Guardian episode 3 & Shen Wei's opinion of Zhao Yunlan
So I've been rewatching Guardian because of course. (Actually, because I've been feeling a bit lost and stressed, and I'm overdue for a review of canon if I'm going to keep writing fic.) A few days ago I watched episode 3 and, with the help of ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cyberbrain, pieced together some thoughts more cohesively than I had before, so here are those.
For the first three episodes, Shen Wei has no idea what to make of Zhao Yunlan. He resembles Kunlun in a lot of ways but seems like a stranger in others, and also he's Zhao Xinci's successor/son, which...there's no way Kunlun is that person, right? Zhao Yunlan's suspicions against him don't help. Shen Wei is well aware he's being investigated, and even if he is sort of enjoying the attention in a perverse way, it's not how Kunlun would treat him.
He's also not chosen to tell Zhao Yunlan that he's the Black-Cloaked Envoy, which I think was a choice he could've freely made. Zhao Xinci knew, and based on later events I assume there's no rule that the current SID chief shouldn't know.
But Zhao Yunlan doesn't seem to like the Envoy much and dodges Shen Wei's prompting regarding the humanity of Dixingren, choosing to file it under "Shen Wei is sus" rather than actually converse about it. And aside from Shen Wei just not wanting to be disliked, he's also got concerns. This Kunlun lookalike appeared at the same time as the Longevity Dial and a handful of Dixing criminals. As much as Zhao Yunlan is rightfully suspicious of Shen Wei, Shen Wei is rightfully suspicious of him, too. This is a cluster of strange events, and seems targeted at him. I don't think he believes he's dealing with the real Kunlun, at least not fully, or at least he's trying not to believe it. Even if Zhao Yunlan sneezing on his fish tank and then stealing his cake does seem very in-character for Kunlun. (Never mind his quick intellect and his cleverness with words and the way he ~gazes~ at Shen Wei.)
Then at the end of episode 3, two things happen that seem to shift Shen Wei's stance. First, Zhao Yunlan rushes to rescue Shen Wei from Wang Yike. Shen Wei doesn't need a whole lot of rescuing, but Zhao Yunlan doesn't know that, and when he gets to him, he's very worried. There's a gentle arm around Shen Wei, he asks if he's okay, he makes big worried eyes at him. It's genuine concern, protectiveness even.
Zhao Yunlan is not feeling up Shen Wei's shoulder muscles. Zhao Yunlan is simply worried.
Second, and promptly interrupting their cute moment, Wang Yike accidentally saps Zhang Ruonan's life force to a deadly degree, and Zhao Yunlan is not having it. He's desperate to save Zhang Ruonan's life, and keeps barking orders that everyone but him seems to believe are useless. He's moved to tears by her apparent last moments with Wang Yike. He's not even thinking about arresting Wang Yike; he only cares about protecting the people in front of him. And the person he's trying to save is Haixingren, true, but Wang Yike's emotions are affecting him here, too. It's not just "we shouldn't let an innocent person die," it's "they love each other and this is too tragic for me to watch."
Zhao Yunlan is having an emotion. Lin Jing and Chu Shuzhi don't really want to be here.
Shen Wei's duty doesn't require him to intervene here. If he's trying to play human, he probably shouldn't. But he looks at Zhao Yunlan and then decides to save Zhang Ruonan.
Shen Wei noticing Zhao Yunlan's distress before he heals Zhang Ruonan...also noticing that Zhao Yunlan has conveniently turned his back.
I think Zhao Yunlan made a damn good case for himself here. It's the compassion, and the really intense emotions about other people's suffering, that change Shen Wei's mind. He sees Kunlun in Zhao Yunlan clearly for the first time, and I think he decides to act as Kunlun would want him to.
Shen Wei is pretty convinced of who he's dealing with after this. I believe he's long since figured out that Kunlun was a time-traveler, and the time loop is only a small logical leap when you've gotten that far, so he may have even guessed how this is Kunlun. At the end of the episode, Shen Wei is making calls about moving house, so it seems he's decided to protect/stalk Zhao Yunlan from a shorter distance. We see him touching his pendant through his shirt for the first time, too, unless I missed something.
Of course, episode 4, which I also just watched, is an absolute emotional rollercoaster for Shen Wei, with Zhao Yunlan seeming to pingpong rapidly between suspicion and trust, and showing a lot more concern for Shen Wei's well-being ("Don't you know you could get TETANUS?"). But I think Shen Wei has been set on the path towards trusting Zhao Yunlan...while sort of half-heartedly pretending to be human around him, because he's being targeted by Zhu Jiu all day long, and because Zhao Yunlan isn't a huge fan of the Envoy, and also because he already committed to it and now he's stuck.
Rewatching this show from Shen Wei's perspective is a wild time (and really impressive.) Also I'm not all that good at gathering my thoughts for meta and I've been known to update my perspective, so I stand by none of what I just said.
Bonus thought:cyberbrain and I were talking about the tragic lesbians and questioning why Zhang Ruonan lives for a couple minutes without intervention after being subjected to Wang Yike's power, and we kind of came around to the thought that Wang Yike's power drains away vitality/time from the victim, but doesn't directly kill them. Or something like that. Anyway, I'm forced to conclude that some of those rapists she killed might not have died instantly but had a few minutes to languish with the knowledge that they'd been punished for what they did, and I can't bring myself to feel too bad about it. (This is not true of the last victim, who we see dead right after Wang Yike attacks him.)
Bonus bonus thought: Why does Shen Wei let Wang Yike go? Does he let her go, or does he just let her out temporarily to visit Zhang Ruonan? These early cases are written to mirror certain elements of the SW/ZYL relationship, and in this one, Wang Yike is Shen Wei's foil: Zhang Ruonan is the first person to see her power and not fear her, and possibly the first person in Dragon City to be nice to her at all, and in return, Wang Yike is intensely loyal and will do anything in her power to protect Zhang Ruonan. I think Shen Wei sees the parallel and feels a kinship, but is he kind to her because of that, or because he's trying to live up to Kunlun's standards of mercy, or is sneaking law-bending kindnesses within the Black-Cloaked Envoy's nature all along? I guess probably all three, a bit, but let me know your thoughts.
cyberbrain, pieced together some thoughts more cohesively than I had before, so here are those.For the first three episodes, Shen Wei has no idea what to make of Zhao Yunlan. He resembles Kunlun in a lot of ways but seems like a stranger in others, and also he's Zhao Xinci's successor/son, which...there's no way Kunlun is that person, right? Zhao Yunlan's suspicions against him don't help. Shen Wei is well aware he's being investigated, and even if he is sort of enjoying the attention in a perverse way, it's not how Kunlun would treat him.
He's also not chosen to tell Zhao Yunlan that he's the Black-Cloaked Envoy, which I think was a choice he could've freely made. Zhao Xinci knew, and based on later events I assume there's no rule that the current SID chief shouldn't know.
But Zhao Yunlan doesn't seem to like the Envoy much and dodges Shen Wei's prompting regarding the humanity of Dixingren, choosing to file it under "Shen Wei is sus" rather than actually converse about it. And aside from Shen Wei just not wanting to be disliked, he's also got concerns. This Kunlun lookalike appeared at the same time as the Longevity Dial and a handful of Dixing criminals. As much as Zhao Yunlan is rightfully suspicious of Shen Wei, Shen Wei is rightfully suspicious of him, too. This is a cluster of strange events, and seems targeted at him. I don't think he believes he's dealing with the real Kunlun, at least not fully, or at least he's trying not to believe it. Even if Zhao Yunlan sneezing on his fish tank and then stealing his cake does seem very in-character for Kunlun. (Never mind his quick intellect and his cleverness with words and the way he ~gazes~ at Shen Wei.)
Then at the end of episode 3, two things happen that seem to shift Shen Wei's stance. First, Zhao Yunlan rushes to rescue Shen Wei from Wang Yike. Shen Wei doesn't need a whole lot of rescuing, but Zhao Yunlan doesn't know that, and when he gets to him, he's very worried. There's a gentle arm around Shen Wei, he asks if he's okay, he makes big worried eyes at him. It's genuine concern, protectiveness even.
Zhao Yunlan is not feeling up Shen Wei's shoulder muscles. Zhao Yunlan is simply worried.
Second, and promptly interrupting their cute moment, Wang Yike accidentally saps Zhang Ruonan's life force to a deadly degree, and Zhao Yunlan is not having it. He's desperate to save Zhang Ruonan's life, and keeps barking orders that everyone but him seems to believe are useless. He's moved to tears by her apparent last moments with Wang Yike. He's not even thinking about arresting Wang Yike; he only cares about protecting the people in front of him. And the person he's trying to save is Haixingren, true, but Wang Yike's emotions are affecting him here, too. It's not just "we shouldn't let an innocent person die," it's "they love each other and this is too tragic for me to watch."
Zhao Yunlan is having an emotion. Lin Jing and Chu Shuzhi don't really want to be here.
Shen Wei's duty doesn't require him to intervene here. If he's trying to play human, he probably shouldn't. But he looks at Zhao Yunlan and then decides to save Zhang Ruonan.
Shen Wei noticing Zhao Yunlan's distress before he heals Zhang Ruonan...also noticing that Zhao Yunlan has conveniently turned his back.
I think Zhao Yunlan made a damn good case for himself here. It's the compassion, and the really intense emotions about other people's suffering, that change Shen Wei's mind. He sees Kunlun in Zhao Yunlan clearly for the first time, and I think he decides to act as Kunlun would want him to.
Shen Wei is pretty convinced of who he's dealing with after this. I believe he's long since figured out that Kunlun was a time-traveler, and the time loop is only a small logical leap when you've gotten that far, so he may have even guessed how this is Kunlun. At the end of the episode, Shen Wei is making calls about moving house, so it seems he's decided to protect/stalk Zhao Yunlan from a shorter distance. We see him touching his pendant through his shirt for the first time, too, unless I missed something.
Of course, episode 4, which I also just watched, is an absolute emotional rollercoaster for Shen Wei, with Zhao Yunlan seeming to pingpong rapidly between suspicion and trust, and showing a lot more concern for Shen Wei's well-being ("Don't you know you could get TETANUS?"). But I think Shen Wei has been set on the path towards trusting Zhao Yunlan...while sort of half-heartedly pretending to be human around him, because he's being targeted by Zhu Jiu all day long, and because Zhao Yunlan isn't a huge fan of the Envoy, and also because he already committed to it and now he's stuck.
Rewatching this show from Shen Wei's perspective is a wild time (and really impressive.) Also I'm not all that good at gathering my thoughts for meta and I've been known to update my perspective, so I stand by none of what I just said.
Bonus thought:
cyberbrain and I were talking about the tragic lesbians and questioning why Zhang Ruonan lives for a couple minutes without intervention after being subjected to Wang Yike's power, and we kind of came around to the thought that Wang Yike's power drains away vitality/time from the victim, but doesn't directly kill them. Or something like that. Anyway, I'm forced to conclude that some of those rapists she killed might not have died instantly but had a few minutes to languish with the knowledge that they'd been punished for what they did, and I can't bring myself to feel too bad about it. (This is not true of the last victim, who we see dead right after Wang Yike attacks him.)Bonus bonus thought: Why does Shen Wei let Wang Yike go? Does he let her go, or does he just let her out temporarily to visit Zhang Ruonan? These early cases are written to mirror certain elements of the SW/ZYL relationship, and in this one, Wang Yike is Shen Wei's foil: Zhang Ruonan is the first person to see her power and not fear her, and possibly the first person in Dragon City to be nice to her at all, and in return, Wang Yike is intensely loyal and will do anything in her power to protect Zhang Ruonan. I think Shen Wei sees the parallel and feels a kinship, but is he kind to her because of that, or because he's trying to live up to Kunlun's standards of mercy, or is sneaking law-bending kindnesses within the Black-Cloaked Envoy's nature all along? I guess probably all three, a bit, but let me know your thoughts.
no subject
FTR, I'm with Trobadora on Shen Wei having figured out the time loop in advance, but that doesn't mean he's not thrown by how it's playing out.
Shen Wei's duty doesn't require him to intervene here. If he's trying to play human, he probably shouldn't. But he looks at Zhao Yunlan and then decides to save Zhang Ruonan.
*rewatches* I've always thought he saves Zhang Ruonan because he knows her and likes her, and sympathises with her and Wang Yike. Wang Yike is tearfully repentant, and Zhang Ruonan doesn't deserve to die. I thought Shen Wei's glance towards Zhao Yunlan was to see if he could get away with doing it under the SID's noses. (I don't know if he'd have done it if it had meant blowing his cover...?)
ETA: and in this one, Wang Yike is Shen Wei's foil: Zhang Ruonan is the first person to see her power and not fear her, and possibly the first person in Dragon City to be nice to her at all, and in return, Wang Yike is intensely loyal and will do anything in her power to protect Zhang Ruonan.
I really love this! <3
no subject
Agree to disagree on the details of this, but Shen Wei taking notice of Zhao Yunlan's Kunlun-esque compassion here works under both theories, I guess!
Shen Wei is definitely taking stock of whether Zhao Yunlan is watching, there. He doesn't want to blow his cover, that's part of it. I think Shen Wei does try to be impartial - I don't think he ever tries to be unsympathetic, but at least impartial in terms of not going easier on people he likes - but I can see the argument that he'd have saved Zhang Ruonan regardless of Zhao Yunlan, if he could, because it's just the right thing to do, no matter who she is. I feel Zhao Yunlan's reaction had some effect in spurring him into action, but it's not as if he did it purely for him.
(After noting their similarities, I'm enjoying imagining some AU where Wang Yike and Shen Wei get along well and he's a mentor for her as a Dixingren living in Haixing. She really could've used that.)
no subject
Yes, 100% agreed on that -- but that's in his duties. Zhang Ruonan hasn't committed any crimes, and if she had, she wouldn't be under his jurisdiction. She's already suffered terribly. And she's someone he has a personal/professional relationship with, feels responsible for, and likes (and, as you say, he sees a lot of his own story in hers). Even if he'd save a complete stranger under the same circumstances, I can't see how all that background wouldn't factor in to his willingness to risk using his powers under the SID's nose. Idk...
# pre-breakfast waffle, leaves grains of salt for taking with
no subject
...Though I also think he ultimately would have helped a stranger, if he could manage it at all, in the context of "Dixingren accidentally harms Haixingren with their power." *big shrug???*
no subject
I was wondering about that, too. I couldn't think of any examples. Can you?
He doesn't move to save Butler Wu until the SID plead for it, but he almost certainly would have tried once he'd taken the body away, if only because he wanted to ask about Ding Dun's expedition. (And I can't remember -- what causes Butler Wu's death? That wasn't a Dixingren attack, was it?)
ETA: I also think that whether or not he would have acted to save random victim #254 depends on how critical he believes it is that he keep his Envoy identity secret... if the fate of the world depends on it (which you could argue it does, if the timeline is upset and ZYL doesn't go back and save the young Envoy's life, so they can retrieve the Hallows together)...
no subject
I guess my thinking based on those two examples is that he's making these decisions in the moment, and it's not something he has a firm stance on. Yeah, there are times when his need to preserve his secret identity might be the most important factor for him. He's never faced with that choice more clearly than with Zhang Ruonan, as far as I can recall.