la0wai

Thank you for such a well-written review! Do you per chance know what the original title means in Chinese?

Thanks! I'm already watching on wetv and subs there are ai generated. It's not as bad as what they did with the Long Season, but still very unplesant to watch because half the time I'm trying to decipher wrong pronouns or awkward phrasings.

Reducing the episode number often means less time slots for ads and that makes investors unhappy. Honestly, it wasn't a big deal for me because it happened only once or twice, but I understand your point. That said, most of the flashbacks were pretty creative, I especially liked flashbacks from first person pov.

Yea, I noticed that too, especially in the final stretch of the drama. I suspect that some scenes were cut during the review and they had to fill up that time by repeating some of the old flashbacks. This was annoying but didn't detract from my enjoyment overall.

Thanks for the recs! These two dramas look interesting.
Qiao Zhenxing ended up inside a fish tank, so they have that in common.

Oh really, can you please recommend any other dramas where Zhang Yi plays sleazy characters?

I've only watched the Knockout with him and there he plays the typical heroic ML who sacrifices everything at the end. Actually, I think Qiao fits this type of character best here, Qiao reminds me of the ML in the Long Night.

I think Zhang Yi is aware he's getting typecast, so he decided to take a break from law enforcement roles for now. Justice was filmed before he announced this decision, so this is likely one of his last dramas as prosecutor/police. I really wish to see him branch out and maybe play some villanous characters :P

Xie called the lawyer because he panicked and him being a corrupt official doesn't make him a criminal mastermind, so he didn't even think about getting a second phone for shady calls.

As for Hong Liang, his character is very well acted imo. He's not your typical heroic type, he cares about his job, but is pushed by his family to quit being a prosecutor and move to Beijing. I think he acted this way during the interview (i.e. suggested to turn off the voice recording) because he didn't want to startle Xie and didn't have any hard evidence to pin him down. Keep watching, his character gets more growth and development. Also the next episode is one of the funniest ones :)

English subtitles are so bad.. when tencent will finally start paying human translators to sub crime dramas, such a waste

Zhang Yi sings the ending song! I like so much that I keep rewinding it over and over after every episode :)

Yes, you shold start this! The story is really good and keeps you guessing. Everyone looks like a suspect. The corruption is exposed in a very bold way, which makes me wonder how it passed the censorship. Really recommend this if you like dark realistic stories!

Yeah, I agree that their app could've been better, but OP is clearly trashing on this drama specifically and not only the platform.

What's wrong with you? Do you only like idol dramas?

His role as John Tavner was truly incredible, please anyone who sees this, go watch Patriot. He plays a depressed spy who likes singing folk songs, but there is much more to him than that!

Fascinating, thank you for explaning!

If you like Baoqiang, I really suggest giving Playing Go a try. He delivered one of his best performances and he's known to be a very good actor. This year, he's got nominated for Magnolia awards for his role in Playing Go. I watched Breaking Bad before but the similarities didn't detract from my enjoyment and I managed to see past that. Playing Go got high viewership numbers in China and scored 7.4 on douban, which is a pretty good rating for a suspense drama.

Just like the OP, I've noticed that characters here often say 喏 as a way to acknowledge something or react to an order. In Qing dynasty dramas, the servants usually say 嗻 zhe in a similar way. "re" and "zhe" even sound kind of similar. Do you know if any other dynasties have such phrases? I'm particularly interested in Song and Ming because I can't remember hearing such words in dramas set in these periods..

I wouldn't start watching it expecting any romance because the FL has only a few scenes, and there are even episodes where she doesn't appear at all.
I really liked their little interactions tho, they're childhood friends who support and care for each other. It's hinted that they'll end up together at the end.
Hope it helps you decide if it's worth your time!

The finale is so unexpected and good! I can't even imagine how it passed the censors, but I'm so glad the story ended on such a high note.

Zhang Ninghao who played One Ear is a very good actor, hope to see him in future dramas! >3

english subs are good and the story is pretty enjoyable so far!
there are a lot of funny transitions between scenes, i'll continue watching.

I just noticed that you dropped Under the Moonlight but you didn't include it in your list. Did you drop it because you don't have enough time to watch or for another reason? I thought it was a solid drama overall.