American Perspectives: Sang Sang is a bit more complicated "Ever Night 2" Ep. 17-19 Response

As the persecution of Sang Sang reaches a fever pitch, Fu Zi finally emerges from hiding to help.  Some of his help included infusing a part of his spirit into Sang Sang, as many were intent on killing her.  As a result, Sang Sang goes from the cheerful woman we know to having a bit of a split personality.  One moment, she's happy and cheerful.

The next, she is rather frightening, and has a bit of a serial killer vibe.  At first, I thought she was evil, but it really isn't so simple, and this is where religious and cultural barriers come into play.  You see, I'm a white American from a small conservative Christian town who was raised Catholic.  There was not a single hint of Buddhism, Daoism, or Confucianism to be seen.  Even though I have been well educated, and have gotten out more since childhood, there are still some things that are beyond my immediate grasp due to cultural differences.

We find out that Hades/The Underworld doesn't exist, and that Heaven isn't so kind, innocent, and virtuous.  That Heaven actually feeds on people in order to continue existing, in the same way that people feed on plants and animals; and that in Heaven's eyes, the people are beginning to have too much power, and must be controlled.  Which makes me think of how in the United States, every so often, the Bureau of Land Management culls the wild horse population when they become a threat to cattle ranchers.

Sang Sang is not the Child of Hades, but is instead the Child of Heaven. According to Fu Zi, absolute light is also absolute darkness.  So I'm thinking about Sang Sang's actions in past episodes, I'm really trying to put it all together, which may warrant me having to watch both seasons again.  As I was writing the rough draft of this last night, I was feeling very confused. Until I had a talk with my husband about Buddhism, in which I learned that there isn't necessarily good or evil, at least not in the Christian sense, which helped clear some of this up.  One thing I do notice is that before the heavenly spirit was fully activated in her, she was doing a lot of good deeds, and was very happy.  When the heavenly spirit was fully activated, her personality split, and on a bad day she had a total serial killer vibe; which is saying a lot about the so-called virtuous light.  The Serial Killer vibe does make sense, as it is learned that Heaven feeds on people in order to survive.  My husband also added the alternate perspective that the idea of paradise consumes you, causing you to die.

I think of how the Xiling people, in their effort to be virtuous and pure are some of the most genocidal characters on the show.  Especially Long Qing, who is the personification of absolute darkness, however, as we found out, since it is the same as absolute light, it is no wonder that he wasn't fully cast out of Xiling, and allowed to come back when he saw fit.  Because of this, I think back to season one when Ning Que points out that the beliefs of the Demon Sect really aren't much different from Xiling.

A question that I now have is, was heaven exploiting Ning Que's kindness to Sang Sang?  Or will something good happen for him because of what he has done?  Will Mo Shan Shan also be rewarded for her kindness, or will there be increased negative consequences?

I think of how, as people, we create our own evil by ourselves, and in some cases, personify it (the devil), and assign that as our scapegoat.  With Sang Sang and Heaven, however, it isn't even that simple.  I'm sure there are some major points I am missing, but I am optimistic that Episodes 20 onward will provide further clarity.