Wenxia

I agree with you about the attitude. For Han Chuang to let it go with nothing more than a gentle scolding was underwhelming. Even if at first he wanted to give Gao the benefit of the doubt, the moment he learned of a personal connection, he should've pulled him from the case. Not to mention he knows Gao can't keep his cool, so he could easily become a liability. I'm more or less ambivalent towards both of them.

Well, I'm on ep13 and I can't really say anything in his backstory explains or excuses his behaviour. I think we were meant to find him suspicious at first, but whatever was in the script I think the actor overdid it and came off as too unprofessional and unlikable. The drama is pretty good and he's a small part of it, so don't drop it on his account.

edit: forgot to mention this drama has a lot of nuanced social commentary, so him using his authority as a policeman in such a way could be a delibarate part of that.

They have a heart to heart in ep11 and work briefly together in ep12.

ep8/9
Damn, I was rooting for Qian and Tu Chunyan to escape to Sanya, but there were so many happy scenes of them in recent eps it was obvious one of them wouldn't make it. The story is becoming increasingly fatalistic. But the mystery holds, I still can't decide if there's one killer or several.
Also, the direction is pretty good - I really liked the night scenes by the malt silo.

Haipeng's been my prime suspect since ep1(on ep5 now). I kinda like that she's not very sympathetic for a main character too.

Lace doily on TV is such a classic lol. I appreciate dramas where everyone is sus, especially the leads. The factory buyout story using money that was previously stolen from it seems familiar. I think it actually happened in my country...
This drama helps me prepare mentally for winter;)

This is a tragedy fest!! I have only 2 episodes left, but I don't know if I can bear to continue because the sadness-to-happiness ratio is completely out of whack and it's really draining to watch.

I finally finished this after a long break and I just feel so out of sync with the story. I don’t know how many times I murmured ‘I don’t get it’ to myself while watching the second half. When the finale rolled in poetically with a heavy dose of ambiguity, I realised I must’ve missed/misunderstood some points along the way and in order to get it I’d have to rewatch the drama, except I don’t really have enough interest to rewatch it …so now there’s a dilemma:)
I thought the story was building up (slowly) to a certain type of resolution but the expected culmination points never arrived while others came out of nowhere, turning the story into a series of confrontations where people act in baffling ways. I had to turn off my emotions at one point because I felt bad for the people caught in the struggle between the main characters and it became obvious the story was out there to make a point not to tell a relatable story. That and the IMO unrealized potential of Luyao’s character (who I was absolutely mesmerised by when she first appeared) diluted my enjoyment of the drama. While beautifully atmospheric and well acted, this is without a doubt not my type of storytelling.
So a note of advice to anyone planning to or just starting this drama: don’t make too many assumptions early on or hang too many expectations on these characters and you’ll probably have a better experience.

I see it the other way around:) I don’t think they gradually develop feelings. I think the school flashbacks are meant to show us the feelings are already there on day one when they meet again in the office. That's why they can't let go and just become normal coworkers, but they don't know how/if to move forward either, which makes them default back into that comfortable old rivalry. All the lies they tell while their eyes and body language say another thing is what made the story so engaging and enjoyable to me.

This is a really good thriller - very high-tension. I had to skip forward a bit to see what's coming and release some of it. Definitely a drama where you want to check out the trigger warnings before watching. Taiwanese productions have this distinct way of mixing tragedy with comedy that always appealed to me. …or maybe it’s just that I dislike heavy melodrama so this mix of heavy themes sprinkled with light comedy and romance works for me really well. It makes the story easier to digest and somehow more relatable. I liked the tone it ended on as well, even if I didn’t like everything about the resolution. Some of the subplots definitely needed more screen time. Still, one of the better dramas I’ve seen this year.

So much fun! I started this randomly today and ended up binging 6 eps. I was afraid it's going to be cringy, but it's genuinely funny and also a good story. The conflict between employees doing their utmost not to disappoint such a wonderful boss and him crying and raging inside with every success is so well done. Give it a try:)

Left, right, left... That game sequence in ep1 was ridiculously funny 😂😂😂 I hope I stumbled upon a gem because this looks like my type of absurd humour!

It's so interesting to read your comment because I had the exact same thought at the beginning. He knew her full name and looked teary-eyed and unwilling when they discussed the Zhang agency plan, so I thought they must've had a past together. Then, when they met for the first time, I was purposely watching for signs of previous acquaintance but couldn't see any, so I decided it was because that other girl was there. After 9eps I'm not so sure anymore - I think it's too late in the story for such a reveal or it would feel like a cop out. But if I take away the lens of shared past, then that first conversation does feel very intimate...
So now I'm leaning towards him looking into her eyes and revealing how he's spiralling internally and her trying to use this to subtly influence him - for what purpose I don't know yet:) So in that case she'd let him go because either he hasn't 'become evil' yet and she was unwilling to kill him or he somehow still features in her plans.
Btw I think she knows he was following orders when it came to her family, so I don't think she's burning with revenge towards him especially.

I guess I got too used to Luyao having everything under control in the early eps, so now I'm always waiting for her to pull an ace out of her sleeve;) That last pill in the box shown in ep9 got me thinking that maybe she's running out of time, so then throwing her life in a last desperate fight would maybe make sense. But Ping Ping:/

Right! Chen Kun really brought intensity to this role. Such an interesting character!

I think he meant specifically from the well to the place where the gold is buried out west. Ganzhou was a major military outpost and trade hub.

As I understood it he only killed those who could find the gold, not everyone looking for it.

Ep8: I don’t understand why she didn’t retreat with Ping Ping or bide her time and poison him when the antidote stopped working. I mean it was obvious after their first encounter that she can’t beat Futu in a fight. That scene was hard to watch because it seemed so pointless:/ Unless she’s running out of time and that was her last stand…

‘If they find it, we kill them. If they don't, we drink.’ I love Bancha’s pragmatic way of looking at things:D What a contrast with Yu Hou who’s so tangled up inside, he gives me second-hand stress.

You were right ep7 was the best so far! I feel like the parts at the well have the best camerawork. I think they made the douche too stupid honestly - he should've guessed already about the soldiers and bandits working together, not need to have it spelled out.
It helped that I went hiking over the weekend with no internet access, so no temptation:D

Good to know! I finished ep5 and it definitely felt like a breakthrough was coming. I decided to skip 2-3 days because I think I'm going to enjoy it more if I binge it. Now I have twice as much motivation to get to ep7 xD I guess he was supposed to bring some comic relief with that poison controlling him, but I just don't find him funny at all...

Me neither. I think he could go either way. The mystery of the general that wasn't much of a mystery got cleared in ep5 so I'm really curious what he does next.

I thought they perfectly suited his identity crisis;D
I don't see him as a villain. He's kind of like a ticking time bomb and I'm curious if he's going to go off or fizzle out.