#dashing youth ep 39

[moononmyfloor]

Dashing Youth Ep 36-40 Commentary

Ep 1-10, Ep 11-16, Ep 17-21, Ep 22-25, Ep 26-32, Ep 33-35

Ep 36

This ep had nothing much of interest for me, all this talk of "bringing Ye Dingzhi back to the rightful path" is boring af like you never asked him what is it exactly that he wants, not before, not now

The part where Dongjun cultivates at the edge where mortal world meets the start of heavens was very cool, if a story wants to convince me that he rebuilt his lost cultivation in a year, this place is as good as it gets for the purpose.

Evil sister being permanently imprisoned and left to rot than being granted an immediate death is super satisfying

This part was pretty sweet, the way he closed his eyes and put his stubbly chin in her palms

Ep 37

When I watched He Yu's Dashing Youth interviews etc, I thought he sounded unusually straightforward and frank for an idol actor. And then I looked at his profile and realised that dude is an Architecture graduate and went to Vancouver for further studies and then returned to China to participate in acting workshops. Well THAT explains a lot of things. For example, how he carries himself with such gravitas and confidence despite being a new actor, he basically stole the show from HMH from the very ep 1 imo and that did not happen just because he looks good, because everyone looks amazeballs in this show anyway.

Not to mention "hurt young dad trying his best" is not a role you often see among Chinese idol dramaland main characters, and even rarer for a newbie actor to take on such a role. Like he came in and served. End of the story.

FINALLY. The two most grounded characters of the show meet up! Funny how at first I shipped them with Dongjun and as time went on the less interesting let alone shippy Dongjun felt and now I can't help but imagine, what if these two met earlier, instead?

And gods, this is exactly what I love about Changfeng. Despite being the sweetest baby of the show, he's incredibly realistic and doesn't care for the popular beliefs let alone factions. He'd rather have a face-to-face with the problem at hand and form his opinion.

"Hey buddy, wanna spar?" Just like that. Unafraid and non-judgemental, because he has not formed any yet, because he doesn't have a reason to. And he instantly won over Dingzhi who rarely trusts anyone. Too bad they met only now.

Aww, I feel like this is a nudge to their other-selves in I Am Nobody, right?

"I've stopped saying corny things and have turned mature because any sentence could be your last in the battlefield, and ends up getting carved on your tombstone."

-insert gremlin laugh-

Yeah Mengsha, that's exactly what will be on your grave. "HAHAHAHAHA"

PFft I love him.

Yeah she found that man and then he died. Huhu.

The rest of the ep is about the so called righteous party trying to beat the hot young dad with their sheer incompetence and that wasn't interesting enough to comment on.

Ep 38

Putting the disturbed souls to rest in the name of his daughter, that's Sikong Changfeng. It sounds kinda morbid on paper, but in truth only the most purest, benevolent person in the world would be able to do that. I was reminded of The Untamed for a second there.

Daring the monarchy from atop the palace gate, as the most peerless person in jianghu atm. I think both Master Li and Master Rain Demon would be proud of you.

Yknow, for Dingzhi who suffered from wishy washy treatment from most people all his life (yes, that includes you too Dongjun), a clear yes/no answer to this question would've been a mercy.

Ep 39

This was unexpectedly hilarious lol

Little girl u are pissing me off. You weren't born when the definitions of right and wrong were created in the world.

"What is wrong is wrong" bruh shut up, you are embarrassing your dad and not in the serotonin-inducing way he always embarrassed himself.

And I called Dongjun blindly idealistic.

Speaking of whom, Dongjun and Yue Yao actually kinda redeemed themselves for me again in this ep, by proving that even at this point, the "righteousness" he cares for is for his Yun ge to get the happiness he deserves.

Would've been better if you actively stepped up earlier than this to safeguard the happiness that he and Wenjun had found by a margin, tho. You had years of opportunity and now it's too late.

For softhearted lackeys, Wuxin's gay uncles are pretty alright regarding being grounded characters. They don't have lots of choices to work with, but at least they aren't led around by nose with all the pointless politics and try their best to follow their hearts.

Ep 40

Yeah yeah, blame the woman in the end. The sad thing is that he's a historian, and it's not a surprise that this came out of his mouth.

Rocket science

Same as with Hanyi, I was mad at Ye Xiaofan too like kid what point exactly are you trying to prove to your ge by appearing like this at this moment, but then he redeemed himself and I'm very happy about that. Give him treats.

Ok I'm crying. Wenjun's conviction and determination in the final act makes me forgive her again. Honestly, I wouldn't have disliked her even a little bit if not for that lazy stupidity the show made her commit in ep 33 anyway.

But alas, it's too late. My baby 😭

Good to hear Yue Yao's sister died, even glad that screentime wasn't spared to see it happen because I really don't give a fuck.

Finally, Dongjun meets his ge's child. Lil Wuxin cowering away from him at first served him right.

It's so sad how Wuxin lost his parents and adoptive uncles all together within such a brief period of time. I remember disliking the uncles when they took Wuxin away in BoY, but now I understand them even though it was AGAIN at the expense of Wuxin's rights to be with the people he wants to at that moment. It's sad that whatever person Wuxin would grow emotionally attached to, he has to part from them because of others' arrangements.

Woah, you two have been canoodling around in your fairy carriage for the whole world to see for years and you haven't been married yet? Scandalous, Dongjun 😂

Final Verdict

Despite the lazy and unconvincing middle eps, the final stretch is near perfect, the characters I've grown to have beef with (Dongjun, Wenjun) redeemed themselves, Yue Yao grew a little bit more of personality, the amazing main characters remained amazing (Dingzhi, Changfeng) and so did the amazing side characters (Lei Mengsha, Master Li, Luo Qingyang, Jade deity). Well, I suppose they've written themselves to a corner with Prince Langya, he feels definitely less glorious of a person than he was treated in BoY, after seeing Dashing Youth. So I'm ok with not seeing his character wrap-up here.

I started with giving this a 8.5/10 and ended with a 7.5/10, but overall I really enjoyed the themes of how different generations of people answer times of suppression, and balance morality, friendship and family, and what exactly is the end goal of a martial artist. The people were extremely pleasant to look at, the fight CGIs were epic visual feasts, and I did enjoy myself a lot considering how I rarely watch idol Wuxia/Xianxia/Xuanhuan.