More Guardian thoughts...

[selenay]

Gosh, I'd forgotten how much fun it is to get fannish about things :D

I now have 2300 words of post-episode 33 fic with probably another 1000 words to write. hockeybosh, you know what you've done and I'm still blaming you.

I haven't written this much in ages. It's nice to have an idea flowing like this. It's probably terrible, but I'm having fun so *pokes tongue out*

We watched episode 34 last night. I've worked out that possibly my fic violates the canon timeline, but the timeline is a bit...uncertain at times, so I'm totally just adding an extra day in there before certain things happen because I want to and nobody can stop me.


hockeybosh and I were definitely squeeing throughout the episode. SO MUCH SQUEE.

The scene with Guo and Chu at the beginning was just beautiful. Perfect. Disturbingly soft and lovely, considering Chu is an angry puppet master with a history of violence.

AND THEN. There was Ye Zun. Who is easily differentiated from Shen Wei, not just by costume (Shen Wei would never wear that, how did you not spot that immediately Zhao Yunlan?) but by the way he moves and his entire set of facial expressions. Gosh, Zhu Yilong is good. He effectively played three different characters in this episode! Two of them are actually the same character but...time travel!

Oh gosh, time travel. Finally I understand how Shen Wei recognised Zhao Yunlan back at the start and what all the hints were and oh dear, this makes their ship so much more complicated than I expected.

Baby Shen Wei is adorable. ADORABLE. I reject hockeybosh's "it could be Ye Zun before he goes evil!" theory because that would be too cruel and awful.

And like, this show makes the main ship so easy. There's a moment where young Shen Wei offers Zhao Yunlan anything he wants (for saving his life) and just...the look. There is eyeing up. It's amazing. And later there's a beautiful moment where Zhao Yunlan tells young Shen Wei that he's already repaid the life debt many times over and it's so good for so many reasons.

There's also the moment where Zhao Yunlan shoves a lollipop in young Shen Wei's mouth to stop him talking which, fair point, and also OMG.

So. Much. Amazing.

And that little bit where Shen Wei talks about wearing his mask so his enemies won't see he's afraid was beautiful and sad, and I just wanted Zhao Yunlan to hug him.

Did you know I love this show?

hockeybosh and I appear to be competing for how sad we can make each other. She had the Ye Zun theory. I noted that at some stage, Zhao Yunlan has to travel back to the present which means Shen Wei basically has to wait to see him again for TEN THOUSAND YEARS and I'm not sure which one of us is the worst in this competition.

I hope there's a lot of good fic about the time travel stuff. I'm sure there is.


I just have a lot of feelings, okay?

Comments

[soupytwist]

Zhu Yilong is SO GOOD, in a way that just pictures do NOT do justice to: he has exactly the same face and yet it is SO VERY CLEARLY a different person! Amazing. And I love the whole Ye Olde Haixing Era section SO MUCH.

[selenay]

he has exactly the same face and yet it is SO VERY CLEARLY a different person!

I understood from things I've heard that this was the case, but I genuinely had no idea how good he would be at it! And even the difference between bb!Shen Wei and Professor Shen, who are the same person, is impressive.

And I love the whole Ye Olde Haixing Era section SO MUCH.

I SEE WHY. It's delightful and lovely and I could have happily watched Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan talking in the dark for four episodes. Except there was also Shen Wei fighting, and being the bb!Black Robe Envoy, and Da Qing and...yes, very good. I love it.

[soupytwist]

Yes, he plays like... if you count people pretending to be other people and bb!him, he plays FIVE PEOPLE and they are all completely differentiated. Like, when the pretending happens you KNOW something is wrong, INSTANTLY, even if you don't know what. It is so well done. It's like Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black, I'm just like, wowwww.

I would also definitely have watched four episodes of talking in the dark together omg, it was so adorable (I also love Da Qing, like, a lot, you will be unsurprised to hear) and I do very much enjoy the headcanon that it lasted for rather longer than we got to see. :)

[selenay]

I also love Da Qing, like, a lot, you will be unsurprised to hear

I wasn't wild about him at first, but he's grown on me and I really liked him in the past times stuff :D

Like, when the pretending happens you KNOW something is wrong, INSTANTLY, even if you don't know what.

This is it exactly! HOW DOES HE DO THAT?

I do very much enjoy the headcanon that it lasted for rather longer than we got to see. :)

Yes, this headcanon I definitely support :D I mean, timelines in this show are a little wobbly so it's totally possible and I'd much prefer it because gosh it's a great time :D

[soupytwist]

I knew I was going to love him when he scratched his ear just like a cat, I went BABY! and was very happy. Also him and Zhao Yunlan being so very One Man And His Cat is just a good time in Casa Katie!

He is a very talented guy, and UNFAIRLY BEAUTIFUL OMG.

Timelines are definitely wobbly, and honestly the main argument FOR it only being a day or so is that they're wearing the same clothes... which I figure 1. they could easily be doing that anyway, clothes are expensive in Ye Olden Times! and 2. they didn't have any budget so clearly they COULDN'T give the actors extra clothes, so whatever. I think it makes a lot more sense for it to have taken a little while, like, a week or two at LEAST. And I'm super here for it being longer than that. :D

[selenay]

Also him and Zhao Yunlan being so very One Man And His Cat is just a good time in Casa Katie!

Oh gosh, they really are, and that's one of the things I like about their relationship :D

UNFAIRLY BEAUTIFUL OMG

VERY VERY UNFAIR OMG

And I'm super here for it being longer than that. :D

Me too! Yeah, a week or two minimum does make more logical sense for it, even if you just consider how taken Shen Wei is with Zhao Yunlan. It seems a bit much for one night (no matter how incredible that night was ;) ).

I'm kind of amazed they had the budget for one set of costumes for that period, tbh. So I'm just going to handwave the wobbly timeline because it *clearly* lasted much longer and I don't want to accept a world where it didn't.

Wobbly timelines are great for fanfic :D

[hils]

asdfghjkl I literally NEVER get tired of post episode-33 comfort fics. Never! I can't wait to read yours!

And I have so many feelings about bb!Shen Wei. I love him and the way he just looks so adoringly at Zhao Yunlan. There's a lot of great fics about this time period too which I adore.

Zhu Yilong is amazing and I love him so much. I just wish the other shows he's been in were as good as this. He's always fantastic but the people around him and the storylines not so much.

[selenay]

I can't wait to read yours!

The pressure! And also, I'm concerned that there are already eleventy billion post episode-33 comfort fics and does anyone need another one? Except that sounds like possibly another one is fine.

I love him and the way he just looks so adoringly at Zhao Yunlan.

It took him literally a second to fall in love. I am a-aquee over this :D

There's a lot of great fics about this time period too which I adore.

I'm totally going to be asking you for recs later :D

He's always fantastic but the people around him and the storylines not so much.

I have heard this, which is why I'm not really rushing out to watch his back catalogue. Not that I tend to do that with actors, because it's the characters I tend to fall for and I'm not really interested in seeing the actor play someone else. But yes, why must he be so good at acting and apparently so terrible at picking projects?

[umadoshi]

does anyone need another one?

The answer to this is ALWAYS "yes".

[hils]

The pressure! And also, I'm concerned that there are already eleventy billion post episode-33 comfort fics and does anyone need another one? Except that sounds like possibly another one is fine.

I was having a conversation about this on Discord last week and saying that everything I want to write has already been writting. The response I got was 'yes, but they're not yours'. It's a small fandom and there can be many, many, takes on the same idea. Everyone is happy to read them do don't fret about it

I'm totally going to be asking you for recs later :D

I have several and I haven't even touched the long stuff yet as I need to put it on my Kindle

[selenay]

It's a small fandom and there can be many, many, takes on the same idea. Everyone is happy to read them do don't fret about it

That's very reassuring! I'm hoping it's also a forgiving fandom who don't mind terrible takes on the same idea :D

[hils]

I'm hoping it's also a forgiving fandom who don't mind terrible takes on the same idea :D

I'm quite certain it's not bad!

[writerlibrarian]

He actually plays 6 different iterations of charaters. Young Wei, Brother Black and Professor Wei then Ye Zun, young Zun then Zun impersonating Wei. Zhu Yilong Is amazingly credible in all of them. 🥰

[selenay]

It's actually stunning that he manages to make each one distinct and believable without falling into parody. Particularly Ye Zun impersonating Shen Wei - that shouldn't have worked and it did. He's very very good.

[umadoshi]

but the timeline is a bit...uncertain at times

That was very tactful of you. *g*

(Once you finish the show, xparrot has a good post [with a fair bit of discussion] about how Zhao Yunlan's time in the past works, if you're interested.)

bb!Shen Wei is one of the greatest joys of my fannish life ever, and the time loop element of the show is one of my very favorite things about it. (There is SO MUCH good fic. So much.)

Zhu Yilong is staggeringly talented.

[selenay]

That was very tactful of you. *g*

Very occasionally, I have tact *g*

[extrapenguin]

WRT the timeline, I collected all the timeline notes into a timeline post for the present-day timeline of the show (with a note on the time travel segment). (I also have collected canon details, but that's maybe a post-episode 40 thing.)

[selenay]

Oooh, thank you for linking that, it's very helpful! And hopefully will make plotting fic slightly easier (or at least knowing where I'm going to mess with things so I'm not doing it accidentally will be good).

[bookmonster]

I feel like we should reject most of my theories mainly as I just pull them out of thin air to see how sad/happy they make us 😂😂 who needs textual underpinning for their headcanons? Definitely not me 🤷‍♀️

I am v excited to read fic and yes anything around the time jump is going to be catnip for me as bb!shen wei is the most adorable (that conversation about the mask keeps killing me everytime I think about it).

I don't know if I'm ready to rewatch yet but I think it will have a lot of resonance the next time around especially knowing what we do about all their backstories now. But still not quite there yet 😅

[selenay]

who needs textual underpinning for their headcanons? Definitely not me 🤷‍♀️

I mean, that's accurate for a lot of fandom, frankly. Sometimes textual underpinning for headcanon can go right out if the headcanon is particularly great 😂

(that conversation about the mask keeps killing me everytime I think about it).

It gets me, too. And he learned to wear the mask without having a physical mask too well - current!Shen Wei is so much less open and vulnerable (except when he looks at Zhao Yunlan). In learning how to not show his fear, he learned how to keep everything contained inside and that's a loss.

(Yup, I can still make myself sad.)

But still not quite there yet 😅

I'm debating when I'll be ready. I'd like to have the happier earlier episodes more firmly in my head to counteract the sadness of the later ones, but I don't know how I'll feel now that I know so much.

Possibly I'll feel even more 😍 at Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. That's very possible. Wait, no, that's inevitable.