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Finally! A case for Zhao Yunlan and the SID that doesn't take place on Dragon City University. That means Shen Wei should be completely clear of suspicions, right?
Zhao Yunlan Jinxes Himself
Right after Zhao Yunlan remarks that at least this time, Shen Wei will be free of suspicion, we cut to a shot of Shen Wei walking down the alley, trying to track someone down. Interestingly, he's not wearing his glasses here, so it seems he's not expecting to run into anyone who might know him.
Of course, he gets caught by Zhao Yunlan. Before he turns around, he puts his glasses back on.
Zhao Yunlan: You have got to be fucking kidding me.
Shen Wei: Whelp.
The SID Interrogates Shen Wei
The first person to interrogate Shen Wei is Zhu Hong.
Shen Wei does his best "I am innocent" blink as he answers her questions.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan is watching/listening, and goes from "I've had enough of your shit" to mildly intrigued.
Shen Wei drops the nice guy act, and taunts Zhu Hong until she angrily storms off.
Zhao Yunlan, are you supposed to look that proud and fond of an uncooperative witness?
It's Lao Chu's turn to interrogate Shen Wei, and he goes with the creepy intimidation tactic with his puppet. Shen Wei is unaffected.
In a bold move, Shen Wei reaches for the puppet.
Lao Chu tells Shen Wei that he reminds him of a certain Black-Cloaked someone... except Shen Wei is so far inferior he can't even compare to a single toe on that man. Shen Wei admirably keeps a straight face while having himself both insulted and complimented at the same time.
Meanwhile, the cogs are moving in Zhao Yunlan's mind.
Finally, Shen Wei gets sick of posturing against Lao Chu, and takes a break to eye-fuck Zhao Yunlan instead.
The eye-fucking successfully brings Zhao Yunlan to the interrogation chair.
The contrast here to the previous interrogations is fantastic. There is no posturing or games. Shen Wei's expression is serious and respectful, and Zhao Yunlan cuts straight to the chase very honestly.
Zhao Yunlan: Are you connected to these recent killings?
Shen Wei: No.
The result? Zhao Yunlan chooses to believe Shen Wei and lets him go.
Shen Wei Joins the Investigation
Shen Wei is in full troll mode this episode. Zhao Yunlan has just finished talking about how he doesn't want civilians involved in a dangerous case, and who shows up but Shen Wei!
In a bit of an interesting role reversal, Shen Wei is the one pushing the boundaries of politeness here, straight up inviting himself to join the investigation. Zhao Yunlan laughs and agrees.
We get another shot of synchronized walking as they follow to the location where the suspect was last seen.
Shen Wei fends off an attack, and it's Zhao Yunlan's turn to be protective when he sees the blood on Shen Wei's arms. In a terribly thought-out move to make Zhao Yunlan feel better, Shen Wei rubs the blood off his arm and tries to pretend the wound he just healed never existed.
In the aftermath of the attack, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan team up to give a lecture. There's a lot I like about this particular scene. The staggering hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness as Zhao Yunlan talks about how this work should be left to the professionals (unspoken: unless you're Shen Wei), and Shen Wei talks about how you shouldn't try to do everything alone (unspoken: unless you're Shen Wei).
And at the end of the gif above, you see Zhao Yunlan jumping in to support and add emphasis to Shen Wei's words.
I also enjoyed this synchronized turn.
After questioning Zhang Danni, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan discuss the suspicious points in the case. I love how Zhao Yunlan seeks Shen Wei's opinion on her, and how earnestly Shen Wei tries to provide help. In fact, Shen Wei inadvertently outs himself by bringing up how suspicious it was that he found her next to splattered blood, but she had no wounds.
Zhao Yunlan: Yeah. How does someone end up bleeding, but without any visible wounds.
Shen Wei: *sweats*
Staking Out Zhang Danni
While the SID team stakes out Zhang Danni's apartment with Zhu Hong acting as bait, Zhao Yunlan takes a moonlit stroll with Shen Wei. This is reminiscent of their last case, where Zhao Yunlan chats with Shen Wei in his office while Da Qing stakes out one of their suspects. It's not that he isn't doing work, he just conveniently ends up working with Shen Wei.
More synchronized walking, as Zhao Yunlan compliments Shen Wei on his eloquence.
And very smoothly, Zhao Yunlan segues from Shen Wei's earlier speech to asking him about his name. Shen Wei immediately goes into emotional overdrive at the thought of the incredibly important person who gave him his name.
Zhao Yunlan then talks about how happy his mother would be to see that he has "made friends" with Shen Wei. (Okay, it's a really sweet scene where Zhao Yunlan opens up to Shen Wei about his mother and her death, but I keep thinking this is totally a "my mom would have been so happy to see me bring you home with me" conversation.)
Eventually, Zhu Jiu crashes the party, along with the other two Dixingren. Once things die down, they find each other (as well as vigilante Lin Yusen).
Shen Wei decides this is the perfect time to prove that he can get hurt just like any other normal human, by pricking his finger on one of Lin Yusen's traps. Zhao Yunlan has a completely calm and measured reaction to seeing Shen Wei hurt, while Shen Wei blinks innocently.
Zhao Yunlan continues to be calm at Shen Wei's suggestion of just rinsing the blood off with water, stating that he's going to take Shen Wei to the hospital next. Shen Wei is at least a little bit pleased with the attention.
The Black-Cloaked Envoy is Late
They split up to wrap up the case. However, due to Zhu Jiu's shenanigans, the Black-Cloaked Envoy is late in arriving at the scene, barely managing to save the day.
Zhao Yunlan is not happy. "You might as well not have come at all."
The Envoy is usually the one angling himself away from Zhao Yunlan, but this time, Zhao Yunlan turns his back to the Envoy.
Lin Yusen's death hit Zhao Yunlan hard (look at his face!), and he does not respond well to the Black-Cloaked Envoy's insistence on taking Lin Yusen's body away.
The Envoy is sad too. Only Lao Chu giving him a nod of approval brings him out of his wibbly-eyed state to teleport everything away to Dixing.
It's the next day, and the Envoy is still upset. He summons Lao Chu, and actually tries to get some emotional support from him ("You don't think I'm that bad, right?") which is both sad and hilarious.
The Envoy explains that he took away Lin Yusen's body because it was turned into a bomb due to the mix of dark/light energy. He didn't tell Zhao Yunlan because he didn't want Zhao Yunlan to be upset about it, and seek out trouble.
After a whole episode showing the terrible consequences of Lin Yusen trying to take on the world alone, the Envoy tells Lao Chu that he intends to continue taking on the most dangerous tasks on his own. The episode ends on a long, pining sequence as the Envoy reminisces about Kunlun, and their promise to each other.
[ Episode Three ] [ Masterpost ] [ Episode Five ]
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