Now that I’ve finished up the “Bridon Arc”, I though I should say a few words on it. Because, you know, it was rather good. But the whole Link Click thing is confusing, without even getting into the plot (which is certainly also confusing). I’ve read so many conflicting things:

• This was Season 3, and Season 4 has been greenlit and is the final season.
• This was Season 3, and Season 4 has been greenlit and is not the final season.
• This wasn’t a “season” but Season 3 has been greenlit and is the final season.
• This wasn’t a “season” but Season 3 has been greenlit and is not the final season.
• A new season (3 or 4) has been greenlit, and confirmed for 24 episodes.
• No new season has been greenlit.

I don’t know what Yingdu Pian was – a season, an ONA – and I don’t know whether another one is going to happen. I suspect it will, because whatever this was it asked way more questions than it answered. But I do know that I liked it. I loved the first season, and found the second to be a major disappointment. This was squarely in the middle. To an extent it got back to what makes Shiguang Dailiren great, which is watching Lu Guong and Cheng Xiaoshi interact and the telling of impactful human stories. There was still too much obsessive plottiness for my taste, but it all felt more genuine than the ponderous and self-important S2 did.

I’m not going to start really digging into all the Byzantine plot implications or we’ll be here till S3 (or 4) comes out. But I liked getting an origin story for these two (and Qiao Ling of course). The “Bridon” (apparently for some bizarre reason a donghua is not allowed to call London by its real name) setting was pretty interesting, and supporting characters like Vein (LOL) and Felix were generally engaging. But this seasONA sure didn’t clear anything up. Cheng’s mom seems to have a similar ability to Lu, and both of them are trying to tweak the future by manipulating the past. She to save Cheng’s father (or so she says), and he… Well, he says this is his “last chance”.

What’s also apparent is that both Mom and Lu Guong have an extra power, to manipulate people’s bodies externally, which is how she killed Vein (and why he isn’t dead is its own mystery). To me that implies that Cheng too could have additional powers he (and we) don’t know about. But those are all questions to be asked in Season TheeFour, assuming it happens. And much more so now than after S2, I certainly hope this series isn’t done. Bridon Arc didn’t bring us all the way back, but it was a reminder of why I loved Link Click so much in the first place. I’m certainly not comfortable predicting a theoretical new season would restore its full greatness, but at least now I can feel hopeful about it.