Untamed Re-watch: Episode 3

[allycat796]

 

Part three! Full disclosure, this is not my favorite set of episodes, so maybe I won’t have as much to say.

·         Jiang Yanli looks upset at the mere mention of Jin Zixuan. Kind of makes me think he’s made an ass of himself to her before this point, too.

·         This scene of Wei Wuxian flirting with Mianmian to try to get rooms for the Jiangs makes it pretty clear that flirting doesn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with genuine attraction for him. I consider his past flirtations not super relevant for trying to pin down his “real” sexual orientation. (For the record: I think there’s a case to be made for gay or bi, and interpreting him as one doesn’t actually take away from interpretations where he’s the other, so it’s all good.)

·         Wei “Yuandao” looks sooo satisfied with himself in the background while Mianmian and her friend try to figure out his joke.

·         So given that Mianmian and her friend really seemed to think they could spare a few rooms for the Jiang entourage, and this random Jin dude is listing Jin Zixuan “not wanting to have associations with random folks” as one of the reasons the Jiangs need to leave, I’m inclined to believe there really were enough rooms in the inn for everyone to fit and Jin Zixuan is just being kind of a dick. Also, the way he refuses to say anything while letting his servant(?) talk for him comes off pretty condescending, like he’s too good to expend the effort (Jin Zixuan *handshake meme* Lan Wangji in the previous episode)

·         Jin Zixuan gets a lot better later, and would have improved even more if he hadn’t died, but my feelings on him are still kind of…world’s okayest guy. He’s endearing in a lot of ways! But I think he definitely still had a lot of room for growth even there at the end.

·         Wei Wuxian responds to the Jins’ rudeness by also being super rude. Condescending, invading Jin Zixuan’s personal space.

·         Interesting how wwx tries to disassociate himself from the Jiang clan when people have a beef with him. He will, of course, do this much more dramatically later in the show, so this was a nice little bit of setup. He has conflicting imperatives, which are: stick it to assholes, and keep heat off the Jiangs. And his solution to this is just, well, I’m not one of them.

·         Jin Zixuan doesn’t even say anything when his betrothed directly addresses him. Oh my god, dude.

·         Oh god, the swelling music as jzx and jyl run into each other, the staring…the show does not do a good job making clear up-front what’s going on with these two, so it all felt very dramatic for no real reason my first time watching. The emotional investment just wasn’t there yet.

·         I’ve seen people say Wei Wuxian ruined some budding moment for our lovebirds here by coming up and being rude to Jin Zixuan but, sorry, I just can’t see it. Zixuan was most likely going to keep doing his best impression of a plank of wood while Yanli waited with bated breath to see if he was going to acknowledge her in any way beyond that demanded by basic courtesy. They would’ve stood there like that all night.

·         Poor Yanli spends so much of this sequence looking like she wants to say something, and then not saying it. Wonder what, exactly?

·         Wonder whose job it was to be responsible for that invitation? Yanli is the oldest, Jiang Cheng is the sect heir, and Wei Wuxian’s the head disciple. You could make a case for any of them. Or just say it was a collective error.

·         I feel like I should have more to say about Lan Wangji’s introduction here but can’t think of anything that isn’t just stating the obvious.

·         Ooh, but I do think it’s fun how he perks up a little when Wei Wuxian clocks that the guy on the stretcher isn’t actually dead.

·         Lan Wangji is being a little rigid, but I’m not sure why Wei Wuxian thinks saying that to his face is going to get him anywhere.

·         When they make camp, we can hear the other Jiang disciples talking about how rigid and out of line Lan Wangji is, so methinks this is just a case of culture clash. If someone showed up at Lotus Pier without their invitation, I bet all of them, with the possible exception of yzy, would be willing to make an exception.

·         “Yunmeng is much better” idk why I never caught all this shit-talking before.

·         The dialogue between the Jiang siblings is probably translated a bit wonkily, so I’m not 100% sure what exactly it is jyl is worried about (I think that jzx will be rude to wwx when he tries enter the inn?), but it’s a cute sibling moment! Jiang Cheng can be really sweet. Also genuinely seems to have very little faith in Wei Wuxian, which is a minor issue now but will get a lot bigger later. Wei Wuxian’s flippant behavior does encourage this impression, so it’s an issue that’s coming from both sides, but still…why didn’t you just send someone else then?

·         And Wei Wuxian did buy alcohol so it’s not 100% unfounded? But that probably took like. A minute. He’s taking so long because Caiyi is far away!

·         Wei Wuxian seems to think it was really cool of Lan Wangji to let the Jiang party in, but I honestly think the way he went about it was kind of dickish? Why make them wait in the first place? And why do it while wwx is gone and then not leave him a way of getting in? I think lwj’s being both nice to the Jiangs and petty to Wei Wuxian at the same time. We love a guy who’s good at multitasking. (Also raises the question: Did the Jiangs not…say anything? About the fact that wwx was gonna be stuck outside all night?)

·         The Lans’ entire ward system vs. one (1) mischievous teenager with a sparkly butterfly talisman: who will win? No but like, seriously, they should probably beef up their security. Granted, this particular teenager is a prodigy and an inventor, but still.

·         Also love that wwx’s seemingly very practical multi-purpose invention takes the form of fucking. Sparkly butterflies.

·         Again, wwx is being such a little shit here, but did lwj really expect him to just spend the night alone outside? They’re definitely each being very abrasive in their own special way.

·         “Oooh nooo, how was I possibly to know that literally breaking into your house would be against the rules?” The audacity of this kid.

·         Wwx doesn’t even bother drawing his sword for this fight, and focuses primarily on evasion. On the one hand, I like the idea that he’s kind of a slippery, evasive fighter, but on the other it would have been nice to see him seriously use Suibian some more.

·         On characterization: wwx is excited to see Lan Wangji show enough skill to match him in a fight, so at least in this regard, I believe his self-confidence is genuine. I would expect an insecure person to feel more threatened by the idea of someone who could beat him. But wwx knows he’s good, so much so that it seems like he’s actually a little tired of winning all the time.

·         Ha, so every time I’ve read a fic where lwj, like, puts out the candles with his spiritual power or whatever I’ve wondered, wait, can cultivators even actually do that? But Lan Xichen just used it to blow a curtain around, so I guess that’s a yes.

·         I don’t think this particular invasion of personal space was deliberate on wwx’s part; I think he just got so caught up in his theatrics that he kinda…forgot about it. Just, from the way he slowly draws back from Lan Quiren with a sort of “whoops!” expression.

·         Poor Lan Wangji, he just has no idea what to do with himself. I wonder how often Xichen tells on him when he secretly does nice things. I bet it’s a lot.

·         Ahhh, Nightless City. Great aesthetic. The first time I watched this I was really blindsided by the reveal that the Wens were actually villains? Idk, they just seemed like such nice, normal people. With a nice, normal taste in interior design…

·         …said nobody, ever. Idk, I think the campy over-the-top villainy works well to contrast the more mundane, grounded form of villainy we get later. But only when you know that’s coming. I think people going in blind could be turned off by it.

·         Adaptation choices: cql really leaned into the red and black with the Wens, instead of the red and white from other versions of the story. Wonder why? Maybe to align their palette more closely with wwx’s as a form of foreshadowing, or as a red herring to make uninformed viewers think his slippery slope to evil involved him becoming like Wen Ruohan? Or just because black is a more typical villain color? I’m not well versed in character design or color theory, especially not the way either are used in Chinese media, so I’m just guessing here.

·         Wen Qing! It seems like her job is less spying and more just directly retrieving the yin iron. Talk about someone stuck between a rock and a hard place, though. Her life sure does suck! And it doesn’t get better! Oh god, I made myself sad.

·         Wow, ok, I really am a clown, one of the Lans (didn’t show his face so idk which) literally just used his cultivation to blow out a candle. Sorry random fanfic authors, for ever doubting you.

·         Hilarious to me that wwx is now literally lecturing all the Lans about this not-actually-dead guy and I guess they really hadn’t figured out this information because they look genuinely surprised and are asking him questions and stuff. I know wwx gets called oblivious a lot, but I think he can actually be really perceptive.

·         I think all the jokes about Lan Xichen being a himbo have mostly died down, but I still feel the need to defend him a little because when I first joined this fandom they were everywhere: In this scene he pretty accurately predicts that whoever’s making “puppets” is going to escalate their aggression, and that this is just the start. He’s not dumb!

·         When Xichen cut himself off just now, I wonder if he was about to guess that the Wens were behind the puppet stuff. But ofc he didn’t say it, because he doesn’t like to make hasty judgements even now.

·         Wei Wuxian can be so, so annoying, but also really good at getting people to like him under normal circumstances. He seems to have won over Lan Xichen. He’s really not socially inept, at all!

·         I do like the headcanon that lxc is sometimes annoying on purpose, in his own understated way, but in this case I think he’s making an earnest attempt to get lwj literally anything resembling a social life.

·         Aww, it’s my evil little boy. I talk about Xue Yang in much the same way I talk about my cat, who is a feral demon bastard. Just like Xue Yang.

·         Just bringing this up now for no reason at all, but in this version of the canon wrh has already basically murdered a bunch of cultivators for his little puppet experiments. I don’t think appeasement is going to do anything to stop this guy from mowing everyone else down. He’s on the warpath, and everyone else is already kind of fucked, even if they don’t know it yet.

·         I guess Xue Yang’s wish that he’s referencing here was probably: murder the shit out of the Chang clan, because idk what else it would be. But I don’t see why he’d need Wen Ruohan’s permission to do that.

·         This bit really sets up Xue Yang to be much more consistently important to the plot than he actually ends up being.

Well, I’m glad I’m doing this close re-watch because in every episode so far, I’ve noticed something I hadn’t before, or that I’d forgotten about since watching the first time. I’m still writing a lot, but tbh the more frequently I stop to make a note of something, the more engaged I stay. Like I need to give myself homework for this purely recreational activity to make myself stay focused. I think it must be the pandemic getting to me and messing with my attention span, because I haven’t been able to stay focused on anything new lately, either.