First Episode 17: 狼毒花

[roddy]

A part of the Grand First Episode Project -- See this thread for more info.

June 1: 狼毒花 - a hard-drinking, womanizing ruffian takes on the Japanese army, mostly single-handed.

Youku - Emule

Summary & Vocabulary

I reckon this one's good fun - when men where men, women were women, and the Japanese were easily dispatched thanks to superb marksmanship and revolvers that never run out of bullets. You can't help but love the big guy himself, and the bits with him and 梅子 are good value - 你娘让你跳井你挑不? - 挑！I don't think the language would be too difficult but you've got some stuff like using 俺 for 我 and sentences like 我要打仗，身边带个娘们儿算那档子事儿啊 which could well cause some head-scratching.

Edited February 9, 2010 at 02:12 PM by renzhe

[renzhe]

Just checking in to say I'm not out of this, I've just been a bit busy lately, but I'm not letting this one slip past me! I'll watch this one in the coming days and then work my way backwards.

This does sound like a lot of fun, and I'm always up for that.

[renzhe]

Finally managed to see this.

I don't know if this is first-class satire, or if it was all meant to be serious, but I was laughing all the way through.

This is first-class entertainment, with more cliches than a Schwarzenegger film, and everything was so over the top that I had to laugh.

The language is very easy, other than in a few spots where they speak quite fast.

Great fun, I recommend this wholeheartedly.

Edited July 2, 2009 at 01:33 PM by renzhe

[muyongshi]

Not much to add but this was a great show!!! Chalked full of laughs and things that if you say them on the street you might get smacked!

[renzhe]

--- Plot Summary ---

We follow our hero 常发, who rides from the desert, straight into a Japanese base, and rescues 梅子 and a group of other captured women from their fate. Afterwards, impressed by his manly manliness, she doesn't want to leave him, saying that the first person who sees her skin must be her man (a rule that obviously doesn't apply to the Japanese). He (reluctantly) spends a night with her before running off back to 八路军.

The next day, however, 梅子 shows up with her uncle (who is furious about some random soldiers sleeping with his niece) and points him out. For some reason, nobody is surprised it was him, including the commanding officer at the HQ, 老孟. He is not amused about the sleeping around bit, and is told he should ask 甄一然 about how to handle the situation. However, 甄一然 is under heavy attack, so they send reinforcements.

When 甄一然 arrives, he criticizes 常发 for his immoral behaviour not befitting of the people's army, but 老孟 has a soft spot for him, and tells his story, how his village was attacked when he was 13, and how he barely escaped, and how he drinks liquor instead of water. He then became a KMT commander and once fought hundreds of Japanese until there was only one left, and how his mother was killed in the process (it's an odd story), and this is why he joined their squad. The Japanese call him 狼毒花 and fear him.

Our hero refuses to drink water in the meantime, demanding alcohol (he's in prison). He declares his innocence, as it was all the girl's fault anyway. He then tricks a girl carrying a large jug of alcohol into letting him drink it, by betting her that it's actually water (no, really), and then he runs away, until he runs into a horseman, and wants to race him.

He then arrives in a small village and stages a show, claiming he can kill all of them before the Japanese get to them, and then kill the Japanese. Unsurprisingly, a couple of girls think he's full of crap, and claim he's a bandit and not with the 八路军 at all. He would normally kill her, but actually remembers that he only kills men, so he doesn't, and while he's thinking whom he should kill instead, 甄一然 arrives with some reinforcements, and it turns out he knows one of the girls (惠文). However, our hero is not easy to arrest, and we end with a stand-off.

--- Summary End ---

据说 jù shuō - it is said that / reportedly

草原 cǎo yuán - grassland / prairie

蜕变 tuì biàn - to change form / to transform

沙漠 shā mò - desert

威胁 wēi xié - to threaten / to menace

恶劣 è liè - vile / nasty / of very poor quality

顽强 wán qiáng - tenacious / hard to defeat

奇迹 qí jì - miracle / miraculous

耍赖 shuǎ lài - act in a shameless and unreasonable manner

王八蛋 wáng bā dàn - bastard (insult) / son of a bitch

睡 shuì - to sleep (in this context: to sleep with somebody)

岂 qǐ - how can it be that? / (rhetorical adverb)

闪开 shǎn kāi - to get out of the way

荷包 hé bāo - poach, pocket

证词 zhèng cí - testimony

边区 biān qū- border area

汉奸 Hàn jiān - traitor (to China)

严重的违反了纪律 to gravely violate discipline

糟蹋 zāo tà - to despoil / to slander / to defile

一块臭肉坏了一锅汤 one piece of rotten meat spoils the soup

乌云密布 wū yún mì bù - obscured/covered by black clouds

狗日的 a rather profane curse involving dogs

处理 chǔ lǐ - to handle / to treat / to deal with

主意 zhǔ yi - plan / idea / decision

书记 shū ji - secretary / clerk

撤退 chè tuì - retreat

消灭 xiāo miè - to put an end to / to annihilate

分区 fēn qū - allocated area (for housing, industry etc) / district

增援 zēng yuán - reinforce

争气 zhēng qì - to work hard for sth / determined not to fall short

组建 zǔ jiàn - to organize / to set up

毛病 máo bìng - fault / defect / shortcomings

遭遇 zāo yù - to befall / to encounter

秀才 xiù cai - scholar

报复 bào fù - make reprisals / retaliate

搜索 sōu suǒ - to search / to look for sth

枪毙 qiāng bì - to execute by firing squad

犯愁 fàn chóu - to worry / to be anxious

允许 yǔn xǔ - to permit / to allow

江湖 Jiāng hú - the martial arts world (of wuxia novels), or the criminal underground, not sure which one is meant here

投奔 tóu bēn - to seek shelter / to seek asylum

战役 zhàn yì - military campaign

坛 tán - wine jug

执行 zhí xíng - implement / carry out / to execute

法西斯 fǎ xī sī - fascist (loan word)

克星 kè xīng nemesis / bane

土匪 tǔ fěi - bandit

计较 jì jiào - to bicker / to argue

A couple I had trouble with:

空心肚皮

地委

苦出生

硬碰硬地 in "和小鬼子硬碰硬地干了一仗"

引来 to lead (the enemy) into (their headquarters) ??? I'm guessing

记工 no idea -- could this be 记功?

垮枪 （context: 骑马垮枪走天下）

In any case, this show deserves more attention than it's been getting. This one is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny in places, and it's very easy language-wise.

Thorougly recommended!

Edited September 23, 2008 at 09:16 PM by renzhe

[Alewife]

I haven't seen the show, but your synopsis is really entertaining!

[Gleaves]

After fifteen minutes of mediocre action (the Japanese are evidently worse shots than the bad guys in the A-team), almost no dialogue, and a dude splashing a lot of water on himself, I was ready to give up on this one. But after the whole show, I was sold. I definitely agree with renzhe, this show is hilarious.

Anyone catch later episodes of this to see if it retains its over-the-top charm? I only hope that the show itself is in on the joke.

[muyongshi]

Yeah the latter sessions are really good and I really enjoyed the story line. I finished the series.

[renzhe]

Great work working your way through all the shows, Gleaves! 加油!

I got through about 10 episodes of this, and I don't know why I stopped watching. It got a bit more drama and a bit less ridiculous, I guess. This is one of those I might go back to at a later time.

[Gleaves]

Thanks for the encouragement, renzhe. I've very much enjoyed watching these shows, and then having a look at the discussion to see what's been said. The vocab. lists almost always contain all the words I was going to look up. Great stuff.