Fantastic! Until the open ending
There’s not a single thing not to love about this drama. Except plot holes towards the latter part that are so gaping huge you could drive a train or two in them. And I’m not even picky about everything needing to make sense lolThe good: Humor, sarcasm, naughty/rule breaking behavior is sprinkled in run throughout, humanizing the characters and making it a fun watch, there are times you’ll bark out a laugh. And the out some emo tears, too.
Tian Jiarui’s lil bro poisons master is a total little freak, chewing up every scene he’s with delicious intensity, it’s both campy and intimidating at the same time. You both feel for him and fear him. Wouldn’t trust him to make my tea or even live anywhere near me. But would want him close in a desperate situation. His intense big bro (played by Cheng Lei) is magnetic. Can’t take my eyes off him. Intense charisma for miles.
Zhang Linghe’s noble hero is refreshingly uncomplicated and pure of heart. I liked that so much. No BS, but still interesting.
FLs were good, but not written as particularly electric or amazing in any way. The secondary women were good.
Nice cinematography/feel, unabashedly emotional and lovely visual treatment of friends, family and loves who have passed on.
The Bad: plot holes. Terrible cliffhanger ending that can ONLY be explained by there were plans for a 2nd season (but never happened).
This drama was a 9.5+ for me right up until the last few eps. The open ending was so empty, the show just wrapped up with a shrug, leaving the story we were following right at that moment on hold without explanation, leaving so much unresolved there MUST be a reason. I hate not giving it a better score. It’s absolutely worth watching.
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Not bad. Not great, either.
It’s cheesy at times. I love sweeping/epic guilty pleasure epic romance, but this one just had not enough something, the weakness mostly centering on the women characters, including the lead.They were either embarrassing lame schemer villains, or supposedly brave types who just massively got in the way of others doing the heavy lifting (see?! I’m helping lift this whole pail of water all by myself right at this pivotal moment in my pink dress with no dirt on it! Weeee!), or one dimensional wise woman types (I actually liked this one, plastic surgery n’ all).
You know those scenes in the Star Wars movies with the Force ghosts? How it’s kinda uhhh, huh?! but you let it slide. This movie even has smiling Force ghosts. Cringe.
I liked a few of the side characters, esp the four Wei brothers, (loved Qu and his awesome face). Liu Yuning did a good job in his role as the ML, as well as the actor who played the FL’s dad, Ping.
I wasn’t a fan of saving nearly everything till the end. Romance, births, deaths, etc, it all gets packed into the last few eps and that made it feel rushed and glossed over. Felt like it just missed the mark on that.
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(FL): personality is as exciting as box of Kleenex. Boo
FL portrayal was pretty awful - boring, weak, just a ragdoll of simpering, weepy, boring, codependent, can’t take care of herself and (literally) needs mommy daddy boyfriend to do it all character. It’s extremely cringey in that way. She’s a 20-something adult. The character has 0% charisma, intelligence, humor…she’s attractive, but not blow your mind pretty eye candy or anything. Nobody’s going to war for her lol.Other characters good. Liked the traditional medicine aspect a lot. ML was good - character was portrayed well as gentle, intelligent, bookish, thoughtful.
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Unique, heroic, tragic, destiny, redemption…worth watching
Hope there was a tent with drip IVs for the main actors because I’ve never everevereverrr seen so many tears dripping down like rain and rivers of emotion. I was right there with them some of the time. If you don’t blubber floods of hot tears at least 1x when Hou Minghao’s haunting “Yuanzhou’s Youth” plays then you might be a soulless monster. Off to the Wilderness with you :)FoF broadcasts what you’re in for very clearly in the first few episodes, so it’s no spoiler to say…listen. And enjoy this often beautiful and poetic journey.
Tragic and visually stunning from the very beginning. Thoughtful words on the nature of good and evil, of choice, of love, and the importance of a humble light in the darkness. Big, bombastic, colorful fight scenes that are cinematic eye candy. Plus a soundtrack that plays in your mind constantly.
I was surprised that as this story went on, the nice but super square/one dimensional hero Zhou Yichen became so much deeper, bursting with layers of emotion and rivaling Hou Minghao’s sly, dry humored, impish and very easy -to-adore great demon. I hope Zhou Yichen’s actor sends the director a thank you card every Valentine’s Day, cuz it became allllll about him and less about HMH’s demon in last half. The bromance chemistry between the 2 male leads is way stronger from start to finish than the chaste love romance between ML/FL (which isn’t very romantic at all).
Evil and good, the nature of control and destiny vs free will…it’s deep without being preachy or so heavy that it’s not a blast to watch. But man, I had tears falling all through it (but NOT the kind that drags you down and makes the whole experience a downer, for the most part).
Took off a star because it went on much longer than needed. Could have ended perfectly at end of ep 27. Or mayyyybe another two or three well edited eps past that, but not seven. It began to lag, drag, and get TOO pointlessly over the top melodramatic in last few eps. I really missed the demon-of-the-week type of format of the earlier eps, and a truly memorable villain (there is one, but yawn) in the later part. The strong team aspect of it, which was so great in first half, began to splinter off later on, the characters stagnated, some of the team had nothing interesting to do (this also applies to FL character) or they were absent/off on individual tangents, etc.
There’s a 26 minute epilogue/extra episode after the official 34-episode run. Definitely watch it :)
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Worth your time on all levels!
If you’re into this genre like me, it would be hard to not love this drama!It has a slightly different vibe - I think this comes directly from the ML character, who is extremely other-worldly and that never really shifts too much. He doesn’t turn into a relatable, warm n’ gooey human type no matter what the situation. Which is pretty great in terms of giving this a really cool angle. The guy is different than any other being on the planet, and they went with it.
Shen Li herself is a fantastic character. Strong, funny, stubborn, talented, she’s easy to like and cheer for. Loved her for her strength, and her ability to be a fully formed character, not arm candy, scheming, or fake strong. The character kicks butt on her own!
Visuals are good, and the music, ohhhhh man, it’s one of those ear worms that won’t shut up and plays in your head when you’re trying to go to sleep. You’ll know which one I’m talking about (you first hear it played on a leaf)
Side characters are numerous and memorable - actor He Yu’s bimbo playboy airhead (with a good heart) Furong is funny and a standout. There are many things to love about this, from the strong, unique, mature characters to the good effects and epic gods n’ demons storyline, it’s a must-see.
Just for comparison, other dramas Ive loved this much (or nearly) include Love Between Fairy and Devil and Love in the Clouds.
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Mediocre. Nothing special.
Rich with women scheming over men, to the point it’s uncomfortable.Flatline (and even plain bad) acting, esp Dilraba and the super clingy female villains. All female characters are scheming or weak and lip trembling frail. Uninspired, bored acting in bad wigs.
Cheesy visuals like jumping on a bird to fly, but it looks shaky. This genre (which I love) needs at least some good effects to help bring the otherworldliness to life without recoiling and thinking, omg, that looked SO bad!
I found the side characters of Ghost Lord prince (Zhang BinBin) and his sister interesting, wish there was more.
Overall, I was so ready for a big love story between the leads and was bored by ep 25. Plus, Women wailing over nothing gets so old. It’s so second rate on so many levels, I’m shocked at the ratings.
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Perfect dark faerie tale. Cried. Smiled.
Dark, epic love, emotionally moving, funny (at times) and basically anything and everything you’d wish for in a fantasy like this.Dylan Wang/Wang He Di blows the doors off the hinges from start to finish, and some of his best moments are when he’s channeling his co-star. Esther Yu - she dubbed her own voice, and she chose an eye-gouging, gag-inducing, uber cringey baby talk voice that may make you wince. I did. BUT, hang in there. She lightens it up (a bit) as the story moves forward.
If you’re into this genre, it’s a must-see. You’ll go back and rewatch, too.
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Shines Bright Despite Shaky Start
I went into The Untamed in 2026 after only watching 4 C dramas previously. The ratings were so high, and the fanbase seemed rabidly passionate when I researched, so I was happy to jump in.Buuuuut…it started with so-so initial production quality (I’d only watched Love Between Fairy and Devil, Pursuit of Jade, and a few others), enough so I nearly tuned out. It felt dated and meh. Story seemed flat.
But I knew better from great (US) series like Supernatural that if THIS many people from all over the world are screaming from the rooftops about something, listen to them closely, give it a chance. Keep going and stick with it beyond a few eps.
I did, and I came out the other side a complete raving fan.
This show has the magic of original Star Trek or Supernatural - it soars and bursts with life and energy due to the characters and the actors bringing them to life and doesn’t need a fancy production budget. It’s phenomenal. It’ll make you cry. Laugh. Stay up till 4am desperate for behind other scenes content on YouTube in a language you don’t speak.
At its heart, Xiao Zhan’s magnetic, devil may care, kind and noble-hearted Wei Wuxian (Wei Ling), who you follow through life, deaths, rebirth and more. It’s storytelling of a HUGELY epic nature. And with him through this odyssey is Lan Zhan: stoic, otherworldly, but ice cold and uncompromising (think:Spock)…who is yanked right out of his rigidly controlled life by meeting his complete opposite, something way more than a best friend or buddy or romantic interest - they’re soulmates.
The Untamed is grand, beautiful, tragic, wonderful…and ultimately, hopeful. Don’t wait to meet all these characters brought to life by talented actors and actresses and story and behind the scenes people who just got it SO perfect. It’s rare.
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Romance, action, humor, this series is perfection!
It’s just perfect on all fronts, a stunning mix of the people in front of the camera and behind it all just hitting a huge home run from the very first shot.It’s eye candy both in cinematography and actors - it’s a ridiculous male beauty pageant on a level that’s almost distracting if the story wasn’t so well done. They even out-pretty the women, which is hard to do with the gorgeous actresses here.
Story has it all - romance, humor, intensity, warmth, sadness, passion, fun…and villains that chew up the scenery and are more than just boring placeholders. You are engrossed in everyone’s stories here, not just a hero or two.
I really like fantasy and xianxia - but PoJ crossed right over my borders and became one of my favorite dramas ever. Don’t even wait to watch it - I promise it’s worth your time. I’ll be watching everything this director puts out in the future!
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