sid_guardian | GUARDIAN REWATCH

Beginning of episode: Lao-Li apologises to Da Qing for what he did ten years ago
Ending of episode: Zhao Yunlan asks Sha Ya if Wang Xiangyang has more enemies he's pursuing

Important scenes/developments:

Lao-Li explains his backstory with Da Qing; Da Qing forgives him
Da Qing talks to Shen Wei about ending up with the SID
the SID confronts Wang Xiangyang; Ya Qing takes him away
Lin Jing dreams of Sha Ya calling him a traitor, and destroys the syringe from Kong Jing's place
Sha Ya attacks the lab again
Prof Ouyang visits Li Qian in hospital and decides on a dangerous course with their research
Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei and Da Qing sneak into the lab; Shen Wei reconstructs what they've been working on
Sha Ya says she's leaving soon; Lin Jing tries to bug her
Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi happen on Guo Ying and Yu Jinlan being attacked by Sha Ya; she gets away but loses an earring
Zhao Yunlan calls Cong Bo and tells him to investigate certain people, then discovers Shen Wei talking to Zhao Xinci
Shen Wei and Zhao Xinci talk about the experiments at the lab and about Zhao Yunlan
Zhao Yunlan confronts Shen Wei about keeping more secrets from him
at the SID, Zhao Yunlan deduces that the attacker is Lin Jing's girlfriend
Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan try to capture Sha Ya at the club
Lin Jing confronts Sha Ya outside; she lets herself be captured
Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan interrogate Sha Ya

Tension between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan

Theme of the week: betrayal, doubt, trust

This is threaded through the episode in various ways and on various levels, mainly but not exclusively centred around Lin Jing and Zhao Yunlan:

Lin Jing:
- Lin Jing vs. the SID: we haven't officially learned yet what's going on with him, but we do know that he's been shifty about the serum and the syringe found at Kong Jing's place, which he now actually destroys, hiding evidence from the SID despite his subconscious guilt coming out in his dreams. And he doesn't speak up, either, when he recognises Sha Ya's earring, hiding his knowledge of her from the SID. But when he does eventually confront her, his states reason for doing so is "I'm a member of the SID," choosing his loyalties after all. (A neat bit of foreshadowing, too!)
- Speaking of Lin Jing and Sha Ya: Lin Jing doesn't know her agenda and surely has reason to doubt her, but even at the point where he's about to ask, he lets her stop him and tells no one. He doesn't turn away from her - not when the bug gets zapped and he realises; not when Chu Shuzhi finds her earring after she attacked Guo Changcheng's aunt and uncle, not even when she attacks him with her powers. Even when he's actively opposing her, he never gives up on her, choosing to trust that there's more to her than simply an enemy who deceived him.
Zhao Yunlan:
- On the other side of the SID traitor case, we have Zhao Yunlan, who really does not want to doubt his people, but upon discovering the missing syringe, has to face that there must be a traitor in the SID. And the connection with the discovery at the lab as well as the Haixing Inspectorate and the Xingdu Bureau being suspiciously well-informed about the SID's goings-on are enough of a hint for who this traitor is really working for - but then Lin Jing goes and hides Sha Ya's identity, so now there's doubt about his loyalties on that front as well ...
- Perhaps worse, on top of all of this, Zhao Yunlan discovers that Shen Wei of all people is going behind his back to meet with Zhao Xinci, who is after all not just Zhao Yunlan's estranged father, but also the very person in charge of one of the agencies behind the serum development. And Shen Wei keeping things from him has been a point of contention between them before - there is still much that Zhao Yunlan doesn't and can't know, and Shen Wei is not budging on that front. Zhao Yunlan admits to doubting Shen Wei many times - but this time again, as always, chooses trust in the end.

Da Qing and Lao-Li also have a little arc around this theme, with Lao-Li going for distrust and betrayal in the past, knocking out an unsuspecting Da Qing, only to realise his mistake and work to make up for it, whereas Da Qing now after discovering all of this has to decide if he can still trust Lao-Li (and of course chooses to forgive him).

Team Merit Brush meanwhile have their own problems, with tensions between Sha Ya on one side, and Ya Qing and Wang Xiangyang on the other. Sha Ya wants her revenge, and doubts Wang Xiangyang's commitment as he's going too slow for her; Ya Qing doubts Sha Ya's loyalty to the cause in light of her apparent feelings for Lin Jing; they even come to blows. And it remains unclear at the end of this episode just how much Sha Ya is still on board with their plans, but there's clearly little trust between them.

Quote of the week

"Hatred is no reason for a vendetta." - Chu Shuzhi

(He should know! And I love that point - regardless of whether Wang Xiangyang has cause, regardless of how valid his feelings may be, his course of action is still wrong.)

Fun with Dixing powers

Chu Shuzhi's strings can be used like laser bolts!

Sha Ya, boosted twice with the Merit Brush, can zoom off right into the sky!

More thoughts:

Lao-Li originally thinking of shapeshifter Da Qing as a monster, and then regretting it and becoming one of Da Qing's closest friends really encapsulates the drama's main themes, and I love it so much. Same goes for his dedication to make up for what he did - one attack in the heat of the moment, and he spends years working on amends. He says he worked hard to join the SID; I wonder what he did to get there from where he started out as a homeless man - but we know there have to be about eight years between Da Qing's memory loss ten years ago and Lao-Li being hired by the SID, since that was already under Zhao Yunlan (as seen in a flashback in episode 37). ♥ ♥ ♥

Da Qing and Zhao Yunlan are so similar in how they behave! When Lao-Li asks him if he forgives him, Da Qing performs the same kind of fake-out joke over something very serious that I'm not very fond of in Zhao Yunlan. I mind it less with the literal cat! *g* (I wonder which of them learned that from the other?)

We talked about Da Ji being annoying and immature last week, but I find it really striking that here at the end, she stands there listening seriously and soberly to the whole Da Qing-and-Lao-Li reunion and reconciliation, not angry, not violent, even smiling happily when Da Qing says he'll give Lao-Li another chance. And when Da Qing tells them both why he's staying at the SID, she smiles and nods.

After that, she disappears from the episode - she clearly doesn't try to stop Da Qing from returning to the SID, nor does she cling to him any more. She is capable of acting more mature! So I wonder if her extreme behaviour in the previous episode really was largely a response to the trauma of being murdered by her husband.

I love the little Shen Wei-and-Da Qing scene so much! Da Qing with his memory restored is running to Shen Wei first! Da Qing figures he ended up with the SID for a reason - and concludes Shen Wei ended up there for the same reason! The way they smile at each other, aww. :D It's not said explicitly, but it looks to me like Shen Wei is so pleased to be remembered by Da Qing, to have someone who also understands the ways past and present entangle, with both their relationships with Kunlun/Zhao Yunlan. ♥

The confrontation with Wang Xiangyang: last episode, Lin Jing said he'd found him, but we never hear how, or how that means they can confront him in some alley what must be hours later. Enquiring minds want to know!

My favourite bit from this scene is only seen for a moment through a cloud of black energy, not exactly prominently displayed but nonetheless so telling: when Ya Qing flies in, Shen Wei immediately moves to cover Zhao Yunlan, and further back, Chu Shuzhi does the same for Guo Changcheng. :D

Lots of meaningful looks between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan in this episode!

Of course this isn't unusual in any way - but I do find it striking that we get these both before and after their confrontation by the car, indicating nothing changes between them and they're in synch regardless. ♥

Wang Xiangyang drawing the penultimate symbol with the Merit Brush causes something like an energy dome to appear in the sky, and in Dixing, black symbols show themselves in the air around the pillar (presumably counterparts to all the ones Wang Xiangyang has drawn), and energy runs over the chains that bind it. Very cool!

A scene I entirely forgot happened: there's an assassination attempt on the Regent! The fourth this month, says a guard - and this has apparently made the Regent decide to take Ye Zun seriously as a threat now. He's decided to mobilise a siege squad to suppress the villains. (I presume this is what leads to the siege of the pillar the Shadow Man refers to later in episode 33.)

Unfortunately, while the Regent seems to be willing to act against Ye Zun now, he doesn't think of coordinating with Shen Wei at this point - things might have gone differently if he had ...

Also the Regent: "As I see it, the loss of the Hallows and dwindling of resources will eventually become known to the Dixing population and lead to discontent." - I'm pretty sure the population of Dixing is very aware of the lack of resources and the absence of the Hallows! (Or at least the absence of the Guardian Lantern.) But the Regent is right that Ye Zun is provoking discontent in Dixing, using those points in his favour.

Just for fun, a comparison of Sha Ya's two lab invasions (episode 22 and here):

After Sha Ya's second attack on the lab and Li Qian's anonymous email, Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei and Da Qing investigate; Minister Gao won't let them into the lab, but that doesn't stop them. The SID is investigating its own superiors now! And the Envoy is investigating a Haixing government agency.

I love the scene where Shen Wei reconstructs something on a whiteboard, and deduces what the lab is working on. (Excellent parallel to Li Qian correcting the whiteboard before she got hired at the lab, too!) "Impossible," Shen Wei says, clearly shocked - and then he and Zhao Yunlan promptly connect this to what happened to Kong Jing. ♥ ♥ ♥

We also get two scenes emphasizing Da Qing's cat senses: his hearing when he listens in on Vice Minister Guo whispering to Minister Gao; his nose when he smells Dixingren on some glass shards.

I'm really wondering what Li Qian is making of all of this. She seems to be serious about the research and not considering it suspect in itself; what does she know about the politics surrounding Dixingren? Possibly very little. Her main concern in her argument with Professor Ouyang is that he's taking a dangerous course by building on previous failed samples now that their current serum has been destroyed. (I presume that by "failed samples" they mean something like, "this sort of worked, but had side effects we didn't want, so we went in a different direction, which we can't now reconstruct in a reasonable time frame"?) Professor Ouyang insists that for the sake of all of humanity, they can't afford to worry about the danger.

(Also interesting that Professor Zhou, who was attacked by Sha Ya during her first lab invasion, has elected not to return.)

Meanwhile, Lin Jing and Sha Ya are on a date again, and we learn that she (like many people on this show :p) has a significant piece of jewellery, that she loves a starry sky, and that she's planning to return to a place with no sunny days and no starry skies. Lin Jing, for whom this must ring some sort of bell, elects to ignore it - until later, when her power flares and she (accidentally? deliberately?) destroys the bug he attempts to put on her. (Bad move, Lin Jing!) In that later scene, we also get to see Lin Jing conspicuously struggling with something in his pocket, and eventually (too late) withdrawing a ring. Already the starry sky ring we'll see later? I assume!

I do think it's cute that Lin Jing - as seen repeatedly over the course of his dates with Sha Ya, and called out here - starts reciting factoids whenever he doesn't know what to say! :D

And also the way he lets Sha Ya shush him when he's about to ask her about who she really is, choosing to trust that she won't do anything he couldn't live with.

When Zhao Yunlan, Da Qing and Sang Zan look for the syringe found at Kong Jing's place in SID evidence, they find it gone. (Sang Zan yawns, apparently having been woken up in the middle of the night. Energy ghosts need sleep!) The syringe was put into an evidence bag and documented, but now it's missing: there's a traitor at the SID - and Zhao Yunlan immediately looks at Lin Jing's desk.

Regarding the evidence list they're checking, there's a great dragoncityinteriordesign post translating the visible text - thanks to bladedweapons for the link! Here it is. (I expect the non-SID names refer to "regular" police officers who investigated cases eventually handed over to the SID; that makes the most sense to me. As satsuma pointed out on discord, a number of cases do get transferred to them from other divisions, some seemingly quite late in the process.)

Sha Ya attempts to intimidate Minister Guo into giving up the schedules for the top officials of Haixing Inspectorate and Xingdu Bureau. Both Guo Ying and Yu Jinlan prove themselves quite brave: he tells her he wouldn't turn traitor even if he knew, and she calls out to Guo Changcheng to warn him away. ♥

Zhao Yunlan is in the middle of telling Cong Bo to investigate SID members (which Cong Bo is not happy about) when he discovers something else happening behind his back: Shen Wei meeting with Zhao Xinci. Things are just stacking up! Is everyone in league with the Xingdu Bureau/Haixing Inspectorate?!

Regarding Shen Wei's conversation with Zhao Xinci: I wonder how Shen Wei feels, hearing that the serum project has been planned for a long time, seeing how unconcerned Zhao Xinci is with the potential fallout - and how unwilling to consider the possibility of peace. Zhao Xinci of course has a point that they can't rely on that possibility, but closer cooperation never once occurs to him as an option for averting the danger.

They come to an agreement; Shen Wei will keep the information about the serum from Dixing for now, and Zhao Xinci will keep Zhao Yunlan out of things. (How he's supposed to do that, I'm not sure, though! What concession does Shen Wei think he got here? I have no clue.)

Two things that strike me as extraordinary: Zhao Xinci casually referring to "the one we both care about" (!!!), and him equally casually admitting to his heart surgery, when he has previously .

And when Shen Wei goes outside, of course Zhao Yunlan is right there. sakana17 suggested here that his presence is connected to Zhao Yunlan in episode 25 promising to visit his father, and china_shop suggested that Zhao Xinci might have deliberately set Zhao Yunlan up to run into Zhao Xinci's meeting with the Envoy. I never put these things together previously, but looking at it now, it makes so much sense that it's intentional. Zhao Yunlan arranges a visit with his father, and Zhao Xinci uses it to set a trap. Despite apparently acknowledging Shen Wei's feelings for Zhao Yunlan, Zhao Xinci seems to still be trying to drive a wedge between them.

The entire scene between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan by the car is so intense! Lots of meaningful stares! Zhao Yunlan keeps looking away, then looking at Shen Wei, then looking away again! Banging his hand against the car!

Shen Wei remains quiet, says nothing for the longest time - and after Zhao Yunlan tells him he always considered him his best friend, he comes back with "How much did you hear?", making it sound as if he's putting together a cover story. But he knows how fraught Zhao Yunlan's relationship with his father is; everything else aside, it makes sense to me that he wouldn't want to bother Zhao Yunlan with this.

Zhao Yunlan: "Can I still trust you? To be honest, I doubted you many times. But I chose to believe in you every single time. I don't even know why."

He starts out looking looking to the side and down, then looks up but not at Shen Wei, and only faces him when he says he chose to believe in him. That sentence, IMO, is the turn-around - where he's letting go of the tension: his tone here reminds me very much of the scene at the hospital when he says, "Dage, we are a part of each other's lives now. If you were to die, do you think I'd be okay?" (episode 24) - very "of course this is how it is; you should know that already!" And then he turns away again, but with a small laugh. To quote sakana17 regarding the last sentence, it didn't seem to me that he's saying, "I don't know why I trusted you [because I shouldn't trust you]" but that he's saying, "I don't know why I trusted you [but I did and still do]. ♥ ♥ ♥

And after the phone rings, they head back to the SID, where they'll be behaving as usual, with nothing left of the tension between them.

Lin Jing immediately recognises Sha Ya's earring when Chu Shuzhi shows it, but he says nothing. He's zoning out, realising now exactly who he's fallen in love with. Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan realises from Lin Jing's weird behaviour that the woman must be Lin Jing's girlfriend, gets a photo from Zhu Hong, and compares earrings. (You'd think he'd just show the photo to the Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng, who fought with Sha Ya just now! But nope, earring deductions are more fun, I guess. *g*)

Love Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan's coordinated attempt at capturing Sha Ya! Very cool scene. But she's alerted when a waiter runs into Zhao Yunlan and drops something, and she uses her powers (interacting in very interesting ways with her electric guitar!) to escape. Only to be confronted with Lin Jing ...

I want to leave the discussion of what exactly Sha Ya is planning when she gets arrested for next week, but regardless of her ulterior motives in getting close to him, and his stalkerish tendencies, I think this scene makes it very clear they have genuine feelings for each other. They're both sad and close to tears - and then they actually start crying. She tells him to get out of the way for his own sake; he won't let her, and pleads with her not to repeat her mistakes. He doesn't seem to hold it against her at all when she attacks him with her powers. They're on opposite sides, and neither of them is willing to change that at this point - but they're also both hurt and clearly struggling with their feelings. When Lin Jing tells her this way she'll never find the starry sky she wants., that is when she actually stops, just before he passes out. And then Chu Shuzhi and Da Qing find her holding an unconscious Lin Jing in her arms.

(And regarding Sha Ya's ulterior motives, she tells Ya Qing and Wang Xiangyang, about Lin Jing: "You know perfectly well that that I contacted him to extract information. But he played the fool. Didn't tell me anything." But I don't think we ever saw her actually attempt to draw information from Lin Jing. Am I forgetting something?)

Discussion starters:

What is your favourite scene in this episode? (I'm having a hard time choosing between the Da Qing and Shen Wei memory scene and the Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei confrontation.) What's the best line? (I quoted my favourite above.)
Which use of Dixing or Yashou powers in this episode was the most fun, or the most unexpected? I'm voting for Sha Ya zipping off into the sky! :D

Anything you didn't remember? I had entirely forgotten about the Regent sending out a siege squad, and also about the ring Lin Jing already has in his pocket in this episode ...

What is the point of Sha Ya's second invasion of the lab? She tells Li Qian she's there to destroy the research, but just like the previous time, she can't get into the safe, and that doesn't seem to bother her. How can they be sure she's destroyed everything?

How do you think Zhao Yunlan suspects Lin Jing so quickly? When he discovers the syringe missing, he immediately looks at Lin Jing's desk ...

When Sha Ya's power zaps the bug Lin Jing is trying to plant on her, he says: "Tell me the truth, are you ...", but she stops him with a finger on his lips. Is he about to ask if she's Dixingren? Or does he already have a suspicion about her electric powers and the connection to Team Merit Brush?

When Zhao Yunlan tells Cong Bo to check out some people (plural), who do you think is included? Who else, apart from Lin Jing, is getting investigated? Everyone? Only some of them?

What did Shen Wei hope to get from the meeting with Zhao Xinci? Do you think he got it?

Why do you think, when Zhao Yunlan confronts him after the meeting with Zhao Xinci, Shen Wei stays silent for so long? What's his reasoning for keeping this particular secret from Zhao Yunlan?

When Lin Jing confronts Sha Ya at the end, is he doing this on his own, or is he part of Zhao Yunlan's plan? That is, did Zhao Yunlan leave him out of the operation to capture his girlfriend, or did he, despite suspecting him of being a traitor, nevertheless bring him in on this?

Interesting to me: during the confrontation in the alley, Zhao Yunlan accuses Wang Xiangyang of hiding behind others, goading them into avenging him - which is very similar to what Sha Ya says about him at the end of the episode when she's being interrogated. Is she doing that deliberately for subconscious appeal to Zhao Yunlan, or are they really on the same wavelength regarding Wang Xiangyang?

Let's talk about episode 27!
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

Episode discussion:
Guardian Episode by Episode: 27 by

extrapenguin
Episode 27 random notes by

sakana17

Scene discussion:
Memories (Da Qing and Shen Wei in the street) by

acoyotewhowanders

Fic by me:
The Cat's Priorities (1829 words) [Teen]
Relationships: Dà Qìng & Shěn Wēi, Da Qing & Kunlun
Content Tags: Da Qing's Memories, time loops, Angst, Missing Scenes, Episode Related, Episode 27, episode 34
Summary: Da Qing has regained his memory, but he's still putting together the pieces.

GUARDIAN REWATCH - Episode 27

Re: Links to episode 27 fanworks and meta go here!