Dorama

so heavy it doesn't need a rewatch.

Lee Gi Hwan, Gi Beom's older brother and Kang Tae Joo's friend.

He became the biggest jerk of them all. What do you expect when he had that shameless and crooked duo as his seniors?

Im Seok-man is the real-life equivalent of Yoon Sung-yeo, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years until the real Hwaseong serial killer confessed to the crime in 2019, leading to his acquittal in 2020.

I cannot with each episode. I'm literally clenching my jaw. After watching costume idol Cdramas, I think diving into this genre again triggers my anxiety.
I should've avoided binge-watching this show.

Another thing I like about this series is that it's not so angsty. I remember when Cdramas, especially historical, wuxia, and xianxia series, used to be so full of angst and stretch across 50+ episodes. And the romance was so little that it didn't even make up for all that emotional stress.

Ep. 30
FCH hates being lied to, but now she realizes how tough honesty actually is.

It's a different production company, so they changed some character names to avoid copyright or IP issues from PA. But those names are actually the ones from the novel. They even switched back the dynasty names from the novel that PA had changed, like Wei to Yong and Yanbei to Great Yan.
Zhuge Yue is the ML's OG name in the novel. PA changed it, but now Rebirth switched it back. Yan Xun and CQ stayed the same since those are their actual names in the novel.

Yes, PA, it looked like she killed him. But to reintroduce him in the sequel, maybe he just passed out and survived the fight. After all, production mentioned that this sequel follows the novel more closely than the TV series.

General Cheng Yuan in Rebirth—I forgot his name in PA—was the one who killed Yue Qi (played by actor Xing Zhaolin), the right-hand shadow guard of Zhuge Yue, in the last episode of Princess Agents. That's why in the first episode of Rebirth, he didn't want Chu Qiao to wake up, for she might tell Yan Xun he tried to kill her.

Some of the characters are new, such as Helian Ling and the Queen of Lingyue.

Watch it as it is.
For those who are going to watch this because of Rebirth, there is no need. You will only get confused if you watch it for the sake of understanding the sequel's plot. They changed the actors and, due to copyright issues, changed the names of almost everyone from the OG show. So, trying to integrate Princess Agents into Rebirth is useless. Don't think of it as a prequel to Rebirth. You can watch Princess Agents as it is and accept its ending.
Instead, treat Rebirth as a remake, and watch it as a standalone series.

And she continues to be vile in the sequel. Whenever she's on-screen, I want to shout 'Begone already!'

This should be a remake, not a sequel. It can even be watched as a standalone series, because you will only get confused if you try to integrate Princess Agents into it.
And yes, they were all over the place. There are different actors—okay, I get that, given that it's been so long. But because it's a different production company trying to avoid copyright issues, they had to change almost everyone's name. Now it's hard to tell who is who.

The writing and casting were a total mess. Because the story features a romance (she is entangled with 3 different men), they should have just cast a different actress—especially since even the production was concerned about the age gap. The actress playing Chu Qiao was okay, her age was the only real problem. You could clearly tell the directors tried to hold back on those touchy moments which left the audience feeling unsatisfied instead of getting those romantic flutters. Maybe the creators thought it was acceptable just because it’s a historical drama. Chu Qiao became far too weak in this sequel, constantly needing to be saved. They completely excluded her powerful lineage—which they should have kept, considering everyone always looked down on her as a slave. Even so, watching her rise from a slave to a queen would have been incredibly dramatic. To top it all off, they completely ignored her martial arts awakening, which was the massive cliffhanger everyone had been waiting for since season one

After watching it, I realized this is the sequel that I (and perhaps all of us) had waited for, but then wished had never happened at all.

what a wreck

Though I preferred the OG ending, this one isn't bad—it's actually pretty nice.

...like my comment before, almost a love story.(sigh)

What else do you expect from a love story between an immortal and a mortal? It’s always tragic. But I’m quite satisfied with this one—he becomes a spirit so they can be together for the longest time, if not forever. Even the alternate ending is good, he comes back, but she becomes mortal, and they still get to grow old together.

I just felt sorry for the emperor as he was left all alone without his trustworthy chancellor and great general.

One of my fave Cdramas this year!
What else do you expect from a love story between an immortal and a mortal?

I also love how the plot goes back and forth between The Void and the mortal world.

Dilraba and Chen Feiyu's chemistry is top-notch, and even her chemistry with Wei Zheming is worth noting.

I'm late to the party because I've been trying to keep up with all my ongoing webtoons, but I'm now on episode 29 and I'm hooked!
Every Yan Ke entrance is a spectacle. I watched his previous dramas where he was an antagonist, I guess I'm just loving this 'villain era' of Wei Zheming.