SEQALU: Formosa 1867 (aka Lady the Butterfly), Karisi Flowers (傀儡花) (Spoiler Alert)

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I saw episode two last night. I think it was a even stronger episode than the first one. Fabio, @Toe_Save, and Zhou Houan, the actor who plays William Pickering are all amazing. I think the guy playing the English speaking general was excellent as well.

I only have a couple of plot grips. The first, and the more serious one to me is Thia̍p-moi’s reaction to hearing about her father’s death. I get that she was happy to see her brother survive the ordeal, but telling him to forget about the father’s death, as long as you are here all is well, while showing almost no sadness at all, just takes me out of it a little. Even if we chalk it up to shock or denial at that moment, she doesn’t show any emotional reaction afterwards either.

Unless she and her father weren’t close at all, there should have been some reaction from Thia̍p-moi. From the first episode, my impression is that their father is all about doing whatever it takes for the family. I think it would been better if she sheds some serious tears and then still tell her brother all that matters is that he is here with her.

The second is just a minor grip. Towards the end of the episode, Dr. Manson has a long monologue, telling Thia̍p-moi about the character of Charles Le Gendre. I just didn’t get a feeling that Dr. Manson and Le Gendre knew each other that well for Dr. Manson to give such a heartfelt speech about Le Gendre and giving a deep and profound analysis of Le Gendre’s character. I guess maybe Le Gendre really is a famous war hero that Dr. Manson admired even before meeting him?

Lastly, the part where Le Gendre just ran into Thia̍p-moi to ask for the whereabouts of William Pickering is also a bit abrupt. I would prefer seeing him flounder a bit more, asking more people, before Thia̍p-moi decides to answer him. Although, that one might just be due to saving some screen time for other scenes.

I did get my Holo bringing gifts to the leaders of Seqalu for the upcoming Maleveq festival bit, which I suggested after watching the first episode. I love Chief Tauketok’s response to Tsuí-á and other Han Chinese factions asking to rent Thóng-niá-poo. “Just let them wait until the Europeans show up, then they would have to help us.” Awesome. I love Chief Tauketok already.

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An early appraisal from Brian Hioe:

Guy

Agree with all of those except the English actors are horrendous imho.

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The only one that took me out of the story a little was the US officer in Amoy who kept talking trash about Le Gendre’s Frenchness.

That’s a fairly negative review, and I don’t see how the author’s political view point has to do with whether or not the work is good or not, never mind which political party supports it. The work should stand on its own. If it gets overtly preachy about certain moral point of view, then it’s bad. If the morality is left for the audience to decide, then it’s better. Shows like Star Trek has tread both directions in different episodes spread over multiple series, and whether an episode is good or bad always depends on the execution, not the writer’s political leaning.

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The story is good, the filming looks great. The English speaking actors are absolutely awful.

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Hioe, as you may know, is a political commentator. He also comments on the arts as cultural politics.

But honestly seeing his twitter feed, other folks are even more negative about the series than Hioe, who at least tries to remain open about future episodes.

Guy

I actually think the guy playing Pickering does a great job.

Pickering is such an important character in Taiwan history, I’m glad Zhou Hou-an brought him to life so well.

Yes, awful.

I disagree. I thought he was as wooden as hell

I actually find the Thiap-moi actress very wooden so far, so in comparison the English speaking actors, all except one, are alright.

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Getting back to the history side, both Pickering and Le Gendre tried really hard to persuade their respective governments to annex Taiwan. In the case of Le Gendre, when the people back in Washington didn’t listen, he turned around to offer his services to the Japanese, which paved the way for the eventual Japanese annexation of Taiwan.

I just finished watching this video, which didn’t mention the US’ marines invading Seqalu at all. However, I think knowing what’s happening around Taiwan helps to understand some of the motives.

The Rover incident happened in 1867, and the US annexation of the Philippines in 1898 was merely 31 years later. Of course, by then Japan already annexed Taiwan in 1895, thanks in part to Le Gendre showing them the way, it’s pretty clear Teddy Roosevelt was so eager to annex the Philippines during the US-Spanish war as a response to Japan annexing Taiwan.

Had the Americans listened to Le Gendre, things would have been very different today. He was just 30 years too early.

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Added Spoiler Alert to the title of the thread

I have been following the thread but waiting to until I have a few episodes so I can binge watch.
I can see @hansioux is passionate about the drama but I realised he had given away a lot of the story before I got half way down his post. :rofl: :see_no_evil:

I jump back in when I have caught up (if I get a few hours free this weekend I may catch up).

Just to add, one of my favourite Paiwan words to look out for is “VuVu” which means Grandma or Grandpa and can also be used for grandson/granddaughter, but when its said it always has a warm feeling to it.

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Sorry about that. I felt the first 2 episodes are just setting up the scenes for the actual story ahead, so I didn’t use the spoiler tag. The only thing that is really worthy of a spoiler tag, I think, is mentioning the death of Thia̍p-moi’s father, however, the way the character reacted to that in the second episode make it seem like it wasn’t that big of a deal anyway…

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To be honest a lot of what you said probably didn’t make sense to people who haven’t seen it, but as my wife’s family come from around Mudan and i like stories, the Rover incident and surrounding events are something i find interesting.

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Interesting! This is not related to the Rover Incident, but to the later tragic Mudan Incident: very interesting attempts at reconciliation in those parts around a decade ago:

https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=18&post=24480

Guy

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There was the Formosa Expedition before this, and if you include the original attack that led to the rover incident, these where defiantly interesting times.

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oh but it is, because Le Gendre was leading the way for the Japanese

All these “incidents” in the 1860s and 1870s leading to significant change in Taiwan—pushing late Qing imperial administration to try to “modernize” Taiwan and finally leading to the Japanese colonial take-over in 1895, with the US eventually taking over the Philippines (and Guam) in 1898 . . .

Guy