The Untamed (2019)

How on earth did this series pass china's censorship?

¡¡Disclaimer!!
I'm writing this review from personal perspective. It is not meant to encourage/discourage you from watching. This is going to be quite a lengthy review so if you're not into that go ahead and skip reading it.


Why did I postpone watching this for this long? This is by far one of the best chinese series I've ever watched. Like literally there was barely anything that I've hated while watching. I've seen quite a few reviewers complaining about the lighting/props and styling/acting/plot changes....etc, and while I understand where they're coming from and I do agree with a lot of what they had pointed out, I can't help but disagree with a few things.


Story/plot:
I'll talk about the romance in here for the most part cuz there's more to point out in this side than there is in the plot as a whole.
For those who didn't know, this is originally a same-sex relationship type of novel. While the drama stayed true to the novel for the most part, the script and plot were changed quite a bit to pass the chinese censorship policy because china sadly has some (unreasonable) issues with lgbtq+ content being aired/advertised so they removed the love confession and a lot of the intimate parts. For me, this is probably my favorite version, and that's probably because I'm not that keen on skinship or sexual themes in romances, so this drama was very much up my lane especially since there was no kissing or any of the very touchy feely scenes. Some people didn't like this adaptation because of the absence of straightforward romance between WWX and LWJ, people mostly referred to it [their relationship] as platonic rather than romantic (to which I disagree) so having said this, a lot of people rated the plot a bit low for that reason. I personally think the director was playing with fire while making this, like I legit can't comprehend how this show passed the censorship policy. This did a good job in portraying how love doesn't need kissing and/or sex to be romantic/true, and the chemistry between the two leads was definitely there throughout the second quarter of the show all the way till the last episode. While most people couldn't see the very obvious signs/actions pointing at their relationship being a same-sex romance, I couldn't help but giggle at those very same actions/gestures and their meanings (LWJ tying his headband on WWX wrist, the ost literally being named wangxian, LZ giving WY two chickens/roosters while he was drunk, LZ letting his hair down while with WY, WY riding the donkey while LZ leads it.....etc) having pointed that out, the only reason that I could think of for this show to get the pass is that the one who gave them that pass was secretly an lgbtq+ supporter.
Now with that out of the way, let's move on to the plot as a whole. There were a few plotholes here and there (e.g. where was WY in the last 16 years? What happened to his parents exactly? What happened to LZ and ZJ's dad? Why did SL lose his eyes?) And I couldn't help but wonder why these aspects of the plot were left unexplained/unaddressed but apart from that, I really liked the plot and I could immediately tell who was the mastermind of everything (I won't spoil who but his very innocent act and the way he behaved was a dead giveaway and I'm not talking about JGY lol)


Acting/cast:
I had a love-hate relationship with the acting and cast and I'll get to why later but I'll rate the actors for the leading roles' work first.
~Xiao Zhan: A
I really liked his portrayal of WWX and I think he embodied the character surprisingly well. I honestly believe he did slightly better than yibo in terms of expressing his emotions and getting into character. I was a bit dubious at first about his abilities and if he'll do the character justice or not, but I was pleasantly surprised so, props to him for that.
~Wang Yibo: A-
A lot of people seemed to dislike his acting in the very beginnings, calling it emotionless and whatnot, but they all seem to forget that LWJ's character is exactly like this given the way he was raised and how he was treated, so I think yibo did pretty well in portraying him. He did a very decent job considering both him and zhan were not even actual actors but idols, so props to him too. I also applaud him for trying his best even tho he had quite a few trips to the hospital while filming.
I personally think that the casting was pretty good, especially the females' casting cuz those were probably my favorite thing in the whole show. What I didn't like tho, was that some actors seemed to struggle to get into character and how some extras looked so out of place especially during fighting scenes, hence the two stars that I've dropped from the rating. Also, I have to say that the best male actor among all those actors (for me at least) was Yu Bin. Like I literally die everytime WN is on screen and I can't gush enough about how adorable his character was.


Music:
The music was everything. I have nothing to complain about in here and I'm literally obsessed with the soundtrack on this, part of that comes from the fact that I don't have any specific preferences sound wise, if I like an audio then I like it, regardless of the genre of the music so from beginning to end, the bgm and osts were a hit.


Production/props/styling:
Ok, here's the downside of this drama (and almost every other xianxia/wuxia adaptation) the props and the sets are quite low quality. The styling on this one in all honesty wasn't that great either. The lighting in some parts was very awkward and the contrast/saturation was a bit of an issue in here. The angles of the camera were kinda funny in some parts, and the way they had the characters flying around like they're doing the naruto run midair was hilarious. But since I've gotten used to these loopholes in chinese historical dramas, it didn't bother me as much cuz I've sadly seen way worse. What bothered me the most was the random bleeding/spitting blood and the very wobbly swords given to the extras and some side characters. Also the fact that sometimes the weapon doesn't even graze them and they drop dead had me cracking up so many times.


All in all, this series was a huge step forward for chinese series/dramas in terms of portraying a same-sex relationship. And considering that it is going to take quite a while for china to become more open to stuff like this, I believe they're going in the right direction for now. I must admit, I was a bit skeptic about how this was gonna turn out taking into consideration the fact that the original novel was big on the romance part and that the two leading roles were given to amateur actors, but I still found myself enjoying their interactions, the very little touches and the way their eyes expressed everything. And finally, I definitely recommend giving it a try, and if you can get past the low quality in designing and props, you'll quite enjoy the show.


P.s: I liked JC's character in here way more than in the novel/donghua for some reason, they made him a slightly better person/brother and his personality was definitely more likeable. Also, I'm still mad that WQ and JYL died in the novel and all adaptations, but I also can't imagine them staying alive for some reason so I'm a bit confused here lol.


Edit: so I edited the part where it said that MDZS is a BL because it has been bothering me way too much tbh, I feel like saying that it's a BL is selling it short and isn't really befitting for such a masterpiece. This has exceeded the realm of BL and ventured into a completely different level of greatness. You rarely stumble upon such magnificent storyline and absolutely stunning characters, more importantly, this is not just a romance-originated storyline, it's much more than that, it's fricking god tier levels of genius complexity and beautiful simplicity simultaneously. MXTX is really just that great and for any fans of The Untamed, I recommend you read the original novel and check out the author's other works, cuz their work is just *chef's kiss* so yeah, I really advice y'all to read their novels. Also, I recommend the audio drama and the donghua, especially the latter cuz let me tell ya, the animation is just otherworldly and it's definitely less censored than the drama. But the audio drama? HOLY turnips that one yeeted censorship all the way into burial mounds lol, so I definitely encourage giving them a watch.

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