rockjinrj

I felt the bread thing odd as well! he patted Chan li's shoulder then in front of him drags Wan Li to the side, gives him bread and talks about visiting FX. If I was Chan Li I would've been offended like dude are we even friends?? You're now excluding me because I failed the exam???😂😂

Also, when Lin Ruofu says to FX "you're still not cruel enough", I feel like they are foreshadowing that one day all this is gonna take a toll on FX and he will go berserk. Like totally unhinged👀

JOL truly has the best antagonists. They are not shallow caricatures. You're right, it's impossible to box these characters as black or white. And as evil as they are, it's so fun to see them. Yeah, they are a pain in the ass for FX and anything that annoys FX ultimately annoys me as well because I'm totally rooting for him but I gotta admit, the antagonists are so cool in this drama.
I remember being sad at Shen Zhong's death in S1. And I am similarly going to be a bit sad, if/when another one of the antagonists like Chengze dies or is put into the dungeons idk

Now that I think about it, the emperor had already set his aim at Lin Ruofu when "the crown prince's aides" urged Lai Ming Cheng to investigate the corrupt officials during the court session. Almost everything after that was part of plan of the emperor to take him down.

Dude plays 3D chess and his pawns do not even know that they are his pawns.

Also, this He Zong Wei is going to be a huge headache, isn't he? They casted the right actor because he's doing such a good job that whenever Zong wei comes on screen, I get irritated by just looking at his face😂

Facts 💯. It's going to be really hard to wait for S3 after this season this ends

that was so funny🤣🤣 he just heard fx yawning and YEETED his chopsticks🤣

😂😂"acting like you're somebody else, gets me frustrated" totally fits the emperor like sir my brain doesn't have the capacity to comprehend the layers of your character

well said. the emperor is a very complex character for sure. most complex one I've seen in cdramas I've watched so far and that's why I really appreciate his character. I think it was Lin Ruofu who says "Out of all the previous emperors of qing, he is the most inscrutable one" and that's exactly how I feel after 20 eps. One moment I am scared about what he is going to say/do, the next moment he becomes a funny guy. One moment I think, he doesn't care about FX but the next moment, it feels like he definitely does.

Also, I've learned that it's better to judge the emperors in cdramas as emperors and not think about their roles as fathers and husbands because they almost always fail in those aspects. If Chengze was speaking truth when he was talking to Ling er then obviously, he's not a good father but that's a good emperor move to keep the crown prince in check.

The emperor is one of the reasons, the drama is as exciting as it is. His unpredictability makes it so fun to see him on screen.

I often think back on the scene in S1 when the emperor, CPP and Fan Jian were fishing and Fan Jian was angry with the two for sending FX to Beiqi. The emperor says to him along the lines that "FX is good but he is not great yet. If he's to become the greatest minister that qing has ever had then these he needs to overcome these obstacles by himself." All this time, he has been testing FX for this purpose. Also, the moment when he meets FX before his departure for Beiqi, he gets a little emotional and says "In the palace, I am emperor but here--" he doesn't complete the sentence but I think he was about to say father. When I think about this moment, it makes me wonder why I even questioned whether he cares for FX.....SO COMPLICATED😂😂😂

He bowed to FX to thank him for punishing a corrupt official who had annihilated his clan. Since he is the only survivor, he changed his name when he entered the palace. So far, I think he is good and is on FX's side. Let's see what happens in the next episode though, to be sure.

How dare they end the episode at "what do you understand", I was so ready to hear what he understood but then zhou shen started singing😂 they should really stop ending the episodes mid-conversation, it's torture

The examination arc is so exciting!! Just finished ep 20 and cannot wait for good subs for ep 21 to be uploaded! The story progression is just so brilliant🤌🤌No amount of "criticism" can make me not love this drama because I am not seeing those criticisms in the drama and thus the criticisms do not seem valid to me. "a lot of filler", girl where?

Anyway, I say it a lot but Wang Juan really deserves appreciation for his story-telling. In a crowd of poorly written and over the top dramas, JOL is truly a rare gem. Now, have to wait for a day for next episodes. so agonizing😭

It really is a blessing for fan xian to have such a loving and supporting family and to have found love and trust in wan er because the kind of stressful life he leads would have been a 100 times harder without them or if they were bad people

I cannot wait for when they finally reveal it to everyone. Imagine the reaction of the princes! so excited✨

same! my overthinking brain would be so confused about everything😂living in the countryside and gossiping about what goes down in the capital would be a blissful life 😌 like "did you hear the first prince almost threw hands with that poetry genius Fan at the city gate" 😂😂

he's so cool and bold that he told the emperor to summon him to the palace so late at night when court officials aren't allowed to be on palace grounds😂😂😂

Fan Xian is quite an independent thinker. Xiao En may have told him to do this or that but he doesn't have to oblige with what he said. Have you just started S2? If yes, then it will slowly happen in the passing episodes that you will begin to see that many characters are not what we had thought they were in season 1. And this season actually made me glad that Fan Xian schemes and plans by himself rather than relying on others' words. Hope you will like it after 9th-10th episode, if not, then maybe this season is not as per your tastes.

you can watch till 18 with decent subs on kisskh. ep 19 does have subs but they are machine translated because it released today so I usually wait for a day for good subs to be uploaded

Lin Ruofu told Fan Xian to "toughen up". But I think it's Lin Ruofu and all these other ministers who have softened against the system. They have accepted it and are active participants of it, who now are doing anything to uphold and keep the process of how things are done.

They have no vision of changing anything for the better. So, I think Fan Xian is already very tough. It's Lin Ruofu and the ministers who should "toughen up".

"You'll get used to it eventually"

That's the thing people don't understand about FX's character. He will never ever get used to it, because my guy is the best at rejecting and resisting. Resisting corruption and "ways of the world".

Everyone in the capital and their grandmothers are trying to butter him up, even Lin Ruofu, so this is going to be one big test for FX to find a way to deal with this. Also, watching this, I think I understand, why FX will be a "lone minister".

There's a reason I am not at FX's level because watching all these people's behavior was enough to give me a headache.

It's just a preference thing, especially with those who have watched a good chunk of this season and still find it disappointing/uninteresting/boring. S2 is like a game of chess and naturally, chess is found to be boring and uninteresting by many. Wang Juan is doing a great job, he really respects and cares for each character, major or not. imo, the story isn't dragging, the 1-8 episodes weren't filler they were so important to the story and characters, the story does make a lot of sense, the comedy isn't too much but at the end of the day it's just to each their own.

I have read the criticisms and I simply do not agree so I have decided that whenever I see a comment that doesn't like the show, I'll pretend it's not there. It's hallucination 😂

What matters is that I like S2 and I think that's it. Everyone does not have to like the same things as me because I also have no obligation whatsoever to like the things that others like.

ohhh yeah you're right!! I had totally forgotten about all that🤣it IS global warming then