Frost_edelweiss

yes, still no English subs on ep 10 iQiyi on June 6.
I was scanning this on a whim after having caught part of ep 1 & 2 on Youtube. But am not sure I will persist.

Someone posted a link for a Viki request but that's unlikely to go through : iQiyi seldom if ever has their drama licensed to Viki (WeTV yes). It is disappointing for international audience that the iQiyi app does not provide full subtitles to all their dramas...

I read somewhere that it most often if not always doesn't get through for iQiyi dramas....

My understanding is that his qi was all messed up as a result of over exertion when he had to confront a Grandmaster's disciple just after tackling an attempt at assassination of the Emperor. He had never been trained properly in that department : Wu Zhu had only made him swifter and stronger, but could not really train him as he should have been, so he was something of an autodidact. The injuries compounded the problem. The Emperor may have tried to help following imperial doctor's instructions and Ruoruo attempt at surgery.
I think it was the other Grandmaster in the end episode who "gifted" Fan Xian with the return of his abilities.

Well, Ruoruo does save Fan Xian's life after having "studied medicine" and she is like in S1 his most faithful follower.

There's a 25 episode "special edit" (official?) of S1 somewhere, although I did not watch it ; I believe it was made as a refresher, condensing some parts although in longer episodes than initial version. If you want to give it a go and comment about it too sometime, here is the link :
https://kisskh.co/Drama/Joy-of-Life-Special-Edition/Episode-1?id=9013&ep=153109&page=0&pageSize=100

In the past, "impossibly long dramas" with 70+ episodes did not really feel daunting to audiences. But we live in an increasingly hurried time, so everything has to be chopped to bits and some still feel it's too long... (me, I would have preferred the Jiangnan arc in S2 to be longer and better tailored for us, although I did like the old Grandmaster slash finish and Fan Xian smirk conclusion when he realized he was "back" to form).

I have the flu (or covid? son caught it at least three times despite vaccine, same as husband - we are not out of trouble yet with assorted "pandemics"!). So I am not watching and commenting much these days, started on a short one, as a distraction, fluff that turned out so stupid I ended up rating it as 5 - when I'm usually very lenient. Some disappointments these days for me, then, on top of my own "eyebags, dark circles and puffiness". 😔

Do you know what? There's probably going to be a Season 4 after that. And some started whispering there could be side stories !!

Yes: Xiao Zhan as "Yan Bingyun", Han Jiunuo as "Ye Ling'er", Huai Wen as "He Zongwei".
Those are the ones I spotted as replaced, marveling that so many did return.
I see lilswtangel already answered with another one who played "Li Hong Cheng". :)

in fact at least 4 actors/actresses had to be replaced for characters (Ye Ling'er, Yan Bingyun, He Zongwei, Li Hongcheng), in S2 which does not detract from the fact that the great majority showed up again for our enjoyment.

Oops, was Qi emperor female? I did not realize it in S1 drama version ! Although those long eyelashes....
ML already married Drumstick girl in S2.
Not sure the production would agree to add more harem members and too many children from those after having insisted so much that Wan'er is Fan Xian's one and only. I don't expect LWE'll die or divorce (despite perhaps having some reasons to do so, if she remains angry and cold to her husband after the Lin Gong killing disclosure; but she is supposed to carry FX child so "responsibility" would probably prevail).
I think Fan Xian did not get any further than friendship with DuoDuo? It was actually funny to see him so flustered when people around him were smirking and whispering about their imagined relationship.
Third prince: yes, Crown prince managed to incur emperor dad's disfavor along the way. We could already feel it in S2. So shifting to relatively untainted youngster could be expected.
But the scriptwriters will make an acceptable adaptation so perhaps we do not need to delve too much into the novel version and point out differences one may or not agree with.
If you absolutely want to read it, mkl916 posted a link to a good if still not official translation here : https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/125595-joy-of-life-novel-epub-format It is very long....

I think only two years, although that may seem long too. It was not filmed together with S2 so who knows how it will turn out.

There were already some people who complained that Gina Jin / Jin Chen was not as thrilling in the role of "Ye Ling'er" as the previous actress in S1... (ah well, it's certainly not easy to fit in the well worn shoes of some who were liked before! Some even were callous enough to suggest she hogged the role : it sounds too malicious and I can understand Gina Jin felt hurt by that slander.) Nobody dared to blame Xiao Zhan for not having been able to fit in time on his schedule to return, but I can't see his replacement by Wu Xingjian garnered praise, although the two actors did not look extremely dissimilar, so the seam was not too bad and competently carried out between the cliffhanger and the undying hero's return in his company. The new additions of beautiful ladies (Mao Xiaotong, Wang Churan...) added pleasure for many including myself.

Well, as long as Zhang Ruoyun pledges to return, and the scriptwriters don't hurry too much, and some more favorite actors in this (those who play emperor, CPP, Wang Qinian, Second Prince, Ruoruo, Duoduo...) can manage to participate, we can keep hopes up ? 😉

Meanwhile, there's plenty of other dramas with Zhang Ruoyun, or Wu Gang, Li Qin, Mao Xiaotong, Song Yi, Xing Zhilei.... to go back to or discover! Or read the book; link has been posted in discussion by esteemed MDL member mkl916 (who will probably make a nice edit of this season 2, as she uses to do for other favorite dramas, on YouTube).

Watched till 12 on WeTV and liked it, but the gap until Thursday for 13-14....
Maybe I should just have watched it from today in 4 episode slices a day?

There is a "movie version" on Youtube now, cutting away the overlong pesky credits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9181RBQAQLU (2h37)
For those who want to watch at length (last part is not the best).

yes 😢
The alcoholic father trope is too hackneyed.
Only one episode left and the story feels bogged down into nothingness. Did they really need the unnecessary support couple to hog time before finish? The "surprise" at the end of ep.22 was "huh? 什么意思?", for me. I don't expect much to redeem it, from end episode tomorrow.

Newcomers : don't bother with this item beyond first 5 or 15 episodes, which are only ok to look at cute faces of Guan Yue and Lin Xiaozhai, and some fun interaction, and only if you've got time to waste despite the very short length. The rest trickles down like a pitcher of slightly sugared water knocked over in the desert.
First 13 episodes are collected into "movie version", btw. At least, that saves time on the overlong credits parts.

Shenli fan of "cluck cluck" ?
To The Wonder? A Journey To Love? Eternal Brotherhood? The Forbidden Flower ? The Inextricable Destiny? My Precious pets and Z.Tao music? Love Me Love My Voice music ? Hidden Love ? other ones? the "Profiles" and "mini profiles" ? what's your favorite(s) ?

To stay a while longer on the subject of JOL/JOL2, did you have a look at the character spotting/naming challenge : https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3063611&page=31#p3063611
Maybe you can answer too ?

I am straying to other dramas and some I'd put on hold but hope to finish nonetheless. There's a continuing avalanche of interesting titles that I'd like to peek at too.

Long companion pieces or profiles take some time and investigation, so just now, I'll probably restrain myself. Peace and quiet are my aspirations, when the neighborhood has decided noisy drilling and construction work causing me to consider moving back into deep space for a few months!

It's the beauty of it too, that viewers initially feel almost lost on an alien planet, like Wenxiu, when she lands in this totally unfamiliar environment of herder culture, where everything seems to be done haphazardly or follow other sets of rules. Glad you liked it. It really is worth the little time spent on it, very satisfying and pushing horizons for the viewers.

You can have a look at the poster challenge to identify the characters that I suggested to answer by May 30-31 :
https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3062999&page=31#p3062999

I don't mind changes. A drama imo does not need to be totally aligned with a novel. What annoyed me, a lot, was the rushed feeling and inconsistencies I felt after episode 31-32. The Jiangnan arc would have been better if it had come into "next season", and poor Wu Zhu turned out ridiculous with that "blood" here. So: that ruined a lot for me. Sadly, it's my last impression from the drama, so I can't rate that one a 10 - despite I liked it a lot for 31 episodes... 9 at best.
I expect there will be lots of reviews, so I won't add one.
What I did was suggest a challenge to spot the characters on one of the excellent ensemble posters, and give my solution; Here :
https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3062999&page=31#p3062999

Look in Discussions section above comments here

Noice, thanks for the reference 🙂

Why not? and if you need a refresher for some characters or introduction to new ones, you can peek at the poster and the list of actor featured here :
https://kisskh.at/discussions/joy-of-life-season-2/59937-jol-season-2-casting-filming-broadcast-air-dates-discussion?pid=3062999&page=31#p3062999