A deeply romantic classic wuxia

This drama is actually very different from the original novel. The first fourteen episodes follow the novel, but then the rest diverge greatly and essentially becomes a very different story. There are significant changes to the character of Zhou Zishu, and there is a major show only plot-point that makes his dynamic with Wen Kexing completely different. The plot itself is also nothing like the one in the novel, and several side-characters were given bigger roles in the overall narrative and even different characterizations. Tian Ya Ke, the source material, is a fairly straight-forward story, while Word of Honor is more like those dramatic, old-timey classic wuxia stories.

First off, kudos to the scriptwriter! The pacing is top-notch, not too fast nor too slow. Nearly every scene ties in to the overall narrative, not a single episode feels draggy or unnecessary. No fillers to be found here! And while non-mandarin speaking watchers may miss this, it is very clever how the script incorporates poetry into Wen Kexing's dialogues. Not only is it a very clever way to subtly showcase his flirting, it also adds a layer of depth to his character. Since he grew up in the Ghost Valley and did not have his parents to teach him, it implies that he taught himself literature and the fact that he always uses poetry to express himself shows how proud he is of it. The tiny details are also impressive, like the difference in Gu Xiang's character when we first meet her. She acts like an exaggerated version of a young girl, and slowly becomes more and more genuine as the story goes on. The director did confirm that this is because Gu Xiang hardly ever leaves the Ghost Valley, and so she was trying to copy how she thinks normal girls act. I really appreciate scriptwriting that incorporates characterizations into details like this, because it feels very natural. It also gives the show good rewatch value because after you watch all the episodes and see everything that happens, you suddenly notice the subtle details you missed when you watch the show again.

There are many, many details that allude to future events, and dialogues that seem almost flippant in the beginning end up steamrolling you once you realize its significance in later scenes. Wen Kexing's "as a wanderer in this world, all I need you" sounds like casual flirting at first, but then you see how much depth that sentence holds once you see how their story ends.

The fighting choreography is very good, and really embodies the "fighting" in the classic wuxia I grew up watching. It's not just fighting, but also a sort of dance that reflects the dynamics of the characters. Sparring is basically Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing's love language, and you see the evolution of their relationship in their fights too. Their fighting scene in the pink forest, in the lake before Zhou Zishu takes his mask off and in the ending are very similar to each other, but with small changes that reflect the evolution of their relationship. The way the story uses tropes to show the romance between the two main leads is excellent. The sparring in the pink forest, for example, is a common romantic trope in classic wuxia, and so is the hairpin scene in the latter episodes. Another noteworthy detail is that in the first episode the romantic connotations of giving a person a hairpin is shown in the scene between Zhou Zishu and his shidi's lover.

I really want to express how happy I am with the casting choices, especially with Zhang Zhehan as Zhou Zishu. Most actors can show strong emotions convincingly enough, but with characters like Zhou Zishu it's important to cast actors that can nail scenes that require nuance and subtlety. It was wonderful watching him transform from cold and sarcastic to warm and playful, and it was all done so subtly I actually didn't realize how much he changed until I was watching a scene and realized that not only was he the one teasing Wen Kexing, he was also the one initiating skinship??? And there's this specific scene in episode 12 where they're drinking together outside and when Wen Kexing calls out to him, you can see how he frowns and mouths something briefly before responding. It was a small but significant detail, showing the gradual decline of Zhou Zishu's hearing. There are many more details like this scattered throughout the show, and I really appreciate this kind of subtle storytelling versus scripts that are too on the nose and obvious.

Gong Jun also played Wen Kexing very, very well. He really embodied Wen Kexing's many faces, and it was wonderful watching his character slowly unravel. And although it's not necessarily a requirement for me, I love how well they match the physical characteristics of their characters. Zhang Zhehan is very athletic and has a very good physique, which just makes him much more convincing (visually) as the powerful leader of an assassin organization. Zhou Ye was perfect as Gu Xiang, her acting in episode 35 was especially chilling.

Also, a more personal opinion, but I like how they stayed true to the novel and portrayed both Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing just as "masculine" as they were in the novel. I strongly dislike it when danmei adaptations make a character too effeminate. Of course, if the character is portrayed that way in the novel, then I have no issues. The problem is when when adaptations take a canonically more "masculine" character and portray him too effeminately, even when it's not the case in the original novel. Luckily, that did not happen here. There is something refreshing about a danmei that does not limit the personality and characterization of its characters based solely on supposed bedroom dynamics, and Word of Honor's casting and overall portrayal really delivered on that front. They really stayed true to Priest's (the author) work in that aspect.

As much as I enjoyed this show and gush about the script, it does have its shortcomings. The usual issues in the continuity of themes and the pacing of the last five or so episodes. Regardless, for me, the things the show did right definitely outweighs its shortcomings. Those who are expecting a faithful adaptation of the novel may not be happy with the direction this show eventually took, but as a stand-alone it really holds its own. With the issue of censorship in danmei adaptations, I did not expect this show to be as deeply romantic as it turned out to be, and I am still in awe of how they managed to pull this off. They could have gone for the fanservice approach, where they just give us suggestive moments without any real payoff, and yet they chose to develop the relationship properly and give it a real sense of intimacy and depth.

And lastly, I love that the ending credits song is essentially a summary of their romance. It starts with Zhou Zishu talking about his melancholic life and wanting to roam the world as an aimless wanderer, then Wen Kexing responds by lamenting about his own struggles and how it's a shame that he didn't meet Zhou Zishu earlier, and that he wants to give up "the adventures on horseback for a quiet life". Zhou Zishu then responds by saying he agrees to spend the rest of his days with Wen Kexing and the song ends with both of them singing ''I will be with you forever" at the same time. So yeah, kudos to whoever wrote that song because it really fucked me up after the ending. This show is insane and I am thankful to everyone who worked on it.

I love this drama so much!

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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.

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Should have chosen a scriptwriter that cared about the story

My first impression was pretty much "wow, they COULD NOT wait to introduce the love interest, huh?"

This was a mess from the very beginning. The pacing of the first episode was all over the place, it was like they wanted to get all the world-building and character set-up out of the way as quickly as possible so they could introduce the love interest within the first ten minutes of the first episode. It was like they took it as a personal challenge to see how quickly they could get the protagonist and the love interest to meet. Then all of a sudden, the cousin/fiance decides to leave because of a conversation he overheard. Just like that. Out of the blue. There's no substance nor build-up whatsoever that makes you care about the stuff that is going on. Xie Yun crossed the traps in the river with no problems despite the area being supposedly impenetrable and incredibly hard to enter. There's no stakes or any real feeling of danger, because you just know that he's gonna solve everything with his main character power. There's absolutely no use telling us that the fortress is well-guarded and hard to enter when it only takes minutes for Xie Yun to do it. They should have shown him putting more effort into solving the trap and figuring out how to get in. It all feels so half-assed.

The fight scenes weren't the worst I've seen, but definitely not passable for a show heavily marketed as a wuxia. Too many closeup shots on the character's faces when they should be showing the bodies actually fighting. The costumes are quite good, except for Zhou Fei's. I get that she's supposed to be dressed more masculine, but it is possible to give her better costumes that don't look so boring and cheap while still keeping the masculine vibe. They can do that for the male characters so why not for her? The acting is alright. I liked both of their performances but frankly the casting of Zhou Fei and Xie Yun is horribly mismatched. Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo are both fine by themselves, but when put together Wang Yibo obviously looks so much younger, and they just don't have enough chemistry to make up for it. That plus a terrible script just made the romance awkward for me, and because the plot writing and pacing is horrible, there's literally nothing else to look forward for.

Zhao Liying's makeup is also kind of distracting? Aside from being obviously cakey, the shiny lip-gloss and thick eyeliner is not subtle at all and looks so out of place, especially considering how her character is supposed to be tomboyish.

There's also the fake forest set that is so incredibly distracting because it's obviously the same one they use for many different scenes, and it looks even more artificial because of how bad the lighting is. They didn't even attempt to emulate the lighting texture of a dense forest which means every time they're in that fake forest, you can tell right away they're in a studio because of the stark, untextured overhead studio lighting. It looks like one of those old-timey wuxia dramas which is not what a c-drama from 2020 with a huge budget is supposed to look like. How on earth did they allocate the money?

As an adaptation of the original novel, You Fei, this show just fails even more. It's even easier to tell that the people who produced this show gave no shits about it when you've read the novel, because while they did adapt the big scenes, they did it in such a way that all complexity, nuance and buildup is lost.

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