Guardian Episode by Episode: 15

[extrapenguin]

Welcome to the rewatchalong! We are now at episode 14. The Imgur screencap album has 100 images, because Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan kept having expressions.

Previously on:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13, Episode 14

This week, we conclude the Cong Bo case and start the soil composition/Zhao Yunlan runs around Dixing case. Also, Zhao Yunlan gets a new hairstyle.

Introductions
We meet the Regent for the first time! He is the dodgiest, most suspicious person ever, and his natural instinct is buttering people up. He claims that Dixing doesn't have pretty girls or consultants. Also, he has no kids and lives life alone.


Available in two colorways! Be sure to buy before stocks run out!

Zhao Xinci turns up in person in the present to surprise inspect the SID.


And by "inspect the SID", he means "insult Yunlan".

We also see a very brief moment of the space outside the universes that the Hallows dump Zhao Yunlan into after the time travel. I suppose this is indication that Zhao Yunlan has been partially corrupted by the Hallows already?


Bright and swirly.

Characterization
Shen Wei gets to do a lot of plainclothes Envoying in this episode, and we see that he's quite good at switching between his Envoy and Professor personas as soon as there's a need to switch. (I don't think we ever see him in private doing stuff not related to either persona.)


Smug little Envoy smirk!

The relationship between Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei has significantly improved! Shen Wei tells Zhao Yunlan his power is learning when asked, and he's started sitting on tables under Zhao Yunlan's bad influence.


Also, a grabby grab of "I have things to say to you".

The way Shen Wei turns "how come you lost the booklet" into a grudgematch over the Regent's means of governance and his willingness to tell Zhao Yunlan the Envoy's identity is very representative of the state of Dixingian rule.


This is what a seething Shen Wei looks like.

This is the episode where Zhao Yunlan switches hairstyles! Finally, we can see his eyebrows!


Visible eyebrows are an immediate +10 to hotness.

We also see his superpower of delegation: he makes Lin Jing hack and delete all of Cong Bo's files on the SID (even if hacking doesn't work like that and does Cong Bo not keep any backups???) instead of trying to explain away the Dixing powers Cong Bo saw used.


"What you saw was merely the results of regular exercise. You should try it, too!"

Then Zhao Yunlan claims another "reward" for dealing with Cong Bo and has Shen Wei clean his room. It's okay, he takes him out for fancy dinner the day after!


Peak Zhao Yunlan.

I recall there being some controversy on Zhao Yunlan undermining Shen Wei's authority in the confrontation with the Regent (or something along those lines); my read on the situation is that Zhao Yunlan would like for them to stop arguing and move on the something useful, then sets off to manipulate everyone into doing that in as face-saving a way as possible and fails colossally. You can see him go "Oh fuck" at Shen Wei's reaction and then turn around and grasp at something else to interrupt the argument with.


"Abort mission!"

Huh, Zhao Yunlan really does not want to meet the Xingdu Bureau's Special Commissioner, even if Da Qing considers it unlikely that Zhao Xinci would come himself. I suppose he'd have wanted to visit Dixing himself at some point, anyway, but this timing is a little suspiciou.

Visions Zhao Yunlan sees while traveling through portal to Dixing: Shen Xi staring at the camera, Zhao Xinci from behind, child Zhao Yunlan running towards where his mother will die, Shen Xi staring at the camera, Shen Xi dying; cut to present Zhao Yunlan in interdimensional space. Then he's subjected to one more parental argument on Zhao Xinci not coming to Zhao Yunlan's graduation because he's too busy, and gets to go to Dixing and be touched on the shoulder by the Envoy.

Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan both apologize for the pinhole camera, though they're so very different in body language. Shen Wei is super tense, while Zhao Yunlan is more on the resignedly sorry end of the scale. (Likely this is due to asymmetric repercussions: Zhao Yunlan would not have to personally deal with people considering him a monster, unlike Shen Wei.)


Different stances, different postures.

The scene where they tag teamed Cong Bo by revealing his perspective to be limited (how did they get the full images??? a Dixing power?) and then gave him life advice and recruited him to the SID was hilarious and very much deserving of the later celebratory glass-clinking. Even if the glasses were filled with tap water.


The neighbors have come over to destroy your self-esteem and lecture you on your life choices.

We also see them argue: first over Zhao Yunlan's Hallows fondling and then over Zhao Yunlan going to Dixing. The Hallows fondling argument was in a way informative: Zhao Yunlan said he did it for a reason instead of for the shits and giggles, and then Shen Wei said that they could just steal the other two Hallows from Zhu Jiu when the time came. We also get Zhao Yunlan's willingness to self-sacrifice pop up when he states that the risk of being corroded by dark energy doesn't matter. Shen Wei is obviously unhappy that Zhao Yunlan is willing to risk being corroded by dark energy, whether via Hallows-fondling or visiting Dixing.


Shen Wei is jealous of Zhao Yunlan fondling something that is not him on the eve of their fancy restaurant date.

This is also the episode where we see them share vision! Shen Wei shows Zhao Yunlan what the world looks like using dark energy vision. Zhao Yunlan is baffled about how dark it is, and also didn't seem to know that Dixing didn't have any sunlight. This says interesting things about how much people know about Dixing! (I wonder whether Zhao Xinci's opinions would soften if he realized Dixing had no light?)


We get a decent quantity of touchy-feely in here.

On the villain end, Ya Qing is being followed around by Ying Chun, Zhu Jiu is still indured, and Zhu Jiu still considers Yashou useless garbage.


"Tell the boss to get me an official identity so I can go to the hospital, you Yashou trash!"

On the topic of Yashou, our Zhu Hong gets drunk due to Zhao Yunlan rejecting her, then (tries to) drunk dial him.


Da Qing is playing wise mentor; Guo Changcheng is the youth too young to learn of broken hearts.

Guo Changcheng has no spine or ability to delegate. He'll drop everything and help even the most suspicious-looking grandpa if looked at pitiably enough.


"I-I guess I'll just be late for work... It's okay, Wang Zheng likes canceling people's bonuses."

On the other hand, Chu Shuzhi is perfectly willing to choke heads of government in public. I suppose he's still resentful over the punishment/his brother dying. Da Qing knows his origin story.


"Call me 'xiao-Chu' one more time and I will end you."

Why do they want to trick the Commissioner? The treaty doesn't forbid travel to Dixing (or Shen Wei would've brought that up), so they could've told the truth and said that Zhao Yunlan went to Dixing on a diplomatic trip to alleviate future problems or something. Lying of the magnitude they're doing is rather questionable.


Canon details

• Dixingians have some sort of astrology/divination/birth chart thing, since Zhu Jiu refers to having one
• Dijun booklet is basically census; contains everyone's power and origin.
• Shen Wei must see a power to learn it
• On Haixing, Shen Wei is restrained by the Guardian Writ* and dark energy itself
• Touching the Hallows too much will make one's body corrode from the dark energy
  The average Dixingian doesn't have active powers

* 令 refers to orders, commands, and warrants, so it's likely a piece of paper that tells him what he is and isn't supposed to do.

Cinematography
We get a bunch of zooming-in tracking shots, which of course are hard to represent in still format.


This was one of them.

Shots from afar

Pinhole camera POV

Lots of close-ups of hands

Example.

Shots from above

In addition to those tracking shots that start from above and afar and zoom in

Shots that tilt the horizon to make them more dramatic

Chu Shuzhi's wannabe recidivism must be sufficiently dramatic

Also, lots of shots of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan touching each other's shoulders or otherwise existing in each other's vicinity.

Even when Shen Wei is the Envoy, Zhao Yunlan is willing to bump shoulders against him while walking.

Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
A denim vest, a brown trench coat, and my favorite coat of his! (This episode technically takes place over 4 days, but we only see scenes from 3 of them.)



Shen Wei shoe watch
Excitingly, we see the Envoy's shoes!

If you wish, you can draw some conclusions.

Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
Yes! He has stopped wearing glasses at Zhao Yunlan's place. He puts them back on to face Cong Bo, but takes them off again when they return.

Smiling, happy Shen Wei who cannot be happy and do eye contact at the same time.

Comments

[solo]

Shen Wei is incredibly rude to the Regent's little puppet. (And not nice to the Regent either, I guess.)

The sitting on things! Oh, Shen Wei, you have been corroded by ZhaoYunlan energy!

That last still is amazing, I could stare at him looking happy for days!

[jo_lasalle]

Shen Wei is incredibly rude to the Regent's little puppet. (And not nice to the Regent either, I guess.)

Yeah, I don't think we get anything comparable in other episodes, do we? He's really being a little arrogant / Bow To Me As You Should. (I'm not criticizing, I'm fascinated!)

[extrapenguin]

Shen Wei is righteously furious at blatant bureaucratic incompetence! And the puppet interrupted his office hours, potentially jeopardizing his identity and children's education!

Happy Shen Wei is best Shen Wei. I wish we could've had more of it.

[mecurtin]

I'll read & react later, just noting that the album link goes to Ep 14.

[extrapenguin]

Fixed. One of the hazards of copypasting the preamble...

[jo_lasalle]

I suppose this is indication that Zhao Yunlan has been partially corrupted by the Hallows already?

Where do you get that from? It's an interesting thought, but I admit I took it as to mean as either somehow related to his mother dying from a Dixingian power, and as he's travelling to Dixing for the first time, he gets a vision-memory of her, or that the trip is just so intense it pulls up memories in a rather vision-y way.

Though also, I will admit that that interlude originally made me think that there would be more plot involving Zhao Yunlan's mother (either that she was trapped in Dixing on trapped in some other dimension, instead of having died) so that might have influenced where my mind went as to the 'point' of that interlude.

Shen Wei gets to do a lot of plainclothes Envoying in this episode, and we see that he's quite good at switching between his Envoy and Professor personas as soon as there's a need to switch.

I watched this in HD for the first time this time around, and Shen Wei's flipping friendly prof and badass motherfucker was always impressive but in HD it's SLAYING. He is not at all nice when talking to the messenger! And I think we see him being badass and/or intimidating in other situations, but this is the one time I can think of offhand where he's being a little arrogant. Like really letting it show that he's The Boss Here.

and he's started sitting on tables under Zhao Yunlan's bad influence.

LOL! ❤️ I have to say, Zhao Yunlan's cuteness in this ep gets to me more on every rewatch. He is so so happy that he finally knows. Happy!Zhao Yunlan is my jam.

I also like that the teasing while Shen Wei is sitting on the couch is on the one hand a mirror of episode 14, most obviously with the compensation, but it's like a lower stakes version of it and nobody has to get angry - Zhao Yunlan is just happy-teasing, and a bit of a troll, but not really trying to play Shen Wei, and Shen Wei's reaction is much fluffier in response.

Visible eyebrows are an immediate +10 to hotness.

TRUTH.

You can see him go "Oh fuck" at Shen Wei's reaction and then turn around and grasp at something else to interrupt the argument with.

I think this is an interesting one and I haven't quite sorted that out for myself yet. I'm intuitively with Zhao Yunlan in thinking that defusing the situation is called for (and I empathize that watching someone continue to chew out someone else who is creepily bowing and hitting themselves in the face would make him want to interfere), but I also instinctively cringe a little at how he goes about it. By calling attention to Shen Wei's different personas here, he'd be bound to make Shen Wei self-conscious, not just nudge him to maybe get a grip. Not that Shen Wei immediately gets self-conscious, because he's on a roll and almost takes Zhao Yunlan's head off too. But it's a potentially really awkward meta level to take that conversation to, and Zhao Yunlan does seem to regret it. *g*

I don't know if we get a comparable scene later on - the other angry scene I can think of is in episode 19, but they're alone then, and Zhao Yunlan plays submissive hamster in response to Shen Wei flipping his lid - but my gut feeling is that Zhao Yunlan might have handled this better at a later date, when he's a bit more used to the Shiny Envoy Knowledge Situation and a bit more attuned to when he can flirt Shen Wei out of RAWRR! moment instead of... you know, causing it. *g*

Also, in this context: I liked Zhao Yunlan's save when Shen Wei walks into the station and is already radiating Pissy Envoy and the Regent almost gives him away. Shen Wei wasn't, like, suuuuper concerned to be playing the meek professor there!

The scene where they tag teamed Cong Bo by revealing his perspective to be limited (how did they get the full images??? a Dixing power?) and then gave him life advice and recruited him to the SID was hilarious and very much deserving of the later celebratory glass-clinking.

I adore this scene so very much! It's one of my (mild) regrets that with the overarching plot ratcheting up intensity soon, we don't actually get that many 'normal plots' where they work as a team like that. I could watch them be joint badasses out on cases all day.

Also Cong Bo's office is totally the SID set.

And on the ever important topic of Shen Wei's dress sense: that is one crumpled coat, I have to say. It's another contrast, IMO, of his generally non-university clothes to his posh suits.

Even if the glasses were filled with tap water.

The tap water continues to puzzle me, though. I'm like, yes, okay, you can't have booze, but surely you can rustle up some cocoa or tea or pineapple juice or something... They really need their booze ersatz drink, those two.

One of my favourite bits in the series is when they arrive in Dixing, and Zhao Yunlan has had visions of his mother, and he's completely shaking out of his usual facade. I remember that having a really big impact on me when I watched the episode for the first time, and I think that change from his general bravado to the way he arrives in Dixing still hits really hard. (Good thing Shen Wei is there to be all sweet to him.)

Dijun booklet is basically census; contains everyone's power and origin.

This really makes you think: BACKUPS ARE A THING, PEOPLE.

Also, boy does Chu hate the Regent. I mean, it makes sense, but almost-strangling is kind of... impressive, given he's an SID cop and this is... the Regent.

And one random note: I remember this also being the episode where I first noticed that Shen Wei is actually shorter than Zhao Yunlan. And while in later episodes, you can sometimes see that (because, well, fact!) there's still something about this episode that makes Shen Wei look actively a bit wee to me - both shorter than Zhao Yunlan, and looking not as broad as he actually is. It might really just be chance and a few scenes in a row where they're shot in a way that emphasises Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei is a few steps behind, but, yeah, that still struck me on rewatch. I'd be curious if anyone else had that experience or if I'm just dreaming.

This episode has excellent jackets! And the close-up of Shen Wei's hands on the couch is *___*

Yes! He has stopped wearing glasses at Zhao Yunlan's place. He puts them back on to face Cong Bo, but takes them off again when they return.

:DDDDD

Thanks again for all the work you put into these! I really enjoy them every week!

[extrapenguin]

Where do you get that from? It's an interesting thought, but I admit I took it as to mean as either somehow related to his mother dying from a Dixingian power, and as he's travelling to Dixing for the first time, he gets a vision-memory of her, or that the trip is just so intense it pulls up memories in a rather vision-y way.
The other times we see the swirly space are as brackets to the Hallows-induced time travel trip and at the very end after Zhao Yunlan's been swallowed by the Lantern, so it stands to reason that the swirly space be associated with the Hallows. The visions are also along the same lines as the ones he saw when he grasped the Awl.

I, too, would've loved for Shen Xi to have actually been alive and turned up later! That's an amazing premise and you should definitely write fanfic of it! :D

I'm intuitively with Zhao Yunlan in thinking that defusing the situation is called for (and I empathize that watching someone continue to chew out someone else who is creepily bowing and hitting themselves in the face would make him want to interfere), but I also instinctively cringe a little at how he goes about it. By calling attention to Shen Wei's different personas here, he'd be bound to make Shen Wei self-conscious, not just nudge him to maybe get a grip. Not that Shen Wei immediately gets self-conscious, because he's on a roll and almost takes Zhao Yunlan's head off too.
Yeah. I agree that the situation needs to be defused, since they won't get anything done as long as the situation is still ongoing, but ... well, he gambled and failed epically. It really is interesting that he jumps straight to calling attention to Shen Wei technically being two people.

The tap water continues to puzzle me, though. I'm like, yes, okay, you can't have booze, but surely you can rustle up some cocoa or tea or pineapple juice or something... They really need their booze ersatz drink, those two.
I know! It wasn't even sparkling water! Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan, surely the two of you are more creative than this?!

I remember that having a really big impact on me when I watched the episode for the first time, and I think that change from his general bravado to the way he arrives in Dixing still hits really hard. (Good thing Shen Wei is there to be all sweet to him.)
This is one of the first times we see Zhao Yunlan act "himself" for a long stretch of time. On his home ground, he usually has a mask he's wearing, but here he's first shaken on the way over and then doesn't know what sort of mask to put on.

I remember this also being the episode where I first noticed that Shen Wei is actually shorter than Zhao Yunlan. And while in later episodes, you can sometimes see that (because, well, fact!) there's still something about this episode that makes Shen Wei look actively a bit wee to me - both shorter than Zhao Yunlan, and looking not as broad as he actually is. It might really just be chance and a few scenes in a row where they're shot in a way that emphasises Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei is a few steps behind, but, yeah, that still struck me on rewatch.
I don't quite remember when I noticed, but there's a longish sequence in episode 2 that has the Envoy look shorter. After that, I started noticing how Shen Wei was always on the uphill side of the slope... Did you notice it from the Professor Shen scenes or the Envoy scenes?

Thanks again for all the work you put into these! I really enjoy them every week!
♥

[trobadora]

Zhao Yunlan plays submissive hamster

I was just nodding along reading your comment, but I HAVE to tell you how much I love this phrase. :D

my gut feeling is that Zhao Yunlan might have handled this better at a later date, when he's a bit more used to the Shiny Envoy Knowledge Situation and a bit more attuned to when he can flirt Shen Wei out of RAWRR! moment instead of... you know, causing it

Yes! That's how I see it too - Zhao Yunlan clearly is still learning all the various sides Shen Wei has, and how to interact with them depending on the situation. I do like that he doesn't just magically get it right every time, that he does step on Shen Wei's toes on occasion and has to quickly switch gears.

[lunabee34]

I also thought his mother was going to play a bigger role in the plot or that there was going to be some mystery about her that would be uncovered.

[china_shop]

It's one of my (mild) regrets that with the overarching plot ratcheting up intensity soon, we don't actually get that many 'normal plots' where they work as a team like that. I could watch them be joint badasses out on cases all day.

YES! I want Guardian: The Procedural as well as Guardian: The Epic Drama so much! I think that's why I set so much of my fic around this time.

[soupytwist]

These posts are always great and I just wish I had more time to roll around in the sandpit of joy!

Shen Wei not wearing glasses when visiting Zhao Yunlan's place is just so charming and perfect to me. Uughhhhhhh HOW SO GOOD.

[extrapenguin]

I'm glad you enjoy them!

Shen Wei letting go of his masks is a wonderful thing. They're so good with each other.

[lannamichaels]

Do we know what the Regent's power is? Shen Wei and Ye Zun both change their appearances between Haixing and Dixing, but they could have grabbed that power from someone else. Is the Regent's power related to that, or is that just something that all Dixing folk can do?

[china_shop]

I was wondering about that the other day (and drafting a poll question about it). My best guesses so far are "professional grade skulduggery" or "treacherous self-interest." ;-)

[extrapenguin]

I don't think it's ever mentioned, but based on what we see later, it must be something along the lines of "emerging from any situation unscathed" :P

[trobadora]

I suppose this is indication that Zhao Yunlan has been partially corrupted by the Hallows already?

I thought it meant that the portal used that same extradimensional space as a medium? And possibly that Zhao Yunlan saw it because he has an affinity for the Hallows, but we don't really know what other people see, do we?

sets off to manipulate everyone into doing that in as face-saving a way as possible and fails colossally. You can see him go "Oh fuck" at Shen Wei's reaction

I really appreciate that Zhao Yunlan makes these missteps – that there are still sides of Shen Wei he hasn't managed to integrate into his mental image, that he misjudges Shen Wei's limits/boundaries here, that we see him still learning more about Shen Wei.

(how did they get the full images??? a Dixing power?)

I thought that was part of what Zhao Yunlan told Lin Jing to do.

We also get Zhao Yunlan's willingness to self-sacrifice pop up when he states that the risk of being corroded by dark energy doesn't matter. Shen Wei is obviously unhappy

They're both so very "do as I say, don’t do as I do". I love it. :D

also didn't seem to know that Dixing didn't have any sunlight.

I think it was the absence of light in general? No sunlight, all right, but so little artificial light, too.

On Haixing, Shen Wei is restrained by the Guardian Writ* and dark energy itself

I like that translation!

So, legal limits and natural limits – that makes a lot of sense. (I think the second part combines with what he said about gravity in the Hanga caves, so we have to conclude black energy is affected by gravity somehow.)

He has stopped wearing glasses at Zhao Yunlan's place.

That is such a lovely character note, isn’t it? :D

[jo_lasalle]

I think it was the absence of light in general? No sunlight, all right, but so little artificial light, too.

The light/sunlight thing really fascinates me sometimes. (Which is admittedly often code for "is a thing where the show isn't all that clear".) I notice mostly in the context of Zhu Jiu that what they say about his power awakening really sounds like they mean SUNLIGHT (because it's not like there is absolutely no light in Dixing, as we can see people... not continuously walking into things), but in the ep where they take him down, it also is the artificial light. I guess that means you can go a few ways with that in interpretation, but the Zhu Jiu thing has always bothered me a little for logic reasons.

[extrapenguin]

I thought it meant that the portal used that same extradimensional space as a medium? And possibly that Zhao Yunlan saw it because he has an affinity for the Hallows, but we don't really know what other people see, do we?
That's one interpretation, but I don't think we see the swirly space happen to anyone else when crossing to dixing - not eve Zhao Yunlan, once Shen Wei has cured his eyes/dark energy corruption. I'll keep an eye out during future episodes!

I really appreciate that Zhao Yunlan makes these missteps – that there are still sides of Shen Wei he hasn't managed to integrate into his mental image, that he misjudges Shen Wei's limits/boundaries here, that we see him still learning more about Shen Wei.
It's a learning process! Zhao Yunlan is pretty good at human-ing, but conversation is a gamble, and sometimes he fails.

I thought that was part of what Zhao Yunlan told Lin Jing to do.
But then how did Lin Jing do it? How did he time travel and place cameras there, or if it was all already filmed by others, why wasn't it publicized in response to Cong Bo's allegations, and how come Cong Bo didn't manage to hack into them in his preliminary investigations of the matters?

So, legal limits and natural limits – that makes a lot of sense. (I think the second part combines with what he said about gravity in the Hanga caves, so we have to conclude black energy is affected by gravity somehow.)
Yup, his comment in the Hanga caves was definitely about natural limits. I'd have to do some calculations, but I suppose it's technically possible that Dixing is very very deep down in the Earth and only gets like 90% of surface gravity, so the gravity differential is in the long term noticeable? Or the dark energy is pulling them all towards Dixing, or something else.

IDK if I'd translate it officially as Guardian Writ - maybe Guardian Agreement - but I'd have to check how real-life treaties are referred to in English. Definitely a legal thing, though.

The lack of masks in private and seeing "private" grow to encompass Yunlan is a wonderful character note, agreed!

[clevermanka]

I never understood exactly why it was so bad for Zhao Yunlan to go to Dixing, either. I mean, apart from possible health complications? I feel like the possibility would be sort of, maybe not anticipated but not exactly a surprise, either?

Angry Shen Wei is one of my favorite things. I want to shush Zhao Yunlan so much! No, no, let him go on! Trust me, you're gonna hate the Regent so much eventually--enjoy this while you can!

[extrapenguin]

I suppose it's one part health complications, one part Shen Wei - I wouldn't be surprised if he was stressed out about Zhao Yunlan potentially learning something timeline-jeopardizing, or being captured by Ye Zun, or deciding that Dixingians were not human enough after all ... or feeling ashamed at Dixing's sorry state, and not wanting Zhao Yunlan to think less of him, either due to pity at Dixing or due to finding Shen Wei an incompetent ruler.

[trobadora]

I never understood exactly why it was so bad for Zhao Yunlan to go to Dixing

Well, what did happen the first time Zhao Yunlan went to Dixing? He got all up in everyone's business and promptly ended up nearly getting killed. And Shen Wei knows Zhao Yunlan, after all ...

[lunabee34]

The Regent is so squirrely and awful. How on Haixing did he get that appointment? LOL

[extrapenguin]

Like most politicians do, I imagine - by being the squirreliest.

[tsubame_17]

This is the episode where Zhao Yunlan switches hairstyles! Finally, we can see his eyebrows!

Just today I was reading in IMDb the synopsis of the episodes and in this one say:

Did You Know?
Trivia
In Chinese culture it's custom for a woman to change her hair after marriage. Bai Yu's character Zhao Yunlan goes through a hair change between ep 14 and 15. Bai Yu himself said in an interview with Bazaar that it was because Zhao Yunlan "... met his good bro. There should be a change in his appearance". This is open for everyone to interpret in their own way.

You know ^_^

[extrapenguin]

Indeed, I think pretty much everyone has heard of that. An alternative interpretation is that Shen Wei dragged him to a stylist with strict instructions to uncover the eyebrows. :P

[china_shop]

There's so much to process in this episode, I need to watch it again, but in the meantime...

We also see a very brief moment of the space outside the universes that the Hallows dump Zhao Yunlan into after the time travel. I suppose this is indication that Zhao Yunlan has been partially corrupted by the Hallows already?

I always assumed that was just general portal/wormhole/afterlife space, and that portal travel sometimes induces visions in those who aren't used to it?

Visible eyebrows are an immediate +10 to hotness.

YES!!! The hairstyle change makes me so happy, purely on an aesthetic level! Especially when Zhao Yunlan starts flirting from under his fringe.

he makes Lin Jing hack and delete all of Cong Bo's files on the SID (even if hacking doesn't work like that and does Cong Bo not keep any backups???)

Maybe Cong Bo's backups are all in the cloud, and Lin Jing hacked those too.

Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan both apologize for the pinhole camera, though they're so very different in body language. Shen Wei is super tense, while Zhao Yunlan is more on the resignedly sorry end of the scale.

I wonder how much Shen Wei's apology is the way it is because this comes on top of the Zheng Yi/wedding disaster. Things are going wrong, and he feels on the back foot. *pets him*

And Zhao Yunlan's apology works well for me. I think he's being careful and remorseful and giving Shen Wei plenty of space to have his feelings/be angry, and when Shen Wei starts apologising instead, it seems to physically hurt ZYL.

(Likely this is due to asymmetric repercussions: Zhao Yunlan would not have to personally deal with people considering him a monster, unlike Shen Wei.)

I don't understand this? The fact that it potentially affects Shen Wei more makes it an even bigger deal for Zhao Yunlan to have transgressed, surely? Especially in his own eyes!

The scene where they tag teamed Cong Bo by revealing his perspective to be limited

I love that scene, especially that Shen Wei is the one carrying the videos to show Cong Bo. Trobadora and I were talking the other day about how they must have planned it out beforehand: ZYL being all, "I'll take over his desk and get a look at his computer set-up -- you loom disapprovingly! Here, take the phone."

They almost have a good cop/bad cop vibe going (see your "neighbors" screencap).

When Guo Changcheng writes in his diary, "The truth is not always as the same as what we saw," I wondered whether that was partially a dig at censorship (or is that too much of a stretch?).

I love Zhao Yunlan getting his first glimpse of how ordinary Dixingren react to and respect the Envoy, and starting to come to terms with Dixing as a real volcanic hellscape place and Shen Wei's actual status there.

And ahhhhh, your ZYL jacket watch caps are so great!! I love them as much for the wonderful ZYL-typical poses/expressions as for the jackets themselves. <3 <3 <3

[jo_lasalle]

ZYL being all, "I'll take over his desk and get a look at his computer set-up -- you loom disapprovingly! Here, take the phone."

Honestly, I do find it strange to see him handling a phone. *g* It mit almost makes me go "careful with the touchscreen!!!" So this would explain that!

When Guo Changcheng writes in his diary, "The truth is not always as the same as what we saw," I wondered whether that was partially a dig at censorship (or is that too much of a stretch?).

I don't think it's a stretch, or at least I was wondering something similar too.

Re Zhao Yunlan seeing Shen Wei's status in Dixing: to me that's one of those things I actually like better on rewatch and with a bit more capacity to mentally edit the, shall we say, slightly cartoonish look of Dixing. There's really a lot of untapped potential for "stuff set in Dixing" imo.