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]

Great post! Huge LOL at your choice of screencap. ;D

• It's kind of hilarious how clueless Guo Changcheng is about the sex doll, even now. (I wonder if Lin Jing actually uses it? That seems pretty skeevy, given its previous use.)

• Aww, everyone's out of sorts.

• Sonic lab fish torture scene. /o\ (Why is Zheng Yi even there at night? And also, I wonder if Zheng Yi ever goes back to playing the violin, when she's older...) (Weirdly, she's wearing different clothes in the lab (a dress) versus when they're leaving the building (jeans).) (Also, given what we learn about her step-dad later, it's impressive that Zheng Yi has never previously used her power to protect herself. Ugh.)

• Wang Zheng facing the enormous mountain of teaching Sang Zan to read and write. <3

• LOL at Chu Shuzhi reading Changcheng's diary. Like, why is he? Was it just the closest book to hand, or does he actually care what Changcheng thinks of him?

• Da Qing eating on the couch, eavesdropping on Zhu Hong and Lin Jing's gossip session, aww! ♥

• At first I thought the odd memory out in ZYL's flashback montage was the Envoy saving Wu Tian'en, but I guess that ties in to Shen Wei saving Zhang Ruonan. (I love how smart he is, putting all these pieces together. <3)

• Also love the way Wang Zheng announces new cases.

• Dragging Changcheng out on a field trip when he has the runs seems mean. (I hope the Snakes give him some medicine.) What on earth did he see that made him pass out??

• As you also noted, Da Qing talking about a medium for hypnosis. <3

• I wonder how CSZ knows Tan Xiao was fired. Did they really process the paperwork immediately?

• Zhu Hong seems to want to hide the emergence of the Hallows from Fourth Uncle (she cuts Changcheng off when he starts to tell). Maybe she doesn't want him to know things are getting dangerous?

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

ZYL mulling in his office with his lollipop, putting the pieces together. <3 <3 <3

Or your favourite clip from Zhao Yunlan's Shen Wei/Envoy flashback sequence?

The Envoy asking after Li Qian. <3 <3 <3

Do you think Chu Shuzhi has permission to read Guo Changcheng's diary?

LOL, definitely not. I think he's starting to be curious about Changcheng's inner life, but I'm not sure what prompted that.

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?

I think he's still not really used to thinking of the Envoy as a person. And Shen Wei is very much a person. How to reconcile the two?!? And the fact that Shen Wei has been flirting with him / befriending him / showing a personal interest must make that extra confusing.

What does he mean when he says the Envoy doesn't look like someone who has a lover?

I'm so curious about that! Like, is he talking about the Envoy (epically cool and unapproachable) or Shen Wei (buttoned up and/or seemingly available for flirting)? Does it actually say "appearance" there?

What's going through his head when Shen Wei answers the phone?

"Again? Can this seriously be another coincidence?" and also "Ahh, I've missed your voice!!"

How much does Fourth Uncle actually know about the Hallows, and where does he know it from?

He knows whatever the Flower Historians recorded and passed down from the ancient war. /headcanon

[trobadora]

My notes:

I'm very indignant on Xiao-Guo's behalf that Zhao Yunlan docked his pay for the sex doll. Zhao Yunlan is at least half responsible for that fuck-up! And Xiao-Guo still doesn't even know what he did wrong! (A bit too naïve, isn't he?)

The fish-vaporising experiment at the sonic lab is pretty fucked up. Why do they need to kill a fish?

Tan Xiao isn't the brightest bulb. He means well and is trying to help Zheng Yi, but there really wasn't any point to his attempt there; it was never going to actually help her.

The lab guys are so nasty; looks like Zheng Zhongyuan hired people after his own mind. Ugh. (Tan Xiao has bruises on his face after they throw him out; looks like they roughed him up too!)

It's so interesting to me that everyone is under the impression that Zheng Yi can't speak, and she apparently kept her powers under control all this time, never lashing out even though she had ample reason. Poor kid.

(I can't take her seriously as a 15-year-old; she's so clearly younger. Even the actress was younger. But I guess that was the point, and she's another one of those Dixingren who doesn't age normally, like Zu Ma.)

What happens when the three of them are killed is still a bit confusing to me. Does Zheng Yi activate the sonic apparatus? She definitely uses her voice to control them and make them kill themselves, but is all of the effect from her voice, or is part of it the device? It seems to be activated by a simple push of a button, so I guess she could easily do that as well.

(The visuals keep showing close-ups of the device, but idk how much of that is a misdirect.)

Very neat how the upcoming wedding is introduced here through the invitation, reminding the viewers of those characters! Making Wang Zheng use the invitation to teach Sang Zan works really well. *g*

Lin Jing "explaining" the Sundial and the Awl in scientific terms is mostly bullshit, right? Nothing about the Sundial has anything to do with pheromones, LOL. Also, boo to Lin Jing for insulting the entire Snake Tribe's intelligence for the sake of a dig at Zhu Hong!

Poor Xiao-Guo is cursing himself for his uselessness and talking out loud to himself about the SID, LOL! And calls Lao-Chu a "giant popsicle, leading to this hilarious exchange:

GCC: Who are you?
CSZ: The giant popsicle.

Zhao Yunlan is going over every single clue about Shen Wei and the Envoy, both the ones he caught at the time and some he didn't. (I don't think he realised the Envoy asking about Li Qian was a clue; that only becomes clear in hindsight.) Great use of flashbacks, hee! And he does put together Shen Wei telling him not to leave the city with the Envoy later telling him he shouldn't have ignored his warning! ♥

He really can't wrap his head around it even though he knows it has to be true, and all the clues line up. Two days later he's still brooding and asking Da Qing leading questions. And hasn't tried to talk to Shen Wei himself yet. (He doesn't actually answer Da Qing's question, but it's pretty clear anyway.)

Zhao Yunlan immediately suspects Tan Xiao and thinks he kidnapped Zheng Yi.

That Zheng Zhongyuan's last phone call was to Shen Wei is such bad luck, LOL. It's a total coincidence of the kind Zhao Yunlan used to insist doesn't happen - it has nothing to do with the case or Shen Wei's identity. (Also, since it was late at night, I assume this was his home landline, not his office phone?)

Xiao-Guo is so afraid of the forest and the snakes, aw!

I had forgotten Fourth Uncle hints at Xiao-Guo and Zhu Hong possibly being an item, and Zhu Hong is all LOLNO.

I still have no idea what Fourth Uncle means when he says, "I remember back then, all our clan went into mutation. Only you, little girl, were still molting and and couldn't mutate fully."

When Fourth Uncle drugs her, Solo's subs have Zhu Hong say, "It's Xiong Huang spirits." The original subs had it as "It's the wine of Xiong Huang," and Viki as "This is Xionghuang wine." Not one of them actually translates or explains this - I looked it up during the last rewatch; it's realgar wine, and realgar is a traditional snake repellent.

[trobadora]

Great post! Huge LOL at your choice of screencap. ;D

Hee! I really couldn't resist. :D

It's kind of hilarious how clueless Guo Changcheng is about the sex doll, even now.

Yeah, seriously!

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

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.

Also, given what we learn about her step-dad later, it's impressive that Zheng Yi has never previously used her power to protect herself. Ugh.

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?

LOL at Chu Shuzhi reading Changcheng's diary. Like, why is he? Was it just the closest book to hand, or does he actually care what Changcheng thinks of him?

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!

At first I thought the odd memory out in ZYL's flashback montage was the Envoy saving Wu Tian'en, but I guess that ties in to Shen Wei saving Zhang Ruonan.

Yes, it connects perfectly! :D

Dragging Changcheng out on a field trip when he has the runs seems mean.

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?

What on earth did he see that made him pass out??

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

As you also noted, Da Qing talking about a medium for hypnosis. <3

Yes! It's built in so well, preparing us for what's to come. :D

I wonder how CSZ knows Tan Xiao was fired. Did they really process the paperwork immediately?

Looks like they did!

Zhu Hong seems to want to hide the emergence of the Hallows from Fourth Uncle (she cuts Changcheng off when he starts to tell). Maybe she doesn't want him to know things are getting dangerous?

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.

ZYL mulling in his office with his lollipop, putting the pieces together. <3 <3 <3

♥ ♥ ♥

I think he's still not really used to thinking of the Envoy as a person. And Shen Wei is very much a person.

LOL! Yeah, that has to be it. *pets him*

I'm so curious about that! Like, is he talking about the Envoy (epically cool and unapproachable) or Shen Wei (buttoned up and/or seemingly available for flirting)? Does it actually say "appearance" there?

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

"Again? Can this seriously be another coincidence?" and also "Ahh, I've missed your voice!!"

AWWWW. :D

He knows whatever the Flower Historians recorded and passed down from the ancient war. /headcanon

Flower, not Snake?