UnaSpenser

Are they seriously not going reintroduce the characters to us? Or introduce new ones? Other than the 3 leads, I have no idea who anyone is. who is this Helian woman? Who is the commander with the scar who hates Chu Qiao? They are the driver of any plot, at the moment and I don't understand where they're coming from and why they are doing what they are doing.

Why aren't the first three episodes centered on the leads and how they are doing and what they are thinking. We're barely seeing them and just seeing these people plotting around them. Nothing feels grounded. There is no sense of place. No sense of characters. No sense of what the story is about, really. Yes, a narrator rushed an explanation, but that doesn't get us grounded in the story. I've spend three episodes wondering why I'm supposed to care about any of this; and that's after re-watching Princess Agents. It's all so disjointed and detached, with brittle dialog and zero sense that any of the characters have any relationships - friend, family, or otherwise - with anyone else. They all just seem to operate as self-centered beings with no attachments to anyone or anything; nor any inner questioning. What drove the story in the first season was that all the characters were having to make choices about themselves and what direction they would go. We learned what drove them and what inner conflicts they had.

Here, there is nothing. All the characters seem like blank cutouts that spew dialog they are programmed to say. It's weird.

I'm only of Ep3 and not sure I can continue. The writing is soooooo bad. They do no character development, so these characters are plotting things, but the viewer has absolutely no attachment to either their agenda or the agenda of the person they are plotting against. I even re-watched PA right before starting this and I still feel totally detached from what is going in this.

There are no relationships here. You don't see any camaraderie. No development of tension. The dialog is dry and stilted. There is no sense of place; as in each scene could be happening anywhere. Everything feels like a set rather than a setting. They spend zero time building an audience relationship to the characters, And given that all the actors changed from the original, they really should have given the audience some solid adjustment time to tune into them. I find myself trying to figure out who is who from before. (Like the guy with the scar on his face who hates Chu Qiao? Who the hell is he? It isn't supposed to be the character who was with them while they were imprisoned at that house for three years, is it? Because he had a good relationship with Chu Qiao. So, who the hell is this guy?)

How does the sequel to one of the most popular C-Dramas of all time end up feeling like such a low-budget hatchet job? It's like the whole production team just called it in and relied on the audience to have read the books or something. DId they even care?

The pacing and the dialog make it feel like a short.

Rewatched Princess Agents to prepare for watching this. Even though PA is 10 years older and feels like an old school production, Rebirth manages to have inferior production quality? This thing feels like a short.

PA was one of the most popular C-Dramas ever. They couldn't raise enough funding to it's sequel justice? Every aspect of it feels cheap. One episode in and it already feels rushed. How is that I just finished PA and I cannot connect to these characters? I guess I'll give it another ep or 2.

I'm struggling to get through it. I really don't care about the hotel or it's rich customers. As a setting for character development I can go with it. But, if the focus is all on the business and not centered on the characters themselves and the intersecting relationships, it is boring.

Good cast. Poor storytelling.

just because it uses familiar names doesn't negate it from being fictional.

We don't live in a world where Korea is still Joseon with a monarchy. They created a fictional, alternate universe.

It's a fictional world. Perhaps in that fictional world that Korea is subordinate to another state. Why is it a controversy to have any set of circumstances in a fictional world?

As frustrating as it is that this is just another tragic almost-gay love story (if there weren't such a long list of these, I wouldn't mind that the nature of the relationship is left ambiguous), this is the best acting I've seen from Ok Taec Yeon.

and Yuwen Yue's grandfather is such a broken record. Does he have nothing else to do with his life but pester his grandson about "that maidservant"? I'm skipping though his scenes, because the character offers nothing to the story.

ep 52: I'm a mom, so I kinda get it.

However, her daughter is absolutely out of her mind and has proven to be a great danger to everyone. Literally everyone in Wei would have been subject to violence and death because Chun'er took the only troops that could protect them away for a personal vengeance scheme.

Don't even get me started on the fact that all those soldiers, including the prince general, knew that she had taken the military token without authorization, but they're still going to follow her orders? How ridiculous is that? I can see how the tokens helped in times when the faces of those in power were not known to everyone. Particularly, the royal family who hid in the palace. But, the prince who died knew. The leaders in charge knew. The idiot who "can't ever say no to her" knew that he was causing the unjust deaths of, potentially, millions of people. It's patently absurd.

at ep 43.

omg, Chun'er. She has zero redeeming qualities. She chases after a man who has made it clear for so many years that he doesn't return or want her affections. Even as he leaves her at the altar (so to speak) and starts a rebellion, she's stupid enough to run off on her own while battles are raging everywhere. (I'm shocked she even went in the right direction.) This action leads to dire consequences and Chu Qiaa puts herself at risk to make sure they get to safety.

But, everything is Chu Qiaa's fault. omfg. Of all the characters, I hate her the most.

That said, the storytelling here, with all its moving parts and people acting on partial or mis- information is very well done. Their whole world is a dumpster fire.

rewatching and realizing how little I remember.

I'm at ep39. Can someone explain to me why Yan Xun needs to "escape" to Northern Yan, when the emperor is letting him go there after the wedding?

Does he think the emperor is actually plan to kill him on the way? Or is he so against the marriage that he can't tolerate that?

I will say, the credits claim that Yuwen Yue is the lead, but the plot here is more about Yan Xun and how he is going to survive. I still don't see any reason for Chu Qiao to give a damn about Yuwen Yue. Almost every time he sees her he is threatening her in one for or another. What exactly is there for her even like?

he comes off here as more marketer/capitalist than artist. it's disappointing.

I'm up to 18 on my rewatch and, yeah, he's so monotone. The viewer has to guess why she would be drawn to him. The only reason I can muster is that she knows he saved her during that opening hunt scene. So, she thinks he's a good person. For me, that's not enough to support romantic feelings. Particularly as he's lording over her and constantly reminding her that she will be killed if she tries to escape slavery. (He could give her her freedom at any time, but he doesn't. He could give all the slaves in his household freedom, but he doesn't. So, he's perfectly fine with having slaves. How can she love someone like that, when she knows what it is to be a slave?)

Anyway, still a compelling story. I just ignore the supposed romantic part.

I'm rewatching and remembering that it took me a long time to get through this, the first time, precisely because I found the ML so boring. I get that he's supposed to seem stoic because he's leading a spy agency, but there are absolutely no subtleties of expression. It's pretty much the same in every shot. And does he train everyone with zero positive motivation or just her?

In juxtaposition, the acting for the cousin (and his grandfather) was too exaggerated. That they and the ML were entwined with each other via family feud, made the acting weakness of each of them stand out even more.

Zhao Yi Ling carries her role well; quiet, insightful and, at times, wonderfully seething. Shawn Dao brings so much energy. Deng Lun is nuanced.

It does that have the old-timey production feel. I don't mind that. The novel is such a well-written story that the drama is watchable, but honestly, I usually only think of it when I think of devastating endings. (I didn't know, at the time, that it wasn't the end. lol )

rewatching, even though I remember being a bit devastated by the ending. (now, that I know it wasn't the end, I guess that won't be so bad.)

I will say, Shawn Dao steels every scene he's in.

can we avoid seeing her articles by blocking her?

She's stalking him. Just no.

because, somehow kidnapping someone and coercing another into an illegal fight to the death is going to shut down the fact that you're wanted? what the hell logic is this? I know he's a villain, but to get this far he had to some self-preservation instinct. Even if he's brutal, he couldn't have built up what he did if he's just a ball of ego-rage. He has to have some amount of intelligence and calculation. *sigh* In the end, it's just off the rails.

on a side note, I'm rather disappointed that not once does anyone say, "hey, you know, a career centered on punching people as hard as you can is maybe not a good choice." Thought I don't believe in victim blaming at all - he's not to blame for what others are doing - some discussion of the social acceptance of this kind of violence - that you can even make a living from it - would have been appropriate here. Is this a choice he ever would have made if he weren't poor? We're still so supportive of the gladiator culture. The underground bloodier version is a natural extension of it, but that's not being discussed.

there are too many serious implausibilities in this. The biggest one: Gun Woo is the target of the villains and they have security on everyone around him, but they're not tailing him? So, he can just go meet the villains?

Also, he's usually so optimistic and no one has noticed that he's gone grim? Any investigative team would see this as a red flag. Also this, "evil people are doing evil things, but it's my fault, I should just go die" trope is so stale. They could have just left it at, "I can't handle having everyone around me at risk, I'll just go die" and it would have been workable. But, the "it's my fault" bs needs to be history in drama writing.

The police know they are dealing with someone expert in bomb tech, after the car explosion, but it doesn't occur to them to take more caution before raiding the hotel?

Anyone could call the front desk and say they were the police. There is no way the receptionist would give out private info like that.

And so many other moments that I can't recall them all right now.

I want to just sit back and enjoy the absurdity of it all and the notion that people can figure out how to fight back, but too many things are jarring me out of willing suspension of disbelief.

Adding: can we also stop with the toxic masculinity of "I'm strong, so I don't need medical care or to follow a doctor's advice"? It's just so stupid. Do people realize that this version of "masculinity" is saying that to be "masculine" you have to be dumb as a rock? Why is this a continuing cultural message?