GUARDIAN REWATCH - Episode 23

[trobadora]

Beginning of episode: Da Qing has been caught trying to sneak into the Dixing archives
Ending of episode: at the hospital, Zhao Yunlan is passive-aggressively overpolite to Shen Wei

Important scenes/developments:

• An Bai is revealed to be the next Dijun
• Da Qing warns Zhao Yunlan that Shen Wei is untrustworthy; Zhao Yunlan reveals his current strategy in dealing with Shen Wei's secrecy
• Da Qing spies on Shen Wei confronting Ye Zun, and makes him perform a pinky promise
• the Dijun is found murdered, and An Bai is missing
• Zhao Yunlan impersonates An Bai to expose Ye Zun's mole in the palace
• An Bai is forced to become the new Dijun
• Shen Wei explains the function of the Merit Brush
• Ye Zun suborns An Bai's friends
• Shen Wei stays with Zhao Yunlan for one more night; Zhao Yunlan sees a strange energy barrier
• Zhao Yunlan catches Shen Wei cutting his wrist and bleeding black energy
• Guo Changcheng visits his parents' graves, and we see Dong Nan for the first time
• Wang Xiangyang cries at his wife's grave and wants to avenge her death
• Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei give each other the silent treatment at the SID
• at the hospital, Zhao Yunlan is passive-aggressively overpolite to Shen Wei (beginning of scene)

(My apologies for posting this so late - my health hasn't been cooperating this week.)

Themes, structures, worldbuilding:
First off, the 执事 - the original and Viki subs call him the Deacon, but it also means attendant or official. I'm going with Attendant here.

• Themes:
  
  • This episode is full of people sneaking around, deceiving each other, hiding things - Da Qing sneaking around, the Attendant as Ye Zun's mole, Zhao Yunlan disguised as An Bai, the Regent startling Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing by appearing like a ghost, but also Shen Wei's many secrets and sneaking around to cut himself in Zhao Yunlan's kitchen.
  
  
  • But there's also sacrifice: An Bai's, the old Dijun's, the Attendant's on Ye Zun's behalf, and of course Shen Wei's already-made sacrifice healing Zhao Yunlan's eyes as well as his future, foreshadowed sacrifice to stop Ye Zun. These themes unify the two distinct parts of the episode, the Dixing and Haixing parts.
  
  
  • And there's trust, and trust being tested - the major thematic push-and-pull between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, that stretches through much of the drama, but comes out particularly plainly here with Zhao Yunlan first explaining his current approach to Shen Wei's secrecy in Dixing, and then back in Haixing being confronted with something far worse than he'd thought when he discovers that one of the things Shen Wei is hiding is the cost to himself. Da Qing's mini-arc with Shen Wei belongs here as well, from confusing him with Ye Zun and warning Zhao Yunlan about him, to trusting him after all, even if he extracts a pinky promise first. *g*
  
  
  • And one of the things that structures this episode is a sequence of confrontations: Da Qing confronts Zhao Yunlan about Shen Wei's secrets; Shen Wei confronts Ye Zun at the Pillar (and promises to stop him); Da Qing confronts Shen Wei (and extracts a pinky promise); Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan set up the Attendant; Chu Shuzhi clashes with someone at the Ministry; even Ya Qing confronts Wang Xiangyang about why he's suddenly supposed to be their new hope. And of course, in the most dramatic scene of the episode, despite Zhao Yunlan's best efforts at waiting Shen Wei out, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei have their big confrontation over some of Shen Wei's secrets in the kitchen.


• Worldbuilding: here's where we discover some fascinating and appalling things about Dixing governance. Some details:
  
  • The old Dijun describes his office as being a tireless, ruthless, loveless administrative tool, and Shen Wei explains that from the moment he takes office he'll work ceaselessly until his last breath. A Dijun apparently is expected to last only a few years. (The Regent suggests An Bai might last four or five years, which would be shorter than the previous one.) They're literally being drained of their life force to fuel Dixing's administration.
  
  
  • This is apparently not known in Dixing! An Bai seems to learn it from the old Dijun, and then explains to his friends. (You'd think they'd at least know how long the guy has been in office, but An Bai seems surprised when the Dijun says he's no grandpa, it's only been a few years!)
  
  
  • However, even though the Dijun says he hasn't talked to anyone in a long time, and usually seems to communicate his orders only by ringing a bell, he clearly can speak up, and stand up from his throne; he does so to talk to An Bai. And he speaks when he confronts the Attendant - and is aware enough of the surroundings to catch the Attendant at stealing from the archives. His power is also significant - the Regent talks about qualifications for Dijun (noble birth, political integrity and ability), but the Dijun is able to easily override these.
  
  
  • There's also more to becoming Dijun than just sitting down on the throne - we see Shen Wei sit on it once, to examine the murdered old Dijun!
  
  
  • On discord, shadaras suggested that the rapid ageing is because the palace should be running on solar/Hallows power, and instead pulls from the Dijun in the absence of that, and that theory seems very plausible to me. The Regent says this system has been in place for thousands of years, but you'd think if it had existed so long, people would be aware of it. I think it's very plausible that this system - the interfacing of the Dijun with the palace and perhaps Dixing as a whole - worked very differently when the Hallows were still there and Dixing was fully powered!
  
  
  • Perhaps that is why Dixing has a Regent in the first place - as shadaras said: "in the past, maybe the lord actually did rule, and the regent came to power because the lord became a cog in the machine who couldn't make any real decisions."

Further thoughts:

• I find it so fascinating that throughout this episode, Shen Wei is walking around in Dixing in Professor Shen civvies, glasses and all! Even though he's being the Envoy. He only takes off the glasses when they're back in Haixing, at home in Zhao Yunlan's flat.


• I had entirely forgotten about the lovely scene at the start of the episode where Da Qing has been caught trying to get into the archives: Shen Wei is about to step in, but Zhao Yunlan holds him back and steps in himself, thereby saving him from having to expend the Envoy's political capital on rescuing a Haixing associate. Shen Wei lets him take point, and Zhao Yunlan gets Da Qing out of it by chiding him for being such a cat. ♥ ♥ ♥


• I love the tension between the Attendant and Da Qing all through this episode: the Attendant knows very well Da Qing was up to something, and Da Qing knows very well the Attendant is trying to get in their way, and the way Da Qing looks at the Attendant after they're taken to the bedroom with the radio is definitely not conciliatory. Which makes it hilarious that Da Qing then accuses Zhao Yunlan of making enemies everywhere! Sure, Da Qing, it's just Zhao Yunlan the Attendant doesn't like, you have nothing to do with it! *g*
  
  
  
  Later, the Attendant will attack Da Qing at the Pillar, and later again, Da Qing will step on his foot. These two are fascinating opponents.


• In the flashbacks to An Bai and the old Dijun, it's very cool and thematically resonant how the Dijun remains a faceless blur for quite a bit until we actually get to properly see his face! I also love that An Bai calls him Dijun-yeye! :D
  
  


• The scene in the bedroom is one of my favourites: Da Qing's protectiveness, Zhao Yunlan's awareness of Shen Wei's secrets and his explanation of the destroyed recorder; Da Qing's confusion why Zhao Yunlan hasn't pulled back from Shen Wei because of it - and finally, Zhao Yunlan explaining his philosophy: 我只是想赌一把，赌他心里有苦衷。他这个人呀，个性太深沉，喜欢哑巴吃黄连。所以我之能等了，等到他苦到心头，苦到他自己说出来为止。
  "I just want to make a gamble. I'm betting he has his own difficulties. He's too reserved; he likes to suffer in silence. So I can only wait - wait until he suffers so much he tells me about it himself." ♥ ♥ ♥
  
  
  
  (This won't work, as he'll find out in this very episode - Shen Wei's suffering is in fact exactly what is being deliberately hidden! But then pushing Shen Wei for answers also wouldn't work, so ... *g*)


• Ye Zun calls himself Shen Wei's benefactor, which of course makes me think of young Shen Wei calling Kunlun his benefactor. *g*


• Hilariously, Shen Wei (unmasked, but after all famous for his mask) taunts the Attendant for hiding behind a mask! :D
  
  


• My actual favourite scene of this episode: Shen Wei and Da Qing and the pinky promise! I love how aggressive Da Qing is initially - when Shen Wei asks him if he's okay, after saving him from the Attendant's attack, he slaps Shen Wei's hand away and demands to know what he's hiding. But when Shen Wei tells him there are things he can't explain yet, and promises he'll never do anything that harms Zhao Yunlan, on consideration Da Qing finds that he believes him. And makes him seal their agreement over protecting Zhao Yunaln with a pinky promise! I love Shen Wei's baffled and then fond expression and his little smile so much. :D
  
  


• Another lovely little scene: Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing lounging on some random stairs in the middle of the Dixing palace, Shen Wei standing next to them, and we casually discover Da Qing managed to sneak into the archives after all - except he discovered all the pages relating to the Merit Brush are missing, and this is how they find out there's definitely a mole in the palace, just before the Dijun turns out to have been murdered.


• After they examine the Dijun's body, Zhao Yunlan whispers something into Shen Wei's ear and then leaves. (I just realised there's a shot where they're so close, you can see Zhao Yunlan's eye through the glass of Shen Wei's glasses!)
  
  
  
  We never discover what exactly he whispers, and this is a while before Zhao Yunlan ends up impersonating An Bai: there's a search, and a fight at the bar, and an arrest and almost-execution first. In the scene where the Attendant almost has An Bai and his friends executed in the street, but Shen Wei orders them to be taken to the palace instead, Zhao Yunlan is watching - this is still before the switch, but the next scene where Shen Wei tells "An Bai" to draw the person he saw sneaking around is clearly Zhao Yunlan.
  
  But I assume the whispering in the throne room is about that plan anyway. When they go their separate ways, Shen Wei and Da Qing with the Attendant and Zhao Yunlan who knows where, they couldn't have known the Attendant would very quickly get An Bai and his friends arrested, throwing the murder of a guard in for flavour. But they knew there was a mole in the palace, and presumably neither of them thought An Bai was actually the murderer. Maybe Zhao Yunlan was supposed to pose as An Bai and get arrested in his stead, but the Attendant pre-empted that plan.


• When Shen Wei, Da Qing and the Attendant are searching for An Bai, Shen Wei refuses the option to capture and torture An Bai's friends into confessing, the Attendant accuses him of being soft, and they turn to face each other. I love that Da Qing (partially in Shen Wei's defence, partially, I'm sure, out of sheer pettiness) pushes between them and steps on the Attendant's foot, thereby inadvertently uncovering a vital clue! When he complains about the Attendant's foot being too hard, Shen Wei immediately catches on. So now they already know who the mole is, but it still remains to expose him.


• I absolutely adore the scene at the Pillar when the Attendant takes "An Bai" there: "An Bai" lies there on the ground, hiding his face and shaking, giving his best "Guo Changcheng in episodes 1 and 2" impression. The Attendant moves to kill him, grabbing him by the hair; "An Bai" rolls away - and ends up lying there casually propped up on an elbow, grinning at him as black energy flakes off him, revealing him as Zhao Yunlan. The Attendant, meanwhile, is left holding a wig. :D
  
  


• In the resulting confrontation, Shen Wei uses his dao (in polearm form) in a lovely twirly move, striking him down. When the Attendant moves to attack again, Zhao Yunlan shoots him with the black energy gun. There's a fascinating little moment when Shen Wei vanishes his dao and turns around to Zhao Yunlan in seeming shock. Is this the first time Zhao Yunlan is using his gun so easily?


• Also very interesting contrast: The Attendant demands to know why they didn't kill him, and Zhao Yunlan tells him it's because he's also being manipulated - but Ye Zun says he failed, and should atone with his life. The Attendant immediately does as demanded, and uses his power on himself. I wonder how much free will he actually had.


• Back at the palace, Shen Wei says their priority has to be to reorganise Dixing as quickly as possible, and stabilise the administration. The Regent says they must let An Bai ascend the throne as soon as possible, and when An Bai (quite naturally) doesn't want to be forced to become a part of the machine, the Regent essentially blackmails him with the murder accusation against his friends. You can see a muscle jump in Shen Wei's face, but neither he nor Zhao Yunlan say anything, or attempt to stop this: they have no alternative to offer. (And Zhao Yunlan doesn't know yet just how bad this will be for An Bai. Later, back in Haixing, in Zhao Yunlan's office, Shen Wei will say he didn't expect the truth would be worse than the rumours. I'm not sure he knew the full extent of it either.)
  
  We see An Bai struggle with himself - and then we see him beginning his work as Dijun. It's a sacrifice, and it's a tragedy, and poor An Bai never had one bit of choice about any of it.


• Afterwards, Zhao Yunlan calls out to An Bai, and discovers the truth. It's Shen Wei who explains,
  looking down, not meeting Zhao Yunlan's eyes: 地君的冠冕一旦戴上，就会不死不休地工作。
  "The moment he puts on the crown, he will keep on working till his last breath."
  
  The Regent adds: 这是我们地星的规则，一切都是为了让地星要高教地运转。
  This is Dixing's rule. All of this is to ensure Dixing's more efficient operation.
  
  
  
  Zhao Yunlan is not happy, but the Regent says it's been like that for thousands of years. It can't be changed. - And this is when Shen Wei turns around and abruptly walks out, leaving Zhao Yunlan to stare after him, startled. Eventually, Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing follow.
  
  I'm convinced that the Regent's complacent "it can't be changed" is the moment when Shen Wei decides that no matter the cost, things definitely have to change. He was already willing to sacrifice himself if needed to stop Ye Zun (as he says in their conversation at the Pillar); here, everything suddenly becomes even more urgent. I think that's part of what drives him with the energy exchange, too.


• When An Bai's friends encounter Ye Zun, he offers them to rule Haixing with him, and one of them asks: 不是说咱们因为地面资源不够分自愿留在地星的吗？
  "Didn't they say we voluntarily stayed in Dixing because resources on the surface were insufficient?"
  
  (Even if Ye Zun is wrong when he disputes the "voluntarily", this information is about 10,000 years out of date! Do people in Dixing know so little about conditions on the surface?)
  
  Ye Zun then hooks them with the possibility of saving An Bai, and they end up parroting Ye Zun's words, clearly under his spell even though this time we don't see black energy entering them, the way we did with Zhu Jiu.


• Things are already weird between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan in the scene back at Zhao Yunlan's flat even before Zhao Yunlan stumbles over the first weirdness: Zhao Yunlan first appears to be in a reasonably good mood, humming a little and taking a lollipop from the jar, but Shen Wei is standing there staring at him, much too tense - a marked change from the scene at Zhao Yunlan's office, and Zhao Yunlan clearly notices something is off. Some time in between, it seems like Shen Wei has made up his mind and decided on a course of action - on a contingency plan for defeating Ye Zun.
  
  Why now? Perhaps there are physical side effects of using the Sundial that are manifesting more strongly in Haixing than in Dixing, and Shen Wei is being forced to act. Perhaps his confrontation with Ye Zun has settled the need for a contingency plan in his mind. And perhaps - I really do think this is the case - the situation with An Bai has given Shen Wei an additional sense of urgency doing something, right now, to make sure this conflict ends the right way, because the situation in Dixing really is untenable as it is.


• When Shen Wei goes to make food, Zhao Yunlan follows him and sees a weird energy barrier between him and the kitchen, which vanishes when Shen Wei turns to look at him. He's very unsettled - but he says nothing, and doesn't tell Shen Wei what he saw. He returns to the bed, looks at Shen Wei again, and there's a lot of tension between them when Shen Wei looks back. Zhao Yunlan squeezes his eyes shut and opens them again, as if to blink away a remaining effect.
  
  
  
  Honestly, I have no idea why he's seeing this barrier, and whether it's actually there, or why it would be there if it's real. (Does anyone have a theory? I haven't heard a convincing one so far.)


• Zhao Yunlan wakes up and starts playing with his phone. He gets up, walks to the kitchen, and asks Shen Wei, fondly, if he woke up hungry - the tension seems to have dissipated. (Which seems to imply to me that while Shen Wei is in the habit of spending the night, they probably don't share the bed yet.) - Then Shen Wei startles and drops the knife he was cutting his wrist with ... and suddenly we're in tension overdrive. *g*
  
  I won't recap this whole fantastic scene, but I do want to point out that Zhao Yunlan immediately catches on that what Shen Wei is doing is connected to curing his eyes, and that initially Shen Wei just shakes him off and starts walking away.
  
  
  
  And that what really shakes Zhao Yunlan up and makes him shout at Shen Wei is not the cutting itself, not Shen Wei's horrible smile when he says he's "fortunately" used to being hurt, but it's Shen Wei saying, without a second's hesitation, that Zhao Yunlan is worth it. Zhao Yunlan really can't cope with that. ♥ ♥ ♥


• Shen Wei really looks awful, even his lips bloodless and pale, and he's struggling to close his wound. I don't think Zhao Yunlan ever imagined Shen Wei even could be hurt like that.


• One of my favourite lines: "This life is what I'm returning to you," a delightful time-loopy circle - after all, back in YOHE, Shen Wei promised to repay him some day, and Kunlun told him he already had.
  
  And then Shen Wei walks away again, leaving Zhao Yunlan standing there angry and hurt, and entirely baffled.


• We get our first brief glimpse at Dong Nan when Guo Changcheng visits his parents' grave! I love her, and her role in showing a different side of Ya Qing, and so on, but I'll leave that for after we've seen more of her. :)


• I love the way Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan sitting separately at the SID, far apart, the tension between them palpable. Shen Wei is looking straight ahead (and seems healthy again), Zhao Yunlan looks down. When they get a call about a situation at the hospital, Zhao Yunlan at Shen Wei in a way markedly different from their usual shared looks, then walks out without saying a word. After a second, Shen Wei follows, also without saying a word.
  
  
  
  And at the hospital, Zhao Yunlan turns to passive-aggressive over-politeness in an absolutely delightful scene - but I'll leave that for episode 24, since we only see the very beginning here before it cuts off.

Discussion starters:

• What's your favourite scene in this episode? What's your favourite line? (I figure a lot of people will pick the kitchen scene, but my favourite scene - like I said above - is the pinky promise one.)


• Did you notice anything this time round that you didn't before, or that you'd forgotten? I didn't remember the bit at the start with Zhao Yunlan stepping in rather than letting Shen Wei rescue Da Qing! And I don't think I ever put Shen Wei's reaction in the aftermath of An Bai's ascension together with the kitchen scene before ...


• An interesting bit from Shen Wei's confrontation with Ye Zun: Ye Zun claims credit for returning Shen Wei to glory, but Shen Wei says it has nothing to do with Ye Zun, and his awakening is a joke the world is playing on him. What do you think Shen Wei means by that? And what exactly is he refuting?


• Ye Zun says that only because he's trapped in the pillar can Shen Wei go on with his life - does that imply something more than just that this is the only way Ye Zun won't interfere with Shen Wei's life? Ye Zun's conclusion is that therefore Shen Wei can't kill Ye Zun, and I don't think I understand his reasoning. Any thoughts?


• How does the Attendant's power work? Does he have other powers too? We see him use energy blasts (most notably the one he sends at Da Qing) and something like an energy-reinforced punch as well as the literal hardening of his body (such as when Shen Wei's dao hits his arm with a metallic clang, and when Da Qing steps on his foot), but he also suddenly vanishes after the first confrontation, and in the scene at the bar no one seems to notice this very conspicuous robed man walk past and stab one of the guards! Did Ye Zun interfere somehow in these cases?


• I'm still not at all clear about why the Regent apparently wanted Shen Wei at An Bai's ascension. In episode 22, the Regent told Shen Wei there might be information about the Merit Brush at the palace, luring him to Dixing - but for what purpose? Perhaps he suspects the presence of a mole, but he's clearly taken aback by the murder of the Dijun and by the Attendant's actions. And he certainly couldn't have known Shen Wei would bring Zhao Yunlan along again ...


• Any thoughts to what the Attendant's purpose was in attacking Da Qing, and in bringing An Bai to the Pillar? Just showing off for Ye Zun? *g*


• Shen Wei stays the night at Zhao Yunlan's place. Do you think they're sleeping together at this point?


• And why does Shen Wei decide to cut himself and bleed out his energy in Zhao Yunlan's kitchen? He clearly doesn't want Zhao Yunlan to know, and it would be easy to just go elsewhere for a few minutes.
  
  (My feeling is that it makes emotional sense even if it's not practical - he wants to stay near Zhao Yunlan. and he doesn't expect Zhao Yunlan to wake up. Perhaps, since they've been essentially cohabitating since Zhao Yunlan first went blind about two weeks earlier, he knows Zhao Yunlan usually sleeps like a log? *g*


• Impromptu poll:
  
  
  Poll #29241

  Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

  
  

  View Respondents

  
  

  When do you think Shen Wei decides on exchanging his energy and turning himself into a potential white energy bomb?

  View Answers
  

  immediately after the exchange with the Sundial
  3 (37.5%)

  during the confrontation with Ye Zun
  2 (25.0%)

  after An Bai's ascension
  0 (0.0%)

  not until the night he actually cut his wrist
  2 (25.0%)

  at some other point (see comment)
  1 (12.5%)


• What did I forget to mention? I'm pretty sure there's something - there's so much in this episode!

Let's talk about episode 23!
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!