Episode 16 summary: Selfish or Selfless?

-This is an interesting episode that gives us some insight into what motivates the choices Li'er makes.

-Li'er and Jing again play with swords and it shows that even blindfolded, they are perfectly in sync.

-Elsewhere, Lady Min comes to the rescue of Qing, Li'er's servant and reminds Gao that while he is investigating Li'er it will look really bad if he jumped to conclusions and coerced a confession if it turns out Li'er was abducted

-While eating a meal together, the news of Lu Buwei comes up. Jing is shocked--and visibly upset--when Li'er comes to the defense of the emperor, explaining that he would have been upset if his father died and that the reason he is so awful is because of his mother and Lu Buwei (so she knows why he is the way he is--which begs the question why she left)

-The emperor returns, and as expected, starts taking lives, beginning with the head of his guards, whom he orders to kill himself. He tells him if he doesn't do it, he will kill his family to the third degree. He can't do it, so the emperor kills him and kills his family to the third degree. He almost kills Zhao Gao but Li Zhong defends him and states that he could help locate Li'er since he was here and a witness. The emperor does not kill him but comes awfully close, and promises to give him a bad death if she doesn't turn up.

-Jing remains upset with Li'er, whom he believes has changed since she is defending the enemy, and she seems to have forgotten about Puyang--elder brother tries to state that it is merely an observation she shared.

-While spending time with Lan'er, Lan'er essentially says what the emperor told her: that she is happy to be by the side of the one she loves even if they don't return her love. Li'er mentally says that Lan'er will have her chance to be with Jing

-Li'er drops hints left and right that this is a temporary reunion. She finally reveals to Jing that she had a son...and it's the Emperor's! So she must return and the boy must have his father (I was yelling WTF at the t.v. but this gets explained). Naturally, this leads to Jing freaking out, accusing her of having changed and screaming at her to go away since she chose the emperor, which she does

-Elder brother finds Li'er in tears, and she tells him that she planned to leave from the moment she left because she knows that Zheng will never let them go. She doesn't want either Jing or her child living a life of vagrancy. And she can't tell Jing that it's his child because she knows he will try to get him back and likely die in the process.

-Elder brother points out that even now she chooses to always put everyone first, but he also points out that she chooses to live an unhappy life. He also shares that he used to think that people were simply fated to never have their feelings returned and that was life and fine.
I think he is critical of her and disappointed, because she has a chance to be with the love of her life, but she is choosing--even if it rational and noble--to live apart. It implies he is bitter that she even has that choice because he I think would sacrifice anything if she might love him back and yet she is choosing to live in the kind of misery he lives in--I don't blame him. She is also being very selfish by not telling Jing the truth. It's his right to choose his own path.

-Meanwhile, the Grand Dowager talks to Ru'er and they are upset that Lu Buwei is dead because it seems he was useful to them. They are BOTH sympathetic to Chu, and the need an ally. They decide li Si is a good choice.

-Elder Senior returns to Jing and says that no matter what he thinks, Li'er has done everything for Jing. Jing punches him in the face (I don't blame him) and says it doesn't matter because she still chose his mortal enemy. he also implies that maybe this is what Han wanted.....

Thoughts: I really liked this episode because it added a bit more depth to Jing's character and to Li'er, who up until now has just sort of been there. It also shows her imperfections. Like if she knew when she left that she was going to go back, why the heck did she leave? I know she must miss Jing, and maybe she wanted to see him just one more time, or maybe she was worried that he would try to save her or be depressed so she wanted him to hate her--okay fine all plausible--but just for this selfish act, so many people suffer. I will have to say this: everything she does is incredibly selfless, so she gets to have a couple selfish acts under her belt. But I do think that the show makes a very strong point: the heroes all die and the villains live in (she even said this in the very first episode, that honor is great but that you die for it) so I think that from episode one we kind of get a hint at what will happen at the end. Also she is making the choice to be with the emperor. Life is full of choices we don't like or want to make, but that's life. You can rail about the injustice of it all, but people, that is LIFE. We are constantly faced with choices that just suck. And I would have chosen to run, even if meant a tough life, to be with the person I love. Jing would have chosen that, elder brother would have chosen that. She chose otherwise. So now she has to live with the consequences because there was no one holding a sword at her throat, no one was in danger of dying. She could have left. She could have even left her child behind, as difficult as it is, because as a prince he would have had a better life albeit it would have raised a lot of risks. But she chose not to. So on the one hand I am completely boggled by her actions. Because she is so different from the emperor and yet so similar.

The emperor chooses to keep her against her will, even if she hates him, just to have her. Now a lot of people might not do that. But he is willing to have her hate him. She is now willing to reject Jing and have Jing hate her to keep him alive. It's like two sides of the same kind. Both are making choices without consulting the other, both are acting regardless of how the person they love feels. It's very interesting.

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