The Art of Dialogue and the kitchen knife scene

[china_shop]

I was watching a YouTube video about how to write snappy dialogue (banter) by heyjameshurst. The creator used examples from The Princess Bride, The Empire Strikes Back, His Girl Friday, and The West Wing to illustrate that good dialogue is like a tennis match, a playful competition, and in each volley the tension escalates to "a sudden, sharp reveal of truth."

Afterwards, I was thinking about it in terms of Guardian, and the first scene that came to mind was the kitchen knife scene. Wow, this is a stellar example of what the video talked about! It's dynamic because every line fires back in a way that is difficult for the other person to respond to. (Often they're reacting to the subtext -- or actually, what they perceive the other's subtext to be -- rather than the words, and sometimes slightly at cross-purposes, so lines that could be non-sequiturs feel seamless.) And the truth is forced out of them. It's so impressive!

ZYL: I woke up because I was hungry.
SW: *turns and drops the knife*
ZYL: *strides over and grabs his wrist* Don't you think of lying to me. What did you do in order to heal my eyes?
SW: *starts to leave*
ZYL: You used the Longevity Dial.
SW: *stops*
ZYL: *moves to his side* You shared your life force with mine. You used your power to neutralize the corrosion of my body. Am I right?
SW: My... My... My body's energy structure has suffered a severe blow. I need to exchange all my energy.
ZYL: It must hurt a lot.
SW: *ghastly smile* Fortunately... Fortunately, I'm used to getting injured.
ZYL: I do not deserve what you are doing for me.
SW: You're worth it.
ZYL: *explodes* Then, what do you want me to do? Be indebted to you? To bow to you? You are not immortal! Why should I so casually owe you a life?
SW: This life is what I'm returning to you.
ZYL: ??????
SW: You should rest soon.

There are so many truths here!! <3 <3 <3

Thinking about it also made me realise something about Shen Wei's initially trying to leave and his "Fortunately, I'm used to getting injured" line, which I will explain in six screencaps:













Newsflash, Shen Wei: Zhao Yunlan's tactics are no more reassuring or less infuriating when you try them.

Comments

[facethestrange]

Yeah, and I feel like it has a lot of the original reaction to the pain still in it, it's not just deflecting, it's also what ZYL would be thinking to himself even if SW wasn't there.

[china_shop]

it's not just deflecting, it's also what ZYL would be thinking to himself even if SW wasn't there.

I'm not sure about that? This is the first time they've seen each other since the failed (humiliating) book con earlier in the day, and my headcanon is that ZYL's gastritis is linked to his having fucked up and SW walking away like that. So to have SW of all people find him in another humiliating position (literally curled up in a gutter) is like heaping coals on his loss of face.

And in the kitchen scene, it's not loss of face, but SW is already weakened and feeling shitting, and he knows ZYL is going to have a lot of ~feelings~ about this, and it's a similar "this is too much ON TOP OF what I'm dealing with, I need to check out" vibe (to me).

[facethestrange]

I think we're talking about different aspects of the scenes because I totally agree with you on all of this. :D (And I especially like "ZYL's gastritis is linked to his having fucked up and SW walking away like that" because I've never thought of that, but it's canon in the novel and now I can totally see that it's probably meant to be canon in the drama too!)

What I meant is that Zhao Yunlan minimizes his own pain to himself all the time, and here he's mostly saying out loud what he's already thinking anyway, while in the second scene he's more aware that this is probably not good but he downplays it for Shen Wei. (Not that he would worry about himself or anything like that ever, lol, but I feel like he at least has the awareness that this may be worse than he thought. While the stomach pain is genuinely no big deal in his mind, no matter how awful it feels.)

ETA: I'm comparing the ZYL scenes only, ITA about the comparison between the first one and the third one! :)

[china_shop]

What I meant is that Zhao Yunlan minimizes his own pain to himself all the time, and here he's mostly saying out loud what he's already thinking anyway, while in the second scene he's more aware that this is probably not good but he downplays it for Shen Wei.

Oh, right. Right right right. That's a great point. Yeah, the second one is definitely more performative. *nods*