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sid_guardian2025-12-21 08:11 pm
trobadora) wrote in sid_guardian2025-12-21 08:11 pm
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Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 8, part 2
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 8, from 22:19:
Summary: In Dixing, the Regent sends a smoke message. In Haixing, Shen Wei pours his drunk mentor into car and then finds Zhao Yunlan ill on the kerb. He takes him home in a taxi (where he serves as a pillow), then discovers Zhao Yunlan's disaster apartment (featuring: wine bottles, dirty dishes, THE FRIDGE). During the night, Zhu Jiu finds the pillar with the Mountain-River Awl, but can't approach it. Meanwhile Shen Wei discovers that Zhao Yunlan asked Dixing about him and the Regent is ratting him out. He alters the message. In the morning, Zhao Yunlan wakes up to a tidy flat and Shen Wei sitting next to his bed. He tries to recruit Shen Wei for the SID again, but fails again. Wang Zheng sees a newspaper report about an earthquake in the Hanga mountains, passes out and regains her memory. Da Qing comes to tell Zhao Yunlan and finds Shen Wei there in the early morning. The Sundial begins to glow and resonate with the Awl; Lin Jing traces the source to the mountains.
Quote:
Shen Wei: "I suggest you eat regular meals. I don't want to find you on the road again."
Zhao Yunlan: "If you want to know whether I eat regular meals, why don't you just join ourSID, and you'll know?"
Shen Wei: "So your SID doesn't need a consultant, it needs a nanny?"
Detail:
I always notice that when Shen Wei takes off Zhao Yunlan's boots, he accidentally slips one of Zhao Yunlan's socks off his heel and doesn't pull it back up, argh! :p
Questions:
What's going through Shen Wei's head in the taxi? How is Zhao Yunlan feeling about Shen Wei taking him home? What's your favourite detail in Zhao Yunlan's flat? What's Shen Wei's favourite detail? Why do you think Zhao Yunlan keeps trying to recruit Shen Wei after Shen Wei has refused more than once? Do you think Shen Wei is seriously hoping to warn Zhao Yunlan away from leaving Dragon City? Why is Da Qing surprised to find Shen Wei with Zhao Yunlan in the morning? Why does Wang Zheng try to leave the SID? Any thoughts about how any of this compares to the novel? Or about parallels with other parts of the drama?
(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!)
For the next two weekends, we're taking a break for the holidays - time to catch up on the rewatch, if you've been meaning to! Regular posts will resume on 9 January.
Here is our schedule for the current batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!
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I think it's natural to assume. :-)
I don't think he blames him at all, but I do think the tight-lipped look at ZYL is separate from the anger at the Regent. It's another one of those "oh, I've just been slapped in the face by the fact that we're not there yet" moment, IMO.
Hmm, maybe. But Shen Wei wants him to be interested. He's gone out of his way to intrigue and befriend him, and moved in across the hall. Did he think ZYL wouldn't be curious and make enquiries? Especially once ZYL started his recruitment campaign. Maybe it's a tight-lipped "I should have seen this coming"? Or "I gave too much/the wrong things away"? Idk. Or... maybe you're 100% spot on, and I'm reading too much blame into the words.
OHHHH yes, you're totally right, it is! And this time ZYL just goes "ohh" and doesn't really call him on it beyond that, so perhaps that's why he thinks it'll work later.
Yes! And I think we've said before, it's modelling the kinds of evasions Shen Wei is good with, versus the fronting and evasiveness that he feels put a barrier between them.
I wonder if it's because (they think) Dixing is responding to a concrete query with an empty phrase and they think that means Dixing is hiding something from them?
Maybe! And they'd be right, except it's not Dixing, per se. Which makes me think it's interesting that Shen Wei didn't lie outright in the letter or just destroy it. Instead it's his typical kind of stubborn "I'm not going to answer this" silence in the form of a letter.
I think it's meant to be day - Da Qing is shielding Wang Zheng with an umbrella, while explaining energy bodies can't tolerate sunlight.
I thought he just said light, which always made me assume it was moonlight or starlight (but we know she can go outside at night, so that wasn't hugely sensical). Different subs. (It looks so night-like to me, lol.)
But that's an excellent point about the kitchen, and a great example for how to work with a different medium - you can't show "unused kitchen" the way you can "messy kitchen"!
Yes, very true! :D
Awww! I think his favourite detail is the slippers, and the fact that Zhao Yunlan has them. Just that tiny bit of domestic comfort. ♥
Aww! I wonder where SW dug them out from. I bet they weren't by the bed to start with.
But also, IMO part of why ZYL is coming on so strong is because he's emotionally invested, and to him Shen Wei accepting the consultancy is a stand-in for Shen Wei accepting him.
*nodnod* That's a great point. But do you think he'd ask that question twice in one conversation? Idk. *considers further* I think the recruitment is a game/flirting/come on[1], and it's testing SW, and it's reassurance[2], and he thinks SW really wants to join (or at least will cave) if ZYL can just find the right words/argument[3]. /pre-breakfast, hi
[1] so inappropriate! this is not what government appointments are for!!
[2] which maybe rings a bit hollow after SW found the letter from Dixing ;-p
[3] which, in the end, is true.
But she doesn't even consider asking the SID for help, she's all determined to go on her own ... (ALL of these people are like that, seriously!!!)
I think she's expecting to sacrifice herself (maybe enpillar herself to be with Sang Zan?), and she doesn't want them to stop her.
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Yeah, I don't think there's any blame in it at all. And he does want ZYL to be interested. and he has been enjoying their cat-and-mouse game! But I think that night, after getting to properly look beneath the mask for the first time, this is a reminder that they are still at the cat-and-mouse stage.
And I think we've said before, it's modelling the kinds of evasions Shen Wei is good with, versus the fronting and evasiveness that he feels put a barrier between them.
Yes, exactly! So much love. ♥
Instead it's his typical kind of stubborn "I'm not going to answer this" silence in the form of a letter.
AHHHHH I love how you put that, it's so true and I never thought of it in those terms before!
I thought he just said light, which always made me assume it was moonlight or starlight (but we know she can go outside at night, so that wasn't hugely sensical). Different subs. (It looks so night-like to me, lol.)
You're right, it does say light! But we know that for example electric lights do her no harm whatsoever, and when they're in the mountains she goes outside at night without any protection, and that's no issue either. So I do think it has to be sunlight in particular.
And honestly, it just doesn't look at like night to me, just a flashback filter.
Aww! I wonder where SW dug them out from. I bet they weren't by the bed to start with.
I think I see one of them with the empty bottles next to the bed?
I think the recruitment is a game/flirting/come on[1], and it's testing SW, and it's reassurance[2], and he thinks SW really wants to join (or at least will cave) if ZYL can just find the right words/argument[3].
Yes, that all sounds right to me! And good point about #3 being true in the end.
/pre-breakfast, hi
Hi! ♥
I think she's expecting to sacrifice herself (maybe enpillar herself to be with Sang Zan?), and she doesn't want them to stop her.
Yeah. I just think it's really interesting that she immediately jumps to this, no hesitation!
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Yes, good point. That makes sense. *pets Shen Wei*
So I do think it has to be sunlight in particular.
The lack of shadows is so confusing. The trees in the background have shadows, but for everything else, the lighting is too diffuse. I think I'll just keep my wrong headcanon. I like the idea of ZYL and DQ hiking under the stars. ;-p
I think I see one of them with the empty bottles next to the bed?
Ah, okay. Thanks! (I am still intermittently distracted by the fact they wear outdoor shoes in their homes, lol.)
Yes, that all sounds right to me! And good point about #3 being true in the end.
\o/!! And now I think about it, #3 only comes true after a) the Envoy reveal, b) Zhu Jiu has escalated his attacks on the SID, c) SW's attempts to work alone have led to a fatality, and d) ZYL specifically divorces the recruitment from the flirting and appeals to their shared values instead. SW is definitely not in the right headspace to join hands with the SID just yet.
Yeah. I just think it's really interesting that she immediately jumps to this, no hesitation!
True! I guess living as Wang Zheng for however long hasn't given her a strong enough survival instinct to overcome her deep-seated guilt. :-(
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Yeah, all excellent points! Shen Wei absolutely isn't there yet, he'll keep trying to work alone for as long as he can possibly manage! And ZYL isn't there yet either, still trying to flirt his way into it. I love them and their arcs so much. ♥ ♥ ♥
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And oh, so maybe ZYL keeps asking not because he expects SW to change his mind right now, but to show that he won't consider SW's no as final; the door is still open if SW decides he wants to join later. Something like that?
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