Frost_edelweiss

The movie is now also on Youtube, double subtitled in Chinese Hanzi and in English :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3-vfxM24UQ

Yes, I stand corrected, was not remembering accurately, it is indeed 600 pts weekly which is the score that marks the "really popular dramas".

I don't always take that much note of weekly points announced, because it also depends on other things. To The Wonder got unexpectedly perhaps very popular recently on iQiyi without reaching weekly top spot and this despite it was only 8 episodes and did not get hyped a lot before, but it is still among the top ten this week ; The Knockout started at 528 on Jan 30, 2023 but stayed perhaps the longest among top ten next...
Besides, my tastes are whimsical and quirky, so I don't run to a drama only because it is very popular.

As for over 634, you must have forgotten The Legend of Shenli got top spot recently on April 7, with 635 points at highest level on third week, after getting 631 on second week. I was exceptionally following those weekly ratings for that one because I found Lin Gengxin's dry humor style fun in the dramas he performed in that I had seen, and Zhao Liying was gutsy enough once, to take up a modernized to 21st century version of the story of Qiu Ju. (one of my favorite Zhang Yimou movies). So the pairing was one I was curious of although reluctant to dive into the previous and more famous one. I was still positively expectant of the new "reunion" and it did not disappoint me. I even had fun after with the related variety show.

So if the weekly points for JOL2 go up again, yes maybe it will be another record breaking one. I do vastly like and enjoy the show, despite the grumbles of some, that briefly made me think perhaps 634 was not that remarkable - when it was :-)

If you clicked on the poster, it was linking to original post, where poster stated it was from https://ibb.co/qMpcW5F [20240501141546321 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB (ibb.co)] Maybe you'll find /have found what you need there ?
I like it too, but am not well equipped to print posters. So am just admiring it for the moment on my computer. It's a tad too big to serve as screensaver, although that's a thought too.

Ah, thanks : I looked for it, rushing through the 900+ pictures, but had not found it before (clicked too fast, or the square thumbnail part in the photo directory did not alert me...). Your upload is also clearer than this one. So for those who like that poster, they really should check the first upload from Weibo !
Or also go to the Baidu page, if the Weibo original one is difficult to get back to.

Some people mentioned they wondered who was who among the characters.
Trawling through sjadvocates's excellent and long thread in Discussions, I found a nice poster which could well serve for a game of who can pinpoint which characters are depicted there. We could start giving the names of the characters from bottom of poster upwards, writing them in as "reply" ?
Is anyone up to the challenge in the 5 hours gap until episode 27 of 2024.05.27 airs ?
It could be a team game too.

https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3060253&page=30#p3060253

PS. And since most people here watch with some delay, let's say we have until May 31 to complete the challenge ? The winners will surely be happy to be awarded a shiny virtual medal of honor as grand masters of c-drama watching, lol

I've added the "Family group"picture / Ensemble cast poster from the Baidu page, in the already respectably sized Photo Gallery, above this Comments section.

👌

Interesting views : thanks for writing them down at length. Of course, as you say, major spoilers too, so best not read by those who find themselves disengaged when having been a little or a lot spoiled.
Personally, I don't mind, so I'll keep them at the back of my mind to understand some reactions. :)

Had a peek at Marcus' reporting. So :
Joy of Life S2 already had its opening Douban rating : 7 from around 65,500 ratings.
But it ended the week as #1 "most watched" with "634 points" (for the first time since it premiered). 700 points and above are very satisfactory, if I remember, so 634 is maybe a bit disappointing ; but it may rise until next Sunday. We shall wait and see.
Actually, peeking here https://movie.douban.com/subject/34937650/ it is now standing at 7.1 from 113,266 ratings.

and sadly, this empire is a bit like the "Hotel California" : .... "Relax, " said the night man, "We are programmed to receive ; You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCfLZXxvgVM

Yes, that was so funny! He must have hidden cultivator wuxia skills. He did fly up over walls and onto carriages already a long time ago ?

It did look like he had ordered a team of hit men that barely got stopped by FX and first prince, who happened to ride in the vicinity. Is the threat completely gone, I don't know... The emperor had a nasty habit of benevolently greeting goodbye to departing courtiers, to get them totally "departed" on the way to retirement.

It was comedic enough in that episode, yes, with the brief loss of mask/face : was it Jing "No Name" that FX wrote in his inscription in the Poetry Book ?
I suddenly thought of a song that could echo Minister Lin's apparent erasure : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsaUIs9JUXI... He still made fireworks with that brush and ink lending those as he did (why not a seal, since he was at it? btw I wondered why FX did not simply carry a name seal to sign : that's quick and comfortable, no?)...
From then on, I have a hunch FX will be navigating into uncharted deep waters, and there's no sure bet that more of his elders will not be sacrificed too, perhaps.

Kerosene is not nitroglycerin.
"Kerosene is liquid around room temperature: 25 °C (77 °F). The flash point of kerosene is between 37 °C (99 °F) and 65 °C (149 °F), and its autoignition temperature is 220 °C (428 °F)."
I also don't really understand why "coal oil" would be readily available if the method for lighting was candles, and heating was on wood stoves mostly?
Of course, "Petroleum has been used in various forms for at least 70,000 years. Prehistoric hunters used bitumen to attach flint spear points to wooden shafts. From around 6,500 BC, petroleum was widely used to caulk ships, pave roads, cement buildings, waterproof canals, heal skin diseases, kill lice, and preserve mummies."
As for military uses, "Greek fire" did indeed make use of coal oil aka kerosene, but there were some other ingredients needed to blend in, not sure the inside of a hollowed candle would be enough to make it into a crude Molotov cocktail, unbeknownst by the loo users.

So, I assume the loo had first been laced with hidden containers of conveniently leaking methane gas, that is not so difficult to extract from cow or similar dung. "Methane forms explosive mixtures with air and the loudest explosions occur when one volume of methane is mixed with 10 volumes of air (or 2 volumes of oxygen) (Windholz et al., 1976). Air containing less than 5.5% methane no longer explodes." "Methane is an explosion hazard in enclosed areas. Liquefied Methane floats on water and boils. The vapor cloud produced is FLAMMABLE. POISONOUS GASES ARE PRODUCED IN FIRE." (There: you got the recipe for your next revolutionary activities, lol)

That said, some upper middle school classmates of my dad (he was in an elite school at the time) once tinkered in the chem lab and made some nitroglycerin around 1938-40. Apparently it is not that hard, but harder to keep the stuff stable, so .... the kids did not repeat the feat, sadly. Real booom. It was an event that caused a novelist to write about a "neglected youth" (translated as Stolen Spring), which embodied the social criticism of the times of his country, well into the 1960s.
It was not the only time such things happened to the curious DIY-ers who are a bit careless.

The emperor was lucky he did not lose at least an eye with his gunpowder making experiments.

I just caught up with 21. This is such a riveting story, that it's hard to be forced to pause 🤣
The exam part was quite something. I was thinking : could a loo explode ??? methane gases....
Where did the sabotage team get the kerosene ?
As for making papers anonymous method, this is a problem that was (still is?) causing nightmares and headaches to many exam sitters and designers. So much can be translated into modern day concerns.
Time for a walk to rest the eyes with living greenery and renew the qi.

You could also read this for starters ; it may convince you to give S1 a go first instead of half blindly rushing into S2... https://www.soompi.com/article/1379259wpp/bask-in-the-joy-of-life-7-reasons-to-watch-c-drama-joy-of-life
S1 is so packed full of twists that "cheat sheets" may not be enough to skip jump into s2. But some background info is not totally superfluous.
MK916 has posted a translation of the e-novel in Discussion, but just looking at the number of chapters shows that this will not be a light read for one evening ! I will tackle it to alleviate probable drama nostalgia when S2 ends. The drama version is not just blind translation into pictures of the novel, so I expect it will be an interesting read on its own.

It may sound much to add 46 episodes first to these 36, but they are extremely enjoyable, so don't skip them. Just take your time to enjoy or binge watch : it's fully worth the time spent ! It's a continuing story, from start of s1, so you won't regret the weeks set aside to stay in that universe.

Agree. Up till now, I'm more than satisfied. (Finished S1 less than a week ago, and my only regret is that the old dowager (but the actress is 88, so can't blame her for retiring) and Xiao Zhan did not participate (but the guy who took up his role is not bad).
And we got some new angles to explore, some new princes and ladies, some old coots to make fun of (o, how politically incorrect to disrespect the elders - I should be offended, being almost as old as the dowager 😂 - but can't help laughing at the puns and jabs).
Prince 2 and his shoes that he mashes the heels of, and Crown Prince who'd like to dance barefeet, clueless Dai being dragged off a boot before getting one...
Fan Xian dragging the subdued incorruptible official to return to his original ideals.
Many amusing and sometimes scary or thought provoking images. With all his bluntness,
I thought Fan Xian might have stood up to his real father to have him acknowledge him as prince ; he's got the bearing for sure.
He's proved that he's also as slippery as an eel, able to wiggle his way through cracks and wells and be unpredictable, appear where he is not expected, while being less snaky than the recognized princes.
This S2 is colorful and eventful enough, although differently from S1 where Fan Xian had to fight the Level9s.

ah, second prince topping. But three spots at least are taken by JOL characters 😊.
I also like that Batai (new actor Yu Shi, who played in the very short 8 episodes To The Wonder, is at #5)

fun