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sid_guardian2019-12-13 08:39 am
extrapenguin) wrote in sid_guardian2019-12-13 08:39 am
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Guardian Episode by Episode: 40
Welcome to the rewatchalong! Today we watch the final episode, 40! The Imgur screencap album has 66 images.
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, Episode 37, Episode 38, Episode 39
This episode, it all comes to a close.
-but first, let me thank all of you for the interesting conversations and company on this months-long journey. Give yourselves a big round of applause and a hug if you'd like.
The kaboom
Ye Zun's downward spiral continues. Shen Wei claims he's addicted to devouring, but doesn't specify whether it's psychological (Ye Zun's only way of dealing with stuff is eating people), physiological (his powers literally mean eating stuff), or both. He also just really wanted someone to ask him why he's doing all this eating – turns out the answer is that people suck, and Ye Zun wants to reform this filthy world by killing everyone he deems evil.
"No, no, hear me out! Instead of tidying up people's houses with Marie Kondo, it would be a TV show about tidying up politics with me! All the politicians that do not bring me joy would be KonMari'd straight into my stomach!"
Then, in the Hallows space, he finally gets to sort out his misunderstanding with Shen Wei. (Like, of the villains, so many of them were motivated by misplaced revenge. So many. The SID should just start issuing questionnaires about "who are you getting revenge on and why" to all prospective villains to cut down on this shit.) And says that ever since Shen Wei left him when they were small, he hasn't had a home. (Someone time travel to steal him off to therapy. Please.)
On the one hand, gege didn't leave him. On the other hand, he screwed up so much. So, so much.
We see Zhao Yunlan completely give up hope/the will to live when Ye Zun coughs up a set of people that doesn't include Shen Wei. When he realizes just what Shen Wei did, he's sad and perversely happy about the fact that they do have a way to defeat Ye Zun. Then, after the probably-Hallows-enabled post-death vision thing, he goes to follow his dear Shen Wei into death in a manner that outdoes blowing oneself up to defeat the supervillain and sacrifices himself to become the wick of the Guardian Lantern.
One defeats evil, the other brings good. Maybe he told the barkeep to stock up on sunglasses?
Shen Wei, never one for words, tosses the pendant to Zhao Yunlan because that was the easiest way to communicate his feelings – namely, that he'd happily carry Zhao Yunlan's trash with him forever. Then he figures out how to wait for Zhao Yunlan in Hallows space (for a year???) only to have to leave just as Zhao Yunlan arrived. And they didn't even hug! WHY.
Xiao-Wei reconnects with his past as someone who was so expressive he needed to hide his face all the time. Now he's trying to not hide, though Zhao Yunlan probably wouldn't object to hiding his face in Zhao Yunlan's neck and cuddling.
One year later
The Haixing Department of Supervision crowd has rearranged itself so that Minister Gao is now the secretary and Vice-Minister Guo has been promoted to Minister. Zhao Xinci visits them every day (because he ... has a crush on someone?). Meanwhile, Li Qian has found satisfaction as the director of the Institute.
The SID is still trucking along and they've even hired more people, so either the SID's mandate has changed, the Yashou are acting up a lot (unlikely), or the portals have reopened. (Though the SID's duties have likely increased even then, since there's no Ye Zun stirring the pot and sending people up to cause problems.)
We see Zhu Hong open up a Yashou convention on internal reform and idea exchange as the High Chief. She specifically mentions she's here on her day off, so she might be still working for the SID?
Also she got a wardrobe upgrade. Mm, yes, swish that cape!
Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi are still with the SID and have adopted a dog called Xiaomi. Guo Changcheng's also being set up on dates by his family, and Chu Shuzhi is 100% willing to stalk him there and drag him off if he's being too self-deprecating or the blind date girl wants him to quit the SID.
Berating people into self-confidence isn't something I expected to see.
Zhao Yunlan's apartment still has the cat and now a Lin Jing to go with it. Their social life consists of looking at photographs of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan sadly. Lin Jing might still be with the Institute – I didn't quite catch whether he was talking about the past or the present as well.
They even kept it clean as a living monument to Shen Wei's ability to clean the place up.
Zhao Yunlan's flesh vessel is still alive and kicking due to Zhang Shi moving in. Turns out Zhao Yunlan is very much into recycling and told him to take his place and live his life well.
Given that his age is over nine thousand, moving into his son's body might not even be the weirdest thing he's done.
As for Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan's ending – I think they intentionally left it a bit open-ended. One can go very many places by choosing one's fannish spackle correctly. No doubt you all have your favorite pieces of meta on it.
Canon details
Cinematography
Some pretty dramatic shots from above:
Ye Zun discovers the taste of failure. Zhao Yunlan despairquits the world. I Can't Believe It's Not Zhao Yunlan(TM)! The new SID, less empty than it could be.
as well as from below:
Smol Shen Wei just wants didi back. Father-son cuddle.
Also, I really liked this effect:
Doubts, failure, defeat.
And I think I better break your heart:
The only scene that was actually hard to watch for reasons unrelated to embarrassment squick.
Let's finish off with some men crying!
Ye Zun, Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
Still that same one. Zhang Shi uses a different one.
Dapper jacket with a side of emotional pain. Leather jacket with some more emotional pain.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
There are no glasses in the afterlife.
Though after this, he did put them back on for the swirly Hallows space meeting.
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, Episode 37, Episode 38, Episode 39
This episode, it all comes to a close.
-but first, let me thank all of you for the interesting conversations and company on this months-long journey. Give yourselves a big round of applause and a hug if you'd like.
The kaboom
Ye Zun's downward spiral continues. Shen Wei claims he's addicted to devouring, but doesn't specify whether it's psychological (Ye Zun's only way of dealing with stuff is eating people), physiological (his powers literally mean eating stuff), or both. He also just really wanted someone to ask him why he's doing all this eating – turns out the answer is that people suck, and Ye Zun wants to reform this filthy world by killing everyone he deems evil.
"No, no, hear me out! Instead of tidying up people's houses with Marie Kondo, it would be a TV show about tidying up politics with me! All the politicians that do not bring me joy would be KonMari'd straight into my stomach!"
Then, in the Hallows space, he finally gets to sort out his misunderstanding with Shen Wei. (Like, of the villains, so many of them were motivated by misplaced revenge. So many. The SID should just start issuing questionnaires about "who are you getting revenge on and why" to all prospective villains to cut down on this shit.) And says that ever since Shen Wei left him when they were small, he hasn't had a home. (Someone time travel to steal him off to therapy. Please.)
On the one hand, gege didn't leave him. On the other hand, he screwed up so much. So, so much.
We see Zhao Yunlan completely give up hope/the will to live when Ye Zun coughs up a set of people that doesn't include Shen Wei. When he realizes just what Shen Wei did, he's sad and perversely happy about the fact that they do have a way to defeat Ye Zun. Then, after the probably-Hallows-enabled post-death vision thing, he goes to follow his dear Shen Wei into death in a manner that outdoes blowing oneself up to defeat the supervillain and sacrifices himself to become the wick of the Guardian Lantern.
One defeats evil, the other brings good. Maybe he told the barkeep to stock up on sunglasses?
Shen Wei, never one for words, tosses the pendant to Zhao Yunlan because that was the easiest way to communicate his feelings – namely, that he'd happily carry Zhao Yunlan's trash with him forever. Then he figures out how to wait for Zhao Yunlan in Hallows space (for a year???) only to have to leave just as Zhao Yunlan arrived. And they didn't even hug! WHY.
Xiao-Wei reconnects with his past as someone who was so expressive he needed to hide his face all the time. Now he's trying to not hide, though Zhao Yunlan probably wouldn't object to hiding his face in Zhao Yunlan's neck and cuddling.
One year later
The Haixing Department of Supervision crowd has rearranged itself so that Minister Gao is now the secretary and Vice-Minister Guo has been promoted to Minister. Zhao Xinci visits them every day (because he ... has a crush on someone?). Meanwhile, Li Qian has found satisfaction as the director of the Institute.
The SID is still trucking along and they've even hired more people, so either the SID's mandate has changed, the Yashou are acting up a lot (unlikely), or the portals have reopened. (Though the SID's duties have likely increased even then, since there's no Ye Zun stirring the pot and sending people up to cause problems.)
We see Zhu Hong open up a Yashou convention on internal reform and idea exchange as the High Chief. She specifically mentions she's here on her day off, so she might be still working for the SID?
Also she got a wardrobe upgrade. Mm, yes, swish that cape!
Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi are still with the SID and have adopted a dog called Xiaomi. Guo Changcheng's also being set up on dates by his family, and Chu Shuzhi is 100% willing to stalk him there and drag him off if he's being too self-deprecating or the blind date girl wants him to quit the SID.
Berating people into self-confidence isn't something I expected to see.
Zhao Yunlan's apartment still has the cat and now a Lin Jing to go with it. Their social life consists of looking at photographs of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan sadly. Lin Jing might still be with the Institute – I didn't quite catch whether he was talking about the past or the present as well.
They even kept it clean as a living monument to Shen Wei's ability to clean the place up.
Zhao Yunlan's flesh vessel is still alive and kicking due to Zhang Shi moving in. Turns out Zhao Yunlan is very much into recycling and told him to take his place and live his life well.
Given that his age is over nine thousand, moving into his son's body might not even be the weirdest thing he's done.
As for Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan's ending – I think they intentionally left it a bit open-ended. One can go very many places by choosing one's fannish spackle correctly. No doubt you all have your favorite pieces of meta on it.
Canon details
- Dixing has its own energy (and Ye Zun ate all of it?)
- The Guardian Lantern is about defeating evil through sacrifice, as per Zhang Shi
Cinematography
Some pretty dramatic shots from above:
Ye Zun discovers the taste of failure. Zhao Yunlan despairquits the world. I Can't Believe It's Not Zhao Yunlan(TM)! The new SID, less empty than it could be.
as well as from below:
Smol Shen Wei just wants didi back. Father-son cuddle.
Also, I really liked this effect:
Doubts, failure, defeat.
And I think I better break your heart:
The only scene that was actually hard to watch for reasons unrelated to embarrassment squick.
Let's finish off with some men crying!
Ye Zun, Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
Still that same one. Zhang Shi uses a different one.
Dapper jacket with a side of emotional pain. Leather jacket with some more emotional pain.
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
There are no glasses in the afterlife.
Though after this, he did put them back on for the swirly Hallows space meeting.