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Not a Drama Addict

Not a Drama Addict

The Imperial Coroner chinese drama review
Completed
The Imperial Coroner
1 people found this review helpful
by Not a Drama Addict
Sep 6, 2021
36 of 36 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Smart Storyline makes this rookie drama a compelling watch

This is a fun to watch Detective drama with multiple story arcs unfolding across the episodes to eventually reveal the key big plot. The lead and supporting cast are fairly young and unheard of, so what really drew me this drama was not the celebrity cast or famous director, but rather it's remarkably clever plot.

Summary- The story takes place in Chang An, the capital city, during the time of the Tang Dynasty, under Emperor Xuan Zhong. The Female lead character, Chu Chu, comes from a humble family of coroners that handle coroner matters in their small county. As a young lass, Chu Chu aspires to a competent Coroner, just like her Father and brother. She travels to Chang An to try to take the Imperial Exam to qualify as one but along the way and bumps into her reserved but erudite Supervisor, Xiao Jin Yu, a young but brilliant scholar who heads the entire Judicial System. As Chu Chu tries to impress her Supervisor in order to get qualified to practise as a certified Coroner, she gets roped in by Xiao Jin Yu, who borrows her coroner skills and abilities to help him solve some crime cases- various people are being "accidentally" murdered across the city and the timing of their deaths and their occupational identities seem too suspicious for their deaths to be certified as "accidental". Together with a supporting team of Xiao Jin Yu's brother Xiao Jin Li and loyal sidekicks Vice Minister Jing Yi and Martial Artist Leng Yue, the young energetic team crack their brains and support one another to piece multiple clues to uncover an underlying sinister political agenda, which inadvertently expose hidden secrets about Chu Chu and Xiao Jin Yu's births and their blood families.

2 of my favourite things about the drama, besides the clever storyline was the Female and Male Lead character's working partnership and romance.

The Working Partnership- There is little that "Alpha Male versus weak Damsel in distress" trope here. The Script-writers have in fact written the lead characters to be synergistically complementary to one another as Chu Chu's extroverted chirpy optimistic personality makes a nice pairing to Xiao Jin Yu's introverted reserved and aloof character, that has extraordinary ability to string together multiple clues to solve complex mysteries. Chu Chu respects Xiao Jin Yu enough to be serious about her work even when her boss is not looking. Xiao Jin Yu is also eager ask Chu Chu's for her opinions when he is busy analysing the details of a case matter. This is a guy who respects a smart woman regardless of how lowly they were viewed back then in society! Xiao Jin Yu is radically progressive and ahead of his time. Lol. Despite their outwardly different personalities, it is not hard to see why both Chu Chu and Xiao Jin Yu can actually work so well together. Both of them are intensely curious and observant individuals who are just passionate and persistent about finding the truth of the matter. Their kind of working partnership transcends across the gender divide and class differences, is truly admirable and praiseworthy.

The Romance- Although Chu Chu and Xiao Jin Yu's do intentionally get their initial "awkward" start, I found their romance particularly endearing because it was beautiful to see how Jin Yu's initial skepticism about Chu Chu's mysterious background gradually erode over time, as his admiration for her passion and meticulosity when it comes to her work eventually wins over his trust, respect and affections. We see how Jin Yu becomes more empathic and grounded the more he hangs around simple but kind-hearted Chu Chu while Chu Chu matures in her abilities as she learns from Jin Yu's ability to stay cool-headed while they uncover uncomfortable revelations in their search for the truth. There is progression in both their characters and affections as they experience multiple trials and setbacks together. All in, I found Chu Chu and Xiao Jin Yu's love story a good balance of heart-fluttering and heart-warming moments.

The ending of this story is a happy one, won't give away all the details here. So this is a feel-good drama you can watch if you want intellectual stimulation, comedy, zero-boredom suspense, cute romance all rolled into one!
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