AleksandraSucur

I think that, too. Very curious how it will be developed in the drama

another thing. We both have a "positive view" on S2, but do you know this will be your opinion till the very end? Do you know what kind of votes will you assign if you decide to write a review? Because I have no idea, I must first watch it all to have an idea

wise words 👍

I'll repeat it again: I'm not against their critics AT ALL and I am totally fine with people who dropped this drama or this season. I myself dropped more than 90% of c-dramas I've started (I'm picky, remember?). How could I blame people who dropped smth they don't like?
But if a person continues to watch smth he/she doesn't like, while already reviewed and assigned votes to different compartments of the drama after only a few episodes, don't you think something is not ok?

Returning to why your logic is not validated: 1. most people who have positive opinion on JoL2 haven't read the novel. To this I'll add 2. I've read (although not recently) negative comments, too, expressed by people who have read the novel: they'd preferred scriptwriting stayed stick to the novel, following the order and plots of the novel. So, "not reading the novel" can't be the reason of negative opinions on this drama.

comparing them to the emperor's disorder, I've thought it was an obvious joke, not a judgment. We all have the right to an opinion yes, and the freedom of speech, on condition our speech is not offensive or nonsensic. If they are out of the norms, we can't blame other people reacting against it. Few days ago, I've reacted to an offensive comment towards you, as I've couldn't stand it...

you've said: "(...) those people who watched S2 expect the same kind of story line or plot like S1 because they never read the novel." But most of the people discussing the drama here are people who never read the novel, and most of that people (who never read the novel) LIKE or view positively the drama (whatever they've expected), so your logic above is not validated by the fact it isn't necessary to read the novel to have a positive opinion (or a realistic expectation) on the drama.

he didn't want to let other people know he was a person from an exterminated clan. Other people may be wary of persons like Hong/Chen, supposing they may hold grudges.

Yeah, all-knowing brains... 😂

I respect everyone's right to criticise (or praise) and you know that. This is not about the right to like or criticise, it's also useful when we share and discuss our different opinions, because that's the right way to have a better insight and to objectify our reasoning... it's about when and why we (all) should REVIEW a drama. How can anybody review and assign votes to different compartments of a drama if he/she watched less than a third? What kind of review is that? And why they continue to watch (chosing "ongoing" and not "dropped" status)? How can they be so confident of their overall opinion, when they've never discussed what exactly they dislike or don't understand (like scriptwriting) with other viewers?
Don't judge all the people through your lenses: you've read the novel, I've read parts of it and did so only recently, but most of the people discussing here haven't read it at all and they still like it as an independent dramatic form, discussing normally, without arrogance and intention to form their final opinion till the very end?

Eunuch Hong is siding with FX

These people write reviews to talk - and to talk from above, as some sort of judges - about themselves. Maybe they suffer from heavier forms of narcissistic disorders than the Qing emperor in JoL.

expecting a different thing from the announced one doesn't make this storytelling wrong, it makes their expectation wrong

I can't believe there are people who write reviews of a drama before it's over. Especially I can't understand the reason of writing a negative review while continuing to watch it. Maybe one can be induced to leave down the reason why he/she dropped it, but it makes no sense to continue watching something you don't like or isn't gripping enough to invest your time.
What I also find odd is the fact these reviews are written by people I've never noticed exchanging their povs with other viewers here. This detail tells more about these "reviewers" than about the drama. At least, it tells something about their impatience.
And what are they complaining about? "I've expected..." "I would have preferred...", "im tired of honest man going through politics", or others, more attentive not to put themselves individually as subjects in the sentence, will mask "I" with "we" or similar plural indicating themselves, too ("no mystery to solve" or "too obvious solutions... for the "viewers" "). Most of them blame the bad "storyline/storytelling/scriptwriting".

S1 ended with a cliffhanger and many unresolved issues: smuggling of treasury goods, deadly animosity with the 2nd prince, who and why killed FX's mother and even FX's marriage-still-to-happen is an issue which involves politics. The creators largely announced it, too, so the only logical "expectation" for S2 would have been: it will be mostly a political intrigue. You don't like this genre? It's ok, do not watch it, don't write about your unrealistic expectations, about what you would have preferred, stop criticising arrogantly a great scriptwriter or bad storytelling (what a nonsense, the storyline is great, the dialogues even better than in S1), just write another script and make another drama of your own!!!

it depends which chapters will be included in the 2nd half of S2. The script doesn't strictly follow the order of events and chapters in the novel

I've never expected the imperial examination (usually a trope) can be this exciting...

No, it's unnecessarily long (700+ chapters) and boring imo. I wouldn't recommend it

let's wait and see, some of these secrets should be revealed in the 2nd half of S2 and might pop up simultaneously (if the crescendo rythm continues...).

It depends on our personal tastes and expectations. Dealing with different things, the plots are differently oriented towards genres in two seasons. I appreciated those "high moments" from S1 (who will ever forget that sublime poetry banquet?), but I personally enjoy S2 more, I find its dialogues wittier, political hypocrisy funnier, characters showing gray-er traits and can't complain about the development of the "course of action" either.
In a way, we can say that the "high moments" from S1 are substituted with a sort of "low moments" (lol, I mean: "morally disputable") which develop dynamically, in a sort of crescendo: "who will enter first the city gates?" in ep.6, then the "family dinner" at emperor's palace, the court debate n°1 in ep 10 (when FX manipulates censors to take over the corruption investigation), three couples simultaneous date at Wan'er's place (FX finally shows to the 2nd prince he is a person to be feared of) in ep. 12, culminating with the highest "low moment" (lol again) till now: ep. 15, court debate n°2, the emperor shows his true colors by ordering the chief censor being beaten to death.
Maybe the verb "love" is not appropriate for this darker "course of actions", but I enjoy it more than the course of action in S1.

The same for me

Agree, this high end hypocrisy is hilarious to watch