The Wasted Times (2016) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Watabe saves Lu because despite their complicated family relationship as brothers-in-law, Watabe chooses loyalty to family over his hidden allegiance to the Japanese. During the assault on Lu's gang, Watabe shoots and kills a leading Japanese officer to protect Lu, though he is severely wounded in the process. This act appears heroic but later becomes complicated when it's revealed Watabe was a Japanese double agent.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes establish Watabe as a restaurant owner with family ties to Lu, making his decision to kill a Japanese officer seem contradictory to his secret role.

• watabe
• lu
• japanese officer
• assault
• save life
• restaurant

Lu takes Watabe's children to protect them from the dangerous aftermath of the assault, which has killed many of Lu's gang members and family. Despite the complex and ultimately betrayed relationship between them, Lu feels responsible for Watabe's children after Watabe is gravely wounded saving his life. He relocates them to Hong Kong to keep them safe from the escalating war and political violence.

Foreshadowing: The film establishes Watabe as a family man with two children who depend on him, making their separation a poignant consequence of the violence.

• lu
• watabe children
• hong kong
• protection
• relocate

Zhang betrays Lu because he chooses to cooperate with the Japanese army's pressure to establish a Japanese bank in Shanghai. While Lu firmly opposes supporting Japanese economic colonization, Zhang prioritizes his own survival and potential gain by siding with the occupiers. This betrayal leads directly to the devastating assault that kills many of Lu's gang members and family.

Foreshadowing: The tension between Lu and Zhang is established early when the Japanese pressure both industrialists, with Lu's firm opposition contrasting Zhang's wavering loyalty.

• zhang
• betrayal
• japanese bank
• lu
• gang assault

Watabe survives his injuries from the restaurant shooting, though the timeline reveals he was severely wounded. The film later clarifies through flashback that Watabe had been working as a double agent for the Japanese all along, using his position to prepare for the invasion while maintaining his cover. His survival allows him to continue operating as a Japanese operative despite his apparent heroic act of saving Lu.

Foreshadowing: Watabe's willingness to kill a Japanese officer seems initially heroic but becomes suspicious when his true allegiances are later revealed.

• watabe
• survive
• shooting
• wounds
• double agent

Watabe is revealed to be a Japanese agent who infiltrated Shanghai's criminal underworld under the guise of running a restaurant. His role was to gather intelligence and pave the way for the Japanese invasion. This explains why he was positioned as Lu's brother-in-law and why he had access to information that would benefit the Japanese military. His conflicting loyalties create the film's central betrayal, as he must balance his family ties to Lu with his duty to Japan.

Foreshadowing: Watabe's restaurant serves as a meeting point throughout the early narrative, establishing his unique position between Chinese and Japanese worlds.

• watabe
• double agent
• japanese
• spy
• invasion
• lu

After Lu orchestrates Xiao Liu's relocation to northern China to preserve Mr. Dai's honor following her embarrassing affairs, the narrative reveals she becomes a prisoner of sorts under Watabe's watch. The timeline shows Watabe was tasked with escorting her to Suzhou, but his true role as a Japanese agent meant she was essentially held captive. By 1945, after the Japanese surrender, she ends up in the same Shanghai asylum as Lu, where she recognizes him, suggesting a complex shared history.

Foreshadowing: Xiao Liu's discontented nature and multiple affairs establish her as a woman whose fate is controlled by the men around her.

• xiao liu
• northern china
• suzhou
• watabe
• prisoner
• asylum

Lu seeks revenge against Zhang because Zhang's betrayal directly caused the devastating assault that killed many of Lu's gang members and family. By 1941, Lu has relocated to Hong Kong with Watabe's sons and makes it his mission to find and kill Zhang as payment for this betrayal. The revenge plotline also leads to tragic consequences involving Lu's affair with Xiao Liu.

Foreshadowing: Zhang's betrayal is established as the catalyst for the film's central conflict, making his eventual comeuppance feel inevitable.

• lu
• zhang
• revenge
• hong kong
• betrayal
• 1941

The confrontation occurs after the Japanese surrender in September 1945 when Lu, now in a Shanghai asylum, is reunited with Xiao Liu who recognizes him. This reunion leads Lu to the POW camp where Watabe is being held. The meeting brings together all the complex layers of betrayal, family loyalty, and wartime choices, culminating in tragic decisions and violence that stems from years of conflicting allegiances and personal vendettas.

Foreshadowing: The non-linear narrative builds toward this confrontation by gradually revealing the truth about Watabe's double agency and the fates of all three central characters.

• lu
• watabe
• pow camp
• confrontation
• japanese surrender
• 1945

Lu ends up in the Shanghai asylum by 1945 as a consequence of the psychological trauma inflicted by years of war, violence, betrayal, and loss. The film depicts the heavy emotional toll of his journey, including the deaths of family members, his role in revenge killings, and the overwhelming complexity of his relationships with Watabe and Xiao Liu. The asylum represents the breaking point of a man worn down by the brutal circumstances of war and betrayal.

Foreshadowing: The film consistently emphasizes the psychological trauma and moral weight carried by Lu throughout the narrative.

• lu
• asylum
• shanghai
• psychological trauma
• war
• 1945

Lu's solitary walk back to Hong Kong at the film's conclusion represents the profound isolation and weight of survival after immense loss. He has lost his family, been betrayed by those closest to him, and made tragic choices that led to violence. The journey back symbolizes his burden of guilt, grief, and the bleak reality of existing in a world stripped of family and purpose. The ending is deliberately bleak, leaving Lu alone to contemplate the consequences of betrayal and revenge that defined his wartime journey.

Foreshadowing: The film's consistently dark tone and emphasis on loss prepare the viewer for this somber, isolated conclusion.

• lu
• hong kong
• final scene
• walk
• isolation
• survival
• ending