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sid_guardian2025-09-07 09:20 am
china_shop) wrote in sid_guardian2025-09-07 09:20 am
Entry tags:
Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 1, part 1
Hi, and welcome to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Join us to watch half an episode a week (at your leisure) and then come and chat about it here in comments. If you already know the drama, of course you can jump in without rewatching if you prefer!
Episode 1, up to 22:28
Summary
The prologue explains Haixing's history. Professor Shen Wei presents a public lecture and turns down a job offer. Guo Changcheng reports to the SID in the middle of the night, where Zhao Yunlan is outrageous and the rest of the team scares Changcheng into fainting. Twice. An unseen threat chases Li Qian through the night. Zhao Yunlan investigates a murder at the university, where he and Da Qing dangle Guo Changcheng out a window while they discuss the case. Guo Changcheng's cries draw Shen Wei's attention. Cat!Da Qing gets strokes. Shen Wei is very intense, and Zhao Yunlan notices. Afterwards, Zhao Yunlan interrogates Li Qian about the murder; Shen Wei comes to pick her up for class and further arouses Zhao Yunlan's suspicions in the process. Zhao Yunlan sends Guo Changcheng to tail Shen Wei.
Quote
ZYL: By the way, I'm Zhao. I'm handling this case. What's your name, sir?
SW: No "sir". I'm Shen. Shen Wei. I teach here.
ZYL: Shen Wei? A good name.
Detail
I love the contrast between:
Zhao Yunlan: Damn Fatty.
Li Qian: What a fat black cat!
Guo Changcheng: It can speak?! *faints*
Shen Wei: *strokes* This is a very intelligent cat.
:D :D :D
Questions
Do you have any thoughts or feelings about the prologue? What was your first impression of Shen Wei -- good guy or bad guy? First impression of Zhao Yunlan -- would you trust him? Do you empathise with Guo Changcheng's fear? (If someone turned into a cat in front of you, would you be terrified, delighted, or both?) When Guo Changcheng falls from the window, is he unhurt or does Shen Wei surreptitiously heal his ankle? From Zhao Yunlan's POV, what is the most suspicious thing about Shen Wei at this point?
Do you have a favourite scene or quote? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation starts? The absolute perfection of the casting? :D :D :D Anything else?
(These are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in!)
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A few reactions/things I noticed:
1. There are different translations in the various subs when Professor Ouyang alludes to dark energy:
VIKI: Shen Wei, we are both people who're in contact with top secret information. I will speak frankly. You clearly know that the genetic variations you mentioned have already occurred in reality, and it had occurred since a long time ago. What if I ask you to join the research team that your teacher and I work with?
Original fansubs: Shen Wei. You and I both got the information first-hand. I won't beat around the bush. You should be clear, your supposed genetic mutations have already appeared in reality. They've been here for a long time. If I told you that your teacher and I are in the middle of investigating this, will you be willing to join us?
I'm really curious i) how much Professor Ouyang knows about Dixing, Dixingren and dark energy (presumably quite a lot), and ii) how much he (and Professor Zhou) knows Shen Wei knows. They're only speaking of genetic variation, not different species from another planet, but is the latter implicit? Also, iii) is this information that's widely known in biology academic circles -- was Li Qian sent away to stop her hearing that, or just so Prof Ouyang could make the job offer in private (not something you'd do in front of a student!).
2. Aww, GCC speed-metabolising his ignorance to the point where he loses consciousness twice! He's still afraid after that, but he accepts the others and learns fast. <3 <3 <3 (ZYL is so disreputable in this scene, I love him so much!!! And the others are just being themselves but maybe turning the dial up to 14. ;-)
3. There's a theme of people's identities/authority/connections not being recognised: so far, we have a) Guo Changcheng initially being taken for a random noob and then being discovered to have political connections, b) ZYL being denied entry to the crime scene because a newbie cop doesn't know about the SID, c) LQ mistaking Da Qing for an ordinary cat. And that's only the ones a first-time viewer would know about, but it's enough to make Shen Wei's ~weirdly intense~ reaction to ZYL take on extra significance, I think. (Is this a case of mistaken identity? Who is ZYL really? Who is SW??) There's even more to come in the second half of the ep!
4. Shen Wei turns down a job offer. That's going to happen again. He doesn't want to work for a secret Haixing government agency. Just let him teach! <3
5. It was incredibly hard to choose only one screencap for this post!! Other things I considered: close-up of DQ as ZYL & SW pet him; ZYL and DQ leaning out the window; GCC dangling from the window; the extended handshake; group shot from the interviewing-Li-Qian scene, with SW & ZYL looking at each other challengingly. But this one of Shen Wei is so iconic, in the end I had to go with it. ♥
ION, I've set a goal for myself (which I'm unlikely to maintain for the whole rewatch) of reading the subs in Korean as we go. I had to skim most of the prologue and Shen Wei's lecture, lol, and even then, I've forgotten all my vocab, but that's fine. If nothing else, it helps me pay attention to incidental dialogue. Unfortunately, the subs I have access to are translated from the English, so I'm not getting new info on the original Chinese text.
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> What was your first impression of Shen Wei -- good guy or bad guy? Dangerous guy. :-)
> First impression of Zhao Yunlan -- would you trust him? I adore him, but no. He comes across as cynical and insincere.
> Do you empathise with Guo Changcheng's fear? (If someone turned into a cat in front of you, would you be terrified, delighted, or both?) Both, I think. Like, "this is not the world I know! what happened to reality!!" but also "aahhhhh, kitty!! :D :D :D"
> When Guo Changcheng falls from the window, is he unhurt or does Shen Wei surreptitiously heal his ankle? Idk, he does fall quite a long way, and Shen Wei does briefly touch his leg. Healing isn't out of the question.
> From Zhao Yunlan's POV, what is the most suspicious thing about Shen Wei at this point? a toss-up between the extended handshake and SW's being so calm about the murder.
> Do you have a favourite scene or quote? "I just quit smoking. I need to have something in my mouth." /fansubs
> If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation starts? I appreciate the prologue for context and sci-fi-icising the story. <3 <3 <3 And interesting that the prologue leads in to a conversation with Ouyang. I think that supports the theory that Ouyang <=> Shennong. :-)
> The absolute perfection of the casting? SO PERFECT, ALL OF IT!!
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When Guo Changcheng falls from the window, is he unhurt or does Shen Wei surreptitiously heal his ankle? Idk, he does fall quite a long way, and Shen Wei does briefly touch his leg. Healing isn't out of the question. Ooh! I think I read that in a fanfic at some point and it instantly became my head!canon. (Or should I say ankle!canon?)
"I just quit smoking. I need to have something in my mouth." /fansubs Hee hee, I think something like that is the title of one of
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"Pretty guy!"
It's so funny to me now that I didn't see the pretty in Shen Wei until I saw the pretty in Zhu Yilong, which took a while?? :D (My instant 'pretty guy' reaction was definitely Zhao Yunlan. :D) Srsly, this is SO WEIRD and cool and wtf. *gestures at self* xD
"Or should I say ankle!canon?"
Hee! :D
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(My instant 'pretty guy' reaction was definitely Zhao Yunlan. :D) Srsly, this is SO WEIRD and cool and wtf. /gestures at self/* xD*
*high fives forever* For me, it was partly that I've always had a weakness for scruffy, I just do, and partly that I'd watched a lot of Kdramas, and the clean-cut pretty mysterious possibly-evil guy was a common trope around then. But I'd never seen a scruffy "bad-boy aesthetic" guy, so he really stood out to me. (I have since found one other instance, in a horror Kdrama called The Guest, and I love him too. ;-p)
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AND ORAL FIXATIONto me. :Dno subject
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Haha, I know exactly what you mean! Though it wasn't Zhu Yilong exactly, just staring at Shen Wei a lot. But Zhao Yunlan was definitely the more physically attractive one to me at first; he's more my type in general. But Shen Wei has the kind of face that just gets more fascinating and more gorgeous the longer you look at it ...
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(with so many caveats and exceptions for all 6 categories that I'm not even going there xD)
Zhao Yunlan > Shen Wei
Zhu Yilong > Bai Yu
Zhu Yilong as himself (including bts in costume, so it has to be a character thing too, not just looks) > his roles
It could probably make some kind of internally logical diagram, but it still sounds funny even to me. ;D
Btw I'm so amused that this is literally a quote from the novel: "That was the nature of Shen Wei’s appearance. The longer you looked, the more his beauty was revealed." :D :D How do you even manage to cast someone who fits this kind of description at all, and then the eyelashes description too, and I think everything else too, all at the same time?? xD :D
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Shen Wei without glasses > Zhao Yunlan > Shen Wei with glasses
Zhu Yilong > Bai Yu with beard > Bai Yu without beard
With the roles, it depends, but I agree that he's usually most attractive as himself. And Zhu Yilong now > Zhu Yilong five years ago, I swear he gets smore gorgeous every year!
Btw I'm so amused that this is literally a quote from the novel
YES! When I hit that line in the novel, I honestly boggled because it described my experience with drama!Shen Wei so perfectly. HOW.
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Pretty guy! But I was also *very* uncertain about him.
Hee, yeah, he definitely has a "something's going on" vibe. :D
(Or should I say ankle!canon?)
Hee! <3
I LOVE![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
facethestrange's oral fixation series!! It's the BEST!! :D :D :D (Thanks for linking! :D)
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Eeeeeeeee! ♡♡♡ *BEAMS SO MUCH* Thank you! :D :D :D
Making it an art-only series was a deliberate choice so it is smaller than it could be (I don't feel like choosing which fics ~count~ - just about everything I write will be oral-fixation-adjacent at one point or another ;D), but this quote is very, VERY inspiring in so many ways. ;D :D :D
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Hee! I'm sure there are, we just don't see them. :D
"Idk, he does fall quite a long way, and Shen Wei does briefly touch his leg. Healing isn't out of the question."
As I said, I like this idea a lot! :D But now I suddenly have a different question - why did GCC fall? xD Like, he stopped holding the wall, but he had the harness thing too, why did that stop working? (Or it didn't stop working and he fell slowly, and only panicked from the unexpectedness of it?)
"Do you have a favourite scene or quote? "I just quit smoking. I need to have something in my mouth." /fansubs"
Asfghdjksfjhjkdljkl *ALL THE HIGH FIVES* :D :D :D
"And interesting that the prologue leads in to a conversation with Ouyang. I think that supports the theory that Ouyang <=> Shennong. :-)"
Yesss! One of my favorite adaptation theories. :D
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I guess the rope wasn't secured well enough! But him falling slowly is definitely a possibility, yeah.
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But now I suddenly have a different question - why did GCC fall? xD Like, he stopped holding the wall, but he had the harness thing too, why did that stop working?
I think what happens is Shen Wei distracts him, Changcheng loses his grip on the wall, and the shifting weight makes the rope snap (there's a snapping sound?) so he falls.
Asfghdjksfjhjkdljkl ALL THE HIGH FIVES :D :D :D
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D
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There should have been!
a toss-up between the extended handshake and SW's being so calm about the murder
*high fives*
And interesting that the prologue leads in to a conversation with Ouyang. I think that supports the theory that Ouyang <=> Shennong. :-)
Hee! Yes, totally! That's such a weird correspondence, but it makes so much sense!
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high fives
high fives you back :D :D :D
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YAYYYY! ♡♡♡
"Also, iii) is this information that's widely known in biology academic circles -- was Li Qian sent away to stop her hearing that, or just so Prof Ouyang could make the job offer in private (not something you'd do in front of a student!)."
All very good questions, but I have nothing to add to the other two, lol. Re: this one, I assume it's not widely known and definitely not by students, otherwise Shen Wei's lecture could be more open about it?
"Aww, GCC speed-metabolising his ignorance to the point where he loses consciousness twice!"
:D :D :D This is such a fantastic way to phrase this! :D
"ZYL is so disreputable in this scene, I love him so much!!!"
Saaaame, and I love that post too! :D ♡♡♡
"There's a theme of people's identities/authority/connections not being recognised: so far, we have a) Guo Changcheng initially being taken for a random noob and then being discovered to have political connections, b) ZYL being denied entry to the crime scene because a newbie cop doesn't know about the SID, c) LQ mistaking Da Qing for an ordinary cat."
Ahh, that's a fantastic list, I don't think I would have put these together! ♡ And yesss, it ties in so well with the Weilan scene and so many later reveals! :D
"He doesn't want to work for a secret Haixing government agency. Just let him teach! <3"
AW!! ♡
"It was incredibly hard to choose only one screencap for this post!! Other things I considered: close-up of DQ as ZYL & SW pet him; ZYL and DQ leaning out the window; GCC dangling from the window; the extended handshake; group shot from the interviewing-Li-Qian scene, with SW & ZYL looking at each other challengingly."
I love how many of these are from their first meeting (and I can definitely see how hard it would be to choose just one)! :D
"ION, I've set a goal for myself (which I'm unlikely to maintain for the whole rewatch) of reading the subs in Korean as we go."
*cheers you on* :D
Also I entirely forgot to appreciate this part of the post:
"Zhao Yunlan: Damn Fatty.
Li Qian: What a fat black cat!
Guo Changcheng: It can speak?! *faints*
Shen Wei: *strokes* This is a very intelligent cat."
xD :D :D I don't think DQ minds anyone's reaction, but this is a wonderful contrast indeed. :D
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Re: this one, I assume it's not widely known and definitely not by students, otherwise Shen Wei's lecture could be more open about it?
Oh, true, I guess so. Perhaps known among a select cadre of scientists who are forbidden by the government to speak of it openly? The government has a stake in keeping it quiet so it won't cause a panic (as does the university).
<3 <3 <3
I love how many of these are from their first meeting
It is such a fantastic scene. :D
xD :D :D I don't think DQ minds anyone's reaction, but this is a wonderful contrast indeed. :D
Ha, yeah, I don't think DQ cares either. But noticing the contrast made me laugh. :D
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Yep, it sounds like that to me too!
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:D :D :D
It's SO GOOD to come back to, yes!
I'm really curious i) how much Professor Ouyang knows about Dixing, Dixingren and dark energy (presumably quite a lot), and ii) how much he (and Professor Zhou) knows Shen Wei knows. They're only speaking of genetic variation, not different species from another planet, but is the latter implicit? Also, iii) is this information that's widely known in biology academic circles -- was Li Qian sent away to stop her hearing that, or just so Prof Ouyang could make the job offer in private (not something you'd do in front of a student!).
Very good questions all! I assume Professor Ouyang and Professor Zhou know everything the Inspectorate knows, since the lab they're working at is the Inspectorate's. And they know Shen Wei knows at least about the existence of mutants and mutant powers, if perhaps not about Dixing. I think "people with weird powers exist" has to be MUCH more widely known than where they're coming from, and the scientific community - at least within this specialised field - is definitely aware of that much.
GCC speed-metabolising his ignorance to the point where he loses consciousness twice
LOL, I love how you put that!
There's a theme of people's identities/authority/connections not being recognised: so far, we have a) Guo Changcheng initially being taken for a random noob and then being discovered to have political connections, b) ZYL being denied entry to the crime scene because a newbie cop doesn't know about the SID, c) LQ mistaking Da Qing for an ordinary cat. And that's only the ones a first-time viewer would know about, but it's enough to make Shen Wei's ~weirdly intense~ reaction to ZYL take on extra significance, I think.
Ooh, that's an excellent point, yes! There absolutely is a pattern, and you're totally right that it highlights the part that isn't obvious yet and makes it more significant. :D
That's going to happen again. He doesn't want to work for a secret Haixing government agency. Just let him teach! <3
LOL! ♥
ION, I've set a goal for myself (which I'm unlikely to maintain for the whole rewatch) of reading the subs in Korean as we go.
Ooh! Good luck with that!
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I assume Professor Ouyang and Professor Zhou know everything the Inspectorate knows, since the lab they're working at is the Inspectorate's. And they know Shen Wei knows at least about the existence of mutants and mutant powers, if perhaps not about Dixing. I think "people with weird powers exist" has to be MUCH more widely known than where they're coming from, and the scientific community - at least within this specialised field - is definitely aware of that much.
Yes, agreed! I think, because the original subs (which I generally use) say, "You and I both got the information first-hand." I'd been assuming it was a reference to personally seeing/experiencing dark energy, not just getting classified intel. But it's more ambiguous in the VIKI subs.
LOL, I love how you put that!
:D :D :D :D :D
After that (and after ZYL declaring them all family), he's totally fine with the team. It's only corpses and unexpected "horrors" that scare him after that. He's not even truly scared of the Envoy.
Ooh! Good luck with that!
Thanks! I actually read the first half twice, once before watching and once after. :D
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FWIW, I looked at the Chinese and it says they both have 第一手资料, "first-hand information", which is not clarifying anything, LOL. I figure they have seen proof of mutant powers, probably supplied by the Inspectorate. If Professor Zhou was doing classified research and brought Shen Wei in, that would make sense.
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