Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 11, 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 11, from 22:22:

Summary: The SID is back in Dragon City, though Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi brought back diarrhoea and Zhao Yunlan has been brooding ever since. Zhao Yunlan is going over every clue he caught, and some he didn't at the time, about Shen Wei and the Envoy. He hasn't contacted Shen Wei since they came back from the mountains. When Da Qing comes to bring him out of his brooding, he asks him about the Envoy too, but Da Qing doesn't know much.

At a lab, a sonic experiment is carried out and vaporises a fish. The lab's boss has brought his stepdaughter and wants her to play the violin; one of the scientists tries to protect her, and is fired for his troubles. Later that evening, the lab's boss and the two remaining scientists are attacked by sonic waves. And the SID has a new case: what appears to be a triple suicide. Two people are missing: Zheng Yi, the stepdaughter, and Tan Xiao, the fired lab worker. And it turns out that one of the victims' last phone call was to Shen Wei.

Meanwhile, Zhu Hong and Guo Changcheng are sent to the Snake Tribe to ask about the origins of the Hallows, but Fourth Uncle isn't keen on the subject. He drugs Zhu Hong.



Quote:

Zhao Yunlan: "Do you think it's possible the Black-Cloaked Envoy actually stays in the human world, and even uses a human face?"

Da Qing: "Don't you think you're talking nonsense? Dixing has the Regent and the Dijun as administrators, but the Black-Cloaked Envoy as a major decision maker and commander of Dixingren is of pivotal importance. Why would he come up here? To see his lover?"

Zhao Yunlan: "But going by his appearance, he doesn't look like someone who has a lover."

Detail:

When Da Qing talks about Dixing powers that could make someone commit suicide, he says they don't know through what medium that power was activated - setting up a major element not just for this case (Zheng Yi vs. Zhao Yunlan's earplugs) but also for the eventual defeat of a major opponent (Zhu Jiu vs. blackout).

Questions:

What's your favourite bit in this half-episode? Or your favourite clip from Zhao Yunlan's Shen Wei/Envoy flashback sequence? The sonic lab: bad work environment or worst work environment? Do you think Chu Shuzhi has permission to read Guo Changcheng's diary? When Zhao Yunlan asks Da Qing if the Envoy might actually live in the human world, does he actually still have doubts? What is it he's finding so hard to wrap his mind around? How does this post-reveal sequence compare to the novel? What does he mean when he says the Envoy doesn't look like someone who has a lover? What's going through his head when Shen Wei answers the phone? How much does Fourth Uncle actually know about the Hallows, and where does he know it from?

(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 next batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!

Comments

[china_shop]

(I very much hope Lin Jing only kept it because he still thinks the whole thing is hilarious. Otherwise, ick.)

Riiiight? /o\ /o\ /o\

Why is Zheng Yi even there at night?

Presumably because Zheng Zhongyuan likes to use her as a prop/show her off? I guess that's also why she's in the dress in front of the others, but then has changed back into jeans when they're on their own and leaving.

I guess so. It feels weird, because asking her to play to celebrate their success suggests that he already knew the experiment would be a success... but everyone's reactions during the experiment seemed more uncertain?

Seriously! I do wonder about that - what instilled that self-control in her? She doesn't speak at all, people think she's mute, presumably because she couldn't control her powers initially? But since Zheng Zhongyuan doesn't seem to know about her powers, does that mean she manifested powers as a very little child, and her mother instilled that self-control in her before she ever met Zheng Zhongyuan? Or was she already mute due to trauma when her powers manifested, and the two aren't actually as connected as they seem?

Do we know he didn't know? I wondered if he threatened her into staying mute, like, "I'm the only one who will care for you and protect you, so you have to stay quiet or you'll be completely alone and abandoned"? (Ugh, this whole this is so horrible.)

I really don't think he'd be reading it like this (when he had to delberately bring it along) if he wasn't interested. He does care, aw!

I can imagine him looking for gossip material or something, idk. But I like the idea that he cares -- even after GCC zapped him. *g*

Xiao-Guo and Lao-Chu can't be doing too badly, or neither of them would be going anywhere, LOL. Maybe they're already mostly better by this point?

I think they must be. Otherwise, surely GCC wouldn't be drinking.

Either a Snake in snake form getting right into his face, or a half-transformed Snake getting right into his face. *g*

*nodnod* That makes sense.

Yeah, she definitely doesn't want to spread the info around. And Fourth Uncle does get more insistent about getting her away from the SID the more things keep happening; she presumably knows to expect that.

An on-going tension between them. *pets them both*

Yep, 长相 is appearance/looks! I do think he means the Envoy's larger-than-life above-mere-mortals outward appearance.

Yeah, that probably makes the most sense.

> He knows whatever the Flower Historians recorded and passed down from the ancient war. /headcanon
Flower, not Snake?

I feel like plants are generally longer-lived than animals, so in my head, most of the Yashou historians are Flower Tribe. That's just me, though.

[trobadora]

It feels weird, because asking her to play to celebrate their success suggests that he already knew the experiment would be a success... but everyone's reactions during the experiment seemed more uncertain?

Yeah, true. Though I can see him being the type to prepare for success anyway, and then if it doesn't work, take it out on the girl. :(

Do we know he didn't know? I wondered if he threatened her into staying mute, like, "I'm the only one who will care for you and protect you, so you have to stay quiet or you'll be completely alone and abandoned"?

Idk, I guess that's theoretically possible, but everything we see of them just doesn't give me the impression that he knows, it doesn't feel right to me.

I feel like plants are generally longer-lived than animals, so in my head, most of the Yashou historians are Flower Tribe.

Oh, interesting headcanon!

[china_shop]

Though I can see him being the type to prepare for success anyway, and then if it doesn't work, take it out on the girl. :(

/o\ /o\ /o\

ETA: I've just started ep 12, and it occurred to me that maybe he pursued his research because Zheng Yi's mother had a related power, and that's how they met. She might have been the one who told him Zheng Yi is mute? Otherwise it seems a huge coincidence that his research and her power are so similar, you know?

[trobadora]

That's a good point! We really know nothing about Zheng Yi's mother, but that might make sense, yeah.

Though I was never sure how much of the research is actually Zheng Zhongyuan's, and how much is Tan Xiao's. There are two reasons in particular:

1) Zheng Zhongyuan being all "you didn't think you were important to this, did you? DID YOU?" at Tan Xiao makes me think he was in fact very important to their success, and

2) when Tan Xiao breaks into the SID to steal the Hallows, he has a sonic device of his own (creating the false impression that he's Dixingren and using a power), and it doesn't look to me like the lab would have created such a thing, since they were just having their first success with the tech. So Tan Xiao must have macgyvered it himself, which requires a lot of expertise.

[china_shop]

We know it's Zheng Zhongyuan's field, too, but yeah, Tan Xiao's contribution is clearly more than they're giving him credit for. Great points, especially #2.

New scenario: Zheng Yi's mother (or caregiver) sought ZZY out, hoping he can help with a "cure" for her power, but she doesn't tell ZZY that her daughter has inherited it. Rather than helping them, he's inspired to go down the path of using sonic waves as weapons... ?

[trobadora]

Ooh, yes, I like the idea that her mother met Zheng Zhongyuan because she was looking for help and it's his field! And he doesn't know her daughter inherited it, and took his research into a different direction, possibly only after she died. (Maybe a parallel to Zhao Xinci, not handling the death of his wife well, and not dealing well with the surviving child? Worse, of course, with the physical abuse and all, but still.)

Oh, another question: when exactly does Tan Xiao find out about Zheng Yi's power, do we know that? I don't remember, except that it looks like he already knows when we meet them. I was wondering if learning about her power could have inspired him, sonic research-wise.

[china_shop]

I was wondering if learning about her power could have inspired him, sonic research-wise.

Maybe? He must have already been working at the sonic lab when he met her, though. No idea how he'd have found out -- I guess she might have told him? (She can wander around saying "Tan Xiao, Tan Xiao" pitifully, so it's not like every word out of her mouth is dangerous.)

(Maybe a parallel to Zhao Xinci, not handling the death of his wife well, and not dealing well with the surviving child? Worse, of course, with the physical abuse and all, but still.)

Oh no! I'm a bit DNW about the child abuse part being a parallel to ZYL (but it's not implausible!!). I feel like ZXC is within the conventional parameters of strict, disciplinarian parents, and ZZY goes well beyond that. Idk.

[trobadora]

He must have already been working at the sonic lab when he met her, though.

Yeah, agreed.

No idea how he'd have found out -- I guess she might have told him? (She can wander around saying "Tan Xiao, Tan Xiao" pitifully, so it's not like every word out of her mouth is dangerous.)

True! That would work. Or I was thinking maybe she decided to trust him enough she wanted to let him know she's not actually mute, and then she accidentally used her power. Because she probably didn't have great control - she didn't speak, so she didn't get practice in not using it.

I feel like ZXC is within the conventional parameters of strict, disciplinarian parents, and ZZY goes well beyond that.

Oh yes, absolutely! It would be a sort of dark mirror.

[china_shop]

Or I was thinking maybe she decided to trust him enough she wanted to let him know she's not actually mute, and then she accidentally used her power. Because she probably didn't have great control - she didn't speak, so she didn't get practice in not using it.

Oooh, that would be a great scenario, especially when he then loved her anyway! <3 <3 <3

[trobadora]

Yes! I really love that sort of thing. :D