Episode 35, the "Dream" and Fengyin feelings

I thought I will create a thread to back track my analysis in this episode and my personal thoughts about Feng Yin's feelings in the overall. 

First time I've watched it, I really love that dream on my end because it gives me the scenes I want to see.

The second time I've seen the dream by watching episode 35 again, I had a deeper insight to that "dream".... Hear me out

I honestly felt like what happened in that dream was REAL. Yes, it's a dream but everything that happened in that dream was controlled by their actions, they are conscious in their dream.

To me I believe that dream happened is because it is a strong reflection to Feng Yin's feelings for Yuanqi after she learned the whole truth from Hong Chou(she finally said something that doesn't piss me off!).

Before all this, what FengYin was disappointed in Yuan Qi was due to that misunderstanding that she formed on him where she thought that her life significance and status as A-Yin being the water divine beast is not in equal status to him as True God, and she misunderstood Yuanqi being the same as his aunt Hong Chou for caring about this whole status hierarchy.... It doesn't help when Aunt Hong Chou was there to cause more unnecessary misunderstanding to build on her insecurities as A-Yin.

So when she returned as the Phoenix Queen, Feng Yin, which everyone looks up to, she thought Yuanqi pursue and love her again is because her identity now is more of closer to equal status to him, BUT she was wrong.

When that dream happened, it was a reflection to her strong feelings of regret that she wanted to go back to those happy times in Daze mountain days, before all this misunderstanding occurred.

It was also Yuanqi way of fixing his mistakes as well to make things right. What he said are things that happened in the present time, e.g. how he found out the truth that it was Fengyin who helped him back then and not Bitch Huashu.

I actually love how that dream was shown because I felt sorry for Yuanqi since he never properly gets to celebrate his birthday with his parents before all this

So when A-Yin said "Happy Birthday" to him in her dream, it was her way of fixing her regret because in reality when it was Yuanqi's birthday she didn't wish him a happy birthday and she was still pretty cold towards him back then too ... So I love how she said that in her dream and how she told Yuanqi that she want to always be there with him to celebrate his birthday every year. That was so touching moment for me personally, as this makes up for one of her regrets which gets manifested into her dream when she said that to him, after she fully open her heart to him again. This is how she really feels. The side to her that is only shown when she's with Yuanqi, her fear of losing him(when he went missing for a while), and her wish that she wants to always be there with him to create those beautiful memories together.

Yuanqi doesn't need a grand celebration (like what Hua Shu prepared for him), all he wanted was to celebrate his birthday with those he loves, even if it's something simple like what we saw in that dream.

I'm happy at that scene because what A-Yin said to Yuanqi is what I want her to say to him. On his birthday he didn't need to feel alone anymore, because she will always be by his side to celebrate it with him. That was such a meaningful thing to say(since I felt sad for him prior to all this).

There's also a lot of parallel that I love in this drama as well, and the writers really did a good job in displaying this to the viewers, some of them includes how Yuanqi wished A-Yin a happy birthday back then, and now, 1000 years later she did the same for him. Sure she wasn't able to say this to him on his birthday in reality, but that was her regret that got manifested into her own dream where she can fix that on her end.

This really works out well for Yuanqi too because he can also use this moment to fix his regret where he wasn't able to back then, he really wanted to tell A-Yin back then that he loved her, but he never got the chance to which his strong feelings of regret was manifested into his own dream back then(ep 26) when A-Yin was gone. In his dream he told her that he loved her and wanted to marry her and he will never let her go again but at that time A-Yin is "dead". That was his biggest regret, not being able to tell her his true feelings before it was too late.

So that dream that happened in episode 35 was a nice closure to fix their regrets for each other. It is nice that they both can go back to those days, when they fell in love with each other, not having to care about their status or identities as True God Yuanqi and Phoenix Queen Feng Yin because that is when they both came to love each other out of pure sincere love and nothing to do with their status and identities respectively.

Despite it being a dream but they are both conscious in their actions, so this makes their dream and actions real. Yuanqi can also have this chance to confess his true feelings to A-Yin, how he really feel about her, like he always wanted to on his end, telling her that the person he truly love back then and now has always been A-Yin.

From A-Yin perspective I get why she is like that at first towards Yuanqi, when she returned as Fengyin. It isn't without reason from her perspective (although yeah I feel sorry for Yuanqi too, when she was being cold towards him )

BUT from her perspective, it was also explained and touched on in the story at the beginning when Fengyin first hatched from the Phoenix egg, in the beginning she was questioning why the immortal ladies always find ways to marry into an upperclass immortal because she didn't understand why they would want to.

She also said to her master FengYuan that her marriage is something she wanted to decide for herself and it shouldn't be something for political gain etc. Since Hong Ruo came and wanted to marry his nephew Hongyi to Fengyin.

Fengyin already expressed a strong dislike when she came back about the whole status hierarchy because she didn't like how the lower class is looked down upon since she once experienced that as A-Yin and was hurt deeply from it because no matter how much she loved Yuanqi, she misunderstood and formed the conclusion that he's the same as his Aunt Hongchou how he will care about hierarchy as well. She formed this misunderstanding when Yuanqi broke the affection ties so all this time this was the reason why she didn't truly open up to him again because of this misunderstanding.

She even said it to herself in question, if it is because she's now Fengyin, that is a Demi god , that Yuanqi pursue her again.

What I want to say is that from Fengyin perspective, her misunderstanding isn't without a reason, she once open her heart and used her whole heart to love Yuanqi but was hurt in the process of what happened back then. We can really blame Hongchou for the most part as well (to me both Fengyin and Yuanqi are victims to the outcome that happened in episode 25)

That is why despite she slowly open up to Yuanqi again before she knew about all this, a part of her cannot completely open up to him because she misunderstood Yuanqi that he can only accept her now is because she is a Demi God, one that everyone looks up to in the three realm.

Yes she is wrong here, because from Yuanqi's perspective, it isn't because A-Yin have become FengYin with a high status that Yuanqi love and pursue FengYin again, but it is because FengYin is A-Yin, they are the same person to Yuanqi, and his love for A-Yin did not start off because of his gratitude that she saved him back then, but it was because his feelings for her developed through their time together when he was Gujin and she is A-Yin. Thats what he told her in her dream, and that is the truth. I honestly think deep down, this is the answer that Fengyin wanted to hear from Yuanqi, because her moments when she was A-Yin is what developed her into the Fengyin that we got 1000 years later. They are the same person.

When Hong Chou revealed the whole truth to Fengyin that Yuanqi have always loved her as the water divine beast, he never thought of giving up on her etc etc and he will go as far as giving up his True God title for her, that was the final doubt being cleared that she needed for her to fully open up to Yuanqi again. She already have been softening up to Yuanqi before all this but not completely open up to him because there's this one final doubt she have for him. But that is all cleared when Hong Chou revealed the whole truth to her and that she have misunderstood him all along. Yuanqi have always loved her as A-Yin.

From Fengyin perspectives I really don't blame her because she believed in Yuanqi back then that he isn't like Hong Chou, he's not the person to care about the whole hierarchy. We know from Yuanqi perspective that he isn't someone who devalue the significant of a low immortal because Yuanqi is not that type of person, but when he said all that to her and break the affection ties back then, we know why he did it. It hurts for fans back then when he did it so of course this hurts for Fengyin too. So what I wanted to say is that it isn't without reason why Fengyin cannot open her heart to him right away or took a while to open her heart to him again , not until what Hongchou finally revealed the truth because all this time, what she minded the most and hurt her the most to fully accept him again was that she misunderstood Yuanqi for being someone who didn't care for her life, significance as A-Yin due to this unequal hierarchy status.

In that scene from viewers pov I felt for both of them and I hated Hongchou so much...So this is why I love that dream and what was shown in that episode because it took them back to their happy moments as A-Yin and Gu Jin to fix their regrets. It is a closure they both needed to move forward with their love.

Great analysis. I'll have to reread this to give it a more thoughtful reply! But I wanted to tell you that everything in the post was how I thought those scenes played out too.

We must start a thread where you, @alexsopretty and I could put all the parallels we've been talking about in one place, so we could show how cleverly planned the scenes were in this drama in mirroring each other!

Later! (Got to go work)

But Feng Yon’s subconscious wanted him back. Yuan Qi told her she invited him into her dream or he wouldn’t have joined her.  Yes, we are happily into this drama still haha  ? I have so many other thoughts about all the characters. 

 KiKo Tsukino:

To me I believe that dream happened is because it is a strong reflection to Feng Yin's feelings for Yuanqi after she learned the whole truth from Hong Chou(she finally said something that doesn't piss me off!).

The plot script was changed a lot and very different from the original novel. 

In the novel Feng Yin only learned about what Yuan Qi had done for her and others of Daze Sect after his soul was dispersed (meaning completely died). She was still cold and angry at him at that last meeting. This dream happened right after she came to God realm to meet Shang Gu and asked her save/resurrect Yuan Qi. She suffered terrible thunderstorm to reach to God Realm and got serious injury. 

Feng Yin thought Shang Gu with her supreme power was the last chance to bring Yuan Qi back.  But Shang Gu told her that she could not. She gave Feng Yin a lamp. Then the dream happened. In the dream, YQ and she was back to the forbidden forest of Daze Mountain. He grilled fish for her, took care of her and they came to the mortal city for the first full moon festival. YQ bought the a pair of phoenix hangers. At the end of the day, he confessed to her, asked her to marry him and called her as Feng Yin instead of A Yin (told her that he mistook Hua Shuo and Feng Yin had helped him in Phoenix island). This dream reflected what both of them wanted to tell each other. And in fact YQ still managed to "influence and come into her dream" since a piece of his soul was embedded in the phoenix jade. Their life and fate interwined. As long as she was alive, he would not "die" completely. 

Moreover, the drama focused too much on "Love" factor. Yuan Qi in the novel awared of his responsibility. He sacrificed the last piece of soul together with his sword to repair the lock and seal the ghost realm. He didn't say he did it because he wanted to protect the world there was his lover. After killing Qin Lin, he said now it was his turn to fullfil the responsibility that he was born for. He was God with Chaos Power like his mother (his father trained himself to obtain chaos power to protect the world instead of his mother). They were born to protect the world and all of creatures. So, I found the drama devalued YQ making him like just love pursuer. 

 KiKo Tsukino:

If I am going to be honest, what you have just said there actually made me appreciate some of the changes done to the drama better because I like how it was portrayed like this better in the drama as I find them as an appeal to me to show Yuanqi strong feelings for Fengyin and especially his last words to Mingqi in the drama before he decide to sacrifice his "Original being".

This is very much depend on the personal opinion. For example ,as mentioned in the analysis Shen Yin Douban 6.2, the author said that TLI plot was typical xianxia story. And the author gave example of Lost you forever that plot dealed not only love but other factors such as responsibility, righteousness etc. 

You also see many negative comments in the comment section about Yuan Qi, saying him dumb lover, what sort of god he was etc. 

Although Ancient Love Poetry was about Bai Jue and Shang Gu's love, they had never forgotten their responsibility and they did their best to fullfil their responsibility and protect their loved one. 

The Last Immortal did not do justice to YQ in term of his business side, the only true god in three realms. There are many reasons why the plot changed to that female centric direction and focusing more on romance aspect. There are pros and cons with such choice. And the cons is weakening the God image in term of aura, power and impact. In general, there are many points that could have been done better. There are room for improvement. 

No, I like the romance. As a writer, I would just change certain dialogue to make the scenes more cohesive and the characters stronger. I like the way the drama changed the ending a bit. I did not like the aspect in the book where FY didn't know until after YQ sacrificed himself. That would lose a lot of the emotional weight of this couple. What I would have done in earlier scenes would be very early in the drama to have Dong Hua talk about the Power of Chaos to the two Elders, who would later explain this to the young Ah Yin. There are other ways to do this, of course. There shouldn't have been so many magic hand-waving of explanation through "time/space travel" like they showed in that episode where they and Hong Yi were flying around looking at the past. Added to the dream sequences, it made the drama very "telling" instead of "showing."

@H19279 , like I said in my previous reply, which I won't go into it again. 

What may not appeal to you actually appeals to me. So this is telling me we definitely share different preferences here. 

I will however elaborate on my feelings in the overall, I am with @TaliaToo in that sense that I also Iike the way the drama changed about how Fengyin knew about all this before Yuanqi sacrificed himself. I did not like the aspect in the book where Fengyin didn't know until after Yuanqi sacrificed himself. Since that is just going the cliche xianxia route where the FL realized everything too late. When you go that route like the novel, this not only hurt the ML, us(the viewers) but the FL too because she ultimately will regret her actions when she found out the whole truth later because she did not value the ML to the point she even  treated him coldly. Why have angst to build on more angst. The pairing we came to love at least should get their happy moments first without more regrets IF he have to sacrifice himself....

What this drama TLI focuses on the most is NOT only about romance BUT it is also REGRETS too, and that dream that happened in the drama actually provided a much more stronger impact (at least for me), IN THE DRAMA because they both were able to fix their regrets before it was too late. Fix their regrets meaning the drama handled it in a way that it provided a closure that allowed them to fix all their past regrets and move forward with their relationship, before the ML have to go the sacrificing route. I love that sense that they are more of the 'in this together' rather than the ML have to suffer silently and the FL is being kept in the dark and later found out but is too late....

In the novel you mentioned that the dream didn't happen until after Yuanqi sacrificed himself, so in reality he's no longer physically there, and before all that, when Yuanqi is still physically there with her "alive", she was still very cold towards him and keeping her distance. Okay, in the novel they were able to have that dream, but what comes out of it didn't change the fact that she still regretted those actions and weren't able to fix her regrets completely since in reality when he was still there, she regretted those times when she was being so cold towards him before he's gone. It didn't solve the whole issue of "not being able to cherish the person you love until it was too late" that still holds true in the novel unlike the how the drama handled it. This is why I love the drama change in direction better. I LOVE that the drama didn't waste any time and moments and made that dream more impactful for the viewers and didn't go the "not being able to cherish the ML and FL being cold towards the ML and regretted if afterwards when it was too late". I love that they have a closure in that dream and fix their regrets and FL learn to cherish him (misunderstanding cleared) before Yuanqi sacrificed himself. Which this didn't happen in the novel since Fengyin was cold towards Yuanqi to the end and realized it too late, too much angst and drama and maybe a bit overly done as I personally rather the route of... "Spending the remaining moments together in happiness instead of giving the ML the cold shoulder which leads to her strong regrets later when she found out"..

So this is why I love that the drama changed it and have Fengyin realized all this before Yuanqi sacrifice himself. Whether you like it or not, Yuanqi(to me) actually played a role to minimize those regrets for Fengyin, by showing his pursuance towards her despite, yes, she was still being cold towards him but I loved how Yuanqi stayed positive and didn't give up on their relationship(instead of going the other direction and suffer silently which in the end will add to even more regrets to the both of them when he's gone).

For someone who has experienced regrets through his life, I do believe deep down, Yuan Qi is subconsciously impacted by his father's decision and wish he didn't have to go that direction to make them(YQ and SG) hate him(BJ), because that left them with regrets when they found out the whole truth but is too late to go back to fix those regrets because they didn't know BJ real intentions and how much BJ loved them until it was too late... This doesn't serve anything but more regrets and hurt for them when they realized the whole truth.

I am not saying this to devalue  Baijue actions because from his actions, I understood why he have to do all that and I honestly love BOTH Bai Jue and Yuanqi here, they both will do anything to protect the woman they love but have taken different paths to achieve it. BUT if I have to be honest here and if I have to choose here, although I understand BJ intentions were good, but I have to agree with Yuanqi decisions and what he's showing me, since I rather see some happy moments which leaves them happy memories without any regrets IF he have to "die".

I am aware that some may love the novel better because that is their preference and what appeals to them and while I may not feel that way in The Last Immortal from the sounds of what I'm hearing about the novel, BUT I do have my fair shares on the other drama adaptation side of things where the drama ruined my favourite novel and character portrayal and wish they didn't go that path as I love the Novel better.

Yuanqi in the drama is not all about a love pursuer to me, he's someone who also didn't want to leave those regrets for those he loves when he's gone (the opposite direction of his father here), he know what it is like as he have experienced it himself and the drama did showcase it in a different sense where Yuanqi wanted to stay by the FL side and minimize those regrets for her and build on even more happier memories for her to look back to before it was too late. The drama may not have kept 100% to his novel character, but the core of his character where his past experiences in the novel shaped him to who he is in the drama still holds true to his character IMO.

He's still True God Yuanqi to me, but a True God where it is not all about responsibility first and love second, BUT someone who holds love to an equal importance as his responsibility as a True God. If he's someone who focuses on the importance of the three realms and hurt the woman he loves then I wouldn't have come to love Drama Yuanqi like I did in the end. True God can still be True God with their responsibilities but they deserve to be carefree and happy too otherwise it is just too much burden on their shoulders and it is tired for us viewers to see the character we love carrying so much weight and burden which leads to endless suffering just because they care more about responsibilities and the True God "Image"... In the end, nothing can change my feelings for DRAMA Yuanqi and this is how I see it and you are free to disagree since we all have different preferences on what appeals to us and I can tell from your reply you like the novel of his character better. 

It’s all good because the three of us ate here having giving our different takes and insights of this excellent drama! Thank you for both your thoughtful responses. I feel so happy to be able to join in this conversation!