L13

I was thinking about adding that one! I agree with your amendment.

Under the Microscope, The Wind Blows from Longxi, The Longest Day in Chang'an, Luoyang are all gritty, well-made historical dramas, but the last two have a bit more action. The Wind Blows from Longxi is a spy thriller, so there is an investigative element. Under the Microscope is the most like Ripe Town IMO, and they both take place in the Ming period.

The Long Night and A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower are good Chinese mystery thrillers that juggle multiple timelines and slowly reveal the truth about the past like Ripe Town, but they take place in the modern day.

Most other historical dramas people might recommend are too cartoony and psychologically shallow to compare IMO.

Right, thank you for clarifying the fishermen's identities! So scratch that...

Re. Magistrate Wei's reason for avoiding Mr Xue, that's surely what he told Judge Song and it makes sense, but I suspect he also just didn't want to be recognised.

I do think Magistrate Wei is someone from the past, and also the man who met with the fortuneteller in episode 11—the fortuneteller recognised him when they met briefly in an earlier episode—but I'm not sure he's Lu Buyou and I'm not sure he's the killer. Remember that the fortuneteller was certain that it would be safe to blackmail Magistrate Wei because he's not the kind of person who would go on a killing spree... also wasn't Magistrate Wei one of the two fishing buddies who were discussing the murders as if they were mere observers? Or was that Mr Xue?

I wonder if Magistrate Wei is not actually Turtle...? And then Lu Buyou would have to be Judge Song? But maybe I'm overthinking it.

There's also the fact Magistrate Wei avoided meeting Mr Xue face to face, but Judge Song didn't have any qualms about that, so I do think it's unlikely Judge Song has a past connection to Lu Manor, but I don't know how else to fit all the pieces together.

Sangeng, what are you doing! Why are you telling Mr Xue!

My guess right now is that Sangeng realised that Magistrate Wei planned to have his identity leaked (remember how he told the fortuneteller guy "let me tell you how to sell me out"), but I'm not sure to what purpose and whether Sangeng is actually trying to help Magistrate Wei or is brewing a counter-plot to get him and Mr Xue both.

His acting during the drunk scene was more natural and convincing than any drunk scene I’ve seen in a romcom.

Holy crap, Lu Zhi's heel turn in episode 10 was really abrupt. It makes sense that he would go along with Mr Zhong's plan to kill Lu Yuanbao because he felt he was in a kill-or-get-killed situation—which, by the way, I don't think he was? Based on what I remember, LYB told Mr Zhong to kill Lu Zhi ONLY IF Lu Zhi looked like he was plotting revenge or becoming insubordinate; it seems Mr Zhong exaggerated the truth and told Lu Zhi LYB had ordered his death to manipulate Lu Zhi into joining Mr Zhong's conspiracy—but now that LYB's blood relatives have appeared and Lu Zhi is presumably about to come up with the idea to set the manor on fire to get rid of them, his plan has strayed way too far from its original purpose of merely ensuring his survival.

Which, again, if he'd stopped and thought for a moment when Mr Zhong came to him in the countryside, Lu Zhi would have realised he didn't have to go back to the Lu residence and kill LYB. If Mr Zhong had truly approached him out of the goodness of his heart, he would have told Lu Zhi to run away and then reported back to LYB that Lu Zhi died (but his body couldn't be recovered for some reason). Lu Zhi should have been capable of thinking of this solution himself and wondering why Mr Zhong didn't suggest it.

But he was so anxious and overexcited in that moment that he went along with Mr Zhong's plan to return to the Lu residence, kill LYB and steal his wealth without a second thought. And from then on, as I said, every subsequent step on the path of conspiracy led him further astray: first when he used Mr Wang's crime to blackmail him instead of trying to bring him to justice, which he had once considered the right thing to do; then by threatening Dr Cheng's daughter and toying with her future prospects in order to convince Dr Cheng to become an accomplice to murder; and finally, as we will probably see in the next episode, by killing off LYB's innocent relatives after LYB dies (and Lu Zhi's safety is guaranteed) for no reason other than money.

Again, Lu Zhi's descent into villainy happened all in the span of a single episode. It's not like there weren't warning signs earlier—he was always a bit too scheming for his own good—and LYB's savage treatment of him in episode 9 would certainly be enough to jokerfy me, so I don't blame Lu Zhi for taking it badly, but I'm still shocked by how quickly he betrayed his principles. He was such a sensitive kid! He sincerely cared about justice and goodness! He vomited when he saw a dead fish after Mr Zhong kill the two guards in front of him! All that's out the window now.

Which, by the way, let's go back to the moment when things really started to go off the rails for Lu Zhi. It's when Mr Zhong killed those guards to shut them up. That's when Lu Zhi started keeping secrets from LYB, which LYB sensed (though I'm not sure why he only blamed Lu Zhi for that and not Mr Zhong, who must have been the one to report their deaths), and that's what led to LYB deciding to give Lu Zhi a warning, LYB taking offence to Lu Zhi's drunken babbling, the kowtowing, the exile, Mr Zhong coming to tell Lu Zhi LYB wanted him dead and ultimately the whole murder conspiracy.

When I look at the full chronology of Lu Zhi's downfall, my question is, did Mr Zhong have it all planned out from the start? Is it possible that he wanted Lu Zhi to join him against LYB, whom he was already planning to kill and rob, and that's why he put Lu Zhi in compromising situations that put him on a collision course with LYB?

It kinda feels like Mr Zhong is emerging as the evil mastermind here, the one person the killer should feel the most anger toward... but we have no idea where he is in the present day. Also my theory that Lu Zhi is the killer looks way more unlikely after this episode, unless Lu Zhi came to regret his actions later in life and is now going after his old accomplices one by one and plans to turn himself in/subject himself to punishment after he gets them all...?

Dude, I don't give a shit, I want to watch this drama. Other people cheating is none of my business, nor should it be a reason to lose your job. Your private life is called private for a reason.

I've watched 4 episodes so far and in each one there's a different person behaving unbelievably rudely toward Himari. First some nosy woman who was trying to spy on her thought she was dead and the entire neighbourhood decided that was her fault for lying on the floor in her own house and wanted to take her to the police station (for what?!); then some annoying child smacked her phone out of her hand because she wasn't paying attention to him and she felt so guilty about it that she cried and apologised to him (for what?!); then her husband's ex showed up at her door, barged into her house without asking permission, and told her she was her husband's ex instead of introducing herself like a normal person, AND THEN the same woman showed up again the next day to tell her to get a divorce because the woman didn't like the NEET law and didn't like that her ex seemed to be happy with someone new... now her husband's kid brother has barricaded himself in her house, brought his annoying parents to her door and taken her hostage...?

It's insane that in every single episode there's someone walking all over Himari and treating her like absolute shit and she just takes it every time. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get out of watching it happen over and over again. That Himari is so nice that she can win over even the worst people in the world? Dude, no one's even apologised to her and she keeps cooking and cleaning for other people! I don't think being likeable is working out for her so far!

That's certainly what it looks like re. Mr Zhong's relationship with Lu Zhi, but I wonder if there's not more going on in Mr Zhong's head. When he killed those guards I thought it might be not just to protect Lu Zhi but also to protect the wounded assassin. I'm wondering if Mr Zhong might not belong to some kind of martial arts sect or criminal organisation and have been sent to inflitrate LYB's household...

I love how different episodes shine a spotlight on different characters. Earlier we had an episode about Judge Song's backstory and the experiences that shaped him into the complex, damaged—I mean morally, not physically!—and charismatic figure that he is. And in this episode we got to see Lin Siniang's backstory and her sad romance with Captain Leng. Can you imagine being in her position, looking back on the moment that decided the course of your life, and wishing for 20 years that you had been just a bit braver that night?

(Although I would blame Captain Leng too for not just telling her to come with him and promising to find her a job or keep her on as a maid or concubine—or indeed wife. Yes, it would have been reckless, but he fell irrevocably in love with her after meeting her once, which was reckless too. If either of them had been just a bit more decisive that night in the alley, their lives could have been so different.)

The grace with which Siniang and Gui'er treated each other was really touching.

On an unrelated note, Sangeng's default position at Gui'er's shoulder really makes him look like a substitute husband... boy, get a clue!

And then we got to see Lu Yuanbao's true colours when he humiliated Lu Zhi so brutally and unnecessarily. LYB always seemed like a bit of a thug to me, a greedy, ruthless man without deep emotional attachments or the capacity for self-reflection, so I already suspected Lu Zhi's gratitude to him was misplaced, but even so I got whiplash when LYB suddenly turned off the charm. I guess he really saw Lu Zhi as a pet rather than a person.

But again and most importantly... MR ZHONG CAN SPEAK? Why the heck would be pretend to be mute? Does LYB know? I think he doesn't! And why is Mr Zhong more loyal to Lu Zhi than to LYB? I mean, sure, Lu Zhi is definitely more endearing, but Mr Zhong is not a sentimental man usually... or rather, he only allows himself to be sentimental when he's with Lu Zhi. I need to know what happened after that!

I can't believe we only have 3 episodes left. That doesn't feel like enough time to wrap up all the subplots in the present and past timelines.

The last ten seconds of episode 9 shook me more than any other plot twist so far lmao

Am I blinded by how handsome he is or is Cha Eunwoo a bit more animated in this drama than in his previous ones? Or does his acting seem improved to me because the last romantic kdrama I watched was My Lovely Liar with Hwang Minhyun?

In any case I could stare at Cha Eunwoo’s polite blank face forever. Park Gyuyoung is charming and distinctive as usual. Her hairstyle even makes her look a bit animalistic (in a good way). Her styling and performance are a major improvement on the webtoon, where the female protagonist looks and acts quite generic.

Other than that, the drama is stupid (like basically all webtoon adaptations) but fun so far.

The drama ended on an uplifting note, with Kaori and Mahiro reaffirming their desire to make a movie about Rikito's story, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think will happen after that. Will the movie's release lead to renewed public interest in the case and a retrial? Will Rikito avoid the death penalty?

That's the only outcome that would warrant triumphant string music playing as the sun sets over the horizon in my mind, but there's no indication that we're leaving Rikito in a place where he is mentally capable of fighting for his life and demanding a retrial. It's true he tapped Kaori's finger through the glass at the end of her visit, but was that small gesture a sign Kaori was able to encourage him/convince him he had to live on, as she was hoping? I wish the drama was more explicit about that.

I can appreciate a good open/unresolved ending, but here I needed more closure. Too much was foreshadowed/promised earlier and left untold—for example regarding Rikito's mental health and low self-esteem and his relationships with his sister and parents—and the tone of the final scene suggested emotional resolution that felt unearned in the absence of a corresponding narrative resolution. I can well envision a scenario in which Kaori's movie doesn't actually improve Rikito's situation at all but simply "gives hope" to viewers—Kaori was saying movies exist to give meaning to life when she was talking about her dad, so I can imagine her being satisfied with just telling a moving story—but that wouldn't be a triumph in my book.

Speaking of which, another running theme that the finale completely forgot to revisit is the value/ethics of bringing to light truths that people wish to keep hidden. Whether Kaori was right to dig up every ugly detail of Rikito's story against his wishes and make a movie about his life without asking him will depend on what kind of movie she ends up making and its effect on the Japanese public; it's kind of off-putting that she herself never acknowledged these issues, even though other characters raised them with her, and they were not addressed even once in the final episode. Again, this theme could have been revisited, which would have resulted in the drama ending on a more thoughtful final note, if there were more scenes at the end. Because showing us Kaori's determined figure limned in the golden light of the sunset as the final shot of the drama strongly suggests we're meant to think she's a hero for persisting, but the drama itself raised doubts about her motivations and how much good she's actually doing multiple times, and then it refused to tell us what the actual outcome of her whole obsession was, so I can't be blamed for finding myself a little confused and underwhelmed at the end of it all rather than filled with admiration.

Basically, the ending felt rushed and unsatisfactory IMO, at least relative to the preceding episodes. But still, I really enjoyed the drama overall and thought it was very well made.

"But when Sara quarreled with Rikito, she said she wanted to bring Chiho to see him as though Rikito was already a hikikomori at the time."

I don't think Chiho agreed to come over on the premise that Rikito couldn't get out of the house because he was a hikikomori. Rather, he was supposedly recovering from a suicide attempt, so Chiho believed he was bedridden and injured. Obviously she would be the one to visit him in that scenario, instead of meeting him in a public space.

"Sara also mentioned (lie) she was rejected by Idol Agency due to her brother's social problem, but again she already failed before Chiho's accident..which is before Rikito become hikikomori."

Even before he became a "hikikomori," Rikito was unemployed and antisocial. He rarely left the house and preferred the company of cats to that of humans. He briefly opened up while he was with Chiho—which Sara couldn't stand and sought to ruin—but fundamentally he was a quiet, timid guy who stayed at home a lot and was supported (and also abused) by his family.

I do agree the last episode was the weakest one, but I wanted to respond to these complaints in particular.

Yeah, that's a great detail about Magistrate Wei. Re. Turkey, IF he's Lu Zhi, I think he could have blackmailed Mr Wang into pretending to be his relative and giving him a cover story? But if that's the case, Lu Zhi must have spent a good few years away from Du County first because otherwise someone would have recognised him. In any case, I'm not married to this theory because there seem to be too many holes in it for now.

I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that Turtle knew what Lu Zhi knew. Lu Zhi only told Mr Zhong and Captain Leng about the skull in Mr Wang's yard. He asked Turtle about Turtle's friend, but when he pointed out the student must have been killed in a place different from where he was found, Turtle just shrugged his shoulders and said he'd never thought about it, indicating he didn't find the circumstances of his friend's death that suspicious or interesting. So Turtle wouldn't have been able to deduce the truth without Lu Zhi telling him everything.

Then Lu Zhi discussed the matter with Mr Zhong and Mr Zhong told him to not even tell the dead child's parents. Do you think Lu Zhi would then turn around and just tell Turtle? Lu Zhi was both a cautious person (and Turtle was a child living in a brothel, i.e. an unstoppable vector of gossip) and someone concerned with doing things the right way (i.e. he wouldn't tell Turtle something he couldn't tell the boy's parents, IMO at least).

It's possible Lu Zhi told someone else about it, or even that he told Turtle later, but so far in the past timeline I think we're meant to assume Turtle is in the dark.

I agree Magistrate Wei is definitely someone from the past.

I also think the man with the beard (the actual killer) might be Captain Yi. The culprit's beard looked very much like Captain Yi's, to the point where Judge Song and Sangeng suspected Captain Yi based on the man's description but were forced to exclude him from their list when his alibi checked out. I think we might circle back to that in the future.

That said, I don't think he's Lu Zhi/the mastermind but rather an accomplice. The mastermind could be Magistrate Wei... or it could be the scholar Turkey. I wonder if he truly is who he says he is, and he kinda looks like Lu Zhi's younger self.

It was his younger self and his friend who hanged himself. They were the young stars of the literary world and were poised to become powerful scholar-officials, but both fell from grace. Judge Song was reminiscing about the lost potential of their youth.

Lots of women in real life are losers, but I wouldn’t call the typical jdrama heroine who can’t make a single decision on her own, thinks she’s too old to deserve love at 32, gets bullied at work because she never speaks up, etc. relatable. Rather, she’s annoying, needy and uninteresting.

What do you mean, "no bromance"? I hate the word bromance because it's childish and stigmatising, but Sangeng and Shicong's epic friendship certainly qualifies. Shicong got fired for Sangeng and took a beating for him, then Sangeng took a beating for Shicong, etc.