Ghost Valley: Word of Honor & Faraway Wanderers

AiyexAyen recently made a truly lovely series of posts about WenZhou's outfits on the premise of someone asking "What outfit is your fave?"

Come for the impossible ranking task, stay for the beautiful screencaps of outfits and the meta about color symbolism in clothing. (It's written in a very tumblr voice, with lapslock and allcaps for various forms of emphasis, but behind the cheerfully unhinged tone is truly thoughtful analysis.)

Link to post (this is post 1/5; each section has a link to the next at the bottom.)

(At the end, there is a pair of winning outfits!)

The end! It is here!

The epilogue/ep37 gets its own (much shorter!) post. :)

( Scene List and Notes on Time )

( Recap )

( Commentary )

Discussion Prompts/Questions

Please don’t feel limited to these. They’re starting points for anyone who wants them, not the only things to talk about!

1. Have your feelings about this episode changed between the first time you watched it and now? If so, how?

2. What do you think about the final scene with adult Chengling? Was it confusing? Is it a happily-ever-after?

3. The end! What’s it like to think about this as the close of everyone’s stories? Is it satisfying? Is there anyone who you wish we’d seen more of?

4. Literally anything you wanna say about having gotten through this rewatch! Was it fun? Useful? Are there other things you wanna do now that it’s done?

Exposition! Wedding prep! Definitely not a bunch of angst yet!

( Scene List and Notes on Time )

( Recap )

( Commentary )

Discussion Prompts/Questions

Please don’t feel limited to these. They’re starting points for anyone who wants them, not the only things to talk about!

1. What’s your “favorite” ominous foreshadowing element of this episode?

2. Zhou Zishu’s reactions during dinner always seem so minimal to me. Is this because he’s lost his senses and isn’t attending as well? Is he thinking/processing too much? Something else?

3. Favorite shippy moments! There are a lot, both for wenzhou and for caoxiang. <3


Next Time: The wedding’s ruin, a lot of sadness, and fighting Xie-wang. Also some other stuff! But mostly that.

Every time I see the episode number I’m like “wow we’re getting so close to the end! :O” and then I remember just how much has yet to happen.

Today: The confrontation at White Deer Cliffs!

( Scene List and Notes on Time )

( Recap )

( Commentary )

Discussion Prompts/Questions

Please don’t feel limited to these. They’re starting points for anyone who wants them, not the only things to talk about!

1. On your first viewing, did you have any clue that WKX set up this whole confrontation? If so, at what point did you catch on, and how much did you figure out?

2. Please begin complaining about how Wen Kexing didn’t tell Zhou Zishu what he was doing! Or explain your thoughts about why he did this and how he thought it’d go.

3. Thoughts about the parts of this which aren’t completely mediated by Wen Kexing’s schemes? Ye Baiyi and Rong Changqing? Xie-wang and Zhao Jing? Liu Qianqiao, who deserves so much better than to be a tool in everyone’s plots?


Next Time: The Second Heroes Conference.

A dramatic rescue, and then lot of plotting and planning!

( Scene List and Notes on Time )

( Recap )

( Commentary )

Discussion Prompts/Questions

Please don’t feel limited to these. They’re starting points for anyone who wants them, not the only things to talk about!

1. What are your favorite theories, headcanons, or fics about the Zhou Zishu rescue plan/missing scenes?

2. When do you think Xie-wang started poisoning the ghosts? It must’ve been before the attack on Qing Feng Sword Sect, but how much before?

3. This episode has so much set-up! I keep thinking of other things that might be interesting to ask questions about and then going “wait that’s really about next episode” (or even two episodes from now). So instead I guess: Look at all the nice shippy content for all the pairings. Look at all the nice juniors. Isn’t this a nice calm before the storm?


Next Time: A nice family dinner! Wen Kexing’s dramatic confrontation and “death” at Mount Qingya! Zhou Zishu is Not Okay! Ye Baiyi attends Zhao Jing’s feast. Some other politics too, probably.

Merry Christmas (Eve) to those who celebrate. :) This episode is totally seasonally appropriate, since it’s a holiday episode! Very much about holidays!

( Scene List and Notes on Time )

( Recap )

( Commentary )

Discussion Prompts/Questions

1. What is up with Duan Pengju’s relationship with Du Pusa? (And the Scorpions in general, I guess!) From how Zhou Zishu talks about the Scorpions (and how Xie-wang and Zhao Jing don’t seem particularly familiar with Tianchuang), it’s surprising to see that Duan Pengju has a pre-existing relationship with Du Pusa like this.

2. In this episode, personal devotion (as displayed by Xie-wang to Zhao Jing, and Han Ying to Zhou Zishu) seems to get people into trouble more than anything else. Or, at least, set up dangerous situations. Thoughts on this?

3. Holiday prep and feelings! Anything about all the nice bits of this episode? Other moments you like, or details that stand out to you?


Next Time: WKX does his best to save Han Ying. DPJ and Tianchuang arrive at Siji Manor. Qing Feng Sword Sect is attacked. ZZS is taken away. CWN learns that WKX is the Valley Master. WKX has the final bit of his flashback with Zhao Jing. Wu Xi and Jing Beiyuan arrive.

(I should also be posting the next episode’s recap next week, on New Year’s Eve.)

( Scene List and Notes on Time )

( Recap )

( Commentary )

Discussion Prompts/Questions

1. The flashback with Wen Kexing and Yiguo! Do you remember your first feelings about it? How different are those feelings now?

2. How does Luo Fumeng know what trophies Zhao Jing has? Did he have them even when they were engaged?

3. In a non-Zhao Jing topic: Gu Xiang and Wen Kexing are both trying so hard to keep their partners from knowing about the brochure of ghosts. Thoughts about those respective dynamics and how the secrets are starting to leak around the edges?


Next Time: YBY arrives! NI BU PEI! Also some other things, like GX and CWN being domestic, WKX in a bathtub, and Xie-wang telling Zhao Jing that GX and CWN are at Qing Feng Sword Sect.

Two thirds of the way through! :D

( Scene List and Notes on Time )

( Recap )

( Commentary )

Discussion Prompts/Questions

1. We get a bunch of Siji Manor information this episode! Both about what happened to/with Jiuxiao, and about how Zhou Zishu ended up making Tianchuang with Jin-wang to begin with. Thoughts? Feelings? About that, or about Zhou Zishu breaking down and crying when telling Wen Kexing about it?

2. Wen Kexing and his entry into Ghost Valley. This is one of those bits where I know my feelings are tangled up in my TYK feelings, as much as I try to keep them separate, so I’d love to know what y’all think about SHL’s interpretation! And about Xisang Gui and WKX’s relationship and how she (and Bai and Hei Wuchang) survived Ghost Valley and remained in position until/during Wen Kexing’s time as Valley Master.

3. I’d love to know how you interpret Wen Kexing’s feelings about Siji Manor, being called shishu/shidi, and everything else going on here. There’s a really interesting space between when Wen Kexing leaves Zhou Zishu after their nighttime conversation and when Zhou Zishu finds him mending the painting, for one; thoughts about Wen Kexing processing emotions during that time? Or during any of the rest of the episode, really.


Next Time: More Siji Manor family time! GX and CWN run into Huang He, Tao Hong, and Lv Liu (with Xiaolian)! Shen Shen helps rescue Xiaolian! ZZS takes Chengling and WKX to visit QHZ’s grave.

NOTE: I’m taking a break next week. xD It’s American Thanksgiving and also I need a break. :) Just one week off (Nov 26th), and then we’ll get back into it on Dec 3!