GUARDIAN REWATCH – Episode 24

[china_shop]

Beginning of episode: Zhao Yunlan being brutally polite to Shen Wei as they arrive at the hospital.
Ending of episode: Guo Changcheng being infected with personality-switching dark energy, which will make him ruder. (Nice bookends!)

Important scenes/developments:

• Zhao Yunlan continues the fight as he and Shen Wei arrive at the hospital.
• Shen Wei stops Nurse Wei Lan from being forced to kill herself by an invisible compulsion.
• A young patient, Zu Ma, is glued to his hand-held game; he and Dr Cheng are close.
• Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei interview Nurse Wei Lan.
• Guo Changcheng looks for Wang Xiangyang in the graveyard and meets crow girl Dong Nan instead.
• Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei consult Dr Cheng about the case and meet Zu Ma.
• Chu Shuzhi bumps into Changcheng in the street, and they are cute.
• Lin Jing's detector is broken; Zhao Yunlan assigns him to play Zu Ma's game.
• Da Qing and Lin Jing run into Sha Ya at the electronics shop; Da Qing unsuccessfully plays wingman.
• Zhao Yunlan hints to Dr Cheng that Zu Ma is involved in the case; Dr Cheng drugs Zhao Yunlan's coffee.
• Flashback of Ya Qing recruiting Zu Ma; Dr Cheng is eavesdropping.
• Dr Cheng confronts Wang Xiangyang in Zu Ma's hospital room.
• Zhao Yunlan is trapped inside the game.
  • Round 1: Russian Roulette
  • Round 2: Classic 2D fighting game
  • Round 3: Poison vs Water
In the last round, Dr Jin dies in Zhao Yunlan's arms.
• Shen Wei arrives and disarms Zu Ma; Zu Ma says the hospital is full of bombs.
• Shen Wei finds the bomb and picks it up; the Defusing and Making-Up Scene.
• DoS Lab: Prof Ouyang is a terrible manager, Li Qian is awesome, and a syringe of serum is missing.
• At night, a creepy guy scares a taxi driver.
• Zu Ma is dying and remorseful; Zhao Yunlan tells Shen Wei to comfort Dr Cheng; he doesn't.
• Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan arrive home together to find the cat asleep on the couch. Aw!
• Taxi driver personality switch case starts, and Changcheng is infected.

Thoughts



One of the general overall themes of this episode is people being out of character and externally controlled. We start with Zhao Yunlan being unnaturally formal, and then uncharacteristically harangue-y. Everyone in the game except Zhao Yunlan is controlled and OOC, especially Dr Cheng. And then we transition into the personality switch case, starting with the taxi driver...

presumenothing did an excellent scene post last year on Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan's fight and reconciliation, so I'm not going to get into that too much -- just my usual bitsy notes.

• Zhao Yunlan's chilly polite act lasts about five seconds. Then he starts pushing:
  SW: Don't be like this.
  ZYL: Like what? No matter how you try to blur the lines, you are still my life's benefactor.
  SW: I won't lie to you, even more so harm you.
  ZYL: Yes, but you keep things from me. I've already said whatever you say, I will believe it.
  ZYL: (cont., shouting and gesturing) But you still won't even tell me a word!
  
  Shouting is really not his style. He's really worked up! Shen Wei's secrets and willingness to hide being hurt are a real problem.


• He's more himself when interviewing the catatonic Nurse Wei Lan. I think his anger is on hold because of the case? But when he tells the nurse, "Some people are scarier than ghosts," Shen Wei reacts sharply, physically pulling him out of his chair. I'm not sure if Shen Wei thinks ZYL's statement is offensive, or if he's just impatient with the counterproductive interview technique. Anyway, he questions the nurse himself (more Envoy tone than Professor), and she replies, "[The doctor and I] failed to save a life." Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei look at each other for aaages.


• Dr Cheng's office: Shen Wei pretends Everything Is Fine. Zhao Yunlan tries and fails to bond with Zu Ma. Cheng Xinyan calls Zu Ma her little brother and says he's already twenty. Zu Ma is addicted to video games, and this aspect of the episode quickly becomes an after-school special about the dangers of gaming, which makes me snort.
  
  CXY: (to ZYL) I don't know when his growth started to become stagnant. [...] Mr. Zhao, I heard that you've experienced similar cases in the past.
  SW: You mean that this child is…
  CXY: Yes, he is already more than 20 years old.
  
  Was Shen Wei going to say "Dixingren"? Or just "older than he seems"? Is the case CXY refers to Zheng Yi, and if so, how did she hear about it? Once again we're brushing up against the question of how much ordinary Haixingren know about Dixingren.


• Zhao Yunlan gets a call from Chu Shuzhi about the Mr Tan case. (Interestingly, ZYL is on his own now. Did Shen Wei stay behind to chat to Cheng Xinyan?) (Btw, did we ever meet Mr Tan, or was he entirely off-screen?) Chu Shuzhi has checked the police statements, which makes me wonder how he interacts with the police. They might just email the statements through, but I love the idea of grumpy Lao Chu rocking up to the police station and making everyone there uncomfortable, hee. Chu Shuzhi tells ZYL he's not going to bump into Changcheng... who immediately literally walks into him, lol. In the end, Chu Shuzhi drags Changcheng off by his collar. They're so cute.


• In the SID lab, everyone stands around watching Lin Jing's detector not work. It talks now? He laments, but is happy with the video game assignment, until Zhao Yunlan tells him the report has to be >100,000 words, which I mean, there's no way ZYL is going to read more than a page, so I figure this is just a routine they do? Idk. *noogies them*


• Lin Jing and Da Qing shop for gaming consoles at the electronics shop, and Da Qing recognises Sha Ya from Lin Jing's screensaver. I love how Da Qing is dismissive but immediately offers to help. And then Sha Ya is 100% not a cat person, lol. Also, Lin Jing hiding behind a lamppost is delightfully cartoony.


• Hospital: now ZYL is playing the hand-held game and talking to Cheng Xinyan, who apparently doesn't have any other patients. Shen Wei is absent because of a lecture and not at all because of the fight, really.
  
  CXY: He has two jobs, so tough on him.
  ZYL: For the sake of those we want to protect, for the things we want to fight for, sometimes we can't have it easy. (He says this so lightly, though he knows Shen Wei actually has three jobs.)
  
  ZYL hints Zu Ma was involved in the Wei Lan reluctant suicide incident. In response, Cheng Xinyan drugs Zhao Yunlan's coffee. (LOL, I keep thinking of ZYL's assertion in ep 6, "The person who can drug me hasn't been born yet." First Wang Zheng in the Hanga arc, now this. Have I forgotten any others?)


• Flashback: Ya Qing tells Zu Ma, "You have received the blessing from the Merit Brush," but also says, "If you want to back out..." She's pretty gentle with him, but he's all gungho and wants to have some fun. CXY overhears.


• Zhao Yunlan wakes up alone in Cheng Xinyan's office, grabs phone and sees the game button embedded in his wrist. Tugging at it doesn't seem to hurt, but it won't budge. Wow, this is super creepy and violating.
  
  He realises he was drugged: "Once you get used to doing things, mistakes are bound to happen. Looks like in the future I shouldn't eat everything people give me." He calls Da Qing for backup. (If he hadn't been fighting with Shen Wei, would he have called him, too? Because that would have cut the whole thing very short. Otoh, he hasn't found out how serious it is yet, so maybe he doesn't feel the need.)
  
  Coopted Cheng Xinyan meets him in the hallway. When he sees her, he smiles guardedly(?), but he catches on fast. She mechanically tells him the rules. The wrist button is an "explosive tracker device," oh no!! /o\


• Zu Ma is revealed as the boss behind the scenes. Revenge of the gamers!
  
  ZYL: Little troublemaker, why did you pick me?
  ZM: Because I dislike you.
  me: Oh dear, ZYL fumbled his charm role!
  ZM: (cont.) You people always act like you know everything. But, in actual fact, you can't even manage your own life well.
  me: I mean, he's not entirely wrong... *g*
  
  (Poor Zu Ma. Maybe when someone's recently bereaved is not the time to challenge their coping mechanisms.)
  
  Zu Ma admits the Merit Brush boosted his mind-control powers, and Zhao Yunlan baits him by calling him the Merit Brush Master's slave. Zu Ma doesn't like it but stubbornly sticks to his plan. And Zhao Yunlan has no answer to Zu Ma's accusation that the doctor and nurse were at fault.
  
  Cheng Xinyan announces the game over the PA system. As Zhao Yunlan leaves, he tries to call Da Qing back to warn him off, but either his phone isn't working or there's no answer.


• Chu Shuzhi, Da Qing, Zhu Hong and Guo Changcheng approach the hospital. Zhu Hong says, "He didn't explain, just said to come to fill in for Professor Shen." (When did he say that and why is she the one explaining, when he called Da Qing?) Chu Shuzhi thinks the hospital feels fishy, which I assume is a different expression in Chinese because Da Qing doesn't lick his lips.


• Round 1: Russian Roulette with Nurse Wei Lan (whose name will never get old *g*). The game has taken the SID team hostage so Zhao Yunlan can't back out. He makes himself pull the trigger, then realises that even worse is handing the gun to someone else to play. Ouch. This is psychological torture, perfectly targeted to Zhao Yunlan's personality (kind of like the precise insult of Dr Feng telling Shen Wei to kneel), and I love it because Zhao Yunlan is so unhesitating in trying to protect others.
  
  Zhao Yunlan cheats by taking two turns in a row, and the game reprimands him. The nurse is terrified, but instead of the bullet Zhao Yunlan saw in the chamber, when the gun finally fires, it squirts water. Zhao Yunlan is furious at this terrorising, but for some reason it doesn't make him doubt the danger/threat. (I'm all Russian roulette isn't a video game, and there's no skill involved; it's just cruel. Why does it appeal to Zu Ma?)


• Round 2: Classic 2D fighting game. This is my favourite round because it's silly and fun and visually pleasing, and no one gets scared or hurt. Zhao Yunlan's reaction to the feather duster, that wtf silent protest, makes me laugh every time. :D And he mutters re the team, "Looks like when we get back, we'll have to train your mental defense." (Alas, there isn't time before the personality switch case kicks in.) Love the little smile before he attacks, and that he turns the lights off to draw on his blindness-arc-acquired skills. ♥


• Round 3: Iocaine powder poison vs water with Doctor Jin. This is another one that isn't a very interesting game, just mean. I don't know how Zhao Yunlan knows it isn't a fake-out like the roulette, but I guess he can't risk it? And yeah, Dr Jin dies in Zhao Yunlan's arms. Owwww. Zhao Yunlan is so angry. And then Zu Ma shows up, shocked and horrified, and Zhao Yunlan nearly punches him. Zu Ma says he already told them to stop. "This is not what I wanted. Killing people is different from playing a game!"
  
  Shen Wei walks in (how did he know to show up?) and seamlessly delivers the moral of the story: "That's because this isn't a virtual reality game but the gory truth."
  
  Zu Ma whips out his game (in self-defence?), and Shen Wei destroys it with a dark energy bolt. (His expression when hurling the bolt is wide-eyed and alarmed, not stern -- I guess because Zu Ma looks like a kid?) The game falls to the ground, and Zhao Yunlan's wrist button drops off harmlessly. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei exchange glances. Zu Ma haltingly says, "Game over." But then explains there are bombs in the building.


• Shen Wei arrives in Zu Ma's ward alone. I guess Zhao Yunlan is off organising an emergency evacuation? Shen Wei finds the bomb, picks it up. Then Zhao Yunlan arrives and shouts, "Don't move." I love how Zhao Yunlan is all "Sit down first" before explaining it's a "gravity balancer bomb", but I think Shen Wei immediately figures it out anyway. When Zhao Yunlan does explain, Shen Wei tries his go-to move: smothering it in dark energy. Unfortunately, the bomb doesn't like that (or likes it too much). So Shen Wei says he'll deal with it alone by teleporting it out of the hospital. Zhao Yunlan argues and offers an alternative: trying to defuse it. Ahhhhhh, this scene is so great. Zhao Yunlan's, "Dage, we are a part of each other's lives now. If you were to die, do you think I'd be okay?" is so "you should know this" -- not a romantic declaration, just mildly exasperated fact. <3 <3 <3 And then the making up (via Shen Wei promising that Zhao Yunlan won't be kept in the dark forever), and their smirks, and the down-on-one-knee bomb-defusing competence porn. ♥ ♥ ♥
  
  I think this is the first time we see Shen Wei try to face an immediate crisis alone, only for Zhao Yunlan to offer an unexpected solution. In the second, in YOHE, Shen Wei says, "But I must take this step on my own. I don't want my remaining brothers to sacrifice themselves." Then, as here, Zhao Yunlan's response is, "You still have me." (Kunlun's dark energy gun = ZYL's bomb-defusing skills? Both are game-changers that Shen Wei didn't know about/have access to when making his decision.) I think this ties into the finale, too: Shen Wei in Ye Zun's stomach, going, "I believe in [ZYL]. I believe that he will definitely make Ye Zun show his weak point." Shen Wei is incorporating ZYL in his plan there, even without discussing it with him beforehand, because he knows ZYL will step up. Because he did in YOHE and he did at the hospital. Because this is how they work together.
  
  
  
  At the same time, the bomb metaphorically is the fight, so of course SW is the one to be holding it (holding out wrt his secrets) and ZYL has to be the one to defuse it. *flails about both of them* I think Shen Wei's "If I had put in effort into studying electronics…" is an apology, too. It's one of those self-criticisms like in the mutual apology scene that reaches out to take some of the responsibility, however absurd the literal statement. <3 <3 <3 And with the successful defusing, the claustrophobic video-game sequence is over, and we can finally cut away to something else...


• DoS Lab: Li Qian enters to find Prof Ouyang berating a lab tech. "You can't lose even one needle. That contains the top secret of our experiment. It can harm innocent people if any accidents happen. It can even create a big uproar. [...] I only hope that the needle was gotten rid of, and not misused by others." Li Qian brings him water and critiques his temperament, lol.


• Taxi, night. A creepy guy (who seems to have powers?) scares the drives. "If you didn't do anything wrong, why are you so afraid?" Because you're super creepy!


• Hospital: Zu Ma is dying and remorseful. Cheng Xinyan is upset. Oh, hey, does Zu Ma represent Ye Zun in the game? ZM: "Now I know games are so boring." *snort* Destroying Zu Ma's abilities killed him, so Shen Wei is directly responsible for this. So when Zhao Yunlan says, "Comfort her," Shen Wei makes ZYL do it.


• Flat: aaaw, Da Qing asleep on the couch. ZYL and Shen Wei come home together (no explanation ♥!). Shen Wei calls the game an opening ceremony.


• Hospital: Cheng Xinyan, rather than going on her own revenge rampage, recommits to her role of helping people. ♥!!


• SID: Shen Wei: "Jin Hao's documents are all here." ZYL: "There's no need for all those. I already have a suspect in mind." Does he already know it's Wang Xiangyang?


• Changcheng expositions about the new taxi driver/personality switch case. Zhao Yunlan and Changcheng interview the taxi driver. LOL, Changcheng reads out the file and still makes ZYL read it. (Wow, the guy attacked a waiter with a beer bottle. /o\) The episode ends as Changcheng gets personality switch dark energy whammied, wheee! :D

Discussion starters:

• Favourite scene in this ep? (If it's the bomb scene, what's your second favourite? *g*) Favourite line of dialogue?
• Do you think Dr Cheng was acting of her own volition when she drugged Zhao Yunlan's coffee? Do you hold it against her? What was her exit strategy? Do you think Shen Wei ever finds out?
• Did Dr Cheng remember the game afterwards? Does she feel responsible for any of it?
• Do you think the show really believes video games stunt players' growth, warp their personalities/morality, etc, or is that just a pasted on moral for the censors?
• Zu Ma was very upset at the end. Do you think Team Merit Brush believed they were helping him, or were they just using him? Where does the flashback with Ya Qing fit into the timeline of the episode?

Let’s talk about episode 24!
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!