The Untamed (2019)

I don't know how to start this review. I want to write a long review so that I can express all my feelings about this masterpiece but I know no one reads long reviews anyways. But I really want to look back at this review a few years from now and remember this sensation of infinite pain, love, tragedy and relief. For those of you who won't read this review and haven't watched it, P L E A S E W A T C H I T. I guarantee you it will be one of the best dramas you've ever watched and it might change your life and perspective on things, like it did with me.
So now, let me get into this review.

A little background: I'd never watched any xianxia drama (not even historical ones) and since I know many chinese shows are like that, I stayed away from them, because I feared not understanding the plot and not connecting to the characters. Nonetheless, when I saw the drama was one of the top-rated of all time I decided to check its profile page here on mydramalist and the plot really attracted me. I had no idea it was adapted from a BL novel (I like bl dramas a lot!!). But then I saw one of the actors is Wang Yibo and I remembered that name. I found out he was actually a member from a group I really like (Uniq) and I got even more intrigued. After reading some of the reviews and comments and realising the two main leads were supposed to be a couple, I was hooked. Even though it's portrayed as a bromance, I don't mind it because I love close friendships too.

I watched the first episode and I was LOST. I didn't know what was going on, who was friends with who, what cultivation was, why everyone hated the cinamonroll that is wei wuxian. The names confused me too. I left some comments on this page lol they serve as proof.
But as the drama progressed, things were starting to get clearer and clearer. After episode 10 I was already fully immersed in the story and I lived each moment of each episode very intensely. I don't want to write spoilers in this review but the way they structured this show is so well made because we get to know the characters and their intentions very well before jumping back to the present time. It's different from the novel and I think it's a good different.

I'm not sure this is the best acting I've ever seen. Honestly, I would have very much preferred the actors could use their own voices because a big part of the actor's abilities lay on their voice. I think some actors overdid their acting and some of the movements were strangely executed, like JiangCheng. I also think the team should have payed more attention to the cinematography. Even if this wasn't a high budget drama they could have worked with the lightening and the framing a bit more. I think the lack of editing was more noticeable on the last episodes. I liked the sentimental part of the last five episodes but I couldn't understand why they were in that situation and didn't run away??? Anyways, I don't want to spoil so I won't talk too much about it but I did find it weird. Some camerawork and editing could be better.

Although technically the drama wasn't the best (probably due to its low budget, most probably), it was still beautiful. The actors are S T U N N I NG, each and every one of them. Like, I didn't even know where to look!! The main leads are sooooo charming, in different ways. Our mesmerising Lan Zhan (Wang Yibo) is sublime. His facial expressions and body language were so interesting to watch. Very very very talented. And then there's XiaoZhan as Wei Ying, who literally went through hell for being too good for his world. Their chemistry is mind-blowing. The smiles they give at each other, the intimate looks, the subtle touches. To me their relationship was very obvious and I'm actually thankful they did it this way; somehow, it worked better than any BL I've ever watched.
In my opinion, every side character was soooo interesting!! The villains were great, the goodies were great, the moodies too (JiangChen, I'm talking about you). Personally, my favorite villain was the last one (don't want to spoil anyone lol). I just really like the actor, he looks so cute like what???? And the character was the most interesting to me. XueYang was just cruel, in my opinion. But I'm reading the novel now so I'll probably understand the characters a lot better!!

I finished watching this drama on Saturday and I've been writing this review ever since then hahaha This was the hardest review I've ever written because of the drama's length and my feelings about it. But, in conclusion, I'd just like to say that this drama really did change something in me and my perception of good and evil and I think the script is simply genius for making us like the guy who was supposed to be bad and how restraining the "good side" can be. I'll definitely rewatch this in the near future, probably this year or early next year if I'm being honest. When I'm done reading the novel I'll just watch interviews of the cast, suffer on twitter and wait for the MOVIES THAT ARE BEING RELEASED VERY SOON!!! Being a fan of this show is not bad at all.

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