Guardian episode 35
Jul. 23rd, 2020 12:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI guess that three Dreamwidth posts in a week and a first draft of a completed fic means that I'm diving into this fandom? :D
It's very very compelling. And I keep having so many thoughts and feelings.
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hockeybosh and I watched episode 35. We needed about five more episodes set back in the past, but I guess we've only got five episodes left so they can't all be set there. Grrr.
bb!Shen Wei is beyond adorable. He's trying so hard to be the fearless hardened warrior, but he doesn't want to be. Not really. Except he can't stand to see defenceless people being hurt and he has the skills to defend them, so of course he's going to take on that role and he's so good at it that of course he's going to end up being a leader.
And of course he wouldn't abandon his little brother unless he thought his brother was dead (more details on that are coming, I hope?). He's pure and good and lovely. And just a tiny bit ruthless, but only when he needs to be.
And he falls for Zhao Yunlan immediately and irrevocably, which is beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. Zhao Yunlan gives him his name! OMG! Their whole relationship here is just...I love it :D I definitely subscribe to the headcanon that this bit lasted much longer than we saw on screen because I love it so and will need to read a lot of fanfic about it.
bb!Ye Zun is...not a good person at all. Zhu Yilong is fantastic at playing the younger versions of these characters and making them so distinct from each other *and* from their older versions.
Even if Ye Zun did feel abandoned, I'm pretty sure the appropriate healthy reaction does not involve burning hatred and trying to destroy your brother and everyone he loves. Just saying.
Was I supposed to be sad when the Demi-Humans went off to do their own thing apart from the humans? Because I was :(
This episode filled in so many backstory gaps but I still feel like there are details missing. And five episodes to fill them in (or possibly they'll never get filled in, yay gaps for fanfic).
I was entertained, as always, by the way Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan pick the absolute worst times for long intense gazes and meaningful discussions about the relationship. Middle of hostage negotiations? Check. Hanging out in a timeloop worm hole? Check. They're so great at this, I love this show.
Also! bb!Shen Wei snaffled away that lollipop wrapper. At no stage did I see Zhao Yunlan/Kunlan give him an amber globe thing to turn into a necklace that he can touch and fondle at key moments in their relationship 10,000 years later. Is that necklace thing made from the lollipop wrapper? Or is that still to be revealed?
And also, did Shen Wei really spend 10,000 years buried in the ground? Because if so, that's both better and worse than I'd been imagining. No wonder he often looks like he needs a hug. And is not a fan of technology.
And and! He'd clearly been in Dragon City as Professor Shen for a few years before he met Zhao Yunlan. He'd established a reputation at the university as well as an identity and that takes a bit of time. He wasn't fresh out of the ground on the day they met. But did Zhao Yunlan meet the Black Robe Envoy for the first time on the rooftop? He clearly knew about the BRE, but was that their first meeting or had they met a few times before? Because I got the impression that when Professor Shen met Chief Zhao, it was the first time Shen Wei had seen him since the past times, but if the Black Robe Envoy had been meeting him regularly then it wasn't.
(ETA: I rewatched episode 1. That day on the rooftop is the first time the Black Robe Envoy had visited since Zhao took over as section chief. So it was their first meeting too. Did Shen Wei decide to bring the Black Robe Envoy out for that rooftop moment because he'd finally found Kunlun/Zhao Yunlun? I think he did and oh my heart.)
Time travel is so confusing.
The only solution is a rewatch when I've finished :D
Wow, this turned into a much longer post than I'd planned.
It's very very compelling. And I keep having so many thoughts and feelings.
bb!Shen Wei is beyond adorable. He's trying so hard to be the fearless hardened warrior, but he doesn't want to be. Not really. Except he can't stand to see defenceless people being hurt and he has the skills to defend them, so of course he's going to take on that role and he's so good at it that of course he's going to end up being a leader.
And of course he wouldn't abandon his little brother unless he thought his brother was dead (more details on that are coming, I hope?). He's pure and good and lovely. And just a tiny bit ruthless, but only when he needs to be.
And he falls for Zhao Yunlan immediately and irrevocably, which is beautiful and heartbreaking all at once. Zhao Yunlan gives him his name! OMG! Their whole relationship here is just...I love it :D I definitely subscribe to the headcanon that this bit lasted much longer than we saw on screen because I love it so and will need to read a lot of fanfic about it.
bb!Ye Zun is...not a good person at all. Zhu Yilong is fantastic at playing the younger versions of these characters and making them so distinct from each other *and* from their older versions.
Even if Ye Zun did feel abandoned, I'm pretty sure the appropriate healthy reaction does not involve burning hatred and trying to destroy your brother and everyone he loves. Just saying.
Was I supposed to be sad when the Demi-Humans went off to do their own thing apart from the humans? Because I was :(
This episode filled in so many backstory gaps but I still feel like there are details missing. And five episodes to fill them in (or possibly they'll never get filled in, yay gaps for fanfic).
I was entertained, as always, by the way Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan pick the absolute worst times for long intense gazes and meaningful discussions about the relationship. Middle of hostage negotiations? Check. Hanging out in a timeloop worm hole? Check. They're so great at this, I love this show.
Also! bb!Shen Wei snaffled away that lollipop wrapper. At no stage did I see Zhao Yunlan/Kunlan give him an amber globe thing to turn into a necklace that he can touch and fondle at key moments in their relationship 10,000 years later. Is that necklace thing made from the lollipop wrapper? Or is that still to be revealed?
And also, did Shen Wei really spend 10,000 years buried in the ground? Because if so, that's both better and worse than I'd been imagining. No wonder he often looks like he needs a hug. And is not a fan of technology.
And and! He'd clearly been in Dragon City as Professor Shen for a few years before he met Zhao Yunlan. He'd established a reputation at the university as well as an identity and that takes a bit of time. He wasn't fresh out of the ground on the day they met. But did Zhao Yunlan meet the Black Robe Envoy for the first time on the rooftop? He clearly knew about the BRE, but was that their first meeting or had they met a few times before? Because I got the impression that when Professor Shen met Chief Zhao, it was the first time Shen Wei had seen him since the past times, but if the Black Robe Envoy had been meeting him regularly then it wasn't.
(ETA: I rewatched episode 1. That day on the rooftop is the first time the Black Robe Envoy had visited since Zhao took over as section chief. So it was their first meeting too. Did Shen Wei decide to bring the Black Robe Envoy out for that rooftop moment because he'd finally found Kunlun/Zhao Yunlun? I think he did and oh my heart.)
Time travel is so confusing.
The only solution is a rewatch when I've finished :D
Wow, this turned into a much longer post than I'd planned.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-23 03:18 pm (UTC)I'm delighted to have other people to squee with though. Do you use Discord at all. I'm on a nice, relatively small (I think there's 60 people) server. I can send you an invite when you've finished the show if you're interested
no subject
Date: 2020-07-23 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-23 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-23 04:18 pm (UTC)I definitely subscribe to the headcanon that this bit lasted much longer than we saw on screen because I love it so and will need to read a lot of fanfic about it.
YES. Much longer, surely. And while there are plenty of things I wish the show had done/could have done differently, the lack of screentime for Zhao Yunlan's trip to the past is the one that makes me saddest (other than the lack of makeouts+).
The show is incredibly rewarding on rewatch, too.
(Do you know/how much do you know about the novel?)
no subject
Date: 2020-07-24 02:01 pm (UTC)Yeah, the lack of makeouts is tragic and this is why I'm going to need all the fanfic, all of it.
The show is incredibly rewarding on rewatch, too.
Rewatching episode 1 was very cool, and I'm inclined to rewatch it again and then rewatch the rest after I recover from the end.
(Do you know/how much do you know about the novel?)
I read the first few chapters at the weekend and concluded that I much prefer the drama versions of the characters so I don't need to read any further?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-25 03:08 am (UTC)There's so much excellent fanfic of all ratings! *^^* I adore this fandom dearly.
(Seeing gifs from other shows the boys have done makes it painfully and wonderfully easy to imagine what they would've brought to makeouts with their ridiculous chemistry together.)
Rewatching episode 1 was very cool
Shen Wei's crestfallen little face when Zhao Yunlan doesn't know him...!!! ;_;
I read the first few chapters at the weekend and concluded that I much prefer the drama versions of the characters so I don't need to read any further?
That's fair!
I enjoy a lot about the novel, and it's interesting seeing some of the ways the show tried to include or nod to elements from it (sometimes more successfully than others). But it's totally the drama that has its hooks in me, thanks to the characterization/performances.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-26 12:16 pm (UTC)*frustrated sigh*
Shen Wei's crestfallen little face when Zhao Yunlan doesn't know him...!!! ;_;
With the added context, it's so much sadder than I'd realised!
But it's totally the drama that has its hooks in me, thanks to the characterization/performances.
Same. And it's the characerisation that bounced me off the novel, which makes sense in a way. Are there good summaries out there with notations on what was incorporated into the drama?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 12:40 am (UTC)YES. (Bai Yu did some incredible kissing work in his show Memory Lost, but I don't seem to have gifs from that right on hand. However, let me offer you a priceless gif of Zhu Yilong being overcome by just kissing someone's hand.)
With the added context, it's so much sadder than I'd realised!
Rewatching the show is a precious experience, but you only ever get to see it all unfold from Zhao Yunlan's POV once. For me rewatching is a constant cascade of Shen Wei's FEELINGS being desperately restrained.
Are there good summaries out there with notations on what was incorporated into the drama?
Hmmm...I can't think of any detailed breakdowns, no. Alas.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-27 08:46 am (UTC)Well. That gives me *ideas*.
For me rewatching is a constant cascade of Shen Wei's FEELINGS being desperately restrained.
Oh gosh, yes, I can see this and that's partially why I want to rewatch. This first watch was very much Zhao Yunlan's POV, but now I understand all the things Shen Wei couldn't say and that adds a whole different element to it.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-23 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-24 02:02 pm (UTC)