The Untamed episodes 8 and 9
Aug. 6th, 2020 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayNope, still not over the bunnies. May never be.
Thank you, show, for repeating and expanding on the bunny scene at the end of episode 7. It was too adorable for words and the only way it could get more adorable is if we got another bunny scene with Lan Zhan. This is going to happen at some point, right?
I should probably mention the plot.
Near the end of episode 8, I noted to![[twitter.com profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
hockeybosh that there were zombies now. Apparently these are definitely not zombies due to censorship (ghost puppets instead).
And Guardian was totally all aliens (at least, when they remembered it was every fifteen episodes or so). C-dramas are wild.
I called it, WWX followed LWJ on his monster hunting adventure within five minutes. What I wasn't expecting was Nie Huaisang following them on the adventure. Sweetie, you're adorable and I will fight anyone who hurts you, but you are not useful in a fight. To be useful you'd need to bring a sword instead of a fan. I'm so glad you stayed at the inn when they went off to the creepy mansion of slaughtered cultivators (who might also be not!zombies?).
I was less surprised by Jiang Cheng following them, largely because he spends so much time complaining about WWX but he's totally also the over-protective older brother about it. This makes me really intrigued about how he goes from this to whatever it is we saw in the first two episodes. I'm sure this is why they framed it this way: they gave us this glimpse at where things go so that we're hooked into finding out how that happened. Without that framing, I'm sure a lot of this would read quite differently. I wouldn't be looking at everyone to find the unspoken things that must already be building up towards that.
It also means that we know a bit of the significance of the dancing goddess statue, because that's the same one WWX fought in the second episode. And now we know a bit more about what that is and how it came to be active - Yin Metal again. We also now know why WWX was so surprised to see it active later, because he and LWJ sealed it and did a pretty good job on that.
I'm really enjoying watching their relationship grow. WWX works so hard at being a loveable goofball, but there's a brilliant mind underneath and you can see the reluctant admiration in LWJ's eyes each time that intellect comes out to play. It's not the kind of disciplined stern intelligence LWJ has been trained to have, but WWX's way of thinking complements that and you can see them starting to work out how their different strengths combine into something stronger.
You can also see that WWX has moved from prodding at LWJ because it's funny to prodding at LWJ because he likes LWJ and he knows they're building something good in their friendship. The scene where they're working together to kill the evil Wen owl was gorgeous.
("Battle couple!" was HB's note and yes. I am here for that. It's my weakness. See also Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan in Guardian.)
Getting a bit of Wen Ning and Wen Qing's background has made me like them more, and loathe the rest of the Wens more as well. I understand why Wen Ning is the way he is, and why Wen Qing is so protective of him and willing to do a lot of things she finds distasteful to keep that protection for him.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that reuniting the pieces of the Yin Metal is a very, very bad plan. It makes not!zombies and deadly water creatures when it's in pieces. Do we really want it to be more powerful?
I was genuinely stressed during all the not!zombie scenes and that made the quieter little character scenes very welcome. This doesn't have the incredibly intense feelings of Guardian (yet?), but I've become sufficiently attached to the characters to find myself hissing at anyone who hurts my favourites.
So although the end of episode 9 isn't as bad in terms of cliffhanger as the end of episode 8 (fewer not!zombies), I'm worried about what will happen to them in episode 10. That manor is filled with dead (maybe dead?) cultivators and that doesn't leave me feeling good about what did that and whether our heroes can get out unscathed.
Thank you, show, for repeating and expanding on the bunny scene at the end of episode 7. It was too adorable for words and the only way it could get more adorable is if we got another bunny scene with Lan Zhan. This is going to happen at some point, right?
I should probably mention the plot.
Near the end of episode 8, I noted to
And Guardian was totally all aliens (at least, when they remembered it was every fifteen episodes or so). C-dramas are wild.
I called it, WWX followed LWJ on his monster hunting adventure within five minutes. What I wasn't expecting was Nie Huaisang following them on the adventure. Sweetie, you're adorable and I will fight anyone who hurts you, but you are not useful in a fight. To be useful you'd need to bring a sword instead of a fan. I'm so glad you stayed at the inn when they went off to the creepy mansion of slaughtered cultivators (who might also be not!zombies?).
I was less surprised by Jiang Cheng following them, largely because he spends so much time complaining about WWX but he's totally also the over-protective older brother about it. This makes me really intrigued about how he goes from this to whatever it is we saw in the first two episodes. I'm sure this is why they framed it this way: they gave us this glimpse at where things go so that we're hooked into finding out how that happened. Without that framing, I'm sure a lot of this would read quite differently. I wouldn't be looking at everyone to find the unspoken things that must already be building up towards that.
It also means that we know a bit of the significance of the dancing goddess statue, because that's the same one WWX fought in the second episode. And now we know a bit more about what that is and how it came to be active - Yin Metal again. We also now know why WWX was so surprised to see it active later, because he and LWJ sealed it and did a pretty good job on that.
I'm really enjoying watching their relationship grow. WWX works so hard at being a loveable goofball, but there's a brilliant mind underneath and you can see the reluctant admiration in LWJ's eyes each time that intellect comes out to play. It's not the kind of disciplined stern intelligence LWJ has been trained to have, but WWX's way of thinking complements that and you can see them starting to work out how their different strengths combine into something stronger.
You can also see that WWX has moved from prodding at LWJ because it's funny to prodding at LWJ because he likes LWJ and he knows they're building something good in their friendship. The scene where they're working together to kill the evil Wen owl was gorgeous.
("Battle couple!" was HB's note and yes. I am here for that. It's my weakness. See also Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan in Guardian.)
Getting a bit of Wen Ning and Wen Qing's background has made me like them more, and loathe the rest of the Wens more as well. I understand why Wen Ning is the way he is, and why Wen Qing is so protective of him and willing to do a lot of things she finds distasteful to keep that protection for him.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that reuniting the pieces of the Yin Metal is a very, very bad plan. It makes not!zombies and deadly water creatures when it's in pieces. Do we really want it to be more powerful?
I was genuinely stressed during all the not!zombie scenes and that made the quieter little character scenes very welcome. This doesn't have the incredibly intense feelings of Guardian (yet?), but I've become sufficiently attached to the characters to find myself hissing at anyone who hurts my favourites.
So although the end of episode 9 isn't as bad in terms of cliffhanger as the end of episode 8 (fewer not!zombies), I'm worried about what will happen to them in episode 10. That manor is filled with dead (maybe dead?) cultivators and that doesn't leave me feeling good about what did that and whether our heroes can get out unscathed.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 04:35 pm (UTC)Which is hilarious because WWX is older than him. Jiang Cheng is the youngest.
Also, has HB explained the cultural significance of rabbits in Chinese lore?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-07 11:04 am (UTC)I have not shared any info about bunnies yet so you should totally do that 😁
no subject
Date: 2020-08-07 11:28 am (UTC)That would make sense. I'm picking up that JC is intended as something important - clan leader? - but as WWX is adopted into the clan, he doesn't seem to be intended for big responsible positions. So he gets to be more carefree and JC feels the weight of responsibility for everything and everyone, which includes WWX.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-07 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-07 11:14 am (UTC)Pls share bunny info :D
no subject
Date: 2020-08-07 03:51 pm (UTC)All that rabbit symbolism is not accidental!
no subject
Date: 2020-08-07 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 05:17 pm (UTC)(I don't have much to say about The Untamed, but I'm enjoying your posts!)
no subject
Date: 2020-08-07 11:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 05:36 pm (UTC)And apparently it's not "just" censorship w/r/t calling them ghost puppets - there's theological stuff going on as well, is my understanding? If I've understood right, it's something to do with souls and whether you can consider them to still be "people" for certain specific definitions of "people". This is also one of the reasons WWX's magic is so horrifying to so many people in canon: he's essentially breaking a bunch of the rules around venerating/having a spiritual connection to your ancestors.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-07 11:16 am (UTC)