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

[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