Focus on Scenes -- round four signups!

[china_shop]

A little belated, but yay for another delightful and insightful round! Big bouquets of thanks and kudos to those who made such wonderful, thoughtful posts! *applauds* And of course, additional thanks to everyone who weighed in on the discussions! We hope you got as much out of it as much as we did. :D :D :D

Here are the posts from this round:
ep 1, Professor Ouyang attempts to recruit Shen Wei, hosted by trobadora, 9 May 2021
ep 6, Zhao Yunlan sends a smoke messenger to the Regent, hosted by china_shop, 21 Mar 2021
ep 11, Shen Wei waking up in the mountains with an IV in his arm, hosted by marycrawford, 2 Apr 2021
ep 14, Singing in the car, hosted by china_shop, 1 May 2021
ep 17, Jiajia prevents her grandfather's ultimatum to Shen Wei, hosted by trickytricky, 25 Apr, 2021

Remember, it's never too late to add your two cents to a discussion or to link to relevant fanworks! Jump in any time! All welcome!

Round three will kick off on 28/29 May.

Some info about hosting

Definition of a scene: for our purposes, a scene a) usually takes place in a single location, and b) may continue after cutting away to another scene and cutting back again. Keep in mind that a close look at a brief interaction or moment can be just as satisfying as a wider analysis of a longer piece. Feel free to keep it as small and contained or make it as ambitious as you like. And you don't have to completely understand a scene or offer a consistent interpretation to make a post about it -- asking questions can be as interesting as answering them!

The novel and the drama are quite different, so you can just choose a scene from one or the other -- or if you prefer, you can compare parallel scenes from each canon! The discussion will be open to both where applicable. People new to the fandom are very welcome! (Don't be shy!) But be aware that discussions may contain spoilers for the whole drama and for the entire novel.

There are no minimums! The only requirements for posts are

1. say where to find the scene, ie, episode number + start/end timestamps, or chapter number + beginning/ending
2. say something about the scene
3. post sometime on the Friday or Saturday, according to the schedule below.

There's also no obligation to reply to comments -- if you want to dig in to the discussion on your post, that's great! If answering comments isn't your thing, that's okay, too! We're happy to jump in and handle that part.

If you want to include screencaps and can't make or find your own, we can help with that, too.

So, who's in?

Comment here to claim a scene by giving us an episode/chapter number and a brief description! For example, "ep 24, the bomb defusing scene", or "ep 30, Zhao Yunlan fires Lin Jing". (Check the Scene Discussion Index to make sure your chosen scene hasn't already been covered.) And remember to claim a date, too!

Sign-ups are closed!

Round 4 schedule
28/29 May: china_shop, the Envoy's first appearance, ep 1
4/5 June: melinoel616, taxi scene, ep 8
11/12 June: shadaras, Zhu Jiu attempts (and fails) to recruit Chu Shuzhi, ep 19
18/19 June: sakana17, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan talk in front of the kidnappers' house, ep 18
25/26 June: maggie33, Chu Shuzhi uses Longevity Dial to save Guo Changcheng, ep 33
2/3 July: dorinda, Hei Pao Shi rescues/recruits Chu Shuzhi from prison, ep 36
9/10 July: marycrawford, SW tucking ZYL into bed and dealing with his disaster apartment, ep 8
16/17 July: trobadora, ZYL and Shen Wei the morning after Shen Wei found him on the kerb and brought him home, ep 8

Comments

[melinoel616]

May I take the taxi scene from episode 8? If yes, I’ll try to have it ready for June 4/5.

[china_shop]

Yes, absolutely! Woohoo, that's gonna be great! :D

[shadaras]

I'd love to claim June 11/12th!
Episode 19, Zhu Jiu attempts (and fails) to recruit Chu Shuzhi

[china_shop]

Ooh, awesome! I look forward to it! :D :D :D

[trobadora]

Episode 8, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei the morning after Shen Wei found him on the kerb and brought him home, for 2/3 July, please!

[china_shop]

Done! YAYAYAYAY! I'm super looking forward to this one!! :D :D :D

[marycrawford]

Welp, if you're doing the morning after and melinoel is doing the taxi scene, I feel like we MUST also have a discussion about SW tucking ZYL into bed and dealing with his disaster apartment. <3 <3 <3

So I want that scene, pls, either date is fine, I leave it up to you to decide in case you don't want two similar ep8 moments too close together?

Edit: or if you want to reshuffle so the before/after isn't reversed, also fine - I am good with any date, basically.

[trobadora]

OMG, that is awesome. Really, it's the show's fault for having such delightful scenes one after the other. :D

You know what, you're right, we should totally do this in chronological order. Do you want 2nd/3rd July or 9th/10th? I'll switch to the final slot either way.

[china_shop]

\o/!! I've moved you in the schedule. :-)

[trobadora]

♥ ♥ ♥

[marycrawford]

Let's do 9/10 July for me then, so they follow each other nicely!

And yeah, totally blaming the show - episode 8 is just that good.

[china_shop]

Yay, that's one of my favourite scenes of the whole show! :D :D :D *adds you to the schedule*

[melinoel616]

Yay for episode 8 (and ZYL’s neglected health) getting some love! :D

Also, thanks for snatching the disaster apartment scene post-taxi. I did not want my first scene write-up to accidentally overreach and cut into your and trobadora’s content! ^_^’

[marycrawford]

Aw I'm glad it doesn't feel too crowded, as it were! And I'm looking forward to your post about the taxi scene, which is just 😍. I love this episode so much.

[melinoel616]

It's not crowded at all! In fact, I appreciate you claiming the scene sandwiched between mine and trobadora's. Plus, it does help that the taxi, the evening apartment, and morning apartment scenes all have different things going on (musically, directionally, tonally, etc.) to help make our analyses unique!

I was originally worried if me taking the taxi scene meant that I also had to reference when they arrive at the apartment (and if I did that, would that affect how trobadora would write the morning after scene). But now that clearer lines have been drawn, I can be focused on my target. ^_^

I'm looking forward to your post about the taxi scene, which is just 😍.

Thank you! Hope I do it justice because of reasons that will be made clear when I finish it. 🤗

[maggie33]

Ok, I think I'm well enough to do it again. :) I'll take "Chu Shuzhi uses Longevity Dial to save Guo Changcheng" from the end of episode 33 for June 25/26, please.

[china_shop]

Oh, yay, I'm so glad! And that's a great choice of scene! *\o/*

[trobadora]

I'm so happy you're feeling up to it again! :D

[sakana17]

I can do "Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan talk in front of the kidnappers' house" scene from episode 18, for June 18/19.

[china_shop]

Yay, wonderful! It's yours! (And ooh! I can't wait!) :-)

[china_shop]

I'll take the Envoy's first appearance, for 28/29th May. :-)

[trobadora]

Woohoo! \o/

[dorinda]

For 2/3 July, what about episode 36, Hei Pao Shi rescues/recruits Chu Shuzhi from prison?

[dorinda]

...that sounds like I'm asking someone else to do it. I'll do it! :D

[china_shop]

:D :D :D

[shadaras]

:D!

ooooh yes I'm excited for that (especially in contrast/conversation with the CSZ scene I picked!)

[dorinda]

I often think about the scene you picked—looking forward to talking about it!

[china_shop]

Oh, awesome, yes please!! It's yours! :-D

[dorinda]

Yay!

[trobadora]

Yay, excellent! That's such a good scene. :D

[dorinda]

I didn't just pick it because of Chu Shuzhi having his shirt off and Hei Pao Shi's grand slow-mo swirling robes... but those sure don't hurt!

[trobadora]

Those would be excellent reasons all on their own! :D