clevermanka | Reading

Slo-Mo Rewatch Banner with a screenshot of Zhao Yunlan reclining on his couch looking at his phone

Welcome to 2026’s first installment 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 the post for the previous installment.

Episode 9 to 22:52

Summary
Lin Jing traces an energy surge linked to the Hallows to a northwest location that also happens to be the area Wang Zheng wants to travel to. Guo Changcheng tries his best to help and inadvertently buys a sex doll for Wang Zheng to travel in. On their way to the mountains, the SID come across Shen Wei and his students who are experiencing car trouble on their field trip. Coincidentally, they are also headed to the mountains. Shen Wei endures Zhao Yunlan fishing for information from Jiajia and using him as a pillow as they continue on to their destination. When their car gets stuck, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan get out to investigate and Zhao Yunlan not only insists that Shen Wei wear his jacket, but also wrangles him into it. As Shen Wei contemplates this development, they hear a scream back at the car and turn to hurry back.

Quotes

Zhu Hong: “I’m just practicing hypnotism. You’re so lucky to be the first guinea pig.”

Zhu Hong: “I’ve never seen [Zhao Yunlan] like this before. Why is he so keen on Professor Shen of all people?

Zhao Yunlan: “Normally I’m the one who gives the orders. This is the first time someone’s ordering me around.”

Detail

Shen Wei awkwardly adjusting Zhao Yunlan's cushion when Zhao Yunlan flops on him remains one of my favorite things.

Questions

How do you feel about the drama’s version of their journey to the mountains versus the airport meetup in the novel? What do you think Shen Wei was thinking when Zhao Yunlan’s convoy rolled up to help with the car trouble? Which Guardian character(s) would you like to go on a long-distance car ride with? What do you think Shen Wei did with the boyfriend jacket after they returned to Dragon City? What is your favorite part of this episode so far? Do you think Zhao Yunlan will become more involved in reviewing purchase orders after the whole doll incident?

(These are just meant to start discussion. Feel free to discuss whatever stood out to you in the first half of this episode.)

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

runpunkrun

This book is very silly. It's like creepypasta with floor plans.

But it's briskly written and quickly read. And unique, if that counts for anything. What it isn't is scary, suspenseful, or atmospheric. Read this if you enjoy troubling floor plans and baseless speculation, or if you want to see what all the fuss is about. Probably best on paper so you can reference the floor plans on the facing page.

Contains: murder, suicide, child abuse, child death, incest, ableism, polygamy.

mynoise_feed

https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/customMinimalism.php

This soundscape demonstrates how powerful the Composite technique on myNoise can be...

https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/customMinimalism.php

mynoise_feed

https://mynoise.net/blog.php#happy2026

The world is becoming crazier. Or maybe I am becoming grumpy and old. Or it is probably both... But myNoise is still here, offering moments of calm for everyone who needs it...

https://mynoise.net/blog.php#happy2026

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5740

thank you, past jeph, for setting up this callback

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5740

minoanmiss

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mumblemumble

(2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024)

2025 was the year I completely lost my writing mojo, and also the year of Zhang Kangle. For me, personally.

Just for the sake of completeness, I'm including things that were revealed in January, even though I already gathered them up in a separate post.

( All the fanworks, and a lot of navel-gazing. )

ainsley

Five things about today:

1) I am very happy to have Josh Charles back on my TV
2) some days it's a very good thing to not have a chance to check the interwebs during the workday
3) morning walks are a LOT easier when it's warmish and sunny than when the temperature unequivocally says winter
4) my watch is telling me I'm asleep and I'm not sure it's wrong
5) apparently a song that I've loved for 40 years is about being gay and I didn't know lolol

ranalore

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Current Mood: productive
Current Location: the jianghu (don't i wish)

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5739

we've been over this. scented candles

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5739

trobadora posting in

sid_guardian

amperslashexchange is an exchange for ambiguous relationships. It has two pinch-hits left, including one for the Guardan novel, Guardian drama and Guardian RPF. The current deadline is January 9, 11:59 PM UTC.

Here are the exchange rules, and you can claim a pinch-hit here if you can help out!

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: insomniac

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: exhausted

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5738

check out the hook while the DJ revolves it

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5738

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: anxious

pennswoods

Ever since my mother in law had a stroke in autumn 2024, she's lost the ability to plan, make decisions, and even write full coherent sentences. She is ripe for being exploited by those who try to financially rip off the elderly. My husband and his sister were able to convince her to agree to the equivalent of a conservator in Sweden, who helps protect her financially and can advocate for her. The Swedish word for this is gudman. My MIL's gudman is a woman of similar age named Jeanette who is originally from France. I really like her and she is a staunch advocate for my mother in law.

She visited my MIL's apartment yesterday for a regular appointment and told my husband that she really appreciates how sweet and kind he and his sister are to actually be looking out for their mother. Some of her elderly clients have children who are abusive or who are trying to swindle their own parents to take their money.

Chalk this up to another reason why having children is not a guarantee you won't die alone in old age.

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5737

2026 off to a classy start

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5737

mekare

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runpunkrun

More screen time. I watched all of these on Netflix.

Hostage: The British Prime Minister's husband is kidnapped in French Guiana while working with Doctors Without Borders. I watched two episodes across several days, mostly for Julie Delpy as the President of France, but I just didn't care about these people's problems. And then Julie Delpy did a public end-run around the prime minister to get French troops stationed on English soil to stop migrants from entering France from the channel and my entire being just shriveled up and died with how much I didn't like that.

Minx: The evolution of an erotic feminist magazine in the early 1970s. A fun and raunchy show that wants people to succeed and be kind to each other—mostly. The main character, Joyce, is kind of a pill, but part of the fun is watching her become more flexible as she's exposed to new perspectives. The first season is about building a team and putting a magazine together, but the characters lose their way in the second season as they give in to fame and power (or are alienated by it) and the show similarly becomes muddled; appropriate, maybe, but it also felt very unfocused and even cruel at times, quite a departure from the first season. Contains: drug use, nudity, and lots of dicks.

The Staircase (2022): The thing about The Staircase (2004) is that it will make you detest Michael Peterson. Did he kill his wife? Well, an owl certainly didn't do it. Guilty or not, the man is an odious narcissist, and Colin Firth nails him right down to his way of speaking. So I hated him immediately of course. But not in a fun way. The series also stars Toni Collette! And wastes her! Outside of a death scene so raw I wanted to look away, she mainly spends her time drinking and being quietly sad, except for a scene with a leaf blower and two more death scenes that are similarly awful, but similar enough to the first that it kind of dulls the effect over time. The whole thing is pretty tedious, which might be excused in a documentary, but not in a drama. If you've seen one The Staircase, you don't need to see the other, and really, you probably don't need to watch either. It was really great to see Juliette Binoche again, though. Contains: a lot of blood; violence.

minoanmiss

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Clever Manka is dressed and undressed

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