13 Minutes into Episode 2 and I am Hooked! [Medium-ish]
Circe's Barnyard! 13 minutes into Episode 2. This is brilliant! A hard science fiction, with some radically strong psychological entanglements and what is looking to be some decent anthropological, sociological and historiographical implications as the plot unwinds. The overt is subtle. The subtle is overt. We already have PTSD, triple agents, a potentially undercover marriage and parasites/aliens/A.I. The repeated Overlord imagery with the flies as humans is so sinister (but also has embedded in it some nice strands of hope down the road).
I am already seeing some pretty big oversights from the Overlords. They should have taken some lessons from Louis XIV. The countries of Earth are collaborating. These would be the nobles in the Sun King analogy. Louis XIV was brilliant because he wrapped the nobles up in a dizzying world of chasing his favor and the comparative benefits of one-upping each other within a hierarchy that was in itself a vacuum and limited their power. They were distracted by attaining prestigious ranks and minute benefits within a synthetic hierarchy. By coaxing them to squabble and plot and gossip in order to obtain favor, the Sun King undermined their unity. You can see here the Overlords have missed the ship on this opportunity.
At the same time, Louis XIV knew how to placate/utilize the general populace. He elevated commoners, such as Jean Baptise Colbert to positions of power that were further able to cripple attempts at a unified infrastructure from the aristocracy. He even mandated that nobility live at Versailles for a portion of the year, while keeping the gardens open for tours for the peasants. He crippled opposing power structures and kept them in check through their fear of the masses.
He was no fool, far from being subject to hubris, he understood the vulnerabilities of the system of rule he was the Head of and turned it’s weaknesses to his advantage - keeping his opponents/threats energy and attention on the other, rather than himself.
Alternatively, the Overlords could have weaponized the existing power structure to functionally police the general populace for them. The way the Hullen did with The Nine (Aristocratic Families) and the seductive lie of the socio-economic ladder opportunity for 7th-Generations (“7th Geners”) in Killjoys.
Already these Overlords have overlooked infrastructure and hierarchy already in place and that it needs to be neutralized (either by dismantling it or co-opting it) and that eventually population trumps power/technology. Will arrogance be their downfall? This feels a little one-dimensional for a villain(?) given the psychological depth and emotional nuance this show is already hinting at.
Now to be 100% fair, the Overlords might not be as unsavvy in psychological warfare as I am painting them to be. General Chang says “...most people have lived fortunately,” that many generations are “all fortunate,” “The humankind has been fortunate. From the Stone Age until now, no real crisis has occurred. We’ve been very lucky. But, if it’s all luck, then it has to end one day. Let me tell you, it’s ended. Prepare for the worst.” So, it seems that somehow humans/Earth has flown under the Overlords radar until now.
Were they just not aware of us? Had we not advanced to a point where we posed a threat yet? Were they waiting for something (I don’t know - pollution leading to a particular gaseous ratio in the atmosphere that is beneficial to them). But something happened. They are now aware of our existence. They are threatened by us. They want something we have. Either way they are coming.
~~~~~~~~~~~
We have 2 organizations that are aware of the Overlords:
The Battle Command Center, which is resisting them and trying to defend against them.
And the Frontiers of Science, whose motivations are unclear, but at minimum seem to be trying to understand what is going on and often can’t handle the realization of what is actually happening and end up killing themselves. They feel more like a civilian organization to me.
The sheer number of suicides has me questioning whether those committing suicide are truly the subset of the population they are supposed to represent (a manifestation of Colonel Jessup’s words “You can’t handle the truth.”) In general science is a marriage of poetry and theorems. Math and instinct. It is about reorienting your perspective using evidence, bolstered by the creativity and adaptability of the human mind to find the connections. It seems very unlikely that minds like this, that were honed in a craft, refined in a field that demands this of them, as a collective, could not “handle the truth”.
Are they being assassinated? Driven mad? Something else is happening here.
~~~~~~~
I really like this imagery with the flies. At first blush it is grim and ominous and potently nihilistic, hinting at the futility of any sort of resistance or happy ending, but also contains within it the subtly overt solution, the hope we are currently blind to.
You know what insects form? Swarms. You know what fish form? Shoals.
It is like that moment in A Bug’s Life, where they all link arms and go up against Hopper.
Ants are warriors. Locust can bring a country/world to its knees by decimating its crops. Termites could functionally extinguish the threat of a military by literally devouring their weapons. They could demoralize an entire culture by eating their homes (what they are fighting for). Wasps or bees might not individually be a threat, but the cumulative effect of all those stings is “death by a thousand cuts.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have my eye on both Captain Shi (attitude) and General Chang (weird grammar choices) as potential Benedict Arnolds of The Overlords.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This show is going to be so much fun to watch unravel. We will undoubtedly get other human organizations in the know with their own motivations. The Overlords more than likely have their own factions as well. Is the population of the world going to find out? How will they respond? How have these invisible hands shaped the trajectory of our history, the flavor of our cultures?
Hard science fiction is not a mainstream genre. I am loving the analogies they are utilizing to make these concepts more accessible. And I am really seduced by the heavy-handed hints that these theorems will be interwoven with the metaphysical/physiological realm. It also seems that all this will be used as a vehicle to explore soft power (politics and military).
I have not even finished the second episode and I am enthralled.
23 Questions to discuss before you watch the Finale!Share your thoughts! Let's dissect together.
1. Where is Xiao Duo planning to take them to live? He said he had already sent their things and that he only needed to plan a route. (Episode 32)
2. What the heck was Xiao Duo doing for the two years he lived in the capital (and Ah Duo worked in the palace) before Ah Duo was murdered? (Episode 27)
3. Xiao Duo is the one to give Yinlou her royal posthumous name: Zhenshun Consort Dowager Duan, saying “That sounds good.” I wonder, is there any meaning or significance to the name he chose or if it is just truly random? (Episode 2)
4. Who is allergic to incense? (Episode 20)
5. Is Deng Huo a Jade can-opener? (Episode 20, 31 & 34)
6. Is Bu Yinlou pregnant yet?
7. What is up with her cousin having the same family name as the Princes? (Episode 16)
8. Current generation’s Attic’s Secret basically resolved (it was Bu Yin’ge and Fu) (Is she really going to fake a suicide by jumping out of the tower?). Give me the rest of the details on the previous generation’s Attic’s Secret.
9. I notice Fish Immortal necklace was hollow on the inside… Is that why Xiao Duo didn’t pick up the shard? His priority was picking up (and keeping Yun Zhu from seeing) what had fallen out? (Episode 31)
10. Tell me the story about the sword displayed in the Emperor’s office? Why did Taizu gift Deng Huo to Xiao Duo? Why did Liangshi recognize the hilt? (Episode 5, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 6, 20)
11. Ugh, if they pull a King Bran Stark with Liangcheng.
12. Who is the Qiang tribe? If this is a repeat of a misdirect like the Wuxian Clan in LBFaD? I will be annoyed. (Episode 5)
13. What has Xiao Duo done with Yinlou’s hairpin? (Episode 2)
14. Why was her cousin indentured? (Episode 16 - 19)
15. Why do the Yawen brother’s have 2 surnames?
16. Are Ah Duo and Xiao Duo actually twins or do they just look remarkably similar? (Episode 12, 19, 28)
17. Will Liangxu find out who Meng Jieyu is?
18. Will Ba Gonggong get more treats from his ‘mother’? Will his name become a ‘password/hint’ in a vital message?
19. Will we see a reappearance of any of these characters: Yinlou’s legitimate mother? Qiu Yuebai? Beauty Li? Her cousin? Consort Jing?
20. We are relocating those pear trees back out of the Palace, right? Please? Maybe to Dream Cloud Pavilion? I kind of hope Dream Cloud Pavilion becomes their summer getaway place. (Episode 33)
21. Who is Bu Chen really?
22. ‘Godfather’ is an incognito “Your Highness,’ right?
23. Why does Xiao Duo’s Zhaoding bureau seal look so similar to the Yawen brother’s heirloom jade?
This drama has many good things going for it - the story, cast, acting, cinematography, soundtrack, etc.But I…
It is this sort of tone that make me feel that even if either of them end up being secret royalty, they are not going to step into that role and leave it to Emperor Liangxu and Empress Hede and just actually go live a "simple" life.
Really? After all the ring fondling? After not participating in his wedding night with his Concubine, even though he has no wife? After promising Bu Yin’ge she can only climb as high as Noble Consort as a reward for her loyalty? Nope, nope, nope, nope. I am not letting this one go. I did not imagine this. It appears this storyline will be following the Tianfang Water Pavilion into the abyss. We will never see the fruition, but the ripples are always there.
Whether or not this show was good for his career or not, it was excellent for his craft development. The amount of kiss scenes, the amount of fighting scenes (love Xiao Duo's signature circle run move), the amount of humor, the amount of micro-expressions. He learned and finessed a lot here. https://twitter.com/meyjilee/status/1615753298803585024?s=20&t=p4A7LmTmQyAYjBVIAaiCyg
1 
I am already seeing some pretty big oversights from the Overlords. They should have taken some lessons from Louis XIV. The countries of Earth are collaborating. These would be the nobles in the Sun King analogy. Louis XIV was brilliant because he wrapped the nobles up in a dizzying world of chasing his favor and the comparative benefits of one-upping each other within a hierarchy that was in itself a vacuum and limited their power. They were distracted by attaining prestigious ranks and minute benefits within a synthetic hierarchy. By coaxing them to squabble and plot and gossip in order to obtain favor, the Sun King undermined their unity. You can see here the Overlords have missed the ship on this opportunity.
At the same time, Louis XIV knew how to placate/utilize the general populace. He elevated commoners, such as Jean Baptise Colbert to positions of power that were further able to cripple attempts at a unified infrastructure from the aristocracy. He even mandated that nobility live at Versailles for a portion of the year, while keeping the gardens open for tours for the peasants. He crippled opposing power structures and kept them in check through their fear of the masses.
He was no fool, far from being subject to hubris, he understood the vulnerabilities of the system of rule he was the Head of and turned it’s weaknesses to his advantage - keeping his opponents/threats energy and attention on the other, rather than himself.
Alternatively, the Overlords could have weaponized the existing power structure to functionally police the general populace for them. The way the Hullen did with The Nine (Aristocratic Families) and the seductive lie of the socio-economic ladder opportunity for 7th-Generations (“7th Geners”) in Killjoys.
Already these Overlords have overlooked infrastructure and hierarchy already in place and that it needs to be neutralized (either by dismantling it or co-opting it) and that eventually population trumps power/technology. Will arrogance be their downfall? This feels a little one-dimensional for a villain(?) given the psychological depth and emotional nuance this show is already hinting at.
Now to be 100% fair, the Overlords might not be as unsavvy in psychological warfare as I am painting them to be. General Chang says “...most people have lived fortunately,” that many generations are “all fortunate,” “The humankind has been fortunate. From the Stone Age until now, no real crisis has occurred. We’ve been very lucky. But, if it’s all luck, then it has to end one day. Let me tell you, it’s ended. Prepare for the worst.” So, it seems that somehow humans/Earth has flown under the Overlords radar until now.
Were they just not aware of us? Had we not advanced to a point where we posed a threat yet? Were they waiting for something (I don’t know - pollution leading to a particular gaseous ratio in the atmosphere that is beneficial to them). But something happened. They are now aware of our existence. They are threatened by us. They want something we have. Either way they are coming.
~~~~~~~~~~~
We have 2 organizations that are aware of the Overlords:
The Battle Command Center, which is resisting them and trying to defend against them.
And the Frontiers of Science, whose motivations are unclear, but at minimum seem to be trying to understand what is going on and often can’t handle the realization of what is actually happening and end up killing themselves. They feel more like a civilian organization to me.
The sheer number of suicides has me questioning whether those committing suicide are truly the subset of the population they are supposed to represent (a manifestation of Colonel Jessup’s words “You can’t handle the truth.”) In general science is a marriage of poetry and theorems. Math and instinct. It is about reorienting your perspective using evidence, bolstered by the creativity and adaptability of the human mind to find the connections. It seems very unlikely that minds like this, that were honed in a craft, refined in a field that demands this of them, as a collective, could not “handle the truth”.
Are they being assassinated? Driven mad? Something else is happening here.
~~~~~~~
I really like this imagery with the flies. At first blush it is grim and ominous and potently nihilistic, hinting at the futility of any sort of resistance or happy ending, but also contains within it the subtly overt solution, the hope we are currently blind to.
You know what insects form? Swarms. You know what fish form? Shoals.
It is like that moment in A Bug’s Life, where they all link arms and go up against Hopper.
Ants are warriors. Locust can bring a country/world to its knees by decimating its crops. Termites could functionally extinguish the threat of a military by literally devouring their weapons. They could demoralize an entire culture by eating their homes (what they are fighting for). Wasps or bees might not individually be a threat, but the cumulative effect of all those stings is “death by a thousand cuts.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have my eye on both Captain Shi (attitude) and General Chang (weird grammar choices) as potential Benedict Arnolds of The Overlords.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This show is going to be so much fun to watch unravel. We will undoubtedly get other human organizations in the know with their own motivations. The Overlords more than likely have their own factions as well. Is the population of the world going to find out? How will they respond? How have these invisible hands shaped the trajectory of our history, the flavor of our cultures?
Hard science fiction is not a mainstream genre. I am loving the analogies they are utilizing to make these concepts more accessible. And I am really seduced by the heavy-handed hints that these theorems will be interwoven with the metaphysical/physiological realm. It also seems that all this will be used as a vehicle to explore soft power (politics and military).
I have not even finished the second episode and I am enthralled.
2. What the heck was Xiao Duo doing for the two years he lived in the capital (and Ah Duo worked in the palace) before Ah Duo was murdered? (Episode 27)
3. Xiao Duo is the one to give Yinlou her royal posthumous name: Zhenshun Consort Dowager Duan, saying “That sounds good.” I wonder, is there any meaning or significance to the name he chose or if it is just truly random? (Episode 2)
4. Who is allergic to incense? (Episode 20)
5. Is Deng Huo a Jade can-opener? (Episode 20, 31 & 34)
6. Is Bu Yinlou pregnant yet?
7. What is up with her cousin having the same family name as the Princes? (Episode 16)
8. Current generation’s Attic’s Secret basically resolved (it was Bu Yin’ge and Fu) (Is she really going to fake a suicide by jumping out of the tower?). Give me the rest of the details on the previous generation’s Attic’s Secret.
9. I notice Fish Immortal necklace was hollow on the inside… Is that why Xiao Duo didn’t pick up the shard? His priority was picking up (and keeping Yun Zhu from seeing) what had fallen out? (Episode 31)
10. Tell me the story about the sword displayed in the Emperor’s office? Why did Taizu gift Deng Huo to Xiao Duo? Why did Liangshi recognize the hilt? (Episode 5, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 6, 20)
11. Ugh, if they pull a King Bran Stark with Liangcheng.
12. Who is the Qiang tribe? If this is a repeat of a misdirect like the Wuxian Clan in LBFaD? I will be annoyed. (Episode 5)
13. What has Xiao Duo done with Yinlou’s hairpin? (Episode 2)
14. Why was her cousin indentured? (Episode 16 - 19)
15. Why do the Yawen brother’s have 2 surnames?
16. Are Ah Duo and Xiao Duo actually twins or do they just look remarkably similar? (Episode 12, 19, 28)
17. Will Liangxu find out who Meng Jieyu is?
18. Will Ba Gonggong get more treats from his ‘mother’? Will his name become a ‘password/hint’ in a vital message?
19. Will we see a reappearance of any of these characters: Yinlou’s legitimate mother? Qiu Yuebai? Beauty Li? Her cousin? Consort Jing?
20. We are relocating those pear trees back out of the Palace, right? Please? Maybe to Dream Cloud Pavilion? I kind of hope Dream Cloud Pavilion becomes their summer getaway place. (Episode 33)
21. Who is Bu Chen really?
22. ‘Godfather’ is an incognito “Your Highness,’ right?
23. Why does Xiao Duo’s Zhaoding bureau seal look so similar to the Yawen brother’s heirloom jade?
Share your thoughts! Let's dissect together.
Do what need be done. Dance for me characters! Dance! Fulfill the storyline, narrative demands you fulfill!
2. Eunuch Sun is secretly royalty/nobility.
3. Xiao Duo is Xiao Duo. Ah Duo is Xiao Cheng.
1, 2 & 3
Really? After all the ring fondling? After not participating in his wedding night with his Concubine, even though he has no wife? After promising Bu Yin’ge she can only climb as high as Noble Consort as a reward for her loyalty? Nope, nope, nope, nope. I am not letting this one go. I did not imagine this. It appears this storyline will be following the Tianfang Water Pavilion into the abyss. We will never see the fruition, but the ripples are always there.
https://twitter.com/meyjilee/status/1615753298803585024?s=20&t=p4A7LmTmQyAYjBVIAaiCyg
https://twitter.com/XuKai_Soso0305/status/1615790623667421186?s=20&t=p4A7LmTmQyAYjBVIAaiCyg