Nothing can save a weak foundation
Have you ever watched one of those mini dramas and wished they were longer? This drama is proof why that'd be a bad idea.Even if I didn't bother to structure my thoughts in this review, it would have a lot more structure than what I just watched.
First things first: I don't think they had much budget for this and that's okay.
But the camera was so shaky at times, angles felt weird and cuts were pretty harsh. Moreover, the make-up and costumes were terribly bad at times. The setting doesn't make much sense either and locations weren't chosen well. The only acting that sticks out is that of ML. Putting him into this drama felt like putting a cherry on top of a collapsed cake.
From the trailer and the description, you expect to see a thrilling murder case drama, and if you've read other reviews you will realise that family drama will play a much bigger part than advertised. Let me add that it's not family drama, but business family drama, written by someone who memorised important business terminology and is now playing bs bingo with it without understanding a word of what they're saying. Or, to put it short: It's absolute gibberish most of the time.
The romance is nothing very noteworthy either, the development rather hasty with barely any chemistry for the most of it. And of course we don't get spared the typical Chinese romance clichés. What would we do if we had a love story without some good amount of stalking? This romance was the icing on a cake that was a failure from the beginning.
You can't save a cake that's lacking in its foundation: The storytelling. They made every mistake you could ever make. There is almost no foreshadowing, which would be desperately needed to maintain suspense until the point things finally start going down. The lack of music doesn't help much, either. We have way too many characters not characterised well, only reduced to their function as plot devices for the family drama without clear distinguishment. The pacing is off, with a lot of loose build-up lacking substance followed by a rushed climax.
They needed an omniscient narrator, explaining from an outside perspective what's happening, what the characters' motives are and what they are feeling (what did you even need filming for if the images on screen can't even portray that?). That narrator talks in a voice as if they were commenting a documentary. And they are explaining things that should be obvious, instead of filling the ocean-wide plotholes. Not to mention realism took a day off as well.
The grand finale, the one thing everyone waited for, is narrated again - by the narrator, newly introduced characters AND plain text on screen. Tell me you can't write a script for the life of you without telling me you can't.
If you somehow, despite all the very obvious flaws, manage to develop a liking for any of the characters, don't figure out the culprit from the beginning and actually find yourself rooting for everything to go down, the emotional payoff still will be pretty mild. Only way you could like this is if you're expecting to see a very long vertical drama, because that's about the quality it has.
PS: If anyone complains about giving "participation points" with a rating, show them this drama. If it spares me from having another narrator in my next drama, I'll gladly give a better rating simply for its absence.
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Murder mystery
There is not an investigative or romantic drama. The drama centers around the succession of wealth of a rich family and how family members tr to get the biggest piece of pie..This would have been very good if it was shortened to a movie as there are so many unnecessary scenes that simply lags the story.
The investigation portion of the murder involved is just speculative with questioning at the police station.
Overall if you have nearly 12 hours to spare on a lengthy average drama, this is the one for you.
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