Guardian rewatch: episode 3

[selenay]

Watching this one back was interesting because there were various things I didn't pick up on during the first watch that are much more significant now.

I'm not sure why, but I didn't really notice how significant it was that Shen Wei didn't take Wang Yike back to Dixing when I watched it the first time. It seemed like a much bigger deal when he did it with the mind-control girl later - maybe because this time he did it quietly and Zhao Yunlan has no idea? It's interesting to see that his ideas about justice (as opposed to law and treaty) are already coming through and it makes me wonder how long he'd been quietly not taking Dixingren back who didn't deserve punishment. Is that new since meeting Zhao Yunlan or has he always been quietly putting his own interpretation on his Envoy role?

When he's looking at the photo of Zhang Ruonen and Wang Yike (I'm definitely interpreting them as together) and he touches the place on his shirt that hides the pendant of pining, is that the first time he's done that? Or was there a moment in episode 1 that I missed?

The telephone conversation that opens that scene is another thing I didn't really notice the first time around. He hasn't been told to move out of university dorms yet, but he's totally setting up the move already. And he's totally asking his property finding person to find a place near Zhao Yunlan.

Oh, Shen Wei. You have no chill whatsoever.

Never change.

The scene where he's hunting for something in the streets is another thing I hadn't really picked up on the first time around. He's Hallows hunting. I remember being confused about why on earth he was out there and what he was looking for, but now I get it. If one has been found, perhaps the rest will be and he's hunting. Except unfortunately it puts him in the worst place possible and now Zhao Yunlan is even more suspicious, just as he was trying to find reasons that Shen Wei might not be suspicious.

And speaking of Zhao Yunlan...

Gosh, wow, honey you are shameless. You ate Shen Wei's cake. You sneezed on everything in sight and ate Shen Wei's cake. And then later you were just hanging around his office with no really good case-related excuse, so it was clearly just flirting.

(Shen Wei floundering about how to introduce Zhao Yunlan to Zhang Ruonen is just...oh, Shen Wei. At least Zhao Yunlan had your back there. In a sense. "Good friend" indeed.)

And then going for the full-body hug after Shen Wei was attacked by Wang Yike was just...Zhao Yunlan, never change :D

The effect of the full-body hug is the only reason I can think of that he failed to notice how unhurt Shen Wei was by the life energy sucking girl. Although at least he did start to wonder whether there were things going on with Zhang Ruonen surviving that he hadn't seen. And at least Shen Wei was vaguely subtle about healing this time.

This was one of those episodes that's both delightful (every Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan scene) and odd because the subject matter was intense, but there was also all the underlying story happening at the same time. It made for an oddly balanced episode at times, and yet I still love it for the various developments and particularly for the things I hadn't noticed until this rewatch.

Comments

[selenay]

Shen Wei's catch-and-release program! *^^*

Yes! And I love it, and I really want to know how long he's been doing it because it's one of the cracks in his Envoy persona that I find really intriguing. He knows that it isn't always fair to send people back, so he quietly does what he feels is right rather than what the laws say he must.

I love the shamelessness. I do not love the terrible germ containment. ;_; (Even before we had a pandemic it made me full-body cringe.)

He should absolutely be as shameless as possible, I love.

But maybe in a less germ-riddled way.