commentaries on "the conquest"

Commentary #1: Gou Jian - A despicable man



My blood boils because of him!

My mom made a comment during the first ten episodes that she disliked "Gou Jian" (Damien Lau) because he's "sneaky" and that she loved "Fu Chai" (Joe Ma). At that time, I felt neutral towards both characters. However, as I continued to watch The Conquest, I began to concur with her thoughts. I do not like "Gou Jian" one bit [even though Damien is one of my favorite actors and his performance in Conquest was great].

He's useless...
Were it not for his subjects, in particular, Fan Li (Chen Kun), I don't think Gou Jian could have conquered over Fu Chai. He seemed so useless to me during his servitude in the State of Wu. He just moped around, feeling sorry for himself and all that he lost and wishing he died instead. It was Fan Li who developed most of the plots. It was he who helped to spare Gou Jian's life and who helped him to gradually gain "trust" from Fu Chai. I didn't think Gou Jian was "clever" at all. He just acted based on what his subjects devised.

About his queen...
When Gou Jian's queen (Lin Hai Hai) first appeared, we learn that he had been ignoring her as of late and regrets not giving her the day of time. This implies that he was busy with other concubines and had forgotten about her. Nevertheless, she still loved him and stood by his side in the fall of the State of Yue. She then goes with him to the State of Wu, where he is to serve Fu Chai. She diligently takes care of him throughout the traumatic, shameful, and painful experience. She even sacrifices her purity for his sake. Never once does she blame Gou Jian and even feels shameful to be his wife after she loses her "purity." He promises to love her and tells her that he knows and appreciates all that she has done for him. She is touched by his words. However, after the State of Yue is revived and Gou Jian defeats Fu Chai and regains power... she quickly fears he has "changed."

Gou Jian talks about keeping Xi Shi (Sonija Kwok) in the palace and granting her a title. Afraid that Gou Jian has fallen for Xi Shi's beauty and is lusting after her, she takes care of Xi Shi by making her suicide in the lake. She hopes that by getting rid of Xi Shi, she has preserved her position as Queen. Unfortunately for her, her action made matters far worse. Gou Jian is furious at her for executing Xi Shi and banishes her to the "cold palace." She dies feeling depressed and unappreciated.

This proves that Gou Jian appreciated and "loved" her only at times of suffering, when everyone else abandoned him and there was no other woman to "love" him. When he's in power, he lusts around like every other king. I do believe that Gou Jian was interested in Xi Shi. It's really sad for his queen. She did so much for him and in the end, all she gets is ungratefulness.

Prideful, arrogant, power-hungry...
As much as I liked Fu Chai, in no way can I defend him as "noble" or "righteous." Make no mistake - Fu Chai was not a man to be reckoned with or even likable. He was obviously arrogant, prideful, and lusted for power. He looked down on everyone and wanted to "rule the world." He is just as guilty of the very wrongs that I hold against Gou Jian (including ignoring and being cold to his Queen once he's done "using" her). However, the writers portrayed him with a touch of humanity, so you can't help but like him and ultimately sympathize with him.

I never saw Gou Jian as the "great" king that Yue people claimed he was. I believe that they were biased towards their king (just as Wu people deemed Fu Chai great). He and Fu Chai are not much different. Both are willing to do anything for power, even forgetting familial ties.

I don't doubt that Gou Jian wanted to restore his country to end the suffering of his people and bring honor back to his ancestors. However, I can't help but think that the major driving force is his own thirst for revenge. He wants to make Fu Chai pay for humiliating him. He even says it himself several times in the series that Fu Chai has to pay back much worse. Scenes like those make me feel like Gou Jian wants to save his pride and ego more than anything else.

When he succeeds, Gou Jian quickly changes his tone. His promised 3-year tax cut became a measly one-year deal. Instead of being satisfied and happy to have the State of Yue back, Gou Jian is unsatisfied. He wants more. He wants to "rule the world" - as Fu Chai had. Because he had fallen so hard when Yue fell and endured so much degradation of his manhood, ego, pride, and honor, his determination was even greater than Fu Chai's. He killed anyone who knew of his past. He hated being a laughingstock. He felt an immense need to defend his manhood and prove to the world that he was powerful and a force to be reckoned with.

For those reasons, I just cannot find anything to like about Gou Jian. He turned against everyone who helped him and is so ungrateful and egotistical. I understand that Fu Chai was no better, but at least Fu Chai proved to me that he was capable and intelligent and in the end, pitiful.

Commentary #2: Xi Shi's ending

I really liked how TVB constructed the ending to Xi Shi because it incorporated both recounts [according to legends/history] of what happened to Xi Shi after the State of Wu fell and the State of Yue was restored.

Ending #1

According to some sources, Gou Jian ordered Xi Shi to be drowned. He feared that he would, like Fu Chai, become mesmerized by her beauty and lose his country, suffering Fu Chai's fate. Therefore, he wanted to rid of the "threat" before it could do any harm to him.

In the series, Gou Jian's queen "suggested" that Xi Shi kill herself by drowning in the lake. She sensed that Gou Jian was interested in Xi Shi, so she got rid of a potential threat. Xi Shi felt guilty over killing Princess of Chen (Fu Xing Yin) and believed her fate was dire anyways, so she gave into the queen's urging and jumped into the lake...

This is the ending of Xi Shi that Gou Jian and others knew.

Ending #2

According to other sources, after the State of Wu fell, Xi Shi ended up happily ever after with Fan Li, roaming on a fishing boat.

In the series, Fan Li manages to save Xi Shi from the depths of the lake. She wakes up and the two lovers are finally able to be together. The final scenes of the series show them floating around a boat. The narrator tells the audience that Gou Jian tried to find Fan Li, but to no avail. Fan Li had "disappeared" and Gou Jian believed Xi Shi was "dead."

Two endings all in one
TVB was able to satisfy both telling of "what happened" to Xi Shi after State of Wu fell with the ending they constructed. I think that was a very clever move on their end. No one knows exactly what happened in history. All we have are stories, legends, and hear-says. Naturally, there are different versions and telling.

It was nice that Fan Li and Xi Shi were able to have a happy ending after sacrificing and going through so much. I loved that TVB didn't have the two of them "happily" together in the final scene. I don't think they, especially Fan Li, could be truly "happy." Sure, they had each other, but the affairs of the world were troubling. They had helped to create a "monster" so-to-speak. They thought they were helping their country, which was noble, and their king, but he turned out to be no better than Fu Chai... Worse, havoc and suffering were amuck as the country was in period of "Seven Warring States." So much for their hopes of peace and prosperity... Although Fan Li and Xi Shi had removed themselves from the political world, they cannot help but feel guilty. Therefore, it was appropriate that they are seen so solemn in the final scene.

Everything about Conquest's ending was exquisitely done - truly a masterpiece ending.

an emotional "conquest"

I will post my holistic thoughts on The Conquest later, but first, I just had to write about my emotional response to the brilliant ending. Conquest has managed in its final stretch to work my emotions like no other TVB series has been able to do in a long time. I was really caught up in the series and felt for the characters. The last two episodes had a lot of "heart" and made them an emotionally thrilling roller coaster ride.

Fu Chai learns the truth about Xi Shi

Tears, I tell you, tears! I kept praying that Fu Chai (Joe Ma) would die without learning that Xi Shi (Sonija Kwok) never loved him and was only using him. I really didn't want to see him be crushed any further. He had already lost everything and I really hoped a shattered heart could have been avoided. However, it was inevitable that he would learn the truth... "Tell me you loved me, even if it was only for one day..." The pleading and dimly hopeful look in Fu Chai's [who was wonderfully acted by Joe - who I shall flower with endless praises in just a bit] eyes as he said that line and Xi Shi's reply of "Sorry" just broke my heart. He did so much to please her, including leading to the downfall of his empire. He truly fell in love with Xi Shi; it wasn't just lust. For her to tell him that everything was fake hurt more than anything else. I understand Fu Chai's pain. He also learns that Xi Shi and Fan Li (Chen Kun) are lovers and that from the start they vowed never to get emotionally involved with him. In that moment, he lost his lover and friend [although he already discovered Fan Li's unfaithfulness before this]. This totally crushes Fu Chai [and I dare to argue] even more than losing his country. Learning you have been deceived and used is the most painful thing ever, so I was hurting along with Fu Chai throughout his final moments, but especially in this scene with Xi Shi.

Fu Chai's suicide

I stayed up until 3:00 AM because I just had to witness Fu Chai's ultimate fate. I knew he was going to die. It was unavoidable and the themevideo basically gave it away as well. My heart went out to him ever since he unknowingly gave into the State of Yue's plans and was causing the State of Wu to go into decline, but this final scene just broke my heart even more. I was already aching along with him when he learned the truth about Xi Shi, but this scene just took it over-the-top. Fu Chai was saying how he needed his face to be covered in death because he couldn't face his ancestors, the people of his country, and Prime Minister Wu Zixu [whom he had ordered death upon and who had warned him repeatedly about the Yue people and Xi Shi]. He felt so shameful and regretted his actions. He lost it all and could only blame himself for his own arrogance and foolishness. He believed in his superiority, in his power. He was too stubborn and refused to listen because he was egotistical. He had wrongly loved and trusted Xi Shi and Fan Li. He didn't believe he could lose... but there he was, a loser. I was touched that Fan Li helped Fu Chai to suicide (going against Gou Jian's (Damien Lau) order that Fu Chai had to live a life worse than death).

Joe was mind-blowing, incredible, and absolutely amazing in Conquest. This is his breakthrough. He so deserves Best Actor from TVB for this well-acted role. [Unfortunately, I know he won't because Conquest didn't cut it in the ratings and it was largely overlooked in Hong Kong.] Finally, the Joe that I liked way back when returns. Joe was likable in Country Spirit and The Awakening Story, but never truly great. I haven't liked him much since those series. However, Conquest has totally made him one of my favorite actors now. He is so good as "Fu Chai." Joe, the actor, disappears when you watch Conquest and all you see and feel is "Fu Chai." Joe brought out the role and really gave a surprisingly great performance. He made me feel so much for the character. He steals the show and is arguably the best actor in here (although everyone was really good). I can't wait to see Joe's future performances. I just cannot believe how good he was in Conquest and simply cannot stress the immense improvements in his performance enough. Major props and kudos to Joe!

An unhappy ending for the lovers

Ah! I loved Princess Teng Jue (Xian Se Li) of Yue and Crown Prince You (Feng Wei) of Wu! They were so cute together and their scenes (together and individually) brought a nice, young, innocent touch to the series. They are Conquest's "Romeo" and "Juliet." I was suspicious when they were seemingly going to get a happy ending, running off together and living a plain life in poverty and hardship, but in bliss. When it cut to them running down the palace stairs with Gou Jian and his army at the bottom... I feared the worst. It was a brilliant move by the writers to make us think Gou Jian was going to let them go, but then only a short moment later to realize that he still intended to kill them. I just felt so sorry and sad for them! At least, though, they can finally be together and not have to worry about the whole political and palatial mess that they never wanted to be entangled with in the first place.

I liked how both characters complimented each other so well and they could understand one another. Both were not suitable for "palatial" life, but couldn't live otherwise... I adored Princess Teng Jue from early on. She is really cute! I could identify and relate with Crown Prince You since he appeared as well. I understand what it's like to feel like you're a disappointment [to your father] and have your father tell you you're not good enough and to feel "useless." I completely understand where he's coming from. In a way, Crown Prince You is very much like me. He tries so hard, but Fu Chai is never satisfied - which is a shame. Xian Se Li and Feng Wei were both good in their roles and had chemistry together. I look forward to seeing Feng Wei in TVB's upcoming 60-episode blockbuster, The Drive of Life.

series 411: "the conquest"

English Title: The Conquest
Cantonese Title: Jang Ba
Vietnamese Title: Song Hung Tranh Ba
Casts: Joe Ma, Damien Lau, Sonija Kwok, Chen Kun, etc.
Length: 42 episodes (Cantonese) // 34 tapes (Vietnamese)
Release Date: June 2006 (Canto) // December 2006 (Viet)
Genre: Historical Costume Drama/War

Note: Please credit "MetalAZNWarrior" and/or this site if you should use my translation of the series' plot! I worked hard to translate it, so please don't just steal or use it for another site without my permission and/or credit. Thank you!

Synopsis:
A grand production that moves the soul
History from 2000 years ago reappears vividly

During the warring period between the spring and autumn states, every province has its own lord occupying his own region. How many strange situations have happened as they all try to seize other lands. Fan Lai / Fan Li (Chen Kun), Ngau Jin / Gou Jian (Damien Lau Ching Yan), and Fu Cha / Fu Chai (Joe Ma Dak Chung), among these three, they have fought for over twenty years, battling wisdom and strength. Fan Lai / Fan Li is chivalrous and loyal, Ngau Jin / Gou Jian is ruthless, Fu Cha / Fu Chai has a brave and ambitious history, and what causes the downfall of a nation is the great beauty, Sei Sze / Xi Shi (Sonija Kwok Sin Nei)...

The story happens some two thousand five hundred years ago and seems remote, but the core ideal at heart still persists. The unyielding and righteous spirit, its inspiring and moving story - people are still talking about it until now for it is still amusing.

My thoughts: So many people have raved about this series and it was a huge hit in mainland China when it was aired. They said that the cinematography is amazing and it is a well-scripted drama and that the cast did a great job. I like Sonija, so I really want to see if she was able to improve that much to garner some praises for her performance. I heard that even Joe is good in this series. I actually don't have anything against him, so I look forward to his performance as well. I think he's decent, but just not "leading man" material. I'm fine with him as a supporting actor. Damien is an amazing actor - love him - he's just always awesome to watch so I know he'll be captivating in Conquest as well. I don't have much to say about the mainland actors because I don't know them and haven't seen them on-screen yet. The costumes and scenery look pretty nice. It's a primitive time in China's history, so I'm not expecting anything too lavish. All in all, I hope this series does well in Hong Kong. Maybe this will give Sonija the push that she needs to become a true "leading lady." I can't wait to watch it. I love historical dramas and I'm also very interested and curious about the storyline since I've always heard the name "Xi Shi" but never knew the story behind it.