K-Drama 
One of the best Chinese dramas ever made. Rich characters, mystery, setting, and social commentary.
Phenomenal 东北 noir that is worth pairing with "Why Try to Change Me Now?" released in the same year for watching. Both are shows illustrating the long-term effects of trauma and manufacturing recession in Northern China and fractured familial dynamics. 漫长的季节 has a lot more humor and slice of life elements than "Why Try to Change Me Now?" along with a more dynamic mystery and engaging characters in exchange for "Why Try to Change Me Now" having a more immersive, alien, and nihilistic atmosphere. Both are tragic shows, but 漫长的季节 is a little more humanist, hopeful, and warm, whereas "Why Try to Change Me Now" is bleaker and more hopeless, which is why IMO this pairing is so complementary.Xin Shuang and his creative team showed much creative growth going from "The Bad Kids," already a great series, to this. I look forward to seeing what he does next and hope he is able to find an avenue to unleash his creativity amidst the unfortunate market drive for Douyin/TikTok-suited shorts to be cranked out.
PS, fantastic soundtrack, sound supervision, and sound design. You can tell Xin Shuang was formerly a rock musician by career. My one sound complaint is that they should have used boom poles more, because the mics embedded in actors' clothing (admittedly better for natural acting) recorded quite muffled dialog at times.
Awful awful English subtitle translation on Prime and Youtube (same subs) full of mistranslation and even misassignment of pronouns, you are warned.
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So well done, that it pains to watch
This drama it is so well done on all levels, the performance of all professionals it is so outstanding, that the end result for me was that I could take it in only in small doses. No binge watching for me. This is something to be savoured. But also something to be weary of: the subject matter is dark and its rendering touches one deeply. It reminded me my first watching of Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "The Shining", with Jack Nicholson in the leading role. I was literally hiding behind the door frame and looked at the TV with one eye only, ready to take refuge behind the wall. I am a grown up now, no hiding behind walls for me. Just pretending to have chores to do, so that I can take in, in small doses, this beautifully crafted Chinese series. Also, among the great cast all around, it was great for me to recognize actress Liu Lin whom I first spotted in a support role in "The Story of Minglan" series, of 2018. There, she and many other so called support role actors, delivered to the hilt, to the point that there were more "main role" performances than the casting presumed to be.Was this review helpful to you?
