Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 9, 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 9, from 22:52:

Summary: Everyone arrives at Qingxi village. Outside the guesthouse, Xiao-Guo finds a skull, and Wang Zheng explains her tribe's customs, disguised as rumours she's heard. A villager in a mask and wig tries to scare them away; the village head explains that a guard was murdered two days ago and everyone's wary of outsiders. He takes Zhao Yunlan and Zhu Hong to the crime scene. They see a light and explore further, and Zhao Yunlan reveals he has the Sundial with him when it starts resonating. Zhu Jiu tells the Hanga tribesmen to kill Wang Zheng, blaming her for their being trapped by the Awl, and they attack the guesthouse. Wang Zheng tries to sacrifice herself, but no one will let her. Zhao Yunlan and Zhu Hong arrive, and she has to take the gun from him and fire herself because he's paralysed by flashbacks of his mother's death. At night, Wang Zheng leaves on her own and goes into the mountain. Zhu Jiu is pleased - it's all going according to his plan.



Quote:

Zhao Yunlan to Wang Zheng: "See, what do I keep telling you? Don't keep dieting all the time, being skinny isn't good for you!"

Detail:

This episode gives us an update for who was in which car when! I'll put all of it here for completeness' sake, even though it includes stuff from the first half of the episode:

1st leg (Dragon City to car breakdown):

• Zhao Yunlan's jeep: Zhao Yunlan (driving), Da Qing (passenger seat), Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong in the back
• Other SID car: Chu Shuzhi (driving), Lin Jing (passenger seat), Guo Changcheng in the back
• University group car: not shown, but presumably Xiao-Quan driving since he assumes he'll drive after the breakdown

2nd leg (car breakdown to checkpoint):

• Zhao Yunlan's jeep: Lin Jing (driving), Zhu Hong (passenger seat), Wang Zheng and Guo Changcheng in the back
• Other SID car: not seen, but must be Chu Shuzhi and Da Qing
• University group car: Zhao Yunlan (driving), Shen Wei (passenger seat), Jiajia and Xiao Quan in the back

3rd leg (checkpoint to Qingxi village):

• Zhao Yunlan's jeep: Chu Shuzhi, Guo Changcheng, Zhu Hong, Wang Zheng (shown waiting at Qingxi village when the other two cars arrive)
• University group car: until the jacket-sharing stop, Lin Jing (driving), Jiajia (passenger seat), Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan in the back. After the stop, not shown. (We do see all of the above plus the village head after they got out, but that's not conclusive.)
• Other SID car: not shown, though it arrives behind the university car, and there's a shot with a blurry Da Qing in the background, outside on the passenger side. (If the village head did ride with all the others, the third car was Da Qing and Xiao-Quan only, and maybe Xiao-Quan got to actually drive for this leg! *g*)

Questions: What's your favourite bit in this half-episode? Which SID character gets the best moment? When Shen Wei questions Wang Zheng, how much does he already know about her? Would you like to go on a field trip with Shen Wei, even though he might end up hypnotising you? Do you sympathise with the villagers? Is speechifying Zhu Jiu's greatest talent? If you've read the novel, any thoughts on about how the drama compares?

(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!)

Here is our schedule for the current batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!

Comments

[china_shop]

Great post! <3 <3 <3 I love that you chose the mountain village for your screencap. :D

I always forget how much happens in this half-episode. Intuitively, I feel like the journey takes up about 2/3rds or 3/4 of the ep, and the arrival/settling in is just a coda, but there's a lot going on here. A few things I noticed:

• On top of the Head Villager giving Jiajia and Lin Jing a fright on the way there, there are three more "ghost" attacks in this half episode: 1) the fake ghosts, 2) the real ghost army, and 3) unbeknownst to anyone, Wang Zheng drugging everyone. The third -- the inside job/sneak attack -- is the only one that gets past the SID's defences.

• I always love Zhu Hong casting shade at Shen Wei for being bad luck for them. Confusing correlation and causality. ;-p

• Shen Wei playing the earnest young professor role. It must be such a weight off his mind to know that Chu Shuzhi is there to competently keep everyone safe.

• Da Qing giving ZYL grief for being considerate of Shen Wei et al, hee! :D And lol at ZYL saying how the academics would get sick from sleeping outside when it's ZYL who's been sneezing his way up the mountain. ;-p

• Guo Changcheng's reaction to the skull seems disproportionate in context, but actually is pretty normal? Everyone else is way too chill about the human remains just, like, strewn about. ;-p

• I love the expression "just put your heart in your stomach." It's so different from English expressions like "his stomach dropped". :D

• During the fake ghost attack, poor Shen Wei can't do anything! I do love Zhao Yunlan unhesitatingly running out and grabbing the guy. He is fearless! (Until he takes out his gun later, anyway.)

• So Zhu Jiu got the ghost army out, leaving Sang Zan in the pillar with the soldiers' relatives (as hostages). I wonder what it's like for Sang Zan to have half the village suddenly gone.

• The village head takes them to the murder scene, and ZYL and Zhu Hong both immediately crouch down and examine the soil, lol. And then ZYL reveals he's brought the Sundial. ("If the Dixingren get it first, the consequences are unimaginable." Is he still not distinguishing between hostile Dixingren and regular everyday ones?) And Zhu Hong is so enjoying being in ZYL's confidence, working with him. (I wonder why he took her? Leaving CSZ and Da Qing to protect the others?)

• Guo Changcheng's fear stick fails him, with the ghost army.

• Zhu Jiu tells the ghost army, "There's no hatred without cause," and I make a buzzer noise. (I mean, in this case, sure. But in general?)

• Lin Jing's hero moment! Insisting Wang Zheng stay safe and going outside to face the ghost army with his smoke grenade or whatever it is. <3 And awwww, ZYL's flashbacks!! These are made even more powerful by the contrast with his bravery earlier.

• Last week, I thought Zhu Jiu had just found the Youchu, but here he's saying, "I helped you escape." Does he just mean from the caves?

• At night, when Wang Zheng goes into the mountains, there's a rooster crow. I guess that means it's actually very early morning?

• I have two fics set during this half ep, and one is one of my favourites: an atmospheric little pre-Weilan interlude after everyone's gone to bed. The other is about ZYL leaving a note in the pocket of his jacket. :D

Zhao Yunlan to Wang Zheng: "See, what do I keep telling you? Don't keep dieting all the time, being skinny isn't good for you!"

Hee! I love Zhu Hong's smirk at that. She loves being in on the joke.

What's your favourite bit in this half-episode?

Shen Wei being trapped in his mild-mannered professor persona. :-)

Which SID character gets the best moment?

Chu Shuzhi, all competence, all the time. And Zhu Hong being a leather-pants-wearing action hero.

When Shen Wei questions Wang Zheng, how much does he already know about her?

I don't know. I hadn't thought about it...

Would you like to go on a field trip with Shen Wei, even though he might end up hypnotising you?

LOL! No, I'll stay home in my own bed, thanks.

Do you sympathise with the villagers?

I can see where they're coming from, but I mean, the first rule of hospitality is don't try to terrorise your guests. They should have used their words. ;-p

Is speechifying Zhu Jiu's greatest talent?

No, it's second to accessorising. ;D

[trobadora]

On top of the Head Villager giving Jiajia and Lin Jing a fright on the way there, there are three more "ghost" attacks

Oh yeah, that's true! Lots of "ghosts" here. And excellent point about the inside job being the only one that works on them.

And lol at ZYL saying how the academics would get sick from sleeping outside when it's ZYL who's been sneezing his way up the mountain. ;-p

RIGHT??????

I love the expression "just put your heart in your stomach." It's so different from English expressions like "his stomach dropped". :D

I didn't notice that, it's not in Solo's subs, but you're right, it's very charming!

Is he still not distinguishing between hostile Dixingren and regular everyday ones?

Yeah, definitely sounds that way! He's not entirely ditched old habits yet.

And Zhu Hong is so enjoying being in ZYL's confidence, working with him. (I wonder why he took her? Leaving CSZ and Da Qing to protect the others?)

Yeah, she loves it! And I agree that that's his reasoning, presumably.

Last week, I thought Zhu Jiu had just found the Youchu, but here he's saying, "I helped you escape." Does he just mean from the caves?

Yes, he discovered they were in the caves, and then he let them out. - They must have been trapped in the caves, or otherwise there would have been youchu about all this time, and the villagers would have blamed the murder of the guard on the "monsters" known to be around. Instead it seems to have been a very peaceful place until Zhu Jiu found them!

At night, when Wang Zheng goes into the mountains, there's a rooster crow. I guess that means it's actually very early morning?

Yeah, I noticed that too! I guess it must be early, or this is a cock with insomnia. *g*

LOL! No, I'll stay home in my own bed, thanks.

Haha, same here, tbh.

No, it's second to accessorising. ;D

LOLOLOL!

[china_shop]

> > And lol at ZYL saying how the academics would get sick from sleeping outside when it's ZYL who's been sneezing his way up the mountain. ;-p
>
> RIGHT??????

And I don't even think it's lack of self-awareness, exactly. I think he just doesn't take his own physical state into account in any of his calculations. /o\

> > And Zhu Hong is so enjoying being in ZYL's confidence, working with him. (I wonder why he took her? Leaving CSZ and Da Qing to protect the others?)
>
> Yeah, she loves it! And I agree that that's his reasoning, presumably.

Plus I guess at this stage they don't know there's any real danger.

> They must have been trapped in the caves, or otherwise there would have been youchu about all this time, and the villagers would have blamed the murder of the guard on the "monsters" known to be around. Instead it seems to have been a very peaceful place until Zhu Jiu found them!

Oh, yes, good point! (I hope the village goes back to being peaceful after all this! ;-p)

[trobadora]

And I don't even think it's lack of self-awareness, exactly. I think he just doesn't take his own physical state into account in any of his calculations. /o\

Yeah, that sounds about right.