American Perspectives: The Betrayal of Wolf Boy ("The Wolf" Ep.3)

王大陸/Wang Talu as "Wolf Boy"

"The Wolf" is an awesome show about the romance between a man who was raised by wolves since infancy, and the daughter of a military general. So, just to clarify, Wolf Boy isn't a shape shifter or a werewolf.  He simply has extraordinary talents due to being raised by a pack of wolves.  For those of you who had concerns about watching this due to the possibility of shape shifting into a wolf, you have nothing to worry about.  However, the beginning of Episode 3 might rattle you, which is kind of what I'm addressing in this blog.

Episode 3 is when we see the unpleasant, but somewhat expected transition from innocent Wolf Boy to angry and vindictive adopted Prince.  Truthfully, it was inevitable.  The show starts off in the aftermath of political strife, a secret identify for Ma Zhaixing that she doesn't know about yet, and a whole lot of conspiring.

 

Wolf Boy and Ma Zhaixing have an adorable childhood friendship where they are learning a lot from each other.  She learns about wolves and nature from him (though he is somewhat non-verbal, but he teaches through showing), while she teaches him social cues.  But, he eventually becomes a suspect in a murder he didn't commit, and to protect him from further harm, Ma Zhaixing tries to push him away by being as cruel as she possibly can (and later on, the laws of Karma come into play).  Which leaves Wolf Boy extremely confused.

 

Later on, Ma Zhaixing's brother steals her bell from her, which she uses to communicate with Wolf Boy, and lures him out by ringing it, leading to a very ugly battle in which Wolf Boy's family is completely destroyed.  Luckily, the wolves are all CGI, but it's definitely not a scene for the faint of heart.  Wolf Boy is running for his life, and falls off a cliff, and it's assumed he isn't going to make it.  Ma Zhaixing comes to intervene, but it's too late, and her leg gets broken in the process (this is significant in a later episode, I promise).

 

Wolf Boy, unbeknownst to Ma Zhaixing is saved by the King, but it's not out of the kindness of his heart.  He intends to use Wolf Boy as a political pawn, and one of his targets is Ma Zhaixing's immediate family.  So you know it's gonna get ugly.

 

What's my response to it?  It was well done.  They did a good job at setting the stage for betrayal because for a moment, even I thought Ma Zhaixing was ringing the bell, and not another woman assigned by her brother.  Wolf Boy's super human strength in fighting his attackers was done phenomenally, and as usual, I enjoyed watching the martial arts.  My heart broke as I saw an innocent and sincere relationship get torn to shreds in a matter of minutes, and even though the wolves were CGI, it was heartbreaking seeing their fate.  

 

In a separate blog, I'm going to talk more about other occurrences in Episode 3, as it was an event packed episode.  We had Ma Zhaixing's engagement, and a glimpse at Wolf Boy's transition into the very sexy Prince Bo.