Guardian Episodes 5-7

[lunabee34]

I think I've been rendering everyone's names incorrectly in my reviews. I should be writing Zhao Yunlan rather than just Zhao, right?

I'm also a little confused by the way people are being titled old. Is that just a literal translation of an honorific? It's been used for older people but also Zhao Yunlan who is definitely not old. And the use of brother and sister, is that analogous to comrade?



Episode 5

1. Sartorial squee: the bar pin through the collar is back plus a lapel pin!

2. Shen Wei is Superman. Glasses on--mild mannered professor. Glasses off--lord of the underworld!

3. I absolutely adore that Shen Wei wants to protect Zhao Yunlan. Nobody touches him! He's mine!

4. What is with these heartbreaking stories? I can't figure out exactly what they did with the boy--Emma thinks they kept him captive somewhere. I thought they dropped him off in a desert somewhere to die, and it took him that long to get back to Dragon City and enact his revenge. In any event, really sad story for both parent and child.

5. Zhao Yunlan is willing to use the dial and give up part of his life force to save the butler (although Little Guo offers first *my heart*).

6. I very much like that this show has a Buffy/Angel trajectory: Demons Dixing are evil-------well, maybe just some of them some of the time. Zhao Yunlan is getting his world morally greyed and learning to empathize with the Dixing.

7. Oh, wow. The underworld is surrounded by lava. LOL

8. And Shen Wei moves across the hall from Zhao Yunlan because of course he does.


Episode 6

1. Again with the heavy plots. I love the reveal that he fell in love with mirror girl and never even knew the real Wei Wei. I think it's also significant that she never did anything wrong until the very end when she was angry and scared; Wei Wei traded places with her willingly.

2. The Clan of Flowers is super cool.

3. Awwww, Zhao Yunlan Gibbs slaps Little Guo.

4. Little Guo is consistently the heart of this show. His story about growing up an orphan with no friends and how he is always working for the happiness of others because that makes him happiest is really moving.

5. Looking forward to an explanation of puppet master's flashback to a brother? Not sure.

6. Emma is convinced this show is going to involve reincarnation because Zhao Yunlan is a normal human and could not be thousands of years old. IDK I don't think that's where it's headed. *shrugs* She's really good at predicting plot lines, though, so maybe it will.

Episode 7

1. So Emma and I spent a day or two in deep fantasy about how Shen Wei would get out of his mugging predicament. We both thought it was too early for an identity reveal and guessed that Zhao Yunlan would show up and rescue him. I'm so glad we were right because damn that scene is good.

Love Zhao Yunlan's joke that he hired them to rough up Shen Wei so he can rescue him like a damsel in distress. And then all the sexy bruise rubbing! *swoon*

2. Little Guo camouflaging with the leaf behind his ear! *dies* He is so precious. I think he might just end up my favorite character.

3. I think the plot of this episode is really interesting; it's a classic Aristotelian "the revealer is the thing revealed."

4. Did this episode seriously just end with "winter is coming?" WTF? LOL


We had to skip a night last night because we had guests. I'm really looking forward to episode 8!