Dryadris

As the headline states this season was a very mixed bag for me. The highs were really great and entertaining but the lows - Well they committed the cardinal sin of *boring* me. Maybe I was bored because I knew what was going on, or maybe I was bored because nothing was happening at all. Backstories are certainly needed here and there, but not to the same extent as with Chen Duo. A character that would only survive one season. They could have cut quite some of that time and used that time for backstorys for the temporary workers we learned little to nothing about during the whole season. We learned little to nothing about Ma Xian Hong plans or motivations or reasons during the season unless the last minutes on the last episode when we get the big infodump. Why? He will presumably be the antagonis of the next season so why no proper buildup? It feels like someone mentioned near the end of the production that they forgot to give us some insight on him, so they just dumped everything at the end instead of weaving it in during the season. He is an important character in uncovering the truth about the Eight Supremes but for me he was threated like a throwaway character during the season. Sidelined for a character that will die anyway.

The casting of the temporary workes was great and everyone of them lived and breathed their personalities. Something I cannot say about the casting of Zhu Ge Qing. Zhu Ge Qing is charismatic and humorous. He can be joking one moment and bitterly serious the next. The changes come completely naturally. But despite his easy-going nature, he is surrounded by the sly old fox vibe. Nothing of that I could see here. He was too serious the whole time and scenes that should be funny felt forced. I had the feeling to watch a complete different character. For people who watched the first season and now the second, without watching the animation or reading the comic will have a huge problem to understand why the friendship between him and Wang Ye is so messed up all of a sudden. Last season he gave Wang Ye the selfless promise to do everything he can to help him whenever he needs him and now he is a jealous, selfish prick.

I liked the first few episodes and the last few episodes. A lot of great moments between the temporary workers. Funny and entertaining. These moments were what saved this season for me overall. Otherwise I think I would just have speedwatched through it if watching it at all.