@kotori 

I am really sorry for the long read but here's what I think......

As for the rating I rated it high because I personally really liked the series for its acting , original script, cinematography, direction , action scenes and those locations, breathtaking ( when I heard they are real and no cg is added I was in awe).....and also there is another reason ,the antis are gonna rate it heartlessly so the high rating from fans can compensate that and leave a decent rating as an encouragement for the cast and crew who worked really hard risking their lives at such a high altitude with low oxygen level......

The bo wang character is going to be my personal favorite for a long time till darren himself breaks it with an even more spectacular character.....I really wish that they could release the director's cut ( all 58 episodes) so that the people who are nitpicking about literally everything in the series and author's work can understand and appreciate them better and blame it all on the chinese censorship law......
The viewership, I think people who watched the series till the end will definitely watch it till the end no matter how it progresses since they already understood Bo Wang's character ( I am seeing people both chinese and international fans who want to watch those beast transformation and want more of the series after watching the ending) , people who initially got interested in the series and got disappointed due to the elimination of the werewolf elements will also want to watch this version , and people who left it halfway will also want to check what's different in this version, so viewership may or may not be a problem if its according to what I think, atleast the actors and authors hard work can be shown to the world ( i read somewhere that DW was sad that those highlight scenes were cut from the series and he himself said that only 6 or 70 points can be given to this version)

The douban rating, I have no words to explain, it's super clear that it's the work of the fans and antis from the equal no of 5 and 1 stars, but the equal no of 4 stars also proves that people who watched seriously really liked the series .i also read in weibo that 5 star rating from new douban accounts are not counted ,so we can also assume that some of the 5 stars are also genuine.i hope the rating increases in future.

Giving love or hate, people should do it without affecting the other actors who also gave their best ( that doesnt mean I support haters it's just that its inevitable if the actor is popular)I genuinely feel that DW gets the credits which originally belongs to him ,so that he can get better scripts that suit him and show us his phenomenal acting again. His portrait of Langzai and Bo Wang is irreplaceable......

I like the ending of the series where they both die, thinking that he left after she died truly suits the title the wolf ( wolves love only one and die after their loved one die) if it happened in any other way I wouldn't have really loved it as much as I love it now.i can now think that both of them are happy and peaceful without any enmity and it's now only the pure and innocent langzai and xing'er ,only the two of them living happily in the wolf hunt mountain as they always wished..... in my views, both of their love is no way inferior to other, the author wanted them to be equal in all aspects ,so that she wrote the death of langzai's family in the hands of her step brother and vice versa ,and making the family as adoptive family is to give them a little chance of being together. Even making him as a prince instead of some soldier or other lower status is to make him equal to her as she is the daughter of the previous queen.... if they really had the happy ending as many people wanted ,it will never be the same as before, the innocence and pureness of them as langzai or xing'er is gone a long time ago.... so the only way they can be the same langzai and xing'er that they really wanted, is to end this life peacefully and reunite in next life.....this is not a bad ending but a sad ending since the lovers who went through so much didnt get to stay together alive at the end.... and it's the beautiful ending the series can ever get (according to me and people who understood it deeply ......)
Since I didnt finish the novel I am in no place to say if the novel ending is better or not ,I will update on my views after finishing the novel ..... thank you so much for reading :)

 se0ulmate:

Oh my God! Thank you for writing this. That makes so much more sense! Why didn't the screenwriter keep that in???  

Yes, the changes definitely confused the story and seemed less logical. That's why I didn't like it. I could've stomached the drama if it left most of the explanations from the novel. Oh well. But I'm glad I came back here to read that. 

Great you liked it! I am also quiet perplex why the screenwriter changed that. We really think this is a way to keep Wang Bo’s character more innocent. But I just had to think that Wang Bo would still have killed family Ma if he had heard about the order. There is no reason why he would not do it. He did now know Xing Er is the daughter, also back in time he and the king both trust each other. 

Maybe after you have read it you could give the show another chance? It indeed is still a great show. 

@Kee

Thanks for your long reply and sharing your thoughts. 

Despite it being one of my favorite shows of the year, the reason why I rated it lower to provide encouragement for better quality in the future. I always try to justify as objectively as I can why I rate a show high vs. low even if subjectively I really like the show. To my opinion the biggest improvement in C-drama land is the screenwriting and post production editing (whether because of sensorship, episode length or sponsorship issues). This is also the weakness of the Wolf and therefore responsible for the lower rating on Douban. I have written a detailed drama review and pointed out the areas where they could have done a better job if you are interested. 

Most of time it is not the actors or the directing. In fact, this show definetely deserves a 10 when it comes to character design, acting, shots or music. The cast and crew pure their hearts and souls into this show and it is sad to see their performance get downgraded because of the script. They deserve better. C-drama has improved massively in the last years and I really hope the script quality will improve. 

I would be also interested to see a no-cut version if this exisit. But knowing how things are don’t think they will release that... 

@kotori 

Yeah that's TRUE too...  I am interested in different views on this series, since it shows how deeply we all are invested in this series and characters....

Lets hope that someday it really sees the light....

 Kotori:
Despite it being one of my favorite shows of the year, the reason why I rated it lower to provide encouragement for better quality in the future. I always try to justify as objectively as I can why I rate a show high vs. low even if subjectively I really like the show.

We are the same. There are shows I like, but I can admit that objectively they're not good. I wish more people were able to separate their personal feelings from a show.


 Kotori:
To my opinion the biggest improvement in C-drama land is the screenwriting and post production editing (whether because of sensorship, episode length or sponsorship issues). This is also the weakness of the Wolf and therefore responsible for the lower rating on Douban. I have written a detailed drama review and pointed out the areas where they could have done a better job if you are interested. 

The screenplay was my biggest problem with the show too. The acting was great, but because certain things about the plot and character motivation made NO sense, I couldn't enjoy it. I just think it's not my taste. 

Again, thanks for providing some insight about the novel :) It's a shame the show didn't leave those elements in. 

@se0ulmate 

I think the post-production editing might be the bigger culprit this time. 

I found out the Ma Family killing scene they firmed it with Bo Wang inside! There are shots were you can see him (masked of course). They also added the text narration later saying the king think Bo Wang is too nice therefore did not give him the order personally. Which is an easy fix. As if the king really cares! 

And they deleted all the scenes in which Bo Wang jump into a the wolf poison (there is on dream shot of that too) which later turned him into a wolf. And all the brutal killing scenes of Bo Wang killing. Apparently there is one big famous killing scene that took super long to film. But thats the censorship that took them out because they are too bloody. 

For the ending, there was apparently a scene in which Ma Zhai Xing exchanged blood with Bo Wang! Thats why her blood became black and Bo Wang’s turned red. That’s how she became so strong like a wolf demon and dared to attack the castle all by herself. I think that’s also how Bo Wang got saved...  why they cut that out. No clue! They just assumed the audience understand that all by themselves? Lol 

So the original scriptwriting did have all these good stuff in there. So sad... T___T

The way Prince of Bo behaves is much like the real life cycle of abuse.  The tension building, abuse, reconciliation, calm, then rinse, lather, repeat....it models what abusive relationships are like in reality.

So I say I dislike the character intensely...that's not love and love's not like that...and shouldn't be that way even in a drama. It's hard to think I'm watching a "love" story when the abuse is so realistic. I would hate for young girls to watch this and think that's how love plays out. 

The acting by the male lead is fine...but the character is a big no to me. I can't see the story as "romantic" when what I'm watching is cruelty...and escalating abuse.

 se0ulmate:

I'm on episode 15 and the character is really annoying me. The writing isn't logical. If he loves Mai Xing then the best thing to do is cancel the engagement and send her away so the King can't hurt her. She still has an army to protect her. The most dangerous place for her is the kingdom. Keeping her close and being cruel does nothing to actually protect her. That's exactly what the king wants. 


When Mai Xing was being mean to him as Wolf Boy in the beginning, THAT made sense, because she was trying to get him to leave a dangerous situation. What Chu Youwen is doing doesn't make sense. 

There are multiple interpretations as to why Lord Bo made the decision he did.

Perhaps he realized that MZX couldn't live without him which is the reason why he decided to crush her love for him allowing her to leave of her own free will rather than being forced to leave. Perhaps at the time he believes the safest place for MZX to be is still with him. The king did say that so long as the Ma family remains useful. MZX will be safe for life.

The thing I personally would say is. Ur neglecting the human factor.

Maybe his love for her causes him to be unable to just give her up even if that mean he's putting her life in danger. So he's stuck unwilling to send her away completely nor reciprocate her feelings.

As someone who loves character depth and development, this show's main character - the titular Wolf Boy aka Bo Wang - has provided me with such ample amount of it, I'm drowning. The interesting thing is how there are so many variables that form his growth and his character, that each time the show twists on one particular variable, it completely changes the landscape. I feel as though I'm watching Bo Wang through a kaleidoscope - one turn of the handle and the whole picture transforms. Some twists show ugly fractured visions but other twists produce astonishingly beautiful impressions. (I've so many thoughts about this, I'm putting my long introspective musings over his character below.)

CHARACTER STUDY ON BO WANG [ONLY UP TO Episode 21]

First phase (time in Langshou Mountain):
The drama wasn’t clear on how old he was but assuming that he was raised by wolves on Langshou Mountain for a whole 10 years after Xiahou Yi (Chu Kui’s Adjutant General & sworn brother) invaded Kuizhou City, I’m going to personally put his age down as 12 or 13 when Zhaixing (the FL) was 10.

Now I’m no expert on wolf nature or behaviour but based on popular culture/ knowledge, I can easily imagine that Bo Wang, having been raised by them during his formative years, would have acquired strong wolf-like characteristics and traits which would define him from there on. Those traits could be the following:-

He would have a very black & white way of looking at the world. Wolves wouldn’t have been brought up knowing morals or ethics or have the level of human complexity that we do so I would imagine that things/ creatures would fall into two main categories - Pack or Non-Pack.

The treatment for Pack would be everything positive. Strong bonds amongst pack members, solidarity and unity within the pack where each look out for the other. Protection of the weak and vulnerable. Working as a team when facing enemies or when hunting. Strict conformance to the hierarchical setup of the Pack i.e. obedience and submission to the Alpha leader. Loyalty to pack-mates. And most importantly, only having one mate for life.

The last 3 are probably the most important and very likely carried on into Bo Wang’s way of life later into adulthood. It would explain why Bo Wang kept loyalty towards King Chu Kui who saved him from death and was, in essence, his Alpha leader. It would also explain Bo Wang’s strong bond with his royal brothers, his ‘pack-mates’ for whom he could lay down his life for because that is what pack mates do for each other - they look out and sacrifice for one another. He would also only have one mate for life, for good or evil, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. And he gave this personal commitment to Zhaixing.

The treatment for Non-Pack is a stark contrast by comparison. Indifference to anything that doesn’t incur into their personal space or territory. Indifference to things which aren’t a threat to them or to the pack. Foreigners and strangers are treated with wary suspicion while proper threats to them and the pack would be treated with outright hostility, alertness and some measure of cold calculation. Any injury to them and to pack mates would trigger cruel and ruthless responses, similar also when defending one’s territory and space. But I also imagine wolves aren’t stupid. They know when to weigh the odds and act.

Treatment of pack vs non pack aside, it is also quite obvious from the show that Bo Wang also adopted the wolves heightened sensory abilities. He learnt to rely a lot on his senses to discern the circumstance and situation, and has clearly honed them into crystal clear sharpness. Wolves are highly adaptive and responsive so one would imagine that Bo Wang became a skilled and powerful hunter which King Chu Kui exploited later.

So, this is how I see Bo Wang’s character being shaped during his formative years with the wolves. I’d like to put it out here because I’m sure some of these traits will strongly feature in the later part of the story or show and it would help remind me of why and how Bo Wang sometimes operates.



Second phase (betrayal, fall off cliff, rescue by King Chu Kui for a duration of 8 years):

A few key things to note here.

King Chu Kui, by becoming his saviour and his Alpha leader, commands Bo Wang’s loyalty, obedience and submission. This is the sad and horrifying bit and his presence will very likely turn out to be the bane of Bo Wang’s life. See, with wolves, there’s no ‘good’ or ‘evil’, only ‘pack’ and ‘non-pack’. King Chu Kui is ‘pack’ and so it doesn’t really matter how cruel, evil or despotic this man is, he still has Bo Wang’s loyalty. This is something which I’m sure viewers will rue at but I think it can’t be helped given the context of the story and the show. It’s a recipe for disaster and tragedy, really, but unfortunately, a sharp knife can only be defined by its wielder. I have no idea if Bo Wang eventually managed to break free from this bond or tie but I would imagine it would be extremely difficult to do so and probably done only under extreme and fraught circumstances where he has had to choose between his loyalty to his Alpha vs something else stronger than that conditioning. Commitment and protection of his lifelong mate might be able to do it, or the innate will to survive perhaps. I’ll have to wait and see but in the meantime, unless King Chu Kui does something so drastic that it touches Bo Wang’s subconscious bottomline, I don’t see Bo Wang breaking free anytime soon.

Bo Wang’s royal brothers become his pack mates too. Pack brothers. This is why it’s really not surprising that Bo Wang is so unflinchingly sacrificial, giving and protective towards his royal brothers. From early on, we can see that his cold, stern and indifferent demeanour is only broken when he faces his royal brothers. He smiles and accommodates his Second Brother a lot. He was willing to give up his life for his Eldest Brother and Fourth Brother if it meant that they could live instead. He was willing to be misunderstood and maligned by his Fourth Brother, to carry the title of ‘coward’ and ‘uncaring’ if it meant that his Fourth Brother could have better peace of mind. This unfortunate tendency to do these sort of sacrificial acts in the dark, allowing himself to be misunderstood and maligned, is frustrating and I suspect it’s going to be even more frustrating for future episodes when he has to make difficult and thorny decisions involving his loved ones.

Bo Wang was groomed to be a killing machine by King Chu Kui. I think we got a few glimpses of the sort of torture and harsh treatment he had to go through before he rose up the ranks into his Princely title but one can imagine that during this time, his baser and more ruthless sides were probably encouraged and honed to become his defining trait. He became hard.

I also believe that Bo Wang probably never really felt much guilt or issue with his unmitigated killings for King Chu Kui. Wolves kill to defend or expand their territory, it’s their nature. There is no right or wrongs behind it - it’s simply survival and pack interests at stake. So, for Bo Wang, I doubt he had any pangs of conscience over the ruthless killings and subduing he has had to do on King Chu Kui’s behalf. He was just protecting his pack. He was just protecting their territory. He was just expelling the foreign invaders and he was simply expanding the pack’s territory for their good. The whole thing was probably a clinical dog-fight for him - we fight over our territory, winner wins, loser runs off with his tail between his legs. Death is but a natural result of being too weak.

I suspect his civility and culture was only trained on him very much later in life when King Chu Kui saw that he was coming along to be a very useful tool and wanted to put him to use. I’m sure the training must have been fairly short and perfunctory - giving Bo Wang just enough ability to conduct himself properly amongst the human population and in the court. I doubt stern cultural morals and ethics were really ingrained or enforced because I’m sure it would defeat King Chu Kui’s purpose of having him as a cold, heartless and ruthless war machine. If Bo Wang learned or acquired anything of culture, it was probably due to his own initiative and interests. Wolves can be quite curious animals and it is not surprising that Bo Wang may have found a few interesting hobbies to play around with or distract him but I doubt they would have a strong or firm impact on his overall character or personality.

Bo Wang is, in essence here, still a wild beast wrapped under a veneer of civility and culture.



Third phase (meeting Zhaixing again after 8 years):

Now this is where it starts to get interesting, murky and complex. There are at least 3 separate issues at play here which are in conflict with each other, and as to which one of these three would reign at any point in time highly depends on the moving, fluid circumstance Bo Wang faces. I feel very sorry for him.

First issue: He has finally met his lifelong mate again. All the various attending emotions, feelings and instincts such as love, protectiveness, commitment, loyalty, etc. will be awakened here whether he likes it or not and he is utterly powerless to control it.

Second issue: He was under the impression that this lifelong mate betrayed him and caused the deaths of his wolf family 8 years ago. This is a big issue. It puts into conflict 2 strong pack loyalties against each other. The personal betrayal must have also scoured a massive wound on his psyche. Hatred, resentment, hostility and anger would be the primary feelings coming from this.

Third issue: Loyalty to his Alpha and his newfound pack members (his royal brothers and maybe also his Night Fury subordinates). Their enemies are his enemies. Their hatred, his hatred. Their goal, his goal. Their interests, his interests. Their actions, his actions. I think this is why, although he didn’t directly take part in Zhaixing’s family killings, he still felt responsible for them because he was, in essence, an Alpha to his Night Fury pack. Their actions, his actions. Their burden, his burden. They work as one, the way the pack works as one. They are, collectively, a single unit. It would be impossible for him to absolve himself here. A thinking, moral man might be able to distance himself but not a wolf.

And it’s quite obvious how sometimes one or the other of these issues would dominate at certain times. Bo Wang may have treated Zhaixing with coldness and resentment, but he would never let her be physically injured - she would be safely on his back when he leaped off a sheer cliff wall and tree branches would never scratch her face.



Fourth phase (after finding out the truth behind Zhaixing’s betrayal and her injured legs):

This cleared the second issue from his 3-way conflict. His feelings and emotions over finding his life’s mate becomes the primary and dominant trait. We see his softer, more loving, more playful sides emerge.

But of course, issue number three is still very much present and for a while he was able to forget it because they haven’t come into direct conflict with each other yet. But Zhaixing’s one innocent statement: “I want to have a pure and innocent love with no deception and lies.” would be like an arrow into the heart. Her follow-up action of nocking the arrow to her bow and declaring war on the Jin King for killing her family members another arrow into the heart. This is where the fragile illusion of happiness fractures.

Concerning the first “I want to have a pure and innocent love with no deception and lies.” is something he is not able to give her. He is Bo Wang the killing machine to her and not Wolf Boy because he is keeping that part of his identity a secret from her. Bo Wang is not built nor shaped for pure and innocent love, it would be impossible to fulfil her wish.

Concerning the second “The King of Jin, you killed my family, prepared to taste my revenge.” he knows it was a lie crafted by King Chu Kui to control the Ma Army and to keep Zhaixing as a pawn under his control. Should this lie be revealed, it is highly likely Zhaixing’s hatred and resentment would turn on him and this is exactly what he dreamt about later that evening.

Speaking of the dream, I found it incredibly foretelling. There was so much foreshadowing in there. The dream was one of the most interesting and fascinating parts of the show because it tells SO MUCH with so little. It tells of Bo Wang’s impossible hope and wish that none of the tragic things that happened in the past were real. It tells of his fear of her finding out of his involvement of the blood debt to her family. It tells of his worry over the fact that he would be used by King Chu Kui to hurt, harm or kill her. I found it interesting how in that dream, Bo Wang was shot by Zhaixing but that wasn’t his primary focus. He didn’t mind being hurt, injured or killed at Zhaixing’s hands, but what traumatised him and troubled him was that it was HE who inflicted the killing blow on HER. They both fell into the dark lake of darkness and death together - theirs was a doomed fate and a doomed love, and behind the whole tragedy was King Chu Kui’s doing.

I can totally understand why Bo Wang, in fright over being used as a weapon to hurt or harm Zhaixing, decided that the best way to protect her was to kill off her budding feelings for him. She only saw him as Bo Wang at that point in time. Her bond with him was still young and tenuous. It would be better for him to kill her attachment to him while it was still a tender shoot before it became an established tree that would be difficult to uproot. He might not be able to cancel the engagement or the marriage but he could try to detach her emotions from him. And this is why he decided to break their relationship and mistreat her. It was painful to watch.



Fifth phase (Zhaixing realises that Bo Wang is Wolf Boy):

With this revelation, Bo Wang knew his attempt to detach her from him was now futile. He knew only too well just how deeply Zhaixing was attached to Wolf Boy - she constantly mentions Bo Wang’s resemblance to him, constantly talked about him, constantly references him in her decisions and actions of the past. With her double attachment to him - one as Wolf Boy, the other as Bo Wang - he knew he could not push her away any longer.

So, I think he decided to try and make the best of a bad situation: reveal the whole thing to King Chu Kui and acknowledge Zhaixing as his one life’s weakness in the hope that by being upfront and transparent, it would buffer or blunt the edge of what King Chu Kui might perceive as divided loyalties from him. I think Bo Wang knew that Zhaixing vs King Chu Kui would pit and bring to a head his two conflicting issues: commitment and loyalty to his mate vs commitment and loyalty to his saviour, Alpha and pack.

Watching how he is going to attempt to balance this tightrope is gripping and stressful stuff.

 MusicalVeggies:
As someone who loves character depth and development, this show's main character - the titular Wolf Boy aka Bo Wang - has provided me with such ample amount of it, I'm drowning. The interesting thing is how there are so many variables that form his growth and his character, that each time the show twists on one particular variable, it completely changes the landscape. I feel as though I'm watching Bo Wang through a kaleidoscope - one turn of the handle and the whole picture transforms. Some twists show ugly fractured visions but other twists produce astonishingly beautiful impressions. (I've so many thoughts about this, I'm putting my long introspective musings over his character below.)

Incredible character analysis and a must-read for all viewers.

Bravo!

 Kotori:
But apparently, the original story was more logical (the novel version and the first adaptation but was cut and edited later). Will try to summarize this in three points: 

1. In the original story the ML himself did kill FL’s father but heard the bell of FL, recognized her and saved her. Therefore he had a much stronger motive not to tell the FL about the truth and the hatred of FL towards ML is also justified rather based on misunderstanding. 

2. In the original novel,  after the ML fell off the cliff he actually dropped into a poison pond that can turned him into a real wolf when he smells blood. He became more less ”human” as compared to the drama adaptation. As a wolf, he was like a blank sheet which follows the order of the herd wolf (his owner) to whom is extremely loyal - if his owner is FL he is good, if he is owner is the king, he becomes a killer machine. That would explain his long loyalty to the king even if it was obvious he was only using the ML. However, this version would make the ML more flawed. 

3. The drama adaptation cut out a lot of scenes from FL2. In the original version FL2 had a snake poison in her own body that can counter the ML wolf poison. But he had to suck her blood and it can only happen twice before she dies. That's the true explaination for ”sharing the same body and dying together”. In the novel FL2 did it once for him after he was being whipped by the king. At the end of the story, there was no poison that slowly killed the ML but he himself went ahead to kill prince 2 but was pieced in the heart by prince 2 . When FL rushed to the ML, prince 2 tried to ambush her but ML2 arrives and pushes him off the wall where he dies.

Instead of travelling the world with Bao Na, she forces ML2 to marry her. ML2 finds FL who hid herself after ML’s death. In fact FL2 took away ML’s body after the fight however the ML was seen somewhere being alive. This means there is a chance that FL2 sacrificed herself to save ML and he is still alive. Thus ML2 and FL decided to look for him. 

As this shows the original ending was not this tragic but hopeful. But the characters were less heroic and more flawed. To please the audience the ML was changed to more humain and loyal to FL but this confused the story and seemed less logic. 

I am not sure I can support the writer’s decision. What do you all think? Looking forward to hearing your opinions! 

Now that I've finished the drama, it's good to be able to read all this additional information. Thanks so much for clarifying the original content vs drama content.

I feel a bit sorry that so much of the original content ended up on the cutting floor. I think part of it was due to NRTA (National Radio and Television Administration), formerly known as SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television) requirements. I know one of NRTA's main requirements is that the main characters of a show need to be white, never grey or black. Or, if they did commit some sort of crime, there needs to be very visual and obvious consequences, discipline and punishment the character has to go through to pay for his wrongdoing otherwise such character actions would never pass censorship. If I also remember correctly, NRTA also disallows superstitious elements, portrayals of people doing black magic or being possessed or turning into demons or evil creatures if they are to be the main character or protagonist of a show. I think this is China's way of trying to discourage 'bad elements' and 'bad messages' to the audience. 

So, I think this is a major reason why Bo Wang's involvement in the Ma Family Massacre was modified to have him unaware therefore uninvolved and not guilty of such grave sins. The drama also constantly tried to remind audiences through various character expositions that Bo Wang only fought and killed for King Chu Kui because he wanted to prevent further deaths and to bring peace. He apparently went on the battlefield and tried to end every battle as fast as possible and with the least bloodshed and casualties. This is the drama's way of trying to paint Bo Wang as white as they could given their limitations. 

Similarly with stripping out the supernatural aspects. I think that went against NRTA's witchcraft, superstition and black magic ban. 

I'd also heard how a major killing scene which took a long time to shoot was completely cut from the show. Again, the excessive killings and death and possibly how they portrayed the cold-bloodedness of the main characters might have contravened NRTA rules. 

It's interesting to know the original story but having seen the whole drama, I personally thought that the production team did a good job trying to piece together a coherent and cohesive story given the severe limitations, restrictions and cutting they faced. If indeed 10 episodes worth of footage had to be stripped, I thought the drama still held well under the severe amount of cutting. 

I do wish they had a bit more time to flesh out certain parts of the show to make it more understandable for viewers e.g. how Ma Zhaixing got poisoned and gained her 'superpowers', and why was Bo Wang getting so weak so fast, etc. I had to sort of look around for some answers because the drama didn't quite make things clear. Still, I can live with these small niggles. No drama is perfect, there will always be things that they could do better but I thought this drama did very well considering the challenges and problems it faced. I'm just glad that they could even air it after 3 years and still give us a great show to enjoy instead of leaving it to dust and rust in NRTA archives or wherever it is they store unaired and unwanted dramas... 

(I mean, imagine missing out on Darren's Wang's utterly magnetic performance here! That would be such a crying shame to me.)

@MusicalVeggies  

Your reviews and your explanations, all justify why I love this drama so much despite some of its shortcomings which I don't really mind either.  Bravo!

@ChineseDramaFan

Thank you very much for taking the time to always read my long writings! You're very patient!

Honestly, NRTA's requirement to have white protagonists in shows is quite a pain because a lot of the workarounds which the production teams have to do to 'whitewash' their heroes can sometimes distort the character to either be inconsistent or bland or one-dimensional. It can also distort the plots and make them insensible and spoil a show. It's a real pity because sometimes the most interesting characters are those who are grey and have all sorts of conflicts but who grow, learn and mature from them. 

I went to Twitter and saw Frankie Chen (one of 'The Wolf''s directors) post a deleted cut of the Ma Family Massacre scene and man, you can clearly see it's Bo Wang there being all cold, cruel and ruthless in his slaughtering that night. I knew he was there because, as I mentioned in a separate Discussion thread here, the central figure marching through the mansion HAD to be him. It had his body build, his hooded cape, his boots and even the blade-end of the spear closely resembled the fanged short knife he gave Yao Ji later in the drama. And I was right, it was him in the deleted cut. 

I'm so curious to know how the original drama would have looked like - probably a lot darker and more complex. 

Still, all that censoring and cutting notwithstanding, I think the reason why this drama was still able to hold up pretty well under the knife was because it was, in essence, a very character-driven and relationship-driven drama. It's easier to make adjustments because you don't need to untangle too many plot points. 

I found it interesting how in the drama, Bo Wang is painted as someone who was always Wolf Boy trying to work within the limits of his circumstance i.e. he always had a kind, compassionate and sentimental heart and even though he killed, it was in light of the bigger picture that he had to perform those deeds. 

In the original, Bo Wang was truly a cold war machine who could ruthlessly kill without misgivings or pangs of conscience because that was how he was trained. His Wolf Boy nature was beaten and tortured out of him and never surfaced until he met Ma Zhaixing again and her presence presumably re-humanised him, which then presumably led to extra character angst, guilt, remorse and conflict. This would have been more fascinating and compelling to watch. 

In any case, either of these scenarios are fine. Bo Wang's character is still sensibly and coherently applied in either case, thank goodness. 

Which is why I think we need to give a lot of credit to the production team. The 10-episode cull could have destroyed the drama without some really deep and proper modifications and adjustments, and the team clearly gave it a lot of thought after everything 'nasty' had been forcibly stripped and took pains to try and thread the remaining sequence of events and the character motivations as coherently and cohesively as they could. Sure, some information and some details might be missing and require viewers to fill in the blanks on their own but they're not significant deal-breakers because, ultimately, the drama is about the characters and their ever-changing, ever-growing relationships, not really about the political machinations of the court or about the rise and fall of empires. Thank goodness they managed to preserve that. 

 Kotori:
For the ending, there was apparently a scene in which Ma Zhai Xing exchanged blood with Bo Wang! Thats why her blood became black and Bo Wang’s turned red. That’s how she became so strong like a wolf demon and dared to attack the castle all by herself. I think that’s also how Bo Wang got saved...  why they cut that out. No clue! They just assumed the audience understand that all by themselves? Lol 

Oooh, so is this the untold reason why? Hahaha, how interesting.

Because the drama didn't show all those things you mentioned, this was my personal take on the whole 'poison' thing...

1) When King Chu Kui saved Wolf Boy from his fall off the cliff, he had to treat Wolf Boy with a type of medicine which was essentially also a type of poison which could later have adverse effects on him. I went back to rewatch the scene and one of the King's attendants made a passing remark that they could cure him but the cure would have 'side effects'.

I assume this is why Bo Wang and a few others occasionally dropped reference to his 'body's state' or his 'poisoned' state. I also assume that it was this special medicine which gave Bo Wang his super strength but also his vulnerability to the wolfsbane flower. 

The reason why Bo Wang was able to stay strong and powerful for so long was because of his original strong body's constitution from his days as Wolf Boy. After 8 years and after plenty of abuse, hardship, injury and many exposure to wolfsbane flower, his body could no longer hold up and started to weaken significantly, hence his '6 months to live' timeframe.

2) Ma Zhaixing wanted to spare Bo Wang from going to rescue his Fourth Brother because Bo Wang was becoming too weak and very likely would not be able to withstand the assault on the palace, rescue Fourth Brother and survive, which was why she decided to undertake the mission by herself. 

She and Yao Ji went to look for a special plant Yao Ji mentioned which could give her body supernatural strength (like Bo Wang) before it deteriorated but because her body's constitution was more delicate (unlike Bo Wang's), her body was more quick to 'degrade' hence the 'few days left to live'. She timed her assault on the palace just as the poison activated. It felt a bit like she was prepared to burn herself out in one final burst of strength.

3) I noticed Bo Wang's blood was red and wondered about it but thought it was a production oversight, hahaha. When Ma Zhaixing died, the camera shot of her right hand falling to the ground and her bronze bell was all covered in red blood, not black too. Perhaps it's best not to look too closely into this area, hahaha. 

4) Bo Wang died after the 6 month lapse [voiceover narration at the final scene said so]. That final scene of him with the butterfly was just a snapshot of how he spent his days in Langshou Mountain in the 6 months before he passed. 

I see I'm not the only one with this sort of 'fill in the blank' understanding of the situation. See here: https://mydramalist.com/24662-the-wolf#comment-5174979 too. :D

@MusicalVeggies

Thanks a lot for all these incredible analyses and explanations. The Wolf is really one great drama with so much depth. One of a kind for sure.