Episode 14 Summary: A Daring But Incredibly Stupid Choice

-Li'er sits almost in the place reserved for the Queen as 'Han' a.k.a. Elder Brother is asked what kind of reward he would want. During this period, Li Zhong notices his injury but Li'er redirects the conversation back to the reward. Han asks that he be given some time off to visit his family. -The Emperor reveals yet again how obsessed he is with her as, like a puppy, he seizes upon the fact that she refers to Tian Ming as 'the Emperor's son' which to him is a major victory. She sidesteps this and complains she is tired and goes to rest. -Madame Min continues to try to curry favor with Li'er by sending gifts -In the next scene Lu Buwei is being visited by his servant who informs him of all the visitors who have stopped by: Zhao, Wei, and Chu states have all sent people and gifts to try to get him to come and be their chancellor. Lu Buwei is no fool, and points out all the reasons why he won't: Li Xanling of Wei died, and ever since their foundation is gone, Chu is prosperous but the in fighting of its ministers makes it unstable and while Zhao has Li Mu, the king is incredibly weak and relies entirely Guo Kai a villain. Essentially Lu Buwei says he is too old for this sh*t. -He asks his servant his opinion and his servant states he likely wants to return to Qin but the emperor is suspiciious and won't invite him back. Lu Buwei states this is true, and speaks of his former retainer, Li Su who betrayed him to serve the emperor, and remarks that he will probably slander his name to curry favor, that is his concern. -Speak of the devil; Li Si is meeting with the spies sent to observe Lu Buwei and concludes that Lu Buwei is merely pretending to be loyal in order to regain the emperor's trust. He visits the emperor and basically implies 'hey isn't it odd that all these foreign emissaries are visiting Lu Buwei? isn't it likely he will betray you?' The emperor admits that Lu Buwei is the biggest threat at home because of his wealth and number of loyal retainers -The emperor naturally falls for this as he is incredibly suspecious. He decides to secretly visit him. But first he sees his mother and in a very telling scene asks her a series questions. He asks if she regrets coming to Qin with Lu Buwei (although she wants to be with him) because his father was weak and could not get the crown without Lu Buwei and were it not for the fact that she was his father's wife she would have been ignored. She says she was a tool for both men. He replies that he owes his position to Lu Buwei (but it seems implied that he doesn't have real power because Lu Buwei is the real man behind the king) He asks if she would not have abandoned him if he were not the emperor, and she is visibly surprised by this and tries to convince him that it was never her intention to abandon him but he becomes agitated and makes it clear he does not believe her and that she only cared about using him, like Lu Buwei, to obtain luxury and power. He admits that sometimes he wishes he were an ordinary man (implying that being an emperor opens the door to a lot of pain and loneliness, and not having anyone you can trust, and difficult choices) ---this is like such a common trope in these shows He leaves her alone, and she just cries. -MEANWHILE, Han sneaks in to see Li'er and when he learns that the emperor is leaving on a secret trip they can escape, because he has memorized the patterns of the guards. -Lu Buwei is preparing for the New Year when the emperor visits (OMG THIS WAS FILMED SO DRAMATICALLY I ALMOST FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR LAUGHING) to confront him. He states he should dismiss his retainers, and when Lu Buwei says these are his loyal friends, the emperor says that maybe he should execute them, leading Lu Buwei to tell him he is not raising an army, that he is his flesh and blood (so he thinks Zheng is his son) and that he wants him to be successful in reaching his goals -Just when it looks like the emperor believes him, a bunch of people outside congratulate him for becoming the chancellor of chu. This shocks Lu Buwei, who tries to tell him this is a rumor, and the emperor does a 180, and tells him he is a liar and banishes him and says he never wants to see him again. I actually felt bad for Lu buwei. -Han and Li'er are making their escape--she disguised as a soldier. She tries to take the baby but he won't stop crying. Han convinces her to leave and come back for him later. So she sneaks out... Thoughts: Li'er's character is incredibly inconsistent. She can be very smart and practical, and then she does extraordinary stupid things like this. She thinks she can actually escape arguably the most powerful--and obsessed man--without consequences. In addition, she leaves her son behind, the one thing that makes her extraordinarily vulnerable--and she knows how manipulative Zheng is and how he would go to any length to get her back or punish others whom he feels have hurt him--I am sorry but this is just EXTREMELY stupid on her part. Anybody would want to escape a situation like hers, but it seems like she should know that it will fail and likely end up in some bad consequences. It isn't fair, but that's just the reality of her situation and she seemed to be written as a very practical person. I guess not. I think the writers did this in order to re-invigorate one of the shows big points--that the emperor is not a nice person--and wants to make him go back to being really mean to her in order to push triggers in the audience. Everyone will feel so bad for her, but to me, this is just extraordinarily dumb. It's a losing battle. i'm not saying she is asking to be mistreated, but I think that she knows her weaknesses and she knows his strengths and she knows his personality so it's like she is literally walking into a bad situation that may have been avoided if she used her smarts and fought with the tools she has--giving her more power in a situation where she would otherwise have none . She can't win this battle at the moment, not without sacrificing her kid, and she won't do that. So this is only going to provoke him and endanger all the people she cares about. Oh sure it will make for some interesting television but i think they could have tried a little harder to make her character consistent. He is very consistent. Maybe we could have some depth in her story and figure out why she makes really dumb choices. Or perhaps have her character shift into a more ruthless person that takes advantage of his feelings for her in order to plot her own power game/revenge. End of rant.

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