GUARDIAN REWATCH – Episode 39

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Beginning of episode: Shen Wei takes a hit of dark energy meant for Zhao Yunlan, and falls to the ground.
Ending of episode: Zhao Yunlan injects himself with the serum.

Important scenes/developments:

• Shen Wei takes the dark energy hit and falls to the ground. Zhao Yunlan is horrified.
• Ye Zun stabs Shen Wei with an icicle and eats him, because killing him once is not enough.
• Shen Wei and Lin Jing meet in Ye Zun's stomach.
• In Dragon City, Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi come to join the fight against the invaders.
• Ye Zun projects his torture of Zhao Yunlan into the Haixing sky for all to see.
• Zhao Xinci and the Yashou elders make a plan to fight the invaders.
• Zhao Xinci and Zhang Shi talk about cooperation and remember Zhao Yunlan's childhood dream of peace and harmony for all people.
• Over drinks, Ye Zun tries to persuade Zhao Yunlan to join him, but Zhao Yunlan just wants him dead. No, really.
• Zhao Yunlan escapes, using the Regent as a hostage.
• Zhu Hong arrives in Dragon City; Chu Shuzhi is worried about Xiao Guo.
• Zhao Xinci and the Yashou elders defend Haixing at the Locust Tree gate.
• Shen Wei instructs Lin Jing in how to kill him for real, when the time is right.
• More fighting in Dragon City; Da Qing and Da Ji are attacked, and Da Ji is choked to death.
• Zhao Xinci sees Zhu Hong, Chu Shuzhi and Da Qing off to Dixing; he gives Da Qing a syringe of the serum.
• Zhao Yunlan goes to the Dixing bar and gets the Lantern; Ye Zun shows up in Envoy cosplay.
• Zhao Yunlan broadcasts Ye Zun's villain monologue to all of Dixing.
• At the palace, Ye Zun activates the booby-trapped Lantern, which explodes, injuring Ye Zun and knocking An Bai to his senses; Ye Zun eats An Bai and the Regent.
• Chu Shuzhi, Da Qing and Zhu Hong arrive in Dixing and hear that Shen Wei has been eaten.
• Ye Zun thinks he's won now he has the Hallows; he still doesn't have the wick, but he knows he can use Guo Changcheng.
• The bartender gives a rousing speech to the people of Dixing.
• Guo Changcheng remembers Lao Chu and his time at the SID, and snaps himself out of the compulsion to defy Ye Zun.
• Chu Shuzhi, Zhu Hong and Da Qing arrive at the palace and fight Ye Zun.
• Da Qing decides to use the serum, but Zhao Yunlan grabs it and injects himself.

( Thoughts )

Discussion starters:

• What's your favourite scene in this episode? Favourite line of dialogue?


• Does Ye Zun really think he can flip Zhao Yunlan during the drinking scene? (I was wondering if his experience with the Wus, where he killed the father and then suborned the son, had reinforced his wrong-headed ideas about loyalty.)


• How potent is the drink Ye Zun serves? Do you think it affects Zhao Yunlan's (or Ye Zun's) choices?


• Why the Envoy cosplay in the bar? Is Ye Zun worried how other Dixingren might react to him, or is he just being cruel? Would he have played it differently if Zhao Yunlan had seemed more taken in?


• Why does An Bai apologise to Shen Wei?


• Why did Li Qian keep working on the serum, purifying it even after Professor Ouyang crossed the line?


• What do you think Ye Zun's "disgrace" was 10k years ago -- being enslaved, losing the war, failing to kill his brother, something else?

Let’s talk about episode 39!
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!