King Rouge: Episode 3 recap (Updated)

Link to Episode 2 Recap

Wu Kui, Lei-er and Moya are still stranded in the woods.  It is dark already and all are hungry.  Lei-er cooks the frog she caught and offers some to Wu Kui and Moya.  Wu Kui wants to take a bite since he is very hungry, but a slight sign of disapproval from Moya stops him.

There is a thunderstorm again, and once more we see Wu Kui’s scared reaction to the thunder, while Lei-er revels in it.

Both Wu Kui and Lei-er reflect that they lost their mothers at birth, but Lei-er adds that she also lost her father when thunder struck when she was born. Moya asks for further details, Lei-er says she was just born at that time, but nobody knows exactly what happened during that time.

Back at the XinYi Escort, the bodyguards are having their meal.  Food is being distributed to the bodyguards.  Some of them complain about the little amount of food served on their plate.   Aunt Gui talks to Cook to make sure that food costs are kept down, then goes on to inform Cook of deduction to his own salary to pay off some previous mistakes.

While Lei-er sleeps, Wu Kui and Moya get to know each other better.  Moya admires Wu Kui’s good kung fu but he does not tell her the truth about himself because he wants to impress her. Wu Kui shows off his knowledge from all schools of kung fu, but we know that when it comes to actual fighting he has the strength for up to 3 martial arts moves only.

Then another sequence of Wu Kui dreaming of Moya.  He is so funny. 😀

Lei-er wakes him up by shouting in his ears.

Miraculously, Wu Kui’s donkey cart from the day before finds them.  Now they have transport to take them to Shanhai Town.

However, the donkey has a mind of its own.  It will walk when it wants to walk, and will not budge when it doesn’t want to walk.  At one point, the donkey moved without Lei-er, thus leaving her behind.

From up a tree, one of the bandits, Hua Lang (Flower Wolf) spies Wu Kui and Moya as they rumble past on their way to Shanhai Town.  He reports back to the other bandits.

Wu Kui and Moya arrive in town, and Wu Kui drives the cart directly to Moya’s place.  During this ride Wu Kui informs Moya that his father is the owner of the XinYi Escort Agency.

At Moya’s residence, Wu Kui hears the servants address Moya as Gege (Princess).

Cut to a scene at the police barracks parade ground.  Wu Chuzi is parading his men in front of traders. The parade ends in failure when some of his men don’t even know which is left and which is right.

Wu Kui is on his way home when the donkey refuses to budge once again, Wu Kui tries to talk to it.  While Wu Kui is talking to the donkey, Hua Lang and Feng Lang (Crazy Wolf), 2 of Dumb Wolf’s bandits, follow Wu Kui.  They want to know more about the man who is so strong as to defeat Dumb Wolf and foil their robbery plan the day before. And this is what they see – a man talking to his donkey. 😀

Men from XinYi Escort see Wu Kui.  They hoist him on their shoulders to take him home.  From this, the bandits following Wu Kui find out who he is and where to find him.

The meeting between father and son is so sweet and poignant.  Wu Kui looks so young and so bashful, his father looks so happy to see him.  And I love the instrumental music played during this scene – just the right amount of sweetness and angst without being overly dramatic.

Wu Kui is happy to be home, but you can see from his facial expressions that he also feels ashamed because of the lies he told his father about overcoming his physical weakness and his excellent martial arts skills.

Snack time, Wu Kui starts to spout English words he learned during his time with the foreigners in Fo Shan.  This part is a bit corny, but JHJ’s acting is so funny that I can’t stop laughing out loud during the entire scene. What is even more funny is the reaction of the people at hearing Wu Kui spouting these foreign-sounding words, and at seeing Wu Kui’s seemingly weird actions (hugging men, kissing, etc.) Check out their reactions from the pictures below. 😀

Aunt Gui is busy preparing the welcome banquet for Wu Kui at the Xiao residence.  During the offering at the altar, Wu Kui refuses his father’s plan to pass the leadership of the XinYi Escort Agency to him. Wu Kui even proposed that the business be handed over to others. He recommends Hu Da Cheng, his father’s second in command, for the job, but Hu Da Cheng refuses.

Of course, we know why Wu Kui is refusing the leadership – he knows he is not fit for the job because of his physical weakness.  But his family does not know this yet, so his decision angers his father.  Xiao Ding Bang is suffering from diabetes, and collapses after his blood pressure shoots up.

Wu Kui apologizes to his father and Aunt for the commotion he caused.

Back in Guangzhou, Master Yuan Tou returns to their lodgings only to be told by the attendant at the inn that Wu Kui has left already.  Master Yuan Tou decides to follow Wu Kui to Shanhai Town.  While on the road he comes upon Dumb Wolf’s bandit group and hears them making plans to wreak vengeance on Wu Kui for injuring Dumb Wolf badly.  The vengeance is a matter of honour for Dumb Wolf who lost face in front of his men as he is known as a leader with good martial arts skills.

Master Yuan Tou finds out that the bandits are on their way to the Xiao residence and decides to intervene by fighting with the bandits by himself.  He is a very skilled martial arts master, and was able to defeat all the bandits.  Master Yuan Tou was about to leave when Dumb Wolf blows his whistle to call his horse to him.  Upon hearing the piercing sound of the whistle, Master Yuan Tou freezes up.  Dumb Wolf notices this and realizes that the sound from the whistle has a negative effect on the Master.  Dumb Wolf blows the whistle several more times until Master Yuan Tou collapses.

Lei-er is walking in the woods at night when she encounters Fatty Huang.  In episode 1, if you will recall, Lei-er was hired to draw the cart that carries a coffin with Fatty Huang inside.  The cart turned over due to the bumps on the road, the coffin fell over and Fatty Huang spilled from the coffin.  Everyone ran away when Fatty Huang woke up.

Fatty Huang was not really dead but was just in a deep sleep/coma. Being spilled from the coffin woke him up.  So, he is thankful to Lei-er for bringing him back to life.  That is why he gave her money as reward.

Wu Kui goes to the banquet prepared by his family to welcome him back home. Xiao DingBang delivers a speech welcoming Wu Kui home, during this speech Father must have sang Wu Kui’s praises and the achievements he accumulated while studying in Fo Shan.  All the while we can see that Wu Kui continues to feel ashamed at all the lies he told his father.

Wu Chuzi brought a kung fu master at the banquet.  This kung fu master is famous for beating any opponent within 3 moves.  In Chinese kung fu tradition kung fu masters are expected to be challenged when first introduced to each other.  The kung fu master brought by Wu Chuzi challenges Wu Kui to a face-off, Wu Kui has no choice but to accept the challenge.  Besides the tradition, Wu Kui does not want to disappoint his father and his men.

The fight begins outside.  At first, it seems Wu Kui would be on the losing end but before he could be defeated, Wu Kui finds a way to turn the tables on his opponent.

Wu kui wins!  Father is so happy!  He is so proud of Wu Kui.

Celebration back in the restaurant.

Wu Kui ruins the mood once again when he uses English words during his speech.  Father  collapses again.  Poor Father!

Lei-er reaches home and gives the money given to her by Fatty Huang to Grandma.  When Grandma asked her where she got it, she told the story of Fatty Huang, the Living Dead Man.  Grandma gets mad at Lei-er thinking that Lei-er is lying and that she might have done something dishonest to earn the money.

THOUGHTS

Again, thank you to Charlene for her inputs.

The things I write here are just based on my interpretation of the events that unfold in this episode and in the previous episodes.  If I made any error in interpretation, please feel free to correct me.

Not much to say really, except that I love JHJ’s fight scenes.  I know that by Chinese standards, JHJ’s martial arts scenes must be very basic, but I still enjoy seeing him in those scenes.

I also love the relationship between Wu Kui and his father.  JHJ have always had very good onscreen rapport with the older men in his dramas, and we can see that once again here.  Danny Lee and JHJ really act as if they are father and son, and I find that amazing considering that they don’t really understand each other as they speak 2 different languages.

I also love the background music used here, especially in that scene when Wu Kui arrives home and sees his father again after a long time.  The music is soft and a little bit sad, but not overwrought.  I find that the background music completes the scene, but does not dominate it.

I also realize that there are many small scenes here that, at first, do not seem to have any bearing on the story, but later on you realize that those seemingly random scenes will have some bearing in moving the plot forward.  An example would be the coffin scene in episode 1 – I thought it would just be one way of showing how Lei-er makes a living.  In this episode the man inside the coffin makes an appearance, this time alive.  This may seem like another random scene, but in the coming episode, this will provide the reason why Lei-er would meet up with Moya, which in turn will define Lei-er’s feelings of gratitude towards Moya. I have learned not to ignore these small scenes anymore.

On to the next episode!

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Credit:  Video as labelled.