This drama really is a puzzle for me, so many people sing odes to it and I'm in shock, why?

I tried to watch this year ago and dropped it on first few episodes, I saw recently that The Untamed is still first on MyDramaList , so I thought, maybe I was in the wrong mood before and I didn't get it, and I'll give it a try once more.

But even when I watched the whole thing (I was so reluctant to watch everything but I forced myself in order to see why), I didn't understand why this show is still the number one.

Then I did a little research and found out that this story was made from a very popular book, and it had many followers even before it was made. I get it now, people really love the book, and I also think that almost always book is better than tv show or movie adaptation, books are complex and deep and if they are well written, no movie can match that.

Ok, book is amazing. but... this show is really really poorly made, like writer/director didn't put much thought into it and heart.

Story: 2.0 *** THE SPOILERS AHEAD ***
(0 - 30 episodes)
Plot is stupid and draggy, boring in one word, first 10 episodes are really bad, when I think about it now when I finished watching them all. WWX acts like he has slept for couple of days after he had fallen in that abyss.
And what happened to him after he fell into abyss is never revealed, maybe people who read the book knows but we who didn't, we don't need to know, some things are better left unknown *sarcasm*.
He remembers everything but he didn't go to see what happened with all those people that he knew and cared about and to find out what really happened after he disappeared, how his sister got killed and everything else, things just happened to him at that point.
When he heard that his best friend LWJ is going to show up (1. or 2. episode maybe), he said something like, "Oh no, who needs that gloomy Lord" or something similar (his best friend who he's going to see for the first time after he fell), also when he saw his nephew for the first time he said that "his mother didn't teach him well manners" or something. I mean, he should started crying when he saw him, remembering his dead sister. His behavior is so strange, like he doesn't care for anything or anyone, and acts as if he has no emotions or heart, completely devoid of soul. Everything that he did in the beginning of the show doesn't fit in the whole picture at all, when we finally find out what happened before he fell.
Things are also happening by chance, the way how WWX and LWJ found out the place where Yin metal is hidden, is really naive and unconvincing. After that their travel to the lake/river/whatever and destroying evil plants was so dull and visually not engaging at all.
The main sects leaders sent their sons and daughters to be imprisoned/killed just like that, their fight against Wen clan looks so pathetic, silly, better fit for some parody movie, laughable.
When WWX started to use dark energy, so many weird things happened around it that I don't even know how to describe it, I could lose my mind every time I remember those scenes, fortunately, I'll quickly forget them, just like the complete drama.
The whole thing with zombies or puppet-like people through the show is simply dumb, lifeless and this word fits perfectly here :D.
(30 - 50 episodes)
The weirdest and grossest sequence of all, involves the blind girl, the blind guy in white, and the most evil person in the entire show (I forgot all their names). The whole scenario in Yin City is beyond stupid, I'm just baffled that someone could really like and enjoy watching that kind of thing in any drama, movie, or whatever.
Finally, the ending/elimination of the last villain was devoid of any real logic and sense. There's no genuine motivation for him to become so evil other than a poorly explained desire for revenge. While revenge can be a compelling reason if well-written, here it simply falls short.

Villains in general are extremely badly written in this show, they are mostly evil just because plot needs them to be, we don't see the real motivation behind their actions, sect leader of Wen is just obsessed with power and will to dominate. Why? Because... reasons. He also has powerful generals who can defeat other main sects almost on their own, that's just utterly boring.

The most interesting person is WWX, his personality is very likable. He's a free spirit, always ready for any kind of mischievous actions, and he doesn't like to be ordered around. However, later on, writers had to create all these unnecessary misunderstandings around him. I understand why they had to do it for the plot, but all these elements are poorly thought out and implemented, once again, it's an example of unbelievably bad writing.

One more thing that I didn't like is that there is no romance, I read that it is some kind BL (boy love) between WWX and LWJ, maybe this is interesting for females and gay people but I'm strait guy so I saw only friendship there, but real romance is missing, WWX's sister chemistry and screen time with her boyfriend/husband if we can call it that even, is almost non existent and we don't see why is she in love with him, but instead we can only see why she shouldn't be.
They could make something with WQ and WWX, or WQ and JC, but no, only brotherly love for WQ.

I know that drama is amazing when every now and then some scene touch something deep in me, and I start crying or at least I feel that I could cry, but in this one, only for two parts I felt I could cry, when WN bought butterfly toy and show it to AY and talking to him, and the other part was when it's revealed that WWX transferred his golden core to his brother, two short moments, that's it.
*** THE END OF THE SPOILERS ***

Acting: 5.5
Some performances are okay, while others are bad, but with such a dumb, empty, and mind-numbingly boring plot, all of that becomes irrelevant.

Music: 5.5
Music is not bad, but I feel at times it is a bit off in some scenes.

Re-watch: 1.0
Watching this was a very painful experience for me, and I won't do it anymore, FOR SURE.