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

[trobadora]

1. I love Shen Wei covertly fixing his collar & tie as ZYL approaches.

YES! Such a lovely little note.

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?).

Yeah, I think for SW, ZYL's fighting ability is just a given ever since their first meeting; he's never questioned it at all, so he's never had occasion to be surprised by it. *g*

And ZYL totally can't admit he was tailing SW, but I think he was -- just a bit too far behind.

Yeah, it really would make sense! It always makes me wonder what would have happened if he'd been just a bit slower and SW had already dealt with the would-be pendant toucher. *g*

2. SW seems completely unsurprised by the job offer, too (maybe saw it coming?), but ZYL seems taken aback by the refusal (or just the lack of hesitation?).

My take is that SW did see it coming, and was ready for it, therefore the lack of hesitation. And yeah, IMO it's that immediate "no", taking not even a second to process, that has ZYL so flabbergasted.

I wonder if ZYL had theorised that SW's been angling for the position.

Ooh, yes, that would make sense! I could totally see ZYL speculating in that direction!

Each line must first respond to what was said, and then spin the ball back over the net with a new twist.

Ooh, yes, that's such a great way to explain this kind of thing, I love it!

6. On the CCTV footage, is the monster invisible? Because it's semi-imaginary??

I thought it just wasn't visible because of the camera angle.

EVERYONE KNOWS! :D :D :D

Or thinks they know, anyway! :D

8. Very confused by Lin Jing making the connection with Lai Su, and then Wang Zheng immediately calling with the ?same? info. How did she know? Does she read web novels too?

She says the connection is the reason their superiors decided to have departments cooperate, so presumably the connection has by now been drawn in public, but Lin Jing missed that for some reason! Hee!

[china_shop]

> Yeah, I think for SW, ZYL's fighting ability is just a given ever since their first meeting; he's never questioned it at all, so he's never had occasion to be surprised by it. *g*

I guess so. But ZYL could be yet to acquire Kunlun's skills -- SW doesn't know!

> It always makes me wonder what would have happened if he'd been just a bit slower and SW had already dealt with the would-be pendant toucher. *g*

SW would come up with some "I got lucky" kind of explanation/excuse, I'm sure.

> My take is that SW did see it coming, and was ready for it, therefore the lack of hesitation.

He must have been half-expecting it, yeah -- or at least aware it was a possibility, given ZYL's frequent visits to his office.

> I thought it just wasn't visible because of the camera angle.

I guess...

> Or thinks they know, anyway! :D

They know about his crush. *g*

> She says the connection is the reason their superiors decided to have departments cooperate, so presumably the connection has by now been drawn in public, but Lin Jing missed that for some reason! Hee!

Yeah, I guess so. It's less satisfying to me than LJ's deduction being how everyone else finds out, but it makes sense, yeah.

[trobadora]

But ZYL could be yet to acquire Kunlun's skills -- SW doesn't know!

But he doesn't have any reason to think ZYL would be incompetent either, and ZYL quickly proves that he is perfectly capable of handling these thugs, even if he gets a bruise out of it.

SW would come up with some "I got lucky" kind of explanation/excuse, I'm sure.

Haha, "what do you mean, I just accidentally twisted and broke that guy's wrist, could happen to anyone!" :D

They know about his crush. *g*

Oh yeah, and if anyone hadn't been aware before, they've now had the news delivered to them in giant neon font. *g*

(Apart from Xiao-Guo, who is still trying to decipher the neon characters and getting nowhere. :p)

[china_shop]

> But he doesn't have any reason to think ZYL would be incompetent either, and ZYL quickly proves that he is perfectly capable of handling these thugs, even if he gets a bruise out of it.

True -- though if the mugger had gone for his skull rather than his arm, it could have been serious. But I guess SW is capable of handling whatever happens.

> Haha, "what do you mean, I just accidentally twisted and broke that guy's wrist, could happen to anyone!" :D

LOL, exactly! "I took a self-defence course on campus..."

> (Apart from Xiao-Guo, who is still trying to decipher the neon characters and getting nowhere. :p)

LOLOL! *pets him* :D :D :D