Ahhh, this is such an excellent post! *applauds* I adore episode 4 -- there's so much good stuff, and the team aspects are wonderful. :D
*blushes* thank you :) and yes – I didn’t realize until rewatching how much gold there is in this! My first watch, I was so busy looking out for Weilan moments I didn’t really register much of the other details. I was pleasantly surprised on rewatch <3
Previously, they may have solved a few cases after the fact, but I think pre-canon, Chu Shuzhi was the only field agent, with Da Qing doing surveillance and recon.
This is my read on their work, too! Plus Zhao Yunlan probably has some police academy training + however long he spent as a cop/detective before getting promoted to head the SID? Everyone else feels like they mostly work in the office.
And this was Zhu Hong's idea, I think? At 6:58 she says, "We did not catch him this time. Who knows when he will act next. If this doesn't work, then I'll have to attend to it personally. Draw the snake out of its hole." and Da Qing and Lin Jing pretend they didn't hear until she forces them to acknowledge her.
Oh! Oh this is such a great point, I didn’t think to connect those two moments :D! Yes, this feels right. And it works too with the Zhao-Yunlan-is-unaware vibe we’re both getting (I need to rewatch to see if he mentions the case itself or the trap… but I agree with your estimation that he’d want to supervise, especially with one of his office worker’s going out as bait)
So I suspect Lin Jing bodged some last-minute tech together for it, and that's why it's not up to his usual steampunk-style standards.
Tbf I feel like Lin Jing’s usual technology is very much in a similar design aesthetic as the clunky earpiece – which is actually good on visibility factors too, now that I think about it. They didn’t have to zoom in a lot to make it show. And you’re right, the boombox is likely scavenged… makes me wonder if one of the victims was a mom though and they stole her kid’s toy music box ó.ò
Yeah, I think that's about her being a) a Snake and b) a mean office manager. … (I wonder how much Lin Jing's reaction is because he himself suddenly sees her as attractive; my first watch through the show, I half-expected them to get together at some point.)
That seems to be the consensus! The more I rewatched it (for screencgrabs and stuff), the more I landed on this interpretation, too. Oh! Seeing them in a shippy light is new to me, though I guess I can see it? They do have the… not tsundere, exactly, but Zhu Hong has a vibe along those lines, and tsunderes tend to end up with cute nerds… hmmm…
Yeah, definitely for the viewer's benefit. And I think it looks enough like a phone earpiece that maybe it doesn't matter...
If I weren’t so tired from work I’d be /so tempted/ to go on a research binge when that type of wireless headphone became popular. I was definitely way behind on the trend when I bought mine!
Agreed! They just needed a better exit strategy in place. (Did they know at that stage they were facing not just one culprit but two? It might have worked for one.)
Zhao Yunlan shared his suspicions about Zhang Danni with Shen Wei, but not really anyone else as far as we get to see, I don’t think. Da Qing possibly, but that seems to happen off-screen if it does. It’d be in line with his behaviour during other cases, where he doesn’t always share his insights until he’s certain of something… <.< So they likely expected one culprit!
(I wonder if it would’ve worked with just one enemy. They would’ve had to go for Da Qing or Zhu Hong, definitely not both, but Da Qing doesn’t have line of sight on Zhu Hong and he doesn’t seem to notice the screams? Likely because he was being poisoned at the same time, the scream-box could easily work as Zhang Danni’s cue to attack. Considering the pretty faces targeted to this point, the one perp would’ve definitely gone for Zhu Hong, which might mean Da Qing being able to intervene to some degree. I’m not sure I see it working 100% but then, they didn’t expect their trap to be obvious to the perp and thus reversed on them.)
Can I just say that I love our villains du jour being good at teamwork, too? And clever in springing the ambush this way. Also, now I wonder what they intended to use Da Qing for, since their plans get derailed from there on.
Except for Chu Shuzhi, the others are kind of approaching it like a game.
They really are! Or like a movie sting, playing at badassery. Which really works as a point in favour of their inexperience (or in Da Qing’s case, being unused to consequences mattering much to a cat).
Otoh, I guess it is an unusual colour for Da Qing, so maybe it was deliberate...
Who knows! I like to think the costuming department did it on purpose to visually tie them together, but it might’ve just been a coincidence, too xD
Weaken the SID so he can get the Hallows, do as much damage as possible on the way -- and if he's figured out who Shen Wei is (I can't remember when he makes that connection), he does have a personal grudge there, too.
I think he does? I need to rewatch, but he definitely talks to him during the first cat-and-mouse game at the end of episode 3, before the interrogation. I remember being surprised he knew Heipaoshi = Professor Shen that early due to some meta and rewatching it, but I honestly forgot by now when exactly that early part happened xD my brain is a sieve (thanks to work).
no subject
*blushes* thank you :) and yes – I didn’t realize until rewatching how much gold there is in this! My first watch, I was so busy looking out for Weilan moments I didn’t really register much of the other details. I was pleasantly surprised on rewatch <3
Previously, they may have solved a few cases after the fact, but I think pre-canon, Chu Shuzhi was the only field agent, with Da Qing doing surveillance and recon.
This is my read on their work, too! Plus Zhao Yunlan probably has some police academy training + however long he spent as a cop/detective before getting promoted to head the SID? Everyone else feels like they mostly work in the office.
And this was Zhu Hong's idea, I think? At 6:58 she says, "We did not catch him this time. Who knows when he will act next. If this doesn't work, then I'll have to attend to it personally. Draw the snake out of its hole." and Da Qing and Lin Jing pretend they didn't hear until she forces them to acknowledge her.
Oh! Oh this is such a great point, I didn’t think to connect those two moments :D! Yes, this feels right. And it works too with the Zhao-Yunlan-is-unaware vibe we’re both getting (I need to rewatch to see if he mentions the case itself or the trap… but I agree with your estimation that he’d want to supervise, especially with one of his office worker’s going out as bait)
So I suspect Lin Jing bodged some last-minute tech together for it, and that's why it's not up to his usual steampunk-style standards.
Tbf I feel like Lin Jing’s usual technology is very much in a similar design aesthetic as the clunky earpiece – which is actually good on visibility factors too, now that I think about it. They didn’t have to zoom in a lot to make it show. And you’re right, the boombox is likely scavenged… makes me wonder if one of the victims was a mom though and they stole her kid’s toy music box ó.ò
Yeah, I think that's about her being a) a Snake and b) a mean office manager. … (I wonder how much Lin Jing's reaction is because he himself suddenly sees her as attractive; my first watch through the show, I half-expected them to get together at some point.)
That seems to be the consensus! The more I rewatched it (for screencgrabs and stuff), the more I landed on this interpretation, too. Oh! Seeing them in a shippy light is new to me, though I guess I can see it? They do have the… not tsundere, exactly, but Zhu Hong has a vibe along those lines, and tsunderes tend to end up with cute nerds… hmmm…
Yeah, definitely for the viewer's benefit. And I think it looks enough like a phone earpiece that maybe it doesn't matter...
If I weren’t so tired from work I’d be /so tempted/ to go on a research binge when that type of wireless headphone became popular. I was definitely way behind on the trend when I bought mine!
Agreed! They just needed a better exit strategy in place. (Did they know at that stage they were facing not just one culprit but two? It might have worked for one.)
Zhao Yunlan shared his suspicions about Zhang Danni with Shen Wei, but not really anyone else as far as we get to see, I don’t think. Da Qing possibly, but that seems to happen off-screen if it does. It’d be in line with his behaviour during other cases, where he doesn’t always share his insights until he’s certain of something… <.< So they likely expected one culprit!
(I wonder if it would’ve worked with just one enemy. They would’ve had to go for Da Qing or Zhu Hong, definitely not both, but Da Qing doesn’t have line of sight on Zhu Hong and he doesn’t seem to notice the screams? Likely because he was being poisoned at the same time, the scream-box could easily work as Zhang Danni’s cue to attack. Considering the pretty faces targeted to this point, the one perp would’ve definitely gone for Zhu Hong, which might mean Da Qing being able to intervene to some degree. I’m not sure I see it working 100% but then, they didn’t expect their trap to be obvious to the perp and thus reversed on them.)
Can I just say that I love our villains du jour being good at teamwork, too? And clever in springing the ambush this way. Also, now I wonder what they intended to use Da Qing for, since their plans get derailed from there on.
Except for Chu Shuzhi, the others are kind of approaching it like a game.
They really are! Or like a movie sting, playing at badassery. Which really works as a point in favour of their inexperience (or in Da Qing’s case, being unused to consequences mattering much to a cat).
Otoh, I guess it is an unusual colour for Da Qing, so maybe it was deliberate...
Who knows! I like to think the costuming department did it on purpose to visually tie them together, but it might’ve just been a coincidence, too xD
Weaken the SID so he can get the Hallows, do as much damage as possible on the way -- and if he's figured out who Shen Wei is (I can't remember when he makes that connection), he does have a personal grudge there, too.
I think he does? I need to rewatch, but he definitely talks to him during the first cat-and-mouse game at the end of episode 3, before the interrogation. I remember being surprised he knew Heipaoshi = Professor Shen that early due to some meta and rewatching it, but I honestly forgot by now when exactly that early part happened xD my brain is a sieve (thanks to work).
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