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sid_guardian2019-11-28 06:05 pm
extrapenguin) wrote in sid_guardian2019-11-28 06:05 pm
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Guardian Episode by Episode: 37
Welcome to the rewatchalong! This week we watch the preantepenultimate episode, 37! (Thank you to ratbones for introducing me to that most wonderful word.) The Imgur screencap album has 57 images.
(There will be some schedule changes for the final three episodes; more to be told with the next one.)
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, Episode 27, Episode 28, Episode 29, Episode 30
Episode 31, Episode 32, Episode 33, Episode 34, Episode 35
Episode 36
This week, the team scatters in search of the wick.
Characterization
Did any of you remember lao-Li (Li Hongchun) existed? If you did, well, he's dead now! But not after chasing off all of the crows all by himself. Either the crows were about to leg it anyway due to their Dixingian backup losing, or hitting Da Qing on the head gave Li Hongchun anti-Yashou superpowers. *g*
"No, it's okay, I'm just trying to commit insurance fraud!"
The villain of the week (day?) Mi Lu has more presence than most! Or maybe it's just that we haven't had that many villains of the week recently, just bit players and head honchos? She gives away gameplan too early due to being a Dixing supremacist who's contemptuous of the Yashou and doesn't understand the word "assistant", thus walking all over Ya Qing's ego and authority.
She also shares Ye Zun's questionable taste in trouser fit.
Ya Qing, on the other hand, really doesn't like being treated like a second-rate citizen in her own race's leadership battles, and finally declares how annoyed she is with Ye Zun! (Ying Chun starts jumping with joy in the background.) Suggesting her ancestors' sacred branch be taken into Dixing possession was her final straw. She treats the branch like a sacred relic, too: prays to her ancestors with it and treats it as a lack of endorsement when they don't magically make the branch blossom.
"Behold! I am strong enough to lift the Sacred Wood to the skies!Don't tell me that that wasn't the ancestors meant.
Lin Jing got in one final show of technical genius! He, too got killed (SID body count: 4, if Li Hongchun counts), but he set up some sort of dead man's switch to send over his pre-recorded video message of how he always loved the SID most and the video record of his last moments and what happened after them. Containing useful information, too, even if it cuts off before Ye Zun confesses to Mi Lu that the Yashou are next on his hit list. Well done, Lin Jing.
As a reward, he ends up in a Magic School Bus crossover.
The remaining SID team neatly splits up to do things and declare what they're going to do – except for Da Qing, who apparently considers himself an extension of Zhao Yunlan. He is slightly useful in the forest labyrinth, as he climbs a tree and finds Mi Lu, but then he regales her with a long speech about how cats are the best that lets Mi Lu thwack him in the gut with dark energy.
In an effort to give him some enrichment to stop the progress of his Alzheimer's, his owner plops leaves on him.
Zhu Hong gets voluntold/manipulated into being the High Chief! Zhao Yunlan just ordered her to do the thing, and then she got the branch to sprout, and her uncle had to convince her to take on the position she claimed. She did use her Yashou powers to kill Mi Lu (the first time we see non-hypnotism powers from her since episode 4!), but there's still some growing and progress left in her arc.
Zhu Hong sucks the life force out of Ye Zun's minions so he doesn't have to!
Guo Changcheng gets told what his power is and because he is the dictionary definition of "too kind to exist", he's sad that it can't be used to directly help people! Then Chu Shuzhi counsels him through getting Dixing powers. I wonder whether this is his first time talking someone through powers awakening – how frequent is it in Dixing for someone's powers to awaken? Did Chu Shuzhi talk a friend through new powers, or perhaps his brother?
I mean, come on, there's a fucking halo involved.
Our very favorite Dixingian's continued power loss continues to show: Shen Wei was too weak to heal lao-Li (despite being able to resist Wang Yike earlier on, and heal Butler Wu and Zhao Yunlan), and he's also only barely able to open up the door to Dixing. This is probably part of the reason he pretends Wu Xiaojun could knock him out – he thought he wouldn't be a match in a fight – while the other part is probably part of his suicide kaboom plan. After all, he thinks it was always his responsibility to stop Ye Zun. (And Ye Zun is his brother, and thus his family's dirty laundry.) While he was busy with these thoughts, he was also unconcerned about Zhao Yunlan's fondling of the Guardian Lantern back at the SID.
They changed the passcode, and now one has to hack up half one's blood to open the door.
Zhao Yunlan’s amazing inspirational speechmaking skills continued to be in use when he neatly pivoted the team from Da Qing’s desire for revenge into actually productive Lantern-searching. He also backseat drives all of Zhu Hong’s decisions related to becoming the High Chief in a way that makes me boggle at how the Yashou Chieftains didn’t call foul re: Zhu Hong being Zhao Yunlan’s puppet and the branch thing the SID’s attempt at taking over the Yashou. Especially with some of Zhao Yunlan’s pushiness and speaking on Zhu Hong’s behalf after she became the High Chief.
The face of a man who realizes that the priceless alien artefact was also his dad's paperweight.
Other than that, we get another reminder of Zhao Yunlan’s perspicacity in an additional past flashback where after a few hours in the past, he accurately augurs Ma Gui’s feelings for Fu You and ships it 100%. Alas for him, Ma Gui is the “pine forever from the sidelines” type.
Canon details
Cinematography
A larger than average number of facial close-ups:
Da Qing's rage, Zhao Yunlan's revelation. The Regent's fear, Shen Wei's determination.
We get some good (remaining) team shots!
Zhao Yunlan fondling a Hallow. Hand-pile of promise to return.
I also very much enjoyed this framing:
Shen Wei comforts Guo Changcheng, focus on Chu Shuzhi in the background.
And this one!
All the street shots were pretty nice, tbh. Though the White Rabbit Tnaruatser needs a better sign.
Oh, and Shen Wei's epic battle to get the door open is quite something to behold, though not just for camera angle reasons:
Moral of the story: don't forget your keys.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
Still the same trenchcoat affair, with a flashback to Kunlun.
Present. Past. Both in blue.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
No.
ratbones for introducing me to that most wonderful word.) The Imgur screencap album has 57 images.(There will be some schedule changes for the final three episodes; more to be told with the next one.)
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, Episode 27, Episode 28, Episode 29, Episode 30
Episode 31, Episode 32, Episode 33, Episode 34, Episode 35
Episode 36
This week, the team scatters in search of the wick.
Characterization
Did any of you remember lao-Li (Li Hongchun) existed? If you did, well, he's dead now! But not after chasing off all of the crows all by himself. Either the crows were about to leg it anyway due to their Dixingian backup losing, or hitting Da Qing on the head gave Li Hongchun anti-Yashou superpowers. *g*
"No, it's okay, I'm just trying to commit insurance fraud!"
The villain of the week (day?) Mi Lu has more presence than most! Or maybe it's just that we haven't had that many villains of the week recently, just bit players and head honchos? She gives away gameplan too early due to being a Dixing supremacist who's contemptuous of the Yashou and doesn't understand the word "assistant", thus walking all over Ya Qing's ego and authority.
She also shares Ye Zun's questionable taste in trouser fit.
Ya Qing, on the other hand, really doesn't like being treated like a second-rate citizen in her own race's leadership battles, and finally declares how annoyed she is with Ye Zun! (Ying Chun starts jumping with joy in the background.) Suggesting her ancestors' sacred branch be taken into Dixing possession was her final straw. She treats the branch like a sacred relic, too: prays to her ancestors with it and treats it as a lack of endorsement when they don't magically make the branch blossom.
"Behold! I am strong enough to lift the Sacred Wood to the skies!
Lin Jing got in one final show of technical genius! He, too got killed (SID body count: 4, if Li Hongchun counts), but he set up some sort of dead man's switch to send over his pre-recorded video message of how he always loved the SID most and the video record of his last moments and what happened after them. Containing useful information, too, even if it cuts off before Ye Zun confesses to Mi Lu that the Yashou are next on his hit list. Well done, Lin Jing.
As a reward, he ends up in a Magic School Bus crossover.
The remaining SID team neatly splits up to do things and declare what they're going to do – except for Da Qing, who apparently considers himself an extension of Zhao Yunlan. He is slightly useful in the forest labyrinth, as he climbs a tree and finds Mi Lu, but then he regales her with a long speech about how cats are the best that lets Mi Lu thwack him in the gut with dark energy.
In an effort to give him some enrichment to stop the progress of his Alzheimer's, his owner plops leaves on him.
Zhu Hong gets voluntold/manipulated into being the High Chief! Zhao Yunlan just ordered her to do the thing, and then she got the branch to sprout, and her uncle had to convince her to take on the position she claimed. She did use her Yashou powers to kill Mi Lu (the first time we see non-hypnotism powers from her since episode 4!), but there's still some growing and progress left in her arc.
Zhu Hong sucks the life force out of Ye Zun's minions so he doesn't have to!
Guo Changcheng gets told what his power is and because he is the dictionary definition of "too kind to exist", he's sad that it can't be used to directly help people! Then Chu Shuzhi counsels him through getting Dixing powers. I wonder whether this is his first time talking someone through powers awakening – how frequent is it in Dixing for someone's powers to awaken? Did Chu Shuzhi talk a friend through new powers, or perhaps his brother?
I mean, come on, there's a fucking halo involved.
Our very favorite Dixingian's continued power loss continues to show: Shen Wei was too weak to heal lao-Li (despite being able to resist Wang Yike earlier on, and heal Butler Wu and Zhao Yunlan), and he's also only barely able to open up the door to Dixing. This is probably part of the reason he pretends Wu Xiaojun could knock him out – he thought he wouldn't be a match in a fight – while the other part is probably part of his suicide kaboom plan. After all, he thinks it was always his responsibility to stop Ye Zun. (And Ye Zun is his brother, and thus his family's dirty laundry.) While he was busy with these thoughts, he was also unconcerned about Zhao Yunlan's fondling of the Guardian Lantern back at the SID.
They changed the passcode, and now one has to hack up half one's blood to open the door.
Zhao Yunlan’s amazing inspirational speechmaking skills continued to be in use when he neatly pivoted the team from Da Qing’s desire for revenge into actually productive Lantern-searching. He also backseat drives all of Zhu Hong’s decisions related to becoming the High Chief in a way that makes me boggle at how the Yashou Chieftains didn’t call foul re: Zhu Hong being Zhao Yunlan’s puppet and the branch thing the SID’s attempt at taking over the Yashou. Especially with some of Zhao Yunlan’s pushiness and speaking on Zhu Hong’s behalf after she became the High Chief.
The face of a man who realizes that the priceless alien artefact was also his dad's paperweight.
Other than that, we get another reminder of Zhao Yunlan’s perspicacity in an additional past flashback where after a few hours in the past, he accurately augurs Ma Gui’s feelings for Fu You and ships it 100%. Alas for him, Ma Gui is the “pine forever from the sidelines” type.
Canon details
- The Guardian Lantern either responds to probing with dark energy or otherwise feels different to its surroundings with it
- The Hallows went through much chaos before coming to Haixing (but is this a lie by the Regent, or further proof that the Awl ran off much before the rest?)
- Ma Gui prepared two passages to Dixing 10 000 years ago
- Fu You was a snake
- Zhu Hong's father left the Yashou lands to bring humans and Yashou closer together
- Ma Gui didn't know wine/baijiu existed
- Ye Zun eats both people and miscellaneous crap like their guitars
Cinematography
A larger than average number of facial close-ups:
Da Qing's rage, Zhao Yunlan's revelation. The Regent's fear, Shen Wei's determination.
We get some good (remaining) team shots!
Zhao Yunlan fondling a Hallow. Hand-pile of promise to return.
I also very much enjoyed this framing:
Shen Wei comforts Guo Changcheng, focus on Chu Shuzhi in the background.
And this one!
All the street shots were pretty nice, tbh. Though the White Rabbit Tnaruatser needs a better sign.
Oh, and Shen Wei's epic battle to get the door open is quite something to behold, though not just for camera angle reasons:
Moral of the story: don't forget your keys.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
Still the same trenchcoat affair, with a flashback to Kunlun.
Present. Past. Both in blue.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
No.