WHY THIS SHOW
Justice Bao is a detective show of the 90’s, which – to broaden my horizon – I have decided to dive in a while ago (not the entire 200+ episodes, of course, not even close).
The show features the legendary prefect/judge Bao Zheng of the Song Dynasty. It is formulaic in format but rich in character; and there is certainly a decent amount of that 90’s charm.
WHY THIS CASE
With more than 200 episodes, Justice Bao features a variety of cases. As different as they are, these stories almost always end with justice winning the day. Hence, “Justice” Bao.
But “Butterfly Dream” is one of those rare cases where justice does not prevail. Here, the good people suffer because of both evil schemes and their own choices; the bad ones take advantage of loopholes to delay justice and to tie even Judge Bao’s hands; the weak ones facilitate the trainwreck; and the women pay the price. It is more of a critique of society at the time than a detective story.
Also, it’s one of the cases that makes you grit your teeth at Zhan Zhao. And trust me, making Zhan Zhao lose popularity is not an easy feat. ‘Cause, like, have you seen Zhan Zhao?
So here we are, Justice Bao: Butterfly Dream. 5 episodes in total.
SYNOPSIS
A woman suffers injustice at the hands of her husband and mother-in-law. She is later on given another chance at happiness when a war general appears in her life. Sounds too good to be true for this woman? Yep, it probably is.
Along the way, some people get killed. Hey, it’s still a case that requires Judge Bao to get involved, so it can’t be just about domestic issues.
EPISODE 1 RECAP
One night, in a village, people gather to hear a case of a household dispute.
A woman named Rou’er is accused of adultery and has been condemned to death. Her newborn son and mother-in-law are there too. According to the head of the village, her husband Yongjing, a physician, has never bullied her or done anything shameful, so how dare her cheat on him?
They might have a different definition of “bullying” from us, but I can totally believe that Rou’er’s husband is not the bullying type. One look at this guy and you can tell the worst he has ever done is probably staying up past his curfew. No, he’s not a bully, he is a weakling. Which, sometimes, can be ten times worse than a bully.
Rou’er refuses to plead guilty. She did not commit adultery and her husband knows it, we can tell from his reluctant expressions. but he does not speak up.
The village head decides on her punishment anyway. They’re going to tie her to a wooden door and drop her off a river.
That is… one huge door. They want to make sure she sinks, those douchebags…
Before submitting to her fate, Rou’er pulls out a handkerchief embroidered with a pair of mandarin ducks (probably a love token), tears it in half, and throws it back at her husband. That’s the most badass a woman could be in this time period.
So they drop her into a river.
On the way home from the riverbank, Yongjing runs into a man — the guy whom they believe was Rou’er’s lover. He has something to say to Yongjing.
That day, I just came to your wife’s room to meet the new baby, but your mom walked in on us. Yeah, it’s a misunderstanding.
Gee, thanks. You think you could have spoken up before Rou’er was thrown down the river?
That is not all there is to the story, though. Who is this man and why was he in the Shi house in the first place? We don’t know yet. But for now, his account proves that Rou’er is innocent.
Yongjing runs after the floating wooden door with Rou’er on it.
First, he jumps into the water FULLY CLOTHED. Then, he catches the door, but instead of untying Rou’er or calling for help, he takes the time to wrap one-half of the handkerchief around her wrist. You know… getting tied to a door sounds like a better deal than being this idiot’s wife.
Also, instead of pulling the door against the current in that terrible posture, you might try… getting to the other end and pushing it?
Now, the good part comes.
The wooden door gets pulled along, down a waterfall, and floats ashore in a different part of the river just when a war general and his soldiers pass by. He saves the Rou’er. Yes!
This general has fought in many battles and defended the country his whole life; hence, his title: Zhuguo (Pillar of the Country). Cool, isn’t it.
Seven years later, Yongjing and his clinic aren’t looking so hot. He has become a crazy drunkard who abuses his son.
One day, the head of the village comes to visit and slips out some info: apparently, there’s a woman who lives in the city of Kaifeng who looks just like Rou’er.
Yongjing doesn’t buy into it, but the son, Qing’er, runs away to see if that is his mother. He’s had enough of his dad’s embarrassing behaviors and would like to find his mom now.
Scene switching. In a park in Kaifeng, we meet three men – Judge Bao’s head bodyguard Zhan Zhao, General Zang that we saw earlier, and his close assistant.
We learn that not only General Zang is a great warrior, he is also unbeatable at soccer. He can use a soccer ball like a weapon too.
The men are busy showing off their skills when Qing’er stumbles by and passes out, just when the general’s wife arrives too. That’s right, the general’s wife!
Her name is Ligou now. And that’s the name we’re going to use for the rest of the recaps.
Zhan Zhao takes the kid back to his boss, Judge Bao (or Lord Bao), so they can figure out what to do.
Back to the happy couple. Oh, they are happy, all right. The general is a total dreamboat and he spoils Ligou with everything he has, and since he is on a long break from duty, Ligou is happier than ever.
Well, except that Ligou still wears that half-handkerchief on her wrist. Not because she misses her former husband, of course. Eww, no. It’s because she is unable to let go of the injustice she was subjected to.
When the general asks about her past, like he has a lot of time already, Ligou doesn’t want to disclose anything. So once again, he assures her that he doesn’t care. Darn it, that fabric will lead to disaster.
At Judge Bao’s residence, they have figured out quite a lot of things.
The boy Qing’er tells them he won’t go home until he finds his mother, and that his mother should have the other half of the handkerchief he has.
ZHAN ZHAO: Hey, I saw General Zhang’s wife wearing a piece of fabric that looks similar.
On one hand, don’t you just admire Zhan Zhao and his observant eyes? On the other, this is one of those times I expect you to be quiet about what you saw, Zhan Zhao. You’re rocking my ship here.
So the investigation begins. Though at this point, Lord Bao doesn’t care a whole lot because it is just a case of a child getting separated from his parents.
Qing’er becomes impatient, so he runs off to the Zang manor to look for the general’s wife one day. They meet and Ligou figures out the truth right there: it’s her son, and the dad has been an a**hole to him since the day he was born.
But in the middle of their conversation, General Zang walks in. The maid takes Qing’er away and Ligou tries to hide the shock. But the general demands to know why she is crying.
The truth is out, and General Zang takes it extremely well.
LIGOU: The kid is mine.
GENERAL: Awesome, your son is mine. We’re taking him.
LIGOU: But his father and grandmother might object.
GENERAL: You want the boy, we get the boy.
And you’d better believe General Zang would ask for an edict from the emperor to adopt Qing’er if he had to. At this point, even Ligou is like, is… er… is this man for real?
Besides the fact that General Zang likes to spoil Ligou, it’s also about him being used to getting his way, so it bugs him that there is something he can’t give Ligou. Not just love. Pride, too.
But things aren’t so simple. Ligou doesn’t want the general to meet her wimpy husband and his mom because of the shameful past — the accusation of adultery. Ligou tells the general that too. And the guy goes from holding Ligou to pushing her to the side like a reflex.
No matter how much he loves Ligou, that info dump was too much for him to handle. General Zang doesn’t talk to Ligou again for the rest of the day. Dinner? Skip.
He practices with his soccer balls until late at night. It’s a bad day for the balls too; he kicks them around and they hit the wooden poles in the training area so hard that the several poles break.
At one point, a ball hits Ligou! By accident, of course; but still, calm down, dude. Or at least practice in the park or something.