FTCU:
Same here, I’m glad they’ve been allowed to add 2 more episodes due to its immense popularity. I’m mostly excited about the proposal scene, xinyue & FengLong trying to kill XY & FengLong telling ZX about Jing being the mastermind behind his throne ascension & how he was able to garner support.
I'm trying temper my expectations. I think there will be changes from the novel, but I hope some key scenes are kept.
Not sure how the whole XY and FL trying to kill XY arc will be done - it may be condensed and combined with Hou killing Jing. But yes, I agree FL telling CX the truth regarding Jing being the true strategic mastermind would be CRUCIAL in my eyes. I think the novel was clearer in displaying Jing's intelligence and rationality. He wasn't just a lovesick fool just pining away for XY. S2 needs to make up for it in my opinion and give him the credit that is due. Maybe they are saving it anyway for the end. It's definitely a storyline that has been developing throughout. In CX's eyes in S1, Jing is exactly as I said above: a lovesick, weak fool without other convictions in life. It's probably what some of the audience feel too.
Of course to us, Jing is more than that. He' s just still on his way in development when we leave him after S1. I think once his sis-in-law dies and he snaps out of his funk, he will gradually become more and more the confident/strategizing Jing that he is known for.
Some have posted on the main page their viewpoints on Jing being more a plot device rather than a true character that completes an arc/journey. I couldn't disagree more. While his core person never changes, the TSJ at the end of the story is not the same as the one before. He starts off his life as a privileged "merchant prince" as some have said, but everyone he knows and loves are taken away from him (including his relationship with his brother Hou). He effectively experiences trauma like so many of the characters in this story. He gets a new chance at life because of XY, but he is essentially running away from his past as Ye Shiqi. He would have happily remained YSQ , but life had other plans. His is forced to resume being TSJ and deal with his family and background and all that comes with it - including the forced engagement he has with FFYY, the duties of being clan leader, etc. Although he wants to be someone like YSQ, free from the entanglements of position and power and live a simple life with his beloved, he has to face his demons so to speak - the toxic family of his lol. It's not a super creative character journey, but I'd say it's a very classic one.
And yes, I would agree he does not do a great job of facing his past/demons for much of the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the novel. He wavers and doubts himself - he admits as much to FL in ep 34 that sometimes he is unsure of what to do and feels that FFB and FL would be better suited to XY. He'd also rather not cause additional harm to people including Hou and Yiying - but he doesn't know the extent of their malicious actions until after he is forced to marry Yiying.
After he and XY work together to catch Hou and YY, essentially Jing steps up and sorts things out one by one. He deals with the clan elders and comes up with a way to spare Hou and YY but at the same time not leave them off the hook. While CX is busy scheming ways to keep XY to himself by letting the whole world know about her parentage, Jing is by XY's side and helps her reconcile with her own past/parents and her father the Grand Emperor.
This has become a long essay LOL, and I will stop here. I hope for a satisfying conclusion to XY and Jing's story - they deserve it after all they go through in S1.