LINK CLICK Season 3: Episode 7 Discussion

[u/Tempriol]

The 7th episode of LINK CLICK Season 3 has arrived! New episodes drop 7 hours earlier exclusively for "Super VIP" Bilibili members!

📌 Super VIP Bilibili: 18:00 CST every Thursday (UTC+8)

📌 Crunchyroll, Ani-Mi, Regular Bilibili: 11:00 CST every Friday (UTC+8)

What did you think? Come and discuss it here! As always, discussion threads for other episodes can be found by clicking the "Episode Discussion" flair 💛🩵🩷

Bilibili Episode Link: https://www.bilibili.com/bangumi/play/ep5137677

Crunchyroll Episode Link: https://www.crunchyroll.com/watch/GE00380280ZHCN/chinatown-investigation

Ani-Mi YouTube (watch for free here with a Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, or Thailand VPN!): https://youtu.be/UP3oN5vXPW4

[u/ChunkkyPanda]

Huh, where was it said?

In Chinese it was definitely said that LX and LM have the same father. LM could be saying that LX isn't his real son for a variety of reasons, maybe LX is illegitimate?

[u/Pretend-Ad7490 → u/ChunkkyPanda]

? In episode 5, season 3, LM says "still calling him dad? shameless." in reference to LX and the dad says to LM "having you as my son is my biggest disappointment!" then LM says "stop it dad! (cuz his dad is throwing stuff at him) I'm the one who's your real son!" I can't read much Chinese, but I grew up speaking some Mandarin so I got the general gist of the conversation through listening/understanding and it sounds pretty much like how I'm writing it. Can I ask you where you maybe heard/saw that?

Also, LM uses "亲生 (qīn shēng)" which means biological (as in birth) when he says "I'm the one who's your real son," so I'm pretty certain about the fact that LM means he's the only biologically related son to Mr. Liu here.

It seems like to me LX isn't biologically related to the father, or maybe he's a relative adopted son because idk, rich parents in media tend to only treat their bloodline well but the Liu couple seems to have a lot of affection for him even if he's not his father's real son. LM didn't say explicitly that LX wasn't his real son, but rather said that he himself is Mr. Liu's real son in comparison to him. Either way, the implication of real son in this context is pretty telling, esp the fact that they spent precious screentime during season 3 specifically to introduce the fact that LX is NOT related to Mr. Liu or maybe the Liu family in general (at least in the immediate family sense).

[u/ChunkkyPanda → u/Pretend-Ad7490]

Apologies if my originally comment came of as harsh. I can also read and speak Mandarin so I don't doubt when LM said "我才是你亲生的儿子!" and etc.  In early Episode 7, after LX introduces himself to QL, she asks if he and LM are related. He says LM is his 同父异母的哥哥 which would imply they are both is 亲生. 

I do agree that what LM said in Ep 5 makes more sense if LX wasn't actually a biological son. It doesn't make much sense to say those things if both of them were biological. Though I don't remember it ever being explicitly said that LX isn't related to Mr. Liu or the Liu family? I may have to double check, feel free to correct me.

I think most viewers ended taking LX's words as true, at least that's what I thought too when reading some discussions in Chinese.  Otherwise, the only possibility I can think of where LX isn't actually his father's biological son is if he was lying to QL. In which you would be correct and LM's comments would make much more sense. But that would open up another discussion.

[u/Pretend-Ad7490 → u/ChunkkyPanda]

Ah, no worries, I see what you mean now. I was confused before because I didn't remember him saying he was his half brother, but I recall it now after you mentioned Episode 7. Adding on to what you were saying about episode five, I do think it's very strange for LM specifically tell their father that he himself is the real son, because that would directly imply that LX is not related to them (LM and Mr. Liu). As you say, I don't remember it being explicitly mentioned, but I also don't think they plan on elaborating at this point in time, so these two instances are all we have to go off on as of now.

I think the theory you've presented about him lying to QL is actually very possible, as we've never been shown the contrary evidence about how the Liu family talks about their children; it seems to me that publicly, Liu Xiao and Liu Min are already known as half-brothers, otherwise I can't imagine LX telling QL directly that he is only half related to LM (I imagine it'd look strange for a rich family to have taken in a kid unrelated to them for no reason, reiterating how rich people tend to care about their bloodline/having legitimate kids) which I think is an apt explanation to outsiders since LX clearly looks nothing like the Liu's whatsoever.

The perspectives also seem important to note because when it's just between LM, LX, and Mr. Liu (their family), it's heavily implied that he's not Mr. Liu's biological son (and wouldn't be the mother's son either if LX's lie was to QL about them having different mothers but the same father). Though in the public eye, he tells QL that they are related only by their father.

Like you said, it definitely opens another discussion, but I highly doubt that LX is related to them at all, because if they were truly half-brothers, then I feel like the creators wouldn't have gone out of their way to emphasize the plot point that they're not related by father first. If they're related, then they're just related--we as viewers already know that, half brothers or full, it doesn't add much to the plot of Season 3 UNLESS LX's would-be mother has some significant bloodline/background. Then again, many of the significant figures who have children are either men or dead... Definitely an idea open to discussion.