The Untamed, second time through Ep 2

[which_chick]

When Jin Ling, whom I mentally characterize as Snobby Little Shit Mark 2, says "It's you" to Wei Wuxian, he means "It is you Mo Xuanyu, my funny uncle who got kicked out of Carp Tower for being a perv." and not "It's you, Wei Wuxian, back from the dead." This confused me the first time around.

When Wei Wuxian says "You lack maternal education" back at Jin Ling, this is a gut-punch the second time around because now we know that the kid's mom is Wei Wuxian's elder sister figure and also that Wei Wuxian is kinda-sorta implicated a bit in her tragic death. We know neither of those things the first go-round (though they are revealed later in the episode), so this casual remark lacks the cut it gets the second time. Also Jin Ling's response to the remark makes more sense, too. Jin Ling could very reasonably expect his half-uncle by bastardy Mo Xuanyu to know his backstory and to avoid making jerk remarks like that... so he reads it as an attack and responds accordingly.

Further "Why your uncle and not your dad" from Wei Wuxian to Jin Ling also cuts like a knife. Fortunately, Jin Ling doesn't have to answer this (obviously hurtful) question because his uncle Jiang Cheng shows up. I like how the show gives us his sword first. :) Also the slow motion turn from Wei Wuxian when he hears that voice, fucking *chef's kiss*. So good.

Jiang Cheng immediately recognizes the little paper talisman (lol I slay me) as one of Wei Wuxian's tricks. (Again, if you are not good at mapping "Yiling Patriarch" onto Wei Wuxian, this is not gonna work for you the first go-round. Maybe you did better than me. Must be nice.) Here, Jiang Cheng does not realize it's Wei Wuxian back for real but the little paper talisman no doubt plants the seed of possibility in his mind so that he is primed for his later realization (when he sees WW with flute and Wen Ning accoutrements). Nice.

And so Jin Ling goes to stabby stab our man Wei Wuxian who is his mostly-uncle on his mother's side and also his half-uncle's body on the other side, whereupon the sword is deflected by Lan Wangji making a very timely save.

Wei Wuxian is all "so unlucky" because this is 100% the guy Most Likely To Clock His Real Identity.

Jiang Cheng's "Hey, Lan Wangji, looking for someone?" is super pointed because he means Wei Wuxian. Cloud Recesses subordinate is "What do you mean by that?" and Jiang Cheng is "Lan Wangji knows what I mean." And he does. Camera looks at Lan Wanji, actor could teach a masterclass in minimal expressions for maximum impact. Fuuuu. And of course Wei Wuxian knows what all this is about and he happily gets to hear it all from behind his tree.

And shit, it's sensible and kind Lan Yuan there, being all boyscout true to the values of Lan Clan stuff, right from the start. (It really is helpful to know who these people are. NAMETAGS.)

(They do call it Lan Clan of Gusu here. I just... didn't link up Lan Clan and Gusu until very recently.)

Shit, now that we ALL KNOW that Jiang Cheng has a purple electric whippy Zidian thing on his hand, that look at his hand/wrist makes so much more sense.

Does Lan Wangyi know here that it's Wei Wuxian? I don't think so. Because he leaves.

WW has a like... chiffon/gauze overlayer on his outfit for this episode, you can see it sometimes making a nice smoky effect on the skirt part. I am, however, unconvinced that, like, chiffon is a sturdy enough fabric for the cultivator lifestyle.

The little Cloud Recesses cultivators have clouds embroidered on their robes. It's adorable.

Okay, stone lady statue thing. WW tries talismans, which don't quite work. Later, when they're outside, he thinks to himself that he and Lan Zhan sealed it before. (Now that I can map "Lan Zhan" onto "Lan Wangji" this is a more informative statement.)

WW makes a rustic bamboo flute and starts playing it but he DOES NOT expect Wen Ning. He gets Wen Ning, totally, but he was not, like, summoning him.

AND AGAIN we have dude-in-dark-clothing in the bushes and whatnot. This is probably yet again The Opposition's efforts to stir up rumors about Wei Wuxian. (The Opposition is still unaware that there is an actual Wei Wuxian running about.) Might could be Su She doing flute to control Wen Ning so that he could make an appearance and flesh out the ooh, Wei Wuxian HAS RETURNED narrative. 'Cause that is TOTALLY what Wen Ning is in the area for. He's there to firm up the "evidence" for the purported return of Wei Wuxian. "It's GOTTA be Wei Wuxian, look, actual credible witnesses have seen his Ghost General, who hasn't been seen in SIXTEEN YEARS, live and in the flesh out there doing his murder hobo gig! Who else could summon him from beyond the void but the dreaded Yiling Patriarch?"

Except there's no accounting for bad luck and turns out that there's a real Wei Wuxian on site with a hastily-constructed flute in his hand and now your underling isn't running Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian is and so there's no ... whatever you were planning. Possibly a massacre of young cultivators? Dunno. Anyway, you don't get to do it because your guy can't flute Wen Ning as well as the OG. (However, this incident also has to alert the opposition to the fact that someone VERY LIKE the OG Wei Wuxian is on the board and that all their careful plans about blaming stuff on him are in the shit.)

Wait... did Jin Guangyao (Silly Hat Guy, son of a prostitute, backstabber, patricide, filicide and incest on his resume, eventual clan leader for the Carp Tower people) keep Wen Ning on ice for sixteen effing years? Saving him for later? I do admire a guy with long-range planning skills.

I'm sort of going this route because Wen Ning is in fairly hefty-looking chains when he shows up. The chains are a new thing. Wen Ning didn't have to be chained in the before times, but that's the sort of thing you would do if you were keeping a very dangerous... prisoner.

And here, where Wei Wuxian is playing a flute to control the Ghost General, well, shit. Lan Wangji shows up.

Lan Wangji knew Wen Ning both as a Real Boy and as the Ghost General. It is not possible for Lan Wangji to not know the identity of the corpse-guy in chains.

He ALSO knows in his bones, who plays the flute to control the dead in general and to control this general in particular.

And he knows that song.

As impossible as it might seem, there is only one person that it can be.

Lan Wangji *knows*.

Now, he's been defending Wei Wuxian prior to this. Partly he was defending... everyone at the Mo Manor thing and he might not have been really aware that Wei Wuxian was, y'know, hiding on site. He showed up for the young cultivators in his sect, because they sent out the bat signal.

Lan Wangji directly defended Wei Wuxian at the... daytime night hunt where Jin Ling was gonna stabby stab Wei Wuxian. But he wasn't there for the build-up and he might just have been objecting to Jin Ling stabbing at an unarmed and possibly... mentally ill person in a fit of pique.

But here... Lan Wangji *knows*.

There is no time for discussion though because just then Jiang Cheng shows up. Excellent timing as usual, my man!

Jiang Cheng, also, knows who plays the flute and controls Wen Ning. "Great. You are back." No doubt in his mind, either. He whips out Zidian *snerk* but it doesn't... exorcise Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng is confused, because he thinks Wei Wuxian is adversely possessing Mo Xuanyu. He's not, tho, which is why Zidian doesn't work.

And now we're flashing back for like thirty episodes. The poor audience, watching this damn thing and going "But... but..." for thirty episodes.

First rabbits is Wei Wuxian at Caiyi Town, sixteen years ago before they get to Cloud Recesses. :)