mysteryqueen9

Good start. I hope we don't have to see many scenes from FL being harassed/bullied before she starts her counterattack...I have hopes we already have seen the worst since most scenes of people bullying her in trailer already appeared this episode, and her ending scene in ep 1. Excited to see Do Eon's character and his actions in this season

I always will marvel how dramas adapted from manhwas tend to make changes for the worst...
I read the manhwa a ton ago (so I forgot a lot, especially since the story wasn't really mesmerising though I enjoyed it a lot, it was lighthearted and funny with its dramatic moments) but one thing I remember because I loved it was original FL from novel (2FL) was a kind amazing person who was really sad because all female aristocrats looked down on her/hated her, and she developed a great friendship with FL, and was super super supportive of ML and FL's romance.....
And ofc they had to change this in drama, to make 2FL the stereotypical green tea bitch/white lotus who is fake and stabs you on the back. Very disappointed tbh...

Which makes me personally mad because I loved how kind she was in manhwa and how good of a friendship she and FL developed.

It seems they are changing the original story in certain matters (manhwa), I forgot a lot because I read a very long time ago, but original FL was super innocent and became besties with FL

I agree he was pretty "useless" in terms of plot...but he was still a MC in terms of presence in the drama, we even saw his backstory of pastor dad who mistreated him and the end of S1 made him alledgedly linked to the second push from rooftop...I think it is understandable to be wtf happened with his character?? I should rewatch S1 before seriously watching this new season because my mind erased a lot of the plot saved who cheated with who/tried to kill the poor girl lol. I am very curious what they will do with Do Eun this season, since he experienced such change at S1 and after S1 the reasonable thing would be to make his FL's ally if they need a character to help her

This. I love the drama and characters, but it is so unfair the bias that some people have when judging main leads depending their sex. If women do grey things or villanous decisions, they are evil, but men can do far shadier things and be ruthless that will get a pass if they are handsome.
I have read people complaining FL mistrusting ML and despairing how she is gonna think NH is using his Mr.Li identity for scheming and using her but....didn't he did exactly that? Didn't ML try to kill her? Didn't ML initially used his secret identity to spy on her and CGH and obtain a way to kill them? Hasn't ML used his secret identity to manipulate FL into trying to obtain clues to the weapon forging method??

FL will be rightfully pissed off when she discovers the truth about Mr.Li. Admitting that doesn't mean we are haters of ML. In fact, I love ML but trying to justify his actions while being so strict on FL is hypocritical.

which love interest?? I ask because I also loved the idea of her and Do Eon but in S1 the obvious love interest was Lee So Mang....but in the trailers he doesn't appear, not in the cast, which makes me so confused because he is mentioned in the synopsis here in MDL

Yes yes, I agree: what I meant is that her mistrust regarding him is smart, but at the same time she isn't smart enough to suspect Mr.Li....which is obviously for plot convenience so FL can fall in love with ML...which is kinda ironic, because this drama mocks the ancient palace dramas' stereotypical plots, but they fall in the very common trope: "FL can't recognise/doubt ML secret identity even when it defies common sense"

Absolutely lol, I wonder how she didn't suspect it when mr.Li saved her life several times without knowing her (she knows NH feels compelled to help her)? Especially since she knows she is inside a steoreotypical novel: there's no way a secret martial organisation which is super powerful and misterious is not linked to ML XD.

But...it is logical she thinks that way?
We know ML right now likes her and doesn't intend to harm her or manipulate her anymore, but we shouldn't forget ML tried to kill her several times: the reason why she met his mr.Li persona was because ML was trying to get her killed by his Nightwalkers and felt compelled by the plot to save her....and then ML schemed to use his secret identity to gained FL's trust so FL and Chu shared their plan to murder him...he was gonna use their own scheme against them, to prove they were involved in the assasination attempt against himself so he could get them arrested and charged for high treason for trying to murder a prince, so he could finally kill both the general and FL.

Let's be honest, only a fool wouldn't mistrust ML. Any smart person would believe he was scheming, it has 0 to do with "FL blindess"....she doesn't have the info or insight we spectators have

The father-son scene in episode 13 is so powerful and meaningful.
At first glance, it seems the Emperor is once again punishing him out of nowhere because of his bias: "you don't know filial piety, kneel and copy 10 times this book" but the reason he is especially incensed is revealed in the flashback, which shows a parallel between past and present and how ML unknowingly slaps his father on the face and pays back his neglect:
-Emperor at the Empress' murder broke his son's heart, with deep hate and said "don't call me father ever again" while showing indifference, by going away with his back turned at his son and not turning a single time, while NH watched heartbroken and hurt at his father's back.
- NH abandons the palace while his father bitterly watches from atop, and he doesn't turn a single time, not even when the Emperor throws the pages to the floor.

Emperor punished ML and said "he doesn't understand filial piety" because he wants NH to call him father, but as a prideful emperor he is too proud to admit he was wrong and he isn't willing to admit he wants his "hated" son to call him father once again. Completely oblivious, NH is punishing his father while believing the Emperor would be furious with him if he called him father.

Also, NH refusing to address him that way and turning his back without a second glance symbolises how he may have loved and wanted the Emperor's attention once, but now he is like his father: alledgedly insensitive and cold to their blood relation, no longer wanting or needing his father's care.

I think I watch and read too many palace stories lol. It is very very typical in Chinese novels/dramas to have an Emperor using a royal child as the whetstone of his secretly favourite child (to put pressure on him so he dedicates himself to improve as a worthy prince and learn the palace's schemes), or creating discord and bad blood among his children to make them keep each other in check to make sure they don't grow too strong and become a threat to the emperor himself.

Perhaps I am thinking too much but I think the big villain is the Emperor himself
Everything is so fishy: it was implied Emperor may resent him because he blamed him for the death of his beloved empress, and also that is why he pampers Rui so much....but today's flashbacks proved against this premise: Emperor spoiled Rui rotten and mistreated ML since before Empress' death.
The premise that "Emperor loves Rui and wants him to succeed as emperor, likes General Chu and hates ML"....seems to me the idea Emperor wants to convey, but it is filled with holes: if he really wants Rui as emperor, why spoil him rotten? I am not talking about being biased, he is spoiling Rui so much he has ruined him and it gives the feeling 18th Prince is more a pampered pet that a favoured son. No matter what he does, he never gets angry or seriously scold him. If he really saw Rui as his heir, why not pamper him but at the same time building him as a worthy prepared heir? It is quite obvious he is a "waste" prince who is always drinking and enjoying himself, with not a single real responsability. The nobles don't seem to respect him at all, and I don't see the Emperor stressing himself in making Rui a respectable prince that commands real power and respect.

On the other hand, it is quite funny how he hates on ML and threatens to heavily punish him, but if he really mistrusts ML so much....why would he give him huge military power and real responsabilities? It makes no sense, if ML is a real threat to his beloved son Rui, why give him real power and connections to plot against Rui and the Chu family? In real life, Chinese Emperors were deeply wary of military families who hold great power and merit, good reputation....like the Chu family. It wouldn't be at all weird if he married the Empress (Chu's aunt) because he needed her family's military power to ascend the throne, but later he felt they were a thorn in his eye and feared they would usurp the throne using Rui who has both Chu's and royal blood. So he treats the Empress and her family incredibly well, while plotting her demise and making his son NH take the blame.
Then the Emperor has the perfect pawn to exact his plan: his neglected son who is talented and receives a strict education grows to hate 1000% the Chu family and Rui, having as his main goal prove he is the worthy heir and removing the Chu family, becoming ruthless and ambitious. The Emperor could remove ML if he really feared him and hated him, but instead gives him real power to counter the Chu's influence, keeping them in check, while the Emperor can put the blame on ML and not being criticised by the court and commoners for being ruthless and ungrateful.

LOL they all did wrong to him?! Sure, he has a tragic past. Sure, he has implied he has been falsely accused/misunderstood in the past in certain matters... But he deserves 1000% FL's mistrust and FL trying to murder him.

You are forgetting he tried several times to kill FL, and he just stopped when he realised there was a supernatural force that forbid him from killing her. Then he just tried to used a borrowed knife (his Nightwalkers) but realised he also felt compelled to help her. He is actively trying to find a way to kill her.

How can you say he isn't bad? How can you say they all did wrong to him?! In original script, original FL was super sincere to him, loved him and sacrificed a lot of things for him, and he betrayed her, used her as a tool and crushed her.

Being misunderstood by your dad and society doesn't justify hurting innocent people. I can get why he is trying to murder FL (she knows too much, is a potential threat to him) but he shouldn't be surprised FL hates him and wants to murder him in return.

I am convinced they are gonna use his fake identity (the masked leader mr Li) for that: FL will fall in love with this guy that has saved her and that she is gonna keep interacting with, and she will not discover he is in fact Nan Heng himself until she already has a crush on him

yes

The scene with the emperor is very very well interpreted on the actor's part, since he can make me flinch at seeing his hurt face even when I don't feel that much pity (right now) for his tragic background: in the original script he after all did the very same thing that his father did: playing favourites and hurting others out of bias, when he played for a fool original FL, mistreated her and let her die pregnant with his own son. Obv I am not going to hold it against him in current timeline since it hasn't happened (at least yet) but the fact that the scene moved me in spite of everything speaks volumes to the actor's quality acting

Well we indeed know he was the ML because they show it in the beginning in the reunion of actors and directors, when they say so and we are shown how since actor is super famous celebrity they even made the changes demanded by the agent to make him even more prominent and to have protagonism in any scene.
That being said, for anyone with brains he is a villain even if technically he is ML, if I watch that drama irl I would curse scriptwriters for making ML so scummy and hateful, like I don't know how they could make viewers like him LOL

I also wonder how the heck NZ was the male lead in the original script....I mean I could get it if he was deranged SML or if the FL was the sister and the productor wanted to display FL as the villanous second female lead that harms original FL....but no, in theory they intended to depict FL as the original FL and NZ as ML??? Wtf, he cheated to slap her after she discovered the cheating!! (for me the slapping was way worse) and later she dies because he lets her die after saving the sister? What are the scripwriters smoking?
I mean I don't blame as much original ML because his actions are the decision of scripwriter (so his actions are not even his own in original script, he was like a NPC ) but yeah, I wonder how FL will fall in love with him...especially since it seems both of them will be forced by the script in several ways. I also hated the idea in the original script he is depicted as having a tragic background because of his father's treatment but he later does even worse to innocent people out of bias, and harms the innocent for his agenda.

The scene involving arrows/explosive is so funny...I laughed so hard at the start of the scene when FL is gloating that ML can't harm her LOL loving their chemistry and interactions so far