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littleblackraincloudofcourse

just a reminder that even though this happen in a separate episode

it was still the same night

that's all, thanks

#wu the series

problematize

These two scenes from the first two episodes are so important and I wanted to put them side by side.

#wu the series

embersinthefirelight

Wound-tending shenanigans

Wu Ep. 9

#wu the series

iwouldbelostwithoutyou

“Even heaven can’t stop two people from fallen in love. And by the way, who even knows what heaven’s thinking?”

#wu the series

paulinamakes

Wu Study 2

#wu the series #fan art

jessicamdawn

Wu the series + text posts pt 7

#wu the series

jessicamdawn

Wu the series + text posts pt 8

#wu the series

ran-and-dom

Mood booster

#wu the series

littleblackraincloudofcourse

When I started Wu, I didn't care whether or not they kissed because they were new and fascinating levels of insane for me to see and that was enough.

But after finishing the series, I'm actually glad they did kiss, and more surprisingly im glad they never had sex.

There are so much that gets minimized by viewers because these epic moments are followed by intimate scenes that rather than emphasize that intensity of their emotions, creates a transactionality

The idea that risking their life and making huge sacrifices is worth it because they get something out of it that no one else does is pervasive through all media. It essentially turns sex into their rewards.

But for Niran and Pete, their is no grand prize at the end. Niran sacrificing his powers wouldn't have meant finally getting Pete in bed, and Pete didn't fight more fiercely than a demon so he could get his hands on Niran. Dying in the soul realm didn't promise them the next life together and risking the world for one to keep a promise the other didn't come from some overwhelming and uncontrollable desire.

Every crazy thing Niran and Pete did was just so the other would still exist and to simply be able to spend time together. They ask nothing else of each other. There's something beautiful about that.

#wu the series

dlanadhz

Looking back at the beginning of Wu is wild. The series is only 9 episodes long and yet so much happens in the development of these guys.

You go back to ep 1 and see that Pete was literally the lamest dog. When Niran tells him later "you're hollow" and Pete says "I was a jackass", like they weren't kidding. Pete was so empty and listless before he met Niran, before the training montage. He joined Niran partially because his life meant so little to him that he didn't even care what Niran wanted him to do. He just went with it because it was better than what he was doing at the time.

And we found out Niran feels like such an outcast that he'd rather disappear - and you go back to the start and you realize that's why he let Pete keep hanging around. Niran complained and complained about Pete, but Pete (in his dumbass hollow way) was the first person to tell him he was awesome and capable and to trust Niran so much. He was probably the only person at the time who would have picked up Niran's call to go have drinks at all.

And these two happened to be exactly what the other needed to crawl their way out of their own holes and find stability, trust, love, and family.

Mood booster

Looking back at the beginning of Wu is wild. The series is only 9 episodes long and yet so much happens in the development of these guys.

You go back to ep 1 and see that Pete was literally the lamest dog. When Niran tells him later "you're hollow" and Pete says "I was a jackass", like they weren't kidding. Pete was so empty and listless before he met Niran, before the training montage. He joined Niran partially because his life meant so little to him that he didn't even care what Niran wanted him to do. He just went with it because it was better than what he was doing at the time.

And we found out Niran feels like such an outcast that he'd rather disappear - and you go back to the start and you realize that's why he let Pete keep hanging around. Niran complained and complained about Pete, but Pete (in his dumbass hollow way) was the first person to tell him he was awesome and capable and to trust Niran so much. He was probably the only person at the time who would have picked up Niran's call to go have drinks at all.

And these two happened to be exactly what the other needed to crawl their way out of their own holes and find stability, trust, love, and family.

#wu the series

byallaccountsitdoesntmakesense

rewatching wu really is the best because you get to Niran and Pete sealing the gambling yao in epsiode 2 and you realize that during the ritual Niran clutches his jade necklace.

and when i watched it the first time i was still convinced the necklace held some power able to protect its owner and was some sort of shield or literal power bank - but now that i know its Niran's connection with Pete, it reframes this scene from "Niran needs to borrow cosmic power to defeat this yao" to "Niran needs to defeat this yao because he put Pete in danger"

Niran wanted to call it off as the game went on and he started to actually worry that Pete wouldn't be able to win. He realized he did not want Pete to go through with his plan, with putting his soul on the line, but then Pete jump started the showdown and Niran needed to act fast or he would lose Pete (and he won't have a soulmate to soulbond anymore - like hands off yao that soul is his)

Niran holds on to that necklace with a death grip to establish a connection with Pete at that moment to make sure he's still alive, still has his soul and knows Niran is there working hard to keep it that way.

#wu the series

whatislovewhentherearebooks

Y'all!! I just finished reading the Wu novel, and it turns out that a particular line that people have been using in their complaints against the show to say it was 'queerbait' was just simply mistranslated! 🤦

I think we all know by this point that iQIYI's English subs in general need a *lot* of work, lol 😅, but as I was reading Wu's novel-- which isn't really even a novel as such, it's more just a bare-bones script / screenplay with dialogue that is literally word-for-word to the dialogue in the show-- that reveals a *completely* different nuance to this line that I've seen some people complaining about:

Ah yes, the infamous 'friend, sibling, or buddy' line. BUT the thing is, THAT IS NOT WHAT HE ACTUALLY SAYS according to the official English translation! What he *actually* says is:

"If someone I love is in danger, whether that person is my friend, my sibling or someone close to me . . ."!

*Not* 'buddy'-- but rather, 'Someone close to me'! COMPLETELY different nuance!!

I saw multiple complaints from people saying that the 'friend and buddy' thing was 'yet another minimization' by the show of their relationship/partnership (a premise that I very much do NOT agree with in the first place; I already went over my thoughts about that in a previous post, though, so I won't go over it again here), BUT IT WAS LITERALLY JUST A WRONG TRANSLATION THAT EVEN MADE THIS LINE GIVE THAT IMPRESSION ANYWAY! 🤦

If every single other bit of dialogue had not been EXACTLY the same between the official English translation in the screenplay 'novel' and the show's English subs, I *might* have conceded this particular line to the complainers as being a bit off. But no-- every word in the rest of the dialogue *WAS* the same, *and* we already know that iQIYI has a history of translation issues! Which means that all of the evidence clearly points to the actual OFFICIAL English translation being more accurate here. (Also, just as an aside, a 'friend' and a 'buddy' are not really functionally different words in English {at least for guys, lol} anyway, so right from the start even that little detail should have clued people in that the subs were likely translated wrong.)

ANYWAY, I don't know who might still even find this, but I just wanted to clear the record on at least one of the complaints I'd seen, because if one is going to complain, one should at least only complain *after* getting the *accurate* translations, lol... 😜

#wu the series

cheekonthefloor

theres something so hot in the way both saint and niran were like dormant volcanoes who only became active once again when shin and pete were in a matter of life and death situation, causing them to unleash their own ways of physically fighting back the enemies with no hesitation whatsoever

#wu the series

virtualtadpole

A detail from Wu episode 8 that wasn't translated in the subtitles is that Li Puo's ID is what's called an "identity card for person without civil registration status." IRL, these were issued in accordance with a government policy in 2005 to begin providing stateless people - mainly ethnic minorities in border areas - with documentation that would allow them access to basic rights, such as healthcare and education, provisionally until they could enter the legal process to gain proper citizenship.

Li Puo's card was issued in 2002, which is a bit of artistic licence taken by the creators to imply that it enabled him to gain admission to university in 2005, shortly after the peak of the same government's "War on Drugs" that saw thousands of extrajudicial killings.

This access to education is being shown as a path for marginalized persons to pursue betterment of their lives, but Li Puo's was cut short in the bloody incident that led to his downfall.

Perhaps coincidentally, another GMMTV series airing at the same time also touched upon this, with Kongdech in Ticket to Heaven.

@nocturnalsoph already wrote on Kongdech's likely background in this post. The region where the Archdiocese of Thare and Nonseng is based in real life was also home to the Martyrs of Songkhon, seven Catholics who were summarily executed by local police in 1940 during the Franco-Thai war, when the state's distrust of foreign (French) influence was channelled through religious persecution, among other venues.

The state's distrust of the local populace continued into the 70s as the Communist insurgency spread in the area, leading several communities to be cut off from support of the Thai state and denied citizenship, an issue that persisted until 2005, when mounting concerns prompted the enactment of the aforementioned policy, and still hasn't been entirely addressed.

So Kongdech was among the lucky ones, his parents having been able to secure for him citizenship and an education. As he told Tanrak, people like him didn't have many choices in life. Nor did Li Puo, which further contextualizes his resentment of the fate that heaven and earth placed upon him.

#wu the series