Footnoted

Same. I dislike Hotel del luna as well despite ppl raving abt it. Dropped it at ep5 cos it was so boring n draggy and they made yeo jin goo - a relatively good actor - do little to nothing in his role. They haven't been writing anything good since master's sun tbh. For AOS, I dropped S1 at ep 6, it was so draggy and boring with literally nothing happening, and a ML written as if he was the most amazing man on earth *gag*. Everything this drama had - fantasy, historical drama, romance, comedy etc other dramas could do better. Im truly puzzled at its online popularity tbh.

I found it incredibly mediocre as well and am truly puzzled at how everyone is raving about it. I dropped S1 at ep 6 and didnt watch S2. All the elements that it presents, romance, fantasy, action, comedy etc - I've seen other dramas do it way better. Plus, i think this drama was targetted at teens, hence the younger cast.

I'm personally super bothered by this particular plotline but it seems like we are in the minority. Cos to me the premise was set up in a way of this "epic" romance between naksu and uk but as the eps went along, it's clear he hasnt realised naksu is inside jby's body, meaning he fell for another woman altogether and just went along with it cos she's what? "pretty"? His reactions make no sense - he allows her to just kiss him, kisses her back, treats her with such care etc. It just doesnt make sense and completely contradicts the entire point of the main romance plot.

yes! it is going exactly like a plot written for children or a middle school romance. sooo cheesy and so juvenile. Idk why some of the talented cast signed up for this crap. I dropped S1 at ep8 cos it was too slow but it was a million times better than S2. and to ur comment below - I totally agree, look at the comments (even on social media), it's all fanatics and ppl caring abt the kissing scenes (it's all awkward tbh and the leads dont have chemistry). The romance makes no sense at all in the context but all of them giving 10-star ratings for this pile of turd. ALL the characters are idiots at this point, I liked the CP too! But they really reduced his impact this season. I dont even know whats the point of master lee and yul has been completely butchered as a character. just garbage writing all round.

Yup this drama didnt even need a second season. I mean what is the point even of this season? The threads from s1 havent been resolved, the villians are still hanging ard n now there are more stuff happening with 2 eps left.

Lol love ur comment. Super Spot on

The interesting action n fight scenes from s1 have completrly gone. So they went the fanservice route and throw in random kiss scenes and made it all abt this random romance. It's like the writers have no ideas and just pander to the lowest common denominator (ie sex n romance sells) n sadly it works

Yes not a single character actually makes sense at this point. Or ever actually especially in season 2.

This entire season made zero sense. It's like the hong sis just randomly make stuff up as they go along. None of the characters are making sense and they have all this random sideplots. So what they do? Throw in random kiss scenes over n over for fanservice so ppl will forget how stupid the entire plot is this season. And it seems to be working.

S2 from the get go had alw been abt the romance as it seemed like the hong sis has completrly lost the plot when it comes to the alchemy theme - the whole reason ppl watched it in the first place. S2 isnt even really a continuation of whatever happened in S1. A sheer waste and another potentially amazing drama messed up by hong sisters

Haha these kinda dramas tend to attract these types of audience. Read in a few places that the drama only exists as fanservice and i can't agree more.

Tbh i just listened to eps 3 and 4 on 1.5x speed. Eps 1 and 2 at least i watched on 1.5x speed 🤣 I'm interested in yul as well will he die? And also how will this train wreck end? 🤣 LOL. I rather see a continuation of mudeok/jw romance than whatever this is in s2. This FL annoys me and i will avoid her future work. I dislike it when not v talented ppl coast on looks (tho i dont find her pretty) and get bumped up to lead cos of that.

yess the 3-year timejump wasn't even explained. like what's the purpose? more and more bad reviews are coming in after each weekend, so ppl are really seeing it for what it is. I think only the diehard teenage/immature adult fans are left following it to self-insert for their fantasy relationship with jang uk lol.

i dropped it at ep4 and wont be continuing. maybeee it might pick up lol, but not sticking ard to find out

Yeah he mentioned some of the cast, but left her out which is weird cos they do seem to have a good relshp and she was the main lead man. Could be a directive from the production co, who knows, they seem very shady. Hong Sis always writes the most boring dialogues and banal events tbh - that's the reason why i always drop their stuff at ep5 lol. Couldnt make it past hotel del luna, warm & cozy, hwayugi and i actually stopped watching AOS S1 at the ep8 mark. Their fantasy stuff in recent years has bordered on camp and downright silly. Master's Sun was their last good drama and that worked cos both leads could generate chemistry, are seasoned actors and the love story was mature. It's not working here cos both leads dont have chemistry, plus one cant act and is coasting on her "looks" and the story makes zero sense.

Mudeok didnt even behave this stupidly, not even close. She only suits the badass naksu, and probably only in cameos where she doesn't appear much. I wonder how much her agency paid to get the production to go this hard for her. They treated the first actress pretty badly (can't remb her name now) but centred this entire series around gyj's looks. The real action and comedic stuff from S1 arent there, their discussions/random jumps between the leads isn't funny at all - it's childish and a waste of screentime/plot.

Same not gonna waste my time anymore

I agree, she's pretty irritating to me. It's not innocence it's just dumb. If she's naksu/jin bu yeon - there's no flow from those characters in s1 and it's like a totally different character altogether, it's like the writers just think the audience is stupid and wont notice how weird it is. Yes it does seem like Yul would die and that a good number of the other characters wont have good endings. I hope not, but it seems to be going in that direction and hong sisters endings are usually not the super happy kinds. =X

Not only cant she act at all (has no emotions/same blank expressions), - her character just sucks - I didnt sign up to see naksu/jin buyeon as a silly damsel in distress. also they keep banging on abt her beauty and i dont see it, so it makes watching even more frustrating for me. she has no chemistry with the rest of the cast on and off screen, and you can tell from the promos/bts stuff. the fight scenes are lame, it was one of the highlights for me in S1 and it has been reduced to this now. whats even the point of this season, the main reason (alchemy) of the show is not even the focus.

forced romance is the word! @peachcrystal's comment about jsm - i find it interesting as well how much the production tries to scrub her existence from stuff. I mean sure shes not acting in this season, but I find it weird how the director didnt mention her as well when he received his award. weird cos they seem to get along and he has cast her in so many productions (including this one). oh yes the action scenes - which were one of the highlights for me in S1 have completely disappeared. now it's just boring asf dialogue with characters standing around brooding n looking constipated.