Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 8, part 2
Dec. 21st, 2025 08:11 pm
Hi, welcome to this week's instalment of the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Watch half an episode a week, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!
Here is last week's half-episode. On to the second half!
Episode 8, from 22:19:
Summary: In Dixing, the Regent sends a smoke message. In Haixing, Shen Wei pours his drunk mentor into car and then finds Zhao Yunlan ill on the kerb. He takes him home in a taxi (where he serves as a pillow), then discovers Zhao Yunlan's disaster apartment (featuring: wine bottles, dirty dishes, THE FRIDGE). During the night, Zhu Jiu finds the pillar with the Mountain-River Awl, but can't approach it. Meanwhile Shen Wei discovers that Zhao Yunlan asked Dixing about him and the Regent is ratting him out. He alters the message. In the morning, Zhao Yunlan wakes up to a tidy flat and Shen Wei sitting next to his bed. He tries to recruit Shen Wei for the SID again, but fails again. Wang Zheng sees a newspaper report about an earthquake in the Hanga mountains, passes out and regains her memory. Da Qing comes to tell Zhao Yunlan and finds Shen Wei there in the early morning. The Sundial begins to glow and resonate with the Awl; Lin Jing traces the source to the mountains.

Quote:
Shen Wei: "I suggest you eat regular meals. I don't want to find you on the road again."
Zhao Yunlan: "If you want to know whether I eat regular meals, why don't you just join ourSID, and you'll know?"
Shen Wei: "So your SID doesn't need a consultant, it needs a nanny?"
Detail:
I always notice that when Shen Wei takes off Zhao Yunlan's boots, he accidentally slips one of Zhao Yunlan's socks off his heel and doesn't pull it back up, argh! :p
Questions:
What's going through Shen Wei's head in the taxi? How is Zhao Yunlan feeling about Shen Wei taking him home? What's your favourite detail in Zhao Yunlan's flat? What's Shen Wei's favourite detail? Why do you think Zhao Yunlan keeps trying to recruit Shen Wei after Shen Wei has refused more than once? Do you think Shen Wei is seriously hoping to warn Zhao Yunlan away from leaving Dragon City? Why is Da Qing surprised to find Shen Wei with Zhao Yunlan in the morning? Why does Wang Zheng try to leave the SID? Any thoughts about how any of this compares to the novel? Or about parallels with other parts of the drama?
(These are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in!)
For the next two weekends, we're taking a break for the holidays - time to catch up on the rewatch, if you've been meaning to! Regular posts will resume on 9 January.
Here is our schedule for the current batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!
"Pillar Of The Community." (Wake Up Dead Man) G
Dec. 21st, 2025 10:55 amTitle: Pillar Of The Community.
Author:
Fandom: Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
Rating: G
Archives: Archive Of Our Own, SquidgeWorld
Summary: Martha Grace Wicks, from her first murder to her last.
( Flashfic! )
FIC: Ghost Valley (NC17 SLASH) by Tarlan - Word of Honor
Dec. 21st, 2025 03:17 pmAuthor: Tarlan (
Fandom: Word of Honor (TV 2021)
MAIN Pairing/Characters: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Ye Baiyi
MINOR Pairing/Characters: Gu Xiang/Cao Weining, Zhang Chengling, Jing Beiyuan, Wu Xi, Luo Fumeng
Rating/Category: NC17 SLASH
Word Count: 19180
Summary: Finally putting the ghosts of the past to rest had freed Wen Kexing in a manner he had never truly expected. For the first time he looked out across Ghost Valley and no longer saw a pitiful realm of criminals and monsters in human guises but real people who had no place else to go.
Content Notes: Written for IetjeSiobhan for
On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72633681
Did 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' lyrics once say 'colly birds' instead of 'calling birds'?
Dec. 21st, 2025 02:00 pmhappy Solstice!
Dec. 21st, 2025 08:25 amYesterday I went to the grocery store for the Final Shopping Trip (hopefully!) before Christmas. I had bacon for lunch! I caught up on the craft advent calendar! I went for a walk I've been meaning to take all month! I used one of our holiday-themed paper plates! I stayed up late reading!
And now it's solstice! Time to light a candle! (okay, time to find a candle? I'm sure there are some around here somewhere)
The Mighty Nein 1x07
Dec. 21st, 2025 02:50 am( Spoilers under the cut. )
Yes, I'm well aware what time it is. I couldn't sleep, though, so I figured I might as well accomplish something while I was wide awake at 3am.
Can hot water keep your Christmas tree fresh for longer? Experts are divided
Dec. 21st, 2025 03:00 amFlocked Christmas trees probably won't poison your pet, but they can still pose health risks
Dec. 21st, 2025 12:00 am25 rumors involving Trump (or his admin) we investigated in 2025
Dec. 20th, 2025 07:00 pm2026 Monster Theme Poll
Dec. 20th, 2025 10:43 amPick 10 new themes for 2026:
Adoption
20 (17.7%)
Afterlife
14 (12.4%)
Aliens
20 (17.7%)
Angst
18 (15.9%)
Books & Writing
20 (17.7%)
Character Study
26 (23.0%)
Collaborations & Remixes
23 (20.4%)
Coming of Age/Rites of Passage
22 (19.5%)
Community
22 (19.5%)
Crack Treated Seriously
42 (37.2%)
Fandom (characters involved in fandom, works involving fandom, meta about fandom)
19 (16.8%)
Fannish Non-Fiction (meta, tutorials, resources)
24 (21.2%)
Fantasy (elves, unicorns, et al)
26 (23.0%)
Fluff
24 (21.2%)
Games & Competitions
11 (9.7%)
Gothic
20 (17.7%)
Holidays & Celebrations
13 (11.5%)
Horror
19 (16.8%)
In Denial
22 (19.5%)
Inept in Love
29 (25.7%)
Journey/Travel
27 (23.9%)
Just Like Canon
22 (19.5%)
Kink
22 (19.5%)
Kisses
16 (14.2%)
Manners & Etiquette (including mannerpunk)
19 (16.8%)
Matchmaking
19 (16.8%)
Meet the Family
23 (20.4%)
Mentors & Protegees
25 (22.1%)
Music
18 (15.9%)
Neurodivergent Characters
21 (18.6%)
New Releases (I'll let you determine what's "new" for the fandom)
16 (14.2%)
Original Characters
14 (12.4%)
Outstanding Prose
22 (19.5%)
Podfic
12 (10.6%)
Power Dynamics
27 (23.9%)
Protest & Revolt
11 (9.7%)
PWP (Porn Without Plot or Plot? What Plot?)
14 (12.4%)
Role Reversal
20 (17.7%)
Romance
16 (14.2%)
RPF
17 (15.0%)
Short Fiction (under 2000 words)
23 (20.4%)
Siblings
25 (22.1%)
Social Media
16 (14.2%)
Unpopular Characters
25 (22.1%)
Unreliable Narrator
40 (35.4%)
Vampires
20 (17.7%)
Villains
14 (12.4%)
War
9 (8.0%)
Whump
22 (19.5%)
Pick 3 classic themes you'd like to revisit:
Arranged Marriage
48 (42.1%)
Cops & Crime
14 (12.3%)
Epistolary
39 (34.2%)
Forced Proximity
35 (30.7%)
Future Fic
23 (20.2%)
Historical AUs
33 (28.9%)
Pining
38 (33.3%)
Threesome
37 (32.5%)
Worldbuilding
58 (50.9%)
One day to go
Dec. 20th, 2025 09:25 amRob Reiner after Rush Limbaugh's death: 'No scarcity of purveyors of disinformation'
Dec. 20th, 2025 02:00 pmChristmas caturday!
Dec. 20th, 2025 08:05 amANYWAY it is the final weekend before Christmas, and that means:
...Yeah, time to catch up on my craft advent calendar. I set it up to be 12 days, with the goal of one lil' project every other day, and now it is the 20th and I have five projects left to go, lol. So, more like one a day! I GOT THIS.
Weekend Plans
Dec. 20th, 2025 12:22 amAll of my big bills (hotel, storage unit, phone, PO Box) have already been paid, so unless something very unexpected happens I don't have to worry about any major expenses the rest of the year other than a vet bill on the 29th. So that's definitely something to be happy about, as it means I can focus on other things this weekend.
I think my plan is to get up tomorrow morning and do my usual weekend cleaning. That way, I can get all of those things done first thing. I'll wash clothes, do some vacuuming/dusting/mopping/etc., and then hopefully by mid-afternoon I'll be free to work on other things.
By which I mainly mean writing as many fics for Yuletide as I possibly can, to be fair. That said, I still need to watch this week episode of both The Mighty Nein and Critical Role, so I'd like to get that done tomorrow as well.
That way I can spend pretty much all of Sunday writing. 🤞🏻

