Limitless ambition, limitless money, great cunning, and a complete lack of morals or ethics – Lu may be the most formidable villain in a cast full of them.

Well, Kingdom being pretty great is hardly a news flash at this point.  I must say, though, that was one of the handful of best episodes of the entire series.  That it was mostly centered around fringe and indeed entirely new characters is certainly notable.  But again, not really surprising.  This series has the ability to shuffle the deck constantly and always come up trumps.  It strikes the balance between history and fiction and between epic and personal just about perfectly.  It may not have many followers outside Japan, but that doesn’t diminish its intrinsic quality in the slightest.

“Spoilers” takes on a different meaning with historical drama of course, and I did have some foreknowledge of how the events of Tunliu were presumably going to play out.  Somehow that didn’t dilute the drama a bit, though.  This was just an intense, action-packed, and emotional ride from start to finish.  Cheng Jiao is at the heart of it of course, but the first action comes outside the city walls.  The Fei Xin Force and my man Bi’s army may be outnumbered, but quality easily trumps quantity in this case.  Xin’s boys take down the Zhao army who, with little personal stake in this, quickly turn tail and head back home.

That leaves Bi to handle the “rebel” forces from Tunliu, under the traitor general Long Yin.  Again it’s not the size of the army but how you use it, and Bi has had a chance to learn from some of the best.  This throws a considerable wrench in Pu He’s plans.  Long Yin was supposed to immediately flee to Zhao in “exile” bearing Bi’s head, there to be suitably rewarded by Lu Buwei.  But with no head he’s not going anywhere, which is inconvenient for Pu He to say the least.  His options are limited, with the plan being to surrender the city if the king’s army prevails, present Cheng Jiao’s head and take credit for putting down the rebellion.

Taking a city from a confused rabble of rebels is much less of a concern for Xin than what he now knows is his real job – rescuing Cheng Jiao, who’s actually the victim of a setup.  Diao knows exactly what Pu He is likely to do as soon as things turn sour, and there seems to be no way to find and rescue the king’s half-brother before he loses thirty pounds the hard way.  Cheng Jiao, however, has grown immensely since he was first introduced – and he was always shrewd.  He’s no doubt correct that Pu He intends to “reward” the men guarding him with execution to shut them up, and he certainly can offer an even bigger bribe than Pu He.

Cheng Jiao is persuasive, but being free from his cell doesn’t mean he’s home free.  He has to rescue Liu Yi for starters, and while the siege tower is still rolling he and his retinue end up having to fight their way to her.  His loyal retainer Shu Bai is killed defending him, and Cheng Jiao seriously wounded.  Eventually husband and wife are reunited but left with little option but to flee in the tunnels under the city, Cheng Jiao leaving behind a trail of blood.  I’m no doctor, but all that blood on the ground would seem to add up to an awful lot for one little guy like Cheng Jiao to lose.

Xin has certainly powered up – even Bi is stunned – and the Fei Xin force vastly outmatches Pu He’s “rebel” army.  But Cheng Jiao’s time is running out, and no matter how good he is with a poleaxe now Xin can’t make it stop.  It’s odd to see Cheng Jiao in this sort of heroic position now after how he entered the narrative fray. but he’s a really charismatic and tragic figure here – and his love story with Liu Yi is like something from a (tragic) storybook.  Even if things didn’t go exactly as Lu Buwei drew them up, it would seem he’s still accomplished a major goal – convince the world that Cheng Jiao has rebelled against his brother – and possibly taken out one of his main rivals besides.