Sparrow 麻雀 Episodes 67-69 (Final) Recap

The final three episodes of Sparrow… Edit 11/3/16: Episode 69 is being recapped right now.

Zhongliang tells Chen Shen not to be so sad over Pi Pi’s disappearance. Then he hands him 回家计划, or the “Return Home Plan”, which states that all communist children who have lost their parents are to be sent back to Yan An. The bureau captures one of the communists in charge of executing this plan, Pang You. Zhongliang suspects that Pang You’s arrest coinciding with the time of Pi Pi’s disappearance is not a coincidence — he thinks Pi Pi is connected to the plan. Chen Shen says he’ll interrogate Pang You. Chen Shen wonders if this is Zhongliang’s trap, but regardless, he needs to utilize the opportunity to interrogate Pang You.

Zhongliang already knows that San Sheng kidnapped Pi Pi, but he tells San Sheng the news as if he does not know San Sheng was connected to this incident. “How would you catch a big fish?” Zhongliang asks. San Sheng congratulates Zhongliang on finally thinking things through.

Pang You bites his tongue in attempt to end his life. Chen Shen wonders why — did someone want to kill him in order to prevent him from confessing anything, or was he truly unable willing to face interrogation? Pang You is sent to the hospital, and survives, though he is still unconscious. Er Bao threatens the doctor not to say the real diagnosis — that Pang You’s tongue was slashed by knife — and to say that Pang You attempted to bite his own tongue.

San Sheng sends one of his men to act as an undercover communist in charge of overseeing Pi Pi in a house, to wait for anyone to show up and rescue Pi Pi. Whoever that person is, the man is supposed to find out the identity of. San Sheng tells Zhongliang that the fish has been caught (since Chen Shen / his communist friends have already located where he is), and Zhongliang tells Er Bao to go investigate the scenario — but no matter what, he is not to do anything to Chen Shen, because Zhongliang will catch him himself.

Bian Tou talks to Pang You in the hospital, trying to find out if he was forced into this situation of biting his tongue. A flashback reveals how Er Bao had threatened Pang You, that if he did not obey his command then his family would be in danger.

Zhongliang is at the bureau, unable to return home because he’s working so hard. Chen Shen brings him homemade dumplings made by Bi Tai Tai. Zhongliang recounts how only three people have brought him dumplings before: his grandmother, his wife, and Chen Shen (after almost dying on the battlefield, Zhongliang said he wanted to eat dumplings and Chen Shen had bought him some exchanging a watch for them).

Zhongliang asks Chen Shen if he knows where Pi Pi is, and Chen Shen answers that he hasn’t found out yet. Zhongliang is now divided, since he knows that Chen Shen knows where Pi Pi is — it appears that Chen Shen really is communist. Bi Tai Tai also finds out that Chen Shen is looking for Pi Pi at Qiu Feng Du, so she goes to find him.

The fake underground communist puts a bomb on Pi Pi but tells him that if he does this then bad people won’t dare to come and that he’ll be able to see his parents soon.

Meanwhile, people have assembled separately at Qiu Feng Du:

• San Sheng and the assassin
• Chen Shen, Bicheng, and other communist friends

When Chen Shen enters the room, he is unwilling to hurt the guy who holds Pi Pi, because he doesn’t know if the guy is an actual communist or someone working for San Sheng. So he does not reveal any information. On the other hand, Bi Tai Tai suddenly opens the room’s door and says “Give the child to me! I am the communist, the organization sent me here.” Of course, this confession is fake, but she said it in order to save Pi Pi. The assassin shoots Bi Tai Tai’s shoulder, on San Sheng’s orders. Zhongliang arrives and says that obviously she only said that to save Pi Pi.

Zhongliang gets mad at San Sheng but he runs away when he sees Er Bao about to fire his gun at him. He runs away to an abandoned house, where he says to himself that he won’t forgive Zhongliang or Chen Shen.

Boss Li and Zhongliang tell Ying Zuo that San Sheng is a communist trying to help his party with the Return Home Plan, but was discovered by Zhongliang and then ran away. “Some person wanted his life, so he had no other choice but to run away,” Ying Zuo raises the possibility. “If so, then we ought to capture San Sheng and then question him,” Zhongliang answers.

Boss Li says he’s been thinking for a long time and realizes that all of San Sheng’s actions at the bureau have been against nationalists, and that perhaps he was using the bureau to help the communist party. Boss Li also raises his connection to Xiaonan as peculiar. Ying Zuo approves their request to capture San Sheng.

Chen Shen still acts salty in front of Zhongliang because he had suspected Chen Shen as communist and had let San Sheng proceed with his plan of trying to lead Chen Shen into a trap.

It just so happens (seriously, wtf is up with all these coincidences) that the abandoned house San Sheng is staying at isn’t really abandoned. The family comes back — and they’re the hotel owner / wife from before. Remember when Chen Shen got hurt while helping Shanhai and Bicheng escape but then covered up the scenario by saying that he was injured during a fight at a hotel? The hotel owner who gave the testimony was a communist friend of Chen Shen’s. Well San Sheng decides to kill the wife and then tells the hotel owner that if he wants to live he’s to come with him.

Chen Shen is seconds behind and sees San Sheng escaping. He reports this to Zhongliang, who tells Er Bao to seal all the roads leading to Mei Ji Guan, and other main roads. Chen Shen is worried about whether or not the hotel owner is alive or not and with San Sheng, since if he’s alive then it’s possible he could reveal Chen Shen’s identity.

San Sheng ties the man up in another abandoned warehouse and then goes to try to find Ying Zuo to report the capture — this would help reduce suspicion that he was a communist. But he is caught by Zhongliang and Er Bao in the process. Zhongliang says “All good shows must come to an end. You’ve acted long enough now.”

But San Sheng says that he cannot be killed now — he has sufficient evidence that Chen Shen is Sparrow. He tells Zhongliang about the hotel owner, and they all head to the abandoned warehouse where he’s stuck at.

The man seems to almost confess that Chen Shen wasn’t at the hotel that night, even seething “Why have you ruined my whole life? My wife and son are killed…” But Chen Shen says that his son is still alive, and Bian Tou carries the son into the warehouse as proof. This seems to change the man’s mind, as he realizes that Chen Shen controls the life of his son. He tells Zhongliang that Chen Shen was at the hotel that night. He then says “San Sheng why did you tell me to lie? It was precisely because I wanted to avoid the bureau’s actions like this that I ran away with my family in the first place.”

A fight ensues between San Sheng and the hotel owner, and the owner dies. San Sheng dies shortly as well, with Chen Shen sticking a pair of scissors into his chest (though not killing him), and Zhongliang’s dog actually ending San Sheng’s life.

A few days later at the office Zhongliang leaves for a meeting at headquarters, but he will be back soon, so Chen Shen doesn’t have much time to investigate the location of the Guilin Plan inside of Zhongliang’s office. He accidentally discovers the location of an inner office activated by turning some type of lock. But he doesn’t have time to really search, and goes back to his office. He only knows that deadline for him to find the plan is coming up soon, and his last chance to find it will be during Bi Tai Tai’s birthday party the next night.

Bicheng and Chen Shen go for a walk and see fireworks.

“I still owe you a romantic wedding,” Chen Shen tells Bicheng. She answers “The moon waxes and wanes, flowers flourish and then die. If you think you owe me a wedding, then you have to hurry up and return.”

“I haven’t become a father yet, of course I’ll return quickly.”

He also recommends to the organization for Bicheng to be able to join and become a communist.

Episode 69 – Sorry this is posted so late.

I find it amusing that the scene where Bi Tai Tai becomes a nun is in the last episode, despite it being in the trailer released months ago. Haha.

Dachun goes to see Bicheng. We find out it’s been a month since any communication has passed between Dachun and Bicheng. He’s mad and asks her whether or not she plans on fleeing with Chen Shen. Yeah he’s pretty mad alright, pointing a gun at her.

“I only want to be with the person I love, please allow me to do that,” Bicheng pleads. “In my heart you’ll always be the person I trust most.”

Pssh, yeah right. The person you trust most is Chen Shen.

He says he’ll let her go, but then makes her unconscious, saying “Sorry, I can’t let you go.”

Wow this last episode is a mess. Chen Shen tells Bian Tou he plans on leaving Shanghai tonight. Chen Shen says he’s made preparations for Bian Tou and his wife to stay in a safe location outside of Shanghai after his mission tonight.

Outside the party Er Bao and a few other bureau’s men are playing cards. One of the dudes gets drunk and confesses how one time he saw Chen Shen communicating with Bicheng using sign language in the interrogation. Of course, Zhongliang overhears this conversation and he tells the guy to direct a message to everyone in the bureau to quickly assemble.

WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THESE COINCIDENCES? WHAT IS UP WITH THIS CRAP WRITING?

Zhongliang figures out that Chen Shen is going to take the Guilin Plan tonight, since Bian Tou was the only guy sitting with Er Bao’s party who did not drink. Indeed, Chen Shen has commanded Bian Tou to help him.

While Bian Tou distracts a guy guarding the entrance of the bureau, Chen Shen is able to sneak in. He goes back into the secret room inside Zhongliang’s office, but he doesn’t find anything when he opens the chest. He then spots the picture frame of Zhongliang’s passed daughter, and seems to think the plan might be hidden inside. However, he has no time to examine the picture because Zhongliang has come back to the bureau, so he quickly leaves.

The bureau is set off with explosions by Pi Dan, and while Zhongliang isn’t injured too severely, he does realize something is off.

Chen Shen goes back to Bi Tai Tai’s home, where the party is still going on. His alibi was that he was out buying tickets for something. He sees an identical picture frame in the home and opens the back. Indeed, the Guilin plan is hidden inside. He takes photos of the plan, but right when he’s done Zhongliang walks in. He points a gun to Chen Shen’s back.

“Should I call you Chen Shen, or Sparrow?”

“Even if you win right now, you will not be the final victor. If the Japanese find out, do you think they will believe you now?”

“Have I ever done anything against you?”

“But what about your country and beliefs?”

Chen Shen asks Zhongliang if he wants to leave with him. “How to leave? Will the Japanese let us go? You’ve always been using my faith in you.”

“If you really are my brother, I plead with you to give me one last chance.”

Bi Tai Tai enters the room, and Chen Shen converts the opportunity, pointing the gun at Zhongliang. But he can’t fire. Zhongliang gets the gun back and shoots Chen Shen. He’s about to kill him, but Bi Tai Tai says he shouldn’t do this.

Anyway, Chen Shen is allowed to leave but as he walks to the door, Bi Tai Tai is following him and is in the trajectory of a bullet shot from the assassin, who’s hiding outside on Boss Li’s orders. Zhongliang sees it at the last moment and quickly rescues her, but is shot in the process. Chen Shen shoots the assassin.

Chen Shen confesses how Zai Xiang was his sister-in-law, and Xiaonan her sister. He says he can’t forgive Zhongliang, and then Zhongliang dies.

“If in the next life you are a normal person, and not a Chinese traitor, let’s be brothers again,” Chen Shen says.

Meanwhile Bicheng has woken up and she’s in a car Dachun is driving. She points a gun at him, telling him to get off. She then drives away.

While Chen Shen is running away in a car, the bureau catches up to him and surrounds the car. Boss Li says he likes smart people, but smart people who betray others are scary.

“Give back the Guilin Plan,” Boss Li says. So Chen Shen tosses it to them (remember he already took photos of the plan?) And anyways, Bicheng happens to show up at this moment, providing enough diversion and time for Chen Shen to run away. But he’s so sleepy at the wheel that he crashes his car into some boxes — it combusts and bursts into flames.

Dachun comes to save Bicheng. He shoots the people from the bureau. But Bicheng is kind of in denial after hearing the explosion, and she keeps repeating “That’s not Chen Shen… he promised he would come back…”

The photos of the plan were already given to his communist friend, so he managed to complete the mission.

Flashback reveals how he was not hurt in the explosion, he had set the car on fire before running away.

A few years later…

Bi Tai Tai has become a nun.

Chen Shen meets up with a comrade in the Mi Gao Mei dance hall. Nationalists have began a search of the hall for suspicious people (they’re particularly looking for Sparrow), and Bicheng leads the mission.

We find out from a flashback, however, that Bicheng knows Chen Shen isn’t dead, and received orders from the communists to continue acting as a nationalist on the outside while reporting any useful information to the communists.

She sees Chen Shen at the dance hall and smiles. He doesn’t see her, however.