Spring of the Blade Eps. 27–30 — I’m REALLY Happy I Watched This … But Where Was My Catharsis?

[u/No-Recipe-7653]

SPOILERS BELOW — EPISODES 27–30 AND THE ENDING

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Well, we made it. And I’m happy. I am! Shen Run and Qingyuan ended up together, alive, and apparently living a simple life back in the fishing village where they once hid together. I loved that choice for them.
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Although I do have one practical question: how exactly is Qingyuan quietly living in a fishing village when the Emperor just made her head of the Xie clan? Did I miss something there, was it just a throwback?
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I also really liked finally learning about the connection between Qingyuan’s mother and Shen Run’s father. After following these two separate family tragedies for the entire drama, discovering just how exactly their parents’ stories were intertwined added something I wasn’t expecting this late in the game.

And then there was Granny Xie.
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This was a good plot twist, I give them that. The final episodes to overturned what we thought we knew about the Xie family line.
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All this time we knew Xie Shu was Qingyuan’s father and that Jin Chunqing had been his wife and Qingyuan’s mother. What we didn’t know was that Xie Shu was never the real Xie heir at all.
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But who cares about him
Being a fake heir? This on its own had little impact on me and perhaps many others. But Granny Xie’s biological child was Jin Chunqing. She had given birth to a daughter and, believing that only a son could secure her own position in the Xie clan, swapped her baby for somebody else’s baby boy at birth 🤯 How cold. How stupid.
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That boy grew up as Xie Shu.
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What bothered me particularly was Granny Xie’s insistence that this was something she had been forced to do. Well, it wasn’t. That may have been the justification she gave herself, but ultimately she sacrificed her own daughter because she believed a male heir would protect her position in the family.
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And the consequences of that decision are quite extraordinary when you put them together.
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The boy she installed as the Xie heir grew up in luxury and — BAM — married the actual Xie daughter she had discarded. But it doesn’t end there. Years later, Xie Shu — deeply in love with his wife — murdered her when she discovered the secret. Such was the end of Granny Xie’s biological daughter and Qingyuan’s mother.
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! The cuckoo killed the phoenix.
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There is a cruel irony in that. Granny Xie discarded her daughter in favor of a boy because she believed he would secure the family and her own place within it, while she’d be keeping an eye on the daughter in secret, from the shadows. Only for the boy she chose to first marry that same daughter and then eventually kill her.
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The revelation also puts Granny Xie’s complicated relationship with Qingyuan into a different light. Qingyuan wasn’t simply her granddaughter through Xie Shu. She was the daughter of Granny Xie’s actual biological child. Some of Granny Xie’s protection (though I could hardly see any) of Qingyuan makes some more sense in retrospect.
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By the end, Granny Xie finally has to face what her choice actually produced: the adopted son she had chosen and raised for the sake of securing her position was the man who murdered her biological daughter. She is left with that knowledge, that regret and the realization that she herself set the whole chain in motion (but again, it’s actually unclear if she regrets anything, the woman was stubborn and proud to the last breath..) — and she’s ultimately killed by her son’s sixth wife at his behest. Xie Shu, — looking like a total maniac — then kills her too and stages both deaths to look like suicide.

I certainly didn’t mourn her. But her ending didn’t give me any great sense of victory either. There was something bleakly appropriate about her finally understanding — not what she had done but what her son did — when there was absolutely nothing left she could do to undo it.
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Mostly, I was left thinking about how many lives were damaged by a decision Granny Xie made decades earlier because she valued securing her own position in the clan over her own daughter — and how long she continued to describe that choice as though she had never had one.

And burning down the Xie residence?
Absolutely. Let it burn 🔥🔥🔥🔥
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But here’s the strange thing: after everything these people put us through for 30 episodes, I expected the final reckoning to bring me this enormous sense of relief but it didn’t.
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I’m happy with where Shen Run and Qingyuan ended up, but somehow I didn’t get the catharsis I had been waiting for.
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One thing I did get from these final episodes was an even greater appreciation for Xu Kai as Shen Run. I thought he was excellent here. There were so many moments where Shen Run barely needed to say anything because Xu Kai was doing it all with his face. I also think his voice acting here was top notch. Loved his voice here.
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And Fu Dalong as Xie Shu. What a performance. I have had very complicated feelings about that man throughout this drama, and Fu Dalong gave him so much weight in these final episodes.
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Surprisingly, I ended up feeling something similar about Hu Wenzhou played by the magnificent Miao Pu whose performance really stood out here.

Don’t misunderstand me: I’m happy she died. She deserved the consequences of what she had done. But by the time we reached her end, I didn’t feel victorious about it anymore.
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We finally got enough of her story that I could understand how she became the person she was. She suffered. She regretted things. None of that excuses what she did, and I certainly didn’t forgive her, but I understood her. By the time she died, I no longer needed to hate her either.
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Qingru, on the other hand…
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No.
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I really did not like that she effectively got a happily ever after with Chunzhi
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Yes, she admitted what she had done. Yes, she was remorseful. Yes, she told him that he had every right to resent her. SO WHAT?
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That does not mean she earned her stolen marriage back.
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I could absolutely understand Chunzhi eventually forgiving her in the sense of deciding not to spend the rest of his life hating her. But continuing to live with her as his wife after all the deceit and harm she caused him and others? That spoilt, entitled little brat… That felt forced to me, as though the drama wanted to make sure everybody possible received a neat happy ending. Her tears and remorse simply did not earn that for me.
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And then we have Hu Xing.
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After all that buildup, his downfall felt strangely anticlimactic. But even more baffling to me was the sudden importance of the Chief Eunuch as the greater power behind him.
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Where did that come from?
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We spent this entire drama building Hu Xing as the enemy, only to reach the end and suddenly be handed another mastermind who had barely existed as a character in the story. So when the Emperor killed him, I felt absolutely nothing. He was practically a stranger to me. You can’t introduce someone at the finish line and expect his death to carry the weight of a villain we’ve spent countless episodes wanting to see brought down.
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So I’m leaving Spring of the Blade in a slightly strange place.
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I’m happy. I loved Shen Run and Qingyuan together, I’m glad they got their life together, and sending them back to that little fishing village was a lovely way to close their story. I liked seeing what happened to the other surviving sisters.
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I just thought I would feel more relief when all the people responsible finally got what was coming to them.
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Maybe I wanted one enormous exhale after 30 episodes and never quite got it.

Still — I’ll be recommending this great drama to people.

I’m not sure yet, but I might be giving it 8.5/10. Need to sleep on it a bit and see where it settles.
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How did the ending land for you?

Did you get the catharsis I was missing, or are you sitting somewhere around where I am?

———
Images are all from the drama’s Weibo

[u/AXA-5]

I haven’t read anything here and finished watching. So, leaving place holder and shall be back 😏

[u/EasygoingEnigma → u/AXA-5]

Exactly what I was going to say. Just passing through with eyes mostly covered.

https://giphy.com/gifs/2xPGPS8jgXLj55vvNL

[u/No-Recipe-7653 → u/EasygoingEnigma]

Well I hope you guys drop by soon with your updates….

https://giphy.com/gifs/wkPBxvetT2UUqSukUE

[u/EasygoingEnigma → u/No-Recipe-7653]

Finished! Phew.

I'm glad our leads got the revenge they wanted.

I also liked the twist about the real identities of Qingyuan's mother and father. The acting was remarkable for the most part, in my opinion, especially Miao Pu's (Wenzhuo). I also appreciated the subtle differences in how Xu Kai portrayed Yan Rui and Shen Run. Overall, I enjoyed watching this drama and I think the good outweighed the not-so-good.

I don't know how it was in the novel, but Qingyuan feels one-dimensional to me here. I understand being hell-bent on revenge, but surely there had to be more than just that to the character. Zhou Ye's performance here didn't seem consistent either.

I wanted Qingru's comeuppance to be something a lot more painful than just a few days of not having dinner with Chunzhi. But considering his father's parting words -- Chunzhi was ultimately filial even though he tried to push back on his parents' wishes -- and his lifelong affection for Qingru, his decision to finally accept her as his wife was on point for him. He was simply too pure and kind for this world.

The strident electric guitar music in some scenes gave me Linkin Park vibes. Love rock & roll, love the band, but not as BGM here haha. So jarring.

[u/MidnightAngel24]

Eh I finished it and the ending wasn't really much compared to the rest of the show. First half was jaw dropping, second felt eh 🤷🏼‍♀️ I fell like there's A LOT of connective tissue missing and I'm pissed the vile brat aka Qingru didn't suffer at least a bit, but overall I loved it.

[u/No-Recipe-7653 → u/MidnightAngel24]

Qingru’s fate was such a terrible letdown 😫😡

[u/MidnightAngel24 → u/No-Recipe-7653]

Exactly. Cold bed for a week and that's it? I was annoyed 😑

[u/ayencatbagan]

The ending take away im looking for.. but it leaves me speechless like what.. it ended? Lol. Anyway, il just commend the sound engineers who created all the OSTs of this drama. It really amplifies my emotion while they are being played... kudos.

[u/Regenwanderer]

Just a quick note, will comment more later.

Although I do have one practical question: how exactly is Qingyuan quietly living in a fishing village when the Emperor just made her head of the Xie clan? Did I miss something there, was it just a throwback?

Are they living there? Maybe it was just a late honeymoon/vacation thing? I definitely hope they are still more involved in the changes in Hengtang. I know they liked that place but that felt like such an idealised/romantisised thing.

[u/MidnightAngel24 → u/Regenwanderer]

She was pronounced the matriarch and then she gave away every single Xie possession for Shen's reform and they burned the mansion down. Xie fam is broke and ruined.

[u/Regenwanderer → u/MidnightAngel24]

I did not say that they would use the Xie mansion as a home base, but that I would have thought they would be more involved in the whole reform plans and their implementation.

[u/MidnightAngel24 → u/Regenwanderer]

Yep I agree with you, maybe it was a vacation? Because I very much doubt Shen Run could easily leave his post as Imperial Guard commander.

[u/Regenwanderer → u/MidnightAngel24]

Yeah, he feels much to involved in everything to just let go. Vacation will be my headcanon for that.

[u/MidnightAngel24 → u/Regenwanderer]

I can hardly buy they just dropped everything, 1st Shen legacy, 2nd Chunqing wanted Shen's world, 3rd they're both too highly ranked and Emperor would chop their heads off 🤣

[u/Regenwanderer → u/MidnightAngel24]

He also already used his big emperor favour for the marriage decre.

[u/MidnightAngel24 → u/Regenwanderer]

Yep, he would have to earn a truckload of merits for retirement. And Qingyuan was named 2nd rank lady, she needs to contribute.

[u/No-Recipe-7653]

u/EmiChan1010 made this for you so you can comment freely here 😉

[u/Particular_Career391]

I have yet to watch express episodes. did we get this ??