#Meng ziyi playing one of my favorite character!!!!

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Meng ZiYi as Mei ChaoFeng | New Jin Yong Wuxia Universe: The legend of heroes (2024) | Trailer

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The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 4  (spoilers for everything)

(covers mainly MDZS chaps 13 and 14)

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

(a 🐰 is earned every time there is a WangXian scene or even when they’re just thinking of each other…more than one 🐰 can be given based on the level of WangXian-ness in a scene)

I loved and enjoyed all of Wei Ying’s “Notice me Wangji-senpai" moments in this episode, but my favorite has to be the one above: the way he tried to play off Lan Zhan totally ignoring him by blaming the other man’s hearing makes me laugh out loud every time I watch this episode. It’s just too adorable. Even though Lan Zhan is clearly still annoyed with him, I like how it’s also obvious that Wei Ying is slowly but surely burrowing his way into his psyche and taking hold there by either not leaving him alone or just being himself which is ample to constantly draw Lan Zhan’s attention to him. It‘s as if Lan Zhan’s life was a calm pond and Wei Ying was a beautiful, lively carp that suddenly decided to just jump into his waters without permission, taking liberties by swimming and splashing around, basically causing ruckus in every corner of his pool. Naturally, Wei Ying’s actions perturbs Lan Zhan to no end at first, but at the same time, he is also leaving an undeniable impression, so that eventually, when this carp leaves Lan Zhan’s pond, he can’t help but constantly think of Wei Ying and even miss his disruptive presence, thus naturally paving the way for the escalation of his affections that follow later on.  

Whereas with Wei Ying, I think he simply enjoyed irritating this fuddy-duddy at first, but eventually, his light-hearted teasing probably became just a little more meaningful and he started looking forward to getting a reaction out of Lan Zhan because it provided him with genuine joy and satisfaction, until those feelings grew into just joy from being around the other man and interacting with him.  

Ultimately that’s a big reason why I love their relationship: the development and progression of their feelings for each other makes a lot of sense to me. The phrase “opposites attract” has never been more applicable in terms of Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, but at the same time, they still share enough things in common—such as their moral code and belief system—that makes them absolutely just perfect for each other.  I can imagine a future for them right from the start, whereas with other couples in stories, regardless of their sex, I’ve had difficulty believing they should be together other than because the plot requires them to be. I think the drama really succeeded in showing us why it’s completely logical that these two people would be drawn to each other, that they almost can’t help but be drawn together, by actually showing us all these little precious moments between them as they occurred, which the novel for the most part only described in an after-the-fact manner. While subtlety has its merits too, I do appreciate the more clearly illustrated path The Untamed decided to take for WangXian.

Along those lines, I also appreciated how CQL chose to show us the first time Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao met and their instant connection. Honestly, when I first saw this moment…

I immediately thought they were going to be a couple too, like Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, and I was totally on board, until I found out from reading comments here and there that I shouldn’t be because this ship was bad news. I was disappointed of course and even tried to withstand its alluring call for a while, especially after reading the book and finding out exactly why this wasn’t a ship I wanted to board since it was on a one-way ticket to hell and heartbreak basically. But the drama just made it so damn hard to resist, and before I knew it, I was lowkey hooked.  Much like with WangXian, I was surprised at how much the show was getting away with in terms of XiYao:

I mean, big bro Xichen totally stroked Meng Yao’s finger there, right? First time I saw that, I remember rewinding a few times just to check and and make sure and if it’s just an optical illusion, that’s a damn convincing trick. Amusingly enough I thought at first Wei Ying was seeing the same thing and was reacting in disbelief to that moment, until I realized from his angle, there’s no way he could have seen that small gesture and he was just responding to that (ugly) incense pot.  

After finishing the series, I have to admit I’m pretty much a full-on XiYao-shipper now, which is really out of character for me because I usually prefer ships with happy endings. I have to blame, or rather, give credit to the two actors portraying LXC and JGY (Liu Haikuan and Zhu Zanjin, respectively) for conjuring up these feelings in me because they had so much chemistry together, which honestly at times rivaled that of Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo’s chemistry. I just love how LXC’s expression softens every time he interacts with JGY and even from their first meeting, it’s obvious there were genuine feelings of respect and gratitude behind Meng Yao’s reaction to LXC.

Take the moment above as an example: the extreme admiration emanating from JGY after seeing LXC exhibit his fluting powers had to be for real since there was no reason to react just for Nie Huaisang’s sake. I can totally imagine hearts fluttering all around him as he looked upon XiChen with those wide, innocent-seeming puppy eyes of his. And when he bade his farewell to big bro later on in the episode, I loved how the camera lingered on LXC’s hands as Meng Yao moved away after saluting him, just to reiterate the intimacy of their brief physical contact.  

I also appreciated the small, seemingly trivial moments before and after he meets up with LXC in that scene, where Meng Yao is first ignored by the two male sect disciples walking by him and then later on by two female disciples. Contrast that with how LXC immediately praises Meng Yao and recognizes him as his peer from the get go, going so far as to refer to himself by his own name (“Xichen”) just to reinforce their equality, it’s no wonder JGY was instantly drawn to him. I would go so far as to say he probably fell for LXC right from the start; doesn’t even matter if it might be only in the platonic sense, man was smitten no matter how anyone chooses to categorize his feelings.

XianQing? No thank you

When I first watched this episode, I still had the stormy cloud of fear that Wen Qing would eventually be the love interest that comes in between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji hanging over me due to some rumors I came across prior to even watching the show. As a result, every time Wen Qing and WWX would have a scene together, I would view it with trepidation as I was certain it was yet another building block to something undesirable, with the ultimate goal of mutating the relationship at the core of MDZS. If I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I was even able to rest easy until after Wen Qing’s passing and knowing for certain that the “danger period” was finally over, even though I had already grown to like her character. I still have complaints about how they altered her personality for the live action, but at least now, when I watch the scenes she shares with Wei Ying, instead of being filled with anxiety, I am actually more fascinated. I can still see the ghost of what Team CQL had initially intended with Wen Qing and WWX in a lot of their scenes together, before the fans’ uproar thankfully forced the producers to change their minds and stick with the source material.  This scene wasn’t one of those moments, but with revisiting each episode, I actually look forward to picking out which scenes were feeding into their ship because of the way they were shot and how the two actors were directed to perform during the scene, especially Meng Ziyi. I’m glad I can actually sit back and have fun with all of this now.  

XianNing? I can’t

I can see why some folks support this ship, and upon first viewing I thought this was a cute moment as well, but of course, I simply can’t go there since my heart already belongs to WangXian. And now, after having read the novel, all I could think about is how much I wish we got the archery contest at the Cultivation Conference. I’m glad we got to see it depicted in the donghua; it was as amazing as I hope it would be, but it’s a shame we didn’t get to see it in the drama. Since the producers had mentioned releasing specials of extra scenes that they couldn’t fit into the flow of the show, I hope the archery contest will be one of them. I don’t know where it would fit in in the timeline though…I guess it could happen while they were all held hostage at Nightless City, so the reason for the archery contest will have to be changed, but then maybe that’s the impetus for Wen Chao’s decision to force everyone on that dangerous quest to the Xuanwu cave: he’s so pissed off at losing at archery on his own turf that he decides to try to get all the sect kids killed.  Either way, I hope we get to see the contest in live action form one day.

Wei Wuxian is so smart

I loved this scene. I love how WWX schooled everyone with his inventive fourth reason. He’s so awesome. That’s really all I wanted to say about it.  

Random Bits of Randomness

I don’t think there’s anything wrong the color function on my tv, so please explain to me how that can be considered “purple” in any universe??

All I could think about in this scene is how disgusting that fish must have tasted cuz it looked awful, and I think Xiao Zhan even mentioned in an interview that it was gross. What probably made it taste worse was the fact that he kept on eating it from the stomach side, which can be really bitter. I think Wang Zhuocheng (Jiang Cheng) was eating it from the same side as well and I just can’t help grimacing every time I see this moment.

Odds and Ends:

I don’t really have any questions from this episode, but I did wonder if Wen Qing ever actually attended classes while she was at Cloud Recesses or did she just spend all of the time wandering the back hills, throwing her needles at barriers, cuz that’s not suspicious AT ALL. Unless I just happened to have missed her every single time in class, even though you would think it’s easy to spot her red in a sea of white…if that’s the case then I probably need to get my eyes checked.

Also, I wish we got to see Shijie draw her sword. She carried it around in the beginning, but I’m kinda bummed that we never saw her actually use it. I’m sure she is completely capable and would’ve looked just as badass as the boys.

And bless Uncle Lan for his brilliant idea of making Lan Zhan enforce the disciplinary action on Wei Ying, thereby allowing the boys to have valuable alone time in the library pavilion to further nurture their bond. In retrospect he probably regrets that decision, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s one of his best one he’s ever made.  

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Legend of Two Sisters In the Chaos (2020)

Summary

During the Later Zhou Dynasty, the Fu family was the focus of world attention to the well-known prophecy given to Fu Yan Qing that states that one of the daughters of the Fu family would become the future Empress. This leads to people assuming that by destroying the Fu sisters, they will indirectly destroy the throne. With the passing of Guo Wei, the fate of the throne is left unresolved. Under the irony of fate, the two sisters end up falling for two men who are best friends first and than something happens to turn them against each other. Facing the dark tides brewing within Zhou Dynasty, the two sisters do not forget their beginnings as family, and work together to secure the reign of Zhou.

Review

This review may contain spoilers

Wasted Potentials Galore

Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos (Chinese title: 浮世双娇传) had a promising premise: In a fictionalized Later Zhou Dynasty, two daughters of the Fu family become intertwined with the political turmoils of their country after a folk song prophesied that a woman with the surname Fu is destined to become empress. The sisters, Fu Yuzhan and Fu Jinzhan, subsequently fall for two different men who both have claims to the throne. Together, they navigate their family through a time of strife, and protect their country from certain ill-intent forces from within. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Between the general idea of the story and the fact that this drama stars not one but three actors I like, Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos had been on my must-watch drama list since Meng Ziyi, Wang Zhuocheng, and Aarif Rahman’s character posters first came out. Sadly, for all my anticipation, I was rewarded with a half baked letdown. Good Story, Bad Plotting The first few episodes start out well enough. There’s a slowness to the initial pace, yes, and certain scenes linger on showy fight choreographies longer than necessary. But the drama establishes the setting, the characters, the context, and various seedlings of conflicts with enough care that I brushed the flaws off as the typical problems first episodes of most drama series have. As the episodes go on, though, it becomes harder to excuse the dragging pace and repetitive dialogue. The characters, who all have really interesting backstories and agendas, barely grow beyond the template personalities the first few episodes set up for them. Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos has a lot of great stuff to work with, but the drama does not meet its potential. Instead, what should’ve been thrilling story arcs are rendered obvious and predictable because of the way the drama handles mysteries and reveals—upfront, with no sense of suspense or nuance. This makes certain points in the drama (like the Emperor not decreeing a crown prince as soon as he falls sick, which could’ve saved everyone so much headache; to the Elder Princess’ inexplicable trust in the Emperor’s head eunuch) come off rather stupid. Basically, the writers behind this series seemed like they had no idea what to do with what they were given, and simply gave up half way through. Likable But Infuriating Main Characters Each of the four main leads straddles the fence between endearing and annoying in their unique ways. I could be biased because I like the actors from their previous works, but the positives of their characters generally outweigh their shortcomings. Generally. Fu Yuzhan is by far my favorite out of them all. Her soft-spoken intelligence and steadfast personality were some of the few things Legend of Two Sisters successfully show instead of tell. The drama did do a disservice by making her wishy-washy about her love for Xue Rong, but her reasoning makes sense within the world of the drama, even if it’s a drag narratively. Given Xue Rong is played by Aarif Rahman, Legend of Two Sisters would’ve had to screw the character up big time for me to hate him. Luckily, he’s alright as well. Xue Rong’s childishness and paranoia are frustrating at times, but the drama never went overboard with them. As far as emperor characters go, he is surprisingly and pleasantly a trusting and kind one. Jiang Shao is the one with the most straightforward agenda, and therefore the easiest to track and follow. There’s not much to nitpick with his character, partly because he has such a muted and mellow personality. My main point of frustration came from his and Jinzhan’s decision (but really, it’s his idea) to swap the brides in episode 7. Sure, it’s perfectly possible for anyone to have done that in his shoes, but it’s narratively annoying to have a main character make a completely avoidable mistake like that. Lastly, and certainly least, Fu Jinzhan. What can I say about Fu Jinzhan. This girl has guts, a heart of gold, a free spirit… and zero consideration and respect for the wishes of her loved ones. She seems unable to understand that

there are consequences to her actions—consequences that other people who are not her may have to suffer. This is a glaring fault of hers early on, so you’d at least expect that she’d learn from her mistakes, right? Well, no. Her inability to grow up and respect her family and friends’ boundaries causes so much unnecessary miscommunication and trouble for the other characters that I was left wondering whether we were even supposed to like her at multiple points in the drama. What’s even more infuriating is that the plot itself coddles her as much as her sister does. There are several instances of her going against someone’s request for her to not do something, only to have things work out in her favor. Almost every attempt by other characters to teach her the negative repercussions of her thoughtlessness are rendered useless either by her just not accepting that what she did was wrong, or by her turning the punishment into another way she pushes back. Luckily, she’s a likable character when she’s not making stupid and inconsiderate decisions, especially whenever her clever side kicks in. An Ehhhhnding The drama becomes increasingly reliant on cliches to drive the story forward with each episodes, such as the Elder Princess, a compelling villain with understandable and even justifiable reasons for her villainy, getting replaced by her less than impressive son, whose whole reason for turning evil boils down to him not getting the girl. Not to mention the Noble Consort and Princess Shou An’s team up to kill Fu Yuzhan… I don’t even want to get into how unimaginative and vaguely misogynistic that whole mess is. This all culminates in an ending that you can see coming a mile away: Jiang Shao and Xue Rong’s trap for Li Huaijin is as subtle as a thirty-ton boulder, and such as it is, void of emotional impact. When the attempted coup was over, I thought “okay” and moved on with my life. It was that dull to watch. Fu Yuzhan’s death is sad. But more importantly, it’s unnecessary, which renders the “sad” part ineffective. I kept wondering why the hell the writers decided to do that when they didn’t have to. Final Rating and Recommendations Do I recommend Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos? Hard no, unless you really, really want to see more of Meng Ziyi, Wang Zhuocheng, or Aarif Rahman and have watched everything else they acted in. (And I guess Li Yitong as well, but I only knew her from her minor role in season 2 of Cinderella Chef. She was all right in that.) Legend of Two Sisters is a good story that’s executed poorly, and a cast of incredible talents that somehow have very little chemistry with each other. The plot is riddled with pacing issues and cliches. The characters are unable to either communicate with each other, or respect each other’s choices and wishes, or both. A lot of the scenes and dialogues are redundant more often than not, and you can see certain “twists” coming a mile away. On the other hand, if you really want more content from any of the four main actors, or if you just want something playing in the background or enjoy nice looking ancient Chinese costumes and set designs, Legend of Two Sisters may be worth a watch. If not, you’re not missing anything by giving this one a pass. My Rating: 4.5/10