5
33
2
1
2
1
There are no mysteries here, only writers playing tricks
‒Overview‒
Strange Tales is a mystery detective drama set in Tang Dynasty of ancient China. If you enjoy costume dramas and mysteries, this show certainly punches above its weight in visuals, fight choreography, and acting for the most part. But it's also not for everyone. The mystery elements, while offers some interesting twists and unique setups, are not unfolded in the way that a few exceptional top mystery shows deliver. And viewers must also contend with one of the main characters Lu Lingfeng, whose brash and haughty personality can make for a frustrating watch.
‒Review‒
First a disclaimer: I'm not a big fan of mysteries, especially procedural mysteries. My reason is that they often feel like a sleigh of hand trick rather than a genuine mystery that engages the audience in the case-solving, the characters, and thought process of the detectives. The latter method is often used in long-form mysteries that span the entire show. So I was thoroughly engaged for shows like Interlaced Scenes, The First Shot, and others. But what makes the long-form mysteries great‒the complex characters, prolonged tension and stakes, the worldbuilding‒often take a backseat to the need to quickly build and resolve the cases, while keeping the audience entertained. And too often, it feels like the writer is just employing various tools like sleigh of hand, bait-and-switch, and case-solving by obscure details/knowledge. The problem with this approach is that it erodes the logical consistency and misdirects the focus on the drama to wild-goose-chase that are ultimately inconsequential. I would include legal, cop, and medical case shows in there as well as it often resolves by magical doctor pulling out some obscure medical detail to save the day. Just as ghosts are rare if not non-existent, genuine mysteries are also rare. Most of the time, it's just people, or in this case, the writers pulling tricks 装神弄鬼.
Despite this pervasive problem, I tend to look for other elements that would still make procedural mysteries enjoyable for me. There are 3 major elements: the story of the MCs, the story or message of the case characters, the cases themselves. I rarely find the latter engaging enough by itself and mostly rely on the other two elements to carry me through the show. My problem with Strange Tales is that it never provided an engaging enough backstory for the MCs, whether Lu Lingfeng, Su Wuming, or Pei Xijun. Lu Lingfeng - from proud aristocratic family, wanting to honor the legacy but not sacrifice his integrity. Su Wuming - a disciple of the famed detective/judge Di Renjie, presumably wants to uphold justice. Pei Xijun - likes Lu Lingfeng, has artistic talent, and is an unorthodox girl. And the only other discernible element is a larger conspiracy from the battle of court factions in the capital. The problem is that the character backstories barely scratches the surface, are not that compelling, and doesn't provide a hook into what makes them tick, what are their greater purpose, or what deep tensions are they trying to resolve. And the court conspiracy was only occasionally brought into the spotlight, and doesn't really make sense under scrutiny. To make things worse, Lu Lingfeng's angry and impulsive outbursts makes me want to throw bottles of sedative pills at him. Bro, you are trying to solve mysteries here, not get into bar fights. He is supposed to get better in the second season, so fingers crossed.
So the show doesn't provide me with a strong basis of continuity across the cases. I don't get to care about the struggles of the characters, their growth, or whatever their personal journey. Even the camaraderie between the characters are somewhat lackluster, as Su Wuming and Pei Xijun both come in and out, and Lu Lingfeng's anger issues throws a wrench into the Lu-Su bromance. The case characters themselves are also difficult to engage with. It's partly due to the bait-switch sleigh-of-hand tricks the writers are pulling, which makes it difficult for you to fully trust or root for the characters until the case is already resolved. As I write this, I'm struggling to remember any characters that stood out. Another small complaint I had was with the acting. I can understand Lu Lingfeng is probably written with anger issues so I give Yang Xuwen a pass. His fights were also great. Yang Zhigang as Su Wuming did a very good job, and Gao Siwen as Pei Xijun was fine, the problem is her character is not fully fleshed out. What's more glaring are scenes with the Emperor, Empress, and royals. It's too exaggerated, too on-the-nose, and erodes the polish or whatever credibility of a secretive political intrigue that the writers are trying to convey.
As a comparison, Mysterious Lotus Casebook worked because it leveraged the brotherhood dynamic of its core characters and each of the cases tied into the overarching mission of Li Lianhua to figure out the past and safeguard his loved ones. I didn't care for any of the MLC cases as they also felt sleigh-of-hand to me, but even as I tuned out of the cases, I stayed engaged with the main story. The First Shot is a long-form mystery that has several layers and twists. But it unfolded the story just as it did to the main characters, so as a viewer you saw what they saw and stayed engaged for the ride. The character backstories were also much more engaging and touching. Bureau of Transformers employs procedural format but hit on all 3: interesting MCs, interesting case characters, and interesting cases. Though to be fair, the cases are not exactly detective mysteries, so they could afford to not use writer magic tricks, and the experience was much more enjoyable. Another hidden gem is Link Click from this year, which I'm looking to review soon.
So overall I can only give it a 6 as I force fed myself this so I can check out the highly touted season 2. But by the time I finished, I was no longer in the mood to pick up s2 immediately. If they fix the MC issue for s2 where I can care for them, then it could easily be a 7, and an 8 if the case characters are interesting. I have no expectation for the cases themselves, but 2 out of 3 will do.
‒Category Ratings--
- Overall - 6
- Plot - 6
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 6
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 6
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 7
- Subtitle quality - 8
Strange Tales is a mystery detective drama set in Tang Dynasty of ancient China. If you enjoy costume dramas and mysteries, this show certainly punches above its weight in visuals, fight choreography, and acting for the most part. But it's also not for everyone. The mystery elements, while offers some interesting twists and unique setups, are not unfolded in the way that a few exceptional top mystery shows deliver. And viewers must also contend with one of the main characters Lu Lingfeng, whose brash and haughty personality can make for a frustrating watch.
‒Review‒
First a disclaimer: I'm not a big fan of mysteries, especially procedural mysteries. My reason is that they often feel like a sleigh of hand trick rather than a genuine mystery that engages the audience in the case-solving, the characters, and thought process of the detectives. The latter method is often used in long-form mysteries that span the entire show. So I was thoroughly engaged for shows like Interlaced Scenes, The First Shot, and others. But what makes the long-form mysteries great‒the complex characters, prolonged tension and stakes, the worldbuilding‒often take a backseat to the need to quickly build and resolve the cases, while keeping the audience entertained. And too often, it feels like the writer is just employing various tools like sleigh of hand, bait-and-switch, and case-solving by obscure details/knowledge. The problem with this approach is that it erodes the logical consistency and misdirects the focus on the drama to wild-goose-chase that are ultimately inconsequential. I would include legal, cop, and medical case shows in there as well as it often resolves by magical doctor pulling out some obscure medical detail to save the day. Just as ghosts are rare if not non-existent, genuine mysteries are also rare. Most of the time, it's just people, or in this case, the writers pulling tricks 装神弄鬼.
Despite this pervasive problem, I tend to look for other elements that would still make procedural mysteries enjoyable for me. There are 3 major elements: the story of the MCs, the story or message of the case characters, the cases themselves. I rarely find the latter engaging enough by itself and mostly rely on the other two elements to carry me through the show. My problem with Strange Tales is that it never provided an engaging enough backstory for the MCs, whether Lu Lingfeng, Su Wuming, or Pei Xijun. Lu Lingfeng - from proud aristocratic family, wanting to honor the legacy but not sacrifice his integrity. Su Wuming - a disciple of the famed detective/judge Di Renjie, presumably wants to uphold justice. Pei Xijun - likes Lu Lingfeng, has artistic talent, and is an unorthodox girl. And the only other discernible element is a larger conspiracy from the battle of court factions in the capital. The problem is that the character backstories barely scratches the surface, are not that compelling, and doesn't provide a hook into what makes them tick, what are their greater purpose, or what deep tensions are they trying to resolve. And the court conspiracy was only occasionally brought into the spotlight, and doesn't really make sense under scrutiny. To make things worse, Lu Lingfeng's angry and impulsive outbursts makes me want to throw bottles of sedative pills at him. Bro, you are trying to solve mysteries here, not get into bar fights. He is supposed to get better in the second season, so fingers crossed.
So the show doesn't provide me with a strong basis of continuity across the cases. I don't get to care about the struggles of the characters, their growth, or whatever their personal journey. Even the camaraderie between the characters are somewhat lackluster, as Su Wuming and Pei Xijun both come in and out, and Lu Lingfeng's anger issues throws a wrench into the Lu-Su bromance. The case characters themselves are also difficult to engage with. It's partly due to the bait-switch sleigh-of-hand tricks the writers are pulling, which makes it difficult for you to fully trust or root for the characters until the case is already resolved. As I write this, I'm struggling to remember any characters that stood out. Another small complaint I had was with the acting. I can understand Lu Lingfeng is probably written with anger issues so I give Yang Xuwen a pass. His fights were also great. Yang Zhigang as Su Wuming did a very good job, and Gao Siwen as Pei Xijun was fine, the problem is her character is not fully fleshed out. What's more glaring are scenes with the Emperor, Empress, and royals. It's too exaggerated, too on-the-nose, and erodes the polish or whatever credibility of a secretive political intrigue that the writers are trying to convey.
As a comparison, Mysterious Lotus Casebook worked because it leveraged the brotherhood dynamic of its core characters and each of the cases tied into the overarching mission of Li Lianhua to figure out the past and safeguard his loved ones. I didn't care for any of the MLC cases as they also felt sleigh-of-hand to me, but even as I tuned out of the cases, I stayed engaged with the main story. The First Shot is a long-form mystery that has several layers and twists. But it unfolded the story just as it did to the main characters, so as a viewer you saw what they saw and stayed engaged for the ride. The character backstories were also much more engaging and touching. Bureau of Transformers employs procedural format but hit on all 3: interesting MCs, interesting case characters, and interesting cases. Though to be fair, the cases are not exactly detective mysteries, so they could afford to not use writer magic tricks, and the experience was much more enjoyable. Another hidden gem is Link Click from this year, which I'm looking to review soon.
So overall I can only give it a 6 as I force fed myself this so I can check out the highly touted season 2. But by the time I finished, I was no longer in the mood to pick up s2 immediately. If they fix the MC issue for s2 where I can care for them, then it could easily be a 7, and an 8 if the case characters are interesting. I have no expectation for the cases themselves, but 2 out of 3 will do.
‒Category Ratings--
- Overall - 6
- Plot - 6
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 6
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 6
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 7
- Subtitle quality - 8
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