Eleison

I'm REALLY enjoying the Changlin family and especially the brothers, but so far what makes this less enjoyable (despite still being well-written), is the screen time spent on the guru. He gives me the creeps and I hate that I have to watch so much of him, and to see him get everyone caught in his mouse trap. It's painful.

I want to skip his scenes but since the plot is so intricate I'm afraid to miss important details. 😭 A rewatch will make this way more enjoyable to watch in that sense!

One huge plus for this season over season 1 so far is how much easier it is to track with who's who. The beginning of season 1 is very steep with keeping track of people. This season eases you much more gently into scenarios and characters.

Plot holes?! Where?

Do you mean lose threads? Cause that I might kind of give you, but plot holes... I'm skeptical. 🤔

While watching this I wondered if this drama made people in China hardcore jealous for Pingzhang and Pingjing, TingSheng and the Emperor since they had no siblings and can only dream of how special this kind of relationship could be. Kind of heartbreaking to imagine. It's similar to close friendship, but still a bit different.

On another note, I wish there was more sibling representation like this in media. Home Alone and so many other similar 80's/90's movies/TV shows made it seem normal for siblings to pick on each other (and/or see younger siblings as annoying and a nuisance) and hate each other. I love anything that gives a more optimistic spin.

Siblings are built-in best friends, confidants, advocates, protectors and kindred spirits!

Have you seen Cheer Up! (2015) aka Sassy Go Go? She's a bad girl that turns nice in that and it's a cute drama in general.

I haven't seen that, but she's great in everything I've seen her in. :)

Also, the Queen reminds me of Marion Cotillard.

And which drama(s) nerfed his looks? He was still pretty beautiful in Strong Woman Nam Soon and Record of Youth, though, wouldn't you say? 💁‍♀️

Whoa, that's much better; why'd they change it then? 😅

I thought the ML was Ahn Hyo Seop from the poster! 😅 But it's actually our ML from Knight Flower. Fun to see him getting more main roles. :)

But then why weren't his other dramas popular and/or why didn't they do well? 🤔 Genuine question, though, I'm not being snarky!

Oh, and tell me what you think after you're done! 😏

It's the sort of entertainment I want to recommend to everyone I know but then I remember it's a limited access Cdrama and most people I know probably wouldn't last 5 minutes watching it without help. They haven't built up any acclimation to the genre, so they'd give up too soon. I am going to show it to my sister, though, and I know she'll love it. She's my drama-watching buddy. 😋

It also doesn't have a lame title like so many other Cdramas. 😅 (e.g. "Love Like The Galaxy"? I can't even say it without cringing 🫣)

I don't think it's for everyone, but it does have some lovely stuff if you hang in there. I'll admit there were some parts I did skip a bit in the first half, but I shouldn't have been in a rush to finish. It's not that kind of drama. Cause it's the sort of thing you can't ever rewatch in the same way again, so the first watch is the best watch and therefore should be properly enjoyed. ☺️

This synopsis it not doing it for me... but Netflix rarely does it for me, so maybe that's part of it. 😅

And yes, Korean is much easier to listen to, still! There's no way I could have made it through Cdramas if I hadn't spent all this time watching Kdramas. They are much less readily accessible to the Western viewer, I think. But I am gathering a few vocabulary words and phrases now after watching 5 or 6. 😂 I've only tried the dramas rated 8.7 or above (except one a bit lower), and they've been mostly safe and quite good, except The Long Ballad which I couldn't finish the first episode of. 😅

The modern ones I tried were When I Fly Towards You (a very cozy slice of life/high school to adulthood drama) and Hidden Love (a romantic drama with a few things I didn't like but overall quite good. Cdramas still tend to make their MLs more aggressive sexually/romantically than I like which makes them feel like older Kdramas (though this one only has hints that just made me uncomfortable here and there), it does not always sit well with me. It had convincing romantic acting with some of the best flirting I have ever seen in a drama 😅). It also managed to stay interesting for 2 or 3 times the number of episodes as a Kdrama without side characters, a murder plot or angsty, dramatic plot twists. Couldn't believe it (Kdrama writers need to take notes!). The modern Cdramas also feel kind of plasticky, like they don't exist in a real world since they seem to tone down the strong governmental presence that exists in real life to makes things rosier and fluffier. Kdramas feel much more grounded, even though I know they're also not obviously "real."

Yes, very true! I struggled with Hotel De Luna, too. 😅 I tried My Gilfriend Is A Gumiho and again, similar thing, some good, some bad (there's not much I've seen that Lee Seung Gi couldn't save, though, so it was also probably partly him; he's a very consistently good actor who can make a mediocre project when he finds himself in one bearable 😂). Haven't tried A Korean Odyssey yet.

I definitely enjoyed AOS 1 and 2 the best of any of their dramas.

I loved Under The Queen's Umbrella, but as for your list (thank you!), I think Empress Ki sounds too depressing for me. 😅 I can stomach political intrigue as long as I have a few people to root for... and I was afraid I would just frustrated watching Empress Ki.

However, Six Flying Dragons is definitely on my list and seems to be to Kdramas what NIF is to Cdramas. I just can't find it legally anywhere in the U.S. 😭 I'm still waiting for it to come to a platform I use. Until then, I'm waiting. 😅 I'll have to check these others out, though!

And yes, even after watching two other pseudo-historical Cdramas (Love Like The Galaxy and The Double--both also quite good, but I think when all is said and I done I liked The Double best of the two, but the BGMs for LLTG was gorgeous and the production value was very good, and having Zhao Lusi made it a huge plus, she's simply amazing once you get past her baby voice 😅), I still massively struggled with the names and keeping everyone straight in NIF at the beginning. 😅 I'm also not a huge fan of the wuxia/xianxia elements (there is only a small bit of it in NIF, as far as the fighting goes and a few other things), but there are a lot of terms and ideas that take time to get used to see how they all fit together and build the world of the characters. It's weirdly kind of like a fantasy world that all the dramas use to tell their stories. Never encountered anything quite like it! And anyway, I just asked a bunch of questions on the threads as I watched and users (particularly @ShortCircuit on NIF and @TaliaToo on The Double page) helped me make sense of stuff that confused me, which helped a ton.

Nice to know it's in your list--I don't think you'll regret watching it when you get to it!

On a rewatch, I noticed more than ever the clunky writing in Season 1, too.

While it was airing I was just so swept up in the story and trying to figure details out that I overlooked a lot of stuff that I couldn't sit through in a rewatch.

I honestly think both seasons have a pretty comparable amount of strong and weak writing. Both are not perfect, but Season 2 was at a disadvantage before it even came out because fans had expectations for what it would deliver after Season 1, and many people were attached to the FL in Season 1, too.

Also, since our tastes often align and scripts fascinate you, have you ever dipped your toes into Cdramas? I ask, because I have started to selectively dabble with Cdramas, and I just finished Nirvana In Fire recently. It was absolutely amazing. I feel like you would like it. I can't be 100% sure that you will, of course, but it is some pretty stellar writing and has fascinating arcs and endearing characters (the ML, Mei Chang Su, is now one of my favorite characters I've ever watched before).

There are Kdramas I've enjoyed more, but maybe none that can beat this drama as far as writing goes. It makes most Korean sageuk scripts look like mud pies in comparison. 😬

It was hard to keep track of characters/their names because, well, Mandarin and I don't know Chinese names, but besides that, it was shockingly good. It has a very slow, gentle pace, especially earlier on, but everything in it matters, so you know it will build to something later.

A suggestion if you're looking to try something different! It is 54 episodes, 😬 but each episode is only about 40 minutes, so they go fast. I have to find a balance between binging (54 episodes is not bingeable unless you have no job or are retired 😅) and waiting for days in between (since if I wait too long I forget the details and can't remember what happened--this plot is very intricate!).

Anyway, thought I'd put it out there!

I think people had specific expectations for Season 2 which were not met (like a girl boss Naksu who doesn't get saved by Jang Uk, etc. and uses her powerful training in spells and such). People thought she became a beautiful doormat or damsel in distress because she didn't demonstrate the kind of strength and power they wanted to see.

But Go Youn Jung is just so good, and their chemistry in this is much better, I think. In Season 1 Uk and Mu Deok felt like comrades-in-arms and their romance was a byproduct of that comradeship, but in this Season, they lean more heavily into the romantic nature of their attachment since they cannot partner in the same way they did in Season 1, and this new kind of partnership allows for the romantic tension to shoot through the roof. 😅

I love this, and I really like your analysis of Cho Yeong/Bu Yeon hybrid as our "third" Naksu, in a sense. That was well-explained!

Did you know the voice overs for Naksu in Season 1 were all done by Go Youn Jung? Every time we hear Mu Deok "think," they used Naksu's original voice (Youn Jung). That's why her voice over and Mu Deok's voice (which also has a noticeable dialect) sound different. Fun fact!!

That's also probably why Naksu's voice and turns of phrase feel and sound familiar in Season 2. 😏