Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 8, 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 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!

Comments

[tehfanglyfish]

The taxi scene is just!!!! It just is. And poor Shen Wei - he is dealing with a lot there. If you think about it, before we get to this point, he's had to process Zhao Yunlan (Kunlun) not recognizing him, suspecting him, starting to move past that and flirt with him (hello cake scene!), and now he has to add in Zhao Yunlan being ill (so more worry) but also the close contact and AH! Shen Wei handles it well, I think, and he gets to be a caretaker.

Then he has to deal with the absolute disaster that is Zhao Yunlan's apartment. Honestly, I think Shen Wei's favorite detail about the apartment is that Zhao Yunlan is in it. Otherwise, he'd probably walk out and never return. (The stinky fridge scene is Shen Wei being tested in ways he'd never imagined.)

As for Zhao Yunlan's repeated attempts at recruiting Shen Wei, on the one hand Shen Wei is very knowledgeable about Dixingren (and Zhao Yunlan is suspecting he's Dixngren) plus he's helped out a lot on past cases. On the other hand, Shen Wei is hot and Zhao Yunlan is Zhao Yunlan (although I think by this point it's going deeper than just attraction.)

[trobadora]

Yeah, Shen Wei is going through a lot! Zhao Yunlan is still a long way from being Kunlun, and he's so suspicious, and he uses flirtation as a tool, and he just tried to gift him his own books, too! And then he discovers just what a disaster Zhao Yunlan is underneath it all. And yet he's also just 100% in on this version of Kunlun, even with all the differences! ♥ ♥ ♥

Shen Wei handles it well, I think, and he gets to be a caretaker.

Yes! Both in the taxi and in the flat! He's all "I CAN TAKE CARE OF YOU", and after that initial moment in the taxi, he proceeds to do just that without any further hesitating. :D

Honestly, I think Shen Wei's favorite detail about the apartment is that Zhao Yunlan is in it.

Haha, 100% truth. :D

although I think by this point it's going deeper than just attraction

Yeah, I think at this point Zhao Yunlan doesn't quite know what to do with it yet because he never expected to feel like that, but he's also 100% in already. :D

[china_shop]

And yet he's also just 100% in on this version of Kunlun, even with all the differences! ♥ ♥ ♥

I think you're right, but it's making me wonder -- when do you think that starts? Right from the beginning? (Have I asked you this before? /o\)

[trobadora]

IMO at first it's all about Kunlun, and then it gradually slides over into being about Zhao Yunlan, but there's no clear turning point, just a gradual slide. I do think this episode, with the disaster apartment, is when it becomes fully conscious and Shen Wei fully settles into entirely loving ZYL as ZYL.

[china_shop]

*nodnod* *hearts* <3

[china_shop]

The taxi scene is just!!!! It just is.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Honestly, I think Shen Wei's favorite detail about the apartment is that Zhao Yunlan is in it.

Hee! *high five*

although I think by this point it's going deeper than just attraction

100% agreed. This is a kind of "friendship"/intimacy/closeness ZYL has never known before, and he just wants more more more. :D

[facethestrange]

Always ALL THE LOVE for the taxi scene, yesssss, everything you said! ♡♡♡ It's one of my favorite scenes ever and I always love all your takes on it! :D ♡

"Honestly, I think Shen Wei's favorite detail about the apartment is that Zhao Yunlan is in it."

Lol, definitely, 100%! ♡♡♡ He gets to tuck him in and fold his clothes and watch him sleep, it more than makes up for the stinky fridge. xD