Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 7, 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 7, up to 24:30

Summary
Shen Wei starts to get serious with the muggers, but just then Zhao Yunlan shows up and "rescues" him... only to be caught unawares with a metal bar. They go to Shen Wei's place for first aid and verbal sparring.



Zhao Yunlan asks Shen Wei to be an official consultant to the SID, and Shen Wei refuses. Zhao Yunlan accidentally implies he's been in Shen Wei's place before. The next day at the SID, Lin Jing is telling ghost stories when a call comes about a new case: one of the muggers is dead. When the SID review nearby CCTV footage, they don't see much, but rewinding to earlier reveals that Zhao Yunlan met up with Shen Wei in that alley. Zhao Yunlan unconvincingly laughs this off. The "bears" call: Zhu Hong grudgingly conveys a laptop to Shen Wei for a Zoom call with Zhao Yunlan and the others. After Shen Wei's extensive and illustrated lecture on different kinds of bears, Da Qing pipes up to suggest the attacker might be a Youchu; Shen Wei produces a relevant sketch. Zhao Yunlan, Lin Jing and Chu Shuzhi visit the surviving mugger in hospital; he's out of his wits, babbling about a monster. Lin Jing sees the crime scene photos and makes the connection with his favourite web novel.

Quote
Shen Wei: There are some questions that, out of principle, I cannot answer. But when the safety of people around me are at stake, I will surely not watch from the side and hide information from you. You can count on me for that.

Detail
The moment they're inside his apartment, Shen Wei starts disrobing takes off his jacket and attempts, twice, to fold it while pressing Zhao Yunlan to stay.

Questions
Do you have a stand-out favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 7? Do you think Zhao Yunlan's arrival at the mugging was coincidence, or had he been tailing Shen Wei? Do you think Shen Wei had qualms about letting Zhao Yunlan take on the muggers? Shen Wei doesn't show any surprise at the job offer -- do you think he was expecting it? Which of them do you think was most turned on by the "first aid"? We didn't see Zhao Yunlan in Shen Wei's bedroom while searching the apartment -- did he? We now know Lin Jing and Da Qing read web novels; who else at the SID reads them? What do the others think is going on when they see Zhao Yunlan with Shen Wei in the CCTV footage? Did Zhu Hong volunteer to take the laptop to Shen Wei for the video call, or was she assigned to do it? Why a video call instead of Zhao Yunlan paying a visit? At the hospital, why is Chu Shuzhi so grumpy? Lin Jing draws a connection between the case and the web novel -- but how does Wang Zheng already know about this when she calls?

Did you see any parallels in these scenes with other parts of the drama? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares, if at all?

(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!)

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Comments

[facethestrange]

"He even takes a little step back during the metal bar attack, later! I guess he knows that if ZYL gets hurt, SW can fix him."

Oooh, I didn't catch that! *rewatches* :D It looks like he's giving Zhao Yunlan some space to fight properly, without having to worry about accidentally hitting Shen Wei. Which sounds really helpful and probably instinctual for a warrior in a situation when they both can't fight together.

"I love that ZYL is more impressed with his own fighting ability than Shen Wei is (SW barely reacts at all -- does he already know ZYL's skill level from YOHE?)."

Lol! :D He definitely knows it from YOHE, and he doesn't look very affected to be either, but also I feel like he wouldn't let it show on his face, so who knows how impressed he really is. xD

"ZYL picks up the watch and returns it without question -- does he recognise it?"

Asdghfjksljkl;; I would just assume it's Shen Wei's because who else's watch could it be (unless they're going around robbing people without putting the loot away xD), but now I love the idea that Zhao Yunlan knows what Shen Wei's watch looks like because he's been staring at his hands so much. ♡__♡ :D :D

"2. AHHHHHHHH, THE LINIMENT SCENE, MY BELOVED!!! It took me more than half an hour to get through this scene because of SO MUCH REWINDING and GAZING, I love it so much!!"

Saaaaaaaame. :D :D :D

"ZYL: my house is right across the hall.
SW: *no reaction at all, like, he obviously knew this already and isn't even pretending otherwise*"

Lolol, both of them aren't even pretending that they don't know exactly where the other one lives. :D

"And then, ahh, we get ZYL's outrageous flirting. \o/ \o/ \o/"

Omfgggg, your screencaps of this scene are killing me ded, the way he keeps lovingly gazing at Shen Wei's hands in different ways, asdfghfjdksl;; ♡♡♡

"Also, everything Zhao Yunlan is doing with his hands in this scene ahhhh a;sdlfkja;dflkajsd;flkasdf;lkajsdf;kasdfadak :D :D :D"

AND THIS TOO, damn, this scene + HANDS. *IMPLODES* :D :D ♡______♡

"Do they think the growling is ZYL back for another dust-up?"

Because of what Lin Jing says about the web novel, I think the muggers had seen the Youchu before they robbed Shen Wei, and then it came back for them. ("Oh, and in the latest chapter released five days ago a thug in the street accidentally sees the killer's grotesque face. Then he chases after the thug, hunts him down, and freezes him to death. Is that not what happened in our case?")

"I wonder what CSZ's reading. Something work-related or something fun?"

In the novel he's researching the stock market, so maybe that, lol, but that would be mostly online, so probably not. xD

"6. On the CCTV footage, is the monster invisible? Because it's semi-imaginary?? But anyway, I love this scene. EVERYONE KNOWS! :D :D :D (Here's an old picspam of ZYL's face-journey. :D)"

I've always thought it was out of the frame, but I like this idea a lot. :D If everything weird showed up on CCTV, people in Haixing wouldn't be so convinced that supernatural stuff doesn't exist. (And your picspam has always been my favorite thing. :D :D :D WTF ZHAO YUNLAN, this is sooooo not how you convince people that you weren't doing ~THINGS~ with Shen Wei. xD)

"Love that Da Qing just nodded off mid-bear lecture; I bet ZYL wishes he could have done the same (except for the visuals of Shen Wei, of course)."

Lololol, facts. xD Zhao Yunlan's face is a thing of beauty. :D :D



"SW: (trying to be helpful) Wait! I keep having a feeling that the dead victim and his friend don't have qualities of an Undergrounder."

This line confuses me a bit because doesn't the SID mostly investigate cases when the victims are Haixingren? So it should be already implied that the muggers are Haixingren too? (Also I'm assuming the reason SW knows that is because they attacked him in a mundane way? Which is something that he could openly tell Zhao Yunlan, who was also there after all.)

[china_shop]

Oooh, I didn't catch that! *rewatches* :D It looks like he's giving Zhao Yunlan some space to fight properly, without having to worry about accidentally hitting Shen Wei. Which sounds really helpful and probably instinctual for a warrior in a situation when they both can't fight together.

Yes! I just found it interesting that, even when someone's coming at ZYL with a weapon *and* ZYL is unaware, SW doesn't break cover and smite the attacker with an energy bolt or anything. Maybe there isn't time?

and he doesn't look very affected to be either, but also I feel like he wouldn't let it show on his face, so who knows how impressed he really is. xD

Maybe he doesn't want to praise ZYL for it because he doesn't want to incentivise ill-advised running into danger? ZYL does enough of that already!! ;D

unless they're going around robbing people without putting the loot away xD

I wouldn't put it past them? *g* But yes, hand staring, definitely. :D :D :D

Omfgggg, your screencaps of this scene are killing me ded, the way he keeps lovingly gazing at Shen Wei's hands in different ways, asdfghfjdksl;; ♡♡♡

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 :D :D :D

I think the muggers had seen the Youchu before they robbed Shen Wei, and then it came back for them.

Huh, wouldn't they be more freaked out, if that was the case? The survivor in hospital is scared out of his wits -- and Youchu are pretty scary even if they haven't killed anyone yet.

In the novel he's researching the stock market, so maybe that, lol, but that would be mostly online, so probably not. xD

Yeah, and novel!CSZ is quite different from drama!CSZ. Maybe he's reading histories or something from the library. He's the one who did research about the Hanga tribe before the trip, so he seems inclined to gather potentially useful knowledge. :-D

If everything weird showed up on CCTV, people in Haixing wouldn't be so convinced that supernatural stuff doesn't exist.

Oh, that's true. Great point! (Or, alternatively, it could just be out of frame. Ha, why didn't that occur to me?)

WTF ZHAO YUNLAN, this is sooooo not how you convince people that you weren't doing ~THINGS~ with Shen Wei. xD

LOLOLOL!! He has zero chill about this!! :DDDDD

Zhao Yunlan's face is a thing of beauty. :D :D

akdslfas;dklfjas;dflkjsadf HEEEE! :D

This line confuses me a bit because doesn't the SID mostly investigate cases when the victims are Haixingren? So it should be already implied that the muggers are Haixingren too? (Also I'm assuming the reason SW knows that is because they attacked him in a mundane way? Which is something that he could openly tell Zhao Yunlan, who was also there after all.)

Those are all EXCELLENT points, none of which had occurred to me. LOL!! Yeah, I don't know either.

[facethestrange]

"I just found it interesting that, even when someone's coming at ZYL with a weapon *and* ZYL is unaware, SW doesn't break cover and smite the attacker with an energy bolt or anything. Maybe there isn't time?"

I do think there's too little time to really do anything, but also the more I rewatch this scene, the more I see Shen Wei instinctively reacting as if he's in YOHE again (the way he already did when he healed the cut in Zhao Yunlan's presence, even after he has spent years hiding his powers from other people). He only steps away once Zhao Yunlan is aware of the danger, and his first reaction is to get out of the way when another warrior is fighting. So maybe the instinct of 'this is how we do things together when Kunlun is around' is stronger than the instinct to protect him. :D

"Maybe he doesn't want to praise ZYL for it because he doesn't want to incentivise ill-advised running into danger? ZYL does enough of that already!! ;D"

Lolol. :D :D :D He was just doing his job, but he was far too smug about it, it is safer if he doesn't get even more smug. xD

"Huh, wouldn't they be more freaked out, if that was the case? The survivor in hospital is scared out of his wits -- and Youchu are pretty scary even if they haven't killed anyone yet."

Yeah, honestly idk either, it just sounds like that from what Lin Jing says, and the way they react to the growling. But they're not the sharpest tools in the shed, so maybe they genuinely think that it's a sound that a human would be making. xD

"Maybe he's reading histories or something from the library. He's the one who did research about the Hanga tribe before the trip, so he seems inclined to gather potentially useful knowledge. :-D"

Lol, in episode 3 Zhu Hong was like 'nobody ever uses the library' - it would be so fun if CSZ has actually quietly read all of it. :D :D

[china_shop]

He only steps away once Zhao Yunlan is aware of the danger, and his first reaction is to get out of the way when another warrior is fighting. So maybe the instinct of 'this is how we do things together when Kunlun is around' is stronger than the instinct to protect him. :D

Aww, that makes sense. Yeah, you're right, he only steps back as ZYL starts to react. And it's quite possible that shoving ZYL out of the line of fire strike zone would just cause different injuries.

He was just doing his job, but he was far too smug about it, it is safer if he doesn't get even more smug. xD

It's a little outside of the SID's jurisdiction, but basically, EXACTLY! :D

it would be so fun if CSZ has actually quietly read all of it. :D :D

I love that idea! After all, he had to do something for the three years when they had no major cases! ;-p :D

[facethestrange]

"And it's quite possible that shoving ZYL out of the line of fire strike zone would just cause different injuries."

That's how I see it, yep - interrupting/distracting someone during a fight would likely put them in more danger than just not helping them at all.

"I love that idea! After all, he had to do something for the three years when they had no major cases! ;-p :D"

Heeee, right? :D And he still reads during downtime (even if it's also partially to show everyone how much he doesn't care about their ghost story nonsense ;D). And now I got smacked with a ChuGuo-ish fic idea (that I probably won't do anything about xD) where GCC doesn't need to painstakingly look for books, he can just ask CSZ where any book is because CSZ is always the one who read it last and put it away. :D :D

[china_shop]

Awwww!

I had another thought about CSZ reading, which is that when he first came to Haixing, he wouldn't have been used to so much light. Maybe computer screens were extra hard on his eyes, so he secretly (not wanting to show weakness or make a fuss) resorted to books.

(If so, it would make a nice unintentional-on-his-part parallel with his hero, the Envoy, being an academic. <3)

[facethestrange]

AW, I love this! ♡ It would be so on-brand for him to just not admit that he has trouble doing something, and honestly the potential Envoy parallel (with how much this show loves parallels) is now making me think that it is an intentional decision that CSZ is shown randomly reading when the others are not. Since this is very clearly an original drama idea, not a novel leftover/reference.

[china_shop]

It's a great background characterisation beat. He could have been dozing or idly fiddling with something, or cleaning his doll, but instead, he's reading (something that isn't a webnovel ;-).

[trobadora]

and honestly the potential Envoy parallel (with how much this show loves parallels) is now making me think that it is an intentional decision that CSZ is shown randomly reading when the others are not

Ooh! That would make a lot of sense, very cool!!!

[trobadora]

So maybe the instinct of 'this is how we do things together when Kunlun is around' is stronger than the instinct to protect him. :D

♥ ♥ ♥

Lol, in episode 3 Zhu Hong was like 'nobody ever uses the library' - it would be so fun if CSZ has actually quietly read all of it. :D :D

It really would! :D

[trobadora]

Maybe he's reading histories or something from the library. He's the one who did research about the Hanga tribe before the trip, so he seems inclined to gather potentially useful knowledge. :-D

OHH I love that!! :D

[china_shop]

:D :D :D

[trobadora]

but now I love the idea that Zhao Yunlan knows what Shen Wei's watch looks like because he's been staring at his hands so much. ♡__♡ :D :D

YESSS :D :D :D

Because of what Lin Jing says about the web novel, I think the muggers had seen the Youchu before they robbed Shen Wei, and then it came back for them. ("Oh, and in the latest chapter released five days ago a thug in the street accidentally sees the killer's grotesque face. Then he chases after the thug, hunts him down, and freezes him to death. Is that not what happened in our case?")

Huh, I thought what happened after the mugging was them accidentally seeing the monster's face, and then being chased down. (It's not actually a youchu, though, going by how it manifests at the end of the episode. Which also makes more sense given the freezing power!)

I've always thought it was out of the frame

*high fives* Me too!

WTF ZHAO YUNLAN, this is sooooo not how you convince people that you weren't doing ~THINGS~ with Shen Wei. xD

LOLOLOL, right??? :D

This line confuses me a bit because doesn't the SID mostly investigate cases when the victims are Haixingren? So it should be already implied that the muggers are Haixingren too?

Yeah, it confused me too. I have no idea why he says it!