This episode made me fall in love with Biyou Village Arc all over again.

As someone who has watched the donghua and read the manhua, I never thought that the drama would make me love this arc even more. It's my favorite arc since it had the perfect balance of hijinks and serious commentary about life. I thought the donghua already had good symbolism and portrayal of its themes. But this episode had just hinted that the drama is going to top that.The main theme of this arc is shattering delusions. [MAJOR SPOILER WARNING] Shattering Chen Duo (and the Temps)'s delusion that the "normal" way of life is abuse and poisoning yourself in service of others, and finally learning to seek happiness for themselves because they are human and not just a weapon. Shattering Zhuge Qing's delusion that he needs to learn one of the Eight Supremes just so he can stand by Wang Ye as equals, and finally fighting off his inner demon and becoming worthy of the final legacy of Wu-hou. And of course, Ma Xianhong's delusion that the pain and hard work normal Yiren does is something that we can discard and that there's a shortcut to becoming powerful.That last one is what I want to talk about here. In the trailers, I saw that there was a rift in the sky over Biyou Village. And in this episode, it was hinted that the sun wasn't moving and the sky was just an illusion. They are implying that Biyou Village, Ma Xianhong's world, was just an illusion. This was such a good symbol of Ma Xianhong's delusion. I am willing to bet that when his delusion gets shattered during the final battle (when he sees all of the members of the village were dying because of their arrogance that hasn't tempered by years of training), all of his world will fall apart. Whoever thought about this was a genius. The director, the writer, the art department (set and props)--everyone in the crew has such profound love and understanding of the source material and it truly showed in this episode. So much so that I had to write a review about it.Also, they keep playing tracks from the donghua, which they HAVE done in the past as mini easter eggs. But it invokes so many feelings in me. I kept weeping even though this episode wasn't supposed to be sad LOL I can't still get over the fact that they included Yiren Disco here. NDT Temps as found family is ❤️❤️❤️

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