Ep 9 plot and language (questions)

[randall_flagg]

I just got done with episode 9. This is the “ski-resort” episode. What an incredible coincidence! Out of all the people in Beijing, the 2 people that are not supposed to meet actually meet, who’d have thought that would ever happen… (I kind of did). Xiaofeng, Jianping and Dangdang meet Dongbei and Juanzi during a ski-outing. Jianping avoids introducing his wife (Xiaofeng) to Juanzi. Of course clever Xiaofeng knows that something is up. At first, she thinks that Jianping is embarrassed because she (Xiaofeng) is too old and too ugly for him -- she thinks that's why he's not introducing her. Xiaofeng than overhears Dongbei saying to his naive little wife that she (Xiaofeng) is the housekeeper of the Song family. Whoops. That's not good. Of course she's really pissed and leaves for home. Home his her mom's place, of course. I guess this pretty much sums up the major developments of this episode.

Xiaofeng is really starting to tick me off, but Jianping ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed, neither. I shouldn’t say this, since people get offended really easy, but this is just a curious observation: maybe Xiaofeng is not only supposed to represent the disillusioned middle aged housewife, but also the crazy menopause-haunted jealous dragon a lot of guys are scared of ending up with?

What do ya’ll think of the opening scene, when Dangdang grandparents don’t want to let Dangdang play with his little 游戏机. Weird, huh? This is not the first time this has happened, either. And Grandma tells little Dangdang he should teach his mom to play this with this? Xiaofeng should be taking pills, and lots of them!

Anyway, I got a couple of questions, wish someone could help me answer them:

What in the world is a 正高. It’s probably the position Jianping pretty ex-college/neighbour/ supposed lover is occupying, but what is it? I’d really like to know.

Also, about 20min 11sec into this marvellous episode, Xiaofeng says she now knows the true meaning of 夫贵妻荣 . Well, good for her. But I don’t know what it means and would appreciate it if someone were to share his or her wisdom with me.

One more thing about Xiaofeng: She’s at her parents’s (娘家) AGAIN. And Dangdang tries to call her. Her cell phone clearly says 家, but she still doesn’t pick up the phone. A few hours later she complains to her mom about the fact that Song Jiangping didn’t even call her. That’s pretty mean, wouldn’t you agree? Make Grandma hate him, too.

Anyway, after all, she’s not that bad a person. She just has some issues, I don’t hate her or anything, don’t get me wrong. And Song Jianping could certainly do better, too.

One last observation: Dangdang seems to be slightly hyper-active. Honestly. Have you ever seen him just sit still? No. Most of the time he’s looks like he’s got ants in his pants.

To those of you who have not watched any more than 1-9. Do you think anyone will die before the number 23 is over? I don't know why I'm asking, it's just that it seems time for something really tragic to happen. Of course, someone already died, but we didn't really know him, right? And, like I said before, I am still waiting for Jianping to mess up while he is performing surgery.

Ok, hope I got time for episode 10 tomorrow, but I’m afraid I’ve got too many classes and 另外一些事儿。

Randall

[johnmck]

I have finally got to episode 9! I like the plot but I find it is a bit slow (this could have more to do with the fact that it has taken me 1.5 years to get this far than to do with the script).

I have the same question as Randall, what does 正高 mean? When I pop it into Babel Fish it translates it as, "Orthometric height". From the individual characters I thought it my mean "honourable", when I do a search on the internet its usage tends to imply something like "(medical) consultant" or "the crème-de-la-crème expert". The usage in the episode tends to imply something different. Does anyone know what it means?

[yelei_1981]

正高 is a title of technical post. It's short for "正高级技术职称" or something else. I don't know how to explain it in English. Hope someone can explain more than that.

夫贵妻荣, If husband is rich/noble, his wife will be rich/noble too.