Eleison

That seems like the age range that would start a bandwagon tirade against a drama that they've never seen and only downvote because people they follow/like are telling them to. Though I expect that behavior of teenagers; when adults do it it's profoundly disappointing, and far more concerning.

SAME! 🤣

I loved that scene.The squeak he made.... 😂😂 I died.

Thankfully most dramas (especially older ones) don't get/didn't get this kind of attention so it's probably not an issue with every drama's ratings.

Haha, thank you!

And doesn't it seem like something the ever observant Fan Xian would have noticed and capitalized on when he was in Qi? 🧐

I'm only in the first 1/3 of Season 2 so maybe they'll explain it later? 🤷‍♀️ Most of the threads I thought they had dropped get picked up again at some point, except for Yan Xiaoyi and He Daoren (who doesn't seem to be in Season 2), which are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

Have you finished Season 1? If not, don't read the next part cause it has ending spoilers. 😉

I really hope Fan Xian pulls the card of being the Emperor's son at some point; it seems like (and I assume) only Chen Ping Ping, Fan Jian and the Emperor know about his identitiy. And I mean, Fan Xian is clearly the best candidate for emperor among all of the princes (not sure about the 1st Prince yet). Did the Emperor experiment and have him raised differently to see if he would turn out better than the princes? 😅 But it also seems like a great way to get your son to turn on you; if I was Fan Xian I'd be very, very displeased about being toyed with and used. And I've officially decided I dislike the Emperor; he treats people like they are pawns in a game, as does Chen Ping Ping. This is Fan Xian's whole issue with those in Jingdu: they see people not as people but as tools to achieve their ends.

Ah, the power of social media to "make real change"; if this is true, I'm so convinced people grew in compassion for the victims of war due to this drama getting down voted. 👏👏👏 So impressed with their earthshattering championing of "the good."

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Sarcasm aside, this is an embarrassing case of internet "bandwagoning."

Someone explained to me how alternate accounts and bots can work since they've been lost on me until recently. 😅 It does seem like MDL should work on verifying accounts more carefully? I'm sure it's an evolving issue that many sites like this are dealing with so hopefully it will improve over time 🤷‍♀️

Huh, interesting! I didn't expect something that far-fetched in this drama. Wondering how they're going to make that work? Did the previous Emperor of Qi have no sons? Seems unlikely with all those concubines they have. 🤔

Good luck! 😉

I could bet with 99% certainty that he wouldn't "cheat" if this was made by a Korean network (for instance, I think of Fated To Love You, where the FL gets pregnant from the ML while both are dating other people and somehow they manage to make both the ML and FL sweet, upstanding people who have good intentions and who you root for--um, how'd they pull that off? As only a Kdrama can! 😅), but since it's Netflix, all predictable moral standards and Kdrama rules are potentially off the table, so, who knows? 💁‍♀️

When shows are experimental (and Netflix loves to experiment!), the results are... unexpected.

Comments and reviews are quite complimentary, but the ratings are lower by comparison. Any theories as to why?

Your comment makes me want to stay away. I'm an anti for many/most Netflix Kdrama originals, so this isn't encouraging. 😂 Usually the more "Netflix" it feels, the less I like it...

I love that Fan Xian (and the audience) knows he's their brother, but they have no idea. 😅

That scene in Episode 6 is quite fun, with all the princes in one place together. 😉

Why did Fan Xian spit up blood in his room once Yan Xiaoyi left (after Fan Xian escaped the palace with Uncle Wu Zu) when he wasn't actually wounded? That confused me. Was it showing that he had pushed himself too far after getting drunk, forcing himself to get sober, then doing all those crazy stunts in the palace and narrowly missing getting shot? 🤷‍♀️

Those were my favorite episodes, too; the ones with him teaming up with Uncle Wu Zu and becoming the god of poetry. 😅

Hopefully last question! 🫣:

P.S. Just finished the scene at the brothel and Fan Xian having issues with his qi and spitting blood randomly made me super nervous. What was going on with that?! 😬

He hasn't had issues either this before, right? This is a new plot point, yes?

Sorry, OP? What does that mean?

Already enjoying Season 2 quite a lot, but two observations:

1. What's up with the Sound Of Music rip off yodeling? 🤔🧐 It's such random, out-of-pocket comedic music and it's so jarring to hear some kind of yodeling in a Cdrama. Clash of music and culture. 😂

2. I started this season right after Season 1, and I couldn't help but notice that Zhang Ruo Yun (he's a fantastic actor, by the way; Season 1 made me a big fan) looks so much thinner in this season. He looks almost gaunt. 😟 It's makes me mad to think that people (fans of JOL, his agency, whoever was being mean, etc.) maybe gave him a hard time after Season 1 and he was forced to trim down for this season... 🤨 He looked fine just the way he was.

To end on a positive note, it's amazing to see how much they've scaled up the production value from Season 1! Love that they brought back the majority of the BGMs from Season 1, too, and only had to switch a few cast members (though I do miss the actor for Yan Bingyun already; he did a great job last Season and I wanted to see him on Team Fan Xian!).

Looking forward to enjoying this minus having to face the ending without a Season 3 waiting for me... 😔