Endless Protection (2025)

"Crime does not pay".

I ignored the drama when it was first broadcast in April 2025 even though I like the two leads, Ren Su Xi and Gao Wei Guang. I decided to watch it last week out of the blue, and binge watched it in four or five days. It was so riveting that I had to finish it promptly. It was a pleasant surprise to see the high production values in the acting, directing, writing, film editing, set design, costume (aka wardrobe) design, and music departments. An outstanding job done by the cast and crew. The minor actors did a realistic job. The younger children had no idea of the scope of the plot.

The only criticism is the zealous BGM that was not necessary to tell the story. The music in this drama should have been relegated to the opening credits and closing credits. The main purpose of the drama was to educate the Chinese drama viewing public of a pervasive crime in society. It is very unlikely that they would drop the drama, due to lack of music. In real life, we do not listen to music nonstop. Music is for entertainment purposes. While dramas are for entertainment purposes, the storyline is the driving force. C-drama directors need to wake up and smell the coffee, and put a reign on the music supervisor/editor.

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Why is this series not more popular?

This series was impressive and exceeded my going-in expectations. One issue I consistently have with Chinese series these days is how unnatural the dialogues are but this one did a fantastic job. Also, many series with the legal theme tend to incorporate a substantial amount of bells and whistles or a "genius" character but this one didn't need it.

Plot: This is one of the most well-rounded portrayals of legal cases I've come across so far. It follows some pretty heavy cases (and some lighter ones) involving minors and does a really good job with the follow-through. They aren't just presenting a case for the dramatics, fantastically punishing criminals, and just moving on. They actually do a deeper dive into the sensitivities around working with children and teens which I really appreciate.

Characters/Actors: They chose the perfect cast especially with our main FL and ML. I love that our FL isn't just some generic eye candy that is needed to overcome shortcomings of acting skills. Additionally, the individual development of the more major characters and the chemistry between them are believable and heart-warming.

There are some flaws with the series such as a sliver of corny in one particular section and the plot flow wasn't perfect. The cases initially are done with a lot of depth and the second half started to get more muddled and rushed. But honestly, this didn't stop me from binging as there was minimal lag scenes. This really should have been a 40+ episode series.

Note that while some of the cases pretty heavy, there is an abundance of just fun and natural slice-of-life humor. There is also thankfully no ridiculous romance here. I've gone a little back and forth on the score due to the aforementioned flaws but compared to other series in this genre, it is deserving of the higher score. Highly recommended- it made me laugh, hold my breath, cry, and raised eyebrows.

P.S. Not sure why this is tagged as a thriller.

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