#damn a GUO? wow

[nurrgleth]

they didnt have to come for my neck like that

[sarikovskj]

I miss summer, the heat (even the sweat), the humidity, I miss China and Genève and that hike we went on at the beginning of August. Lake Léman. Damn I miss speaking French. That 8-hour car drive and the Shire. The costumes, the guo cha, the tgp tram, ice cream in that cute square that looked like a jungle; the airport, Chongqing and the Chinese elders. That feeling of being in another world, a parallel universe. I miss the long days and the light, the sun (wow, never had I thought I’d miss the sunlight), the books I read; playing the sims 2 and the music I used to listen to when I was a teen. All the rock songs I made Navrit listen to on the bus. All the photos I took and the fun of being behind the camera. The parks and the mountains, the endless stairs and the long walks. I don’t think I’ve ever walked as much as this past summer. There have been moments in which I thought I couldn’t do it… but I did and I’m thankful to my body. I think this one has been one of the happiest summers in my entire life. Wow. I’m so grateful. For real. I haven’t felt this alive in so many years I had forgotten how sweet it can be. Let’s live like that from now on. Let’s enjoy life while taking up our responsibilities; let’s savor everything — the good, the bad and the bland — without thinking too much. I’ll always find a way, eventually.

[cybernaght]

Guardian rewatch: Episode 3

First of all, wow. When I decided to post those online, I was expecting that they would be read by two people, both of whom I personally know. It was in equal part surprising and terrifying that so many of you ventured here. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it. 

Episode 3 is probably my favourite case. It’s not perfectly strung together, there is little actual investigative work in it, but it’s a beautiful story of boundless love and devotion, which echoes through the relationship between our protagonists

Professor Shen is looking at some materials that are looking suspiciously like research into something supernatural, when Zhang Ruonan makes an appearance at his office, claiming that she is absolutely fine, while clearly being very far away from fine. This is something Shen Wei can certainly relate to, because he is the king of hiding his ailments from others. 

Zhu Hong’s one-sided affection for Zhao Yunlan starts to show already in this episode:  while he has the cold, she nags him to take care of himself, shoves tissues into his hands, and presses him to drink his meds. It’s easy to imagine even this early on that she will be the woman drunk dialling him one day. 

I know this could be seen as straightbaiting, but I honestly thing that the actual purpose it serves in the show is the opposite; I’ll talk more about it when we get there.

Zhao Yunlan spends a lot of this episode in Shen Wei’s office, starting with this scene, in which is obviously flexing. Not only does he sneeze all over the office, he goes to eat Shen Wei’s cake after specifically being told not to eat it.  He also takes his opportunity to mix questioning with flirting, as is his usual way. He keeps eye contact while spooning cake into his mouth, as he explains, jovially, that another mysterious death on his campus cannot possibly be a coincidence. And, to be fair, he is not really wrong. We are meant to believe that this is all set in motion by Zhu Jiu, aka the least scary villain in the history of villainy, and an owner of your staple baby goth wig. I will not mention him again until the plot makes it impossible for me not to do so. 

Zhang Ruonan comes in, and Zhao Yunlan introduces himself as Shen Wei’s good friend. Which is half-way between a flex and an act of kindness. On one hand, he could have said he was from the police - which would be absolutely true - and risk tarnishing the professor’s good name. On the other hand, he could probably look less pleased with himself. Shen Wei, at the very least, looks neither grateful, nor amused. 

Zhao Yunlan asks her if she new the victim and she looks incredibly shifty as she flees. He is right to think that something is up, and he correctly assumes trauma, rather than guilt. We can now start to see that he is very very good at reading people. It must be equal parts thrilling and disconcerting for him to have met something who he decisively cannot read. Shen Wei vouches for the woman, partly, surely, because his Hei Pao Shi sense is tingling, letting him know that someone is eavesdropping. 

Despite feeling uneasy, Shen Wei still offers Guo Changcheng, who is left to collect various paperwork from his desk, a little smile. He has a reason to like Xiao Guo, of course: he was the one to see the young man’s kindness and understanding, and he is already growing protective of him, way before he will start seeing members of the special unit as his people. This reminds me of how many months later, he will subtly, but decisively stop a barrage of verbal abuse against Xiao Guo by dropping a pair of chopsticks. 

Zhao Yunlan is taking Xiao Guo with him on the case rather than anyone else, partly, supposedly, because of Guo Changcheng’s familial connections. The young man looks more sure of himself, asking correct questions, dutifully records answers. He also tries to look after his Chief by asking him to go home and rest. He does phrase it badly, but Zhao Yunlan has a thing against his own health and well-being, so he reacts extra poorly.

Soon after, Zhao Yunlan’s at Shen Wei’s office yet again, as Shen Wei tries his best to ignore him, in the hope that he… well, maybe not goes away, but does not ask him anything that will require him lying. Instead, Zhao Yunlan is asking Shen Wei why he is bad at reading people, which is a very strange thing to ask. Shen Wei answers his question with a question, “Will seeing through people really lessen the hurt and disappointment?” Adding, “Many tragedies were destined from the beginning”. He looks well.. like this as he says it. 

This is loaded. On first glance, it’s a pretty good set-up to the way this story will unfold, as a tragedy of two individuals who let their devotion to each other nearly ruin each other’s life. A fragile human and a dangerous powered Undergroundian: what else is that, but a tragedy, waiting to happen? But this story - this one right in front of us - will not end tragically, at least not for the two people it enters around. It could do so, but it will not. Maybe, this truly is the first hint that this entire narrative, so carefully set up from the very first time Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei meet, is destined to be a tragedy. Moreover, that it must be one, for some cosmic reason. 

(… I apologise while I go have a little cry in the corner. Damn you, Guardian, why do you make me hurt so much?)

Da Qing inexplicably morphs from black cat to a human in white t-shirt while doing night shadowing, and promptly falls asleep on patrol. Why is he being sent to stake anyone out? He is least suitable for it.  He is literally a cat. He sleeps 16 hours a day. 

Surprisingly, when pressed, Zhang Ruonan comes clean very easily, revealing that she was a victim of the three students she failed (two of which are already dead and one one standing right next to them), who lured her out at night, which left her vulnerable to be attacked. Zhao Yunlan listens to this story, and instead of… oh I don’t know, perhaps asking her the identity of the third student, leaves to go find that out for himself. It is heavily implied that he does it on purpose, which is definitely not okay.  

Moreover, he goes and... asks Shen Wei. This makes me suspect that he’s not really thinking with his head at this point. As he does so, he is brandishing a letter opener. 

Shen Wei is looking even less impressed with him than he did during their last few conversations. 

Zhao Yunlan is a little bit flippant when it comes to students’ lives this episode. And yes, they have done something really quite horrible to another human being, but that's not a very good excuse to let the last of them just die. As it happens, the situation Yunlan created - perhaps on purpose - did lure out Zhao Ruonan’s murder girlfriend, but it also cost a student his life. Which is far from ideal, but is somehow never even mentioned. Instead of being aghast, he sits on the table as he goes into full interrogation mode. (As he will continue to do a lot. Sometimes he crouches on tables instead. There is no further point here, apart from: I like this character quirk. It’s a nice character quirk.)

He brings some of his team in at this point, and asks Zhu Hong to continue interrogation. It would be a nice gesture is he did not interject two questions in. 

“How do you regard your relationship with Wang Yike?”

“We are family.”

They are definitely, decisively not going for sisterly bond here. Which is kind of incredible. This is one of the moments the amorphous being that show is looks at the censors, wiggles its battered low budget eyebrows at them, and then proceeds to flip them off. Well done, Guardian. 

Wang Yike calls Zhang Ruonan, saying there is one more victim she needs to take care of, and Lin Jing traces the call back to campus. Zhao Yunlan, who did not even bat an eyelid at a dead student earlier, now looks decisively worried  

“Oh no. Professor Shen.” 

The only reason Shen Wei is attacked is jealousy. Wang Yike does not know this of course, but trying to kill him is a bad move, because a) he has long ago given his heart away, and is definitely not interested; b) this is probably the only thing she could do to make the man on the case very very upset; c) Shen Wei’s immune to her powers. 

“Someone like you will never understand what she means to me!” Wang Yike shouts eventually. “As long as I can protect her, my life has worth!” And, even as Wang Yike has no way of knowing it, these are the words that ultimately save both her and her loved one. Because Shen Wei does in fact understand what Zhang Ruonan means to her. His own endless and ultimately self-destructive devotion is his main driving force.

Shen Wei pretends to be hurt, again, which earns him a half-hug from the object of his devotion. If Zhao Yunlan does notice that Shen Wei should really come out of this attack grey haired and dead, and not just mildly inconvenienced, he chooses not to say anything. 

Worried about her murder girlfriend, Zhang Ruonan rushes in and accidentally touches her. Zhao Yunlan Freaks The Hell Out. Shen Wei does, too, but in his own, reserved, way. They are both emotionally invested in those two people, although for very different reasons: Shen Wei is acutely feeling resonance of his own past in their story, and Zhao Yunlan, I think, wants to fix it, he wants to be able to make it better. Instead, Shen Wei fixes it for him, turning the tide on this tragedy, and giving it a happy ending. He heals Zhang Ruonan right in front of the officers of SID, albeit with much subtlety. (“Have someone saved her right under our noses?” Zhu Hong will snort the very same evening, and she will be 100% correct.)

Shen Wei also lets Wang Yike go despite the undeniable fact that she did kill three people. Here, he is looking at the picture of this human/Undergroundian couple, surviving despite all odds, and touches his only reminder that Kunlun really was in his life. 

He then burns the picture as the only evidence that Wang Yike was not punished by him for her crimes. 

In the end, Guo Chengcheng is making first of his many diary notes about the events, recounting a conversation between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan we had not witnessed, in which Shen Wei mentioned a relationship based on devotion that can last a thousand years, and Zhao Yunlan called such a relationship “guarding”. Finally, Guo Changcheng hopes that he can become a guardian of all. 

And this is making me think that this absolutely should be a set-up for him becoming a wick of the guardian lantern, as per every single other decision that was made prior to the last two episodes. Right? This is a perfect foreshadowing, and mentioning it here, so early in the show would not make any sense if it were a deliberate subversion. So, was Guo Changcheng meant to become the wick after all before... what, some rewrites happened? What made the final episode be what it was in the end?

(This is a genuine question by that way, if anyone has any insight on the matter.)

The episode would end here, if this was a western show, with a familiar monster of the week structure, but it does not. At least, the way it ends is reminiscent of a cliffhanger, with Zhao Yunlan catching Shen Wei in a middle of a crime scene, and looking betrayed. 

Next episode: Lynchian Nightmare, aka people without faces. 

PS.

I did not have a seamless way to stick this in anywhere but... Shen Wei’s technological ineptness at the max: he does not know how to use a Polaroid camera. Help him, he is so lost.

——

Second point of housekeeping to say a few things: 

I don’t think I will be consistent with certain things being transliterated versus translated. I am more likely to use Hei Pao Shi rather than Black Cloak Envoy (because the later reminds me of Tuxedo Mask, which makes me inwardly giggle every time) but at the same time I am also more likely to use Underground/Undergroundian rather than Dixing/Dixingren. I am more likely to use Xiao rather than Little, but have called Chu Old rather than Lao before. I hope that’s not grating, but do tell me if it is

My recaps are Shen Wei-heavy. I have no real explanation for this, apart from.. I like Shen Wei. 

I realise that there will definitely be things here that are head canon and speculation rather than flat observations; this show is a work of fiction and a work of art, which cannot be interpreted objectively. If you have alternate takes on anything I write in the future, let me know! 

[ori-flails]

Rewatching Guardian - Episode 07 Part 3/3

Episode List || Part 1 | Part 2 || Episode 08

SPOILERS for upto episode 40, SPOILERS for the novel.

Lin Jing has a point. If they’re being spied by members of the Yashou tribes it’s better to have Zhu Hong involved. And he’s speaking in codes because they’re listening in. And Zhao Yunlan got it. I didn’t notice before and just thought it was weird they seem to not realize they were being spied on. Wow. I clearly wasn’t giving the SID enough credit. :/

(Also, the house seems pretty big from the outside but once they go in, it’s tiny. Odd.)

On this note, Zhu Jiu’s voice is nice enough. The cursed wig ugh and the chuuni act...

I just can’t get over it. Zhu Jiu could’ve been pretty cool and I was sitting here trying to enjoy his character and waiting for him to grow on me as a character when in reality he irritated the living daylights out of me.

And I was trying so hard to give him a chance to become a compelling character that I didn’t even admit to myself that Zhu Jiu was plain annoying to me until Ye Zun appeared, so for half the series.

Lin Jing being serious is <3 Zhao Yunlan and Xiao Guo’s faces lmao xD

He’s right too. The first murder can’t be held against Lai Su because he didn’t know something like this was going to happen. If we really really baby him, then we can say that the man didn’t see the correlation between the murders and his work for the first couple of incidents. But even then, after that point, there isn’t really any excuse.

If it was me, I’d have been driven crazy with the knowledge that there was something I could do that would possibly stop the murders, if not for a guilty conscience, it’d be also for the fear of the authorities connecting the dots and me becoming a suspect of a damn murder case. That’s scary!

And yeah, even if he had stopped there would’ve been no guarantee of this mysterious man online would’ve stopped whatever that prompted these murders (Lai Su never knew of his abilities), but still. I’d have gone crazy with the possibilities. No amount of money and fame can compensate for the loss of peace of mind like that.

Zhao Yunlan quickly turned the situation into a good-cop-bad-cop situation lol. Using the knowledge that Lai Su pissed of Lin Jing of all people to that extent to hammer in the guilt factor and pressurise Lai Su into revealing if there was anything else to this.

Yeah, the virtual world is so vast and easy to get sucked into that actual reality becomes secondary. And in this, Lai Su, as a result, was completely desensitized to people being murdered, and he was sitting there rationalising what was happening and making excuses for himself to try and appease his conscience because his greed overruled it.

Sad.

“His ability must be to self-hypnotise with his writing”, “He and the monster he write about are the same person”

This is why the trashy CGI monster from this episode is more upsetting to me than the plastic looking Youchu. The show could’ve gotten away with it by not showing this monster at all in this instance.

Because of Zhao Yunlan’s wording, the picture I get is that Lai Su himself would commit these crimes after he ‘falls asleep’ or something and have no recollection of it becaused he hypnotised himself. This would’ve been pretty cool. But in this case, it won’t work because then the thug going mad because of the monster so horrendous won’t be explained. So perhaps instead of a clear cut explanation, it would be better to leave some aspects a little unexplained.

Like, we get to see Zhu Jiu’s cryptid message and his parting words,  then the claw coming out of the computer screen or just a close-up of Lai Su’s terrified face, and then a blood curdling scream from Lai Su’s hidden room from Da Qing and Chu Shuzhi’s POV. When they go into the room to check what’s happened, Lai Su would already be dead.

No awful cheap looking CGI monster, a sense of mystery, and still it would make sense due to Zhao Yunlan’s hypothesis in this scene. I know very little about cinema and screenplay but still, wouldn’t this have been somewhat better? And unlike the Zhang Danni impersonator case, leaving the monster to the audience’s imagination wouldn’t take away from the experience.

The key information is that Lai Su didn’t know that he had this power. If he did, the protagonists of his stories wouldn’t have been the murderer (or the victim) and Lai Su could’ve brought many good things to his life (unless it’s like his power wouldn’t have activated without Zhu Jiu’s interference). No one would willingly screw themselves over like this of their own free will.

“I would’ve never though you would say these words to me today” + the following comment about Zhao Yunlan’s growing understanding of Dixingren: o u c h

In these lines, the “you” Shen Wei is referring to is not Zhao Yunlan who is the future or past of Kunlun, but instead to Zhao Yunlan, son of Zhao Xinci, who, until recently, hadn’t shown any indication of being all that better than Zhao Xinci. Because it would not be surprising to Shen Wei if Kunlun was understanding of Dixingren; that would be expected.

Shen Wei likely knew of Zhao Yunlan before they met, and he is aware of what the SID had been upto since he took over. Whatever mental picture he had of Zhao Yunlan was probably so different from Kunlun until they met. Yet, Zhao Yunlan is not that mental picture of his, and neither is he Kunlun anymore/yet.

I feel like my brain (and heart) would become scrambled agg if I was in Shen Wei’s position, trying to align the three different ideas of Zhao Yunlan; the professional judgement of Zhao Yunlan as the new chief of the SID, the actual Zhao Yunlan he interacts with who is fun, clever and charming like a fox, and Kunlun.

In my opinion, Shen Wei’s doing good by keeping Kunlun and Zhao Yunlan as separated as he can in his mind, while trying to have a better understanding of Zhao Yunlan by having his professional image and the observations of him on a personal level merge.

Btw, when Shen Wei was saying these things, he looked like he was going to cry. And then there were unshed tears in his eyes when he smiled (the second and third to last screenshots). Q~Q

I wonder what he was thinking in that moment. Was he missing Kunlun at the very Kunlun-like thing Zhaon Yunlan just said with his very Kunlun looking face? Was it relief/gratefulness of somebody finallly seeing the same peril that he has been seeing? Was it the pressure of his responsibilities to his doomed people?

Ugh Zhu Yilong how do you do this... I will cry. The faces he makes are so freaking sad.

THAT’S ANGUISH ON HIS FACE AND I CANNOT.

Something entirely unrelated to the episode: I love how the way Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan talk are so different from the natural way Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu talk, but I never even thought that the actors were changing their speech so much but so subtly until I watched this long interview and my brain was confused out of its wits because Zhu Yilong speaking sounds so different to Shen Wei, while Bai Yu’s voice itself sounds completely different to me. They just sound so natural in their roles. As someone that loves watching good acting but cannot understand how acting even works, I am actually floored.

[shijiujun]

history3 ep 11 summary - YASSS YOU GO SHAO FEI YOU GOT THIS! SHAO FEI WINS THIS IS THE FIRST KISS

Are we gonna die? Think we gonna die (WE DIED BUT FOR AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT REASON)

OKAY OH GOD we start off with the emo and heartbreaking hospital scene again, and look at those hands and Tang Yi’s face and expressions and little smiles all for Shao Fei - Once again Chris is EXCELLENT at acting - AND THEN SHAO FEI OPENS HIS EYES TO SEE TANG YI SMILING DOWN AT HIM GUYS he’s totally smiling down at Shao Fei and Shao Fei is doped up on drugs and goes “Tang Yi...” and when the cam pans back to Tang Yi he’s CRYING HE IS CRYING THIS IS NOT A DRILL omggg this scene totally tore my heart lungs and whatever out WHAT THE HELL

Yu Qi arrives outside and she’s very protective of Shao Fei and wants Tang Yi to stay away from him, she’s mad that zhao zi let tang yi in and she doesn’t want tang yi to do anything to him, what if he does something to shao fei right? and then she turns around and bumps into tang yi who’s just left the room - she glares at him and then pushes past him to go inside, and zhao zi too also moves past him to go inside

while inside, yu qi scolds zhao zi for letting tang yi in - basically she’s a parallel of hong ye and also in the dialogue by mentioning the part that nothing good has happened since shao fei met tang yi, and she’s saying that this can’t go on because shao fei has only gotten hurt worse each time since hanging out more and more with tang yi

And Tang Yi looks so numb standing at the door listening to all this, and that is how we all get the LAST SCENE OF THAT PREVIEW as he walks away

OOOOOH yes we were all damn right on our predictions - Once Tang Yi leaves the hospital, Chen Wen Hao’s people ambush him and says that Boss Chen invites him to tea and doesn’t let Jack come along so Tang Yi nods at Jack to leave him and HE GOES INTO THE CAR ALONE

Tang Yi arrives at the tea place and Chen Wen Hao nods at him in acknowledgement and wow the table is so damn long for 2 people - Chen Wen Hao says that these few years Tang Yi has been purposely fucking with his business and people - Tang Yi killed Wang Kun Cheng so Chen Wen Hao wanted to kill Hong Ye in return but she is still alive so Chen Wen Hao says that it looks like he’s at a disadvantage (he doesn’t know that he actually hit it where it hurt with Shao Fei omg i.e. that it really was tit-for-tat and eye for an eye)

OMG PLOT DEVELOPMENT: Tang Guo Dong, Tang Yi’s dad in a sense - Chen Wen Hao used to be gang brothers with him in Xing Tian Meng and from what Chen Wen Hao says, Tang Guo Dong was married and had a Wife and kid - Tang Yi doesn’t seem at all surprised which means.. WHO IS THE KID AND WHO IS THE WIFE?!!!!

So Tang Yi and Chen Wen Hao agree not to mess with each other anymore on the business and all and I’m quite surprised Tang Yi agrees - So maybe, it’s either he’s playing the long game OR the person who was responsible for the incident 4 years ago might be someone else? anw, chen wen hao offers tang yi tea and tang yi drinks it, symbolising that they agree with the arrangement to keep away from each other, and also that chen wen hao won’t sell drugs to Xing Tian Meng anymore

in the car as jack drives tang yi away (yes, resourceful bb jack managed to find out where they were meeting anyway and turned up halfway), jack asks tang yi what chen wen hao asked for and tang yi says: “it was just a transaction” and jack rightfully points out that he killed wang kun cheng and took down so many drug routes and businesses, and this was his plan all along? for chen wen hao to agree not to sell them drugs anymore? tang yi says yes, but as he looks out the window, he thinks: “that day that i’ve been waiting for so long, it’s finally going to come” - okay so it’s a toss-up right now as to what’s going on with the bad guys

back at the hospital: we get the scene of zhao zi sleeping so damn soundly next to shao fei on the floor and shao fei actually wakes up and he’s thirsty and asks for water AND- OMG ZHAO ZI U TOTALLY LET SHAO FEI DOWN WHAT THE FUCK HAHAHAHA zhao zi is sleep-talking, hears shao fei’s request for water, and then says, “i don’t want water” and then turns around LIKE DUDE

so shao fei turns to his side gingerly and tries to reach for the water but doesn’t succeed, AND THEN A HAND SLIPS INTO VIEW AND HE LOOKS UP AND GUESS WHO IT IS?!!!!!

TANG YI. HANDSOME, EMO, SAD, BUT HANDSOME TANG YI WHO LOVES SHAO FEI. and omgggg this scene i couldn’t even properly type this while i was watching the scene - shao fei’s obviously so glad that he’s here and tang yi does his boyfriend duty and pours water for him and then dabs the water at his lips with the cotton bud AND

shao fei: “why are you here?”

tang yi: “if i wanna be here, i’m here”

AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN!!! shao fei grabs tang yi’s hand as he can totally tell that his husband is so sad and emo and drags him close - tang yi lets him and leans half on the bed, and then shao fei says: “i got someone to look at my (chinese) horoscope before, and that person counted my fate. she said that i won’t die so easily and that my life signs are very strong, so you don’t have to worry about it”

and then tang yi snorts - it’s a weak one but it is one nonetheless and shao fei then says: “there, i think you look better smiling”

OMG IF THIS ISN’T LIKE SOME DECLARATION OF FRICKIN LOVE WHAT IS IT?!!!!!

the next scene: it’s morning and zhao zi is asleep and someone is snoring damn loudly from the bed - you can’t tell it’s shao fei because the blanket covers the face but the snoring is so damn loud that zhao zi who didn’t wake up for shao fei the night before, GETS UP and flips the blanket open to reveal JACK!!!!

and while zhao zi is stunned and shocked and everything, jack tells him that tang yi and shao fei are having a conversation upstairs on the rooftop, and then jack also comments: “you know, even if the person wasn’t dying/in severe condition, with the way you’re looking after them, they’d be dead”

i totally agree with jack on this one, zhao zi - and anw zhao zi gets all mad and says: “hey! don’t curse shao fei. my grandma helped him to count his fate and horoscope before and says that his life signs are strong etc.....”

jack: “whoa, your wise grandma also does that?”

zhao zi: “yes!”

jack: “has she counted YOUR fate for you?”

zhao zi: “yes! she says that one day my other half will be someone who takes absolute care of me”

LOLOLOLOLOL HAHAHHAHAHA ZHAO ZI you have no fucking idea - and as if the script wanted to show us how clueless zhao zi was, jack presents zhao zi with BREAKFAST and wow zhao zi totally forgets about ah fei upstairs, he just sits down happily with food and jack is so happy that zhao zi is happy and appreciative like saying ‘see? i’m the one that’s gonna take care of you’

AND THE KEY OF THIS FRICKING EP | ROOFTOP SCENE: They’re finally having a proper conversation OH MY GOD JESUS THEY ARE HAVING A CONVERSATION A SERIOUS, PROPER ONE, and tang yi says: “i really don’t want to lose another friend”

AND LOL SHAO FEI IS LIKE: “wait, i’ve been upgraded? i’m no longer half but A friend?!!!”

and tang yi legitly looks so sad as they talk about life and death, and how it’s worser being the one who survived and watching the person that’s important to you die (tang yi is referring to tang guo dong but also partially shao fei)

and shao fei knows how tang yi feels because li zhen jie died and she was that important person to him too, and then tang yi GOES ALL EMO AGAIN AND LOOKS AT HIM AND OMG IT’S A LOVE CONFESSION!!!

tang yi: “you were in my way and against me for four years, and until the moment when i was outside the operating theatre, i realised, i didn’t want to lose you. whether it was four years ago with boss tang, my grief and anger from the way you approached me and hung around so angrily, or now, when you are so persistently getting close to me... it made me feel the warmth of being take care of. you made my life so different and even made me like this change.”

Okay in all seriousness - Tang Yi is totally trying to say goodbye to him as he continues: “meng shao fei, i want you to live well, even if it’s just for my sake-”

AND SHAO FEI IS LIKE: NOPE, NOT TODAY BITCH

AND WE GET THIS:

so erm.... definitely a happy ending and last button scene tomorrow. shao fei says some other things after the kiss and tang yi is like looking at him stunned while shao fei yells his triumph at having his feelings reciprocated to the world on the roof but i figured the kiss is what we were all waiting for

you’re very welcomed guys. 

[chofitia]

Let’s Experience Guardian, Ep. 1

Why am I doing this? (I mean, besides because @jukeboxhound watched it) 

Well, I mentioned that I was going to liveblog, so liveblog I shall. I’m starting at the beginning, and when I get to the end, I’ll stop. No real schedule for this; it’s a matter of how many spoons I have left at the time.

Okay. Here we go.

(2:05) Ah. MacGuffins. So, like, the opening’s a bunch of scenes from the series. I know that it’ll make more sense as I go on, but... not right now.

(4:02) Oh, a prologue. I understand it, but... um... why? Also, I can’t help but snicker at the name “Seastar.” Thanks bunches, Love Nikki.

(4:11) Okay, real talk, if there isn’t a Gladnis AU based on this show by the end of October...

(4:37) Not!Ignis is referring to Fermi’s Paradox? And... introducing a conspiracy theory?

(4:59) And totally not because you’re a 1000+ year-old space elf or whatever and probably call projectors “electrical magic lanterns” or some shit. Is... Li Qian all right? Is she under not!Ignis’s thrall or something?

(5:41) Nope, that’s not foreshadowing.

(5:55) For real though, is Li Qian under not!Ignis Shen Wei’s thrall?

(7:00) Totally not foreshadowing.

(7:01) (Insert “Somnus” here.)

(7:30) Number 4. Of course the paranormal agency is at Number 4. But... who’d actually assign the lot that number?

(8:02) I wonder if he’s important?

(8:23) So, Guo’s our newb POV character, so that we can get to know the crew.

(8:26) Is this the set of The Librarians?

(9:08) So he is the newb POV character. I swear, if it turns out he’s got some sort of OD crap...

(9:52) Oh, hey, a naga. Though... why would she be wearing a cold shoulder top if she’s cold...?

(10:00) Okay, shapeshifting cat.

(10:16) Saiyan? They went there?

(10:47) Oh, so that’s the techie. And she’s a ghost. Cool, cool.

(11:04) For real, is she drugged or something?

(11:20) Um... okay. Foreshadowing that she’s important.

(12:02) Ah. So his OD-ness is because of nepotism.

(12:22) Dragon City? Really? Does it sound cooler in Chinese?

(12:35) If this were a shoujo manga, that shit would’ve gotten some sparkles.

(12:52) So, are we doing “There is no Division Six”?

(13:00) Okay, we’re not. Oh, and could someone who knows Chinese confirm that Zhao’s doing something like the “onee-san” vs “obaa-san” thing? Thanks.

(13:25) “Who wants to talk about mur~ders~?”

(14:02) Oh, my God, Zhao’s sarcastic flattery gives me life.

(15:40) Finally.

(15:59) Seriously, FFXV Modder Community, please put this shit on Ignis yesterday.

(17:14) Um, Shen Wei? Stop obviously pining. Also, I bet you could pinpoint the exact second that his hopes flared up and then died when Zhao said his name.

(17:46) Seriously, is this a thrall?

(20:00) Dude, if that was flirting...

(20:41) Somebody’s ly~ing~

(21:35) You know, “I know all about this and you know all about that“ is a pretty standard trope for Brotherhood-era Gladnis. Just saying.

(21:42) That’s not flirting. Nope. Certainly not.

(22:38) WTF.

(23:10) Oh, God.

(24:02) A Mystery Box and the hell is that?

(24:09) And now you’ve gone and made it mad.

(24:33) CHAOZU111!!!

(24:50) Question: If he can fight, why not fight it directly? Is not!Chaozu special?

(25:30) Which MacGuffin is in the box?

(25:56) That’s... not exactly what a scapegoat is... Unless she really did do something wrong and it’s foreshadowing?

(26:18) Oh, God.

(26:37) Shen Wei, stop being creepy.

(26:45) That. Hair.

(27:42) Uh, Li Qian? What are you doing with that?

(28:48) This troll

(29:34) This would be a set-up for a Chance Encounter, but this isn’t that kind of show.

(30:00) Ah. Does she have a Mysterious Disease?

(30:10) MODDERS. GET ON THIS OUTFIT, TOO.

(30:57) Yeah. Let’s go with that.

(31:00) Oh, fuck.

(31:10) What? That’s... not... good... educational... practice...

(34:14) Shen Wei is internally screaming, isn’t he?

(35:45) Zhao would be externally screaming, but that’s not his character archetype at all.

(35:50) Again?

(36:00) Oh, hi, MacGuffin.

(36:25) Shen Wei, please stop being creepy.

(36:47) Is he going to get a download from this?

(37:21) Uh, that thing is a shadow. Closing the door is not going to work.

(37:25) Of course you don’t. Do they fry near you, a la Harry Dresden, I wonder?

(37:50) Is the shadow-thing doing Vincent Valentine cosplay?

(38:00) God damn it, I hate being right (No, I don’t. Ask anyone.) Though... I expected it to just slide in under the gap between the floor and the door.

(38:50) What? Oh, and there goes MacGuffin.

(39:00) Okay, so he can fight it without Chaozu.

(39:38) Wow, that was resolved quickly.

(39:47) (Insert “Nox Divina” here.)

(39:54) That’s... Starscourge? I was just joking around with all of the FFXV shit...

(39:57) Thunder Grandpa!

(40:04) Oh, never mind. Ice. Wow, that black on black embroidery is so Extra. I love it.

(40:51) I wonder who you are. Really, I do.

(41:22) Shut up and let the grown-ups talk (Also a Gladnis staple, by the way...)

(42:21) So... time stopped?

(42:55) Yeah. About that...

[weilongfu]

Ten Shipping Questions

Tagged by the lovely @andwebegin! So I guess we’ll see what dirty shipping secrets I keep now?

Ultimate otp: My Fave x Happiness - Look I’ve been in love and fallen out of love with different pairings forever, but my ultimate OTP is when my favorite characters are happy doing what they do and being with who they’re with. Also honestly, I can’t think of a pairing I love more than any other pairing. I do notice a trend though in my OTPs...

Ship you’ll always love: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Marvel - I don’t actually like Steve all that much (which also depends on the comic/movie writer) but I like the idea of Steve more and how he complements Tony. Neither of them are perfect people, but they can be perfect together (if they talk their shit out). 

Current obsession: Chu Shu Zhi/Guo Chang Cheng and Shen Wei/Zhao Yun Lan, Guardian - My current obsession is always going to be whatever fandom I just got into, TBH. And I just got into Guardian. I’ve stopped watching the show for now (I stopped around ep 19 only because of lack of time to watch it), but I read the current novel translation on Wattpad and really that keeps me alive, even if the Chu/Guo really only happens in an epilogue so far... But they’re all adorable together and they give me feels currently, so that’s what we’re going with.

Ship you never thought you’d like: Chanyeol/Kyungsoo, EXO - OK I’M CHANSOO TRASH, I’M SORRY. But the only reason why I didn’t think I’d like it is because RPF is kind of a no-go for me out of respect for the actual real people. But at least for me, when I’m reading it and thinking about it, it’s just a fantasy, and that’s an important distinction. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo don’t owe me shit, I’m just a rando on the internet who likes the idea of them bumping uglies because they’re both beautiful boys in a band. (Also when will I get the EXO-CY/DO subunit I’ve been dreaming of, damn it.) Chanyeol and Kyungsoo could reveal they’ve got girlfriends/wives and I wouldn’t be heartbroken over it. But do I find the fact that Chanyeol and Kyungsoo having matching rings to be hot shit? YES I DO.

Ship you liked but don’t anymore: I guess Frame/Book, Make It Right - Really I wasn’t super solid on ANY of the MIR pairings because Fuse is such a shit head to Tee most of the time and FrameBook do NOT have a very proud start to their relationship (which is putting it lightly). Never mind all the other pairings that just HAPPEN with no real justification or build up of relationship other than desperation. In the context of much better built canonical pairings in so many other BL dramas, Frame/Book loses out. But I still have to admit that the last episode of MIR2 where Frame leaves a message to his future self about taking care of Book still makes me feel for them.

Ship that should be canon: Percy Jackson/Jason Grace, Heroes of Olympus - Ok look, I know it’s canon that Percy and Anabeth are meant to be and so are Jason and Piper. Really, I love their dynamics and who’s going to tear Percy and Anabeth apart after they literally walk through the Greek equivalent of hell together. BUT HOLY FUCK YOU GUYS, the amount of casual bromance Rick Riordan throws at you between Percy and Jason is off the charts and if he had decided that Percy and Jason wanted to explore being bisexual together, I would have believed it 1000x more than what he pulled with Nico suddenly being gay for Percy out of NOWHERE. I have OPINIONS on how Nico was suddenly gay ok and how Will Solace, bless his sunny heart, suddenly decides he loves the son of Hades and is going to nurture and love him. I mean I ship it but still.

Canon ship you hate: I struggle to think of a ship I actually hate, so I’ll pass for now.

Pair I’ve been shipping for years: I guess based on the number of bookmarks I have on my AO3 account (which is actually pretty damn young), it’s Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Marvel - Wow, Steve/Tony fics are a whopping 1/3 of my AO3 bookmarks. Guess it’s legit since I’ve managed to accumulate that many.

Ship everyone loves but you don’t: Meh, live and let live. I’m not going to judge unless it’s a really really abusive relationship.

Fav rare pair: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson, Marvel - They’re not exactly a rare pair, plenty of people write and love for the ship, even if they really only interacted once on screen? But I love them so. They are literally my second most bookmarked pairing on AO3. 

After writing this, I guess I can come clean and admit that usually my favorite ships are someone competent paired with someone who’s a hot mess. Which makes me wonder if I ever get a boyfriend, am I the competent one or the hot mess

Tagging @ohdrey89 and @lazygeisha

[mejomonster]

ok so i love how zhao yunlan is like “hey look at all these old books, all for u” and then goes “oh my grandfather can rest in peace now” ripping off the girl who sold the book to him’s lines

and shen wei just going “ah well how interesting ur grandfather is a student, also I am the one who DONATED these books to the library like a week ago, look i wrote a mark in all of them” and just staring zhao down, looking through the lies without even trying

and damn cat saying earlier, “man you really want to ‘buy’ him huh”

-

also, when shen wei really pointedly is like “do NOT go up to the northwestern mountain this week while i’m doing a professor trip up there. no matter what, do NOT” and just as soon as shen wei’s on the road, up the mountain, his car broke down, guess who should arrive? Zhao Yunlan and his whole crew, stopping to FIX his car, then Zhao just using his charisma +60 points to subtly pry information from the students, which Shen Wei is at least impressed enough about to be like “okay bro, ya got me, that was smooth, getting info from them when u knew i wouldn’t reveal a sliver” but then Zhao’s like “WELL IT SURE IS DANGEROUS, LETS GO THE REST OF THE WAY TOGETHER, I’M DRIVING YOUR CAR PROFESSOR. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR PROFESSOR SHEN, GET IN THE CAR :D”

Zhao is not actually the strongest of the two of them, regardless of how much he realizes that yet, but wow does he just shove his way closer into Shen Wei’s life by trying to hide behind excuses of chivalry.

-

bonus to the scene where they’re in the woods, and the one guys like “was that a ghost soldier?” and Zhao is clearly catching a cold or Something, but he’s still like “Shen Wei. Wear my jacket. I don’t want you to get a cold. No, really, put it on. Fine I’ll put it on you myself. There, now I’ll finally stop pushing the issue uvu.” And then like, the whole rest of the mountain trip, Shen Wei just... keeps wearing and putting on Zhao’s coat. It’s his coat now. 

It’s not like Zhao wouldn’t be the type to start ranting and re-pushing the issue if Shen Wei just tried to turn it back down later...

It’s cute as all get out when Shen Wei tries to sneak out after the trio who go to find Wang Zheng, and  Zhu Hong intercepts him trying to leave RIGHT after he yanks on Zhao’s jacket to bail out.

-

Also every scene where Zhu Hong gets clearly jealous and suspicious of Shen Wei and is like “our boss is a cold hearted player, I’VE NEVER seen him genuinely this sweet on ANYONE” and she’s like “speaking of banes of my existence,” and just GLARES at Shen Wei. And all the scenes where Da Qing and  Lin Jing and Guo all have to hear her doing this, and end up gossiping? Doesn’t feel like subtext so much as just actual text, that she likes Zhao a little, and we’re clearly supposed to assume Zhao likes Shen Wei A TON. 

i’m also... not sure why i had heard people say the side characters weren’t written or developed too well in the show...? Maybe in the novel version they get a lot more attention? (Which i assume is true for the whole story in general.) Because... I feel like so far, all the characters have been getting at least as much development as like... Angel the Series, or Xena Warrior Princess, or The X Files, ever happened to focus on side recurring character growth or moments. Like... I can definitely see that we’re learning more about these characters over time. Guo and Chu in particular we see actually changing, and Wang Zheng and Lin Jing got their own kind of episodes to get focused on a bit. And the other recurring characters at least, we’ve been learning more pieces about them each episode...

I really happen to like the pacing so far... it’s very “here’s A plot focused on the special investigation(s), here’s B plot that’s more character journey driven, and occasionally here’s bits of Main Villain/Main Arc buildup throughout.” Which is a lot like any typical case-of-the-week series that also weaves in a main plot arc (like Buffy, Angel, How to Get Away with Murder, Person of Interest, etc). Yeah... some episodes it feels like less busy things are happening, whereas like Wang Zheng’s focused episodes feel like they’re like 5 minutes when you watch them, the pacing is so much tighter in them (to me). I feel like, very similar to person of interest, the show is trying to parallel and highlight aspects of the main story/main character arcs USING the cases of the week, so even A plot revolved around characters-of-the-week/case-of-the-week don’t feel unnecessary or like they take away from other things too much. 

[amaxing-daes]

tagged by @fuzzyixing​ Thank you so much! Rules: Answer 20 questions and tag 20 followers

Nicknames: Uh, really only Xia (Thanks Blossom~)

Zodiac sign: Capricorn

Height: 5′5

Orientation: Heterosexual

Nationality: English/Irish (the two fams claim both ahah)

Favorite Fruit: MANGO. 

Favorite Season: Winter

Favorite Book: Percy Jackson by Rick Riordon or the Book Thief

Favorite Flower: Snowdrops

Favorite Scent: Mint or even just the smell of cooking? Honey!

Favorite Animal: Wolves! They’re family animals and ugh i love

Favorite Color: Dark green (didn’t even need to change this)

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Cocoa?: Hands down tea. I have a cupboard of tea. 

Average Sleep Hours: 6-7ish, less in the summer cause heat. 

Cat or Dog: Hmm i love both but i lean towards dogs just cause i love my doggy so damned much, she’s a dork. 

Favorite Fictional Character: Percy Jackson (Childhood man.) or Grantaire. Guo Duan just for the shout out to the smol man. 

# of Blankets: one

Dream Trip:  So many places. But Italy, South Korea, Anywhere with history and culture! (basically everywhere...)

Blog Created: I do not know... maybe a year ago?

Favorite song at the moment: Ohhhh... Non Kpop its probably Despacito (not the jb one.) or Ed Sheeran- Shape of You... Still high key in love with Tonight by Zhang Yixing, King of Music.

Number of followers: I don’t really mind but not that many.

favourite bands: Exo, All Time Low and Seventeen

favourite solo artists: King of China and record breaker Zhang “I’m not cute” Yixing

song stuck in my head: ??? (zyx) the beat really wiggled its way into my head last movie i watched: Oh wow... um, The fall? last tv show i watched: Peaky Blinder’s oh wait no! Last week tonight! what stuff do you post: Yixing,exo, occasional memes and bad jokes  when did you blog reach its peak: Oh damn has it even reached a peak yet??? But maybe my Go Fighting Post about Puppies and Yixing, or during Operational Love? No peak yet... do you have any other blogs: Yeah, a fandom one i made a few years ago and now i don’t know how to switch my main and side blogs... do you get asks regularly: Not really but sometimes and i always love to read them why did you choose your url: I am a sucker for a good Pun. Yixing being my soft silly Man (who need to be watched when he has his hair up with dark eyebrows.) and Jongdaes kitty smile and caring personality. following: 508... i gotta clear up posts: I don’t know how to find but a lot? hogwarts house: Slytherin/Hufflepuff (Probs Slytherin) pokemon team: Instinct (the yellow one, its been so long) favourite colors: green,purple,grey and blue lucky numbers: 8 what are you wearing right now: Pajamas! plaid bottoms and a white shirt. dream job: Musician...but we’ll see how that goes sigh. If not i have no clue, maybe teaching!

Tagging (def not 20 cause oh boy thats a lot but also people i’d love to get to know): @perfsoo @holyxingsdick @yehetingxing @swagmansehun @junyixinqs @faeryixing @laylienn @kaixtra @for-the-love-of-lay @killeryixing @xingmebaektosleep @amerikaikong @xbaek @yixingminseokjongdae

[ori-flails]

Rewatching Guardian - Episode 04 Part 2/3

Episode List || Part 1 | Part 3

SPOILERS for upto episode 40, SPOILERS for the novel.

Here’s Shen Wei looking unfairly pretty while being suspicious and uneasy.

I just really don’t have much to say about this case asghjkl

Is this the same cafe where Shen Wei meets with Zhao Xinci later?

Zhao Yunlan being suspicious of Shen Wei is both hilarious and heartbreaking to me, what’s new? Let’s move on.

I love how Zhao Yunlan’s so uncharacteristically concerned for Shen Wei each time even though he’s a suspect.

It warms my heart. Q~Q

This is such a good look on Da Qing.

I love how Da Qing just has a bigger vibe than Guo Changcheng in both of his forms despite being physically smaller in both.

The only character with whom Da Qing feels like the larger one is Guo Changcheng. He has little brother energy with everyone else imo

Yes Queen! I freaking love Zhu Hong.

Oh hush, Lin Jing. She’s doing great.

... Ouch. Again, Zhao Yunlan doesn’t remember.

Shen Wei’s stress level is visible everytime something like this happens despite having a somewhat relaxed or neutral expression on his face because of that pulsing vein on his temple.

Zhu Yilong, how. Just how.

And thus every intimidating factor you ever had sails off into the distant lands of Doesn’t Exist, Zhu Jiu.

Like, the actor’s face is too cute for this. And it still could’ve worked. Wang Zhi from The Sleuth Of Ming Dynasty can be terrifying with his adorable baby face. But what completely ruined Zhu Jiu was his damn wig and the whole Ye Zun wannabe chuunibyou act.

In the end he resembles an edgy, fake-deep 8th grader than a dangerous criminal.

Ugh he just doesn’t learn.

Watching this the second time, I guess Zhu Jiu was really fanning his flames of “wannabe cop”, so this whole dumbassery of his isn’t entirely his fault but still

His character annoys me, disproportionately so, despite how irrelevant he is.

This is all a game/adventure to him. He doesn’t even seem to particularly care about the girl he had a crush on dying. He just wants to play hero.

Lin Yusen’s so sure of it all, but what’s his confidence on his judgement based on? His experience as a stalker?

I was gonna say that at least he had potential as an investigator but then I remembered he was wrong cuz the criminals are somewhere completely different at the moment, kidnapping Zhu Hong.

Ffs... -_-

Hate to burst you bubble, Shen Wei, but that wound earlier was significantly bigger than this little pin prick, there was more blood. Zhao Yunlan had seen the blood. You being completely unphased by that wound yet being bothered by the pin prick is not at all believable.

I have a question: The traps and stuff Lin Yusen layed down, are they from Dixing or are they particularly harmful to Dixingren given to him by Zhu Jiu? Or are they regular traps you can get on Haixing?

Also, like, such acting, much wow.

Aaaand commence Shen Wei’s fake puppy eyes.

Zhao Yunlan’s such a concerned boyfriend TT~TT <3

...The hospital? For that? Really, Zhao Yunlan?

Just realized something. Zhao Yunlan being so concerned about the smallest wounds on Shen Wei is adorable and heartwarming, and would’vw been pretty funny, making me go “If only he knew...”. But it ian’t because of the stuff that happens later and I’m sad again.

EYES ON THE ROAD!

Ffs this is the second time. Tsk tsk, Zhao Yunlan.

(Continues in part 3)

[shijiujun]

Character Profiles － 1/3

Just translating the brief character profiles History Official TW’s instagram account provided in case anyone was interested (not the most accurate because DAMN so many chinese idioms that are so hard to translate into Eng but the gist of it should be there)!

I’d translate all the episodes if I could but wow finding the videos is harder than flying to the moon (damn u Line TV!!!!!!!)

Meng Shao Fei

Part of the Police’s Investigative Team No. 3, Shao Fei is both courageous and intelligent. He is both feisty and impulsive, but also knows how to reflect on his impulsive actions after. He was taken care of by Senior Li Zhen, who he regards as a mother, ever since his police academy days. When she died in the incident 4 years ago, everyone believed that she was involved with Xing Tian Meng and the underworld, and the only survivor Tang Yi was of no help as he claimed that he didn’t remember/know anything. Shao Fei harasses and follows Tang Yi over the next 4 years to try and prove Li Zhen Jie’s innocence. He’s direct with his feelings, so as he slowly realizes his feelings for Tang Yi, he does not hide and is true to his feelings for him.

Tang Yi

The leader of Xing Tian Meng, he is cautious and wary, distrustful of others and does not particularly like or hate any person or thing. Seemingly heartless and nonchalant, the only person he cares about is Tang Guo Dong. Tang Yi sees him and worships him as his god, and he was Tang Yi’s light in the dark. When Tang Guo Dong died in the incident 4 years ago, Tang Yi was the lone survivor. He schemed for the next 4 years, all to personally avenge Tang Guo Dong and punish the culprit. However, his plans were all disrupted by Shao Fei.

[shijiujun]

History3 ep 13 summary - TUGS AT UR HEARTSTRINGS BUT it’s a good episode

I’m soooo tired but the energy has come again because of Trapped HAHAHAHA the thought of BIRTHDAY SCENE gives me strength to go on praying there is NO JAM on the live stream today we’ll see

OMG what the hell we don’t get a bed scene so the two bed scenes that the writers were talking about WE WILL GET THEM SOMETIME LATER it might be after birthday scene now that I think about it but also guys I think you’ll like this episode because the PLOT MOVES and there’s plot development thank god and we actually delve into serious stuff - the dilemma of Tang Yi as a mob boss and Shao Fei as a police officer finally comes into play here

Shao Fei runs off after Tang Yi kisses his wound (DAMN HE PRESSED HIS MOUTH TO THE WOUND FOR SO DAMN LONG?!) and asks if it still hurts and Tang Yi just laughs and says ‘he’s still too soft��� AND SHAO FEI IS LITERALLY HYPERVENTILATING IN THE TOILET THEN WE GET DOMESTIC SCENE - Tang Yi cooking in the kitchen for Shao Fei WITH AN APRON ON and Shao Fei is all: “it smells so good! is this the spicy dish we had with coke the other time?”

and wow BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD JUST SMILES AND GOES: “you can’t have spicy food or coke while you’re recovering”

shao fei: *pouts* “you’re so stingy, controlling this and that”

DOMESTIC HUSBANDS THEY ARE RIGHT HERE GUYS!!!!!

so they sit down and cute shao fei takes a bit of the dish and puts it on tang yi’s rice first before eating himself (i LURVE THIS) - and tang yi obviously is kind of amused and touched that shao fei did that, and as they’re about to eat that’s when tang yi broaches the topic of shao fei staying at the police station because it’s safer for him there, and obviously shao fei is all ‘WHY?!’ and demands to know a reason and i thought they were gonna start fighting but thank god they’re both soft smol bbs so they just look at each other waiting for the other person to say something, and tang yi goes: “i’ll tell you, but you must promise to stay out of it. if you can’t promise me that, i won’t tell you”

so shao fei obviously agrees and tang yi starts the flashback by saying: “do you know what it’s like to grow up in a place where no one cares about and loves you? that’s the kind of place i grew up in”

AND YES HERE WE GET TANG YI AND BOSS TANG AND HONG YE BACKSTORY (still waiting for Shao fei’s COME ON) - This entire like flashback tugged at my heartstrings guys TUGGED AT MY HEARTSTRINGS I almost cried?!!! - So young Tang Yi was adopted by adoptive parents because the mom wanted to adopt him but the mom died, so the dad was never supportive of his wife adopting tang Yi and when she died he became neglectful and abusive

We start off with young Tang Yi going home and it’s his birthday but obviously the terrible dad doesn’t notice, but Tang Yi goes to his room and eats food and is about to eat cake in front of the photo of him and his mom - the dad comes into the room and he yells at tang yi for going into his room to steal the photo of him and his mom - tang yi says that it’s not his, it’s a photo of him and his mom

and the dad goes: “she’s not your mom and i’m not your dad!”

tang yi doesn’t get why he can’t have the photo and snarks back and the dad slaps him, and says a bunch of other stupid shit, so tang yi leaves home with literally just the clothes on his back and the backpack (can’t rmb if he took the photo or not) - and this scene was truly realistic, i felt that slap and everything so kudos to the actors playing young tang yi and the dad?!

then next scene: we see a super skinny hong ye fighting with a bunch of older male teens over the bicycle they stole, and tang yi is somehow there as well, and they end up fighting with the older teens - long story short, boss tang (tang guo dong) passes by with a SUPER YOUNG LOOKING DAO YI OMG?! and they help tang yi and hong ye out - boss tang tells them to hurry and go home, and hong ye just simply says: “i don’t have a home”

boss tang stares at them for a while, and although tang yi doesn’t say a thing you can tell by his clothes and dirty face that obviously he has been on the streets for a while as well? so boss tang is all: “you guys hungry? want to eat some food?”

tang yi, the cautious, smart boy who knows that most strangers are up to no good, says no, while hong ye who really is hungry, says yes

anw in the next scene boss tang and tang yi are eating at the table alone - although tang yi isn’t eating (and boss tang mentions that hong ye has already eaten three bowls of rice), so boss tang leaves tang yi to eat by himself and give him some space while he goes check on hong ye to see whether she’s gone for a shower yet 

a year or less later, we see tang yi coming home to the house, and boss tang is cooking dinner - it looks fucking delicious btw and i haven’t eaten dinner so jfc i really wanted to reach into the screens for those golden fried mantous (buns) - anw, tang yi is holding onto a little box that is definitely a cake for his birthday and boss tang tells him that dinner is ready so he can come down after he’s put away his stuff - much later, the sky is dark and they’re eating already and BOSS TANG says there’s one more dish and then switches off all the lights, much to tang yi’s confusion

then boss tang comes out with a cake!!!! omg sweetest thing ever - after that they sit at the couch and make playdoh or clay figurines of ‘old tang’ and ‘little tang’ - it’s the cutest shit i’ve ever seen

so while tang yi is reminiscing all of this, he says: “boss tang gave me my first home, my first birthday etc. etc.” - basically boss tang gave him the home he never had, and then he says to shao fei: “but on that day four years ago, i watched him bleed to death in front of me - can you imagine in that moment i lost everything, and my life was ruined? do you think i can let the person who did this go?”

shao fei: “so that’s why you said you didn’t know anything, because you were waiting to take revenge yourself”

then: “tang yi, the best punishment for that person is to get justice under the law”

and of course tang yi insists that he will never ever give this person to the police, he WILL take revenge by his own hands - and shao fei dishes out what probably is the most realistic line in this entire damn show (and one that i think we’ve all been waiting for): “but tang yi, you know that if you take revenge on your own, as a police officer, i will have to catch you?”

and OMG THE HEARTBREAK BETWEEN THEM BOTH!!!! tang yi’s eyes are already watery and he just says: “you do what you need to do. i do what i need to do”

GOSH COULD THEY BE ANYMORE HEARTBREAKING LIKE WE BARELY JUST GOT THE HAPPY PARTS TWO EPISODES AGO?!! (and though i say that i think this episode was about time, because we really needed to move on the plot!!!!)

the next scene we get zhao zi asking online on a forum “what to do when a guy confesses to another guy” AND OMFG THIS IS HILARIOUS he gets the following responses:

“welcome to a whole new world”

“rmb to prepare some VASELINE”

#gaypanic!!!!!

LIKE WOW chinese netizens, you guys are real damn helpful?!!!! HAHAHAHHAA anw i totally died at the vaseline part and the funniest thing was zhao zi, at work, was READING THE RESPONSES OUT ALOUD like did you want the entire police station to know that jack, a well-known gangster and criminal, wants to bang you? and then yu qi who sits next to him (she’s recovered at least on the surface and moving on with her life ATTA GIRL YOU GO!!!) gives him the WHAT THE FUCK look at the things he’s saying - then zhao zi goes to shao fei and asks him the same thing, but shao fei was the one who confessed in this case, and zhao zi just shook his head and goes: “irrelevant, totally irrelevant”

then we move to tang yi’s house!!! omgggg TANG YI LOOKS DAMN FINE WITH THOSE EARRINGS AND THAT WHITE TURTLENECK i would like to thank the wardrobe in charge for picking out tang yi’s HELLA FINE CLOTHES

anw, hong ye and dao yi are there to discuss work, and she’s obviously still mad at dao yi, and tang yi then peruses some files on the project they’re on and picks a company - hong ye is like: “are you sure? they’ve only been around for 5 years”

and tang yi goes on and on about how he thinks the founder of the company is a good and capable person, and that hong ye should meet him because for work, and also secondly, because the founder actually told tang yi that he kind of liked hong ye at a party previously (so anw this founder is the guy we saw in the previews) - and then obviously dao yi is not happy about it and tells tang yi not to do that, but tang yi reminds him that: “if you keep on regretting, you’re going to miss her and you will miss this chance forever”

ah de turns up then and tells tang yi that chen wen hao has invited him for tea next week and tang yi says: “i’ll be there” - ah de tries to discourage him from gg but we all know that tang yi is doesn’t usually listen to ah de so he ignores him

the next scene: tang yi opens the box and we see the birthday hat from his first birthday with boss tang and the clay house he made when he was younger that represented the home that boss tang gave him, and he says to himself: “a year has passed again, happy birthday (to himself)”

AND YES LI ZHEN JIE AND BOSS TANG HAVE THE SAME EXACT BOX THAT THEY GAVE TO SHAO FEI AND TANG YI SO THEY ARE DEFINITELY CONNECTED AND EVERYTHING I really can’t wait to see how it all plays out!!! 

anw we’ll get all the crazy scenes like the drugging part and the knifing parts PLUS BIRTHDAY SCENE TOMORROW - everything exciting is only happening tmr so let’s all prepare for death tomorrow friends!!! i’m just glad they’re moving things along but i’ve really got no idea how they’re gonna squeeze:

1. dao yi and hong ye

2. jack and zhao zi

3. tang yi and shao fei being happy and all and omelette scene and DOMESTIC HUSBANDS 

4. slightly more backstory to reveal the incident four years ago

5. tang guo dong + li zhen storyline briefly at least

6. li zhen and shao fei relationship 

... all in the next 7 episodes, which is like about 3 hours worth of screen time, i really got no idea

i really liked this episode though! really liked that we saw young tang yi and younger boss tang!!! <3

[shijiujun]

History3 Ep 5 Summary - Cuteness Overload

i’m still reeling from avengers i really gotta say that - life will never be the same for me again. so i was super glad to have history3 to obsess over right now, those cute boys give me life:

in the woods: shao fei looks like all us unatheletic couch potatoes when forced to run more than like 100 metres - i.e. really sick and white and he looks like he’s gonna faint at any moment, and then of course he trips. trips, lands in tang yi’s arms and wow did you guys see how wide shao fei’s eyes went as he lands 

tang yi: “didn’t i tell you to be more careful?”

shao fei: “did i do it on purpose?”

okay and then there’s the scene of bodydumb treating his other gang brothers like shite - i thought he was only dumb and loud, but he’s now dumb, loud, malicious, jealous and a total idiot - anyway jack obviously likes to go head to head with him to challenge him, good for him

and then OMG OMG OMG - okay history production team, we’ve only got like 20 episodes of 25-30 min episodes right, and you guys haven’t moved on the plot much, and you SPEND 5 MINUTES where shao fei thinks and imagines stupid scenarios of them getting out, like with the rock and the going naked part like PLS SAVE THESE PRECIOUS FEW MINUTES FOR LIKE MORE PROPER INTERACTION - anyway, tang yi just stares at shao fei and goes, “yeah obviously your fever is fucking severe”

cue to cute zhao zi and jack - basically zhao zi has no fear of him, wakes up and demands for food in exchange for him calling shao fei, and jack is like so amazed and amused like wow this cute person, i must keep - anw he really cooks for zhao zi, and they speak like they’re friends and wow zhao zi i’m impressed you really named like a few ingredients and utensils and cutlery as terms for him to call shao fei, amazing

and okay, major plothole: maybe they forgot to film this scene or smth, but srsly HOW DID THEY GET OFF THE MOUNTAIN AND TO THE HOSPITAL?!!!!

okay, in any case, hospital scene: shao fei is half naked (shouldn’t he be clothed but who am i to check on that) and the doctor is another pretty handsome guy like i want to know all of tang yi’s friends too if they all look like that - anw, the doctor is tang yi and i guess the gang’s usual mob doctor contact, and tang yi looks worried enough (and finally a little dirt on him) that the doc is like “don’t worry, it’s just a wound infection added onto the fact that his body is weak, nothing much.”

tang yi, “i’ve never doubted the jiang family’s skills (the mob doctor), especially your skills” (oooooh were they you know at a point... tgt?)

and anw the doc is like “wow what’s going on, you’ve never personally sent anyone to me before, what happened on the mountain with this guy?”

tang yi: “nothing happened, we just spent a day and a night tgt that’s all”

AND LOL THE DOC’S FACE LIKE UGH ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?! he’s obviously a shao fei/tang yi ship, i approve

zhao zi just eating the noddles like he hadn’t eaten in days and jack so amused, i love the dynamic between them and like jack just without question cooks for him

jack, while scooping for him a second bowl of noodles: “i’ve got a question, what’s your stomach made of?”

zhao zi: “this is nothing, anyway no matter how much i eat i can’t get fat”

jack: “eating so much without getting fat? what a waste of food.”

and then zhao zi just orders this man who kidnapped him for an interrogation, to pick up all the food and help him bring it over to the table - you got balls, zhao zi, you got balls.

and jack, so proud of himself as he says that he has absolute confidence in his cooking, and zhao zi as promised helps him to dial shao fei but as jack and zhao zi are talking to each other, bodydumb appears and wtf he’s so damn rude?!!!! and zhao zi is like whatever, and then bends to the floor to clean up and he’s like, “oh nooo.... my noodles, i didn’t even eat more than a few mouthfuls”

and jack, bless him, just goes: “i’ll make it up to you next time”

zhao zi: “sure! the food you make is really delicious.”

was this a date or an interrogation?!!!! like jack is like, i’ve gotta go, but next time i’ll go find you, and then zhao zi is like okay! AND WHAT THE FUCK THEY WAVE AT THE DOOR as if this was a play date and as if they were friends?!!! even my own friends wouldn’t treat me like this if i went to their house

shao fei is in the hospital and they’re just talking about what’s tang yi’s motives for sending shao fei to the hospital and being so kind, and also sending shao fei’s gun back to him - and LOL shao fei how could u think that u could go missing and not have police chief find out?!!!

and ooooh tang yi casually frying some prawns up for dinner while asking bodydumb and jack if they’ve found who the person who attacked him is, and bodydumb insists that it has to be chen wen hao, and jack is like are you sure? tang yi says that they better bring evidence to him.

he goes upstairs and sees hong ye, and so i think it’s implied that they were on the streets together before being picked up by tang guo dong, so they’re really important to each other, and hong ye is obviously in tears because she’s worried about him, that he refuses to let her help him and insists on going off on his own and putting himself in danger YAS YOU GO SISTER YOU TELL HIM i love this sibling-ish dynamic, it’s nice that someone cares so closely for tang yi

okay, here comes bodydumb - so obviously we kind of all suspected he might turn bad or be a mole or smth, and he actually really might be, he calls someone and asks, “why did you go ahead with the plan so early? didn’t i say i’ll take care of it?” and of course jack more or less overhears him, i expect we can see q a bit of action on the next few episodes

and OOOOOH tang yi looking for his lighter, and shao fei turning up at the door so earnestly, so sooooo earnestly like they are friends, and returning the lighter to him? and tang yi really thanking him for it, and asking shao fei what he wants in return for this favour - and shao fei is like ‘the truth! from 4 years ago” and tang yi is like “anything but that” and shao fei goes, “okay how about i treat you to food to thank u for sending me to the hospital”

YASSSS HANDSHAKE SCENE!!!! <333 this is the start of a blossoming relationship. i approve.

[shijiujun]

tang yi’s miracle suit - ep 4

this won’t be a detailed summary of episode 4 today because i’m tired after a crazy work day and it’s avengers end game tomorrow i am stoked and nervous and dying but first, history3

jack brings zhao zi to this dark room and tries to “interrogate” him - personally i think this is the worst interrogation ever EVER, and he just keeps asking zhao zi where shao fei brought tangyi to, and showed him the video of shao fei and tang yi at the stairs of the restaurant exit leaving tgt 

jack wants zhao zi to call shao fei and doesn’t believe zhao zi when he says he’s tried shao fei’s number repeatedly and failed to reach him, insists that zhao zi give him shao fei’s number and to call him on zhao zi’s phone

you gotta admire zhao zi for his loyalty as he insists that even if jack hits him to death he won’t give up shao fei’s number or call him, but then again jack isn’t exactly the most intimidating person at this moment to zhao zi

now to the exciting parts: shao fei and tang yi escaping to the brick hut

the wound scene we’ve all been waiting for: i love how surprised and touched shao fei looked when tang yi helped him to bandage the arm, dialogue is exactly the same as the trailer

bonus: shao fei yelling at tang yi asking if it’s so difficult to say thanks, and tang yi says it grudgingly, and shao fei takes issue with his tone and says “must you say that in that tone?!” - and tang yi immediately goes “i’ve said it. now what do you say?” - and HILARIOUSLY shao fei doesn’t miss a beat as he says “you’re welcomed”

tang yi goes to find wood and warns shao fei not to follow him and just to stay 

AND THIS IS WHERE I TALK ABOUT THE MIRACLE SUIT: wow okay idk if you guys noticed but i would love to get one of tang yi’s any suits if they would stay that squeaky clean through a beating, a car fight and kidnapping, a race through the woods, back and front rubbing against rocks and walls - tang yi looks like he went out to collect and also saw a laundromat on the way and decided he had time to clean his clothes because IT’S SO DAMN CLEAN?! shao fei is in drips and draps of cloth, his jeans has a hole in it etc. and tang yi’s white shirt is CRISP, WHITE, CLEAN 

suit aside, tang yi comes back with firewood and then LOL shao fei is like this kid - he asked tang yi if he’s SURE that there’s no way down the mountain for now, and that he’s hungry, if only there was a chicken over the fire right now and LOOK AT TANG YI’S DEADPAN GLARE in response

shao fei wants to go sleep, tries to invite tang yi to sleep also and tang yi is like ‘sleep with you?!!!’ and shao fei is like ‘yeah duh’ but tang yi ignores him, so and shao fei tries to take tang yi’s lighter, and that’s when tang yi goes all emo and angsty and possessive over it

flashback to when tang guo dong was still alive and basically the conversation is about his motivations behind going legal in their business and that he really wants to show tang yi that leading a safe and peaceful life is good - FORESHADOWING

back to the present - shao fei lies down to sleep on this wooden carton thing and tang yi is like ‘you really can sleep just anywhere’, to which shao fei says ‘being able to sleep anywhere is important, a rich person like you of course isn’t used to not sleeping in a bed’ 

tang yi gives us a glimpse of his younger days as he says that he learnt how to dislocate his thumb by doing it from young, repeatedly dislocating and letting it heal and dislocating it again until he could do it easily, and does this sound like something a person who’s grown up with money in his life would do?

okay SO MANY UNSHED TEARS AND GLISTENING EYEBALLS IN THIS EPISODE

shao fei apologizes to him for simply assuming that he had something to do with the case and basically creating trouble in this situation - tang yi just goes “even a monkey like you knows how to reflect (on your actions)”

then shao fei goes back to lie down and tries to sleep, invites tang yi to sleep, and when tang yi just stares again, shao fei is like okay im gonna sleep night night and JUST GOES TO SLEEP WITH A SMILE

MORNING SCENE: okay HOW CUTE IS IT THAT TANG YI ACTUALLY GAVE SHAO FEI HIS JACKET AND SLEPT ON HIS KNEES/CALVES 

once again, tang yi’s miracle shirt and suit jacket strikes again - clean, crisp, white, perfectly tucked in like pls get me some fabric like that

and poor bb shao fei is having a fever from the infected arm wound (gosh the bandaging was bad) and tang yi is like dude we can’t stay here, it’s daylight and the bad guys are going to come find us any minute, and he realizes that they need to leave now

shao fei is still coherent enough to realize that tang yi gave him his jacket during the night awwwwwww

shao fei pls just follow tang yi, don’t keep tripping over yourself, safety first

that’s pretty much it for ep 4, but what i’m excited for is the ep 5 PREVIEW!!! wow all the interesting scenes from the trailer crammed into the ep 5 preview, i think it’s going to show over ep 5 and 6 frankly judging from the ep length

anyone else as excited as me for the handshake and meal scene?!!!!

[shijiujun]

History3 Ep 3 Summary

hope you guys get all the properly subbed versions soon and get to download them asap - subbers are angels sent from above 

eating scene with the police investigative team: shao fei is totes sad and emo, his team mates are complaining about interpol treating their team as lackeys doing the grunt work and there’s not enough manpower to make sure that there are people surveilling the places chen wen hao might go to - the dude sitting next to zhao zi kind of blames tang yi because regardless of whether he is involved in wan kun cheng’s murder, the whole incident basically brought the big bad chen wen hao back - older dude goes, “i thought tang yi was going legal, why did he do it (kill wang kun cheng)?”

AND SHAO FEI BB GOES: “I know Tang Yi isn’t that kind of person. I don’t believe he will so easily just kill someone like that. I just haven’t figured out the reason.”

ladies and gentlemen, declaration of love there!!!!

anw love the team - they’re so supportive of shao fei and after shao fei leaves the girl and zhao zi and then everyone else grudgingly goes alright we’ll help shao fei 

shao fei turns up at tang yi’s tea place (and tang yi is there to watch another guy who turns up and sits at a table in his line of vision, over shao fei’s shoulder), and LOL he tries to change tables when shao fei invites himself to his table “shouldn’t you be used to me turning up wherever you are?” - shao fei basically tries to guess tang yi’s involvement in wan kun cheng’s death, shows him the cuff link and tang yi goes, “this cuff link is a very popular design in my store, do you need to me to show you the order supply sheet to confirm it?”

just love the way shao fei believes in tang yi - while he’s making all his guesses, he says “in these 4 years you’ve never personally killed anyone, or asked anyone to kill for you so (if you did kill wang kun cheng) you must’ve done so for a special reason”

shao fei guesses that maybe all this is part of the mission tang guo dong gave him for these 4 years?

anw tang yi’s eyes keep gg to the dude over shao fei’s shoulder - that middle aged dude gets a message that says the situation has changed, and to change location

tang yi obviously is gonna follow, and i like that he asks shao fei if he brought any money, didn’t wait for shao fei’s answer, then directs the waitress to him for the bill, and then he SMILES AND THANKS SHAO FEI FOR THE MEAL

EMO SMOKING SCENE ON THE BALCONY - awww he flashbacks to when tang guo dong was still alive and teaching tang yi how to cook, tang yi is totally like a positive sunshine boy here and LOL the dish doesn’t taste as good and tang guo dong is comparing all the brothers in the gang to ingredients, and says tang yi is like a lotus (because of how much dirt was on tang yi when they both first met - and even if he was born in the worst of circumstances he is still pure at heart, smth like that) - teaching tang yi life lessons over cooking

tang yi while looking at the photo, he’s promising that he’ll avenge tang guo dong for the incident that happened 4 years ago now that “that person is back” (implied chen wen hao)

love how shao fei speaks to his drawing of tang yi like “didn’t you say you were going legal, didn’t you say you wouldn’t kill people!!! i never believed that you’d kill people, what did wang kun cheng know or do that you had to kill him!!!”

LOL i like how the team is like staking out the restaurant as undercover cops BUT SHAO FEI IS SO DAMN OBVIOUS he’s like what covert operation what job i dont care

anw shao fei is so persistent, tang yi tells him to get out of the car, shao fei doesn’t - and then BOOMZ suddenly there’re bad people and tang yi’s reaction is quite fast he goes from gun on shao fei to gun on bad people and then shao fei leaves the car to help

don’t you guys just love the back to back look of mutual support in a fight - but okay i was not expecting them to lose the fight HELLOOOOO!!!!

so anw bad guys are bringing them to see someone (im guessing chen wen hao or his allies) and then shao fei and tang yi are both handcuffed and omg it’s hilarious

shao fei: “:< i can’t believe i’m being handcuffed by my own pair of handcuffs”

tang yi: “(rolls eyes) ain’t the first time it’s happened (ref to ep 1 elevator scene)”

shao fei: “hey!!!! who asked you to take my gun!!”

and LOL BAD MIDDLE AGED DUDE FROM THE BACK, “hey guys, come on, don’t fight” (LOL LIKE SCOLDING CHILDREN OR SMTH)

and then OMGGGG THAT LITTLE PINKY TO PINKY TOUCH FROM TANG YI TO SHAO FEI!!!!! AND THE EYE SIGNALS - anw they escape from the van into the woods

omg police team getting yelled at by police chief for them losing a team member during an operation and zhao zi is like “nope idk where shao fei went nope nope nope” AND LOL when police chief still keeps yelling at him he has a panic/heart attack and everyone is getting him to breathe and police chief is all “i’m so sorry i didn’t mean to scold you” 

okay wow zhao zi why would you handstand outside of shao fei’s house (he’s waiting for shao fei because the calls can’t get through) and WOOOOOHOOOO JACK APPEARS

shao fei realizes that his phone is damaged, and he gets tang yi to call for help and tang yi didn’t bring out his phone and gosh the exasperation on shao fei’s face is hilarious

OMGGGGG THE HALF HUGGGGGG THEY ARE EAR PRESSED TO EAR

shao fei: (raises handcuffed hands) “if only there wasn’t this”

tang yi: “who brought it here?”

shao fei: “yeah yeah it’s all my fault i brought it here” (><><><><)

okay we need like the next ep asap!!!

[chofitia]

Let’s Experience Guardian, Ep. 4

My circadian rhythm’s all screwy because I had to get up at 3:30 AM! Let’s watch some Chinese supernatural drama!

(0:00) Remember how last time I said that I was learning the theme song? Welp, I managed to get parts of it stuck in my head this week. Hurrah?

(1:00) I’m just going to examine the textures that the opening uses for different parts and try to reverse engineer how I could pull something similar off in Photoshop CS2.

(1:15) One of the reasons I can do this is because the streaming site I’m using is still laggy as balls. Like it’s fucking 1999 and I’m waiting for something to load with RealAudio.

(After some dicking around with my tablet, things are working.)

(2:00) When are we going to get more wire-fu, show?

(2:15) I CAN DO MY GAG AGAIN! Last time, on Dragon Ball Z... (Also, I thought that lady’s screaming was some sort of machine for a minute there. Sorry, lady.)

(2:45) Should I do dum-dum-DUM or Dramatic Chipmunk for this?

(2:50) ...I started thinking about Homura’s place. Sorry, everyone.

(4:08) Okay, so we continue with the “I know you know that I know” dance. Is Shen Wei going to do this with everyone, or...?

(4:15) Interrogations... don’t... work that way...

(4:17) CHAOZU!111

(Spoke too soon about things working~ By the way, I think I’ll be adding most of the breaks where the site craps out, if it’s at an interesting place. Gives this more verisimilitude. Like you’re watching with me on my tablet and get to experience me cursing in three languages!)

(4:31) This is dramatic irony that I shouldn’t know is dramatic irony but I can’t help reading stuff that @jukeboxhound writes. Oops?

(4:39) Did he not just blatantly imply that you’re worthless? Worthless people don’t get to pet Chaozu! Now, if it were the Black Cloak Envoy asking, that’d be a different matter entirely.

(5:13) ... Oh, my God, we are going to do “I know you know I know” with everyone. Unless this is just dramatic irony that I shouldn’t know is dramatic irony.

(5:20) Dramatic irony. Shen Wei must be having the time of his life right now.

(5:41) He knows some~thing~ you~ don’t~ know~. And it should be some~thing~ I~ don’t~ know~

(5:47) All right! The big guns. Let’s play a drinking game: Drink every time Shen Wei gives a Significant Look to Yunlan during this interrogation.

(6:24) Okay, never mind. Unless you’d count the cuts between them as two. (Though please don’t do the Significant Look drinking game. It’s at like five for the opener alone.)

(7:25) Show, please don’t make me think of OT3.

(7:48) And now I’m thinking of those missions in Dirge of Cerberus where you have to control Cait Sith. Son of a...

(8:04) And Guo is back to panic mode again. Okay, okay, it’s a perfectly normal response, and he is the comic relief, but... I don’t know... I guess I’m frustrated at nepotism.

(8:14) Okay, I snorted.

(9:10) Yo, stop being a creeper much?

(9:42) Oh, my God. 

(10:01) Thank you again, Yunlan, for talking sense.

(10:12) Okay, the hell is with this “Oh, and one more thing...” Colombo shit?

(10:40) Speaking of creepers...

(11:10) Nah, that couldn’t be flirting.

(12:00) I don’t know if this is damning with faint praise. Maybe praising with faint damnation? Er...

(12:27) That was convenient. Like, super convenient.

(12:45) I don’t think “Heart eyes, motherfucker” is the appropriate response here.

(13:30) This is good advice. I know it’s good advice. But once he said “One tree does not make a forest” I was all. “Uh, what about Pando?”

(14:03) Uh, what the fuck?

(15:03) Okay, I was going to jokingly call Guo “Minion”, but then Yunlan does my work for me and calls Guo “fresh meat”. Thank you.

(15:55) “Heart eyes, motherfucker”. Again.

(16:26) I know you... know... I... know... something?

(16:36) Nope, not suspicious at all.

(18:36) I hope everyone took notes; this will be important to know for the final later.

(19:50) Don’t be a dick, Lin Jing.

(20:25) Don’t know if this is flirting.

(20:30) So, would this mean that Yunlan's mom would Ship It?

(21:31) Well, this isn’t good. Also, my commentary about the screaming coming from a machine was totally intentional and not at all a random thing. Certainly not.

(21:47) And cue “Apocalypsis Magnatus”?

(22:12) Okay, only part of “Apocalypsis Magnatus”. Oh, and is that you, not!Ardyn?

(23:59) Oh, my God, he’s trying to throw him off the scent.

(24:20) Oh, my God, he’s in mother hen mode.

(25:17) Oh, God, you’re one of those.

(26:24) Oh, so this is one of those “Do as I say, not as I did” things.

(28:05) I know that budget limitations won’t let us see the body, but... this is one of those instances where I think the audience has to see what the antagonists are capable of.

(29:58) Weilan. No.

(30:40) An attempt was made.

(31:22) Oh, hey, so he is not!Ardyn. 

(31:31) Wow, I didn’t expect that the audience would get to know this so quickly into the series. I thought there’d be more of a dance of “Shen Wei is hiding Something” until at least the double-digits.

(32:26) And yes, I did have “Ardyn II” in my head throughout that whole exchange. With bits of “Ardyn”. 

(32:50) Okay, I kind of like Yunlan and Chu as bash bros.

(34:10) Um... what the fuck? (Then again, this is very much like the id of fandom, circa the late 90s...)

(34:50) If you’re a Queen and he’s a Drone, that’s not exactly “matching”.

(35:50) Again, this might be where the audience has to see what’s up.  Unless... they’re saving it for a reveal?

(37:15) Damn, that was a good hit.

(37:40) Oh, my God, why now?

(38:00) To answer my question, Black Cloak Envoy will continue to be a competent Tuxedo Mask for at least one episode more.

(38:49) Oh, this has got to be breaking your heart.

(39:20) Just saying, if this thing ever gets dubbed can we please, please, please get Darin DePaul to be this guy? And like, just do Ardyn voice?

(40:49) And now we have a story arc.

(41:02) Don’t tell the guy who can get emotional something that might get him emotional and he will certainly not find out for himself in several episodes and be even more pissed off at you. Great plan!

(41:46) Wow. That’s got to suck.

(42:00) Sorry, but all I’m hearing is “I swore an oath to stand with Noct Yunlan and keep him safe. Whatever it takes, I will protect him!”