The story was based on a novel by Ding Mo for the most part with some scenes that were changed. The last two episodes weren't part of the novel but added by the scriptwriters. The addition wasn't really necessary but I think the show may have a sequel, so that's why it was done. As for the plot, I'd describe it as dark, ingenious, clever, and mind-numbing. The writer and scriptwriter definitely put a lot of layers into the story but it was never too confusing to follow. Here and there they troll you but it added a level of depth to the drama.
Oh man what can I say about the acting by this cast! Everyone's acting was pretty decent in my opinion. I think Sandra Ma did a decent job with her role but there were times when I just wasn't feeling her. Bo Jin Yan's character was intricate and multi-dimensional, and his expressions were on point. He stuck to his character till the end and his acting made him a pleasure to watch on the screen. I don't have enough praises for Wallace Huo's acting. I loved his bestie who was played by Wang Kai. His acting was very natural and refreshing to watch. I also liked Andy. You'll know who it is when you watch the drama ;)
As for the music, the beginning instrumental was epic. It sounded like the Sherlock soundtrack and it was used as background music effectively in the drama. The ending is nice and slow-faced but it is not bad on the ears. I'd like to compliment the camerawork and cinematography of the drama too. As for the re-watch value, it is typical for a mystery drama. You already know what happens, so that's why it is so low.
Overall, I'd recommend this drama to all viewers. Even if your not a mystery fan, the drama has a mix of other genres like romance too. It is one of the best dramas of 2015 I've seen this year by far.
Was this review helpful to you?
Flawed suspense
After seeing many raving reviews and positive comments I started watching this drama. It is the first Chinese crime series I have watched as I watch Chinese dramas usually for its fluffy romance. I have watched quite some Korean crime series as which are usually of good production quality.I have to say I really enjoyed watching the first half of the drama. Overall the story is greatly written and makes me anticipate for the next episode. The romance between the leads is also more of a focus in the first half and a good built up towards the crime story. However, after the first half I began to find so much plotholes mainly around Bo Jin Yan's trauma/abduction which they didn't even explain much context around.
One major recurring annoyment is the fact that they included American actors that spoke in English to which the Chinese actors replied to in Chinese without some kind of translator involved it somehow had to make sense that American people all understand Chinese???? To me the drama is a flawed suspense. It was quite good in creating these interesting cases and build up towards the greater story but there were too many things unexplained.
I do have to give it up to Wallace Huo! He did an amazing job at playing the main character. He solely saved this drama for me. Sandra Ma as Jian Yao also did quite well even though she played a translating student who could't even speak english.
Was this review helpful to you?
Psychology, Psychopaths and a Psychic.
A fantastic sudden discovery that left me awed. Didn't realize how I finished 24 episodes without feeling bored.❉ Storyline:
The storyline may look simple from the beginning and people might think that it's a romantic thriller, so it won't have anything that serious. But trust me, that's where it gets your attention and surprises you at every step.
The most intriguing part of this drama was how the thrill was woven into 24 episodes so intricately that one cannot just stop at a certain episode without pressing for the next one.
❉ Acting:
All the actors were fantastic, nobody seemed out of character. It was my first Wallace Huo and Yin Zheng. They were excellent! From the beginning, ML maintained his stern expression and, although as he said, FL did bring out the softness he needed in his life, that didn't change his life overnight but slowly shaped him into an empathetic person. Although FL's start was pretty good, it lacked substantial growth as the period proceeded. Felt like she turned off her brain and started to act like a side character. Yin Zheng, Susan and Bo Jinyang's chemistry was everything. It held the whole thing together. Their trust and friendship were literally the treasure of the ML. Unlike any dramas I have watched till now, this drama had large numbers of non-native speakers who didn't mess up or degrade the quality, but they worked together so well that one might think of it as a western drama starring overseas actors.
❉ Cinematography:
In my opinion, it wasn't anything brilliant or something that'd blow your mind, but certain close-ups, fish-eye lenses and pov shots did a good job of making the watching experience more thrilling and suspenseful. I would like to give it extra credit for no dubbing. That thing is hella distracting and irritating in my opinion. It was a relief that they could capture the real tonal emotions accurately.
✧ This drama was something that I didn't plan on watching but stumbled upon and absolutely loved it. Surely, as I watched the drama 10 years after its release, I can see the plotholes, but that doesn't make it less interesting. For me it was negligible. The thrill had my eyes glued to the screen as it kept me guessing what was going to happen next. First 15 episodes were going smoothly until the last few episodes were nerve wrecking as lots of things happened in a short period of time. Most importantly, in the whole 24 episodes, it doesn't have any bleak moments. Such an entertaining, thrilling ride to this suspenseful drama.
Overall it was a solid watch that had its dedicated shots of romance, thrill, and suspenseful moments to keep me entertained from beginning to end.
Was this review helpful to you?
The story, directing, acting and music earns an overall 9.5/10 from me. The cinematography in this drama is at another level. It's almost like you're watching a movie each week. The main and supporting characters' acting is half the reason why this drama is so great. I would have given the acting 10/10, but the actors chosen to play as Americans could have been much better. Their acting was too awkward and stiff for me to watch.
The music in this drama is just perfect. The moment they start playing that familiar suspenseful and daunting background music, you know something will happen.
This is a drama worth re-watching. Although it would not be as exciting because you know what to expect, so the element of surprise is gone. It's the brilliant acting that will bring viewers back.
The touch of romance and humor in this drama is a great relief to all the suspense and constant plot twists you will see later on in the drama. Wallace Huo and Sandra Ma have amazing chemistry. The way they interact in the drama makes me wish that there were more romantic scenes from this pair.
Also, the main genre is NOT romance, but there IS romance. Don't expect seeing some lovey-dovey action in every episode. I have seen some complaints from some viewers from the lack of romantic scenes. If you want to watch this drama just for the romance, you will be left unsatisfied for a long time.
Was this review helpful to you?
about this drama:
1.it is not up to the point.
2.slow (very slow) and boring screenplay.
.
it is a thriller detective (investigation) series..but the main story doesn't even concentrate at that type of plot..first two to three episodes may make you wander ..but after that it's just a normal, slow, boring love story between a detective and a graduate girl.....and even love sequences aren't interesting....total boring.....even if you have so much time to waste,please don't watch it...
Was this review helpful to you?
Pros:
-Story. I think because I've watched a lot American crime shows where there is a new bad guy in every episode, I found it quite refreshing that the crime stories play out over several episodes. It gave the show a better balance between the personal lives of the leads and the work aspect.
- Fu Zi Yu. He was great, cool and funny and very much needed character in the series.
-Li Xun Ran. He was also great. I thought he would be the standard second male lead syndrome character. But he wasn't. He was a guy who genuinely cared for his oldest friend and only wanted her to be happy.
Cons:
-Female Lead: Jian Yao starts quite likable assistant who is learning on the job from Bo Jin Yan but unfortunately descends into a background character who only cries for 3 episodes in a row and then gets important towards the end again. It's pretty hard to care about her towards the end of series.
-Relationship. I found the chemistry between the leads a little lackluster and thus the romance aspect of the story fell a little flat. I found they had more chemistry in the first half of the series while solving cases than when their relationship becomes more solidified. The relationship scenes themselves were boring.
-English/Chinese crossover. This is a major flaw in the series. The conversations in dual languages did not make sense. Mainly because Bo Jin Yan grew up in America but does not have one conversation in English with the American characters. The same is for Jian Yao, who is supposedly a translator with very good English. Maybe the actors do not speak any English but it didn't really make any sense for all the American characters to understand Chinese. Like one of the random nurses knew what Jian Yao was saying.
Overall, a series with a strong start which by the end may have been a little too drawn out.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I've been watching Korean dramas the past 3 years and Taiwanese and Thai dramas for the past 2, but I had avoided Chinese dramas up until this one. I don't tend to write reviews for shows I really really love or hate, I write them for the ones where I don't know how I feel about them. So to organize my feelings I will first write about what I didn't like and them what I did like.
So what I didn't like first of all where all the things that got set up that the writer just didn't end up picking up again, or were forgotten. (very mild cryptic spoilers ahead) For example, why did the sister get a flower? We never saw her again after that. And how could he've considered blowing that guy up in that house, after whats revealed later? And it may've been because I wasn't focusing but what did Tommy actually dig up? could someone please tell me?
I also didn't love the female leads character, she was set up to be strong and confident but in the end she kind of cried a lot and was saved by the male lead a lot, her acting was great, I just didn't love the character.
But the main thing I didn't like was that this show couldn't go through with any dramatic decisions. Any big deaths, that left me thinking "wow! good on you show for killing off that character/ those characters, that's a bold move!" ten minutes later were like, "guess what...they weren't really dead!" and it just felt like a cop out and it made big dramatic moments less dramatic, because you quickly realize no ones life is really on the line.
For what i did like, I liked the set up of the relationship of our 2 leads. There were some very cute scenes in the lead up of them becoming a couple (the accidental kiss!!!) and their first real kiss was all sorts of amazing! But after a while their relationship kind of started to bore me, but the few cute scenes they did have throughout the show did reignite my love for the pairing.
The second thing I liked- no LOVED was Wallace Huo, his acting...straight up amazing. As was Edward Zhang, the 2 of them were the big standouts of the show for me.
I liked the early mystery's and the long mystery for the second half of the show at times was a real chore to get through, but then it also had certain moments where I was squealing because it was so intense and insane. But there were a few too many "hes the guy! No, actually he's the guys! No, wait its him we've been looking for!" -it got a little bit tiring and I was only paying half attention to the final 2 episodes. (I was more of an Edward Zhang fan!)
This was a good choice for my first Chinese drama, it had brilliant acting and it was also a lot shorter than the average Chinese drama. Although I had a lot of issues with the drama I can see why people love it and why its quickly become a classic. I wouldn't watch it again because I know all the reveals, but was it a fun journey to find them out for the first time...mostly, yeah. I will definitely be watching more Chinese dramas in the future.
(P.S But they better not give me any more Breaking Dawn Part 2 endings like that, what the hell was that???)
Was this review helpful to you?
Unexpected story
I really liked it from the beginning. Especially the first crime case was greatly done! It’s still on my mind. I really liked how the balance was between the crime cases, psycholigy, romance and friendship. It was never boring. The whole drama kept me curious. You never know what to expect. It even made me confused sometimes because the outcome was different than you would espect. The main couple has a difference in age but you dont’t see it in their acting. And it has a happy ending :)!It’s a great drama to watch!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Never trusting reviews again
People have given this 10, how?- why did they think the FL should be JANE all of a sudden. No this wasn’t the bad subtitle translation on Viki. I was already annoyed she was JENNY after no way she introduced herself as Jenny but the villain did so ok
- bad C grade actors like why did they get so much air time. A lot of that would be explained in one line dialogues by main leads
- the romance was whatever after they were together. The awkwardness and stoic ness in ML went away and idk he was first at love sight is all I understood.
- the FL acting was probably decent atleast the most consistent thing here
- so many plot holes but whatever
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
There's a lot to unpack with this series. I'm always very vested in series that handle serial-murder cases because I find the chase and the forensic psychology behind it very fascinating. Some of my favorite Asian shows, like Beyond Evil (Korea), Memorist (Korea), Through The Darkness (Korea), Watcher (Korea), and Flower of Evil (Korea) are all rooted in lurking in the depths of a serial killer's mind to find a path toward catching him and the lengths in which they're willing to go to find them while trying to keep hold of their own humanity. I was drawn toward this show because it's my first Chinese production within this genre, and I was also really curious to see how they'd handle a MALE victim for once.
The show began on a promising footing with the reclusive and brilliant, but socially inept, Professor Bo (Wallace Huo) and his assistant, Jian Yao (played by Ma Si Chun). I like Ma Si Chun. I've seen her in a few shows, and I really liked her in You Are My Hero. They have cute chemistry, at first, and I like their dynamic as she learns his quirks and empathetically works around them. Later, after his cringe confession at the hotel (I had so much 2nd hand embarrassment from that whole scene), the chemistry between them quickly fizzles and definitely felt more natural when it was just platonic. The romantic vein between them was really forced and always awkward.
The show began quickly losing me about halfway through when it became more than apparent that I would be subjected to a ridiculous and offensive typecasting of barely D-rated American actors playing the role of the American FBI and, later on, the villains. It was so cringey and so poorly acted, I don't know how many times I counted Tommy's horrific "southern accent" (if you really want to call it that) or why the male nurse had to look so suspiciously like Superman while committing vile acts. It felt very targeted Anti-American the whole time, and I felt uncomfortable as an American viewer. I fast-forwarded through the last 15 or so episodes just because I wanted to see how it ended and I was still just immensely annoyed for the wasted time. SKIP.
Was this review helpful to you?
“When he comes, close your eyes.”
I first watched Love Me If You Dare long before I even created a profile here on MDL. I came back to it recently because I was chasing a particular feeling — that quiet intensity where tension and intimacy grow side by side.Rewatching it now, I’m aware that I value emotional consistency and psychological coherence more than flashy chemistry or spectacle. And this drama still delivers on that level.
The thriller and romance don’t compete; they reinforce each other. The dialogue feels intentional, the character motivations remain internally consistent, and the emotional progression unfolds through trust and proximity rather than grand declarations.
Yes, the female lead is underwritten in places, and a few performances wobble. The off-screen intimacy, or the first kiss being understated, might frustrate viewers expecting a conventional romance. No overtly passionate kiss scenes are pushed to manufacture intensity, yet the tension is palpable throughout their entire dynamic. It lives in restraint.
Language inconsistencies (Mandarin vs. English) and improbable survival in the thriller beats are quirks — but I see them as stylistic and narrative choices that maintain tension, pacing, and accessibility rather than logic-breaking flaws. The side characters add warmth without disrupting the central tension.
Adapted from Ding Mo’s novel, with the screenwriter of Nirvana in Fire and a director who later delivered The Story of Ming Lan, it’s clear the craft is deliberate. The story’s architecture, pacing, and psychological realism still hold up remarkably well.
Years later, I can say this: I’m not just nostalgic. Some dramas impress in the moment. This one sustains itself.
Was this review helpful to you?
I was biased by the fact that the drama circled around serial killers, because that's a personal favorite for me. Add in the extreme personality of Simon Bo, and his almost alien innocence and it was a recipe for perfection. All 24 episodes kept me completely absorbed and interested. No skipping, no yawning and no looking away, not for a second.
I can't recommend this drama enough. If you are looking for a feeler into C-Dramas, this is a great way to go, it even has a little romance, if you need it. Do yourself a favor and watch this drama.
Was this review helpful to you?
