The Long Night (2020)

Well done well acted light on series

I was introduced to iQiyi's Light On series through The Bad Kids, which is until now, one of the best drama that I've watched. This is the second Light On Series that I've watched. Although it is not as good as The Bad Kids, but it is a pretty good mystery drama that keeps you at the edge of your seat. The story is told really well in 12 episodes, which makes the pace of this drama just right. The end of each episode ends with another piece of the torn photograph that will contain the clue to the mystery and every episode almost always ends in a cliffhanger and will leave you hanging if you don't click that next episode button. I was hooked from the first episode until the last one The acting is also top notch from the main and supporting characters. Special applause goes to Bai Yu who portrays the Jiang Yang character, who is the main character and the central of the whole drama once you've watched the whole drama. If you like mystery dramas, I would definitely recommend you check this drama out with advance warning: the drama deals with dark and difficult issue which can be sad and depressing for some.

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Tells the investigation process, the oddity of a murder and bomb incident, which turns out to have a reason behind the incident and hides the secrets of another case in it, told with alternate flashbacks.




It's quite interesting even though the flashbacks continue, but it's still quite clear, it's just a little dizzy, at the beginning given the year of the incident so we know when the story is telling , but sometimes the scene can suddenly change from the past to the current year, and it seems that there are some unanswered questions for me?

1. Where is yue jun, huang mao?
2. Who sent the letter to Prosecutor Wu? Houguiping proof ep 10
3. Who took care of the child of ge li and Zheng Xiang Dong?, after Ding Chun Mei was killed?
4. what happened with jiang yang? I think they will tell at least a little bit because it's been brought up
5. Yan Liang's son's death?

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Compelling plot, but the characters could have been more interesting

The Long Night is a sequel (or sorts) to Burning Ice--it features the policeman Yan Liang solving a different case. The story of The Long Night is set a few years after the story of Burning Ice. Nevertheless, Yan Liang is a much more charismatic character in Burning Ice. While Liao Fan does a decent job of portraying Yan Liang, there isn't really any depth or nuance to the character. The character who is the most interesting in The Long Night turns out to be Jiang Yang, and Johnny's Bai's performance is impressive in this series. (It's not the first time I've watched a series with Johnny Bai, but I could hardly recognize him in this one at first.)

Unfortunately, the characters in The Long Night are generally not portrayed with much complexity or nuance, and I think this isn't really because of the acting but because of the writing. At times, the series even feels almost like a sort of propaganda for the police force and legal system of China, with barely disguised motherhood statements about them. (Perhaps this is obligatory, given that there is at least one corrupt policeman in the series?)

This series really stands out in terms of its compelling story, with twists that are interesting without being over-the-top. What seems to be a simple case of murder at first turns out to be an elaborate last-ditch attempt to expose crimes committed by powerful individuals who have managed to cover up their crimes by silencing those investigating them and destroying practically every bit of evidence that is found against them.

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promising start, but cliche finish

Summary: a superbly well acted crime drama, but the main characters are a bit glorified, and the plot doesn't make sense

The show starts off in a promising manner-- a man is discovered carrying a body in the subway. We seek the villain who killed this man. At first it's quite interesting to follow Detective Yan Liang's journey to uncover the backstory of the murder, and he gives us a bit of a Sherlock Holmes vibe by making many unlikely associations (which nonetheless are entertaining).

However, the villains turn out to be just a bit too evil and all-powerful, and the (as it turns out, group of) heroes turn out to be completely self sacrificing people who had to resort to a rather irrational suicide plot in order to catch the attention of the law. Just how many people is it worth it for a rational villain to cover up a prostitution ring? It's easy to get watchers to be on your side when you make the antagonists so blatantly evil. The protagonists are also rightfully elevated for sacrificing years of their life. Yet this kind of pure sacrifice doesn't get at the root of the problem, which is how does it reflect on the law that people have to stage murders to make change?

However I was very impressed by the acting overall, especially by Bai Yu's acting here.

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Almost real as life is

Actually, The Long Night had me watching it because I found out it was based on a book. I know, many adaptations are not as successful or even based at all on the book, and, secondly, I haven't read the book (although I 'll search whether it's been translated into Greek), but provided it was based on literature, caught my interest.
The script, the direction, the music, the takes, the actors, were all amazing. The only spoiler I can give is the awsome scene on the 11th episode of the detective, his tennis ball and the music, that really made my jaw to drop.
The series portrayed -to my opinion- how unfair life can be in the pursuit of justice. The actor who played the role of the prosecutor, gave a stellar performance, as he starts as an optimistic young person that has the whole life infront of him and we can watch him to gradually lose his brightness and health being transformed to a shrunk and broken man, who insists to keep his hopes nevertheless.
Rewatch value 10/10. Don't miss that jewel.

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It was a slow start crime drama, but it gotten better in the last 2 episodes.

iQiyi light on series has great dramas, and "The Long Night" is one of them. Originally, I planned to drop it after 8-9 episodes because I felt the story was disorganized. The switching back and forth between the past and present timeline made it difficult to follow.

The acting of the entire ensemble was exceptional. It does not need 12 episodes; cutting it short to 10 would be better. Some of the scenes from the past were repetitive. The script was good as it revealed and unfolded the corruption of police leaders who turned blind eyes to the killing of a professor and the raping of young girls.

It took dedicated and honest policemen to sacrifice their lives to find the truth, even serving jail for their misdemeanors. The last two episodes were the best, and I was glad I stuck around for it.

I am giving this drama an 8.0 rating for acting and good script.

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