Wenxia

I really like the visual aspect of this series. There are so many beautifully framed shots of the actors! Pity the editing is a bit of a mess and a lot of them fail to evoke the right emotions. Ep3 imo had even more scenes that ran too long, felt pointless or unintentionally funny. I don't get the fixation on strangling - as if there aren't easier ways to incapacitate someone…
The flow is weird but I have no problem understanding the story so far. I do think they failed at introducing the secondary characters though - that funeral talk scene was just badly set up. The only thing that really confused me was Payu telling Ken they're the only ones who know he's still alive - but then no one seemed very surprised to see him at the funeral?

Sorry, my brain must've still been asleep when I wrote it. What I meant to say was they gave us zero clues so far. Could be anything from transmigration to a face transplant. I'd prefer the first but it's most likely the second:) Maybe Peter's tortured expression is because he can only look but not touch? After two years that must be painful:D Ken was probably meant to show some familiarity/recognition at seeing Peter but the acting wasn't it..

Lol we've all seen the same two eps. How would we have the answers? On iqiyi it says Ken feels "strangely trembled" when he meets Peter, so there you have it;D I thought at first the gloves were for hiding fingerprints but that'd be so overkill.

No idea what this is about but the first comment I saw on douban read: "Northeast Fargo; Northeast Thermos Breaking Bad; Northeast Stranger Things; Northeast The Last of Us." I'm sold:D

Don't wanna be all Hercule Poirot about it but Close is Belgian;) It was co-written and directed by Lukas Dhont who's from Belgium.

Synopsis says Singapore. They're using simplified characters so it fits.

Just finished watching the first 2 eps with mixed feelings. I like the characters and the visual style, but as far as introductions go, this wasn't great. Too little info on who's who and too much standing around having long talks about nothing. What was the point of that Thai food convo? That whole scene went on for close to 10min and brought nothing to the story…

I like the guy who plays Peter - I can feel his inner torment when he looks at Ken. Ken keeping Din's things/mementoes in that glass display case like some sort of museum exhibit made me laugh. But it was a much more interesting way to show the depth of his heartbreak (and his weird side;) than all this crying.

I'm totally fine with them surviving that fall. I was conditioned by wuxia dramas to believe that it's impossible to die that way - now see it more like a mandatory step in dating:)
It seemed like it was the raincoat-wearing guy who fired at Din from the forest. I wonder if he aimed for it to be non-lethal and then helped him disappear...

I've assumed he's just following whatever that guy reads on the podcast? I guess the books are supposed to give us better insight into the minds of the murderers. I also had to look up Stendhal's The Red and the Black in the first case:) Both the book and the case featured a guy ready to do anything to move ahead in life - so with Lolita I guess we'll have a case of 'forbidden attraction'. Though I don't know how it ties to the title of this chapter - paranoia.

They really have great on-screen chemistry. Also switch moods so fast, my emotions are all over the place. Just got to that birthday scene in Ep8 and felt the sorrow, awkwardness, then laughed hard:) I really hope we get to see the rest of this show. Would be a pity to waste such good work.

Does anyone know if the countdown here is based on sth other than rumours? Last I checked weibo it seemed they dropped 8eps, a poster and a vague quote and ran:/

Thank you for the context. That was actually good thinking. Maybe it spurred the gangsters ambition in turn lol

I loved the opening to ep7. That quote from Lolita sounded so sinister and unsettling, it pushed my imagination into overdrive. Talk about setting a foreboding atmosphere for this new case of girls going missing…

I'm starting to get why PS likes to hang out with Zhang Donglan. That guy is hilariously sincere "I may not have the brains but I'll bring in the brawn!" awww

Did I see LWZ just casually clean his shoes on PS's car?
"Emptiness is better than weakness"
Haha what a burn. They really like to push each other's buttons:)

The chief!! "滚蛋吧你连少伴都没有呢" Hopefully not long now 😏

Genuinely very very good. Coming from someone who hasn't read the book.

All 8 fixed now🥳

You're right, it was a poorly constructed joke! Let's just say he's not made for risky rescue jobs like that:D

Yuki below mentioned the gangsters were armed in another scene and the police for sure were holding guns when they arrived after the car chase. It just makes it a little strange that none of the 30 guys he fought with shot at him. But personally doesn't bother me - that fight scene was fun:)

Ep6 has some charged moments^^ …some of which seem to have been cut? Am I supposed to understand at this point what LWZ was trying to say in the kitchen before he abruptly cut off and went to make the call? Cause I have no idea. Was that scene longer in the book? (Please no outright book spoilers. Interpretations of that scene in the drama are very very welcome)
Also that laughter when they talk at the cemetery seemed out of sync with the situation? Can't believe LWZ fell for that fakest of fake coughs earlier lol

Anyway, I do like that these two have so much history and conflicting feelings about each other. Makes their dynamics quite interesting. It's also a lot of fun trying to puzzle out what PS is up to. Zhang Xincheng is chillingly good in this role!
The resolution to the first case genuinely surprised me. I didn't consider that scenario at all. With some questions left unanswered it segued nicely into the next case …which already chills my blood.

But they didn't! They're not promoting this drama on their English youtube channel. They only made machine translated subtitles an option (one of several) on the app with a clear warning. Some people would prefer that to no subs at all. I really don't see what's wrong with it, especially as they seemed to want to keep a low profile.

I wouldn't even notice if the police didn't hold guns when they arrived on scene. I guess minor suspension of disbelief goes well with this genre:)

It's weirdly endearing that the cat got the same treatment with the name as the rest of the cast lol

Seriously subpar element would be quality or post-production problems. I for one will not hold it against them considering the difficult situation with dangai dramas and the fact this dropped suddenly in radio silence. Someone on the network could've made the decision to air this, while the team had no resources. Anyway they already fixed the subs for half of the released eps and invited people to submit corrections. Plus international audience is really not their main focus.