ShortCircuit

The first 10-15 minutes of ep 7 were fire, I don't even care if it leads anywhere at this point.

But...

The girl wasn't dead, but the captor did a Stockholm on her, and then he turned out to be someone they all knew. I guess it's probable, though JHG's reaction was kind of understated for such a sea-change - I mean, his whole drive is finding out what happened to her.

And then he completely doesn't bother about either her or Seol and goes on revenge like he's part of the last scene of The Last of the Mohicans. WTH was that, LOL. It was kind of underwhelming - and his dad and everybody else coming in to a crime site to destroy any and all evidence wasn't making it any better either.

And then the final case - it's obvious they're making Bulldozer's childhood friend into the arsonist, whyfor all the fuss? And all of the sudden, Bulldozer is buying engagement rings for this girl he loves but never really-really talked to about matters of the heart? Puh-leeze.

For an extra, NONE of the TRAINED, PROFESSIONAL firefighters go into the blazing building, but they all stand around and allow JHG to enter... because of reasons?! This is hosing-down-the-heli-levels of stupid.

Of course there's a cliffie, none so exciting as it's obvious they're all going to survive because they're smartTM and courageousTM and also they both love the girl. Which I really didn't need a reminder this turned into a triangle, boo. I had hopes what with the forensics girl and Bulldozer being claimed by her. Oh and also because the stupid bad guy gets a chance to go to Miami, and set up JHG's demise on the way. Though I did love JHG's dad's expression when the politician died/was killed off, LOL.

I won't really be holding my breath til July. If I remember it and have time... dunno. But it won't be on my to-do list.

Eps 9-10 almost recovered some of the things I liked about it in the beginning, but then there came eps 11-12 to completely smash everything up again...

Not sure how I feel about the announced NiF3, what with Wu Lei as a main character. I'll keep fingers crossed and hope he's the villain, LOL.

The character I loved most is definitely Xiao PingZhang, I can't help it, He and Xiao TingSheng ruled the first half of the drama, no contest, despite the quietly blossoming romance between PingJing and Lin Xi. On re-watch, I might stop halfway, when XPZ makes his exit (at which point I did cry, because dammit, that effin' timing. Talk about catastrophic timeline.)

I would've loved to see more of that family's dynamics, they were PERFECT as a trio. PingZhang exited way too fast, IMHO, and then, after the northern victory, so did PingJing. I couldn't care less about YuanQi's hero-to-villain arc, because he was way too ready to find someone else to scapegoat his own situation to. And he did manage to find just the right wishy-washy woman to get married to, LOL. (I give her the redemption act, but still... she really couldn't find much to do but fall ill every time something happened?!) In a drama with so many women with actual power (starting with the Empress and ending with Lin Xi, An Ruo really was... useless.)

The very few Lin Shu/Mei ChangSu scenes they played were like knives stabbing right in the heart, LOL. To figure out TingSheng still held to what Lin Shu taught him, so many years later, yes, that's the filial/master-apprentice attitude I want to see.

And can I say that ALL the little boys in this drama were AMAZINGLY CUTE? They were sooo cute. Little PingZhang, little Ce'er, little (and younger) YuanShi, all of them were SO CUTE. I want to see them all again, the little panda tribe they were :D

As for the story - well, it was pretty tight up to and a bit after PingZhang's and TingSheng's arcs ended. I can kind of guess who were the characters Hai Yan really loved writing LOL. But the final third was a bit less exciting for me, anyway, given how PingJing and basically nobody much were involved in stopping YuanQi or at least recognizing what the heck was going on. He would've made much more sense with a foil - or maybe not, given his personality. As it was, he didn't really impress me as a character and I couldn't care less what happened to him and his now-amazing wuxia. At least there was Yue YinChuan there for a few eps to liven up the place LOL.

The music was pretty much meh. The very few times they played themes from NiF, it still evoked a lot of emotion - the OP and EDs of this one... not so much. Oh well. Can't have them all.

Still, a very good drama, excellent production (LOVED those battles, oof, all that blood and so much fierceness!), but emotionally, other than XPZ and XTS's respective stories... not so much. Though I did like the romance and loved Lin Xi :)

Okay, it's (almost) completely different than NiF, but very much still enjoyable and addicting.

So it seems they're redoing the history of 200 years back, with the original mage and priestess. Or at least they're hinting at a sad ending.

TBH I don't mind either way at this point. CP's turtle is all that's keeping me engaged and now I guess, the question of Yul's survival - or not. As for the main cp, meh. Kind of late and kind of sudden by now...

I have seriously HAD IT with the previews promising things and delivering them (PARTLY) in the final 5 minutes of the second weekly episode. That's very much demotivating for me. I don't watch dramas for the sake of the cliffhangers.

At least that woman is gone, so yay for that, I guess.

The drama is about a genius strategist who LOST all ability of martial arts. No, he doesn't become stronger. It's not a wuxia-centric drama.

It really isn't an action drama, despite the sequences of wuxia fighting. So no, indeed, it won't pick up speed. But that's what I liked the best about it - it has its own rhythm, and the strategising attacks and counterattacks are what made it the best for me. And the question of their connection being recognized.

IMO, it's one of the best dramas I've ever watched, but yes, it definitely fit my kind of historical/alternate history taste. It might be a case of right time, right mood, but if it's not your cup of tea, then it's not and that's obviously OK :D

I had higher hopes because the teaser at the end of the last S1 episode promised a darker Uk, and darker side-characters, and so far it's the same Uk, with a bit of a more emo approach and black clothing only, a not that impressive FL (she made a much bigger impression in those few minutes she got to play Naksu in the first ep of the previous season), and lots and lots of unwarranted romance and not much plot otherwise - and it's almost half-point.

The time difference actually worked, since it clearly divided the original Mu-Deok from the Naksu this time, but giving her amnesia has truly erased any hint of personality. If she IS supposed to be the same person... even in a different body, she'd have the same tendencies. So far, she almost does it better with CP than with Uk, so that's at least one thing that isn't working for me.

I guess once the reveal comes, they'll muddle through somehow, but again, it's been almost half the series already and Uk is not even close to wishfully thinking she was Naksu, they're still total strangers.

The JinMu plot hasn't moved, the CP plot hasn't moved, the Queen's plot was pathetic (and the actress is doing a pretty raw job of it IMHO), it feels like everybody's just phoning in their parts and Lee Jae Wook is supposed to carry the whole season with his attractiveness and coolness factor. It doesn't feel enough.

TBH, I feel they're half-heartedly preparing to kill off Yul for some extra womp, maybe Dang-Gu and Cho-Yeon will finally marry (as will Madame Kim and ex-master), and maybe CP gets to replace the bum king. And obviously a HEA for the main characters. But for all the glamour and cool-looking stands and walk-aways (that I appreciate from an esthetical POV), there seems to be a lot of shiny wrapping and not a lot of meat, so to speak.

I definitely wish I'm wrong. I'll be waiting and hoping to be proven wrong. But I don't know if the remaining playing time is enough...

https://modao-zushi.fandom.com/wiki/Wei_Wuxian

Warning: spoilers to everything.

They aren't normal people. Wife can't tell husband, and husband can't confess to wife (he's not neuro-normative), the wife's police colleagues aren't the husband's friends, the sister and brother have been separated for almost 20 years, there's no one he can confide in.

They do eventually decide to share info, when they find the trust. But it takes time.

Yes. The first high-octane reveal and confrontation comes in 23, and then it's going to move way too fast because there are JUST those 54 eps, no more afterwards... Go on. It's worth it.

He's actively trying to find a way to commit suicide, I'd call that a big progress in his life right now.

LOL, nevermind me, I seriously don't mind it either, it's just tiredness talking. Still, I had better expectations of this second (and last) season.

Even if there were only 20 soul shifters in three years (though I think there are more of them), that's about 5 times more than in the previous twenty-some years (since Jang Gang invented the soul ejectors.)

Where did all the other shifters get the ejectors then, if they're so rare and JinMu is safe-keeping them? Can he make them himself now?

What I am complaining about is that every other mage seems to have become powerless, and it's only Jang Uk who still keeps the fight going. I know it's a plot trick to give him stuff to do while the romantic part runs its course, but it's still illogical and changes a lot of what the first season set up about the magic world.

I'll wait for ep 6, since the preview seems to suggest Seo Yul will finally do something magical himself (so it's probably going to happen in the second half of the second ep of the week, as usual), and see if they keep the same kind of momentum with this. Or not, I actually don't care. I'm just here because of insomnia, LOL.

So you're saying he'd fall for any girl with that kind of personality, then? Or fall for a random someone who reminds him lightly of his first love?

Listen, I'm not trying to be the devil's advocate here and say the romance isn't working. I'm trying to say it doesn't work in the way they want it to (they, as the producers, writers, etc. The actors are giving it their all.)

We're 4 eps in a 10 eps long season and nothing changed the needle over to the recognition part. They don't even spend that much time together on-screen (because we need to see how the ex-master can't make tasty food... for the nth time. I think we all got it the first time.) And whenever they ARE in the same scene, it's supposedly romantic (she's falling, he's weirdly protective and careful etc - did we forget this is supposed to be Uk's darkest hour? That he doesn't have anything in his mind than Mu-Deok and maybe finding some way to kill himself?!)

If he's still in love with Mu-Deok (which he definitely is supposed to be), what with all the romantic scenes with Bu-Yeon? That he STILL doesn't know is his actual lover, so there's not even that hint of maybe-he's-actually-uncertain-if-she's-her-or-not. He's giving her fireflies FGS (in a mirror-like scene from Gu Family Book, LOL, though GFB did it better, IMHO). He's marrying her even if he doesn't even know if she's some mad ranting lunatic when they first meet. He's protecting her every chance he gets. He's flustered when even the chance of getting rowdy presents itself.

So if that's not love, what the heck is it implying?! That he's a dumbass who would get swindled by anyone with some similarities with Mu-Deok? He was more complex in the first part, and he was supposed to be sunnier in personality then, how come he's become simpler because he's been suffering? That's a lot of lost opportunities to turn this S2 into something magnificent.

That being said, I am still liking it, but mostly for 1. the eye-candy, 2. wanting to see how Yul (probably) dies, and 3. the CP's pet turtle. Mostly for the eye-candy, though.

I had higher hopes.

Okay, I see I'm not making it clear enough. S1 showed a large number of mages who would go into a tizzy any time a soul shifter appeared - and it took a lot of them to kill one of such. And those soul shifters were pretty rare and powerful and scary.

S2 has them a dime a dozen, everywhere, all the time, because why not, and nobody bats an eye - more so, most of a whole mage order just ups and leaves for parts unmentioned because they got scared. And all the new (no idea how powerful) soul shifters get moved over for Jang Uk to deal with.

I get it, Jang Uk is now the most powerful mage to ever roam those parts, and STILL, there are a whole LOT more soul shifters (they said so in ep1), what if there's more than one at the time? Who deals with it? He can't be everywhere at once.

What I'm saying is that the scale of things doesn't make sense any more. Or maybe it's recession times in Daeho too, so now one man has to do the job of a hundred, and pretend to like it.

Edit And now that I'm thinking about it, where do all those new soul shifters come from anyway? Didn't it take a rare and strange magic to make them? Now everybody has the means to go body-changing whenever they feel like it? Then why doesn't the queen gets to go body-switching too, poor dimwit she's turned into?

That was S1. That's what I'm trying to say - this S2 is treating it like he would've rescued any girl with magic powers AND fell for her even if she's a clumsy twit. What's there to make him fall for Bu-Yeon, aside her possible magic? But he's still over-protective and gentle and whatnot, the staples of falling in love despite himself I've seen in kdrama in way too many stories.

WE know she's his resurrected love, but he doesn't. He's falling for someone new, from his POV, (well, until the reveal), and the longer they drag it, the worse it looks. We're basically halfway through the season and there's no change in that situation - is this the whole plot? If so... that's a bit too little.

Other than that chase (that they didn't end anyway), nobody ever chased another soul shifter. Everybody just expects Jang Uk to go and get it - even this rumoured revenant. Instead of arming up and going on organised patrols as in S1, they're all relying on Jang Uk to do the work of (previously) the whole mage order.

That's... lazy writing at least.