Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 13, part 2

[trobadora]

Hi, welcome back to our Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch, we're back in business! 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 the first half of episode 13. On to the second half!

Episode 13, from 21:44:

Summary: Chu Shuzhi has (needlessly) rescued Guo Changcheng from the Snake Tribe. Ying Chun tells Shen Wei that there's a Yashou traitor in play. Shen Wei enters the sonic lab to find Zhao Yunlan there instead of Tan Xiao. Zhao Yunlan confronts him about his secrets, but they're interrupted by Zhu Jiu, who takes Zhao Yunlan hostage. Shen Wei transforms into the Envoy and offers to take his place, but no dice. Ying Chun goes after Ya Qing, and they have a fraught confrontation. Zhu Jiu decides Zhao Yunlan to get into the SID for Tan Xiao, so Zheng Yi will give him the Hallows. Lin Jing and Da Qing are searching for Zheng Yi. Chu Shuzhi finds Zhu Jiu's lair, but no Zhu Jiu, and Shen Wei runs into him there.



At the SID, Zhao Yunlan enters with Zhu Jiu and Zheng Yi, and shoots Zhu Hong. Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi are reunited. Shen Wei arrives, confronts a hypnotised Zhao Yunlan, and is seemingly shot - but it's a fake-out because he realised Zhao Yunlan has been faking it. Zhao Yunlan shoots Zhu Jiu and reveals that he's been wearing anti-hypnosis earplugs.

Quote:

Shen Wei: "Were you pretending from the start?"

Zhao Yunlan: "Yep! How else would I have got you to disclose your identity?"

♥ ♥ ♥

Detail:

This is a half-episode with a lot of fabulous things going on in it, but my absolute favourite detail has always been the way Shen Wei, having realised that Zhao Yunlan isn't actually under the influence, easily and smoothly lets Zhao Yunlan know that he knows, without giving anything away to Zhu Jiu. All he says is, "You actually killed Zhu Hong," and Zhao Yunlan, who knows he did no such thing, knows. :D

Questions:

What is your favourite moment in this episode? Your favourite line? What do you think about Ya Qing's introduction? How gorgeous is her outfit? Do you ship her and Ying Chun? What does Chu Shuzhi think when Professor Shen turns up at Zhu Jiu's lair? How great is the Envoy reveal? Do you also go :D :D :D every time you watch that moment when Shen Wei rises and he and Zhao Yunlan turn towards the camera/Zhu Jiu? Any thoughts about how any of this compares to the novel?

(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!)

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Comments

[trobadora]

My notes:

I love that Xiao-Guo essentially rescued himself by talking to/listening to Fourth Uncle! And Chu Shuzhi is so irritated at him when he hears the story. "Zhao Yunlan didn't ask me to bring you back in one piece," LOL! :D

Ying Chun now just calls Shen Wei "Hei Pao", without any honorific! And she's still worried about Shen Wei putting himself in danger! She's already come quite a bit from "uh, I'm leaving now, bye!"

And she's just got the news about a Yashou traitor, which substantiates our suspicion that the plant in the last half-episode was a Flower Yashou. :D

I'm not quite sure what Shen Wei means by "I already have no way to retreat" / "I can't back down now" (as various subs render it). What he says in Chinese is 我已经没有资格后退了, "I already don't have the capacity to retreat."

OMG, Zhao Yunlan's terrible violin playing! It has been called, with some justification, the wrongest violin playing ever. Anyone who hasn't yet, you absolutely need to listen to the audio clip in that link! No, really, you NEED to hear this. :D :D :D

The confrontation between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan is so fraught. Zhao Yunlan brings up the impossible things Shen Wei did, then turns sincere and talks (quite rightly) about how they could have avoided the wedding disaster, and then "I thought we were friends." And Shen Wei replies, very earnestly, that he thought he could protect everyone - and Zhao Yunlan laughs.

And we get the third interrupted sentence this episode: "Actually, I ...," says Shen Wei, and once again I wish I knew what he'd been going to say. *g*

Zhu Jiu gives us a bit more Envoy lore here with the "how long can you maintain your complete form on the surface?" - which together with what Shen Wei himself said in the Hanga caves about being restrained by gravity and the Guardian Treaty, is so fascinating to me!

The timeline is a bit weird here because he seems to be in Envoy form much shorter than he has been in other instances when he collapses into his Professor Shen look and spits blood. (I always resolve this for myself with a missing scene where he's looking for Zhao Yunlan with black energy at maximum intensity.)

And then we get another fraught confrontation between two people who mean a lot to each other! That scene with Ying Chun all "Qing-jie!!" initially made me ship Ya Qing/Ying Chun, and even though I eventually ended up more into Ya Qing/Zhu Hong (because that dynamic is just made for me), I still have a lot of fondness for the ship. (I wrote it once, too: Listen (it's late, it's late, but listen) )

I really love that the drama made these two childhood besties, and made the conflict personal as well as political.

When Ying Chun says, "According to the original agreement we can't interfere their internal conflict. Only then they won't bother us in return," I assume she means the Guardian Treaty. And Ya Qing is so worried about the future of the Yashou, and knows she can't rely on humans (but foolishly thinks she can rely on Ye Zun) - but she still cares so much about Ying Chun that her clenched fist is shaking before she says, "Too late." ♥ ♥ ♥ It's such a fantastic scene.

LOL, I had forgotten that Tan Xiao gets aggressive at Xiao-Guo when he's demanding to know where Zheng Yi is, and that Zhu Hong just knocks him out!

Every time I watch the scene where Chu Shuzhi arrives at Zhu Jiu's lair, I wonder how he found it! And how Shen Wei found it too, almost at the same time. But also, I really love the way they run into each other there, and Shen Wei then abruptly disappears when he realises where Zhu Jiu must have gone!

The shot from above when Zhao Yunlan, Zhu Jiu and Zheng Yi enter the SID is so gorgeous, I had to put it in the post.

Zhu Hong tries so hard to get Zhao Yunlan to react to her, and she just refuses to believe he would shoot her, but he does.

I always love the structure of this scene, where we only later find out in flashback that Shen Wei figured it all out right away. And also figured out how to smoothly let Zhao Yunlan know that he knows! It's such a delight.

And Zhao Yunlan has great self-control! He never drops that bland expression, even though he must be surprised that Shen Wei already knows the truth. (I always love the way his blank stare turns alert and he winks at Shen Wei in the flashback, after Shen Wei tells him to pull his gun. So well done!)

And Shen Wei speaks so urgently and loudly, making sure Zhu Jiu hears him, giving him the completely wrong impression. :D (Also doesn't hurt that he has him by the lapels there, I love that!)

Seriously, all of this is just perfect. Zhao Yunlan fake-killing Shen Wei, and then that moment when he rises and they both turn - SO good. :D

Also, Zhao Yunlan going, "haha, black energy is not magic, of course we found a scientific solution" is just delightful to me. :D

Incidentally - he says, "We have a scientist who wants to remain nameless. Half a day ago, he invented this." So that should mean that when they previously arrested Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi, they didn't have this yet! Big risk there, but of course they had to take it.

And then the final lines - for once, a completely perfect point to end an episode! "How else would I have got you to disclose your identity," indeed! *g*