In 1998, Fang Mu is an arrogant but brilliant student who can profile a criminal in a few minutes without hesitation. But when we move to 2001, he is not the same self-confident guy anymore, he has built a barrier to defend himself from the past, from something that happened three years before. We don't know what made him change, we find our answers slowly, as we go on with the story.
Each murder case is brutal but well-designed. You find yourself absorbed in the story and when you finish the puzzle, you notice how the pieces fit together perfectly.
What grasps the attention is also the inner struggle that Fang Mu has to fight. "If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you".
As I said before, Evil Minds is a dark drama but it's also beautiful. With "beautiful" I mean the artistic quality of the filming, the quality of the scriptwriting and the choice of the soundtrack (especially the ending song, "Flying Horse" by Luo Er).
The acting is very good, especially because they aren't veteran actors. (And Chen Ruo Xuan is really cute ehm ehm XD).
I feel indebted to Evil Minds, so I recommend to give a chance to this great drama that has gone unnoticed.
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Every scene was made in a artistic way with a unique camera and music which suited the scene and was creating the atmosphere so you could feel the actual emotions. I would like to point out how logical was the plot. It happens a lot in dramas that some things don't fit together and it seems a bit weird. Here, every scene had a logical reason why to be put there. It was amazing to see that some scenes from the beggining were actually much more important at the end and had much more meaning behind it.
Also the acting was so beautiful. I can't find any other word how to describe the acting. See it for yourself.
After a lot of dramas which weren't good I've finally experienced the feeling when you finish drama and you feel empty the next day and the day after,....
If you're looking for an intelligent drama and has a hidden meaning which can be also interpreted to a real life - I wish you a pleasant and deep experience.
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The Devil Inside.
This is an excellent psychological thriller that can give any of the recent hits in the crime/thriller genre a run for their money. This drama grippingly explores criminal profilers - those who get into the minds of monsters - those who gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you. It is a dark story about how we all struggle with our inner demons and how the devil inside can be unleashed and insidiously take over. It is another excellent thriller with an unreliable narrator that sneaks up upon you.Fang Mu is a graduate student in criminal psychology who consults with the local police department to solve difficult and gruesome serial cases. He is considered a gifted profiler who is able to build an identifiable profile of the murderer from seemingly random and opaque clues. I am quite surprised at how some graphic and gruesome details of the rape/murder cases made it through the Chinese censors. That said, the introductory or peripheral cases fail to convincingly establish Fang Mu's credentials as some kind of profiling wunderkind although the shock or gore value is quite high. The two "real" cases however are meticulously mapped out and articulated.
After a traumatic case, Fang Mu struggles to matriculate and his police collaborators exhort his professor, another gifted profiler salvage their protégé by helping him battle his inner demons and complete his thesis. Another series of baffling murders compels Fang Mu to work together with the police department again. This awakens memories of the shattering case from three years ago that destroyed his confidence and left him a shadow of his former self. The story brilliantly weaves the destruction and subsequent salvation of Fang Mu's character into the two defining cases, one in the past and one in the present. Unlike some of the overrated the 2020 vintage that morph into character dramas (Horizon Tower, The Long Night), Fang Mu's character evolution an integral part of the plot and is not a digression from the plot.
There are enough clues throughout that it is possible (but not easy) to partly solve both of the main cases before the big reveals. At the very least, a very shadowy outline of the truth is visible in a way that made me want to keep watching; to find out if my suspicions were correct. This achieves that perfect balance between the element of surprise and anticipation or validation of the viewer's working thesis and I can't be more impressed. The acting and chemistry between the cast is excellent with the villains in particular being very subtle but still planting the smallest seed of suspicion. This really hit my mystery, psychological thriller, dark gore sweet spot. At the same time, in so many ways it is also a very human, very sad story. You will feel a ton of empathy for many characters and how the vagaries of fate and chance conspire to steal their dreams without completely killing them. Chen Xi and Fang Mu's story broke my heart - even though I was on to them from the second episode, I never wanted more badly to be wrong.
While there are some flaws and maybe some holes, this is an excellent watch - I rate it 8.5. It is very under appreciated but dark and complex.
If you are going to watch it on iQiyi be warned that the last two episodes are incomplete. Episode 23 seems edited to end the show with some of the most important threads left open. And Episode 24 is missing. iQiyi has ignored my many messages to complete the season so like me, you will have to watch the last two episodes somewhere else (Dramacool).
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Of course, there is maybe one or two Asian show that I prefer over this one. But... That's all.
Honestly, I was reluctant to watch it at first, because I'm not used to Chinese and have already tried a few Chinese dramas or movie that didn't really satisfy me. But... I guess this one reconciled me with Chinese drama...!
Well, I don't know what to say as I've just finished watching it (or should I say: binge watched it) I'm supposed to have exams in a few days and thought that watching a drama/movie would relax me, but I ended up watching it in one day. Really.
So, let's start by the plot. There are many plot twists and the story is really good. I liked how they portaited the Chinese society with everything, the poor, some things that aren't really normal or human, ...
Really, I liked the story. It's like a mix of all the good action movies out there. You can even add something that look like the American serie Hannibal (which portray Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham) there are some similarities at some point in the story, and I liked that. It goes deep in the thought of what devilness is and what we should do; like a lot of movie these times, but I liked how it was done here. At some point I thought they were trying to lenghtend the story and added episodes just so that there were more, but then paf! There is a plot twist and eveything becomes logical. The few incoherence I spotted in the beginning of the story actually are used later, so at the end you realize everything and well... You can be shocked. Personally I wasn't surprised by everything, but it's true there are a few things I hadn't guessed. Oh, and maybe the story went a bit too deep with the last episode, I thought they could've just left the story with the "7th case and the death of ..." (I won't say no more to not spoil but those who have watched the drama will understand.. I guess haha) but well, at least everything was completed.
As for the actors... I thought they were all amazing. the actress were very beautiful. The main actor has that way of having just one light in the eye when he has to, and every details of his face can show something. I thought he was really a good actor, way better than many acclaimed actors.
As for the music... I thought it was really beautiful. The last song is so emotional...
Of course the main theme that comes every episode can bore you a bit, since you hear it all the time, but sometimes you hear it and think"oh, that's the perfect place where it is supposed to be! Nice choice! " and as for the song in French... Since I'm Swiss, I understood perfectly the song and that added to the creepy feeling of the end, so maybe I was more emotional than someone who doesn't understand the lyrics.
As for the rematch value... Well, of course you already know who are the perpetrators and the mysteries and all, but... Re watching it once is a good idea I think, to see what you missed, to know what we're the hints the writters left there... And well, the filming is done beautifully and there are really nice moments so yeah, I'll probably watch it again.
I don't understand why it's not more known, maybe bc it's Chinese? Anyway, if you watched it and liked it, please share it. I had to search for hour and hour before finding it, since I have already watched lots of drama/movies of this genre. It's really is a chef d'oeuvre!
Also, sorry if my review is a bit strange, as English isn't my mother tongue and as I'm writing this after hours and hours of watching this drama, my English might not be perfect Keke
Oh, and I just saw that they're -maybe- gonna do a season 2. I hope they won't destruct the magnificence of this one...
GO WATCH IT NOW. ESPECIALY IF YOU LIKE CRIME/ACTION, BUT ROMANCE TOO!
\o/
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Do not watch it in iQiyi
iQiyi has edited out half the important stuff, so make sure to watch it somewhere else. But even with the back and forth I suffered because of that, it was clear that this was a good drama.The final arc is my favourite. And throughout the show, the way the leads figure out every step is very interesting. And the revelations just kept coming at one point during the finale. As befitting a drama dealing with psychological stuff.
But you have to know - this drama cannot be watched lightly. They take the meaning of crime thriller to different level. And by that I mean, the crimes are so creepy, cruel and may cause indigestion - you need to have a strong stomach for it.
Also the first few eps are fast-paced, the next few eps just give you complete depth and feel for it and all of it is just prepping you for the second half in my humble opinion.
Overall, enjoyed this drama a lot - though I had to take a couple weeks break mid-way because my dark mood did not continue for a while. But hey I came back and finished it didn't I?
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Wow!
I, as someone whose mortal enemies include Horror and Psychological, somehow accidentally started watching this of all shows. And then went on to marathon it within three evenings. Short version of review: Wow!!So, first of all the story - This takes Psychological to new levels. Talk about mind games, talk about twists. You think you have a case figured out, hah - here's a big twist. You think you have a character figured out, hah - couldn't be more wrong. Don't trust yourself while watching this show. It all fits together into one big puzzle, cut into beautifully paced episodes of 25 - 40 minutes each.
The characters: Big thumbs up! Obviously the main characters are amazing, but we know that so let's spotlight the side characters instead. Loved that the police was actually useful! Loved the little beautiful side stories that were hinted on but not necessarily explored all the way. Also, talk about -devastatingly- sad back stories. You will want to give out a bunch of hugs while watching this one (then again, it's a show about murders so maybe that's a given). And despite all the... Dark, it managed to hit all the Bromance clichés! A+!
The last four episodes were a wild ride, impossible to stop watching at that point. The show made me laugh, cry, and doubt myself. Also, it got a bit scary at points. No jump scares, thankfully, but man, does it work hard to creep you out. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the ending song, it's an acquired taste, I suppose. Very fitting.
Anyway - Big recommendation! Watch, watch!
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Ridiculous rationale and no character development
Over dramaticized irrational drama that relies solely on plot twists for the sake of plot twists and gives no attention to storytelling. It's a mess from start to finish. Characters stay the same from pretty much the first episode. Lengthy poetic dialogues that serve no purpose and I'm sure you'd end up skipping anyway. Extremely obvious clues that stick out like a sore thumb. Protagonist that solves almost every case because he is a protagonist and has no rationale. His reasoning for the most specific details about culprit profiling, go even as far as the shirt color they wear!? Did I mention that almost every single murder takes place in the same university our protagonist studies at!?Also, I'm not sure how people pull the similarity between this trash and 'Death Note'. This show is not a back and forth between the two main characters. Fang Mu, the all knowing protagonist makes the character of the police officer, Tai Wei-Lian run around finding clues for him or just as a means to tell the police (by that, it's really the viewer) how Fang Mu figured it out. That's all the exchange there is between these two characters. So I repeat, it's an insult to 'Death Note' to be compared to this trash.
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FORMULA FOR EVERY DAMN EPISODE/ ARC =
>> Someone finds a murder scene
>> Police on scene where the forensic chick explains how murder took place
>> Tai Wei-Lian aka the police guy bitches about not being able to prevent it if its a second murder in the murder spree, which it usually is (everyone in this university is a serial killer)
>> Tai Wei-Lian briefs the captain of police (prob the most realistic, well played character) about the case and he ofc asks em to figure everything out at the soonest, like he does every time
>> Tai Wei-Lian asks Fang Mu for help
>> Fang Mu goes to library, figures everything out just in time, before the next murder takes place.
** I challenge anyone who can prove my formula wrong!!
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I think I've done enough ranting. If you think why it has rating more than 8, that's exactly what people watch this for. Do yourself a favour if you value your time and appreciate good storytelling, don't watch this.
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I've always liked watching crime dramas. I liked thinking and I liked dramas that will give me headaches. And Evil Minds did. One second I was fangirling over how beautiful Fang Mu is and two seconds, I was mindfucked. This drama made me lose my shit, it made me think if I'm being fooled or I'm just really stupid and didn't get the whole thing. You will think the next episode will give you the answers but it will not, it will just complicate your mind more. AND I FREAKING LOVED THAT. Hats off to the writer, YOU ARE GENIUS-- like how genius Fang Mu is.
The back and forth scenes between 1998 and 2003 was a little complicated at first, but it was okay after. (I watched it at kissasian, the subs were a little off, but it's still understandable)
I really enjoyed guessing the murderers in every case (even though I always got it wrong) and this drama really made me realize that you have to pay attention to every little thing and detail.
Acting is great-- I haven't watched that much Chinese dramas so I don't know if the main characters are famous (I read somewhere that the main actors are newbies or something, not really sure if true) they've got good acting, especially Fang Mu. I totally fangirled over him the whole drama.
Music was uhmm.. okay. I don't really like the ending music. It was so creepy! (well.. can't complain since there's a lot of creepiness in this drama)
Gonna rewatch for sure! Since I know I didn't get some of the scenes (ugh subtitles!) rewatching will surely make me understand the drama more.
Those who like psychological thriller/crime I recommend this! :)
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Holy shit, I'm pleasantly surprised.
This was much better than I expected, I went into this show with very light expectations. My decision to watch this was also a very spur of the moment kinda thing. I found this while browsing the free options on IQiYi (the poster caught my attention). Half way through I was like "Yeah it's alright not too bad and not too good" but then the last episodes happened and I changed my mind.Story: The story isn't really complicated, Fang Mu, a genius in criminal psychology helps the police in solving cases and because of an incident he has trouble profiling criminals. The way the case of Fang Mu's trauma was revealed was interesting, I enjoyed those episodes a lot. They, together with the last 2-3 episodes are the best in my opinion. What I didn't like was that they basically used the same formula for how the cases are solved, it can get boring and a bit repetitive. Another user described the rough outline of that formula in their review. This was one of the reasons why I thought the drama was pretty mid around 6.5/7 out of 10, but the end pumped it up to an 8, they were GREAT. All my annoyances and questions made sense after seeing the ending.
I was also annoyed that all the murder cases happened at the same damn place. That University (and Fang Mu, poor soul) were cursed. Everyone there died or was a murderer, crazy. I was very happy when the location etc made much more sense after the last 2 epsiodes so I'm glad I powered through it.
You could predict the end if you payed very close attention or something. I knew a character was involved somehow around episode 16 but my suspicions were only confirmed at the end. So i'ts possible, especially if you're familiar with crime shows like this and know that there are certain formulars most show go after.
Acting/Cast/Characters: The two main characters were excellent, honestly I can't complain about any of the acotrs and their characters. The only one who got a bit on my nerves was the Cheerleader because of her desperately trying to get Fang Mu's attention etc even after he clearly showed no interest. Though even that is resolved and I can't complain about how they did it.
The police, for once, is NOT useless. Who would have thought. They actually did their job well and weren't only there to make the ML's look even smarter, big probs for that.
Music: The ending song alone deserves a 10, I love the song and I am so mad that it's not on YT anymore :( I loved the way it was used in episode 24. Even the instrumental for the opening wasn't bad.
Rewatch Value: I don't really rewatch shows, especially shows like this because the shock factor is gone.
I forgot to mention, I find it funny how chinese dramas use dark eye make-up etc on a character to indicate that they are the dark or evil version of said character. They did it in S.C.I too, I think. Very amusing.
Overall: A crime drama that managed to pleasantly surprise me after giving it a shot spontaneously. Especially the ending song is fantastic. I will check out the second season some day. I say to give it a shot, it's not long and I'm sure you atleast find this a decent show, even as a crime lover.
I know I know, I give it a lot of praise but still rate it 8/10, but I have good reasons (in my book at least). There were a few scenes that I thought could be acted and planned out better. Scenes where I had to look away because of the acting (mainly the ones where Fang Mu had to act very emotional etc, they could have been a bit better and they were necessary for his characer, especially later). It could also be a bit predictable in terms of crime drama formula and get repetitive in the way they solved crimes.
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I just don't want to add words to explain this drama So I will make it short. I had watched lots of drama with the same thriller, Psychological, serial killing, and so on. To tell the truth I am not able to compare this drama plot or story with other similar dramas. Many will say that writer is dragging the story, very slow going, some scenes cannot under stand but to say the truth each scenes have their hidden importance. The music was perfect, actors are great, supporting actors have given their equal importance.
Guys kindly give in a try and those who love to watch this psychological thriller drama will definitely kike this one.
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Overall if you tired of regular kdrama / cdrama / jdrama foolishness this will not disappoint.
The acting is well decent too nothing award winning but the cast will keep you engaged.
One thing the director tries to make you believe is that his girlfriend exists...unfortunately this one is a dramatic fail. If the character has no interaction with anyone then of course you know shes not real! Also, the sets tended to be well bad college dorms classrooms...and who believes anyone in this cast is in college? No one!
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Sarà un capolavoro, ma non fa per me
Normalmente i polizieschi con risvolti psicologici sono tra i miei preferiti, ma questo titolo non riesce a catturare e soprattutto a trattenere la mia attenzione.Non mi piacciono particolarmente gli attori, e specialmente il protagonista che, almeno fino all'episodio 5, ho trovato ben poco espressivo o coinvolgente. Non riesco a provare empatia per lui, mi infastidisce. Potrei sorvolare, se non fosse che l'ambientazione generale è troppo caricaturale per il genere ultra drammatico. I poliziotti sono rappresentati come un branco alternativamente composto da idioti o barbari, salvo poi avere lampi di genio usciti da chissà dove. Lo stesso profiler non si capisce bene da dove tragga ispirazione per le sue intuizioni quasi messianiche. Insomma, a pelle, non mi piace. Mi sono fatta un'idea sulla fidanzata del protagonista. Non saprò mai se è giusta. Pazienza. Con molto dispiacere, devo abbandonare.
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