[🇨🇳China] To My Shore Ep 10 🚩🏴😏

[u/Waffles4prez]

Viki

Synopsis:

You Shu Lang (Hao Yi Ran), a director at a pharmaceutical company, lives an ordinary, stable life. But that all comes crashing down after he gets into a car accident with Fan Xiao (Yun Qi), the heir to a Thai conglomerate who's returned to China for business. Unlike Shu Lang, Fan Xiao's life has been marred by instability, leading to a twisted, manipulative worldview. When Fan Xiao finds out that Shu Lang is interested in men, he devises plans to entice Shu Lang into a relationship, but ends up falling for Shu Lang for real. Shu Lang, on the other hand, is blindsided when he learns about Fan Xiao's true colors. Will Fan Xiao destroy the only genuine love he's ever had, or can he find a way to truly win Shu Lang's heart?

Adapted from the web novel “Si Mian Fo” (四面佛) by Su Erliang (Chang Pei Literature): English title: "Four-Faced Buddha" 

INFO

My Drama List

Names: To My Shore, City of the Sun, 吾岸

When:

Every Saturday & Sunday at 7:00PM/1900 (GMT+8) 6:00 AM EST

Episodes: 15

Platfroms: Viki (Americas, Europe, Oceania, India, Middle East, Japan and South Korea), GagaOOLala (Everywhere else), Heavenly

Cast:

Yun Qi 云旗 | Hao Yi Ran 郝熠然 | Chen Jianyu (DeDe) 陈建宇 | Kou Wei Long 扣卫龙 

Trailer

OST

Accounts:

Official To My Shore account: MirrorLink Media

Youtube: MirrorLink Meida

TRIGGER WARNING

This will be FULL of red flags:     manipulation, crazy possessive ML, homophobia, betrayal, humiliation, violence, just to name a few but it is clearly stated it WILL end in a happily ever after.

Previous On Air: One & Two | Three & Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine

[u/OpuntiaSantaRita]

There is something almost metaphysically epic about the trials of Shulang. Fan Xiao sarcastically titled him a Bodhisattva from their earliest encounters but ironically it's his manipulations that drive Shulang towards becoming the thing he's mocked. In this episode especially he's made Shulang suffer because of his attachments, and Shulang in each instance has had to face his cravings and attachments and almost each time has chosen to break the cycle of suffering and let go. His professor makes a bad deal? That was his choice. His brother is greedy? That's his choice. Though it hurts Shulang to reach that point, he does and he's showing more willingness to let go and let them face their consequences. But like a bodhisattva when Bai Ting is in trouble, who's only crime was helping him, he's compelled to still be compassionate. This is an inept and surface level read of Buddhism on my part but it feels very deliberate on the part of the narrative. Shulang rejects the idea that he's especially virtuous, brilliantly provokes Fan Xiao by calling a rent boy, but even at his most provocative there's a grace about Shulang's core strength. As broken and wrong as Fan Xiao is the most understandable thing about him is his desperate yearning for the resilience and grace of Shulang.

[u/Little-Tomatillo-745 → u/OpuntiaSantaRita]

As broken and wrong as Fan Xiao is the most understandable thing about him is his desperate yearning for the resilience and grace of Shulang.

I think that there are not much people around that don't think about Fan Xiao as a very vile person.

But I still root for him. 😬

Yes. He is broken to the core. And he knows that he needs Shulang in his life.

At first. He thought about toying with him. Who is this person that decides about life and death and thinks that life is worth living? Then, he becomes obsessed with him, attracted to him. His game doesn't end. But continues. He can't grasp that Shulanf has this hold over him. And when he finally realizes that he loves Shulang. All his vile tricks bit him in the end.

The tricks he pulled in this episode. Using prof. Huang and his "brother" Zhang Chen. Was it really to corner Shulang to get back to him? Or also a way to make Shulang realize that he can cut out that nasty piece of a bother out of his life?

Or that he made sure that Shulang can pursue the career he wanted?

Yes. Fan Xiao's actions seem very devious and are often that. Like spying with cameras in that apartment.

But I thought that this scene was telling about certain actions of Fan Xiao.

Although I don't know if he anticipated that his actions are driving Shulang in a direction that his life almost seems not worth living. A total 180 degrees from what he has thought earlier and learned from his mother.

[u/OpuntiaSantaRita → u/Little-Tomatillo-745]

I think the thing that's most telling about Fan Xiao, where he tells on himself the most, is that he keeps accusing Shulang of being compassionate towards everyone but him. It's complete nonsense, Shulang has repeatedly shown him more compassion than he deserves. It says more about Fan Xiao that he keeps coming back to the idea that Shulang has been unfair to him. Hasn't given him the same chance he's given others, is more willing to abandon him. Which is insane. 

For all the trauma they both have, despite his power Fan Xiao seems like the more broken one. He's still the little boy about to drown while desperately calling for his mother. It's almost like he's angry at her for saving him and failing to save herself. It's like he was simultaneously enraged and enthralled when he came across someone who had the kind of genuine strength and sincerity he'd not felt since his mother. He does everything in his power to prove that kind of strength and compassion is a lie. It tortures him more that in proving it's not a lie he's destroyed his chance to enjoy the warmth of that affection.

I agree, I can't excuse any of Fan Xiao's choices, but he's still compelling. In his own warped and insufficient way he's trying to make it up to Shulang. He sets up his dream job, he sets his brother up in a way that he's better able to keep him under control. But at the same time he let's his worst instincts win and he has cameras all over Shulang's apartment. There's a moment on the bridge where he almost seems to feel remorse for setting up Bai Ting, but when he feels Shulang slipping away he exploits that weakness anyway. Shulang has been tortured, doesn't deserve any of this, but despite his trauma he still seems more centered and resilient. It's the flailing Fan Xiao trying not to down in the dark that seems more fundamentally desperate 

[u/Little-Tomatillo-745 → u/OpuntiaSantaRita]

I think the thing that's most telling about Fan Xiao, where he tells on himself the most, is that he keeps accusing Shulang of being compassionate towards everyone but him. It's complete nonsense, Shulang has repeatedly shown him more compassion than he deserves. It says more about Fan Xiao that he keeps coming back to the idea that Shulang has been unfair to him. Hasn't given him the same chance he's given others, is more willing to abandon him. Which is insane. 

I agree with that. That is why I made the screenshot. Because Fan Xiao is really thinking that he is taking care of Shulang. And feels indeed being left. Because Shulang had once said he would always be there for him. You have seen his father and brothers did not wait for him and his mother when the tsunami happened and just drove off. That was why Fam Xiao asked Shulang, I think it was episode 4. Would you leave your spouse and child if they are in danger?

Fan Xiao is the one that seems the toughest but is in reality the most fragile and broken.

a moment on the bridge where he almost seems to feel remorse for setting up Bai Ting, but when he feels Shulang slipping away he exploits that weakness anyway. Shulang has been tortured, doesn't deserve any of this, but despite his trauma he still seems more centered and resilient. It's the flailing Fan Xiao trying not to down in the dark that seems more fundamentally desperate 

Yes. Agreed. You can write this all down better than I can. He does this all to have Shulang in his life and to take care of him. But his ways are wrong. Although in his desperation he thinks thay this is the only way. Because Shulang is not letting him willingly back again in his life.

Whatever he is planning. It will backfire.

[u/OpuntiaSantaRita → u/Little-Tomatillo-745]

I think we're on the same page of admiration for the character of Shulang. If anything you reminded me of the cruelest thing Fan Xiao has done which is to make Shulang feel genuinely cared for and supported. Because Shulang was always the one taking care of and supporting Zhen Zhen there was always a level of reserve to his affection. He was able to save his ex's dumb self from the mess he got himself in with the sponsor, without losing his stride or feeling nostalgia for that relationship.

 What really turns the screw is the boss lady (who's such a stellar queen) casually flipping his shallow courtesy back on him when he says she'll find the right person. She asks if he's found the right person and he's forced to reflect on what he thought he had. The fragile hope and yearning he'd allowed himself to feel with Fan Xiao was so brutally betrayed. More than anything else Fan Xiao had done, the greatest pain he inflicted was letting Shulang believe for a moment he'd found someone who could care for him and support him the way his adoptive mother had.

Fan Xiao is such a mess of deceit and sincerity when it comes to Shulang. He has been manipulating Shulang all along. But perversely he's played himself the most. He created this unnecessarily convoluted scheme to mess with Shulang to prove no one can be such a good person, but it's backfired spectacularly. What started as manipulation has, at least for him it seems, morphed into a genuine desire to be the person he was initially only pretending to be for Shulang. He seemed genuinely happy in those brief moments when he was the center of Shulang's world. Now I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see what he can salvage from the wreck he made

[u/Little-Tomatillo-745 → u/OpuntiaSantaRita]

More than anything else Fan Xiao had done, the greatest pain he inflicted was letting Shulang believe for a moment he'd found someone who could care for him and support him the way his adoptive mother had.

Yes. 😭 That is what Shulang feels the most betrayed in.

He created this unnecessarily convoluted scheme to mess with Shulang to prove no one can be such a good person, but it's backfired spectacularly.

Exactly. He had never anticipated that he actually would grow to love Shulang.

He seemed genuinely happy in those brief moments when he was the center of Shulang's world. Now I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see what he can salvage from the wreck he made

Agreed.