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Assault on a police officer

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Me before starting Justice In The Dark: it's okay I know the show was interrupted and I already read the novel I can handle it maturely

Me at the end of episode 8:

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Every conversation between Fei Du and Luo Wenzhou goes like this:

FD: 😊 LWZ: 😑 FD: 😈 LWZ: 🙄 FD: 😏😘 LWZ: 😤🤬

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Pei Su wearing his Lao Luo's jacket

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[BREAKING NEWS] A local police officer and a billionaire developer teaching their straight friend etiquette during play date accidentally discovered that they were kinda married

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Priest has galaxy brain because any other danmei authors would have done Fei Du as a real predator who takes advantage on Luo Wenzhou, but instead we have Luo Wenzhou who looks at Fei Du and he just thinks: "Look at him, he's just a traumatized wet tiny cat, I can fix him (top him)"

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God please take all of my sufferings and give them to the chinese censors

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There was no one at the ferry in the wilderness; save for a small boat that lies on the water leisurely. "野渡无人舟自横" - The meaning of Fei Du 费渡 and Luo Wenzhou 骆闻舟's Name. (Wei Yingwu 韦应物- Chuzhou’s Xijian 滁州西涧）

I’ve never analysed a priest related meta so here’s a first for me I guess.

It’s a known fact that Fei Du and Luo Wenzhou’s names were censored when the Modu adaptation was released.  The names just stuck out to me so I did some research and WOW, their names were from the same line in a poem (OBVIOUSLY).

And it's a very famous poem too, which is probably why their names were changed because everyone knows what Priest was trying to imply.

So anyway here it goes ~

Their names arise from from Chuzhou’s Xijian 滁州西涧 written by the Tang Dynasty Poet Wei Yingwu 韦应物 (lmao this dude's courtesy name was Yibo XD) .  Chuzhou’s a city located in the Anhui Province. 西涧 Xijian refers to a river located west of Chunzhou. When the poet was the governor of Chunzhou, he frequently visited Xijian and thus, it inspired him to write this poem.  Wei Yingwu has a reputation for writing poetry based on scenery so here's one of them!

独怜幽草涧边生，上有黄鹂深树鸣。 

The only thing I like is the lonely grass that grows by the stream that runs through the valley, and the orioles that cry out in the deep undergrowth.

T/N: 独怜 is a very interesting word. 😍. It can be broken down to 独 (unique, alone) and 怜 (pity, love).  So in this case, most people would interpret this as something was so unique and the poet loved it, or it could also mean something that was  lonely and pitiful 🥲

春潮带雨晚来急，野渡(DU)无人舟(ZHOU)自横。

In the evening, when the spring tide rises and the rain drizzles, the water in the Xijian river becomes increasingly turbulent.  There was no one at the ferry in the wilderness; save for a small boat that lies on the water leisurely. 

"野渡无人舟自横" is a very famous line (Tang 300!) and it has inspired many to draw based on this line alone.

Drawn by Zhang Pin in 1963.

And another painting by Pan Tianshou in 1964

To fully understand this poem, we have to start from the poet’s background. Wei Yingwu came from a rich family, and when he was 15 years old, he was the aide of Emperor Xuanzhong.  In the early days, he was unruly and the villagers under him suffered.  During the An Lushan Rebellion, Xuanzhong fled and Wei Yingwu lost his job. Wei Yingwu then put his mind to studying and eventually, he became an official.  It was said that his past turbulent experiences in his life (the An Lushan Rebellion in particular) inspired his poem. 

As a bonus point, you’re absolutely right  if you’ve read modu and found the vibe of this poem to be very familiar.  Because Priest has used similar imagery throughout the novel.  For example, in Chapter 95:

He was like a traveler walking through the desert, his body utterly broken. And Luo Wenzhou and this tiny house was like a bottle half filled with water that fell from the sky.  Even if it contained arsenic, or if the cold broke apart his fingers one by one ... he could not give it up. - Translation by yours truly. 

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Zhang Xincheng as Fei Du

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China's censorship of Justice in the Dark - some FAQ

photo cr @ 白夜飛行家 on weibo

Also known as The Abyss/Mo Du/Silent Reading (link goes to a great carrd made by a Mo Du fan) by Priest, the same author who brought us Guardian. The show was dropped on Youku China on the 18th of February and is now on Youku International (VIP needed from ep 3 onwards). 8 episodes have been released. There is no official release schedule yet, though the rumour is 5 episodes every Saturday at 10am China time. Total of 30 episodes, ending on the 11th of March (Yes rumours are this specific).

The English subs are AI generated, and they are not great. I hope they improve the subs as the show gains traction. (I watch on the China ver of the app, but I'll post any egregarious subbing errors if I come across them)

Changes made from the novel

The title, character names and premise has been changed. The ages of the some of the side characters/victims have also been changed. It's clear that scenes have been re-edited and re-dubbed, because some dialogue doesn't match the lip movements (WOH flashbacks anyone?) This is all to get pass censorship. A lot of the story, including the dialogue, has been preserved, and the changes aren't jarring.

Seems like there was a lot of uproar regarding the changes?

The show has been trending on weibo every day since it dropped, for good and bad reasons. Many book fans were upset with the changes on Day 1 and didn't bother watching pass the introduction of the premise, and there were complaints about the suitability of the actors' looks. By Day 2 the comments turned to "hey this isn't so bad??" And now everyone is just badgering youku for the next few episodes, cause they've literally released nothing else about the show since they dropped the episodes.

Has the story been sacrificed to pass censorship?

After watching 8 ep, I don't believe so. The novel covers sociopathy and the darkness of humanity - the show uses a "nuclear accident" as a reason for "genetic changes" in 1.3% of the population - causing these people to lose the ability to empathise with others. This is actually a very smart move because by blaming everything on a fictional, genetic mutation, the show can actually get away with showing the darker, more questionable parts of humanity, without having to censor it too much. The first case of the show mentions drugs and even has a short clip that heavily implies someone seizing from an overdose (you'll miss it if you aren't paying attention). There are underaged victims, and if they continue in this vein there will be more trigger warning worthy scenes from the book included. These things just don't get shown or talked about in c dramas - even if we don't talk about the BL, it's pretty crazy they managed to get this stuff out after the recent censorship changes.

Is the BL still.... there?

There are 8 episodes out so far and to me, it's working. We're not talking WOH level of chemistry here, but ep 3 onwards is when our CP starts paying more attention to each other. There is more than enough "candy" to find if you know what you're looking for. That said, it is not and will never be BL, just an adaptation.

Ok what am I looking for?

Glad you asked! Take for example the show's name change - from 深渊 (shen yuan) to 光•渊 (guang • yuan).

深 - deep 渊 - deep (often referring to a pool, so a deep dark pool, like in a cave) Shen Yuan comes from the novel and is translated as The Abyss, and represents Fei Du (Pei Su in the show)

光 - bright light Guang•Yuan is not a proper term by itself - it's a mash up of the words for bright light and deep pool. The light represents Luo Wenzhou (Luo Weizhao in the show), the one beam of light that penetrates Fei Du's darkness. Hence the English name "Justice in the Dark" is a pretty good translation.

The new names of the characters are Pei Su 裴溯 and Luo Weizhao 骆为昭. See the last character of each name? Su has the radical 月, for Moon in it, and Zhao has the radical 日, for Sun in it. The moon is considered Yin, and the sun is Yang. Together, they are Yin and Yang.

Hey maybe you think that's pushing it, but welcome to the life of a BL adaptation fan 🤣🤣

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justice in the dark

“hello, is this the hospital? i picked up an old man here. feels like he’s not going to make it. may i ask how to hand him over?” 

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I Collect Gay Cops and their Boyfriends

Left to right, top to bottom:

Captain Luo Wenzhou and his boyfriend Business President Fei Du (Mo Du)

Chief Zhao Yunlan and his boyfriend Professor Shen Wei (Guardian)

Captain Xie Lanshan and his boyfriend Forensic Sketch Artist and freelance Painter Shen Liufei (In The Dark)

Vice Chief Yan Xie and his boyfriend former Chief Jiang Ting (Poyun)

Officer Xia Yao and his boyfriend Bodyguard and Business Owner Yuan Zong (Advance Bravely)

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Advice for writing relationships

Ship Dynamics

How to create quick chemistry

How to write a polyamorous relationship

How to write a wedding

How to write found family

How to write forbidden love

Introducing partner(s) to family

Honeymoon

Date gone wrong

Fluffy Kiss Scene

Love Language - Showing, not telling

Love Language - Showing you care

Affections without touching

Giving the reader butterflies with your characters

Reasons a couple would divorce on good terms

Reasons for breaking up while still loving each other

Relationship Problems

Relationship Changes

Milestones in a relationship

Platonic activities for friends

Settings for conversations

How to write a love-hate relationship

How to write enemies to lovers

How to write lovers to enemies to lovers

How to write academic rivals to lovers

How to write age difference

Reasons a couple would divorce on good terms

Reasons for having a crush on someone

Ways to sabotage someone else's relationship

Ways a wedding could go wrong

Arranged matrimony for royalty

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Yuri on Ice 5th Anniversary ❄

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these scenes.

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