Branch (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot) wrote2019-07-22 08:08 am
branchandroot) wrote2019-07-22 08:08 am
Entry tags:
So, about Zhao Xinci
Okay, the last round of this was huge fun and I’m about to be locked in “leadership institute” for eight freaking hours, so let’s talk about Zhao Xinci.
Spoilers for the end of the show, of course.
My take: Zhao Xinci is not a brilliant man. He’s dedicated to his job, but he’s not a brilliant investigator. Instead, he’s methodical and devoted to evidence and logic, and gets results because what he does have is the ability to lock down his emotional response. We’re talking “I want to grow up to be a Vulcan, oh look I did it” levels, here. He’s methodical and careful, but not very flexible, witness every interaction he has with his son. He also seems deeply dedicated to process and procedure, witness /both/ his interactions with his son and his statement that he doesn’t care if SID is in the right, he can’t let them flout the Ministry’s orders. That’s some pretty steep levels of devotion to the chain of command.
And yet, very soon after that above statement, we see him do a complete 180 and participate (apparently willingly, given Zhang Shi’s comments about partnership and it having been a long time) in knocking out the Minister, imprisoning the Minister in his office, and taking over the Ministry basically by coup. Oh, and fighting for the salvation of Dixingren, the people he’s hated unrelentingly for years and years.
And that’s where I finally snap. The rest of his sometimes uneven characterization and motivation I can wave off as Zhang Shi. But this, when they are allegedly working together consciously? *bangs head on desk*
So I’m left with the conclusion that Zhang Shi is actually still leaning very hard on Zhao Xinci, through the end, and just doing it more subtly than taking him over.
Thoughts?
Spoilers for the end of the show, of course.
My take: Zhao Xinci is not a brilliant man. He’s dedicated to his job, but he’s not a brilliant investigator. Instead, he’s methodical and devoted to evidence and logic, and gets results because what he does have is the ability to lock down his emotional response. We’re talking “I want to grow up to be a Vulcan, oh look I did it” levels, here. He’s methodical and careful, but not very flexible, witness every interaction he has with his son. He also seems deeply dedicated to process and procedure, witness /both/ his interactions with his son and his statement that he doesn’t care if SID is in the right, he can’t let them flout the Ministry’s orders. That’s some pretty steep levels of devotion to the chain of command.
And yet, very soon after that above statement, we see him do a complete 180 and participate (apparently willingly, given Zhang Shi’s comments about partnership and it having been a long time) in knocking out the Minister, imprisoning the Minister in his office, and taking over the Ministry basically by coup. Oh, and fighting for the salvation of Dixingren, the people he’s hated unrelentingly for years and years.
And that’s where I finally snap. The rest of his sometimes uneven characterization and motivation I can wave off as Zhang Shi. But this, when they are allegedly working together consciously? *bangs head on desk*
So I’m left with the conclusion that Zhang Shi is actually still leaning very hard on Zhao Xinci, through the end, and just doing it more subtly than taking him over.
Thoughts?
no subject
Yeah that change at the end feels SO out of character for Zhao Xinci, who is still willing to let ZYL take a fall for the sake of order very late in the game. And not that many months earlier, Zhang Shi was forcibly taking control because he disagreed so heavily with what Zhao Xinci was doing. I like your conclusion - it makes more sense than a true heel-face-turn, given that we aren't really given any reason WHY ZXC would heel-face-turn at the point he supposedly does.
no subject
no subject