[Mainland Chinese Web Drama 2019] Reunion: The Sound of the Providence 盗墓笔记重启 ll 重啟之極海聽雷

[Alice84]

I'm quite enjoying the warehouse 11 part, especially the latest episodes (I'm up to episode 26). I agree it was a bit slow to start and also a bit jarring when ZQL and Fatty wasn't with him on this segment of the show compared to when they were in tomb and village. I love that there is a lot of ZYL and no more mute girl and black glasses! 

[orenji_neko]

1 hour ago, Yuui said:

After watching episode 21-24 I do like the Warehouse 11 story line, though it has a bit too much of a game-level-up feel. So I am hopping that this doesn't get stretched out too much.

I am not a big fan of 2nd uncle; I am not sure if he is over protective or if he wants Wu Xie out of the picture. It doesn't help that we don't know what his real agenda is. 

Couldn't agree more. It really felt like the warehouse story is mostly about leveling up (especially if you are a gamer).

 

2nd uncle is too suspicious. At first I thought he cared about Wu Xie. But kicking a  dying man out of his house seems too cruel to me. And if he really care, he would arrange someone to protect Wu Xie inside the warehouse. But up to ep26, it seems unlikely. Plus, he was rushing to go underground for what? For Wu Xie or for his one-sided love?

 

Wu Xie is dying (let's pretend he is) but his family and friends are not by his side 

I need more Pingxie moments щ(ﾟдﾟщ)ｶﾓｰﾝ(屮゜Д゜)屮

[Yuui]

@orenji_neko Precisely 2nd uncle and his actions are too suspicious. I just hope it isn't something stupid like for his "old love".  

Yea, it is a bit strange that they just send him back and they might never see him again because he has "3 month left" but it can just be in a week. *shakes head* don't get the logic, but I still go with them "caring" for him and not wanting him to be in unnecessary dangerous situations. I am just used to people trying to fulfil a dying man's last wish. 

 

[Strange Stranger]

@Yuui and @orenji_neko I would totally not be surprised about Second Uncle doing this because of his long lost 'love' especially since he is doing everything within his power to keep Wu Xie out of the whole thing.  At first I had thought he was just being over-protective, but even after finding out Wu Xie's sickness and still putting his foot down?  Yeah, no, he is starting to feel more like a villain here than concerned older generation.  (He did give that feeling at the start when he kept pressing Wu Xie about marriage and such, but now it's really looking more like an obsession.)

 

Wu Xie being all innocent-like around Pangzi and Qiling just shows how much he trusts them to be there backing him up and supporting him.  He doesn't need to sharpen his edges around them because they are that good working together.  All it takes is a look from him and they fall into patterns that show just how deep their team work is.  Without them, he has to be not only the brains but also the common sense and the brawn.

[Yuui]

37 minutes ago, Strange Stranger said:

@Yuui and @orenji_neko I would totally not be surprised about Second Uncle doing this because of his long lost 'love' especially since he is doing everything within his power to keep Wu Xie out of the whole thing.  At first I had thought he was just being over-protective, but even after finding out Wu Xie's sickness and still putting his foot down?  Yeah, no, he is starting to feel more like a villain here than concerned older generation.  (He did give that feeling at the start when he kept pressing Wu Xie about marriage and such, but now it's really looking more like an obsession.)

That's why I am wondering if Qiling is staying around to keep Wu Xie updated on what is going on. 

Also I am getting the feeling that Black glasses at least is wondering what 2nd uncles real motivations are.

 

34 minutes ago, Strange Stranger said:

Wu Xie being all innocent-like around Pangzi and Qiling just shows how much he trusts them to be there backing him up and supporting him.  He doesn't need to sharpen his edges around them because they are that good working together.  All it takes is a look from him and they fall into patterns that show just how deep their team work is.  Without them, he has to be not only the brains but also the common sense and the brawn.

It can also be a way to lull the enemy into a fals understanding on who is dangerous (physically).  But it is nice to see his fierce side too. 

[orenji_neko]

Ever since Wu Xie joined Warehouse 11, he got beaten up and almost got kill so many times already in that place. Every time it happened, I'd think "if only Xiao-ge was there...".  It felt so weird that his family and friends who knows that he is dying did nothing to protect him. If it was me, I'd turn into a mama bear  

 

[xienrue]

Have been watching this.

I fall into group who prefer iron triangle interaction than Wu Xie solo. In my opinion Lost Tomb is more about adventure and brotherhood, so all this love lines bore me. Why most drama thinks that a main female lead is a must? Not all story is about romance.

[40somethingahjumma]

I didn't come to this show with any prior understanding of the Tomb Raider chronicles or what it was supposed to be. I have no intention of starting any kind of ship disturbance.  I only call it as I see it. Although I'm largely not a fan of the individual women in this show (Xiao Bai an exception) I can sort of see why they're included in it. It struck me in the last few episodes that the women with varying degrees of intelligence, are all to some degree attracted to danger whether they know it or not. Perhaps suggesting that they're female versions of their male counterparts. I'm not a huge fan of Piaopiao but it occurred to me that despite the jeopardy she put herself and her daughter in, she has been persisting in continuing with the antique delivery work. This is despite the fact that Pangzi tried to cut off contact with her to keep her safe. His rationale was that she was someone who could have no part in the antique trade and by extension the kind of life he leads. Whatever we think of Piaopiao... she mightn't be the brightest light bulb in the room... she is drawn to that world either by heritage or by necessity. That's the same with Mute Girl and Xiao Bai. Even while they might appear to be "domesticating" influences, they seem to be drawn to men who live on the wild side. 

 

Another reason why I think the women were introduced is because this is also a drama about ageing and death. (Irregardless of what the other dramas were like) Wu Xie himself has observed this in recent days especially because he is facing impending demise. The Iron Triangle have been together for a long time but as Wu Xie believes that he's living on borrowed time, he is naturally concerned about how his friends have felt obligated to remain with him. Life after Wu Xie  is very much in his thoughts especially in Pangzi's case. As a good friend and brother-in-arms, he must feel some regret that he's dragged the other guys around dark and damp places with him to the point where they have no lives of their own. He even notes that Pangzi has needs that even their friendship are inadequate to the task. This is consistent with the rest of his character. Not only is he loyal to his buddies, he is a thinking person that considers the possibilities. He assumes that he isn't going to be around forever so he wants Pangzi taken care of and happy. Whether or not we think he is going to actually die is irrelevant. He thinks he's going to die and he is on the journey of dealing with unfinished business... Third Uncle's disappearance and his buddy's future.

 

While I myself noted that the show was using a gaming level up feature in Warehouse 11, I certainly don't agree that it's all there is. The levelling up process is to expedite matters for Wu Xie but someone wants him in Warehouse 11 to do some house cleaning. It's obvious that there's a lot of dodgy stuff going on in Warehouse 11. Director Ding for one is dodgy beyond words. Somebody cares about that and wants a good shake up and permanent "restructuring". That is the real reason why he's been brought in. Someone recognizes that he has the drive and deductive skills to achieve this. He's smart and  he doesn't back down at all. As Xiao Bai says, he looks at things differently from other people... and a lot of that comes from his experience raiding tombs and chasing "ghosts".

 

It reminds me a little of the 90s British detective show Jonathan Creek who designed sets for an illusionist. He was able to see behind the "smoke and mirrors" of each case because he has a particular kind of mind that is used to looking at things from a particular perspective.

 

And we saw that for instance with Wu Xie's entanglement with the Spirit Vase case. It was obviously Scooby-Doo set-up but it takes an out-of-the-box thinker to get to the bottom of things.

 

I can't say definitively that Xiao Bai is a long-term love interest. But I am sure that she is someone who is meant to make him think about what his life might have been like had he stayed at home and not gone gallivanting around the world with his brothers-in-arms. That's why he refused to answer her question about his "type" and quickly changed the subject to her "type". My guess is that despite the age gap... she is in all likelihood his type. When she brought him into her room the first time, he walked in and made himself comfortable very quickly like they've been a relationship for a while. When she offered him a drink, he took it as if he wanted another reason to spend more time with her.

 

These days I don't make rules for myself about romance. Whatever it is a show aims to do, my rule is simply this: I want it done well. I don't want females to be included as tokens but if they are included, they have to make sense in light of the bigger picture. We're nearing the half-way mark so there's a lot more to come. We don't know how these women will factor in down the track. Since I've made the decision to watch this show, I'll give it a chance. I have no qualms dropping it if it turns into a train wreck.

 

 

[Strange Stranger]

@40somethingahjumma That's a good summery of what these ladies are doing here (save for Xiao Bai but I'm thinking she's also in on getting Wu Xie into the Warehouse to clean house).  It's more than them being as romantic foils but they give us another facet to the lives of these men, all of whom are aging and yet still in this lifestyle.  And then there is Wu Xie who is trying to figure out ways for his buds to have other lives when he's gone.

 

As for Xiao Bai I thingk that she works well as a foil too for Wu Xie.  He is smart but sometimes a smart person needs to have someone to bounce his ideas off of.  Before he had Pangzi and Xiao-ge but he doesn't have that inside the Warehouse.  Even if he did, they are all outsiders so he wouldn't have any way of seeing the picture from the eyes of someone who has lived there.  She gives him that added bonus and thus makes it easier for him to figure out things he wouldn't be able to.  Also Wu Xie getting hurt is something he is willing to do.  During Tomb of the Sea, he actually set himself up as bait to the point of letting an assassin cut him on the throat and toss him over a cliff.  I sometimes think that him getting hurt is part of a plan he has in his head.  Course I could be wrong, but he has done it before.

[Yuui]

a question what happened to Wu Xie's knife wound on the arm? 

[Strange Stranger]

@Yuui Maybe it's his Qilin blood acting up?   I mean he has aged slower and such maybe it sometimes does things like heal him a little faster and such.  Especially since he's suppose to have 17 scars on his arm as it is.

[Yuui]

@Strange Stranger Okay, i can buy that. Though if that is the case it would have been nice to see it heal. It was a bit jarring to see it in one scene and then the just jump to a scene with no trace of it at all.

[Strange Stranger]

@Yuui oh I agree there! It's just a small blip to me since usually ZYL usually isn't one to show a lot of skin. Like tank tops are rare for him and I was busy watching how his arms flexed. 

[paopaolong]

The knife wound on Wu Xie’s arm might be a bug.

We’ve noticed another bug in ep 24 when Wu Xie first saw Lu Chen. In that scene he was wearing a Level 8 uniform and badge.(He didn’t get promoted yet at that point.) And right in the next scene he’s back to L4.

That bug is because of the deleted scenes of the “bells”, so they have to move a latter scene forward. ZYL mentioned that almost the whole “bells” cause in the story was cut off, which would make the series kinda messy. But Nanpai Sanshu said they didn’t have a choice. (The censorship of course.)

 

Speaking of the censorship, it seems that series 2 is still being censored now. We don’t know when it’ll come. And series 1 for VIP is about to finish just in this week. I’m already anxious now.

[Strange Stranger]

I also heard that the side story with Piaopiao was also cut - instead of just a lost love reunion thing there was suppose to be links to the plane's disease causing affect - due to censorship. 

 

It seems we are just going to have to sit tight for the next season too.  Hopefully they won't cut it into short not connected plot holes.

[Yuui]

@paopaolong and @Strange Stranger  that isn't good.  Do we know why they are getting censored or is it the usual confusion of no one knows?

 

[Strange Stranger]

@Yuui i think it has something to do with the current pandemic.

[40somethingahjumma]

There's something really odd about Warehouse 11 that's been nagging for a while and after seeing the last two episodes I think it finally hit me that Warehouse 11 is like a time capsule. It's almost as if China hasn't left the Qing dynasty or the republican era. Not only does it function as a beehive, but the workers are treated like serfs or peasants. Where are all the women? Apart from Xiao Bai and the water guru, I don't recall any others. Why are people doing tightrope walks on metal chains from one platform to another? Why hasn't anyone built a bridge there? It's such a weird mix of high and low tech. There's obviously some automation and then the surveillance equipment. But why haven't the archives been computerised? I don't remember seeing a laptop on Director Ding's desk but there are rows of filing cabinets behind him.

 

@Yuui I imagine that it has something to do with the political side of things in that country.

[cheekychipmunk_stv]

Hi

 

Just started this series. Wasn't expecting anything much since 8 didn't watch part 1, 2 and mystic 9. 

 

I was so surprised how good this series is. The story and story behind really captures my attention. I'm only at ep 6. Still a long way for me to go.

[Strange Stranger]

Hello @cheekychipmunk_stv!  A lot of the previous parts of the series are a mixed bag tbh but this one actually is a lot smoother even with the censorship cutting out stuff.  I feel that both having such good actors and a crew that put things together as best they could has helped.  Just be aware this is part one of two so after this week's episodes are up, we will be stuck in a limbo until the next batch is released.