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sid_guardian2019-05-30 08:22 pm
extrapenguin) wrote in sid_guardian2019-05-30 08:22 pm
Entry tags:
Guardian Episode by Episode: 15
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
* 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.
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.
no subject
I was actually just going to come back and edit myself: in terms of flashes of arrogance, we do get some of that when he is being interrogated by Zhu Hong and Chu in the face-stealing episode. /belated edit