Aramintai

Indeed, if it continues like that I think I'll drop it. Season 1 was already boring and cliche, adding two very annoying side characters only made it worse in season 2.

Season 1 was already so so, but insufferable SFL and SML in season 2 make it even worse. Can't help but skip many scenes.

Mr. Queen.
My favorite about the palace intrigues is Kingdom though. But it's a thriller.

It seems you've dropped it half way through and haven't finished watching it, so there was no point to my argument whatsoever. Characters do undergo character development as I've written above though, especially ML.
I'd recommend watching it until the end to have an informed opinion, but whatever, seems like you've made it already.

I don't think so.

There are kissing scenes in it.

But there is no JBY, it was 200 years old grandma all along 🤣

It wasn’t a real kiss, some prudish people here just like to exaggerate. It was just something FL had to do to save Yul’s life from the bloodworm and he was unconscious at the time.

Ah, you just misspelled then. It's 7th star, not stars.

Yea, no matter the flaws, I'm sure everyone would agree that this is a very memorable drama overall and will be remembered for years to come.

SML was annoying in the first half of the drama. But after FL rejected him he got a bit better later.

He's not dead.

Whom do you mean? FL?
But she did change - she stopped taking bs from ML (that pillow fight was the last straw) and gained courage to pursue her dream career in earnest (while in the beginning she had no confidence in herself and suffered from stage fright).
Or do you mean ML?
Being very flawed he got way bigger character development than FL, if you couldn't see even that then you need glasses, or something.

He was capital's gang leader.

ML and FL really want to get together. ML even gave her his mother's wedding ring. But there's always something in the way, as usual - king's orders, FL's father, other people. But I'm sure they'll end up together at the of season 2. Unless of course there's season 3.
But SFL is a very annoying spoiled brat from the get go. Not sure she'll get better, but we'll see. One thing for sure, she missed the love train by a whole season and the leads are only interested in each other.

1. Naksu disappearing was a lie and a plot hole. In the end she just took a temporary back seat for JSR to perform her duty. She was then returned to the body by the grace of JSR and JSR disappeared herself.
2. Naksu perfomed the alchemy of souls ritual and shifted into Mu-Deok/Jin Bu-Yeon's body in the first episode of part 1. And Naksu's real body was burned at the pyre very soon after. In part 2, after Mu-Deok/Jin Bu-Yeon's body got petrified, master Lee used Naksu's energy to revive it and transform it to look like Naksu in appearance to prevent her from running wild again (body and soul must look identical so as to not leak energy). So in the end it's Naksu's soul in JBY's body that looks like Naksu.
3. Jin Seol Ran is a 200 years old soul of Jin clan founder. Her backstory was revealed in part 1. Songrim founder left her the ice stone all those years ago because she was dying. Officially she refused it and died. But in part 2 it was revealed that she was a seer and could foresee the future where the ice stone would be misused again. So she transmigrated her soul into the ice stone to protect it and it was kept in Jinyowon all these years until Jang Kang used it to revive mama Jin's dead baby in her womb. That baby was Jin Bu Yeon and being dead it had no soul. JSR transmigrated from the ice stone into that baby and Jin Bu Yeon was born. Later, as a child she tried and failed to save the ice stone from the bad guys and almost got drowned in the lake. She washed up in Sari village and was taken in by some grandma who named her Mu-Deok. Then she just bided her time there until Naksu'd appear and deliberately inserted herself into her alchemy of souls ritual.
In short, Jin Seol Ran is Jin clan founder from 200 years ago and is the real Jin Bu Yeon's body owner, and she was there inside of JBY's body along with Naksu ever since Naksu performed the alchemy of souls ritual.

No, it wasn't just Naksu as 7 stars. It's all the people who sent energy/ helped Uk at the end to fight the fire bird:
-Naksu, Seo Yul, Park Dang Gu, Jin Cho Yeon, Crown Prince, Park Jin's assisant, Jin Seol Ran/Jin Bu Yeon.
It was mentioned when JSR was about to summon the fire bird.

He was annoying from the beginning, but got better. If you mean that soldier guy in season 1. But he’s not present in season 2.
There's also a new character in season 2 - a physician from the Royal Medical Office. But I'm not sure he can count as SML yet.

I dunno about you guys, but after this silly show started taking itself too seriously the most entertaining characters to watch for me became those poor seolo guys 😂 The rest is a snoozefest.

Yea, I don't care about feminist complaints neither. Asian media is based on traditional cultural values, so it's something you gotta accept if you want to have fun watching it. But some people just don't get it, coming in influenced by Western culture and expecting it to be the same across the globe.
I did want to see Naksu as a powerful fighter mage again in the end, preferrably killing Jin Mu herself. But it's ok as it is, she survived and got a happy ending with ML, that's all that mattered to me in the end.