The Untamed, Episodes 16-20

[galaxysoup]

Episode 16

• Wow, okay, Wen Floozy just straight-up murdered a child. Rheasilvia warned me there would be some over the top stuff, but damn!


• They are. Really leaning in to how upsetting the destruction of Lotus Pier is, huh.


• Whatsisbro has for sure had an extremely upsetting day, but the Jiang family in general really need to stop working out their feelings by abusing Wei Wuxian and blaming him for no reason.


• WHATSISBRO YOU UTTER UTTER DUMBASS


• Awww... Wen Ning really is a sweet kid


• Wei Wuxian, sweetie, you’re kinda starting to unspool a bit here.


• There is less to say about this episode than usual because 50% of it was people weeping dramatically in different settings.


• I miss Lan Wangji.

Episode 17

• I’m kind of curious about the Core Melting Hand guy. Even with the creepy power he seems a lot less psycho than the usual Goth Club flunky. He also seems like he would switch sides for the right reasons and I’m curious about his backstory with Scary Mom.


• This is why Wen Ning should stay with his sister always. His heart’s in the right place but he’s terrible at doing sneaky things and actually getting away with them.


• What has happened to Whatsisbro is very upsetting and tragic and he is being.... extremely annoying about it, especially considering large chunks of it were his own fault.


• Aw, coping by doing research in the library? Lan Wangji would be so proud!


• Does Jiang Yanli have cultivator powers? She goes to the lectures and things, but we’ve never seen her fight. She’s kind of an Ill Girl, which would explain her not fighting, but tbh Scary Mom does not seem like the kind of person who would have let her daughter not learn to fight, for any reason.


• I’m glad that someone finally addressed the net effect of everyone blaming Wei Wuxian for things that aren’t his fault, even if I’m pretty sure it didn’t stick.


• I am loling at the implication that they stuck some pins in Whatsisbro’s head and just left him to sleep for like, a week.


• WEI WUXIAN NO DON’T DO IT WHATSISBRO DOESN’T DESERVE THIS he needs to learn some life lessons instead of having everything be fixed for him by you, because I’m pretty sure he’s going to think you losing your core to save his is a just solution and it is NOT


• Gosh I’m having some unexpectedly complicated feelings about this whole golden core situation.


• When will Lan Wangji return from the war

Episode 18

• Wait, is that Ghostbuster Ray? Uh oh...


• Oh hi, Psycho Goth Smirkface. I didn’t miss you. Or your eyeball-melting.


• Okay, so there are the cultivator families/clans/sects/whatevers, and then are there less highbrow or less structured ones too? Because Ghostbusters Ray and Fraser seem to be acting on their own but still welcomed back by the people who taught them, and Wei Wuxian’s mom seems to be doing her own thing (??). Is there, like, hedge-witch level cultivation?


• Jfc those pins were really jammed into Whatsisbro’s head but good


• I would be a lot more impressed with how tricksy Wei Wuxian’s being right now if he weren’t about to sacrifice himself


• Homg the baby flashback trio is ADORBS


• Why am I not surprised that Jin Trust Fund Baby’s ancestral home looks like that


• Did they... seriously just cover the entire rebellion against the Goth Clan in a montage?


• LAN WANGJI HI LAN WANGJI I MISSED YOU AND YOUR MICROEXPRESSIONS wait we only got one tiny clip of him?!?


• I am a lot less upset with Whatsisbro now that it’s clear he has no clue what’s actually happening.

Episode 19

• Awwwwwww fuck Wei Wuxian just walked right into every high-level Goth Clan bad guy at once. What the hell was he doing there all by himself??


• I’m really over Wen Floozy.


• The scene with them all flying on their swords is... not as impressive as they imagined it, I think.


• The Burial Mounds concept is very creepy and cool, and also wtf does Wei Wuxian have in his bag??


• Noooooo, Tragic Goth Siblings! D:


• Hang on, how did the creepy turtle sword wind up in the Burial Mounds? And can he even still use it without his golden core?


• AAAAAAAAAA LAN WANGJI FUCK THEM UP LAN WANGJI


• The scene of them getting their swords back made me surprisingly emotional


• Okay, I will grant that Jin Trust Fund Baby is being pretty adorable here.

Episode 20

• IT’S THE EVIL (?) FLUTE! I was wondering when that would show up!


• Okay. Wow. So, that whole revenge scene was super creepy and brutal, and morally not great, but also couldn’t have happened to two nicer people, so. Um. Wei Wuxian, honey, you doing okay?


• Ask a stupid question...


• It’s cool to see Whatsisbro using his mom’s snake bracelet thing


• Ooooooh.... Lan Wangji totally knows who did this, or at least strongly suspects. I wonder if the extra unusual talisman symbol stuff came from Wei Wuxian’s time in the Cloud Recesses library?


• GOTH GIRL hi sweetheart I’m so glad you’re saved! Also lol at Whatsisbro’s heart attack


• Um. I think it’s safe to say that having his golden core taken has actually somehow let Wei Wuxian level up


• Did. Did Wei Wuxian literally snatch Psycho Goth Prince’s wig...?


• Yessssss Lan Wangji and Whatsisbro jumping in to defend Wei Wuxian! He didn’t need it, but it was still nice to see.


• HUG D: D: D:


• Ohhhhhhhh. Oh no. This is the start of the Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji falling out. There are TWELVE more episodes to get through in this flashback and Lan Microexpressions is already leaning into his 'heartbreak' repertoire!!!

Comments

[bonibaru]

I did not know how much uglycrying I would do about Lotus Pier.

[galaxysoup]

Right????

[dancing_serpent]

but the Jiang family in general really need to stop working out their feelings by abusing Wei Wuxian and blaming him for no reason.
So much this!

Aw, coping by doing research in the library? Lan Wangji would be so proud!
Right? And they say WWX never puts in any hard work!

What the hell was he doing there all by himself??
Waiting for Jiang Cheng to come back down the mountain. *g*

and also wtf does Wei Wuxian have in his bag??
Well, the creepy turtle sword of course. Which works with resentful energy, apparently no core needed.

This is the start of the Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji falling out.
It's kinda their first break-up. *g*

[galaxysoup]

Well, the creepy turtle sword of course. Which works with resentful energy, apparently no core needed.

Okay but, how... does the creepy turtle sword... fit in his teeny little belt bag? Is this *handwave* magic that lets it also be a flute? I can def understand why it powered up as soon as he landed in the Burial Mounds...

It's kinda their first break-up. *g*

Oh nooooo. ;__; ;__; ;__; Lan Wangji's tiny sad faces are so hard to look at ;__; ;__; ;__;

[dancing_serpent]

Those pouches are like the TARDIS, somehow bigger on the inside. I don't know how they work in-universe, or if it's explained in the novel, but you can store all kinds of stuff in there, apparently. Like swords or guqins (that instrument Lan Wangji plays), or a change of clothing.

And it already started powering up during the fight with the Wen guys - every time a drop of WWX's blood fell on the pouch, we see resentful energy rising from it.

[galaxysoup]

Oh, cool! I did wonder how their swords seemed to come and go sometimes but I figured it was just *wink wink nudge nudge* "now they're armed for fighty time!" And I had no explanation for the guqin, except that maybe it hid in a magical pocket dimension or something.

HA 'magical pocket dimension', I guess I wasn't far wrong, was I? :D

[dancing_serpent]

In some episodes further down the line you will see it a bit more clearly - someone opening a pouch and then a bit of blue sparkles and an item will appear.

And I've been told some cultivators have sleeves that work the same way. It would explain how Lan Wangji just waves his arm and summons his guqin into existence.

[galaxysoup]

That's so cool - I want magic sleeves! Lan Wangji's sleeves do look pretty magical, I'll admit.

[rheasilvia]

Oh man, the slaughter and the crying eps were incredibly trying for me to get through. They are mashing so hard on buttons I don't have!! Glad you got through them okay, too. :-)

WHATSISBRO YOU UTTER UTTER DUMBASS

Alas, I suspect this battly cry will not soon leave your lips.

The scene with them all flying on their swords is... not as impressive as they imagined it, I think.

I laughed so hard. :-)) There's ascene in the last ep, I think, where the sword shenanigans reach even greater heights of hilarity, so look forward to that!

I will grant that Jin Trust Fund Baby is being pretty adorable here.

Sneaky people, those Jins. Just when you've stopped expecting it... ;-)

I'm super impressed that you caught the core transfer thing right away! For some reason it completely passed me by - maybe because I was just trying my hardest to ignore Sulkmeister at this point, and didn't mentally engage with that plotline at all. Plus I can't say his core troubles mattered to me... I am a hard woman when a character annoys me, it seems.

[galaxysoup]

There's a scene in the last ep, I think, where the sword shenanigans reach even greater heights of hilarity, so look forward to that!

Oh no. Okay. I can brace myself. It will be fine.

Plus I can't say his core troubles mattered to me... I am a hard woman when a character annoys me, it seems.

Yeah, I was really annoyed with him when he was misplacing all his blame onto Wei Wuxian for something he did his own dumb self, but I softened a lot when it became clear that he had no idea what Wei Wuxian was planning and that Wei Wuxian was never, ever going to tell him voluntarily. It still doesn't absolve him of his assholery earlier - understandable trauma or not - but I was able to give him the benefit of the doubt and decide that he would have reacted differently if he'd known what was going on.

(Still his own dumb fault, though.)

(Also, I wonder if the situation between Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng would have gone differently if Wen Qing hadn't had to keep it a secret from him too? She might have felt like she could go to him for help later.)