The Untamed, second time through.
Jun. 25th, 2023 05:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI'm going to have to run through this a second time because there is a lot to unpack.
Episode 1: Things I completely effing missed the first time around.
The reason our young journeyman cultivators from Cloud Recesses are listening to stories about Wei Wuxian is because evil scenery chewer Xue Yang is 100% the guy behind the curtain with the fan, and later paying the storyteller with a lump of gold. Xue Yang is trying to sow some seeds of doubt because when the effects of the reforged Stygian Tiger Amulet (half strength) start showing up, he wants people to think it's the Reincarnation of Wei Wuxian. Classic misdirection. :)
We do not for sure see Xue Yang, he's kind of behind a curtain, but those are definitely his cuffs and that's his fan when he's behind the curtain. Also it is 100% for sure his swagger when he tosses the gold nugget to the storyteller. It is him, no lie. I completely and totally missed ALL OF THIS STUFF in the first go-round.
The young cultivators are the same adorable ones we see in the second half (which is also the opening stuff) except now I can actually recognize them, which is nice. They tell us about Lan Yuan right up front, too. Very helpful. (I also missed this because there were so many. But then on the second effort, I was like "Hey, It's The Same Young Cultivators!")
The cloud-n-wind passing over the building while the young cultivators listen to stories of Wei Wuxian is Wei's probable arrival at Mo Xuanyu's hut(?) in the Chez Mo Compound. Because of course it is.
All we ever see of the real Mo Xuanyu is the barefooted guy in the Wei Wuxian wakes up reincarnated scene. (I spent a fairly large amount of time wondering what happened to him in the first watch, if he'd come back, etc.)
Wei Wuxian acts weird about the Cloud Recesses cultivators the first time he sees the herd of them because he's worried one of them might recognize him from the before times, but they are all way too young for that.
The young cultivators tell us that the song Wei Wuxian plays, badly, on what looks like a grass whistle, is a song from Gusu. (I did not match up Gusu as "Location Of Cloud Recesses" until this go-round. I have the dumbs.) Anyway, it is that song also, the thematically important one we hear over and over in the show. I am reasonably sure at this point that that song is also how Lan Wangji recognizes him in the first place. Will pay attention for rewatching purposes because that would be very satisfying. Is it also the Murder Turtle Cave Song? Might could be. We'll find out in the rewatch. :) This is part of WHY we rewatch.
These guys are little journeyman cultivators out doing their thing and the weird shit at Chez Mo is honestly more than they can handle. They summon Lan Wangji for backup. Man can make an entrance. Does the costume department weight the sleeves and robe hems so that they fly out in properly nice ways? It wouldn't take a ton of weight, just a little.
Wei Wuxian has to hide because he figures Lan Wangji is gonna recognize him immediately. He's not... far wrong on that but it doesn't happen in this episode.
Nice to see that Lan Wangji doesn't need stories to bring Wei Wuxian to mind. :) First mention of Stygian Tiger whatsis and right on cue, young cultivators are Maybe Yiling Patriarch Is Not Dead as per the storyteller set up and okay, now that I'm comfortable mapping "The Yiling Patriarch" onto "Wei Wuxian" this makes more sense.
The dude in black running away from Chez Mo late at night after Lan Wangji shows up is also Xue Yang, I expect. Wei Wuxian would not have to run away and also he'd know it would be more... suspect and out-of-character to run than to just do a little crazy on site. Xue Yang would have been there generating this whole scenario so that it can be blamed on phantom Wei Wuxian whom he DOES NOT expect is actually back among the living and he needs to make a clean getaway so that his plan works.
At this point, Lan Wangji also does not know for sure if it's Wei Wuxian. He's thinking that direction because of Stygian Tiger Amulet energy and not because of anything else as yet.
Episode 1: Things I completely effing missed the first time around.
The reason our young journeyman cultivators from Cloud Recesses are listening to stories about Wei Wuxian is because evil scenery chewer Xue Yang is 100% the guy behind the curtain with the fan, and later paying the storyteller with a lump of gold. Xue Yang is trying to sow some seeds of doubt because when the effects of the reforged Stygian Tiger Amulet (half strength) start showing up, he wants people to think it's the Reincarnation of Wei Wuxian. Classic misdirection. :)
We do not for sure see Xue Yang, he's kind of behind a curtain, but those are definitely his cuffs and that's his fan when he's behind the curtain. Also it is 100% for sure his swagger when he tosses the gold nugget to the storyteller. It is him, no lie. I completely and totally missed ALL OF THIS STUFF in the first go-round.
The young cultivators are the same adorable ones we see in the second half (which is also the opening stuff) except now I can actually recognize them, which is nice. They tell us about Lan Yuan right up front, too. Very helpful. (I also missed this because there were so many. But then on the second effort, I was like "Hey, It's The Same Young Cultivators!")
The cloud-n-wind passing over the building while the young cultivators listen to stories of Wei Wuxian is Wei's probable arrival at Mo Xuanyu's hut(?) in the Chez Mo Compound. Because of course it is.
All we ever see of the real Mo Xuanyu is the barefooted guy in the Wei Wuxian wakes up reincarnated scene. (I spent a fairly large amount of time wondering what happened to him in the first watch, if he'd come back, etc.)
Wei Wuxian acts weird about the Cloud Recesses cultivators the first time he sees the herd of them because he's worried one of them might recognize him from the before times, but they are all way too young for that.
The young cultivators tell us that the song Wei Wuxian plays, badly, on what looks like a grass whistle, is a song from Gusu. (I did not match up Gusu as "Location Of Cloud Recesses" until this go-round. I have the dumbs.) Anyway, it is that song also, the thematically important one we hear over and over in the show. I am reasonably sure at this point that that song is also how Lan Wangji recognizes him in the first place. Will pay attention for rewatching purposes because that would be very satisfying. Is it also the Murder Turtle Cave Song? Might could be. We'll find out in the rewatch. :) This is part of WHY we rewatch.
These guys are little journeyman cultivators out doing their thing and the weird shit at Chez Mo is honestly more than they can handle. They summon Lan Wangji for backup. Man can make an entrance. Does the costume department weight the sleeves and robe hems so that they fly out in properly nice ways? It wouldn't take a ton of weight, just a little.
Wei Wuxian has to hide because he figures Lan Wangji is gonna recognize him immediately. He's not... far wrong on that but it doesn't happen in this episode.
Nice to see that Lan Wangji doesn't need stories to bring Wei Wuxian to mind. :) First mention of Stygian Tiger whatsis and right on cue, young cultivators are Maybe Yiling Patriarch Is Not Dead as per the storyteller set up and okay, now that I'm comfortable mapping "The Yiling Patriarch" onto "Wei Wuxian" this makes more sense.
The dude in black running away from Chez Mo late at night after Lan Wangji shows up is also Xue Yang, I expect. Wei Wuxian would not have to run away and also he'd know it would be more... suspect and out-of-character to run than to just do a little crazy on site. Xue Yang would have been there generating this whole scenario so that it can be blamed on phantom Wei Wuxian whom he DOES NOT expect is actually back among the living and he needs to make a clean getaway so that his plan works.
At this point, Lan Wangji also does not know for sure if it's Wei Wuxian. He's thinking that direction because of Stygian Tiger Amulet energy and not because of anything else as yet.
