Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 6, part 2

[trobadora]

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

Here is last week's half-episode. On to the second half!

Episode 6, from 22:44

Summary:

Zhao Yunlan returns to Zhou Weiwei and makes her admit the truth: she switched places with Mirror Girl, and that was who was engaged to Ji Xiaobai. Ji Xiaobai, having confirmed what he already knew, isn't interested in a replacement goldfish. Mirror Girl tells the Envoy about a phrase her father used to repeat.

Then Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing talk about Shen Wei being suspicious, break into his flat, find his file on the SID, and have to hide when Shen Wei arrives. Zhao Yunlan sends a smoke messenger to the Regent, and a banner with a spy camera to Shen Wei. Da Qing teases him about his interest in the Envoy. Shen Wei confronts the uni's chancellor about Li Qian withdrawing, and has a brief conversation with Zhao Yunlan. Zhu Jiu puts a new agent in play. Finally, at night, Shen Wei is mugged by two thugs.




Quote:

Da Qing: "In this world, two people can be very close, but have never seen each other. But maybe once they've met, they'll see each other every day. Destiny is unpredictable."

Zhao Yunlan: "Damn Fatty, I never knew that you were a poetic cat."

Detail:

Zhao Yunlan: 这个也很好看，衣服真漂亮。我想给我女朋友买一件，哪买的呀？
This [photo] is nice as well; pretty outfit. I want to buy one for my girlfriend. Where'd you buy it?

I remember from the early days that fandom had decided Zhao Yunlan was talking about the coat Mirror Girl was wearing in the photo, and had related it to the similar trenchcoat Shen Wei wears in later episodes. And that despite the fact that the English subs - all of them: the original ones and the ones that came later, Solo's and the Viki ones - say "shirt"! Of course the Chinese only says 衣服, clothes, and IIRC this concept originally came from the Chinese side of fandom.

Questions:

What's your favourite part in this half of the episode? Do you think Shen Wei is too harsh on Mirror Girl? Do you feel for Ji Xiaobai? for the human Zhou Weiwei? Why is Zhao Yunlan stepping up the investigation into Shen Wei? Do you think the spy camera is warranted? Why does Shen Wei respond to being mugged like that, when he could easily defeat the muggers? Any thoughts about how any of this relates to the novel?

(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!)

And here is our schedule for the next batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!

Comments

[trobadora]

but I also adore "I knew there was something wrong with you" because I can't see it as anything other than 'it's 100% on brand that YOU would have the hots for someone this terrifying' and also 'why are you suddenly crushing on TWO new guys?' xD

Hee! :D :D :D

I like the pendant cliffhanger being like 'oops, shouldn't have done that, NOW shit is going to go down'. Which it isn't, but well, cliffhanger. :D

I love that this is the first time we're getting a proper look at the pendant! (It's on screen in the healing scene in episode 2 too, but not very visible. Here's my pendant picspam!)

- "You and him are from different worlds"! The equivalent of the multiple scenes in the novel where "humans and ghosts don't belong together" is said by different people (including by Shen Wei, twice iirc) while also not being taken seriously by the narrative at all. :D

AHHHHH you're so right, I completely missed that novel parallel but it's so obvious! *headdesk*

- And then, in the flashback, Zhao Yunlan swiping/scratching at Da Qing like a cat. :D And Da Qing randomly covering himself with a tiny (cat?) blanket. :D

Ha, I didn't pay attention to the blanket, but now that you mention it, that's delightful! And of course the swiping, yes! Raised by a cat! :D

What/who is Lin Jing tracking before they break in? Can he track Shen Wei (how?) or did he just find his address?

I thought he was tracking down his address, since Zhao Yunlan only knew he'd moved into the neighbourhood.

Why does Zhao Yunlan have keys to Shen Wei's apartment?

It didn't look to me like he had keys - I thought he had a lockpicking kit.

And Shen Wei is so happy that Zhao Yunlan is stalking him right back. :D :D

Yes! THAT SMILE!!!!! :D :D :D

because even in the drama they both have no chill. xD

ZERO CHILL. :D

Is the "poetic cat" (诗猫) supposed to be a pun/reference to "damn cat" (死猫)?

Yeah, I think it is!

The way the song from the end credits is obviously a Weilan song and they play it during the really emotional het couple moments is glorious to me - just another one of those 'look at Weilan' things. :D

I always love it when they do that. It's SO clearly a Weilan song - it's the Weilan song, end credits and all - and applying it to all the het pairings just really highlights the parallels. Perfect solution to not being able to spell things out. :D

Did mirror Zhou Weiwei know her father? I feel like I missed something somewhere - I thought his wife was pregnant but he was already dead at that point. Does she know the thing he used to say from her mother?

No, he wasn't dead at that point - his wife was pregnant when he went AWOL. But he then went on to hide in Haixing, committed various crimes, and eventually was shot dead. Some time during that hiding-in-Haixing period, he must have reunited with his family, so that Mirror Girl knew him when she was little.

Why won't Zhao Yunlan tell Xiao Guo that it was the wrong Weiwei? I didn't expect 'nobody tells Xiao Guo anything' to be this much of a thing in the drama until this rewatch. xD

RIGHT????? I never noticed that before either! Amazing.

Also I'm not sure what Zhu Hong's reaction exactly was because it sounds like she thinks Ji Xiaobai should try to make it work with a complete stranger, and that can't be right?

No, the way I understood it, she means Ji Xiaobai failed Mirror Girl because he didn't stand with her, and so deserves to be left alone. (Presumably she was told what happened inside the mirror.)

Why does Zhao Yunlan want to see Li Qian? Are they just being her two dads again? xD

Oh, good question, I honestly have no idea! It might just be a polite phrase.

I see this so much as Shen Wei talking about himself and about how much he shouldn't be around Zhao Yunlan (a novel leftover) that I give him a pass, lol. And I guess at this point in the drama he did have a bit of a reason to stay away too (Zhu Jiu's threats), but it does sound harsher when you know he's not just being self-hating, so it's a very fair question, yeah.

Yeah, he's definitely talking about himself, but he doesn't have the novel version's self-hatred, so it hits different. Though he saw Mirror Girl at her worst, which mitigates things slightly, IMO.

like, for his entire life he didn't even know that any powers were a thing, and then suddenly this happens

Right? He's had everything turned on its head, give the guy a moment to catch up!

Like, drama Shen Wei also doesn't want to accidentally hurt someone who is pathetically weak compared to him, but it's not really a factor because he knows how to use his powers without doing any harm.

Yeah, he could do that easily! I think it has to be half him not wanting to use his powers against Haixingren when that's what he's deporting other Dixingren for, and half feeling it's beneath his dignity. But all that goes right out the window as soon as the pendant is in play!

There are so many things this time! :D

I missed a lot, so it's delightful to discover all of it here in the comments!

I feel like the team captain's cryptic message must be a novel reference in some way - there's just so much about cardinal directions there. Two times off the top of my head - during the Hanga arc (when GCC provides a mnemonic and Zhao Yunlan says "soggy waffles my ass" xD and it turns out that the Hanga tribe had reverse directions), and then during the ending ritual where every Hallow is connected to one of the directions.

Oooh, do you think maybe the Hanga upside-down-ness has something to do with why the captain's message talks about the south but the Awl is in the north?

[china_shop]

THANK YOU for linking to your pedant picspam! :-)

> > Is the "poetic cat" (诗猫) supposed to be a pun/reference to "damn cat" (死猫)?
>
> Yeah, I think it is!

Hee! Awesome!

[trobadora]

♥ ♥ ♥

[facethestrange]

"I love that this is the first time we're getting a proper look at the pendant! (It's on screen in the healing scene in episode 2 too, but not very visible. Here's my pendant picspam!)"

Ahhh, I didn't even realize that it's the first time! ♡ (Same as in the novel, now that I think about it. :D) And the picspam is all kinds of wonderful, thank you for the link! ♡♡♡ It's also particularly helpful right now because the pendant is in my current drawing (even if the drawing is not ABOUT the pendant per se, lol), and having all the refs in the one place is really nice, so thanks for that too. :D :D (That's also why I'm so slow with comments rn - I'm attempting to finish the drawing by tomorrow. :D)

"Ha, I didn't pay attention to the blanket, but now that you mention it, that's delightful!"

I only noticed it on this rewatch too. :D I love that he has his own cat-sized blanket, and then apparently he cuddles it in his human form too. :D

"I thought he was tracking down his address, since Zhao Yunlan only knew he'd moved into the neighbourhood."

Yeah, that probably must be it in the end, but what Lin Jing is doing doesn't look like he's just looking up an address, and also they know that Shen Wei is not home, so it does seem like SW is being tracked somehow? Maybe a leftover of some scene that didn't make it to the final cut or something.

"It didn't look to me like he had keys - I thought he had a lockpicking kit."

Makes sense, yep! He's wiggling them so much that I still can't see much. xD

"Yes! THAT SMILE!!!!! :D :D :D"

Yesss, he's like "awwwww, I'm being stalked, HE REALLY CARES". xD xD :D (Now that I wrote it, it sounds like the novel scene where Shen Wei goes all awwww because Zhao Yunlan threatened to handcuff him to protect him. xD)

> > Is the "poetic cat" (诗猫) supposed to be a pun/reference to "damn cat" (死猫)?

Yeah, I think it is!"

:D :D :D So fun!! I don't often listen carefully to what they say in Chinese, and this time it really paid off. :D

"I always love it when they do that. It's SO clearly a Weilan song - it's the Weilan song, end credits and all - and applying it to all the het pairings just really highlights the parallels. Perfect solution to not being able to spell things out. :D"

Yesss. :D Especially in the long Wang Zheng/Sang Zan dancing scene I was like "this is really, REALLY on the nose", and I love that for the writers and for Weilan. :D :D :D

"No, he wasn't dead at that point - his wife was pregnant when he went AWOL. But he then went on to hide in Haixing, committed various crimes, and eventually was shot dead. Some time during that hiding-in-Haixing period, he must have reunited with his family, so that Mirror Girl knew him when she was little."

AH, thank you for explaining! ♡

"No, the way I understood it, she means Ji Xiaobai failed Mirror Girl because he didn't stand with her, and so deserves to be left alone. (Presumably she was told what happened inside the mirror.)"

Yep, this makes a lot more sense, thank you! :D

"Oh, good question, I honestly have no idea! It might just be a polite phrase."

"I'll go see her once she's calmed down" sounds like a real plan to me, and I think to Shen Wei too (he seems to suggest that Zhao Yunlan doesn't see her too soon or stress her out)? Which is really sweet and I'm glad that I noticed it this time. :D

"Yeah, he's definitely talking about himself, but he doesn't have the novel version's self-hatred, so it hits different. Though he saw Mirror Girl at her worst, which mitigates things slightly, IMO."

*nodnod* ITA.

"him not wanting to use his powers against Haixingren when that's what he's deporting other Dixingren for"

OH, this is a really good point!

"Oooh, do you think maybe the Hanga upside-down-ness has something to do with why the captain's message talks about the south but the Awl is in the north?"

Ahhhhh, is this what is happening?? (I was so confused that the Chinese phrase has south in it and the hardsubs do too, and then Solo's subs say "look to the north", as if that was a correction? But it does actually say south, doesn't it?) A novel reference would explain this so well, and I just checked, and it is indeed north and south that they talk about being swapped: "‘Up’ is the direction of the mountain, the main peak to the south. ‘Down’ is the direction of the water, so that’s north." / "Placing the illustration of the monster against it, he slowly rotated the map until south was facing up." :D :D I say you're 100% right!! :D

[trobadora]

(Same as in the novel, now that I think about it. :D)

Oooh! I totally forgot about that.

So glad the picspam is helpful, I'm cheering you on for your drawing!!!! ♥

and also they know that Shen Wei is not home, so it does seem like SW is being tracked somehow?

But they clearly don't know Shen Wei is coming home until he's there, so they can't be tracking him.

Yesss, he's like "awwwww, I'm being stalked, HE REALLY CARES". xD xD :D

He's like, HOOKED YOU. :D :D :D

And great point about the novel comparison, I love that!

"Oooh, do you think maybe the Hanga upside-down-ness has something to do with why the captain's message talks about the south but the Awl is in the north?"

Ahhhhh, is this what is happening?? (I was so confused that the Chinese phrase has south in it and the hardsubs do too, and then Solo's subs say "look to the north", as if that was a correction? But it does actually say south, doesn't it?)

Yes, the Chinese definitely says south. If it really is related to the up/down north/south swap, that would at least make some sense! I just wish they'd explain it, LOL.

[facethestrange]

"So glad the picspam is helpful, I'm cheering you on for your drawing!!!! ♥"

AWW, thank you!! ♡♡♡ Need to sleep now, but I'm on track. :D

"But they clearly don't know Shen Wei is coming home until he's there, so they can't be tracking him."

I knooow, I'm so confused. xD

"He's like, HOOKED YOU. :D :D :D"

:D :D :D

"Yes, the Chinese definitely says south. If it really is related to the up/down north/south swap, that would at least make some sense! I just wish they'd explain it, LOL."

Sometimes they just throw in something from the novel without any context, lol (and they're normally so great at adding context that when they do that it really stands out), so I'll take this explanation, it's a really good one. :D

[trobadora]

Sleep well! ♥

And you're so right about them usually adding context so well! I wonder if they were going to do more with the captain from back then and the team Wu Tian'en was on, and it got scrapped because they didn't have the funding?

[facethestrange]

(Drawing is finished, like 5 minutes ago, lmao, gotta sleep again. xD)

"I wonder if they were going to do more with the captain from back then and the team Wu Tian'en was on, and it got scrapped because they didn't have the funding?"

Yeah, I could see that! (A lot of things seem to have been scrapped, like most of YOHE, lol.) Maybe they were actually relevant to the Hanga storyline.

[trobadora]

Yay, congrats on finishing the art!

And yeah, I could totally see that.