C-drama Lost You Forever Part 2 May Get Shortened to 21 Episodes and Also Need to Wait 12 Months to Air
Watching dramas for too long has turned me into Xiao Yao from Lost You Forever, rather than be disappointed I choose not expect anything or get my hopes up. Which is why I was even happier with how good LYF the drama adaptation has been, and knowing it was filmed for 73 episodes split into Part 1 with 39 episodes and Part 2 with 35 episodes indicated the drama would stay true to the long novel and show (nearly) everything onscreen. Sadly that may not happen as recently reportedly SARFT came out with a new requirement that drama seasons must be at least 12 months between airing and also that dramas cannot be longer than 45 minutes long. There already is a requirement that dramas can’t be more than 40 episodes long which is why LYF split into two parts.
The goal is to remove “water” from dramas, i.e. filler which the authorities deem to be unnecessary and frivolous. Netizens are saying LYF Part 2 is being shortened down to 21 episodes cutting 14 episodes worth of filmed material. If that happens the entire drama will feel so disjointed with a slow methodical lovingly crafted nuanced narrative and the second half being a roller coaster herky jerky ride. I do think the second half can slim down many portions still work such as the whole arc Xiao Yao tricking Hao to mack on her to expose the two turds, Cang Xuan/Zhuan Xu marrying all the wives, writing the Yellow Emperor medical guides, Cang Xuan/Zhuan Xu’s invasion of Hao Ling/Gao Xing, Xing Yue’s second assassination attempt on Xiao Yao, etc. But hopefully no major moments are rushed and we still get that heartbreaking, missing you forever kind of happy ending.
The Chinese entertainment board is set on removing good things from the industry
Chinese airing schedules are rarely reliable at best. 12 months? That’s a long time considering anything between the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2 could occur to cause them to baselessly drop the drama.
Do they even offer explanations as to why they keep making changes? Like, legit reasons not “we want to get rid of fillers.”
Ha ha, with everyone saying this is good I was about to start watching, but now I think I might wait a little… like a year or so!
Seriously, I don’t know how people in China (I mean the show biz professionals) deal with this nonsense.
I prefer shorter dramas with fewer episodes because I find it difficult to watch shows with more than 30 episodes that are full of fillers. I often end up skipping unnecessary scenes that don’t contribute to the plot development, which is something I commonly encounter in Chinese dramas. In this sense, I appreciate Korean dramas for their ability to eliminate fillers and keep the story concise.
I don’t think “water” in that sense refers to filler scenes.
Boo. That’s sad news. let’s hope they keep it at 35. With such a great novel written by Tong Hua and then directed by her. I would hope they give her the ability to fully show how magnificent this storyline is.
Fully agree with you, should keep all the 35 episodes. It is indeed a great novel. Can’t wait to see Part 2. Really need a strong heart, mind and soul to watch this drama. This is my first C drama that won my heart. I love the characters and storyline of the drama. Really hope they keep all what Tong Hua has written. Great writer!
That’s sucks if they delay s2. Pathetic and really mean. I hope they change mind and release sooner
I don’t know… I’m kind of used to having to wait a year or more for Season 2s to drop these days. Almost every US show takes that long or sometimes longer. So if it means taking their time and doing it right, I wouldn’t mind waiting 12 months for another solid 35 episodes.
Examples: House of the Dragon, Stranger Things, D.P (South Korea), Dark (Germany), The Crown. All of these have taken a year between seasons, at least. All fantastic shows that are/were worth the wait.
Hello, I’m enjoying the drama so much that I decided to read the novel. Thank you so much for your wonderful translation of this beautifully nuanced story. I binged read the entire series in a week. I’m so grateful for the many hours of effort you put into translating this epic story. I also really enjoyed your foreword for each chapter. I found the ending bittersweet, but I do not regret falling for these amazing characters.
Onde voce conseguiu ler o romance?
Chinese shows could have a full edition for international platforms and a restricted version for domestic (mainland China) ones.
The major question is: WTF a burocraty hás tô do with It… Probably a dumb ass fuck that don’t like onde drama and had the lazyness tô simply fast foward on the remoto controle! This is something that the audience decides not government and it’s nothing to do with censorship. The major problemas of autocracies and bananas republics is this too much power for incompetent people (corruption)