Advancements in Plot
Jun. 16th, 2023 07:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickSo in The Untamed, we're now far enough in to be at the Demonic Cultivation part. A little less than halfway, I think, but here's our story so far, as narrated by me. :)
This thing has been ticking along very nicely with Wei Wuxian being the irreverent and cheerful whatsis alongside the Lotus Pier's heir apparent, Jiang Cheng and not-so-straight man Lan Wangji from the Cloud Recesses. All of that is the wind up for the pitch, which is coming like a hot wind across the plains.
Evil clan Wen has been assembling Yin Iron and generating kind of puppet fighter zombies. They've burned up sites of other clans (Lotus Pier, Cloud Recesses) and slaughtered bunches of people including everyone's parents, more or less. At this point in the narrative, Team Wen's star (black and red and smoky) is on the rise, cackling with maniacal laughter. Things do not look good for the forces of headbands, Sparkly White Robes, and irreverent and cheerful cultivators who should definitely be more serious about this serious business but nonetheless have definite chops despite their lack of seriousness.
Finally, in a battle or whatever, heir apparent Jiang Cheng gets core-squished by the kinda-sexy core-squishing muscle who is working for the evil Wen clan. This does not kill him but it changes him from a cultivator into an ordinary person and thereafter he dramatically proclaims that his life is TOTALLY OVER. He goes into a sulk worthy of a grounded thirteen year old. Won't eat, won't sleep, etc. Very drama.
Wei Wuxian, deeply troubled by this display of histrionics, decides (after thoroughly researching the problem) to transplant (the mechanics are unclear) his own unsquished core into the Heir Apparent by way of Wen underling the very pretty doctor lady in red (who, unlike the rest of Team Wen, is Not Evil). WW devises a plan of assorted Smoke and Mirrors to make it seem (to Heir Apparent) that this is not actually what is happening because if Jiang Cheng knew the facts of the matter he would 100% honorably refuse such a sacrifice. (Muddying the waters further, Jiang Cheng kinda likes-likes the pretty doctor lady in red.)
Anyway, Heir Apparent buys the Smoke and Mirrors and, Core Restored, he goes on a tear against the evil Wen Clan with Lan Wangji and the forces of the united four clans or whatever. Jiang Cheng was supposed to meet up with Wei Wuxian after the fake core-restoring vision quest thing, but when Jiang Cheng goes to meet up, Wei Wuxian misses the rendezvous by way of being captured by Team Wen and ... thrown off Wen Air Flying Sword Transport down into the Burial Mounds following a villain monologue. The Burial Mounds are haunted lands with corpses and skeletons all over the place, just coming out of the earth everywhere, 100% certain death for Wei Wuxian. (Team Wen lacks narrative awareness. If you as part of the baddies throw the titular character into a place of Certain Death after having monologue'd about it, aforesaid titular character is not going to die. That's not how stories work. Fact is, if you monologue you are basically guaranteeing that the dude is not just gonna survive, he's going to thrive. Watch your backs, baddies.)
The fixed-up Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji have some success against Team Wen as part of a multi-clan offensive against them, but then they go to... like... a Team Wen site and all the Team Wen players are already dead when they get there. What gives? They're all dead in weird individual ways. (We know what's up because Wei Wuxian has really quite unmistakable facial features, but Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji have to wait another episode or two to figure it out.) Since the current objective is already ... defeated, they proceed to the next one on the list or whatever. Yay?
When Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji get to the next objective, they surveil things a bit from the rooftops and discover that (a) the mystery force of death that killed all of the Team Wen players at the previous combat site is Wei Wuxian, back from who knows where (he's been missing for three months) and (b) hostile flute playing is a surprisingly effective tactic in combat situations. Like, more effective than you would think. Like, really really effective. And... cooler than you would think it'd be. Nice.
All the Right People are happy to see Wei Wuxian back from the presumed-dead but he's not like he was before and they're all a bit weirded out about it. Dude's smile used to light up a room and now he just... doesn't. In particular, Lan Wangji is worried about him because he thinks that Wei Wuxian is pursuing some sort of inappropriate cultivation that may harm him on all fronts. He's worried about Wei Wuxian and this is, honestly, fucking adorable.
Anyway, Wei Wuxian is pretty tight-lipped about what went on for the missing three months and also refuses to carry his sword anymore. (A digression. When these people say "carry a sword" they actually go through life carrying the fucking sword and scabbard in one hand, ALL THE TIME. They set the swords down beside them in the house and at meals and stuff, but when they're out and about running errands and shit, they CARRY THE SWORD AND SCABBARD IN ONE HAND ALL THE TIME. It's weird. You'd think someone, somewhere in all of China, would have come up with the idea of a... more wearable sword, a sword where you had some kind of belt strappy arrangement that could hold the sword close by and sort of ready-to-use without actually taking up one of your two hands all the fucking time. A sword holster, if you will.) When asked about carrying his sword, which happens a lot, Wei Wuxian says he doesn't feel like it which is a bullshit explanation that is bullshit.
This is not covered in the television show, particularly, unless it happened when I was letting the cats out or something and therefore missed the one line of dialog that explains things, but anyway swords in Fantasy Cultivation China Land channel your core. If you don't have a core (remember Wei Wuxian gave his away to Jiang Cheng to save Jiang Cheng from having to pout himself to death over being just a normal person) then your sword is a regular sword and you can't do any fancy cultivator magic stuff with it. So, if Wei Wuxian did have his sword and wound up dueling with it or whatever, people would figure out that he didn't have a core anymore and they'd be all... "What happened to your core, bro?" leading to questions he does not want to answer. So instead he goes full frontal bullshit which everyone knows is bullshit but he holds the line on his bullshit and they all kind of let him do that because of politeness?
Lan Wangji continues to be worried about Wei Wuxian and I have to say that this is utterly charming. For the first twenty or so episodes, Lan Wangji is mostly annoyed by Wei Wuxian and at this point the being-worried is a delightful change of pace, positively heartwarming.
Everybody beats up on the Wen clan at their main... facility in a fairly substantial battle that proceeds with vicious fighting and many losses for the coalition troops until Wei Wuxian... flies to a high place (this is not a role for any actor afraid of heights) and dramatically strikes a pose (apparently this helps with the whole demonic cultivation thing or perhaps provides a good view of the battlefield and better... ability to direct things) and plays the flute with extreme hostility at the bad guys, to excellent effect.
I am 100% aware that hostile flute playing does not seem like it could be a visually appealing and emotionally-effective offensive combat activity. If this is not a show on your radar, you are probably rolling your eyes at the screen right now because I could not possibly be telling you true about the hostile flute playing.
You are wrong.
A surprise reappearance of a more-useful-than-expected Inside Man on Team Wen takes out the Wen Clan Team Captain and the Yin Iron thing is handled and we're only halfway through this show. I am not sure what we're going to do for the second half, but it's not going to be defeating Wen Clan and rounding up the Yin Iron Bits because that's all been done now. Perhaps they will rise phoenix-like from the ashes, but Team Captain and his two sons are dead as is the surprisingly hawt core-squishing enforcer so I am not sure who all's left on the table to do the rising if that's where we are going.
I don't think that IS where we are going. I think we're headed somewhere else.
Things that SHOULD happen in the second half of the show, if there is any justice in this world.
1. Jiang Cheng figures out where his "restored" core came from. This will not end well. Toss-up as to whether he's angry or sad. Could be both. My money's on the Wen chick telling him. Maybe after they get married. (They should get married.) Possibly she does it to explain why Wei Wuxian is so wedded to this distressingly evil-ish new cultivation thing.
2. Lan Wangji gets some answers out of Wei Wuxian vis a vis this new cultivation method of his. Lan Wangji deserves some answers and it would be totally unfair if WW doesn't tell him... but also that route would be tragic in a different way because growing distance, hurt feelings, betrayal of trust, etc. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood but both of them could totally lead to a Sad and Wonderful Destination. Who doesn't love a good tragedy? We definitely have all the ingredients here to make that recipe in a variety of configurations and I for one am on board with it if we head that direction which I sincerely hope we do.
3. Cultivation of demonic whatsis with magical black flute smoke cannot be good for you. It's COLOR-CODED as bad for you and this is definitely a show that color-codes things to help you follow along with good and evil. Also the light has definitely gone out of Wei Wuxian since he's back from the Burial Mounds and I am so hopeful that this is a harbinger of things to come because that would Be Sad and Wonderful, see above. (Also when the show opens he's summoned as a vengeful bodysnatcher spirit by that other dude? Like all of this Wen Clan side story is just a massive flashback. Our man Wei Wuxian is already dead at this point in time and he did not go gentle into that good night. Being summoned back as a vengeful spirit generally isn't an option if you die happily in your bed like a normal person. It CAN happen if you fall off a cliff into a lava hellscape, though.)
We shall see.
Edit: My bad, Jiang Cheng, I shorted you a g throughout. I've tried to fix them all, but if I missed a g, it was not intentional.
This thing has been ticking along very nicely with Wei Wuxian being the irreverent and cheerful whatsis alongside the Lotus Pier's heir apparent, Jiang Cheng and not-so-straight man Lan Wangji from the Cloud Recesses. All of that is the wind up for the pitch, which is coming like a hot wind across the plains.
Evil clan Wen has been assembling Yin Iron and generating kind of puppet fighter zombies. They've burned up sites of other clans (Lotus Pier, Cloud Recesses) and slaughtered bunches of people including everyone's parents, more or less. At this point in the narrative, Team Wen's star (black and red and smoky) is on the rise, cackling with maniacal laughter. Things do not look good for the forces of headbands, Sparkly White Robes, and irreverent and cheerful cultivators who should definitely be more serious about this serious business but nonetheless have definite chops despite their lack of seriousness.
Finally, in a battle or whatever, heir apparent Jiang Cheng gets core-squished by the kinda-sexy core-squishing muscle who is working for the evil Wen clan. This does not kill him but it changes him from a cultivator into an ordinary person and thereafter he dramatically proclaims that his life is TOTALLY OVER. He goes into a sulk worthy of a grounded thirteen year old. Won't eat, won't sleep, etc. Very drama.
Wei Wuxian, deeply troubled by this display of histrionics, decides (after thoroughly researching the problem) to transplant (the mechanics are unclear) his own unsquished core into the Heir Apparent by way of Wen underling the very pretty doctor lady in red (who, unlike the rest of Team Wen, is Not Evil). WW devises a plan of assorted Smoke and Mirrors to make it seem (to Heir Apparent) that this is not actually what is happening because if Jiang Cheng knew the facts of the matter he would 100% honorably refuse such a sacrifice. (Muddying the waters further, Jiang Cheng kinda likes-likes the pretty doctor lady in red.)
Anyway, Heir Apparent buys the Smoke and Mirrors and, Core Restored, he goes on a tear against the evil Wen Clan with Lan Wangji and the forces of the united four clans or whatever. Jiang Cheng was supposed to meet up with Wei Wuxian after the fake core-restoring vision quest thing, but when Jiang Cheng goes to meet up, Wei Wuxian misses the rendezvous by way of being captured by Team Wen and ... thrown off Wen Air Flying Sword Transport down into the Burial Mounds following a villain monologue. The Burial Mounds are haunted lands with corpses and skeletons all over the place, just coming out of the earth everywhere, 100% certain death for Wei Wuxian. (Team Wen lacks narrative awareness. If you as part of the baddies throw the titular character into a place of Certain Death after having monologue'd about it, aforesaid titular character is not going to die. That's not how stories work. Fact is, if you monologue you are basically guaranteeing that the dude is not just gonna survive, he's going to thrive. Watch your backs, baddies.)
The fixed-up Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji have some success against Team Wen as part of a multi-clan offensive against them, but then they go to... like... a Team Wen site and all the Team Wen players are already dead when they get there. What gives? They're all dead in weird individual ways. (We know what's up because Wei Wuxian has really quite unmistakable facial features, but Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji have to wait another episode or two to figure it out.) Since the current objective is already ... defeated, they proceed to the next one on the list or whatever. Yay?
When Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji get to the next objective, they surveil things a bit from the rooftops and discover that (a) the mystery force of death that killed all of the Team Wen players at the previous combat site is Wei Wuxian, back from who knows where (he's been missing for three months) and (b) hostile flute playing is a surprisingly effective tactic in combat situations. Like, more effective than you would think. Like, really really effective. And... cooler than you would think it'd be. Nice.
All the Right People are happy to see Wei Wuxian back from the presumed-dead but he's not like he was before and they're all a bit weirded out about it. Dude's smile used to light up a room and now he just... doesn't. In particular, Lan Wangji is worried about him because he thinks that Wei Wuxian is pursuing some sort of inappropriate cultivation that may harm him on all fronts. He's worried about Wei Wuxian and this is, honestly, fucking adorable.
Anyway, Wei Wuxian is pretty tight-lipped about what went on for the missing three months and also refuses to carry his sword anymore. (A digression. When these people say "carry a sword" they actually go through life carrying the fucking sword and scabbard in one hand, ALL THE TIME. They set the swords down beside them in the house and at meals and stuff, but when they're out and about running errands and shit, they CARRY THE SWORD AND SCABBARD IN ONE HAND ALL THE TIME. It's weird. You'd think someone, somewhere in all of China, would have come up with the idea of a... more wearable sword, a sword where you had some kind of belt strappy arrangement that could hold the sword close by and sort of ready-to-use without actually taking up one of your two hands all the fucking time. A sword holster, if you will.) When asked about carrying his sword, which happens a lot, Wei Wuxian says he doesn't feel like it which is a bullshit explanation that is bullshit.
This is not covered in the television show, particularly, unless it happened when I was letting the cats out or something and therefore missed the one line of dialog that explains things, but anyway swords in Fantasy Cultivation China Land channel your core. If you don't have a core (remember Wei Wuxian gave his away to Jiang Cheng to save Jiang Cheng from having to pout himself to death over being just a normal person) then your sword is a regular sword and you can't do any fancy cultivator magic stuff with it. So, if Wei Wuxian did have his sword and wound up dueling with it or whatever, people would figure out that he didn't have a core anymore and they'd be all... "What happened to your core, bro?" leading to questions he does not want to answer. So instead he goes full frontal bullshit which everyone knows is bullshit but he holds the line on his bullshit and they all kind of let him do that because of politeness?
Lan Wangji continues to be worried about Wei Wuxian and I have to say that this is utterly charming. For the first twenty or so episodes, Lan Wangji is mostly annoyed by Wei Wuxian and at this point the being-worried is a delightful change of pace, positively heartwarming.
Everybody beats up on the Wen clan at their main... facility in a fairly substantial battle that proceeds with vicious fighting and many losses for the coalition troops until Wei Wuxian... flies to a high place (this is not a role for any actor afraid of heights) and dramatically strikes a pose (apparently this helps with the whole demonic cultivation thing or perhaps provides a good view of the battlefield and better... ability to direct things) and plays the flute with extreme hostility at the bad guys, to excellent effect.
I am 100% aware that hostile flute playing does not seem like it could be a visually appealing and emotionally-effective offensive combat activity. If this is not a show on your radar, you are probably rolling your eyes at the screen right now because I could not possibly be telling you true about the hostile flute playing.
You are wrong.
A surprise reappearance of a more-useful-than-expected Inside Man on Team Wen takes out the Wen Clan Team Captain and the Yin Iron thing is handled and we're only halfway through this show. I am not sure what we're going to do for the second half, but it's not going to be defeating Wen Clan and rounding up the Yin Iron Bits because that's all been done now. Perhaps they will rise phoenix-like from the ashes, but Team Captain and his two sons are dead as is the surprisingly hawt core-squishing enforcer so I am not sure who all's left on the table to do the rising if that's where we are going.
I don't think that IS where we are going. I think we're headed somewhere else.
Things that SHOULD happen in the second half of the show, if there is any justice in this world.
1. Jiang Cheng figures out where his "restored" core came from. This will not end well. Toss-up as to whether he's angry or sad. Could be both. My money's on the Wen chick telling him. Maybe after they get married. (They should get married.) Possibly she does it to explain why Wei Wuxian is so wedded to this distressingly evil-ish new cultivation thing.
2. Lan Wangji gets some answers out of Wei Wuxian vis a vis this new cultivation method of his. Lan Wangji deserves some answers and it would be totally unfair if WW doesn't tell him... but also that route would be tragic in a different way because growing distance, hurt feelings, betrayal of trust, etc. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood but both of them could totally lead to a Sad and Wonderful Destination. Who doesn't love a good tragedy? We definitely have all the ingredients here to make that recipe in a variety of configurations and I for one am on board with it if we head that direction which I sincerely hope we do.
3. Cultivation of demonic whatsis with magical black flute smoke cannot be good for you. It's COLOR-CODED as bad for you and this is definitely a show that color-codes things to help you follow along with good and evil. Also the light has definitely gone out of Wei Wuxian since he's back from the Burial Mounds and I am so hopeful that this is a harbinger of things to come because that would Be Sad and Wonderful, see above. (Also when the show opens he's summoned as a vengeful bodysnatcher spirit by that other dude? Like all of this Wen Clan side story is just a massive flashback. Our man Wei Wuxian is already dead at this point in time and he did not go gentle into that good night. Being summoned back as a vengeful spirit generally isn't an option if you die happily in your bed like a normal person. It CAN happen if you fall off a cliff into a lava hellscape, though.)
We shall see.
Edit: My bad, Jiang Cheng, I shorted you a g throughout. I've tried to fix them all, but if I missed a g, it was not intentional.
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Date: 2023-06-22 05:19 pm (UTC)Well, Wen Ruohan was quite ineffective as far as villains go. XD There’s so much more devastating shit coming that makes the Sunshot Campaign truly pale in comparison. It’s a ride. XD
Indeed, Jiang Cheng should find out about the core thing – and glad to see you also recognise the appeal of Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing (ChengQing)because oh boy, what an awesome angry spiteful powercouple. XD
Demonic cultivation may be bad for you (or is it? Jury’s still out. XD), but the aesthetics are impeccable!