Tomochi

Xiyang finally gets her shet together and sees Xia Jingshi for the heartless piece of shet that he is. She wants to go home but she's now stuck because [spoiler]. She holds no power as a princess of the enemy country nor does she have anyone around to help her escape. (Dumb betch did this to herself when she helped Xia Jingshi escape. She didn't bring anyone with her since she eloped in secret.)

Xia Jingyan sees how helpless she is and reminds her of it. He points out how she's powerless and all alone, then seizes this opportunity to take advantage of her desperation. He hints at how she needs to give something to him exchange for his help, so... she sleeps with him.

Let's not forget that when Xia Jingyan was first introduced, it was stated that he would sleep with a bunch of his court officials' wives. One of the court officials even said that his wife committed suicide right after Xia Jingyan ordered her into his palace... literally not long before she gave birth, so the court official couldn't even celebrate his daughter's 3 month anniversary (or something like that).

Read next comment if you want spoilers regarding Xiyang.

Let's not forget how Xia Jingyan is a straight-up sociopath and did so many vile acts. (He randomly killed innocents and slept with the wives of many court officials.) He is, overall, a terrible emperor who doesn't care for anyone and will do whatever he wants. He has 0 redeeming qualities and is basically a big baby who didn't get enough love from his mother. To put it flatly, he's a mama's boy with mommy issues and uses that as an excuse for his psychopathic behavior. (He basically admits to this when he confronts his mother about her going behind his back.)

There is no excuse for ANYONE to do the things he did because mommy dearest didn't trust him enough. If anything, he should've worked harder to prove himself and his worth as an emperor. But nah, he blames everything on everyone but himself. He blames his mother for not loving him enough. He blames Xia Jingshi for gaining the trust of everyone and having more merit than him. He gave up on even being a half-decent person.

I will admit, though, that I did feel bad in his final moments because the writers tried to make them seem like star-crossed lovers. And I do think in some twisted way, he did "love" Xiyang, but I can't trust that it isn't anything more than an obsession. He latched on to her because of how pure and innocent she was. He grew more obsessed with her because she was the only one who was honest to him, and like he said, the only one who actually "relied" on him and "believed" in him. He took advantage of her desperation. That's not love. Maybe it seemed that way because the writers wanted to make him seem more "complex" but you can not excuse his behavior.

After ep 25 or so, she'll change.

Ahhh ok. Out of curiosity is the order: The Blood of Youth, Dashing Youth, then Blood River? Do you think it will matter if I watch The Blood of Youth before the sequel comes out? :') So many good shows to watch ahhhh

Do I need to watch Blood of Youth and Dashing Youth before watching Blood River? I haven't watched either show yet because I'm waiting for Blood of Youth Season 2 to come out first so I can just binge watch everything.

They got to the rooftop and tried getting search and rescue to send over a helicopter which wasted a lot of rescue time. But yeah, they should've tried calling 911 after search and rescue shut them down.

I just finished Rakshasa Street (2017) and Hero is Back feels more like a reboot with all new casting. It doesn't feel like a season 2 because the storyline doesn't follow the cliffhanger ending of Rakshasa Street (2017). Even the character backstories and personalities of the main characters are different. I'm only on episode 4 of Hero is Back btw. Differences are so drastic, it feels like a completely different storyline.

They took away a lot of the comedic aspects that seemed to poke fun at the drama itself in s1, so in some ways, s2 does feel more like a "proper" drama with a more serious tone. I honestly really liked the chill vibes of s1, so I'm a bit sad about these changes :( I'm gonna miss the little inner thought skits :(

In s1, Xia Ling (the main girl) is very headstrong, naive, ditzy, and gives off major "dumb blonde" but means well vibes. In s2, she isn't ditzy or naive, in fact, she feels more mature and capable. Even her spirit guardian Li Xuanyuan seems to have a completely different backstory and character design.

In s1, Cao Yan Bing (our main character) is a very meme guy who doesn't seem to take himself very seriously, acting all fake cool and sure of himself. But it is also clear that he is quite cunning and seems to have a better grasp of a situation than one might think. He isn't very trusting and always tells Xia Ling that she can't easily trust people and see the good in everyone (he's weathered by his past, especially his upbringing). In s2, Cao Yan Bing doesn't provide comedic relief and feels younger? (probably because the actors look diff) but a bit more stoic (probably cuz difference in acting?).

Edit: On episode 6, I think the character personalities are still pretty similar minus the comedic stuff because different directing and acting.

I just finished and I want to know what happens next. Does anyone know if this second season's plot and storyline follows the original donghua or novel? If so, which episode should I begin watching from to finish the story?

Unfortunately, things start to make sense more so toward the last couple episodes. But the plot twists there really had me shook.

Just keep watching. Once you hold out, you'll understand why she keeps coming back.

I just finished the drama and to answer your question, I think Heaven revived him.

Heaven said that "she" thought making Xing Yue heartless and emotionless was the strongest way to rid evil. However, after seeing the sacrifices of everyone (all the characters who died, including the sacrifice of Fan Yue as well as Bai Shuo who shot the final arrow), it generated the final, hidden contemplation which was "Great Love" that finally got rid of Mo Li once and for all.

Heaven's final words before Fan Yue's return were: "In this world, cause and effect, good and evil, will have their dues. For love, one can die, but can also be reborn. Those who have died for the great cause will eventually return through different means."

Literally couldn't have worded my thoughts any better!

The setup was interesting enough but the execution of it afterward was just... >.>; Most of the screentime is given to the "villains" being the most evil, vile creatures alive. They somehow keep getting away with risking everyone's safety. Every single time you think that the main "villains" are finally going to be punished (idk ripped apart by the "zombies"), they get away and continue doing evil. This part REALLY upset me. The entire plot was just a repeat of the "villains" trying to fuq over the main leads over and over again. You'd think by the 4th or 5th time, they would finally get their ass kicked but nope. The "villains" are also punished through "legal" means and we, the audience, aren't even given the satisfaction of them being punished because it ends up being a quick 10 second scene.

The buildup fell so flat to the point where I was wondering how they were planning to end the drama in the last episode. It felt like they wanted to quickly wrap up everything.

There are also some parts where the logic wasn't logic-ing. How is it that they are depending on ONE person to be the cure for this virus? Also, where did the horde of zombies go in later scenes when the FL leaves and reappears? How were they able to somehow contain the epidemic so fast? It was barely over a week. And how did everyone get THAT desperate for food and water after just a few days? I get that they're scared of dying but you'd think they were going through this shet for over a year >.>;

I'm also confused how the FL is made out to be this badass who is TRAINED in combat and dealing with medical crises to not even use any of her knowledge? And she's supposed to be calm and collected in dire situations but they gave her the tropey kdrama scene where she thinks ML is dying and clutches him in her arms bawling.

(Also, how did they take out the "main" villain with just 1 shot? Didn't they make these zombies out to be super resistant?)

I don't understand how the rating for this drama is so high when the drama kind of fell flat. Read spoilers if you want to know why it's very unsatisfying. Villains don't really get punished btw. You're just going to be left frustrated.

Yes, all the second leads end up with someone :)

ONE OF MY BIGGEST COMPLAINTS. It bothered me SO MUCH is how victims/culprits would be SEVERELY injured/brutally beaten up with a bunch of bruises and GASHES all over their face and arms. But after a couple days (in drama time), the victim is shown on screen completely unblemished with no bruises or gashes, not even any bandages. This was the case throughout the drama and it was such an obvious detail.

In the first case, which was the domestic abuse case, we see the female victim brutally beaten and thrown around by her boyfriend the first time. And you can see in the scenes when she is talking to her parents over the phone just how badly bruised up she is. But how is it that these wounds MAGICALLY healed up PERFECTLY with no scarring or anything not even a month after???? Sis literally had a massive gash on her head.

The second time she is brutally beaten up by her boyfriend, she has even worse looking gashes and bruises, but not even a couple weeks after, they've magically healed as well. ?-?

There were also a few things the drama seemed to quickly wrap up without exploring more in depth. The most glaring question is what happened to the original Kang Bitna. We do find out what happened to her and why she got stabbed, etc. But why was she accidentally sent to Hell and why was she a "sinner"? We never find out more about the original Kang Bitna other than the scenes leading up to her death and the epilogue of the first episode where she's sent to a Hellscape running for her life. I was waiting for more continuation on this scene, possibly in epilogues of future episodes, but they literally shoved that scene in and forgot about the original Kang Bitna. We're sort of left wondering what exactly happened to her. Did she escape Hell? Did she somehow go back to Heaven? It feels almost as if the only explanation for this episode 1 epilogue scene was to introduce Gremory because she gets sent to Earth as punishment for letting Kang Bitna "escape".

This kdrama felt pretty fast-paced. They typically spent 1-2 episodes going over the crimes and victims, and the deaths were BRUTAL. TRIGGER WARNING: There is an EXTREMELY brutal domestic abuse case right from the onset of this drama and it's extremely bloody. Most of the deaths/torture in this drama will be extremely violent and VISCERAL.

Even as a major true crime fan, some of the scenes were too much for me. I physically cringed and had to skip over some scenes.

Overall, I think this drama had enough questions to leave me curious for more, which is why I completed the drama. However, if you're looking for a quality, well thought-out plot... I don't think this is the drama for you. Sometimes, it felt like this drama was solely made so you could see Park Shin Hye kick ass, and see perpetrators who do AWFUL crimes and say such awful things get subjected to the tortures they inflicted on certain victims. The villains don't have any depth to them. I think some side characters are flushed out just enough but often times, it is mostly done to get the plot moving and unveil more information.

I will say that the landlady was the character that surprised me the most. There was actually a deeper backstory to her and her acting was impeccable. (Tho in some scenes, I was sorta like girllll but for most of it, I felt such strong emotions in the later scenes involving her.)

ONE OF MY BIGGEST COMPLAINTS. It bothered me SO MUCH how victims/culprits would be SEVERELY injured/brutally beaten up with a bunch of bruises and GASHES all over their face and arms. But after a couple days (in drama time), the victim is shown on screen completely unblemished with no bruises or gashes, not even any bandages. This was the case throughout the drama and it was such an obvious detail. (Read comments for spoilers on what I'm talking about).

Prosecutor ML was at the courthouse because he was prosecuting the drug use charges against the celebrity. South Korea has very strict laws on drug use which can destroy a person's career, so in order to draw attention away from the charges, the celebrity goes on hiatus/does military service. For his military service, the celeb ends up being stationed at a different department in the countryside where FL lives.

Prosecutor ML transfers back to the countryside to investigate a series of murders that date back 20 years. (You will learn why as you continue watching.) The Prosecutor ML and the celeb end up working in the same office building and cross paths with the FL when she joins the department as an older version of herself.

Hope this helps :)