Let's Talk About Jentry Chau vs The Underworld

Jentry Chau vs The Underworld: A Cautionary Tale on How Sometimes The Decisions Adults Make Impact Their Kids (This is the OG title but the title box has a character limit looool)

Jentry (at least for me) is a victim of the choices made by the adults around her. Specifically, her great aunt Flora and her parents. And yes. I know I'm late to the party.

Here's my thing.

So Jentry's parents, Peng and Moonie, were black market sellers who sold Daoist relics, which made them a lot of money. It was obviously a dangerous gig, so since Jentry came in picture, they decided to put it behind them to give Jentry a normal life. Sounds simple, right? You'd think they'd just quit.

But wait. They had an even better idea:

Let's make a deal with a fucking Mogui, a being that's basically the equivalent of Satan himself, get even more money to guarantee a safe and comfortable life for Jentry.

And what did this Mogui want in return?

The emperor's robes with some magical powers that could be dangerous if they're in the wrong hands.

Flora catches wind of their plan. And what does she do?

Strip the powers from the robe and put them in Jentry.

WHEN SHE WAS A FUCKING BABY! PROBABLY BARELY A YEAR OLD!

Flora confronts the Mogui, thinking she was hot shit and had the moral high ground, knowing the Daoist priest possessed by the Mogui, Mr. Cheng, would have some humanity and spare Jentry.

And it worked. Jentry was spared.

Until the mutha fucka dropped an uno reverse, killed Peng and took Moonie's memories.

Flora and Jentry's parents had the right idea and their hearts were in the right place. But they were COMPLETELY shortsighted by the long term consequences.

Peng and Moonie had the right idea of wanting to have the means and funds to give Jentry the life they wanted to give her. But why would you ever think bargaining with a demonic entity is a good idea?

Sure, they wanted out of the black market to protect their daughter, but this is like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Not only does this decision put Jentry in danger, but they were also handing over something as powerful and dangerous as the emperor’s robes to the literal embodiment of evil and risked potentially endangering the human world FOR MONEY. AND THEY DIDN’T SEEM TO GIVE A SHIT.

And what's crazy is that, they had more than enough money to retire and start afresh. But they just had to become greedy.

Flora had the right idea to a degree. Her nephew and niece-in-law were so adamant about taking and selling the emperor's robes without fully understanding the consequences of their actions and basically forced her hand.

So Flora putting them powers in Jentry was to put Peng and Moonie in a position where they couldn't accept the Mogui's deal and also Cheng wasn't going to harm Jentry since he lost his child too centuries ago. And the reason he made the deal with the Mogui and the reason why he wants the robes: to bring back his daughter.

Flora was arrogant, thinking that she had the upper hand.

But that Mogui was like: you got me, but that doesn't mean your nephew and niece-in-law ain't off the hook ya old hag. You said I can spare your grand nice. But not the parents. Nice try, but consequences still apply.

Jentry obviously got upset and shut out Flora and wanted nothing to do with her because her life was ruined because of Flora's poor choices. But she still loved Flora and felt lost. She was still holding on to that hope that Flora saw her as more than these crazy, magical powers.

And to give Flora some credit, she did love Jentry.

Were her priorities misplaced? Yes.

Did she put a heavy burden on Jentry's shoulders because she got cocky? Also yes.

But did she feel guilty for what happened to Peng and Moonie and putting Jentry in a dangerous position ever since she was a toddler? Most definitely.

I think pushing Jentry to control her powers to defeat Cheng and the Mogui was her way of making up for the mistake that had robbed Jentry of a normal life. She did what she thought was best for her grand niece, but she didn't stop to consider what Jentry wanted and needed.

The same goes for Jentry's parents.

Yes, they wanted to give Jentry a normal life, go far away, start fresh, watch Jentry grow up, send her to the best school and college. And all that needed money. BUT, this is just me, they were pushing for something THEY thought Jentry needed. And while Jentry did want a normal life, what she NEEDED was her parents. Not just a normal stable life. Her parents.

Like I said, they had more than enough money to retire and start a new life elsewhere. They didn’t have to make a deal with a Mogui to sell a very powerful and dangerous relic that could put the world in danger. And even if they went far away from the chaos, it was going to follow them anyway and Jentry would have been in danger regardless.

Even Mr Cheng was guilty of this. Yes, the reason why he made the deal with the Mogui and became its host was because he couldn't handle the grief of losing his daughter and wanted to do whatever it took to bring her back. And when he brought her back, we saw point-blank that she did not want to come back to the land of the living and saw her go out of control, destroying shit to get herself back to the afterlife where she was.

The adults were so focused on their own desires and assumptions about what their daughters wanted that they failed to consider their daughters' true wishes.

Jentry never wanted the powers of the emperor's robes to be put in her. She just wanted to be a normal teenage girl without having to worry about hurting people with these powers that were forced onto her.

Mr Cheng's daughter never wanted to be brought back to life. She just wanted her pain and suffering to end.

And the real tragedy? Jentry was a baby when the adults in her life made such life-altering decisions. At least with Mr Cheng's daughter, she was able to voice out; bringing her back to life was not what she wanted. Jentry never got to do that as a baby.

Flora did earned Jentry's forgiveness when she sacrificed herself and had her ghost form erased, and died a second time after they finally beat the Mogui. And Jentry stored Flora's memories in a shen pearl necklace before she died as a keepsake.

But what do y’all think?