❌❌❌ SPOILERS ❌❌❌

Some details in the story that made Abyss such a solid, intelligent and well written crime drama. By the end, everything is answered with literally no plot holes or inconsistencies in the writing. The drama did a lot of ‘show instead of tell’ and rely on the acting of the characters to tell us the real truth. This kind of writing with layers and details are the one that separate between excellent script and other scripts in the industry:

📄 INCONSISTENCIES IN THE WRITING AND CRIME DETAILS

These are not mistakes made by the production team or director, which I initially thought was the case. But all these inconsistencies are actually clues to the final revelation at the end. For an example, how its solo picture in Bi Dehua’s room but a trio picture in Han Pinmu’s room since its a photoshopped picture. Or why the crime is not consistent like its a mix between robberies and sexual assaults and why would they let the last victim survived? The answer since its a mixture between real serial killers and copy cat killers thus the inconsistencies in the crime cases.

🛑 HU XIAOFEI’S CRIME

I also like how some of the detail in the script just show instead of tell us like how Xiaofei saw his dad kissing Lu Xiaohua (which Bi Dehua has feeling to), then when he was tortured, he said he will give the 2 murderers someone to rape which of course is Lu Xiaohua which is the chapter that Han Pinmu conviniently skipped — as it didnt paint Xiaofei as a victim in the story.

🏡 HOW SONG LAIFU FOUND HU XIAOFEI’S HOME TO KILL HIM

Again, the drama show instead of tell on how Song Laifu managed to find Xiaofei’s home address and killed him. It is such a miniscule information but they told us that when they show Sun Qiang followed Han Pinmu when he visited Xiaofei to calm him down in the first episode.

💵 ZHANG’S ORIGIN OF MONEY TO KILL LI CHENG

The money that Zhang has to hire Sun Qiang to kill Li Cheng is kinda implied when he supposed to give the compensation money to fake Song Laifu’s sister. The sister agreed for his brother’s identity for a merely RMB10,000 eight years before, so they do not need to pay that much to shut her up (RMB150,000) as Zhang suggested to the hotel owner. Also, Li Cheng’s ‘Top Detective’ mum 🤣 is correct in her deduction that Zhang met the sister first before the disturbance to ask for money from the hotel owner (it wasnt the other around like Li Cheng said as the hotel owner only agreed for compensation after the disturbance). Its indeed that Zhang is the mastermind behind the whole thing as it didnt make sense for merely hotel manager to have that kind of money to hire a killer.

❌ WHY THE CRIME STOPPED FOR 8 YEARS?

This is because Zhang & Song Laifu are not psychopath that need to constantly release their ‘need’. Thats why they only robbed their first victims as their main reasons has always been money. Once Zhang has a stable income and flow of money as a hotel manager, they do not need to commit crime anymore and the copy cat killers helped them sealed their identities. The raping also stopped since Zhang now has been raping his wife for all those 8 years so he doesnt need to find a new victim to satisfy his ‘needs’. That is the secret relationship that the wife mentioned in one of their conversations together in their house.

👬 WHY CHEN CHUNLI NEVER IN DANGER DESPITE WORKING CLOSELY WITH HER 2 MURDERERS?

The plot twist at the end on how Chen Chunli staged her own attack answered this. Chen Chunli never in danger despite working very closely with Song Laifu and Zhang, since they truly didnt do anything or need to silence her.

👻 WHEN GUO PENGFEI STARTED TO APPEAR IN THE STORY?

He is the ‘ghost entity’ that kept looming in the background since the early part of the drama. He first comes into the picture in Episode 4 when his mother in the hospital. Its not a filler scene where the police ask Chen Chunli where is her son as the purpose is for him to go out of town first before the last crime happened so that he is totally ruled out as a suspect. Then he later appear again in the karaoke scene as a ‘repeating student’ in the gang of 4 bestfriends of Han Pingmu, Hu Xiaofei & Xin Xiaoliang. And later the scene where Han Pinmu saving Guo Pengfei from a bully. So when they first show the picture of a man caught in the CCTV to Chen Chunli, I knew right away that it is his son which is the ghost entity and final revelation in the drama. This is how well written is the drama so you can guess it right away as the clues has been there since the beginning.

🏥 WHY XIN XIAOLIANG IS NOT PART OF CHEN CHUNLI COPY CAT ATTACK THAT NIGHT?

He is lucky in that case since he injured himself while they are attacking Bi Dehua and has to go to the hospital to get stitches for his head injury. The interesting thing about this red herring is that its attempted for us to see Xiaoliang as the criminal which is false when they check his DNA but its actually a clue as well on how he is injured while trying to frame Bi Dehua. The red herring is a mix between the truth as well.

💢 WHY CHEN CHUNLI NEVER TELL GUO PENGFEI THE TRUTH AND LET HIM HATE HER?

Mother’s love. By keeping this secret from Guo Pengfei, despite he hates her is her attempt to make him live a rather happy and normal life unlike his friends where they all live unhappy and suffering lives full of guilt.

⚖️ HAN PINMU’S REDEMPTION ARC

Li Cheng & Han Pinmu is actually same coin of different sides. Both have the same personality, loyal, form deep friendship with everyone around them, close to their mothers and in search for the real truth. However, one take the rigth path where the other the opposite. I love when writer did this kind of foil relationship. And this comparison made Han Pinmu more irredeemable when you take into accounts all the details in his redemption arc. Since even until the end, he never truly come clean about his sins, never attempted to clear Bi Dehua’s name or bring the real truth/justice to light. How he skipped one chapter (Lu Xiaohua case) and deleted the last chapter (Chen Chunli case) since in both stories, they are not the victims but criminals — this whole sequence tell us the insights into his real thoughts. Till the end, it always about making himself like a victim instead of taking responsibility.

🔪 DID DU JUAN REALLY KILL HAN PINMU’S MOTHER?

Yes, while the story didnt outright said she did this, it is implied in the story. Du Juan hired his ex-boyfriend; Fang Meng to do the deeds. That is why he has this guilty face when Li Cheng is interragoting him at the prison and why he keeps extending his sentence so that he is safe from being killed by Han Pinmu. Also, the biggest clue is how after he hit Han Pinmu’s mum, he is very calm and relax and check her vital to make sure she is truly dead instead of panic like any normal person would.

🕵️‍♂️ CAN THIS CASE SOLVED WITHOUT LI CHENG INVOLVEMENT?

Probably no. The reason why this case is solved is due to Li Cheng’s close relationship with Bi Dehua. His iron-clad conviction that his brother is innocent is the driving force for him to go extra miles to investigate this case and look the case from another angles as the inconsistencies in the crimes are pretty obvious despite they all have the same murder weapon. And he only managed to do that when he requested to treat the last 2 murder cases separately and there he went to visit Bi Dehua’s home and gather new evidence regarding the photos and confirmed the deceits from Han Pinmu’s confession at the hospital.