Here am I again, emotional about the binging 49 episodes of the Wolf and conflicted about how I will rate this drama. Apologies for the lengthy review.

Let me start with what I genuinely like about this drama.

★Set-up:
The story of a boy raised by wild animals and later on fall in love with a human girl is nothing new. But putting this into a historical background in China, when the boy became a ruthless general serving the evil king, is new. The drama explored the grey areas of love and hate, revenge and forgiveness, evil and good, friendship and family, power and helplessness. The drama drew me into its fascinating world since episode one, and I just could not take off my eyes.

★Production:
Beautiful natural scenarios:
Many of the wide-angle shots are shot directly in the beautiful natural scenes of Shangrila. They are simply breathtaking. Even those scenes that have been created with the help of CG (e.g. the great battle) were very well executed. I am also impressed by the CG animals which looked extremely real and their fighting scenes thrilling.
Marvelous soundtrack:
Jolie Tsai herself sang the title song, which throughout the 49 episodes I only skipped 2-3 times. It is unique with a beautiful chorus mixed with modern rap. Jolie also sang a few great background songs that just were fitting perfectly to the scenes. I can see myself listing through the OST, again and again, remembering the scenes of this drama.

★Characters and actors:
This drama has an excellent set of characters.
For me, the most memorable remains the wolf, being one of the most complex characters I have ever witnessed in a Chinese drama (the other one being Li Cheng Yin fron goodbye my princess - in fact, both dramas have a lot in common).
The Wolf or Chu Youwen went through an extreme character development of being an innocent wolf pup to feeling betrayed by Xing Er (Ma Zhai Xing). From there, he turned to a powerful general, understand the warmth of family and friends but at the same time gaining power through brutality and creating fear. Ma Zhai Xing re-appear in his life, he started to love again and regained some of his initial purity. However, the more he fell for her, the bigger the guilt he felt towards the FL. When he finally could not hide this fact, he used the cruelest method to chaise away his love of life so she can use her hate to kill him. He thought this could protect her and returned her happiness. When all the misunderstandings were finally cleared, he realized what it was mistaken, and they could finally enjoy a few moments of joy until the tragic ending. There were moments in the drama that I could not understand the wolf and his way of loving the FL. But later on, it all made sense, and I am grateful to see such an incomplete character coming to life. Darren Wang was the perfect actor for the wolf. He adequately depicted the young wolf's innocence, prince Bo's coldness and power, and love towards the FL. Most surprising of all, I think I have not seen a more "manly" Chinese male lead than Darren Wang as the wolf. I had seen Darren in previous roles, and he was just like any other idol Chinese male actor. I became a huge fan.
There are still a few aspects he could have done better, such as micro-expressions showing flashes of sorrow when trying to chaise away the FL or emotions of relief or affection during moments of reunion with the FL. I can see that he has great potential, and I am looking to his future roles!
A few words to the other characters:
I also enjoy Ma Zhai Xing's character a lot. I think she and the wolf had great chemistry. Just like the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, MZX went through enormous growth from a naive girl to a respected ruler. It was painful to watch when her hatred towards the ML blinded her, but you also cannot help but feel empathy, knowing how everything she ever believed in turned out to be a lie. Luckily, just like butterflies can always find their flower when the truth came out, MZX freed herself from all the chains to fully love and trust her WangZai.
This show would not have gained this big of popularity if not for Ji Chong's character, starring the famous Xiao Zhan from the Untamed. I can see this positive, carefree, brave, and kind-hearted role truly fits Xiao Zhan's personality. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Wei Wu Xian. In the end, like an eagle, Ji Chong longed for freedom and exploration which is what he decided to do. The only improvement is probably the romance. I wasn't sure if I understood why he fell in love with the FL and how he was ready to give up his desire for freedom for her; it felt abrupt and out of place. The same went towards the end when he decided on Princess Bao Na. Of course, Bao Na is a character loved by many, but it does not fit the list of reasons he has given why he liked the FL.
Besides, I need to mention Yao Ji. I love both her tragic and deep character as well as Xin Zhi Lei's performance. I enjoyed her acting as Duo Duo in Joy of life and certainly could compete with the FL in terms of skills.
Finally, two of my favorite supporting roles: Ding Yong Dai as the emperor Chu Kui and Zhang Hong Na as Ma Jing. Both had a very memorable performance in their roles and helped the main cast to shine.

Now let me come to the areas of improvement why I cannot give this drama a higher rating:

☆The story/scripting:
For me, the wolf had everything a great drama needed: unique set-up, complex characters, skillful production, and a famous cast. But the writing just failed in delivering to its full potential. There were countless developments, key events, and actions that felt out of place, illogical, artificial, and banal. On the one hand, I am in love with this drama, but these plot issues just once threw me out of the story numerous times. They left me with many unanswered questions in my head, feeling disatisifed when the credit of the 49th episode rolled.
Below are some of the key ones (spoilers ahead):

☆King Chu Kui and his sons
One of the most important turning points of this drama was that the king, in fact, killed his oldest son and hid it from both prince Bo and the 4th prince. He even blamed family Ma for not have lent a helping hand and justified his action of killing FL's family to prince Bo. The biggest gap is that drama never explained why he actually did it. I understand this drama had to be cut from 58 episodes down to 49, but this is a critical piece of the puzzle that just shouldn't have been left out.
Besides, the king's relationship with all of his sons remained a mystery to me. I know he was a cold-blooded person who used the wolf merely as a tool for his hunger for power, but he showed signs of affection to the 4th prince. What did the king feel when he knew the 2nd prince might not be his son? What was his intention to keep his 4th son alive after he has betrayed him? Later, did he truly wanted to pass on his throne to him when he knew he did not have much time left? Was he just being simple-minded or did he had some thoughts after he let the 2nd prince return? What did he feel when all of his sons left him, and even the head eunuch wanted to betray him in his final days of life? I recognize good dramas by giving their antagonist a soul, but the king was simply a tool in the Wolf. In fact, by answering some of these questions, the audience would understand ML's actions and personalities a lot better. Despite the brilliant performance of Ding Yong Dai, the show failed to deliver that.
Similar can be said about the 2nd prince. We knew he truly loved his wife who played a key role in the drama to keep him sane. The drama could have made this character less one-dimensional if they had let her appear in his final moments.

☆Bo Wang's relationship with the king
This point is slightly different than my previous critique as this shows more the feeling our ML had towards the king. The show's second arc focused on how Bo Wang chased the FL away, trying to protect her. Next to the guilt he felt towards his older brother, was there some degree of loyalty towards the king, or was it purely a lie he told the FL? There was one scene where he said he "needed to stop Chu Kui from his wrongdoings." Does it mean he ultimately did it for the FL and forgot about how the king raise him for seven years? Another turning point of the story was when the ML found out about the death of the oldest prince and decided to betray the king. But that was very late in the 2nd arc. What was his plan before that? Did he also intend to go against his king in any different way? What was Bo Wang and the king's last scene about when he forced him to step down? Was it guilt and remorse? That would go against the early theory. Perhaps it was simply respect... again, the show did not explain.

☆Displaying different types of love
I understand that the show tried to depict a different form of love, well-intended but ultimately misguided - which was great. The problem I have was the way the drama revealed these clues. They are hidden and maybe even confusing. There were verbal explanations to Bo Wang's Ye Cha at the start and actions to the end, e.g. by revealing Bo Wang did not throw away the wolf tooth pendant or by confessing to the FL that he missed her every day when she was gone. But why not share these earlier in the second arc? Most viewers were confused about whether the ML really stopped loving FL because of the cruel words they throw at each other. There were also little signs of remorse or bitterness in the ML expressions (which might be due to acting). It was confusing for many episodes.
When Bo Wang was sent to the prisoner's camp and protected the people there, FL said that she saw that he "changed" and he "reminded her of Lang Zai" it seemed he was remorseful about his cruel past behavior. But did he really changed? Or was he and has always been the kind Lang Zai but tried to be cruel to be strong? I will not find out the answers...

☆Jumping between black and white of emotions
This point relates to my point above. Love and hate just come and go like days and nights. ML suddenly dropped all of his affection and started to force FL to hate him the day after their beautiful wedding. Equally, when the FL found out about the wolf's truth, everything suddenly turned into perfect harmony. Both for her and the ML. Where did the conviction and the confidence go? Again, if the show had dropped hints of emotions or explanations throughout the arc (rather than a confession at the end - we are not in the mystery genre where we needed a surprise), this would not feel so abrupt and artificial.
Similarly, I did not understand the character development of Yao Ji. It was a too strong contrast where there was only suspicion and hatred between her and Bo Wang at the start (I don't blame them as she indeed suffered 5 years in prison because of him). But towards the middle, though she revealed her love towards Bo Wang, suddenly they turned out to be like "more than family members" who deeply trust each other? I wished this could have shared more about their past so we audience can understand their development.

☆Lang Zai and Xing Er
A central theme that comes up again and again is the pure love between Lang Zai and Xing Er. That was where both of them returned to and drove tears in many. But out of 49 episodes, the makers spend one episode describing them. Despite flashbacks throughout the show to fill this gap, it was not enough to appreciate and build up the emotions. I wished the team had spent more time on the first part, which was the entire show's foundation.

☆The ending
Sadly but true, the writing of the ending was not satisfactory. Though it was clear ML suffered from his early recovery from the Lang Gu Flower, but where did the sudden illness that drove him to his death come from? Why did it suddenly become so bad that he could not even walk properly? From the arrow of the 2nd prince? How did Yao Zi create an almighty medicine from the FL? Couldn't they just use any other person? And what was going on with FL's superpower that let her beating all the soldiers? Is it because of that medicine? What's going on with this ML dies for FL and then again FL dies for the ML? Wasn't there any other way to save the 4th prince? Did the FL really have to go all by herself and die in this way?
I have nothing against a bad ending. I think a BE is the best way to end this drama. But how this drama ended felt forced to create an artificial reunion and dramatic death in the loved ones' arms for which I could not shed any tears.
My ideal ending would have been: A series of push and pull between hate and love between FL and ML during the second arc. However, FL kills ML in the battle and fulfill ML's wish. FL later finds out about the truth and deeply regrets what she had done. She gave up all her titles and lived all by herself in the wolf mountain, remembering her wolf pup.

All in all,
For me, the Wolf was like a great piece of raw chicken soaked in high-quality spices and sauces ready to become a Michelin star dish. But to please the wider audience, it became fright chicken instead. But hey, fright chicken is needed. I loved it as well and will not easily forget it.

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Post comment:
Apparently, the original story was more logical and would explain so many of my questions above and made the story more logical - the novel version and the first adaptation but was cut and edited later. Will try to summarize this in three points:

1. In the original story the ML himself did kill FL’s father but heard the bell of FL, recognized her and saved her. Therefore he had a much stronger motive not to tell the FL about the truth and the hatred of FL towards ML is also justified rather based on misunderstanding.

2. In the original novel, after the ML fell off the cliff he actually dropped into a poison pond that can turned him into a real wolf when he smells blood. He became more less ”human” as compared to the drama adaptation. As a wolf, he was like a blank sheet which follows the order of the herd wolf (his owner) to whom is extremely loyal - if his owner is FL he is good, if he is owner is the king, he becomes a killer machine. That would explain his long loyalty to the king even if it was obvious he was only using the ML. However, this version would make the ML more flawed.

3. The drama adaptation cut out a lot of scenes from FL2. In the original version FL2 had a snake poison in her own body that can counter the ML wolf poison. But he had to suck her blood and it can only happen twice before she dies. That's the true explaination for ”sharing the same body and dying together”. In the novel FL2 did it once for him after he was being whipped by the king. At the end of the story, there was no poison that slowly killed the ML but he himself went ahead to kill prince 2 but was pieced in the heart by prince 2 . When FL rushed to the ML, prince 2 tried to ambush her but ML2 arrives and pushes him off the wall where he dies.

Instead of travelling the world with Bao Na, she forces ML2 to marry her. ML2 finds FL who hid herself after ML’s death. In fact FL2 took away ML’s body after the fight however the ML was seen somewhere being alive. This means there is a chance that FL2 sacrificed herself to save ML and he is still alive. Thus ML2 and FL decided to look for him.

As this shows the original ending was not this tragic but hopeful. But the characters were less heroic and more flawed. To please the audience the ML was changed to more humain and loyal to FL but this confused the story and seemed less logic.

I am not sure I can support the writer’s decision. What do you all think? Looking forward to hearing your opinions!