raruje
Poorly done as an adaptation; Poorly done as a stand-alone show
The biggest problem about this show is undoubtedly the script. The pacing is too slow and the plot-writing is all over the place. The first 16 or so episodes are nearly incomprehensible plot-wise and I am convinced everyone who finished watching this show only powered through for the romance or the characters, because the storytelling in this show was so messy I'm sure nobody really understood it. The Untamed also tends to be overly dialogue heavy and compresses all necessary information into a long infodump, like it did during the last few episodes. Also, I can tolerate plotholes in stories but the amount of plotholes in this show is unforgivable, especially because most of them could have been avoided.
One of the best aspects of MDZS is its nuanced exploration of moral themes, but all that was completely scrapped and flattened in this adaptation. Wei Wuxian's character here is completely different. The thing about his original character is that he's supposed to be a genius who created the demonic path. In this show, it was Xue Yang's grandfather who created it. And worse, everything that Wei Wuxian does in The Untamed can be done by literally everyone else. Why the hell was Wen Qing able to manipulate the puppets? Why was Su She able to manipulate Wen Ning? Everything that made Wei Wuxian special in the original novel was scrapped. The reason why everyone was so terrified of him was because he literally could do things nobody else could. He was an unpredictable wild card. The show made him look like a pathetic victim when he was supposed to be a dangerous, unstable demonic cultivator. Making him completely innocent and pushing all his crimes onto Jin Guangyao ruined the nuance and complexity of both their characters.
Another issue is Wen Qing. Her character in this show is basically a deus ex machina that randomly appears whenever the heroes are in trouble. The thing about her is that she does so many things that effectively make her a traitor towards the Wen Sect, and the Wens KNOW this, and yet she never suffers any real consequences for her actions. There's no real risk involved because all she gets are cheap threats in the throne room that never amount to anything bigger than a verbal warning. And the most idiotic thing about this is that despite the fact that the Wens know that she is helping Wei Wuxian, they literally do not do anything to monitor her. I mean, Wen Ruohan knows she's not 100% on their side, why would he give her so much freedom and even entrust important missions to her? It makes no sense. Her character feels terribly hollow because she's set up to be this trapped hostage character but the audience never feels scared or concerned for her no matter what she does because she ALWAYS gets away with it. And after all those threats towards Wen Ning's life, what did the Wens do when they found out she saved Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng? They just threw them in jail. That's it. Then what the hell were all those dramatic threats for? Just for show? And how did she escape the Jin cultivators and end up in the market? She was shown being dragged along with the other Wens, and then suddenly she's in the market with no explanation whatsoever. How did she escape and get there? With her Mary Sue powers?
There's also the weird Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing romantic subplot that came out of nowhere with no buildup whatsoever and then was dropped randomly.
Bad script aside, the sets and costumes were lovely. The OST itself was superb, but the problem was how overly repetitive the editing felt. WuJi and Yi Nan Ping are wonderful pieces but they were overplayed in every scene. Fighting scenes were awful, no way around that. Shoutout to Wang Yibo though because his fight scenes are actually quite nice to watch because of how well he executes them. Was not at all surprised to find out he is a dancer because it really shows in his movements.
The acting was subpar, but I l did lower my standards here considering nearly everyone in the cast were either idols or newbies. Xiao Zhan did well to show Wei Wuxian's mischievousness, but he failed to embody the character of the Yiling Laozu, who was supposed to be terrifying and intimidating. The parts where he was supposed to be scary didn't feel that way at all. Wang Yibo did pretty well as Lan Wangji. I didn't like his acting in the first 12 or so episodes, but he really blossomed later on and made me love Lan Zhan even more. Xuan Lu was simply perfect as Jiang Yanli and is (in my opinion) the actor who did the best in the show. Wang Zhuocheng really overacted at times, but I think he did fairly well for his first big role, and Jiang Cheng IS a difficult character. Wen Qing's actress is the worst of the main cast. She can cry and smile, but when the scene calls for more nuanced acting she falls flat. Even Lan Wangji shows more emotion than she does. They really should have picked a better actress for such a prominent character.
One of the best aspects of MDZS is its nuanced exploration of moral themes, but all that was completely scrapped and flattened in this adaptation. Wei Wuxian's character here is completely different. The thing about his original character is that he's supposed to be a genius who created the demonic path. In this show, it was Xue Yang's grandfather who created it. And worse, everything that Wei Wuxian does in The Untamed can be done by literally everyone else. Why the hell was Wen Qing able to manipulate the puppets? Why was Su She able to manipulate Wen Ning? Everything that made Wei Wuxian special in the original novel was scrapped. The reason why everyone was so terrified of him was because he literally could do things nobody else could. He was an unpredictable wild card. The show made him look like a pathetic victim when he was supposed to be a dangerous, unstable demonic cultivator. Making him completely innocent and pushing all his crimes onto Jin Guangyao ruined the nuance and complexity of both their characters.
Another issue is Wen Qing. Her character in this show is basically a deus ex machina that randomly appears whenever the heroes are in trouble. The thing about her is that she does so many things that effectively make her a traitor towards the Wen Sect, and the Wens KNOW this, and yet she never suffers any real consequences for her actions. There's no real risk involved because all she gets are cheap threats in the throne room that never amount to anything bigger than a verbal warning. And the most idiotic thing about this is that despite the fact that the Wens know that she is helping Wei Wuxian, they literally do not do anything to monitor her. I mean, Wen Ruohan knows she's not 100% on their side, why would he give her so much freedom and even entrust important missions to her? It makes no sense. Her character feels terribly hollow because she's set up to be this trapped hostage character but the audience never feels scared or concerned for her no matter what she does because she ALWAYS gets away with it. And after all those threats towards Wen Ning's life, what did the Wens do when they found out she saved Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng? They just threw them in jail. That's it. Then what the hell were all those dramatic threats for? Just for show? And how did she escape the Jin cultivators and end up in the market? She was shown being dragged along with the other Wens, and then suddenly she's in the market with no explanation whatsoever. How did she escape and get there? With her Mary Sue powers?
There's also the weird Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing romantic subplot that came out of nowhere with no buildup whatsoever and then was dropped randomly.
Bad script aside, the sets and costumes were lovely. The OST itself was superb, but the problem was how overly repetitive the editing felt. WuJi and Yi Nan Ping are wonderful pieces but they were overplayed in every scene. Fighting scenes were awful, no way around that. Shoutout to Wang Yibo though because his fight scenes are actually quite nice to watch because of how well he executes them. Was not at all surprised to find out he is a dancer because it really shows in his movements.
The acting was subpar, but I l did lower my standards here considering nearly everyone in the cast were either idols or newbies. Xiao Zhan did well to show Wei Wuxian's mischievousness, but he failed to embody the character of the Yiling Laozu, who was supposed to be terrifying and intimidating. The parts where he was supposed to be scary didn't feel that way at all. Wang Yibo did pretty well as Lan Wangji. I didn't like his acting in the first 12 or so episodes, but he really blossomed later on and made me love Lan Zhan even more. Xuan Lu was simply perfect as Jiang Yanli and is (in my opinion) the actor who did the best in the show. Wang Zhuocheng really overacted at times, but I think he did fairly well for his first big role, and Jiang Cheng IS a difficult character. Wen Qing's actress is the worst of the main cast. She can cry and smile, but when the scene calls for more nuanced acting she falls flat. Even Lan Wangji shows more emotion than she does. They really should have picked a better actress for such a prominent character.
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