Legend of Zang Hai (2025) Episodes 21 - 28

Zang Hai has a really bad habit. Though intelligent and something of a polymath, he has a terrible tendency to take big risks unnecessarily. He’s done it more than once already. Although fatherless (a plausible explanation), he’s had male mentors. To be fair he is young. The show is certainly at pains to remind us that his entry into the political stage at this point hasn’t been ideal. It’s been a mammoth undertaking from the first and Zang Hai isn’t always as tempered as he should about making big moves. My feeling is that he’s often in a hurry. Urged on undoubtedly by his sense that he’s been handed the opportunity of a lifetime. And the fact that his enemies are well-resourced. It could well be the opportunist and artist in him — to make waves or big splashes as an expression of his seething inner rage.

In his defence perhaps it should also be said that Zang Hai suffers from an overabundance of survivors guilt, as do all who once stood helpless as they witnessed the deaths of loved ones. That’s why, I’m speculating, he’s thrown himself into firestorms often with reckless abandon. He should have died with all the others. But he didn’t. He’s been chosen as their avenger. Eliminating their killers has become his raison d’etre.

Episodes 23-28 documents the quick decline that is the household of Jinping. Moreover one gets the feeling that it has less to do with Zang Hai and much more to do with the Zhuang family’s brewing internal dysfunction. It’s true that Zang Hai has been instrumental in fanning the flames but there’s no denying that he was handed ample material to work with even when his back was up against the wall. The Zhuang tribe were not the harmonious huddle they presented to the world — beginning and ending with the patriarch himself Zhuang Luyin. If there was one thing that Zhuang Luyin prioritized above everything else it would be upholding the family’s name/ reputation by any means necessary. Even if it meant closing one eye to the fact that the mother of his second son was being poisoned slowly. Or looking the other way when his oldest son had left his grubby fingerprints all over allocated state funds. Or allow himself to descend to an ignominious end. Pride was at the root of the man’s evil corrupting everything he touched. Criminal activities like bribery, collusion and cronyism are merely symptoms of larger and deeper issues. One terrible choice after another corrupted his nobility as a courageous war hero. It never seems to occur to him the glaring irony of allowing family members to strike other family members — a tactic that comes back to bite him hard. His biography is a cautionary tale of ambition overriding principles. He is very much a man of his time and his actions reflect the modus operandi of his milieu.

With regards to Zhuang Zhixing, the marquise’ second son, Zang Hai observes that the lad is a monster that he (Zang Hai) created. With regard to Zhixing I am somewhat reminded of Albert de Morcerf of The Count of Monte Cristo fame and to a lesser extent, Benedetto. While Zang Hai might be making an obvious point on some level Zhixing is also his father’s son. That’s something he himself acknowledges. Given the opportunity to shine, acknowledgement from his father in more recent days touches something deep within. At the end of the day he is a son in search of recognition from his father. There are also story beats depicted in the Zhuang family that resemble the Villefort family with particular reference to Heloise’ attempt to poison everyone else so that her son Edouard will be the sole beneficiary of the family’s estate.

Before romance can blossom between Zang Hai and Antu, a very large obstacle gets in the way. This is where Zang Hai goes a bit wonky albeit temporarily thinking that Antu and her mother is somehow involved in the deaths of his family. Romance, I’ve come to realise, saves him from becoming completely consumed by revenge. It isn’t just that she helps him but as I’ve come to see, stopping him from going over the edge or into the dark side is actually part of her job in the narrative. Up to now she’s the boy who likes a girl and pulls her pigtails to get her attention. Yes, having feelings for Antu is a double-edged sword but in truth nobody wants him to end up a lonely old man so even Gao Ming must grudgingly let the chips fall where they may. If of course Zang Hai manages to survive his revenge.

The contrast to Zhang Luyin, a man with two sons, is Eunuch Cao — a man who can’t have any sons but surrounds himself with foster children who are glorified bodyguards and servants completely loyal to his cause. He is also attempting to consolidate his power with the weapon of mass destruction — the Gui seal which has a horrible history of bringing misfortune to anyone who wields it.

When the two big guns of the court face off… it’s a clash that ends in a blood bath.