Klio

🤣

Yes!

Well, it’s not super pronounced, to be honest. But he does start to reflect on it and he acknowledges that he basically ruined Zhixing’s life. Later on, when he continues his revenge against his next enemy, he makes a clear shift, he doesn’t drag others into it and is instead willing to sacrifice only himself, even if it means dying along with the enemy.

Overall, the way the drama was filmed, and the way it highlighted all the people who died as collateral damage, I think the message they were trying to convey was about the cost of vengeance. Zang Hai isn’t perfect; he’s actually very single-minded in his pursuit. But honestly, I would’ve hated it if he gave up on revenge. There was even a point where it looked like he might abandon his quest for the sake of love (to save the FL), and I was so annoyed 😂. So personally, I’m really glad he went all the way. And by the end (the last few episodes) you can clearly see the way he changed.

Not trying to invalidate your thoughts at all, but I noticed something kinda contradictory. You said the drama would’ve been better with 20–25 episodes, but also that you wanted more of their everyday life, which would pretty much mean more filler scenes/episodes. 😭 Kinda feels like those two don’t really go together.

I don't remember the exact episode, but right after removing DPJ, he starts thinking about the same thing you just mentioned. He realizes that the cost of his vengeance is too high and that it has affected too many innocent people. That's why he changes his approach later on. I actually found that to be one of the main messages the drama was trying to convey.

I thought the same thing! But later, it turned out the guy was completely insignificant, there were much bigger fish waiting to be taken down. DPJ’s end, for example, was deeply satisfying.

I just watched some interview with Xiao Zhan, and his description of Zang Hai as a "gambler who's often playing the odds with his own life" is such a great way to put it. He's smart, but he really does take a lot of risks.

I love listening to Xiao Zhan talking about his own characters. He's always so insightful. 🤌🏻

Revenge is usually a deeply personal matter, it doesn’t depend on some broader sense of justice or the common good. I might not care if a terrible tragedy happened to a group of people unrelated to me, but if someone massacred and flayed my family, I would want revenge for that.
Also, ZH at first didn't know what MPH wanted from his father/what his father 'stole'.

As for MPJ, he did suspect and even test him. However, ZH helped him several times in important matters, and MPJ has no solid proof that he’s the one targeting members of his household. Besides, none of them are truly innocent, so the possibility that their own schemes might be discovered and used against them isn’t far-fetched.

Now that LZH has ended, it's time to starve again. Just one movie coming up, and one drama that only just started filming. 😭 Selfishly, I really do hope his next project won’t be another movie, because watching him over 40 episodes, instead of just two hours, is an entirely different experience.

But yeah, whatever he chooses I won't complain.

The Rise of Phoenixes, maybe. It's an "older" drama from 2018.

Okay, but ... I don’t know about you, but if someone told me my father was a psychopath who orchestrated the massacre of an entire family, and worse, I wouldn’t believe it right away. I’d have doubts and want to find out the truth for myself, even if it was a friend who told me.

Yes, I understand that, but I wish they had shown it on screen. In his interactions with his daughter, he came across as a kind man. He let her do whatever she wanted, and in one of their conversations, he even said they had relied on each other after her mother’s death. His daughter never showed any signs of resenting him, so her not standing up for him at all felt off. Their relationship had always been portrayed as good. That’s my only complaint. I get that she might’ve sensed something was wrong, but it’s different having to imagine that versus actually seeing it unfold on screen.

I actually think his relationship with his daughter should’ve been developed more. It seemed like they had a good bond, and then suddenly she just betrayed him. I would’ve liked to see more tension or friction leading up to that.

And yeah, he was a total psychopath. The moment he laid out his plan for the Gui Seal, I instantly thought, “Yep, that’s a psychopath.”

It's a subplot. Subtle, but nicely incorporated into the overall story of ML's revenge.

There’s one scene I keep thinking about. In episode 38, when Zang Hai lies down to be executed/suffocated. Zhao Bingwen is in the same room, completely still and cold, overseeing the whole thing without a word. He’s watching the death of the boy he once saved, trained (practically groomed) and sent to face his enemies, knowing full well the risks, and he just sits there as he silently twitches, and then finally 'dies' and goes still. The whole scene is so chilling. The quiet brutality of the situation, and the tragedy of Zang Hai’s life, used, deceived, and in the end discarded. I can’t stop thinking about it.

It's one of those scenes that will stay with me for a long time. It was just so tragic and masterfully done.

Zhao Bingwen’s death was poetic justice, he was ultimately destroyed by the very obsession that had caused so many others to die. That scene with the ghost soldiers, and ZH walking through them, was amazing!

This was such a beautiful ending! 🥺

I've already seen a few, but they are good spoilers. It's impossible to open X and see none. I basically scrolled through TL with my eyes half closed 🤣

Y'all, I'm traumatized by spoilers. No matter what I open, I can't escape them, and I won't be able to watch the last three episodes until tonight. I guess I'm going offline until then.

You can find all episodes on YouTube, most Chinese dramas are available there. You can also watch them on international version of Chinese streaming apps: WeTV (The Untamed is on this one), Youku and iQiyi, but you usually have to pay subscription. Then there are sites like kisskh, most things can be found there for free. I mostly use that one.