This review may contain spoilers
This is a binge-worthy drama and reveals a little known cultural aspect of current China. The intensity of which they pursue economic crimes against the nation and people within China. This drama was truly educational and enlightening. This special unit that will go to any country and find you and bring you back for prosecution - hard jail time, loss of rights as a citizen, and fines and restitution was amazing. However, as an American, it was culturally offensive when depicting the USA political, legal, and school system ( all white males) and racially offensive (one scene in North Carolina). The Chinese writers truly have a screwed up view of how the American people live, our justice system and our humanity and kindness to others. However, the drama did a better job in Prague (gang activity) and Nairobi, Kenya (hired mercenaries) leaving the viewer with a more positive viewpoint of other international countries. The Story: you will learn -- family and relationships are no insulation when it comes to conviction and prosecution. The story has almost zero romance even though they have the cutest Wang Kai playing a lead role. Unless you are interested in the legal system of another country you may not want to watch all 44 episodes (it was intriguing to me since this was my previous profession). The story flows flawlessly and editing is excellent. Characters were easy to identify and follow in all of their roles (which is important for storytelling).
The Actors: All were excellent and did a perfect job in their roles -- You love them, or hate them, or feel sympathetic to them and that is what drama is suppose to do in my opinion.
The bonus: the drama is centered in Beijiang but ventures out to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Prague and Nairobi to add the intensity and dedication the officers were willing to go to solve crimes --- and I mean the cases could be as long as 10 years but they were not going to give up.
Watch or Not Watch? Not a drama for laughs, smiles, romance or thrills. No shootouts, martial arts or knockdown fights --- It is purely a crime drama sharing with the public the dedication of one of its units - the Economic unit.. You have to decide what type of drama you enjoy.
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very slow paced and pretty boring
I honestly didn't really like this drama because it was very very slow paced. Things were pretty boring. I love detective and spy cdramas, but i found this overrated lolI watched this a long time ago, and i honestly don't remember how many episodes ive seen or if i even dropped it, but i didn't really enjoy it. If you like super slow burning detective dramas maybe this is for you.
In this cdrama's defense though, I watched this a long time ago, so i bascially forgot what it was about. Anyway, this cdrama was just okay for me.
Cast was A-List actors and actresses in China, so i expected this to be good. It didn't really reach my expectations. I really tried to watch every episode with enthusiasm but it was kinda boring. Then again, I watched this a long time ago. Maybe I'll rewatch it to see if its good or not.
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This review may contain spoilers
I really enjoyed this show despite it not being the typical crime investigations show. While others might find it to be boring since it centers around economic crimes, rather than murder mysteries, I found it intriguing even if there wasn't a whole lot of action. If you like finance, economics, business, and legal subjects, this show might interest you. Even if you don't have a background in these subjects, I don't particularly think the terminology was difficult to understand. Story: Probably the best part of the show. It centers around an economic crime case that built up over a span of ten years. From the very beginning, you already know who the villain is, so the drama is more about the process of chasing and catching him. The first episode was a good opener for the case and as you progress through the episodes, you begin to see how everything begins to unravel. While there is no evidence to pin anything against the main villains in the beginning, the more greedy they become, the more reckless they become while eventually leads to their downfall. I appreciate the fact that the case didn't go smoothly; the failures made the show a lot more realistic. Both leads' backstory/personal life were also intertwined into the case, contributing to their dedication to catch Wang Bo Lin.
Characters: I watched this show for Wang Kai, but the entire cast did a great job with their roles. Besides the leads, even supporting characters received ample amount of development. The four main criminals that they were trying to catch in the latter half of the show all had good development so their characters had more dimensions than just simple greed. The actor who played Wang Bo Lin really did a great job of convincing me in his role.
Music: It was fitting but not the most memorable.
Watch Value: 44 episodes is quite long but I watched the entire thing without skipping too much since the finance/economics subjects interest me. For others who aren't interested in that kind of stuff, it might be quite a boring watch if you're just here for a particular actor/actress. The case also spans many, many years, so it's a very slow process of catching the criminals. There's also no suspense either regarding who the criminals are; their identities are revealed early on, so watching this show is more of a process of seeing how it all plays out: how greed tempted "good" people to become involved, the backstories and motives that led them there, how the crime eventually fell apart, and the chase across multiple countries to bring back the criminals.
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‘Catch me if you can’... yep!
Accidentally find this drama and it ‘s a nice piece. If you’re too tired from those too much romantic drama, this is your option.Story 9.5/10
- From the comment saying this was based on the real case which made the story more interesting.
- There was romance in the drama but it’s just not as much as romantic genre drama has. But it was there in the movie, I guaranteed.
- The story mentioned the stock market but it’s not too hard to understand. They simplified the situation quite well. It was just background story before the hunting begin. Don’t just turn off the drama because you hate stock market. The main story was catching the criminal.
ACTING
- Nice ML and FL. But I really need to give the standing ovation to the villains sides. The 9.5 rating was for the villains LOL. All villains actors did superb job especially Liu Yu jin!
Music 10/10... just love it! Those backgrounds music was so nice. (I JUST LOVE VIOLINS so there may be some bias,LOL)
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Watch it for the thrill
OVERALLA drama with a unique premise (a police squad going after financial crime) that has at the least the advantage of being innovative. Watch it if 1) you like police dramas, 2) you like mature dramas, 3) you like big production dramas. Skip if 1) you want a few laughs, 2) you're looking for well-written romance, 2) you're looking for well-written, period.
THE STORY
I wanted to love it, but by the end, I just kind of liked it...and the key is on the "kind of". The drama started out promising but just slowly went downhill.
The Good
- I hate everything tied to economics but what kept me going with this drama was the whole financial crime aspect. The drama does a good job of showing how it can really devastate lives and that the chase is as thrilling as with violent crimes.
- I was living for the mature vibes of this drama. So many C-dramas nowadays seem to be produced for teenagers haha I'm not saying it for the cast (you have mature dramas with young actors, like Long Ballad), it's the way it's filmed, the attention to the script, the music, amount of lousy clichés, etc. It's good to see a grownup drama for a change.
- One character is really complex and totally makes the drama better for being there (even if he's not necessarily a good one, or a bad one, to be fair).
The Bad
- Top of the list is the absolute disaster of the love story. Romantic scenes are forced and random, ALL THE TIME. It's not because you can't ship the leads or because the actors don't know how to act. It's because of bad writing. TERRIBLE writing.
- The writing and production is at its worst in the second half of the drama. Characters that are smart start acting like they aren't, and it's one bad transition after the next. For instance, a character is in a hospital one scene and in the police department the other like nothing happened. Wth?
- To be honest, financial crime works too slowly. Parts of the drama felt kind of draggy.
- The ending is lackluster.
THE ACTING
Veteran actors here, so you pretty much have good acting. I just took out points because there's no chemistry between the leads.
THE MUSIC
Typical thriller music, but the good kind.
REWATCH VALUE
Low, bro.
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