Joy of Life Season 2

As good as season one but different style

LIKE

The hilarious Li Cheng Zhe

That moment when Xie Bi An visited Fan Wu Jiu - very sad

Convo between Guo You Zhi and Guo Bao Kun on Bei Qi - lol

When the scholars were checking their exam results - cries

When Qing Yu Tang family paid their respect at Ye Qing Mei

When Fan Xian asked Madam Fan to witness his wedding ceremony

When Wan Er and Da Bao kowtow-ed at Lin Ruo Fu before he left

DISLIKE

I seriously cannot wait again.. just let me know already

The mysterious Emperor of Qing

The unpredictable Chen Ping Ping

MUSIC

Not to my liking

REWATCH VALUE

Yes

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NOT A PERFECT 10 LIKE THE 1ST SEASON

The 2nd season of JOL is good but not the best in my opinion. Time goes, people change and my higher expectation with long-waited anticipation doesn't pay off. The actors changed; 5 years older, some are chubbier and Fan Xian (Zhao Ruo Yun) depleted than looking back of himself in previous season. Fan Xian, a Nepo baby has 5 father/mentor figures and heavenly mother that increase his chances of best life not to mention his good look and intelligent. Emperor Qing (Biological father), Fan Jian (Adopted father), Fei Jie (Teacher/Mentor), Lin Ru Fu (Father-in-law), Wu Zhu (Teacher/Mentor) all outstanding and powerful men that give Fan Xian capability to achieve endless ambition in the world. Money, power, support, advise, love, knowledge, name it he got all. Not to mention he has a wife that come from a powerful family, friendship and love Hai Tang Duo Duo a beautiful independent a master, adoration from Emperor of Northern Qi, Fan Xian a perfect kind of young man who got everything going on in his life. He has top position, power, beautiful dutiful wife, girlfriends, money, friendship, support, who doesn't want to be Fan Xian? ZRY has great portrayal of Fan Xian, great fighting choreography, good dialog, setting is awesome. The actresses are beautiful; I love Li Xiao Ran (Li Yun Rui), Xin Zhi Lei (Hai Tang Duo Duo), Wang Chu Ran (Sang Wen), Wang Xiao Chen (Yuan Meng), Faye Yu (Empress) and great with their acting - just too bad their have limited air time. Let me breakdown why I don't give this popular drama JOL a 10 score:

Li Qin (Lin Wan'Er)
She has tepid chemistry with ZRY, her acting is appropriate according to the script but she doesn't bring her endgame. Lin Wan'Er is the weakest character in Fan Xian life. Her family is basically demoted/casted out because of Fan Xian, yet her devotion and love hasn't changed, her lack of principles and weak character is her best asset to FX. If she has a strong will and independent as Hai Tang or even Ruo Ruo, Wan'Er won't marry FX because it's just too much of bad blood between them. Basically, ZRY & Li Qin has cold-warm relationship especially after the marriage, they both didn't express their deep love to mostly a newly-wed couple.

Tian Yu (Wang Qi Nian) & Missing favorite characters from S1?
I love Wang Qi Nian, he's a loyal sidekick that trust FX v.v but in 2nd season he's kissing a** too much. He flattered FX too many times, cringe like overly sweeten the deals. Where is Gao Da (Li Jun Xian) he's one of my favorite but he barely has screen time. Limited appearance of Hai Tang, Fei Jie, Yan Bin Yun, Wu Zhu all important characters that isn't develop in Season 2. Especially Yan Bin Yun, he is the most important man who execute Fan Xian's strategies/action in Overwatch Council.

Costumes/hair piece & Background music
Shiny fabric, bad choice of hair piece but I like Yuan Meng/Sang Wen flowery head piece. Yodeling as part of background music isn't good, they should use any playful tone of Chinese music.

Ending
3 last episodes concentration in Ming Family before ending the drama in last quarter of ep 36. The director should have make 2-4 more episodes to elaborate the story but they're on and on about Ming Family. The screen writer should have developed the reunion between Hai Tang & Fan Xian that fans looking forward to. In the book though there're lots of people involve in FX open chest self-operating so he's declared not only God of Poetry but earned new title as Medical genius. Anyway, last scene is great, a promise 'Iam back' to next Season 3 which will have to wait again for 2-3 years before premier.

My prediction in Season 3 (base on novel)
Hai Tang Duo Duo will have more screen time. Hai Tang love journey will start on S3 with no happy ending. Wu Zhu will have more part as Fan Xian defender. Ruo Ruo will study medicine in Northern Qi and become a doctor (she'll break the engagement), Li Cheng Heng will try to win her heart and compete with despicable He Zong Wei. Country will be in turmoil, change in leadership, dead of Princes, family break up & Fan Xian as a family man.

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Very confuse on this drama….I am between giving 5 or 6 at of 10.

Waiting 4 years for this drama makes me feel dissatisfied that it turns out to be boring, slow, a lot of talking and repetitive comedy.
If you are the type of person who wants this drama to be like S1…Then turn around and
leave.

BTW The op is not better than the first season however I like better the ending song of S2 than Season 1.

Spoilers…..


The ending of S1 end up in a cliffhanger however in the first episode without waiting at least for the 2 episode everyone knows that the ML is alive… Like where is the suspense or mystery? In this drama or kingdom everyone knows things at the speed of light. There are no secrets or silence. Since every rumor or conflict everybody including the death people knows about it.
There were scenes that could be a battle scene or a lot of fighting. HOWEVER, nobody fights and that was soooooooooo annoying to me. I think in this season there were no more than 3 or 4 fight scenes. That is why is very talk based and can get very boring.
The jokes were repetitive or unnecessary long. For example, when they were dressing the ML for his wedding they give literally a montage that lasted 5 or 6 minutes, another example was when they were giving a surgery to the Ml and the Ml stars to have illusions seeing cartooned made of AI faces and this lasted more than 3 minutes.. This was for me so annoying and unnecessary especially if it takes very long and they repeating the same song of this moments of comedy. Dies scenes could be replace with a fight scene or more story based context.

The Ml is not the same as S1 in fact I find him more cowardly than ever and bowing every time to the king something that in the first season he would not do.

And finally the ending. The last 2 eps were rush and the ending is not a sad cliffhanger but is a cliffhanger regardless and we have to wait for 3 years for season 3. To me was like WTF, especially when in the when in the real word they make a joke that if the 3 seasons would take years and I was like What? And the thing is that they will mostly take 3 years and I'm afraid will not be still like season 1.....

For me this drama could be better if it had 40 ep and more fighting scenes and more life-or-death scenarios. Also, more romance because the ML and the FL were barely together, without lying they were together if you include all the scenes less than 30 minutes.

Well, this is my humble review.

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An exceptional and rare gem of cdramaland

This season was great. The character development, the story progression, the revelations, the tying up with S1 was impeccable. This season was many shades darker than the first season and as per some novel spoilers it is going to be the darkest in S3.

One thing to keep in mind before watching this season is that this season focuses more on power struggle, scheming, politics, corruption and unfairness in the world. Therefore, it is more dialogue heavy than action heavy. If people sitting and conversing in a room while sipping tea is not what interests you then I suggest you watch something else. Many people went in thinking this was going to be an action filled drama but were disappointed because that is not what it is. It still has its action moments but they are not the center of the story. The story is mysterious, suspenseful and exciting because the dialogue is intelligent and the schemes/plans that characters come up with are brilliant.

Also, there is comedy and many silly, goofy moments which I really appreciate because the overall tone of this season, as mentioned before, is quite ominous and foreboding.

I enjoyed this season tremendously. Definitely Top 3 drama for me from cdramaland. After 2 brilliant seasons, I trust this drama's team. They know what they're doing and it is visible in the drama that all the people involved care for the project.

If you are hesitating whether to watch this or not, please just go watch. Do not pay heed to criticism or even praise from fans like me. If you have even the slightest interest in JOL, then give it a try.

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S3, please come quick!

Mainly writing this review to express my love for the OST. The intro and outro were both so good but I loved the outro from the first episode and never skipped it everytime the episode ended. Apologies to my neighbours for the weeks of me screaming “话谢过，路借过，你是你，我是我”, but this outro put me on to Zhou Shen and I'm obsessed!

Aside from this, JoL S2 delivered the same amount of enjoyment I had watching S1. This show is just top quality. What I love about the series is how much it makes me immersed in the story with the acting and plot. All the plotting, politics and dialogue pull you in and I was able to enjoy it more because, as a viewer, I felt I also had to deduce what was going on and what was not being said. All the plot lines and dialogues are not laid out so directly and obviously, so it makes you feel engaged with Fan Xian and the gang in trying to uncover the mysteries around them and connecting the dots with clues we get throughout the series. I appreciate that the writers do not undermine the strengths of all the characters, like everyone is so smart and cunning so it becomes a battle of wits watching Fan Xian go up against various characters.

Another thing that made me immersed in the story was the acting. Everyone is on top of their freaking game. Cheng Ping Ping, the Emperor, Wang Qi Nian, Fan Xian - the actors for these characters were probably my standouts because of how often we see them, but every actor did a fantastic job.

Also, this is one of the few series I can watch and enjoy without caring much about the romantic story lines. Wan Er and Fan Xian were good together but I didnt really care much for their romance. It was great having a couple moments of them together here and there but my main attention was attached to the political aspects, so it was a great balance.

Overall, great series that I already know I'll rewatch again in the future, before and after S3 finally comes out.

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Fan Xian is a Prince

The second season felt like it ended too quickly. I can say that it was lower than the first season. The events have been simplified a little and many unknowns have been made known. Great masters are brought in one by one. I think the future in the North will come in the third season. There will be a Fan Xian who can challenge every master. The episodes were full of humor. It was alive. That's why I love this series. Additionally, it had many intriguing features. It was full of mystery. However, I looked for the excitement of the first season. I couldn't find it this season. The most important feature was that, as we predicted, Fan Xian was the King's son. It was his marriage to Wan Er. However, Wan Er appeared in very few episodes. In the episodes he received, he learned that Fan Si Ze was the one who killed his brother and declared his hostility towards him. I could not understand the feeling of revenge of a character who did not object to his brother killing Fan Xian and could not convince his brother about this. If he didn't, his brother would kill Fan Xian. Does this mean that Wan Er loves her brother more and wants him to kill Fan Xian? This understanding of hostility is similar to this. So it didn't work for me. It's the scriptwriter's mistake. He had to find a more suitable excuse or something else to organize it. I do not agree. I didn't like it either.
The king is strange, we are used to his tricks. Also about things related to his sons. The strangeness continued in this episode. However, the queen was also a very strange person, she did such things that were unforgivable, but the strange King forgave her too. In other words, these were some strange oddities of unknown origin. These things don't suit the series. If the king was consistent, he should have at least taken away the Queenship. It's simplistic. It didn't happen.
I can say that this season was mostly about Cheng Ze's plans against Fan Xian and his responses to him. So this season has been focused on this. He restricted himself. In the last moments, they tried to make the conspiracy theories even bigger by including the Princess, but this turned into an attitude that made the series shallow and unable to break out of its mould. More precisely, I would like to see new things while watching. Let there be more popular things. Let there be other faces. Conspiracies should not be limited to princes. Let's open up a bit. Let it be diversified. The ability to cope with difficulties should be increased. In other words, Fan Playing. The incident has been made like this. I hope we will watch different variations in the third season.
Even though I criticized it, I must say that I enjoyed watching the series. As I said, it was a purely serious series, not a series with conspiracy theories. It was funny. Zhang Ruo Yun is a funny actor. It suits comedy. Tian Yu supported him well. When they do this, they approach events accordingly and bring liveliness and excitement to the scenes. I love this. I watched it without getting bored. I would recommend it to everyone.

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And the Award of the Most Hilarious Drama Goes to...

'Joy of Life' garnered high viewership and was a great hype back in 2019. To tell you the truth, I only watched two episodes of the first season, right before the season 2 started airing (the rest episodes have been blocked as VIP). You see, I only have slight knowledge about this series. Aside from Fan Xian, I only know Uncle Wu Zhu, Fei Jie, Grandma Fan, Fan Ruoruo, Teng Zijing, Yan Bingyun, the map seller Wang Qinian, and the young version of Chen Pingping. Despite my slight knowledge, I still enjoy the season 2 wholeheartedly. I'm ROOTING for every character regardless of their sides (good and evil). So, now let's see my take on this show and here we go...

I'm sure that the first season ended in a cliffhanger and that Fan Xian was dead. But the answer is a big NO! He faked his death and resurrected again! Later, he returned to the capital again, dealt with numerous crises that involved the commoners, and even solved the royal palace's cases such as kicking out corrupt officials, dealing with money embezzlement case, exposing the royal family's crimes, and blah blah blah. Fan Xian is the type of a person that couldn't stand injustice - he will do his best to ensure the commoners' safety and expediency and will not let any officials harm them. However, not many people want to take Fan Xian's path and prefer to be indifferent towards the commoners.

One more thing, he also changed the emperor's mindset and won his trust! In the latter episodes, it is revealed that the emperor was Fan Xian's biological father, and the name Fan Xian was designated by his mother, Ye Qingmei. Logically speaking, Fan Xian's status was equal to that of the princes, and that's why the emperor passed down the Imperial Treasury to Fan Xian, believing that he could take care of his mother's old asset.

The plot is craved intelligently with a lot of riddles hidden in the dialogues; you can never guess who the ultimate villain is - whether it is the second prince, the crown prince, the empress, the officials, Chen Pingping, and even the emperor himself. Everyone has their own side to defend and they're all SUPER GREY characters! 'Joy of Life' combines the dark palace politic with funny humor *thumbs up*. I feel concerned to the characters when they're at the lowest point of their lives and laugh uncontrollably when they start to banter. I can list all sort of the funny things they did - Fan Xian's bickering with the four princes, Fan Jian and Chen Pingping's silly arguments, the emperor's handmade gunpowder, Fan Xian's chicken dance when trying out his new clothes, Fan Xian and Haitang Duoduo complicated relationship in which everyone was fond of, Wang Qinian's little family, and many more.

Not only is the plot beautifully woven, but the acting is also top-notch. Everyone casted in the season 2 is experienced and can act well according to the script. Despite the minor fighting scene, it is executed very well, especially Fan Xian and Shadow's duel and also Uncle Wu Zhu's qinggong. I know a lot of people have been complaining about the few fighting scenes, but to me, it doesn't matter. As long as the script isn't messed up, everything will be alright.

I literally skip the opening and ending OSTs, but the BGM is quite nice. I especially like the comedy BGM and just keep humming to myself haha.

I highly recommend this show - you won't regret watching every single minute of it! I'll be waiting for season 3 (don't know when it will air though, haha). See you in season 3, Fan Xian! You're the best!

Three best quotes from JOL Season 2:
- Fan Xian to Fan Sizhe
"You will only be mature if you leave your home."

- Chancellor Lin Ruofu to Fan Xian
"People's hearts will always change so don't trust people easily."

- Chen Pingping to Fan Xian
"Revenge is the most stubborn force of a man's life. This force will grow strong and stronger as time passes."

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The replaced actors fell short

I love JOF very much and I am glad I waited long enough to watch the first season. This season started out a little slow and the vibe was off, but it picked up by episode 4.

I love Fan Xian, Old Wang and second prince. I like that I know the characters well enough to know what they can and can't do. Like I could tell the second prince was innocent of certain crimes, just cause I know he isn't that sloppy and obvious 😁. The crown prince was a crazy in the first season so even though I am only on episode 7 and just found out he framed the second prince, I was not surprised cause I knew he was guilty and still evil the moment he told Fan Xian about the burned village.

As for the new actors, Ye Ling Er and Yan Bing Yun's characters are different not just as cast but their roles had particular personalities which do not translate well in this season. Yan Bing Yun was very robot like in season 1. He portrayed an injured man that was paranoid but very patriotic. He was emotionless and somewhat arrogant. This new Yan Bing Yun even flinched at his father yelling at him 🙄. Ye Ling Er isn't any different , she was brazen and tomboyish in the first season.

what happend to Lang Tao? The guy is acting friendly in this season. He was scary in season 1 and not talkative.

Overall the story itself is going well so I hope the ending won't disappoint.

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This drama has it all! Definitely a masterpiece.

I'm very happy about this drama, the long wait since season 1 was worth it.

It's a very complete drama, you will feel trilled with the plots, emotional and wanting to cry in the heavy parts, laugh with the funny moments and warm your heart with the relationships and some romance sweet moments. I mean, I was really going through a lot of emotions during the drama, all that in a good pace, it's quite exceptional.

What is a surprise for me is that I usually like more the romance part, but not in this drama, everything else is so interesting that I don't really care that the romance is not the main thing.

And the comedy parts are just in the right amount and tone. It's very hard for me to find something funny, but I liked how the funny moments were made. I laughed out loud a few times.

Everything else is just so good. I loved it all.
The actors, so amazing!!
The plots
The costumes
The fight scenes
The photography

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The show continues to be funny, clever, and very very entertaining. However, the story is missing a central plot that ties everything together.

It's not clear what the drama is trying to achieve. Is it a find your origins story? A quest for power? I have no idea because the plot is all over the place. Season 2 gave more explanation about Fan Xian's background, where his mother came from, but still left a lot of questions unanswered. Several key characters discussed finding the temple where mom came from, but no steps were taken to actually find it. Fan Xian constantly talked about bringing justice to the world, but the never-ending slew of conflict between the royal family and officials always kept him occupied with the current problem at hand. What is the end goal here?

I liked what the writers did with Waner's character. In season 1, I didn't think she fit Fan Xian's personality very well being very submissive and non-confrontational. I always found him having way more fun and chemistry with other female characters. But, in season 2, she came a little bit into her own and started making her own decisions. I also liked how she was able to figure certain things out without falling victim to someone else's manipulations.

Some of the character personalities completely changed. The crown prince was a lot meaner in season 1. In season 2, he is a lot friendlier and nicer. The second prince went from being kind of ambiguous to more villainous. The show spent too much effort subverting viewer expectations, than creating a central plot.

The best part of the story is the music. It's very goofy and completely out of place. We go from fighting sequences with Spanish-esque party music to Nordic yodeling. It's completely ridiculous and hilarious.

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Mediocre, could have been better

Mediocre S2, where the script changes and direction, and comedy seemed forced all the way around, too many added unnecessary scenes and dialogues. Problem starts with the added cliffhanger in S1 (not in novel), which then took so many episodes in the start of S2 to get the story back on track. In the process the story timelines and some of the reveals throughout S2 got changed, too, not for the better. I also found some of the casting/character changes lacking (i.e. Ye Ling Er, Li Hong Cheng, He Zong Wei). I did like the addition of actor Ailei Yu as Deng Zi Yue. The original cast that were in both seasons did good, many excellent portrayals. Some of the S2 music was annoying, which was not the case in S1.

There were many memorable moments in the novel, which I was looking forward to, that got changed or glossed over, i.e. Jiangnan Martial Assembly. In S1, the drama did an excellent depiction of the banquet night of the 100+ poems and ZRY delivered that scene perfectly.

IMO S2 does not live up to S1, and I expect that S3 will be much the same (we'll see). Thankfully the source material (the novel) is the basis for the drama, which is well written with an original storyline, so the screenwriter and production team can't mess it up too badly.

Just my personal opinion after watching S1 a couple years ago, reading the entire novel, rewatching S1 before S2, and just finished watching S2.

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The Sequel We All Been Waiting For!!

Just finished watching, man...what a season. Ya, I agree lacking of martial arts kinda sucks, but everyones acting felt like they have never took any break in between, and perhaps..due to the many real life years in between, generally some character relationship felt more mature. There seems to be more comedy elements in this one, but I am perfectly fine with it, as it doesnt affect the mood of the story afterwards. Love the comedy, but wish to see more fight scenes too.

Also, I love how they kept all these witty dialogues just like S1 where you wont know who is the ultimate good guy or bad guy as everyone has their intentions and goals....which I find it unique for a story like that. All in all, its not a perfect season, but very enough for a sequel with well likeable character, with a cleverly created storyline with fine comedy elements and a lot of WOW moment.

Its not the best, I repeat. Many lacking compared to S1 but its very good for a sequel. I wish to see S3 ultimately redeem the whole trilogy giving us audience a proper closure.

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