Michelle Topham

You really don't want to miss the rest of it. One of my favorite Chinese dramas in years. And Dylan Wang's performance in it is phenomenal. Especially towards the end.

No worries, you're not the only one.

It's something that happens in a LOT of Asian shows and, yep, it grosses me out too. Lost count of how many Korean actors I've seen churning food around in their mouth as they talk :(

It's a cultural difference tho, and not seen as gross in much of Asia as it is in much of the west. In some Asian cultures, smacking or slurping as you eat noodles for instance, is seen as a sign the food is delicious and you appreciate it.

Nah, not with me :) -- And I lived in Asia for 15 years, traveled all over the continent, and never got used to it.

Wow, thank you so much. I kept looking for him in every episode, even rewound some parts where I thought I might have missed him (he would have been difficult to miss as he's so good in every part he takes, but ya never know :).

Now that makes sense that I didn't see him as his scenes were cut (Horrible for him, and for us).

Again, thanks so much for your help. Really appreciate it, as now I won't feel the need to keep rewatching episodes just to check :)

The official translation is much better than the fan translation although, yep, will agree with you - much of the danmei genre will never really be "high literature" :), especially as so many of these Chinese authors crank out many many chapters a month.

But... as just fun entertainment goes, and with a BL slant, IMO, they're hard to beat.

Hahaha, I know but a) for better or worse, I'm a completionist and so usually (not always) stick it out. and b) I write about Asian dramas so, if I ever need to refer to The Untamed at some point, I don't want to cheat my readers by having not watched it all.

I do think tho, I would have enjoyed it better if I hadn't read the novels first. Twice.

Like I said tho, if people enjoy it, more power to 'em. I'm just disappointed I can't get into it like many people have been able to. Especially as I like both male lead actors.

Originally got to Episode 19 of this, then stopped. Couldn't muster any interest in continuing, even though I fooled myself into thinking it was "superb".

But, finally decided to give it another try, and am now currently on Episode 12 and feel like poking needles in my eyes.

The acting is terrible, some of the worst over-acting in any Cdrama, and the plot just DRAGS. (The novels are much much better).

Will probably struggle thru to the end this time, as I'd just like to get the damn thing off my watch list, but, no, it's nowhere near as good as the high rating would suggest.

Cinematography is beautiful, the soundtrack is superb, but the directing is awful (could have cut so many pointless scenes, and it's supposed to get worse as it goes on), and the horrible over acting and the exaggerated facial expression make it difficult to watch.

Currently on 1.5 speed, but will probably bump it up to 2x by the time I'm done.

Happy for you if you enjoy this but, no, it's obviously not for me.

A shame as I'm a huge novel fan, and really really really wanted to like this -- I just don't.

Always ignore the ratings on MDL -- good and bad. They are rarely accurate.

Watch the series and make up your own mind, or you could end up missing some excellent dramas or, even worse, get stuck watching something you keep watching because "other people thought it was amazing, so it must be good" :)

Same. Really happy to see her in another major role, and this one is great.

Love the hair. Honestly, one of the reasons I first started watching it :) Then stayed for the actors and the well-written plot.

He looks soooooo good with the hair :)

And btw, Art of Negotiation is the first main role Oh Man Seok has had in years. And, for that alone, (well, and the other cast, who are awesome), I hope it's a big success., as he's SO incredibly talented.

And then to see the same rom-com morons downrating it just like they do everything else that doesn't fit into their ignorant, narrow-minded little box makes me so effing angry.

Always nice to see the usual suspects on MDL are downrating a new drama because, apparently, they're too stupid to understand it.

Again, for Chrissake, don't pay any attention to ratings on MDL as, for the most part, good ratings or bad, they're not remotely reliable.

I pretty much know now if a drama has a lowish rating on MDL, I will likely love it.

This one is brilliant. Gorgeous cinematography, stunningly intricately designed costumes, superb performances especially Liu Xue Yi, and a decently written script. Soundtrack is beautiful too.

An easy 10/10. Loving this so much.

Oh go away. So sick of the pro-Hamas crowd I could puke.

Anyone know which episode (s) Liu Xue Yi appeared in? I watched the whole thing, and don't remember seeing him at all.

Help? Anyone? He's one of my favorite Chinese actors. Would love to see his performance in this, as he nails every part he takes.

An easy drop. Can't stand either of the main characters, and the plot isn't written well as it's too confusing (have zero interest in watching something I have to keep rewinding to figure out who they're talking about now). Moving on..

The Korean drama fandom is incredibly toxic, with so many weird people enmeshed in it. People who will literally attempt to destroy an actor's life because of a role they took, some small comment a character they played made, or because they're acting with their favorite oppa.

Vile, nasty, mentally-disturbed people whose opinions should have been ignored, and in some cases sued for, years ago.

Absolutely superb, isn't it? And you're correct on Shi Chun Ling (the Empress). Just the tiny curl of the lip she makes, or the glint in her eyes says volumes. A brilliant performance -- as was everyone else in it. Binge-watching this (currently on Episode 21), and it hasn't lost my attention once.

Absolutely superb. Well-written script, gorgeous cinematography, sets and costuming, and excellent performances from every actor in it. The two male leads are exceptionally good. Especially as both their characters are deeply flawed, and so often react to situations in the weakest or stupidest way possible. Could have been incredibly annoying if the actors weren't so good at what they do.

Looking at the low-ish rating on MDL though, I knew it would be good (my experience has often been -- rated high on MDL = mediocre, while rated lower than you'd expect = one of the best.).

An easy 9.5 out of 10 for me (really only dropped it half a point as Zhang Ping didn't seem to learn much throughout, as he makes the same mistakes over and over again -- and so would have liked to see more character growth). Ultimately though, one of my favorite C-dramas ever.

Edit: Incredibly easy to watch too, as most episodes are only 32-34 minutes long.

MDL is known by anyone who has watched Asian dramas for a few years as a very unreliable site when it comes to ratings. It's always best to ignore them until the drama is at least half over. But even then they will usually be lower than other ratings sites, as there are too many trolls on here that MDL staff refuses to monitor.