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This review may contain spoilers
Memorable with unique setup of mysteries
The start of the series was fantastic with the depiction of an every day couple living out their lives normally to suddenly getting drawn into the unfolding of many secrets. The unexpected turn of events will have you on the edge of the seat in anticipation of what is going down. After reading the summary, I had held off on this for a while because it sounded like another merchant-political driven story line that will drag on around this "ship case". But this definitely wasn't the case. Although it does hover over a main arc, the leads encounter numerous mysteries that are individual cases on its own. And though not perfect, the mystery plots here are done much better than some series that are specifically geared for it.
It's actually quite refreshing as well to see a couple who came from different walks of life. One from the streets and one with a scholar background. It depicts how despite the one "more sheltered" would have no idea what it feels like to grow up in the ghetto, he was still quite capable of protecting his wife in his own way. As for the rest of the family, while it's quite convenient for each member to have different and high capabilities, it is refreshing to see how each member actually had value to add.
The main flaw for me was the plot flow does start to slow down quite a bit after the initial arc. But not really to the point where you will feel the need to speed up the scenes. It just takes a different shift from the initial impression. I also do wish that more time was spent on the aftermath development of the relationships between the characters. There were many established bonds that kind of fell of because they wanted to continue moving the plot forward. So while events do trigger emotions, it was more of a tear or two instead of heavy tear-jerking. The ending also didn't feel completely satisfactory but I still appreciated that it wasn't a complete tragedy of even more deaths.
The other two nice perks with the series is that 1) I expected it to be completely somber but there is more than plenty of humorous moments that will make you smile and bond with the characters and 2) the tidbits of the historical facts with the Song dynasty at the end of each episode was a nice touch.
It's actually quite refreshing as well to see a couple who came from different walks of life. One from the streets and one with a scholar background. It depicts how despite the one "more sheltered" would have no idea what it feels like to grow up in the ghetto, he was still quite capable of protecting his wife in his own way. As for the rest of the family, while it's quite convenient for each member to have different and high capabilities, it is refreshing to see how each member actually had value to add.
The main flaw for me was the plot flow does start to slow down quite a bit after the initial arc. But not really to the point where you will feel the need to speed up the scenes. It just takes a different shift from the initial impression. I also do wish that more time was spent on the aftermath development of the relationships between the characters. There were many established bonds that kind of fell of because they wanted to continue moving the plot forward. So while events do trigger emotions, it was more of a tear or two instead of heavy tear-jerking. The ending also didn't feel completely satisfactory but I still appreciated that it wasn't a complete tragedy of even more deaths.
The other two nice perks with the series is that 1) I expected it to be completely somber but there is more than plenty of humorous moments that will make you smile and bond with the characters and 2) the tidbits of the historical facts with the Song dynasty at the end of each episode was a nice touch.
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