The only two characters and stars to emerge unscathed from the hot mess that is Lost You Forever Part 2 has to be Yang Zi and Tan Jian Ci and their characters of Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu. The entire Part 2 run was ruinous for me in terms of adapting the second half of the LYF novel but at least Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu’s arc stayed relatively intact and the two leads acting was good enough to overcome the missing parts. But for the other leads Zhang Wan Yi, Deng Wei, and Wang Hong Yi, their characters suffered greatly from vast swatch changes to scenes, motivations, and entire arcs missing, all of which tanked the story and is even more perplexing and frustrating since Part 1 was nearly perfect in adherence to the novel story. I think the only viewers for this drama are novel fans and fans of Part 1 who have to finish to despite the drama getting progressively off the rails in plot as it went along in Part 2.
I could write an entire PhD dissertation on what went wrong and why it’s so unforgivable to the coherence and complexity of the story conclusion. It lessens Cang Xuan/Zhuan Xu’s angst and dilemma, turns Jing into a consolation prize damsel, turns Feng Long into a plot device only, makes Xing Yue jealous without depth, and probably only Ah Nian had a decent outing as a supporting character in this half and it’s because she was given new scenes from cut characters. I’m so sad to not see Xiao Yao’s murder attempt in the ocean and saving by Xiang Liu, return of Left Ear and his cute romance with maid Miao Pu, Xiao Yao’s assassination attempt at the lantern release and her survival, Xiao Yao’s attempt to become the next Royal Mother, and the proper send off for Xiang Liu. All in all, I will remember Part 1 fondly and erase Part 2 from my mind.
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I decided to separate the books from the show due to this. They likely did what they did to Part 2 because they cut down on the episodes. You can tell things we're much faster in pace. Which sucks for the 2nd half of the story.
Season 2 was rushed. Why it only had 23 episodes? I mean, JoL s2 had 40 episodes, why this one couldn't?
The ending for XL and XY.. aigooo... so sad. I'll miss ya Xiang Liu. Obviously i dislike the ending.
Cuz this drama wasnt supposed to be two seasons, they were forced after the new regulation of limiting the dramas to 40 episodes the filming was already done.
Ah, no wonder. Thanks for the explanation. But why they cut so many part of dramas. Huft.
Im still bitter with XL's ending and plz Ms. Koala, we need your in-depth opinions about this drama.
I'd love to read that dissertation! Or even an indepth review.
Yes, please write an in-depth critique of the S2 detailing where it fell short. It would be interesting to read.
And once you have ranted to your heart's content, maybe you'll feel little less frustrated ☺️
It's a very cold S2. I could barely rewatch any episodes and even ffwd most scenes, skipping episodes. I agree TJC and XL remains unscathed.. but I think even the character XY was butchered, not to mentioned the other characters. It is as if the producers didn't dare to keep to the original book, for fear of being too controversial or painting the characters in a wrong light, so they watered down the scenes and characters and ended with a mess. I wanted to love this because of S1..but I'm left with a gaping hole that made me depressed. What started so beautifully ended meaningless. It's just a hot mess.
Disappointed with s2 after holding my breath for it. Gonna give it a miss cos of sad ending of the death of the main hero how cld dey shape it with s1 so good to watch frm start.
I’m glad I listened to my instincts and avoided the mess I had anticipated with S2. Like others have said, we waited a year for the concluding part. There was no reason not to give us another 40 episodes and finish the drama in adherence of the novel. I would have understood the 23 episodes if it aired back to back with S1. I don’t know why the censorship board likes to ruin its country’s products with nonsensical rules. I’m yet to see a sequel that doesn’t have major issues. I’m so sad to see S2 ruined. S1 was such a gem.
Well, there is a reason. Money. Every episode costs money to produce. And it seemed clear to me that the budget was depleted by the time they got to post production for season 2.
But I can only assume censorship had something to do with the mess they made of Cang Xuan's arc.
Estoy muy de acuerdo con es comentario.
Hello Koala. I am your fan
I know nothing about Chinese dramas so far I watch only few while there is nothing interesting for me in Kdrama world.
I have this habbit to read the book before any adaptation made, even if adaptation is out and I know it is base on a book I wont watch till I read the book.
With LYF I watched season 1 and then read the story on your side. Believe it is not a worse case of missing parts in adaptations
Pachinko season 2 already so different from the book I can see it just by the trailer without waiting for the season to be released with the character that was not even in the book.
And just wanted to say thank you I read every post
I bet the cast are very upset...does it have to be condensed to such short eps for S2?
I agree. They must have cut off large chunks of film to condense it to just 23 parts. All their hard work never viewed by audiences.
More than ever the demand for a 'Director's cut' increases. Even if the Director's cut isn't aired in China, could it be exported to international audiences or is it just not profitable?
I was wondering if they can exported the Director's Cut overseas too... I hope they can. As this is a badly butchered Season2.
Oh, I'm so bitter. How can the first season be so perfect and the second season so disastrous when the whole thing was filmed at one go? I'm puzzled by this.
The arcs they mangled lessened the dramatic impact of all the main characters, except maybe Xiang Liu, and that's perhaps because of Tan JianCi's absolute embodiment of the character--he lived and breathed Xiang Liu through it all.
Yang Zi also saved Xiao Yao because of her acting. That character suffered greatly as she was reduced to an emotional mess. It appeared the writers had forgotten this woman had lived 300 years in a man's persona and she had been "father figure/brother" to other men. She shouldn't be this blind.
I, too, could write a dissertation, but I hurt too much, LMAO. I would love to read your in-depth review!
I ffd alot as I already knew the endings- just wanted to see if they were doing leniency for XL-XY. They didn’t!
Hate they cut a lot out of novel story. Why bother doing drama if have to rush n cut!
Inspite of that:
ZWY as CX was top- I like his performances- he did v well. Infact liked CX because of ZWY.
Jing- never like him novel n drama. Glad drama convey he’s consolation prize. He is infact!🙄
Left ear- sorry n disappointed they didn’t put him in S2
They need to make some small side stories or etc for viewers with such endings 😭😭