Detective (2020)

Dead men walking.

This year 2020 must be the year of detective stories, there are so many that we are spoiled for choice. This one set in the Republican era (1911) hooked me with its dark, eerie prologue that immediately invokes a hint of the supernatural and the presence of evil. Twenty years ago in Fuyuan County, twelve beheaded escorts are brought back to life via an ancient ritual. But the mystery of these dead men walking's murder and the whereabouts of their missing cargo is never solved. Fuyuan County remains a remote suburb of Tianjin that is steeped in dark magic and witchcraft.

Tan Bodun is a rising young detective in with the Tianjin Police with a secret - he has a dark side that he struggles to suppress. Accompanied by his side kick Da Pan and his Westernized fiancée Luo Jiazhen, he is sent to the ominous Fuyuan County to solve another spooky and inexplicable murder that takes place in plain sight of the town's elite. On the way they stumble upon another case and encounter Song Chengmin, one of the scions of the affluent Song family. Aided by the local police inspector Zheng Jiewu, they pull at what appear to be disparate threads, more sinister murders occur and threads end up being linked and lead eventually to the unraveling of the twenty year old cold case.

What I really like about this drama is that the overarching mystery is well written and there are enough clues and suggestions along the way that when all is revealed, everything fits together and intuitively makes sense. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about the many sub-mysteries. As often is the problem with this genre, the writers tend to give in to the urge to write twists upon twists upon twists. After one or two times, this becomes confusing, tiresome and in some cases, the final solution is not the best, most convincing one. All of the main characters appear to have their own agendas and behave suspiciously enough to make viable suspects in the crimes. The problem is if they are not guilty these hidden motives are never fully explained, it is really done to create an illusion of probable cause.

Gao Zhiting is a really talented and likable young actor. I really enjoy his portrayal of Tan Bodun and his wickedly brilliant alter ego. In fact I much better like his alter ego but I don't really like that they went down the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde route with the character. It would have been cleaner and more interesting if they just wrote him as a truth seeker with unconventional or occasionally morally ambiguous methods. The rapport and team work between the main characters is very enjoyable and feels very natural; I find Da Pan in particular to be hilarious. However, I am not convinced by any of the romances and I really dislike how Jiazhen turns into a spoiled, willful and immature brat somewhere in the middle to just create some romantic angst.

Although the ending clearly paves the way for another season, as far as the overall conspiracy is concerned it is very satisfyingly resolved so I won't call it an open ending. I wouldn't mind watching this team work together again, in particular if the overall case is as well written as this one was. The only thing I don't like about the ending is that one of the key villains for Season 2 is already revealed as a hook. That was unnecessary and will take a bit of fun out of Season 2 but not so much so that to dissuade me from watching.

Overall, this is a very entertaining watch even though not all of the sub-mysteries are interesting. I really love the spooky, supernatural undertones and rate this an 7.5 for that.

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Just S1 ( last of episode said) ,, complicated

The story is detailed and the story expression is pretty good at the beginning of the story, but it is quite complicated, because the dialogue is ineffective, use a complicated word and sometimes the inference the case is very confusing ,, because sometimes the evidence comes from the detective's mind,, and not to focused to something befor,,, just say out as inference, The case is very complicated ,, and I replay many time to know what the meaning of the inference

And in the middle of the story until the end, the story becomes even more chaotic, because many suspects are accused, in the end it is not clear who killed whom, and in what order ... and also there is no reconstruction of the murder ,, who is the real Ergou's killer? ,they said not the xin an inn owner.. So? ,,, and the murder and ritual song ming shan too ,, suddenly there is a part of the ritual story for Songmingshan, I think he just got burn by a fire



and the last of story make me feel useless to watch this drama



1. Case 1, when they explain the movement of the room name tag and flower pot, and the related to the blind granny, i replay for 9-10 times to undertand all of it
# Granny room is on the right side of the real room A (crime scene) ,,, and the fake rooom is on the left side of the crime scene
# Flower pot is placed on the pole on the left side of the crime scene
# Because room A nametag was moved to the fake room ,, then the flower pot was placed on the pole on the left side of the fake room (pole on the right side of the crime scene)
# so the room after the pot is a blind granny room
## victim re-enters the crime scene to close the front door, so it looks like a locked room



2. Case 2,,, firecraker and 9 pm
# the gong sound mean 9pm
#fire cracker is for cover the sound of the gong
# first firecracker is around back door (to cover fake gong sound),so only the main door guard can hear the gong sound
#the second gong is after she go out the room, for cover the real 9pm gong sound
##she back from main door before the fake gong sound ,,so she come back before 9pm
## scold the main door guard after the fake gong and go out again from the back door
## lightup the 2nd firecracker to cover THE REAL 9pm gong ,so the MAIN guard didnt hear it
##so he can make the condition that she was at home when 9pm ,,because the fake gong only main door guard listen it




Isn't tanbodun afraid of fire? When he was small, only torch could awaken his own personality (TAN B), but when he entered the secret room of the feng manor he held his own torch.

And the other persoality (TAN B) ,
He seems know something, but sometimes he doesn't seem to know something,,There is a bit of a contradiction. Didn’t he say he wants TAN A to choose by himself? Let him go out or let him disappear, but when TAN A , try to make him disappear, he get angry .and seem he didnt know all the fact about his mother


Ep 19 mr li ,work in wine store,, but when ep 6 mr li is work in bank,, first i think just look similar face but the clothes also same, so one person


Ep 19 when TAN A(real) doubt bing wen has colour blind , he ask uncle gui is his young master had eye problems. uncle gui replied that our young master had good eyesight, so why did Chengfeng wear glasses? And his eyesight was good when he became bingwen and pretended to wear fake glasses(ep 14 uncle gui ask bingwen)

Ep21, so absurd a toddler so small. How could he possibly remember the taste he had eat and go to find his mother, and how did he know it was an adoptive mother? And what happened after they were kidnapped? Why only 1 was released?



Ep 24,,,, to be honest, I don't understand the sequence of Songmingsan's murdering and Fengyimen killings, didn't Fengyimen burn his face first? Then entered the song manor as a kitchen helper? and tell Liu que nan to cheat to become a god? , but why when they awaken Songmingshan ,, who woke up is fengyimen with unburned faces?,,but when burn song manor and all the people his face still wrap with bandage?




##my question##

1. The connection of little Tan Officer problem and Hongshan Association
2. Why did his tan officer's nother commit suicide?
3. If Song Chengshun wasn't Ergou's killer, so who killed Er Gou? And how?
4. what happen with Luojiazhen?
5. what happen with he chunting?

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Headache

I'm not sure if it's an artistic angle by the camera man..but shots are blurry..double imaging...i had a headache just watching it! I had seriously thought it was my eyesight..i had to get a second opinion! I'll give it another episode..if this blurry double focus continues..I'm dropping it. Just very nauseous trying to watch it.

Then while trying to submit this review..i was prompted i need 500 characters to post.!! Seriously?

So here goes...no spoilers
Storyline is interesting and i like the 2nd ML..i feel there's not much chemistry between the ML and FL..though I'm 3 episodes in.

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