Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 1, part 1

[china_shop]

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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Comments

[facethestrange]

Eeeeeee, thank you so much for linking my series! :D *SQUEE* ♡♡♡♡♡ (I am very predictably going to be weird about this line at every opportunity. ;D :D)

"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

[china_shop]

(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)

[facethestrange]

*HIGH FIVE* :D ♡♡♡ The 'Zhao Yunlan is attractive' part is not the weird part, hee - he's the only one who's actually my type character-wise, and that has never changed. :D (I'm not going into more actor stuff. :D) And his aesthetic definitely helps (the tight jeans, asdghfdjsklfg), but it's like 95% his face and facial hair and body language AND ORAL FIXATION to me. :D

[trobadora]

Haha, Shen Wei is the one who is 10,000% my type character-wise, but that didn't stop me from finding Zhao Yunlan more obviousy attractive at first. *g*

[trobadora]

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

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 ...

[facethestrange]

HE REALLY DOES. ♡♡♡ That said, I have a really weird set of preferences re: who I find more attractive and when, and it's basically like this:
(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

[trobadora]

Haha, I think for me it's something like:

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.

[facethestrange]

Oooh, good categories too. :D

I don't have much of an opinion on Shen Wei's glasses, weirdly enough, but now that you introduced that, Bai Yu with glasses > Bai Yu without glasses. :D

For me it's generally Bai Yu with beard > Zhu Yilong > Bai Yu without beard, but tbh it's mainly his Guardian-era beard - there are times when my order would be the same as yours. :D (And then there's Bai Yu with beard AND glasses who automatically wins everything, lol. ♡_♡)

And yesss omg, Zhu Yilong absolutely gets more gorgeous every year, but I don't think I can rate him post-Guardian by time because I will mostly rate him by ponytail/hair length, hee. :D Definitely post-Guardian > pre-Guardian, though. :D

[trobadora]

Haha, the glasses are important! Or rather, their absence is. Lots of people like him with them, but I've always preferred him without.

The Guardian-era beard is definitely ideal, yep!

because I will mostly rate him by ponytail/hair length

I would say the same, except he cut off almost all his hair for Lighting Up the Stars and somehow managed to come out of it looking unspeakably gorgeous in a whole new way, so I don't even know any more. *g* Ponytail is definitely up there, though! I adore the ponytail.

[facethestrange]

Hee, he literally can't look not-gorgeous ever, but the super short haircut is not among my favorites. The mustache is tho. :D (And then there's the mustache in Dongji Rescue, especially bts with the cap and ponytail. *DED* ♡_♡)

I may be a true neutral on Shen Wei's glasses, haha, but I just thought of another axis - YOHE Shen Wei > modern Shen Wei. :D No opinion on Zhao Yunlan (or maybe a slight preference for his modern look?) which is funny considering how much I usually prefer long hair.

[trobadora]

Can't argue about the mustache! (Have you seen Dongji Rescue, or just the pics?)

But I'm definitely all present-day Shen Wei > YOHE Shen Wei, despite my usual preference for long hair - high five on that, btw! The maturity and experience and self-assuredness that show through matter more to me and make him look more attractive to me.

[facethestrange]

"Have you seen Dongji Rescue, or just the pics?"

I need to find it somewhere where I can actually watch it (it's not playing in cinemas here), but I've seen at least 20 minutes of actual clips from the movie (and soooooo much bts :D). I know all the spoilers too. :)

"The maturity and experience and self-assuredness that show through matter more to me and make him look more attractive to me."

Hah, same but opposite. :D It's all about the softness and openness to me. ♡