cashew | 《唐朝诡事录之西行》(Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty 2)

Yup, I think I have a new fandom. But on with the review.

TL;DR - Not as good as season 1 plot-wise, but character relationships have deepened. Super natural elements require a lot of suspension of disbelief, but thankfully not super important to the actual mystery. Solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Second season of 《唐诡》 picks up from where season one ended and gets the merry band of investigative characters back together. The structure of the mystery solving process expanded from a partnership to an ensemble cast, with previous major support characters getting to contribute a much bigger role in each case. The premise is that through political maneuverings, the our little team got driven out of the capital as punishment and are assigned to a far west border region of the Tang territory. Crossing rivers and mountains and the Gobi desert, the merry band of detectives solve mysteries as they travel. By the end of the season, they've arrived at their destination and have only just settled in for a few months before getting called back to the capital on a flimsy pretext, setting up for season three's political machinations.

Up until the last case, each arc deals with the complications of jurisdiction and how customs slowly change as one travels further and further away from the capital. Where season one showed off the economic and political difficulties of the south, season two showed off the cultural mixing and economic dynamics of the western corridor. The mysteries also shifted from the social conflict between officials and locals to the dangers of the "mystical West", where heretofore unseen cryptids and bandits and pockets of rebellious organizations poses the greatest threats.

The weakest part of the season is actually the ending arc. In season 1, the mysteries built up slowly to encompass the power struggle between the princess and prince, showing how the royal family's internal politics trickled down to affect the stability of the state. The story then wraps up with a climax that comes back to the capital, bookending the mysteries cleanly. In season two, however, the prince has been newly crowned emperor while the princess continues to try to wrest power away from him. This struggle opens the season but then slowly falls to the wayside as the detective team slowly moves away from the center of power into the western corridor. Then the season ends with a mystery regarding a rich merchant's family inheritance and the death of his only son. While thematically it's clearly meant to reflect the ongoing struggle of the princess' bid for power over the newly crowned emperor, the story itself seems far too unsympathetic to the fact that, when it comes to inheritance, women got the short end of the stick, even in a dynasty that had a woman emperor.

Politics aside, the actual mysteries themselves are still decently engaging. However, since the second season is clearly written with the intent to pay off all the conspiracies and political machination plot lines in season three, the overarching story line has a far less satisfying payoff. In addition, season two doubles down on killing off more allies in the name of driving the emotional tension, but with too many people dying left and right, the emotional stakes actually end up getting diluted by the constant deaths.

Finally, the show continues to show a shocking amount of sympathy for rich people. The rich merchants are portrayed overall in a very positive light, seen as the drivers of prosperity who also are shockingly dedicated to charity work because...uh... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I guess we can't piss off the rich corporations that are funding the filming of these shows, so can't really touch on how the rich profit off of the labor of the poor or touch on anything that might spark a sense of class consciousness. Gotta keep censoring that stuff.

Another shift that seemed to happen is that the original co-leads seemed to have shifted in their importance. Where season one gave 苏无名 (Su Wuming) slightly more emphasis as the person who made the proactive decisions, in season two 卢凌风 (Lu Lingfeng) takes over as the "main character" who has to angst over his choices and the consequences thereof. Furthermore, the relationship has grown to be slightly less equal between the partners. In season one, the two co-leads have a give and take, where 苏 is clearly the brains of the operation while 卢 is the muscle that keeps everyone safe. In season two, the two have a mentor-mentee relationship, with the bulk of the narrative focused on 卢's growth under 苏's tutelage and becoming a well-rounded detective who also has fighting skills to keep himself safe.

Overall, I'm not particularly fond of the relationship dynamic nearly as much, especially the expansion of a partnership into an ensemble cast. But personal preferences aside, the show is still a pretty fun experience. Fun enough that I am now reading all the fanfic as I wait for season three to air.