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I loved how the cases usually took up more than one episode. It allows us to not be able to predict when the case will be over by the amount of time left in the episode.I was hoping for more bromance between Lu Yao and Qiao.
The one thing that I hate about this drama is the main actress, Bai Youning. She is the most annoying person and always tries to get what she wants by bullying Lu Yao. I honestly do not see how he fell in love with her and got married in the end.
I was very curious at the end what was written on the paper he got on the boat at the very end.
The cases always had a mysterious twist to them which always pulled me in.
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I might be different from the others here who set a high standard for this drama, as I went into this drama basically without any expectation. I wanted to watch it because it has Leon Zhang and that's it. So, I was actually surprised (in a good way) about how this drama turned out to be
The mystery in this drama might not be top-notch, but I didn't watch it to see Oscar-winning deduction or mystery, so I'm actually very happy with each case. The case they presented actually fit with the era where the story is set. The mystery is not too complicated, quick to be solved, and some of the cases linger in my heart (like the case with the murdered Newspaper Editor)
I also don't mind the sudden romance. After all, since the beginning it's set that the two main characters (Lu Yao and Bai Youning) have something for each other. I think it started with camaraderie, partnership, friendship, and then turn into love. I think their progression is set out nicely and executed in a right way
Acting/Cast (8.5 points)
I give it 8.5 points for Leon Zhang's acting. He's so wonderful in this drama. His micro-expression make me happy. He could make it known with just a tilt of a head and some subtle expression on his face to know what he's feeling. It shows amazing acting capability and skill. For Hu Yi Tian, I'm not sure whether it's because I've seen him in Go Go Squid first, but I think that it's a pleasant change from his usual stoic (or dead-blank) expression. He's actually quite expressive and his chemistry with Leon Zhang is just wonderful to watch
Music (10 points)
I think that the music is the best and the most amazing I've ever heard for a drama ost in a long time. I'm addicted to the songs. I could listen to them whole day on repeat
Rewatch Value (7.0 points)
Because it's a mystery drama, once you know who did it, it might be hard to actually rewatch them again. That's why I set the rewatch value to 7 points only
Overall (8.0 points)
In overall, I'm satisfied with the drama. Not boring at all in my opinion. It's executed well and the cases also fit the setting and the era, which is also a pleasant surprise. The set and the clothes are also gorgeous
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This review may contain spoilers
It is tempting to give this drama a really high rating, and it certainly has immense potential. The stories are interesting if you do no think too much about plausibility and the roles of Lu Yao and Qiao Chusheng are really well performed.The individual detective cases are fast-paced (largely) in a good way as a detective drama. Many of the cases get solved within 1-2 episodes. It is not the sort of whodunnit that is suspenseful in a way that invites the viewer to join in the guessing because some of the ways the murders/crimes are committed are so convoluted that the viewer is unlikely to predict them. The forensics and scientific explanations seem somewhat anachronistic for 1920s Shanghai, but I might be wrong. However, there are certainly anachronisms in the language used by the characters and in some references (e.g. the reference to Stockholm Syndrome) made by the characters. Nevertheless, if you don't expect really solid detective stories, the series is fairly good as drama. Another plus point is that there turns out to be a sort of link between the cases that is developed from the start.
The ending and final story seems overly rushed, with the murderer behaving so suspiciously from the start that viewers may assume that she can't possibly be the killer. I can't decide whether this is a stroke of genius or a poorly told story.
The performances of the male leads are really good and make up for a lot of the flaws of the series. In particular, Hu Yitian brings out the subtle changes in the character of the detective, Lu Yao, very well while giving an overall coherent portrayal of the character. Leon Zhang's character has less development but is nevertheless performed with nuance: his confidence and toughness, his sense of justice, his loyalty, his hidden vulnerability and world-weariness are conveyed, often without the need for dialogue to make these obvious.
The chemistry between the leads is good, but the series suffers from schizophrenic tendencies in the representation of the relationship between the main male characters. At its worst, the relationship between them can be construed as needless baiting of BL fans. This is because interactions, which would usually pave the way for the development of a romantic relationship, amount to nothing in particular. There are plenty of examples: when Qiao misunderstands Lu's request and gives him a hug, when Qiao puts his arms around Lu Yao when the latter is seated on a chair, when Lu comically jumps onto Qiao's back when he spots a chihuahua (a very frightening creature in his eyes), when Qiao gently wipes something off Lu's face, when Qiao looks almost forlornly at Lu in the last episode when Lu is leaving Shanghai with his wife. In the last episode, Qiao gives Lu a hug but does not hug his childhood friend (Lu's wife) even though she opens her arms to hug him.
We can probably be understanding and see that China's censorship laws do not allow BL. The homosexual desire could also be taken to be repressed and one-sided as Qiao has a greater tendency to behave tenderly towards Lu. However, is there really a need for such teasing when Qiao is ALSO portrayed as a someone who actually falls quite seriously in love with a woman in one of the cases? I do not mean to say that a series in which the two leading male characters are a romantic couple would necessarily be better. It's all a matter of execution. The straight relationship seems to pale in comparison to the suggestive bonds between the male characters, and if censorship rules must be followed, maybe the BL element should have been written out altogether (though to be fair, I heard that the series was conceived a few years ago, and at that time the censorship of BL had not really kicked in and there were popular BL series like Addicted from China, so maybe.) I also wouldn't really mind if the male-male romantic desire had simply been hinted at, but the inconsistency can be frustrating.
Perhaps the inconsistent BL-suggestive moments would not be so serious if the strength of the series had not relied so much on the portrayal of the two male characters. To make matters worse, the main female character seems to be a joke: she is a tabloid journalist who creates sensationalist headlines and misreports from time to time; her poor writing ability is also harped on again and again, but we are supposed to believe that she is a passionate journalist with principles and is somehow a respectable journalist too. There is an attempt to show the depth of her love for Lu (particularly in a scene when she tells Lu's ex that she does not know how to appreciate Lu), but such moments are few and far between.
In the end, the series is enjoyable but it also seems to be held back from being a classic. I have the nagging suspicion that the story would really shine had it been made in a more ideal world.
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A great mystery show
Overall this show is a great mystery show. I have watched it on Viki with the comments turned on, and boy did i enjoy both the show and the people's reactions to it.?The two male leads have crazy chemistry between them and both actors are just crazy talented and adorable! It's definitely the best Chinese show and the best Chinese actors I've seen so far!
As for the female lead... from my personal opinion and what i saw live with other people's comments, even though the actor was great, the character itself was annoying, and honestly, they could have given up on her character altogether in the show, as she contributed absolutely nothing to it. It was almost funny seeing all the hate comments on the screen when she came on it, and the romance towards the end was really forced and out of the blue?
Anyway, the plot itself is really interesting and the flow of the story is great! It's both lighthearted and interesting and overall very enjoyable☺️
I really recommend watching it?
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Not realistic
I decided to drop this because it was obvious that there were voice covers whenever foreigners talked or sometimes when Lu Yao talked. I loved his character however it wasn't realistic in some parts like at the end of episode 5. The girl who was burning didn't look like she was in pain, it looked like she was doing a dance choreography instead. I would also like to mention that the journalist would often annoy me in-between episodes, I think this show would've been better if they just improvised in more details..Was this review helpful to you?
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Dropped
The drama is enjoyable. I liked the relationship between the two male leads. But the pattern of every episode, in the end, is repetitive. The horizontal plot is not very intriguing. And the characters do not grow, at all.As many others have written, the female character is really annoying . And the romance one of the least plausible things in the whole story. There wasn't any chemistry between the two of them. Then. Bam! Love! No, thank you.
The thing I like about the drama is the setting and the costumes. That one is really well done.
The whole part with the Westerners speaking in English and then in Chinese if then in English again, often dubbed badly.... It's quite confusing though.
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This series would be on top trending if it is a boys love series
I really like the story and the act is quite good. The series have several criminal cases which are interesting. But the most thing I interested is the caring of Qiao Chu Sheng for Yu Gong Zi, and the worst idea in the series is the love story between Yu Gong Zi and Bai You Ning. The old motif that the incredible man falling in love with a useless (it’s not that bad but compare to the others, that’s useless, I can’t use the other word for this description) girl is obsolete, many films have already got that. But this is my personal opinion. This movie is amazing, it makes people understand how a country can stand up and survive from colonization. It takes efforts, blood and sacrifices of many person, many hero to having the freedom. So people now who have the chance to learn, to build up the country, please try your best to learn to improve the quality of lives, to make your country a better place to live, to show the world the better version of you, the version with shining and intelligence that people would admire like Yu Gong Zi. Not dreaming about a love story where a useless girl and an incredible guy falling in love, that’s not help at all, what kind of films is it if it encourage people to stay useless and there will be love falling from the tree? And emphasizing again, this is my personal opinion, so if you have different opinions you can tell me about that under this review.Was this review helpful to you?
I was initially intrigued by this drama because of some good reviews and its cast. But after 20 or so episodes in, I became weary of the repetitive cases, each more or less of the same format. Instead, I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship of the trio, Bai You Ning (Xiao Yan), Lu Yao (Hu Yitian) and Qiao Chu Sheng (Zhang Yunlong). After The Untamed, many viewers crave for BL or bromance themed stories. The Bai You Ning character in this drama becomes a spoiler and has been criticized by many viewers. This is rather unfair and unfortunate because Xiao Yan is a wonderful actor and her character a brilliant one. To me, she is the adult in the room, balancing out the 2 ingenious boys who can be crazy at times.
Bai You Ning is independent, determined and clear minded, whereas Lu Yao cocky, silly and playful like a small child with a genius mind, and Qiao Chu Sheng is mature, patient and calm. Together, the scenes are funny, cute with constant bickering, teasing, hitting below the belt dialogues; they have fantastic chemistry together and the whole drama would not be complete without any one of them. If we say men can be smart in every sense but naive when it comes to human relationship particularly with women, these two men embody everything in the statement; they are like elementary school boys. The amount of patience Qiao Chu shows towards Lu Yao is unlimited. Countless times Qiao Chu Sheng's blatant show of bromance, intentionally or unintentionally, sends viewers squealing. Like a walking encyclopedia, You Ning supplements the men with valuable information to help crack their cases rapidly. Most of the murder cases, seemingly cold blooded, are in fact for justifiable motives; the victims seem to deserve their deaths and justice is served.
Hu Yitian's acting has improved somewhat but occasionally I still find his facial expression either overact or unnatural. This is the first time I see him acting as a playful and flamboyant character, and he is doing a great job. Zhang Yunlong's acting is on the spot. Good looking and has the air of a commanding authority, Zhang makes a great Inspector Director. My favorite is Xiao Yan's acting. She has that sharp and yet mischievous demeanor, and she brings these qualities to her character.
If you don't mind too much about the similar repetitive murder cases, this is rather a fun watch especially with the relationship of the trio - they can really make you laugh out loud with constant bantering and bickering.
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But for the story itself quite boring actually. The cases is quite complicated, but somehow toward the ending the more bored I became. The romance between Bai You Ning & Lu Yao help me hang on to the drama. But I really like the twist in the plot in the end.
Really like the interaction between Bai You Ning & Lu Yao. Their feelings build slowly through admiration & friendship. Admire the loyalty of Qiao Chu Sheng to Bai Qi Li,. Like the friendship of our trio.
Overall this is one good detective drama that quite have everything actually, not only about the cases. They have a little bit politic, romance, friendship & of course good plot that still can surprise us in the end.
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Interesting and enjoyable, never boring
This show is a whole new world, it's first of all set in 1920s, which means we got some classy western suits and some cute dresses with feathers, hats and all that jazz. The characters were styled very well except for the female lead's hair god that perm was awful.This show is actually very similar to the way the detective cartoons I used to watch when I was younger but with a bit more creepy and hard to understand cases. So I really enjoyed the way the show was structured.
The bromance between the main leads were really hard to not notice, they're so on your face. It was one of the best parts of the show. We actually got more bromance than actual romance. The relationship between the three leads were extremely wholesome.
Many people seemed to hate on the female lead for simply breathing (caution : if yll watch on viki kindly switch off the timed comments everytime she comes on because the watchers will continuously hate on her and annoy everyone), I dont really hate her, I actually like her for most parts except she is a little immature but so is the male lead but of course we never say anything bad about a male lead :) she isnt the best female lead ever but still, she is actually pretty cute and thier relationship is cute too.
I have to say the second Male lead is literally so charming. His smile and his mannerisms are so cute! His character was super mature and caring. He did so much for others. I will definitely be supporting him in the future!
Hu yi Tian's best acting and best character is this drama! His character is very unique he is a blabber mouth, immature and quirky. You can see he worked really hard by the way he remembered all those hard monologues with scientific terms and facts.
To be honest all the characters are very unique, I really love how such characters I have never seen personally on screen.
The cases were very very enjoyable to watch, very interesting and smart.
I also wanna mention how even though the main lead is a genius, he wasnt shown as perfect, even he made mistakes, he had flaws and developed himself by the end of the series.
The intro song was literally so good, I listen to it on repeat! So addictive!
Now onto what I didn't like, this show was unrealistic. In so many levels. I dont think woman had jobs at that point of time. I dont think the female lead and so many other female characters were allowed to be so active in society. The show would have made more sense if it was set in the modern era, but the cases were solved without technology so that wouldn't work either.
There were apparently alot of questionable things like face masks in 1920s??? Traffic in 1920s?? And apparently god father ost in 1920s??
Some points in the cases I used to question some things like it was almost impossible for some things to happen.
I dont like how the show started, without any introduction just out of no where we were introduced to random things! It's so abstract.
There were some problematic scenes like landlady was extremely rude and lowkey sexually assaulting the main lead but nobody hates her! They still only hate the female lead, I was seriously so annoyed.
The inspector was actually so bad at his job though, it didn't sit right with me at how corrupt and favouring the whole political system was, though it was set in 1920s and china was a mess at that time I understand that. Still the inspector is so bad at his job lmao. If it wasnt for the main lead he would have solved no cases.
After a point the murders started to be very easy to guess like it was too easy! I wanted something different!
Overall I enjoyed this show alot! I reccomend for a thrilling and interesting experience :)
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I only started this today 15-02-2022, but I’m actually really enjoying this! - I remember starting it a while ago and I kept seeing comments on how annoying the Female Lead girl was, so I actually stopped watching it for a while, but then I decided to watch it.I love a good murder mystery show and, it’s actually soo good! It does give a little like chinese version of sherlock holmes vibes. Which I loved watching that so, that's why I love how like every episode is a different crime and it’s not like one big long crime happening, where you know who it is, but it's like different crimes that happen!
I’m starting to slowly get to know the characters now, and their backgrounds so its nice that it's a light hearted drama!
Ep13 - Not sure how I feel about it, I still enjoy the detective and what happens, but I'm finding the female lead Bai Youning, slightly annoying! At the start I was like, oh she's not bad but then I think her temper is a little annoying, always like frustrated at things when it's not her way.. and always so annoyed at her dad! Being stubborn, which is a little annoying. But I do think she is really pretty, and I like it when she has her hair straight and not the curls! She looks a lot prettier with her long ponytail.
But I do enjoy watching the two main guys, I love the bromance they have! It's soo funny to watch their brotherly love for each other as they do detective work together.. Qiao Chusheng one is just like super chill and always looks soo cool with authority, super stern and gets things done! He's soo good-looking! - Always this cool face, and rarely smiles!
Then sherlock like Lu Yao, who never has enough money, but has like the brains and seems to just love materialistic things! - He has like a joke and brains. The one reason I watched this was because of the actor Hu Yitian, I usually watch him in romance shows and he's always very quiet, or like cool! - But I liked how different he is in this, like a playful type that you don't usually see, another side of him that I enjoyed watching!
Ep20 - I think one think I do love about this drama, is the amazing sets they always have. It's like historical, nearing modern since their outfits are so sophisctaed. - It definitely feels like a series more, where you could have multiple seasons, and like many many cases.
I also enjoy watching them as a trio, and find them really funny when they are all together, they seem to compliment each other.. Bai Youning, who knows a lot about the people from her job, and then Lu Yao, who literally somehow knows everything, about everything! And then the face and basically the main detective who like has the big say would be Qiao Chusheng. - I think the story gets better around Ep20 plus, - it seems like the three of them are more immersed in the cases together!
Ep30! Spoiler here.... I mean the kiss between LuYao & Bai Youning were pretty cute! - In that situation if you haven't watched anything else besides this scene! Yes it was soo cute, Because who doesn't love a romance, but I really I wasn't feeling it! I did know they kind of liked each other but, I thought they gave off more friends vibe than anything. And Bai Youning was being a little TOO Protective - through the whole thing I think in my opinion anyways!
Ep34: I actually find it CRAZY, how all the crimes were related, and it become like a big ending to it! How smart it was, that it all came together at the end. But one thing now I realised is how crazy the sister is ..
Finished 25-3-2020 Ending Review: I'd like to say the last few episodes that to kind of wrap up everything was interesting! - I enjoyed the solving crimes part. But I felt like the build up to the wedding was alright and sort of a little random, they only really seemed like a couple near the end.. But I still don't really see it! I think I preferred if they were all like really good close friends, and then like they all ended up going to London & Paris on a trip together or something.
I did not expect the ending, I had to like re-watch a bit before because I thought I missed something! I definitely feel like they're probably will be like a Season 2 sort of thing, since the ending gave like: Is he happy because he can go back and solve crimes?? What's on the important note?? I want to watch more but I can't .. Other than that, I did really enjoy this drama nonetheless!
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