GUARDIAN REWATCH - Episode 16

[trobadora]

Beginning of episode: Lin Jing shows Zhao Xinci his lab
Ending of episode: Bao Laosan and Zhu Jiu are ready to attack the SID building

Important scenes/developments:

• the black energy detector goes off when aimed at Zhao Xinci
• Zhao Yunlan visits the Dijun Palace and realises there are political constraints on the Envoy
• Zhao Xinci lectures the SID about Zhao Yunlan abandoning his post
• Zhao Yunlan and the Regent "search" for the Dijun Register
• Zhao Xinci assumes command of the SID for their new case
• Zhao Yunlan and the Regent encounter An Bai and friends staging a faked assault
• Da Qing talks to kittens
• Ye Zun lures Zhao Yunlan towards his pillar, and tries to suborn him; An Bai and friends interrupt
• the Envoy discovers Ding Dun's files were destroyed behind his back
• Zhao Yunlan discovers the Dixing bar, and fails at impersonating a Dixingren
• Sang Zan notices Zhao Xinci is sometimes left-handed, sometimes right-handed
• Wu Tian'en saves Zhao Yunlan from the bar, and warns him about the Regent
• Zhao Xinci threatens to fire Zhao Yunlan if even one SID member agrees
• Zhao Xinci interviews Guo Changcheng, and Zhang Shi calls him his secret weapon him
• Zhu Jiu encourages Bao Laosan to attack the SID building

( Thoughts )

Discussion starters:

• What's your favourite scene or moment from this episode? Your favourite random Dixing fact?


• Why do you think Zhao Yunlan didn't inform his superiors about the Hallows, and instead seems to have kept them out of the paperwork? What was his thinking back in episode 2? How many contortions did he have to go through to make the omission non-obvious? *g*


• What if Lin Jing hadn't assumed the black energy detector was broken, and instead thought "Zhao Xinci" was an impostor? Ha, now I want this canon divergence! (What if Xiao-Guo actually told the others he saw Zhao Xinci with yellow eyes? If he did, those two bits of info together would be a very clear clue!)


• When Zhao Xinci came to the SID, what was his original plan? Since he asks about Shen Wei and that seems to be a point of contention, is that the reason he's conducting this inspection now? What would he have done if Shen Wei himself was there, as he seemed to expect (checking Shen Wei's schedule and choosing a time when Shen Wei had no commitments at the university)?
  
  He couldn't have known Zhao Yunlan would go to Dixing and avoid him entirely, and the loyalty test as it happened wouldn't have worked if he'd been there - or would Zhao Xinci have removed Zhao Yunlan from the office on some pretext so he could work on the team?
  
  (And what does he think when he learns Zhao Yunlan has gone to Dixing? He doesn't say much about it when Da Qing explains ...)


• Do you think Shen Wei sometimes regrets not spending more time in Dixing? What do you think went into weighing his priorities?


• Both with An Bai and friends at the pillar, and when Zhao Yunlan is exposed at the bar, people seem pretty quick to jump to the conclusion that he's not Dixingren. Does that mean there are actually humans occasionally visiting Dixing? Or is there an urban legend about humans secretly infiltrating Dixing, or what? Thoughts?


• I'm still entirely unclear on why the Regent wanted Zhao Yunlan to come to Dixing. Ye Zun is clearly trying to get his hooks into him, but the Regent isn't on Ye Zun's side and wouldn't help Ye Zun in such a way when there isn't anything in it for him. And what was that entire ploy with the fake attack about? Did the Regent want to create some kind of diplomatic incident to get the upper hand negotiating with Haixing?


• At the end, yellow-eyed Zhao Xinci (aka Zhang Shi) suddenly appears at the door, and tells Xiao-Guo he's his hand-picked weapon, foreshadowing his plan to substitute Xiao-Guo as the Guardian Lantern's sacrifice. But how does he move from his seat at the desk to the door so quickly?! Any theories?


• The Regent: "I sure am getting old. It's a good time to slack-off a little. I'll leave the hard work to the young people." - What work do you think he's referring to? He doesn't seem to have any interest in actually making Zhao Yunlan look for the Dijun Register ...

Let's talk about episode 16!
Come and talk about this episode - anything from favourite scenes or lines of dialogue to notes/questions about continuity or translation, most gorgeous (or angsty) smile, or anything else that strikes your fancy! And share links to your own and/or others' episode-related meta, picspams, and fanworks, new or old!