Skibbies

I think that sounds like a sorry ass excuse LOL.

Yeah same. I guess if section 7 did all the hard stuff, they are more likely to be killed. I feel like the drama was trying to appease a lot of different kind of audience, and it came out underwhelming with section 7 + main plot? Whereas with new supporting characters, you could do whatever you want with them.

Wang Juan wasn't afraid to kill off his main characters, he has done that before in his older dramas, to the point his fans expect them. Perhaps mango reigned him in a little, or he's gotten more of a heart in his old age :P

Oh I really hated Yuan Tianguan, I thought he'd die in the end to save them, which is tropey, but right now, he just felt kinda useless and terrible for no reason?

It's hilarious that all the drama fans were saying "if Wang Fei still get new gigs after this, there's no justice in this world!" lmao. The costume was an upgrade, it could have looked amazing, sob. idk why it was even necessary to put in the close up shot of them when it's so badly done? Have the long shot scenes and we'd be fine too? There was weird shot in first ep where, in long shot, it's clear they shot outside, but close-up, the background is blurry and look green screened so I got really confused there.

I'm so annoyed that they didn't let Zhou Nan (Dear Diary's director, who directed some scenes here, but Wang Fei is the main director I think) be the main director, cos I think we would have been given a better show. I've seen people complain that interactions between section 7's members were deleted, likely cos it wasn't central to the point, but I feel maybe with those scenes, section 7 would feel more alive/memorable.

Wang Juan replied on weibo that he hid places where each of section 7 could die, but he felt bad so he took it back LOL. Considering I like all the deaths in this drama, I actually really want to see those, even though I think it'd stop newer audience (or older audience that don't want angst) to watch it. I've seen quite a few people saying it's too somber/serious/heavy for them from trailer or initial episodes lol.

can we talk about the horrific horse riding scenes, what a terrible way to make an impression in your first ep?!?! I'm happy you enjoyed it despite all its flaws though, hooray for Wang Juan!

Chu Niao's actress Wang Ke wrote mini fics on her school life and time in xi xia. https://weibo.com/5263925621?refer_flag=1001030103_ she labelled all of them as chu niao's diary. There are heavy spoilers though.

That was totally heavy handed, I think it was on purpose though, for the non suspense audience. The middle bit about ML being a gambling addict with debts made it very suspicious too.

I went in with vague spoilers about Ni Ni being bestie, and Zhu Yilong being 渣男 XD I did think fake wife was bestie for a bit, and I thought wife was staging it for awhile too. The whole fake plot about some crime syndicate kidnapped his wife was kinda plausible too, I did follow ML's line of thought that they'll totally grab him and murder him in cold blood.

The whole dramatic flair/over the top-ness of fake wife was hysterical, I know some people found it takes them out of the scene, but it make sense with the final reveal too hahaha. Oh yeah, I was like "I know you are bigshot lawyer, Ni Ni, but how is it you have people everywhere? and managed to not be killed against some crime syndicate too", but it worked out in the end XD

I was spoiled on some huge plot twist before I watched it, even though I tried to watch it asap, but I still find it pretty entertaining, since there were lot of ways they could have spin the story, and I kept waiting to see if they would spin it one way or another. Its earlier criticism definitely included "suspense being too simple/easy to guess" or "feels too familiar", but it didn't really hinder my enjoyment.

I was spoiled on some huge plot twist before I watched it, even though I tried to watch it asap, but I still find it pretty entertaining, since there were lot of ways they could have spin the story, and I kept waiting to see if they would spin it one way or another. Its earlier criticism definitely included "suspense being too simple/easy to guess" or "feels too familiar", but it didn't really hinder my enjoyment.

If you aren't too confused, you can keep watching, you just miss some callbacks. s1 have vastly different tone than s2 IMO. I don't think it ever really mentions their specific age, which I think it's on purpose. Cos usually people would marry pretty early and none of them are, so you can take it they are 18 ~ 23 or something.

I know the ages of branch 8's kids from the script though, it's 16, 19, 25 to give you an idea.

omg i don't even remember his role in MHH anymore, I don't actually remember last thing I saw him in. Checking his dramas, I think it was Murder in Kairoutei, which was all around horrible so we shouldn't speak of it LOL. He's been in lot of modern dramas this year that I've been skipping.

I think this was better than Ning Chuan, he's lot smarter and aggressive here, so OP! I really love him though, not just because of Hai Yitian's performance, but also the really unfunny jokes that he makes that make him more sadistic and terrifying.

but i love them!!! they are so fun!

If you have a vague collections of s1, it works fine. Some stuff comes back to me as they mention it, but even if you don't remember, it doesn't super affect the drama, since a lot of callbacks are like easter eggs, and those important to the plot, they explain it with dialogues/flashback usually.

The average person in China wouldn't consider themselves religious, a lot of stuff that's religious are filed under traditions and such, so it wouldn't offend them. Do I go to temples and offer my respect? oh totally, do I consider myself religious? No I don't. I honestly haven't seen anyone on any chinese sites being offended about "religion" part of the dramas, a lot of them honestly see it as superstitions.

Back to the drama, it softly criticise the Song government for bureaucracy and corruption as explanation for why its people turned to superstition and religious beliefs. The team happens to focus on destroying those that uses beliefs to scam money out of people, that's just fixing part of the problem, it doesn't talk about simplifying process or anti corruption because it's outside of their scope, nor does it cover real temples that help people during difficult times.

It's always kinda odd to see people jump to ccp pressure, but never consider the writers might just want to write that kinda story. It's entirely fair to see it as propoganda and such, but it seems kinda dismissive to just jump to conclusion "censorship and propoganda" for everything that came out of china.

I think it's better off you don't remember the details, cos I saw lot of fans being disappointed that it's not like s1 XD Memories sort of come back to me as they mention stuff, even if you don't remember it, the plot works okay.

I'm not actually familiar with the original book, I've only seen couple of drama adaptations haha. I've heard people praise it as adaptation, it's apparently surprisingly close to the book (far more than most adaptations) but manage to make it coherent, which is a feat honestly.

It follow straight after s1, so it's better to watch it I think. I think it's possible to follow s2 without watching s1 but you might be confused over character relationships and miss callbacks?

It does look dated due to being filmed in 2018-2019 and special effects done over time, and through covid + financial failure of the main investor (it's why it took so long to air). I wouldn't really call it a hit when it's barely recouping its cost (yes it cost a lot, i think 16 yi for filming + vfx of first movie, doesn't include marketing cost), but it did make enough to attract new investors so the special effects for 2nd movie has started?

there are fair few name puns and references, some are easier to pick up, others harder. I think the hardest one to pick up might be in ep 18, the guy saying "your god plan is terrible" is literally "your feng shen is terrible", the actor is also in the first movie of feng shen bang (investiture of gods) trilogy that's airing in china right now.

Yeah it sort of requires language/cultural context for some of the jokes, agreed the comedic timing isn't the best and the directing can be pretty bad. It does ocassionally have great scenes, but it can be rare.

Plot twist + side switching + its ideals were all present in s1 so I think it's pretty much as expected.