When a Snail Falls in Love 如果蜗牛有爱情 - Episode 3 (Recap)

kakashi: Ji Bai and Xu Xu meet, but if first impressions matter, then this is a rather ill-fated pairing. She does something really careless, which makes him very angry. That's not good, seeing how he doesn't want her to be there in the first place.
JoAnne: Think how epic the romance will have to be then, to overcome TWO obstacles!
Trotwood; I watched but did not enjoy this episode because it's the episode I hate: when one of the main leads makes a serious (but sorta dumb) mistake. I was cringing from the beginning because I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Not because I'm smart and figured out the case, but because I know dramas, and it was time for this part of the the story.
Shuk: I'm looking forward to the interactions! Oh and more Wang Kai in dark sunglasses.
Eleanor: Wasn't it just a little while ago that you were telling me you didn't like Wang Kai Shuk? ;) Oh those lovely eyebrows of his! 
 

Episode 3

Sirens are blasting ... police, fire brigade, ambulance, all of them arrive. And Ji Bai. Ohhhh, looking mighty fine. Confidently, he strolls closer. People are pointing upwards and Ji Bai looks up ... is someone going to jump?!
Well, if he catches them in his arms I'm going to have to say that they're going just a bit too far with how awesome he is, really.
But somehow, I'd still believe. Look at that face. I'd jump into those arms (looking around nervously for Eleanor)!
*Throws Yu Heng at Trot so she can't jump into Kaikai's arms*
The opening title starts playing and afterwards, we're right back at the shopping mall and the two women with their suitcase full of money. Yao Meng notices the man who keeps side-eying them and squirts some soda drink onto his jacket. Nice move! He is temporarily distracted AND the police woman can determine that he is trained in martial arts (he grabs her wrist in a quick defensive move when she starts wiping him down). They walk on, he follows ... in turn followed by Xu Xu and Husband, pretending to be a couple.
Even the show knows.
I like her. She's smart and she uses her smarts.
They sit down at the restaurant - this is the last step before the money transfer. Ye Qiao gets up, Yao Meng follows ... and the man moves in to sit down at their now empty booth next to the suitcase. He looks around, then grabs it and walks away. The police team moves in ... (Husband holds Xu Xu back who also wants to follow) and they arrest the man! But the arrested man seems to have no idea what they mean when they ask where Zhang Shiyong is.
So in this instance, would you say that Ye Qiao got robbed, or the kidnapper got robbed?
Or maybe he was just paid to do this job and is being used? 
Hmm .... A guy in a face mask, doing some cleaning in the vicinity, gets up and leaves (when everyone steps closer to see what's going on with the arrest). Xu Xu sees him. He looks back over his shoulder (suspicious) and also speeds up (more suspicious). Xu Xu follows him. Alone. Gurl..... that's not very smart.
I kind of understood her, though. It's NOT smart, she needs immediate back up, but what was she supposed to do, let him get away? If he's the kidnapper, he knows they set him up - he won't make that mistake again. It will either be much more complicated next time, or he'll give up. And if a kidnapper can't get money, what does he do? He kills the kidnapped person. For all she knows this is their one shot at catching him, and she had to follow, but this is exactly why Ji Bai was right about her, of course.
Didn't she have a hidden microphone? It would seem pretty standard for any covert operation. Plus, you always have a wingman within eyeshot. 
*sighs* Why Xu Xu, why??? We want Ji Bai to like you. I get why she felt the need to follow, but still...surely someone is supposed to be hanging out with her. 
After sending a voice message (finally!) to Husband about where she is, she seriously gets on the elevator with this guy! (at least she did this) Alone!!!!!! And even after seeing that he ditched his work uniform jacket in the corridor! So she's standing there with him (now without mask) - holding that jacket in her hand. It's such a big fail, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. By the way .... who recognizes this actor? :)
Yeah, this part...she wasn't thinking. (I do.)
At least she doesn't really do this out of arrogance but because she knows someone has to do something and it would've taken too long to get someone to go with her. Still, I was cringing even though I knew something like this had to happen in story.
Yeah, this whole things smacks of wrongness.
Yeah I didn't like it either! (I do too)
They ride the elevator up in charged silence. Now, Husband hears the voice message and gets Monkey (whose real name is Liang Yu, apparently) to come with him. Xu Xu texts him that they're going to the top floor, but without even looking at her phone. Skillz. On the 13th floor, the man gets out (after hesitating quite a bit) and she follows right before the door closes.
I'll give her one thing, she's a brave little snail.
I can barely text while looking at all letters and using two hands! Of course she's brave. She wouldn't be doing this job if she weren't. I think this is the saving grace of the whole thing.
I was waiting for him to turn around and attack her in the elevator, but I suppose he would be thinking about CCTV or something.
Eep! I'm definitely not as brave as her. Then again I'm not a police officer or criminal profiler. Even though it was perhaps a little foolhardy, I do like the way the scene was set up. It was just the right amount of suspenseful. 
He takes the stairs up to the roof ... she too. At least she grabs a make-shift weapon: a rather large screw wrench. On the actual rooftop, he is nowhere to be seen. Miss "I didn't pass my physical but think I need to follow a potentially violent man alone" thinks it's a good idea to look for him. Husband and Monkey are now at the elevator.
And I am on the edge of my seat.
I literally had my hands over my eyes. A problem since, of course, since I have to read the subs.
The BGM sounded like someone squelching in mud. Very distracting (at least to my ears). I did like the way the her coat dramatically moved in the wind. To the sound of squelching mud.
I wish she had just stayed in the elevator or by the door or something. It's not like he could go anywhere once he was up on the roof, right? Unless he was going to pull a Ming Tai or something and start jumping between buildings. 
Up on the roof, the kidnapper attacks Xu Xu from behind. She bravely swings her wrench, but come on. Of course she stands no chance! He has a short blade in his hand and asks why she's following him. When she tells him she knows he kidnapped Zhang, he in turns knows she's a police officer. Menacingly, he starts stepping closer. Husband and Monkey are on the roof now! But the Kidnapper (his name is Yang Yu, I guess they got that from the man they arrested? Or how else would they know?) heard them approach and has his knife at Xu Xu's throat. He demands a car and a gun.
Yeah I wondered how they knew who he was, too. I think I figured out a reason later based on who knew who and when, but you need to know this guy's history in order to know how it fits together.
(Can I say Hurray for Husband, now?)
[handing Trot some glitter for her Hurray Hubby sign]
Your Husband is awesome. 
We see that Ji Bai arrives now ... like we saw in the cold open.
Love the steely-eyed glare. But are they planning to use an inflatable platform in case someone falls off the roof? Then why the crane? It's a bit of a confusing scene.
I think it's for another jumper and not related to this case and Ji Bai just happens to be there for the other case. 
 
He tells Husband through the radio to "keep calm" (yes, the situation seems really tense!) and to buy as much time as he can. Oh no ... Xu Xu is crying a little. But she is so brave! She tells the kidnapper he won't get a car; in fact, he won't get anything. He has no bargaining power whatsoever.
This is where I decided that I didn't really care what she ever did, I am a Xu Xu fan.
This is where I wished Ji Bai could see her face and not just hear about how she messed up. 
She's so cool, enumerating all the options that will land him in prison with various charges filed against him based on what decision he makes next. I was hoping his hand wouldn't shake too much as she kept talking.
Yaaaaaaas!!!! There is the Xu Xu I want! 
Ji Bai is now on a crane, riding up (I hate breaking it to you, show, but that crane is probably long enough to reach the 5th floor). (That fall cushion is useless from that height too). The situation isn't getting any better up there though ... Xu Xu reasons with her captor about giving up and confessing for a light sentence - or get charged with murder. Or jump off the roof with her. Those are his only options. Husband mentions money; now the kidnapper talks (or screams): this is not about money at all, it's about the Ye family, especially Zhang Shiyong. He calls him a beast. Xu Xu starts talking about how even if he were to escape he'd be a fugitive for life, and all his family (how does she know who his father is?!) would see the disgrace.
I laughed pretty hard about noble Ji Bai rising majestically through the air, imagining the top of his head and then his face and torso slowwwwly rising above the guard rail almost magically - and then seeing the crane. I won't lie, it distracted me from the story a bit.
For me, too. But I needed a distraction because I was feeling way too tense.
LOL
A hook flies through the air and the kidnapper's knife arm is pulled away. Ji Bai jumps over the railing right behind him, grabs Xu Xu (she's so tiny) and ... throws her to the floor and away from the kidnapper, whom he overpowers easily after that.
OH COME ON.
Really, Ji Bai is Batman, and we are really in Gotham.
[shaking my head as I throw the bullsh## flag] But at least he gets to cop a feel? Was that supposed to be comical? Ridiculous given the very real possibility that she would have gotten a new smile below her old one when the knife-wielding arm was the one jerked back by the hook.
Okay, this scene was pretty cheesy, BUT Ji Bai was so freaking cool! It's a catch-22 for me, cheesy/unrealistic scene, but Ji Bai looks good *sigh* 
He then turns to Xu Xu and says: "Congratulations on being the first detective in this city to be held hostage by a criminal". Gahhh, he's angry. Okay, I get that, she was very, very stupid, but he could have helped her up? (Lin City may be a hypothetical city, but there's no way she would be the only cop to be caught by bad guys) She peeks over the railing to see the commotion below and he adds: "And now you want to find out whether the Fire Brigade's air cushion is sturdy enough?" (so ... these air cushions, they're so tiny?! How would you be able to actually jump on that from such a height?)
I'm not sure they work from the 40th floor...it seems like they were interested in having it be Really Dramatic and Super High Stakes, but only had access to Kinda Serious rescue equipment.
And it doesn't seem to be in the right spot to be honest. You'd have to leap out and then down not just fall over.
Didn't they use a stunt like that in the BBC's Sherlock? I don't think films necessarily go for realism much - even the ones purporting to be more realistic. But I really do think the air cushion was for another case for the shorter building next door. 
According to Hollywood Stunt Coordinator website, maximum fall height for the biggest bags is 200 feet / 61 meters. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has an average floor height for office buildings as 3.9 meters per floor, plus a mechanical floor of 7.8 meters, one mech floor per every 20 stories. The elevator stops at 13th floor. So 13 regular floors plus one mechanical floor (the stairs they climbed) yields 58.5 meters, or about 192 feet. Which would barely be within the parameters of a Hollywood professional stunt bag. BUT...a fire department would probably not have the budget for that quality of a bag. So yeah, after all this I can safely say that a swan dive in this case is a death sentence. 
Well, Xu Xu is not one to mope and cry, she scurries after Ji Bai and tells him anxiously that she believes that the hostage is in danger. He is still angry and doesn't seem to take her seriously at all. Here comes Yao Meng though: finally, someone worries about Xu Xu (and the cut on her neck).
I love Yao Meng. She's such a goodhearted person.
I love her, too. I think as fond as I will become of Xu Xu, Yao Meng will be my favorite child.
I'm so looking forward to those two crying over silly movies and doing each other's nails.
Ji Bai needs to chillax. Xu Xu might very well be right. Is he being all Darcy and too prideful here? 
On the way back in the car, Yao Meng swoons over the capable Captain who is a living legend in the police force. Xu Xu says nothing. Yao Meng thinks she's amazing for realizing who the real culprit is in the shopping mall, but Xu Xu doesn't hear her. She is still worrying about Zhang Shiyong.
As they all should be.
So far, she's been right. But it's not as if anyone really trusts her judgement at this point in time.
*sigh* Just listen to Xu Xu people. Don't ignore her! 
At the police station, the pickpocket is interrogated - so it seems he recognized Ye Qiao from TV and just thought whatever she had in that suitcase was worth stealing, given her wealth. He does not know the kidnapper at all. Hmm. The kidnapper himself admits to burying the blades - but says nothing about why he kidnapped Zhang Shiyong. In fact, he is simply eyeing the watch. Yes, that would make me concerned too.
I feel like the show makes me lack discernment because I am suspicious of everyone who isn't directly on this team.  Every person, object, glance. This world would make me develop a tic.
Oh yeah, he's stalling.
That's good though. It keeps us on our toes, wanting to watch the next episode. 
Xu Xu goes to look for Ji Bai, who is currently talking to Ye Qiao. She is complaining about being questioned and she doesn't even know the kidnapper. But - she knows his father, apparently, a man named Yang Chengzun. He used to be the manager of "Ye Family Hardware". And he was actually one of the founders of the company that is now Ye Corporation.
Ooh, interconnection corporate shenanigans. 
She's pretty quick our little Xu Xu. 
Ye Zixi arrives. Why does Ye Qiao hide her necklace when her cousin comes in? Oh. They have identical ones! She also quite clearly hates her guts and wants absolutely no help or sympathy from her. Xu Xu observes all this for a brief moment before she interrupts and says she needs to tell Ji Bai something important.
Listen to her, Ji Bai. And why is Zixi here, anyway?
Because no one else is allowed to be sad around Ji Bai but her? I know. I know. She's troubled. But I don't trust her or like her or feel that sorry for her despite her sad story. Husband has a sad story,too. You don't see him wallowing. Pfft.
Who has the original necklace? I'm guessing ZixiPixie, our ticking time bomb, has the real one.
I sense cat claws and hissing happening inside their minds. You can tell they would just like to tear each others hair out. Yikes! I would not want to be there if they started to fight. 
Outside, she repeats that the hostage is in grave danger, now she's certain - and he demands to know why she is convinced that's the case. Here we go: She is quite sure that the person with whom Zhang Shiyong is having an affair is Ye Zixi. Yang Yu not only kidnapped Zhang because of a personal grudge, but also because of her.
Oooooh. I guess that's one way to pay back your hateful cousin. And a good reason to feel like you've turned into someone Ji Bai wouldn't like very much.
Yup. (see I knew there was something else about that Zixi)
How the heck did she figure all of that out?!
Ji Bai walks on (he is very fast, she isn't, she has to run to keep up with him), she continues. She went ahead and investigated the company history after the blades were found. She realized who the kidnapper had to be and that his father is the one who suffered the biggest losses during the early days of Ye Corporation. What she thought was very strange though is the fact that it's been so long, and Yang Yu is only taking revenge now and on a son-in-law at that. Ye Qiao's behavior  towards Ye Zixi and the necklaces (their clothes are too different, so she guesses they wouldn't have the same taste in jewelry either) tipped her off as to the affair ...
It seems logical, but the jewelry could also have been a gift from father/uncle.
But there would be no need to hide it then.
I think it's a good intuition but hard to prove. 
Ji Bai seems a bit impressed by now, if only just a tiiiiny little bit. She goes on to say that given how Yang Yu's dad was involved in founding and running the company until recently, Yang Yu would certainly know the Ye family children quite well since they were kids. It seems clear to her that Yang Yu has always loved Ye Zixi.
And this is why I assumed that Husband didn't need to be told his name on the roof top. I knew that Ji Bai had grown up with the Ye's, and something about Ji Bai and Husband made me think that they knew each other from youth as well. It seemed reasonable that Husband would know Yang Yu.
Well that had to be one awkward standoff.
Word.
Why do I get the feeling that Ji Bai is listening just to humour her? He's kind of a brat. 
Ji Bai does not disagree, but he actually asks her more questions (kind of belittling her methods, and calling her out on not having actual proof). Of course she had no time for a thorough investigation, and he chides her for it. Inside the investigation room, Yang Yu gloats and makes cryptic remarks (hinting at Zhang's whereabouts and death). Xu Xu gets more and more anxious. Why won't Ji Bai listen to her?!
I thought at this point that he was not willing to believe that Ye Zixi would behave that way.
Give the woman a break, Nick! Wang Kai. His name isn't Nick. He prefers Wang Kai, and professionally goes by Wang Kai, and yes, I'm really sensitive about this. She gathered all that intel in a mere few hours, and you have the cojones to tell her she didn't do enough research??
Yeah, I don't get why he has to be so bratty and condescending. They need to rescue the kidnapped guy. 
Well, because he has guessed everything just like her (but quite a bit faster and also had time to find out Zhang's whereabouts). So, Zhang has been rescued already (the kidnapper had planned from him to be thrown into a pit for leaves, forever), way before the show-down on the roof. Ji Bai is a bit of a bastard, isn't he.
Yes, he is. But this is also one reason why Husband might have known Yang Yu's name, if he didn't know him himself. Ji Bai could have told him who Xu Xu was chasing.
It's interesting that he pushes her like this, but it also makes me wonder whether anyone else on the team figured all of this out, and she is brand spanking new, too.
Will this drive her from the team? Or strengthen her for the next Crime of The Week? Maybe he was testing her mettle? But, yeah, still a jerk.
Ji Bai. Yes, you are a jerk right now. Though I guess he is maybe a bit impressed I hope. 
Of course he wouldn't risk the life of a hostage like this. Now, he hands her a cup of water and asks her a few more questions about her intuition. He is no longer chiding, but actually interested. Just by using her observation, she came to the same conclusions as him, who used the channels and instruments of the police force.
Ha. He's wondering the same thing I was wondering.
Okay I feel a bit better.
Hmmm, he is still a bit of a brat but I guess if he is willing to give her a chance, I can work with that. 
He tells her she was wrong in one thing: Ye Qiao and Ye Zixi have been enemies since childhood. They never were on friendly terms. Even before the affair. He is back to chiding - including her behavior on the roof. No emotional stuff, no impulse reactions - if she cannot adapt, she'll have to leave.
I like him. He has standards. He's willing to consider other methods than his own, but he's not willing to negotiate on the basics. Plus he's hotter than a Ghost pepper. Amen to that!
How does he keep those sneakers so white? One day on me, and they would have had stuff all over them just by sitting in office. And we know he does more than sit in an office.
LOL the film crew probably have to scrub them clean each day after shooting. Or they buy another pair or it's PPL. Though Kaikai does have a million sneakers it seems. 

Comments

So, Ji Bai definitely was intrigued by her intuition, but felt a need to put her in her place. Her actions on the roof WERE incredibly stupid and surely against every protocol in the book. Sure, the ends kind of justify the means (they got the kidnapper), but you can't have this kind of reckless behavior in a criminal investigation unit. She is good, but she needs to learn discipline. And yes, he still is against her being there in the first place, because her lack of physical fitness is a great danger to her, but also for the rest of the team. He could have been a bit nicer to her on that roof though. Many other people would have been traumatized.
Right? I mean she's still a human and a team member. Especially since he knew the Zhang Shiyong was safe already, once the kidnapper had been subdued he could have spared a moment for her well-being.
Toughlove?
I think he's also just on the gruff side. And I think Ji Bai seems like the sort of person who you have to earn his respect and trust - he doesn't give it lightly. 

His reactions to this whole Ye-Family debacle clearly shows that he is emotionally uninvolved - he does not care about those Ye-girls as anything more than a friend. He is also super professional, not letting his relationship with them interfere at all with his work. I like that about him. But I think we're already seeing that he is very, very tough if not harsh to everybody around him, including himself. 
I never mind someone tough, if they're also tough on themselves. And it can't be about arbitrary standards, that's important. Each person is different and that must be acknowledged at a certain level.
I get the impression that he is tough but fair and predictable in that way which is why everyone trusts him and his judgment. I also feel like he is tough without being stiff; he is willing to listen to new ideas and values the talents each team member brings. It's what makes him a true leader--making people want to follow and feel valued.
Still, he had insider information on this case which, had he given it to Snail, would have given her be that 100% surety he demanded. But we can forgive because we know things between them will only get better. 
Ji Bai. He really is pretty awesome. Let's hope that the Lion and the Snail work things out, though I would much rather he see her on more equal footing eventually.