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Truly the Dark Horse Drama for Summer 2025
One of the dark horse dramas of this year for sure. We have a drama (for once) that does NOT have miscommunication tropes between the main pair (actually, ALL of the pairs in this drama) or if there are any problems, they get resolved within an episode. This alone makes it better than so many other idol romance period dramas for me.
Let's start with the pros:
1) The characters:
Shen Wan/Qin Wan (FL): She is a wonderful character. On paper, she is a prodigy, calm, and resourceful. She recognizes that she needs to use others to climb up and doesn't remain stubborn in not trying to get those connections out of pride. Despite her calm exterior, she holds a deep respect for her father and his teachings are her moral compass in life. Her passion and empathy for the victims (and even some of the perpetrators) shines through. She has moments of strong intensity that makes her character so much richer.
Yan Chi (ML): A green flag rarity in these types of dramas. Yan Chi holds enormous military power and to put it simply, he is not an asshole which is a common trope with these types of ML backgrounds. Despite having the type of strict upbringing he had, he is respectful and kind to those who deserve it. Even when he was suspicious of Shen Wan/Qin Wan in the beginning, he was never rude and respected her skills. He is cunning and smart in a rational way and will actually communicate his thought process instead of doing things on his own.
Our other supporting ally characters are all great. Yue Ning has her highlight moments and her friendship with Qin Wan is a delight. Yan Li seems foolish, but he holds a certain loneliness in his heart due to family secrets. Fu Ling has been there for Qin Wan from the very beginning and is her stability. Bai Feng is to Yan Chi what Fu Ling is to Qin Wan.
2) The acting:
Li Landi absolutely elevated Qin Wan. She has been acting since she was 10 years old (and professionally trained) so she is leaps and bounds better than her peers in general. In addition, Li Landi (once again) uses her own voice for the character. Her voice gave Qin Wan such a mature persona that it truly makes you believe Qin Wan knows what she is talking about despite her young age. Qin Wan is a hard character to play as she can easily fall into just a preachy character who yells out slogans about women empowerment and justice. But Li Landi's acting gave Qin Wan such WEIGHT that you feel all her emotions and beliefs. She also added in the sweetness of Qin Wan during the romantic scenes which contrasted so much with the working!Qin Wan that it added another layer to the character.
Ao Rui Peng did well as Yan Chi. He has that boyish charm and is able to play a young 20 something general character very convincedly. He also added a certain warmth to Yan Chi that makes his character so much more than the typical cold ML. He was able to add that loving energy into the Yan Chi who doesn't hold back his affection for Qin Wan and will show it whenever and wherever. He doesn't withhold his affection nor pull back when he doesn't get his way. He was also able to add in the vulnerability that Yan Chi has that makes his character more human.
All the actresses/actors in this drama did their part well enough. Some are definitely stronger, but no one was off-putting.
3) The SHIP: Qin Wan X Yan Chi is one of the best couples in idol period romance dramas. They are supportive, communicative, loving, and have each other's backs like no other. The chemistry between the two characters (and due to the LLD's and ARP's acting) created such good back-and-forth that it was a joy to watch the two fall for each other. Any misunderstanding is resolved right away, and apologies are given when something wasn't done well. The confession scene from Yan Chi to Qin Wan was BEAUTIFUL.
4) The cinematography: This drama is filmed very beautifully. There are legit moments in this drama when I had to take a pause and rewind just to admire the visuals of the actresses/actors and the background in this drama. The director definitely put work in so just visually, this drama is a beautiful one.
5) The core message: Though Shen Wan/Qin Wan tries to seek justice for her family through judicial means, we witnessed throughout the cases why some perpetrators murdered (especially the women) when the system has failed them. Qin Wan empathizes and recognizes she has those moments too but continues to persist with the way her father, Shen Yi, would have wanted. This drama doesn't blindly tell you it is okay/not okay to murder, it leaves the viewers thinking why some crimes happened. Some happened because the perpetrators are terrible people, and some happened because the perpetrators didn't have the choice nor the options in a corrupted system. Shen Wan/Qin Wan through these cases have to confront her own wavering belief and not allow herself to fall the same way, because she herself has the skills and obtained the right resources to be able to fight the higher power.
All dramas are not without its cons:
1) Some of the cases: The novel has over 500+ chapters and they get really detailed. This drama has a limited amount of episodes so there is no way they can fit in all the details. Some of the cases were done really well and some of the cases ended a bit too abruptly and would be confusing for those who didn't read the novel. If you are looking for a drama where you have to guess who the perpetrator is up until the very end, this is not your drama. Some of the perpetrators are pretty obvious and the intention of this drama is more about the process of examining bodies/finding evidence against the perpetrators. The cases are meant to provoke thoughts about sexism, classism, corruption, etc. and not entirely about guessing who the main culprit is.
Edit: The last case was done really well, and the ending tied a lot of the previous cases together. Bravo.
2) Some of the conflicting dialogues: This is straight up on the scriptwriters. From what I looked into, this drama has at least 3 scriptwriters with both women and men. Majority of the dialogues are very empowering for women but there are incidents here and there with Yan Chi where the scriptwriter (most likely the man) added in dialogues that seemingly compare women to each other. These types of dialogues were not in the novel, so it is straight up on that scriptwriter. I am more sensitive to these things so I notice them, but some viewers might not care or catch onto these dialogues. I would say to just ignore some of these types of lines if you notice them because it is the scriptwriter poking through here, not the actual character.
____________
Overall, I enjoyed this drama. It had its peaks and averages, but the cast did so well that I am able to ignore some of the open-endedness of some of the cases. It is also fast paced enough that you won't feel like the time is dragging on. There are no fillers, all the scenes and dialogues happened for a reason. There are breadcrumbs from the very beginning that will be revealed in the final case. The romance didn't overpower the case-solving and instead were sprinkled through. The romantic scenes were extremely sweet. It is a solid drama for the idol drama genre at the end of the day.
Let's start with the pros:
1) The characters:
Shen Wan/Qin Wan (FL): She is a wonderful character. On paper, she is a prodigy, calm, and resourceful. She recognizes that she needs to use others to climb up and doesn't remain stubborn in not trying to get those connections out of pride. Despite her calm exterior, she holds a deep respect for her father and his teachings are her moral compass in life. Her passion and empathy for the victims (and even some of the perpetrators) shines through. She has moments of strong intensity that makes her character so much richer.
Yan Chi (ML): A green flag rarity in these types of dramas. Yan Chi holds enormous military power and to put it simply, he is not an asshole which is a common trope with these types of ML backgrounds. Despite having the type of strict upbringing he had, he is respectful and kind to those who deserve it. Even when he was suspicious of Shen Wan/Qin Wan in the beginning, he was never rude and respected her skills. He is cunning and smart in a rational way and will actually communicate his thought process instead of doing things on his own.
Our other supporting ally characters are all great. Yue Ning has her highlight moments and her friendship with Qin Wan is a delight. Yan Li seems foolish, but he holds a certain loneliness in his heart due to family secrets. Fu Ling has been there for Qin Wan from the very beginning and is her stability. Bai Feng is to Yan Chi what Fu Ling is to Qin Wan.
2) The acting:
Li Landi absolutely elevated Qin Wan. She has been acting since she was 10 years old (and professionally trained) so she is leaps and bounds better than her peers in general. In addition, Li Landi (once again) uses her own voice for the character. Her voice gave Qin Wan such a mature persona that it truly makes you believe Qin Wan knows what she is talking about despite her young age. Qin Wan is a hard character to play as she can easily fall into just a preachy character who yells out slogans about women empowerment and justice. But Li Landi's acting gave Qin Wan such WEIGHT that you feel all her emotions and beliefs. She also added in the sweetness of Qin Wan during the romantic scenes which contrasted so much with the working!Qin Wan that it added another layer to the character.
Ao Rui Peng did well as Yan Chi. He has that boyish charm and is able to play a young 20 something general character very convincedly. He also added a certain warmth to Yan Chi that makes his character so much more than the typical cold ML. He was able to add that loving energy into the Yan Chi who doesn't hold back his affection for Qin Wan and will show it whenever and wherever. He doesn't withhold his affection nor pull back when he doesn't get his way. He was also able to add in the vulnerability that Yan Chi has that makes his character more human.
All the actresses/actors in this drama did their part well enough. Some are definitely stronger, but no one was off-putting.
3) The SHIP: Qin Wan X Yan Chi is one of the best couples in idol period romance dramas. They are supportive, communicative, loving, and have each other's backs like no other. The chemistry between the two characters (and due to the LLD's and ARP's acting) created such good back-and-forth that it was a joy to watch the two fall for each other. Any misunderstanding is resolved right away, and apologies are given when something wasn't done well. The confession scene from Yan Chi to Qin Wan was BEAUTIFUL.
4) The cinematography: This drama is filmed very beautifully. There are legit moments in this drama when I had to take a pause and rewind just to admire the visuals of the actresses/actors and the background in this drama. The director definitely put work in so just visually, this drama is a beautiful one.
5) The core message: Though Shen Wan/Qin Wan tries to seek justice for her family through judicial means, we witnessed throughout the cases why some perpetrators murdered (especially the women) when the system has failed them. Qin Wan empathizes and recognizes she has those moments too but continues to persist with the way her father, Shen Yi, would have wanted. This drama doesn't blindly tell you it is okay/not okay to murder, it leaves the viewers thinking why some crimes happened. Some happened because the perpetrators are terrible people, and some happened because the perpetrators didn't have the choice nor the options in a corrupted system. Shen Wan/Qin Wan through these cases have to confront her own wavering belief and not allow herself to fall the same way, because she herself has the skills and obtained the right resources to be able to fight the higher power.
All dramas are not without its cons:
1) Some of the cases: The novel has over 500+ chapters and they get really detailed. This drama has a limited amount of episodes so there is no way they can fit in all the details. Some of the cases were done really well and some of the cases ended a bit too abruptly and would be confusing for those who didn't read the novel. If you are looking for a drama where you have to guess who the perpetrator is up until the very end, this is not your drama. Some of the perpetrators are pretty obvious and the intention of this drama is more about the process of examining bodies/finding evidence against the perpetrators. The cases are meant to provoke thoughts about sexism, classism, corruption, etc. and not entirely about guessing who the main culprit is.
Edit: The last case was done really well, and the ending tied a lot of the previous cases together. Bravo.
2) Some of the conflicting dialogues: This is straight up on the scriptwriters. From what I looked into, this drama has at least 3 scriptwriters with both women and men. Majority of the dialogues are very empowering for women but there are incidents here and there with Yan Chi where the scriptwriter (most likely the man) added in dialogues that seemingly compare women to each other. These types of dialogues were not in the novel, so it is straight up on that scriptwriter. I am more sensitive to these things so I notice them, but some viewers might not care or catch onto these dialogues. I would say to just ignore some of these types of lines if you notice them because it is the scriptwriter poking through here, not the actual character.
____________
Overall, I enjoyed this drama. It had its peaks and averages, but the cast did so well that I am able to ignore some of the open-endedness of some of the cases. It is also fast paced enough that you won't feel like the time is dragging on. There are no fillers, all the scenes and dialogues happened for a reason. There are breadcrumbs from the very beginning that will be revealed in the final case. The romance didn't overpower the case-solving and instead were sprinkled through. The romantic scenes were extremely sweet. It is a solid drama for the idol drama genre at the end of the day.
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