Wonderful drama..worth a watch
Great drama, beautiful background of frosty whites of China's North-East, wonderful cast. BUT.. A VERY BIG BUT.... The bear lady and the "butcher/killer" were the most under-appreciated characters. Felt really bad for the butcher and didn't like the ending. The ending could have been much better.The butcher protected the child, fed her, clothed her, took down her enemies and was friendly also got kinda cheated on by the bear-lady as she saw a "better" opportunity with the ex-surgeon current-mortician.
I don't know if she calling "boyfriend" was true or a joke but both awesome weirdos togather would have made a great couple.
Anyways, it really is worth a watch.
This is the first time I actually liked a C-drama.
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Based on a life real life incident
Thrilling, realistic, hard and brutal drama acted in very hard cold environments, in the wildness . Be aware it is about human trafficking, local mafia and unsolved crimes.The actors are all veterans, the acting is really realistic , same goes for the kid actors. The cinematography is very well done and the set up and colors work really well for this drama. The music is full of suspense. The pace is fast, because the story also moves really fast, changing locations and getting to know new characters. To the end it was little bit too fast paced.
I really like how the story enfolds and all the main characters connect at the beginning. The episodes are thrilling and often end on some cliffhanger. Both main leads, Zhou You and Hui Yan don't really work together, but because both cases are connected, they cross their paths very often, till the real climax. We also get to follow the story of the kidnapped girl and also the story from the past, 30 years ago. I really enjoyed the female patrol and ZhouYou's interactions, while following her we get to see the real cold life in snowy mountains.
After watching "Hunter" I was looking for similar hard environment drama with realistic acting and good story. This drama really met my expectations. I really enjoyed it.
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Down-to-earth but with introspective tones
The cases as they are, are not that complicated, it is much more about the characters themselves, their story, their motivations and how they deal with grief and danger. There a quite a few scenes where it seems as if "nothing" is happening -- those scenes show the characters, what they think, how they (re)act. Sometimes theyare there for the atmosphere, to allow for some introspection.As such, the pacing can feel slow at times, but in my opinion, there is not one scene that's superfluous ar dragged out. Everything has its time.
This, and the fact that nothing is glittering or modern in this drama, make it exceptional. The main character is linving in a small neighbourhood in a house that doesn't even have an indoor toilet; the police in Shangta have their quarters in an old cinema, where there's no heating and the walls are crumbling. The whole town looks more or less run-down -- as do the actors. There are no airbrushed, beautiful people in colourful clothing here. Everything feels real (and very, very cold).
I love how down-to-earth the police are in this drama. While I certainly don't expect any real criticism of the system, the way the police officers make the best out of their limited ressources, how they grumble a bit about them but basically take them with a bit of humour; how they plod along and try to find the girl, but as humans, fail again and again -- this also makes the characters relatable.
And after the cases are closed, they all return to their daily lives; they live on as before, but something in them has changed.
Another point that I loved were the female characters, few of them as there were:
* The girl, of course. What a great actress! And what a strong and resourceful character! This is not a pitiable and helpless victim.
* The karaoke bar owner. She lost her family at an early age, is clearly jaded -- and still finds humanity and love in herself.
* And last but not least, the fire watcher ("bear lady"): She was beautiful in her love for the forest and the creatures living there, but was very realistic in her approach to life and death. She lived alone and was happy with that. She felt very solid and grounded.
One last mention goes to the music -- both the songs for the opening and closing credits are beautiful and fitting for the rest of the series.
[Cross-posted to Viki]
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