![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Guardian babble
Feb. 19th, 2021 09:26 amSo, I've watched Guardian. Sort of. Really enjoyed the first 22 or so episodes and then the merit brush storyline just dragged and dragged and the baddies for that turned out to have such STUPID reasonings and backstories I started skimming and skipping here and there to get through the show because otherwise I knew I'd give up and never finish it.
I loathe misunderstanding as a plotline and when that was the root to *both* the fruit seller neighbor guy AND Sha Ya? I didn't buy the way the wife's death happened or was dealt with (at the hospital) but at least they'd stressed over and over than he wasn't a smart man so maybe 50% of his actions were based on that and another chunck on being manipulated, but still. Grr. Not the kind of storyline I like. And then there was Sha Ya's reasonings, which, really? REALLY?
The 10k years ago stuff was... confusing and not what I thought it would be. So ZYL gets dropped back then and assumed the role of the murdered Kunlan, okay, fine. I loved the way he rolled with it (it was so IC and he seemed to really take to the role) but he spends all of a few days (at most?) and totally turns the tide of the battle, has Shen Wei totally fall for him and he earns Da Qing's respect/support/whatever in that time? If they'd implied he'd actually spent a decent amount of time there I could buy that more, but as it was shown? It felt really, really rushed. (Still some great bits between SW and ZYL though, especially the lollypop stuff)
Overall, the last third of the show felt rushed and ill-plotted, honestly. Like they'd figured out how to tweak some of the book to fit with the censorship rules and to be a tv show but then ran out of time in doing the rest and just slammed stuff together.
I'm unclear on when exactly (compared to present day) Shen Wei reemerged considering he had a whole role and history with people in the university. Five years ago? 10? Whenever it was, the comparative recentness of it made his OMGness at spotting ZYL in the first ep a little less powerful. I'd assumed he'd missed him for the whole 10k. And speaking of that scene, if ZYL hadn't experienced the meeting yet, then why did he have the reaction he had to seeing Shen Wei? An also... the whole team seemed to be familiar with the Black Robe Envoy by then so how the hell did that work? Why hadn't Shen Wei already met/recognized him?
The whole Ye Zun-in-the-pillar thing was kind of ridiculous considering how many people randomly wandered up to it and had conversations and/or eventually got controlled/eaten by him.
And, honestly, Ye Zun in general I had so many issues with. Because AGAIN it was a misunderstanding as motivation with so much death and destruction as a result. And the misunderstanding was SO DUMB. Why would he believe badguy that Shen Wei just up and abandoned him? Wtf?
The end was... meh, okayish despite the massive plotholes. Both Shen Wei and ZYL sacrificing themselves for the better universe worked okay within the story tptb probably had to tell. I felt kind of bad for the people who knew ZYL and had to see otherguy in his body afterwards, how do you grieve when the man you're grieving is standing in front of you?
Generally speaking, I think they did an okay job at not no-homoing while not being allowed to show the m/m from the book but that The Untamed did it a million times better. I don't ship easily but totally bought WWX/LWJ and while I could be sold on SW/ZYL fic, I didn't see it in canon happening in itself and the story would have to sell me on their relationship first, established relationship fic just won't quite work based on what we were shown. Also, it'd have to be set after, or address, ZYL's initial suspicion of SW. I just can't buy a detective like ZYL getting involved with someone who was a person of interest in a case, let alone as suspect.
I also have no interest whatsoever in woobie or whumped Shen Wei which seems to be popular. I came out much more interested in ZYL. (Among other things, the way he dealt with the blindness SL was just SO GOOD)
So anyway, decent enough as canons go, but not something I'll probably be fannish about.
slightly critical babble ahoy
I loathe misunderstanding as a plotline and when that was the root to *both* the fruit seller neighbor guy AND Sha Ya? I didn't buy the way the wife's death happened or was dealt with (at the hospital) but at least they'd stressed over and over than he wasn't a smart man so maybe 50% of his actions were based on that and another chunck on being manipulated, but still. Grr. Not the kind of storyline I like. And then there was Sha Ya's reasonings, which, really? REALLY?
The 10k years ago stuff was... confusing and not what I thought it would be. So ZYL gets dropped back then and assumed the role of the murdered Kunlan, okay, fine. I loved the way he rolled with it (it was so IC and he seemed to really take to the role) but he spends all of a few days (at most?) and totally turns the tide of the battle, has Shen Wei totally fall for him and he earns Da Qing's respect/support/whatever in that time? If they'd implied he'd actually spent a decent amount of time there I could buy that more, but as it was shown? It felt really, really rushed. (Still some great bits between SW and ZYL though, especially the lollypop stuff)
Overall, the last third of the show felt rushed and ill-plotted, honestly. Like they'd figured out how to tweak some of the book to fit with the censorship rules and to be a tv show but then ran out of time in doing the rest and just slammed stuff together.
I'm unclear on when exactly (compared to present day) Shen Wei reemerged considering he had a whole role and history with people in the university. Five years ago? 10? Whenever it was, the comparative recentness of it made his OMGness at spotting ZYL in the first ep a little less powerful. I'd assumed he'd missed him for the whole 10k. And speaking of that scene, if ZYL hadn't experienced the meeting yet, then why did he have the reaction he had to seeing Shen Wei? An also... the whole team seemed to be familiar with the Black Robe Envoy by then so how the hell did that work? Why hadn't Shen Wei already met/recognized him?
The whole Ye Zun-in-the-pillar thing was kind of ridiculous considering how many people randomly wandered up to it and had conversations and/or eventually got controlled/eaten by him.
And, honestly, Ye Zun in general I had so many issues with. Because AGAIN it was a misunderstanding as motivation with so much death and destruction as a result. And the misunderstanding was SO DUMB. Why would he believe badguy that Shen Wei just up and abandoned him? Wtf?
The end was... meh, okayish despite the massive plotholes. Both Shen Wei and ZYL sacrificing themselves for the better universe worked okay within the story tptb probably had to tell. I felt kind of bad for the people who knew ZYL and had to see otherguy in his body afterwards, how do you grieve when the man you're grieving is standing in front of you?
Generally speaking, I think they did an okay job at not no-homoing while not being allowed to show the m/m from the book but that The Untamed did it a million times better. I don't ship easily but totally bought WWX/LWJ and while I could be sold on SW/ZYL fic, I didn't see it in canon happening in itself and the story would have to sell me on their relationship first, established relationship fic just won't quite work based on what we were shown. Also, it'd have to be set after, or address, ZYL's initial suspicion of SW. I just can't buy a detective like ZYL getting involved with someone who was a person of interest in a case, let alone as suspect.
I also have no interest whatsoever in woobie or whumped Shen Wei which seems to be popular. I came out much more interested in ZYL. (Among other things, the way he dealt with the blindness SL was just SO GOOD)
So anyway, decent enough as canons go, but not something I'll probably be fannish about.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
