GUARDIAN REWATCH - Episode 10

[trobadora]

Beginning of episode: Zhu Hong wakes Zhao Yunlan: everyone has been drugged
Ending of episode: Hei Pao Shi and Zhao Yunlan empathise with Sang Zan

Important scenes/developments:

• Wang Zheng has drugged everyone!
• Zhao Yunlan asks Zhu Hong to keep an eye on Shen Wei
• Zhu Hong uses her hypnotism on Shen Wei to keep him from going out
• Guo Changcheng electrocutes Zhao Yunlan, to Chu Shuzhi's great amusement
• the Black-Cloaked Envoy sends a warning to Zhao Yunlan and saves him from a youchu
• Zhao Yunlan and the Envoy team up to look for Wang Zheng
• the Envoy warns Zhao Yunlan again about the Hallows; Zhao Yunlan compares him to Shen Wei
• Ge Lan/Sang Zan flashbacks and backstory
• Sang Zan tried to revive Ge Lan with the Mountain-River Awl, but only succeeded in disembodying her
• Zhao Yunlan and the Envoy empathise with Sang Zan's hatred of those who caused Ge Lan's death

Thoughts:

• Zhao Yunlan wakes up from being drugged groggy and headachey, but he catches on very quickly that it must have been Wang Zheng who did it. *appreciates*
  
  
  
  Interestingly, Zhu Hong can't wake up anyone else, as she says later - Lin Jing, Da Qing and the students sleep through the entire thing. She explains that her own Snake metabolism isn't like human metabolism (or Cat metabolism, I guess, considering Da Qing) - but Zhao Yunlan is the odd man out. Main character syndrome? Or did he just drink less water than everyone else? *g*
  
  Also, every time I watch this I forget again that Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng rock up some time later in the morning, not drugged and apparently having spent the night elsewhere. *g*


• Regarding Wang Zheng, when they find everyone unconscious, her body is there, open-eyed and empty since she's actually in the caves. For some reason, this does not show as the sex doll, and I understand even less how any of this works, LOL.
  
  
  
  And it gets worse, because later Xiao-Guo finds a piece of plastic in the mountains, and from Zhao Yunlan'ss explanation and the flashback it seems like it should be from the doll. So what's lying in the hotel? *baffled*
  
  (Thank you, discord chat, for reassuring me I'm not the only one who goes ??? at the whole doll thing!)


• When Zhao Yunlan suspects the new quake isn't just an aftershock, but caused by Dixingren, Shen Wei confirms this fits their usual MO. I assume he means Zhu Jiu - but the earthquake/aftershock isn't related to any Dixingren, it seems to be triggered by Sang Zan and Ge Lan finding each other again.
  
  Though to be fair, the quakes in general seem to be associated with Sang Zan experiencing strong emotion in reaction to outsiders in the cave, which also explains why the region isn't known for them - there haven't been any before; Sang Zan has been all alone these hundred years until Zhu Jiu broke in the night he murdered that guard, and the first quake happened.


• Last time, I must have watched with different subs, because I didn't remember Zhu Jiu's "I prefer to keep my pants on" at all. From the Chinese 我不会把她怎么样的, I think a much less icky "I won't do anything to her" would be more accurate?


• The dynamics between Zhu Hong and Shen Wei are so fascinating. She seems very confident here, probably buoyed by Zhao Yunlan putting her in charge of keeping an eye on Shen Wei - both because he's trusting her with this, and because it shows he's suspicious of Shen Wei.
  
  
  
  And I do love how she uses his relationship with Zhao Yunlan, telling him it would bother Zhao Yunlan if he left ... Solo's subs have it as "he regards you as a special friend", but going by the Chinese 他可是破天荒地拿你当好朋友了, it's more like "unprecedentedly, he regards you as a good friend", so the emphasis is more on how unusual this is for Zhao Yunlan, not on the specialness of their relationship.


• Regarding her hypnosis attempt, I love how Shen Wei plays along here, and we don't see the rest of the scene until next episode. :D


• Chu Shuzhi did his research! Not only that, some of it seems to be older research! He says he already had theories about Wang Zheng's origins, and read up on the Hanga tribe. Perhaps there was a low-key "figure out Wang Zheng's history" project going on that never had high priority and never went anywhere until now? But that explains how Chu Shuzhi has so much information to offer. Seems like there's a body of literature on the Hanga tribe, and the area has been a target of academic interest before, even without knowing what's inside the mountain. Presumably Zhu Jiu also drew on that in his own research into Wang Zheng.
  
  
  
  Also, I really love that Lao-Chu, field agent and action man, is the one who did this kind of research into anthropology and is presenting it now. He has hidden depths, and knows more about more areas than you'd think! :D


• Zhao Yunlan still can't use his gun without flashing back to his mother's death, and can't bring himself to fire it. Even more interestingly, though, is what he says to the Envoy later:
  
  HPS: The black energy gun you just wanted to use was passed on to you by your father, right?
  ZYL: I just wanted to scare them with it, I didn't mean to shoot at all.
  
  Why that disclaimer? It almost sounds like he expects the Envoy to disapprove. Of course, I can totally imagine Zhao Xinci warning his son that the Envoy doesn't like that gun, without ever mentioning that what the Envoy doesn't like is how Zhao Xinci, personally, uses the gun. *g*


• Identities are getting a bit blurry in this mountain. There's the obvious bit where the Envoy warns Zhao Yunlan again about using the Hallows, and Zhao Yunlan days, "You sound exactly like a friend of mine" - picking up on the similarities between both Shen Wei's identities. And there's also this:
  
  HPS: Chief Zhao, you shouldn't have ignored my warning.
  ZYL: Well, with a Youchu standing in front of you, could you just ignore that?
  
  Zhao Yunlan (quite reasonably) thinks the Envoy is talking about the warning message he just sent into the cave - but does Shen Wei mean that, or the "don't leave Dragon City" warning? Did he forget for a moment which identity he gave it in - or are things blurring so much that, since he's been giving out warnings in both identities, it no longer matters?


• When the Envoy searches the caves with black energy, he makes a pretty dramatic gesture:
  
  
  
  Since we've seen him stealth-search before, with just a bit of black energy gathering in his palm (see for example episode 4), that gesture has to be a deliberate performance. :D
  
  (It may well be ingrained habit, distinguishing his body language from Professor Shen's that way ...)


• I love that at the end, both Zhao Yunlan and the Envoy agree with Sang Zan's anger and hatred of those who caused Ge Lan's death - they don't know yet what exactly he did afterwards, but they understand he changed, and they both express that they'd feel the same.
  
  
  
  The drama has such a theme of misguided vengeance, people blaming others wrongly and taking out their own pain on innocent people, but Sang Zan's hatred and desire for vengeance aren't directed at the wrong people, and our heroes validate his feelings even if not his actions. I really appreciate that!
  
  And also, their entire cooperation in this episode shows Zhao Yunlan has warmed up to the Envoy (as opposed to Professor Shen) - and this scene definitely reinforces that as they both discover just how much their views align. ♥

Parallels and Foreshadowing

• Pillar parallels: look at the two pillars, and people being chained to them!
  
  


• Flashback parallels: a chained Sang Zan watching Ge Lan being killed, screaming NOOOO (不要！！！) just like Zhao Yunlan will in episode 39 ...
  
  


• Song parallels: the drama's end credit song, with its theme of lovers being separated, is used for the Ge Lan and Sang Zan flashbacks - and that alone already builds such a strong parallel between them and the drama's main ship!


• Ending parallels: Ge Lan and Sang Zan lose and find each other again like Shen Wei and Kunlun/Zhao Yunlan - and more than that, they both die and still find each other again afterwards, which has implications for the drama's ending ... :D

I love that Wang Zheng/Sang Zan are used to parallel both of Shen Wei's most important relationships. And that's not even everything; there's more to come next week ... :D

Discussion starters:

• What's your favourite bit in this episode? I'm trying to decide between Zhao Yunlan's "you sound exactly like a friend of mine", and Chu Shuzhi laughing at Zhao Yunlan getting electrocuted. Very differet vibes, both awesome. :D


• This time round, it really stuck out at me that we keep seeing Sang Zan inside the pillar, human face and all, but we never do with Ye Zun. Are they imprisoned in the same way? I always assumed Ye Zun was disembodied entirely, not even an energy body until he manages to break free, but rewatching this is making me wonder.


• When Shen Wei warns Zhao Yunlan not to believe what Wang Zheng says, he says the place blocks his powers to some extent, so he can't tell what's true or not. On discord shadaras pointed out that that implies he usually can tell - he has a lie-detection power available! Do we ever see him use that?


• Shen Wei gives a partial explanation of the limits of his powers: "Chief Zhao should know that on the surface, I can't chase escaped Dixingren by myself. First, the the burden of gravity is too heavy; I can't stay for long. Second, I can only use half of my strength here."
  
  I've always been particularly fascinated by the idea of gravity having an influence on black energy. What's your take on this? What's the effect of gravity?
  
  And is Shen Wei telling the truth here? Are all the limits on his power externally imposed, or is he limiting himself too?
  
  (Regarding the the question of whether the gravity on the surface being more of a burden makes sense: from some googling, I gather that gravity is actually highest at sea level, and decreases both at higher altitudes and underground. And since Dixing seems to be be deep underground, and the Hanga mountains don't look that tall, that would check out.)


• Just prior to Shen Wei's explanation above, he clutches his chest, and it looks like he's faltering for a moment. But the chest-touching gesture is also reminiscent of his pendant. Is he actually physically affected, or is he just emotionally overcome?


• Zhao Yunlan knows Sang Zan changed, because not being able to protect the one he loved would do that. "If my love was killed by their hand, killed under a system I established myself, I would hate them more than even the patriarch."
  
  And Shen Wei agrees: "Even if they were cut into a thousand pieces, it could not assuage such hatred."
  
  Is this just both of them feeling strongly about a hypothetical, or is there more in this - is there foreshadowing in this? Does it hint at something terrible happening to Zhao Yunlan and/or Shen Wei? Is it related to what happened to Ye Zun? On discord, bladedweapons wondered if it might be referring to something that was supposed to happen in YOHE, that was afterwards changed (perhaps when their budget got cut). And in the 2019 rewatch, mekare suggested Zhao Yunlan talking about people changing after a loss might be referring to his father.
  
  I've been trying to work it out but haven't quite been able to put it together. Anyone have thoughts?


• This also came up on discord: The Hanga arc is the only place where Wang Zheng gets a larger role. What do you think she could have done if she'd been given more to do in the rest of the drama? Surveillance, waking through walls, being generally spooky? :D

Let's talk about episode 10!
Come and talk about this episode - anything from favourite scenes or lines of dialogue to notes/questions about continuity or translation, most gorgeous (or angsty) smile, or anything else that strikes your fancy! And share links to your own and/or others' episode-related meta, picspams, and fanworks, new or old!