#e rewatches tteotm

[eyesthatshinelikestars]

So I’ve recently started a sort of half-rewatch of tteotm (basically skipping scenes that don’t include either of the two leads) and last night I watched episode 7 and it’s got me thinking about how that last scene of Tantai Jin villain monologuing at Ye Xiwu/Li Susu in the boat reads so much differently after having seen the drama as a whole.

The first time I watched it, it’s like I fell for TTJ’s trick. I was like “oh wow, he really is a master manipulator! and I thought he was just a pathetic loserboy!” but upon rewatch you realize that his manipulations were actually just him playing it by ear and trying his best to survive. He hasn’t been planning some big picture scheme - in fact up until Lanan & Nian Baiyu showed up, Ye Xiwu’s acts of kindness were actually getting through to him.

But the incident with Pian Ran activates his biggest insecurity - that everyone will betray him because they all think he’s inherently evil - and turns his resentment back toward Ye Xiwu. So he does what he will do again later on the drama (particularly after the death of the Sheng Emperor) - he lashes out and makes himself out to be The Worst Bad Guy, to be Feared and Hated. But it’s clearer on rewatch that he’s really just a guy who’s been alone all his life, doesn’t really know what he’s doing, and doesn’t understand why everyone fears and hates him.

And idk that makes the scene so much the more endearing to me - like a baby tiger trying desperately to claw his way out of the mess he’s in.