Scarlet Heart 2 (2014)

Come distruggere la buona impressione della prima serie

Uno sfacelo, non si potrebbe definire questa serie in altro modo. Gli unici tratti positivi sono il commento musicale, specialmente la ending e, soprattutto, la performance degli attori.

Nicky Wu, più di ogni altro, mi ha rubato il cuore: intenso, perfetto. Ma anche la maggior parte degli altri ha interpretato al meglio una sceneggiatura che faceva acqua da tutte le parti più una.

Capisco che lo show sia stato pesantemente mutilato da insensate necessità di censura, rendendolo meno comprensibile specialmente a chi non avesse guardato la prima serie, ma non è una scusa che possa giustificare l’ignobile polpettone che è stato costruito intorno ai due protagonisti. Tutti, qualsiasi e ognuno dei possibili cliché sono stati svergognatamente usati, al punto che gli sceneggiatori di una telenovela tipo, vedendo questa serie, si sarebbero andati a nascondere nel sottoscala di Harry Potter.

La povera protagonista passa tre quarti del suo tempo a piangere. Probabilmente beveva almeno tre litri d’acqua al giorno per compensare la perdita di liquidi. Gli spettatori, per contro, bevono per dimenticare. Non essendo sufficienti le amputazioni censorie, si è pensato bene di inserire ripetutamente all’interno della storia delle scene oniriche, che ingannano lo spettatore, per poi riportare indietro la storia e farla svolgere in maniera diversa. Forse nelle intenzioni è un giochetto interessante, ma personalmente l’ho trovato irritante. Molto.

C’è un limite a quanto si possa sfruttare il giochetto dell’eccessivo senso di colpa del protagonista per questa o per quell’altra cosa, o della mal diretta sete di vendetta di Tizio, Caio e Sempronio. Oltre quel limite, noia e irritazione imperano. Ma quando ormai sei arrivato più o meno a 10 episodi dalla fine, ti rassegni a guardare fino in fondo per sapere come va a finire. Faticosamente. Davvero.

C’è un motivo per cui guardo praticamente solo serie in costume, e non è solo per amore di ambientazioni e costumi, appunto. Il problema è che ciò che è ammissibile ambientato secoli fa o in un contesto fantasy, non lo è più se siamo in epoca moderna. Indagini poliziesche risibili, – o la loro completa mancanza – o la ripetuta gestione fin troppo allegra della sicurezza di un ospedale, non possono essere accettate in un drama ambientato ai giorni nostri, anche volendo presumere pressioni esercitate da famiglie potenti. Le guarigioni lampo dei guerrieri Wuxia non sono la stessa cosa se trasfuse in un contesto attuale. E così via.

Insomma: una delusione, resa ancor più cocente dall’ottima impressione che mi aveva fatto la prima serie.

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Let me start by saying that I LOVED the 1st season of Scarlet Heart. I had recently come around to watching period dramas and was recommended that I watch it. And boy was I not disappointed...I wish the same could be said of this second season. Let me begin with the obvious: season 2 is set in modern day, so the feel is completely different as are the problems all of the characters face. The beginning started somewhat strong for me. There were flashbacks to season 1 and a few of the characters' reincarnated selves in modern day was a nice touch.

story: the plot was weak sauce. Nothing we drama fans haven't seen before: love triangle, poor girl catching the eye of the rich heirs and deciding who she truly loves. The revenge plots did keep me interested with just how far the characters will go for 'justice' and the truths behind long-kept family secrets. But the doppelganger storyline wasn't needed AT ALL. Plus, after the first few episodes, there isn't a whole lot of interaction between the main couple (Zhang Xiao & Yin Zheng) until episode 15, and even then the build up felt too rushed. Maybe because I couldn't really get a sense of time passing, or how much time passed from one problem popping up to another being resolved.

cast: the actors did what they could with the script they were given. And after watching the whole drama I know why more actors from the first season didn't sign on for the 2nd. From episode 1 to the finale the main actress was ALWAYS crying or on the verge of tears. It got to the point that her tears meant nothing to me as a viewer because she cried SOOOO much.

music: It didn't move me, and it wasn't memorable. But it served its purposed to give dramatic flair when needed.

Rewatch: Dear God NO! Knowing how it all came together and ended, I'd rather just rewatch the first season and pretend that (potential SPOILER ALERT for season 1) Ruoxi chases after 4th Prince in the museum with a smile on her face and a sense of hope. Honestly, had the 1st season ended on that note I wouldn't have bothered with the 2nd.

Overall: I'm harsh on this BECAUSE the 1st season was so good. In comparison, season 2 is a 5, but as a standalone I'd give it a solid 7.5. So in fairness, the actual 7 i'm giving this is more than it deserves :-(

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I had high hopes for this drama after the success of the first one. However, it was not to be: I was quite disappointed with the overall story, acting and development of the story. Some of the new actors did not compare to the first series and the story was a bit far-fetched and badly written. The ending seemed a bit as if everyone just wanted to bring the story to completion. There were just too many extreme situations and some of the acting seemed over the top, there was also a lot of crying ... felt sorry for the actors/actresses! Don't think I'll be watching this one again for the time being, at least.

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Such a waste of a good chemistry pair! Truth is I rage quit after 16 ep where I frantically started fast forwarding and skipping large chunks to get the happy ending I NEEDED after SH.

He treats her like shit and she acts like a pushover. This is NOT the RX I remember from SH. The story is total bull and the "twin" and memory loss is just laughable. The ONLY reason anyone should watch this is if you died from heart break and misery after SH and need these two to hook up. The doctor prescribes that you fast forward through most of this drama and just watch the "good" parts. That should make you heal and able to move on.

I end up rating it a 2 and not a 1, because of the potential to heal those suffering by the ending from SH.

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warning: bashing of sadistic writers and spoilers ahead

After watching so many mediocre dramas recently, I decided to watch an older, high rated one. Scarlet Heart had me laughing, crying, and occasionally grinning like a fool. So when I finished, I immediately began season 2. The shift to the modern world wasn't an issue for me; I was curious to see the princes in more contemporary garb and watch the story play out.

I should have been suspicious when the secret twin and the selective amnesia emerged early on, but I was still curious about the leads' story. So I kept watching, albeit less enthusiastically. Despite cliched trope after trope, I continued. I was determined to see what happened. Then in the final episode, the writers were sadistically cruel. They played out 2 or 3 tragic endings; each seemed extreme but plausible. Just as I was accepting one finale sequence, it would be cruelly replaced by another possible ending. It was like flipping through a rolodex of crappy endings.

After 40+ minutes of being jerked around, the last 3 minutes showed the "real" finale. But I had trouble making sense of it: ML asks FL being released from hospital to meet where they first met. Then after reuniting, their friends and family come out to watch and applaud as they kiss. If it had been a proposal scene, all the other actors' appearances would have made sense to me. As a general, long-awaited reunion with your beloved, why invite everyone else to watch???? I don't want my mom and siblings watching me kiss my husband after he's been hospitalized or out of town for a while.

How in the world did the same writer pen both Scarlet Heart and Scarlet Heart 2???? There was a second writer for season 2, but I would have expected these to be more equitable.

Finally, a brief note about the music: In general, I don't really pay attention to music and background tunes. But this drama had different versions and variations of Amazing Grace playing instrumentally at random times to emphasize emotions. It created some very strange mental dissonance for me. I sort of liked the wistful track that played at the close of each episode.

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Not Bad, But No Competition.

SCARLET HEART 2 (Bu Bu Jing Qing / Startling Love by Each Step) was a very enjoyable series, a loosely based sequel of Scarlet Heart 1, though not canon to the original story based on the novel Bu Bu Jing Xin. This series was very intriguing and definitely a good watch, so long as you can expect it to be only vaguely connected to the original series. Going in with those expectation make the show vastly more entertaining. However, many original characters from SH1 appear throughout, in various incarnations, which was a great bonus.

Zhang Xiao // Ruo Xi (Cecelia Lui / Lui Shi Shi) is a great actress, as ever, but her modern character is far different from the Ruo Xi in SH1. That can either be explained by the fact that she is an incarnated figure, with different personality traits, or perhaps due to how she was changed by the heartbreaking events of SH1. Either way, she lost a lot of her original spunk and boldness and cries quite a bit. I still cared deeply for her as a character; she was still relatable and admirable, sensible and emotional.

Yin Zheng // Yinzhen (Nicky Wu) was as lovable as ever, though his character was indeed altered, perhaps because the incarnation without previous memory of the past was raised very differently than original 4th Prince had been. While still cold and calculating, he is also a veryuu openly passionate character, expressing a wider range of emotion. This incarnation is driven by revenge rather than the strong sense of justice which drove his noble ancestor.

Zhang Xiao and Yin Zheng were both amazing in their roles and, as ever, exhibit a ton of on-screen chemistry. While Yin Zheng repeatedly pushes Zhang Xiao away, it was clear his innate interest, concern and protectiveness for her, even when he acts in terrible ways. And Zhang Xiao, even after memory loss, has a strong attraction and concern for Yin Zheng. It was beautiful to see their love re-develop in this modern era.

Other incarnations were of course Kang Zhentian (Emperor Kang Xi), Jack (10th Prince), Ma Yi Nuo (Ruolan). There were some new characters which were likable such as the quirky cheating ex-bf Huang Di, the protective guardian Kang Si Yu, best friend Meng Xin Yi, the interesting Ling Dang, the mysterious Lan Lan and others. Even Kang Si Han was very interesting and dynamic character.

The story was very emotionally exhausting, honestly, filled with intense twists and turns, some predictable while others not. I felt the plot line could have used move development, for many times it relied on common drama cliche’s and melodrama. Many of the sub plot were unnecessary and ended up convoluting the story excessively. This series had such great potential given the success and popularity of SH1. And while, not a huge let down, it certainly did not live up to such high standards. The last episode especially felt as if the directors were trying to fit every possible ending in, thusly causing it to feel less than thought out.

Overall, this series was worth the watch for me, and perhaps for fans of Ruo Xi and 4th Prince. Fan service and ship sailing. It was an interesting take on future possibilities, in a modern era.

((HEA))

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The storyline was great... I loved the outfits that Yin Zheng wore. I love those long jackets over some jeans. The twists and turns in the 2nd Season had me a little dizzy. The actor who played in General and I still played a not-so-good part in this piece. The only thing I didn't like there was a whole lot of crying by everyone! I loved how her twin sister came back but I wasn't fooled! I was somewhat confused for a minute... I had to rewind because I didn't know if she was dreaming again. lol fool me once but you can't fool me twice! Good job producers and Great job to the cast. Thank you!

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The Story was okay although I feel that the script could have been better. But that could just be my objectivity talking. This drama was good for what it was and I would not so much a full blown sequel as much of a prequel or somewhere in-between the two. The director and writers were pretty limited due to of all of the rules and regulations when it comes to historical drama, anytime drams time-traveling to certain times, supernatural being/even that the writers of Chinese dramas have to follow. And this is not even scratching the surface of that.

This has some of the stereotypical revenge will he won't he drama with all the tension and emotions to go with it. Be ready for tears though if not your then someones in this drama because there is a lot of it. That being said I did enjoy the story, it was a bit cliquish and predictable at times but still enjoyable.

The acting just like in the original was pretty spot on and amazing. The chemistry between Liu Cecilia character and Wu Nicky amazing as alway. Although there was some amazing chemistry between Cecilia character and Sun Sean too. Apart from the romance the range of emotions shown by the cast was really good and helped to make this drama more enjoyable.

The music was okay I guess it, the most memorable being Dust by JiaJia. It was played at the right parts and it connected this series to the first series, which I thought was interesting.

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Era melhor ter ficado só com a 1ª temporada.

Tive curiosidade de assistir pra saber se realmente vale a nota geral que deram ao drama. A história começou bem e foi ladeira a baixo.
Já começa a decepção por saber que o elenco não é o msmo.
A surge uma irmã gêmea para a protagonista. Que achei bem nada a ver. Principalmente pelo fato de mais pra frente ela fazer cirurgia pra se transformar em outra pessoa, incluindo a personalidade que muda da água para o vinho.
Se não bastasse isso, a protagonista que antes lembrava da sua vida passada, perde a memória por conta de choque novamente kkkkkkk
O drama começa a ficar ruim qdo surge a amiga e se descobre que ambas tem o msmo namorado.
Não preciso nem falar daquela desastrosa cena do atropelamento 😂
Enfim.... Os personagens masculinos...
Um começa o drama como ruim e termina como bonzinho e o outro começa como bonzinho e termina como ruim.
Nem deveriam ter lançado como versão 2.

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Second part of the story is forgotten

I watched the first series of Scarlet Heart and it was good; however, the second one is ambiguous for me. I thought they were going to finish the story where it left off, but I guess it took a different turn. It was just annoying to have the clues of the past and then forget all about them. It was like teasing the audience about the direction of the story. I also did not like how they changed the personality of the actress and also added a twin sister. The story was going all over the place with way too many extreme events. I think mid-way of the story I started fast forwarding, and also when there was a scene of crying. I think the crying moments were overdone that it lost its meaning.

I think this drama series would have been better as a stand-alone story.

The cast did a good job of acting, but the story was ok. If the story was more linked to the previous series, I think it might have been more interesting.

The music was nice.

There is no rewatch value for me for this series.

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I've read the reviews on this drama.... A lot of them were not nice lol. I can see why. I know where were controversy about time-travel, so I get it they had to make a lot of cuts out of this drama. However, the plot was messy. Like who wrote this? When I was watching I questioned how the actors felt with the plot twists in this drama.

I only watched this because I was in a show-hole and wanted to see what happened with our lovable characters, and how did they turn out? Did they tie it in with the original Scarlet heart? Are there easter eggs? Who made cameos?!

Well, it turned out our OTP was in a crazy love-triangle-square mess, involving a long-lost twin! They didn't really tie it in, there was a lot of paintings of Kangxi and references to Kangxi. I think besides Jack, I didn't see anyone else make cameos that were worth noticing.

Overall, this is a really bad drama unless you're bored!

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