Thecla

Could Lee Kang Min end up with Syaon? (He did more or less just rescue her.)

Somewhere it's mentioned that the Emperor only elevated three of his sons to Lords (Chong Chuhe, Yu), and they would be the only ones in line for the succession. The 9th son is in town helping one of the brothers, and I guess any other sons are hanging out in their country estates enjoying the good life.

So far, I'm enjoying "The Blood of Youth" on Viki. It's a fast paced Wuxia drama about a rather impulsive younger generation entering the martial art world, with so many sword deities and martial arts experts that it's hard to keep track of all of them.

Just started this drama. Ep 6, 6:30 -- 7:50 (on viki) really one of the best moments ever.

Hopefully the rest is just as good.

What do you mean? It has an 8.8/10 rating on IMDB and 9.1/10 on MDL.

Strictly speaking, AoS2 doesn't fit the criteria since it didn't finish airing in 2022. But far be it from me to say how anyone should vote :)

Yes way too many stupid mis/non communications to drag out the plot. At least there are no amnesia tropes ;)

I just love how often magical turtles appear in asian fantasy dramas. Not so many in western stories.

It makes perfect sense that the fake Bu-Yeon will become the real Bu-Yeon. (And possibly marry Seo Yul.)

Yup, but not a twist in a good way :) I think HIMYM is just behind the Game of Thrones as the most outrageous and perverse ending of any TV series, so not good company for AoS.

I really like Jang Uk/JBY in Part 2 (as I really liked Jang Uk/Mudeok in Part 1), but it feels like the entire plot is collapsing around them. I hope I'm proved wrong in the last 3 epsiodes, but there's very little time left to recover.

Man, I really hope this show doesn't turn into a "How I Met Your Mother" sort of ending with Jang Uk losing Naksu and getting JBY.

Totally agree, and skipped most of it. It's like the show turned into an imitation of a heist movie.

Or wait a couple of weeks. I'm actually starting to get a bit worried about how the final episodes will go.

Personally, I've long since given up on expecting any consistent, logical development about how AoS works, and I'm just going along with the wild ride.

The show started off making a big deal about recognizing soul-shifters by their blue shoulder marks, but that seems almost irrelevant now. Who knew about cursed soul-ejectors or a soul's energy transforming the body of its host into its own likeness before they got thrown in?

Nothing anyone says, even Master Lee, about AoS is to be believed with certainty because something-or-other will likely come in from left field and totally upend everything we supposed we knew.

In the English subtitles (no idea how accurate they are), Master Lee says fairly definitively that once Naksu retrieves her memories she will eventually be rejected by that body. (Does leave how long that would take open.)

Of course, no statement about how AoS works should be believed, since it's infinitely fungible. Who knew until recently that souls could terraform bodies into their own likeness?

One possibility if you like romcoms (12 episodes, 1 hour long): Business Proposal

Also similar length: Mystic Pop-up Bar

I felt that way too. Presumably the change was to do with her learning that Bu-Yeon was regaining her powers, but I wondered if HG planned to use some Jinyowon relic to do something bad to Jang Uk and keep Bu-Yeon in Jinyowon.

I know the "drunken kiss" was apparently talked about in an interview, but that doesn't explain what Jang Uk meant by "I could not cry. I felt like I was really abandoning you there." Maybe nothing.

I'm not sure how to interpret Jang Uk's words to Bu-Yeon at the end of Ep 4 after he returned from the soul shifters' graveyard cliff:

"I could not cry. I felt like I was really abandoning you there."

Here's four possible interpretations (probably there are more):

1) He's mistaking Bu-Yeon for Mu-Deok/Naksu, and felt like he was abandoning Naksu at the cliff.
2) He's falling in love with Bu-Yeon without knowing she's Naksu and felt he was abandoning Bu-Yeon for Mu-Deok/Naksu.
3) He recognizes that Bu-Yeong is Mu-Deok/Naksu.
4) He recalls how he saved Mu-Deok (as in flashback) and cannot treat Bu-Yeon differently even though he doesn't (realize he) loves her.

None of these make complete sense.

For 1), he has only a momentary vision of Bu-Yeon as Mu-Deok
For 2), despite the fireflies, his change in attitude and feelings seems unreasonably sudden.
For 3), it could be instinct, or there could be as yet undisclosed conversations (say with Master Lee or Park Jin) between when Bu-Yeon broke the tower and Jang Uk sent the fireflies, that made Jang Uk realize Bu-Yeon is Naksu; but previews suggest he still doesn't know her true identity.
For 4), I guess it would have to be a drunken kiss.

I found the Hotel del Luna ending not so much sad as very bittersweet (the ML was like the Tiger wandering around the painting of Baekdu Mountain only to discover everything he'd known wasn't there any more, and he moved on). But it felt like the right and fitting endpoint for HdL.

If AoS2 were to end up with Naksu and Jang Uk separated and unfulfilled, then it would feel like a gratuitously sad ending that didn't fit with the rest of the story. So I'm still optimistic that it'll be a happy ending. But I guess we'll see.