riventhorn: (SW made porridge)
riventhorn ([personal profile] riventhorn) wrote2019-05-11 01:30 pm
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drive-by Guardian thoughts

 I was watching ep 3 today, and was struck once again by ZYL's people skills. The first time he meets Professor Zhang, he notes how she is overly apologetic and connects that to either low self esteem or past trauma. In contrast, Shen Wei keeps insisting that she has nothing to do with the crime, and that one of the three students who we find out later was involved in raping Professor Zhang is a "sincere and warm" person. ZYL comments that although Shen Wei has studied many living things, he is lacking in the area of studying human beings. 

Other moments also support the idea that Shen Wei does not always have great interpersonal skills. For example, the way he "comforts" Zhu Hong about her unrequited feelings for ZYL. I think he is really trying to comfort her, but is obviously doing a terrible job. 

However, I think his relationship with Li Qian is quite different in this respect. He notices that she is stressed and unhappy; he finds ways to comfort her about her grandmother, etc.  And of course, his relationship with ZYL, where he is quite observant of ZYL's emotions. 

So, I'm interpreting Shen Wei as the sort of person who does better in long-lasting, deep relationships where he spends a lot of time with an individual and comes to know them and feel comfortable with them, as opposed to ZYL who can connect with people much faster. For this interpretation, I am assuming that Shen Wei has known Li Qian for a while and she has been his grad assistant for a while too. 

In a related note, I love how swiftly Shen Wei becomes super concerned over Zhao Yunlan's health. We're only on ep 3, but Shen Wei is already chastising ZYL for eating sweets when he has a cold. <3<3<3
qikiqtarjuaq: bb wei hugging bai yu (Default)

[personal profile] qikiqtarjuaq 2019-05-11 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
To me a big part of Shen Wei's inability to connect with people, even people like his old friend Dr. Cheng and Li Qian, despite caring for them - is that to connect and comfort people requires a level of open-ness and vulnerability that Shen Wei is not willing to show anyone except Zhao Yunlan. And even with Zhao Yunlan, he doesn't always get it right.
rheasilvia: (Default)

[personal profile] rheasilvia 2019-05-12 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yes! And Shen Wei is forced to always keep a distance because Professor Shen is not all of who he is - he couldn't truly open up to anyone who doesn't know he is the Black-Cloaked Envoy, even if he wanted to. (Which I also agree he doesn't.)

Li Qian is his student, though; as her professor, that relationship is always going to require a certain level of distance, no matter how close they are as student and professor.

And Zhao Yunlan doesn't truly connect with people for the same reason; he connects to his team on the same level Shen Wei does to Li Wian, but it's an inequal and limited relationship. Da Qing is the only person he is open with, until he meets Shen Wei.