![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
extrapenguinWelcome to episode 2 of the Guardian rewatchalong! I'm traveling over the weekend, so I pushed this one up. The journal of hosting has changed by ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sid_guardian mods' request, so subsequent ones shall be hosted here at Chez ExtraPenguin.
The icon battle is still a-chugging, with linked screencap posts. This post has notes on characterization, mostly, plus canon details and cinematography porn. As well as an associated imgur screencap album!
Introductions
We get our first facial shot of our villain Zhu Jiu! He monologues dramatically, plays weiqi against himself in some sort of metaphor for his job, and works via minions. We will later discover this is part of a villainy pyramid scheme, but we've yet to meet his boss. Anyway, he's after the Longevity Dial and hadn't heard of the SID yet. He is very unimpressed with minons who fail him.
We get our first facial shot of our villain. This is not it.
Characterization
This is the opening moves of Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei's reciprocal cat and mouse. We open with Shen Wei trying to very unconvincingly fake having fallen off a roof into the bushes, instead of having teleported in to Dixing to do his makeup and then showing up late without Starbucks to nab the already-defeated perp.
Don't worry, I'm fine!
As part of the cat and mouse game, we see Zhao Yunlan probe at Shen Wei, asking him about, well, everything, from his educational history to his marital status. (Asking whether people are single the classy way!)
A minor detour into Shen Wei's academic timeline: he's 32 and a professor of some stripe. He did time as both 研究生 (postgrad student) and 博士生 (I assume they mean postdoc – 博士 means PhD), all at Dragon City University. Now, I calculated, and it's very very technically possible to be a professor at 31, if one is a super hotshotor beneficiary of frex nepotism. Shen Wei's professorhood being recent is corroborated by the Li Qian plot – he thought Li Qian's grandmother was always a bit demented, but we're told she was completely okay until last year, so Shen Wei and Li Qian's acquaintance must only be a year long. Combined with the way Shen Wei treats Li Qian vs how he treats literally every other student, the reasonable inference is that newly-minted Professor Shen has recently acquired his very first PhD student, whom he is very protective of. Are you doing okay, Li Qian?I notice you've taken on a lot of jobs, Li Qian; is everything all right? Li Qian, please don't jump off the roof! (The Envoy also seemed a bit harsher than usual on this episode's criminal.)
There's another conversation about Dixingians, similar to last ep's one, and instead of answering the question of Dixingian's origins like a good biology professor would, Shen Wei turns the quesion on its head and says Zhao Yunlan should instead ask about the future. In several moments in this episode, Shen Wei tries to not-that-subtly backseat run the SID and offer advice; no wonder Zhao Yunlan smelled a rat. Also the "I trust you won't interrogate me like a criminal" remark – it really is a delicate verbal dance around each other.
Shen Wei with a moderately displeased expression, Zhao Yunlan laughing at Shen Wei's evasion.
In general, this episode is the end of the first mini-arc of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan's relationship: Shen Wei explicitly says that perhaps we can never get back the past (i.e. the relationship he shared with Kunlun), the cat-and-mouse game is established with Zhao Yunlan being suspicious of Shen Wei, and the Black-Cloaked Envoy appearing in action and answering the SID's calls. (He also chills a bit on the dramatic entrances and exists starting next episode, IIRC – no more flickering lights and clouds of smoke.) We're also told of Shen Wei's concerns about Dixing, as he explicitly says that Dixing is a "prison of torment" where everyone has been tortured into having two faces. We also get an interesting scene composition on the second time on the roof with Li Qian, where Shen Wei goes to stand with Zhao Yunlan, instead of with his postgrad student.
Zhao Yunlan, of course, sits down on the convenient thing.
We also see that Shen Wei can be hurt, and has to actively heal himself. The process seems to hurt him at least somewhat.
Gratuitous pain porn. You're welcome.
Another thread is Zhao Yunlan's interactions with his underlings – Da Qing claims he's spoiled them with disciplinelessness, and they're all colossal gossips due to the boss's bad influence. The SID does seem to be a bit of a sleepy place, especially since we're told Dixing activity has been ramping up as of late.
As part of the gossip, we're told that Chu Shuzhi is a colossal Envoy fanboy. This episode establishes the baseline of the Chu Shuzhi–Envoy relationship from which we can later track changes: the Envoy saved Chu Shuzhi and planted him in the SID as a spy; Chu Shuzhi is absolutely 100% loyal to the Envoy over anyone else
Chu Shuzhi wears his Envoy cosplay to take down this episode's villain.
We also see Shen Wei's first attempt at feeding Zhao Yunlan fail colossally.
Guo Changcheng tells us he was raised by his grandmother, and proceeds to make Li Qian's grandmother's death All About Him and delivers the suckiest motivational speech in the history of man. At the funeral, he cries more than the actually bereaved Li Qian does. His greatest virtue is his persistence and willingness to go into harm's way. Chu Shuzhi still hates his guts and resents being the designated babysitter.
An accurate metaphor for Guo Changcheng's personality and role in this story.
Canon details
Cinematography
We continue with shots through blinds...
...dramatic underviews...
...and add dramatic overviews!
Also, the secret meeting place is super nice – can anyone read the text on the gate?
Okay this shot is just here gratuitously.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
I suspect Jacket #2 is the same as Jacket #4. Jacket #5 is technically a shirt, but it reads "Good vibes only", which is a piece of advice we could all do with.
Shen Wei shoe watch
This week's professor shoes only have a moderate heel:
We do, however, also get a blurry shot of the envoy shoes:
We also get a shot where Zhao Yunlan and the Envoy stand right against each other without the camera being too tilted in the Envoy's favor, which shows how much of a gap must be bridged with shoes and floofy hair:
Did Shen Wei take off his mask?
No. He's wearing his mask or glasses in every shot. Yes, when he heals his shoulder and suffers prettily! (Thank you, goodgriefcharlie!)
sid_guardian mods' request, so subsequent ones shall be hosted here at Chez ExtraPenguin.The icon battle is still a-chugging, with linked screencap posts. This post has notes on characterization, mostly, plus canon details and cinematography porn. As well as an associated imgur screencap album!
Introductions
We get our first facial shot of our villain Zhu Jiu! He monologues dramatically, plays weiqi against himself in some sort of metaphor for his job, and works via minions. We will later discover this is part of a villainy pyramid scheme, but we've yet to meet his boss. Anyway, he's after the Longevity Dial and hadn't heard of the SID yet. He is very unimpressed with minons who fail him.
We get our first facial shot of our villain. This is not it.
Characterization
This is the opening moves of Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei's reciprocal cat and mouse. We open with Shen Wei trying to very unconvincingly fake having fallen off a roof into the bushes, instead of having teleported in to Dixing to do his makeup and then showing up late without Starbucks to nab the already-defeated perp.
Don't worry, I'm fine!
As part of the cat and mouse game, we see Zhao Yunlan probe at Shen Wei, asking him about, well, everything, from his educational history to his marital status. (Asking whether people are single the classy way!)
A minor detour into Shen Wei's academic timeline: he's 32 and a professor of some stripe. He did time as both 研究生 (postgrad student) and 博士生 (I assume they mean postdoc – 博士 means PhD), all at Dragon City University. Now, I calculated, and it's very very technically possible to be a professor at 31, if one is a super hotshot
There's another conversation about Dixingians, similar to last ep's one, and instead of answering the question of Dixingian's origins like a good biology professor would, Shen Wei turns the quesion on its head and says Zhao Yunlan should instead ask about the future. In several moments in this episode, Shen Wei tries to not-that-subtly backseat run the SID and offer advice; no wonder Zhao Yunlan smelled a rat. Also the "I trust you won't interrogate me like a criminal" remark – it really is a delicate verbal dance around each other.
Shen Wei with a moderately displeased expression, Zhao Yunlan laughing at Shen Wei's evasion.
In general, this episode is the end of the first mini-arc of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan's relationship: Shen Wei explicitly says that perhaps we can never get back the past (i.e. the relationship he shared with Kunlun), the cat-and-mouse game is established with Zhao Yunlan being suspicious of Shen Wei, and the Black-Cloaked Envoy appearing in action and answering the SID's calls. (He also chills a bit on the dramatic entrances and exists starting next episode, IIRC – no more flickering lights and clouds of smoke.) We're also told of Shen Wei's concerns about Dixing, as he explicitly says that Dixing is a "prison of torment" where everyone has been tortured into having two faces. We also get an interesting scene composition on the second time on the roof with Li Qian, where Shen Wei goes to stand with Zhao Yunlan, instead of with his postgrad student.
Zhao Yunlan, of course, sits down on the convenient thing.
We also see that Shen Wei can be hurt, and has to actively heal himself. The process seems to hurt him at least somewhat.
Gratuitous pain porn. You're welcome.
Another thread is Zhao Yunlan's interactions with his underlings – Da Qing claims he's spoiled them with disciplinelessness, and they're all colossal gossips due to the boss's bad influence. The SID does seem to be a bit of a sleepy place, especially since we're told Dixing activity has been ramping up as of late.
As part of the gossip, we're told that Chu Shuzhi is a colossal Envoy fanboy. This episode establishes the baseline of the Chu Shuzhi–Envoy relationship from which we can later track changes: the Envoy saved Chu Shuzhi and planted him in the SID as a spy; Chu Shuzhi is absolutely 100% loyal to the Envoy over anyone else
Chu Shuzhi wears his Envoy cosplay to take down this episode's villain.
We also see Shen Wei's first attempt at feeding Zhao Yunlan fail colossally.
Guo Changcheng tells us he was raised by his grandmother, and proceeds to make Li Qian's grandmother's death All About Him and delivers the suckiest motivational speech in the history of man. At the funeral, he cries more than the actually bereaved Li Qian does. His greatest virtue is his persistence and willingness to go into harm's way. Chu Shuzhi still hates his guts and resents being the designated babysitter.
An accurate metaphor for Guo Changcheng's personality and role in this story.
Canon details
- The Hallows were scattered after the war 10k years ago and, Shen Wei doesn't understand how they work
- the name lao-Zhao can make even ghosts apprehensive (see: Zhao Xinci)
- Zhu Jiu in the purple wig and with the weiqi board had no interest in going after the SID, and didn't even know they existed, before the SID got the Longevity Dial
- Shen Wei thought that Li Qian and her grandmother's promise to stay with each other forever meant there was residual energy of the grandmother stored in the Longevity Dial, which would be interesting fodder for fic
- The Chu family are known as puppet masters, so Dixing powers must be at least somewhat hereditary
- Zhao Yunlan was doing rather well hauling up Li Qian all by himself, so unlike what I've seen claimed, the fact that Li Qian rose very easily when Shen Wei came to help is no proof whatsoever about Shen Wei having super strength – two Zhao Yunlans would've likely raised her just as easily
Cinematography
We continue with shots through blinds...
...dramatic underviews...
...and add dramatic overviews!
Also, the secret meeting place is super nice – can anyone read the text on the gate?
Okay this shot is just here gratuitously.
Zhao Yunlan jacket watch
I suspect Jacket #2 is the same as Jacket #4. Jacket #5 is technically a shirt, but it reads "Good vibes only", which is a piece of advice we could all do with.
Shen Wei shoe watch
This week's professor shoes only have a moderate heel:
We do, however, also get a blurry shot of the envoy shoes:
We also get a shot where Zhao Yunlan and the Envoy stand right against each other without the camera being too tilted in the Envoy's favor, which shows how much of a gap must be bridged with shoes and floofy hair:
Did Shen Wei take off his mask?
goodgriefcharlie!)
no subject
Date: 2019-03-01 10:54 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-01 11:16 (UTC)However, the favorite jacket he wears is the one he steals from the guard in Dixing in ep 33 - that was very unf.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-01 13:56 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-01 14:35 (UTC)