K-Drama 
This review may contain spoilers
A beautiful drama, but long and sometimes tiring.
The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty
Synopsis:
The story revolves around three main characters: Tang Fan, a brilliant detective; Sui Zhou, an officer of the Northern Imperial Guard; and Wang Zhi, a eunuch. These three meet while solving a case and go on to solve more cases together, uncovering hidden secrets along the way.
Tang Fan:
Strengths: A cheerful, lively, and intelligent character who is a professional foodie and loves serving the people of his country. I wish he had shown more interest in Duo'erla, but since the drama was bromance-focused, his efforts to save her still showed a deep friendship between them. I admire how he didn't care about status or money. He has high self-confidence and sometimes thinks he's always right, but the experiences he gains help him improve.
Weaknesses: Even though Tang Fan was intelligent and ranked first in the imperial exam, he sometimes made naive decisions. I was really disappointed when he fell for Li Zilong's trick regarding the Bolang bomb . But thinking about it now, people do make mistakes. Tang Fan thought that reporting to the Imperial Guard would fix everything — for example, in Mr. Ma's case, did he really think he had saved his life? He was so smart, why didn't he realize they would kill Mr. Ma? Even though Mr. Ma was guilty. This shows that perhaps the law cannot always bring justice for everyone.
Sui Zhou:
A seasoned soldier who lost his subordinates in war. He wanted to help people, but his superior kept mistreating him. He had great cooking skills. Sometimes his indifference toward Dong'er was excessive to the point where I couldn't understand him anymore. Even if his situation wasn't good, he shouldn't have treated Dong'er that way. Regarding the veteran soldiers, I wish Sui Zhou had helped them more and prevented their deaths — wouldn't that have been better? It was interesting that Sui Zhou always saw the same dream up to a certain point.
Wang Zhi:
He was fiercely loyal to the Emperor and Empress. He had a strange personality; I was always afraid of him, especially in the torture room. Sometimes I liked him, sometimes I disliked him. When I learned about his past, I felt sorry for him. He knew well how to force others to help him — his rule of "I help you, you help me" — but this covered up others' sins, which I don't think was right. He knew how to annoy and mock his enemies, which was interesting. I didn't like how he always closed cases that way. When Dong'er came to him worried about Tang Fan and Sui Zhou, instead of comforting her, he said, "What if Tang Fan and Sui Zhou die?" I couldn't believe he said that to her. Sometimes his lack of concern for others or his own subordinates really bothered me. At first, I couldn't believe the Huanyi Brothel belonged to him — I said I'd only believe it if he said it himself. Sometimes his behavior amazed me, like his flattering attitude with some ministers, his serious and terrifying side with others, and his obedient, submissive demeanor around the Empress.
About Wuyun:
You know, both the Ming people and the Oirats were good — you can't say one side was bad. Each has their own people and their own lives, and they could even live well together, like Wuyun. But I couldn't believe that in the end, he stayed with the Ming. If he had betrayed the Ming, I wouldn't have blamed him — he could have even said the Ming killed Aha and sought revenge. But he wasn't that kind of person.
Positives:
The acting was good. The drama had beautiful songs and great comedy, and I'm happy I got to know such characters. One of the most beautiful and emotional scenes I've ever seen was the death of Princess Guan and Wang Xian — I cried so much for it. Wang Xian was such a lovable person, and the Princess wasn't a bad person either; revenge sometimes blinds you and makes you not realize what you're doing to your loved ones. Having a full episode about the past was interesting.
Negatives:
The visual effects were weak in my opinion; if more work had been put into them, it would have been better. Some mysteries were fairly predictable, or a case seemed really interesting but when we reached the answer, I was really disappointed and thought, "How simple it was" — even though solving it took 4-5 episodes. Some cases even had answers that were surprising, but this drama wasn't like that for most of its cases. Regarding the pacing, I didn't feel like watching or continuing for some episodes. During the Bolang explosion in the carriage where Duo'erla and Ars were, Wang Zhi and his men were standing by the gate, but in the explosion scene, they weren't there — yet in the following scenes, they were. This is a weakness. (I might have misunderstood this part.)
All of this is just my personal opinion about this drama, and it might not even be correct. Overall, I give this drama a rating of 7.9 out of 10. I started this drama because of Jackie Chan's involvement as producer, and overall, I found it interesting and worth watching once. It's suitable for those who enjoy historical, detective, comedic, and logical dramas.
Synopsis:
The story revolves around three main characters: Tang Fan, a brilliant detective; Sui Zhou, an officer of the Northern Imperial Guard; and Wang Zhi, a eunuch. These three meet while solving a case and go on to solve more cases together, uncovering hidden secrets along the way.
Tang Fan:
Strengths: A cheerful, lively, and intelligent character who is a professional foodie and loves serving the people of his country. I wish he had shown more interest in Duo'erla, but since the drama was bromance-focused, his efforts to save her still showed a deep friendship between them. I admire how he didn't care about status or money. He has high self-confidence and sometimes thinks he's always right, but the experiences he gains help him improve.
Weaknesses: Even though Tang Fan was intelligent and ranked first in the imperial exam, he sometimes made naive decisions. I was really disappointed when he fell for Li Zilong's trick regarding the Bolang bomb . But thinking about it now, people do make mistakes. Tang Fan thought that reporting to the Imperial Guard would fix everything — for example, in Mr. Ma's case, did he really think he had saved his life? He was so smart, why didn't he realize they would kill Mr. Ma? Even though Mr. Ma was guilty. This shows that perhaps the law cannot always bring justice for everyone.
Sui Zhou:
A seasoned soldier who lost his subordinates in war. He wanted to help people, but his superior kept mistreating him. He had great cooking skills. Sometimes his indifference toward Dong'er was excessive to the point where I couldn't understand him anymore. Even if his situation wasn't good, he shouldn't have treated Dong'er that way. Regarding the veteran soldiers, I wish Sui Zhou had helped them more and prevented their deaths — wouldn't that have been better? It was interesting that Sui Zhou always saw the same dream up to a certain point.
Wang Zhi:
He was fiercely loyal to the Emperor and Empress. He had a strange personality; I was always afraid of him, especially in the torture room. Sometimes I liked him, sometimes I disliked him. When I learned about his past, I felt sorry for him. He knew well how to force others to help him — his rule of "I help you, you help me" — but this covered up others' sins, which I don't think was right. He knew how to annoy and mock his enemies, which was interesting. I didn't like how he always closed cases that way. When Dong'er came to him worried about Tang Fan and Sui Zhou, instead of comforting her, he said, "What if Tang Fan and Sui Zhou die?" I couldn't believe he said that to her. Sometimes his lack of concern for others or his own subordinates really bothered me. At first, I couldn't believe the Huanyi Brothel belonged to him — I said I'd only believe it if he said it himself. Sometimes his behavior amazed me, like his flattering attitude with some ministers, his serious and terrifying side with others, and his obedient, submissive demeanor around the Empress.
About Wuyun:
You know, both the Ming people and the Oirats were good — you can't say one side was bad. Each has their own people and their own lives, and they could even live well together, like Wuyun. But I couldn't believe that in the end, he stayed with the Ming. If he had betrayed the Ming, I wouldn't have blamed him — he could have even said the Ming killed Aha and sought revenge. But he wasn't that kind of person.
Positives:
The acting was good. The drama had beautiful songs and great comedy, and I'm happy I got to know such characters. One of the most beautiful and emotional scenes I've ever seen was the death of Princess Guan and Wang Xian — I cried so much for it. Wang Xian was such a lovable person, and the Princess wasn't a bad person either; revenge sometimes blinds you and makes you not realize what you're doing to your loved ones. Having a full episode about the past was interesting.
Negatives:
The visual effects were weak in my opinion; if more work had been put into them, it would have been better. Some mysteries were fairly predictable, or a case seemed really interesting but when we reached the answer, I was really disappointed and thought, "How simple it was" — even though solving it took 4-5 episodes. Some cases even had answers that were surprising, but this drama wasn't like that for most of its cases. Regarding the pacing, I didn't feel like watching or continuing for some episodes. During the Bolang explosion in the carriage where Duo'erla and Ars were, Wang Zhi and his men were standing by the gate, but in the explosion scene, they weren't there — yet in the following scenes, they were. This is a weakness. (I might have misunderstood this part.)
All of this is just my personal opinion about this drama, and it might not even be correct. Overall, I give this drama a rating of 7.9 out of 10. I started this drama because of Jackie Chan's involvement as producer, and overall, I found it interesting and worth watching once. It's suitable for those who enjoy historical, detective, comedic, and logical dramas.
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