UnaSpenser

What a well-crafted story. Interesting construction with the shift of protagonist and the way the to parts together. Engaging characters, where you sensed depth from the acting, though there wasn’t a lot of background or exposition. Also, so many ambiguous characters.

So glad they didn’t wedge a romance in there.

Good acting all around. Maybe the best I’ve seen from Luo Jin.

Would definitely watch a second season. Maybe something a few years down the road. How do the upcoming power dynamics play out? Are there any changes in Qiao’s relationship with his (ex-) wife? With his ability to be more involved in relating to the people around him?

Maybe there’s a case that draws the bartender/lawyer into it more…. Maybe there is a story about Xiao Nan’s background: how she ended up an orphan…. Does Wu Han shift her way of lawyering and being a partner?

It’s one of the rare times that I found the end fairly satisfying, while also finding myself imagining what might happen with these people in the future.

also Goto Shinsuke is very caricaturish. Every time there is a scene with him, I feel like we've switched to an anime style.

I'm only on episode 5, but I find myself confused about why the original murder wouldn't have been reported as an act of defense.

I'm guessing that we don't yet know, who really killed him? And what role the father played? But, whoever did it, it was in response to him raping someone and was an act of defense or protection. If it was the boy, it was also an act of an impaired minor. I doubt he would have faced any dire consequences.

Is it still, in this day and age, so problematic for a woman to have been raped - in terms of social reactions attacking her? In that particular case, had they reported it right away, they would have had all the evidence of her being drugged and her injuries, etc. Why would anyone go to the trouble of burying him and pretending that nothing happened? That's a lifelong worry.

I'm hoping the story is more complex, because, otherwise, I'm finding it hard to feel the justification of the series of dilemmas it set off.

The character is dead inside, due to his past trauma, and the actor and/or director decided to play him flat. Totally flat. There is no nuance, at all. He doesn't even have any personality quirks. (being committed to the mission of one's job shouldn't be seen as quirky, imho.) I'm only on episode 8, so I haven't finished it. But, his character has had zero movement. He just plugs along doing what he always does.

That might actually be more true to life than other more dramatic presentations of trauma and recovery, but its rather boring to watch.

Its a good thing that the story is constructed well and there are enough other things to keep one interested.

thank you for explaining.

Always captivating.

The "Rose" thing?

Absolutely.

I don’t disagree with you there. It’s not that this should be a higher rating, but that others should be lower.

It’s too bad that there any standards for the rating scale.

I enjoyed it, but it did get formulaic. I was fast-forwarding a bunch in the last 2-3 episodes.

I’d say 8 is suitable. It was entertaining enough. Had the rarely seen enjoyable side characters - loved that the brothers were solid and that the older brother was so consistently sweet. But, it wasn’t stellar or had anything phenomenal about it.

Agreed. The one missing piece, though, was the mother’s history prior to meeting the dad. I would have liked to know more about why she was so vulnerable to such a man. As if she had no self-definition without him. Would not leave him even if he married someone else? And was a frightening psychopath? Would let her child become one of his tools? What childhood led to that?

But, yeah, you come to have some sympathy. In fact, the constant pontificating by the police characters, that poverty and trauma are no excuse for crimes, was getting annoying.

They said it to someone who stole money, because he had no way to earn money to eat or pay medical bills.

Natural law is more primal than manmade law. If a legal/political system leaves people impoverished and desperate to survive, natural law dictates that they will do what they need to. It’s an inherent right to survive.


And the abuse and trauma that the dad endured when he was a child? No wonder he became a psychopath. He wasn’t born that way. He needed help. Where’s the social responsibility for what happened to him, as all the neighbors stayed silent? The state is just going to kill him, like his uncle tried to? Ugh. What a tragedy.

So, that lecturing they kept doing was making them look cruel and it was evoking more compassion for the criminals.

Interesting story in that regard.

You may be right. I missed that she had been asked that question.

Damn, this drama had some darkness.

Every scene with Jiamin, I know I’m going to be so entertained. I rarely look forward to supporting characters, but she’s an absolute delight.

Oh yeah, the brother was definitely trying to get him killed.

I wasn’t sure if she even realized then. If she heard it at all, she might have thought it was Qin. Otherwise, why was she so shocked to learn of his death from the police?

I was confused by that, as well.

Maybe, she sings that to anyone in distress and she thought it was Qin making those noises?

The acting is this is good and the story is, for the most part well-crafted and it keeps your interest piqued.

The one thing that keeps bothering me is how they wrote the FL character. She is wholly unprofessional. its beyond the oh-to-common problematic drama/film construct where a character is not forced to recuse themself from a case that relates to them, personally. It always disrupts the willing suspension of disbelief, as it’s just too unrealistic and such an overused trope.

How would this person ever keep her job? In the beginning, someone else has to keep reminding her, even though she’s been on the job for years, that evidence is required to arrest and convict someone. Her gut feeling means nothing, in the legal process. Then, she runs out into the field, when she’s a tech support personnel, not a detective. She can’t defend herself in a fight, so what the hell is she doing? In one case, she just runs out of the office on her own, to what she knows is a dangerous scene. The whole lone wolf thing only works if you’re actually highly skilled and astute. To save her, her colleague suffers permanent lung damage. And she never seems to acknowledge the harm she caused.

Then, she pays for a defendant’s child’s medical bills, when she’s his prosecutor. Did she even have to study law to become a prosecutor? Do they have the concept of conflict of interest? It doesn’t seem so. Then, she sits in court pouting like a child, when an accusation is flung at her.

The work they are doing is serious and people’s lives are at stake. How could the writers make her behave like a 10-year old? It totally distracts from the quality of the drama. I feel badly for the actress. She had to have been feeling that her role got shafted.

Enjoying this, but sheesh, her voice! What is this obsession with baby voices for fully grown women? She’s a very smart inspector for their kingdom, but she sounds like a 5-year old. It’s grating. Can we stop with this?

In my 60 years, I've never met a single person who did this. I'm a parent and I know a lot of parents and I just can't imagine it.

So, okay, lets say it does happen, now and again. Its such an overused scenario in dramaland.

Wish they had written the FL character better.

I’m only on ep 3. The Yu Shi character is so unfathomable boring. She seems depressed, is totally expressionless, and only seems to exist for the sake of “loving” someone. Ugh. Why can’t she have her own life pursuits, without it being about a man?

Does it get better?