The Tribble of Tarth

It has come to my attention this past week that I get stuck on the strangest things while watching television. They are often small details that are completely irrelevant to the story, but are very glaring to me and take up way too much of my attention.

The first examples are from Guardian. I recently started watching the show and had considered writing my reactions on Twitter, but ultimately was too lazy to do so. It turns out not to have mattered much as the only things I really thought about saying were that Zhao Yunlan really needs to cover his mouth when he sneezes and RIP to the knees of the father of the water Undergrounder guy. (Wiki says Butler Wu and Xiaojun, respectively.) Twice in the episode, twice, the man falls to his knees and it physically pained me to watch it. I just kept thinking about the actor's knees and hoping he was wearing knee pads, even though that honestly seems unlikely. I watched this episode days ago and I'm still thinking about it.

The most recent example is from We Best Love. It's from the most recent episode, so I won't get too specific as to avoid spoilers, but basically the two main characters share an emotionally intense scene while leaving the front door wide open. And I get it, it's an intense scene, emotions are running high, and a lot is happening. But, like, it wouldn't have been that hard to shut the door? The two characters spend a chunk of time in the entryway. The character who owns the house is right next to the door. Is it too much to ask that he reach a hand out and close it? Honestly, that was what bothered me the most. The opportunity was there to shut the door, they just didn't do it. And I truly had a hard time concentrating on the scene (A very important one!) because I just kept thinking about the open door. Which is probably utterly ridiculous and an indicator of my own issues more so than anything else, but it bothered me so here I am complaining about it. It did make me a feel a bit better to see someone on Tumblr make the same observation, so at least I know I'm not entirely alone in this train of thought.

Despite my fixation with the open door issue, I really enjoyed We Best Love. I watched the first season and caught up on the second season in about three days. (There are only six half hour episodes in the first season, and two episodes released in the second season, so it wasn't too much.) The second season is currently airing, so I'll have to wait week to week for new episodes now. Which on one hand, it is nice to build some anticipation between episodes and root around on the internet and see what people are saying in the interim. But it of course means I have to wait between episodes now, and I have become terribly spoiled with the ability to binge shows recently. Also, the last episode ended on a "WHAT?!" moment, which is great for fandom discussion, but damn it I want to know what is going on and I want to know now!

At this time, I don't feel too strongly about Guardian, but that could very well change. I am interested in Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei's relationship, so as the show progresses I could see myself becoming more invested. I like the Special Investigation team as well and love to see their interactions. I think Da Qing is my favorite, though I definitely have a special attraction to Shen Wei. (Look, I definitely have a preferred character type, and Shen Wei fits it perfectly. It is what it is.) I kind of hope to develop more feelings for the show as I continue on as I know there is a large fandom presence for it. We shall just have to wait and see.