The bad taints the good a little too much in this series

HIStory 4: Close to You is overall a good addition to the HIStory series but the controversial portrayal of rape will inevitably casts a dark shadow on its reputation.

We can perhaps attempt an amoral and non-judgmental attitude towards the portrayal of rape. After all, good art does not necessarily convey themes that people find acceptable. Unfortunately, the portrayal doesn’t stand up to scrutiny even if we cast aside any moral objections.

The character of Fu Yongjie is full of contradictions, and not in a way that makes sense. At the start, he seems like a sort of psychopathic stalker who happens to be obsessed with this guy he is bent on “getting” that he would even attack someone who seems close to him. The object of his affections turns out to be his brother. Brothers with entirely different birth parents are quite common in BL, and I don’t think it is any bigger an issue here.

Yongjie has the potential to be an interesting character: he certainly has a dark side but is also devoted and even self-sacrificing when it comes to love. He shouldn't have been made to give off psychopath vibes at the start. And since he is someone who won't want to hurt the one he loves regardless of how badly he treats others, it does not make sense when he gets Xingsi drunk and rapes him—supposedly for Xingsi’s sake because he is hatching a plot to let the gay Xingsi come out of the closet and return to live with his family (something Xongsi longs to do but fears hurting his father’s feelings). I don’t think something as drastic as rape is necessary for the plot.

The series also seems to, for some reason, take pains to remind us that what Yongjie has done is rape. The rape scene shows Xingsi talking in a drunken stupor, but he is clearly not sober enough even he does not say no to the sex. Yongjie also clearly knows this because, when the drunken Xingsi asks why he does not kiss him, he tells Xingsi that he will kiss him when he is sober. And then, as if the audience might be mistaken that Yongjie has stopped after kissing and caressing Xingsi’s body, Xingsi later tells his friends that he is the bottom during the act. No matter what brilliant plans Yongjie has that is for Xingsi's benefit, there is really no reason to sexually penetrate this man he supposedly loves with all his heart. I can appreciate a darker character, but he has to be portrayed more convincingly even if I do not care about how moral the character is.

To make matters worse, Yongjie’s mother (by all appearances a nice, understanding lady who has no qualms criticizing the more unscrupulous side of her son) actually knows what he is going to do to Xingsi but abets his behavior—she apologizes to Xingsi later, but still thinks that maybe Yongjie has done the right thing. What??? In the end, the slightly homophobic father seems to have the most sane and reasonable reaction to the crap that is happening--until he has brainwashed into accepting it all.

The portrayal of Yongjie is a waste of the actor, who does a pretty good job handling the character with all his contradictory aspects. It also makes the portrayal of Xingsi a little strange. Xingsi, for instance, forgives Yongjie easily and even falls in love with him. The story would make a bit more sense if Xingsi and Yongjie are in love from the start, but Yongjie decides to show a footage of them making out to their father just to speed up Xingsi's coming out. It would still be terrible behavior, but it would fit in with the potrayal of the character who is impatient and wants to end his brother's struggles fast.

It’s such a pity that the characterization of Yongjie overshadows the nicer aspects of a series which portrays masculinities in rather refreshing ways. The friendship between Xingsi, Muren and Licheng is really cute. The initially straight Muren and Licheng (yes, this is conventional BL where any straight man can fall in love with another man) care for Xingsi in a way that would almost make one thing that they are vying for his affections. But no, they really just treat Xingsi as a close friend and do not even know that Xingsi is gay at first. While toxic masculinities are pervasive in the media, BL often presents masculinities that are so different, almost defiantly going against the grain. And this BL does it well.

Muren and Licheng later become lovers, and we get what are by now cliches in BL like “I don’t like men, I just like him” (fine, whatever you say). But the couple is endearing, and the story could have been good enough focusing on them. I would also rather the Xingsi and Yongjie pairing had taken the well-trodden path of non-biological brothers falling in love only to meet with parental objection. At least this would have suited the overall mood of the series.

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Excellent continuation from Season 1

Season 2 of No Boundary is a direct continuation of Season 1, and the quality is very much the same. Nevertheless, I sense some difficulty in sustaining the story for another 20 episodes so that Season 2 would be long enough.

I think Season 2 continues from Season 1 very well at first. The part until Duanmu Cui and Zhan Yan manage the get out of The Abyss (a parallel universe that is based on Duanmu's memories) with the antidote for the toxic aura is excellent. After this point, however, the story falters a little. A dead character like Wengu is brought back to life, but it seems all to easily done, and it also seems to be for the purpose of having a prominent demon-clan character in the story again (because there's something about immortals, mortals and demons having to unite later in the story).

The villain who gets trapped in The Abyss also escapes a little easily. Oh well, if he doesn't escape, the story will end. But things also get a little over-the-top here as the villain infiltrates and takes over the heavenly realm of the immortals. It is rather intriguing, however, as a critique of authoritarianism. As the evil tyrant takes over the immortal, mortal and demon realms, he basically puts people and places under pervasive surveillance so that he knows what people are doing and whether his orders are being carried out. From what is at first a somewhat noble desire to improve things, the villain's descent into total villainy (while justifying his deeds as being for the greater good) shows how the lure of power corrupts and how hollow the justifications for authoritarian tactics are.

Despite being so powerful after gaining immortality, this villain also suffers from the headaches that plagued him as a mortal. In fact, they get worse, and these headaches are sometimes timely enough to prevent him from performing more evil deeds.

The plot development in Season 2 isn't as impeccable as it was in Season 1. Still, it is not so bad that it really affects the issue in a major way. The love story between Duanmu Cui and Zhan Yan is also given a nice, happy ending even if it is a little forced. One does, however, wonder why the people who saved the world a thousand years ago were conferred the status of immortals whereas Zhan Yan who has done no less to save the world from an evil immortal devil-dictator is just left to die, requiring Duanmu Cui to do something really drastic to resurrect him.

A flawed but still excellent continuation of Season 1, this series does manage to satisfy in many ways,

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Kept me glued throughout

Season 1 of "No Boundary" ends rather abruptly and Season 2 is a direct continuation, so if you plan on watching this, be sure that you have access to both seasons.

In Season 1, the story is very nicely developed and paced. One event leads to another, so the apparent villain at the start does not remain the villain throughout. The events are intricately linked, with no abrupt shifts in the plot.

There are some allusions to classic tales and figures like Justice Bao, with the names being transformed. I'm not sure why though. The main male character, Zhan Yan, is an obvious allusion to the constable in the Justice Bao tales, Zhan Zhao. But this isn't a series about court cases in olden China but a series about immortals, mortals and demons. Still, there are elements of sleuthing in this series, and Zhan Yan is a brilliant detective in his own right.

The immortal/mortal romance in this series (both Seasons 1 and 2) is nothing new but very touching. There is some ambiguity about whether the immortals and mortals can actually fall in love in the world of this series. It is mentioned that immortals are not supposed to fall in love. However, the main reason Duanmu Cui is not "allowed" to fall in love with Zhan Yan (or anyone else) is that this would awaken her repressed memories and cause her to do something that, according to an old prophecy, would endanger the world. Of course, we know quite early on that this will happen. But the series does well in slowly unraveling the details.

Though the story really ends in the middle of nowhere in Season 1, the story is interesting and the characters are portrayed in a way that would make us care about what happens to them next, so Season 2 has a secure audience base.

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Some episodes are quite sweet but the quality is inconsistent

I'm tempted to say that this collection of short episodes (like short films) shamelessly bank on the fame of BL actor pairings without really offering anything much. Each episode is a standalone story, so it is hard for much development in terms of story, and we can't possibly expect much where this is concerned. Nevertheless, some of the episodes manage to depict a relationship and be thought-provoking while the others appear to be just a BL-actor vehicle.

In the first episode, Ohm and Fluke of Until We Meet Again act as a couple again, but may just spoil the Dean/Pharm pairing for fans of Until We Meet Again. Arguably the episode that is the most out of place, Episode 1 is frustrating in how self-contradictory the depiction of the couple is. In a way, it is more adventurous than the other episodes, but let's just accept it that there are some adventures in which people get into awful accidents.

Episode 2 features the most good looking actors in the five episodes, but it is really about the relationship between a man and his cat. It's not BL though you can be forgiven if you find it disturbing, thinking that it's a romantic relationship. After all, one of the two actors have to act as the cat and the actors' roles in TharnType 2 (plus the marketing of Close Friend as BL) will likely give one the wrong idea. But it's quite clear that the cat owner treats the cat as a pet he does dote on, not a lover. The scenes of intimacy are more like a cat snuggling with its owner and asking for treats though you can imagine what it looks like when you get a human actor to play the cat.

Episode 3: I would say it's just some forgettable schoolboy situation.

Episode 4: One man tries to help the other regain his love after he is jilted by his girlfriend. They end up together. OK, but nothing too impressive.

Episode 5: A sweet throwback to the 1990s, this episode is about two pen pals back in the era without ubiquitous mobile phones and social media.

Episode 6: After the throwback to the 1990s, the series ends with a futuristic(?) world in which people can communicate with personalities they idolize through VR machines. There's a suggestion that the virtual world (perhaps also a metaphor for today's cyberspace and social media) may present an idealized and version of things that may seem very real, but the reality of the offline world, for all its imperfections, is what really matters. When Ray meets the real-life Jedi he has been seeing on VR, Jedi is nowhere like the VR version that is always eager to please. The real-life Jedi may lose his temper, but the way he interacts with Ray is more genuine.

Some of the episodes in this series are better than others, but I guess none of them will waste too much of your time.

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Silly humor (that some will like), but awkwardness result from censoring the BL

The translated title, "The Birth of the Drama King", seems not only inaccurate but also rather absurd. This is not unlike the series' brand of humor, especially at the start, before the story gets a tad more serious.

I actually did enjoy the ridiculous humor quite a bit, though part of it may not exactly be intentional. Take for instance the way Zhao Qing Feng is tries to follow the instructions of a self-help manual to make friends with Ji Chuan, the evil sect's leader. The book, however, is more like a book of cheesy pick-up lines. You can imagine how silly this would be in the original novel where Qing Feng is supposed to be trying to seduce Ji Chuan and not merely befriend him. However, the absurd nature of the interactions is amplified as Qing Feng uses the same sort of lines to make friends without any intention of seducing him. The censoring of the BL, in a way, made the scenes funnier.

The censored BL does make the whole series rather awkward though. Firstly, the two main characters are turned into biological brothers. Yes, not they sort who have entirely different biological parents but become brothers by the marriage between two parents. Not the "bromance" or brotherhood sort of friendship. However, the affections also seem to be more like romance than brotherhood at times, especially when intimate friendships are depicted in the series quite differently. Ji Chuan has a very close relationship with A Fu and Wei Qi too, but the dynamics are too different. To make matters worse, there are parts when the two brothers seem to be mistaken for lovers, which is quite unnecessary when the BL has been censored. For instance, when the two men wake up in the same bed after a drinking session, it should actually be something trivial--even if one of them seems to have woken up with his shirt removed, right? But, no, it's made to seem as though it's scandalous, like the sect leader has just had sex with a man.

A better way of censoring the BL would have been to leave the relationship ambiguous or turn it into bromance between friends, and avoid making the characters end up with girlfriends.

Physician Yan's presence, however, makes things interesting. No matter how many times he refers to his relationship with Ji Chuan as brotherhood, his unconcealed jealousy when he sees Ji Chuan with Qing Feng (especially when the two are caught waking up in the same bed) makes the romantic affections quite blatant.

Despite the problems, the series doesn't take itself very seriously and isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's not great, but it's still entertaining in its own way. I guess it could still have been better overall if the BL did not have to be censored.

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Very good story though the ending seems rushed

Maybe the title of the series should have been Cop and Healer rather than Killer and Healer, but I guess Killer and Healer has a nicer ring to it.

The story of how a Republican-era policeman and a doctor come together and work against the illegal opium trade in their city, linked to a conspiracy to stage a coup, is compelling. Instead of relying too heavily on "shocking" plot twists that some may find predictable, the series prepares the audience from the start for certain revelations about the identity of the masterminds behind the conspiracy while making the possibilities open enough to keep us guessing. The story is thus presented with aplomb.

As an adaptation of a BL novel, the series plays safe and largely erases the BL between the two main characters, Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi. At times, this appears a little schizophrenic. While we see the characters referring to each other as brothers (the bromance sort of brothers), we also see a hint of a romantic relations when Chu Ran (who is in love with Yuelou) see the two of them together and seem to understand that she does not stand a chance.

Comparatively, the relationship between Zhan Junbai and the opera singer, Boss Yu, is full of homosexual innuendo that is cleverly depicted, with them singing the opera, Farewell My Concubine, together and with allusions to historical figures like Dong Xian and Emperor Ai. Despite how Zhan later uses the word "friend" to describe how he treats Boss Yu, the affections he displays seem more like romantic love. Perhaps it was less of a risk to place such innuendo in the supporting characters.

Unless you are watching it solely for BL, the series tells a very good story. The only part I find disappointing in the ending -- both the original ending and the alternative happy ending versions. In the last episode, the masterminds of the conspiracy are too easily defeated. In a different story, it would likely have been fine. However, for a series that relies very heavily on the resourcefulness of the villain, the ending appears a little too rushed and sudden. Spoiler:

In the original ending, the villain is shot to death after killing one of the main characters while, in the alternative ending, the villain is caught before that can happen (this is simply narrated through an intertitle), Given the way the villain is portrayed as a ridiculously cautious person with a knack for hatching elaborate plots and a very calm disposition, the way he suddenly appears to shoot one of the main characters in public seems a little off character even when he is already driven to desperation. As for the alternative ending, the way he is caught is not even shown. I'm not sure if the original ending is faithful to the novel, but if liberties are to be taken with the source material, I would rather have the villain dying after being defeated--even if it is by suicide (since he seems to be prepared for every possible scenario anyway).

One thing I really love about this series is Mao Zijun's performance in this series as Jiang Yuelou. He very much brings the character to life by coherently portraying the different aspects of the character. He manages to seamlessly bring together the many facets of the character he plays: a cop with an uncompromising sense of righteousness, a man with emotional issues and hiding the childhood trauma he has undergone, a lonely man who wishes his cat would live a few more years to keep him company, a remorseful person who has failed to do something when a girl is kidnapped, an occasional playful grown-up and even a socially inept person who would simply ask a woman whether she likes him when the idea is suggested to him. (And more.) I can imagine how a different actor would have made the one person seem like many different characters instead.

Despite the somewhat disappointing ending, the series is really compelling throughout. I kept finding myself surprised by how quickly each episode seems to end. It's hard to stop after you start watching it.

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Not polished in most aspects

Almost everything about this production appears amateurish: the script, the main character's acting, the cinematography, the lighting, the sound, etc.

The story isn't very coherent, especially the "twist" at the end. While the twist demonstrates the writers' grasp of the BL genre, it fails to account for the characters' behaviors like why the trainee barista (Sakay) would behave so arrogantly if he likes the first barista (Tham) even before working at the cafe.

Many scenes feel as though someone with a high-resolution camera has filmed scenes of people and put the scenes together. The continuity is largely acceptable and the scenes don't seem haphazardly put together. But there seems to be little regard for the composition of the shots. The lighting at the nighttime beach scene looks unnatural, and post-production efforts seem minimal. There is at least one point at which the background music is ended awkwardly.

The acting isn't very good either, with the exception of the actress playing the role of the customer who is infatuated with the first barista. How often do I encounter a BL series that makes me not just appreciate but also wish for more scenes featuring the female character who seemingly stands in the way of the BL couple? Evening Cafe manages to achieve the unachievable in this regard.

To be fair, the mini series looks like it's a really low-budget production and this already limits a lot of things. There are also some scenes that are quite decently, like the scene with Tham and Sakay riding a bike together. Finally, the theme song sounds rather nice though music isn't always used to great effect (nor is there variety) in the series. Anyone wanting to watch the series must, however, be able to put up with its weaknesses.

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A little inconsistent but quite good

This series would have been pretty amazing crime series if every case had been as good as the the last case (or combination of cases) involving someone hatching an elaborate plot to take revenge on Dr. Qin. The villain in this case seems a little too resourceful to be convincing. I also wonder why the case that caused the person to take revenge on Dr. Qin isn't fully included as one of the actual cases in this series but is only alluded to. It seems potentially interesting.

The earlier case involving identical twin brothers is also rather interesting. The rest of the series is still pretty good, but I find that some cases get solved too fast and maybe too effortlessly.

The friendship between the three main characters is nicely portrayed, making the characters likable and humane, which helps draw the audience into the series. I have yet to watch the sequels with a different cast, but it would not be easy replacing the original cast in this show.

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Marred by a terrible ending

There are some stories for which an unsatisfactory ending can be forgiven, but this isn't one of them. So much of the story depends on a solid ending that really resolves everything. Instead, we are treated to an mindboggling ending that leaves us with a few huge question marks.

My guess is that censorship laws with regard to time travel interfered with the ending, so instead of being someone who is transported back in time, the explanation is that the main character Zhang Hai Feng, is merely creating false memories to ease the pain of losing his child. At least this was as much sense as I could make from the ending. The ending reminds me of Psych Hunter's unsatisfactory ending, but at least in Psych Hunter, the idea of entering someone's subconscious is featured prominently from the start.

It's a shame that the ending is so bad because the story is quite good for about ten or eleven episodes, and the acting is overall quite good. Casting Lu Han as Zhao Bin Bin was a good choice. Because he doesn't at all look villainous, the ambiguity and mystery in the character is nicely brought out. I doubt there would be a sequel or a special cut that will save the story, so we are left with something that is likely to disappoint even the most forgiving viewer.

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Good story, interesting characters

Having watched Wu Xin: The Monster Killer 1 to 3, I find the first one to be the best in terms of the supernatural elements. There is a clear villain from the start, but there are interesting revelations about the villain as the story unfolds. The character relationships are nicely developed, particularly with the friendship between Wu Xin/Yue Ya and Gu Xuan Wu.

This series has the ingredients that make a successful series, from an well developed story with intriguing supernatural elements to interesting characters and relationships. It also has romance though the ending isn't exactly satisfactory. Another weakness is the somewhat hurried and sudden introduction of another couple of characters towards the end of the series (who feature more prominently in Seasons 2 and 3). Nevertheless, the weaknesses do not mar the series. The theme songs are also moving and evoke the right mood for the story though I'm not sure why the theme song is changed after a few episodes. It comes as no surprise, then, that it has spawned two sequels.

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Nice combination of wuxia and whodunnit

This series consists of a few connected mysteries with an wuxia setting. The story is really good here although there are some kinks in delivery every now and then. For example, the close friendship between the two male leads is developed from the start, but some time around Episode 16, Zhao Wo Huan seems almost as though he is jealous of or upset with his friend's lover, Zhan Shi Qi. Zhan also seems a little out of character in the same episode. Yes, the two male leads are so close that we see them embracing and holding hands at times, but the plot doesn't seem to be set up to suggest that either of them would be jealous of the other's lover.

Zhao Wo Huan, the second male lead, actually turns out to be the more nuanced character for most part. He is righteous but also has a bit of an inferiority complex due to his background. He is eager to prove himself and boast, but never to the extent of being annoying. His loyalty to Jian is admirable, especially in the part where the two friends quarrel but Zhao still risks his life to deal with a killer saving his friend.

The story has many conventional ingredients of wuxia, but it is not focused on the fighting between different set. Instead, the main character, Jian Bu Zhi, is a detective who know no martial arts. With his intelligence and the help of his good friend, Zhao Wo Huan, he manages to solve several mysteries.

There is also romance in the series, but I don't find the romance that nicely developed. It just seems too sudden that Jian and Zhan would fall in love. The doomed romance between Zhao Wo Huan and Ming Yue starts off a little better but we do not really see the depth of Ming Yue's love for the most part despite evidence of her wavering loyalty to her sect.

The series is one of the many that end with a major cliffhanger to pique the audience's curiosity in case it is commercially successful enough for a second season to be made. Sometimes this gets really annoying as the main conflict in the first season isn't resolved. This, however, isn't the case. The plot ends satisfactorily in Season 1, but a huge twist in the identity of Jian Bu Zhi (which many see coming, so it isn't labored at least) makes me wish that a second season would be made.

Comment involving a major spoiler:

Some understand the ending to be revealing that Jian Bu Zhi is not Jian Bu Zhi but the villain who kills Jian Bu Zhi's father eight years earlier. However, it is also quite clear that the ending does not overturn things more drastically than most fans are able to take. The guy we have been watching from the first episode (the so-called fake Jian Bu Zhi) is not really a villain--he's more like a living person who had been zombified and turned into a killing machine by some evil force. The events eight years earlier have caused him to lose his memory and think that he is Jian Bu Zhi.

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I'm not sure why, but I'm usually not into Korean dramas, but I find this drama to be a strangely good mix of comedy, thriller, mystery.

In her quest to solve the mystery behind her sister's disappearance, Yoo Ryung becomes a police officer and manages to get herself transferred to the subway police department because she believes that her sister has been the victim of the subway ghost, a serial killer who has killed people and dumped bodies in the subway.

Fueled by empathy for the victims and their families, she goes after criminals with a passion, turning the otherwise mundane world of the subway police department upside down. The comic situations are rather funny at the start. However, the series does not go light on the crimes: some of them can be rather violent, and the series does not hesitate to show some violent scenes.

I wasn't expecting it, but the blend of light-hearted comic elements with more serious thriller elements and some heartwarming scenes is splendidly done. They do not feel out of place. There are even a few nice twists that do not feel labored. By the end of Episode 13, I was wondering how the series could have another 3 episodes, but it did and it was done well too. The last episode feels like it has some filler moments so that it can become a full episode, but it's still not a significant problem.

The series also manages to highlight social issues like the struggles of the poor and caregiver stress. There is also a recurring theme of parental love and the lengths (sometimes touching, sometimes frightening) to which parents would go for the sake of their children.

The series is not perfect, of course. There are some slight plot holes and the depiction of dementia in the series seems a little unrealistic. But these flaws do not compromise the quality of the series.

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Could have been funnier

A somewhat weaker sequel to Detective Chinatown (2015). Some of the scenes are visually hilarious such as with horse-riding on the roads of New York (the poor horse comes to an awful end though).

Like the 2015 movie, there are elements of a whodunit/detective story. Much of it is comedy involving situations that you shouldn't expect to be realistic if you want to enjoy the movie.

The story features a few recurring characters that we see in the Detective Chinatown franchise (including the 2020 series). It is weaker than the 2015 movie though the serial killer premise shows promise at first. This sequel ups the anarchic elements of the first instalment, which can make it really funny. Unfortunately, the comedy isn't always done well. The story relies too much on "stroke of luck" situations to solve the protagonists' problems--this is sometimes funny, sometimes insipid. The means by which the main characters escape from a police lock-up is almost cringe-inducing even for someone with a good appetite for absurd comedic situations. Implausible events are fine if they are fun and hilarious. But if they are simply implausible without being funny, they give the sense that they have been included just to move the plot forward.

Like the 2015 movie, this one features an "extra" revelation after the mystery seems to have been solved. It is clever though, this time round, we may vaguely seeing it coming a tad too early. In the 2015 movie, the extra revelation doesn't seem labored though we may begin to see something extra coming our way quite late in the movie. In contrast, the sequel seems to try a little too hard to show that the extra revelation isn't added as an afterthought. Still, I'm nitpicking a little. This movie isn't meant to be taken so seriously and, in fact, it falters when it starts taking itself too seriously with some pseudo-philosophical moments.

As an aside, a sort of formula or template seems to have emerged from the 2015 movie, and this does not necessarily bode well for the third instalment.

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Surprisingly OK

This is a follow-up to The Moment, which was released earlier in 2020 (though it somehow feels like more than a year has passed). It's not really a second season or sequel because it feels more like the second half of The Moment that finally has a chance to be made.

The quality of The Moment Since is consistent with The Moment, and it shares the same strengths and weaknesses though the plot in The Moment Since seems to have gone even thinner. There could have been more attention paid to the characters who are not the main couple (Bay and Mok)--we already know they are in love and there isn't really anything getting in their way.

Perhaps to add some excitement, a new character, Jimmy, is added. However, the introduction of Jimmy as yet another guy who is interested in Bay seems as unnecessary as Jimmy's shirtless scene. No one is really complaining about the somewhat gratuitous scene, but why not a love interest for Boston who is a genuinely sweet guy who is secretly in love with Bay? We get to see more of Boston's inner world here, and it's a pity that the character isn't given more attention.

If the cast and production team had a higher budget, perhaps a more interesting story would have been possible. There have some surprisingly good BLs in 2020. The Moment and The Moment Since may not be amongst them, but it is actually surprisingly "ok".

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Good story and acting

I have not watched the original Korean series, but I have thoroughly enjoyed this Thai remake. The story may not be original, but the delivery of the story is really good.

The story starts with a police officer (Peera) traveling (roughly) thirty years into the future (from 1985 to the 2010s) while trying to nab a serial killer. He helps to solve other cases in the 2010s before being confronted with the serial killer again.

The characters and their relationships are interesting, especially the relationship between Peera and Thanthai (a police officer in the 2010s, the son of one of the serial killer's victims). The cast is excellent; the actors for even relatively minor characters turn out a riveting performance.

Some time travel paradoxes are present, and this is somewhat inevitable. However, one weakness lies in the suggestion that when Peera gets back to his original time in 1985, what he does can change the future, e.g. the present-day serial killer has a new memory of being chased by Peera in 1985 after Peera gets back to the past and tries to catch him. This should also mean that if Peera manages to get back to 1985 and nab the serial killer, the subsequent killings after 1985 can be prevented. It then becomes baffling that he does get back to 1985 permanently in theend, but there is nothing to suggest an attempt to nab the serial killer and prevent the killings that would occur in the 1990s to 2010s. (This is disturbing because most of the killings are actually done after 1985.)

Furthermore, because Peera eventually gets back to 1985, it could mean that the death of his wife (a few years after 1985) in an accident can be prevented, and his daughter won't be orphaned. This may well mean that the orphaned daughter may have a different career and may not help the police of the 2010s solve the serial killer case. In fact, all the events that lead to the nabbing of the serial killer in the 2010s may be changed because Peera returns to 1985 in the end. This then means that the effort Peera puts in to nab the serial killer in the 2010s are likely to be futile unless he doesn't return to 1985.

I guess the ending in which Peera returns to 1985 is aimed to be pleasing enough to most audiences even if it is at the expense of logic. It would indeed be too heartbreaking an ending if Peera doesn't return to 1985 when his wife is waiting for his return. Additionally, people may not like seeing the 2010s characters they have grown to be familiar with suddenly reconfigured by Peera's return to the past.

Personally, I think a reconfiguration could have been done: Peera can nab the serial killer in 1985, preventing more killings. His wife may avoid the accident causing her to die. His daughter doesn't have to be orphaned, but she can still be a professor of criminal psychology and help the police solve crimes. Thanthai (the police officer who happens to be the son of one of the killer's victims may not become a police officer but instead be a doctor/forensics doctor (he gives up studying medicine to be a police officer in order to catch the serial killer). The drawback, of course, is that the audience have spent too much time with the original 2010s characters and their particular histories to be comfortable with their histories rewritten in half an episode or less. But this seems inevitable: e.g. why would Peera's daughter be orphaned if he returns.

While the flaws of using time travel as a plot device are not entirely negligible, the series is still satisfying. The characters and their relationships are engaging without being a distraction from the crime cases. Despite not getting a lot of screen time, the love between Peera and his wife, Wad, is touching. The bond and sometimes tensions between the police officers (Peera/Suchart, Peera/Thanthai and the 2010s team in general) are effectively portrayed without much distraction from the crime stories.

In the end, I still wish that there is a clearer explanation of why the main serial killer changes the sort of targets he had in the 1990s. In fact, I would probably prefer having Peera change the "original" future by going back to the past and nabbing the serial killer. But taking the story for what it is, it is hard to fault the delivery. I'm glad seeing Peera going back to 1985 and having a happy ending. The possibility that his eventual return to 1985 would change the future that he has experienced (including the nabbing of the killer) seems to have been totally ignored in the end, perhaps because the ending isn't meant to trigger a Season 2. If we really demand something that is entirely logical, we are probably better off avoiding time travel stories.

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