The Untamed episodes 32 and 33

[selenay]

So THIS WAS VERY DIFFICULT.

Most of my texts to hockeybosh throughout episode 32 and the early part of 33 were this:

😢😢

Or this:

😭😭

And sometimes just this:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

So you can probably get a flavour for how well I coped with all of this. I legit can't decide which part was the worst for me. LWJ and WWX actually for reals duelling each other? That was awful (wrong configuration of battle couple, guys!), but probably not the worst, because they got past that and LWJ was always on Team WWX even during the duel. I still really want to know what he meant about more going on than WWX knows and I'm hoping he'll come back to that at some point. I'm guessing that it's not just Jin Gangyao is a lying machiavellian little shit.

Yanli. That was definitely the worst.

As soon as I saw her on the battlefield, I kind of knew what was probably going to happen, but I still wasn't ready for it.

Or for WWX's pain.

Or for any of what happened next.

I don't think he's realised that the second flute is what did the damage? I'm not even sure whether he realised there was a second flute, although I think he might have. And possibly LWJ did as well. But I'm fairly confident WWX doesn't know that's why he couldn't control the spirits he'd conjured up.

He didn't intend to create ghost puppets and kill people, and I don't think he'd lost control badly enough for that to happen. It was definitely the second flute.

But WWX being WWX, I'm sure he's found a way for it to all be his fault and added it to his giant bag of guilt and reasons why he doesn't deserve good things. LWJ needs to hug him A LOT.

The only tiny bright spot was watching LWJ fight to defend WWX, and frankly that was a very tiny bright spark in the middle of a lot of darkness and pain.

For some reason--possibly the angles we were given during the first episodes?--I'd always assumed that WWX was pushed off that cliff. It didn't occur to me until Yanli died that he'd actually throw himself off the cliff.

So that was a horrible moment of realisation.

I'd also been pretty confident Jiang Cheng helped him over, but now that I've seen it all, I can also see that he didn't. He was angry and in pain, and for a brief moment he wanted to, but he couldn't. WHICH DID NOT MAKE THAT SCENE ANY EASIER TO WATCH, OKAY?

I'm going to note here that now I'm used to LWJ's tiny expressions, the utter devastation on his face during most of this was really huge and awful. Gosh, so much feeling. SO MUCH.

HB noted that it was worse on second viewing, so I've got that to look forward to when I inevitably rewatch. On the other hand, HB and I decided it would have been even worse if we hadn't had the first two episodes and therefore knew what happened to WWX next. I can't imagine watching these episodes without knowing that.

Going back to the 16 years later timeline was such a relief. After all that crushing pain and darkness, watching WWX wake up in the Cloud Recesses was almost like floating on a happy bubble of air.

I just really love the Cloud Recesses, okay? Everything always seems lighter there.

And WWX isn't the labrador chaos gremlin of the early episodes, but he also isn't the grief-stricken, angry man of the last couple of episodes either. With time, he'll heal and some of the old lightness will come back. There are already hints of it.

Watching him have a little tour down memory lane to happier times was healing for me, anyway.

LWJ seems sadder, but maybe more open now? HB commented that he seems wiser, which is also true. I think maybe he realised that he'd not handled some things well the first time around either, and he's not going to make that mistake again.

I'm guessing that the three year gap before he went hunting for WWX's remains is connected to those whip and burn marks. So I suspect he spent three years being punished in some way for what he did in the Nightless City to defend and help WWX, which breaks my heart a bit. I have a feeling WWX will add that to his huge guilt bag when he finds out.

I only caught Lan Sizhui's name introduction briefly, but I did catch that he's Lan Yuan which means he must be A-Yuan (HB tells me I'm right) and I'm so delighted. Both that A-Yuan survived, and that it means LWJ somehow found A-Yuan and brought him back to the Cloud Recesses to raise. I'M HAVING A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THAT.

I'm having a lot of feelings about LWJ in general right now.

And about LWJ and WWX reuniting.

And about LWJ and WWX going off on an adventure.

They'd better not decide to split up and investigate anything separately. This did not go well in the past, they need to learn from that and stick very closely together for the rest of this show.

(Autocorrect turned that into suck together when I was texting HB last night. It did seem like an appropriate correction *g*)

I really could watch the entire second half of episode 33 over again, it was so delightful and such a balm to my soul after several episodes of increasing pain and doom. Hopefully I'll get at least a couple more episodes like this before we go back to pain? Please?

Comments

[soupytwist]

Yanli is the single worst bit I think, barring the actual fall off the cliff: of everyone who does NOT deserve bad things!!

The "it looks like Jiang Cheng stabbed him off the cliff/no he didn't" thing is entirely deliberate - if you rewatch you'll see it is very definitely framed deliberately differently, cuts off at different points specifically to do that. :)

You made it through the worst bit! Getting to see WWX be less in immediate trauma mode is SUCH A RELIEF after all that, isn't it? He is meant to be a charming ray of sunshine!

[selenay]

of everyone who does NOT deserve bad things!!

I know! I was not expecting that because she's so sweet and lovely and I just wanted her to have good things. ARGH.

f you rewatch you'll see it is very definitely framed deliberately differently, cuts off at different points specifically to do that.

As soon as I realised what was actually happening, I figured they'd framed it to be deliberately misleading, which was actually brilliant misdirection. I really need to go back and rewatch the first couple of episodes.

Getting to see WWX be less in immediate trauma mode is SUCH A RELIEF after all that, isn't it?

Such a relief, I can't even express it. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. How did I get this attached to a fictional character?

He is meant to be a charming ray of sunshine!

He is! And I'm hopeful he can return to that with time and healing (and a lot of LWJ hugs).

I'm going to need a lot of WWX being happy and healthy in fic after I finish.

[morganmuffle]

I was so glad when we finally got the view that showed Jiang Cheng stopped himself, he's angry and hurt but especially one we see him bring Yanli to see WWX I couldn't believe he'd actually hurt his brother. Not that it didn't hurt just as badly to watch what actually happened!

Seeing WWX in Cloud Recesses again was healing to both our souls and LWJ's I think <3

[selenay]

he's angry and hurt but especially one we see him bring Yanli to see WWX I couldn't believe he'd actually hurt his brother

This! When I watched the scene in the early episodes, it was easy to believe he might have done it because we didn't know him yet. But the more I saw him, the more I saw how he is with WWX, the less I could believe that he'd actually do what I thought I'd seen. So seeing the full moment, with him stopping himself, was such a relief.

Seeing WWX in Cloud Recesses again was healing to both our souls and LWJ's I think <3

And at the end of the day, it's LWJ's soul I care about most here :D

[kimboo_york]

The different framings of the cliff scene fascinate me. The colorization is different, the framing of the shots are different, and at least in JC's case they used two actually different reaction takes. Someone on twitter commented that the first version in ep1 is from the "general audience" POV, while the second is specifically from WWX's POV, and in comparing them I agree. The first is all about anger and evil and darkness; the second is about love and defeat and despair. Fantastic work by the director, honestly.

[selenay]

The first is all about anger and evil and darkness; the second is about love and defeat and despair.

Yes, this sums up the differences so well. It was done brilliantly.