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sid_guardian2019-09-13 11:46 pm
extrapenguin) wrote in sid_guardian2019-09-13 11:46 pm
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Guardian Episode by Episode: 27
Welcome to the rewatchalong! This week we watch episode 27. The Imgur screencap album has 56 images. Next week's post will be on Thursday, as I'm traveling again.
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, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25, Episode 26
This week, the Merit Brush arc escalates and we have a Sha Ya reveal.
Characterization
We get the resolution to old Li and Da Qing's conflict – Da Qing was the first Yashou Li had met and he acted out of fear, then immediately regretted it but was too afraid to apologize and bring it up. (Timeline-wise, that was 10 years ago, and he was hired as the SID housekeeper after he cleaned up.)
Da Qing forgives very easily, but I guess that's part of being 10 000 years old. He's likely had people do much worse for him. If he stewed in resentment forever he'd never get anything done, so he lets it go. He doesn't quite forgive Da Ji yet, though, and says he's at the SID to learn "guarding" (the thing Guo Changcheng wrote about in his notebook way back) and she is shooed away.
"Cheer up! You're not my least favorite person in the world. That honor belongs to Da Ji."
Ya Qing can portal/transport/yoink up other people into the skies – given that she also has leet haxxor skillz, what does she need these other losers for? She could just dump Ye Zun, Zhu Jiu, Wang Xiangyang et al and run a much tighter ship that'd achieve things better due to her actually being competent.
We're fully into Lin Jing's traitor arc now! He has a dream where Sha Ya asks him why he didn't tell her he was a traitor, then reacts to his conscience knocking on the doors by ... dissolving the syringe. Doubling down in the face of doubts.
On the other hand, we have his romantic entanglement with Sha Ya. When she says she's from a place with no Sun and no stars, he twigs that she's from Dixing and buys her stinky tofu. He's actually really nice about it. (He also pulled out and looked at a ring from his pocket. Was he planning to propose?) And very obviously disappointed when it's clear his crush was responsible for a crime, so the reason she was speaking about going away was because she knew the Envoy would take her away.
"In addition to buying the stinky tofu, I can also put a good word in the Envoy's ear! And your riffs might be 'so good they must be illegal' but he's too much of a square to know about musical inventions that postdate the flute!"
Of course, he also tried to put a tracker onto her. This was probably stalker reasons and not "suspicious Dixingian, must place tracker" reasons, but at least she fried it immediately.
And electrocuted him later.
Sha Ya, on the other hand, is resigned at going back to Dixing. She states that she's unwilling to torture people, and she has her principles, so I suppose her plan was to kill Zhao Xinci and then give herself over to the Envoy for justice. She cites a hatred of Wang Xiangyang manipulating people into doing the revenge thing on his behalf, and is aware of Zhu Jiu's existence. She's playing the SID, but I haven't made up my mind whether she's just playing by the rules Ya Qing and Wang Xiangyang gave her or trying to play both sides for a bit; also whether this is Plan B in case she couldn't escape or Plan A involved her being caught.
The Ass Rating Bureau is still seeking members. Shen Wei is disqualified for this round for being utterly unobjective.
She claims she only got close to Lin Jing to get information out of him, but given their interactions, I suppose she grew to enjoy his company. Especially given her reaction to him coming out to stop her. She genuinely doesn't want to kill him.
We also got the interesting tidbit of Sha Ya being immune to Guo Changcheng's shockstick. Since she has electricity powers, could she go out swimming in a thunderstorm with no ill effects? Also, that electricity powers power break was the metalest exit ever.
A+, 10/10, would go to concert again.
Wang Zheng takes obvious delight in cutting Lin Jing's pay and even invites Zhu Hong over to look.
"Laugh at your misfortune squad, assemble!"
Li Qian, despite not being Shen Wei's PhD student anymore, still metaphorically runs to him by sending the SID an anonymous e-mail. (Someone go over the Haixing Department of Supervision lab safety procedures!) Shen Wei is also still holding up his end of the bargain by being very concerned about her safety.
Though don't save from the sexy looming, Professor Shen. My ship hasn't had enough fodder yet.
Zhao Yunlan tries to pressure Minister Gao into letting the SID investigate, but no dice. One wonders whether they'd have connected some dots sooner had they been allowed to investigate, but ah well. He can always use Lin Jing's attendance machine hacking thingy to hack his way into the lab. He's now also cottoned on to there being a traitor in the SID, as the lab visit made him want to look more at the syringe the SID had and it's not there. Da Qing and Sang Zan also know; Zhao Yunlan couldn't have known about the traitor thing when going to look for the syringe, but he can probably trust both, Da Qing due to inertia and Sang Zan due to Sang Zan's circumstances.
Then there's the conversation Zhao Yunlan overheard. Shen Wei didn't tell Zhao Yunlan about it, and cut a deal with Zhao Xinci about keeping Zhao Yunlan away from the Haixing Department of Supervision. He's a foreign diplomat, so he can conduct diplomatic negotiations and agree to not tell his country about the serum experiments yet, but conspiracy to keep a third party away from it all and not even an offhand mention to your boyfriend that you're meeting his dad are dick moves.
Another interesting bit is the body language: Shen Wei is leaning forwards with closed-off and attentive body language, while Zhao Xinci is lounging like a king on his throne. Who is invested and how much?
Zhao Yunlan is understandably upset. He points out that he's trusted Shen Wei so many times before but can he trust him now? (While there are likely some dad issues involved in the mix, Shen Wei trying to keep Zhao Yunlan from doing his job weighs heavy in there.) Then they're both unhappy and moping, but Zhao Yunlan plays his cards close to his chest and lies that he didn't hear a thing.
"Your hips might not lie, but your mouth sure does."
Zhao Xinci was the source of the dossier on Zhao Yunlan we see in Shen Wei's hands in episode ... 2, I think? He also thinks there's an existential threat to humanity already. Precognition or xenophobia?
Canon details
Cinematography
We have our framing device shots!
Sha Ya and Lin Jing on a park bench, discussing the earring. Zhao Yunlan lying to Shen Wei about not hearing a thing.
Shots from a distance!
Da Qing in the alley with Li and Da Ji. Wang Xiangyang confrontation.
A smiling Shen Wei!
Very happy that Da Qing remembers how awesome Kunlun was!
Sha Ya in a mask, looking hot!
Come ransack my bedroom instead?
Literacy with Ye Zun!
His minions haven't come up with effective advertising channels yet. Dixingians aren't on Twitter, and Ye Zun can't physically submit his ad copy into the local paper. Hence, no-one came.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
Same green affair as in last episode (because it's the same day), then his dark blue coat for the lab ransacking and traitor discovery, and finally a leather coat for the awkward conversation with Shen Wei and the Sha Ya arrest.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
No.
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, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25, Episode 26
This week, the Merit Brush arc escalates and we have a Sha Ya reveal.
Characterization
We get the resolution to old Li and Da Qing's conflict – Da Qing was the first Yashou Li had met and he acted out of fear, then immediately regretted it but was too afraid to apologize and bring it up. (Timeline-wise, that was 10 years ago, and he was hired as the SID housekeeper after he cleaned up.)
Da Qing forgives very easily, but I guess that's part of being 10 000 years old. He's likely had people do much worse for him. If he stewed in resentment forever he'd never get anything done, so he lets it go. He doesn't quite forgive Da Ji yet, though, and says he's at the SID to learn "guarding" (the thing Guo Changcheng wrote about in his notebook way back) and she is shooed away.
"Cheer up! You're not my least favorite person in the world. That honor belongs to Da Ji."
Ya Qing can portal/transport/yoink up other people into the skies – given that she also has leet haxxor skillz, what does she need these other losers for? She could just dump Ye Zun, Zhu Jiu, Wang Xiangyang et al and run a much tighter ship that'd achieve things better due to her actually being competent.
We're fully into Lin Jing's traitor arc now! He has a dream where Sha Ya asks him why he didn't tell her he was a traitor, then reacts to his conscience knocking on the doors by ... dissolving the syringe. Doubling down in the face of doubts.
On the other hand, we have his romantic entanglement with Sha Ya. When she says she's from a place with no Sun and no stars, he twigs that she's from Dixing and buys her stinky tofu. He's actually really nice about it. (He also pulled out and looked at a ring from his pocket. Was he planning to propose?) And very obviously disappointed when it's clear his crush was responsible for a crime, so the reason she was speaking about going away was because she knew the Envoy would take her away.
"In addition to buying the stinky tofu, I can also put a good word in the Envoy's ear! And your riffs might be 'so good they must be illegal' but he's too much of a square to know about musical inventions that postdate the flute!"
Of course, he also tried to put a tracker onto her. This was probably stalker reasons and not "suspicious Dixingian, must place tracker" reasons, but at least she fried it immediately.
And electrocuted him later.
Sha Ya, on the other hand, is resigned at going back to Dixing. She states that she's unwilling to torture people, and she has her principles, so I suppose her plan was to kill Zhao Xinci and then give herself over to the Envoy for justice. She cites a hatred of Wang Xiangyang manipulating people into doing the revenge thing on his behalf, and is aware of Zhu Jiu's existence. She's playing the SID, but I haven't made up my mind whether she's just playing by the rules Ya Qing and Wang Xiangyang gave her or trying to play both sides for a bit; also whether this is Plan B in case she couldn't escape or Plan A involved her being caught.
The Ass Rating Bureau is still seeking members. Shen Wei is disqualified for this round for being utterly unobjective.
She claims she only got close to Lin Jing to get information out of him, but given their interactions, I suppose she grew to enjoy his company. Especially given her reaction to him coming out to stop her. She genuinely doesn't want to kill him.
We also got the interesting tidbit of Sha Ya being immune to Guo Changcheng's shockstick. Since she has electricity powers, could she go out swimming in a thunderstorm with no ill effects? Also, that electricity powers power break was the metalest exit ever.
A+, 10/10, would go to concert again.
Wang Zheng takes obvious delight in cutting Lin Jing's pay and even invites Zhu Hong over to look.
"Laugh at your misfortune squad, assemble!"
Li Qian, despite not being Shen Wei's PhD student anymore, still metaphorically runs to him by sending the SID an anonymous e-mail. (Someone go over the Haixing Department of Supervision lab safety procedures!) Shen Wei is also still holding up his end of the bargain by being very concerned about her safety.
Though don't save from the sexy looming, Professor Shen. My ship hasn't had enough fodder yet.
Zhao Yunlan tries to pressure Minister Gao into letting the SID investigate, but no dice. One wonders whether they'd have connected some dots sooner had they been allowed to investigate, but ah well. He can always use Lin Jing's attendance machine hacking thingy to hack his way into the lab. He's now also cottoned on to there being a traitor in the SID, as the lab visit made him want to look more at the syringe the SID had and it's not there. Da Qing and Sang Zan also know; Zhao Yunlan couldn't have known about the traitor thing when going to look for the syringe, but he can probably trust both, Da Qing due to inertia and Sang Zan due to Sang Zan's circumstances.
Then there's the conversation Zhao Yunlan overheard. Shen Wei didn't tell Zhao Yunlan about it, and cut a deal with Zhao Xinci about keeping Zhao Yunlan away from the Haixing Department of Supervision. He's a foreign diplomat, so he can conduct diplomatic negotiations and agree to not tell his country about the serum experiments yet, but conspiracy to keep a third party away from it all and not even an offhand mention to your boyfriend that you're meeting his dad are dick moves.
Another interesting bit is the body language: Shen Wei is leaning forwards with closed-off and attentive body language, while Zhao Xinci is lounging like a king on his throne. Who is invested and how much?
Zhao Yunlan is understandably upset. He points out that he's trusted Shen Wei so many times before but can he trust him now? (While there are likely some dad issues involved in the mix, Shen Wei trying to keep Zhao Yunlan from doing his job weighs heavy in there.) Then they're both unhappy and moping, but Zhao Yunlan plays his cards close to his chest and lies that he didn't hear a thing.
"Your hips might not lie, but your mouth sure does."
Zhao Xinci was the source of the dossier on Zhao Yunlan we see in Shen Wei's hands in episode ... 2, I think? He also thinks there's an existential threat to humanity already. Precognition or xenophobia?
Canon details
- Yashou are not under Dixing jurisdiction (so Shen Wei was 100% willing to extrajudicially kill Ya Qing)
- Professor Zhou "ran away" from the serum project, so he's still alive!
- Serum research destroyed so Ouyang goes back to flawed early ones (who stores their samples on an open bench in the middle of the lab???)
- Da Qing can tell Dixingians apart from Haixingians based on smell – though the ampule might've contained concentrated essence of Dixingian
- Senior Haixing officials' schedules are kept strictly confidential; Vice-Minister Guo can't access Director Zhao's
Cinematography
We have our framing device shots!
Sha Ya and Lin Jing on a park bench, discussing the earring. Zhao Yunlan lying to Shen Wei about not hearing a thing.
Shots from a distance!
Da Qing in the alley with Li and Da Ji. Wang Xiangyang confrontation.
A smiling Shen Wei!
Very happy that Da Qing remembers how awesome Kunlun was!
Sha Ya in a mask, looking hot!
Come ransack my bedroom instead?
Literacy with Ye Zun!
His minions haven't come up with effective advertising channels yet. Dixingians aren't on Twitter, and Ye Zun can't physically submit his ad copy into the local paper. Hence, no-one came.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
Same green affair as in last episode (because it's the same day), then his dark blue coat for the lab ransacking and traitor discovery, and finally a leather coat for the awkward conversation with Shen Wei and the Sha Ya arrest.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
No.
no subject
Ya Qing can portal/transport/yoink up other people into the skies – given that she also has leet haxxor skillz, what does she need these other losers for? She could just dump Ye Zun, Zhu Jiu, Wang Xiangyang et al and run a much tighter ship that'd achieve things better due to her actually being competent.
I ASK MYSELF THIS FREQUENTLY. 😭
I loved the whole 'ZYL and SW crash SY's concert' scene. All three of them were badass start to finish, and sometimes I rewatch it by itself just because my heart goes pitter-pat the entire way through.
What is UP with that tiny mask, it does nothing to conceal Sha Ya's identity. Then again, maybe it helps her feel like she's cosplaying a cartoon thief.
The 'dads are fighting' scene was very sad. Shen Wei, why are you like this?? (Okay, I could write a whole essay on why he's like this, but seriously, therapist.)
That pillar screenshot is amazing, btw.
no subject
Yes! And the music, too. *swoon*
I think it's just a Dixing thing/some sort of oblique commentary on what the Black-Cloaked Envoy should do/just there to make her look more badass and maybe obfuscate some facial recognition algorithms.
IKR? Shen Wei, please. Use "communication", it's super effective!
♥ Ye Zun approves as well.
no subject
oh my god they really are both looking at ZYL's ass that is HILARIOUS
And damn the clenched jaws in that screenshot above the canon details. oooof.
no subject
IKR? It is a nice ass (albeit often hidden by jackets), but still.
They are arguing, and for god reason, but ... Shen Wei really is in the doghouse.
no subject
Da Qing is his cat! He's above suspicion!
It never occurred to me that Zhao Yunlan might be lying about not hearing anything! He didn't get particularly close?
Loving the coat though!
And Shen Wei's smile! ♥♥♥
no subject
Huh! Given the way it's shot, it was pretty obvious to me? We see Zhao Yunlan stop to listen, then a snippet of Zhao Xinci and Shen Wei's conversation that doesn't contain the social niceties of conversation-ending, and when he says he didn't hear anything, it's preceded by a pause (as if he's considering how much to tell) and then when he says it, that shot it through a framing device, visually symbolizing secrets.
The thing is, the firs time she went to the lab, she'd at least removed her colorful hair extensions! This time, it's as if she wanted to get caught.
It's adorable!
no subject
Ah, such things aren't stuff I notice #unobservant - well in fact, until you started talking about it in these episode reviews, I didn't even know it was a thing.
I'll check it out again!
no subject
I admittedly had never caught this before either! I do remember having a "huh, it looked like you heard!" moment, but then I took him at face value, because he's so blunt and open in that conversation (in general).
But if he actually heard and chose to lie, that is a nice-and-but-and-ouchy addition to an already very layered scene. Hmmmm!
no subject
Same, Da Qing. Idk if she's my least favourite but she's definitely a contender.
I really wish Sha Ya had gotten to be around more. I'm ambivalent about Sha Ya/Lin Jing as a ship but I love the energy she brought with her as a character and she deserved so much better than how she went out. :(
no subject
Same! She was interesting, did stuff, and was good-looking. Why couldn't she have been a more major arc player? Sigh.
no subject
no subject
LOL! ❤️
and finally a leather coat for the awkward conversation with Shen Wei and the Sha Ya arrest.
THE BEST leather coat for the best scene! (This is total objective fact.)
I really love a lot of stuff in this episode, but the confrontation by the car is one of my A+++ love-on-every-rewatch scenes. Both so fraught and so low-key, and mature.
(One thing I will say that amused me more after a couple of rewatches is that when Zhao Yunlan points out all those times he would have reasons to distrust Shen Wei before - but didn't - he's talking about those times he thought Shen Wei might be a Dixing murderer, and now he's basically equating 'clandestine tea with my father' with that. *g* This does not detract from the emotional oomph of that scene! It just amused me a little the last time I watched it.)
Wang Xiangyang confrontation.
The confrontation in that street has one of my favourite casual little moments between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, where Shen Wei physically shields Zhao Yunlan on instinct and Zhao Yunlan just totally accepts it and seems to take it as a given. (As does everyone else.) ❤️
I love the introduction of Sha Ya's longing for seeing the sky, and it's so heartbreaking. SHA YA!! *sniff*
no subject
Yes! I love it so much.
I think he heard the conversation, so he's equating the times he thought Shen Wei might be a Dixing murderer with having Shen Wei and his dad agree behind his back that he shouldn't do his job properly. Which is a much greater violation of trust, imo, and makes the scene more sensical.
Aww! Zhao Yunlan definitely likes the growly protective boyfriend.
Co-signed.