Guardian Episode by Episode: 17

[extrapenguin]

Welcome to the rewatchalong! We are now at episode 17. The Imgur screencap album has 66 images. There will be no rewatchalong next week, as I am traveling, and the one after that will be on the Sunday (30th). The Icon Battle round 2 icons are available, in case you missed them.

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, Episode 15, Episode 16

This week, we finish the soil composition and Zhao Yunlan runs around Dixing case, and start the Fight Club case.

Introductions

"Why did you bring a baby to Fight Club?"

We see Ye Huo for the first time. He warns Chu Shuzhi that this place is not a nice place, and Guo Changcheng should go home.

Characterization
In the past scene, Zhao Xinci seems to be sorry that he killed Bao Laosan's wife instead of the actual thief Bao Laosan (but he was willing to execute a guy for theft just because he didn't immediately turn himself over). Now, Bao Laosan was killed in the scuffle, but Zhao Xinci wants everyone to think it was intentional – was it Zhang Shi taking control and not shooting, or has Zhao Xinci grown soft but doesn't want it to get out?


Zhao Xinci's shock? regret? at killing the wife instead.

Zhang Shi seems to be able to temporarily manifest outside Zhao Xinci's body – or is he simply causing Zhao Xinci to see things, and an outside observer would see Director Zhao talking to himself?

There's friction over Bao Laosan's death, though – Zhang Shi is understandably pissed at the unnecessary death of one of his people, while Zhao Xinci outright declares that it's his "mission and destiny" to kill Dixingians. He also, once upon a time, chose killing one criminal over saving his wife, while his son was present.

Zhang Shi brought the SID library a book on Kunlun's adventures! Hmm. Wanting for Zhao Yunlan to prepare for his role as Kunlun?

When Bao Laosan dies, we see a reaction shot of Chu Shuzhi (usually in Western media, reaction shots go to women, because it's more acceptable for women to display emotions like shock, so my ears pricked up at this) and he looks just as shocked as if everyone had suddenly started driving on the left with no warning. It seems Zhao Yunlan hasn't killed anyone as part of an investigation. (Even Zhao Yunlan's boasting that Da Qing brought up was that Zhao Yunlan wanted to arrest all the Dixingians, not kill them.)


That is the most expression we've seen him have.


Chu Shuzhi later escorts his duckling in Fight Club and is very protective of the Guo Changcheng literally clinging to his coattails.

Cong Bo dressed up as a waitress to get pics of the underground fighting ring. Alas, we did not get to see pics of the crossdressing.


We also don't get to see anything involving more creative uses of this pole.

We get more friction between Ya Qing and Zhu Jiu. Ya Qing calls out Zhu Jiu on his leaving a fellow Dixingian to the wolves, while Zhu Jiu says he's 100% OK with it all, since only the strong deserve to survive, and anyway Ye Zun let him know the true voice of his heart, which is that he should dye his hair purple. Ya Qing says that she is only in this business for the benefits to the Yashou, not out of any love for Ye Zun's WTF Social Darwinist methods.

Ooh, Ding Dun was the Regent's pupil! The Regent freed him, and now the Regent is executing the trio of delinquents. For leading Shen Wei to Zhao Yunlan and thus Ding Dun? For not succeeding in distracting Zhao Yunlan from the mission of finding the Dijun Booklet? He didn't tell the delinquents he was the Regent. (Come to think of it, how did Wu Tian'en manage to lead Zhao Yunlan to Ding Dun? It seems a touch suspicious.)

Shen Wei's Oh No I Have Misplaced My Human search is in parts hilarious and in parts touching. The bar crowd thinks he's a fake Envoy until he turns off all the lights, at which point they do a complete 180° and the bartender is all !!! at the Envoy turning up in his bar.


"Okay, now that you believe I'm me, has anyone seen my human?"

We see Shen Wei go really hard on the delinquent trio – anger and pulling his blade out – and then, after he's reached Zhao Yunlan, he outright kills Ding Dun. (Even if Ding Dun was legally dead already, it's still killing a person.) Is this just him being super worried about Yunlan and willing to kill anyone who tried to kill his human, or is this supposed to be his normal modus operandi as the Envoy/how Dixing is supposed to work?


The delinquents actively fear for their lives. Methinks you're overreacting a bit, Shen Wei.

We don't see what Shen Wei does to save Zhao Yunlan.


"Yunlan, wake up! I urgently require your advice on how to quickly found a hospital!"

The Chancellor commented that Shen Wei looks happier now! Then he immediately gave Shen Wei an ultimatum of teaching vs the SID, and Shen Wei was going to choose the SID (due to putting the aforementioned prevention of war and his duties as the Envoy above things like research?) until Jiajia used nepotism on his behalf and he was allowed to do what he likes. The following scene where Jiajia talks with him was very interesting from a characterization perspective! It's almost as if he didn't realize that people liked Professor Shen and found him an important figure in their lives. It did cause him to do a lot of thinking – he was even lost in his thoughts while Zhao Yunlan explained case-related things to him.


Was he unable to see value to others in his role as Professor Shen?

In this episode: Zhao Yunlan figures out that the dude whose surname means "candle" might perhaps have light-based teleportation powers! He figures this out via doing some research by asking an actual Dixingian civilian. This is something Zhao Xinci never could have done, and as an extension of that, Zhu Jiu is someone Zhao Xinci never could've captured.


"Asking produced surprisingly good results!"

Zhao Yunlan claims he's heartless, ruthless, and an asshole, though that might be just to discourage the "fortune teller". He is definitely given pause by the question of family; he laughs it off, but has to take a moment to generate the quip. Interestingly, he recognizes Ding Dun on sight once Ding Dun takes off the mask.


He also has a prime "Well, that backfired spectacularly!" moment.

In some prime Socialist Brotherhood(TM), Zhao Yunlan brings Shen Wei to his mother's grave back on Haixing. Shen Wei cannot read the mood and states that he's not siding with Zhao Yunlan/the SID due to siding with humans, but only to prevent another war. While they probably do need to talk more about Shen Wei's loyalties and just who he is for Dixing, this is very much not the time and place. Especially when Zhao Yunlan is having some Thoughts about his dad bringing flowers to mom's grave and experiencing emotions related to that.


"Shen Wei, please, you're not helping."

Canon notes

• Apparently, using Dixing powers to cause harm + resisting arrest = death penalty.
• Zhu Long 烛龙 and Jiu Yin 九阴 are famous Dixingian heroes.
• Zhu Jiu didn't yet have powers when he met Ye Zun.
• Zhao Yunlan's mother's name is Shen Xi 沈溪, with the same surname as Shen Wei.

Cinematography
Shots from beneath to show impressive power for Bao Laosan.


Shots from above to show that Zhu Jiu is small before the pillar and to show that Zhao Yunlan has a firefighter's pole thing.


Shots from afar!




We get scenes shot through blinds and other intervening devices to demonstrate secrets and discord.

Left: Zhu Jiu and Ya Qing have a disagreement, and also foreshadowing of Ya Qing harboring doubts. Right: Zhao Yunlan decides to take the Kunlun book as evening reading.

Also, this shot of Shen Wei and his blade is a perfect example of the lyrical diagonal in composition. In Western art thought, the gaze is thought to start from top left and go to the bottom right. The lyrical diagonal interrupts that movement abruptly, like crashing into a brick wall. It is meant to give pause.


The other diagonal is called the dramatic diagonal, and while this shot doesn't have that per se, it shows as the line of sight. Think of the dramatic diagonal as pressing the accelerator on the gaze's way from corner to corner, while the lyric diagonal makes it stutter.

Zhao Yunlan looks at books, decides to leave lit review to Shen Wei.

We also get some tilted camera in this episode. The changing of vertical and horizontal to diagonal gives some life to the shot.

It can also be used to make the height gap look less vast.

Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
We start with the same jacket as last episode, but then he gets to sleep and change clothes for lit review (into a leather jacket), and again before sending his field team to Fight Club (into a denim jacket).



Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
No.

Comments

[extrapenguin]

No, I mean that Zhao Xinci would've wanted to pull the trigger, but Zhang Shi prevented him, and then Bao Laosan accidentally moved the trigger finger in the scuffle.

The lock screen is so obvious that I actually wonder what Zhao Yunlan makes of it - he must have seen it at some point, tbh.
One of the points made earlier is that Zhao Yunlan and his dad don't really communicate or stay in touch, so it's within the realm of possibility that Zhao Yunlan hasn't seen it. If he has, I, too, am curious about what he's made of it! And yeah, it's interesting that Zhao Xinci still has that lockscreen picture of his family back before his wife died.

I think this is the first example we see of Shen Wei reacting overly harshly / overreacting to people who threaten Zhao Yunlan, in line with the later accidental killing of Cat Girl. It's probably close enough to what you might expect from the Envoy that in Dixing, nobody finds it weird (the absolutely casual way this is done is a thing that continues to impress and amuse me), but I think it's 100% related to Zhao Yunlan. Shen Wei might have a rep as a Tough Envoy but he doesn't actually like going for people that hard as part of his professional duties. Threatening Zhao Yunlan just turns his safeties off.
Dixing desperately needs administrative reform! Yeah, Shen Wei is overreacting, but it really bothers me that people don't see this as extremely OOC for the Envoy. Shouldn't people be concerned that the Envoy has suddenly started oppressing them with no basis as a tyrannical dictator?

Re: healing, I interpreted it as Shen Wei doing some diagnostics/trying to heal, stopping for some reason while Zhao Yunlan falls unconscious while still unhealed, and then cut to the SID.

My question: do we know how the bullets work on that dark energy gun?
Alas, no. Other than that they only work against Dixingians (and maybe/probably Yashou).

The graveyard scene has so much going on between the lines. Zhao Yunlan's face when he realises someone's been at the grave absolutely kills me, and the quiet stuff that's going on on his face is absolutely marvellous. I just went back to rewatch this, and I think you're right that this is a case where Shen Wei can't read the atmosphere (or his mind is really elsewhere) and he keeps going on about Big Politics while Zhao Yunlan is in a very different headspace. There's a great bit at the end where for once, you can actually see Zhao Yunlan put his mask back on towards Shen Wei, and while I don't think it's a big deal in the long run (I am not saying this is a long-term mark on their relationship!), to me it's interesting to see that that relatively late-ish, especially in contrast to earlier scenes where Shen Wei is very attuned to Zhao Yunlan having Feels and very good about them. (Shen Wei is not perfect!)
Yes! Zhao Yunlan is not in a mental space where he can have a politics discussion, but Shen Wei is completely oblivious to this. Maybe he just ... doesn't get that a mother's grave might be A Big Deal? Especially if Zhao Yunlan is having some complicated feelings due to his mom being killed by a Dixingian and here he is, falling in love with a Dixingian and aiding them and his favorite Dixingian just says that lol nope, he's not allying himself with humans, not really.

Good point about Shen Wei's rhetoric changing between his drama llama monologue and his "Hi, we are a team, let's discuss strategy!" face.

Also, on the Jo-is-a-terrible-person front: I know kid!Zhao Yunlan just lost his mom and there is nothing funny about that, but can I, as a terrible person who found it funny anyway, point out that kid!Zhao Yunlan... is wearing a leather jacket?
AHAHAHA uhh I suppose he started early?

[clevermanka]

Shouldn't people be concerned that the Envoy has suddenly started oppressing them with no basis as a tyrannical dictator?
I feel like the reputation of the Envoy suffered a bit during Shen Wei's dirt nap and he maybe became the boogeyman used to frighten children into behaving. So people respect him, but also fear and dread him. Finding out (or thinking they found out) that he's actually no better than their corrupt leaders doesn't sound like that much of a stretch.

Shen Wei is completely oblivious to this. Maybe he just ... doesn't get that a mother's grave might be A Big Deal?
Not unlikely--I don't suppose he was able to spend much time at his own mother's grave. While I think he understands familial love as it relates to filial piety, he's obviously Not Great at family dynamics in general.

[zeest]

I feel like the reputation of the Envoy suffered a bit during Shen Wei's dirt nap and he maybe became the boogeyman used to frighten children into behaving.

I agree with this. I think the Regent would have found it useful to prop the Envoy up as the boogeyman to get his way with things. (And then found it a tad inconvenient when the actual Envoy showed up :p) I think Shen Wei is also aware of his reputation among the Dixing people? Which is sad, no wonder he's surprised that the students like him so much.

[jo_lasalle]

I think Shen Wei is also aware of his reputation among the Dixing people?

I find the argument with the Regent plausible, but I also want to point out that Shen Wei cultivates a tougher image and his reputation is probably not all Regent-based. His acts of clemency are usually in secret and just known to the person he's being kind to.

Granted, a lot of this is towards the Haixing authorities, but I would infer that he is in general cultivating a tougher image than people would have if they had all the info on his softie heart.

Also, I think there is some evidence that especially right after the dirt nap, as a 'younger' Envoy, he was still more prone to fumbling around and erring on the side of Looking Tough - his handling of Zhu Jiu is really not that great, and Butler Wu, who last interacted with him many years ago, but was working for him (i.e. Butler Wu's impression of Shen Wei wouldn't be filtered through the Regent), was respectful-but-also-fearful of him when they met again in the present.

[extrapenguin]

I find the argument with the Regent plausible, but I also want to point out that Shen Wei cultivates a tougher image and his reputation is probably not all Regent-based. His acts of clemency are usually in secret and just known to the person he's being kind to.
+1 this. I do think that the Regent is affecting the kind of tough-guy image the Envoy has – Shen Wei would likely rather have an image that's more about dispensing justice and doing the right thing even when it's hard, but the Regent/others are distorting that into "look how authoritarianly tyrannical the Envoy is, also he's the only thing keeping us belowground".

Also, I think there is some evidence that especially right after the dirt nap, as a 'younger' Envoy, he was still more prone to fumbling around and erring on the side of Looking Tough - his handling of Zhu Jiu is really not that great, and Butler Wu, who last interacted with him many years ago, but was working for him (i.e. Butler Wu's impression of Shen Wei wouldn't be filtered through the Regent), was respectful-but-also-fearful of him when they met again in the present.
This as well! In the past, he hid his youth and inexperience behind a mask, and then now he wakes up 10k years later only to discover that while he's just as young and inexperienced as he was, he's turned from respected general to mythical legend war hero, and oh, he has no fucking clue about the present age. No wonder he was lost, and trying to play tougher than necessary to have people not realize that the hallowed Black-Cloaked Envoy was actually a confused youth.

[zeest]

I agree with you both actually! This edges into headcanon territory, but I think the Regent cultivated the Envoy's reputation and then when Shen Wei woke up, he convinced Shen Wei that the people's fear of the Envoy is crucial to preserving the peace. I don't think it would be hard to convince Shen Wei who has woken up in a world completely different from the one he knows, and who already had quite the rep before the dirt nap.

[clevermanka]

If I had a dime for every time I said or typed "Poor Shen Wei!" but yeah, poor Shen Wei!

[jo_lasalle]

One kind of should get an autofill for that, really...

[jo_lasalle]

One of the points made earlier is that Zhao Yunlan and his dad don't really communicate or stay in touch, so it's within the realm of possibility that Zhao Yunlan hasn't seen it.

I think they don't stay in touch in a family way, but I also didn't get the vibe when they did meet as part of the job that they hadn't seen each other in like ten years or anything. It is of course possible that if that happened rarely enoug, he might not have seen it!

Yeah, Shen Wei is overreacting, but it really bothers me that people don't see this as extremely OOC for the Envoy. Shouldn't people be concerned that the Envoy has suddenly started oppressing them with no basis as a tyrannical dictator?

He killed a guy who had just stabbed somebody. That's not great law enforcement by my standards, but Ding Dun is a criminal who just assaulted and tried to kill the Lord Guardian and burned the Dijun register, and wasn't exactly standing down when Shen Wei arrived. There was an ongoing melée. That's not 'no basis as a tyrannical dictator' - he didn't randomly kill a Dixing pedestrian for standing in the wrong spot because he was bored or something.

Especially if Zhao Yunlan is having some complicated feelings due to his mom being killed by a Dixingian and here he is, falling in love with a Dixingian and aiding them and his favorite Dixingian just says that lol nope, he's not allying himself with humans, not really.

I honestly never got much of a vibe that Zhao Yunlan is hung up on the "a DIXINGIAN killed his mother" part; for me that's always overshadowed by "my dad let it happen for the Greater Good and Professional Standards". But it's an interesting angle, I'll keep it in mind and check that scene again.

Re: potential obliviousness, I could see that - I speculated more on that in a comment lower in the thread.

[extrapenguin]

I think they don't stay in touch in a family way, but I also didn't get the vibe when they did meet as part of the job that they hadn't seen each other in like ten years or anything. It is of course possible that if that happened rarely enough, he might not have seen it!
Yeah, I imagine that they'd have seen each other mainly in official contexts that would include minimal phone checking, so less opportunities to see it. Zhao Yunlan's reaction to it would definitely be interesting, in any case, and now I want the fic in which he sees it.

He killed a guy who had just stabbed somebody. That's not great law enforcement by my standards, but Ding Dun is a criminal who just assaulted and tried to kill the Lord Guardian and burned the Dijun register, and wasn't exactly standing down when Shen Wei arrived. There was an ongoing melée. That's not 'no basis as a tyrannical dictator' - he didn't randomly kill a Dixing pedestrian for standing in the wrong spot because he was bored or something.
The "tyrannical dictator" thing is mainly about him implicitly threatening the delinquents with violence. Ding Dun is more ... the Dixing judiciary is fucked up. (Then again, given how Ding Dun already escaped once with inside help, Shen Wei might not have a choice, unless he's willing to completely violate the treaty and ask Zhao Yunlan to set up a Dixingian-proof jail aboveground.)

I honestly never got much of a vibe that Zhao Yunlan is hung up on the "a DIXINGIAN killed his mother" part; for me that's always overshadowed by "my dad let it happen for the Greater Good and Professional Standards". But it's an interesting angle, I'll keep it in mind and check that scene again.
I doubt it's at the top of his mind, but I suspect it's there somewhere, albeit tangled up in the "my dad is an asshole towards people who are basically human and have been condemned to the darkness" feelings. More of a small extra button that Shen Wei's lack of tact could press.

[trobadora]

I honestly never got much of a vibe that Zhao Yunlan is hung up on the "a DIXINGIAN killed his mother" part; for me that's always overshadowed by "my dad let it happen for the Greater Good and Professional Standards".

I think there may also be a part where he irrationally resents Dixingren because they're more important to his father than he and his mother are?

[jo_lasalle]

I think there may also be a part where he irrationally resents Dixingren because they're more important to his father than he and his mother are?

This, I could see!

In general, my take on Zhao Yunlan and his feelings on Dixingren (pre-episode 6~8ish) is a more general casual antipathy and inherited prejudice because he mostly encounters them when they are being criminals, and not a genuinely personal grudge. ExtraPenguin's point did bring me up short, because it would certainly not be narratively unusual to have a guy have a grudge over his mother being murdered by a representative of a group, so I'd wondered if I'd missed something. But I never did get that vibe off the mother subplot, and I don't get the vibe that he is very conflicted over his best friend / best brother / boyfriend being Dixingren either.

But if you wrap it up with all his complicated baggage with his dad, that has a certain ring to it for me...

[trobadora]

Yeah, I'm completely with you on that - even though it's such a common trope, ZYL really doesn't seem to have a "you killed my mother!" grudge against Dixingren. I'm glad they didn't go that way, and instead used it for complicated father/son issues.

[extrapenguin]

ExtraPenguin's point did bring me up short, because it would certainly not be narratively unusual to have a guy have a grudge over his mother being murdered by a representative of a group, so I'd wondered if I'd missed something. But I never did get that vibe off the mother subplot, and I don't get the vibe that he is very conflicted over his best friend / best brother / boyfriend being Dixingren either.
To clarify, i don't actually think that "oh noes I am betraying my mom by dating a Dixingian" is anywhere near Zhao Yunlan's thought process, but I do think he was going through his mom's death in the episode. Having it be related to the daddy issues would work, as would Zhao Yunlan thinking that if only daddy dearest had shown the smallest bit of clemency towards Dixingians, maybe mom wouldn't have died, or something else that sort of included Dixingians in the picture of stuff Zhao Yunlan has to deal with re: his family would work.

[jo_lasalle]

Yeah, to counter clarify, I didn't mean to put words in your mouth. *g* I was genuinely thinking about your point re the mom.

(Also Zhao Yunlan needs more hugs.)

[extrapenguin]

Glad that's clear! It is an intriguing thing to think about, sine it's something that is going completely differently to what one might expect.

Zhao Yunlan definitely needs a hug! (Everyone does, on Guardian.) Perhaps Shen Wei could start hugging practice with Zhao Yunlan as his target?

[jo_lasalle]

Perhaps Shen Wei could start hugging practice with Zhao Yunlan as his target?

Target and teacher at the same time? Srsly, that boy would not know how to do hugs... (That shoulder thump or whatever that is when ZYL is freaking out about his dad being abducted towards the end of the Merit Brush arc is LOL and <3)

They should maybe take a class together!

[extrapenguin]

Target and teacher at the same time?
Yes! Who else can teach Shen Wei exactly how to cuddle Yunlan to Yunlan's specifications? Shen Wei can start with a literature review and then be stolen onto the bed to put theory to practice. I think he might spontaneously combust with embarrassment if he had to sign up for a class.