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

[facethestrange]

"It's like that little headshake of disbelief when Zhao Yunlan says the liniment-putting-on doesn't hurt, sort of a "ZYL, why are you like this?!? *hearts*""

Awwww, yes! ♡♡♡ 'There's something wrong with you. /affectionate' :D :D (And then Shen Wei in YOHE says that he's fine and Zhao Yunlan has the same reaction, lmao.)

"Ye-es, but he does kind of trick SW into taking the books, doesn't he? Shoves them into his arms, spins a line, and drives off before Shen Wei can object? *noogies him*"

Lol, you're so right, I re-read it now, and in the first scene he not only does that but also does lie about the origin of the books (though not quite as dramatically as the grandfather story - he says that his friend is emigrating and can't take them, and that's only after SW says that they're too expensive), so he's definitely a total mess in the novel too! xD :D For some reason I mostly remembered the second scene where Shen Wei comes to the restaurant for their date just to reject him and give back the books, and Zhao Yunlan tells Shen Wei that he can do anything he wants with the books, and fully accepts the rejection. (And then spirals into days of drinking and not eating.)

Now I'm loving that the drama took the lie and made it more dramatic and much more of a point (it was so much not a point that I entirely forgot about it! xD), and had Shen Wei immediately figure it out (making it Shen Wei's books was a genius move in itself! :D), and made it the reason for the rejection!

"I always think it's both. Ot1h, ZYL is saying, "I didn't *buy* you a present. I just had these lying around. Nothing to see here!" but otoh, he claims they're family heirlooms!! Which makes them *more* personal and precious (or would, if it were true)."

Heeee yes, it's definitely both, but they're mutually exclusive, so it only adds to how much of a chaotic gremlin he is. :D :D (And now that I re-read that scene, this comes from the novel too - ZYL totally didn't buy SW an expensive gift, his friend just wants these precious books to be appreciated and wouldn't give them to just anyone. :D Logic, what logic. xD :D)

"I absolutely love how dorky he is about it all. It's my favourite thing!! He has ~~ALL THESE FEELINGS~~ and no coherent, graceful way to let them out, lol."

Yessss OMG this, he's just so incredibly bad at feelings and has absolutely no idea what to do with them, but he's sure FEELING THEM, very strongly. :D :D ♡♡♡

[china_shop]

(And then spirals into days of drinking and not eating.)

Ahh, the drama gastritis is totally because of the failed book con. (I mean, I already thought that, but this seems conclusive. :D)

making it Shen Wei's books was a genius move in itself! :D

LOL, yes!! It's such a hilarious disaster!! Poor ZYL. *noogies him forever* (And now I wonder if being struck speechless three times was a deliberate rule-of-three things, too. :D)

[facethestrange]

"Ahh, the drama gastritis is totally because of the failed book con. (I mean, I already thought that, but this seems conclusive. :D)"

It is very conclusive, yes. :D Many random things got changed from the novel version of these episodes, but 'Zhao Yunlan can't cope specifically because Shen Wei has rejected him' is in the right order and everything, even if it's not spelled out.

"(And now I wonder if being struck speechless three times was a deliberate rule-of-three things, too. :D)"

Oooh! :D It doesn't happen anymore after that? xD

[china_shop]

but 'Zhao Yunlan can't cope specifically because Shen Wei has rejected him' is in the right order and everything, even if it's not spelled out.

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Oooh! :D It doesn't happen anymore after that? xD

Not that I remember, but I'll be keeping an eye out. :D

[trobadora]

It is very conclusive, yes. :D Many random things got changed from the novel version of these episodes, but 'Zhao Yunlan can't cope specifically because Shen Wei has rejected him' is in the right order and everything, even if it's not spelled out.

The fun part is that this is only in the official translation of the novel/whatever Chinese version it's based on; the fan translation/JJWXC version is quite different! I just wrote it up here, and it's really amazing how different they are and how much closer to the drama the official translation is!

[facethestrange]

Thank you sooo much for the write-up and for letting me know! ♡♡♡

[trobadora]

Ahh, the drama gastritis is totally because of the failed book con. (I mean, I already thought that, but this seems conclusive. :D)

Oh, it totally is! But I'm never sure if it actually came from the novel, or if it's the other way round. Do you remember? This is one of the places where the original web version of the novel (the JJWXC version) and the version the official translation is based on (some print edition, presumably) diverge considerably. And I always wonder if the drama writers worked with both version and incorporated whatever they liked better from each, or if that print version didn't come until later and priest was inspired by the drama when making some of the edits.

For reference, here are the differences between the version. ZYL buys the books and does the hit-and-run gift-giving in both versions, making a date with SW without giving SW the opportunity to either agree or refuse. Then things diverge:

JJWXC version/fan translation:

• Before the planned date can happen, ZYL goes drinking and gets hung over for no particular reason (it seems to be just something he does on weekends)
• He's hungry and goes out for food, and runs into SW getting mugged. ZYL "saves" SW.
• After, they go out for food together, and ZYL gets a gastritis attack. SW takes him home.

Official translation:

• They actually have their restaurant date; SW turns ZYL down.
• ZYL sulks, drinks, doesn't eat, and gets gastritis.
• Going out for meds and food, ZYL runs into SW getting mugged. ZYL "saves" SW, and they part.
• Immediately after, SW runs into ZYL again, who's having a severer gastritis attack. He takes ZYL home.

The version in the official translation is quite a bit stronger, much more grounded in characterisation - and much closer to the drama!

[china_shop]

Oh, that's right! I'd forgotten that. Thanks for laying it all out again. <3 <3 <3

[facethestrange]

Ahhh, thank you so much for writing this up! ♡♡♡

I was so curious about the differences when you first said that, but I didn't end up trying to dig though the discussion posts (this was before I started participating in the readalong) - I appreciate the summary so much! ♡♡♡ And wow, that's fascinating, and it makes so much more sense after the changes (Zhao Yunlan's self-destructiveness is really important in this scene imo; drinking like this for no reason, after he just scored his dream date, doesn't really follow? and Shen Wei not rejecting him at all is pretty off too in the novel context), and it is so much closer to the drama, and now I'm even more curious which one came first. :D

Since the drama doesn't spell out the reason why Zhao Yunlan is acting like that, I'd say maybe they worked with both texts? But then again it doesn't need to be spelled out to be an inspiration to make ZYL beat himself up in the novel, so in the end idk, but it's all super cool either way! :D

[trobadora]

It's such a fascinating difference, yeah! Totally agreed that it makes much more sense in the later version. I was so surprised to discover that originally his drinking and getting hung over was just a random weekend activity with no character relevance beyond him generally being a mess. It's so much better when it's tied into his relationship with Shen Wei.

True that the drama doesn't spell it out - that could mean they were referencing that version of the novel! Damn, I really wish I knew which version(s) the drama writers had/when all these different versions were published!

ETA: The drama also has SW finding ZYL with a gastritis attack, which isn't in the original version of the novel, so thinking on it, yeah, they must have had that version too!

[trobadora]

Now I'm loving that the drama took the lie and made it more dramatic and much more of a point (it was so much not a point that I entirely forgot about it! xD), and had Shen Wei immediately figure it out (making it Shen Wei's books was a genius move in itself! :D), and made it the reason for the rejection!

Ooh yes! Great catch! I really love everything the drama did with it, it's so good. :D