As a huge Untamed fan, I really don’t need much to recognize when a queer ship is canon.
Cut sleeve? I raise you shared looks.
Sitting on your bestie’s roof? I raise you stroking your bestie’s D&D binder while tearing up.
Bowing three times? I raise you staring at your homie’s lips every chance you get.
Him touching your forehead ribbon? I raise you S4 bedroom scene’s “cool.”
Wanting to hide bestie away at your place? I raise you a monologue that speaks of time slowing down, like in some lame-o movie, when you realize you like someone. Then, a few scenes later, bestie staring at you with literal heart eyes and heaving bosom after you just saved him like some cliche damsel in distress in a Harlequin romance novel. And guess what? Time slows down from his POV.
“You like Mian Mian?,” followed by bestie’s exasperated look? I raise you not being able to say I love you to your girlfriend but telling bestie that you don’t need to use words to express your feelings to each other because you already understand what doesn’t need to be said followed by such intense eye banging that you both physically jump when interrupted.
The Untamed had no kiss. No direct love confession. Just two broskis eventually promising to walk the narrow path together until it’s dark after decades of losing each other in small and big ways, over and over, again, yet always finding their way back home.
You know what I pictured for a Byler epilogue or confirmation scene that would still allow adequate respect and closure to any existing relationships and keep most of the existing script intact?
No kiss. Not even a hug. Not even a direct confession.
Just future Will sitting alone at a table, checking his watch a few times. Then he looks up.
The camera pans to Mike entering the bar. Mike looks around and then his gaze lands— and there’s that look. That smile. The one only ever reserved for Will.
No kiss. They’re not even framed together in the final shot. But we understand what doesn’t need to be said.
An ending like The Untamed. A story also just about two broskis in love.