Luv Peony

take down or take over? he don't want to continue that kind of life and work.

they are a private mercenary for hire group that operates separately from the government. they have different offices all over the world, so they can't be a part of any government.
the server contains contracts and mission reports of all their clients. the government may consult and hire them for confidential missions.

examples from season 2: government hire babylon to rescue the korean and japanese hostages {why jinman (korea location) and K (japan location)}, jinman release a couple of missions/contracts to news outlet (scandals like having a politician killed) to show babylon of what they could do with their server.
babylon meeting of all branch leaders show there's offices all over.

lol!!!

LOL...i would give it a 8.01.

she's doing her job...lol, it sucks but it's her assignment. which i find ironic that she would blame jinman on her brother's death b/c it's an assignment. it's survival of the fittest.

LOL...to highlight more of bale's I don't give an F of what you think attitude overall.

here's hoping there's a good story line to carry on to season 3...but so far, season 2 fell a bit short.

that's the modern take ...unfortunately, it's not seen that way back in the feudal times. if that's the case, 99% of all these novels/dramas are grooming according to you since girls get engaged at a young age and married off around 15-16. the men are usually 10-15+ years older and are groom to be the rule abiding perfect wife/mother/partner by society, not just family/older family members.

mentor is a usually a highly respectable person. it's against societal norms for both mentor and student to have a romantic relationship. both parties will get blamed (the mentor of moral corruption and bad example for others and the student/female of being lusty/dang fu/slut and not self loved).

in this drama, zhili admires her mentor/teacher for his righteous and honest role, believing him to be a man or honor that will bring good to the people. for her, it's more of a crush, admiration and romantic.
mentor gives all his students something so that he doesn't single zhili out...it's just that his gift to her is more with thought. mentor does treat her differently, but under the pretense she is his gifted/prized student/teacher's pet/favorite...which is why no one thought that was weird or outstanding. having a gifted student that a teacher adores is normal as well.

the right chancellor is a pedo and zhi li is not a victim. she actually have a crush on her mentor, knowing he's married and all.

their relationship is mentor/student and during that time period, it's a taboo for them to have any romantic relationship. a mentor (teacher) is seen on the same level as a relative with seniority. no one would suspect their relationship out in the open. she hid it from the parents. can't blame her family for not doing anything.

thought it was pretty smart to mislead the audience thinking the left chancellor was the villian. he's a just an old prideful goof.

correct! Yin Qing knew in the beginning episodes (after the carriage exploded), he saw her tattoo in the back and ID her as the lost princess

yeah, and it doesn't help when people back then are given:
1. granted/family name - goes into the ancestor registry, the one use for official/prestigious achievements
2. informal name - often use by family (e.g. immediate) and those who are close to you (wife, bff)
3. nickname - an endearment name when the person is a child/to ward off evil spirits

and captions are not even on the dot when it comes to which one...but again, non asian speakers get confused.

season 2 gives you a more thorough coverage of the overall pic with babylon and all the branches.

regardless if jinman stole their server, babylon still want him dead since he's a ticking time bomb. babylon is all about profit and getting rid of deadweight. jinman is both that.

LOL...is it that hard to hire a decent translator?

also, they address the characters by family relations...but the captions just use their names.
non mandarin speaking folks will get confused if they don't get how culture is during that time period.

e.g. scene outside the temple between shen zhili, ah nian, zhili's mentor (right chancellor gu) and mentor's wife
in mandarin:
zhi li to ah nian: gege left the city for an assignment
captions: zhishu left the city for an assignment

is it that hard to add gege (big brother/zhi shu) so audience don't get lost in it?
...or am i only one here?

turtle's pace...

if that's the case, either only jinman and pasin is in on it and everyone is in the dark...it's just a show for babylon. the irony of the trojan horse...exactly who is it for lol

watched mercy for none, agent kim reactivated...will look into the rest...thank you!

i like bale as the ultimate villian.
season 2 didn't do any justice for the lady characters. jian is a newby and she's just about 20 year old being thrown into this chaos and being the CEO of the shop. it's a lot to handle/learn/manage. i expect minhye to be more sharp considering how she became who she is.

pasin didn't kill them, more like injured them. as for minhye, he could have killed her more directly, but for her to fall into the river like that...it's like giving her a chance to survive.

minhye can't go out like that.