Needs more hype!
This drama delivered everything it needed to and left me fed from beginning to end. I haven't watched a Chinese historical drama in a long time in which the ending left me content, but this did. That alone deserves a 10.In this drama Beiming is burned but rises from the ashes just like a phoenix. A character that wasn't overpowered but not useless or stupid. Throughout all the misfortunate events that took place in his life he fostered strong relationships both old and new. Wang Xingyue and his fellow actors and actresses did awesome jobs of becoming their characters.
The villain of this drama was written so well that in the end it left a bitter taste in mouth when that person said their last line to Beiming. Almost spit blood. I didn't really hate anyone in the drama funny enough, not even sure how that happened. Yes, many lost their lives due to the main villain, but many other characters were villains who received second chances.
This drama deserves all its praises. It may be one of my top 3 dramas of 2025. I don't want to give anything away but if you see any comments comparing it to Coroner's Diary please don't believe them. I watched Coroner's Diary before this and can say that they both have no similarities from plot, wherein this was focused on one major case and Coroner's Diary was not, to status with almost all main characters were princes and princess and in the wanted detective was focused on common people without connection to the imperial family bloodline. That being said they are both great watches.
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This review may contain spoilers
Yesha is coming for us all!!
This Drama is an absolute Gem!!- Good mix of horror, suspense, mystery
- Great detective work! Some of the cases, especially the last couple episodes were mind blowing!
- Mr Xiao Beiming is the Chinese Sherlock holmes for sure! Though impatient at times, he finally did solve the Yesha case!
- Mr Feng as the coroner was amazing!
- And Mr Yesha/ aka Bei Kun/ Tong Shuang! Wow! Phenomenal actor!
- The only reason I gave 9/10 is cause the romance was barely there. And this is just my personal opinion, but I think FL should have been someone else
I have to say, it took me a good few episodes to really get into the story, since I wasn’t liking the FL at all :( But if you ignore the romantic arc, it's a really good detective drama!
The way they solve mysteries along with the Little White dragon guy from Poison Valley and Ms Huo as well, every character (except FL) was really well written!
And the main storyline of Haiya and Haiya's orphans. Wow....just wow! The portrayed grief, hatred, horrors and the untold stories of the lost families lying in pool of blood in the Lonely Town! Masterfully done! It's bound to make you cry!
And our Mr Yesha! I'm so amazed that this guy is just 24 years old and did such a fabulous job palying the victim Tong Shuag and the villain Yesha! The switch from cute younger brother to actually being the older brother of Beiming! The expressions, the voice change! Everything really made his portrayal of the madman character, the Yesha so believable!
Rewatch value: 9/10
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Fast paced, exciting to the end
Zhong XueMan and Xiao BeiMing are 2 childhood friends who grow up to become constables in an Elite Constabulary Unit headed by XueMan's father. BeiMing is a star disciple, a wonderboy brimming with arrogant hubris professionally, but genuine in his affection for his betrothed XueMan. Hot on the trail of a notorious & unknown serial killer targeting court officials, an ill-fated plan blows up right on their very wedding day, causing him to fall from his lofty pedestal into a fugitive in hiding, framed & branded as the killer he was hunting.This drama is a very complex murder mystery featuring one of the most creatively gruesome modus operandi I've seen on tv (will never look at needle & thread the same again). But I didn't have too much time to dwell on that as the list of suspects, allies/foes, & general who's who is ever expanding & shifting. The story takes us through a fast paced & seemingly endless series of murders, as XueMan & BeiMing dig deeper into a history involving BeiMing's origins, uncovering an horrific incident to shake the very foundations of the kingdom. At the heart of everything is a revenge story with a seemingly fluid villain which didn't actually make much sense until toward the end when secret histories get revealed.
The only thing central & unchanging is XueMan's and Beiming's deep trust in each other that suspicion & separation can't breach. The drama nicely interweaves their relationship within the action of story without it feeling like two parallel arcs. And as their relationship is established from the beginning with their marriage, we're spared from silly & immature romance tropes cluttering up the sleuthing.
And as with all good murder mysteries, you're always left guessing until the exciting ending, with twists & surprises throughout. There are no lagging moments so you're left rather breathless, but this is one of the better shows I've seen this year.
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The acting of the cast is also cool and good. I was even carried away by the very good chemistry of our main actors Wang Xingyue and Xiang Hanzhi, they are very professional in conveying it as if their feelings are very deep even though this drama is not a romance genre, but there is still a feeling of love in this drama, even though it is not much.
Besides that, I also really like some of the OSTs of this drama.
Actually, I really look forward to Wang Xingyue and Xiang Hanzhi being reunited in one project, but with the genre of a romantic drama, their chemistry will definitely explode! 🔥🔥💖
Overall this drama has a very good storyline and is cool!! 🔥🤙🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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This review may contain spoilers
From Badass to Brain-Dead: FL Ruins The Wanted Detective
I came to this drama with expectations. WXY has a solid track record as a male lead, and I was especially excited to see the female lead again after her impressive role as Mu Xingge in Love of the Divine Tree where she was intelligent, sharp, protective, and a total badass. But here? She’s been reduced to the most brainless, irrational character I’ve seen in a while.She’s known the ML since childhood, but the moment her father dies, she jumps to the dumbest conclusion ever: blames him for murder just because he was there when it happened. That’s it. No evidence, no logic, just vibes. Then fast forward three years, they meet again and what does she do? Poisons him. Yes, poisons her own husband. Why? Because she doesn’t want him to escape. And sure, she intended to use a poison that would only block his martial arts… but.. She “accidentally” gave him a fatal poison with no antidote. Like, girl, are you hearing yourself? What kind of twisted logic is that? Poisoning the man you supposedly still care about? I’m sorry, but this FL isn’t just flawed, she’s straight-up idiotic.
Watching her alone was enough to make me want to throw the whole drama in the bin. The writing made zero sense, her actions were painfully stupid, and the fact that the ML still chased after her, begging for forgiveness for something he didn’t even do? That just made it worse. He deserves better. We all do.
This drama is an insult to intelligence. Hard pass.
**LET ME BE CLEAR: I’m not hating on the actress herself. She’s undeniably talented and has already proven her acting skills especially in LoTDT, where she nailed the role. But in The Wanted Detective? The character she plays is absolute garbage. The personality, the decisions, the logic (or complete lack of it) are just plain stupid. It’s honestly frustrating to watch someone who’s clearly capable as an actress be given such a poorly written, brain-dead role.
Great actress, trash character. Period.
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Fun, Engaging Mystery
Over all this show was fun, engaging with a clever plot that unravels at a good pace.. It doesn't give itself away until it is ready to reveal elements. Particularly enjoyable that it doesn't sacrifice character, especially romantic leads, for cliché plots. Both the Female Lead and Male lead are well developed and acted. The romance element doesn't subsume the story so things unravel naturally and characters develop, learning as things happen. Even the secondary characters have depth and are able to contribute to solving plot points. The only real flaw is that the Villain Lead when revealed feels over the top to the behavior of the character previously and becomes a bit stereotypical.Was this review helpful to you?
Worth watching
This drama was good. The plot twist was very good as well. The unexpected twist was amazing and I just wish the villain suffered a little and regretted why he did all he did. Though the villain was one of my fav casts but I just wish we could see small of his suffering. Also, the main lead is super smart and he was so fast with his thinking. I wish I saw more of him fighting.Was this review helpful to you?
Did not expect the plot twist
The plot twist of this series really insane I try to guess each episode every time and my most suspect person is Zhuge Kongyun and unexpectedly it turn out to be the person that I never have doubt in any episode. From my point of view FL and ML don’t have much chemistry as a couple but more like a partner who work together I get that they’re growth together so they seem more like that as siblings and partner I mentioned. Everyone in production team did a great job in this series.Was this review helpful to you?
Too Many Twists, Not Enough Sense
The Wanted Detective starts off fast-paced, which initially made it a bit hard for me to follow — especially with the English translations. As the story progressed, it became increasingly messy and illogical. New clues and twists were thrown in rapidly, making it feel like someone was just adding layers for the sake of complexity rather than coherence. The result was a confusing and overly complicated plot that never quite found its footing.For my taste, it was also a bit too violent and borderline horror in tone, which didn’t help my enjoyment.
That said, the actors are truly talented. Both leads, only 23 years old, have great potential. I had seen them previously in The Double and Love of the DivineTree, where I thought they shined. Unfortunately, in this drama, I felt their talent was wasted and maybe badly directed.
I couldn’t connect with either the female or male lead characters — they felt unlikable and underdeveloped. I would love to see the male lead in other fantasy or costume dramas, especially something with an "enemies to lovers" dynamic.
Production quality was decent, however, by episode 6, I found myself bored, frustrated, and completely disconnected from the plot, so I decided to drop it.
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What a masterpiece!.. until episode 3
Initially, I was really excited to watch this series. I mean, Wang Xing Yue acting as a detective sounded too good to be true. As for Julia Xiang, I was quite excited to watch her again after her fabulous work in 'Love of the Divine Tree '. Safe to say I had high hopes for this drama.Episodes 1-2 were interesting.. I could see the buildup of the drama and the potential. The acting was good, and the story was direct and smooth. Though the sudden acquisition of the ML being 'Yesha' really took me by surprise. I totally did not expect the blame to shift towards the detective who tried solving the case. Episode 3 totally drowned my expectations. The FL kept the same expression on her face throughout, and the story started to degrade. The ML suddenly appeared out of nowhere after 3 years to face the female lead with 'some' clues. I am talking about the same ML that boasted about solving the case in 3 days. ML is probably the only reason why my ratings aren't lower; his acting made up for a lot of parts. The scene where the FL 'accidentally' poisoned him felt like a rush. Something so serious happened to the ML, and it was taken quite lightly. It was as if she barely felt any remorse. To think that the FL technically married the ML, yet again.. Her doubtful stoic expressions fell short of my expectations.
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Too Boring with Super Annoying FL
I picked this up to fill in my time as I wait for Shadow Love to release all its episodes. I first saw Wang Xingyue in The Double and he was not bad there. Thought i’d give this a try. Turned out it is not my cup of tea. The pacing is too slow, storyline is messy and not intriguing enough, and the FL just annoyed me to bits.For somebody who grew up with her childhood sweetheart, a fellow disciple who later became her husband, brought up in super elite investigative household, the FL was too damn quick to fall for the framing and blame him for her father’s death. Like don’t you know him enough to suspect that he might have been framed? Did all the evidence including of previous murders really point to his direction other than him being the only survivor at a crime scene with a panic look and inability to speak? And you’d really think had he really been the culprit behind those serial murders, he would serve himself on a silver platter for you to slaughter after conveniently escaping the crime scene, laying low for three years and committing 3 murders again that he can easily walk away from? For real girl? I couldnt stand her illogical, incoherent bearing so am dropping this. I have seen much brighter and sound minded FLs so I couldnt relate to her character that supposed to be a brilliant detective here. I mean come on, she was groomed to be a super detective by the king of detectives, and that is all you can show us of her potential? Of all people, i thought she would be the one who would have assumed that her husband was framed. But noooo. She jumped at him on attack mode at the very first sight! She was so damn cruel to him that I couldnt help to feel sympathy for ML. And to think they’d probably reconcile later is even more frustrating. I know I wouldnt get back with somebody who joins the witchhunt as I got framed, when she of all people shouldve known me better than everyone else, sparing the benefits of a doubt for my sake. Extremely disappointing cuz i was expecting a smart FL. So yeah, not my cup of tea. Moving on to the next drama until Shadow Love completes releasing its episodes.
On a side note, the cast did a really good job in that 4 episodes that I saw. Thats the only redeeming quality that kept my rating from dropping below 4. Good job for the cast but honestly, I’d rather spare myself from getting annoyed and angry with the misunderstanding.
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Excruciatingly Boring!!!
All I can say is this drama is just too boring to continue watching after 3rd episode. And I agree with others that the idea the FL poisoned her husband the ML right away is purely idiotic and the poison ends up being uncurable like what the heck!!! If she truly believes he killed her father then why not just kill him right away, why bother poisoning him for what??!! What is the writer's logic is this? Also it looks like there is absolutely NO chemistry between the FL and ML. All in all the story line is just boring and dumb, not worth wasting my time to watch 36 episodes of pure boredom!Was this review helpful to you?
