Dimpled riri

I went in thinking its an independent story and only found out its a sequel almost half way through. Never watched Princess agent nor have I read the book. The start was really rough but I pushed through becuase the visuals look absolutely stunning. You can see they had a vision before going in. The story takes place in 4 different countries and each have a different aesthetic unique to them. The settings, the outfits and the stylings are gorgeous.
The earthy toned fits of Yen bei people against those red mountains, the flowy fabrics of womens skirt in biantang palace, the black icy cliffs in ximeng.... so much beautiful scenery.
As a whole the cinematography is something to die for. I wish I could put it all into words but unfortunatly Im not that great in describing imagiry. The only thing I didnt like was that it had too many close up shots where actors were looking straight into the camera. That was weird. But outside of that, loved everything else.

The script just sucks. First few episodes is spent on re telling what went down before the ice lake incident so its basically a rundown of princess agent. So much information is being fed to us without letting any of it sit and marinate. Like some stuff needed an episode atleast not 15 secondes....
The excessive amount of flashbacks in the beggining was annoying to watch. Its so patchy it feels like a collage.
Even later on when the story finally come back to now, it just jumps rather than flow. The pacing here was real weird.

I think they were a bit too ambitious and bit to much they couldnt chew. It was supposed to be an epic story with lots of ups and downs but what came out is a free falling melo drama.

Chu qiao was never believable as a general or a lover. Her real age shows. Its not her fault. She is acting her butt off but a miscast is a miscast. They shouldnt have casted a 17 year old to play her.

I wish there was no romance included. Their feelings develop so fast it comes out of nowhere. The age gap is weird and the actors have 0 chemistry. BORING

Speaking of boring .... Chu qiao and Juge yue are not anything to write home about individualy either. Actualy they are so boring that any other character washes them out in terms of intrigue. I couldnt care any less about these two characters endeavors. It might be becuase I havent watched PA but the " lets abolish slavery " thing was never realy palpable to me.

It also sucks how much plot armor these two recieve. They know everything all the time and always manage to be at the scene of the crime to play hero no matter where it is. They infiltrate the most highly guarded places of all countries back to back to back with ease. One day they're in biantang, next day at ximeng , next yaenbei. Its just ridiculous.

Its like time and distance are nonexistent concept in this story. Chu qiao and juge yue just teleport to places I assume.

Yan xun, Helian, general Huan Huan, chen ye were more interesting characters. They got to have an actuall character arc atleast no matter how annoying they were.

Also many scenes get repeated like people constantly dying and coming back to life or Yan xun getting married. How many time this guy wore grooms outfit in this drama I lost count.... it feels like we're going in circles.

The ending wasnt the best. Wasnt the worst either. In one hand Im happy that yan xun got his head out of his ass. Long live yen bei people and all. It was time the country got saved. Loved that bittersweet wedding scene. They had to submit to fate after all.
Also war is inevitable. Its nice to see everyone let go of thier resentments to unite. The ending battle scenes was so good.
On the other hand.......
That dreaming scenes?? Hated it.
Was it really neccessary to kill so many of??