1
this has romance in spades
A stunningly produced drama with great acting, impressive sets, wonderful choreography, and a well thought out plot. Overall this story really delivered on its level of acting, character development, and plot coherency and progression. If you like detective type dramas that are heavy with the romance then you'll like this story. But what really knocks the rating down for me is how painfully long this felt. I am a binge type of watcher and I can usually get through a drama of this length in 2-3 days, but this show took me a week to get through because I kept pausing.
I love the story and the intrigue and was addicted enough to really want to know who did it which is what carried me to the end. But because the culprit was so glaringly obvious most the time I did not find myself guessing or sitting on the edge of my seat. And the obviousness being introduced so early into the case would make the fact that each case was between 3-5 episodes long feel glacial. I get that our protagonists needed to figure everything out and find the clues but the directors choice to also include the antagonists stories and the placement of them took away any suspense the cases could have delivered.
My other large complaint is that they made the protagonists boringly perfect. Both Qin Wan and Yan Chi were amazing at everything without any missteps. Qin Wan is an excellent strategist, doctor, and coroner. She is patient and composed and can predict schemes directed at her to avoid trouble. She is too perfect. I love that she is skilled and independent but realistically she should have some flaws but everything just came easy to her. Same thing with Yan Chi. He is a skilled martial artist, sees clues well, can solve mysteries fluently and quickly, and even is emotionally intelligent. He also has no flaws and the pair never make any mistakes. While good for the story it is also a bit boring.
I do love the romance though. The couples have plenty of chemistry, clear confessions and expressions of affection, and loyalty. While I did like the story as a whole and enjoyed the romance I can only recommend this in pieces. Do not try to watch in one go. But in small bits this was done very well.
I love the story and the intrigue and was addicted enough to really want to know who did it which is what carried me to the end. But because the culprit was so glaringly obvious most the time I did not find myself guessing or sitting on the edge of my seat. And the obviousness being introduced so early into the case would make the fact that each case was between 3-5 episodes long feel glacial. I get that our protagonists needed to figure everything out and find the clues but the directors choice to also include the antagonists stories and the placement of them took away any suspense the cases could have delivered.
My other large complaint is that they made the protagonists boringly perfect. Both Qin Wan and Yan Chi were amazing at everything without any missteps. Qin Wan is an excellent strategist, doctor, and coroner. She is patient and composed and can predict schemes directed at her to avoid trouble. She is too perfect. I love that she is skilled and independent but realistically she should have some flaws but everything just came easy to her. Same thing with Yan Chi. He is a skilled martial artist, sees clues well, can solve mysteries fluently and quickly, and even is emotionally intelligent. He also has no flaws and the pair never make any mistakes. While good for the story it is also a bit boring.
I do love the romance though. The couples have plenty of chemistry, clear confessions and expressions of affection, and loyalty. While I did like the story as a whole and enjoyed the romance I can only recommend this in pieces. Do not try to watch in one go. But in small bits this was done very well.
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