When both the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' are not restrained by moral and law, yet the good guys still find themselves in disadvantageous situation compare to the bad guys, then it's really just a case of them being dumber than the bad guys lol. When Mei Bao's friends were being charged for their crime of disrupting the law, yet the step father almost got away with everything, I didn't feel as much injustice as the show probably wanted me to feel, but more frustrated that Li Moli and co were not being smart about it. On last note, I used to have some hung ups before about Mei Bao's decision to let her step father go, as I've seen other shows where abused victims killed their abusers and got relatively happy ending (despite ending up as murderers and living on the run), I don't understand why Mei Bao didn't just off her step father long time ago, and spare everyone the tragedy. But then again, that short moment between her letting her step father go and her murder, was probably the only time in her life she ever felt truly free.
I'm still in ep8, but I have a feeling that susoects' tales and lies are more interesting than actual murder mystery…
I actually think the 'true' story has its own charm too. Some details just don't add up. In the end show is more solid as a characters' story than a mystery imo.
Not that I remember actually lol, but it being in the synopsis I thought it was supposed to be general setup and considered it as part of world building even though the characters don't talk about it. I guess I thought wrong.
It's one twist too many. They really should've left it as a failed murder-suicide attempt, and everyone actually succeeded at making it as if she was murdered by her step father, at least in the eye of law. That way the question of 'being lawful/correct' vs 'being just/fair' remained. Many things that lead to her murder and how it's found out are riddled with plot holes anyway. The guy was tied up for eleven months, only fed liquid food within that period, and his system had been poisoned with CO yet somehow he still had clear mind to stage a suicide scene and strength to carry her around. What is his motive anyway? Revenge? Fear? The apartment agent's ex-wife somehow got an idea to go up to the ventilation to spy on Mei Bao's room after suspecting her soon-to-be ex-husband is cheating with Mei Bao, rather than just bang on her door like a normal angry wife. The cops only just realized there's something wrong in her testimony near the end of the show while before they're portrayed to be thorough in their interrogation, and that being 'the ex-wife shouldn't have known that Mei Bao died prettily', even though the case was infamous as 'Doll Murder Case'???
Other than that... what a show! The twists in every episode are engaging and the characters really popped. They're morally flawed and some of them are genuinely twisted yet they all have deep compassion toward something. I really fell for Mei Bao.
Crude, but fun. Having your protagonist hogging all the misfortunes in the world can get comical, and without proper exploration it's just misery porn, but at least whatever unfortunate situation Yoko found herself in did have a sense of realism and wasn't caused by her own stupidity. Meh police work but thats irrelevant as show is all about Yoko's character exploration, who she was and how she ended up doing what she did. Though her character journey and progress from one phase to another felt jumpy and sometimes even forced, but those 'jumps' did lead to interesting situations. Having great acting all around didn't hurt too, though most of the characters beside Yoko are flat, they're still entertaining to watch. Overall, not something you can take as characters psychological study, but fun entertainment nonetheless.
Oh no - is it that bad? I thought they looked ok but I only watched the first few before turning the subs off.
I do have a question! What is Wen Siyuan's title? It's translated as "Emperor Wen" in indo subs but I'm pretty sure he's not an emperor, except it's some jianghu title?
Oh no - is it that bad? I thought they looked ok but I only watched the first few before turning the subs off.
95% of the time they're ok, it's just in the rest 5% there's some character/plot background that may or may not be important to the story. They cut sentences in awkward places, but even when I combine the phrases, sometimes the sentence still makes no sense.
Preview for ep 19-24 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Hi4y1G7gL and ep 23-25 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1wt4y1972s. Frankly even for an Indonesian like me, the Indo subs provided by WeTV can be a bit hard to grasp due to poor wording, I can't imagine how they would fare in auto-translate. Hopefully we'll get a proper English subtitles soon.
This show handles its antagonist characters with such grace. They're charismatic, prideful figures with well-defined motivation and personality who retain their dignity till their last breath. On the other hand I often find Fan Xian to be such a hypocrite, especially at the entire arc surrounding certain character's death. However thanks to ZRY's acting and the good script I can at least understand where he's coming from, and what emotion's driving him, even though I don't always agree with him. I was also sort of annoyed with Fan Xian's harem of old men, as I think it actually limits their dynamics with FX, and make him a borderline gary stu, so I very much welcome the twist near the end.
Ep 20-21 are the best so far. How the Emperor and CPP used Lin Gong's death as an excuse for war, how the Prime Minister went along with the farce despite knowing that now the truth about his son's death will have to be buried forever. 'The reason for war should be without any doubt', I deeply respect PM's loyalty towards the dynasty. So pardon me for thinking Fan Xian is a bit of a shameless d*ck in that scene.
On last note, I used to have some hung ups before about Mei Bao's decision to let her step father go, as I've seen other shows where abused victims killed their abusers and got relatively happy ending (despite ending up as murderers and living on the run), I don't understand why Mei Bao didn't just off her step father long time ago, and spare everyone the tragedy. But then again, that short moment between her letting her step father go and her murder, was probably the only time in her life she ever felt truly free.
Not that I remember actually lol, but it being in the synopsis I thought it was supposed to be general setup and considered it as part of world building even though the characters don't talk about it. I guess I thought wrong.
Other than that... what a show! The twists in every episode are engaging and the characters really popped. They're morally flawed and some of them are genuinely twisted yet they all have deep compassion toward something. I really fell for Mei Bao.
Frankly even for an Indonesian like me, the Indo subs provided by WeTV can be a bit hard to grasp due to poor wording, I can't imagine how they would fare in auto-translate. Hopefully we'll get a proper English subtitles soon.