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]

Zhao Yunlan doesn't even offer to do it himself even though he could reach this part of his arm really easily. xD They both just assume that Shen Wei is going to do it for whatever reason (TOUCHING, they just both really want to get to the touching

YES THIS!!!!!! It's just so good, it would be such an obvious thing for ZYL to say, especially since a moment ago he was trying to leave! But no, the moment this is on the page, he just can't bring himself to even think about pulling back. :D

Btw what IS the place outside Shen Wei's bedroom window that Zhao Yunlan is talking about?

ZYL says it's Dragon City's largest archive library? Though why he assumes SW wouldn't be aware of that, I'm not sure.

I can never get over Zhao Yunlan just completely and entirely losing his composure, sputterining nonsense and laughing awkwardly because he was seen at night with Shen Wei, like daaaamn, way to make it not weird and not suggestive at all. :D :D

RIGHT???? It's such a fantastic little scene, I love his flailing, and Chu Shuzhi's AHHH reaction. PERFECTION. :D

The way Shen Wei's expression changes to this in the blink of an eye when the pendant is involved, DAMN.

YES, that's so good!!!!

I love it so much that the pendant is not a soulfire and has absolutely zero objective value, it always makes everything even better. :D

Yeah, I'm 100% with you on this, it just being a memento without any intrinsic worth beyond what it means to Shen Wei is what makes it extra good! The drama writers were inspired when they came up with that.

(And Zhao Yunlan doesn't even get to see the pendant at all, which afaik is different from the novel. I guess because in the novel it's his POV and the reader wonders what the pendant even is because Zhao Yunlan saw it.)

Yeah, in a novel, if you want the reader to wonder about something, you have to draw the POV character's attention to it, you can't just do it directly like visual media. So fun how the choice of medium affects these things!

Xiao Guo writing down bear facts in his notebook! :D

Xiao-Guo writing down EVERYTHING is such a fun little background detail. :D

What is he waving around that Chu Shuzhi takes out of his hand?

Crime scene photos.

He's so beautifully flat too, lmao. ♡♡♡

LOLOLOL! He needs some meat on his bones, SW needs to feed him. *g*

If he knows where the window is in a way that can't be explained by just knowing the layout of the apartment, he has definiely searched the bedroom. :D

I think anyone could totally know where the window is just by knowing the basic layout of the flat, BUT Zhao Yunlan gives himself away by his "oops, said too much" reaction even before SW calls him on it. :D

I thought the superiors that she's talking about have told the SID about the connection.

Yes, exactly! I think more people outside of Lin Jing's little fan club must have noticed the parallels, and it went public. Only Lin Jing must have missed that, because he only just figured it out himself, hee!

The mugging is another thing from the novel that gets really neatly tied to a drama case, which is really cool. :D

Yes, good point! And I'd meant to go back and look at the mugging in the novel again, but I haven't found the time, oops ... Some other time, hopefully!

And the fact that they were needed for this explains why the muggers don't just get handed over to regular police. :P

LOL, my thoughts exactly!

The first mention of the youchu! And everything about them sounds so similar to the novel, but Shen Wei not being the same species makes it all very, very different.

Yeah, taht's a VERY good point!

Btw did he actually not know that it was a youchu until Da Qing said it? Because in the drama he has no reason to hide it?

It isn't a youchu, though - we see it manifest at the end of the episode, and it doesn't look like a youchu. It's some kind of fantasy monster with ice powers. The youchu thing is just Da Qing's theory, and I guess SW thinks it's not entirely impossible that there's a youchu involved somehow?

I'm also curious if the "Forbidden Place" is the same word/name as in the novel or a different one?

Oooh, good question! I just checked, and it's 禁地 (forbidden land) in both.

And the entire 'please sleep with me' storyline being turned into 'please work with me' obviously.

OHHHHH I hadn't thought of it in those terms, I love how you put that! So perfect! :D

using it as a way to have Shen Wei reject something (since his presence is not harmful to Zhao Yunlan, so he would have no reason to reject him) is pretty damn brilliant. :D

YES, 100% agreed! I love it to pieces. :D

Same with the books later - in the novel it's literally just Shen Wei turning down the gift, without Zhao Yunlan making a ridiculous blunder, but drama Shen Wei would have been happy to receive this gift if it weren't for the blunder. :D

All of this!!!! *flails* SO GOOD OMG.

[china_shop]

> I think anyone could totally know where the window is just by knowing the basic layout of the flat, BUT Zhao Yunlan gives himself away by his "oops, said too much" reaction even before SW calls him on it. :D

Yes, this! He digs himself a hole and can't get out of it. It's glorious. :D

> OHHHHH I hadn't thought of it in those terms, I love how you put that! So perfect! :D

Just revelling in this again, with you! :D :D :D