Zhou Zi Shu and WoH’s ending

It is not because WKX doesn't understand ZZS, he understands ZZS quite well actually. He didn't tell Zhou Zi Shu his plans in that episode was because you can see that ZZS was injured and hurt, he was weak from the previous episode when he went to save him. He didn't want to risk putting any danger on him at that moment, not because he doesn't trust ZZS. Yes, he could've told ZZS, but if you put yourself in his shoes, would you tell him when you basically see how injured and hurt your soulmate is? Would you really take a risk to put your soulmate in danger like that? Even if he has to do this dangerous mission, he won't tell ZZS because he's also not sure if this plan would be successful or a failure. If he fails, then he dies a real death. He knows ZZS will follow him and he will welcome that.

Also, you have to look at both sides. Zhou Zi Shu lost 80 people in his life, but Wen Ke Xing lost his parents and Gu Xiang who has one of the most impacts on his life. Remember, before they meet each other (again), they both had nothing to hold onto, so death has always been the only thing that's been on their mind from beginning to end. Their solutions are just working out differently. The only thing that keeps them alive was their own goals and few people whom they want to hold onto, but seeing the blood pool of the people they are trying to protect died in front of their eyes, death becomes their plan again because both of them can't bear to be left behind. WKX is the only person that ZZS is living for, just like ZZS is the only person that WKX is living for. If one of them dies, do you think they have the will to live on their own?

If you watch the whole episodes of the series again, you will understand how much WKX have changed and developed, all his life, his goal has always been revenge and death, but around episode 32-33, you will see those goals of his are not only about those anymore, it has become love, determination, and righteous, at that moment, he was doing it for the people he loves (his parents, his master, Gao Chong (even), and ZZS) and he knows that's what they want him to do. Also, it is not only WKX who has changed and developed, ZZS, we can see how he peels his layers off one by one, but after those episodes, he has his reasons for keeping his feelings to himself.

In the last episode, WKX said he knows that ZZS has lost his senses, so it's not only ZZS who understands WKX, WKX understands ZZS just as much as well lol He knows that ZZS definitely would not tell him his problems, that's why he doesn't push him into telling him if ZZS doesn't want to. Don't underestimate their values for each other. WKX may act like he didn't know, it doesn't mean that he doesn't, just like ZZS knew WKX's plans all along but never exposed him. That's how WKX does for ZZS as well.

Also, for the last episode, if you haven't read it, Cheng Ling's original lines. I can link it to you :)

https://manggaetteokkie.tumblr.com/post/646677760420478976/broadcast-version

I think we could analyse the drama to death and find all sorts of loopholes and flaws. Certainly it's a big plot hole when they decide that ZZS is the only one to be kept in the dark about WKX's big plan. And indeed it does seem to be engineered so that the writer can work in a sort of Romeo-Juliet type ending (not exact, but definitely with a nod to Shakespeare).  

Having said that.........I also saw the interview with ZZH where he said he thought the endings were tragic. I disagree. I actually like the ending, that is the ending with the mini-episode 37 and those overdubbed lines of Cheng Ling's. I definitely interpret that as the two of them were able to heal each other because they were truly in sync and loved each other completely. And thus they stay alive for years and years and years (and avoid Romeo and Juliet's fate). Yeah, they can't leave the mountain but both of them were looking to retreat from the world anyway and spend the rest of their lives with each other. So they got that in the end. And for these 2 characters who have basically been courting death, disaster and mayhem - this is actually better than they could ever hope for. 

I still think kudos to Xiao Chu, the screenwriter. I think she's brilliant in this, her first foray into c-drama. And if there are imperfections, there are also very many great moments which I say outweigh these and also a unity to the work thanks to her being the main creative voice.  Legend of Fei, another Priest adaptation with bigger budget and ambition just fell completely flat. I didn't know they had such a big team of screenwriters but no wonder it came across as some kind of rojak ( tossed salad) as we say in Malaysia/Singapore, in the end. 

BTW - not all of Shakespeare's plays always make sense in terms of character motivation etc and yet his overall creative greatness outweighs the plot holes in his plays too :). And scholars and lit students have been spilling ink and arguing about those things too for centuries. All part of the fun. So for me, it's all's well that ends well.   

Thanks to both of you to share your perspectives. 

The part where WKX did not tell ZZS about his plan is a plot hole and could have done better. However, looking from a different perspective, what if WKX really is a 没心没肺之人 (someone who is slightly simple-minded and acts from his emotion), it really does make sense to me. Throughout the 36 episodes, I feel WKX has been a child, left alone in the dark. ZZS managed to open the door to his heart and take him out of his darkness. Therefore, similarly, as to how a child would pay back, all WKX wanted was to protect ZZS but did not think much at that moment whether not telling him his plan could actually hurt him more. That's why to rather think that's a clear mistake by Xiao Chu, I rather think that's done with the purpose (and on top of that it created the Romeo and Juliet effect). For me, WKX is simply a not-so-perfect character (he did hurt ZZS deeply with that decision) but is still someone who is to be loved for who he is. 

About the ending, I see it in a way, that spending the rest of their life on the snow mountain is the best thing that could have happened to them given the circumstances. It was not what WKX intended when he came to that place. He had the intention to die for ZZS. Ye Bai Yi hid from him that actually he did not have to die but WKX believed he would die (that's when Cheng Ling explained at the end). Just how when ZZS woke up and saw WKX fainting in front of his eyes, he probably thought he died (later he manage to save him). Looking at the way both have acted in episode 36, it is very sure, the director has given both actors the instructions that this is a BE. That's how ZZH interpreted as well. In a way, a BE could have been accepted as well. Often a good BE is better than a forced/unrealistic HE. It is natural to have regrets, imperfection, misunderstandings, and missed chances. However, no one would want a BE for the two of them. It would have been just too tragic for the two given what they have gone through so far. That's why the viewers received an open/happy ending. Apparently, even in the snowy mountain scenes, there were two versions. One version is ZZS imagined WKX as an illusion (that's why he acted all surprised when he saw him) and another version when really both of them were alive. They cut both pieces together for a happy version of that. It gave us the audience a choice on how to interpret the ending. Which is a very smart move by the makers.

@Kotori To be honest, I actually agree with you saying that Wen Ke Xing has been a child, being left alone in the darkness. That's really true because ever since he's got taken away by the old valley master from his master and Zhou Zi Shu when he was not even 9 years old, he's been living in hell since that time on. The place he grew up from was the place where people be fighting and killing all their lives to survive, so it's really understandable to WKX's actions. Then since his parents died, darkness has always been with him all along, the only person that kept him in a strand of humanity was Gu Xiang. But even Gu Xiang can't handle his actions. His environment has always been actions, while ZZS, though he also did evil things and had his own dark sides as well, he's been in a cultured place before. Also, being a spy and assassin, you must use your brain more than action. When WKX meets ZZS (again), he's been pulled to the light since then. ZZS made him want to become human again, have a human heart again because all his life, WKX hide his human heart since the time they killed his parents, so all he had was revenge and hatred. After meeting ZZS once again, he missed the outside world, a world that is apart from his dark world. So we can say he is on his way to learning these attachments with people and feelings because he cut his emotions out for so long that it made him forgot about others' feelings too. So once he stays with ZZS longer, he will start to learn how to be more considerate, and we don't have to worry about that anymore because WKX has ZZS forever in his life from now on :) Both of their characters are really understandable for each of their actions.

I think it's explained in the overdubbed lines of Cheng Ling. So basically the Liuhe method will only work if there are 2 people who are completely willing to support each other even unto death and are completely in sync with each other. If you read this: https://manggaetteokkie.tumblr.com/post/646677760420478976/broadcast-version you will see the original lines were:  

Chengling: To master the LiuHe skill, the two must share the same heart/feelings, watching over and protecting each other. They must also whole-heartedly recognize the other as their soulmate, for only by maintaining their love can they pass the most critical stage by transmitting their internal qi (energy) to the other, thereby getting through the difficulty. Once the skill is mastered, the two will then become each other’s immortal protector.

And so ta-da.....lang lang ding become immortals on the mountain.  (Oh also, we might infer that they're going to be practicing dual cultivation, a popular concept in wuxia novels - nuff said :)) 

I understand Cheng Ling's lines to mean that the true secret of the Liuhe practice is that it can only be successful if it's practiced by two soulmates because only soulmates can heal and support each other - so when WKX's hair turns white and maybe his meridians are broken or about to be broken - ZZS can balance him and heal him. I think YBY did this with Rong Xuan's father previously, if I'm not mistaken.  (And because of the furnace/cauldron/lu ding references as well,  there are hints that dual cultivation is involved...........)

The Yin Yang manual is problematic. You basically need to have a heart transplant to be cured and as we all know that went badly wrong with Rong Xuan, turning him even more psycho.  So I think it's more likely they ahem, practiced dual cultivation as part of the Liuhe process (can't be shown on screen obviously) and saved themselves..........now isn't that an even happier ending than anybody could have hoped for? LOL!

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm going to say it again - I really like the ending. It is 完美 wan mei. My most memorable takeaway is the deep tenderness expressed on screen especially by ZZS towards and in the end - the looks he gives are so heart-melting, can die...........so one can forget and overlook the strange, hiccuppy way we got to the end because of all that beautiful chemistry, and the beautiful happily-ever-after that we are given a glimpse of. The rest is silence or can be filled by our over-active imagination - LOL.