WitchedNomad

Plotwise, pacing and character development was actually good. But the romance, they dragged it too long and keep on the dousing the spark that had started at the beginning, and when they finally put more effort onto it (Ep15-16), I already lost interest and no longer feel the connection between the ML and FL. Li Ge Yang always had a good chemistry with his partners on screen but not with the FL here. To me, it felt forced that even when they kissed, it felt so bland. And since they went on that ending, ML could really have just stayed just an ally with her.

How smart and stupid Hou Zeng be at the same time. He just ruined everything that he worked so hard to uncover at a very critical moment and put everything and the emperor at stake.

"The FL is too weak, too soft, and spineless." She's a puppet emperor to begin with, so yeah.

Some are just so critical I think and will fuss at anything. JSM did carry S1 because of her popularity and because of that her fans are so disappointed not seeing her in S2.I know SooMin before Younjung but I think GYJ nailed the role of being the fierce shadow Assassin and being bubbly Jin BuYeon. I wish S2 was atleast 15eps long though

Don't always believe the reviews and see if for yourself. The fact that this one has a much higher ratings of viewership in Korea compared to S1 says otherwise.

LoL same! I only watched S1 because of S2 (and even so, I honestly won't deny I still enjoyed S1). I don't get why people don't like season 2 because of change of FL when infact she's the original Naksu face.

No, only English subs

While I agree on the point you mentioned about recognizing that deep connection and longing, I also like how the writer/s went the other way.
S1 - He recognized her first. She saved him. He was a light to her shadow.
S2 - She recognized him first. He saved him. She was a shadow to his light.

This is so good and unexpectedly HE. I could rewatch S2 over and over 😅

I wonder why some are saying she lost her personality when she has not. She's sweet and more bubbly on the first part because of the memory loss and was sort of "raised" in a different environment (which of course can affect on how she acted and perceived things). But when she regained her memories in the latter part, she was just as feisty as before and even her mannerism or the way she walked and talked were the same in S1.

I almost skipped S1 and only watched it so I can fully grasp the whole story and I must admit I enjoyed that though the 20 episodes was too long for me . However, S2 is on a different level and I feel more connected to the ML and FL characters than S1. Chemistry is 🔥🔥🔥

The King insisted to JangGang to switch soul as his last dying wish. As a subject to the King, JangGang cannot refuse so he agreed to switch. After that, the King (in JangGang's body) slept with JangGang's wife, thus making her pregnant and give birth to a child (Jang Uk).

Are you sure you want spoiler? 😅
Read below...

20 episodes was also quite long for me so I ended up ff scenes from 2nd/3rd couples.

To enjoy S2, forget it as a sequel but a standalone so you'll not have your bias against the FL changes.

You'll also be more pissed with Jin-Mu because even on his dying moments, he will still be able to do more evil LOL

The father of that child is scared that he will fulfill the prophecy so he sealed his core of energy. I forgot which episode it was because it was just a flashback when it was shown but they finally swapped back (king and the father's child after 7days)

@AP Agree, I think people just wanted to hate unnecessarily😅

She was not only brought back to life and lost her memory. She was sort of "reborn" and raised in a very secluded environment for damn 3 year thus the character change. The fact that she's still fierce and clever when she barely has interaction with the outside world is surprising.
In Season 1, I noticed her character towards the ending was also a bit changing, sort of softening when interacting to people. When she chooses to save and care for people instead of power, wasn't that also a character change? In Season 1, she's already been following her master like a lost puppy with the pretense of their supposed master-maid/pupil-master relationship but actually she's following him because she's already inlove with him and can't bare to part with him.

I'm one of those disappointed when Naksu loses her powers and dropped this at first. Then came back and tried it again, I actually did enjoy it. Then I realized that the story is not mainly focused on Naksu but actually on Jang Uk, and that's why the billing is LJW first before JSM even though she is a lot more senior than him. I wish they didn't give us that badass intro as not to expect more during the whole show.

Yeah figured that, and read that the characterization of the FL also dramatically changed. Lets see if I can get past that

I finally gave in and watched season 1 till ep19 and I enjoyed it even without the fights. I realized then that the story is really about the ML and not the FL though the intro made us confuse that its about the FL thus making us disappointed (made sense with the billing even when JSM is a lot senior than LJW). Bracing myself for S2 for characterization change LoL.

thanks for the reply. I was reading some snippets regarding each character and I think I really have to watch S1 to have a deeper understanding on the story. I also learned that Naksu as an assassin wasn't explored that much, a shame. That inro was actually badass

Glad you finished it. I had to drop it unfortunately in Ep14 when the FL became dumb enough to walk in an obvious trap.