china_shop: Tight frame on Shen Wei drinking Zhao Yunlan's wine (even though he knows it will make him fall unconscious). (Guardian - Shen Wei drinking)
The Gauche in the Machine ([personal profile] china_shop) wrote in [community profile] sid_guardian2025-05-08 10:10 am
Entry tags:

Poll: Shen Wei's Clark Kent moments (drama)

Poll #33087 Ordinary
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27


What's your favourite of Shen Wei's lies, obfuscations and misdirects?

View Answers

"I am an ordinary person. I have no right to interfere with these things." (ep 1)
2 (7.4%)

holding his hip as Jiajia helps him out of the bushes, after he fell off the biology dept (ep 2)
10 (37.0%)

climbing to his feet, rubbing his very lower back in the hospital (ep 2)
5 (18.5%)

being trapped in the car while the hospital attacker goes after Li Qian (ep 2)
3 (11.1%)

"I really was at the wrong place at the wrong time," during the interrogation (ep 4)
6 (22.2%)

pretending his arm wasn't just bleeding a second ago (ep 4)
3 (11.1%)

deliberately pricking his finger to make it bleed (ep 4)
8 (29.6%)

don't ask me about Dixingren; let's talk about bears (ep 7)
12 (44.4%)

"I have a magical sixth sense." (ep 8)
3 (11.1%)

the innocent smile from the balcony, during the Hanga arc (ep 11)
6 (22.2%)

"To be honest, I'm just a normal person who happens to be unlucky. I don't know why, but I somehow became involved in these strange cases. And that's all there is to it." (ep 12)
3 (11.1%)

"I work out a lot." (ep 13)
14 (51.9%)

in the car, post-Envoy reveal, "I'm just an ordinary..." *trails off* (ep 14)
10 (37.0%)

other
4 (14.8%)



Thanks to [personal profile] trobadora for help compiling the list. :D
trobadora: (Shen Wei - don't know)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-05-09 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I always wondered about that line in episode 11! The youchu are such a mystery, I know they don't look great but I wish we could have had a little more worldbuilding around them.
facethestrange: (guardian: ye zun)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-10 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, it's clearly novel residue that didn't get enough drama context. What feels especially off to me is that they're sentient enough to be executed but also don't have any rights? Like, they're very dangerous but they can't be inherently evil, because there's no such thing as inherent evil in the drama, so they kinda really should be treated better than that. (And that's not even including the question of where they even came from at all, or where they're kept now.)
trobadora: (Black-Cloaked Envoy)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-05-10 07:52 pm (UTC)(link)
What feels especially off to me is that they're sentient enough to be executed but also don't have any rights?

Yeah, something's definitely off there. With the info we have, it doesn't come together. Either the sentencing is just an affectation (like animal trials in real-world history) and they're less sentient than they seem, or this is awful in a way that doesn't fit with the worldbuilding at all.

because there's no such thing as inherent evil in the drama

Yes! And I really love that about it, so I really want a youchu explanation that fits in with this! (My current vote is on weird Dixing animal trials, LOL.)
trobadora: (Black-Cloaked Envoy)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-05-10 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yeah, that could have been a fascinating thread for a second season!

(Damn, I really need a Dixing icon ...)
facethestrange: (guardian: zhao yunlan lollipop)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-11 02:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ohh, now I'm all, "realising the awfulness and fixing it is what season 2 should have been about!" It would be so interesting to see the ways it mirrored and contrasted with the anti-Dixing sentiment in season 1! ;-p"

Ooooh, I'd love that! They would also have to explain how it even came to be in the first place if the regime wasn't always oppressive. Like, I can see it being just one big collective misunderstanding, but the people do consider the youchu both sentient and non-sentient at the same time, so idk how much can be misunderstood there - it just sounds malicious. (Unless it's animal trials and they're not actually considered sentient - it is such a good idea! :))
facethestrange: (guardian: zhao yunlan lollipop)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-12 01:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Ngl, I am loving the youchu rights activism that we somehow created. :D :D
trobadora: (Black-Cloaked Envoy)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-05-12 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
They shouldn't have to smell nice to be worthy of decent treatment, though! So I almost like it better if their smell is just inherent.
facethestrange: (guardian: zhao yunlan gesturing)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-13 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe it's not actual tumors, but just how their skin normally looks? Like toads, and probably many other rl animals I can't think of right now. :P

(And I think it is only their blood that smells, but I have no idea if I'm right, lol.)
facethestrange: (guardian: zhao yunlan lollipop)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-24 01:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"So another misunderstanding, then? SW calls them tumours in the bears scene."

Possibly a misunderstanding, but also I think I just never took it as a medical definition and more as a general description, like lumps or something. Like, the youchu look like that and people think it makes them ugly (like with a lot of rl animals), but they're not inconvenienced by their appearance itself.
facethestrange: (guardian: shen wei: smile)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-25 10:43 am (UTC)(link)
"I took it literally because it's Shen Wei being Professor Shen (of biology, even) in his office. So I feel like these are all scientific facts."

Dang, that's a really good point! (And now I'm curious what the original word is, and if it can be used as a general non-medical description too. :D)
trobadora: (Shen Wei - Professor Shen)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-05-25 12:16 pm (UTC)(link)
It's 肉瘤, which the dictionary says means sarcoma.
facethestrange: (guardian: zhao yunlan lollipop)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-25 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
D: Okay, that's even worse, someone needs to treat the youchu STAT. D: (Thanks for checking! ♡)
facethestrange: (guardian: zhao yunlan lollipop)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-13 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
That's a fantastic point, ITA!
facethestrange: (guardian: zhao yunlan lollipop)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-05-11 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh, I've never heard of animal trials before, that's fascinating, thanks for the link! I hope it's something like that. *nods*