mimi0108

I really like the drama but what happens to Madam Qin turns my stomach: her son was forcibly taken from her to be raised by her husband's brother and his wife, she was the property of the Hua family (with a slave contract) and could be sold at any time, when she has a moment of fear (when her son falls into the water) and reveals their link, she is thrown into the street while injured. FL spares her but she's still banished from the Hua house and away from her other child (her daughter). Then she is drugged and raped by her sister-in-law's henchman who uses it to blackmail her.
What a pitiful life.
I hope the drama will stop torturing her and give her more peace. And I sincerely hope her son's adoptive mother realizes her mistakes and sincerely apologizes. She is the mother of your son whom you love! How dare you treat her like nothing?

For me, the step-mother is the emperor's spy who killed the mother. It's why she kept the sister locked up and maybe forced her to drink medecine who confused her mind.The Emperor try to have his nephew by his side to avoid him been a rival. He privilegied him in front of everyone while just plotting to use him.

He lets his wife's people be killed, and his wife nearly killed. He then psychologically tortures her by, for example, forcing her to watch him have sex with another woman (who hits her), forces her to see the body of her brother and his men, locks her in a dungeon where she is tortured and abused by his guards to the point she runs away and would rather die. But he has the nerve to say he did everything to protect her, that he loves her and he had no other choice?
Toxic behavior and a pointless story.

Yeah, it was heartbroking. For all of them. But, in a way, it helped her entangled the anger she had against her mom as well as the mom's issue to be a loving mother.
NN needed this time far from everyone to mature, calm her heart and be in peace with herself.

I think it was clearly imply she was having "revenge" on her family, specially her mother. She loves them but she needed to do this.

Actually Tagon's mother died in the genocide he orchestrated. She was the translator for the Neandal'chef. She even shared a sad look with Tagon's father when he left.

When they met Eunseom, only Rottip knew who he was and he was silently happy but thought it was meaningless. He only told his friend who Eunseom was after they left. Now, Rottnip isn't here and the other boy raised by Asa Hon is actually more expressive so...they can show happiness.

Exactly.
She saw him spare her cousin because she was standing in front of him. She saw him spit on blood and faint from exhaustion to treat her, watch over her, tell her stories with tenderness and confide. She knows he loves her and it's not just lust. And his refusal to see her, when she wakes up, screams “I love you but we can't be together”. She is aware he is putting a distance between them and that makes her bitter since, because of that, she doesn't really know for sure what he thinks.
And, in many ways, she never stops hoping for a sign from him. A little sign would have been enough for her to express her love too. This shows how much she loves him and how deep down she is aware of the strength of his feelings too. More than once, she hopes for something but she always ends up heartbroken and having to cling to TSJ who, until episode 35, was always there to tell her his love.

I agree with your comment and your sadness for XL.
I just want to give my opinion about XY's thought about XL's love for her:

I don't think XY doesn't know XL loves her. Several scenes seem to indicate she is aware of his feelings. I rather think she doesn't know how much he loves her and how important she is to him because he always hides his feelings and acts of love behind a mask of carelessness and transactions. It's the thing she really blames him for. For example, for me, when she learns he made a deal to save her, she's not bitter because she thinks he's only saving her for that but she's bitter because he always chooses to take advantage of his acts of love, making it hard for XY to know the extent of his sincerity.

This is the tragedy of their love. They are both aware the other loves them but each refuses to acknowledge it out loud, contenting themselves with insinuations and regrets from time to time (like when she tells him she wishes she was the one who saves him or when he asks her to abandon her princess status to travel the world with him). And each doubts the depth of the other's feelings. XL fears TSJ occupies a lot of XY's thoughts and she always fears that XL isn't fully serious with her.

I find the transition between the different actors for the main lead very well done. And this is coming from someone who loves SJK and KJW as Euseom/Saya and Tanya.
8 years have passed, they are now adults and no longer young people. And the new actors bring this more mature aura of experience.
The distinction between Saya & Euseom is clearly murkier. Which is normal now. Euseom is no longer the slightly dumb, awkward, naive, innocent and impulsive kid. His time as a slave in the mine, the losses he suffered, the mistakes he made gradually eroded his innocence and impulsiveness, giving rise to a certain cynicism. After 8 years at the head of the Ago tribe, uniting the tribes one after the other, killing his adversaries, executing his men when they strayed from the right path, making difficult choices, he could no longer be the kid from season 1. No leader is innocent, nor is any soldier.
So it's understandable that Euseom now looks more like Saya, without the twisted and dark side.
And I find that LJG succeeded in showing us the twins were becoming more and more alike while maintaining a significant distinction: Euseom is a charismatic leader with a big heart while Saya has demons, complexes and ambition that eats away at him.
As for SSK, she embodies with calm, gentleness and determination a Tanya more seasoned in the game of power and religious manipulation. We see that Tanya has learned to repress her impulsive indignation and to channel it so as to always maintain her position as spiritual leader to achieve her ends. But the change is more subtle because Tanya had already started a good part of the way in season 1.

Yeah, I was sad too about Choi Young Joon. He was so great as Yeonbal and his scenes with LJG would have been incredible.
In general, Doti excepted (since she was a child and now a teenager so the change makes sense), I have a hard time knowing who's who in the recast. It's a bit confusing at first.

They kept Doti's character but it's no longer the same actress.
Go Na Hee (born in 2009) was Doti in the first season and now it's Lee Chae-Yun (born in 2005).
But I understand the confusion since it's 4 years later irl and the actress could have grow up to this person.

Euseom dreamed of Tanya saying to Saya she wished she never met him. And he thought it was him she was talking about. A part of him fear what Tanya may think of him. That's also why he send men to her father and not her. I agree 8 years are too long but hé was caught in the War, didn't know much about what happened to Arthdal, feared about Tanya's réaction and so on.

For those who know how china broadcast works :
How long can we get a release date after a licence approval?

As I said to someone else, I understand the confusion as it wasn't explained well about this drama having 2 release. And everyone has the right to feel what they want.

That said, I have the right to find that there are a lot of negative comments (mostly because people don't know that the international release will be next week). I have seen some criticize the subtitlers for not having already sub the episode or Disney + for having fail its internation audience etc... only because they didn't know about the international release.
And it’s certainly an understandable confusion and frustration BUT we waited 4 years for this season. It finally comes out, and, in a week, 3 episode will be subtitled. So I just want to calm things down a bit so that this sub can be a safe place to celebrate this drama that we've all been waiting for and reassure those who thought Disney + will not sub this drama.

I would also like to remind that in 2019, when season 1 was released, there was also a delay between the Korean release and the Netflix one. I don't know what contract they have with the studio but it is what it is. There is the Korean release for korean people without sub (which understandable since the target is korean people) and the international one with subs.

Sure, in an time period where spoilers are everywhere, it's frustrating, but just like when a series comes out in full on Netflix and I get spoiled because people binge-watch the show the day of the release while I wait until the weekend to watch it.

Because yesterday was the Korean release. It's why it's only in korean without sub. But next saturday it's the international release with eng sub (and others subs) on Disney + around the globe.

You're welcome! I was so surprised to see so many confused and angry people.
There should be an explanation on MDL to clarify the situation because I understand people's confusion if they don't know there is two release.

Because the international release on Disney + is next saturday.

We have season 2 because Disney+ has picked up the drama, let's be grateful.
International audiences only have to wait 1 more week to be able to watch 3 episodes with subtitles. We waited 4 years, 1 week is nothing.

From next saturday, the episodes will be on Disney + with eng sub.