Ice Fantasy 幻城 - Episode 59 (Recap)

kakashi: They find out. I repeat, they find out. Every one of them finds out what happened. Incredible.
SakiVI: I thought they'd stay stupid forever.
JoAnne: Just because they know doesn't mean they won't be stupid.

Episode 59

Kasuo and Li Lou have wild sex. Okay, no. Puhleeeez.  Have you seen those two? He is mad she deliberately let herself be hurt for the greater cause as he puts a bandage on her arm. She says it's in her memory that she shouldn't be with him. DAMN RIGHT. Yes, they STILL don't know about the switerchoo.
Okay, so, I should get this straight in my head before it all comes undone. Here goes: Kasuo is married to Lan Shang's body with Li Luo's brain, right? And Li Luo, in that picture right there, that's really Lan Shang's brain, right?
Dreamer wakes up (remember, he was wounded) and is super agitated. Oh. Does he ......
Could he say already?
Look at how handsome he is. He's actually the only man left in this who's likable, really, not to mention capable and possessing at least part of a brain. We can work through that sister business.
Dude, wrong drama, wrong sex, wrong title. It's Ghost Lord Li Jing.and he's off moping in a Peach forest
Fire Shi approaches Kasuo who is lingering outside Lan Shang's room and doesn't dare go in. Shi asks for a reward for winning - he wants to use the Deicide. Woah! They go to Withering Flower Hill Blossom and Kasuo summons the Deicide into Shi's hand. And then, Shi launches into a series of sword exercises. Kasuo is (feigns to be?) surprised he wields it like his brother used to! And then, Shi attacks Kasuo with the sword.
And yet doesn't kill him.
Give me the damn sword. Someone needs to die around here, it's been too long.
Li Luo tells Lan Shang she should get married to Fire Shi to end the threat from Flame. But Lan Shang doesn't want to. Who does she wants to marry, then? Li Luo asks sharply. A long, drawn  out silence follows. Until ..... Li Luo's armband starts glowing. Lan Sang knows: this means Kasuo is in trouble!
Fake LiLuo is less dippy than old Lan Shang. 
Damn, she looks pretty with white hair. But that's really Lan Shang, if my notes are correct, who I don't really like - except you're right, she's less irritating now.
They both go to the highest point in Snowblade City and are able to see where Kasuo is. They go there too! At which point Fire Shi first captures Li Luo by the neck and then grabs Lan Shang too (after removing his magic protection from her Frozen Spell to pressure Kasuo).
He could've just taken Lan Shang saying they were married now.
Shi, you can take ten women - no one believes you want anyone but Kasuo. It's cool, though. Stop pretending and relax a little bit.
His masks falls off. Kasuo goes: "Shi!" And .... "don't you recognize me anymore?" Shi: "Yes I do! You killed me". And he zips off with his two hostages. Okay, Kasuo looks puzzled. It doesn't seem like he knew this was his brother before. Fooled by the mask!
Amazing the things people don't see right in front of them. My brother could dye his hair and wear a mask and coloured contacts and I still would know it's him. And I haven't lived with him hundreds of years like Kasuo and Shi.
As established previously, Kasuo is not very bright. You, on the other hand, are demonstrably so. Please I think we're just written better than they are, in general.
Flame is pissed Kasuo is still alive but Shi says he will soon kill him. Promises, promises. He brought his two women so that he cannot refuse his challenge later. Whatever. Sadly, Flame doesn't eat their souls ... oups, did I say sadly?
Maybe Flame doesn't want to get wet.
Don't we want them to switch back, though? And for Li Luo to have Kasuo because for some reason she loves him?
Kasuo shares the incredible news about Fire Shi being the reborn Shi with everyone else. It explains things (like him being able to cure Lan Shang Because he's from the Ice Flame Tribe and has special skillz). Kasuo rightly suspects Shi has lost his memory and that is why he wants revenge.
That, and you're just a huge disappointment in general, Captain Emo.
Dreamer joins them (we know what you are hiding under these robes!). (Why is there no picture then?) And he has incredible news too. Or rather, he tells him there are answer to be found in Li Luo's dreams. Remember how she said she couldn't sleep well? Hence, she had Dreamer enter one of her dreams. And this is what he saw and put into his Origin of Dreams (convenient because he can now show everyone): Li Luo is always looking at Kasuo with Li Luo. Like Li Luo is looking at herself. Kasuo says she must be standing ..... there!
Right there!
OMG, really?
Everyone turns .... and where he points stands Lan Shang. Lan Shang is the dreamer of this dream. In Li Luo's mind, she is Lan Shang. And vice versa. THEY FOUND OUT. OMG THEY KNOW. And after many, many minutes of discussion, they realize their souls must have been switched due to Yuan Ji's curse. Later, Dieche confirms it. The meaning of the Veiled Lotus is "losses and gains" after all. Evil flower.
Them knowing what they should've figured out ages ago is rather anticlimactic, actually.
This entire show is anticlimactic. It's just one long, deadly spiral down into a land of no climaxes. Ever. This is the origin of calling someone 'frigid' in fact.

In the meantime, Li Luo and Lan Shang are in one of Flames prisons. They puzzle over Shi's behavior. Then, Li Luo asks how Lan Shang knew about the bracelet. Lan Shang says it's because Kasuo told her. Very puzzling. Veeeeeery. Still slow, these two. After many minutes of discussion and talking about memories that don't seem to belong to them, they REALIZE  they have been switched. Or not, but they look into each other's eyes for ages.
It's like neither of them looked at a mirror, ever, pre-soul switch.
Perhaps they have fallen in love. It would suit Kasuo right.
The question is, what can Kasuo do to set it right again? Dieche suggests he should go to Sacred Snow Mountain again and asks the Veiled Lotus, who might not have withered yet.
Have people been wishing on it all along?
Wait, is Dieche good now?

Flame continues to eat Phoenix's men while Fire Shi is struggling with the truth (and his and against Yuan Ji's voice to kill Kasuo. Actually, Flame seems to be going a bit insane. More than he used to be.
Flame is absorbing all those memories and feelings and going crazy from them. That's my theory. 
Then, an emergency! Lan Shang's Frozen Syndrome is acting up! Shi saves her. Flame lurks. Yan Da too. Shi seems to be able to read minds? In any case, he tells Li Luo, who just thought about this, that the only way Lan Shang can be cured is to put a part of Shi's soul into her body. I really appreciate how this show makes stuff like that up when it's convenient.
They've all been feeding each other bits of their souls all along. 
The final episode reveals that we've been privy to the inner workings of someone with multiple personalities. They are all Shi.
Flame pays Mermaid Saint a visit, to make a deal. It's about the survival of Lan Shang. And the deal is: Kasuo dies, Lan Shang gets part of Shi's soul. In reverse, Lan Shang dies when Shi dies. He wants this of her to ensure that Kasuo dies: fill Infinity Ocean with land so that they can just walk over. I don't get this, isn't he constantly waltzing over anyway?
Agreed, he doesn't need anyone filling in Infinity Ocean.
And why does it matter?
Kasuo leaves for Sacred Snow Mountains, which means Ice Land is not protected well anymore. A perfect opportunity for Flame to invade! The others are already waiting for it. They evacuate the weak and amass their forces. And let it be known that Dreamer has a plan. I can't wait to find out what it is!!
Do you mean that? I don't think you mean that.
 
On the eve of battle, Yan Da tells Shi it matters whom you WANT to be. And he has to make sure it is the real him speaking before he listens to voices inside of him. Yan Da, you sage. Yan Da is the real hero in this show. You are probably going to single-handedly save the brothers. When Shi hears "kill him, kill Kasuo" again, he remembers exactly what happened because he listened to her advice. He killed HIMSELF. For his brother.
Yan Da actually has been a pretty well fleshed-out and sane character.
And he throws his mask into the ocean. Shi is back, people.
And totally pretty!
Isn't that weird? He totally is. All of a sudden, too, because I did not like him in this guise.
 

Comments

Okay, looks like we're back in business. The fillers are over, it seems!
Let's get on with things, show!
There's not actually much left, is there? They had to stop sometime.