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sid_guardian2019-04-05 11:07 pm
extrapenguin) wrote in sid_guardian2019-04-05 11:07 pm
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Guardian Episode by Episode: 07
Welcome to episode 7 of the Guardian rewatchalong! The imgur screencap album has 63 images. In this week's episode, we move forwards into another arc of Hallows plus cat and mouse games setup.
Previously on:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6
(By the way, does anyone have a preference for this grid? I was thinking 8 a row with 5 rows to make a compact rectangle wider than it's tall, but am willing to be talked into other configurations.)
This episode contains the webnovel murder case in its entirety. It also sets up the core intrigue of the next arc of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan's relationship.
Introductions
We get our first ominous shot of a crow above Lai Su's house.
Also, we've seen Shen Wei's necklace before, but it is very appealingly presented here:
No-one's collar actually opens when grabbed, but whatever, they wanted to show Shen Wei flashing some throat.
Additionally, we're introduced to the shield around the SID when Zhu Jiu tries to teleport in through an opened door and gets tossed back. This'll come up again much, much later.
Characterization
We return to the scene where thugs accost Shen Wei. He was willing to part with absolutely everything but his emotionally significant necklacewith its lollipop wrapper, Shen Wei, why are you so pathetic? Only here does he start using any kind of force, and it's to pin the thug. A soft technique rather than a hard one, in martial arts terminology. Now, this might just be wanting to maintain the Professor disguise – or it might be Shen Wei, the Black-Cloaked Envoy, wanting to be an exemplar of the Treaty and not harm a human. Then Zhao Yunlan comes and saves him, if not from the thugs, then at least this dilemma.
Zhao Yunlan turns a shoulder pat into a gentle shove out of the way. He didn't hire the thugs just to see how Shen Wei would react to them, but he must've been discreetly following.
Afterwards, we have Shen Wei invite Zhao Yunlan into his house to be fussed over with medicine, and in what is no doubt a calculated move invite Zhao Yunlan to interrogate him. It seems hilariously like a "no homo", but Shen Wei knows Zhao Yunlan broke into his house (and thus must have suspicions). He also let Zhao Yunlan know that he knows Zhao Yunlan broke into his house.
Look at that smile.
Zhao Yunlan's perspective is more interesting. He's been suspicious about the guy, and installed a spycam in his office, but now he ... asks him to join the SID. I'm 100% sure that he knows Shen Wei is from Dixing at this point, and I guess Shen Wei's reaction to the alley thugs (didn't beat them up, obeyed the treaty) was a mark for him?Perhaps he wants to recruit someone new whom Chu Shuzhi can boggle about the sunlight with? Shen Wei demurred, but: Zhao Yunlan asked the guy he was very suspicious about even last episode to join him.
We also got a remark about "intellectuals learning faster than us". I am sure this foreshadows Shen Wei's Dixing power of learning.
This is also the BEARS episode. Shen Wei shows his sly, trollish sense of humor for the first(?) time towards Zhao Yunlan, and apparently Zhao Yunlan lets him continue listing bear species for a longish while before telling him to stop wasting both their time. The only reason I can come up with for this is that Zhao Yunlan really likes hearing Shen Wei speak, no matter the topic. (Also, did Shen Wei have those bear pictures ready at hand? What is he, a bear geneticist? Usually they're into things like lab mice and fruit flies...)
Bears.
We also restate Zhao Yunlan's newfound commitment to viewing Dixingians as people: "Most are evil, few are kind, but I won't lump them all into one." (This was in response to Shen Wei commenting that the thugs didn't have the qualities of Dixing people. Cue Zhao Yunlan asking "What are the qualities of a Dixing person?" and then backing off on the question when it was clear Shen Wei didn't want to answer.)
Lin Jing is a very big webnovel fanboy! (Meanwhile, Da Qing has also read the webnovel in question but is not a superfan, and Chu Shuzhi thought it was shit.) He absolutely loves the chance to infodump about his very favorite webnovel. He's the leader of the fanclub! He's memorized the plot! He stands on chairs while praising it! Really, he becomes so animated, it's adorable.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan laments ever asking Lin Jing about his fannish obsession.
Lin Jing has a life energy detector. Based on this technology (3D projection!!!!) alone, I'd say Guardian is near-future SF, rather than contemporary.
Then, Lin Jing finds his idol fall from grace. If Lai Su knew what he wrote would come true, Lin Jing thinks he should've quit the horror/crime/etc genre (and maybe written maximally uplifting works where lots of good things happen).
In addition to being the team's fieldwork agent and the one investigating the corpses, Chu Shuzhi has absolutely terrible bedside manner. No-one's going to cooperate with you and tell you stuff if you just yell at them, lao-Chu! His treatment of the second thug was disgraceful.
We might've had Chu Shuzhi use the Dixing Power Vision technique offscreen – he was the one who spotted that there was a secret passage in Lai Su's mansion.
He also sits with his feet on the table. Copied from Chief Zhao?
Again we see the team being unwise. Lai Su should not have been allowed to use his computer! The computer is his murder weapon! Da Qing, you're the Vice Chief, you're in charge, what the hell gives???
Zhu Jiu's involvement: enticing Lai Su into starting his chaos-wreaking. I know his mission is getting the Hallows, but he must have a secondary mission as well – "make the Haixingians hate us so we can radicalize all the Dixingians into warring with them and then kill them all"? I see definite parallels with e.g. ISIS and its strategy re: the refugee crisis, but as this show was produced in a completely different cultural environment, I don't know whether they're anything more than happenstance.
Zhu Jiu can use a phone, unlike certain other Dixingians I shall not mention.
We close with Zhao Yunlan chatting about the resolution with Shen Wei. It features him being surprised that he'd ever empathize with the struggles of the Dixing people, Shen Wei's happy face, and Zhao Yunlan declaring that the times they are a-changin' (for the worse).
Canon details
Okay, we're told that Lai Su might've had "Dixing genes" – does this mean Dixingians and Haixingians are cross-fertile and thus members of the same species? (For animals, inability to produce fertile offspring is the definition of being different species. For plants, OTOH, it's a bit more complicated IIRC, as they're slutting up the place making offspring with anything even vaguely related, so I suppose that the aliens could've originally been idk ferns, and the Flower Tribe Yashou the most ancestral form.) Did the aliens hybridize themselves with the local populace, so that all the Dixingians and Yashou are half-human hybrids? Inquiring minds want to know about the worldbuilding!
Additionally, we're told that there were ghost beast sightings in the cities around Dragon City, where they hurt people. (So: ghost beasts are rural creatures? Do the satellite cities have SID-equivalents who deal with such things?) Then the Envoy, who was Dixing's administrator (管理者) at the time drove them back to Dixing, which makes no sense. Are ghost beasts the Dixing equivalent of dogs, except they go mad with sunlight??? Why would Shen Wei subject his people to such creatures who enjoy mauling people?
Cinematography
They pull out from the characters to show the vastness of Lai Su's truly excessive mansion:
Seriously, he lives here alone???
Family Skype session!
The rest of the time, the camera is at eye height, a bit above it, or a bit below it, fluidly getting everyone and everything into the same frame with any trick necessary.
Also, the requisite shot through blinds to show that there are still secrets between these two.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
We continue with last episode's vest thing, and then the next day Zhao Yunlan wears a dark cloth jacket, and the episode ends. (Shen Wei, though, changed shirts. Did Zhao Yunlan wear the same jacket two days in a row, or did Shen Wei spill something on his shirt and have to teleport home to change?)
Shen Wei shoe watch
No clear shots this episode!
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
No.
Previously on:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6
(By the way, does anyone have a preference for this grid? I was thinking 8 a row with 5 rows to make a compact rectangle wider than it's tall, but am willing to be talked into other configurations.)
This episode contains the webnovel murder case in its entirety. It also sets up the core intrigue of the next arc of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan's relationship.
Introductions
We get our first ominous shot of a crow above Lai Su's house.
Also, we've seen Shen Wei's necklace before, but it is very appealingly presented here:
No-one's collar actually opens when grabbed, but whatever, they wanted to show Shen Wei flashing some throat.
Additionally, we're introduced to the shield around the SID when Zhu Jiu tries to teleport in through an opened door and gets tossed back. This'll come up again much, much later.
Characterization
We return to the scene where thugs accost Shen Wei. He was willing to part with absolutely everything but his emotionally significant necklace
Zhao Yunlan turns a shoulder pat into a gentle shove out of the way. He didn't hire the thugs just to see how Shen Wei would react to them, but he must've been discreetly following.
Afterwards, we have Shen Wei invite Zhao Yunlan into his house to be fussed over with medicine, and in what is no doubt a calculated move invite Zhao Yunlan to interrogate him. It seems hilariously like a "no homo", but Shen Wei knows Zhao Yunlan broke into his house (and thus must have suspicions). He also let Zhao Yunlan know that he knows Zhao Yunlan broke into his house.
Look at that smile.
Zhao Yunlan's perspective is more interesting. He's been suspicious about the guy, and installed a spycam in his office, but now he ... asks him to join the SID. I'm 100% sure that he knows Shen Wei is from Dixing at this point, and I guess Shen Wei's reaction to the alley thugs (didn't beat them up, obeyed the treaty) was a mark for him?
We also got a remark about "intellectuals learning faster than us". I am sure this foreshadows Shen Wei's Dixing power of learning.
This is also the BEARS episode. Shen Wei shows his sly, trollish sense of humor for the first(?) time towards Zhao Yunlan, and apparently Zhao Yunlan lets him continue listing bear species for a longish while before telling him to stop wasting both their time. The only reason I can come up with for this is that Zhao Yunlan really likes hearing Shen Wei speak, no matter the topic. (Also, did Shen Wei have those bear pictures ready at hand? What is he, a bear geneticist? Usually they're into things like lab mice and fruit flies...)
Bears.
We also restate Zhao Yunlan's newfound commitment to viewing Dixingians as people: "Most are evil, few are kind, but I won't lump them all into one." (This was in response to Shen Wei commenting that the thugs didn't have the qualities of Dixing people. Cue Zhao Yunlan asking "What are the qualities of a Dixing person?" and then backing off on the question when it was clear Shen Wei didn't want to answer.)
Lin Jing is a very big webnovel fanboy! (Meanwhile, Da Qing has also read the webnovel in question but is not a superfan, and Chu Shuzhi thought it was shit.) He absolutely loves the chance to infodump about his very favorite webnovel. He's the leader of the fanclub! He's memorized the plot! He stands on chairs while praising it! Really, he becomes so animated, it's adorable.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan laments ever asking Lin Jing about his fannish obsession.
Lin Jing has a life energy detector. Based on this technology (3D projection!!!!) alone, I'd say Guardian is near-future SF, rather than contemporary.
Then, Lin Jing finds his idol fall from grace. If Lai Su knew what he wrote would come true, Lin Jing thinks he should've quit the horror/crime/etc genre (and maybe written maximally uplifting works where lots of good things happen).
In addition to being the team's fieldwork agent and the one investigating the corpses, Chu Shuzhi has absolutely terrible bedside manner. No-one's going to cooperate with you and tell you stuff if you just yell at them, lao-Chu! His treatment of the second thug was disgraceful.
We might've had Chu Shuzhi use the Dixing Power Vision technique offscreen – he was the one who spotted that there was a secret passage in Lai Su's mansion.
He also sits with his feet on the table. Copied from Chief Zhao?
Again we see the team being unwise. Lai Su should not have been allowed to use his computer! The computer is his murder weapon! Da Qing, you're the Vice Chief, you're in charge, what the hell gives???
Zhu Jiu's involvement: enticing Lai Su into starting his chaos-wreaking. I know his mission is getting the Hallows, but he must have a secondary mission as well – "make the Haixingians hate us so we can radicalize all the Dixingians into warring with them and then kill them all"? I see definite parallels with e.g. ISIS and its strategy re: the refugee crisis, but as this show was produced in a completely different cultural environment, I don't know whether they're anything more than happenstance.
Zhu Jiu can use a phone, unlike certain other Dixingians I shall not mention.
We close with Zhao Yunlan chatting about the resolution with Shen Wei. It features him being surprised that he'd ever empathize with the struggles of the Dixing people, Shen Wei's happy face, and Zhao Yunlan declaring that the times they are a-changin' (for the worse).
Canon details
Okay, we're told that Lai Su might've had "Dixing genes" – does this mean Dixingians and Haixingians are cross-fertile and thus members of the same species? (For animals, inability to produce fertile offspring is the definition of being different species. For plants, OTOH, it's a bit more complicated IIRC, as they're slutting up the place making offspring with anything even vaguely related, so I suppose that the aliens could've originally been idk ferns, and the Flower Tribe Yashou the most ancestral form.) Did the aliens hybridize themselves with the local populace, so that all the Dixingians and Yashou are half-human hybrids? Inquiring minds want to know about the worldbuilding!
Additionally, we're told that there were ghost beast sightings in the cities around Dragon City, where they hurt people. (So: ghost beasts are rural creatures? Do the satellite cities have SID-equivalents who deal with such things?) Then the Envoy, who was Dixing's administrator (管理者) at the time drove them back to Dixing, which makes no sense. Are ghost beasts the Dixing equivalent of dogs, except they go mad with sunlight??? Why would Shen Wei subject his people to such creatures who enjoy mauling people?
Cinematography
They pull out from the characters to show the vastness of Lai Su's truly excessive mansion:
Seriously, he lives here alone???
Family Skype session!
The rest of the time, the camera is at eye height, a bit above it, or a bit below it, fluidly getting everyone and everything into the same frame with any trick necessary.
Also, the requisite shot through blinds to show that there are still secrets between these two.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
We continue with last episode's vest thing, and then the next day Zhao Yunlan wears a dark cloth jacket, and the episode ends. (Shen Wei, though, changed shirts. Did Zhao Yunlan wear the same jacket two days in a row, or did Shen Wei spill something on his shirt and have to teleport home to change?)
Shen Wei shoe watch
No clear shots this episode!
Did Shen Wei take off his glasses?
No.
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