One of the best Chinese dramas ever made. Rich characters, mystery, setting, and social commentary.
Phenomenal 东北 noir that is worth pairing with "Why Try to Change Me Now?" released in the same year for watching. Both are shows illustrating the long-term effects of trauma and manufacturing recession in Northern China and fractured familial dynamics. 漫长的季节 has a lot more humor and slice of life elements than "Why Try to Change Me Now?" along with a more dynamic mystery and engaging characters in exchange for "Why Try to Change Me Now" having a more immersive, alien, and nihilistic atmosphere. Both are tragic shows, but 漫长的季节 is a little more humanist, hopeful, and warm, whereas "Why Try to Change Me Now" is bleaker and more hopeless, which is why IMO this pairing is so complementary.
Xin Shuang and his creative team showed much creative growth going from "The Bad Kids," already a great series, to this. I look forward to seeing what he does next and hope he is able to find an avenue to unleash his creativity amidst the unfortunate market drive for Douyin/TikTok-suited shorts to be cranked out.
PS, fantastic soundtrack, sound supervision, and sound design. You can tell Xin Shuang was formerly a rock musician by career. My one sound complaint is that they should have used boom poles more, because the mics embedded in actors' clothing (admittedly better for natural acting) recorded quite muffled dialog at times.
Awful awful English subtitle translation on Prime and Youtube (same subs) full of mistranslation and even misassignment of pronouns, you are warned.
Xin Shuang and his creative team showed much creative growth going from "The Bad Kids," already a great series, to this. I look forward to seeing what he does next and hope he is able to find an avenue to unleash his creativity amidst the unfortunate market drive for Douyin/TikTok-suited shorts to be cranked out.
PS, fantastic soundtrack, sound supervision, and sound design. You can tell Xin Shuang was formerly a rock musician by career. My one sound complaint is that they should have used boom poles more, because the mics embedded in actors' clothing (admittedly better for natural acting) recorded quite muffled dialog at times.
Awful awful English subtitle translation on Prime and Youtube (same subs) full of mistranslation and even misassignment of pronouns, you are warned.
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