Episode 3: Break My Ward, Break My Heart, But You'll Never Shatter My Composure

Continuing on with liveblogging The Untamed... 

I am informed we are now entering a 30-episode flashback. Narrative choices were made. 

 

Oh, gosh, in this time, Babyface/Lan Yuan/Lan Sizhui must actually be a baby. Or at least a toddler. Please tell me he writes on the walls in ink or spills congee in someone's hair at some point. #ToddlersAreEmbodiedChaos

 

Oh no, the Jin clan has booked the whole tavern. There is no other choice: Jiang Cheng reluctantly deploys the Wuxian for shenanigans. 

 

Clearly, Young Master Jin is exactly as fancy as he was when he was young. 

 

Long stares are doing so much heavy lifting in this show. Young Master Jin's is conveying "You would look nice sitting in one of my exquisite hand-carved sandalwood chairs, sipping exquisitely brewed tea from my exquisite porcelain cups." Yanli's is clearly, "I have just come face to face with the man I'm going to marry and I am stunned," but is it a good stunned or a bad stunned? 

 

Oh, the old "Oops, I went to the wrong room" trick. 

 

"And that, young Legolas, is how I met your mother -- I kicked her out of a tavern despite the fact that we were already betrothed."

 

Lan Zhan appears. We've seen this moment in both Episode One and Two in flashback, but now we know it's the very first glimpse Wei Wuxian got of Lan Zhan. Spoiler: They do not immediately become best buds. 

 

And apparently it's not difficult for Lan Zhan to discipline a junior member of another clan. 

 

Wait, you sent Wuxian back to the tavern full of Jin folks to retrieve the invitation? Yanli seems to understand exactly why this was not a good idea. Jiang Cheng seems oblivious. 

 

I am am both relieved and disappointed that Wuxian apparently made it to the tavern and back having successfully retrieved the invitation and some booze. I was looking forward to a good tavern brawl. (Also, didn't they say earlier that the city was 20 miles away? If Wei Wuxian can cover 40 miles in a few hours, what the heck does he need that donkey for?)

 

"Wards are made to be broken" YES! Bro-fistbump! (There is a deep kinship between Wei Wuxian and every RPG character I've ever played.)

 

C'mon this is not a fair rooftop duel. Lan Zhan has a freakin' sword, and Wei Wuxian has just a stick, 2 bottles of liquor, and a smile. Lan Zhan doesn't stand a chance. 

 

Lan Qiren must be in charge on account of his being the sole member of the Lan Clan to successfully grow facial hair. 

 

And now, it's Lord Vader. I mean, that's not his actual name but I failed to catch it except that he's from the Wen clan. You know, the ones that all ended up dead. He's sending this lovely lady from the Wen clan to Cloud Recesses for entirely wholesome purposes. And she's going to bring along Ning. Actually, now that I know that Wen Ning grew up in the Nightless City, which would make a pretty damn good goth club if someone would just put some Combichrist on the sound system, that explains a lot. 

 

That slight clenching of Lan Zhan's hand around the scabbard is also doing a lot of heavy emotional lifting in this episode. 

 

Xue Yang: "Don't forget I don't have the slightest interest in dominating others." There are a lot of people who are quite disappointed about that, in all probability.