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well, that was a surprise!
I've never written a review before so you know there has got to be a reason. why then? because this is actually good. really good. and as someone who doesn't watch minidramas, this is big praise.the story is obviously fast-paced but still manages to introduce a large number of characters in a believable manner and in a way that you actually care about them.
the two main leads were solid in their acting, I wasn't sold on yifu and a couple of minor actors but overall it surpassed my expectations many times over.
the costumes were good and sometimes spectacular, again a massive and delightful surprise given the budget of this type of drama. special call out to Shenzhi's gothic style outfit with the train, the man is a certified drama queen.
the only things that I found distracting were the really heavy filter (negative) and Shenzhi's eyebrows (positive).
overall, the director, writer, cast and crew deserve a full-length drama next time. I'd totally watch that.
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this one has stayed with me for a while
so from the outset, full disclosure, I am a fan of Chinese crime dramas and consider MDL ratings to be an underappreciation. this is no exception.in general, these dramas tend to have a similar darkness to the typical scandinoir which some may be more familiar with. they lean towards a grittier visual appearance, however, and frequently make full artistic use of their location, whether it is an impersonal or derelict urban setting or the open spaces of the central plains.
this review has taken a while to formulate, mostly because I was genuinely touched by this series and had to sort out my emotions about the drama itself and whether it is possible for people who commit certain types of crimes to be redeemable, or whether misplaced sympathy means that I too am morally flawed. this veteran consumer of noirs has in fact not watched a single episode of any other crime drama yet since completing this because of deep and painful feelings about this tragic tale.
we find ourselves in what is, essentially, a dying town. it's set up from the start that many of the characters we meet are looking for a way out, and the pool of people they can attach themselves to to achieve this aim is small. as can be predicted, almost every relationship is thus dysfunctional, including the ones that set the initial crime in motion and further propagated it.
in the acting department, this is a solid cast and they play to their strengths. special callout to Wang Qiang, who manages one of the most careful balancing acts here, and whose characterisation was the source of much of the angst described above.
visually, this oscillates between darkly beautiful, expansive shots of a broken town, cramped interiors, and a hell of a lot of sand, with the occasionally injudicious use of a too-heavy filter that I wish had been toned down a touch, especially early on, as it was a little distracting. however, it is a testament to how immersive it is that I can't actually comment on whether that issue persisted beyond the first few episodes. the OST is surprisingly apt.
don't come here for an easy weekend watch but do come for the stories of these flawed characters, some of whom manage to be both deeply sympathetic and unforgivably criminal. the sheer weight of the tragedy of this story will slowly unfold and quite possibly leave you somewhat breathless and flailing for your own personal moral compass.
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a dark but well-balanced drama that surprised to the upside
if you think about crime dramas, we've seen it all, from specialist fraud units, SVUs, forensics and pathology, major divisions investigating serial murderers, lone-wolf detectives pursuing crime syndicates. in this series, we are introduced to the thoroughly unsexy railway police, whose job it is to deal with pickpockets at the station and thefts on trains. this is not a procedural but a pursuit story starring an ill-favoured demoted detective. it's dark and dirty and features an overlapping network of career crime and petty misdemeanour. generally well-directed and features some tidy editing towards the end when a lot of karmic vengeance is delivered all over the map.Guo Jingfei particularly delivers a great performance, no notes.
(bonus point if you can spot the actor perhaps best-known as the most un-Lan Lan, grown up and engaging in petty crime, he does credit to what must have been quite a difficult role)
overall thoughts: a slow train ride with veteran actors leading you through a gritty urban landscape.
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the cliff took the wrong victims, it should have been the writers of the second half
it's rare that a show appears to give such clear insight into behind-the-scenes drama but if you told me the same writers wrote the story before and after both character and show fell off a cliff halfway through, I wouldn't believe you.first half was a moderately entertaining, somewhat formulaic historical drama with all the lost child, palace abuse, ridiculous CGI wolves, and contrived finding oneself in bed with the enemy tropes that your heart desires.
second half was like one of those meals made with leftovers from the fridge, only the chef has no sense of smell or taste and their glasses are steamed up so they don't see too well either. it's a mess, with things that might have been edible if they hadn't been cooked all together with stuff with a best-before date of 2016.
highlights were the flawless Liu Lingzi, whose tightly controlled Meng Zhenzhen deserves far more praise and a far better drama for her skills; Liu Xueyi's peerless cheekbones and always solid grasp of his characters; Gao Han's crying; many of the sidekicks; Meng Huaijin and the weird cousin relationship; and being amused by how many viewers thought the 3rd and 4th prince were the same person. the OST is delicious by itself and Reno Wang's outro track has found a permanent place in my Cdramas playlist.
the lowlights are too numerous to mention and ultimately all of these efforts were overshadowed by a storyline lacking any type of integrity.
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a shiny, glittering, enjoyable mess
I genuinely did not know how to rate this series so here is my rambling review. it's objectively not that great but I have thoroughly enjoyed it and not sure I've ever run into quite this issue before.I want to give it 3/10 for being trash on a lot of levels. some of that seems to be a lack of commitment on the direction side. take the antagonists for example, they are literally parodies of themselves. but instead of fully leaning into that, Joker-style, we are expected to understand them as serious characters? meanwhile that Empress Dowager and her creepily obsessed sidekick will forever be jokes. technically it could have been better. fight choreography seems a little messy. you can see the intent and it's not unattractive to watch but a lot of that is on Cheng Lei and the costume people.
yet I want to rate it 9/10 for vibes. it's rare that I have this much fun watching anything. the storyline was surprisingly solid and although I couldn't care less about any of the side characters, the leads were entertaining and gave enough that I could fool myself into accepting some really odd behaviour and even odder superpowers.
so overall, a comfortable 7.5/10. not an average of the extremes because the enjoyment exceeded the criticisms. watch it if you want something pretty and fun and you're able to or want to turn off most of your non-lizard brain cells. also if topless Leizi is a thing that might please you enough to counter anything negative. don't bother if you're in drama spaces looking for intellectually or emotionally deep works. also be aware that while there is a perception that it's an enemies-to-lovers story, enemies is a mere ant compared to the great pear tree of lovers so don't be disappointed at that balance.
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a republican era drama that sweeps like a brand-new broom
it's a little difficult to define this drama. in all honesty. it should be a mess, given the variety of actors, storylines, and politics, but it is a great watch, with engaging, well-developed characters and an approach to history that is surprisingly deft through most of its run.so in this beautifully shot Republican era drama, we have a mismatched bunch of actors from liuliang all the way through to well-regarded veterans and character actors. there's little to criticise about any of them. even where the direction may feel a little heavy-handed or the exposition a little too obvious, the ship is steadied by Wang Yang at the core, as stubborn but sympathetic official Shen Tunan.
the story is initially simple. exceedingly intelligent country boy, played with great sensitivity by Wang Yibo, comes to the big city to make his fortune in finance and finds a family, a job, a mentor and a purpose. of course, this isn't how it plays out. one by one, circumstances and individuals knock out each of the underpinnings of Wei Ruolai's faith in the system and in himself.
there will be times that everything feels entirely too unrealistic. there will be characters that are altogether too much. there will be politics that is far too unsubtle. but these things feel irrelevant given the feisty pace, the solidity of the overarching plot, grounded by the history and political imperatives of then and now, and the exquisite charm and pathos of the many and varied cast.
overall thoughts: a worthwhile story that deserves all of its accolades.
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a dizzying carousel I wouldn't ride again even if it came with a free lunch
I kind of see what the writers are trying to do here but the wild swings between watching one million hours of humanised abandoned dogs (but not cats, disappointingly, seems like a missed opportunity) and an entire episode of nauseating but also kind of funny hell tortures was already too much.I hatewatched to the end only for the pastor, a relatively unknown actor to most of us, because despite having four literal behemoths of Kdramas in there (husband and wife, random third wheel whose presence is eventually explained and it doesn't help, and the twin bosses of heaven and hell), their performances and the underlying message were overshadowed by the heavyhandedness with which everything was handled.
however, if you like maximalist dramas with a side of evangelism, this might well be appealing.
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episode 1 rugby team > writing team
I should have left this the second that the rules of the game were steamrolled over for vibes. referees ignoring dangerous tackles and everyone treating the victim as if they're at fault rather than sending off a player who should know better than launch into a neck-breaking tackle? leaving a player with a potential concussion or spinal injury on the floor and letting the game continue while they're unattended? schoolboy rugby is an inherently dangerous sport and the complete disregard for the most basic precautions was laughable and decades out of date.then we have our superstar, the noble idiot. his idiocy is also decades behind. does he not have insurance? did he not read anything on the internet about his own sport and players from other nations? are the sport administrators completely divorced from reality? with that fundamental issue on which the story is based making no sense, the rest of the plot is very much the roof of a very shaky house of cards.
this is a story that should have been great. an underdog coach in an underdog sport takes on a bunch of underdog high schoolers to take over the world. but the flaws in the storytelling are just too huge to overlook.
I detested every single adult character. the kids were there doing their job, being kids, and every single adult was either a lying sack of trash, weak, incompetent, violent, or psychologically abusive. and at the core was the principal, a person who was so weak that her pending retirement surely also was decades behind.
worse, almost none of their motivations even made much sense. by halfway through, most of them were just doing evil by numbers. the plot demanded a movement in a certain direction so fetch the magenta crayon of evil for that.
if I have a good thing to say it's that the team was entertaining, well-characterised and, along with Seo Ujin, contained the only actors to come out of this with merit. there are moments where the sun just peeked through the clouds of tropes, unintentional parody and plot devices, but they were simply too rare to make this more than mediocre.
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a solid watch with a surprisingly relatable lead
while we can probably all admit that the peerless Lee Youngae appears not to age, this underrated series nevertheless boasts an unashamedly un-put-together middle-aged woman as the lead? sign me up for this. add a female villain and sidekick? definitely in. this series is a pretty wild ride and diverges just enough from the usual Kdrama for its woman-centered plot to be more than window-dressing. it may not stick with you forever but it's a tantalising rollercoaster while it lasts.overall thoughts: tropey enough to be comfortable, odd enough to be enjoyable.
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a light comedic drama not entirely to be taken at face value
at first glance this is a very usual costume drama, somewhat indeterminate point in time, attractive actors, light and bright colours. it starts with comedic scenes, not entirely unusual. what is unusual is that it retains this tone overall even though it gets quite deep into what is a set of very dark topics, many juxtaposing ancient practices and modern feminism - domestic violence, women's economic rights, arranged marriages. a particularly positive aspect is the way that most of the women in this drama support each other, a far cry from the usual divide-and-rule harem politics.overall thoughts: occasionally silly but a delight.
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a disturbing story with an interesting aesthetic
(TW: domestic violence, bullying, sexual assault, misogyny and more) there is so much awful behaviour in this, it's not an easy watch. it's also shot in an overly arty, almost try-hard way that adds to the vertiginous sensation as you claw your way through this drama. yet these are not negatives. they are the reason this is a compelling watch. although the series occasionally loses a little of its early impetus, it has enough to carry it through its fairly short, but very much not neat, run.overall thoughts: this is like looking at art photos of an accident scene, it will probably leave you feeling dirty but there's an acid gloss to it that is perversely attractive.
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an amusing but sensitive look into some deep issues: tears optional but likely
(TW: suicide and suicidal ideation) first off, it's necessary to praise the production team for this one. it was a brave choice to run with given the underlying subject matter, and the politics and social considerations around the topics of certain episodes. as you start watching, this may seem like a drama that does not take itself seriously and is at risk of devolving into a tropefest featuring white trucks of doom and grim reapers. it is actually a sensitively directed series exposing some of the types of personal interactions and societal issues that drive people towards suicidal behaviours. it would have been so, so easy to see it devolve into the type of preachy PSA trap that dramas such as Death's Game fell into, but it managed to resist the easy path and feels all the more meaningful for it.overall thoughts: manages to be light and funny but handles deep topics with the necessary gravitas and sensitivity.
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going to break a personal rule just for this
I generally don't believe in writing reviews without finishing a drama but for this I'm willing to make an exceptionlook, I like trash TV as much as the next person but this is basically just an illogical thing without even the merit of a Z grade vertical
it only has points out of 10 because it's compulsory, and I'll give the main cast a point each just because it hurts my cold heart that they even have their names attached
the story feels like nothing groundbreaking but serviceably tropey, yet it feels like it was scripted and directed by a team of those robots whose day job is tightening one specific screw each at an automotive factory
if you're just here for DGZ, you probably won't be quite as disappointed as 1/10 because no one delivers that hot bodyguard visual as efficiently but if you have any other needs from a drama, he has plenty of other work to get through first, pick any of his other dramas
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