So, I just finished season 2 and it did not give me a full cup of tea.
Keep in mind I have not read the novel so I my review is based on the Chinese drama only. To put this bluntly it did not flow for me. There are so many parts to this story that made me question the story the entire time I am watching it, and not in a good way. I just kept asking what is the point?

First. I still do not know where the plot came from. Is it a time travel they say no but clearly there are so many things that point to time travel. Is it based on some writing a novel? Well, this would make more sense and would explain the oddities of dancing, comedy and erroneous songs. Is it an alternate dimension? This would explain some of the obscure things such as: The city under the ice, the temple to nowhere and the high-powered gun. All in all I am still confused about the premise of how this story is supposed to make sense. I mean, I can go with any fantasy element but, please connect the dots. Not just who is the smartest in the room.

Second, the there are some editing issues and breaks in the story that left me dumb founded. I can only surmise that you would have to have read the novel to understand. If this is the case then the directing and editing should be slammed for not giving the audience clarity. I mean, it cut to Jianghan and the Ming family, but I don’t remember them giving us a lead into the Ming family and its characters which would have been nice. Also, it would have been nice if at some point they had given a spent time on the background on the Masters and their skills. Instead of the slow-paced long pauses between sentences for more airtime. Some of the dialog and political scheming was unnecessarily long.

Third, Fan Shian’s relationships with the female characters. I felt the story spent more time on his relationships with Lili and the maiden then he and Wanger. This was disappointing to say the least.

What I did like was the cinematography and depicting the massive set and era. Some of the images are breathtakingly beautiful. This made the production feel on point with the reviews. I liked the wuxia elements and fight scenes or lack of. The way they can make you feel like you have watched an intense battle when they only touched hands. The wardrobes are hit or miss, somewhere better in the first season and some where better in the second season.

I liked that the story does have potential. Also, I am a fan of the ML and FL who in the first season had electrifying chemistry.

In conclusion, I did not like the ending, but it was better than season one. I will continue to watch the until the end. Mainly because I want to see if they can finally put it all together for me to be satisfied.