I always wondered about how Mirror Girl's powers worked. How did she get into the mirror dimension? Can she just walk in and out as herself wherever she pleases, or does she have to exit where she entered, and can only exit somewhere else by taking on someone else's image? Is the mirror dimension connected to Haixing and Dixing both? (Can she just go right back into the mirror when she's back in Dixing?) How does it work when Shen Wei takes her out of the mirror dimension? And is she going to keep Zhou Weiwei's looks? Can she just do that, permanently take on someone else's appearance, outside the context of their original mirror swap?
Xiaobai is scared to see his Weiwei has no shadow. (Apparently he hasn’t been paying close attention to all the photos he’s been taking.)
Does she really not have a shadow in any of them? I didn’t check if that’s something we see on screen, but if so, I totally missed that before! Honestly, until recently I thought she only didn't have a shadow in the mirror dimension, and that original!Zhou Weiwei making the quip about having a shadow was her trying to draw a distinction between her and mirror!Weiwei that wouldn't actually hold if they were both there in the real world. (And now I don't know!)
Mirror Weiwei is the daughter of one of Shen Wei’s mission team who searched Haixing for the Hallows (I think?).
Yes, that's how I remember it! Wu Tian’en says mirror!Weiwei's mother was pregnant around the time her father supposedly died, so he must have met up with his wife and daughter afterwards. But we also know he was hiding in Haixing and committing crimes – so did child!mirror!Weiwei actually live in Haixing?! I feel like I’m still missing a piece of the puzzle there ...
Disappointingly, she and Original Weiwei have their hair parted on the same side.
LOL!
Ultimately, he can’t accept that the woman he loves isn’t human, but he also isn’t willing to settle for her human lookalike.
I know we already talked about this above, but just saying it again here – he's just hit with the existence of mirror dimensions and doppelgangers and not given any time to process. I don’t think we know if he can or can’t ultimately accept it.
As he leaves, reminds Xiaobai that Mirror Weiwei isn’t coming back. I wonder what he would have done if Ji Xiaobai had begged for her return, instead of equivocating and being fearful.
That’s a good question. And also, if Ji Xiaobai did end up deciding he really wanted his Weiwei back, he clearly wouldn't expect to find a sympathetic ear in Zhao Yunlan.
“As you can see, people are usually defeated by their own heart. You and he are from different worlds,” he says, taking entirely the wrong moral from this episode.
We already talked a little about this above, and about why Shen Wei might not be particularly sympathetic to either of these two, but I was also wondering how much what he tells her is because he's taking her back to Dixing. Stopping Dixingren from being in Haixing is supposed to be his job, so he can't have people there know he's not fully on board with that - whereas with Wang Yike, he's letting her stay in Haixing and with Zhang Ruonan, so there's no need for him to pretend.
The usually insightful Changcheng sums up the case in his diary, but he’s completely missed what happened and is confused by Zhu Hong’s contempt for Ji Xiaobai.
I really like that Zhu Hong thinks he should have known better and thinks badly of him!
Ji Xiaobai says Weiwei never went out alone, especially when it was sunny, because she hated sunlight. Was that actually the case (because Dixingren have grown used to living in the dark), or was she trying to hide her lack of a shadow?
Like I said above, I'm not sure about her shadow, but even now I still like to think she genuinely didn't/doesn’t like sunlight. There have to be Dixingren like that!
Mirror Weiwei and Ji Xiaobai seem to have had a close, sweet relationship. Do you think she wanted to tell him she was Dixingren, or she preferred to pretend everything was ‘normal’? If she’d told him earlier, might things would have turned out differently?
I think if she’d told him, at least he could have made an informed decision. And I'd like to think he'd have loved her regardless of where she came from. What can I say? I like happy endings, and I like Haixing/Dixing couples. *g*
Why is there a huge mirror in their flat? Is it an escape route, for if things get too much to handle? Is Mirror Weiwei offering Original Weiwei what she herself would have wanted (a better view of the world)? Did it just come with the flat?
I thought it was so original!Weiwei could watch. Initially they did have an agreement, after all, and I think that might have been part of it?
In the way of fairy tales, Changcheng’s magpie wish backfires and calls forth the ‘real’ Weiwei, instead of the Weiwei that Ji Xiaobai loved. Should we take this as part of Haixing’s cosmology (wishes and prophesies come true), or is it simply a TV/fiction trope? If phrased more carefully, could the SID have used magpie wishes for other things?
Huh. Are you saying you're taking GCC's magpie wish seriously as something that had a real-world effect? I always thought it was narratively calling on fairy tale tropes, and turning them into dramatic irony, but in-universe it was only superstition.
Mirror Weiwei’s energy looks reddish/golden, rather than dark.
I don't think the colours matter. If they were meant to be meaningful, they're pretty inconsistent.
What do you think of Original Weiwei? Is she simply the villain of the piece, or is it more complicated than that?
Original!Weiwei is really something. I totally understand her initial feelings, and even her jealousy and resentment of mirror!Weiwei - but her entitlement towards Ji Xiaobai, and her apparent lack of any understanding of what she's (trying to) do to him is pretty appalling.
What lesson do you think Zhao Yunlan took from the case? (Love is more important than species? Secrets are bad for a relationship? Dixingren can easily pass as human? Other?)
If Shen Wei really is Dixingren, he wants to know sooner rather than later. *g*
better late than never? - lots of words
I always wondered about how Mirror Girl's powers worked. How did she get into the mirror dimension? Can she just walk in and out as herself wherever she pleases, or does she have to exit where she entered, and can only exit somewhere else by taking on someone else's image? Is the mirror dimension connected to Haixing and Dixing both? (Can she just go right back into the mirror when she's back in Dixing?) How does it work when Shen Wei takes her out of the mirror dimension? And is she going to keep Zhou Weiwei's looks? Can she just do that, permanently take on someone else's appearance, outside the context of their original mirror swap?
Xiaobai is scared to see his Weiwei has no shadow. (Apparently he hasn’t been paying close attention to all the photos he’s been taking.)
Does she really not have a shadow in any of them? I didn’t check if that’s something we see on screen, but if so, I totally missed that before! Honestly, until recently I thought she only didn't have a shadow in the mirror dimension, and that original!Zhou Weiwei making the quip about having a shadow was her trying to draw a distinction between her and mirror!Weiwei that wouldn't actually hold if they were both there in the real world. (And now I don't know!)
Mirror Weiwei is the daughter of one of Shen Wei’s mission team who searched Haixing for the Hallows (I think?).
Yes, that's how I remember it! Wu Tian’en says mirror!Weiwei's mother was pregnant around the time her father supposedly died, so he must have met up with his wife and daughter afterwards. But we also know he was hiding in Haixing and committing crimes – so did child!mirror!Weiwei actually live in Haixing?! I feel like I’m still missing a piece of the puzzle there ...
Disappointingly, she and Original Weiwei have their hair parted on the same side.
LOL!
Ultimately, he can’t accept that the woman he loves isn’t human, but he also isn’t willing to settle for her human lookalike.
I know we already talked about this above, but just saying it again here – he's just hit with the existence of mirror dimensions and doppelgangers and not given any time to process. I don’t think we know if he can or can’t ultimately accept it.
As he leaves, reminds Xiaobai that Mirror Weiwei isn’t coming back. I wonder what he would have done if Ji Xiaobai had begged for her return, instead of equivocating and being fearful.
That’s a good question. And also, if Ji Xiaobai did end up deciding he really wanted his Weiwei back, he clearly wouldn't expect to find a sympathetic ear in Zhao Yunlan.
“As you can see, people are usually defeated by their own heart. You and he are from different worlds,” he says, taking entirely the wrong moral from this episode.
We already talked a little about this above, and about why Shen Wei might not be particularly sympathetic to either of these two, but I was also wondering how much what he tells her is because he's taking her back to Dixing. Stopping Dixingren from being in Haixing is supposed to be his job, so he can't have people there know he's not fully on board with that - whereas with Wang Yike, he's letting her stay in Haixing and with Zhang Ruonan, so there's no need for him to pretend.
The usually insightful Changcheng sums up the case in his diary, but he’s completely missed what happened and is confused by Zhu Hong’s contempt for Ji Xiaobai.
I really like that Zhu Hong thinks he should have known better and thinks badly of him!
Ji Xiaobai says Weiwei never went out alone, especially when it was sunny, because she hated sunlight. Was that actually the case (because Dixingren have grown used to living in the dark), or was she trying to hide her lack of a shadow?
Like I said above, I'm not sure about her shadow, but even now I still like to think she genuinely didn't/doesn’t like sunlight. There have to be Dixingren like that!
Mirror Weiwei and Ji Xiaobai seem to have had a close, sweet relationship. Do you think she wanted to tell him she was Dixingren, or she preferred to pretend everything was ‘normal’? If she’d told him earlier, might things would have turned out differently?
I think if she’d told him, at least he could have made an informed decision. And I'd like to think he'd have loved her regardless of where she came from. What can I say? I like happy endings, and I like Haixing/Dixing couples. *g*
Why is there a huge mirror in their flat? Is it an escape route, for if things get too much to handle? Is Mirror Weiwei offering Original Weiwei what she herself would have wanted (a better view of the world)? Did it just come with the flat?
I thought it was so original!Weiwei could watch. Initially they did have an agreement, after all, and I think that might have been part of it?
In the way of fairy tales, Changcheng’s magpie wish backfires and calls forth the ‘real’ Weiwei, instead of the Weiwei that Ji Xiaobai loved. Should we take this as part of Haixing’s cosmology (wishes and prophesies come true), or is it simply a TV/fiction trope? If phrased more carefully, could the SID have used magpie wishes for other things?
Huh. Are you saying you're taking GCC's magpie wish seriously as something that had a real-world effect? I always thought it was narratively calling on fairy tale tropes, and turning them into dramatic irony, but in-universe it was only superstition.
Mirror Weiwei’s energy looks reddish/golden, rather than dark.
I don't think the colours matter. If they were meant to be meaningful, they're pretty inconsistent.
What do you think of Original Weiwei? Is she simply the villain of the piece, or is it more complicated than that?
Original!Weiwei is really something. I totally understand her initial feelings, and even her jealousy and resentment of mirror!Weiwei - but her entitlement towards Ji Xiaobai, and her apparent lack of any understanding of what she's (trying to) do to him is pretty appalling.
What lesson do you think Zhao Yunlan took from the case? (Love is more important than species? Secrets are bad for a relationship? Dixingren can easily pass as human? Other?)
If Shen Wei really is Dixingren, he wants to know sooner rather than later. *g*