April 26, 2020

Novoland: The Castle in the Sky - Time Reversal | Summary and Review

This is a special of the Novoland: The Castle in the Sky series
Notable Actors/Actresses
Chai Ge: Feng Ren / Nan Feng
Zhong Dan Ni: Fang Qi Wu / Hong Luan
Wang Yu Wen: Fang Qi Wu
Chinese Title
九州天空城之时光回转
GenresQihuanRomance
NetworkTencent Video
Year2020
Episodes: 1

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Summary


This is a spoiler summary. Read if you want to know the entirety of the special. It starts off with the princess of the human tribe, Fang Qi Wu (Wang Yu Wen) who's trying to protect her castle from Feng Ren (winged tribe). He's waged war against them. FQW is losing the war. She takes it upon herself to travel back in time to possess Nan Yin Men (Feng Ren's fiancé) to kill Feng Ren before this war has a chance to start. She has ten days before the time reversal reverses. 

When Fang Qi Wu wakes up, she's in a new body: Hong Luan (Zhang Dan Ni) rather than Nan Yin Men. Hong Luan is the fiancé of Feng Qi who is Feng Ren's older brother. Nan Feng is her guard but he's actually Feng Ren in disguise. His motive is to approach Hong Luan to kill his brother Feng Qi to avenge for his mother. Meanwhile she still has a plan to kills Feng Ren, she just needs to find him.
Within ten days, Hong Luan and Nan Feng have fallen deeply in love. They both seem to have completely forgotten about their revenge plans. She plays him a piece she adores which was composed by Feng Ren. Even though he's the source of all her problems, she can't deny his music was a masterpiece. Nan Feng decides to name it "Yin Meng" which translates to "Because of a dream". After hearing the title, Hong Luan (Fang Qi Wu) is devastated. She realizes Nan Feng is actually Feng Ren because "Yin Meng" is the real name of the piece. But she's learned the truth too late, she has already fallen irrevocably in love with him. She dies protecting him on the tenth day.
Fang Qi Wu tearfully tells him with her last breath: This all began as a dream then let it end as a dream. These ten days, pretend it was dream. Listen (to the trickling sound of water) - she reaches her hand to the sky and he follows suit-
The "time reversal" is over.

Hong Luan, the real Hong Luan, wakes up from her injuries. She has memories of her time with Feng Ren but she denies that it was her. She tells Feng Ren she never liked playing Qin. The one who Feng Ren loved was Fang Qi Wu but he never knew that. The only physical proof of her existence was the music piece they created: "Yin Meng". He longed for her so much, he married her. To everyone, his wife is "Nan Yin Meng" but no one has physically seen her. Her name is derived from the music they created but "Yin" for her name means "Sound". Yin Meng therefore translates to "Sound of Dream". 

Fang Qi Wu is back in her body. She realizes "Nan Yin Meng" is Feng Ren's way of longing for her. She runs to the war scene and we learn why the war began. Fang Qi Wu had accidentally set fire to his beloved castle "Nan Meng" which is named after his wife. Her. FQW is a music lover, she sneaked into his library to find the music score for "Yin Meng". Because of that fire, this war began. Because of the war, their fate began. They were fated to be but destiny was against them. Feng Ren (who now has streaks of grey in his hair) kills Fang Qi Wu because she had burned down his only memories of Nan Yin Meng. It's all too late when Feng Ren recognizes the completed music score, the scar above her eye and the fluttering of her eyelids.
Fang Qi Wu: Did you forget what you promised me? (To not kill the human tribe)
Feng Ren desperately cries: You're Yin Meng, aren't you?
Fang Qi Wu cries and reaches for the sound that only they can hear.
Feng Ren follows suit. 
The last day of her life is the day they reunited. Or is it? Although Fang Qi Wu died, the sounds she taught him to hear is forever surrounding him. A rhetorical question was asked of what Feng Tian Yi (Season One's lead) thinks of his aunt.
Feng Tian Yi (child): She must be present.
Feng Ren: Then where is she?
Feng Tian Yi ponders: In your past life...or your future life. Just not here, not in front of your eyes. And then qin starts playing in the background
The end. 

Remarks


[The Story] This is Feng Ren's love story. He's is the uncle of Feng Tian Yi (season one) and therefore the great-uncle of Feng Ru Che (season two). 

[Relationship to Second Season] There’s not much of a direct relationship with the characters. Essentially I had to wipe out my memories between the actors and the characters of these two projects. There is zero relation whatsoever. For example, Wang Yu Wen who was Feng Ru Che is now Fang Qi Wu. She was the Queen of Winged tribe and here she’s the Princess of the Human tribe. Chai Ge was a Fang descendant and here he’s Feng Ren. In short, a Feng became a Fang, and a Fang became a Feng.

Is there perhaps a reincarnation of Fang Qi Wu and Feng Ren depicted in Season Two? I doubt it. Feng Ren is Feng Ru Che’s great uncle. He did make a brief appearance in Episode 21 to motivate her. I cannot wrap my brain around having an uncle reincarnate himself in the body of his niece to find love again. If that floats your boat, by all means ride it all the way. It does, however, require a reincarnation of Fang Qi Wu in Fang Wu Yi. I actually don't quite understand the time frame of these two Fang's. In Season Two, Fang Wu Yi is the great grandfather of  Fang Qi Mo (Chai Ge's character) so he's technically one generation above Feng Ren which makes him older than Fang Qi Wu. I don't think you can reincarnate in someone who is already living and older. Correct me if I'm wrong (on the timeline). I also don't quite understand how the Fang family continued their bloodline because Fang Qi Wu is the last of their line and she dies before leaving any lineage. But that's another conversation.

So is there any relation between the two projects? I racked my brain for this and I think there is one. Feng Ren and Fang Qi Wu were fated but not destined. It’s as if the gods took pity on the Feng and Fang ancestry line and made Feng Ru Che and Fang Wu Yi (Xue Jing Kong) destined to love each other despite being ill-fated. The drama never explained why FRC could always remember FWY when his spells always worked on others. The drama also never explained how he could come back to life twice from saving her. However ill-fated they were, destiny always weaved them together. It’s almost as if their happy ending was built at the expense of Feng Ren and Fang Qi Wu’s tragedy. To me, this special makes FRC and FWY’s love that much more precious (because of the sacrifices). Simultaneously, it makes FR and FQW’s love that much more tragic.

[Review] It's movie-esque. Beautifully melancholic. I had the chance to catch this on my phone with my earphones and the sound was spectacular. Loved the trickling sound of water. Maybe I should invest in high quality speakers... Sound was an important component of this special. Literally and metaphorically. Feng Ren learned to love the sound of nature and music through Fang Qi Wu. It’s through sound he found solace to his loneliness without her. Sound is so focal to their relationship he names her “Nan Yin Meng”, the sound of dream. Like sound, Fang Qi Wu existed, but like sound, she never truly existed. She surrounded him with music, just not with herself. But because she represents sound, even if she's not there she will always surround him. It’s beautifully sad.

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