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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 22 part one

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Not Quite Like Old Times

We ended the previous episode in daylight, with Lan Wangji putting Wei Wuxian and swordpoint and declaring his undying love lecturing him about his lack of sword skills.

We start this episode in full night, with the two of them sitting on a roof together. Presumably they spent the missing scenes getting dinner in the mess hall, doing some laundry, and definitely not making out. Fic writers, do your thing.

Finally, FINALLY, Lan Wangji has chilled out enough to actually sit and listen to Wei Wuxian, instead of yelling at and/or physically attacking him. The Zoloft is really helping!

Wei Wuxian is indulging in romantic recollections of their first rooftop encounter. Lan Wangji, who has loved him since he first laid eyes on him and who wrote a whole song with an entire music video about their love, featuring that very same rooftop encounter, shuts him down so completely he might as well have whipped out Bichen again.

First he corrects his description of events by pointing out they were fighting, not talking, back then. Then when Wei Wuxian continues in his charming, smiley reminiscing vein, Lan Wangji says "things change, how could they stay the same" with a deep, sad, weariness.

He seems like an old man in this moment, and I feel for him, really, I do. But he's not the one who's carrying the actual essence of death around inside him. Wei Wuxian is being much more generous in this interaction than Lan Wangji is.

Wei Wuxian thanks him for not narkng to Jiang Yanli about the whole talisman/forced suicide/ghost hummer/ghost flaying thing he did back in Yiling. Like there is any way Lan Wangji would ever tell Jiang Yanli, of all people, something like that about Wei Wuxian. He's lying to his own brother to cover for Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian totally doesn't get it.

(more after the cut)

Unfortunately, there's no reason Wei Wuxian SHOULD get it, at this point; Lan Wangji has not communicated anything but disapproval to him since his return, and Wei Wuxian, despite their (apparently temporary) mental linkup in the Turtle cave, is not a mind reader.

Lan Wangji is so hurt here, and Wei Wuxian appears to ignore that, continuing to smile and laugh; he’s still sunny, still happy. Seriously, they are so tonally out of step with each other in this conversation, it's excruciating.

Lan Wangji: I’m feeling good about my tear-holding-back ability Wei Wuxian: do I look more fuckable sitting up? Or leaning back?

But every one of these smiles is an absolute lie. This is Wei Wuxian appeasing an authority figure; baffling with bullshit and skating by on charm. This is not a young man confiding in his soulmate.

Even when the conversation shifts, and they talk seriously about what is going on with him, Wei Wuxian is barely confiding anything. He briefly acknowledges that he was in the Burial Mounds for three months, and shudders at the memory, but Lan Wangji doesn't respond to that other than to look away from his face.

This is almost the last thing Wei Wuxian will ever say to anyone about that experience. He only alludes to it again when Jiang Cheng visits the settlement and talks smack about their corpse turnips. Lan Wangji says he wants to know why Wei Wuxian’s cultivation changed, but he really doesn’t; he just wants to convince him to change it back.

Wei Wuxian explains about using Lan clan techniques to protect his temperament, as well as the flute and talismans, to control the resentful energy. This is a good reminder that Wei Wuxian was never a bad student. He was an outstanding cultivator within the Jiang Clan, and he learned a hell of a lot during his time in Gusu, despite getting expelled for fighting.

His original golden core was stronger than Jiang Cheng's, even though he apparently started cultivating later. Yes, he fell asleep during meditation that one time in Episode 43, but that's not because he's bad at meditating, it's because he was tired from getting railed all night by his boyfriend stabbed in the gut by his nephew.

Lan Wangji eventually manages to ask him a question like an interested fellow human being sharing knowledge, instead of like an authoritarian dick calling him to account.

Side note: I still am flopping around trying to find good-sounding English terms for Chinese philosophical concepts. I kind of like "ghost path" vs "sword path" for the two styles of cultivation - I don't know where I saw that, apologies to the translator. I like "necromancy" for the part where the dead are reanimated and controlled, because we definitely have that in English. But there are many layers of nuance in these conversations that English is not equipped to render in a natural-sounding way.

Lan Wangji tells him, again, that it's dangerous, but this time he does it in a gentler and more poetic way, saying it's like taking grain from a burning fire, and says he's in danger of becoming the novel version of Wei Wuxian a demonic cultivator. Wei Wuxian, also gently and seriously, says he knows.

Then he immediately goes back to his lightest tone and promises, with his three-fingers gesture, that he will not fall into demonic cultivation. This gesture is basically the Wei Wuxian "I am totally fucking lying" salute.

He is totally fucking lying, and he MUST know it. He's baking the Yin tiger amulet every day during his meditation, getting ready to use it against Wen Ruohan, getting ready to take over his army of the dead.

He has the audacity to ask Lan Wangji, "do you believe me?" and Lan Wangji, also totally fucking lying, nods. Their relationship is just as broken right now as it was before their courtyard sparring session.

You can tell it's broken, because after they've reached this apparent place of peace, Wei Wuxian just hops down off the roof and LEAVES Lan Wangji sitting by himself. When has Wei Wuxian ever been like "gotta go!" with Lan Wangji? The last time they were here, he spent the night sleeping on the roof tiles just so he could be near him.

As he leaves, Lan Wanji stands up and says "let me help you." Wei Wuxian is not a fan of that idea, at all, if his expression is any guide.

He agrees, though, and leaves smiling, apparently for real, but maybe just practicing for all the fake smiles in his future.

Hooray for War

In the morning, Nie Mingjue makes an angry speech to the 2 dozen cultivators who apparently make up the army. Extras are expensive, y'all.

The senior cultivators are standing to the right or left of him, with the Lan brothers bracketing the Yunmeng sibs. Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng are both staking their claim to Wei Wuxian, while Lan Xichen is standing in the spot closest to Nie Mingjue; Nie Huaisang is on the opposite side with the Jins.

All of the random cultivators yell a war chant in response to Nie Mingjue's speech, while the senior cultivators are like, we don't have to do that yelling stuff, thank goodness.

Nie Mingjue's war outfit includes metal (ish) epaulets on his shoulders and a totally not-kinky belt featuring multiple rings with nothing attached to them (yet) and an angry demon face right above his junk.

Nie Mingjue says we're going to storm into Nightless city and I'm going to chop off Wen Ruohan's head! By which he means, I'm going to get captured and get my ass beat, and then my murder-babie ex-boyfriend who had this belt specially made for me is going to stab Wen Ruohan in the back while he's distracted. They do say no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Side note: Baxia makes a loud metallic "shnk" noise when NMJ takes it off his back during this speech, even though Baxia does not have a scabbard. You do you, Baxia.

All the senior cultivators file out down the center while everyone else parts to let them pass. Then everybody does the Electric Slide.

Jiang Cheng tells Wei Wuxian they should go ahead of the main force to get some killing in early, but Wei Wuxian just pulls a face and looks down, staying with Lan Wangji.

Jiang Cheng is disappointed, and no doubt takes this as a sign of WWX choosing LWJ over him. But actually, WWX can't fight side-by-side with Jiang Cheng without showing his weakness.

LWJ and WWX exchange one of their unspoken "let's go" eye touches and get ready to ride out together with the main force.

Lan Wangji is still super, super sad. Wei Wuxian is still fake. But something is starting to knit together between them, and once they can hit a battlefield together, it will get a lot stronger.

On A Horse With No Name

Everyone rides out on horses, which will presumably get eaten somewhere along the way, because they appear to travel on foot after this. While Wei Wuxian practices his horseback-flute-twirling, Lan Wangji asks why Wei Wuxian didn't go with the forward force to fight.

Wei Wuxian says that he has a case of the don'wannas, and Lan Wangji snarkily points out that he used to like fighting. Wei Wuxian reacts, just as he did at the end of their sword fight, with embarrassment, and doesn't answer.

Lan Wangji, sweetie. You are really not helping.

At this point, despite their ongoing fighting, Wangxian are clearly together again. Lan Wangji isn't riding with his brother; he's RIGHT next to Wei Wuxian, and will stay close to him through the rest of the campaign.

Nie Huaisang hollers "Wei-Xiong" from the top of the battlements and tells him to take care. Wei-Xiong lifts his flute in acknowledgement while Nie Huaisang looks worried. He doesn't tell Nie Mingjue or Lan Wangji to take care, just Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian is his particular friend, more than Lan Wangji is, but he may also be concerned because he can tell that Wei Wuxian isn't well.

Nie Huaisang hasn't yet developed the deep cynicism that he calls upon in his quest to avenge his brother, but he has always been a voracious collector of information, and he is keenly observant.

Side note: what the fuck is going on with this sculpture? Kudos to the artist. This has beautiful forms, and is weird and disturbing. The main head is wearing a horned skull on its forehead, small ungulates that I hesitate to call “deer” chilling on its horns, and...snakes? biting its ears?

Boring Wen Interlude

Wen Ruohan is waving his hands around. Sigh. This is one of the more boring villain performances ever, and it's not the actor’s fault. They could have given him a sidekick to yell at or something, so we could get more than just hand waving. I’ve given up screen capping any of this; there are more interesting things to look at.

Battle Moves

Jin Zixuan and Jiang Cheng and their forces have an extended fight scene with a bunch of puppet dudes and stuntmen in harnesses.

It's pretty fun to watch. (Fanvid with more over here)

The gist of the fighting scenes is that Wen Ruohan is getting stronger, and Klingons are hard to beat.

Battle Planning

Finally we see a sidekick with Wen Ruohan, although he's blurry so it's hard to tell that he is totally Meng Yao.

The Sunshotters have set up a Battle Camp Playset. It's got chunks of gates and walls that don't connect to anything, like a Duplo set. It's just randomly open for most of the back area so that anyone can walk in.

They've got a cage of hilarious definitely-not-zombies set up, and the rest of the wounded cultivators are lying on the ground.

The main battle trio go chill in Nie Mingjue's incredibly fancy tent. They talk it over and say it's impossible to kill unkillable enemies, "even when we have millions of troops." And by “millions” they mean “dozens.”

Nie Mingjue decides the way to handle it is to kill the leader and everyone else will collapse, because he has watched vampire movies and the last season of Game of Thrones and that's how it works. Watching the last season of Game of Thrones is why he is so angry all the time He says he's going to sneak into Nightless City and assassinate Wen Ruohan.

Okay, first of all, Nie Mingjue can sneak? I don't believe it. Second of all, if that was possible, why didn't he do it as soon as Wen Ruohan attacked his clan?

Nie Mingjue wants to take the biggest risk because he's the commander in chief, which is not how commanding is supposed to work, but okay.

He says if he dies, Zewu Jun will take over. Jiang Cheng starts to protest but Zewu Jun appears as if conjured, and shows them a map that will...dear GOD his hands are beautiful.

It's a helpful map, painted in multiple colors with careful writing on it, so if anyone were to show it to Nie Huaisang he would probably go "oh cool Meng Yao painted that" because anyone who could paint that well probably spent a fair amount of time at it on a regular basis. But, Nie Huaisang isn't here so, nope.

It’s always nice to see Jiang Cheng smile.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Waniji examine some of the puppets to see what's up. It's transmitted by touch, and Lan Wangji says that curing one dude takes three months of spiritual power. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Writing Prompt: Missing scene! How did they get from the fight in the courtyard to the talk on the roof?

Soundtrack: 1. Shine on You Crazy Diamond, by Pink Floyd 2. Electric Boogie, by Marcia Griffiths

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #the untamed meta #canary3d-original #my gifs #wordcount 2379 #restless rewatch the untamed

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vrishchikawrites · 3 years

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I dont think these fanon takes are a minor thing, I think its more of a cql thing, if people have watched the drama first/only, their perspective is heavily influenced by it, its no fault of the actors but the script heavily does change stuff, WWX is made to cry 82 times in cql? In novel its 2 at most, JZXs death and when he returns from the dead, his resilience trait is..gone. Jiang Wanyin is shown as soft instead of brash/impulsive that he is, JYL has a fixation on family stuff 1/2

Which is more subtle in the novel, to remove WWX remembering LWJ in burial mounds they add lotus pond scenes, this instead shows that WWX missed 'home' or 'regretted' his actions, in novel he never once did, he wasn't bitter/guilty because he knew he was in the right, and Wens were grateful to him, the public hanging of Wens??? I mean, the whole arc was what rumor mongering does, no one knew they were innocent people because this was hidden from them, people like LXC and NMJwouldNOTstandforit2/?

What is up with Mian Mian being from a bigger sect when she worked hard in a smaller sect to gain a high position and then discarded it for righteousness? ? What about JZX? His arc has him an only child thus influence on his pompous behaviour, and he steps up to save Mian Mian 'daughter of a servant' not his close friend, it highlights him not care about status when looking at people, and sure JWN throw the person down the cliff your sister died saving, what a way to honor her sacrifice 4/?

How they changed JWN into a 'soft' person (with emotional scenes on screen)when he is brash/impulsive fixation on yunmeng trio, JYL with family, WWX never regretted his decision, ever, hes in the right thats why, he doesn't throw the seal into the crowd, he dies from the backlash of destroying the seal because of the very reason he knows they'll use it to harm others which he didnt want. It seems more like scrip writers didnt address mxtxs work as an adaptation they were adapting 5/?

Anon, I'm assuming you said what you wanted to say? Idk, but let me reply to these?

Bear in mind, I watched the series once and actually fast forwarded a few scenes.

I agree that CQL has colored people's opinion on the characters. But I still don't get the takes. Even if CQL softened JC significantly, his actions are still Very bad.

Even in CQL, he-

1. Owes a debt to the Wens and refuses to disclose it.

2. Knows people in the BM are harmless and there's a child there.

3. Doesn't support WWX at critical times, showing division instead of solidarity.

4. Lets the woman he was intent on courting burn before his very eyes.

5. Participates in a seige against his martial brother.

6. Helps that martial brother commit su*cide.

7. Threatens a resurrected wwx multiple times.

8. Tries to fight wwx when he was legit bleeding and swaying in front of him.

9. Goes 'what of my mother, father, sister,' during the whole GC conversation at the temple.

10. Treats his nephew like shit.

11. Benefits immensely from WWX's death.

This is just from the top of my head. Just CQL material.

So, all of these things aren't subtle. They're not nuanced actions of discreet character that you need to dig into. All of these incidences are significant events, clearly described and showcased in CQL.

Blaming CQL is well and good, it has a lot of flaws. I agree with everything you mentioned. But, my thing is, CQL JC is almost worst. CQL WWX is actually more innocent. CQL goes solidly white vs. black morality. LWJ and WWX on the right side, everyone else (juniors and wn not included) on the wrong side. It can't be clearer even in that, somewhat clumsy, adaptation.

What I think is happening is people are overly identifying with a foil character. Instead of thinking, "Well, this is how this character works, these are his actions" they go, "this is how the author, unjustly, crafted my fav character. His actions are the author's fault and really, he is better deep down inside of him. You just don't understand him like I do. Really, the author was unfair to him."

All the while, they forget this is a fictional character crafted from the author's imagination and not a real, dynamic person.

The case with MianMian is ridiculous. Her character is compelling in many ways and CQL definitely messed it up. JZX would've benefited from that nuance. I won't comment on how much I hate the low self-esteem so prevalent in WWX's CQL characterization because it makes me scream.

But even then, WWX is shown as competent, confident, and so done with everyone's bs. He clearly reached a point where he only cares about LWJ. It is pretty obvious that in his opinion, everyone else (aside from juniors and wn) sucks.

CQL may be iffy, it isn't fully to blame. Fanon takes are... well, just some people deciding they wanna ignore the source material and believe their fav character is different. Which, sure. I don't mind.

Still doesn't change the fact that they chose to interpret characters in a certain way despite all evidence to the contrary.

#reader asks #quite long

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butterflydm · 5 years

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The Untamed Rewatch (ep 6)

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aka in which WWX as a friend comes with many benefits *winky-face*

Yeah, this is definitely the episode where WWX goes from thinking of LWJ as an uptight person to poke fun at and try to provoke and starts thinking of him as a person with deep emotions hidden under lock and key. This is also the episode when WWX decides he actually wants to be LWJ's friend and starts working towards that goal. He does still provoke LWJ after this, but that's more due to his natural personality rather than intentional poking to get a reaction.

We learn more about schooldays WWX here, as we see that he and Nie Huaisang have a simple knock code for afterhours hangouts. The three bros are hanging out drinking and eating peanuts. They're all fairly drunk, judging their behavior. Jiang Cheng and WWX needle each other about their potential marriage prospects. Jiang Cheng apparently has QUITE a laundry list of requirements for his future marriage partner. Maybe. Jiang Cheng. Babe. Maybe this is why you don't have one in the future. Maybe your standards aren't realistic. So, we've got: beautiful, tender, diligent, can run a household, good family, quiet, frugal, not too high a cultivation level. It does seem like Jiang Cheng wants someone who will run everything behind the scenes but never challenge him — possibly because his parents' marriage is so contentious?

We don't see many healthy & happy marriages on-screen in the drama overall — Madame Yu and Jiang Fengmian argue in front of their children (among other issues), Jin Guangshan and Madame Jin don't need elaboration, the parents of Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji have a very messed up story even if you look at it as generously as possible, the Mo family don't seem terribly happy either tbh and also raised a bully and continued to cosset him into adulthood, Jin Guangyao and Qin Su, well…

Two of the happy marriages we see end in the early death of both spouses, who leave behind a small child who needs to be raised by others — WWX's parents, and Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan. The only real exception is MianMian and her husband, who do appear to be happy and are also still alive by the end of the series, but obviously that can't serve as an example to any of our characters in the flashback episodes. Am I missing any examples of good marriages?

All of which is to say… if Jiang Cheng does have issues with marriage and maybe even sets his standards so high because he's hesitant to get married at all, I can understand why.

Lan Wangji comes in and breaks up the… party, and WWX takes advantage of him turning his back to place a talisman on him that forces him to act under WWX's control, which is definitely not a good thing for WWX to do. WWX does seem surprised that it worked but this ties into one of the main things that the… eh, evil, I suppose, characters do, which is turn other people into puppets to act through. I do think WWX learns his lesson here with this talisman, not because he himself was punished over the event, but because it meant LWJ got punished when he didn't deserve it. WWX, for all his trickster tendencies, does have a strong sense of fair play.

But, imo, the main reason of this choice on the part of the drama is because they need WWX to see through some of LWJ's emotional walls and start to see him as a person rather than a rulebook now, in the flashback, because they want to make sure to establish a mutual bond in the past as well (which I feel is related to their attempts to sidle around censorship rules since they know they won't be able to do the kisses or the "I really wanted to sleep with you back then" type moments).

It's also about the rule of unintended consequences — WWX wants LWJ to relax and stop being so fussy over the rules, and instead he gets something completely unexpected that throws him for a loop and makes him reconsider who LWJ is as a person. He learns about the importance of the forehead ribbon, and he sees LWJ's loneliness and sadness.

There are a couple of different ways I can take LWJ going "yeah, that's fine" to WWX telling him no woman is gonna want to marry him: first, that he's not attracted to women and he knows and accepts it or, second, that having seen what happened with his parents, the idea of staying single seems more attractive than the idea of being married. Going back up to 'not a lot of examples of happy marriages in CQL' (there might be more in the novel), again, and LWJ would know about even fewer. His only real example of marriage is a set of matched cages, his and hers.

The moment when WWX realizes that LWJ's mom is dead is beautifully-played, I think.

He realizes they have something in common and confides to LWJ. Now, since we know LWJ is a black-out drunk in present-day, he probably doesn't remember anything that happened after WWX had him take a drink (which is why he doesn't already know why WWX is afraid of dogs when they talk again about it in the present-day), but WWX doesn't know that when he tells LWJ about his parents and about living on the street.

We do also get WWX talking about his bad memory here — he says that he thinks he should be able to remember his parents, but mostly he remembers is the trauma that happened afterwards. From what I've read of people's posts about the novel, WWX's bad memory is used differently there but, in the drama, it seems to be tied to trauma overwhelming other things. And we get the flashback to tiniest bb!WWX with his parents and I die. It's so cute. He confides in LWJ and essentially begins the process of adopting him as a friend.

So, the Lan Qiren & Lan Xichen scene makes me wonder, and this might be answered later but, Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue must already be friends at this point, yeah? They're both young sect leaders and Lan Xichen speaks highly of NMJ's integrity to Meng Yao. It's either implied or said flat-out, I think, that Nie Mingjue has sent Nie Huaisang to Gusu to study for multiple years, so obviously Nie Mingjue thinks highly of Lan sect's teachings as well. So, like, they had this established friendship going on that Jin Guangyao gets in the middle of and ultimately taints in a way by using Lan Xichen's teachings as the way he learns how to kill Nie Mingjue.

That's really sad!

Anyway, the bros (plus poor innocent LWJ) get busted for sneaking alcohol into the Cloud Recesses and other shenanigans and we learn that WWX's mom acted the way same when Lan Qiren knew her. They never talk about it on-screen during the time of the drama, but I like to think at some point, post-canon, WWX is able to weedle stories about his mom about Lan Qiren. Let me have my dreams! I'm not sure if Lan Xichen also met her at some point — he would have been pretty young since she died when WWX was a kidlet and he doesn't say anything about it, so probably not — or he's just amused because he thinks WWX is amusing.

Lan Xichen's face is so shocked when he learns Wangji (apparently) took part in WWX's secret drinking party. Like, he wanted WWX to be friends with his brother and maybe teach him to have fun, but this result was not expected! And since LWJ doesn't tell them what really happened and WWX gets cut off before he can explain, does LXC continue to think that WWX talked his brother into drinking with him or does he assume something more along the lines of what really happened?

So, I'm not sure if I need to say this or not but: I'm not a fan of violent punishments; I don't think they teach anything useful. But since the show doesn't really depict them as successful in that way, I don't necessarily have an issue with them being part of the narrative any more than I have issues with other violent choices by characters, if that makes sense? But just to make my own position on it clear, I guess! I don't think an authority figure hurting someone under their care is justified because that person broke their rules.

Anyway, Lan Xichen obviously doesn't hold WWX's apparent influence over LWJ's actions against him, because he points WWX in the direction of the cold springs, where he already knows his brother is chilling.

We get the first scene between WWX and LWJ after WWX has decided they shall Now Be Friends. I've gotta say, this scene has the same energy as Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice: I'm about to insult you (/your family) and don't realize at all this might be off-putting when I ask for a deeper emotional bond between us. And, much like with Elizabeth, I don't blame LWJ for being… 'no'. Like, WWX literally just said "hey, I thought you were boring but have now decided to give you the honor of being my friend". He's basically trying to neg LWJ into a friendship, it's a terrible approach.

I think we also get our first Gay Panic moment from poor LWJ here as his annoying, arrogant, stubborn-as-hell crush looks like he might strip in front of him. And then talks about the pretty girls back home. Poor LWJ.

They get yoinked into the cave where Lan Yi is holding the Yin Metal. I'm guessing this is all added since the Yin Metal wasn't a plotline in the novel, but it's a fun time (I mean, not really for the boys; they're pretty cold and wet). The show uses it as an excuse to put in some things they probably couldn't have otherwise sneaked in like WWX and LWJ getting tied together with the sacred forehead ribbon, plus it's also used to jumpstart the extra flashback stuff related to the drama-only Yin Metal plot. It's used to give us exposition in a way that's interesting for both us and the characters, plus there are bunnies.

Oh, they mention here that playing Spirit Inquiry is passed down through the family, and I remember I think that Lan Sizhui says that he's been learning it when we get to the future? That's so cute. If my memory is correct, hah.

Meeting Lan Yi and all the stuff with her is great. I understand (from what I've read of them) why some people have issues with the Yin Metal storyline in general. Obviously, as I was watching it without knowing it was drama-only, it did really work for me and it still does so far. WWX is less of an absolute genius, as he doesn't invent the discipline of demonic cultivation, but he does end up being the only person who is able to practice it large-scale without getting eaten up by it (... on his second try, but still).

Instead, what the drama does is set up several cautionary tales/parallels for WWX. The sects joining forces to destroy the current master of demonic cultivation becomes a reoccuring theme — first with Xue Chonghai in the distant past, then Wen Rouhan in the early/middle flashback sequence, then Wei Wuxian at the end of the flashback sequence.

Lan Yi was, apparently, the only female head of Lan Sect, but she did invent the cool musical technique that gets passed down from generation to generation. Lan Yi is a very likable character. She's polite and helpful and she raises bunnies and she readily admits to her mistakes of the past. She also has been working hard to try to mitigate the damage caused by her big mistake. She's a good person, but not perfect.

We also see the contrast here between Lan Yi and Lan Qiren — WWX essentially makes the same kind of suggestion here that he does in Lan Qiren's classroom but where LQR got angry and indignant over the idea, Lan Yi is sympathetic because she'd wondered the same thing. And one main difference between them that Lan Yi brings up is that she felt like she needed the edge because of the sexism she had to face as a female sect leader.

The first of our WWX-LWJ relationship parallels pops up here too — Lan Yi's one true friend was Baoshan. Lan Yi was young and aggressive, needed an edge, wouldn't listen to other people telling her that resentful energy was too much to handle, thought she could handle it all on her own. Baoshan was worried that the resentful energy would end up controlling and damaging her instead. It's a fairly blatant parallel. I really like that LWJ's parallel is the teacher of WWX's mom and WWX's parallel is LWJ's ancestor. Much like the other parallels we will run across, the story of Lan Yi and Baoshan ends more sadly than WWX and LWJ will; it's a cautionary tale. But even their endings do echo what happens at the end of the flashbacks — after Baoshan fails to stop Lan Yi from using the Yin Metal, she goes into seclusion and separates herself from the world emotionally, while Lan Yi is wounded and unleashed something dangerous she can't control.

So.... Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji go missing together. For hours. When they get found (in the next episode), obviously Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen find out where they really were but… what exactly does everyone else think happened to them? When they were missing together. For hours. And come back soaking wet with LWJ's sacred forehead ribbon wrapped around their wrists and unharmed (...and shoeless).

*gazes off into the distance*

*thinks about how all the disciples learn about the forehead ribbon in lessons*

*thinks about Jiang Cheng's reactions in the future when WWX ditches him for LWJ*

*gazes off into the distance again*

In the search scene, we get another moment when Jiang Yanli is Feeling Poorly. I swear, that girl is sick every time we turn around. I want to give her a warm blanket and have someone else feed her soup for a change. Ah, we get Jiang Cheng's first empty threat about breaking someone's legs here (chronologically-speaking). Honestly, Jin Ling is such a reckless kiddo. Despite having literally zero of WWX's genes, I feel like he gives Jiang Cheng WWX flashbacks all the time.

Speaking of Jin Ling, Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan get a classic romantic trope when she slips and he catches her in his arms (a romantic trope that WWX enjoys with LWJ many times in the future, bless). I've been wanting to keep an eye on him and his assumptions and his reactions to her. They do quite a bit of staring before they break away, and it does look like he's feeling something too. But then he immediately flees. It's a miracle he ever managed to marry her.

Next time: Lan Wangji falls in love; Wei Wuxian gets himself kicked out of the Cloud Recesses.

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#mdzs meta #the untamed #wangxian #the untamed | chen qing ling #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian | wei ying #lan wangji | lan zhan #cql rewatch

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 01

(Masterpost) (Next Episode)

Warning: This is **FULL **of spoilers, not just for this episode but for the entire series. If you haven’t finished all 50 episodes, please don’t read it!

Intro: 2020 continues to be much much too much while also being incredibly boring, and Im done with Shen Wei’s Lewks, so now I’m doing a deep meta dive into the Untamed. Let’s roll!

Prologue: The Battle of Mordor

The Demise of our Protagonist

Unlike some other shows I won’t name, The Untamed kills its suicidal queer protagonist immediately, rather than waiting four seasons, so we know what we're in for.

This is Wei Wuxian, who is about to yeet himself off of a cliff. He is having a bad day.

Note: if mouth blood bothers you...C-Drama might not be your thing.

Reasons for mouth blood: a sampler

Anyway...cliff time

Note: if (fictional) suicide bothers you...C-Drama might not be your thing.

To be fair there are hardly any suicides in The Untamed. No more than ...five? As long as you don’t count the entire population of the Wen Corporate Headquarters in Yiling or those wall bandits in Qinghe or Madame Yu or all those Wens who supposedly threw themselves into the mud puddle or that Mo guy who broke his own neck. Plus watching Wei Wuxian’s cliff drop several more times from multiple angles. So, you know. Hardly Any Suicides.

This is Lan Wangji, who is about to have his first losing encounter with physics. He is having a bad day.

In fact, if it is possible to have a worse day than the guy who is currently falling to his death, Lan Wangji is having that.

This is Jiang Cheng, who is feeling extra stabby from this camera angle. He is having a bad day.

Camera operator: why you gotta take it out on me?

(Much, much more after the cut!)

The Amulet Situation

This is the Stygian Tiger Amulet. Yes, by all means, (Netflix) subtitles, let's use a 12-dollar word, “Stygian,” that every English speaker who is not a Shelley/Byron shipper will have to look up. Let’s not use a normal word like "deathly" or "corrupt" or you know... "Yin" which is clearly what they are saying on screen.

Why does this tiger amulet look like a chameleon crossed with a remora? Wei Wuxian can paint photorealistic bunnies on a flimsy lantern while sitting in a field having distracting teenage lust, but two months of meditating with super magic gets him a tiger that looks like a chameleon. And don’t try telling me this is a traditional-Chinese-art vibe because this jade tiger from frickin 1000 BCE is way more tigerish than Wei Wuxian’s attempt.

Try harder next time, Wei Wuxian.

This is thousands of cultivators having a battle. What do you mean, it looks like about 40-60 dudes?

Any time someone in The Untamed refers to a number of people, it is like when you do your high school play and look off into the wings at nothing and say “Hark, A Ship Approaches!” and everyone’s parents nod indulgently.

Jin Clan Mountain Hunt:

*viewership nods indulgently*

This is Captain Blowhard, over on the right, courtesy name Clan Leader Yao. His job is to talk smack about Wei Wuxian and stick up for whoever is the biggest asshole in any given scene.

He represents mainstream cultivation-world values so here he is shanking one of his allies to take the deadly amulet of evilness.

The Present Day

Spilling All That Yiling Laozu Tea

Down at the Exposition Tea Shop, the Lan juniors are chilling and listening to Tea Dude tell the story of Yiling Laozu.

How did they get permission to take this field trip? “Principal Qiran, we want to go downtown to hang out with the local rabble and learn about your favorite person, Wei Wuxian.”

Waiting in the wings is the man with a fan and a plan, Nie Huaisan(g), who is paying tall loot to get these stories told.

...Why? Is Mo Xuanyu having tea here and listening? Or is Wei Wuxian being summoned back by hearing all this smack being talked about him? *Shrug.*

Gank Your Soul

Drunk flag guy out here talking about spirits. Wikipedia tells me that In one school of Daoist thought, a human being has a collection of physical souls (魄 pò) and ethereal souls (魂 hún). Drunk flag guy is saying “hún ” at the moment.

The many types of souls don’t translate well into English, where spiritual vocabulary has always been shackled connected to Christian beliefs, and is too limited for this context. So when the subtitles have conversations like “Is it a soul eater? No, no, it’s a spirit taker!” just roll with it. (Speaking of hún, if you have any interest in linguistics, do yourself a favor and go read all the wonderful meta @hunxi-guilai)

The spirit-carrying flag looks a lot like Raava and Vaatu from Korra which...probably doesn’t mean anything.

The Demise of our Trill Host

Suicide #2 happens about 8 minutes in.

Mo Xuanyu is that hippie roommate with the annoying wind chimes and bead curtains and blood spatter.

He is super mad at his terrible family and also at Jin Guangyao, who sent him home to his terrible family. I wonder if Fan Man Nie Huaisang influenced Jiggy’s decision-making there. Mo Xuanyu’s choice to die for revenge might be excessive, given how easy it actually is to murder the Mo family.

Being Alive Is Fine I Guess As Long As I Get To Fuck WIth People

Wei Wuxian starts his new life by splashing a little water on his face, which instantly makes his hair go from this

to this.

He looks at his reflection and wishes he was dead, which--mood--but he gets over it as soon as he finds someone whose day he can fuck up.

And he is ALL in on being crazy.

OP wishes she had the Wei Wuxian kind of crazy instead of the kind she actually has.

Meanwhile, this is the sane Mo cousin:

This asshole is wearing one of the best fabrics in the whole show, incidentally. Asshole.

My favorite bit of Wei-Mo craziness is when Wei Wuxian does a meaningless 360 all the way around this dude before ducking in the opposite direction, which is like when I make 4 right turns around a whole block to avoid making a single left across traffic.

Perhaps I Do Miss One Thing In This Life

Wei Wuxian has pining thoughts about Lan Wangji, so he plays WangXian on a fucking blade of grass well enough for Sizhui to recognize it from his dad's guqin jams.

Wei Wuxian is a better flautist than even Inspector Gadget BeatBoxing Flute Guy (Google it).

Our Many Many Spirit Lure Flags have Lured A Spirit, Oh Shit

Lan Clan has a Plan and Wei Wuxian is a Fan

Having one single lure flag stuck in Wen Ning’s torso caused spirits to basically eat him alive, so to catch one evil spirit, 6 disciples holding flags on the roof plus 8 more flags on the ground seems like a good amount. Wei Wuxian is like “yep, a single one of these will lure every spirit for five miles, carry on, younglings.”

Baxia Does the Heavy Lifting

Wei Wuxian is supposed to kill four people because of this curse situation, and in the course of the series they all die, and he kills exactly zero of them. The curse on Wei Wuxian’s arm should be called the scorekeeper curse.

Baxia’s spirit pinballs around the Mo clan, rapidly killing three people on Mo Xuanyu’s list plus a couple extras for good measure. Who's a good blade? Baxia is! Yess you are! Yes you are!

This here is the exact point in the show where your friend, who has listened to you squee about The Untamed for three months and finally agreed to watch it with you, will say “what the fuck am I watching?” and try to get up off the couch. Tackle them!

This also the point where we all realize that the prosthetic and practical effects in this show were probably not made by the people who made the clothing, because the quality is...variable. The white eyeballs are pretty good, but the glove of death is ridiculous.

Camera operator: why you gotta take it out on me?

While Baxia goes to town on the Mo clan, the Lan Clan babies...watch? And tie up the various victims after they are already goners.

Narrator: Her son is dead.

Meanwhile,

Wei Wuxian, you motherfucker. You’ve been alive for like 7 hours and you’re already building a new zombie army. No wonder you don’t want them to call Lan Wangji.

Hanguang-Jun Cut It Up One Time

Lan Wangji shows up and very slowly kicks zombie ass with his guqin. If you are used to Hong Kong action speeds, you will find The Untamed very peaceful.

All of the baby Lans fan squee up at Lan Wangji like he's the cultivation world's David Bowie and...they're not wrong. Jesus Fuck, he’s charismatic.

Lan Wangji is soft boi when he discovers this murderous sword full of dead-bastard energy, because it reminds him of his true love.

Like the talk about souls, the conversations about the nature of the murderous entity really don’t survive translation into English.

Servant: it’s a ghost!

WWX: it’s not a ghost, it’s a spirit

Babies: It’s a spirit

LWJ: it’s not a spirit, it’s a [...] ghost

Our Protagonist gets the FOH

Wei Wuxian is soft boi when he sees Lan Wangji, but not so soft that he considers actually, like, sticking around.

Wei Wuxian is also clueless boi, noting Lan Wangji’s white clothing and thinking, as in the past, that he looks like he’s dressed in mourning. The term he uses is 戴孝, which google tells me means the type of outfit worn by Jiang Yanli after Wen Ning rips her husband’s heart out someone who is in mourning.

Actually, Wei Wuxian, you dumbass, he is in actual mourning, actually, for you. Dumbass. He probably packed away all of his blue outer robes 16 years ago and only takes them out occasionally to reminisce about that nice date you had on your mountain of corpses.

On his way out the door Wei Wuxian manages to find a red ribbon for his beautiful hair, so things are looking up.

Where to go next...hey I know, how about that one haunted mountain with the killer statue, you know, the one that all my executed friends and child came from? That’ll be fun and a great way to put the past behind me!

Episode 02 Restless Rewatch is here!

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