Insect Detective 2 (2024)

An Entertaining Thriller, Definitely Must-Watch

I haven’t watched Season One and yet the sequel is oddly addictive.

I might be a part of the minority who haven’t watched the prequel yet and jumped at the opportunity to watch Season Two when they heard “Bromance”. For those who are worried that you might not enjoy Season Two, if you haven’t watched the prequel, fret not. Apart from the romance between the ML & the FL, there aren’t any big changes, so I don’t think you are missing out on much, although we won’t understand the ML’s backstory which seems to be quite traumatizing. Starring Gala Zhang, Chu Yue, Bie Thassapak Hsu in lead roles, the cases are an unique mix of mystery, entomology & forensic entomology. It is like heaven for a science graduate like me. For others, the scientific terms might be jarring; but the chemistry between the main leads & their investigative skills will definitely grab your attention. Gala Zhang lives upto his reputation of playing serious roles; this season, Tan Jing Tian is reeling from the loss of his senior who was arbitrarily murdered and victimized. He seems to be stuck in a mesh of cases that somehow boil down to his senior’s sudden death. Let’s talk about the show in more details!

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/05/30/insect-detective-2-first-impressions/

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Witty lines, great plot, beautiful cinematography

Ok, I am a sucker for suspense thrillers and crime investigation plots. I think a crime investigation series based on entomology is very interesting. I stumbled upon this series while looking for Bie's new work. At first, I didn't have high expectations because I was afraid they make it more romance-heavy but oh my, so far this has proven to be an excellent quality production of the C series. I haven't watched S1 so I don't have any comparison or preconceived idea on how the direction of this series should be. However, although in some of the scenes, they referred to S1 happenings, in a sense this S2 is quite independent and easy to understand even though you have yet to watch S1.

So far, I like it because:
1- Witty lines. I love the banters between Chai and the Thai ME, Mario and Ter. Their banters created a less depressing atmosphere of the supposedly heavy and dark mood of deaths and murders.
2- Bie's character. Ok, I'm quite biased here because I love Bie. But I think his character is the highlight of the show. He plays the playful, witty, smart but strict policeman to perfection. Chai appears to be not serious but serious at the same time. Chai provides the comedic moments as well as the "aha" moments during investigations.
3- The bromance between Chai & Jingtian as well as Chai & Ter. You can see that Chai admires Jingtian's intelligence and at the same time, he sympathises with Jingtian. That's why he took Jingtian under his wings. Whereas Jingtian treated Chai like an older brother figure, someone he could depend on. As for Ter, he felt threatened and jealous when Chai started to trust Jingtian more, he wanted Chai (as a superior and a friend) to look at him and trust him more. He wanted to be the only close friend of Chai.
4 - The plots so far were great. The writer managed to keep the audience intrigued with how the cases seem unrelated but related at the same time.
5- Beautiful cinematography. One thing I hate about movies/dramas with suspense thrillers is the dark, gloomy depressing cinematography. Here, the production managed to balance the need between making it depressing and vibrant. The transition from a gloomy scene to a bright and vibrant scene is smooth and they managed to make it as natural as possible.

Hopefully, the series will maintain its momentum to the end and will not go downhill in the middle as Bie's other works.

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