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viterbofangirllovestheuntamed · 2 years

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jiang cheng loves his brother and like 85% of their shitty communication problems are in fact wwx’s fault but fandom is not ready for this conversation yet

I am literally beating back the urge to completely agree with you because Jiang Cheng is my precious baby boy and I love him and will defend him until the heat death of the universe BUT in an arduous effort to be fair, it's probably not 85%.

Maybe 75%.

Joking aside, there is in fact enough blame to go around. No matter what WWX-stans/JC-antis say, for every instance where JC is harsh and nasty, there is another one where WWX is maddeningly avoidant. For every instance where JC threatens violence, there is another one where WWX is deliberately provoking. In the novel, JC is more constantly short and violence-threatening, but then again, WWX is more obnoxious and deliberately troublesome. CQL gives us Wang Zhuocheng's wobbly lower lip and Xiao Zhan's natural heroic charisma to soften the characters, but even then, they clearly are used to relating to each other via squabbles and fights.

But I digress.

Perhaps everything was destined for tragedy no matter what, but I *am* sure that approximately 85% of the bad blood between the brothers could have been avoided if WWX had simply lied one more fucking time and made up a PERFECTLY BELIEVABLE LIE that he, too, had had his core crushed before being tossed in the Burial Mounds. JC already KNEW he'd been caught by the Wen; it would have been easy to believe- NAY, EXPECTED!- that such a thing might occur. And sure, JC would probably angst about "using up WWX's one chance to get a favor from Baoshan Sanren etc, etc..." but that sure as hell would have been easier issue for the two to weather.

As I've said before, the more fundamental problem is the very different personality types that WWX and JC are, specifically in how WWX unhealthily avoids any unplesantness whereas JC holds on to it obsessively. To repeat myself, the single biggest tragedy in their relationship-- YES even more than lack of communication-- is that WWX forgets everything but JC remembers everything. WWX is by nature an out of sight out of mind person whereas JC is a hold onto every single word action and interaction until the heat death of the universe person. WWX looks at JC and thinks he's not loved because JC won't forgive and forget, and JC looks at WWX and thinks he's not loved because WWX forgets every heartfelt thing he's ever said to him.

I have a perfectly normal amount of feelings about this and these two idiots.

#wei wuxian #jiang cheng #wei wuxian looks at jiang cheng and thinks he's not loved because jiang cheng won't forgive and forget #and jiang cheng looks at wei wuxian and thinks he's not loved because wei wuxian forgets every heartfelt thing he's ever said to him #twin heroes of yunmeng #twin dumbasses of yunmeng #THIS SHOW IS GOING TO BE THE END OF ME AND IT'S THESE! TWO! DUMBASSES'! FAULTS!#ASK THE MOD #asks #responsibility and accountability #communication #meta post #MOD'S STUFF

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jiaoliqiao · 4 months

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Every month of 2023 ✨

i was tagged by @sandushengshou to link my favorite or/and most popular creations from each month of 2023 & then tag some ccs! thank you ❤️

i've been bad with tag games this year but this is one of my favorites so i have to!!

January most popular: soggy wang zhuocheng in lltg (can't blame you guys tbh) my favorite: hanwenzhou ot3 for soph

February most popular & my favorite: wenzhou & love for userdramas (i miss wenzhou!! looking back at this makes me all warm and fuzzy)

March most popular: word of honor every episode ep4 my favorite: han ying + yearning

April most popular: hanzhou parallels my favorite: xiyuan + whenever wherever (i struggled working on this but it was so worth it, i still love it)

May most popular: gu xiang in ep2 my favorite: ye xiwu and pian ran (??? girlies what was going on)

June most popular & my favorite: wenzhou + cute girl gu xiang

July most popular & my favorite: OUR wife mu nihuang

(it's probably only obvious to me but i can really tell how burnt out i was in summer lmao :/ stepping away for a bit did wonders)

September most popular: a-fei compilation my favorite: llh + his past (i'm incredibly proud of how this turned out but i feel like my thought process behind it might be incomprehensible to everyone else asjfhasf)

October most popular: chibi shi qingxuan my favorite: juwon + eggs (EGG HIM!!!!!!!!!! HE DESERVES IT)

November most popular: e-ming being baby my favorite: difanghua + loss (i love pain and suffering therefore i love this)

December most popular: sad e-ming :(( my favorite: jeff satur secret santa gift (this is probably my favorite edit of the entire year. fitting to end the post with)

tagging @baek1nho @dengswei @xiaolanhua @khaotunqs no pressure of course!! ❤️❤️❤️

#tag game

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ezralva · 3 years

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9/19/'21 Happy Birthday Wang ZhuoCheng!

Look, Gege is here for you 🎉🎂🎊

"Kuan-ge is here again."

(Rough translation)

Liu Haikuan_hill : Are you wearing pajama and pajama pants? Aren't you cold?

"Happy birthday little Cheng-zi..."

#this is for my Kuancheng followers lmao #waah Cheng Potter is soo cute 🍊#they both are still in contact which is nice #wang zhuo cheng #wang zhuocheng #liu hai kuan #liu haikuan #marius wang #kuancheng #I think in the vid he says Kuan-ge keeps coming and going on the livestream? not too sure.#so now they are spectacles bro!#Kuan-ge also wearing those round specs since when?? lol nerdy handsome look #xicheng #fanservice #I give up to resist tagging it #blame my ear for also hearing 'Xie xie Huan-ge~' over there #huan-ge and kuan-ge sounds similar to me lmfao #the untamed cast

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sarawatsaraleo · 3 years

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#dumbass

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pangzi · 4 years

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Wang Zhuocheng showing where he wants a kiss his pimple

#wang zhuocheng #wang zhuo cheng #jiang cheng #the untamed #the untamed cast #mirf.gifs #this was gonna be the last #but after this he was being silly and i have to gif that too :(#imma end upg iffing this entire vlog #don't blame me for it he's adorable

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 06 (first part)

(Masterpost)(Episode 05)

Warning: This contains spoilers for All 50 Episodes

Bad Boys Bad Boys What You Gonna Do

Nie Huasang’s brought his nuts, and someone’s brought wine, so the boys are drinking in Wei Wuxian’s guest house. Finally he gets to drink some of the Emperor’s Smile wine that he’s been doing all those product placements for.

Boys, get a bowl or something for your shells, were you raised in a barn?

Wei Wuxian hits on waxes poetic about the wine, and Jiang Cheng tells him to shut up.

Wang Zhuocheng’s raw-fish-eating face may have failed him, but his drunk faces do not disappoint.

Wei Wuxian teases Jiang Cheng about his list of standards for a chick: She should have natural beauty, be virtuous and caring, from a good family, not too talkative, with a gentle voice, and not too capable. Also she should not spend too much money. Drunken running ensues.

Cue Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin

(more behind the cut)

Much of the fandom has decided this list is a good fit for Nie Huaisang himself, and it sorta is. But he is both talkative and unvirtuous, what with all the current sneakiness, and all the eventual murders.

This also definitely doesn't fit Wen Qing because she's capable as hell.

This list is, however, a 100% a match for Jiang Yanli. Not in a weird, Jin Guangyao way--a lot of men want to marry a woman like their sister. In a gender-divided and generation-divided society, a man’s sister might be the only woman he’s ever known well. Jiang Cheng adores Yanli and she’s his ideal model of a woman, as opposed to his mother, who...isnt.

All these robes and talismans over the door do nothing to stop Lan Wangji from strolling in.

Okay so - Lan Wangji is the senior disciple of the Lan Clan, yea? There is no way that patrolling the guest area is in any way his job. He is just walking around here at night specifically to see what Wei Wuxian is doing.

I already did a gifpost of the boys and their totally nonsexual horseplay, over here. I’ll just add, for sad factor, that Jiang Cheng is play-choking Wei Wuxian when they’re all on the bed, and later in the running-and-crying episode he is gonna for-real choke him. Foreshadowing! or maybe just coincidence!

One fun thread running through the young-cultivators episodes is that Nie Huaisang is legit terrified of Lan Wangji while also having a major aesthetic crush on him. Look at how flustered he is here, trying to act sober while also checking him out.

Lan Wangji is shocked and visibly upset - what are you guys doing? This is not his busting face, this is, for a moment, his vulnerable and disillusioned face. He is super not used to what normal people are like.

Wei Wuxian doesn't lie or otherwise try to get off the hook, which has got to have Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang grinding their teeth in frustration. He invites Lan Wangji to join them for a drink. LWJ cites a the “no drinking on campus” rule and WWX tries to convince him to chill.

Then we have this lovely coordinated faint by the boys, to get out of going to get punished. Nie Huaisang has been practicing fainting in front of a mirror just in case he ever needs a skill like that in the future.

Wei Wuxian keeps trying to turn this into a date. Eventually Lan Wangji is so upset he admits he can’t take all three of them by himself.

Then the boys run away fake-barfing and Wei Wuxian hits Lan Wangji with a talisman.

Steal His Agency That’s What You’re Gonna Do

What Wei Wuxian does to Lan Wanji here is definitely wrong. But it's not entirely a disaster. It allows some crucial information to be shared between them, and it results in Wei Wuxian getting the utter shit beat out of him and never doing this again. I mean, he continues to mind-control his enemies and their eventual corpses, but he doesn't intentionally violate a friend or ally's autonomy in the future. Uhh not counting that whole golden core surgery-without-consent situation. And probably some other situations I’ve forgotten. He improves slightly, okay?

It’s important to note, incidentally, that the Lan rules about drinking and other “vices” should not be viewed through a Christian lens. The Lans are neither puritans nor ascetics (look at their clothes, furniture, and jewelry, for starters). Being drunk is forbidden probably because it’s a loss of self-control.

Speaking of self-control, mad props to Wang Yibo for being able to have zero physical reaction to fingers snapping in his face.

Drunk Lan Wangji

Under duress, Lan Wangji knocks back a cup of wine and promptly passes most of the way out.

Wei Wuxian puts Lan Wangji into bed not unkindly, but pretty much like a sack of potatoes. Compare this to how tenderly he handles Lan Wangji the next time he’s drunk.

WWX tells LWJ to call him Wei Gege, and giggles. Is this a term of endearment in this context? So far the various boys are calling each other -xiong, not -ge or gege. In Western media, men calling each other “bro” is basically saying “no homo,” but brotherhood and sisterhood in C-Drama is often a way of indicating stronger love than friendship, without saying whether it's sexual or not.

They finally start to have a conversation, and when Lan Wangji explains that no-one can touch his headband except, etc etc, Wei Wuxian stops trying to touch it. So at least he's not a handsy bastard in addition to all his other faults.

Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji that his clan is boring and women won't want to marry him. Lan Wangji says that's fine. On one level this is the show acknowledging that he's gay, but I think he's responding in a gender-neutral way; he doesn't want to marry anyone. Marriage, from his perspective, is the literal worst.

We don't know how he felt about his father, but he definitely loved his mother deeply, and she had a profoundly unhappy marriage, in which her husband did not provide companionship and her children were taken from her.

A note about all that: The dynamics of heterosexual marriages in The Untamed are not based on contemporary companionate marriage. Sex and reproduction is a wife's job in this world, and giving a gentry woman the option to choose her husband is radical. Wei Wuxian is the only one who dares say that Jiang Yanli should have a choice when Jin Guangshan casually tries to give her to his son in front of everyone.

OP made this today but will totally reuse it when episode 23 rolls around

So Lan Wangji’s parents' marriage was extremely problematic but not necessarily for the reasons it would be in contemporary terms. Having signed on to marry Lan Dad, Mom would have expected to live together and get laid regularly (important for health, in some traditional views, regardless of love/no love) and to have the company of her children. Instead, she was isolated. Lan Dad wanted to have it both ways and so even though he loved her and apparently hooked up with her sometimes, he didn't do his duty by her. She didn't love him but she did her duty.

Wei Wuxian continues to not get it, calling Lan Wangji dull and babbling about Lan Wangji’s parents until he realizes that LWJ is an orphan like him.

A nice shift happens here. Once the penny drops, Wei Wuxian doesn't ask a single additional question - he just sees - by reading Lan Wangji’s face - what the deal is, and shares his own story to show he understands.

This is the first time Wei Wuxian mentions being chased by dogs, which is kind of a big deal, because why was he left all alone when his parents died?

Why didn't anyone take him in before Jiang Fengmian found him? How isolated are independent cultivators in this world?

Tea Time

Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen are having tea, and the Lan Clan is so uptight they don't touch each other's teacups. I don't know what this thing is called so I'm going to call it a tea speculum.

Lan Qiren is back from the cultivation conference and says the red crack plague is happening over in Qinghe where the Nie clan lives. Lan Xichen fills him in on the water demon, specifically saying Wei Wuxian figured out the connection to the red crack dudes, and explaining who WWX is, as if Lan QIren hadn't already thrown stuff at him and threatened to eventually kill him.

Fun fact that I just noticed this week so didn't make it into earlier posts: In Episode 46, when Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are in the Jiang ancestral hall, WWX says he was often punished to kneel there, and LWJ said that they heard about this in Gusu.

So when WWX came to Gusu he already had a reputation as a troublemaker, and the Lan brothers were aware of it.

Busted and Beaten

A Lan snitch comes in to say that Wei Wuxian has successfully corrupted Lan Wangji, which really shouldn’t cause as much surprise as it does.

“Wei Wuxian got drunk”

“Lan Wangji got drunk”

Lan Xichen takes a moment to consider carefully whether Wei Wuxian is a good friend for his little brother and whether perhaps he was too hasty in throwing them together. Ha ha ha no he doesn’t.

On the punishment porch, Lan Xichen tries to lecture Lan Wangji in a calm way, but Lan Qiren wants to beat him and Lan Wangji wants to get beat. Wei Wuxian can’t understand why Lan Wangji doesn’t let him take the blame for the drinking.

Lan Qiren goes way the fuck overboard with this punishment because he's angry--losing control and losing his sense of proportion--and Lan Xichen is shocked. The drone camera watching from above is also shocked.

Lan Qiren has a few (very few) redeeming qualities, but his extreme rigidity and chronic resentment of anyone he perceives as bad are serious problems. His nephews are both struggling with complex moral quandaries as they get older, and he is absolutely no help to them in resolving their conflicts.

This is definitely...a style of parenting & teaching, but you can see how poorly it works, with Lan Wangji straight up saying “fuck it” after many years of conformity. Lan Xichen is devoted to the middle path and tries to be obedient. But he is actually not walking anywhere near the middle path, as he gets pulled into colluding with a murderer at the same time as getting dragged onto his brother’s carnival ride. These men need parenting that isn’t so, uh, fucking stupid. (Yes, grown adults still need good parenting; watch Go Ahead if you doubt me)

Wei Wuxian initially yells and falls down when he gets hit, but then he sees Lan Wangji is taking the beating without any reaction and he tries to do the same.

Aftermath

Jiang Yanli gently lectures the boys, blaming Jiang Cheng for Wei Wuxian's drinking. Jesus Christ, he's the younger sibling, could you just NOT, Yanli?

Both boys ask Yanli not to tell their parents. The boys bicker about who's at fault and then Wei Wuxian shifts to baby voice and starts whining to Yanli about the pain.

Yanli tells him to suck it up, and says after school she'll -- ok and I know this will be a surprise for everyone -- make soup for them. The boys immediately get back on the same team, which is team Please Put Meat In the Soup.

There's a nice character building moment for Wei Wuxian here. When he sees Lan Xichen he initially turns away to avoid running into him, but then he adults-up and goes to face him and greet him, giving him a half of a bow because of the pain, the pain. Rather than complaining about his punishment he meekly asks if he's broken another rule.

Lan Xichen tells him that he did wrong but that Lan Qiren’s punishment was too harsh, and then in what is one of my favorite Lan Xichen moments, invites Wei Wuxian to use the cold spring to heal, but doesn't invite Jiang Cheng to go with him even though Jiang Cheng also was beaten. Lan Xichen, Matchmaker Auntie Extraordinaire.

Then he answers Wei Wuxian’s question about his mom by saying she was just like Wei Wuxian and drove Lan Qiran up the wall. Jiang Cheng's reaction to that is really sweet. He does enjoy Wei Wuxian at the same time as being constantly irritated by him.

Lan Xichen does his patented “breaking off in the middle of saying something and leaving out a chunk of the story” maneuver, although this time he doesn't include a flute solo.

OP is mildly obsessed with Xuan Lu’s shoulders in this outfit. Also Yanli has an interesting sword, that's got some wood carving similar to Subian, but without the organic look, which OP only noticed because of screen capping Xuan Lu’s shoulders.

Club Ruohan

Wen Qing continues to be pretty and slightly evil at this stage, sending magic fire notes to her boss using this talisman that is definitely floating in the air and not just hanging from a string.

Wen Ruohan is in the mosh pit with his zombie groupies while he reads Wen Qing’s extremely vague status update and says "it all makes sense."

Reach out and touch faith

Soundtrack

Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode

Writing Prompt

How did Wei Wuxian’s parents die?

Admin Notes

I’m going to start spacing out my “first part” and “second part” posts by a few days. I’ll update this post to link up the second part once I post it, and my masterpost is always up to date.

Also: if you want more of my original content but don’t want to follow my whole blog (not following is fine!), I keep a pinboard of fun stuff at the top of my blog. I try to post original content at least once a week.

Continued in the second part later this week!

#fytheuntamed #wangxian #the untamed #cql #the untamed gifs #the untamed meta #my gifs #restless rewatch the untamed #restless rewatch #canary3d #the untamed spoilers

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razberryyum · 4 years

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Untamed Concert Thoughts

I love that when the MC asked Lin Hai-laoshi, the composer, what inspired him when he created the music for The Untamed, his answer was his love for the show. I think he also mentioned the love he felt for MDZS or the love he felt in MDZS (my Chinese fluency is not the best). Basically, what inspired him was LOVE.

It’s kind of amusing in a sad way how Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo had to maintain like a foot distance between them at all times, while like right next to them Wang Zhuocheng and Yu Bin were attached at the hip. At one point some of the guys even had their arms around each other, while XZ and WYB were still like “WE MUST BE A RULER APART ALWAYS”. It’s a shame they always have to be hyperaware now of their interactions with each other so they don’t set off any alarms with their government or overexcite fans who ship them too much already.

Case in point, the audience went nuts when the camera kept cutting to the two of them chit-chatting while the actress who plays Wang Lingjiao (Lu Enjie) was recounting the most memorable scene she shot in the show. I actually felt bad for her since she had no idea why the audience were going crazy, and she was interrupted twice. At the same time, I don’t blame the camera man for doing that since I’m sure most people were there to see these two interact. It’s just fascinating how the two actual players involved are being super careful while everyone around them are like fuck censorship and discrimination, let’s give the fans what they want!

It hit me that this is probably the last group photo they’ll ever take. I really wish Xuan lu (Shijie) and Meng Ziyi (Wen Qing) could’ve been there. 😢😢😢

Ok, I got emotional when Zheng Fanxing (Sizhui) started crying...the juniors hugging got to me too.

The connection got too laggy for me to screencap but when Song Jiyang appeared for his dance, I was like, holy shit I think he just murdered a bunch of people with that get up...the ponytail!!!...and then when he added the blindfold, I think he murdered even more people.

I love how they play each piece of score in between performances!

I so absolutely love the different music arrangements for Jiang Cheng’s chara song (and the Yi City group’s theme song (Lone City), and the duet version of Inappeasable (Shijie’s Lotus Pier song) that again, I really, REALLY hope they release these performances as tracks we can buy, or the whole concert as a DVD. I WANT to spend my hard-earned money on a clean version of these songs, dammit!

The connection of course became utter shit during XZ and WYB’s performances; I guess everyone who paid for their eticket finally decided to watch the show in the last stretch. I was so worried for both of them while they were on that moving platform...it looked precarious. I think WYB even stumbled a little in the beginning when it started moving.

I’m not gonna say anything about WYB’s ensemble. I’m just gonna be nice and hope that he actually liked it and it wasn’t just his stylist deciding for him. Overall though, I liked their outfits for tonight’s performance.

I really only saw like a minute of Bu Wang, Songs End with Chenqing and Wuji because the connection just kept on freezing. I guess it’s back to looking for fancam vids for these performances...or hopefully they’ll be up on WeTV english.

The audience reciting Wei Ying’s last line to Lan Zhan before they parted on the hilltop was really awesome. When they did an audience shot, some people were crying. I feel them.

I lost it when everyone was saying good-bye as their characters (although I did chuckle when the stagehand made sure to push XZ and WYB together in the center, apart from the others...so much for the ruler gap)..and of course, when it almost got to Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo saying their good-byes, the connection cut out...I read that he said “Yunmeng Jiang, Wei Wuxian, bid you farewell.” I wish he had gone for it and said instead “Gusu Lan, Wei Wuxian, bid you farewell”, but I know I might as well have wished for the moon.

I had no sleep at all, gonna try to get some now at 7 am, but still, so glad I got to watch most of the concert live.

Thank you, Untamed/陈情令, for all the wonderful memories this summer, and all the new memories and joy you will bring me in the future as I revisit you again and again and as the result of your existence.

#The Untamed #陈情令 #CQL #Chen Qing Ling #Nanjing Concert #Mo Dao Zu Shi #MDZS #Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

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ezralva · 3 years

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No context needed, just have some Marius and his gorgeous bone structures.

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razberryyum · 5 years

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The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 4 (spoilers for everything)

(covers mainly MDZS chaps 13 and 14)

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

(a 🐰 is earned every time there is a WangXian scene or even when they’re just thinking of each other…more than one 🐰 can be given based on the level of WangXian-ness in a scene)

I loved and enjoyed all of Wei Ying’s “Notice me Wangji-senpai" moments in this episode, but my favorite has to be the one above: the way he tried to play off Lan Zhan totally ignoring him by blaming the other man’s hearing makes me laugh out loud every time I watch this episode. It’s just too adorable. Even though Lan Zhan is clearly still annoyed with him, I like how it’s also obvious that Wei Ying is slowly but surely burrowing his way into his psyche and taking hold there by either not leaving him alone or just being himself which is ample to constantly draw Lan Zhan’s attention to him. It‘s as if Lan Zhan’s life was a calm pond and Wei Ying was a beautiful, lively carp that suddenly decided to just jump into his waters without permission, taking liberties by swimming and splashing around, basically causing ruckus in every corner of his pool. Naturally, Wei Ying’s actions perturbs Lan Zhan to no end at first, but at the same time, he is also leaving an undeniable impression, so that eventually, when this carp leaves Lan Zhan’s pond, he can’t help but constantly think of Wei Ying and even miss his disruptive presence, thus naturally paving the way for the escalation of his affections that follow later on.

Whereas with Wei Ying, I think he simply enjoyed irritating this fuddy-duddy at first, but eventually, his light-hearted teasing probably became just a little more meaningful and he started looking forward to getting a reaction out of Lan Zhan because it provided him with genuine joy and satisfaction, until those feelings grew into just joy from being around the other man and interacting with him.

Ultimately that’s a big reason why I love their relationship: the development and progression of their feelings for each other makes a lot of sense to me. The phrase “opposites attract” has never been more applicable in terms of Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, but at the same time, they still share enough things in common—such as their moral code and belief system—that makes them absolutely just perfect for each other. I can imagine a future for them right from the start, whereas with other couples in stories, regardless of their sex, I’ve had difficulty believing they should be together other than because the plot requires them to be. I think the drama really succeeded in showing us why it’s completely logical that these two people would be drawn to each other, that they almost can’t help but be drawn together, by actually showing us all these little precious moments between them as they occurred, which the novel for the most part only described in an after-the-fact manner. While subtlety has its merits too, I do appreciate the more clearly illustrated path The Untamed decided to take for WangXian.

Along those lines, I also appreciated how CQL chose to show us the first time Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao met and their instant connection. Honestly, when I first saw this moment…

I immediately thought they were going to be a couple too, like Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, and I was totally on board, until I found out from reading comments here and there that I shouldn’t be because this ship was bad news. I was disappointed of course and even tried to withstand its alluring call for a while, especially after reading the book and finding out exactly why this wasn’t a ship I wanted to board since it was on a one-way ticket to hell and heartbreak basically. But the drama just made it so damn hard to resist, and before I knew it, I was lowkey hooked. Much like with WangXian, I was surprised at how much the show was getting away with in terms of XiYao:

I mean, big bro Xichen totally stroked Meng Yao’s finger there, right? First time I saw that, I remember rewinding a few times just to check and and make sure and if it’s just an optical illusion, that’s a damn convincing trick. Amusingly enough I thought at first Wei Ying was seeing the same thing and was reacting in disbelief to that moment, until I realized from his angle, there’s no way he could have seen that small gesture and he was just responding to that (ugly) incense pot.

After finishing the series, I have to admit I’m pretty much a full-on XiYao-shipper now, which is really out of character for me because I usually prefer ships with happy endings. I have to blame, or rather, give credit to the two actors portraying LXC and JGY (Liu Haikuan and Zhu Zanjin, respectively) for conjuring up these feelings in me because they had so much chemistry together, which honestly at times rivaled that of Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo’s chemistry. I just love how LXC’s expression softens every time he interacts with JGY and even from their first meeting, it’s obvious there were genuine feelings of respect and gratitude behind Meng Yao’s reaction to LXC.

Take the moment above as an example: the extreme admiration emanating from JGY after seeing LXC exhibit his fluting powers had to be for real since there was no reason to react just for Nie Huaisang’s sake. I can totally imagine hearts fluttering all around him as he looked upon XiChen with those wide, innocent-seeming puppy eyes of his. And when he bade his farewell to big bro later on in the episode, I loved how the camera lingered on LXC’s hands as Meng Yao moved away after saluting him, just to reiterate the intimacy of their brief physical contact.

I also appreciated the small, seemingly trivial moments before and after he meets up with LXC in that scene, where Meng Yao is first ignored by the two male sect disciples walking by him and then later on by two female disciples. Contrast that with how LXC immediately praises Meng Yao and recognizes him as his peer from the get go, going so far as to refer to himself by his own name (“Xichen”) just to reinforce their equality, it’s no wonder JGY was instantly drawn to him. I would go so far as to say he probably fell for LXC right from the start; doesn’t even matter if it might be only in the platonic sense, man was smitten no matter how anyone chooses to categorize his feelings.

XianQing? No thank you

When I first watched this episode, I still had the stormy cloud of fear that Wen Qing would eventually be the love interest that comes in between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji hanging over me due to some rumors I came across prior to even watching the show. As a result, every time Wen Qing and WWX would have a scene together, I would view it with trepidation as I was certain it was yet another building block to something undesirable, with the ultimate goal of mutating the relationship at the core of MDZS. If I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I was even able to rest easy until after Wen Qing’s passing and knowing for certain that the “danger period” was finally over, even though I had already grown to like her character. I still have complaints about how they altered her personality for the live action, but at least now, when I watch the scenes she shares with Wei Ying, instead of being filled with anxiety, I am actually more fascinated. I can still see the ghost of what Team CQL had initially intended with Wen Qing and WWX in a lot of their scenes together, before the fans’ uproar thankfully forced the producers to change their minds and stick with the source material. This scene wasn’t one of those moments, but with revisiting each episode, I actually look forward to picking out which scenes were feeding into their ship because of the way they were shot and how the two actors were directed to perform during the scene, especially Meng Ziyi. I’m glad I can actually sit back and have fun with all of this now.

XianNing? I can’t

I can see why some folks support this ship, and upon first viewing I thought this was a cute moment as well, but of course, I simply can’t go there since my heart already belongs to WangXian. And now, after having read the novel, all I could think about is how much I wish we got the archery contest at the Cultivation Conference. I’m glad we got to see it depicted in the donghua; it was as amazing as I hope it would be, but it’s a shame we didn’t get to see it in the drama. Since the producers had mentioned releasing specials of extra scenes that they couldn’t fit into the flow of the show, I hope the archery contest will be one of them. I don’t know where it would fit in in the timeline though…I guess it could happen while they were all held hostage at Nightless City, so the reason for the archery contest will have to be changed, but then maybe that’s the impetus for Wen Chao’s decision to force everyone on that dangerous quest to the Xuanwu cave: he’s so pissed off at losing at archery on his own turf that he decides to try to get all the sect kids killed. Either way, I hope we get to see the contest in live action form one day.

Wei Wuxian is so smart

I loved this scene. I love how WWX schooled everyone with his inventive fourth reason. He’s so awesome. That’s really all I wanted to say about it.

Random Bits of Randomness

I don’t think there’s anything wrong the color function on my tv, so please explain to me how that can be considered “purple” in any universe??

All I could think about in this scene is how disgusting that fish must have tasted cuz it looked awful, and I think Xiao Zhan even mentioned in an interview that it was gross. What probably made it taste worse was the fact that he kept on eating it from the stomach side, which can be really bitter. I think Wang Zhuocheng (Jiang Cheng) was eating it from the same side as well and I just can’t help grimacing every time I see this moment.

Odds and Ends:

I don’t really have any questions from this episode, but I did wonder if Wen Qing ever actually attended classes while she was at Cloud Recesses or did she just spend all of the time wandering the back hills, throwing her needles at barriers, cuz that’s not suspicious AT ALL. Unless I just happened to have missed her every single time in class, even though you would think it’s easy to spot her red in a sea of white…if that’s the case then I probably need to get my eyes checked.

Also, I wish we got to see Shijie draw her sword. She carried it around in the beginning, but I’m kinda bummed that we never saw her actually use it. I’m sure she is completely capable and would’ve looked just as badass as the boys.

And bless Uncle Lan for his brilliant idea of making Lan Zhan enforce the disciplinary action on Wei Ying, thereby allowing the boys to have valuable alone time in the library pavilion to further nurture their bond. In retrospect he probably regrets that decision, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s one of his best one he’s ever made.

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