Q Series: Close Your Eyes Before It's Dark

Very impressive, a little long

Now, I watched this a long time ago. A very long time ago. I still remember it clearly, I was in a terrible mood, decided to watch this on a whim because Netflix recommended it to me. But I remember it very clearly. I do, the kind of impact it left for me to remember the entire plot after so long.. some plots really do get better the more you let them sit, don't they?

This was genuinely very impressive, even when I watched it for the first time. It was thrilling, had the right amount of mystery without it feeling like they were trying too hard or making the audience extremely confused, and I was genuinely impressed.

The story follows eight former friends who were all part of the mountain climbing club when they were in school. They drift apart after a scandal and the events of the series take place when they are all invited to a mountain cabin by one of the members. They arrive, stuff goes down and big by bit, we discover that there was much more to their friendship than we or even they thought. You know, the classic slow reveals.

And they do them right. Not one of the reveals felt like they were out of left field, or just some random plot thrown in to create conflict, they were all extremely relevant to the plot and how it flowed. It was a scary at times, very mysterious and it keeps you invested.

I will admit, I don't remember much about the characters, but I do remember that I loved Jake Hsu's character, I remember rooting heavily for him and I think that may be because he had very little to do with the mess? He's an important character definitely, but I always find myself rooting for the characters who are unwillingly trapped in someone else's mess, because come on! It's not their mess!

The only thing that could have been better was the pace, sometimes it just dragged on for so long, I had to take frequent pauses because it did get a bit boring at times.

I will recommend this though, it is a solid murder mystery, and it's got so much else going on as well, and I hope this review convinced you to give it a try!

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⛈Friendship Can Be So Fragile ⏲ °5.7° °avg°

We open to some truly creepy credits and then cut to HS kids on a camping trip. They're making a video time capsule. They've agreed to come back to the same cabin in 10 years and watch it together.

We toggle between the HS camping trip and the reunion, years later. They lay on the foreshadowing thickly. In the past, they played ‘Mafia,’ a game where the secret killer must be identified. They also play a prank on one friend with red paint and pose as if they were all attacked and murdered. It helps set the mood.

In current day, the group is surprised to see Hong Xiao Tong show up. She was so angry at them back then! Bai Xinyi (Blue Lan from The Best of Youth) hid Lan “Yi” Cong's cell phone, to give him some payback for all the jokes he's played. Later, at school, photos of Xiao Tong from that phone were posted all over the place. She ended up expelled. Yi , from a wealthy family, was merely instructed to reflect on his actions. Xinyi hasn't arrived yet. The group doesn't know where she is, but viewers know that her car broke down. She can't get cell reception. She flags a passing motorist.

CYEBID is a 2016 release that is rated 7.4 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 7 80-minute episodes. Per AI: “Taiwanese Q Series dramas are a collection of TV series produced by Q Place Creative Inc., with the aim of fostering world-class audiovisual production talent and innovative entertainment in Taiwan. These dramas, supported by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of Culture, are known for their high quality.” Gotta disagree on this one. CYEBID is not good. If I was going to rate it on how much I like it it would be a “3”. It has some good points, and I want to be fair, but I don't think this is worth watching once.

Some shows get away with having no likable or relatable characters, but that's a difficult hurdle that CYEBID fails to clear. The list of characters who are truly unlikable is long (Mrs. Fang, Liu Cheng “Fang”, Yu “Hsiu” Huang, Yi), while the only somewhat likable ones are the cop and Li “Zi” Shuo. Xinyi seems likable, but she's murked in ep1.

Jian Man Shu (Gourmet Affairs, On Marriage) plays Xiao Tong. She was in a relationship with Yi (Trent Chen from HIStory3 & I've Walked Through the Love's Wilderness) in HS. He took the suggestive photos of her that were distributed all over school. That ended their relationship as well as her friendship with the gang. She blamed all of them for her embarrassment. Ironically, she's a model. She should have gotten over her pictures being distributed, by now. She clearly still dislikes her old bf, Yi, so she'snot over it yet. He clearly isn't over her.

Bryan Chang (My Bittersweet Taiwan, The Nipple Talk) is Lu Bai Cang. He's been with Fang (Bean Sun from Little Big Women & On Marriage) since HS. They're married now and he's a doctor. Yen Tsao (Lion Pride, The Last Thieves) is Zhou Ruo “Qing” who has his disagreements with Yi's family's construction business and their latest expansion plans. Sheng Ping (What the Hell Is Love, Go Go Squid!) plays Hsiu, but the role is horrible and it's very difficult to watch her weak and ever whining character. The 3 screenwriters are Lyra Fu (Detention, Man in Love), Wu Han Jie (Back to the Good Times, Q Series: A Boy Named Flora A), & Wang Kung Cheng. Director, Chen Yu Hsun, brought us My Missing Valentine & Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast.

Xinyi is LATE. They have dinner and decide to go up and get the time capsule, which is at the end of the mountain top trail. It's not there, though. During the hike it starts to rain a storm is brewing. After dinner is when they find Xinyi's car. Her wallet and luggage are there. She's not. The rain comes down pretty heavily - typhoon heavy and the storm resulted in mud slides that have cut them off from civilization for a few days.

The cabin where they're staying has a caretaker (Mrs. Fang, played by Tammy Darshana Lichtenberg from Wave Makers & Encore Martha). She constantly has a look of fear and pain on her face that is old before ep1 runs its course. It is so bad that it's almost comedic, and it is a black mark on the production. Her son (Shang Ho Huang from Endless Love plays Wang “Guang” Wei) is on the special needs scale. He's functional, physically, but when it comes to emotional IQ, social skills, and intelligence, he's behind. His facial expression looks scary, but the caretaker assures the kids that he's kind. In one strange incident, he grabs Xiao Tong's arm when she's walking by, and won't let go. She has to yell, and the others come upon the scene and separate them. Guang seems to have issues with pretty girls.

Then Zi (Jake Hsu from Shards of Her & HIStory3) finds Xinyi's body stuffed into a suitcase in the trash dump. 8 friends are now 7. The most suspicious character is Guang. He so obviously knows more than he's letting on. IRL, he'd likely be the killer, but this is a mystery. The viewer should be reluctant to latch onto the first possible suspect. After Yi ends up shot, they really want to get out of there. They attempt going through the old mineshaft, a dangerous thing to do, but staying seems dangerous too. What they encounter is a police officer who's heading 🆙 through the mineshaft. The rest of it had collapsed behind him, so they can't get out that way. The cop is Xinyi's bf. He hasn't been able to reach her and was getting frantic. When he learns what's been happening, he commences his investigation.

More people end up dead before we start to narrow down the suspects and learn more of past hurts and present desires. The plot is not terrible, but the overall production is frightfully average. It drags. Most of the acting is substandard, though the poor directing and editing have much to do with it. It's sad and empty feeling. They do a nice job with the sounds, especially when it comes to building dread. There's no scary thrills, though. It's just a big downer.


IMHO〰🖍


📣6 📝5.5 🎭5.5 🎨6 🎵/🔊7 🔚🤗2 ▪ 🌞2⚡5 😅1 😭5 😱4.7 😯3 🤢3.8 🤔 💤4


Age 16+ violence, gore, someone flips the bird; Rated 15+.


Re-📺? Should've skipped the first time



In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:

⚡/😱/🚀 -
C🇨🇳:
The Kings avatar-7.9,
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!,
The Untamed-8.6,
Bloody Romance-7.3;
K🇰🇷:
K2 8;
Private Lives 8.1;
Sisyphus 8;
Tunnel 8.1;
Signal 8.6;
The Man From Nowhere 8.9
Black 9;
Squid Game 8.4;
Kingdom 8.3;
Sweet Home 8.4


🇹🇼My Taiwan Catalog ~
Age of Rebellion-9.5,
Autumn's Concerto-7.2,
Back to 1989-7.1,
Black & White-6.8,
The Fierce Wife-8 - worth sticking with,
Inborn Pair-4.2,
Love, Now-3.6,
Love You-7,
Office Girls-7,
The Perfect Match-5.5 (ep 1-9=8,1-17=7.5,1-22=5.5)
Two Fathers-7.5

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Atualmente este drama está disponível na Netflix (foi por onde eu vi, na verdade), mas a série estreou em dezembro de 2016 por uma emissora de Taiwan. O drama faz parte de “Q Series”, um programa do Ministério da Cultura taiwanês para poder produzir conteúdo original e local.

“Close Your Eyes Before It’s Dark” não é só uma série de mistério, ao meu ver ela fala sobre muito mais, e podemos perceber isso. É uma daquelas histórias que vão discorrer sobre um tipo de crença que todos fomos ensinados a ter quando se trata de amor (que se for por amor, tudo é permitido), de amizade (que verdadeiros amigos permanecem sempre juntos) e, acho que principalmente, o quão frágeis são todas essas coisas na realidade e na vida real. Close your eyes é muito bom para quem gostar de um bom mistério, algumas reviravoltas e para quem tem um gosto mais para o lado de mortos conversando (apesar deles não conversarem tanto, fiquei triste por isso).

No enredo, oito amigos do ensino médio decidem se reencontrar depois de mais de dez anos sem se verem para fazerem uma viagem e desenterrar uma capsula do tempo com vídeos que tinham gravado. Mas já fazem 10 anos que os mesmos não se falam mais, eles não são mais amigos como antigamente. É importante dizer que cada um seguiu seu próprio caminho, mas eles ainda precisam de um acerto de contas.

“Close Your Eyes Before It’s Dark”, para mim, fala sobre os perigos de se tentar reviver um passado que teve um desfecho ainda sem muitas respostas, e em uma boa série de terror e mistério, sabemos onde isso vai parar…

Particularmente eu acho que todos concordamos que alguns reencontros não deveriam acontecer, mas as vezes nós gostamos de prolongar algo que já teve um fim (no caso deles, um fim conturbado e escandaloso que afetou todo o grupo ainda no ensino médio).

Um diferencial na história para mim foi o fato de que os mortos, que foram colocados lado a lado numa sala, conversam entre si sobre a identidade de quem os matou, dizendo coisas como “adivinhe, eu também fiquei surpreso” sinalizando que o assassino não era alguém tão esperado para ser. Aquilo foi algo que beirou do cômico (como quando os corpos começaram a feder e eles conversaram entre si para ver quem estava fedendo) ao macabro (como quando eles disseram entre si que os que ainda estavam vivos deveriam parar de investigar, se não a sala dos mortos começaria a ficar sem espaço).

Outro ponto que gostaria de destacar é o efeito dominó que percebemos na série, porque um corpo sempre está ligado ao outro, assim como o(s) assassino(s).

"Close your eyes" criou uma teia que nos mostrou detalhes que a primeira vista parecem extremamente sem importância e até ao acaso, mas que quando juntos nos ajudam a perceber a real questão. A resposta sempre esteve lá, nós é que não percebemos.

A série é dividida em sete episódios de mais ou menos uma hora cada (foi algo que não me incomodou uma vez que já estou acostumada). Mas uma das coisas que me incomodou foi uma investigação que acontece bem no final e que tem um final estranho, e também, o fato de quê (PEQUENO SPOILER) nem todos morrem! Veja bem, eu não estava torcendo para que todos morressem no fim das contas, mas aparecia na abertura de todos os capítulos um cenário da “salinha dos mortos” e todos eles estavam parecendo mortos. Obviamente eu pensei que seria uma daquelas obras onde no final todos acabam mortos, e mesmo assim, havia um personagem que estava sentado em uma cadeira e estava ensopado (logicamente pensei que ele morreria afogado, mas não foi o caso), então toda vez que o mesmo se aproximava da morte, eu ficava aflita. Então, já aviso, aquela imagem é meramente ilustrativa e nem todos morrem!

Em cada capítulo podemos ver, mas só no final que nós percebemos, que sempre houve um jogo de manipulação e rancor (por diversas das partes) entre aquelas pessoas. Termino minha resenha constatando mais uma vez que "Close your eyes" é uma obra que nos mostra que nem sempre reencontros com antigos amigos e amores são bons, e que a nostalgia dos tempos de ouro nem sempre é algo que valha a pena sentir.

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