Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 8, 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 8, up to 22:19

Summary
The SID enthusiastically welcomes Guo Changcheng as an official employee, and Lin Jing gives him the fear baton. ♥ Zhao Yunlan arranges to buy some old books and then calls Shen Wei to offer them as a gift, while Zhu Hong and Da Qing gossip about his black-heartedness and obsession with Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing meet a student in the street to buy the books, then sit around and talk about recruiting Shen Wei to the SID. Zhao Yunlan is openly smitten. ♥ But presenting the gift to Shen Wei does not go as planned: Zhao Yunlan gives a fake provenance for the books, Shen Wei leaves, and Zhao Yunlan slinks off to recover his dignity in private drink tea and talk about new SID premises. A mysterious letter gives Wang Zheng flashbacks. Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi run into Ding Dun in the street juuuust before receiving an APB about him. The Envoy comes to the SID to request help tracking him down, but Da Qing is hesitant to proceed without their fearless leader. Chu Shuzhi sets to work anyway and takes Changcheng with him. Meanwhile, Zhu Jiu murders Ding Dun, whose body the others find and take back to the SID? (Or pass on to the Envoy?) On the university campus that night, Shen Wei confides in Ying Chun while wearing an ascot. Zhu Jiu shows up, and fisticuffs ensue (Ying Chun helps Shen Wei), but Zhu Jiu escapes. Ying Chun points out the dangers in Shen Wei's plan to go after a missing item, but Shen Wei is resolved.



Quote
Lin Jing: This is my newest invention. It can transform fear into electricity. The more fear, the more electricity. In other words, I made it especially as the perfect, most powerful weapon you could have.
Guo Changcheng: E...electricity? I'm also afraid of electricity.

Detail
When Zhao Yunlan calls Shen Wei about the old books, the original subs say, "What a coincidence! I have a lot of old books," and the VIKI subs say, "You are so lucky as I have some in my home!" while Solo's subs have "As it happens, regarding this, the two of us were brought together by fate." The last is closest to the Chinese subs: 巧了 咱俩在这个事上 太有缘了 ("What a coincidence! We're so destined to meet on this matter." according to Google Translate).

Poll #33955 Subtitles

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

View Respondents

Which subtitles are you using? (Tick all that apply.)

View Answers

original fansubs
3 (33.3%)

Solo's subs
8 (88.9%)

VIKI subs
2 (22.2%)

Chinese hard subs
3 (33.3%)

other
2 (22.2%)

Questions
Do you have a stand-out favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 8? Is everyone genuinely glad to have Guo Changcheng onboard? Does Shen Wei as the Envoy already have a red stamp, and if so, when/how did he get it? On a scale of 1 to 10, how smitten is Zhao Yunlan with Shen Wei? On a scale of 1 to 10, how sympathetic is Da Qing to this smittenness? Who sends the APB on Ding Dun? (Presumably not the Envoy!) How do you feel about ascots? How great is the fight with Zhu Jiu?

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]

I've never noticed before that in the opening it looks like Xiao-Guo is sitting on ZYL's legs, hee!

LOLOLOL!

The red stamp! I always feel they should do more with this.

Yes, same here!

Oh hey, this is ZYL's third time getting flustered to the point of speechlessness in two episodes. HE IS SO SMITTEN!!

And it's so delightful! :D

Lao-Li is hapless with the letter. I'm always struck by how Zhu Jiu's letter ploy relies on a string of coincidences.

Yeah, I have no idea how Zhu Jiu intended to get it back! It only gets thrown out by accident after all.

Anyway, in the VIKI subs, Changcheng tells CSZ, "Thanks for helping me move my stuff." Is he moving? Do official SID employees get government housing?? IS THERE A SID DORM?!? *wants all the fic* :D :D :D :D :D

Haha, I have no idea! The Chinese just says 搬东西, "move stuff", but one has to assume it's GCC's stuff ...

And official housing/something dorm-adjacent would be very interesting, you could do a lot with it!

I don't think I ever knew that Lin Jing talks about the detector having a "maximum power limit."

Haha, high five! I just found that too, and I definitely never saw it before. So fascinating! (And good point that that can only apply to the detector, not the shield, since the shield is keeping Ye Zun out.)

Incidentally, when they're in the street, there's some writing on one of the windows. It's reversed, so I flipped it:

It does seem to be a Casablanca quote! dragoncityinteriordesign had a post on it.

I got so hung up for so long on GCC piggybacking Ding Dun's dead body, but eventually I realised why.

Thanks for linking that! Yeah, that still makes a lot of sense. :D

Zhu Jiu says to departing departed!Ding Dun, "Sorry, but I will give you a grand offering when I get the Mountain-River Awl."

I'm not seeing the "offering" in the Chinese. He says, 委屈你了 等我拿到山河锥 我会记你一份大功 - I've wronged, you, wait until I get the Mountain-River Awl, I will remember your great service. (Which is basically what the original subs and Solo's have.)

VIKI: I had lost my loved one once, and I will not suffer from it twice. (!!!!! <3 <3 <3 Though honestly, I'm not sure if he's talking about losing Ye Zun or losing ZYL here. Thoughts?)

I'm not seeing that in the Chinese either. As best I can render it literally:

可是我不试试 我怎么能甘心呢 - But if I don't try, how can I be content?
我已经失去过了一次 我绝对不想再体验一次那样的痛苦 - I already lost [something/someone] once, I absolutely don't want to experience that pain again.

There is no direct object, so what or whom he lost isn't mentioned at all. I'm not sure if it's about Kunlun, tbh - if only because he's been reunited with him already, so I think in retrospect that pain isn't the worst since it's temporary. Whereas that's emphatically not the case for Ye Zun.

[china_shop]

The red stamp: you'd think Zhu Jiu would want to get his hands on it!

Haha, I have no idea! The Chinese just says 搬东西, "move stuff", but one has to assume it's GCC's stuff ...

:D :D :D :D :D

[tumblr.com profile] dragoncityinteriordesign had a post on it.

LOL, thanks! <3

I'm not seeing the "offering" in the Chinese. He says, 委屈你了 等我拿到山河锥 我会记你一份大功 - I've wronged, you, wait until I get the Mountain-River Awl, I will remember your great service. (Which is basically what the original subs and Solo's have.)

Ahh, okay. So it's not a clue to Ding Dun coming back...

There is no direct object, so what or whom he lost isn't mentioned at all. I'm not sure if it's about Kunlun, tbh - if only because he's been reunited with him already, so I think in retrospect that pain isn't the worst since it's temporary. Whereas that's emphatically not the case for Ye Zun.

Yes, that's what I was thinking. Poor Shen Wei (and poor Ye Zun)!

[trobadora]

So it's not a clue to Ding Dun coming back...

Alas! That would have been so neat.

[salamandras]

I love reading about the translations, even though I have nothing to contribute. :) Super neat!

[trobadora]

Glad that it's interesting to others too! :D