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Great character development and relationship building
This show is a modern sci-fi/fantasy mystery featuring a band of friends investigating supernatural phenomenon. I really liked it. It’s not without flaws, but the things it does right happen to be the ones I care about, so I was happy to overlook everything else.
The biggest strength of this show is its characters and their relationships. Each of the five friends has their own personality, backstory, etc. They’re not all equally important, but at least none of them gets sidelined too badly (ie they all continue to get screentime and development throughout). They also have various fun and/or supportive relationships with each other, which all feel quite meaningful.
Luo Ren is probably the most capable and could be considered the leader. I like how he often gives insightful counsel or meaningful commentary. But everyone across the board is just really likeable, especially Mu Dai. Both girls are strong, self-sufficient, and capable- actually tough, not just occasionally doing tough things that happen to get witnessed by a love interest. The main characters are quite relatable, too, which I appreciate. For example, right at the beginning, Mu Dai gets a knife held to her throat and she starts to tear up. She has skills but isn’t hardened- makes perfect sense. Only Luo Ren feels a bit too amazing to be relatable- somebody to be admired instead, perhaps- but he has his weak moments too.
I found the main romance to be quite sweet. I really liked watching it develop, and I thought its setbacks were valid and made me root for them even more. No kisses, if that matters to you. There is a hint of a second relationship but it doesn’t move much for most of the show. I was ok with this, and I think it helps us focus more on the characters’ identities for themselves. This is the right amount of romance for me.
I do, however, feel the actual sci-fi itself is not done that well. The rules don’t seem that structured and a lot of things feel too unsystematic or random. I actually had a long list of complaints as I watched the show, but most became irrelevant after I saw the last two episodes. A lot of things do come together at the end; and, it turns out, things aren’t as random as they at first seem. But I think the right way to handle this would have been to have the characters pointing things out throughout the show (eg “that seems too coincidental”, “why would our blood happen to be special?”, etc) so the audience knows these are acknowledged gaps that will be filled in later.
On top of that, the show still takes generous liberties with logic. How is somebody still alive after being buried under mud for a day? How did they import an entire ROV to the... erm, lake in the middle of a desert? And so on. Some of the CGI and SFX aren’t that great either, which left me raising an eyebrow at a few things.
So even though the mystery does mostly come together at the end, I still feel this part of the show is a bit messy. However, it’s interesting enough, and more importantly, is a good balance for all the other things going on. ie the plot has a good mix of relationship building / character development, and action / adventure / mystery solving. These things together keep the story moving along at a healthy pace.
Actually, a lot of the story arcs are quite emotional, and left me feeling sad long after the plot had moved on. The overall tone is not too heavy, with fun and heartwarming moments as the team interacts and bonds, plus some decent bursts of good humor. But definitely this show packs an emotional punch too.
I struggled a little bit in the last ¼ or so of the show. I didn’t like the second to last story arc too much- the situation felt too dire and it was light on those heartwarming team interactions I like so much. The villain’s excessively used English also started to grate on my ears (I selfishly wish they had chosen a different language I don't know, so I could just pretend she’s fluent. Her purposefully accented Mandarin wasn’t any more pleasant to listen to). The last arc does bring things back to the more touching character-driven style, but it’s also short and rushed, and the ending feels incomplete.
The acting is very good in this show. I thought it’s very natural, and everyone has a distinct and appropriate style. I think the standout performance is Li Haocun as Mu Dai, with some really impressive scenes in the middle, but everyone across the board does a good job. I also have to praise the casting, like everybody looks perfect for their role.
I like the styling (makeup, hair, and clothes)- everyone looks good- and the sets are not bad. Some of the sceneries are quite imaginative, like towns in deep forests or sprawling deserts. This show also has some wuxia-style fighting, which took me some getting used to for this modern tech-y setting. If you tell me some modern kid has 8 years of martial arts training, I wouldn’t be impressed, so I wasn’t expecting to see Mu Dai fly like that. It grew on me though, and a lot of the choreography is fluid and pretty. I also like how some of the fights are set to slower OST tracks, giving a really artistic feel.
In general I really like the music. The BGM does a good job setting moods, although the cheerful music is a giveaway for some scenes. The OST probably wouldn’t have been my favorite outside the show, but all the songs work really well for the moments in which they’re used, and create good emotional effect.
Overall, this show has enough sci fi elements that make me want to hold it to those standards, and I don’t think that part is quite there. A good sci fi has consistent, logical world building, and mind-blowing reveals in which everything clicks together. This one is a bit messier, the entire show strung together by a confusing mystery with random clues. Still, the character development and relationship building are very well done, and the different story arcs tell touching tales, ultimately resulting in a show I very much enjoyed and binged in a few days.
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
The ending is pretty happy. Aside from a few side character deaths earlier in the show (Mu Dai’s sifu is probably the last one), everyone makes it out alive and they are all happy and together again at the end.
Still, although this ending is not framed as a cliffhanger, I think it’s incomplete enough to be not fully happy, and not that satisfying either. Many things are still unresolved- I’m actually not sure what exactly happened at the end or how they got out (plus the final showdown is a little anticlimactic), but they certainly didn’t solve the problem for good. It almost feels like a setup for a sequel, but I don’t see any hint of one in the works.
MORE MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD
This is just a general discussion.
Of all the tragic tales, I was most affected by the ones about the primate person and about Mu Dai’s mom. With the primate, at least Ao Ruipeng was as sad as I was. With her mom… I thought the actress did such a great job showing first the self-centered, negligent, but confidently promiscuous mom in Mu Dai’s memories- and then suddenly in a single flashback, a battered woman in an abusive relationship who realizes in an instant that she can’t keep a child in that environment. She was a bad mom for sure, but I think she gave her up for the right reasons, and playing the villain all these years later is her final act to set Mu Dai free.
And then we have Leopard. I don’t know if I’m missing something, but why didn’t he just splatter her all over with his own blood in the park fight scene, and be done with it?
The biggest strength of this show is its characters and their relationships. Each of the five friends has their own personality, backstory, etc. They’re not all equally important, but at least none of them gets sidelined too badly (ie they all continue to get screentime and development throughout). They also have various fun and/or supportive relationships with each other, which all feel quite meaningful.
Luo Ren is probably the most capable and could be considered the leader. I like how he often gives insightful counsel or meaningful commentary. But everyone across the board is just really likeable, especially Mu Dai. Both girls are strong, self-sufficient, and capable- actually tough, not just occasionally doing tough things that happen to get witnessed by a love interest. The main characters are quite relatable, too, which I appreciate. For example, right at the beginning, Mu Dai gets a knife held to her throat and she starts to tear up. She has skills but isn’t hardened- makes perfect sense. Only Luo Ren feels a bit too amazing to be relatable- somebody to be admired instead, perhaps- but he has his weak moments too.
I found the main romance to be quite sweet. I really liked watching it develop, and I thought its setbacks were valid and made me root for them even more. No kisses, if that matters to you. There is a hint of a second relationship but it doesn’t move much for most of the show. I was ok with this, and I think it helps us focus more on the characters’ identities for themselves. This is the right amount of romance for me.
I do, however, feel the actual sci-fi itself is not done that well. The rules don’t seem that structured and a lot of things feel too unsystematic or random. I actually had a long list of complaints as I watched the show, but most became irrelevant after I saw the last two episodes. A lot of things do come together at the end; and, it turns out, things aren’t as random as they at first seem. But I think the right way to handle this would have been to have the characters pointing things out throughout the show (eg “that seems too coincidental”, “why would our blood happen to be special?”, etc) so the audience knows these are acknowledged gaps that will be filled in later.
On top of that, the show still takes generous liberties with logic. How is somebody still alive after being buried under mud for a day? How did they import an entire ROV to the... erm, lake in the middle of a desert? And so on. Some of the CGI and SFX aren’t that great either, which left me raising an eyebrow at a few things.
So even though the mystery does mostly come together at the end, I still feel this part of the show is a bit messy. However, it’s interesting enough, and more importantly, is a good balance for all the other things going on. ie the plot has a good mix of relationship building / character development, and action / adventure / mystery solving. These things together keep the story moving along at a healthy pace.
Actually, a lot of the story arcs are quite emotional, and left me feeling sad long after the plot had moved on. The overall tone is not too heavy, with fun and heartwarming moments as the team interacts and bonds, plus some decent bursts of good humor. But definitely this show packs an emotional punch too.
I struggled a little bit in the last ¼ or so of the show. I didn’t like the second to last story arc too much- the situation felt too dire and it was light on those heartwarming team interactions I like so much. The villain’s excessively used English also started to grate on my ears (I selfishly wish they had chosen a different language I don't know, so I could just pretend she’s fluent. Her purposefully accented Mandarin wasn’t any more pleasant to listen to). The last arc does bring things back to the more touching character-driven style, but it’s also short and rushed, and the ending feels incomplete.
The acting is very good in this show. I thought it’s very natural, and everyone has a distinct and appropriate style. I think the standout performance is Li Haocun as Mu Dai, with some really impressive scenes in the middle, but everyone across the board does a good job. I also have to praise the casting, like everybody looks perfect for their role.
I like the styling (makeup, hair, and clothes)- everyone looks good- and the sets are not bad. Some of the sceneries are quite imaginative, like towns in deep forests or sprawling deserts. This show also has some wuxia-style fighting, which took me some getting used to for this modern tech-y setting. If you tell me some modern kid has 8 years of martial arts training, I wouldn’t be impressed, so I wasn’t expecting to see Mu Dai fly like that. It grew on me though, and a lot of the choreography is fluid and pretty. I also like how some of the fights are set to slower OST tracks, giving a really artistic feel.
In general I really like the music. The BGM does a good job setting moods, although the cheerful music is a giveaway for some scenes. The OST probably wouldn’t have been my favorite outside the show, but all the songs work really well for the moments in which they’re used, and create good emotional effect.
Overall, this show has enough sci fi elements that make me want to hold it to those standards, and I don’t think that part is quite there. A good sci fi has consistent, logical world building, and mind-blowing reveals in which everything clicks together. This one is a bit messier, the entire show strung together by a confusing mystery with random clues. Still, the character development and relationship building are very well done, and the different story arcs tell touching tales, ultimately resulting in a show I very much enjoyed and binged in a few days.
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
The ending is pretty happy. Aside from a few side character deaths earlier in the show (Mu Dai’s sifu is probably the last one), everyone makes it out alive and they are all happy and together again at the end.
Still, although this ending is not framed as a cliffhanger, I think it’s incomplete enough to be not fully happy, and not that satisfying either. Many things are still unresolved- I’m actually not sure what exactly happened at the end or how they got out (plus the final showdown is a little anticlimactic), but they certainly didn’t solve the problem for good. It almost feels like a setup for a sequel, but I don’t see any hint of one in the works.
MORE MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD
This is just a general discussion.
Of all the tragic tales, I was most affected by the ones about the primate person and about Mu Dai’s mom. With the primate, at least Ao Ruipeng was as sad as I was. With her mom… I thought the actress did such a great job showing first the self-centered, negligent, but confidently promiscuous mom in Mu Dai’s memories- and then suddenly in a single flashback, a battered woman in an abusive relationship who realizes in an instant that she can’t keep a child in that environment. She was a bad mom for sure, but I think she gave her up for the right reasons, and playing the villain all these years later is her final act to set Mu Dai free.
And then we have Leopard. I don’t know if I’m missing something, but why didn’t he just splatter her all over with his own blood in the park fight scene, and be done with it?
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