Vicariously

Yeah, that's the right way to think about it imo. Especially the last couple of episodes, I felt like it went into a totally non-serious direction (which is fine if you like fluffy dramas) but not really my taste

Oh, I don't think you're wrong to say he was a coward when he was younger - he definitely was when he first left her. Between Zhou Luo and Lin Fang Lu, Zhou Luo wronged her much more at the start but he felt guilty and changed his mindset. Lin Fang Lu also felt guilty for being a bystander, but didn't change enough. They're both still possessive of her, but Zhou Luo at least understood that her freedom should come first. Lin Fang Lu's all caught up in his feelings seeing himself competing with Zhou Luo. And it's all one-sided anyway, Zhou Luo doesn't spend much time thinking about him as a rival (he just doesn't wanna get caught). Like you said, it's about maturity, and for all his age, cleverness, and knowledge, Lin Fang Lu lacked this.

I wonder if Zhou Luo didn't exist, maybe Lin Fang Lu would've successfully gotten Nan Ya out, because he wouldn't have been sidetracked. He can show that he's the smartest person around by proving her innocence rather than her guilt.

I think you've done a great job summarizing it! I don't know if it's that people don't understand Lin Fang Lu so much as we don't like the choice he made. When faced with his contradictions (wanting to help Nan Ya vs. needing to discover the truth as a police officer), he went the wrong way. Discovering his background at the end (coming from a home with domestic violence) only makes me feel like he's even more in the wrong, especially since he makes it clear how thin that line is between committing a crime to protect oneself. His self-awareness just doesn't amount to anything concrete. Which, honestly, is probably pretty realistic - it's relatively easy to admit things about yourself and feel sad, but a lot harder to actually act on them.

The point that you made about how Lin Fang Lu interacts with Zhou Luo, I think the romantic part of his relationship with Nan Ya is also on his mind. The scene at the last episode where Zhou Luo confesses how he and Nan Ya staged the scene, the kiss scene doesn't make any logical sense. They're staging a fight to draw attention, why would they kiss in the same spot? But you can see Lin Fang Lu appear right then in this flashback, he's watching them voyeuristically. So part of me wonders if that part is only in his head, if it's his jealous imagination.

Yeah, I'm a bit confused by the ratings too. The other thing that annoyed me a lot about the ML is his awful parenting. I guess it kinda runs in the family, but it's just so weird to see the people you're supposed to root for in a show have this flaw. Even by the end of the show I still get the feeling he cares more about the FL than his own kid. This guy's priorities are just all out of whack.

IMO your theory makes sense. It's just hard to explain why someone who feels bad for Nan Ya, who helps prove a lot of things in her favour, has this need to keep pressuring her and Zhou Luo. It's like he doesn't understand the consequences of his actions. If he cared so much about Nan Ya, he shouldn't have gone down the road he went. But I guess that was a constant point with him - he's the kind of guy who was never helpful to her when she was in trouble, who never took any risks for her. It's gross to see him glorified at the end, feeling all relieved, when he should be feeling guilty AF for what he's done - putting someone innocent behind bars. And finding out about his own background makes him even less sympathetic, because it makes him look even more cowardly for not helping Nan Ya as a police officer.

This ending is just so weird, so baffling, it just doesn't follow anything that happened before, that I have to assume the process of writing it was complete chaos. But when I step back from it as a drama and think about it (other than the Qing Li part), even though the story isn't satisfying and it's thematically incoherent, the events generally make sense as the kind of miscarriage of justice that happens all the time IRL.

Who even finds about her life because of the case, anyway? Isn't it just the cops? Realistically I think the people who hated her and looked down on her before still would in this kind of situation, because she's in jail. Wasn't that why there was such a focus on leaving the town, because the people there were just so biased?

I don't know if this is what was intended, but the Lin Fang Lu scene makes more sense if there was pressure being put on him to solve the case. If he was going after Nan Ya against his will, knowing that it was wrong, then this would be a very natural reaction, to feel guilty and ashamed.

Yeah, she really lost her agency at the end. A drama like this shouldn't end with the ML taking the focus, that's just not right. Obviously I know censorship is part of the reason, but it's still messed up

When I first started the show I was a bit worried about whether his character would be too arrogant and detached, but I thought he was actually quite likeable because he seemed sincere and empathetic to people hurt by crimes.

For his background story, I liked it at the beginning, but I wish his mom's death hadn't been a crime that needed to be investigated. Part of that is because he had such a nice dynamic with the other brother, and it would've been nice to see that continue. I also felt like that story became too generic, while the actually intense and gripping scenes were the ones that were just random crimes (especially the story about the cult).

The biggest fantasy here isn't the zombies, it's the cops that are so peace-loving that they won't even shoot the zombies. I don't believe there are cops in any country that are even remotely like that

I don't get how people watch dramas like these a few episodes at a time as they air. Seeing Shen Tunan be an idiot episode after episode, and Lin Qiaosong do horrible things left and right without any consequences, I feel like it would be 10x as frustrating if you're not binging the drama.

Felt like there were a few places where the Communists didn't really sound like what a 30s Communist would be like (i.e. being too pro-market)

It seemed like he was jealous of Zhou Luo's greater level of commitment and care for Nan Ya. And I feel like part of him wanted to feel like Zhou Luo was the same as him, so when they interrogate him they try to make it seem like Zhou Luo's feelings/actions for Nan Ya were nothing compared to Xu Yi. And all that leads to her being imprisoned. I think there's a point where the police tell Zhou Luo 'there's nothing you can do for her', but it's really Lin Fang Lu who truly does nothing for her.

Honestly, it's been haunting my mind ever since. I just haven't been gripped by a romance like that in a really long time. Usually dramas are a bit predictable and boring, but here it actually felt like something different and unique was possible. I feel a bit let down that it just fizzled out like this

Yeah, I wasn't into that at all. Why didn't they just have that scene at the end of the drama?

What's the opening theme called?

Kinda wish the actor who played Cho Heon was the vigilante, it would've been far more impressive. The MC just looked like a child by comparison.

Yeah, those tropes just make some episodes feel kinda generic. I get that dramas need conflict to keep people's attention, but this is a cop show, there are a million ways to do that.

One Dollar Lawyer's a good comparison, they're pretty similar. I feel like this show had a bit more potential as a comedy since it had a better premise, but the last few episodes were a let-down.

I liked it a lot, but it's kinda more of a season that's good because what it's trying to say rather than its plot. S1 was more engaging and exciting to watch but more unrealistic, while S2 was less engaging but a lot more real. And it felt like the author's voice/message came through a lot better

To be completely selfish, when we have talented writers like this, you want them to keep making original shows