Sherayith

I saw the title and hoped for a sageuk. :I Not really a fan of chaebol stories.

I'll be honest, I don't know why people liked the second leads as a couple. As much as I liked both the characters of Young Hwa and Dan Ah separately, their relationship felt so toxic. He's helplessly in love with her, and she keeps using his feelings for her to her own advantage. Young Hwa was constantly sincere and vulnerable with Dan Ah, while she stomped on his feelings without remorse (most of the time). It was hard for me to like her when she was clearly causing him so much pain.

Definitely not the best example of lovers reincarnated, to be sure. Lee Yeon turned into such a lovesick puppy after they got together, his world literally revolved around her, to the point where it seemed like helping Lee Rang was an afterthought. Which was really upsetting to me, because Rang's world revolved around Lee Yeon. Yeon was his most precious person, but Yeon never really seemed to appreciate that enough.

The other problem was the drama tension was entirely designed around Imoogi, who was honestly not as interesting as he could've been. They tried making him seem absolutely horrible and powerful by having him just killing a ton of people on a whim, but it didn't feel real because there were no in-story repercussions for it. Tons of people died, but none of the main characters were affected, so we just kinda forget about it after a couple episodes.

The bromance and the secondary characters are what kept me watching the first season all the way to the end. I was not invested in the romance at all, lol. I kept wanting to skip ahead to scenes with Lee Yeon and Lee Rang interacting.

I think you’d be fine not watching the rest of season 1. For me, the only thing that’s important to remember going into this season is that Lee Rang died in the future to save Lee Yeon, so Yeon is acting super happy to see Rang in the past because he’s happy to see him alive.

I liked the dream arc in the book and in the drama. It was in many ways more tragic in the book, because in there it wasn't just that he failed to express himself, but that Ming Yue didn't realize his feelings until far too late, only after Sang Jiu had helped him recover in the mortal realm.

The story premise is that Lee Yeon is somehow sent back in time by almost 100 years, and at that time, his lover had not been reincarnated, so she will not be in the series - though I've heard rumors Jo Bo Ah may have a cameo.

I'm really only interested for Lee Rang and Lee Yeon's reunion and being badass together. I was so bored with the love line in the first series, and the ending really fell flat for me. Lee Rang was the only reason I stuck it out to the end. I'm glad to see there's no romance tag for this one.

Yeah I was hoping for something like that too. She deserved a slow and agonizing death.

I don't know how they'll do it in the drama, but in the novel by the time Ming Ye confesses to Sang Jiu that he loves her, she's suffered so much and lost so much that her love turned to hatred, and his love no longer means anything to her. Their story is a tragedy without a happy ending, and I legit cried when I read it in the book.

It's essentially the same, with one major change: Ming Ye and Sang Jiu's relationship development.

In the novel, how Ming Ye treated Sang Jiu while she was in the god realm is vastly different from how it's portrayed in the drama. For example, on Sang Jiu's wedding day, Ming Ye doesn't come get her like he does in the drama, instead he sends a minor official to bring her, which is an indirect way of insulting her and her family. In fact, he never comes to see her nor asks after her, and she is left in an isolated part of his palace. All those cute scenes in the drama where he talks to her in the garden and does archery? Doesn't exist in the book. Sang Jiu spends 100 years in Ming Ye's household being neglected and ignored. Even her father and brother treat her like trash, scorning her for choosing MY over their kingdom.

That scene in the drama where Sang Jiu drugs Ming Ye to get her wedding night s*x, that does happen in the book, but the tone is completely different. In the book, Ming Ye has steadfastly ignored and slighted Sang Jiu, because he resents her for forcing an unwanted marriage on him. She, on the other hand, is in despair because his refusal to sleep with her means her demonic qi will not be purged and she will eventually turn into a demon. The s*x scene very dark and non-con in the book, which is why they changed it for the drama. In the book, MY is furious with SJ for drugging him and swears he'll kill her, and their intercourse is so violent she literally has her shoulder blade broken.

In the novel, the only time their relationship is remotely happy is when MY is injured after the battle with the Devil God and loses his sight, and SJ tends his wounds in the mortal realm for seven years. He starts to fall in love with her then, not knowing that she is the wife that he scorned for 100 years. However, in the drama, MY finds out that it was SJ who saved him.

No, that was the previous Devil God. The Devil God is more of an embodiment of evil that is reincarnated through the culmination of suffering absorbed into the evil bone of the ill-fated mortal host. Tantai Jin was born with this ill fate. Instead of an immortal root, which would allow a mortal to cultivate into an immortal, TTJ has the evil bone, which means he can only cultivate demonic arts.
Tantai Jin is the current mortal host of the Devil God's essence. That's why Su Su is going through the trouble of finding a means of destroying the evil bone in Tantai Jin while keeping him alive, because if he dies with it inside him, he will reincarnate as the Devil God.

Short answer: Su Su wins.

They may change the story slightly in the drama, because from the previews it looks like she and Ming Ye actually have a romance. But in the book, Sang Jiu is largely scorned and ignored by Ming Ye and mistreated by everyone else because she's just a "lowly clam sprite".

No one but her father and her brother know that she gave up her divine essence in order to protect Ming Ye, and she eventually falls into despair and succumbs to becoming a demon. Of course, Ming Ye only realizes after Sang Jiu's love has turned to hatred that he truly loved her. He tries to change her fate and save her by giving her his divine essence, but she dies and her soul dissipates, with no way for her to reincarnate.

As the dream spell reaches its end, Su Su manages to give Ming Ye a pearl that contains Sang Jiu's memories of when she first fell in love with him. That becomes the tipping point of the dream spell, as Ming Ye realizes that the Sang Jiu who loved him would never wish for him to become a demon. Thus the spell finally is broken and Ming Ye finally dies as a god.

Probably a good thing, since a lot of Ye Bing Chang's changes are explained by her thoughts in the novel, which we obviously are not getting to hear in the drama.

Exactly.

Got some cute BTS stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8CjufA1ZT8

The dream version of Bing Chang is completely devoted to Ming Ye. She wants him for herself and hates Sang Jiu for daring to dream of marrying him.

Her presence is better explained in the novel. The drama is unfortunately skipping over some of those details in favor of moving the plot forward.

Let me clear up some potential confusion.

The dragon at the bottom of the river is the true form of Ming Ye, the ancient War God. In his claw he holds the shell of the Clam princess Sang Jiu, who loved him. He has been trapped in a dream spell for 500 years where he is reliving his past with Sang Jiu over and over again.

In the present, Tantai Jin attempts to awaken the slumbering Ming Ye and turn him into a demon he can control, but when Su Su interrupts, she and Tantai Jin are sucked into the dream spell, taking on the roles of Ming Ye and Sang Jiu. They are not conscious of themselves while under the spell, but instead are experiencing the thoughts and feelings of MY and SJ as if they were their own.

The dream spell is like a heavenly trial - if Su Su "wins", then Ming Ye will remain a god in the present, but if Tantai Jin "wins", then Ming Ye will become a demon.

For example:
He keeps her as a prisoner (although initially it's more that she refused to leave), and does stuff like makes her watch people get slaughtered by zombies, making her walk in the rain (kinda like how he was forced to kneel in the snow), plays mind games with her while she's naked in the bath and under a puppet spell (she's fully conscious but not in control). And that's all in one chapter. :P I'm assuming that last one is probably either not going to make it into the drama or it's going to be heavily censored.