5
1
This review may contain spoilers
The Show That Sabotaged Itself
12 Letters can be split into two halves: episodes 1 to 5 are a brilliant romantic sci-fi; episodes 6 to 12 are a disaster.
It starts with a mysterious mailbox connecting 1991 and 2026, a fresh premise that immediately recalls Frequency (2000). In Frequency, a father and son spoke across time with a clear, consistent dilemma. 12 Letters had the same potential, but it quickly lost its way.
From episode 6 onward, everything falls apart: the mailbox is forgotten, cartoonish gangsters show up, school melodrama takes over, and Shen Cheng—once a key character—is reduced to an idiot by bad writing. Episodes 8 and 9 are pure filler, endless flashbacks explaining what we already knew.
The ending is even worse: a last-minute warning letter that magically fixes everything, Shen erased from existence, Yu Nian waking up in a luxurious bed with a different life, and a sad soundtrack to force emotions. What began as a tense sci-fi puzzle ends with a rushed “happily ever after.”
12 Letters could have been the Chinese Frequency. Instead, it’s a collage of clichés and cheap melodrama—a show that sabotaged itself.
It starts with a mysterious mailbox connecting 1991 and 2026, a fresh premise that immediately recalls Frequency (2000). In Frequency, a father and son spoke across time with a clear, consistent dilemma. 12 Letters had the same potential, but it quickly lost its way.
From episode 6 onward, everything falls apart: the mailbox is forgotten, cartoonish gangsters show up, school melodrama takes over, and Shen Cheng—once a key character—is reduced to an idiot by bad writing. Episodes 8 and 9 are pure filler, endless flashbacks explaining what we already knew.
The ending is even worse: a last-minute warning letter that magically fixes everything, Shen erased from existence, Yu Nian waking up in a luxurious bed with a different life, and a sad soundtrack to force emotions. What began as a tense sci-fi puzzle ends with a rushed “happily ever after.”
12 Letters could have been the Chinese Frequency. Instead, it’s a collage of clichés and cheap melodrama—a show that sabotaged itself.
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