The Long Season 1.02

Episode 2

60 minutes

Hualin, 1998. Wang Xiang is in the hospital. Luo Meisu is there visiting him when Song Yukun, the factory manager, comes to see him. Song leared from Ma Desheng that Xiang was helping the police. Song came to the hospital, with a camera crew, to try and put put a good face on what is currently a bad situation. Hualin Steel is going through a bad period between the protests by factory workers and the dismemberment case.

Wang Yang talks to a friend about Shen Mo who seems to have disappeared. No one in her dorm knows what happened to her.

Hualin 1997. Shen Mo interviews for a job as a pianist at a hotel bar. The manager tries to grope her but she pushes him away.

Hualin 1998. the factory workers continue to agitate for more work and to keep their jobs even though a rumor is going around that there will be layoffs. It is unclear why there isn't more work but the rumor going around is that it has something to do with a businessman from Hong Kong and that there are ties between the businessman and Song Yukan.

Biao gets a look at the layoff list before it is made public. Wang Xiang's name is on the list. Biao goes to see Xiang and tells him. Xiang is stunned and doesn't know how to respond. He asks Biao if this is a joke or a trick or if Song put him up to it. Biao insists that it isn't a trick. He explains that he wants to get to know Liru better and could use Xiang's help in doing so. Xiang asks if he caught the killer if that could get his name off the list.

Hualin, 2016. Xiang visits the drugstore with Biao where the man was sighted. He urges Xuelu, the woman who works there and saw the man, to call him back and let him know that the medicine is ready for pickup. She does but when the man responds he wants her to deliver it. Xiang and Biao agree to follow her.

They follow her from a distance but they lose track of her. By the time they catch up to her she is on the ground unconscious. She is taken to a hospital. The doctor asks Biao who will pay the bills. Biao calls around looking for money. He already blew most of the money that he and his wife have on the taxi and on pigeons.

Biao goes home to his wife who has found out about him taking her money. She doesn't believe his story about the taxi he bought getting impounded. She is ready to leave him.

Xiang wakes up at home. Wang Bei, his adopted son is there. They have a trip to Beijing planned but he explains that it will have to be delayed because something has come up, without going into details.

Thoughts 

This episode is not divided up into chapters like the first one. It is also about 10 minutes shorter. About two-thirds of this episode is set in 1998.

I didn't feel the need to watch much of this episode more than once. I feel as though I have the basic lay of the land even if there are still plenty of things shrouded in darkness. I still had to rewind on multiple occasions because the subtitles moved too quickly.

Biao is a real mess. He certainly has gotten himself into a financial mess. I get the impression that Xuelu will not be playing a significant role in the rest of the story although I think that Shen Mo will.

I like this show. The pace at which it is unfolding really has pulled me in. I'm not crazy about the fact that some of the episodes are on the long side but I can't stop watching now. I want to stick with this story. It is just ten more episodes.