Scene Discussion: Episode 29: Family Huddles

[awanderingcoyote]

Scene Discussion: Episode 29

Screencaps sourced at: Guardian Episode 29 Caps 2 - Kernezelda (smugmug.com)

Timestamp for Episode: 32:19 through 33:14

I wanted to do the follow up of my pic spam for Chu Shuzhi smiles, but work has been super crunching me lately, so here is a scene I picked! I didn’t see this episode on the scene list at all and wanted to do a little segment for it!

Also, I am having lots of feelings for ChuGuo right now so I’m just like: I want all the soft all the soft! XD

Intro: The team sit around the SID table after they obtained the Merit Brush and saved Zhao Yunlan’s dad. I’m focusing on the byplay between Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng and then the team’s response to Guo Changcheng’s case of the sads. 

Chu Shuzhi is focused on Guo Changcheng with Guo Changcheng having his head settled on his crossed arms on the table. Chu Shuzhi shows obvious concern as he focuses on the very grumpy Guo Changcheng.


Chu Shuzhi does a small huff-laugh as he watches Guo Changcheng.


Chu Shuzhi says: Dumbass, what’s up with you?

In-between starting his question and ending we see Guo Changcheng looking very grumpy-sad and also that Chu Shuzhi reaches over and strokes Guo Changcheng’s hair/neck.


So soft XD lajdkaljflsa!


At Chu Shuzhi’s question, Guo Changcheng takes a moment to look up at everyone before his attention returns back to the table.

Guo Changcheng says: Xiangyang-ge was such a nice person. He didn’t have to go down this road.

I really like the placement of Zhu Hong and Chu Shuzhi here at the table. I think those two are probably his biggest supporters.  I’ve always seen Zhu Hong and Chu Shuzhi as being the two who really saw his growth firsthand.


As Guo Changcheng speaks, we see a quick glimpse of Zhao Yunlan and then Shen Wei.


We focus back to show Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng.  Chu Shuzhi does that little huff-laugh again and we can still see Guo Changcheng doesn’t seem to feel any better. 


Guo Changcheng says: If only one of the events hadn’t happened that way, he and his wife could have lived a happy life.  Why did they have to die?


We focus on Zhu Hong now, who slaps her hand on the table.  She says: Well, kiddo, that’s life. Disaster can strike anyone, anytime.  The key question is whether you can make it through the pain and continue on the right path.

I like the camera angle in the beginning where we’re looking over her shoulder, then it shifts to her. So we’re getting the POV of both Zhu Hong and the POV of poor sad Guo Changcheng.


It shifts to Zhao Yunlan now and he says:  She’s right.  To make people come back on that path, is what the SID is here for. 

As he says this, we see a shot of Lin Jing, looking super contemplative, or possibly guilty, or both.  


The scene transitions to moving the over-arcing plot along about the holy tools as Zhao Yunlan turns to Shen Wei.

/end

Questions:

• Do you think it was the same night that this scene occurred?  Or the following day?  I assumed same day, but it’s hard to tell specifically in the scene shift.
• What do you think Chu Shuzhi found amusing?  I never read it as mean amusement or sarcastic amusement from Chu Shuzhi, but I’m curious how everyone else read those little huffs of laughter from Chu Shuzhi at Guo Changcheng.
• Do you think when Zhao Yunlan was talking about bringing people back to the right track Lin Jing was having a moment of guilt? Do you think if things didn’t escalate Zhao Yunlan would have ever confronted Lin Jing?  Finally, I find this situation mirrored closely to Hei Pao Shi placing Chu Shuzhi in the midst of the SID, but this situation seemed to hit Zhao Yunlan as worse.  Why do you think it hit harder with Lin Jing versus Chu Shuzhi? 
• Who do you think are Guo Changcheng’s biggest supporters within the SID/within the show?

My Thoughts:

• I really love how this whole scene starts out with the team sitting at the table and the camera is unfocused.  When it finally focuses on the team and zooms in closer that’s what the talking begins, which I thought was just a super nice transition!  I’m always admiring how they transition from scene to scene.  I think most were very creative and conveyed different emotions and such, with this one being no different. I really thought the fuzziness of the focus gave the whole transition a very ethereal moment before it focuses back to the SID’s reality.    
• I really love when the team is at the table.  It’s just like: FAMILY HUDDLE time.  Also, the fact that they’re coming together to one, discuss their next steps to winning (sob) but also taking the time to try and help Guo Changcheng understand/better cope with how everything has been playing out. FOUND FAMILY is my jam.
• I always love Guo Changcheng’s ability to bring in a more humanizing outlook/viewpoint into scenes.  He’s still so new to the world of the SID and Dixing and he’s such ball of sunshine character and to see his growth from first episode throughout the whole series is just awesome.
• One of my favorite moments for Guo Changcheng and Zhu Hong is the episode (my brain cannot think of which one right now) where Zhu Hong drank the Snake Tribe wine and isn't feeling well, and Guo Changcheng is just so protective of her! Such fierce Guo Changcheng.
• I love Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng. I just love them :heartheartheart:

Thank you for taking the time to read and enjoy! :D

Comments

[awanderingcoyote]

I assume same day, too. (In which case, it's the middle of the night, I think? Didn't ZYL have 24 hours to crack the treasure hunt, starting at midnight?) - Yes, it was definitely 24 hour period. I assumed same day/night as well :D

I think it's like, "Aww, so cute, and so pouty!" I mean, Xiao Guo is like a puppy, and a sad puppy is kind of adorable-sad? Like that. - Agree, this is how I read it when I watched and then re-watched the scene XD

so obviously an Envoy fanboy - This made me giggle aloud. He is such a fanboy, yes XD XD XD

I agree about Chu Shuzhi and Zhu Hong. I also really love the moment (again at the SID) when Changcheng is struggling to reconcile himself to his new dark energy power, and Shen Wei clasps his shoulder in support. Awww! - AHH! Yes, that's a great moment, even though it's also a very sad/poignant moment. :sob:

Yessssss! *HEARTS FOREVER* - YES exactly this :D

Yesyesyes! I really like how (in my experience) Asian dramas are so good at allowing people to grieve over characters' deaths. (We even saw Li Qian's grandmother's funeral!) And with Wang Xiangyang, he made such a mess in his vengeance rampage that no one else is really feeling his passing, but Changcheng sees the best in everyone, and counted him a friend, and he is so sincerely sad and upset that someone's life could have turned out so badly. (I wonder whether Changcheng is particularly good at respecting the dead and visiting graves because of his dead parents?) - Completely agree with the above and that Changcheng saw Wang Xiangyang as a sincere friend and was sad/upset that it turned out so badly. ANd I too feel he has a special empathy (or outlook?) on respecting the dead because of the death of his parents.

I feel like the bit where Changcheng raises his head before he speaks is him realising that he's on a different page from everyone else, wrt Wang Xiangyang, and also that it feels a bit rude to be pouty when he's set himself up as the cheery polite one? Like, this is him really letting his emotions out in public! And similarly, like nnoz said, Chu Shuzhi being so openly affectionate, awwwwwww! Both sides of that help to make the scene feel so deliciously FAMILY, I think? - Yes, to all of this! I definitely had the same feeling that he raised his head to actually see the situation for what it was. XD And yes Chu Shuzhi being openly affectionate and the found family feels.

My other favourite thing in this scene happens before the ChuGuo part, when Da Qing leans in avidly and says to ZYL, "I heard that on the rooftop, you and the ex-Chief have been…" and Zhao Yunlan glares, so Da Qing stops talking, holds up his hand and backs off. I love it partly because of the unspoken communication between the two of them, and also because I figure the most likely way Da Qing would have heard about the rooftop scene without it being part of the general discussion is if Shen Wei took him aside and filled him in, in a "ZYL has had a rough night" kind of way, and that's so SW/ZYL&DQ = FAMILY it makes me flail. :D :D :D :D :D <33333 - I almost included that in the beginning too! You can definitely see Da Qing backing off like: My bad my bad. It definitely shows the bond the two of them have with one another! And I love when SW/ZYL&DQ are all found family as well. XD XD It rustles up more of the found family feels within me. :D There are so many different units of family within the SID. ZYL/SW, GCC/CSZ, ZH&GCC&CSZ, ZYL/SW&DQ, ZH&LJ&DQ and then all of them together! (just to name a few off the top of my head XD)

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment! Always appreciate it :D

[china_shop]

You can definitely see Da Qing backing off like: My bad my bad.

Yesss! Da Qing is all, "Dish me the juicy gossip!" excited, and then he sees Zhao Yunlan is just wrecked and backs off.

There are so many different units of family within the SID. ZYL/SW, GCC/CSZ, ZH&GCC&CSZ, ZYL/SW&DQ, ZH&LJ&DQ and then all of them together! (just to name a few off the top of my head XD)

Yesss, all those little sub-units. *loooooves*

<3 <3 <3