Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 2, part 1

[china_shop]

Hi, and welcome back to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch. Watch half an episode a week, at your leisure, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here are the previous weeks' rewatch posts.

Episode 2, up to 22:11

Summary
Shen Wei heals his shoulder while the fish in his aquarium look on. Zhu Jiu plays chess and schemes to get the Sundial. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei save Li Qian from falling off the building, then she faints. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan take her to the hospital and discuss, among other things, Shen Wei's marital status. They make a lunch date. Lin Jing, Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong watch footage of the Envoy's appearance, until Chu Shuzhi makes them delete it. Guo Changcheng and cat!Da Qing stake out the hospital to protect Li Qian. Shen Wei shows up with food. Watching from the SID, Zhu Hong identifies Li Qian's necklace as the Longevity Dial, and Zhao Yunlan concludes Li Qian killed her grandmother. Changcheng tackles the hospital attacker, is knocked out, and then Shen Wei plain-clothes Envoys the attacker out of the ward just as Zhao Yunlan arrives. The hospital attacker and Chu Shuzhi fight in the street, and the attacker escapes.



Quote
ZYL: I'll treat you to lunch once this case is solved.
SW: No need... When that happens, it should be my treat.

Detail
I think this is the first time I've noticed that when Zhao Yunlan catches Xiao-Guo at the hospital, he repeats his "I've got your back" from earlier. Zhao Yunlan seems quite shaken, to me, realising he sent Xiao-Guo into genuine danger.

Questions
Do you have a favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 2? What is Shen Wei thinking when he sees Zhao Yunlan's graze? On a scale of 1 to 10, how sorry do you feel for Li Qian? How much bandage does a person need for a grazed arm? What do you think of Zhao Yunlan's management style? Were you surprised by the passing of time in this half-episode (at the hospital, we learn Li Yufen died two days earlier; at the SID, Zhao Yunlan says Xiao-Guo has been there for a week)? When Zhu Hong warns Zhao Yunlan about Shen Wei, do you think that's genuine suspicion or can she already tell which way the wind is blowing? Do you think Xiao-Guo manages to be successfully supportive at Li Qian's bedside? What's your impression of the hospital attacker, Gao Tianyu? Do you find him sympathetic? On a scale of 1 to 10, how hot is plain-clothes Envoy!Shen Wei?

If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares? The novel!SID team versus the drama!SID team? Anything else?

(As usual, 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. We'd love to hear your thoughts!)

And here is our schedule, where you can sign up to host a post!

Comments

[belovedstill]

When I reach the healing scene it always hits me again that Shen Wei had these obviously painful scratches all the way through his appearance as the Envoy, and then as he climbed out of the bushes.
+
(...) Shen Wei touching his previously-injured shoulder (for effect? or is it still aching days later? maybe a little of both)

Yes! That's what hit me during the rewatch, too! He's sweating through his clothes, clearly in so much pain and it takes quite some effort to heal the injury. After the fall he's behaving as if nothing happened, you can see nothing in his face nor in his body language which tempts me now to let my brain default to "Shen Wei is in company + he's been previously hurt = he's in pain at any given moment and just not showing it". This makes the fact that he rubs at his shoulder (subconsciously?) when he's around just Zhao Yunlan all the more interesting. Does he have some intention behind it or is the memory of "you're not alone anymore (you've got me now)" Kunlun told him 10,000 years ago playing in his mind rn? I'm leaning toward the latter, I like that he has that little moment of slipping and showing he's not as unhurt as he pretends to be.
And! That gesture leads to Zhao Yunlan asking whether he's married. We have the progression of: [Li Qian and her grandmother were all the family each other had] > [this strikes a chord with Shen Wei (because of Ye Zun? because of Kunlun?)] > [Shen Wei rubs at his (hurt) shoulder and Zhao Yunlan notices.] > (ZYL's possible thoughts: "oh. he did get hurt.", "we're at the hospital and he's not getting it treated - is there somebody at home to help him with it?", "that would get me some clues on Shen Wei's situation") > ["Are you married?" :D]

Even GCC notices that Shen Wei seems to know Zhao Yunlan well, hee! And that's before Shen Wei gives him a speech about the difficulties of Zhao Yunlan's job, LOL.

I've watched that episode several times by now but because of this rewatch I'm paying extra attention and!!! I never thought much of this exchange beyond "aww, he's trying to defend Zhao Yunlan's image 😌 best PR agent for real" but now I can't stop and realise—he's speaking from experience. We learn much much later that Shen Wei is stuck in the position of a leader who's respected and looked up to, yes, but ultimately held on a pedestal, and that position has always been Shen Wei's loneliest. "That's right; it's not easy being a leader," Guo Changcheng says, and Shen Way looks down with a smile.

[facethestrange]

""Shen Wei is in company + he's been previously hurt = he's in pain at any given moment and just not showing it". This makes the fact that he rubs at his shoulder (subconsciously?) when he's around just Zhao Yunlan all the more interesting. Does he have some intention behind it or is the memory of "you're not alone anymore (you've got me now)" Kunlun told him 10,000 years ago playing in his mind rn? I'm leaning toward the latter, I like that he has that little moment of slipping and showing he's not as unhurt as he pretends to be."

*SOBS* Omg, I love absolutely everything about this observation, like, the first line already hit me right in the feels and then it kept getting even more heart-melting. ♡♡♡ This is beautiful and YES, yes please. ♡♡♡

"That gesture leads to Zhao Yunlan asking whether he's married. We have the progression of: [Li Qian and her grandmother were all the family each other had] > [this strikes a chord with Shen Wei (because of Ye Zun? because of Kunlun?)] > [Shen Wei rubs at his (hurt) shoulder and Zhao Yunlan notices.] > (ZYL's possible thoughts: "oh. he did get hurt.", "we're at the hospital and he's not getting it treated - is there somebody at home to help him with it?", "that would get me some clues on Shen Wei's situation") > ["Are you married?" :D]"

And this is now my favorite explanation for why he asks this question!! :D (I've been wondering about it for a while, and a lot of different explanations make a lot of sense, but tying it to the injury this way is both so plausible and so emotionally charged and SO SOFT and I love it so much!)

"We learn much much later that Shen Wei is stuck in the position of a leader who's respected and looked up to, yes, but ultimately held on a pedestal, and that position has always been Shen Wei's loneliest."

Yessss! ♡ And young, and no one cutting him any slack for being young - he doesn't want the same for Zhao Yunlan. ♡

(Also, hiiiii! *tackleglomps you gently* :D :D :D)

[trobadora]

And young, and no one cutting him any slack for being young - he doesn't want the same for Zhao Yunlan. ♡

YES!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

[belovedstill]

(I've been wondering about it for a while, and a lot of different explanations make a lot of sense, but tying it to the injury this way is both so plausible and so emotionally charged and SO SOFT and I love it so much!)

Trust me, I looked very very closely at that scene, frame by frame, and it really goes like this: SW rubs his arm, ZYL notices, looks at the arm, then at SW's face, then back at the arm, huffs a laugh, then asks the question. I am so convinced :D (I went looking for a gif of exactly what I mean but the closest one is the first in this set, it starts a little too late to properly catch what I mean but still good!)

And young, and no one cutting him any slack for being young - he doesn't want the same for Zhao Yunlan. ♡

You're right 😭 Wow. So one of the first thing they do upon meeting the young version of each other is make sure the other person doesn't go through the same brand of sadness (anymore) c':

(Also, hiiiii! *tackleglomps you gently* :D :D :D)

Hiiii <333 Thank you again for letting me know of the slo-mo rewatch, it's such a great idea and I'm already having so much fun with it 🥺

[trobadora]

That's what hit me during the rewatch, too!

Right? He's there all stern and calm as the Envoy, and then smiling as Professor Shen, giving zero sign that anything's wrong!

This makes the fact that he rubs at his shoulder (subconsciously?) when he's around just Zhao Yunlan all the more interesting. Does he have some intention behind it or is the memory of "you're not alone anymore (you've got me now)" Kunlun told him 10,000 years ago playing in his mind rn? I'm leaning toward the latter, I like that he has that little moment of slipping and showing he's not as unhurt as he pretends to be.

OHHH that is a sweet thought, I hadn't put it together with that specific line from his memory! But that has to be on his mind, yes. And he wants that back so badly, I could totally see it affecting him subconsciously that way.

And I like your proposed progression - you're right, Zhao Yunlan absolutely must notice it when Shen Wei rubs his shoulder like that, and since he's not aware of the claws of course he'd think it came from Gao Tianyu's attack!

I've watched that episode several times by now but because of this rewatch I'm paying extra attention and!!!

Hee! That's the best part about these rewatches, I love it when I suddenly notice something I didn't before. :D

(HI! Great to have you here!)

but now I can't stop and realise—he's speaking from experience. We learn much much later that Shen Wei is stuck in the position of a leader who's respected and looked up to, yes, but ultimately held on a pedestal, and that position has always been Shen Wei's loneliest.

YES! And he calls Zhao Yunlan young, the same way he himself was young back when he met Kunlun. :D

(I really love the way the time loop connects them together, with each of them already knowing who the other will become when they first meet them. ♥ ♥ ♥)

[belovedstill]

And he calls Zhao Yunlan young, the same way he himself was young back when he met Kunlun. :D

Y e s 😭 (I'll cry about this more when we get to that episode, but he looked. so. young.) (Zhu Yilong must be a shapeshifter.)

(I really love the way the time loop connects them together, with each of them already knowing who the other will become when they first meet them. ♥ ♥ ♥)

Me too, me too, me too! It messes with my brain in the best possible way

[belovedstill]

(also HELLO! I'm sorry, I got too excited both times and forgot to say hi 😅 thanks for the warm welcome!)

[china_shop]

and since he's not aware of the claws of course he'd think it came from Gao Tianyu's attack!

Except this is before that, so... lingering effects from falling off the building? That wouldn't be unreasonable!

[trobadora]

Yes, sorry, I was thinking about where this scene might have been originally placed, but as it stands, you're totally right and he has to be assuming it's from the fall.

[belovedstill]

Yesss, that's what I thought! Since ZYL saw him being helped up after he'd fallen off the roof, and SW was suspiciously "quite alright" and full of smiles :'D

[china_shop]

Ooh, right, so ZYL must be going, "Is this a delayed reaction (possible, especially if he was hopped up on adrenaline after the fall), or is Professor Shen so much of a 'don't want to make a fuss' stoic that he won't admit when he's hurt?"

(Hi! Lovely to have you here! *waves* :D)

[china_shop]

We have the progression of: [Li Qian and her grandmother were all the family each other had] > [this strikes a chord with Shen Wei (because of Ye Zun? because of Kunlun?)] > [Shen Wei rubs at his (hurt) shoulder and Zhao Yunlan notices.] > (ZYL's possible thoughts: "oh. he did get hurt.", "we're at the hospital and he's not getting it treated - is there somebody at home to help him with it?", "that would get me some clues on Shen Wei's situation") > ["Are you married?" :D]

Ohh, I love that. <3 <3 <3

And yesss to Shen Wei speaking about leadership from experience -- both from his own, and comparing present-day ZYL to Kunlun who was/seemed so much older and more capable. <3 <3 <3