GUARDIAN REWATCH – Episode 20

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Beginning of episode: Zhu Jiu reveals his scar and his history with the Envoy.
Ending of episode: Confrontation with semi-embodied Ye Zun; Zhao Yunlan loses his sight.

Important scenes/developments:

• Zhu Jiu's backstory with the Envoy.
• Zhu Jiu is too badly hurt to provide info; Zhu Hong injects him with Snake rejuvenation serum.
• The remaining SID team figure out the location of the lab and rescue Chu Shuzhi, Xiao Guo and Ye Huo.
• Da Qing wears a suit to rescue Lin Jing and Cong Bo from the Department of Supervision.
• Minister Gao is angry re the blackout and Da Qing impersonating a Xingdu Bureau agent. Zhao Xinci talks him down.
• Zhao Xinci inspects Professor Ouyang's experiment and tells him to pick up the pace. Zhang Shi dissents.
• The SID has a reunion festival feast. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei tease each other.
• In the DoS car, Shen Wei mentions Zhu Hong's crush; Zhao Yunlan has a vision and puts his hand on Shen Wei's knee.
• Zhu Jiu gets a psychic wake-up call from Zhu Jiu, is punched by Chu Shuzhi, and "tricks" Xiao Guo into uncuffing him.
• Shen Wei continues on to the DoS while Zhao Yunlan calls Zhu Hong to bring out the Hallows and runs back to the SID on foot (and runs and runs).
• Zhu Jiu escapes the SID and has a surprisingly touching death scene.
• The Regent and the Deacon watch Ye Zun's pillar and decide to hedge their bets.
• Zhao Yunlan and Zhu Hong meet up on the street. Ya Qing finds them and takes them to Ye Zun in the park.
• Ye Zun greets Zhao Yunlan formally and spouts villain ideology.
• Zhao Yunlan provokes Ye Zun into attacking and uses the Longevity Dial to defend himself.
• Shen Wei senses the Dial's activation and dashes to the rescue, leaving Vice Minister Guo confused.
• Ye Zun tells Zhao Yunlan he can't win. Zhao Yunlan says humans are stubborn.
• Shen Wei shows up and cuts off the energy stream with his blade, knocking Zhao Yunlan out. Shen Wei sends Ye Zun to his room.
• To Shen Wei and Zhu Hong's relief, Shen Wei manages to wake Zhao Yunlan. But Zhao Yunlan's dark energy corruption has taken hold, and Zhao Yunlan is blind.

Thoughts
Wow, so much happens in this episode, and I think it all takes place in the course of one evening? (Or maybe twenty-four hours with some unexplained jumps? There are a couple of vague references to "yesterday", but otoh, I don't think it makes any sense for there to be significant time skips. Wouldn't Chu Shuzhi et al be well and truly popsicled?) Anyway, the show is continuing the transition from the earlier seemingly episodic cases of the week.

I'm just going to focus on particular threads, and I'll put my incidental notes in a comment.

• Zhu Hong: After last episode's talk with Shen Wei about the biology of love, Zhu Hong gets a couple of follow-ups:
  
   
  
  When she produces the rejuvenation serum for Zhu Jiu, Zhao Yunlan makes her feel self-conscious about her Snakiness, while Shen Wei thanks her for the help. She compliments Shen Wei in return, but when she looks to Zhao Yunlan for approval, he only has eyes for Shen Wei.
  
  
  
  Similarly, in the final scene, she's distraught at the damage Zhao Yunlan has sustained, but he only reaches for Shen Wei; as far as the two men are concerned, she might as well not be there. She takes both of these hits on the chin, especially since she must have realised on the rooftop, when they captured Zhu Jiu, who Shen Wei is. (I wonder if Shen Wei agreed to or even arranged her presence to show her that, so she'd have a fuller picture of his and Zhao Yunlan's relationship?)


• Zhu Jiu: We see Zhu Jiu's "beginning", where he's radicalised via institutional bullying and mind control (so much mind control!) and his surprisingly touching end.
  • Re his origin story, there are echoes of the Rebel Chief's bullying of Ye Zun -- both looked down upon for being unpowered. Zhu Jiu's encounter with the Envoy cutting his cheek is still perplexing, though. What the hell?
  • Ye Zun gives Zhu Jiu a psychic wake-up call, and Zhu Jiu regains consciousness bound to the experimentation bed in the SID lab.
  • Changcheng finds Zhu Jiu awake and yells this news really loudly, hee!
    Zhu Jiu: So I failed completely in the end.
    me: LOL! Yeah, sorry. You lost, and Changcheng is on the winning team.
    Guo Changcheng: *exhibits compassion*
    Chu Shuzhi: *comes in and thumps Zhu Jiu*
    
     
    
    I think Zhu Jiu finds the thumping and maniacal grinning more comforting than the offer of food and drink, tbh. It's kind of his love language.)
  • They don't even bother showing us Zhu Jiu talking his way out of the handcuffs, lol. It's such a trope. Then Changcheng gives Zhu Jiu a pep talk:
    
    GCC: You are always talking about human beings. I'm curious - do you really hate human beings or admire them?
    ZJ: Utter shit. What's good about you human beings?
    (This kind of foreshadows the conversation between Zhao Yunlan and Ye Zun later in the episode?)
    GCC: What's bad about us? There is hope as long as one is alive.
    ZJ: What about if you are dying?
    GCC: Then make good use of your time, and do the things that should be done.
    (Viki subs)
    
    Zhu Jiu promptly decides to make good use of his remaining time by knocking Changcheng out (but not killing him!) and stealing the Hallows. But when he gets back to the lab, the Hallows cases are empty. Vision-warning averted!
  • Chu Shuzhi, Da Qing and Lin Jing arrive to confront Zhu Jiu. None of them seem surprised or shocked (or worried about Changcheng, so I guess they found him first?). Da Qing asks who Zhu Jiu's boss is, and Zhu Jiu is re-energised by the reminder of Ye Zun. He throws Changcheng's baton, presumably powering it with contempt, rather than fear, and turning it into an awesome weapon! Chu Shuzhi tries to catch it with his strings, but the baton knocks the SID guys back while Zhu Jiu escapes out the window. (Chu Shuzhi doesn't follow -- why?)
  • And then we get his death scene with the very creepy vial, and his telling Ye Zun to use his energy for freedom and revenge.
    
    
    
    Ya Qing arrives to pick up the vial and say, "Rest in peace." Aww? /o\


• Minister Gao is pissed off! He's particularly (justifiedly) annoyed about Da Qing impersonating a Xingdu Bureau officer. He thinks Vice Minister Guo will side with the SID, too. If Zhao Xinci hadn't turned up to contextualise (and critique), I'd have had a lot of sympathy for Minister Gao at this point: the SID's communication is all "better to ask forgiveness than permission" but without the forgiveness part.
  
  
  
  Anyway, Zhao Xinci does show up, and he calls Minister Gao muddled (our first inkling that he's not competent). Zhao Xinci knows all about Zhu Jiu -- from case reports? shouldn't Minister Gao know this too? -- and considers him a dangerous threat (no surprise). Zhao Xinci explicitly supports the SID and says he'll take responsibility. This mollifies Minister Gao somewhat. They retire to the comfy seats, where Zhao Xinci sits with his legs crossed, relaxed, while Minister Gao sits to his left, formally facing him with his hands on his knees.
  
  Minister Gao: I do personally appreciate Yunlan. He has boundless imagination and loves to employ surprising ideas. This is totally unlike you, Zhao-xiong.
  ZXC: Yes, he's not like me. He is too obstinate.
  me: LOL
  Minister Gao: Yes, that's it! I still do trust him. Moreover, there is a well-behaved Professor Shen assisting him now. There should be no trouble.
  me: More LOL
  ZXC: *nods and doesn't comment on Shen Wei's involvement*
  ZXC: Anyway, follow Zhu Jiu's case closely.
  Minister Gao: How about we do this? I'll ask him to debrief me here tonight with Professor Shen. I'll warn him again.
  ZXC: I think that's feasible.


• The Reunion Feast: AWWWWW!
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
  
  I love this, and it deserves its own scene discussion post, especially the adorable teasing between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, in which they make each other speak to the team and which Shen Wei wins with a sweet gotcha smile. asldkfjas;dlkjfasd;fk The fact that he's prepared to be this playful in front of the team says a lot, I think. They're so comfortable with each other by this point.
  
  Then they talk in undertones while the others dig in to the food. Their conversation goes:
  ZYL: You told me that my dream might be a premonition. But now, it seems it was just an ordinary nightmare.
  me: I mean, you saw the lab...
  SW: We changed the future by accident this time. What about the next time? If people want to enter a wormhole and can make it happen, they'll have to pay a heavy price.
  a) How worried is Shen Wei about the mutability of the timeline?
  b) What does that wormhole bit refer to?? Why is he talking wormholes with Zhao Yunlan??
  
  Wang Zheng interrupts with, "Haixing Administration called just now asking Chief Zhao and Professor Shen to do a debriefing. The car picking you up is already at the door." Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei exchange serious looks. Why so grave? Are they already assuming the DoS is a threat? Is it just the timing and lack of warning? Surely Zhao Yunlan must have expected some fallout from his plan and prepared a good excuse.


• The car ride: alksjfaskldfa
  
   
  
  As Zhao Yunlan is about to get into the car, Ye Zun DMs him on Psychic WeChat. Zhao Yunlan doesn't tell anyone, including Shen Wei... which seems like a mistake. *facepalm* I think he's infected or something, because he acts weird and jumpy, reacting to events at the pillar (I think?), but he tells Shen Wei it's nothing. (Shen Wei doesn't believe him.)
  
  They talk about Zhu Hong (see discussion questions below), and then Zhao Yunlan has a vision of Zhu Jiu free at the SID, Xiao Guo unconscious, and Zhu Jiu going after the Hallows. He wakes with a start; Shen Wei puts a concerned hand on his shoulder and leaves it there for the rest of the scene. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei discuss the situation quietly and obliquely so the DoS driver won't hear about Zhao Yunlan's (from the DoS's POV) questionable fitness for his post, AKA "auditory hallucinations" (Shen Wei doesn't know about the visual ones, or the DMs from Ye Zun, I don't think?). They decide Zhao Yunlan will go back to the SID while Shen Wei reports to Minister Gao. It's very serious and on-the-same-page, and I love it. Zhao Yunlan pats Shen Wei's knee and then just leaves his hand there. ♥ ♥ ♥ Zhao Yunlan gets out; Shen Wei looks worriedly after him. Zhao Yunlan fails to hail a taxi and starts running instead.
  
  I question the division of labour, given the threats are Zhu Jiu versus Minister Gao, but okay. Shen Wei isn't out yet at the SID, and he doesn't know Zhu Jiu might get free.


• Zhao Yunlan's dark energy corruption: up to this point we've had: casually touching the Longevity Dial, including taking it to the mountains and napping on it; losing consciousness from touching the Awl three times (when Tan Xiao was trying to steal it; picking it up after Zhu Jiu escaped during the Envoy Reveal case; just before the nosebleed scene); being attempted-controlled by Zhu Jiu (presuming the earplugs don't block the energy attacks, just Zheng Yi's sonic hypnosis priming); going to Dixing, including travelling through the gate, exposure to Wu Tian'en's power (ZYL says he feels sick from dark energy exposure), and being stabbed by Ding Dun's ?dark energy? poison thingy. Plus the visit to Ye Zun's pillar. And in this episode, in the street, he visibly takes another hit from the Dial. This has been building for a while. He's even started to get visions when not touching the Hallows. What does that mean? And is the reason he has to keep stopping for breath and eventually falls to one knee while running through the city because he's weakened, or is it just a really long way?


• Lead-in to confrontation with Ye Zun: Zhu Hong finds Zhao Yunlan via taxi and gives him the Hallows in a bag. Zhao Yunlan takes out the Dial. Ya Qing comes around the corner.
  
  ZYL: As I said, this thing is toxic. As soon as I touch it, I get illusions.
  ZH: It's not an illusion. It's reality.
  YQ: Lord Guardian, someone wants to see you.
  
  It's unclear to me if this is a threat, ie, how much Zhao Yunlan and Zhu Hong go willingly, out of curiosity, versus how much they're being coerced. Thoughts? (Poor Zhu Hong -- this whole chain of events is so traumatic, from being hustled out of the SID without knowing where she's supposed to go, confronted with scary Ya Qing, and then witnessing Zhao Yunlan's duel with Ye Zun without being able to help. She keeps trying, but the Dial's energy field keeps pushing her back. And then Zhao Yunlan is hurt, and she's distraught, but there's nothing she personally can do!)


• Confrontation with Ye Zun: Zhao Yunlan meets glowy, energy-projection Ye Zun in the park. Interesting that Ye Zun offers a formal greeting and is super polite: is he still hoping to suborn Zhao Yunlan? Naturally, Zhao Yunlan just waves and asks him to stop with the Hei Pao Shi cosplay.
  
  Ye Zun philosophises about humanity's failings, and then turns it into snark about Haixingren oppressing Dixingren. Zhao Yunlan rejects Ye Zun's ends and attacks his means (all that killing). Ye Zun says killing humans doesn't count. Zhao Yunlan: What about Zhu Jiu? (Presumably Ya Qing gossiped on the way over?) Ye Zun thinks consensual cannibalism is fine. Zhu Hong talks back, and Ya Qing attacks with the crow dart. Zhao Yunlan swings Zhu Hong out of the way and uses that move as a cover to get the Hallows. Then he challenges/provokes Ye Zun into attacking and defends himself with the Dial, deliberately activating it to call to Shen Wei. Meanwhile, Shen Wei arrives at the DoS, senses the Dial has activated, swears, and zooms to the rescue, leaving Vice Minister Guo confused.
  
   
  
  The Dial works as a shield. Zhao Yunlan hero monologues and also explains tech stuff. (Love that he knows the principle behind the SID's security system!) Ye Zun tries to bargain for the Dial, and Zhao Yunlan uses it as a weapon against Ye Zun and Ya Qing, but he's gradually overcome with dark energy and falls to one knee.
  
  Ye Zun: You can't win.
  Zhao Yunlan: I don't need to.
  
  Shen Wei leaps in with his blade and severs the energy stream, knocking Zhao Yunlan out. Zhu Hong frantically tries to wake him. He has blood on his lips and wisps of dark energy around his neck.
  
  SW: Zhao Yunlan!
  YZ: After all these years, you're still the same.
  me: That makes so much more sense in the context of ep 35. This show was made for rewatching. :D
  
  Shen Wei sends Ye Zun to his room. Ya Qing flies off. Shen Wei pries the dial from Zhao Yunlan's hand and tries to heal him. (Zhu Hong sees him use his powers. I mean, she already knew, but she definitely notices...)
  
  ZH: Lao Zhao!
  ZYL: Shen Wei.
  SW: It's me. *handclasp*
  me: a;lsdkfja;sdkfja;sdlkfjas;dlkfjasd;lfkjadsf (Poor Zhu Hong!) a;lsdkfjas;dlkfjas;ldkfjasfd
  
  Brief exposition about what happened with Ye Zun, then:
  ZYL: It's weird, but I find Ye Zun familiar somehow.
  SW: Okay, don't speak too much. I'll help you go back first.
  Is that "first" a cultural/translation thing (Viki subs), as in "I'll leave first", or does he actually mean he'll explain later when they're alone, but then that intention is derailed by Zhao Yunlan's blindness?
  
  Because yeah, Zhao Yunlan is literally all, "Who turned out the lights?" and rubbing his eyes.

Discussion starters:

• What's your favourite scene or development in this episode? Favourite line of dialogue?


• Any theories about Zhu Jiu's backstory, particularly Shen Wei cutting his cheek? What is going on there? Is it a real memory or warped by Ye Zun's mind control? And is Zhu Jiu spitting out an accusation or just remembering, given we don't see Shen Wei's reaction? Why do we never get more context? Argh! (And what does Zhao Yunlan make of this interaction between Zhu Jiu and Shen Wei? Does he ever ask about it?)


• Why do you think Shen Wei raises Zhu Hong's feelings with Zhao Yunlan in the car? Does he do it for Zhu Hong's benefit, because he's sure of Zhao Yunlan and he wants Zhao Yunlan to let her down easy -- or is there something else going on? (Maybe he's thinking of university training in how to handle besotted students? Step one: don't other them for being Yashou!)


• And what do you make of Zhao Yunlan's reply, that he was born lacking in love?


• What's up with pillar!Ye Zun's psychic connection with Zhao Yunlan? Or can he talk to anyone like that, and Zhao Yunlan's and Zhu Jiu's messages are the only ones we see?


• Does Ye Zun know Zhao Yunlan is Kunlun? What would have happened if he'd told him about the time travel? Why doesn't he?

Let’s talk about episode 20!
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

Re: Links to episode 20 fanworks and meta go here!

[china_shop]

Guardian Episode by Episode: 20 by extrapenguin, including the great observation that, in the zero degree lab, "Shen Wei casually healed Ye Huo and Guo Changcheng behind Chu Shuzhi's back."
Zhu Jiu Wakes Up in the SID by shadaras
Zhao Yunlan confronting Ye Zun in the park by trickytricky

Also, ahh, someone wrote a lovely ChuGuo first kiss set after the Absolute Zero Lab, with Changcheng apologising for almost getting them killed, but I can't find it.

ETA: found it! see it happen by nnozomi! \o/