Susan

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 6, from 22:44

Summary:

Zhao Yunlan returns to Zhou Weiwei and makes her admit the truth: she switched places with Mirror Girl, and that was who was engaged to Ji Xiaobai. Ji Xiaobai, having confirmed what he already knew, isn't interested in a replacement goldfish. Mirror Girl tells the Envoy about a phrase her father used to repeat.

Then Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing talk about Shen Wei being suspicious, break into his flat, find his file on the SID, and have to hide when Shen Wei arrives. Zhao Yunlan sends a smoke messenger to the Regent, and a banner with a spy camera to Shen Wei. Da Qing teases him about his interest in the Envoy. Shen Wei confronts the uni's chancellor about Li Qian withdrawing, and has a brief conversation with Zhao Yunlan. Zhu Jiu puts a new agent in play. Finally, at night, Shen Wei is mugged by two thugs.




Quote:

Da Qing: "In this world, two people can be very close, but have never seen each other. But maybe once they've met, they'll see each other every day. Destiny is unpredictable."

Zhao Yunlan: "Damn Fatty, I never knew that you were a poetic cat."

Detail:

Zhao Yunlan: 这个也很好看，衣服真漂亮。我想给我女朋友买一件，哪买的呀？
This [photo] is nice as well; pretty outfit. I want to buy one for my girlfriend. Where'd you buy it?

I remember from the early days that fandom had decided Zhao Yunlan was talking about the coat Mirror Girl was wearing in the photo, and had related it to the similar trenchcoat Shen Wei wears in later episodes. And that despite the fact that the English subs - all of them: the original ones and the ones that came later, Solo's and the Viki ones - say "shirt"! Of course the Chinese only says 衣服, clothes, and IIRC this concept originally came from the Chinese side of fandom.

Questions:

What's your favourite part in this half of the episode? Do you think Shen Wei is too harsh on Mirror Girl? Do you feel for Ji Xiaobai? for the human Zhou Weiwei? Why is Zhao Yunlan stepping up the investigation into Shen Wei? Do you think the spy camera is warranted? Why does Shen Wei respond to being mugged like that, when he could easily defeat the muggers? Any thoughts about how any of this relates to the novel?

(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!)

And here is our schedule for the next batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!