GUARDIAN REWATCH - Episode 14

[trobadora]

Beginning of episode: Zhao Yunlan reveals he was faking being hypnotised
Ending of episode: Cong Bo decides to investigate Shen Wei

Important scenes/developments:

• Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan confront Zhu Jiu; he escapes
• Zhao Yunlan experiences Awl visions
• the Envoy takes Zheng Yi away
• Zhao Yunlan sees Zheng Yi with Tan Xiao
• Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei have tea and a tense post-reveal conversation
• Zhu Jiu struggles with his injury and is snarked at by Ya Qing
• Guo Changcheng unknowingly encounters the Merit Brush
• Zhao Yunlan sings in the car
• Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan meet with Minister Gao and learn about Cong Bo; Zhao Yunlan reacts badly to his father being mentioned
• at the Haixing lab, research isn't going as well as Professor Ouyang would like
• Minister Guo invites Zhao Yunlan for dinner; Zhao Yunlan invites Shen Wei along
• awkward dinner conversation: Minister Guo calls Dixingren monsters, and Shen Wei drops his chopsticks
• Guo Changcheng convinces his uncle to let him stay at the SID
• Da Qing talks to kittens and asks about Kunlun
• Zhao Yunlan tries to feed Shen Wei street food and introduces him to the (SID) family
• Zhao Yunlan teases Shen Wei about being too excited to sleep
• Cong Bo recognises Shen Wei from the wedding, and decides to investigate him

Thoughts:

So many iconic scenes, I hardly know where to start! (Or where to stop, LOL.)

Because so much of it is so iconic, most of this episode has been talked about more than most. So I'll just pull out the things that particularly stood out to me this time.

• We get our first time of Shen Wei plainclothes-Envoying in front of Zhao Yunlan as he summons his dao to go after Zhu Jiu! But Zhu Jiu, using Zheng Yi as a distraction, gets away. (Those SID windows are a security hazard!)


• Zhao Yunlan touches the Mountain-River Awl again and gets visions of past and future again: shooting at Shen Wei (last episode), flowers on Shen Xi's grave (episode 17), the Envoy at the sonic lab (last episode), he himself as a young boy witnessing his parents arguing at the SID (more fully seen next episode), falling to the ground in Dixing after Ding Dun stabs him in the arm (episode 17), Shen Xi at the SID (another shot of the flashback from next episode).
  
  
  
  Given the shot from Dixing, I don't think he's flashing back to his childhood per se: he's flashing forward to a time when he'll be experiencing those flashbacks. (Appropriately convoluted for a show with a time loop! *g*)


• Da Qing says Zhao Yunlan single-handedly took back the Hallows - what happened in between Zhao Yunlan passing out and waking up again with everyone there and Shen Wei in his Envoy robes? It seems that when the rest of the SID arrived, Shen Wei gave out a false story - did he do it as Professor Shen (and then leave, only to return as the Envoy), or did he do it as the Envoy, leaving Professor Shen entirely out of the story? Either way, he clearly claimed Zhao Yunlan did it all on his own!
  
  (I wonder what Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi, who after all were present for the whole thing, thought about that blatant lie ...)


• Shen Wei just barely cuts Zhao Yunlan off when he starts asking out loud why Shen Wei is in Envoy robes, and makes it clear that even if Zhao Yunlan knows, the public separation between his identities must still be maintained. We see Zhao Yunlan visibly recalibrate - was he just catching up because he'd passed out, or did he not really understand the necessity? Because professional and private blur so much with the SID, he sometimes seems to treat the SID as a private context even when it can't fully be.


• Zhao Yunlan, as he says, doesn't understand what Shen Wei is thinking with Zheng Yi - but official policy is that Dixingren in Haixing must be deported. That's both the SID's job and the Envoy's - and neither side can just decide to stop; there's a treaty and politics Dixing/Haixing relations in general involved. They're not just acting on their own behalf! It matters that they're seen to enact policy, officially, whatever they may choose to do behind closed doors.
  
  And Zhao Yunlan can't know Shen Wei will let Zheng Yi stay - he doesn't know Shen Wei has done such a thing before, after all - so he has reason to worry, but does he really expect him to just publicly go against the Dixing/Haixing treaty? (I feel like Zhao Yunlan often often doesn't seem to take into account the Envoy's obligations regarding his official role ... And I think him not understanding what Shen Wei is doing here must fuel some of Shen Wei's tension later.)


• Visual foreshadowing, as extrapenguin called it! Shen Wei's hand outstretched - Zheng Yi's hand in his. Black and white, and all that:
  
  


• I wonder what happens in between the Envoy taking Zheng Yi away, and Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi waving at Zhao Yunlan. It's gone dark, by then. (How long did Tan Xiao stay at the SID?) Whatever Shen Wei said when he reunited them, he must have told them to make sure Zhao Yunlan saw them - I don't think they'd have dared if he'd told them to keep hidden! And of course Shen Wei wants to make sure Zhao Yunlan sees the difference between public judgment and private mercy, and the separation of roles that implies.
  
  (Of course Zhao Yunlan promptly goes and tells the rest of the SID, as witnessed later by Xiao-Guo's diary! But I think by then Shen Wei knew to expect that.)


• Tea scene! Shen Wei is so tense, and Zhao Yunlan is so pleased with everything! Shen Wei briefly tries deflecting ("I don't know what you're talking about"), but this time Zhao Yunlan just calls him "Hei-laoge" and tells him to drop the act unless he can erase his memories.
  
  
  
  And Shen Wei smirks, and does drop the act: "How do you know I can't?" For which Zhao Yunlan is really not prepared! ♥ ♥ ♥


• Things actually go pretty well at first - Shen Wei is tense, but opening up a bit about his lying, and straight-up tells Zhao Yunlan when he can't answer something (for time loop reasons); Zhao Yunlan apologises a bit for some of his behaviour towards the Envoy. And even though Zhao Yunlan keeps poking at Shen Wei's secrets, things don't start going wrong until Zhao Yunlan poutingly, fake-flirtatiously ask Shen Wei for compensation. Shen Wei grows tense again, and the scene cuts off, to be continued later in flashback.
  
  
  
  Where we find out that the flirting and the "for me" leading up to another request to join the SID - which Shen Wei has already turned down multiple times! - makes Shen Wei not just abruptly put down his cup and start to stand up, but also shake Zhao Yunlan's hand off his arm, seriously pissed off and unhappy. At which point Zhao Yunlan realises he's miscalculated and stepped in it, claims to have joked, and swerves into talking about maintaining the peace by working together. Only at that point does Shen Wei look at him again (and apparently agree).


• We see the Merit Brush for the first time, being used to write a sign for Wang Xiangyang's shop! He says it's a family heirloom. Just like with the Sundial and Li Qian's family, and the Awl with the Hanga tribe, one has to wonder just how it ended up there ...
  
  (And is this our first look at Bai Suxia, or have I forgotten something?)


• There are so many excellent character moments in the car ride scene: Zhao Yunlan's exuberant glee, Shen Wei pointedly asking what he's so happy about, Shen Wei apparently on autopilot calling himself ordinary, Shen Wei talking about people being afraid of him, and him not fitting in ... Shen Wei is being serious and introspective, and Zhao Yunlan is very much not. And despite that mismatch, and Shen Wei badly needing Zhao Yunlan to take things seriously, it all culminates in "We can just not talk"/"You didn't say I can't sing", and Shen Wei unable to stop himself from smiling. ♥ ♥ ♥


• Is this our first look at Professor Ouyang's lab? Regarding the random giant skull, sef1029 suggested on discord that it's supposed to be a dragon skull, for Dragon City - which would at least make some symbolic sense! But what is it with the random robots/androids (or robot/android sculptures) behind glass?!
  
  


• The whole scene with Minister Gao where Zhao Yunlan's father is mentioned and Zhao Yunlan immediately goes tense! And Shen Wei not just noticing, but smoothly stepping in, distracting Minister Gao and changing the subject for him! ♥
  
  


• Possibly the best line of the episode is Minister Gao's "worse than Dixingren: paparazzi!" :D


• Cong Bo still somewhat confuses me here. Not only does he have no sense of proportion or focus on anything genuinely worth investigating, he also doesn't seem to have much of a reaction to anything out of the ordinary. He was at the wedding and saw Zheng Yi and Shen Wei use their powers! But he doesn't seem shocked, or later react much at all to seeing Lao-Chu exercise his powers. (He notes down "unusual power" but doesn't seem shocked by it.) He also later says he needs something big - and Chu Shuzhi's powers apparently don't qualify! Also, at the end of the episode when he recognises Shen Wei as "the hero from the wedding", he clearly remembers him having powers, but doesn't seem fazed by that at all, more interested in discovering Shen Wei is working with the SID. (Even though he already encountered them together after the wedding!) What's up with all that? I mean, this is in the same episode where Minister Gao (foreshadowingly) talks about the potential for social uprest if the SID's secrets are exposed!


• Minister Gao speaks very familiarly of Zhao Xinci (always calling him Xinci-xiong), but they're clearly not as close as he pretends. He has no idea there's any tension between father and son. Does Zhao Xinci talk a good family game, or is Minister Gao just making assumptions based on what he knew about Zhao Xinci back when they were partners?
  
  Also, Zhao Yunlan doesn't even know they used to be partners back in the day! Did Zhao Xinci never mention anyone from work at home, or has Zhao Yunlan just not put the two together?


• Zhu Hong is being excellent, immediately catching on to Cong Bo being suspicious! And And it's Wang Zheng who realises there's a (giant) bug in the package. ♥
  
  (Btw, when Zhu Hong goes back inside, there are a few lines that aren't translated in any of the English subs I have. Zhu Hong answering the phone says: 喂，您等等，我一会给您回电话。"Hello? Please wait, I will call you back in a moment." - I wonder who she's talking to! She's being very polite and using 您/formal "you".)


• Minister Guo, who has apparently just realised about Xiao-Guo working for the SID, invites Zhao Yunlan to dinner to talk about it. Zhao Yunlan in turn rather shamelessly immediately includes Shen Wei, prompting him - and Shen Wei barely hesitates before he says he'll come along. He could easily have avoided it if he'd wanted, but he doesn't. :D
  
  And during the awkward dinner conversation at the restaurant (the Versailles), I still entirely love Shen Wei's very deliberate chopstick drop when Minister Guo talks about how dangerous the SID is, and that they're fighting monsters!


• On the car ride back to the SID, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei wonder who transferred Xiao-Guo to the SID. Then Shen Wei asks Zhao Yunlan about his reaction to Zhao Xinci being mentioned, and Zhao Yunlan suddenly discovers that actually, not wanting to answer when someone asks questions is perfectly fine. :p


• We learn Lao-Chu doesn't eat spicy food (which will become important later!). It looks to me as if the rest of them don't know that about him yet - he's still in the process of fully becoming part of the group. ♥
  
  (Also, I always notice Lin Jing eating the same bite twice - 40:59 and 41:10. *g*)

Discussion starters:

• What's your favourite moment in this episode? It's almost impossible to choose, but I think I'll pick "Who says I can't [erase your memory]?" :D


• What's the most overlooked part of the episode? Which part doesn't get talked about enough?


• When Shen Wei says: "Every living being is poor and pitiful. If I start conferring extrajudicial favours, how can law and order survive?", Zhao Yunlan turns away and makes a face - and unlike previous times when Zhao Yunlan was displeased with the Envoy, this time Shen Wei calls him on it. Is that because the relationship between them has changed, or because unlike the incident with Lin Yusen, this time Shen Wei doesn't feel like Zhao Yunlan has cause to be annoyed?


• When Zheng Yi takes Shen Wei's hand, Tan Xiao suddenly stumbles back. Did she push him away with black energy? Why?


• Why does Zhao Yunlan want Shen Wei to join the SID so much? And why does Shen Wei eventually agree? Does it make things better, or more difficult, or both?


• As Guo Changcheng uses the brush, the other two Hallows in the SID lab start glowing. Lin Jing briefly wakes up and notices, but then promptly falls asleep again (rather than, you know, trying to track down the resonance the way he did with the Sundial, when they were looking for the Awl). Since he seems to wake up and fall back asleep multiple times in sequence: are the Hallows knocking him out, or did he just pulled an all-nighter with a webnovel or something?


• I'm always a bit annoyed with Zhao Yunlan's glee in the car because he seems to not at all pick up on just how serious all of this is for Shen Wei - both as the Envoy (who has to navigate an increasingly more complicated balance between political duty, public image and private mercy) and as Professor Shen (whose position at the university has already been endangered by his associating with the SID)! They have such a mood mismatch in that scene, and Zhao Yunlan just ignores it all. How do you feel about that?


• Zhao Yunlan really is shameless - he actually asked Shen Wei to write his self-criticism for him! Any theories (or fic recs for missing scenes) as to how that came about?
  
  (presumenothing did a transcript/translation of parts of the self-reflection letter here, btw! Delightful. :D)


• Shen Wei, left alone in the corridor at the Ministry, steps into a blind corner the surveillance camera won't catch, and starts searching with black energy. What is he searching for? Is he already suspicious about the lab, and trying to find out what's happening there? Or did he somehow sense Professor Zhou saying his name? :p


• Given Cong Bo's not-very-much-of-a-reaction when it comes to Dixing powers, did he already knew about Dixing and/or powers before the wedding, or is this all new to him?

Let's talk about episode 14!
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!

Comments

[china_shop]

Flaunt your powers Shen Wei!
The smirk!

asdkflsdkjfalkdsjhflakdjshfalksjdfhalsjdfalsd yessssssss! :D :D :D :D :D

On a bit of a side note, I believe this scene might be an adaption of (or a reference to) a scene from the novel, which also takes place in the car. The dialogue goes like this iirc:

Ooh, thanks so much for that!