Sunday surprise!

[xparrot]

Because Chinese drama scheduling is...a wild ride, after weeks of speculation and rumors about when the second and final season of The Lost Tomb Reboot was coming, yesterday Iqiyi finally made an announcement. Said announcement was, the new season starts in 8 hours!! Here's an hourly countdown! Also we're releasing the first 8 episodes all at once for VIP!

So yes we have more Tomb Show!! I've only watched the first ep, but I'm looking forward to what's to come.

Especially because the scene I've been dying to see, which I've been worried would get cut for time or whatever, instead was actually used as a poster promo -- so yeah, probably not cut, and also I am so pleased that I am not the only one who apparently fell in love with that shot...

In related news, naye has put together an in-depth episode guide for season 1, which includes time stamps, so if you want to just watch the good stuff and get summaries of the rest, there's now an easy way. (Which honestly I would recommend. This is one of the most uneven shows I've ever seen, in the gulf between the parts I absolutely adore and the parts I find almost unwatchably boring. But the good stuff is SO good I still want to recommend it to anyone who enjoys h/c and idiot friends on adventures, leavened occasionally with really tasty angst.)

Otherwise life is going on. The sky is less apocalyptically yellow today than it was yesterday. I haven't been writing much, but the sister and I have a new...not exactly a fandom...keeping us amused (along with a good chunk of the rest of the planet. I don't know why it's so relaxing to watch seven ridiculous Korean boys roadtripping around New Zealand and sharing beds and having unabashedly terrible car singalongs despite being one of the most famous music acts in the world, but it is? It's what I needed right now, somehow...)

Comments

[sheron]

Oh man I hope you enjoy the new season as well :-)

I tried watching the show and it was slightly too...Uh. Uneven is a good word for it. XD The bits I enjoyed I really enjoyed (that scene with Xiao-ge rescuing them from grabby hands and setting the wall on fire? GOOD) but then I just could not bring myself to care about the stuff with the uncle and on the surface in the jungle (??) and yeah so I haven't finished the eps once they got out of the tomb. I might go back to it and see if I can pick out more of the trio shinanigans from the episodes. But I'm glad that it looks like the new season will bring more of the goodness.

[xparrot]

I am definitely looking forward to this season, the previews have had a lot to make me !!!!

I rather wish there was an Iron Triangle cut of this show -- with just enough judicious clips of the rest of it to make the plot make some kind of sense (probably about as much as it does anyway...) Because that stuff is SO good. But then there are the terribly boring flashbacks with the uncle (there aren't a lot, but they're so boring and annoying!) and then the entire second half of season one doesn't even have Xiaoge at all and is mostly Wu Xie getting a job in this bizarre X-files-esque warehouse of wacky shit and really all it has going for it is Zhu Yilong's face.

Which, to be honest, that's all I was expecting out of this show anyway, and I have happily watched worse things for the pleasure of that face. I was not prepared to fall in love with Pangzi and Xiaoge and Wu Xie's friendship like I did, and now I need mooooore!

[sheron]

Yes, pretty much the fact I wouldn't get Xiao-ge rescuing Wu Xie and catching him falling in the rain (!!!) for the rest of the season is why I didn't go for the rest of it. I mean..What a scene XD But you're right on that if there was an Iron Triangle cut of this it would be awesome :)

I hope S2 will have ALL of that and more!

[xparrot]

There is some lovely stuff with Wu Xie and Pangzi in the second half of s1, but yeah, most of it you can skip. But s2 has already had some wonderful Iron Triangle stuff (they're not physically together yet but they have phones!) and I am so excited for what's to come!

[sholio]

I don't know why it's so relaxing to watch seven ridiculous Korean boys roadtripping around New Zealand and sharing beds and having unabashedly terrible car singalongs despite being one of the most famous music acts in the world, but it is? It's what I needed right now, somehow...

It's interesting what makes for comfort viewing right now. I am finding myself latching onto all kinds of things that might not hook me in quite this way at other times, but finding things to just take me out of real life right now seems to be a major plus.

[xparrot]

Yeah, I've found before that when things get bad, really fluffy cute reality TV is very soothing. Before it was Queer Eye and Great British Bakeoff and now it's kpop, but the feel is the same. And it's stuff that I'd enjoy otherwise anyway but maybe wouldn't be bingeing on to this extent.

(some of it I think is the engagement factor -- for whatever reasons I don't fan on reality TV, it doesn't inspire stories in me, and sometimes that's frustrating but sometimes I need the, hmm, mental decompression?)

[sholio]

Yeah; I don't really tend to go for reality TV (even the fluff kind), but I have noticed myself getting really into things like watching old 80s music videos on Youtube, or going down the rabbit hole of cute animal videos. Escapist fluff is definitely where it's at right now.

[naye]

It was pretty amazing to wake up at 6am on a Sunday, look at Twitter, and try and figure out if I was still asleep and dreaming or if this was real life.

Eight episodes IN A DAY. With two more today and tomorrow?? WHAT. Why are they doing this. I am absolutely going to be spoiled because I can't keep myself off the internet and I don't want to watch them all at once... but also YES PRECIOUS SHOW IT'S IN THE STATE OF EXISTING AND CAN'T BE TAKEN AWAY FROM US. (Fanning on c-drama is very stressful.)

[xparrot]

This is the advantage of me not handling social media right now, no chance of spoilers! except for what I spoiler for myself ^^;;; But YAAAAY show and it is being SO GOOD TO US too!!! (now just please let them not have censored too much out of the second half...so stressful fanning indeed...)

[clevermanka]

it's so relaxing to watch seven ridiculous Korean boys roadtripping around New Zealand and sharing beds and having unabashedly terrible car singalongs despite being one of the most famous music acts in the world
That sounds like happiness that's much needed right now.

I'm about to start my fourth rewatch of Hyori's Bed and Breakfast, which offers similar fare. So soothing.

[xparrot]

I hadn't heard of Hyori's Bed and Breakfast but yes, that sounds like just what I want now! So kpop is the place to get soothing reality TV...who knew??

[clevermanka]

Hyori's is SO GOOD. If you give it a try, let me know what you think.

[galaxysoup]

I'm glad to hear that you're safe, despite the apocalypse sky! I'm trying to claw my way back onto Dreamwidth, but it is indeed weird what the brain latches onto or starts hissing at and avoiding in these strange, stressful times. Welcome to the kpop brain comfort food train...? :D

[xparrot]

So glad to hear from you! And yeah, I've been having a hard time with the "social" part of social media myself. Do what you can, when you can...

But we have clear air now! And I confess to enjoying my descent into BTS madness more than expected...they're all such good kids...

[galaxysoup]

Oh good, I'm glad the air has cleared up!! And omg, I know what you mean. I've been watching their 'In the Soop' and it's just so sweet and fun. :D

[xparrot]

Oh yeah, In the Scoop is so what I need right now. Have you seen ep 3 with the impromptu jam session and Jimin's EXTREMELY HEARTFELT BALLAD (I want it as a single because it is literally my brother's theme song in the morning) and Yoongi excitedly getting his equipment to mix it, aww!

(I have a lot of thoughts about how deft they are at social media/reality TV and how that's an art they've mastered as much as the music and dancing, but really most of my time watching them is spent either laughing or going awwww...)

[galaxysoup]

Omg no I haven't yet! I stopped watching to catch up on Tomb Notes. I've sort of been spacing them out since they leave me feeling so calm and relaxed afterwards. :D

(That is for sure a trippy things to consider sometimes, along with what it must be like to live your life knowing it's televised to such a degree. But you can't deny they're really good at it and such sweethearts!)

[xparrot]

In the Soop is so calming!! I love that they clearly were told/decided that what ARMY really needs is to see them genuinely relaxing and having fun. So V can just wander off and play video games by himself for a couple hours. It's so reassuring in that it does feel both unscripted and also deeply relatable.

One of the things I like about BTS's reality show presence is that there are so many of them, so while they are so thoroughly televised, they can take the pressure off each other; one or two of them can withdraw a bit and it's not completely noticeable. One of the first eps of Run I saw was silly games at a waterpark and J-hope is gone for half the ep -- it off-handedly mentions he wasn't feeling well -- and that made me feel more comfortable about all of it, to see that they don't have to be on camera at all times, that they are allowed some space at least occasionally. It doesn't feel as exploitative as it could because it does seem voluntary on their part.

(the obsessive fandom and paparazzi side of it is a lot more terrifying, but that is the price of the fame they've gotten -- and at least they have each other for that too!)

[galaxysoup]

It's so reassuring in that it does feel both unscripted and also deeply relatable.

I also love that they were asked ahead of time about all the things they've been wanting to do or try, so they're really just getting to play and experiment. Like Jin and his fish or J-Hope and his rubber band plane! :D

that made me feel more comfortable about all of it, to see that they don't have to be on camera at all times, that they are allowed some space at least occasionally.

Yes!! I haven't seen that episode of Run, but I remember seeing their first trip abroad (to Amsterdam, I think?) and there was one whole day where Suga just wasn't on screen at all, and they didn't really address it explicitly but there had been a brief clip of him before they left Korea saying that it would be nice to have some unfilmed time to enjoy themselves while they traveled. It was nice that he got it and that they also didn't make a big deal of it.

(the obsessive fandom and paparazzi side of it is a lot more terrifying, but that is the price of the fame they've gotten -- and at least they have each other for that too!)

Yeah, that side is a lot less nice! But I am glad that they have each other, and they seem to be good at looking out for each other. And by the numbers there are a lot more genuinely respectful fans than there are the scary ones, even if those few have an outsized impact.