Aramintai

Afaik, the novel was more of an inspiration than 1:1. Even characters backgrounds were different there, not to mention the plot. They've already changed too much here, so I guess somebody can try writing another script. Or they can scrape at the bottom of the barrel and extrapolate from the novel's barely touched political sub-plot.

More likely because showrunners were weary of the old rebirth/reincarnation plots ban. Damn right, I'm sick if these too, lol. Too bad they seemingly come crawling out again lately.

If anything like this happens I ain't watching. Too many shitty sequels like that as an example to care.
It's either same actors and continue the story, or go home and count your money.

It's hasn't fizzled out, just finish it already. And it was nice to have it. They could have settled on friendship, but with romance dramas always have an extra emotional level to exploit and every showrunner and their momma knows it. And also, it's more logical that way that both leads would follow each other wherever, FL really wanted to leave that shit ass palace by the end. If they were just friends, ML probably would have stayed at his work as an astronomer.

Ok, but are we getting season 2 with these numbers?

There is, but not the main focus.

There is no second novel. Meaning somebody’s gotta write a good script from scratch. Maybe they can scrape some political story out of the first novel, as it was used more as an inspiration than 1:1 adaptation. Characters' backstories there were different and there was more politicking and dynasty wars bs. Can shoehorn this to CP wanting to depose his father, for example. But that would change the tone of the drama. Personally, I get bored with politics, I like investigations and mysteries more.

And if they change the leads nobody’s gonna watch it, I bet. It was more FL’s personal story than just some sort of historical procedural where you can swap detectives every season. And with that teaser they gotta return to resolve this.

Or it won’t. Many dramas have teasers that lead nowhere. And I’ve read this actress doesn’t want to do any more dramas with hard fighting scenes after this one, she’s got some old back injury and it was pain.

It’s not graphic, but there are fighting scenes and dead bodies. And there’s little about politics, it’s mostly about crime investigations. And there is romance subplot.

It’s not confirmed and teasers like these often end up nowhere. So don’t get your hopes up.

I think it was FL who wanted to leave that shithole, ML just followed her. The guy, as it turned out, devoted his whole life to solve her problems. It was never her life’s goal to work at the Bureau, more like a means to an end to find the bad guy. And at the end she became very disappointed in the emperor and her inability to enforce the law at the palace. So after dealing with the bad guy there was really no reason to stay, as she didn’t care for life at the palace. Her Bureau friends will be fine with Wuren, consort Shu decided to stay in the cage and her mentor died. But she’s free to live her life however she wants. Maybe she went back to her county.
And I’m not holding my breath for season 2 either, dunno what they’re playing at with that teaser.

Yea, it drops you right at the start of a case. FL’s been working as an investigator for quite some time already. But that case is special because ML appears there and triggers FL’s memory concerning the main plot of her seeking truth about her family murder. It is later nicely explained how he and she became who they were. Character exposition here is gradual and not rushed.

The Chancellor was a dumbass who was outplayed. FL's effort at the poisoned banquet was not in vain. He was forced to confess and lost favor with the emperor. And while in exile he realized his days were numbered after his allies ditched him. It was either sit tight and allow himself and his clan to be framed by the Crown Prince, or die swinging. He decided the latter. He never knew that FL would save consort Shu from CP's schemes.
If he didn't ride with an army to "save" his sister, she would have been dismissed by the emperor, because the emperor is easily swayed by the public opinion. And public opinion was manipulated by bad omens to think that consort Shu is bad luck for him and is plotting to overthrow him with her clan. If she was dismissed and punished, the chancellor would have lost the emperor's backing completely and would become an easy prey for elimination.

Ah, that. Well, he's not the sturdiest of MLs that's for sure, and he's sensitive. It was briefly shown he was already feeling unwell working non-stop for half a month updating that calendar to save FL's ass from being poisoned to death, and then she went ahead and cruelly ditched him shortly after. The guy likely just had a mental breakdown from exhaustion and heartbreak.
It was kinda funny how FL was sneaking him gifts and medicine through her friends later though, even though she wouldn't face him herself to apologize.

I can't recall some of the scenes here:

https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:5266360226480224?from=old_pc_videoshow

Especially the one where she lays the decree on the ground and walks away, wearing red princess clothes. Is this something that was deleted again?

Lol, he was anything but timid in that scene, it was his most emotional speech in the whole drama. And he was right to stop her, she realizes it later too. She had no evidence other than the bad guy's oral testimony. If she killed him, the emperor would not have believed her, she already was on his bad side. For murdering a high ranking official in cold blood she would have been severly punished and her father's honor would not be restored.
She'll later still get her revenge, but with the emperor's full permission. It'll take some cunning effort though, not blind rage to take him down for good.

The story's good. FL's character is very cool here.
But it's not a romance focused drama, just to be clear. It's present, but the drama is mainly about investigations and revenge.

Yea, not only is her character concept ridiculous, especially the fugly mask, FL's delivery is absolutely cringe. No way she could have been a general commanding armies with that demeanor, unless she got some serious personality disorder after falling into the river to excuse this cutesy, girly, childish prancing around. Only blind deaf old farts won't realize it's a woman at first sight. Aegyo, kawaii genki, whatever they call this acting in China - it looks completely out of place here. And isn't this type of acting got out of vogue ages ago?

I think they wanted to make this something akin to reincarnation story first, where a character goes back to the past to start over again with all skills and knowledge retained, but I heard these stories got banned in China so as not to promote suicides or whatever. Still, that doesn't excuse this cringefest.

And let's be glad that she did realize that in the end. If ML wasn't there for her, I think she actually would have died for her revenge. It's not in your face, but they came a long way together through that year and he gently influenced her a lot. But it's understandable that it was hard for her to let go and took some time to reflect, she's been living hellbent on revenge for most of her life.

Well, again, this drama's is mostly about investigations and revenge. Romance does play an important part in the main plot and greatly affected FL's character in the end, but it's not the main focus. And the leads had just one big spat here, it was logical and was bound to happen.

Here it's not like it often happens in rom-coms where's there's an obligatory break-up because of the dumbest of reasons for the sake inserting this trope.