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]

"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)

[china_shop]

But hey, Da Qing in his cat form can't easily turn off the light, so at least that would make sense. xD

Maybe DQ likes leaving it on and the windows open, so there'll be lots of moths to chase. :D

And yessss, he is pointing directly towards the bedroom, I didn't catch that until you said it! :D

:D :D :D

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

Ha, brilliant! (That is very strange apartment layout! Why would you have a balcony you can only access through the bedroom?? Weird.) And SW catching them in his bedroom is so much more loaded than just ~in the apartment generally~. \o/

[trobadora]

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]

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 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.