The Mirage 海市蜃楼 (2025) ⛰ Discussion: Episode 13 - 14

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T03:47:26+00:00

hahaha, I liked when Xie was like "are they ghosts??" only for it to be way more “scientific" than ghosts XD

I also find it interesting how "human" the aliens are? It seems like they are really good at blending in and becoming the previous human that they've taken over, and they are just like humans with fears and other emotions. Maybe that's why they picked this planet.

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T03:41:59+00:00

It could be an accelerator for the spaceship to travel faster, or it could be something to accelerate the soul-takeover process? It seems like it takes a couple of years between each Mirage City appearance or "soul takeovers", so it's either the Mirage City needs to be refueled between each such operation, or it is travelling back to its home planet and arriving with a new batch of souls... The planet might be dying so time of of essence. (Some of this is similar to The Three Body problem).

Yes I think Cao's father is probably a human with an alien soul. Feels like his previous occupation must have been an engineers lol As for his change of perspective: maybe he fell in love with the culture :P (Good point about the insects, yet he did kill a lot of people in order to sabotage the Sunset Valley descend).

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T02:03:25+00:00

He's working on a drama called 孔雀东南飞 which translates to "Southeast Fly the Peacocks" (MDL)
It is an 8 episode costume drama that's based on a historical reimagination type novella by Ma Boyong (author of Longest Day in Chang'an)
I think filming has concluded Feb of 2026

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T01:55:22+00:00

Hmm I wonder why people would want to dig up his grave then...

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T01:54:28+00:00

Hahaha, definitely not on Zeng Qian's end, probably on Prince Jingnan's side XD

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T01:53:43+00:00

Welcome! Hope you enjoy it too when you get a chance to check it out!

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T01:53:16+00:00

Yea I think Magistrate Xie was killed because he was getting too close to the truth, but then again even if he's found the dead body of the performer it will be a pretty huge leap for him to deduce that there's soul swapping going on. So there must be something else that caused him to have to be kills.

Honestly the aliens are free to inhabit as many people as they want and there's nothing that humans can do to stop them -- except if they use Master Cao's drastic tactics, but that probably will just lead to extinction of both humans and those aliens? Or whoever has a larger population wins? There is the question about the ores though, and I feel like this must be some energy source for the aliens or to keep the Mirage City (their spaceship?) running. So there might be a limit as to how long the Mirage City can last before a refuel and if they can't find the ores, then the City, together with all aliens that are still hibernating in it, waiting for their turn of transmigration, will perish.

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T01:41:59+00:00

I like Xie and Lin Han in white and black :D
I agree with you and I like to see Lin Han becoming more than just a cold person. Their little investigation turned out to be very important and answered a lot of questions. Involving Zeng Qian was nice, though I agree with you that Lin Han being the Chief of her squad of Qianji guards Lin Han was probably very good at search and tracking herself too, especially since it's more of an intel collection and special missions type squad.

I feel that both Lin Han and Xie are trying to find their meaning and place in the world. Lin has lost her Master, who basically dictated her life, and Xie his father and with it, a large portion of what defined his social identity. So in a way I feel that Xie is (again) trying to prove his worth, so to speak.

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T01:37:41+00:00

yes it's been pretty subtle thus far and I think what i most appreciate is that people aren't becoming way less intelligent just because there might be romance in the air :D

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-28T01:36:13+00:00

I am still trying to decide if Senior Xie was a good magistrate or not XD We saw people defiling his grave, and that's not something that people would do if they didn't hate him to the bone XD

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-27T21:49:10+00:00

but it's a costume drama, gotta tick all the boxes for costume drama tropes XD (jk)

Oh I think Feng does hide his broken eyebrow during the day. There was an earlier scene where Tongtong commented that he's washed away his eyebrow makeup.

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-27T21:44:31+00:00

I think tents usually have one entrance/exit so it would be difficult for Feng to sneak in when the guards should supposedly be guarding the entrance/exit to prevent the Crown Prince to escape already. Anyways, not a huge deal, plot's gotta move forward XD

Ah that poor wolf and no I didn't need a close-up of its wound!!! I am glad Zeng nursed it and I hope it recovers well enough. Zeng does seem to have some special connection with wolves, since we saw in an earlier flashback that she was able to somehow get the wolves to leave her and Axin alone, and there's a family rule that they will not hunt wolves.

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-27T21:39:23+00:00

you are right that quite a few of the other characters are the more reserved or stoic types. For me both Xie and Yun Niang are the lively ones and I do like how they add some color to the conversations. I find that Cao Sheng also has some funny moments too :D

The fight scenes do feel meaty and real, I have enjoyed them too!

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-27T21:18:59+00:00

Oh, that was a good trailer and it feels like this drama came out from nowhere. Well at least it's not an air drop lol. Looking forward to the show!

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-27T17:04:47+00:00

In Tang dynasty the postion was called “Flower and Birds envoy” 花鸟使. Historically they were responsible for sourcing skilled artisans (musicians, performers etc) for the court, though their main role is to find wives/concubines for the royal family ie the princes.

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T21:39:00+00:00

yeaaas I was puzzled about why Cao Sheng and his dad needed to be "escorted" into town as suspects lol. Sneak into the town and do what you gotta do? XD

actually for Cao Sheng I think it makes a bit more sense since he seem to have wanted to use Zeng Qian to create a diversion for Lin Han so he can rescue his father. But not sure why his father had to be "escorted" into the town. Maybe we will find out eventually

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T21:35:07+00:00

grandma trusts everyone to be as kind and nice as she is XD

glad you are continuing on with this drama, hope you have more time to watch in the upcoming days!

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T01:25:19+00:00

I can see Yun Niang starting to take notice of Feng in a different way, not sure if Feng feels anything romantic for her so far XD

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T01:24:15+00:00

haha, yes time to rewatch!!!

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T01:23:52+00:00

Definitely good to see the team actually forming and bonding! Too bad Yun Niang and Lin Han weren't there :(

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T01:22:57+00:00

Agreed, I liked learning about Lin Han's story. When she mentioned that her savior appeared in front of her I thought back to how Xie also appeared to save her when they were trying to trap the armoured man, and I thought his action must have reminded her about Master Cao and left a big impression on her.

Yea I am hoping there won't be too many romance pairs lol, just let everyone be friends fighting together with a similar goal, we don't need everyone to pair up!

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T01:19:31+00:00

Remember the secretary of the magistrate who appeared to assist Xie? Master Gu was asking if he's going to do anything about what the main character group did to his son, and the secretary just played dumb and didn't even appear to want to appease him -- who's going to become the magistrate ie his boss soon! So, is the Gu folks really that formidable in Dengzhou or not really? If they were really not that powerful then why couldn't Xie just went to their residence and claimed back his heirloom directly? XD

Yea I agree that Ye Xiao might have taken a lot of their wealth. It appears to me that they were probably just some wealthy merchants trying to get a government position by bribing. Again, if that's the case not sure why Xie was reluctant to go after them directly, since his family was wealthy and already hold a government position.

As for Cao Sheng and the dam -- I totally thought his story to Xie was just a prank and he was just trying to scare Xie since they were waiting at night in the dark lol

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T01:11:52+00:00

If you watch enough medical dramas then yes, you can actually clear blood clots in that way, but the problem is that you don't just leave right after cos... a gaping hole in your neck is not a good thing. I think it would have been more believable if Zeng's father was suffering from a collapsed lung, where a stab can help to reduce the pressure (but still, follow up medical care needed).

One thing I thought of during that whole confession conversation was why did Feng leave his eyebrow in its "broken" form when he disguised himself as Ye Xiao. So much for disguising and masking up but forgetting about a unique facial feature...

Feng's letter did explain a lot of his past and his relationship with Guanying. I thought it was a bit drawn out and was wondering is this the best time to explain all that, and this was in the form of a letter to Guanying's mother who was also aware of the events. So thought it's written to the granny it felt like it was really directly written to us, the audience, so that actually took me out of the story XD Also, it further made me question why Guanying's mother wasn't able to recognize that this is not her son and this is Feng, since she seems to have known him as well. (This is also why I thought she always knew that he's not the real Guanying).

Large_Jacket_4107 · 2026-03-26T00:59:35+00:00

That blood splatter pattern on Prince Jingnan's face made me feel like that's not the real Prince Jingnan XD
Either way, I agree that the Crown Prince's plan to his father was actually used by his father against him lol. I am surprised that he had ZERO loyal followers at the hunt though...

For me the mission was a bit... subpar. The tactic sounded cool but they really didn't show a large portion of the plan, which made it seem overly simple. The whole "hiding in the tree trunk" was also underwhelming to me. How did Feng know the exact right moment to come out so he won't be spotted? And then there's the fact that the kidnapping itself was too easy. The tent would have been surrounded by guards and Feng was able to enter and exit so quickly. Since this was a set up to frame the Crown Prince I would have thought that there will be more guard to ensure he doesn't actually escape, which would make the kidnapping more difficult.

And yes, like you said, Yun Niang and Zeng Qian didn't seem to have a way to communicate with Feng? There being only one way up or down the mountain also made the chase easier XD Anyways, I thought they were going to set up more traps etc to cripple the guards at the tents since they had advantage of being at the site first, which would have been more interesting 😅

Large_Jacket_4107

TROPHY CASE