The Epoch of Miyu EP 3 — Facing the bitter reality, Miyu longs for the carefree days of her past
It's not exactly my plan to write an entry each time I finish an episode of The Epoch of Miyu — I'm just doing it to pad out my time between episodes so that I don't binge-watch all the currently available episodes and end up having to wait for the remaining episodes to drop. Other than that, I just want to write something on episode 3, just because.
The episode starts off with Miyu convincing herself that the bond between her and Nie Yucheng can't be broken easily, considering their marriage of 10 years. She tries to see the whole love affair of Nie Yucheng and Lu Zhenzhen as just a small hurdle in their marriage — something that they can go through together. We then see her going on about with her daily life, probably the same as she might have been before knowing about Nie Yucheng's affair. Miyu goes to a gynaecology check-up and is apparently concerned about trying to get pregnant as it hasn't been going so well for her in the last few years. The doctor assures her that there is nothing to worry about.
Afterwards, Miyu spends the day with the wives of Nie Yucheng's boss and colleagues at an antiques store, showcasing her abilities and talent for appraising art as well as speaking highly of their husbands, thanking them for all the help and guidance that they gave Nie Yucheng — maintaining an image of a perfect and understanding wife to Yucheng. She was well on her way to the restroom when she heard the wives gossiping about her, unaware that Miyu was still within earshot. It was then that Miyu found out that everyone already knew about Nie Yucheng's affair with Lu Zhenzhen. This scene also shows Miyu's self-worth being challenged as the wives assumed that Miyu must have turned a blind eye towards the situation considering the fact she is just a housewife with no job and that Nie Yucheng is the one who provides for the family.
Miyu later finds out that Lu Zhenzhen is pregnant with Nie Yucheng's child and that is when the bitter truth finally sunk in — which leads to Miyu finally deciding to take action and stand up for herself. The scene where Miyu slowly called out Nie Yucheng's lies during the celebration banquet is pretty satisfying to watch — it started out so subtle but direct on Miyu's part, with Nie Yucheng slowly getting flustered. Miyu then asks for divorce in front Nie Yucheng's business partners, before splashing his face with red wine. Nie Yucheng chases her outside the building, enraged by her actions at the banquet and saying that she's nothing but a parasite and that she won't have a good life if she divorces him. Miyu simply leaves him without a word.
And that's pretty much what happened in this episode. I actually want to write about the 2 scenes of Xu Miyu crossing the road in this episode. Now, I may be reaching here, but I'd like to think that there is some symbolism in those 2 scenes, whether it is intentional or not.
The first scene of Miyu crossing the road is after she finds out that Lu Zhenzhen is pregnant.
In this scene, she is utterly devastated after witnessing for herself that Nie Yucheng has brought Lu Zhenzhen for a prenatal check-up in secret. As the bitter truth sunk in that her life is never going to be the same again, Xu Miyu contemplates on her life choices while she crosses the road, tears in her eyes but her heart resolute to finally arrange for a divorce. Despite appearing distressed and possibly distracted with the thoughts in her head, she managed to cross the road completely — indicating her resoluteness.
Which brings us to the second scene of her crossing the road.
In this scene, she had just left Nie Yucheng who was enraged at her for ruining his reputation in front of all of his business partners at the celebration banquet where she asked for a divorce. Miyu expressed a kind of melancholic relief after she stood up for herself against Nie Yucheng and finally divorcing for good. Despite the relief and satisfaction she felt, her mind still drifted to Nie Yucheng's words just a few moments ago, making her distracted despite her relatively calm exterior — hinting at her wavering spirit as she thinks about Nie Yucheng's terrible words and the uncertain future that comes now that she has asked for a divorce.
I'd like to think that the scene around her then reflects her concern about her future moving forward from the divorce. This time, because she was initially distracted, she started crossing the road late and finds herself stuck in the middle of the road when the vehicles start to move with no way back to safety or rather, she finds herself unable to move either side — parallel to her life at that point in time where she can't go back to her old life, but the uncertainty of her new reality made her unable to fully step forward with ease.
Miyu was still literally and figuratively stuck in that chaotic moment when her childhood friend, Li Qiaoqi, recognizes her in the middle of that road (which is a mysterious to me as to how this is actually possible). Li Qiaoqi's timely appearance provides a sort of spiritual anchor for Miyu as she offers Miyu a ride — giving Miyu a choice to move on from that moment, even if just for a little bit.
The motorcycle ride with Li Qiaoqi makes Miyu reminisce their carefree life as childhood friends together in the past — of the days when she could dream about anything, when the possibilities were limitless. Unfortunately, those days were long gone the moment she gave herself up for Nie Yucheng. However, with the upcoming divorce, Miyu now has a chance at living a new life, and it's good that she meets Li Qiaoqi again at this point of time in her life, because she now at least has a good old friend that she can rely on in this new chapter of her life.
Those are my thoughts on this episode. I may have been overthinking about the whole crossing the road scenes but I still think they are kind of nice symbolisms (also because it's a bit weird for me how the second scene of Miyu crossing the road just feels a bit more prolonged for some reason). I'm off to watch episode 4 now. So, that's all for this time, see you in the next entry.