This review may contain spoilers
Truly "Under the Skin": a deeper dive into human psychology
Long awaited second season turned out to be a surprise because it is very different from the first one. It brings something new and I really enjoyed the story.
The season one introduced us to how art can help in solving cases, like drawing portraits of criminals and suspects, restoration of appearance based on the skull etc. and told us how portraitist Shen Yi and police captain Du Cheng met, became colleagues and close friends and resolved their personal conflict. The sequel is focused on complexity and unpredictability (or is it predictability?) of human nature. Just like S1 it raises a lot of social issues, but further explores inner conflicts, topics of personal goals and fulfillment and boundaries of what is acceptable. Detective work combined with art and psychology like this is impressive. I won't go into too much detail, just want to say that S2 glued me to the screen as much as S1 and left me in awe of Tan Jianci's phenomenal acting. Shen Yi, powerful but compassionate, strong but gentle, with his inner demons and obsessions, searching the right path is... wow... just wow. Amazing performance! And what about his relationship with Du Cheng? Solid. Full of trust and care about each other. Unbreakable even when that conflict in the last episodes threatened to separate them. "You like to fly in the sky, and I prefer running on the ground." "I will follow you in the sky no matter where you run to... I will always be your best trump card". I love their duo so much.
So Under the Skin S1 and S2 are unique in their own way, with different emphases. Perhaps this can explain why the rating of S2 here is a bit lower, but frankly I don't think the sequel is worse. Quite the contrary, I believe it's a level-up. Can't wait for season 3, because that suspenseful cliffhanger in the end literally made my jaw drop!
The season one introduced us to how art can help in solving cases, like drawing portraits of criminals and suspects, restoration of appearance based on the skull etc. and told us how portraitist Shen Yi and police captain Du Cheng met, became colleagues and close friends and resolved their personal conflict. The sequel is focused on complexity and unpredictability (or is it predictability?) of human nature. Just like S1 it raises a lot of social issues, but further explores inner conflicts, topics of personal goals and fulfillment and boundaries of what is acceptable. Detective work combined with art and psychology like this is impressive. I won't go into too much detail, just want to say that S2 glued me to the screen as much as S1 and left me in awe of Tan Jianci's phenomenal acting. Shen Yi, powerful but compassionate, strong but gentle, with his inner demons and obsessions, searching the right path is... wow... just wow. Amazing performance! And what about his relationship with Du Cheng? Solid. Full of trust and care about each other. Unbreakable even when that conflict in the last episodes threatened to separate them. "You like to fly in the sky, and I prefer running on the ground." "I will follow you in the sky no matter where you run to... I will always be your best trump card". I love their duo so much.
So Under the Skin S1 and S2 are unique in their own way, with different emphases. Perhaps this can explain why the rating of S2 here is a bit lower, but frankly I don't think the sequel is worse. Quite the contrary, I believe it's a level-up. Can't wait for season 3, because that suspenseful cliffhanger in the end literally made my jaw drop!
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