This is such a great post! My thoughts are entirely drama-based.
When we meet her, she's very much living in the modern world, and a part of the SID crew: she uses a computer, eats popcorn, gossips with Zhu Hong and Lin Jing, teases Chu Shuzhi about being an Envoy fanboy. But she's been in the present for at most three years
That's a great point. I wonder who taught her about computers and modern life. I don't get the impression she and Zhu Hong are particularly close at the beginning (Zhu Hong's protective gesture during the sex doll scene seems almost performative, rather than natural), and Ling Jin would just have blinded her with science. Maybe Da Qing? He was one of the ones who found her and brought her back to the city, and I can imagine them having an easy, lowkey friendship without any expectation for more on either side.
but she also seems to do general secretarial work like answering the phone.
Is that from the start, or does it only kick in when Zhu Hong starts doing fieldwork? Maybe when the number of cases ramps up and Zhu Hong's duties expand, Wang Zheng picks up the slack?
Wang Zheng, you're fitting right in with the rest of them!
Hee!
Doesn't she spend the entire drive to the mountains staring out the car window feeling guilty and responsible? I've never been sure what she felt responsible for, other than being the patriarch's daughter, part of the cruel system by extension, and thus the reason the other tribe members turned against Sang Zan. Which, I feel like someone could explicitly talk to her about that? (Zhu Jiu, watching the ghost soldier attack, says, "No hatred without cause. Wang Zheng, don't blame me." Which suggests he thinks she's at fault, too.)
Ge Lan is sheltered and optimistic
I'd even say naive. She seems blithely unconcerned for the fate of her bodyguard when she breaks the rules, reassuring him that he doesn't need to worry because her father will listen to her, which... I am skeptical.
Once she regains her memories, do you think she thinks of herself as Wang Zheng, or as Ge Lan? Does it change after she returns to the SID with Sang Zan?
I had assumed Wang Zheng, and I still lean that way because that's the life she's living now, but Sang Zan does call her Ge Lan (I noticed, belatedly, after I wrote my story where I said the opposite ;-p).
In the past, there was always a significant power differential between Ge Lan and Sang Zan, one way or the other. When they're reunited, they're the most equal they've ever been. How do you think that affects their relationship?
I'm not sure I agree with this. Sang Zan seems almost helpless in present day, and Wang Zheng seems part lover and part parent -- or at least part teacher. I think as Sang Zan adjusts they become more equal, but doesn't he defer to her a lot? Which makes sense, given how little he knows about the modern world. I just don't know that I'd categorise it as equal. (I mean, equal in terms of external status, sure. But not in their dynamic.)
I didn't notice Wang Zheng in canon, really, until the start of the Hanga Arc, and she's so weepy and wan there, I decided she was kind of wet. Rewatching, she comes across as mischievous and definitely part of the team before that (like in the popcorn scene), which I like. ♥ I still tend to think her fanon (or maybe novel? idk!) characterisation -- of being firm with Zhao Yunlan, for example -- is more interesting than strictly drama canon characterisation, which is sometimes a bit too meek for my taste.
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That's a great point. I wonder who taught her about computers and modern life. I don't get the impression she and Zhu Hong are particularly close at the beginning (Zhu Hong's protective gesture during the sex doll scene seems almost performative, rather than natural), and Ling Jin would just have blinded her with science. Maybe Da Qing? He was one of the ones who found her and brought her back to the city, and I can imagine them having an easy, lowkey friendship without any expectation for more on either side.
Is that from the start, or does it only kick in when Zhu Hong starts doing fieldwork? Maybe when the number of cases ramps up and Zhu Hong's duties expand, Wang Zheng picks up the slack?
Hee!
Doesn't she spend the entire drive to the mountains staring out the car window feeling guilty and responsible? I've never been sure what she felt responsible for, other than being the patriarch's daughter, part of the cruel system by extension, and thus the reason the other tribe members turned against Sang Zan. Which, I feel like someone could explicitly talk to her about that? (Zhu Jiu, watching the ghost soldier attack, says, "No hatred without cause. Wang Zheng, don't blame me." Which suggests he thinks she's at fault, too.)
I'd even say naive. She seems blithely unconcerned for the fate of her bodyguard when she breaks the rules, reassuring him that he doesn't need to worry because her father will listen to her, which... I am skeptical.
I had assumed Wang Zheng, and I still lean that way because that's the life she's living now, but Sang Zan does call her Ge Lan (I noticed, belatedly, after I wrote my story where I said the opposite ;-p).
I'm not sure I agree with this. Sang Zan seems almost helpless in present day, and Wang Zheng seems part lover and part parent -- or at least part teacher. I think as Sang Zan adjusts they become more equal, but doesn't he defer to her a lot? Which makes sense, given how little he knows about the modern world. I just don't know that I'd categorise it as equal. (I mean, equal in terms of external status, sure. But not in their dynamic.)
I didn't notice Wang Zheng in canon, really, until the start of the Hanga Arc, and she's so weepy and wan there, I decided she was kind of wet. Rewatching, she comes across as mischievous and definitely part of the team before that (like in the popcorn scene), which I like. ♥ I still tend to think her fanon (or maybe novel? idk!) characterisation -- of being firm with Zhao Yunlan, for example -- is more interesting than strictly drama canon characterisation, which is sometimes a bit too meek for my taste.
Thanks so much for the recs! ♥