good.

* There is a shocking rolled-up sleeve moment.

**There is a lot of what Joey Tribbiani would call "smell the fart" acting, except that the acting in this is top notch and the Significant Glances representing what cannot be said matter desperately. A huge amount is done with a the slightest movement of the expression.

***Actually cunning plotting, revelations unfold one after another in beautiful order.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-10 03:58 pm (UTC)
philomytha: airplane flying over romantic castle (Default)
From: [personal profile] philomytha
Nirvana in Fire! I love it a ridiculous amount and have just finished watching it for the third time - be prepared to get to the end, go AAAAH, and then immediately go back and watch again from the beginning, every single person I know who's watched it has done this. There are a lot of plot resonances that work even better on the second watch.

So much scheming and plotting and such gorgeous costumes! So many carefully calculating mothers trying to get their sons onto the throne! I adore Fei Liu, who is exactly like my son, and Consort Jing, and Marquis Yan - it's a great show for complicated secondary characters as well as the leads.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-10 04:39 pm (UTC)
executrix: (chcolate critter)
From: [personal profile] executrix
Sounds like the Pacific Overtures song "Chrysanthemum Tea": "It's a tangled situation, as your father would agree. Things might not have been so tangled if you hadn't had him strangled, but I fear that I stray, my lord."

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-10 04:49 pm (UTC)
executrix: (Default)
From: [personal profile] executrix
The Sondheim birthday concert has a really interesting application of Zoom technology to "Someone in a Tree," which is precisely about selective differences in perception--the zoom windows have the singers, who are two pairs of young people who observed (sort of) a treaty signing, and their older counterparts--switching between zoom windows is a great way to stage the number.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-10 05:09 pm (UTC)
toujours_nigel: Greek, red-figure Rhea (Default)
From: [personal profile] toujours_nigel
I love this show so much.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-10 05:47 pm (UTC)
castiron: cartoony sketch of owl (Default)
From: [personal profile] castiron
I can't remember where it is in the story so don't know whether you've gotten to it yet (and I wouldn't consider it a spoiler if you haven't) -- there's a bit where someone mentions how the Marquis of Yan and Lin Xie (Lin Shu's father) worked together to put the Emperor on the throne; it made me think of Piotr and Prince Xav supporting Ezar against Yuri, only gone really badly wrong later.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-10 09:13 pm (UTC)
executrix: (sytycd)
From: [personal profile] executrix
They notoriously failed to get the tech worked out to start on time--I think it was delayed by about an hour (I tuned in later, figuring that they would post an adjourned date, but, nope, they got started eventually). It was fun to see not only various living rooms but various kinds of earphones the singers used to connect!

As far as I'm concerned, the standout was Alexander Gemignani (I wonder if he's the son of Sondheim's perpetual orchestrator?) whose excellent performance of "Buddy's Blues" also included a bit of zoom-friendly choreography. Just a bit, but I thought it took advantage of the medium with limited resources.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-10 09:32 pm (UTC)
philomytha: airplane flying over romantic castle (Default)
From: [personal profile] philomytha
I really liked having a show which is telling one coherent story all the way through so many episodes, it's such a rare thing to find. I guess it's because it's an adaptation of a novel and they don't try to make it episodic at all - the expectation is that if you're watching it, you're starting at the beginning and keeping on to the end, they don't try to make it so that you could pick up the plot halfway through. The story really has room to spread out.

I am hugely impressed with the acting for Fei Liu. If the actor was aiming for a lively teenage boy with autism and learning difficulties, he hit it absolutely square on. It's the tone of voice that nailed it for me - my son is basically nonverbal, but he when he tries to vocalise, it's the same flat, explosive intonation, it comes across even in a totally different language. And there were so many quirks of body language, and the absolutely direct attitude to what he wants and doesn't want, and the inability of everyone around him to prevent him doing basically whatever the hell he feels like, and their variously annoyed or amused acceptance of this. The scene where MCS uses him to give a valuable present to Tingsheng was absolutely classic: if my son is going to give you something, you are going to accept it whether you like it or not.

And ha, yes, Nirvana in Fire was sold to me as 'complicated political scheming and ALL the loyalty issues', it was definitely made for me in that regard :-D

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-11 09:19 am (UTC)
antisoppist: (Default)
From: [personal profile] antisoppist
Like I need more things to procrastinate over watching. Actually Youtube might be better as it is automatically on the telly wheras Amazon for Black Sails involves setting up the laptop and swapping cables and feels too much effort. Though I have just realised I have an Amazon Prime app on my new phone. Bit small though.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-11 10:01 am (UTC)
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
From: [personal profile] issenllo
Oh YES. Rewatched it and rewatched it, and rewatched it...

"Xiao-Jingyan, why do you not have a brain?"

That is one of the most splendid lines in the entire drama. [ETA to redact spoiler, sorry!] Consort Jing is awesome, and actually you get a sense that nearly all the women are (even the ones that died offstage).
Edited Date: 2020-05-11 10:02 am (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-11 11:15 am (UTC)
antisoppist: (Default)
From: [personal profile] antisoppist
I think it is fine if I know that is that sort of thing going in, especially if it is like Barrayar and it's part of the kind of society that you are reading about.

Not massive soul-destroying public embarrassment like Yuri on Ice.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-11 07:55 pm (UTC)
ext_422737: uncle hallway (Hallway)
From: [identity profile] elmey.livejournal.com
OK, that trailer looks absolutely fantastic. But 54 episodes... that's a lot of couch time. On the other hand it's not like I'm spending the time more productively; it's going on the list :)

(no subject)

Date: 2020-05-13 09:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nineveh-uk.livejournal.com
It's a lot of couch time, but it's worth every minute. I'm 38 episodes in and going "But it can't be over in only another 16 episodes, that's only 2 weeks worth if I ration myself to one a day!" The first couple of episodes are confusing because you get introduced to a lot of characters and it can be tempting to think that you have to grasp who they all are immediately, but you don't - it will unfold and become clear.

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