Your review is full of enthusiastic sunshine and emotional details, an interesting take not wholly focused on the action/suspense/crime-solving angles. It's great to have a variety of reviews, especially the many ways in which a drama has a solid emotional core that resonates and grips the viewer. And you've elucidated on that very well ୧꒰*´꒳ `*꒱૭
Near the end of episode 7, when Professor You speaks of someone saying to him in a dream "A life for a life,…
You're welcome. It's sad how Mo Yuanzhi turned out versus how Ding Qi turned out. When Mo Yuanzhi was yelling at Jiang Yuwen in B3 of the carpark, and when he kept hitting the cane on the ground instead of hitting Jiang Yuwen until the cane broke, it was a sign of how he was still struggling with himself for balance but when he was willing to get the knife to cut off Ding Qi's hand keeping him handcuffed- That was when something inside him had snapped to the point that he would do anything to get his way. Love warped and traumatised under the wrong circumstances can create the worst villains, who were never villains to begin with.
The ending was what I expected. What was really good about this drama (despite a few flaws) was the fact that Ding Qi isn't a know-it-all and needs a team. Each loop shows how he had to figure out the need to prevent future mistakes and incidents, and he mostly had it figured out but even in the fifth loop, things could have gone very wrong for others such asTang Xin and Han Yu Fei. And if Ding Qi had not built up that trust with Tang Xin and learned from his teammate about Tang Xin and Maggie, Jiang Yuwen would have detonated the bomb. Five loops pertaining to the Moma situation was absolutely necessary.
All these little things we don't think about can be the difference between a tragedy or a celebration. That's why i look at the little things.
"The Guardians" is a Republican-era spy espionage thriller, soon to air. I've watched TJOL but there are so many production issues and post-production issues, I feel so bad for the cast including the ones who don't act well. TJOL is a sadly apt example of what happens when the Screenwriter, Director and post-production team screw up.
Near the end of episode 7, when Professor You speaks of someone saying to him in a dream "A life for a life,…
Kudos to the Screenwriter and Director! This is how a drama should be written and produced, even incorporating romance at its minimal intertwined with love at its maximum that is also effectively felt.
I like how the innocents and non-innocents are clearly defined. Even if Maggie and Tang Xin are Jiang Yuwen's daughters, he clearly loved them enough to keep them out of his personal enmity with Mo Yuanzhi.
I really enjoyed this drama. It actually gave me a workout mentally. Many dramas cannot achieve that. Mo Yuanzhi and Wanqing's love broke my heart.
When profiling, love, fear or hate are usually the strongest emotional drivers. Love gone wrong, love to be rectified, love wanting a second chance- Love or fear or hate is usually the inspiration.
If you can't get into the psychology and mindsets of other people, profiling is usually ineffective or wrong. Effective profiling cannot be done when emotional and not sufficiently self-aware.
Emotions are useful if they serve a primary purpose in an emergency situation, otherwise emotions need to be adequately processed before deciding on a course of action for non-positive circumstances. By processing, it is vital to feel and let the emotions run the bulk of their energetic or depressing or overwhelming-in-other-ways course, or compartmentalise and come back to them later and give them due process needed to come to terms with such emotions. Denial is never smart or helpful. Panicking and/or reacting primarily on emotions in a majority of situations is not useful. In the most-pressurising situations, you'll harm someone else and/or do yourself in. If you don't process something sufficiently, you are not acting on a purpose but reacting to a trigger/aggressor/stimulant.
Mobius is now my Drama Of The Year. It's also emotionally wrenching like "This Thriving Land" but at least it is replete with hope and a good ending for as many people as possible.
Aah, my friend, you are now stuck with us in the rabbit hole🥳🥳 . I personally like Francis Ng and think…
Oh, the grandfather in this series is 秦沛! I couldn't remember Paul Chun's English name and I remembered him when he was 15 years younger XD I'll watch "Ultimate Notes" after I finish this series and "Mobius", since I believe it can standalone by itself. Joseph Zeng will definitely give a very good performance as Wu Xie!
There is no rabbit hole, only great pizza :p You need to join us for the pizza.
I think the ending was good, the real culprit was arrested (the mom finally came true and for the best) and the…
If those who watch Mobius also watch this drama, I believe there'll be very similar solid ratings by objective viewers going to at least 8 or above, rather than being pushed up by viewers who primarily want to prop up their idols. Frankly, the number of watchers and comments for such dramas are usually a lot less than historical costume dramas. Have you watched "Beneath the Undertow"?
This is kind of the beginning of the series, so the whole team although some have more experience, it’s really…
Unfortunately, I cannot remember the actor who is Wu Xie's grandfather. How close is this to the book? Seems to be very well-adapted and close to the original, based on what I'm watching.
Three episodes in of DmBJ, the team of five is engaging due to giving solid individual performances and as a team, buoyed by a tight storyline and good pacing. Francis Ng is one of those talented actors whom you never mistake a performance by him as overlapping with other previous characters he has played in a drama or movie, be it a villain or some other individual. Great to witness Xu Zhenxuan with the same ability (under-utilised and under-appreciated in FoF for his comedic timing and more, expandable and gripping and conveying solid ML pathos in ongoing "The Journey Of Legend", and now as the wide-eyed naive excited Wu Xie who will make mistakes that enable him to wise up). Cao Lei is a great glue of the team, and Ma Jing Jing will make you smile. Wu Xie's elderly grandfather manages to convey nuanced emotions and details in a very short span of time, which enables one to appreciate the love and mindset of an elder understandably leading to Wu Xie being so sheltered in Episode 1.
After watching the first episode, I was inspired to get great pizza. Welcome start of suspense and creepiness due to Wu Xie's grandfather Wu Laogou being part of a team of tomb raiders as a child in Hezhou on a dig, before each member of the team is naturally introduced into the story in the best ways possible. This is one of those dramas whereby you and buddies have a pizza party complete with beers and/or soda to watch together, then share ghost stories and dissect the unfolding storyline. The end result is to greet a new day and the sun with a smile, or happily pass out in the wee hours of dawn, because who doesn't enjoy a great adventure replete with danger and adrenaline suffused in history that begs to be unravelled?
Near the end of episode 7, when Professor You speaks of someone saying to him in a dream "A life for a life,…
One more thing I am going to add, before I watch episodes 10 and 11:
To me, Squid is the person behind the message. Squid is not necessarily the person who killed the two scientists, unless I know Jiang Yuwen's status. Squid can have a collaborator but given the egos involved, Squid is a leader with no equal.
Mo Yuanzhi is Squid as per the announcement to protect himself from Jiang Yuwen, or he is Squid because he wants to succeed in his goal as per my profiling.
Professor You remembers seeing Mo Yuanzhi kill Jiang Yuwen. We have footage showing the lab was blown up, but no sign of Jiang Yuwen's body, which implies Jiang Yuwen survived in the only way possible: He faked his own death and left as a firefighter. The only way to reconcile these two scenarios is that Professor You saw a murder happen at least twice in the first four loops, and Jiang Yuwen blew up the lab in the fifth loop to escape Mo Yuanzhi. This would imply Jiang Yuwen and Mo Yuanzhi have Ding Qi's ability and given enough time (since they are both significantly older than Ding Qi and thus have more time with the same talent), both of them should be able to figure out how to predict time loops so they are both time-loopers.
My above theory depends on whether Jiang Yuwen is still alive and biding the time to kill Mo Yuanzhi. If Jiang Yuwen is responsible for the two scientists' deaths, then the Squid announcement is Mo Yuanzhi trying to protect himself against Jiang Yuwen. I don't think it would be Jiang Yuwen taunting Mo Yuanzhi because if Mo Yuanzhi is so dangerous, I as Jiang Yuwen would rather kill Mo Yuanzhi than let him know I'm trying to kill him after surviving four murder attempts (unless Jiang Yuwen is so egoistical that he would send such an announcement that would definitely be submitted to the cops for viewing).
If Jiang Yuwen is alive, he is trying to do Mo Yuanzhi in. And Mo Yuanzhi is trying to protect himself but also do in Jiang Yuwen because Mo Yuanzhi realises from the two deaths that he is next, and the only person who could successfully do so must be Jiang Yuwen whose body was never found.
Once we have two time-loopers earnestly trying to do each other in and no longer experimental with the first three loops, drastic changes will be occurring in the fourth loop. It's like playing Go in time-travel 5D.
in ep 9, Ding Qi has narrowed down the suspects into Squid and 2 people who are his helpers. I think it's pretty…
We're having a back-and-forth about episodes 7 to 9 in an earlier thread. I don't think the primary suspect for Squid is the missing supervisor Jiang Yuwen.
The motives of people can usually be condensed into one sentence, while the methodology of achieving their desires can be as complex or successful/unsuccessful as possible:
"I want ---- BECAUSE ------ "
We are driven by emotions. The most logical or psychopathic person might be able to minimise and evaluate and balance their emotions into becoming logical justification, but the underlying driving factor is still emotional.
I would draw two mindmaps after seeing such a message from Squid:
1) Who would want Mo Yuanzhi dead, if Squid is Mo Yuanzhi's enemy as the message proclaims.
2) Who benefits most from throwing the cops off-track with this message, and why.
Motive of Yu Yinghua (he was my primary suspect) matches 1 and 2: "I want to protect my daughter BECAUSE she needs to be free from Mo Yuanzhi." (And I would profit because she inherits everything if he dies, plus I will eventually control Moma)
Motive of Jiang Yuwen: I am jealous of him/I want him dead BECAUSE he tried to kill me. (Problem with this: Why would Jiang Yuwen go into hiding for years, before trying to get rid of Mo Yuanzhi? What does this say about Mo Yuanzhi?)
Motive of Mo Yuanzhi: I want to be able to do what I want without interference BECAUSE I am a hardworking genius who deserves what I achieved primarily by my own efforts. (My wife is opposing me (such as through the other two scientists in Moma), and I want to get rid of her.)
Motive of Yu Shiya: I want to be free of Mo Yuanzhi BECAUSE I am afraid of what he can do to me.
Han Yu Fei and Tang Xin don't strike me as having sufficient motives and they are too young. They could be collaborators at most, but they don't have the craftiness that we are seeing about Squid.
Based on the murders of the two scientists being easily mistaken as an accident in the most subtle ways, Ding Qi is looking for someone who is good with planning right down to the small details and already knows how to predict loop days, which also means that someone had this ability for significantly longer than Ding Qi. We know this time loop ability can affect someone as a student. That is why my primary suspect has to be a person significantly older than Ding Qi to fit all the criteria: Yu Yinghua, possibly Jiang Yuwen, or Mo Yuanzhi.
I cannot find sufficient motive for An Lan or Yu Shiya to be Squid, also because their profiling doesn't match. Yu Shiya is also not smart enough to fit the profile of the person Ding Qi is hunting for.
What if Squid is someone else and not Mo Yuanzhi? Mo Yuanzhi is still very suspicious because it would be weird to kill two top scientists and not go after the CEO plus the company. The message from Squid seen by the cops would therefore also help to throw them off the tracks of Squid, if Mo Yuanzhi is trying to palm the liability of being a suspect onto someone else.
The message became my pivotal point of suspicions about Squid because it is too obviously jarring. If I am Jiang Yuwen or Yinghua who wants to kill Mo Yuanzhi for whatsoever reason because I know Mo Yuanzhi is dangerous, I just want to kill Mo Yuanzhi and not be daft enough to announce it to the person I want to kill.
Based on the message and what unfolded in episodes 8 and 9, Mo Yuanzhui is now slightly ahead of Yu Yinghua and Jiang Yuwen in my evaluation, as the primary suspect to be Squid.
Motive of Ding Qi : I want to protect as many lives as possible, especially those I care for.
By episode 11, I should be able to crystalise my guesswork. I have not yet read the novel for this drama.
Near the end of episode 7, when Professor You speaks of someone saying to him in a dream "A life for a life,…
The motives of people can usually be condensed into one sentence, while the methodology of achieving their desires can be as complex or successful/unsuccessful as possible:
"I want ---- BECAUSE ------ "
We are driven by emotions. The most logical or psychopathic person might be able to minimise and evaluate and balance their emotions into becoming logical justification, but the underlying driving factor is still emotional.
I would draw two mindmaps after seeing such a message from Squid:
1) Who would want Mo Yuanzhi dead, if Squid is Mo Yuanzhi's enemy as the message proclaims.
2) Who benefits most from throwing the cops off-track, and why.
Motive of Yu Yinghua (he was my primary suspect) matches 1 and 2: "I want to protect my daughter BECAUSE she needs to be free from Mo Yuanzhi." (And I would profit because she inherits everything if he dies, plus I will eventually control Moma)
Motive of Jiang Yuwen: I am jealous of him/I want him dead BECAUSE he tried to kill me. (Problem with this: Why would Jiang Yuwen go into hiding for years, before trying to get rid of Mo Yuanzhi? What does this say about Mo Yuanzhi?)
Motive of Mo Yuanzhi: I want to be able to do what I want without interference BECAUSE I am a hardworking genius who deserves what I achieved primarily by my own efforts. (My wife is opposing me (such as through the other two scientists in Moma), and I want to get rid of her.)
Motive of Yu Shiya: I want to be free of Mo Yuanzhi BECAUSE I am afraid of what he can do to me.
Han Yu Fei and Tang Xin don't strike me as having sufficient motives and they are too young. They could be collaborators at most, but they don't have the craftiness that we are seeing about Squid.
Based on the murders of the two scientists being easily mistaken as an accident in the most subtle ways, Ding Qi is looking for someone who is good with planning right down to the small details and already knows how to predict loop days, which also means that someone had this ability for significantly longer than Ding Qi. We know this time loop ability can affect someone as a student. That is why my primary suspect has to be a person significantly older than Ding Qi to fit all the criteria: Yu Yinghua, possibly Jiang Yuwen, or Mo Yuanzhi.
I cannot find sufficient motive for An Lan or Yu Shiya to be Squid, also because their profiling doesn't match.
What if Squid is someone else and not Mo Yuanzhi? Mo Yuanzhi is still very suspicious because it would be weird to kill two top scientists and not go after the CEO plus the company. The message from Squid seen by the cops would therefore also help to throw them off the tracks of Squid, if Mo Yuanzhi is trying to palm the liability of being a suspect onto someone else.
The message became my pivotal point of suspicions about Squid because it is too obviously jarring. If I am Jiang Yuwen or Yinghua who wants to kill Mo Yuanzhi for whatsoever reason because I know Mo Yuanzhi is dangerous, I just want to kill Mo Yuanzhi and not be daft enough to announce it to the person I want to kill.
Based on the message and what unfolded in episodes 8 and 9, Mo Yuanzhui is now slightly ahead of Yu Yinghua and Jiang Yuwen in my evaluation, as the primary suspect to be Squid.
Motive of Ding Qi : I want to protect as many lives as possible, especially those I care for.
By episodes 10 and 11, I should be able to guess. I have not yet read the novel for this drama.
Near the end of episode 7, when Professor You speaks of someone saying to him in a dream "A life for a life,…
I have finished episodes 8 and 9.
If you have not watched any of those two episodes and you don't want spoilers, come back to this comment later.
I'm still using my pivotal point being Squid's message viewed by the cops about killing Mo Yuanzhi and destroying Moma as something I don't believe about Squid. With such messages and the medium as per the situation, it's to take the message as it is but still suspect the motives of the messenger not necessarily matching what has been sent. The cops would be made aware of this message from Squid, so I would take what is said with a giant pinch of salt since everyone is a suspect.
If what Mo Yuanzhi says is true about replacing Yu Shiya's father as her backbone (she didn't answer him back) and if Yu Yinghua doesn't show up as a character by episode 11, then the person I will suspect as Squid is:
1) Jiang Yuwen whose body we don't have
2) Mo Yuanzhi
Your theories could be correct. Jiang Yuwen could be trying to kill Mo Yuanzhi, and they are both time perceivers. Why I say Mo Yuanzhi could be Squid comes from the first loop of Ding Qi protecting him. Ding Qi is trying to catch someone with the same power as him. That person would know the first four loops don't count and if they wanted to completely ensure Ding Qi doesn't suspect them, make the bomb go off at the wedding and take out most of the team plus Mo Yuanzhi.
If Jiang Yuwen or Yu Yinghua was Squid, he would want to ensure the bomb at the wedding would happen by the fifth loop, and would never trigger it as a possibility for the first four loops, definitely not in the first loop. Yu Yinghua has a good motive to want to protect his daughter. Jiang Yuwen... Why would Jiang Yuwen vanish? Is Jiang Yuwen actually still alive?
If Mo Yuanzhi was Squid, triggering the bomb at the wedding in the first loop would be ideal to ensure Ding Qi doesn't suspect him.
What does Mo Yuanzhi want?
What does Jiang Yuwen (if that one is alive) want?
I am curious about what Yu Shiya was horrified to see in the most-restricted area of the Moma lab, which only Mo Yuanzhi can access. Was it a body part of Jiang Yuwen?
Very tiny, since nothing has gotten off the ground.
We have some soupy looks and at one point, FL tries to briefly address the elephant in the room. ML just as briefly doesn't address it. Primarily having normal platonic conversations. That's where we are at, for seven episodes.
Near the end of episode 7, when Professor You speaks of someone saying to him in a dream "A life for a life,…
My current theory is as follows:
I don't believe Squid's entire message about killing MYZ and destroying Moma. If there is a personal vendetta against MYZ, destroying MYZ and depriving him of everything he has would suffice including taking over Moma. I reckon Han Yu Fei may believe he is very smart, but he does not know he is a cog in Squid's system. Moma has a cash flow issue. I am wondering whether anyone in Volly would be colluding with anyone in Moma about taking over Moma. Yu Yinghua?
Professor You would need enough instigation to enable all the chaos to happen at the talk, even if he already carries enough grievances against MYZ (which we have yet to figure out is legit or not). I would like to know about Yu Yinghua, the father of Yu Shiya. Yu Yinghua might have all the pieces and knowledge of decades for this situation to be Squid. As to motivations, he's a father and a "famed investor". How did he make his money?
If Squid is An Lan, Ding Qi's heart would break but I don't think Squid is An Lan or Yu Shiya. Maggie is sus but I believe she is answering to someone. Sometimes, it is best when the leader or colluding leaders appear as a follower, also because Squid would not want Ding Qi to have enough clues to win in the fifth loop. So currently, my biggest reservations are for Yu Yinghua and Tang Xin. Unless Yu Shiya knows who Squid is ie her father, and does not want MYZ to be killed and hence wants to get MYZ off the board.
Bai Jing Ting, in my opinion, looks gaunt and effeminate (more with that heavy makeup) in the role, nor does he…
Thank you for letting out what's been stewing in your mind, and being on your way after leaving this comment to let people know you won't have to "insist on watching his dramas" due to his appeal- Who is forcing you to watch Bai Jingting? If you have a problem with Luo Yunxi's acting, take it to his fan page or a drama page where he's starred/starring and expound on your issues with his acting. I suggest you parse your opinion on the "Whispers Of Fate" drama page after that drama starts airing in end-October, if Luo Yunxi also weighs heavily on your mind.
With Bai Jing Ting, he's obviously fit and healthy from working out to maintain a physique. "Gaunt" is completely off. I don't know where you're coming from, with "effeminate". A detective is usually not supposed to stand out, otherwise it's hard to catch criminals on the job. And when they do, it's for the screen, not for RL. Bai Jingting is doing well on this front of not being obvious on the job, and also conveying the necessary for the audience.
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୧꒰*´꒳ `*꒱૭
The ending was what I expected. What was really good about this drama (despite a few flaws) was the fact that Ding Qi isn't a know-it-all and needs a team. Each loop shows how he had to figure out the need to prevent future mistakes and incidents, and he mostly had it figured out but even in the fifth loop, things could have gone very wrong for others such asTang Xin and Han Yu Fei. And if Ding Qi had not built up that trust with Tang Xin and learned from his teammate about Tang Xin and Maggie, Jiang Yuwen would have detonated the bomb. Five loops pertaining to the Moma situation was absolutely necessary.
All these little things we don't think about can be the difference between a tragedy or a celebration. That's why i look at the little things.
"The Guardians" is a Republican-era spy espionage thriller, soon to air. I've watched TJOL but there are so many production issues and post-production issues, I feel so bad for the cast including the ones who don't act well. TJOL is a sadly apt example of what happens when the Screenwriter, Director and post-production team screw up.
Would enjoy finding BGM of this drama. Ending is perfect.
"Epic" is the only word I can think of. Absolute gem. Possibly my C-Drama of the Year!
I like how the innocents and non-innocents are clearly defined. Even if Maggie and Tang Xin are Jiang Yuwen's daughters, he clearly loved them enough to keep them out of his personal enmity with Mo Yuanzhi.
I really enjoyed this drama. It actually gave me a workout mentally. Many dramas cannot achieve that. Mo Yuanzhi and Wanqing's love broke my heart.
When profiling, love, fear or hate are usually the strongest emotional drivers. Love gone wrong, love to be rectified, love wanting a second chance- Love or fear or hate is usually the inspiration.
If you can't get into the psychology and mindsets of other people, profiling is usually ineffective or wrong. Effective profiling cannot be done when emotional and not sufficiently self-aware.
Emotions are useful if they serve a primary purpose in an emergency situation, otherwise emotions need to be adequately processed before deciding on a course of action for non-positive circumstances. By processing, it is vital to feel and let the emotions run the bulk of their energetic or depressing or overwhelming-in-other-ways course, or compartmentalise and come back to them later and give them due process needed to come to terms with such emotions. Denial is never smart or helpful. Panicking and/or reacting primarily on emotions in a majority of situations is not useful. In the most-pressurising situations, you'll harm someone else and/or do yourself in. If you don't process something sufficiently, you are not acting on a purpose but reacting to a trigger/aggressor/stimulant.
Mobius is now my Drama Of The Year. It's also emotionally wrenching like "This Thriving Land" but at least it is replete with hope and a good ending for as many people as possible.
There is no rabbit hole, only great pizza :p You need to join us for the pizza.
After watching the first episode, I was inspired to get great pizza. Welcome start of suspense and creepiness due to Wu Xie's grandfather Wu Laogou being part of a team of tomb raiders as a child in Hezhou on a dig, before each member of the team is naturally introduced into the story in the best ways possible. This is one of those dramas whereby you and buddies have a pizza party complete with beers and/or soda to watch together, then share ghost stories and dissect the unfolding storyline. The end result is to greet a new day and the sun with a smile, or happily pass out in the wee hours of dawn, because who doesn't enjoy a great adventure replete with danger and adrenaline suffused in history that begs to be unravelled?
ED song is excellent.
To me, Squid is the person behind the message. Squid is not necessarily the person who killed the two scientists, unless I know Jiang Yuwen's status. Squid can have a collaborator but given the egos involved, Squid is a leader with no equal.
Mo Yuanzhi is Squid as per the announcement to protect himself from Jiang Yuwen, or he is Squid because he wants to succeed in his goal as per my profiling.
Professor You remembers seeing Mo Yuanzhi kill Jiang Yuwen. We have footage showing the lab was blown up, but no sign of Jiang Yuwen's body, which implies Jiang Yuwen survived in the only way possible: He faked his own death and left as a firefighter. The only way to reconcile these two scenarios is that Professor You saw a murder happen at least twice in the first four loops, and Jiang Yuwen blew up the lab in the fifth loop to escape Mo Yuanzhi. This would imply Jiang Yuwen and Mo Yuanzhi have Ding Qi's ability and given enough time (since they are both significantly older than Ding Qi and thus have more time with the same talent), both of them should be able to figure out how to predict time loops so they are both time-loopers.
My above theory depends on whether Jiang Yuwen is still alive and biding the time to kill Mo Yuanzhi. If Jiang Yuwen is responsible for the two scientists' deaths, then the Squid announcement is Mo Yuanzhi trying to protect himself against Jiang Yuwen. I don't think it would be Jiang Yuwen taunting Mo Yuanzhi because if Mo Yuanzhi is so dangerous, I as Jiang Yuwen would rather kill Mo Yuanzhi than let him know I'm trying to kill him after surviving four murder attempts (unless Jiang Yuwen is so egoistical that he would send such an announcement that would definitely be submitted to the cops for viewing).
If Jiang Yuwen is alive, he is trying to do Mo Yuanzhi in. And Mo Yuanzhi is trying to protect himself but also do in Jiang Yuwen because Mo Yuanzhi realises from the two deaths that he is next, and the only person who could successfully do so must be Jiang Yuwen whose body was never found.
Once we have two time-loopers earnestly trying to do each other in and no longer experimental with the first three loops, drastic changes will be occurring in the fourth loop. It's like playing Go in time-travel 5D.
The motives of people can usually be condensed into one sentence, while the methodology of achieving their desires can be as complex or successful/unsuccessful as possible:
"I want ---- BECAUSE ------ "
We are driven by emotions. The most logical or psychopathic person might be able to minimise and evaluate and balance their emotions into becoming logical justification, but the underlying driving factor is still emotional.
I would draw two mindmaps after seeing such a message from Squid:
1) Who would want Mo Yuanzhi dead, if Squid is Mo Yuanzhi's enemy as the message proclaims.
2) Who benefits most from throwing the cops off-track with this message, and why.
Motive of Yu Yinghua (he was my primary suspect) matches 1 and 2: "I want to protect my daughter BECAUSE she needs to be free from Mo Yuanzhi." (And I would profit because she inherits everything if he dies, plus I will eventually control Moma)
Motive of Jiang Yuwen: I am jealous of him/I want him dead BECAUSE he tried to kill me. (Problem with this: Why would Jiang Yuwen go into hiding for years, before trying to get rid of Mo Yuanzhi? What does this say about Mo Yuanzhi?)
Motive of Mo Yuanzhi: I want to be able to do what I want without interference BECAUSE I am a hardworking genius who deserves what I achieved primarily by my own efforts. (My wife is opposing me (such as through the other two scientists in Moma), and I want to get rid of her.)
Motive of Yu Shiya: I want to be free of Mo Yuanzhi BECAUSE I am afraid of what he can do to me.
Han Yu Fei and Tang Xin don't strike me as having sufficient motives and they are too young. They could be collaborators at most, but they don't have the craftiness that we are seeing about Squid.
Based on the murders of the two scientists being easily mistaken as an accident in the most subtle ways, Ding Qi is looking for someone who is good with planning right down to the small details and already knows how to predict loop days, which also means that someone had this ability for significantly longer than Ding Qi. We know this time loop ability can affect someone as a student. That is why my primary suspect has to be a person significantly older than Ding Qi to fit all the criteria: Yu Yinghua, possibly Jiang Yuwen, or Mo Yuanzhi.
I cannot find sufficient motive for An Lan or Yu Shiya to be Squid, also because their profiling doesn't match. Yu Shiya is also not smart enough to fit the profile of the person Ding Qi is hunting for.
What if Squid is someone else and not Mo Yuanzhi? Mo Yuanzhi is still very suspicious because it would be weird to kill two top scientists and not go after the CEO plus the company. The message from Squid seen by the cops would therefore also help to throw them off the tracks of Squid, if Mo Yuanzhi is trying to palm the liability of being a suspect onto someone else.
The message became my pivotal point of suspicions about Squid because it is too obviously jarring. If I am Jiang Yuwen or Yinghua who wants to kill Mo Yuanzhi for whatsoever reason because I know Mo Yuanzhi is dangerous, I just want to kill Mo Yuanzhi and not be daft enough to announce it to the person I want to kill.
Based on the message and what unfolded in episodes 8 and 9, Mo Yuanzhui is now slightly ahead of Yu Yinghua and Jiang Yuwen in my evaluation, as the primary suspect to be Squid.
Motive of Ding Qi : I want to protect as many lives as possible, especially those I care for.
By episode 11, I should be able to crystalise my guesswork. I have not yet read the novel for this drama.
https://kisskh.at/766293-give-me-five#comment-23512860
arpar and I are exchanging guesswork about Squid, Jiang Yuwen and one more character here (after watching episodes 8 and 9 yesterday). Feel free to weigh in: https://kisskh.at/766293-give-me-five#comment-23507178
"I want ---- BECAUSE ------ "
We are driven by emotions. The most logical or psychopathic person might be able to minimise and evaluate and balance their emotions into becoming logical justification, but the underlying driving factor is still emotional.
I would draw two mindmaps after seeing such a message from Squid:
1) Who would want Mo Yuanzhi dead, if Squid is Mo Yuanzhi's enemy as the message proclaims.
2) Who benefits most from throwing the cops off-track, and why.
Motive of Yu Yinghua (he was my primary suspect) matches 1 and 2: "I want to protect my daughter BECAUSE she needs to be free from Mo Yuanzhi." (And I would profit because she inherits everything if he dies, plus I will eventually control Moma)
Motive of Jiang Yuwen: I am jealous of him/I want him dead BECAUSE he tried to kill me. (Problem with this: Why would Jiang Yuwen go into hiding for years, before trying to get rid of Mo Yuanzhi? What does this say about Mo Yuanzhi?)
Motive of Mo Yuanzhi: I want to be able to do what I want without interference BECAUSE I am a hardworking genius who deserves what I achieved primarily by my own efforts. (My wife is opposing me (such as through the other two scientists in Moma), and I want to get rid of her.)
Motive of Yu Shiya: I want to be free of Mo Yuanzhi BECAUSE I am afraid of what he can do to me.
Han Yu Fei and Tang Xin don't strike me as having sufficient motives and they are too young. They could be collaborators at most, but they don't have the craftiness that we are seeing about Squid.
Based on the murders of the two scientists being easily mistaken as an accident in the most subtle ways, Ding Qi is looking for someone who is good with planning right down to the small details and already knows how to predict loop days, which also means that someone had this ability for significantly longer than Ding Qi. We know this time loop ability can affect someone as a student. That is why my primary suspect has to be a person significantly older than Ding Qi to fit all the criteria: Yu Yinghua, possibly Jiang Yuwen, or Mo Yuanzhi.
I cannot find sufficient motive for An Lan or Yu Shiya to be Squid, also because their profiling doesn't match.
What if Squid is someone else and not Mo Yuanzhi? Mo Yuanzhi is still very suspicious because it would be weird to kill two top scientists and not go after the CEO plus the company. The message from Squid seen by the cops would therefore also help to throw them off the tracks of Squid, if Mo Yuanzhi is trying to palm the liability of being a suspect onto someone else.
The message became my pivotal point of suspicions about Squid because it is too obviously jarring. If I am Jiang Yuwen or Yinghua who wants to kill Mo Yuanzhi for whatsoever reason because I know Mo Yuanzhi is dangerous, I just want to kill Mo Yuanzhi and not be daft enough to announce it to the person I want to kill.
Based on the message and what unfolded in episodes 8 and 9, Mo Yuanzhui is now slightly ahead of Yu Yinghua and Jiang Yuwen in my evaluation, as the primary suspect to be Squid.
Motive of Ding Qi : I want to protect as many lives as possible, especially those I care for.
By episodes 10 and 11, I should be able to guess. I have not yet read the novel for this drama.
If you have not watched any of those two episodes and you don't want spoilers, come back to this comment later.
I'm still using my pivotal point being Squid's message viewed by the cops about killing Mo Yuanzhi and destroying Moma as something I don't believe about Squid. With such messages and the medium as per the situation, it's to take the message as it is but still suspect the motives of the messenger not necessarily matching what has been sent. The cops would be made aware of this message from Squid, so I would take what is said with a giant pinch of salt since everyone is a suspect.
If what Mo Yuanzhi says is true about replacing Yu Shiya's father as her backbone (she didn't answer him back) and if Yu Yinghua doesn't show up as a character by episode 11, then the person I will suspect as Squid is:
1) Jiang Yuwen whose body we don't have
2) Mo Yuanzhi
Your theories could be correct. Jiang Yuwen could be trying to kill Mo Yuanzhi, and they are both time perceivers. Why I say Mo Yuanzhi could be Squid comes from the first loop of Ding Qi protecting him. Ding Qi is trying to catch someone with the same power as him. That person would know the first four loops don't count and if they wanted to completely ensure Ding Qi doesn't suspect them, make the bomb go off at the wedding and take out most of the team plus Mo Yuanzhi.
If Jiang Yuwen or Yu Yinghua was Squid, he would want to ensure the bomb at the wedding would happen by the fifth loop, and would never trigger it as a possibility for the first four loops, definitely not in the first loop. Yu Yinghua has a good motive to want to protect his daughter. Jiang Yuwen... Why would Jiang Yuwen vanish? Is Jiang Yuwen actually still alive?
If Mo Yuanzhi was Squid, triggering the bomb at the wedding in the first loop would be ideal to ensure Ding Qi doesn't suspect him.
What does Mo Yuanzhi want?
What does Jiang Yuwen (if that one is alive) want?
I am curious about what Yu Shiya was horrified to see in the most-restricted area of the Moma lab, which only Mo Yuanzhi can access. Was it a body part of Jiang Yuwen?
I don't believe Squid's entire message about killing MYZ and destroying Moma. If there is a personal vendetta against MYZ, destroying MYZ and depriving him of everything he has would suffice including taking over Moma. I reckon Han Yu Fei may believe he is very smart, but he does not know he is a cog in Squid's system. Moma has a cash flow issue. I am wondering whether anyone in Volly would be colluding with anyone in Moma about taking over Moma. Yu Yinghua?
Professor You would need enough instigation to enable all the chaos to happen at the talk, even if he already carries enough grievances against MYZ (which we have yet to figure out is legit or not). I would like to know about Yu Yinghua, the father of Yu Shiya. Yu Yinghua might have all the pieces and knowledge of decades for this situation to be Squid. As to motivations, he's a father and a "famed investor". How did he make his money?
If Squid is An Lan, Ding Qi's heart would break but I don't think Squid is An Lan or Yu Shiya. Maggie is sus but I believe she is answering to someone. Sometimes, it is best when the leader or colluding leaders appear as a follower, also because Squid would not want Ding Qi to have enough clues to win in the fifth loop. So currently, my biggest reservations are for Yu Yinghua and Tang Xin. Unless Yu Shiya knows who Squid is ie her father, and does not want MYZ to be killed and hence wants to get MYZ off the board.
With Bai Jing Ting, he's obviously fit and healthy from working out to maintain a physique. "Gaunt" is completely off. I don't know where you're coming from, with "effeminate". A detective is usually not supposed to stand out, otherwise it's hard to catch criminals on the job. And when they do, it's for the screen, not for RL. Bai Jingting is doing well on this front of not being obvious on the job, and also conveying the necessary for the audience.