AleksandraSucur

No, it is not a random name. Chen Jinnan is the Tiandihui sect leader and shifu of the protagonist in the famous Jin Yong's novel The Deer and the Cauldron

that's fine, too, espc if you don't like the genre, it's not a minor thing

Tbh, I don't stand this actress's voice, her (literal) bleaking is worse than Ren Min's high pitch timbre or Esther Yu's child-voice whispering. But these actresses can't change their voice and can't be discriminated for it, so we should only focus on if they deliever their characters or not.
Tian Xiwei performed well in New Life Begins and, with this role, she is in a way, in her comfort zone, because she can replicate that character who minds her own buisness more than anything else.
Thus, I don't doubt this character will grow on Sukorra user, too

Lol, I was joking, but Jin Lian is a lynx, falidae family, ofc, you're right it's a cat, a felix, but the cgi adapted Lynx lynx isabellinus, a dangerous predator but very rare and endangered animal of Tibetan plateau - as other lynxes - for the lack of pray

I think Guardians have inside problems. We see the extreme competitiveness among people of the same rank (XQ experienced that in "real life", as Yang Ling, he knows how to cope with that), the lack of flexibility, especially, the Silver Gong XQ's superior is rigid in applying the rules but sways in front of Wei's authority and the competition of his equals and all other things XQ listed in his booklet How To Improve the Guardians (and we take that for granted).
Basically, they are unfit to cope with real great dangers, they obviously need some "internal restructuring". On the other hand, the chief of realm sect chose XQ to enter his team as a mediator between Guardians and his sect's members (who are probably highly skilled and have high morals), so I suppose they will act together (maybe, after Guardians drop immoral people) when real great dangers are revealed.

For now (ep 12), it's funny and engaging

Me too, but it's a lynx, not a cat 😂
More dangerous than cats

Maybe your attention is too much focused on FL's desperate attempt to win ML over, not knowing ML doesn't care about her sister at all, he is the first one who confused her with her sister while being actually interested in her.
Imo, the screenwriting intentionally uses this confusion - and yes, intentionally drags with this misunderstanding - to divert the audience's attention from the important plotline issues, like the key problems with that state (Yang Ling is within a game, and solving problems and puzzles are the goal of any game), what is truly off there, the identity of the realm sect members and why they will be important for solving the aforementioned issues and so on.
When important things get disclosed, the watchers are surprised, asking themselves "why haven't I paid attention to this or that?"

Wang Hedi actually performs this salesman role very convincingly. I don't understand one word of Mandarin, but that talk, talk, talk, the way he looks at the "potential client", that "equal exchange philosophy", just by looking at such a person, you know he is selling smth, and you also know you'll buy whatever he sells when he stops talking...

the purpose of his bragging and overstating his contribution is to gain trust from and bond with realm team members. Chief Wei tasked him to discover their real identities, so he is just trying to get closer to them.
I also think next episodes will be more interesting because we'll get to know who they are, which special skills they possess and why Guardians are insufficient to protect the realm (actually, we've already got a few hints why).

I've noticed the resemblance but wasn't 100% sure. It was fun: "If you don't want the food, I'll give it to the dog". The entire prison scene was cute, a good ouverture to a comedy, with a fly on that food ended in spider's web, the spider mashed on ML's cheek... all those little gags, lol, Deng Ke is a good director.

glad to be of some help ☺️
Hope you'll enjoy it. I love JoL (JoL2 even more) and can't understand the buzz allegedelly fueled by JoL fans against this drama. Of course it must differ from JoL, it's an another drama, not a replica of JoL.
Happy watch, happy New Year!

I agree.
Besides, it adds to the fun knowing this style is a sort of costume designer's "signature" 😁👌

do you remember this actress from New Life Begins? Her character there was similar, she appeared as in her own loop, bothering about her own stuff and not much attached or interested in the ML. The comfort zone roles of this actress are probably such detached characters, who slowly grow on the audience to be liked - as you've stated yourself,
She is not a bully, she is a sort of a victim, too, constantly compared to her better (more efficient. talented and skilled) half-sister, eager to prove she can also contribute to the fame of her brother, who's a CP, but defined as "mediocre". It's not her fault to be upbrought in the imperial family with such a high inner competitevness which is not only the competition between (male) princes in their abilities to succeed the throne but also the competition between multiple consorts and their original clans (which blood, upbringing/status adds more value to the imperial blood?)
Although this drama is a fantasy, it still follows (even gives for granted) certain patterns from real history of humankind regarding imperial, royal, noble behaviour. Actually, only one imperial clan in the history of the world, the Ottoman dynasty, set a different pattern for succession: only the strongest survives. The early Ottoman emperors (sultans and kaysers of the Rum, because they were both authocratic Asian emperors and ceasars of the Eastern Roman Empire) were all born by the slaves, either abducted good looking girls or tribute princesses of conquered kingdoms, their status were the same: slaves, the sultan was not allowed to marry a normal woman or whom he wanted, he could have mated only with slaves. And they usually gave birth to only one (male) child. The designated successor (who usually had a position of a governor of the Anatolian city of Manissa) had a legal right to kill all his half brothers, together with their mothers and eventual sisters. When this extreme cruelty and menslaughter stopped and the "concubines" were sorted from the noble clans of that empire, that was - paradoxically - the turning point towards the overall decline of the Ottoman Empire.
So, drop our logic when we are in the imperial domain ☺️

yes, I've thought the same, the slightly wavy style is similar... till the XQ dancing scene, Gu YanXi could have not sway his ponytail in that way, so I deduce Qian's wig is better 😁

It isn't clear yet, but judging from trailers, there are more than one, demons and mortals, including the emperor himself. During their conversation, the Chief of Guardians and Alchemy Supervisor have shown certain discontent with how things are going in the Dafeng (both external, with borders in chaos, and internal threats, like the corrupted marquese, deliberately kept in power by the emperor to balance other ministers' power) and that they needed an "out of the box" thinking person for the Guardians...

the characters are simplier, less grayish in comparison to JoL, gray characters are a distinctive trait just for JoL. This doesn't imply the characters in GoD lack depth or aren't smart, they are just depicted with different (and more comical) vibe.
The Head of Guardians (Wei Yuan) is similar to Chen Ping Ping in his position and (powerful political) role but he doesn't have that strange special bond with ML (and I suppose neither with the emperor, we'll see)...
The relations are not as angsty (at least for now) as in JoL.
All in all, power struggles - we've loved in JoL - seems not to be as important as in JoL, but they are present in this drama, too

1. Although different (one is sucked into a game, the other is "reborn") Xu Qian and Fan Xian have similar background. They both belong to/have knowledge of another (our) universe, which adds a gear to their skills.
2. Guardians and Overwatch Department from JOL have very similar tasks and objectives: intelligence, investigation, keeping in check power undercurrents...
3. Although the genres of two dramas differ (being GoD more isekai and more comedy than JoL), Xu Qian and FX both basically "rise up the ranks" through merits/tasks they've accomplished. Heroic vibe is also highly similar (relaxed, not taken too seriously, with lot of comedy)
4. Similar smart use of Chinese traditional poetry as an added (aesthetic) value. Fan Xian memorable poems' reciting is changed (to more relaxed and funnier performance, in line with Xu Qian - more comical - character).
5. A lot of side but indispensable characters
6. XQ and FX are both righteous (that's why they are heroes) but they also both possess certain rebel traits.

The similarities actually don't end here, both are HQ productions with great cast etc...

It looks like we'll have a lot of fun with this one

yea, mine, too