It's that rare addictive drama to question all of humanity while checking out good looking guys

Honestly, this is me trying to explain why I fell in love with this show while at the same time trying to sort my thoughts.
There may be minor spoilers in this, so if you haven't watched all the episodes yet, consider yourself warned. If you do like to read ahead of what you may find or can expect, please go ahead. This is gonna be a long ramble....

I can still remember my first phase of watching The Untamed. It was probably around episode 5 that I thought: What am I seeing here? Why does everyone like this show so much? I just didn't get it. The story line was weird, the actors seemed okay enough but something just was off for me so I considered dropping it. It took me a while to actually start it since I am normally into shows with some slice of romance and the BL part didn't intrigue me as much as it should have. SO I gave it another episode and damn by episode 7 they had me. Let's say Lan Zhan had me with his mini smile. This micro expression just surprised me and I had to replay it just to see if I could believe it. It made me want to look deeper into what was happening and I wanted to know more. So I binged it. All of it. Without knowing what to expect and that is key: just watch it for what it is without trying to label it:

I can't tell you when it happened exactly but I just realized at some point that I was invested in the characters. I felt for them, all of them. They don't just deal with problems in society within this show, but if you truly look you can find so many things they are addressing, I am baffled how they managed to put all of that in the fifty episodes (and I am sure I'll find even more the next time I'm watching)..
They showed me how different people perceive things, how they stand up for themselves or what motivates them to not do that - ultimately what makes them different and what they have in common. There are so many life lessons learned. The first I time I watched this show I was focused on the plot and characters, so I didn't quite look beyond what I saw but almost immediately after I finished I wanted to watch it again and I did.

Man, there are so many subtleties missed otherwise and that is probably something noteworthy: This is no easy fluff drama. Will you find some moments? Yes, you know some humour, cute scenes, but then there is heartbreak, devastation and regret and love and everything life has to offer. So at some point you will have to deal with some things life throws at you and sit down and think about stuff. There are so many layers if you just find the courage to see.. It is still hard to wrap my mind around it now, but this is kind of a summary of what makes my brain a mess:

The way family bonds and beliefs are tested. The way history is mirrored and how almost tragically it seems to repeat itself but different choices/generations lead to different outcomes.
I mean what is black, white or grey? Who is justified to make these decisions? SPOILERS AHEAD
You can see how Wei Ying is behaving free and untamed like his mother.
How Jiang Cheng inherited some of the jealousy and insecurity and how his parents influenced him.
How Yanli is the warmth/love both of her brothers need. Her happiness was always what mattered most anyway.
How Lan Zhan referenced his only experience of love between his parents to his brother in order to express what he felt in the only way he knew how to, only to make a different choice.
How Xue Yang can be seen as the person Wei Ying could have become if he wasn't found by the Jiangs early on.
How there are parallels between Song Lan/Xing Chen and Wei Ying/Lan Zhan in their dream to stand up for their beliefs and how all their choices influenced where they ended up.
How Wen Qing only wanted her family safe and how people jugded her for it.

And these are only the parallels, do not get me started on the differences or start comparing characters choices....
There are so many more things you can pick up on when you learn to see and read between the lines and that is essentially what I love about this drama. It respects the source material and (in my opinion) transcends it by fleshing out characters (and adding stronger female characters as well) and gives some new experiences.
They all learn how to navigate and how to stand in this society they live in and god how I love to watch them all while asking myself questions:
What do you see as moral ? Is it the same as what your society sees?
When is violence (un)acceptable in revenge?
How do you question group dynamics and society's norms?
What is being loyal? What is being good and evil - and how do you come to an answer?

I like how the drama handles all these questions, they tell a story while asking but let you make your own decisions. Basically telling you you're smart enough, we trust you to figure it out. And if you don't, that it's okay you're not alone.

The same as figuring out the status between our favourite lead couple Lan Zhan and Wei Ying. I adore this soulmate relationship, for all I was cautions in the beginning. God this was so worth it.
They never tell you in your face how they feel, but if you look you'll just see. It is in the way Lan Zhan expresses the love he has in his eyes or the way his smile lifts up just that tiny little bit. Wang Yibo managed to literally radiate his love by softening his whole face without ever telling a single word. Believe me you'll see the difference between Wei Ying and basically anyone he ever associates with. While he was supposedly silent in sharing emotions, Wei Ying was not. He had a rollercoaster of emotions during his story and Xiao Zhan just masters them all: from the purest smile, the anger in his eyes, fear for losing what he loves and the tears of being misunderstood and an outcast by choice - or no other choice. My heart broke for him more than once. Talk about a perfect casting.

Most of the other characters where extremely well balanced actors as well, I loved their nuances - but there were one or two scenes where more inexperienced actors just stood out because everyone else was this great. I do have to mention that in contrast to many other dramas the story here does not just focus on the main actors but has a story and growth for every character. It depicts how a choice has an effect and how these little things are a part of the big picture and influence others in their action. Comparable to real life experiences of how any action can make a difference to many people but this difference can differ for each person. Life is big messy thing anyway.

This is a drama that heavily relies on the growth and depth of their characters while giving them all a story to do just that. All the while being surrounded by beautiful wide shots of scenery and extremely detailed costumes. I have to give props to the way they cut scenes and how they mirrored some of the framework as well . All in all I just feel the attention the crew and team has put into every little detail, and I love it even more because I can appreciate that. Despite censorship or maybe because of it, I was able to enjoy a story that means more to me now than any other straight relationship drama I have ever watched - there are no weird triangles, unnecessary conflicts or misunderstandings that drag the show down or annoy me.
While watching you will find that the production quality was not the highest. I actually didn't mind the effects and CGI, it kind of gave me an nostalgic vibe of how these things were done before all the high tech stuff and I was able to easily live with any flaws because it didn't actually lower my viewing experience.

I know some may feel unsure about this drama being 'gay' while some readers of the original novel are afraid their love is not being portrayed enough. I have read the novel and saw the drama and let me tell you: just give it a chance. It is more than two people being in love, it is about their companionship, they way they are able to be themselves around each other and stand up against the world as long as they are by each others side.
While Lan Zhan is seen as the outworldly perfect moral character, Wei Ying is the one who is perceived to be unmistakenly evil. They are both being lonely in building up this image of themselves to protect but in the end they both see what the other is trying to hide and just accept it. I guess this is what astounds me the most: they always see the other for what he is, more than what he wants to be seen as because they simply understand. Don't we all want that one person who truly knows us ?

Another factor that drew me in are the OSTs. I have heard some great OSTs before, some I loved and heard on repeat for months but never have I had a song for every characters to give me an insight in his most inner personal space and make me understand him even more. It is a great feeling to vibe along to a song you heard in a drama or feel the heartbreak again by singing to it, but The Untamed just topped all of that.
Since music is playing a major role in the drama as well, they probably put emphasis on the character songs as well and they had me. The instrumentals are great yes, but Wuji is just phenomenal, besides the fact that the actors sung themselves which is a yay for me, I love the lyrics, the way the melodies play out - how they portrayed the changes in the character through music. Just everything. And that is not all - they did that for every character and once you pay attention to when these songs are played in the drama it will hurt even more. Once again, if you pay attention to the lyrics you'll find some nuances to the character you may not have noticed before and you'll maybe end up seeing the drama in a new light and end up seeing it again and again and again....

Personally, this drama thought me so many things, that i still ponder about them once in a while. You need to keep an open mind so you can see beyond what you are able to see right now to evolve. I began to question things I normally just wouldn't have thought about and it saddens me to admit that, but it also makes me hopeful that more people will open their hearts in the future. This drama touched a part of me and I will appreciate it even more for what it has done. Now it almost feels like coming home to something you love every time I watch it because I have rewatched in so many times and learned something different each time. The whole MDZS family just keeps sending warmth and I simply can't find the right words to describe the love I have for experiencing all of this. You'll probably find them in all the other reviews, comments, analysis or fanfictions.
So I'd say welcome to the family - get that special place in your heart ready and prepare for a lovely journey..

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