The Untamed episodes 1-3
Aug. 2nd, 2020 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI'm regretting I didn't do this for Guardian, so let's fix this with The Untamed.
(And I'll do posts for my Guardian rewatch *g*)
I knew going in that this one was going to be confusing at the beginning, due to all the characters and sects and clans. It's why I picked Guardian as my first c-drama (and fell head over heals for it) and that was probably a good choice.
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hockeybosh has already watched it, but she's graciously agreed to make the huge sacrifice of rewatching with me to be my guide. And also to cackle madly at me about my reactions. What a friend *g*
And that has been so helpful, because she filled in gaps and places where I would have been confused without a guide! Particularly in the opening episode when a lot was thrown at us at once, A LOT, and the whole resurrection thing would have really thrown me without HB helping.
Also, she's helping me out with the names. So many names. I'm starting to get there. Except Jiang Cheng may always be Angry Grape in my head, thank you for that image HB.
This a show with a *budget*. It's gorgeous to look at. Some of the FX aren't amazing, but I grew up on 1980s Doctor Who. Any effects more sophisticated than green-painted bubble wrap look good to me.
(I did have a brief "Did they steal the Monarch's Palace set from Guardian?" moment, but no, their set was much better than that.)
I found the framing thing of having two episodes and then jumping back to the events of 16 years ago (possibly for lots of episodes?) really interesting. It means that I know WWX is going to eventually fall off a cliff (possibly helped by Jiang Cheng) and everything is clearly going to go badly wrong for him and somehow everyone is going to think he's an evil sorcerer or something. Which is tragic, because I adore him already.
I've been mostly thinking of the leads as "happy one" and "stern one" and now I know names and WWX is happy one, which means I'm going to get very distressed by all the bad things that I'm sure are going to happened to him. He's so sweet, though! And funny! And exuberant! And hides behind things! And seriously thinks that mask will actually hide his identity from Lan Zhan!
I'm now going to hope that stern one AKA Lan Zhan deserves him.
When I first started hearing about this show, I heard people talking about cultivators and assumed that it was a show with a lot of discussion of farming methods. It confused me why everyone loved that so much. Very happy to learn these are not warring farming clans and are in fact magic people. I'm very much here for a show with music magic. SO HERE.
We'd originally planned to only watch the first two episodes, but then the time jump happened and HB mentioned wishing she could watch WWX and LWJ meeting for the first time, so episode three happened. My prediction before the episode was that it would be love at first sight for WWX (he seems like such a happy enthusiastic type so that made sense to me) and LWJ would take some time to warm up to even liking WWX.
Er.
I'm very happy to be wrong. Also, LWJ's older brother is such a matchmaker and I love it.
It looks like I'm getting LWJ falling for WWX and being deeply confused about the entire concept, probably with shedloads of denial. And XXW finding LWJ insufferable and annoying and falling very reluctantly because OMG Lans are so rule-bound and annoying, which is a dynamic I'm definitely here for.
So I love both of them already. And older brother. And XXW's senior sister friend (I'm assuming not actual sister) who's name I still need to learn. And all the baby Lans.
Jin Ling is an annoying brat. But possibly he has reasons to be?
Xue Yang is clearly evil and HB promises he's the interesting kind of evil. The part about reuniting four pieces of metal to get the power to rule the world reminds me a bit of Guardian, but it's a trope used in so many different stories so that's fine. I'm intrigued by what that means for the post-16 years time, though.
In summary, I have multiple favourites and I'm already itching to find out what happens next, so I think this one has caught me.
(And I'll do posts for my Guardian rewatch *g*)
I knew going in that this one was going to be confusing at the beginning, due to all the characters and sects and clans. It's why I picked Guardian as my first c-drama (and fell head over heals for it) and that was probably a good choice.
And that has been so helpful, because she filled in gaps and places where I would have been confused without a guide! Particularly in the opening episode when a lot was thrown at us at once, A LOT, and the whole resurrection thing would have really thrown me without HB helping.
Also, she's helping me out with the names. So many names. I'm starting to get there. Except Jiang Cheng may always be Angry Grape in my head, thank you for that image HB.
This a show with a *budget*. It's gorgeous to look at. Some of the FX aren't amazing, but I grew up on 1980s Doctor Who. Any effects more sophisticated than green-painted bubble wrap look good to me.
(I did have a brief "Did they steal the Monarch's Palace set from Guardian?" moment, but no, their set was much better than that.)
I found the framing thing of having two episodes and then jumping back to the events of 16 years ago (possibly for lots of episodes?) really interesting. It means that I know WWX is going to eventually fall off a cliff (possibly helped by Jiang Cheng) and everything is clearly going to go badly wrong for him and somehow everyone is going to think he's an evil sorcerer or something. Which is tragic, because I adore him already.
I've been mostly thinking of the leads as "happy one" and "stern one" and now I know names and WWX is happy one, which means I'm going to get very distressed by all the bad things that I'm sure are going to happened to him. He's so sweet, though! And funny! And exuberant! And hides behind things! And seriously thinks that mask will actually hide his identity from Lan Zhan!
I'm now going to hope that stern one AKA Lan Zhan deserves him.
When I first started hearing about this show, I heard people talking about cultivators and assumed that it was a show with a lot of discussion of farming methods. It confused me why everyone loved that so much. Very happy to learn these are not warring farming clans and are in fact magic people. I'm very much here for a show with music magic. SO HERE.
We'd originally planned to only watch the first two episodes, but then the time jump happened and HB mentioned wishing she could watch WWX and LWJ meeting for the first time, so episode three happened. My prediction before the episode was that it would be love at first sight for WWX (he seems like such a happy enthusiastic type so that made sense to me) and LWJ would take some time to warm up to even liking WWX.
Er.
I'm very happy to be wrong. Also, LWJ's older brother is such a matchmaker and I love it.
It looks like I'm getting LWJ falling for WWX and being deeply confused about the entire concept, probably with shedloads of denial. And XXW finding LWJ insufferable and annoying and falling very reluctantly because OMG Lans are so rule-bound and annoying, which is a dynamic I'm definitely here for.
So I love both of them already. And older brother. And XXW's senior sister friend (I'm assuming not actual sister) who's name I still need to learn. And all the baby Lans.
Jin Ling is an annoying brat. But possibly he has reasons to be?
Xue Yang is clearly evil and HB promises he's the interesting kind of evil. The part about reuniting four pieces of metal to get the power to rule the world reminds me a bit of Guardian, but it's a trope used in so many different stories so that's fine. I'm intrigued by what that means for the post-16 years time, though.
In summary, I have multiple favourites and I'm already itching to find out what happens next, so I think this one has caught me.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 10:24 am (UTC)xD
There will be discussions about farming methods too, kind of ^^
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 11:05 am (UTC)Haha! Yes, there will.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 12:13 pm (UTC)Now I'm intrigued! How many episodes can I talk HB into tonight...
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 02:23 pm (UTC)Also, spoilers, but I for one think Lan Zhan VERY much deserves him. ♥
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 11:04 am (UTC)I'd say I hope you enjoy it but I'm pretty confident you will. Having someone there to explain stuff will definitely help. It took me forever to figure out who everyone was and how they were related to everyone else.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 12:17 pm (UTC)I'm very aware that I'm going to be entertaining as I watch this :D And I'm sure I'll be going through your fic recs after I finish :D
I really wasn't expecting c-dramas to be what got me reading and writing fic, but I live here now and I'm very happy.
It took me forever to figure out who everyone was and how they were related to everyone else.
I would have found that really difficult on my own and I probably would have ended up going online to find guides, which would have lead to spoilers and I'm trying not to do that. I mean, I'm not unaware of some things, but I also know (judging by HB's reaction to my summary of what I know before we started) that the things I know or suspect are out of context and mean wildly different things to what I think they mean, and I'm looking forward to going "oh, *thats'* what's up with the bunnies".
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 07:31 pm (UTC)Time to poke HB and see if she's ready to watch :D
no subject
Date: 2020-08-03 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-03 05:10 pm (UTC)I really love reading other people's journeys through things I loved, because it's always so fun to see what sticks with them and watch their speculations.