Like you, I am baffled by the Douban score. MDL scores are virtually always inflated, so I tend to take them with a grain of salt. But Douban really misled me this time because unlike yours my experience wasn't so enjoyable. The limited acting ability of the two male leads, especially Ding Mao's actor, and God knows how many plot conveniences seriously hindered my enjoyment.
I don't get it. A score of 8.2 on Douban (HOW?!) and 8.6 here? I do love the direction and cinematography, the soundtrack is serviceable, the actors are also pretty good, although it becomes evident immediately that the acting ability of the two male leads is pretty limited. They almost ace the lighter scenes but fail to replicate similar form for the more dramatic scenes. Ding Mao's actor in particular often seems to be overacting, the female leads fare far better though. The biggest flaw, however, is the writing. For a mystery/thriller, both the main plot and the various subplots lack any real suspense and intrigue. There are so many plot conveniences here that it gets to a point where your eyes begin to hurt from the eye-rolling.
Honestly, I expected more from this drama after reading all the praise for it in the comment section here and seeing the high score both here and at viki.com. My conclusion would be that it's one of the most overrated pieces of entertainment media I have ever come across. The 7.4 score it has over at the Chinese website Douban is fairer, but in my opinion even that is a bit higher than what it is actually worth.
My biggest problem with the drama is that for some reason everybody in this drama tends to scream their motivations, feelings, reactions? I don't mind melodrama, but there's a far better way to do it than what is at display here. It just makes all the characters seem garish. Every scene doesn't need to be loud; the director needs to learn subtlety.
My biggest problem with the drama is that for some reason everybody in this drama tends to scream their motivations, feelings, reactions? I don't mind melodrama, but there's a far better way to do it than what is at display here. It just makes all the characters seem garish. Every scene doesn't need to be loud; the director needs to learn subtlety.