ShortCircuit

TBH... I already knew CY from L&R (which I kind of liked in general DESPITE the totally random she's-a-male-god part, LOL, that was awkward~~), but this time around I grew MUCH more impressed with Zheng ShunXi (Joseph Zheng). He totally holds his own against a more experienced actor - CY - and comes out in great light. I liked his character through and through, and I'll very probably start dramas based on his presences in them, LOL.

Also this changed my impression on Xiao ShunYao. He used to be cast (at least in the dramas I've seen him in) as the evil chara and usually drops dead sooner or later, LOL, but this time, even if he started out black, he eventually became a good guy. I am totally on the side of having him cast as Yan WuShi when, if ever, they make a Thousand Autumns live action. Joseph Zheng could even be his Shen Qiao, LOL, they do have great chemistry of bickering :D

SGD was cutting out LXY's name even when they were supposedly just best-friends teens training under their master, before even starting up Sigu Sect. SGD's jealousy was always there, he just hid it very very well.

It's a painful thing to realise for LXY, considering he blew it all to hell trying to find SGD's "body" which led to the sect dissolving, his own poisoning and eventual dissolution of power, his master's death, and everything else.

Pure-hearted bromance (no innuendos of romantic-bromance, rest assured). But there were past romances, present obsessions and naive first-time flirts, just not in the focus much because it's not a romantic story.

And there are no un-related demons any more. They used to regularly chase down small-fry demons that had nothing to do with the overarching plot, but now it's like all small demons are gone and only Mr Ma's story is enough to carry the whole season - which it isn't, because we all know evil is always defeated in such stories and that Mr Ma will eventually be "rescued" and his soul will meet his wife again because that's how it is when they run out of ideas. There's no tension, no bits of off-guard surprises, none of the Counters have any other support system apart from each other, their only "action" is beating the stupid gym boxing sacks each episode... it's basically BORING.

Too bad :(

This is so painfully boring, almost unwatchable. Even the preview needs to be in 2x speed. I don't care about Mr Ma's problems, the hot evil master demon can only carry the interest so far, and none of the Counters seem to retain any of their lovable and interesting characteristics from S1. I don't care about HaNa's romance, I don't care about SoMoon's overpowered naivete, and I find the new Counter's slapstick stupidity totally overacted and uninspired.

Dammit, re-reading this I guess this is way, way far from what the first season delivered. I might put it on hold or drop it, it already began feeling like a chore watching it... Something needs to change, and fast, but I don't have much hope for it.

Is that your whole list or did you leave dramas off it?

If the list is complete, you're missing (at least):

The Blood of Youth (extremely similar, you'll love the bromance)
https://mydramalist.com/683119-shao-nian-ge-xing

Nirvana in Fire (masterpiece)
https://mydramalist.com/9025-nirvana-in-fire

Under the Microscope (kind of like the same genre, mystery-solving, but a tad more personal)
https://mydramalist.com/700333-xian-wei-jing-xia-de-da-ming

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (because danmei and mystery-solving, LOL)
https://mydramalist.com/33272-the-story-of-ming-dynasty

Sword Snow Stride (lots of wuxia fighting)
https://mydramalist.com/59487-sword-snow-stride

There are more :D

At least the extra/special suggests there COULD be a manner that they find him alive, in his right mind, just playing loner and trying to escape by himself, as usual.

In the novel, it's like his body is still moving around, but the mind is gone, so LLH is actually dead. I'd rather have the open ending.

Everybody begins guessing way sooner than that, and LLH is playing "these are not the droids you are looking for" every time. Almost everybody falls for it each and every time, LOL. His bulshi**ing level is god-tier.

He doesn't die and they eventually find him, but he's severely affected and becomes practically blind, his right hand can't move any more and he's lost most memories of his past. His thinking is also affected and he's living a destitute life in a fishing village by himself.

Pretty depressing all around. I like the drama's ending way better, at least they left a bit for the imagination and we could imagine he actually survives and is also completely fine.

China doesn't officially make danmei / BL dramas. Even if the source material (in this case the danmei novel Mo Dao Zu Shi - The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) shows the MLs having a romance, there won't be any in a drama because of censorship.

So if you're worried this IS a BL drama and you're not into it, don't worry. The censors mellowed it out into a great bromance.

On the other hand, if you ARE into BL and worry this doesn't hit the spot... also don't worry. If you have eyes to see and you're inclined to remember where this all comes from... there won't be room for doubt.

Which is to say, it's just up to you to decide what kind of drama this is. However, neither the novel nor the drama have the love story as the main plot. This is about right and wrong, making choices, following your conscience against all odds, and finding your rightful place in the world, no matter the circumstances. Try watching it unbiased by expectations, it will surprise you.

Priest: Here's groom no. 1. And here's groom no. 0!
Ming-Han: Groom no. 2, no. 2!!!

LOL, he got made a shou and doesn't even know the language hahaha.

*Guy drops dead*
Ming-Han: Go talk to him, he's also a ghost!
Mao Mao: What, you think all ghosts know each other?!!

Gay mobster passes by.
Ming-Han: You should already know him, he's also gay!
Mao Mao: *speechless*

LOL, this was so funny :D

But seriously, I don't know who did the pole dancing... but he's got an A+ body and made it look effortlessly graceful. Beautiful - and the helpless cop's reactions made it even better :D

Athletic, naked pole dancing on the street. That is all :D

Edit WTF I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE GREG HSU!!!! My memory is a sieve dammit. Anyway. He nailed it, Totally.

I'd take that as that he knew there would be the official ending and the special ep ending. Still pretty much the same ending - depending on how you want to interpret it. The extra leaves some room for a HEA for whoever wants it, LOL.

I guess they looked at Youku's strictness with TTEOTM and decided they wanted the ambiguous ending but not the fans' ire, LOL, so they made it much more ambiguous... enough so that who wants to can decide it's a HE anyway.

Nah, it was probably a different cloak only while they were setting up the scene (the sky is cloudy, it might be cold there and he's wearing the white silk outfit from the scenes he's kept prisoner by Jiao LiQiao - plus, they're on the sea shore. It gets drafty LOL).

You can see the prop assistant coming up with the white cloak while CY is ready to exchange the gray one for it.

Don't get your hopes up. Maybe they'll edit it a bit differently (to include the extra instead of leaving it for the after-official eps), but I don't think they'll really change anything.

You mean the first special? (the other 6 were BTS). It wasn't a HE. It was a inconclusive ending. They're not together in the same frame, you could choose to believe he was there and they were looking at him (as the dog also was looking at someone) OR that they were on the same beach but in different moments in time, and that was the place he chose to walk in the waves or lie down and wait to die, long before they came looking.

The book has him alive, but it's not a HE either. I'd choose to believe he does survive in the drama, mainly for closure, but it's just my own choice.

Happily I don't have a problem with inconclusive or BEs, as long as the rest of the story leading up to them makes sense. :D I'd rather have this inconclusive ending that the definite one from the novel, anyway.

All the FLs want to get into romances, but all the MLs are busy elsewhere, LOL.

LXY would be part of the LEGITIMATE imperial family, but his ancestor never made it in the succession line, since he got killed off as a traitor in a rebellion that involved his sorceress wife.

The present emperor is the grandson of an adulteress concubine who realised her husband was infertile and wanted an heir any manner she could get one. So this emperor now would be illegitimate, if the whole story came out into the light. Which is why it doesn't.

Also, he was Wan Mian's boyfriend / FWB / expecting fiance /support animal or something. Maybe they were afraid of HER.

In LOTR, the excuse was that the Eagles DIDN'T want to, LOL. They were too high and mighty to participate in the saving of the world, as THEY weren't affected (yet) and didn't want to bother until Gandalf made a personal (and time-restricted) request, LOL.

So no matter how petty the excuse, there's always one.

At least we get entertaining struggles out of it :D

Well in the end, remorse or not, he KNEW the poison was without cure (he had no way to know LXY would even get to survive and detoxify in the first place) and when LXY does die of it... Yun BiQiu is still a b*tch.

As for why did the sect leave him alive... they were not united. And TBH where was the proof? His saying so? Maybe none of them felt that confident they were in the right to condemn and punish him.