A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower (2020)

Well-deserved 8.2 rating on Douban- give this a try!

How do I even begin to describe how unexpectedly good this drama turned out to be?

I went into it completely blind, barely reading the synopsis, knowing just that it was a crime drama focused on one murder case in this apartment building. With just 16 episodes, the length is perfect, giving enough screen time to focus thoroughly on each "suspect" and to add in on the back story of our victim, Mei Bao. Everything tied up beautifully and logically together by the very end with fast pacing and plot development. The pieces of this mystery fit together at the end intertwining flashbacks as the detectives investigate the crime in present time.

Plot: Focused on a murder case in this "tower" apartment building. Two detectives work on this case and investigate a bunch of "suspects" as the drama goes on. Through flashbacks, you'll find out Mei Bao's life and how things led to the way it turned out. I won't say any more than that to keep you in suspense (so go on and watch it!) Also, this drama also raises some current issues women face in our society today, which I did not expect either but I liked it.

Characters: Mei Bao and Detective Yang Rui Sen were the stars of this drama. As the investigation goes on, you'll learn more about Mei Bao's painful story and in that process, you also get to know our young detective and her passion to get justice for the victim. Mei Bao's family and friends as well as the other people living in the Horizon Tower will share their stories as well and it's really clever to designate 2 eps per character's story. I want to say more but that would ruin the fun of this drama as you try to find out who the killer is. I just have to say the emotions of each character were so understandable that I could see why a specific character ended up deciding to do this certain thing.

Acting: I have to first say Angelababy did an awesome job. I don't usually watch her dramas because her acting is not that great, but she has improved! I love how she did her role as Mei Bao, conveying the pain in her emotions. Moving onto the rest of the cast, everyone did great too. Quite a few of them are experienced actors and others are new faces but they all did very well. For the young actors especially, I can see their potential. The young actress who plays young Mei Bao played Pu Pu from The Bad Kids!

Music: Beautiful music. There's just one, which is the ending song, and it's so good. It's in English and with the sadness of the melody, it matches perfectly to the tone of this drama. Not only that, the BGM was excellent in setting the mood of each scene, especially the sad and suspenseful parts. They definitely kept me on my toes!

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Best Detective Drama in Chinese History...

Watching this drama is the best decision I have made as it is so much better than I expected.This is probably the best drama I have watched recently.
Here are my opinions on this drama:

Story: Story follows a beautiful girl, who was murdered in her apartment and several suspects telling the story in their own versions. I like how the story is executed, it is surprisingly very interesting as same event/ same thing was told in different versions by different suspects. Mystery part of this drama is very well done as I am on the edge of my seat throughout the whole drama.
It is one of those dramas where you can‘t stop clicking the next ep because each episode ended with a cliffhanger/surprise twist.

Acting: I know Angelababy’s acting has always been a hot topic in Weibo but I am sure this is her best work so far. She perfectly fits the MeiBao character and I believe it is very well done. I like all other veteran casts and am so satisfied that they did their best jobs.
Special mention : the Actor who played as MeiBao’s stepdad is so impressive as I feel disgusted by his words, and his expressions.

Other aspects: This drama also addresses several hot issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, PickUp Artsts, Unfair Law Enforcement, etc.
Cinematography is of high quality, camera shots are very well done and ofc the ending song is so good.

Though I mentioned so many good things, still there are some Plot-holes, but plot holes are not inevitable in detective dramas and they are not that obvious.

I’d highly recommend this drama to everyone who would like this genre, it is the best one released this year...

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