sid_guardian | GUARDIAN REWATCH

Beginning of episode: Zhu Hong is drugged by her uncle
Ending of episode: Da Qing trashes Wang Xiangyang's fruit shop

Important scenes/developments:

Zhu Hong is drugged by her uncle; he wants the Snake Tribe to stay out of the coming conflict
tense meeting in Shen Wei's office: Zhao Yunlan wants Shen Wei to admit the truth; Shen Wei wants him to let it go
Tan Xiao invades the SID to steal the Hallows, but Sang Zan's traps as well as Zhao Yunlan's and Shen Wei's arrival stop him
Da Qing complains about Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei flirting in front of him
Shen Wei undresses to have his consciousness measured; Zhao Yunlan leans in
pendant moment: Shen Wei wonders if telling Zhao Yunlan the truth will put him in more danger
Zhu Hong drugs her uncle, and escapes because all the Snake boys love her
Zhu Hong is hypnotised, but the SID arrives to take Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi into custody
first glimpse of the underground fight ring: Zhu Jiu is collecting people's life force
Tan Xiao explains about Zheng Yi's abusive adoptive father, and is taken away by the Envoy
Zheng Yi hypnotises Da Qing and makes him give her the Hallows
Zhao Yunlan figures out the truth about Zheng Yi, but arrives too late
first look at the Huang/Li wedding: Cong Bo is investigating
Da Qing has a Kunlun flashback and trashes Wang Xiangyang's fruit shop

Zhao Yunlan's scribbles of Shen Wei and the Envoy

Thoughts:

Zhu Hong is not having a good time this episode: first she gets drugged by her uncle, then hypnotised by Zheng Yi! I love that Zhu Hong later makes her uncle drink the poisonous wine himself - I had totally forgotten that. (I also love the Snake Guards standing there staring at the sky, pretending not to see her. Go, Zhu Hong!)

Of course her uncle means well: he's worried about the Hallows' resurgence leading to another great war, and wants the Snake Tribe to stay out of it. He wants Zhu Hong to stay with her tribe, and sends Guo Changcheng to Zhao Yunlan - but of course Zhu Hong refuses to abandon the SID, and Xiao-Guo refuses to abandon Zhu Hong. ♥

This is also our first look into Yashou politics: Fourth Uncle truly seems to believe that it's inevitable that the Hallows will be misused by bad people, and doesn't care about Haixingren or Dixingren - he just wants his tribe safe, and thinks neutrality can achieve that. But his form of "neutrality" is actively preventing Zhu Hong from helping the SID keep the Hallows safe. Somehow he manages to be simultaneously defeatist (can't help it, war is coming, no point in trying to prevent it) and ridiculously optimist (but it won't touch us if we just stay out of it!) ...

Wang Zheng is teaching Sang Zan to write, and tells him to stop playing with old-fashioned traps. But those traps come in handy very shortly later - go, Sang Zan! Where Lin Jing's defences fail, low-tech is the way to go! :D

Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei are having a very polite stand-off. The tension between them could be cut with a knife. The way Zhao Yunlan keeps staring at Shen Wei! Shen Wei's stiff politeness (a cup of tea for Zhao Yunlan, and none for himself)! Both their tight expressions!

They look at each other for the longest time, silently, and then Shen Wei starts talking about the case. But Zhao Yunlan isn't interested; he ignores him and goes straight for the personal: all he wants is for Shen Wei to admit the truth to him. (He also doesn't seem to care that Shen Wei just found out someone he knew is dead.) Shen Wei, instead, wants to get them back to the status quo ante with a new, shared understanding - he wants Zhao Yunlan to agree to let things remain unspoken. In all this, Shen Wei is utterly unwilling to give an inch, and Zhao Yunlan is utterly unwilling to let it go. Irresistible force, meet unmoveable object. (And they're both of them both!)

I think there are two basic disconnects between them at this point:
1. Zhao Yunlan is thinking of this as a personal issue - Shen Wei should be telling him because they're friends. And if he doesn't tell, what does that mean for their personal relationship? So he leans in, earnestly, serious the way he rarely is, puts a chair next to Shen Wei so as to put them side by side, tries his hardest to make him just say it. And Shen Wei's refusal seems like a personal rejection.
  
  Meanwhile, Shen Wei is looking at it all from the cautious perspective of the larger picture, and is running a risk analysis in the back of his mind. (See also later in this episode.) He, just like Zhao Yunlan, wants them on the same side in this - he's angling for an unspoken understanding. I think Shen Wei's little laugh before he goes into his spiel about being an ordinary person is an invitation - now that Zhao Yunlan has figured it out, they can make this a shared pretence rather than a one-sided one - but Zhao Yunlan isn't taking it. As Zhao Yunlan says, it's "a lack of understanding": he doesn't get why Shen Wei is doing this, and it's driving him batty.
  
  They're both wrong here, to some degree: Shen Wei doesn't owe Zhao Yunlan his secrets, no matter how much Zhao Yunlan wants them or how close they are, and Shen Wei isn't denying what's between them at all.
  Conversely, keeping this distance between them isn't actually safer for Zhao Yunlan or anyone else, no matter how much Shen Wei hopes it will be, and a shared pretence isn't going to cut it for very long even if Zhao Yunlan did agree here; it would only delay the inevitable, for no appreciable benefit.
2. Zhao Yunlan never considers Shen Wei may have good reasons for not admitting the truth; he just pushes, and keeps pushing, as if Shen Wei's secrets were a personal affront. Shen Wei, conversely, never considers actually saying, "look, there are things I can't talk about, just trust me that I have reasons for that, okay?" instead of trying to imply the same while Zhao Yunlan utterly refuses to play along.
  
  I think what that comes down to, on some level, is different preferred communication strategies: "say it out loud" vs. "implied understanding". In short, Zhao Yunlan wants Shen Wei to admit the truth out loud; Shen Wei wants Zhao Yunlan to let it go without anything being said out loud. And they're just not possible both at the same time; something will have to give eventually.

Nevertheless, as soon as an outside crisis erupts, there's no question that they're side by side and heading into danger together. Zhao Yunlan, about to rush out, stops immediately to answer when Shen Wei asks what's up, and when Shen Wei (of course) says he's coming, all Zhao Yunlan does is give a tight nod. Neither of them hesitates for a second; they know that, never mind what tension there is between them, they're in this together.

Arriving in time, Zhao Yunlan dramatically catches the Awl, and Shen Wei dramatically catches Zhao Yunlan:

Zhao Yunlan, on touching the Awl, has visions for the first time: a wedding guest rolling on the ground (next episode), Zhu Hong and Guo Changcheng passed out at Fourth Uncle's (earlier this episode), Sang Zan's pillar with the Hanga totem (two episodes ago), and Zhu Hong unconscious as Zhu Jiu and Zheng Yi enter the SID (next episode). Then he dramatically sways, and keels over into Shen Wei's arms.

(Well, he still has time to give a little laugh and say he's okay before he passes out! Seriously, THESE TWO.)

I will never get enough of that moment when Shen Wei, with Zhao Yunlan in one arm, throws black energy at Tan Xiao with the other! (Zhao Yunlan doesn't see, but Shen Wei doesn't hesitate at all; he's not worried about that in this moment.

Da Qing being kitty in human form is THE BEST. Meowing to wake Zhao Yunlan up! :D :D :D

This episode is really good with the fake-out about Tan Xiao's "powers": the way the focus is always on him when powers are used, even when Zheng Yi is standing right next to him; the way he uses his hands to direct the energy. And it's made to look like Zheng Yi is just Zhu Jiu's hostage. Of course it helps that essentially the same visual effect is used for both powers!

Lin Jing's complaints about his detector being broken are a clue, of course - Tan Xiao isn't using black energy - but at the same time, we know black energy was used (by Shen Wei), which neatly obfuscates things for the viewer. And another hint is in the "Dixingren" apparently having two powers - but again, Shen Wei's own multiple powers show that it's not impossible, and Shen Wei himself explains it away. *g*

Zhao Yunlan leans towards Shen Wei, grinning: "The special Dixing powers these days are a pretty good deal, eh? Buy one, get one free." He's prodding Shen Wei - possibly hinting broadly at the Envoy's powers - and they have another brief tense moment before Shen Wei launches into his speech about mutation. But Da Qing takes it for flirtation, and complains about them making eyes at each other in front of him. :D

Lin Jing: 同志们！ (Literally, comrades - but also slang for being gay.)

If Lin Jing wants an ordinary human to measure the frequency of their consciousness, he needs to run this test on himself, or grab Xiao-Guo before he gets himself serum-ified. Zhao Yunlan is already Hallows-affected, and there are no other humans around. *g*

Of course, Lin Jing's science also somehow involves three keyboards, two of which he's typing on simultaneously, one hand on each. And measuring someone's consciousness somehow also requires the person to take off their shirt.

Not that I'm complaining; Shen Wei in his black undershirt with no glasses on is my absolute favourite look for him, topping even the Envoy costume.

Shen Wei in his undershirt is glorious. So is Zhao Yunlan leaning in.

Shen Wei, leaving the SID, contemplates his pendant and wonders if he should tell the truth after all, or if that would put Zhao Yunlan in more danger.

I just said to china_shop the other day that I'm really loving how much more clearly Shen Wei's reasoning on that front is emerging during this rewatch! Shen Wei has already seen Zhu Jiu target the SID explicitly because of him (with Lin Yusen) and has attempted to distance himself from them at the time; having been drawn in again, he's found in the Hanga mountains that Zhu Jiu lured the SID in to get at the Awl, probably as bait for the Envoy himself (since it was the Envoy's power that was needed to break open the Awl's pillar), and has stayed away from them afterwards until Zhao Yunlan came to his office again. Of course he's worrying about associating more closely with them!

Zhu Jiu isn't just threatening Tan Xiao and keeping Zheng Yi tied up with a facial mask. He apparently also made promises - an Xiao asks if it's true Zhu Jiu can cure her - I'd totally forgotten about that!

And Tan Xiao is very offended when he thinks Zhu Jiu is implying they're a couple ("you can stay together forever"), but I think Zhu Jiu is actually implying they'll both wind up dead.

When Zhu Jiu brushes his hair aside, we see a brief glimpse of his scar!

Zhao Yunlan wonders why Shen Wei is here (in Haixing? with the SID?), and considers a new career as a sketch artist. (Shen Yi need fear no competition, LOL.) Da Qing watches him, clearly noticing something's up.

Somehow - despite saying earlier he found no trace of black energy after the SID invasion - Lin Jing is able to trace "the Dixingren's energies" - is he just scanning for sonic disruptions? After all, that's what Tan Xiao's gadget and Zheng Yi's power have in common. (He can't just be scanning for black energy in general; if they could do that widely, they'd be finding all the Dixingren in the city as soon as they used their powers.)

Da Qing says it's "near Zhu Hong's place" - or is it "near Zhu Hong's family"? Same word; unclear. From the map, it looks like it's cultivated fields; from the scene itself it seems like it's a park. (The pillars!) I'd have assumed Zhu Hong lived in the city, closer to the SID, and the Snake Tribe village of course is deep in the woods. Perhaps this is adjacent to those woods?

Time isn't real in this episode. Not only did Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, earlier, manage to get from the university to the SID in time to stop Tan Xiao without using a portal (because that would have been an admission; Zhao Yunlan would be gloating!) - when Zhu Hong is accosted and hypnotised by Zheng Yi and Lin Jing tracks down these "energies", it seems like it's the very next moment when everyone arrives: not just Chu Shuzhi, who earlier went out to look for her and Guo Changcheng and might conceivably be around there at that time, but also Lin Jing, Da Qing and Zhao Yunlan, who have somehow made their way there from the SID with no time lost. *baffled*

First glimpse of the underground fight ring! The fight club manager has been supplying Zhu Jiu with young men - and he kills them himself, while Zhu Jiu only steals their life energy! And we see Zhu Jiu work with a human, not just with Dixingren.

I wonder if the choice to put that scene here is meant as a clue, since Tan Xiao is also human?

Zheng Yi and Tan Xiao were taken in without resistance. When Tan Xiao explains about Zheng Yi's abusive father, Zhao Yunlan is sympathetic - "but unfortunately, you committed murder, so I have to follow protocol." (Which is very similar to what the Envoy says about Zheng Yi in episode 14!)

When the Envoy appears, there's more tension in the air than usual, and the Envoy ignores Zhao Yunlan entirely, only taking Tan Xiao away while Zhao Yunlan stares at him. And Da Qing calls Zhao Yunlan out: "Did you upset him somehow?"

Zhao Yunlan says he probably knows the reason, but I wonder if it's more than just the tension that's been between them all this episode - after all, Shen Wei is deceiving the SID about Tan Xiao being Dixingren, and very likely wants to get out quickly to handle things himself.

In the SID lab, the covers for the Hallows have been replaced already. Lin Jing must have ordered them en gros. *g* Zhao Yunlan feels things were too easy, and Lin Jing talks about weak Dixingren losing control over their powers - which makes Zhao Yunlan immediately start to put things together. Zheng Yi's facial mask, Zheng Zhongyuan and his research - his new theory is that Zheng Yi lost control of her powers, and he realises Da Qing is in danger.

Of course, in the flashback, Zheng Yi doesn't look like she lost control at all. Still, she almost never speaks, and she does wear a facial mask that apparently stops her power from erupting similarly to Wang Yike's gloves, so it seems she does have some trouble not using her powers when she doesn't want to. (The murder scene is the first time we see her talk!

In a nice bit of parallelism, Shen Wei has also figured out who's the real Dixingren in this case. He hovers in the air to intimidate Tan Xiao, and finds the proof he expected. And if he was going to tell the SID, now it's too late, as Zheng Yi has already hypnotised Da Qing, but he'll say later he was hoping to handle this himself. Perhaps because Zheng Yi is a child, and he didn't want to be forced to take her to Dixing.

Zheng Yi has hypnotised Da Qing and makes him take her to the SID and give her the Hallows. (Where are Wang Zheng and Sang Zan during this? On a date?)

Was this the plan all along? Given that Zheng Yi and Tan Xiao were taken in without resistance, Zhao Yunlan suspects it as soon as he realises the truth about Zheng Yi - but I don't think it's actually true. Tan Xiao's aborted call for Zhu Jiu when Zhao Yunlan confronted them in the park seemed genuine, and more importantly, when Zheng Yi is on the way out of the SID, we find out that Zhu Jiu told her the SID will take Tan Xiao to the Huang/Li wedding, and he'll take her to Tan Xiao if she just gets the Hallows for him. This can only have happened after she and Tan Xiao were separated! Did Zhu Jiu approach her in the hospital? Was Da Qing asleep?

Our first look at the Huang/Li wedding! Li Jiaqi's father says Huang Linqi's father is in hospital, which is why he's not here. I'd forgotten that - and unfortunately it means both fathers got away without serious consequences for what they did to poor Wu Xiaojun.

Ominously, the groom doesn't respect the tradition that it's unlucky to see the bride before the ceremony ...

Meanwhile, we get an excellent first look at Cong Bo, sneaking into the wedding. He seems to be aafter Papa Li and Minister Gao suspecting corruption/nepotism. And Cong Bo has chutzpah, passing himself off as Minister Gao's bodyguard!

Zheng Yi, when leaving with the Hallows, seems to simply have left hypnotised Da Qing behind, rather than letting him go - or maybe she deliberately sent him out to cause mischief/a distraction? Anyway, he comes across Wang Xiangyang's fruit shop, hears a mother scolding her child and has Kunlun flashbacks (though the name isn't mentioned here), then starts trashing things. Beginning of the arc about Da Qing and his memories!

Poor Wang Xiangyang! I find him boring as an antagonist, but he's pretty good as the slightly pathetic neighbour.

Discussion starters:

What's your favourite moment in this episode? Mine has to be the sequence where Zhao Yunlan catches the Awl, Shen Wei catches Zhao Yunlan, and then swings him around while throwing black energy at Tan Xiao. That is such a fantastically choreographed scene, and they both look amazing. :D

Did you scream "Just tell him already!!!!" at Shen Wei? Do you feel like you understand why he doesn't?

Anything you noticed on this rewatch that you didn't before? I don't think I ever realised that Zhu Jiu must have been in touch with Zheng Yi after the Envoy took Tan Xiao away!

When Lin Jing looks for volunteers to measure the frequency of human consciousness, Zhao Yunlan immediately starts to rub his temple and fakes a headache before he says he'll do it - he's clearly angling for Shen Wei to step up for him again, like he did with the drink in the village. Is he so sure that will work? What result does he hope to get? And likewise, why does Shen Wei agree? To show Zhao Yunlan that not admitting the truth isn't the same thing as actively hiding it? (I mean, that would tally with him afterwards calling ZYL out on his fake headache, making it clear he knows! And heh, Zhao Yunlan's look when he realises he's been caught out!) Any thoughts/theories?

Most importantly, does neither of them care that they're undermining Lin Jing's efforts to protect them from mind control? What about the science?! *grumbles

Shen Wei's field of consciousness never fluctuating, as if he were dead: so many questions! a) : a) since when do dead people - in a canon without ghosts! - have any consciousness at all, static or otherwise? and b) what does this mean in drama terms, apart from being a novel call-out?

Speaking of science: Lin Jing's detector never picks up Shen Wei's black energy. I wonder how that works - can he suppress any emanations so well that they can't be measured, or is he sabotaging detection overall? - My favourite theory is that he has a specific "cannot be detected" Dixing power, which is simply always switched on. What's yours?

When Lin Jing expounds on Dixing powers going out of control and Dixingren accidentally hurting themselves and others, he explains to Zhao Yunlan that this happens a lot. How does he know, when Zhao Yunlan apparently doesn't?

And finally, the most important question of all: Comfort lollipop vs. comfort kitty - which would you prefer? :D

Let's talk about episode 12!
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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I guess he had realised conflict was brewing, even if he didn't know the Hallows were involved?

Or the Hallows are just an excuse, and he thinks it's time Zhu Hong settled down and had a clutch of snake babies. ;-p

And maybe only the "I want to help, but I can't" bit is meant to have a double meaning? "I want to help you, but I can't tell you this"?

Yes! That works, right?

I can only conclue that Da Qing has decided that a) SW and ZYL are weird about each other because they're into each other (correct), therefore b) if they're being weird right now, it has to be for that reason (wrong). *g*

HEE! Yes.

Since he can't well keep him unconscious for long, he may be trying to frighten him into behaving?

And test his mettle? Shen Wei can't leave Zheng Yi with him if Tan Xiao isn't up for it.

And we don't even know anything about him other than that he seems to be looking for corruption with Minister Gao, but he's just so smug about it.

This!! (And yet, I'm so delighted when Zhao Yunlan converts him into an ally. *g*)

Or the Hallows are just an excuse, and he thinks it's time Zhu Hong settled down and had a clutch of snake babies. ;-p

LOL! But no, I think the speech about wanting the Snake Tribe to stay out of the coming conflict was genuine, even if the Hallows were an impromptu addition.

Yes! That works, right?

It does for me!

And test his mettle? Shen Wei can't leave Zheng Yi with him if Tan Xiao isn't up for it.

Yeah, maybe!

This!! (And yet, I'm so delighted when Zhao Yunlan converts him into an ally. *g*)

But they knock the smugness out of him first. :D

LOL! But no, I think the speech about wanting the Snake Tribe to stay out of the coming conflict was genuine, even if the Hallows were an impromptu addition.

Absolutely! Isolationism and babies! *g*

But they knock the smugness out of him first. :D

Ha, true. And it's so satisfying! :D

Btw, with regard to taking Tan Xiao away and leaving Zheng Yi, while Zheng Yi's power is the more dangerous one - I wonder if Shen Wei thought she wouldn't be dangerous without Zhu Jiu pushing her, and the SID would keep her away from Zhu Jiu?

Maaaaybe, but you'd think he'd know what can happen when someone loses the one person they depend on (*koff*Ye Zun*koff*). ;-p

Yeah, you'd think ... There were some serious miscalculations there.

I'm just watching the wedding scene, and Shen Wei is all, "It's you!" when he sees Zhu Jiu. I don't think he'd figured it out before then. So now I think he thinks Tan Xiao is the (human) mastermind behind the trouble, that he's been using Zheng Yi, and that Zheng Yi will be harmless without him. (He missed Zheng Yi's backstory, after all, and didn't hang around for a debrief.) That would also explain why he's so ruthless and rough with Tan Xiao after he takes him away.

Does that work?

Yes, that works! And it makes for another parallel between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, since Zhao Yunlan also originally thought Tan Xiao was the driving force in that duo. (Not that it isn't the natural theory, given how young she is. *resolutely keeps ignoring the "15"*)

GUARDIAN REWATCH - Episode 12

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