The Untamed: very pretty, not many demons so far

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Yesterday we watched "The Untamed" up to episode 15. It's so pretty! I love the costumes. Brief post about it because we want to watch more today and I might forget stuff.

Btw, as someone who often has the "problem" that even in canons focusing on female protagonists I somehow am most interested by male characters even when they have minor roles, I'm kinda delighted that this time it's the opposite: I don't really ship the main pairing but I want all the fic about two f/f pairings where one of them has only had a few seconds/no screentime so far. Namely Lan Yi/Bao Shang and Madam Yu/Wei Wuxian's mom, whose name I forgot (something Wanderer) and am too afraid to google because spoilers.

Madam Yu is a great character. Yes, she's very harsh, and she clearly hates Wei Wuxian – but it's hard to blame her, he does always get himself and her son and their clan in trouble and never learns and is much more talented than her own son who's always in his shadow and rumors say he's her husband's bastard son with the woman her husband might still be in love with. And she disagrees with her husband a lot and they fight, but her arguments aren't wrong. And she shouldn't have hit Wei Wuxian with the purple lightning that much, it was clear that the Wen clan wouldn't just leave it at that, that was not only unkind but also tactically stupid because Wei Wuxian is a strong fighter, but nobody's perfect. And her assassin servants are great.
…she'll probably die in the next episode. Boo.

As for Wei Wuxian, I like him, but only from a distance. I'm sure in the novel it's more obvious how Lan Wangji was drawn to him from the beginning, but here while there was an element of that, I also completely believed that Lan Wangji was genuinely mostly annoyed by him and with good reason. Wei Wuxian basically mind-controlled him that one time!

I'm much more interested in Wei Wuxiang's sibling relationship with Jiang Cheng – I really liked Wei Wuxian trying to encourage him when Jiang Cheng thinks his father hates him, for example. And Jiang Cheng will end up hating and killing him :(

I also like Lan Xichen a lot, and his flute/recorder is beautiful. He had a moment of chemistry with Meng Yao, I look forward to seeing them again.
I don't like Jin Yizuan, and knowing that Jiang Yanli marries him does not make it better. I don't particularly like Nie Huaisang yet either – how could he be this useless?
I hate Wen Chao and Yue Xang and Wang Lingjiao, well done by their actors.

Comments

[zdenka]

Huh, I've been wondering what it would be like to watch The Untamed without having read the novel or watched the animation (which seems to be following the novel relatively closely so far). I'm only up to episode 12 of The Untamed, but I don't mind spoilers because I know more or less what happens. (I will try to be careful on my side to avoid novel spoilers with anyone who's watching The Untamed unspoiled.)

I think I'll unavoidably be reacting to it differently than someone who hasn't read/watched other versions, because I'm constantly mentally comparing it to the versions I know (some changes I like better, some I don't like, some just confuse me, some I'm reserving judgement to see how they pan out) and I also have a lot of strong feelings about the various characters already, and it's hard not to watch the drama through that filter. But I have been enjoying it so far! And I'm glad you've been enjoying it too.

I also was shipping Lan Yi/Baoshan Sanren from those brief scenes! I don't ship Madam Yu/Cangse Sanren (Wei Wuxian's mom), but I can see why people would.

I haven't watched those scenes in the drama yet, but from the equivalent scenes in the novel, I feel similarly about Madam Yu. I think she's a really great character.

I'm sure in the novel it's more obvious how Lan Wangji was drawn to him from the beginning

*cough* YMMV, but in my opinion, not really. The novel is almost entirely from Wei Wuxian's perspective, and he's really oblivious about some things. If anything, I'd say the drama so far has been giving more hints of Lan Wangji's feelings for WWX than the novel. I do like WWX, but he can also be a bit much. I think he'd annoy me in person -- I'd be glaring at him all the time like Jiang Cheng. :) I like him okay as a character, but he's not my favorite.

I'm much more interested in Wei Wuxiang's sibling relationship with Jiang Cheng

Yessss. This is also one of the things I'm very invested in, whether in the novel or the drama.

Concerning Nie Huaisang, I don't know if the drama is going to take him in the same direction as the novel. I only know that from the novel I didn't wind up caring about him until much later. (We'll see what they do with him, I guess!)

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I don't really ship Madam Yu/Cangse Sanren romantically as an endgame ship tbh, I just want all the stories about their fascination with each other and rivalry/mutual respect/friendship with the occasional crush :D

I'm watching the drama with DD, who has read the novel though it was a while ago, which helps occasionally (mostly very early on when I kept forgetting names and who belongs to whom etc.) Fortunately I don't know any spoilers about anything :) Even the intro and end credits have few spoilers, I knew that Lotus Cove would fall when I met Madam Yu for example, but right now I don't think there's anything else (that I understand, e.g. I don't know yet where/what the bright palace with the big stair is.)

What I really like about Wei Wuxian's relationship with Jiang Cheng is that it's obvious that as much as Jiang Cheng is sometimes annoyed by Wei Wuxian and hates it when he dishonors the clan, he also genuinely enjoys hanging out with him (most of the time) and likes the excuse to behave less rigidly at times. I got very little of that from Lan Wangji. I think the first time I believed that Lan Wangji did not just tolerate Wei Wuxian was in Qishan. Or maaybe the lantern festival. The only thing making me maybe consider it earlier was that Lan Xichen clearly shipped it from the beginning and surely he knows his brother.

I look forward to learning how the other versions differ once I've finished watching the drama :)

[zdenka]

That could be interesting! I just want more of anything about Cangse Sanren, and also Madam Yu in her younger days.

I agree, about Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng. And I also feel like the drama version of him cares about Wei Wuxian. He says things like "I was -- I mean, my SISTER was worried about you." He's outwardly grumpy but he really does care. (Jiang Cheng is my very favorite, so I care that they're doing him justice.)

I wasn't trying to argue that Lan Wangji's feelings are clear in the drama, necessarily, just that they were even less so in the novel. But Lan Wangji in any version is so repressed that it's hard to tell what he's thinking.

And I'll look forward to seeing where this version goes. :)

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We watched up to episode 20 now and DD said Jiang Cheng in the drama is much more fleshed out than in the novel so I think you will like it :) I like him a lot so far.

[zdenka]

Cool! I definitely will look forward to that.