darkstar

When I saw that pile, I did not know if I laughed or cried and started wondering what the director was thinking when he envisioned that scene.

Well... the Chinese regime doibg what it does. Look at this, from the news: "While “Story of Yanxi Palace” was an immense hit, it was “unhealthy” due to its “negative impacts,” according to the Beijing Daily’s commentary. These included promotion of the imperial lifestyle, damaging “social ecology” by glamorizing court intrigue, “slighting the current leadership by glorifying the emperor,” promoting luxury and extravagance, and “single-minded pursuit of commercial interests.”". According to the article they also listed Novoland Eagle Flag, Queen Dugu and several others. All labeled as "unhealthy".

I did not read the book. However, for what I understand, it is. She was some kind of special forces, or something like that, hence relatively easy to get the training she got in S1.

Yep. The production around it was great. We can see the difference between this season and the one filmed 10 years ago. I'm always impressed by how fast the Chinese movie industry advanced. And now I read that the government wants to ban many of the costume-style productions, including some old ones. 😕

I don't blame the director only. He also did The Double, which is excellent. I'm actually surprised that he could do something so good (The Double) and a trainwreck (Rebirth). Therefore, there's a lot more there. For example, The Double had real actors. Rebirth had idol actors. Maybe other factors also influenced it.

For me it was good, but not good enough to be a masterpiece. In standards, those titles I listed are masterpieces. We all have different things that catch our attention and appreciate more. 😉

At least in my case it's not hate. It's reality. This is a season 2 of a much superior season 1 and is supposedly continuing the story.
There have been drops in quality between seasons before, and it's quite common. Just look at great series like Joy of Life, Nirvana in Fire, etc. However, in this one, they abused it. Season 2 is really much worse and should have been released as an independent story.

I decided to watch another couple episodes of Rebirth against my own practice of only watching a series when it completes because I usually like to binge watch. I broke this rule with Pursuit of Jade and caught myself longing for the following episodes.
I'll clearly not have this problem with Rebirth. This thing is a trainwreck. The FL was greedy and tried to fit a shoe much bigger than she could, and so the two MLs.
As a refresh, I restarted watching Princess Agents and the difference is flabbergasting. It's watching a drama played by real actors versus one played by just idol actors who may need several more years of experience to properly act.
The Princess Agents' last scene, the frozen lake battle, is several miles apart from the Rebirth's first scene that tried to recreate it. In Rebirth the director even tried add drama by copying a Game of Thrones' battle scene where two armies faced each other and the corpses piled up, but in Rebirth he made a little "bonfire-like" corpses pile-up, which ended-up it a laughing stock.
The acting is horrendous and it's no wonder many are trying to convince who did not watch Princess Agents to skip it. Of course, the glaring difference will be even more emphasized.
Of course comparisons will be made, since this is supposedly a season 2 of a much superior season 1 of the same story.
So, I'll take a break of this thing and wait for the whole series to be released and then decide whether to watch the whole thing. As it is, this is just a 3.5/10 - yes, I am comparing against season 1 as it should be.

Trailers are marketing pieces and try to attract audience. However, when the real thing comes up, the reality is exposed. The actors, directors and production shortcomings come to light and now what we see is an army of people trying to salvage this trainwreck.

It's available on SENTV YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRN24eqWbeuvTYEpILHomwYcdf-x9nKIl

I'm not into animations. Even though I recognize some have very good production, I could never get into finishing watching one. I usually watch two or three episodes and then end-up dropping. It's one reason I don"t think those new AI productions will work for me. 😉

I found it on Netflix Korea.

Lighthearted story with some funny moments. This could have been a good series. The movie format made it a bit rushed and even the end felt like someone just cut the filming and emded the story. The "nudity" is blurred, so we can say there's none. However, some scenes, even with the actors dressed up are spicy (e.g. the "elevator story"). Worth watching to clear the head and unwind.

You nailed it. So far, the second season is showing the difference between real actors and "idol actors", the latter only being there because their fans only expect to watch them, not expecting any real acting, which is what we are seeing so far in season 2. It's really sad watching such great drama/story being butchered like this.

Technically, yes. However, the gap (acting, direction, etc.) is so big that they would better not be. Just read the comments of who watched season 1 as evidence. A certain gap is expected, mostly when there are some years between releases (e.g. Joy of Life). However, in this case they abused the audience's tolerance.

NP. However, if you do not like it, then I suggest you watch season 1 to see how the very well done version looks like. 😉

Better not, or you will be utterly disappointed and astonished about how a production team could screw up a great series so much.

It's not that Pursuit of Jade raised the bar. It's that this series, supposedly a season 2 of Princess Agents, lowered the bar too much compared to PA itself. So, it's own undoing.
When there a season 2 of any series, it's quite obvious that everyone will compare, except who did not watch season 1.
Just look at Joy of Life, a top series and when season 2 came, it was compared against season 1, like any other series.
So, yeah, it bombed itself. Did not even need Pursuit of Jade for that.

Not just Zhao Li Ying. Lin Geng Xin also, and this boy the production put to play his character is a joke compared to him. I wasn't expecting the same, but at least something closer.

Started watching the 1st episode and Han Solo's "I have a bad feeling about this" came to mind. It was indeed a very tall order and it's unfair to even try to compare what this season 2 may become to season 1. Therefore, I'll treat this as a different story that has nothing to do with season 1. Expecting even a faint semblance was asking for too much. 🙄