K-Drama 
This review may contain spoilers
Haven't seen such good chemistry in forever
Off the charts chemistry and the gangster lead is an exceptionally beautiful man.Both actors slayed the roles and the supporting cast is phenomenal as well.
I also liked the historical aspect of 80s HongKong. The only reason I am not rating it 10 is the open ending that makes the story feel unfinished.
Plot was great in the first part, with a perfect mix of comedy and tragedy, when it was focused on the main leads, but the involvement of the second "couple" made it a bit draggy .
And it better have a second season after that ending, I am still heartbroken.
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I'll Be Waiting For Season 2
I refuse to believe this is how this series ends, so yeah, I'll be waiting for season 2! I really enjoyed this series. It's giving KinnPorsche, The Heart Killers, and it reminds me a lot of Jack And Joker and honestly, many more BLs with the same vibe or story! And I enjoy those so much! This wasn't an exception. I really enjoyed the story, the characters, the way it was slow-paced, and a possible season 2?! Count me in!But yeah, the character dynamic is very intriguing. You would expect the gang boss to act all cold and mysterious, yet he's outgoing and truly just adorable at times with his "idc" mindset when he truly does care. While Ho Cho Sam looks like he would be acting like the gang boss, but instead he's actually very quiet and soft-spoken, mysterious at times, and just very #leadingtheway. And I honestly really enjoyed that swap in dynamic because, as a watcher, you'd expect the opposite based on their roles!
I really liked how there wasn't, at least in this season, some side couple that just distracted us from the main couple, but instead, we got hints and snippets of other queer representation, like the cops being with each other as a one-night stand and the girl working with the gang boss being a lesbian! I liked that, and tbh, I wouldn't mind seeing more of that in season 2 and, if anything, a little more in-depth about the cops' relationship with each other.
I enjoyed how slow-paced it was story-wise, and they weren't, like, making out by the 2nd episode. Everything was slow, and even when we did get those kind of scenes, it wasn't excessive and over the top. It was really well-balanced. The only reason why I didn't rate this higher was because now I'm here waiting for a second season :C. And though I did like the slow pace of it all, I think I would've liked to see more of the main couple as a couple. This entire season was spent on just figuring things out and finding out feelings, and towards the end was when we finally got the "yes, we both like each other," but boom! Gang boss arrested, and now we won't know what happens next.
But that's just minor. I just really liked this show, and I wanna see more of it, so I'm getting impatient already lol. It's kind of giving me PTSD of Jack And Joker, though LMAO, but anyway. Yeah, I did enjoy this series, and I'll be patiently waiting for a second season to continue this beautiful story!
Rating: 8/10
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Solid, Bittersweet Drama—Flawed, but Worth the Watch
I went into Sammy’s Children’s Day with sky-high expectations after reading so many glowing reviews online. While it’s certainly not a bad drama, having such high hopes left me feeling a bit underwhelmed by the time I finished.The Story & Dynamics:
The drama pairs a soft-hearted mob boss with a virtuous, innocent student who is the pride of his family and local community. The student’s attraction to the gangster is obvious early on, leading into classic BL dynamics as the mobster struggles to accept his feelings. However, the slow-burn pace stretches a bit too long for my liking, it takes far too much time for the gangster to finally take the leap, making the romantic progression feel unnecessarily dragged out rather than intriguing.
Tone, Acting & Production:
Where the series really excels is in its atmosphere. Set against a beautifully immersive 1980s backdrop, the cinematography is gorgeous. Instead of a lighthearted, sugary romance, this is a darker, bittersweet story driven by character tragedy and heavy emotional undertones.
The actors deliver solid performances, doing a good job portraying their respective roles. However, the show's biggest technical flaw is the dubbing and lip-syncing issues. The audio mismatch frequently broke immersion and diluted the emotional impact during key scenes.
The Ending:
The open-ended resolution clearly designed to set up a Season 2 was disappointing. By the time a second season actually arrives, most viewers will probably need a complete rewatch just to remember the finer details.
Verdict:
Overall, it’s a good show with strong production values and a unique tone. It didn't quite live up to my personal expectations due to the pacing and overinflated hype, but I still recommend giving it a watch, it has enough strengths to be worth your time.
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To Think I Started This Coz of Pursuit of Jade...
Tbh, when I heard the premise of this, I wasn't sure I'd tune in. From how the people on Twitter described it, it sounded really dark. I'd just gone through the roller coaster that was 'To My Shore'. I needed to put myself in timeout before I picked up another dark show.Then I watched 'Pursuit of Jade,' heard the drama that happened to He Chang Xi (he plays He Chu San in this), and decided to tune in out of pure spite. That was a brilliant decision on my part. Despite what the Twitter folks said, this drama isn't dark. In fact, I think it deserves a comedy tag on. The 1st couple is hilarious.
🔪Watching Chu San grow from a nervous (but very horny) kidnapped student/scriptwriter to a devoted, slightly manipulative, yet still very horny grown-up was a delight. I love how Liu Yi doesn't fit in the typical 'BL bottom' mold. He's neither dainty nor pale, naive, nor scared of everything.
While we don't see much of his mafia life, we know from the bits that the story shows us that he is indeed a very capable mob boss. He might be a little dumb in his relationship with Chu San, which honestly makes for some hilarious interactions, but outside of that, he stands well on his own.
The actors also have fantastic chemistry. And I don't just mean this because of that beautifully shot, legendary kiss scene in ep 5. Idk how best to explain it, but they play off each other really well on screen. Watching these two slowly fall in love was an amazing experience
Truly, I think the best-selling point for this show is their love story. Everything else takes secondary position
👮🏻♂️The 2nd couple with their morally upright cop and conniving investigator (honestly, idk what position Lu Guang Ming held) is an interesting dynamic. However, their story didn't grab me with the same intensity as the 1st couple. They are simply dropped in, in the middle of the story, with little to no background info given about them. The pieces of their story kept moving, but I remained confused till the last episode when the reveal happens...and then the drama ended😭
💬The story being dubbed in Cantonese was a nuisance - like a pesky mosquito-, but not enough to keep me from watching. I grew up watching Spanish shows dubbed in English. I simply needed to dust off the ability to ignore the fact that the mouth movements didn't match what I was hearing, and I was good to go. I will say, though, that
1. Training my ear to work with Cantonese was a bit of a challenge. But in the same way that it was a challenge to train my ear to hear and work with Thai and Mandarin. I quickly learned to hear Korean and Japanese. But Thai, Mandarin, and now Cantonese required a bit of work
2. Cantonese sounds very 'sing-songy' to me. It is so interesting to me. None of the languages I speak nor the ones I've encountered (but cannot speak or understand) come close to this.
3. I don't think the people who dubbed this did the best job. They didn't portray the emotions well, which unfortunately made some scenes, especially the emotional ones, fall flat
🎭The acting was not the best tbh, especially with many of the side characters. But since they aren't the main event. it can be ignored
Like many here, I would love a 2nd season. The streets say that the director and two main actors may have alluded to a new season. While I would love to trust the streets, they are not to be trusted. I do, however, hope that the universe gives us that 2nd season.
There were so many things left unexplained, unsaid, and unexplored.
. I wanna see Chu SanxLiu Yi's couple era so bad.
. I wanna see how Xie Jia Hua and Lu Guang Ming's relationship will progress
. I am curious about the big bad boss behind all the murders and the mafia stuff
. I think the wto couples may eventually become friends. I kinda wanna see how that will happen
. Will Chu San manage to get Liu Yi out of the walled city and into legitimate business? If so, how?
Sigh... so many questions, so little hope of answers. I am tempted to read the novel, but lowkey I feel like holding off.
All this yapping to say, while, yes, the story does end in a cliffhanger, I still think it's a worthy watch. Especially to witness the hilarity and growth of the relationship between HCS and XLY
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A Very Gory and Violent Slow-Burn
Sammy's Children's Day is a captivating drama and gory action series—emphasis on "gory". The relationship between the main characters, He Chusan and Xia Liuyi, is definitely a slow burn but is rewarding once you reach the final episode. If 'tsundere' in romance annoy you, than I suggest you skip this one as Xia Liuyi is pretty bratty and avoidant when it comes to his feelings for He Chusan. It isn't too annoying as most of the show is spent on the action rather than the drama/romance, but some scenes involving the main cast will definitely irritate you.Was this review helpful to you?
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Skip the last episode
I was basically a little angry at myself because I’m making an effort not to watch shows that are currently airing, because they tend to be short, and I sort of lose track of the story when I’m not binging it. That all being said I was drawn into this show early. These two guys are ridiculously beautiful and they really do have a ton of chemistry together. There’s a lot of things to love about this show. The ending is not one of them. Watch the show up to episode eight, get a very warm feeling inside for these two characters, and only watch the last episode if there’s a season two. This might’ve been the worst ending of any show that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I had no idea what was going on with the cop and the other guy. I had no idea what would happen between the two main characters. I’m not even sure if these guys become a couple at the end. Like I said, this was one of my favorite shows which made the ending, probably the biggest letdown ever. I want to say rise of Skywalker had a worst ending, but I would’ve even taking that ending as opposed to the ending that this show got. Hopefully my stars on this review give it a pretty good rating, because there were a ton of those that I intended to be 10 stars, but my finger just wouldn’t make that happen for some reason.Was this review helpful to you?
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I really couldn’t get used to was the dubbing
A bromance heavy drama with just a tiny hint of romance.The first half of the show was honestly great. It had that gang/gangster world vibe that made everything feel intense and exciting. But somewhere in the later episodes, it suddenly shifted into more of a crime investigation story with police cases, corruption, and political drama. The change wasn’t necessarily bad, but it did make the overall feel of the show a bit inconsistent.
It’s a short watch, so it’s easy to binge, but personally, I don’t think it’s the kind of drama that gets you deeply invested in.
One thing I really couldn’t get used to was the dubbing. The mismatch between the lip movements and the audio was super obvious and honestly pretty distracting at times. I genuinely don’t understand why they chose to dub it instead of using the original language.
If there’s a season 2, I really hope they keep the original language and voices, move the story into a more modern setting, and of course give us more romance or at least stronger chemistry between the leads, Inspector Xie, Officer Lu, and Dong Dong.
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.
I DON’T WANT THIS SERIES TO BE OVER 😭
I need a Season 2 right now. Like… immediately.
I liked it — no, that’s the wrong word.
I loved this series.
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Has potential if there is going to be a second season...
I liked the premise, and the main couple was compelling, but unless there are plans for a second season I gotta admit this was disappointing. The second couple added nothing to the story, if anything it felt like they took screentime from what could have been spent to the main couple. The last episode felt very rushed, and new information that had no place being there unless there is going to be continuation for this series, was added last minute. Virtually nothing got resolved either. As a standalone I would not say this was a good series, but with so many lose ends I am very hopeful that the story will continue, and if that happens I will update my review and rating for this season.Was this review helpful to you?
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I know I'm late to the party glad glad I didn't watch weekly or I would've dropped it and dropped series barely get a glance again but I watched 3 episodes per day. It felt odd watching 9 episodes - usually series have even numbers and I know this is a fan favourite. Sorry if you get confused as I still don't know any of the character's names.I felt it was a mix of a rom com and more drama, angsty series and I didn't like the mix. I've watched plenty angsty, drama, toxic dramas that do have the occasional rom com moment which helps move the plot but in SCD it just didn't work. I liked the first 3 - probably due to action - middle 3 was okay, the last 3 the amount of times I was going to drop but was like I'm nearly done the series so I'll just push through then we get added characters.
The actual story had potential with a deputy turned leader with an university student but was bland. I was thinking maybe because it was a slooooooooooooow burn but that wasn't the issue as done right it can be better than your typical romance. The pacing is what either makes or breaks a series forget about the romance aspect for a minute - it was so dragging. I thought due to the setting it would be a roller-coaster where you're trying to keep up with everything as I thought it was an area of rivals gangs trying to 1 up each other but no - another area that had potential but yet again not explored.
Was I the only one interested in the sister and her husband's story. I was intrigued on her illness and how that impacted her relationships with others. I think Quong Long liked the brother and that is why the wife never felt love from him but then they get killed and their story gets wiped and the whole getting revenge was only mentioned at most twice in the rest of the episodes and I get he needed to move on from his family but he seemed hell bent on getting revenge as it seemed liked Quong Long supposed killer said it was part of a bigger story so the audience was lied to. Maybe the supposed killer was lying to rile up Li but I felt robbed of something had potential to develop further.
Then the detectives, at first I was confused on their role as they came in the middle of the drama and this could've been we know the police is on the MC trail making the audience feel like the MC relationship is fragile and numbered making us anxious on the development of their relationship but no. I felt like I was watching 2 dramas in 1 as they didn't do much interaction and I hate that because the drama feels chunky and mitch matched - is that a word. They didn't cross paths till the end. Then the ending - come on. I hated it. I actually quite like open endings but only when I feel like I got my times and energy worth especially as a bombshell was dropped on us in the last 5 minutes piquing my interest yet again to be disappointed again as motivation, trauma, right and wrong could've been explored.
Communication is key to any type of relationship and I get communication can be hard due to being scared of the reaction, scared of your own feelings and other reasons but seriously I felt like the MC had no proper healthy communication in any of the drama.
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Period dramas with that sense of era are truly the most romantic
To be honest, the first 3 ep was quite boring—I actually dropped the drama at one point. But you just have to stick with it. After the first three episodes, it turns into a really interesting series.As a Hongkonger, I especially appreciated how a production with an entirely mainland Chinese crew and cast put genuine effort into recreating the old Kowloon Walled City. The setting, the language, and the Cantonese music all felt carefully handled.
In the first half, I kept guessing who was the 1 and who was the 0. It stayed unpredictable the whole time and completely flipped the usual “hero saves the beauty” trope—here, it’s the beauty who saves the hero. The series also has a good number of cute, lighthearted moments.
I’m glad I picked it up again.
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A Must-Watch for all Chinese BL Fans!!!
I can't get over this one!!!See, I knew right after watching the first episode that I had to let it marinate before watching! And five episodes out, I went back to it and wish I had been patient enough to wait for all nine episodes.
It is a good watch!
Don't even hesitate, get into it! And please don't skip after the first two episodes because let me tell you something, episode three is where it starts to hook you in!
I have so much to say about this show but I'll save it! You should watch it and see for yourself.
I'll just say one thing though - THE DETECTIVE AND THE INVESTIGATOR???!!! EXCUSE MEEE!!! Side romance that we didn't know we needed.
I haven't read the story, so I'm new to the whole thing but will definitely be reading it later.
Why are you still reading? Start the show already!!!!
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