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The Untamed reaction post
So I finished The Untamed last night.
Conclusion: it's got a terrible beginning, it's definitely messy, I have tons of criticisms, but also I'm impressed by how the plot all actually works out (everything has a payoff! it all comes together in the end!) and, most importantly, I love Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji (as well as several other characters) as much as I've ever loved any characters. I love them. So much.
There are other characters I love a lot too, but this show is really about WWX and LWJ and their epic love for me, I'll be honest.
This is a show that's about characters. Like, there's tons and tons of plot, but the plot only matters if you care about the characters. So casting is vital and I love the casting. Two thumbs up, casting director! Even the less technically proficient actors inhabited their roles very nicely.
Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo blew me away in the lead roles. Were they technically acting well? I don't know and I don't care. They just so perfectly inhabited those characters. Xiao Zhan has the most endearing mannerisms I've ever seen--like, obviously his face is just beautiful all on its own, but it's his expressions that make me passionately love him. I adore an adorable man. And Wang Yibo managed to give a truly amazing performance: it must be so hard to communicate all that he communicates through so little dialogue and such a limited amount of facial expressions. At first you think he's totally stony-faced, but he's NOT, he's showing you so much through microexpressions. Just the slightest softening of his mouth can make my heart break.
And I love WWX and LWJ as characters so incredibly much. I loved every single second they were onscreen and every single second they weren't onscreen, I was waiting for them to show up again. My babies my loves.
AND THEIR LOVE. They're so devoted, they're so sure of each other, they trust each other SO much. Obviously the stormcloud one being in love with the sunshine one is a favorite trope for a reason, but their spin on it is so beautiful! LWJ struggles so much pre-death with the fact that he worries that his boyfriend is going to the dark side, and it's so sweet (and also 100% completely reasonable). But once WWX comes back--once he has him back, has a second chance--he is absolutely unwavering in a way I love to see. Like, instantly totally physically protective (even when it's from the dogs omg). Instantly handing over any money WWX wants to spend. Never, ever questioning or second-guessing WWX. He's just like, "This is my person and I am going to devote my life to anything he wants and needs." Y'all he buys him liquor and without being asked. This is definitely the kind of ship that just ruins you. I can't even talk about them.
And the sibling stuff is so good! Especially Jiang Cheng! His relationship with WWX is so complicated but so deep. I kept waiting and waiting for the golden core reveal and I was growing frustrated that it kept being delayed, but as soon as it happened, I took back my complaints because it was just so good. And then the big confrontation in the temple where we hear about everything from JC's side--SO GOOD. I love that JC is allowed to be deeply flawed (all of the male characters are, actually) but also he's still a good person, you see where he's coming from, you don't lose sympathy for him, even when he's wrong. But will someone get him a romantic partner? As an ace person, I don't normally say this, but this guy needs to get laid and also he needs someone who's always on his side and both lets him know how wonderful he is but also doesn't take his shit. Kinda sad we never got to see how a romance with Wen Qing would have worked out...is there fic?
Love the WWX/JYL relationship--seeing WWX be doted on is wonderful--but my God, Jiang Yan Li isn't really a person, is she? She never gets to do anything but be sweet and perfect, and it's so frustrating. And I am a person who majorly loves goody-two-shoes characters! But she has no flaws whatsoever, and it keeps her from being an engaging character except in her relationship to WWX. It's such a missed opportunity. Wen Qing is also underwritten, but she manages to be much more of a dynamic character. Madame Yu is barely in the show at all, but she at least gets to be complicated (love that she's unabashedly terrible to WWX but also brave and really loves her husband. People are complicated!). Mian Mian is a favorite, but she's such a bit player that we don't get to know her much.
There's just so much potential for female awesome in this world and so little payoff. In this world, it is clearly possible for women to be powerful, so why are there so few women? Even in the big everybody's-here cultivator scenes, we only see a handful of women. The show (and presumably the novel) have all the kinds of problems that we complain about in slash fanfiction; JYL in particular is such a stock slashfic female. TOO MANY DUDES NOT ENOUGH LADIES.
Honestly possibly my favorite relationship payoff in the whole thing was the Wen Yuan reveal???? Like, seeing WWX reunited with his precious son (LAN SIZHUI HUGS HIS LEG!!!!) while his husband and his weird little demon-brother looks on just made me so, so so happy. WWX's dedication and love for the Wens obviously has some bad consequences for him, and it's tragic the strain it had on his other relationships, but I also love it so much. Wen Qing becomes his big sister, Wen Ning becomes his little brother, and Wen Yuan is his son.
Speaking of Lan Sizhui, he is my precious, sweet, studious, adorable son and I love him so much and want to squish his face. Let him come live with me and I will bake cookies for him and cuddle him and tell him he's pretty.
I became really fond of Wen Ning, too--this incredibly socially awkward but gentle kid is transformed into a creature of violence. He's a Frankenstein's monster character, only things go better for him because WWX is a better person than Victor Frankenstein and actually tries to do right by him. What a sweet puppy. The way they constantly use his super-strength is hilarious. He's basically a packhorse. I hope he finds a partner (romantic or otherwise--he just wants to be loved!) who loves him and has a happy not-life!
Lan Xichen ended up becoming much more interesting to me than I thought he would. Like, I liked him as a big brother who just wants his socially-awkward little brother to have a friend (though lol to how that turned out), but his relationship with JGY was so very interesting and tragic. I do believe that JGY respected and loved him (as much as someone that twisted can love someone) and honestly his love for LXC was the purest thing in him. LXC believed in JGY SO MUCH and JGY could have taken that as an opportunity to become a better person, but he didn't, and it's just heartbreaking to watch LXC realize that. Truly the tragical romance of the show.
Okay, to get to JGY: what an effective villain!!!!! At the beginning of the show, I'm like, "Why is this guy even here and taking so much screentime?" but he totally won me over. The actor's performance was occasionally OTT but mostly it was just so good and unsettling. Like, I really did spend the first half of the show unsure of whether the text wanted me to trust him or not, which is good writing (and acting). I kind of hate that the child of a prostitute ends up being a terrible person (it's too "blood will out" for me) BUT the idea that the way that he's treated because of that had such a profound effect on him is SO GOOD. He truly has suffered and been mistreated, and you can feel sorry for that, but also: he made such terrible, terrible choices, and he started thinking of himself as a victim who could not wrong others because he was wronged. He convinces himself that he's only doing what he has to do, even though that's clearly not true. I just think he's one of the best villains I've seen in a while, and those are the most sinister dimples I've ever seen. Is he sometimes cartoonish? Absolutely. But also: it makes sense.
Sidenote though: I literally cannot believe that JGY had his father raped to death. Like, I can believe it was in the book. I cannot believe it made it by the censors. WTH China?????
Speaking of villains, is NHS a villain? He certainly has a lot of the traits of one. And yet if you're going to be deeply manipulative, using that power to undermine JGY is a good way to use those skills (as I mentioned to Jamie, someone should write meta about NHS and JGY and their approaches to and uses of manipulation). I need to think back about whether he actually did anything really wrong. I'm fascinated by characters who pretend to be totally ineffectual so that others will underestimate them, though I will say that I don't think the show did that great of a job of setting that up with NHS. It just left too much to the imagination. I can sort of imagine how he might find out the stuff he finds out, but I think we needed to see a little more. Nonetheless, I had not anticipated him being one of the most interesting characters on the show; if I rewatch at some point, I'll pay lots of attention to him.
As I mentioned before: I think there's loads of potential in the Yi City characters, but they felt VERY pasted on to this particular story. Xue Yang sure is entertaining and Xiao Xingchen sure is beautiful though. Thanks for all the beautiful men, casting director! Two more thumbs up!
Really this story (the show? the book? haven't read it yet, so it's hard to tell) does such good character work (women aside) because it allows all the characters to be so deeply flawed, but all of their flaws are the inverse of their strengths, which is is like the definition of good characterization. (Love this post about WWX.)
The plotting is great too. I expected it to be messy (and so much the worldbuilding is silly and makes no sense), but just about everything came together and was explained! I'm really impressed by that!
Random asides:
+ I want to live in the aesthetics of Lotus Pier, but in the location of Cloud Recesses.
+ The costumes were insanely gorgeous, and I now know why I'm not attracted to real-life men: because none of them dress like WWX and look that good in that costume. Wow hi hello sailor. I almost understand allo people when I look at him.
+ The Lan clan are elves. They just are.
+ Drunk!LWJ is my favorite thing in the whole entire world and I will read a hundred thousand fics about him.
+ NOT ENOUGH DUCKLINGS! No seriously: less Yi City Arc, more Ducklings.
+ I now really want to try lotus seeds.
+ Poor Jin Ling. That boy needs some affection in addition to discipline. He's a brat, but look who's raising him??? I love JC but he should not be in charge of children before he learns to chill out.
+ I am actually angry at how little we find out about the Lan Bros' parents. UM WAY TO TEASE. There is obviously an epic and interesting story there, but we know almost nothing! I get that it's there to both parallel WLJ falling in love with someone who's unsuitable and breaks the Lan clan rules and also to show how dedicated and loyal and stubborn and wonderful WLJ is to keep visiting his mother every month, but I need more. Where is the prequel????
+ I want a thousand AUs about WWX/LWJ (especially, like, arranged marriage stuff!!!), but also I want a thousand post-series fics about the Chief Cultivator and his trophy husband.
+ Other fic I want: a very grumpy JC learning to let his brother back into his life again but being (did I mention this already?) VERY GRUMPY about it. And him and LWJ glowering at each other across tables. My new favorite brothers-in-law!!!!!
And I'm compiling all my Tumblr reaction posts here in one place, just for my own amusement.
+ i can’t wrap my mind around the fact that jiang cheng is wei wuxian’s younger brother? he has such constantly harassed older brother energy?
[post-watch note: this became less true the longer i watched the show.]
+ i don’t want yanli to have to marry this dude!!!
[post-watch note: i never did really come around on him, but the planting lotuses scene was sweet]
+ wait, the jiang siblings have been in the cloud recesses for HALF A YEAR????
[tags: i thought they were there like a week and a half!]
+ i knew i would love wei wuxian from basically the first moment i laid eyes on him and i very much do, but i am surprised by how fond i am becoming of lan wangji
[tags: he must be giving all the microexpressions because how can i feel this much affection for his stone face?]
+ so, like, wei wuxian is a disaster bi who somehow manages to stumble into functionality when the moment calls for it and lan wangji is a distinguished gay who’s always inwardly screaming, right?
+ omg lwj is realizing his boyfriend has fallen to the dark side and he’s so heartbroken poor bb!!!!
[tags: i feel like i watched his heart crack open right in front of my eyes, and he barely moved his face!!!, magic!]
+ soup is a like a Motif on this show.
+ i can’t decide if the narrative wants me to trust meng yao or not
[tags: i do appreciate his GIANT ASS CRUSH on lan xichen though]
[post-watch note: lol]
+ this jin cousin who keeps trying to start fights and insulting everyone is really the worst. like at least the wen clan went big with their villainy.
+ this show is so full of nonsense. “he isn’t dead, his spiritual conscience is just stolen”???? what the heck does that even MEAN?
+ this drama queen in his pristine robes with his paper umbrella in the middle of a frickin’ thunderstorm
+ i love how wwx is right in everything he’s doing, he’s just using the wrong kind of magic to do it. like, yeah, of course this is how he goes to the dark side. he’s still trying to do the right thing!
[tags: it's so saaaaad, and i didn't expect this level of moral complexity tbh]
+ back to the untamed: xue yang is back and flirting outrageously with wei wuxian and there’s gotta be fic out there where they’re enemies with benefits, right?
+ lan sizhui is not only the sweetest boy, he is also the smartest and most studious and he will be my son FOREVER
[tags: i love him i want to adopt him let him come live with me, i will pinch his cheeks and feed him cookies, i will start baking just so i can feed him cookies!]
+ lan wangji is always dramatically flipping or flying in out of nowhere, sleeves billowing, sword at the ready to protect his man, and i love to see it
+ if the mdzs writer had an editor, that editor would have told her to drop the yi city arc. like…this has nothing to do with anything. i don’t know why the showrunners included it. it’s taking up screen time that could have gone to my boyfriend lan wangji or to the ducklings or to sibling interactions or something.
xue yang is a very entertaining villain, and this could be an interesting story, but it doesn’t belong in this story! the writer was clearly attached to them and included them in this self-indulgent way, but JUST WRITE THEM THEIR OWN STORY. i would read/watch that one! but can we get back to lan wangji PLEASE?
on the other hand: xaio xingcheng’s weird alien/elf-prince hybrid face is exactly my favorite kind of face so it’s not a total loss.
[post-watch note: i stand by this]
+ the guy who plays meng yao freaks me out, but he is VERY good in his role
[post-watch note: i stand by this too]
+ poor lan xichen. all he wanted was for his socially awkward little brother to have a friend. and look how that turned out.
+ i have to say, it is annoying watching a show in which someone who gets stabbed right through the torso–like, a sword going all the way through–can either a) die or b) walk it off like it’s a charley horse. and you just never know which one it’s going to be.
+ lan wangji just trusts wei wuxian SO MUCH i just can’t handle it
+ omg the bunnies are following wlj i’m crying
+ i know that wwx is small-boned but he is way too big to be riding that donkey someone put that poor donkey out of its misery
+ wlj is wwx’s sugar daddy and i LOVE it. no hesitation on wwx’s part to offer wlj’s money. no hesitation on wlj’s part to give it.
+ i did not anticipate getting to see mian mian again, so i am very pleased
[tags: glad she's happy!!!, she deserves it!!!]
+ i love that the wind is always blowing just enough to whip around the two loose parts of wwx’s hair to highlight his cheekbones but not ruffle the rest of his hair at all. perfect.
+ i was getting annoyed with how long it was taking to get to the big golden core reveal but that was SO worth the wait
[tags: nothing i love more than a wronged character who won't defend himself being championed by someone who tells the truth, watching everyone else have to face the truth, and the wronged character be justified, SO SATISFYING
+ lwj staring down at wwx’s unconscious face as he realizes what wwx gave up and the pain he went through to do it
is the swooniest thing i’ve ever seen
+ wen ning can’t read a room, but i can forgive him because of the telling jiang cheng scene
[tags: also because the way the others use him as a packhorse because of his superstrength is HILARIOUS]
+ wwx trying to find wen ning a girlfriend so he’ll stop playing third wheel has me SCREAMING
[tags: also i hope wen ning DOES find a girlfriend who dotes on him]
[post-watch note: well at least he got to bond with his precious little cousin???]
+ i love no matter what happens, we always have a pause long enough for wwx and lwj to exchange significant glances. i bet significant glances take up a full sixth of the entire running time of this show
+ that dimple is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in jin guang yao’s smirks
[tags: i have never seen such a sinister dimple]
+ okay we’re FINALLY getting the big wwx/jc confrontation and it is SO GOOD
[tags: SO SO GOOD, worth waiting for]
+ nobody does the *slowly closing eyes in extreme emotional exhaustion* better than lan xichen
[tags: and for such a wide variety of reasons too!, like he'll do it when wwx is saying something stupid, but also when he's just found out that the person he trusted was super evil!, it's the little black dress of expressions!, good for all occasions!]
+ i really love that meng yao didn’t have any particular animosity towards wwx, he just accurately saw that wwx’s arrogance would make people eager to believe he was evil, and he took advantage of that
[tags: and like i really do think he respected and admired and love lan xichen as much as it was possible for him to love someone, and lxc really had that faith him in him, he could have chosen to live up to that faith but he didn't, it's really sad]
+ wwx getting annoyed at other people’s monologue-ing is hilarious like dude you do it ALL THE TIME
[tags: he just wants to get back to him being the one talking]
So...fic recs?????
Conclusion: it's got a terrible beginning, it's definitely messy, I have tons of criticisms, but also I'm impressed by how the plot all actually works out (everything has a payoff! it all comes together in the end!) and, most importantly, I love Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji (as well as several other characters) as much as I've ever loved any characters. I love them. So much.
There are other characters I love a lot too, but this show is really about WWX and LWJ and their epic love for me, I'll be honest.
This is a show that's about characters. Like, there's tons and tons of plot, but the plot only matters if you care about the characters. So casting is vital and I love the casting. Two thumbs up, casting director! Even the less technically proficient actors inhabited their roles very nicely.
Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo blew me away in the lead roles. Were they technically acting well? I don't know and I don't care. They just so perfectly inhabited those characters. Xiao Zhan has the most endearing mannerisms I've ever seen--like, obviously his face is just beautiful all on its own, but it's his expressions that make me passionately love him. I adore an adorable man. And Wang Yibo managed to give a truly amazing performance: it must be so hard to communicate all that he communicates through so little dialogue and such a limited amount of facial expressions. At first you think he's totally stony-faced, but he's NOT, he's showing you so much through microexpressions. Just the slightest softening of his mouth can make my heart break.
And I love WWX and LWJ as characters so incredibly much. I loved every single second they were onscreen and every single second they weren't onscreen, I was waiting for them to show up again. My babies my loves.
AND THEIR LOVE. They're so devoted, they're so sure of each other, they trust each other SO much. Obviously the stormcloud one being in love with the sunshine one is a favorite trope for a reason, but their spin on it is so beautiful! LWJ struggles so much pre-death with the fact that he worries that his boyfriend is going to the dark side, and it's so sweet (and also 100% completely reasonable). But once WWX comes back--once he has him back, has a second chance--he is absolutely unwavering in a way I love to see. Like, instantly totally physically protective (even when it's from the dogs omg). Instantly handing over any money WWX wants to spend. Never, ever questioning or second-guessing WWX. He's just like, "This is my person and I am going to devote my life to anything he wants and needs." Y'all he buys him liquor and without being asked. This is definitely the kind of ship that just ruins you. I can't even talk about them.
And the sibling stuff is so good! Especially Jiang Cheng! His relationship with WWX is so complicated but so deep. I kept waiting and waiting for the golden core reveal and I was growing frustrated that it kept being delayed, but as soon as it happened, I took back my complaints because it was just so good. And then the big confrontation in the temple where we hear about everything from JC's side--SO GOOD. I love that JC is allowed to be deeply flawed (all of the male characters are, actually) but also he's still a good person, you see where he's coming from, you don't lose sympathy for him, even when he's wrong. But will someone get him a romantic partner? As an ace person, I don't normally say this, but this guy needs to get laid and also he needs someone who's always on his side and both lets him know how wonderful he is but also doesn't take his shit. Kinda sad we never got to see how a romance with Wen Qing would have worked out...is there fic?
Love the WWX/JYL relationship--seeing WWX be doted on is wonderful--but my God, Jiang Yan Li isn't really a person, is she? She never gets to do anything but be sweet and perfect, and it's so frustrating. And I am a person who majorly loves goody-two-shoes characters! But she has no flaws whatsoever, and it keeps her from being an engaging character except in her relationship to WWX. It's such a missed opportunity. Wen Qing is also underwritten, but she manages to be much more of a dynamic character. Madame Yu is barely in the show at all, but she at least gets to be complicated (love that she's unabashedly terrible to WWX but also brave and really loves her husband. People are complicated!). Mian Mian is a favorite, but she's such a bit player that we don't get to know her much.
There's just so much potential for female awesome in this world and so little payoff. In this world, it is clearly possible for women to be powerful, so why are there so few women? Even in the big everybody's-here cultivator scenes, we only see a handful of women. The show (and presumably the novel) have all the kinds of problems that we complain about in slash fanfiction; JYL in particular is such a stock slashfic female. TOO MANY DUDES NOT ENOUGH LADIES.
Honestly possibly my favorite relationship payoff in the whole thing was the Wen Yuan reveal???? Like, seeing WWX reunited with his precious son (LAN SIZHUI HUGS HIS LEG!!!!) while his husband and his weird little demon-brother looks on just made me so, so so happy. WWX's dedication and love for the Wens obviously has some bad consequences for him, and it's tragic the strain it had on his other relationships, but I also love it so much. Wen Qing becomes his big sister, Wen Ning becomes his little brother, and Wen Yuan is his son.
Speaking of Lan Sizhui, he is my precious, sweet, studious, adorable son and I love him so much and want to squish his face. Let him come live with me and I will bake cookies for him and cuddle him and tell him he's pretty.
I became really fond of Wen Ning, too--this incredibly socially awkward but gentle kid is transformed into a creature of violence. He's a Frankenstein's monster character, only things go better for him because WWX is a better person than Victor Frankenstein and actually tries to do right by him. What a sweet puppy. The way they constantly use his super-strength is hilarious. He's basically a packhorse. I hope he finds a partner (romantic or otherwise--he just wants to be loved!) who loves him and has a happy not-life!
Lan Xichen ended up becoming much more interesting to me than I thought he would. Like, I liked him as a big brother who just wants his socially-awkward little brother to have a friend (though lol to how that turned out), but his relationship with JGY was so very interesting and tragic. I do believe that JGY respected and loved him (as much as someone that twisted can love someone) and honestly his love for LXC was the purest thing in him. LXC believed in JGY SO MUCH and JGY could have taken that as an opportunity to become a better person, but he didn't, and it's just heartbreaking to watch LXC realize that. Truly the tragical romance of the show.
Okay, to get to JGY: what an effective villain!!!!! At the beginning of the show, I'm like, "Why is this guy even here and taking so much screentime?" but he totally won me over. The actor's performance was occasionally OTT but mostly it was just so good and unsettling. Like, I really did spend the first half of the show unsure of whether the text wanted me to trust him or not, which is good writing (and acting). I kind of hate that the child of a prostitute ends up being a terrible person (it's too "blood will out" for me) BUT the idea that the way that he's treated because of that had such a profound effect on him is SO GOOD. He truly has suffered and been mistreated, and you can feel sorry for that, but also: he made such terrible, terrible choices, and he started thinking of himself as a victim who could not wrong others because he was wronged. He convinces himself that he's only doing what he has to do, even though that's clearly not true. I just think he's one of the best villains I've seen in a while, and those are the most sinister dimples I've ever seen. Is he sometimes cartoonish? Absolutely. But also: it makes sense.
Sidenote though: I literally cannot believe that JGY had his father raped to death. Like, I can believe it was in the book. I cannot believe it made it by the censors. WTH China?????
Speaking of villains, is NHS a villain? He certainly has a lot of the traits of one. And yet if you're going to be deeply manipulative, using that power to undermine JGY is a good way to use those skills (as I mentioned to Jamie, someone should write meta about NHS and JGY and their approaches to and uses of manipulation). I need to think back about whether he actually did anything really wrong. I'm fascinated by characters who pretend to be totally ineffectual so that others will underestimate them, though I will say that I don't think the show did that great of a job of setting that up with NHS. It just left too much to the imagination. I can sort of imagine how he might find out the stuff he finds out, but I think we needed to see a little more. Nonetheless, I had not anticipated him being one of the most interesting characters on the show; if I rewatch at some point, I'll pay lots of attention to him.
As I mentioned before: I think there's loads of potential in the Yi City characters, but they felt VERY pasted on to this particular story. Xue Yang sure is entertaining and Xiao Xingchen sure is beautiful though. Thanks for all the beautiful men, casting director! Two more thumbs up!
Really this story (the show? the book? haven't read it yet, so it's hard to tell) does such good character work (women aside) because it allows all the characters to be so deeply flawed, but all of their flaws are the inverse of their strengths, which is is like the definition of good characterization. (Love this post about WWX.)
The plotting is great too. I expected it to be messy (and so much the worldbuilding is silly and makes no sense), but just about everything came together and was explained! I'm really impressed by that!
Random asides:
+ I want to live in the aesthetics of Lotus Pier, but in the location of Cloud Recesses.
+ The costumes were insanely gorgeous, and I now know why I'm not attracted to real-life men: because none of them dress like WWX and look that good in that costume. Wow hi hello sailor. I almost understand allo people when I look at him.
+ The Lan clan are elves. They just are.
+ Drunk!LWJ is my favorite thing in the whole entire world and I will read a hundred thousand fics about him.
+ NOT ENOUGH DUCKLINGS! No seriously: less Yi City Arc, more Ducklings.
+ I now really want to try lotus seeds.
+ Poor Jin Ling. That boy needs some affection in addition to discipline. He's a brat, but look who's raising him??? I love JC but he should not be in charge of children before he learns to chill out.
+ I am actually angry at how little we find out about the Lan Bros' parents. UM WAY TO TEASE. There is obviously an epic and interesting story there, but we know almost nothing! I get that it's there to both parallel WLJ falling in love with someone who's unsuitable and breaks the Lan clan rules and also to show how dedicated and loyal and stubborn and wonderful WLJ is to keep visiting his mother every month, but I need more. Where is the prequel????
+ I want a thousand AUs about WWX/LWJ (especially, like, arranged marriage stuff!!!), but also I want a thousand post-series fics about the Chief Cultivator and his trophy husband.
+ Other fic I want: a very grumpy JC learning to let his brother back into his life again but being (did I mention this already?) VERY GRUMPY about it. And him and LWJ glowering at each other across tables. My new favorite brothers-in-law!!!!!
And I'm compiling all my Tumblr reaction posts here in one place, just for my own amusement.
+ i can’t wrap my mind around the fact that jiang cheng is wei wuxian’s younger brother? he has such constantly harassed older brother energy?
[post-watch note: this became less true the longer i watched the show.]
+ i don’t want yanli to have to marry this dude!!!
[post-watch note: i never did really come around on him, but the planting lotuses scene was sweet]
+ wait, the jiang siblings have been in the cloud recesses for HALF A YEAR????
[tags: i thought they were there like a week and a half!]
+ i knew i would love wei wuxian from basically the first moment i laid eyes on him and i very much do, but i am surprised by how fond i am becoming of lan wangji
[tags: he must be giving all the microexpressions because how can i feel this much affection for his stone face?]
+ so, like, wei wuxian is a disaster bi who somehow manages to stumble into functionality when the moment calls for it and lan wangji is a distinguished gay who’s always inwardly screaming, right?
+ omg lwj is realizing his boyfriend has fallen to the dark side and he’s so heartbroken poor bb!!!!
[tags: i feel like i watched his heart crack open right in front of my eyes, and he barely moved his face!!!, magic!]
+ soup is a like a Motif on this show.
+ i can’t decide if the narrative wants me to trust meng yao or not
[tags: i do appreciate his GIANT ASS CRUSH on lan xichen though]
[post-watch note: lol]
+ this jin cousin who keeps trying to start fights and insulting everyone is really the worst. like at least the wen clan went big with their villainy.
+ this show is so full of nonsense. “he isn’t dead, his spiritual conscience is just stolen”???? what the heck does that even MEAN?
+ this drama queen in his pristine robes with his paper umbrella in the middle of a frickin’ thunderstorm
+ i love how wwx is right in everything he’s doing, he’s just using the wrong kind of magic to do it. like, yeah, of course this is how he goes to the dark side. he’s still trying to do the right thing!
[tags: it's so saaaaad, and i didn't expect this level of moral complexity tbh]
+ back to the untamed: xue yang is back and flirting outrageously with wei wuxian and there’s gotta be fic out there where they’re enemies with benefits, right?
+ lan sizhui is not only the sweetest boy, he is also the smartest and most studious and he will be my son FOREVER
[tags: i love him i want to adopt him let him come live with me, i will pinch his cheeks and feed him cookies, i will start baking just so i can feed him cookies!]
+ lan wangji is always dramatically flipping or flying in out of nowhere, sleeves billowing, sword at the ready to protect his man, and i love to see it
+ if the mdzs writer had an editor, that editor would have told her to drop the yi city arc. like…this has nothing to do with anything. i don’t know why the showrunners included it. it’s taking up screen time that could have gone to my boyfriend lan wangji or to the ducklings or to sibling interactions or something.
xue yang is a very entertaining villain, and this could be an interesting story, but it doesn’t belong in this story! the writer was clearly attached to them and included them in this self-indulgent way, but JUST WRITE THEM THEIR OWN STORY. i would read/watch that one! but can we get back to lan wangji PLEASE?
on the other hand: xaio xingcheng’s weird alien/elf-prince hybrid face is exactly my favorite kind of face so it’s not a total loss.
[post-watch note: i stand by this]
+ the guy who plays meng yao freaks me out, but he is VERY good in his role
[post-watch note: i stand by this too]
+ poor lan xichen. all he wanted was for his socially awkward little brother to have a friend. and look how that turned out.
+ i have to say, it is annoying watching a show in which someone who gets stabbed right through the torso–like, a sword going all the way through–can either a) die or b) walk it off like it’s a charley horse. and you just never know which one it’s going to be.
+ lan wangji just trusts wei wuxian SO MUCH i just can’t handle it
+ omg the bunnies are following wlj i’m crying
+ i know that wwx is small-boned but he is way too big to be riding that donkey someone put that poor donkey out of its misery
+ wlj is wwx’s sugar daddy and i LOVE it. no hesitation on wwx’s part to offer wlj’s money. no hesitation on wlj’s part to give it.
+ i did not anticipate getting to see mian mian again, so i am very pleased
[tags: glad she's happy!!!, she deserves it!!!]
+ i love that the wind is always blowing just enough to whip around the two loose parts of wwx’s hair to highlight his cheekbones but not ruffle the rest of his hair at all. perfect.
+ i was getting annoyed with how long it was taking to get to the big golden core reveal but that was SO worth the wait
[tags: nothing i love more than a wronged character who won't defend himself being championed by someone who tells the truth, watching everyone else have to face the truth, and the wronged character be justified, SO SATISFYING
+ lwj staring down at wwx’s unconscious face as he realizes what wwx gave up and the pain he went through to do it
is the swooniest thing i’ve ever seen
+ wen ning can’t read a room, but i can forgive him because of the telling jiang cheng scene
[tags: also because the way the others use him as a packhorse because of his superstrength is HILARIOUS]
+ wwx trying to find wen ning a girlfriend so he’ll stop playing third wheel has me SCREAMING
[tags: also i hope wen ning DOES find a girlfriend who dotes on him]
[post-watch note: well at least he got to bond with his precious little cousin???]
+ i love no matter what happens, we always have a pause long enough for wwx and lwj to exchange significant glances. i bet significant glances take up a full sixth of the entire running time of this show
+ that dimple is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in jin guang yao’s smirks
[tags: i have never seen such a sinister dimple]
+ okay we’re FINALLY getting the big wwx/jc confrontation and it is SO GOOD
[tags: SO SO GOOD, worth waiting for]
+ nobody does the *slowly closing eyes in extreme emotional exhaustion* better than lan xichen
[tags: and for such a wide variety of reasons too!, like he'll do it when wwx is saying something stupid, but also when he's just found out that the person he trusted was super evil!, it's the little black dress of expressions!, good for all occasions!]
+ i really love that meng yao didn’t have any particular animosity towards wwx, he just accurately saw that wwx’s arrogance would make people eager to believe he was evil, and he took advantage of that
[tags: and like i really do think he respected and admired and love lan xichen as much as it was possible for him to love someone, and lxc really had that faith him in him, he could have chosen to live up to that faith but he didn't, it's really sad]
+ wwx getting annoyed at other people’s monologue-ing is hilarious like dude you do it ALL THE TIME
[tags: he just wants to get back to him being the one talking]
So...fic recs?????
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suddenly everything makes sense.
(also while watching cql i kept thinking 'why do all the little kids' voices sound like a grownup pretending to be a kid?' i am just now realizing it's because it was probably dubbed with adult voices pretending to be kids.)
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I definitely picked up on the adults pretending to be kids, but I did not realize the adult characters voices were dubbed too!