china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Guardian - Zhao Yunlan)
The Gauche in the Machine ([personal profile] china_shop) wrote in [community profile] sid_guardian2025-11-30 04:53 pm

Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 7, part 1

Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purply sky with stars. Text reads "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org."


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!)

And here is our schedule -- if you can, please sign up to host a post!
facethestrange: (guardian: weilan: home)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-12-05 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
Ahhhh, thank you for this incentive to look it up - this is the first time I actively went looking for that other room, and finally saw it! xD (I keep seeing it mentioned in fics, but every time I watched actual scenes I forgot to look for it, and then I always went 'but WHERE would it even be' and only got more confused. xD)

In case anyone else is confused too, here it is:


And btw now I'm freshly confused all over again - so the other door in the above screencap is the bathroom? I spent the entire time thinking that the bathroom was the room behind the bed, with a door somewhere in the kitchen, but now I see that it literally only has windows and no way to enter it from either side?? xD (Is it Da Qing's room, and he enters it through the windows?? :D)





And re: Shen Wei's apartment, for bts reasons I know that their apartments have the same layout, but I didn't know if it was true in-world. And now I see that in Shen Wei's apartment that other door is even easier to spot, so yep, they must have the same layout, and this is indeed where Shen Wei's bedroom is! :D

(I haven't found any floor plans, just lots of screencaps. But they're very comprehensive, so I feel like a plan is not necessary, though I would love to see it regardless. :D) (I miss [personal profile] trobadora *CLINGS* ♡♡♡ But not being able to catch up is so extremely relatable and understandable!)

"ZYL decided it was too much trouble to, idk, have an extra door in his life? ;D"

So on brand tbh, lol! :D :D
facethestrange: (guardian: weilan: home)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-12-05 09:44 am (UTC)(link)
Not gonna use a nsfw icon in a sfw thread, lmao. xD :D :D

"I'm so amused that there's a light on in ZYL's spare/junk room. I suspect it's just where he dumps stuff he doesn't want to have to deal with, but maybe he was looking for something and just... left the lamp on? LOL."

Lol, I didn't even notice that! I guess he's more concerned with his father's bullshit than with the light, and he's not someone who generally worries about bills. xD And if he does, he can cut a bonus or two. xD

"Oh, I thought that was a lightwell, rather than a room."

That makes so much sense, and I didn't consider it at all! Yep, it probably is, though now I'm into the idea of Da Qing having his own cat-accessible room, hee. :D

"So does that mean that Shen Wei's kitchen is behind the bookcases that DQ is investigating during the break-in?"

I'm still not 100% clear on anything in Shen Wei's apartment, lol, but the bookcases seem to be on the opposite end of the room, right by the extra door, and to the left from the window nook.







(Drowning in helpful screencaps. :D :D I didn't take any of them, they're all from dragoncityinteriordesign.)

"LOL, right?!! He does most of his chief-ing from the couch in the main room of the SID; why wouldn't he do all his living in, essentially, his living room? ;D"

Hahah, yes! xD :D Just plonk down in the middle and surround himself with everything he needs, there's no need to switch rooms. :D
facethestrange: (guardian: weilan: home)

[personal profile] facethestrange 2025-12-06 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
"When he gets there with his dad/Zhang Shi, he just sulkily slouches down on the couch, so the light must have been on for ages..."

Oh, I didn't rewatch the scene, so I didn't know it was on before he came in. Zhao Yunlan whyyy. xD (I'd say maybe Da Qing was using the room, but idk how long it's been since he was there either. But hey, Da Qing in his cat form can't easily turn off the light, so at least that would make sense. xD)

"Hee, that means that Shen Wei has a huge bookshelf in the same spot where ZYL has his TV. *hearts* Anyway, that makes more sense with ZYL's gesture when he mentions the library/archive. :D"

Hee, AWW, this is weirdly adorable. :D :D And yessss, he is pointing directly towards the bedroom, I didn't catch that until you said it! :D


"Ohh, hey, given Shen Wei has a balcony, maybe the "lightwell" is actually a balcony too. Except then we're back where we started, with no way to access it..."

Ooooh!! Both of them have the lightwell (whatever it actually is, lol), so that's probably not it, BUT the balcony is behind the window nook (as we can see when they're hiding from SW) and there's no way to access it from there either, so I just realized that the door to the balcony has to be in the bedroom, and that means we did see ZYL and DQ in SW's bedroom! :D And then I looked it up and I'm not the first person to realize that, hah. :D (Except that the window they're hiding behind is slightly different, so it would have to be the bedroom window/balcony door, but Shen Wei can see it from the doorway. But that's a tiny enough inconsistency that it can be ignored. :D)
trobadora: (Shen Wei - BEARS)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-12-08 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Why would you have a balcony you can only access through the bedroom?? Weird.

Tbh I wouldn't find that weird? It's not the most common set-up, but I've seen places like that. Especially in older houses where the balconies were added later, or where the interior configuration was changed after they were originally built, one flat might have been divided into two, and the rooms might originally have been something else.
trobadora: (Shen Wei - BEARS)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-12-08 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
so I just realized that the door to the balcony has to be in the bedroom, and that means we did see ZYL and DQ in SW's bedroom! :D

Hee! Excellent reasoning! Also, see [personal profile] cyberbrain's post for more evidence, via Zhou Weiwei's flashback. :D

but Shen Wei can see it from the doorway.

Oh, you're right! And there's a shot from outside looking in at Shen Wei, but there's definitely no balcony opposite the front door in Shen Wei's flat ... I guess it's just an inconsistency for drama's sake.
trobadora: (Shen Wei - BEARS)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-12-08 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee, that means that Shen Wei has a huge bookshelf in the same spot where ZYL has his TV. *hearts*

Ooh, YES! Great point! :D :D :D
trobadora: (Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan - wait)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-12-08 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm so amused that there's a light on in ZYL's spare/junk room. I suspect it's just where he dumps stuff he doesn't want to have to deal with, but maybe he was looking for something and just... left the lamp on? LOL.

LOLOLOL!

Oh, I thought that was a lightwell, rather than a room.

I think the building just has weird corners.

So does that mean that Shen Wei's kitchen is behind the bookcases that DQ is investigating during the break-in?

SW has bookcases a) against the wall to the second room, and b) against the wall to the corridor. There might be a kitchen nook in the same place where ZYL's kitchen is? Behind those glass sliding doors, the entire outside wall is glass too and there's a shelf on the wall to the right, but there might be a cooking nook on the left? (My headcanon, because I think there has to be SOMETHING SOMEWHERE, and that's the only place unless his kitchen is in his bedroom, LOL.
trobadora: (Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan - wait)

[personal profile] trobadora 2025-12-08 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
And btw now I'm freshly confused all over again - so the other door in the above screencap is the bathroom? I spent the entire time thinking that the bathroom was the room behind the bed, with a door somewhere in the kitchen, but now I see that it literally only has windows and no way to enter it from either side?? xD

It's the bathroom, yes - right to the left as you enter the flat. The corner you took for another room is really just a weird corner of the building - the windows just lead outside, as far as I can tell.

I miss [personal profile] trobadora *CLINGS* ♡♡♡

*clings right back*