Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 7, part 2

[trobadora]

Hi, welcome to this week's instalment of the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Watch half an episode a week, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here is last week's half-episode. On to the second half!

Episode 7, from 24:30

Summary: The SID finds Lai Su's house and confronts him. He reveals that someone promised him fame and fortune if he published webnovels, and he kept at it despite knowing about the murders. Lin Jing is disappointed and furious at his idol. Lai Su writes a final chapter to end his webnovel career, and ends up dying his character's death. Zhu Jiu tries to break into the SID and discovers the black energy shield. And Zhao Yunlan visits Shen Wei to talk about the case. Shen Wei is very touched that he sympathises with a Dixingren.



Quote:

Lin Jing: "If you can't take responsibility for every word you write, you don't deserve to be called an author. You don't even deserve to be called a person!"

Detail:

Lin Jing describes the final chapter of the webnovel with the monster's death as follows: "He was engulfed by guilt for his many crimes. In the end, his own reflection in a lake scared him to death."

Since we actually see the text of the chapter on screen, I thought it'd be fun to plug the screencaps into Google Translate - here's the result:

mobile version | desktop version

Questions:

Do you have a favourite line in in this half of the episode? What do you think about Lin Jing's angry words to Lai Su? How great is Lai Su's house? Any parallels between this case and the drama's overall plot? Any parallels with the novel you can think of? Why is Zhu Jiu only now discovering the SID's shield? What's your favourite part of the final scene between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan?

(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!)

And here is our schedule for the current batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!

Comments

[trobadora]

100% agreed on Weilan being much sweeter than most of my ships - I usually like mine much saltier than you do, I'd say, given that so many of them are enemies-to-lovers. *g* But with Weilan I really don't want too much salt or it won't feel like them any more.

[china_shop]

Oh, that's true (about you being into enemies-to-lovers, and me not). Now I'm very confused about what exactly works for me, lol. I keep thinking about how much I love Shen Wei's outrage at the state of the flat, and similar exasperation in ep 11 at ZYL forcing himself to drink. And I love ZYL's confusion and testing, and his open frustration with SW's stonewalling him just before the Envoy reveal.

I think part of it is that they are so into each other from the start and so obviously well-matched (when on the face of it they "shouldn't" be), that there's plenty of space for them to have frustrations and exasperations and suspicions and even anger, because none of that could ever ever possibly break them. Nothing can break them -- not even death! Love will find a way! So I think part of what I like about Shen Wei's exasperation (and even, occasionally, disappointment) is that it never could actually change his underlying love, so it reinforces/highlights the depth and durability of that love (to him, as well as to us). Or something like that. And then they (and esp. ZYL) progressively discover more and more ways in which they're well-aligned and fit, and that layers on top of the instinctive belonging together to create this perfect partnership on every level. I think if I only saw sweetness, I'd feel like they didn't have room to be their full selves with a full range of emotions and reactions? Idk. I'm kind of making this up as I go, so it might not be right. /dork

[trobadora]

Haha, yeah, I remember back when I got into Guardian and was trying to write Weilan the first time, I was all, "how do you even write this, they don't have any real obstacles, no incompatible values or priorities, nothing???" *g* Obviously I figured it out, LOL, but I was coming from a very different place at the time. *g*

I think part of it is that they are so into each other from the start and so obviously well-matched (when on the face of it they "shouldn't" be), that there's plenty of space for them to have frustrations and exasperations and suspicions and even anger, because none of that could ever ever possibly break them.

YES THIS!!!!! That "it seems like they shouldn't be but they are" aspect is important to me and very often at the core of my shipping, I love that to pieces.

Nothing can break them -- not even death!

Indeed! ♥ ♥ ♥

So I think part of what I like about Shen Wei's exasperation (and even, occasionally, disappointment) is that it never could actually change his underlying love, so it reinforces/highlights the depth and durability of that love (to him, as well as to us).

YES! This, exactly! I think I'm coming at it from a slightly different angle than you, but we seem to be ending up in the same place. *g* Like I said above, that "it seems like they shouldn't but they ARE" is very important to me, so I think for me, all those little frustrations and suspicions and disappointments and moments of tension are really just highlighting that fundamental truth, that despite all this they ARE that well matched, they ARE completely into each other, and none of it could ever actually come between them. And I love that! So much! ♥ ♥ ♥

[china_shop]

I remember back when I got into Guardian and was trying to write Weilan the first time, I was all, "how do you even write this, they don't have any real obstacles, no incompatible values or priorities, nothing???" *g*

Haha, right? I'm still slightly boggled that we manage it anyway. :D

(And of course, some people make the point of friction each other's self-sacrificial nature, but I feel like they support each other in their dedication to duty and keeping the peace/protecting people, so that doesn't work for me.)

That "it seems like they shouldn't be but they are" aspect is important to me and very often at the core of my shipping, I love that to pieces.

So what are the ways Weilan "shouldn't be"? I was thinking largely of the differences in their personal style (appearance, etiquette, communication) and social status, but of course there's more to it. What have you got? ;D :D :D

[trobadora]

And of course, some people make the point of friction each other's self-sacrificial nature, but I feel like they support each other in their dedication to duty and keeping the peace/protecting people, so that doesn't work for me.

Yeah, I'm 100% with you on that, that doesn't work for me at all. I mean, they have a bit of a "do as I say, don't do as I do" thing going on when it comes to taking care of each other vs. taking care of themselves, but even in that, they understand each other too well and are too much on the same page for it to be a real cause of friction (as opposed to a moment of frustration on occasion).

So what are the ways Weilan "shouldn't be"?

The big one is Dixingren vs. Haixingren, with all the conflict that the drama's plot is about - a different version of a very similar plot could easily have had them far more at odds, with politics coming between them, but that never happens in Guardian. There's the guy who said he'd arrest all Dixingren and the guy who IS Dixingren - that basic attitude that could easily colour everything and be much harder to overcome even if legally the Envoy is the exception to the rule, but instead it takes ZYL very little time to start sympathising with Dixingren. And one one of them is a massively overpowered ancient alien and the other is an ordinary modern human, and yet that theoretically big power imbalance that could have been an issue for both of them is never actually relevant to their relationship. And as you said, style, status, outward personality traits: one of them is a suit-wearing professor who seems very proper and respectable and old-fashioned, the other one wears ripped jeans, looks scruffy and disreputable and likes using boundary-crossing behaviour to disconcert people sometimes. AND YET. :D

[china_shop]

I mean, they have a bit of a "do as I say, don't do as I do" thing going on when it comes to taking care of each other vs. taking care of themselves, but even in that, they understand each other too well and are too much on the same page for it to be a real cause of friction (as opposed to a moment of frustration on occasion).

Yes, that's my feeling/preferred reading, too. <3

And I love your list! Yes to all of that. And this:

a different version of a very similar plot could easily have had them far more at odds, with politics coming between them, but that never happens in Guardian

made me think how they don't even wrangle over jurisdiction the way they could, because they're both aware of where the lines are, and ZYL trusts SW to assert himself if ZYL tramples over them too freely. :D

And as you said, style, status, outward personality traits: one of them is a suit-wearing professor who seems very proper and respectable and old-fashioned, the other one wears ripped jeans, looks scruffy and disreputable and likes using boundary-crossing behaviour to disconcert people sometimes. AND YET. :D

AND YET!!! :DDDDDDD

[trobadora]

they don't even wrangle over jurisdiction the way they could, because they're both aware of where the lines are, and ZYL trusts SW to assert himself if ZYL tramples over them too freely. :D

Yes! And that works because we've seen Shen Wei draw lines - that he's told Zhao Yunlan "no" outright, or walked away, or kept secrets no matter what. So we and Zhao Yunlan both know he can't be steamrollered into going along if he doesn't want to.

(ZYL still occasionally goes a bit too far for my tastes when it comes to talking over the Envoy, but there's a reason it's never a point of contention between them! Two different things entirely.)

[china_shop]

Yes! And that works because we've seen Shen Wei draw lines - that he's told Zhao Yunlan "no" outright, or walked away, or kept secrets no matter what. So we and Zhao Yunlan both know he can't be steamrollered into going along if he doesn't want to.

Yes, exactly! Shen Wei is perfectly capable of enforcing his boundaries when he wants to. That's really important. <3 <3 <3