NaruemonYamareng
Thailand
DYX isn't the lead, good acting but overdramatic script, slow until Ep19 but great twists later.
Things I Like
The picture, camera work, mood, and music are really good. They build up excitement despite the slow progression in the first half of the series. I like the backstory cuts. There are plenty of puzzles, plot twists, and unexpected unraveling, especially in the second half of the series, where it becomes really good. There are a lot of secrets you won't be able to guess, and it keeps you excited to know more. If you are still doubting, give it a try. I still think it is worth watching. You might feel frustrated at police in the beginning but just keep trusting that there will be reasonable explainations later and it will get better. The business, the fraud makes it more interesting to me. The plot is not just about fighting and investigating. It's fun to see characters take turn to outwit each other both in business and crime cases.
What Could Be Better
The Plot
The puzzles, plot twists, and unraveling are actually great. Starting from Episode 19, the story progresses much better. If we were to rate the series from there, it would easily score a 8.5-9.5 because you finally see both the officials and gangsters working together toward the same truths, leading to progress and some success in the investigation. It would have made a huge difference if this had started earlier.
The plot could have been way more interesting if Binbin were the center of the story, connecting business (Wen Zixuan), gangsters (Bao Chen Yan), and officials (Xing Liang), secretly building collaboration and planning the investigation from all sides. I think that was the producers' original intention, but they failed to show it. Instead, it was filled with unnecessary drama and meaningless tension between these three sides—a total waste.
Characters
DYX (Binbin): If you are a fan of DYX, you will be very, very disappointed. Honestly, he is not the main lead—not even close. DYX has very little screen time, and his role is just as little significant as Tianyi's, which is purely supportive in the overall investigation. The producers clearly used his name and popularity to lure viewers in. The claim that "the lost gun" is central to the story is the biggest lie in the promo. The story is not about Binbin or his gun. To make matters worse, his character is portrayed as just a spoiled, and sensitive boy with no charisma as a young, promising police officer. Even when he finds information and evidence, it doesn’t come across as "genius techniques." Instead, it’s just "he’s friendly and talkative." So WARNING: If you watch this expecting DYX to appear and take the lead, it will ruin your mood. This series is not that bad if you watch without the expectation about DYX's role. The key is this will give him oppotunities for wider range of roles.
Xing Liang: XL is not the main lead either. His character is boring, with no depth. He’s simply an inflexible, rigid, and upright police officer—that’s it.
Bao Chen Yan: The real main lead is BCY. Though labeled a "supporting role," the entire story revolves around him—from his background, his rise to power, his friendships, his enemies, his hopes, his business, and his loved ones. This isn't that his acting outshined others either, it's just the plot making it this way. His character isn't built for ML and to have whole series about him like this. He is pretty dumb and shallow. It just shows that the screenwriter and director have lost in a completely wrong direction. Also, his accent feels overly pretentious. Younger BCY seemed much more natural and didn’t act too recklessly.
Dian Lao'er is my favorite. He is funny and helps is audience A LOT to go through the first half. This character is perfect, plot or acting. Dian Lao'er with his weird eyes is on point, very believable.
SL and WZX's Daughter: I get that she’s not important to the plot, and we may pretend adults don't allow her to hear about adults' issues, so she stays in her room. But the couple made so many fresh-cooked meals.. lol and she’s not allowed to join them?? There are a lot of character inconsistencies. Characters like Tianyi and Dian Lao'er inexplicably have the same hairstyle and hair color for 10 years. (but someone comments about this "perm on this new haircut"). They used a young cast for BCY nine years ago but the older cast for scenes 11 years ago. lol
Alright, I'm being too picking on this, we can still ignore these minor issues...
But gangster credibility though... the director fails to convince me that these gangsters or mafia are "cruel." They just hit each other with sticks and tools. Sun Chang Hai running around and jumping off windows is supposed to make him a "skilled assassin" and "tough"? Come on. For people with so much money and illegal activity, not even one of them owns an illegal gun? Ridiculous. Some of the fight scenes aren’t realistic. A big group of gangsters can't even fight against 2 simple guys, whole station of police and SWAT can't catch anyone. (Only person SWAT team can shoot down is the one who shouldn't be dead.)
Script
The director tries too hard to give the characters complex relationships, but it just makes them annoyingly unreasonable and contradictory.
- When BCY reminded Binbin about his dad's wish for him to be a police officer (a weird obsession in itself), Binbin said, "No one cares whether I am comfortable being a police," but later said, "This is my only goal in life."
- XL is almost useless at times with his favorite line, "This is the rule." I’m fed up with all his blaming Binbin for losing the gun. Binbin was attacked during an operation. He should be given compensation and a new gun, not blamed. Sometimes XL tells Binbin, "Remember, you are still a police with responsibilities/ Find your gun," and other times, "Don't ask, don't come, don't do anything," Like.. what do you want him to do???
- WZX is incredibly annoying. She gets mad at XL for being a crime suppression police but also wants XL to support his brother stay in police position. She never listens to her husband’s advice but later blames him for letting her in danger.
Acting
Most of the actors did well—too well for such a silly plot. From XL's wanting to be the police to prove he can save his family, WZX overconcern about XL's safety being a police, to Binbin don't want to disappoint his late dad. These reasons are not enough to be so emotional. Good acting with these plots only makes them seem overly dramatic over nothing.
I am a fan of DYX but I have to admit that some of his scenes feel a little forced, for instance, his first few breakdowns, and his idol-series acting style—with a cute angry-sulky face when arguing with his bros—doesn’t fit this genre. Tianyi sometimes acts more naturally and more mature than him. However, DYX’s acting improves over the course of the series. I was particularly impressed in the final few episodes.
However I still feel like I can watch it again.
The picture, camera work, mood, and music are really good. They build up excitement despite the slow progression in the first half of the series. I like the backstory cuts. There are plenty of puzzles, plot twists, and unexpected unraveling, especially in the second half of the series, where it becomes really good. There are a lot of secrets you won't be able to guess, and it keeps you excited to know more. If you are still doubting, give it a try. I still think it is worth watching. You might feel frustrated at police in the beginning but just keep trusting that there will be reasonable explainations later and it will get better. The business, the fraud makes it more interesting to me. The plot is not just about fighting and investigating. It's fun to see characters take turn to outwit each other both in business and crime cases.
What Could Be Better
The Plot
The puzzles, plot twists, and unraveling are actually great. Starting from Episode 19, the story progresses much better. If we were to rate the series from there, it would easily score a 8.5-9.5 because you finally see both the officials and gangsters working together toward the same truths, leading to progress and some success in the investigation. It would have made a huge difference if this had started earlier.
The plot could have been way more interesting if Binbin were the center of the story, connecting business (Wen Zixuan), gangsters (Bao Chen Yan), and officials (Xing Liang), secretly building collaboration and planning the investigation from all sides. I think that was the producers' original intention, but they failed to show it. Instead, it was filled with unnecessary drama and meaningless tension between these three sides—a total waste.
Characters
DYX (Binbin): If you are a fan of DYX, you will be very, very disappointed. Honestly, he is not the main lead—not even close. DYX has very little screen time, and his role is just as little significant as Tianyi's, which is purely supportive in the overall investigation. The producers clearly used his name and popularity to lure viewers in. The claim that "the lost gun" is central to the story is the biggest lie in the promo. The story is not about Binbin or his gun. To make matters worse, his character is portrayed as just a spoiled, and sensitive boy with no charisma as a young, promising police officer. Even when he finds information and evidence, it doesn’t come across as "genius techniques." Instead, it’s just "he’s friendly and talkative." So WARNING: If you watch this expecting DYX to appear and take the lead, it will ruin your mood. This series is not that bad if you watch without the expectation about DYX's role. The key is this will give him oppotunities for wider range of roles.
Xing Liang: XL is not the main lead either. His character is boring, with no depth. He’s simply an inflexible, rigid, and upright police officer—that’s it.
Bao Chen Yan: The real main lead is BCY. Though labeled a "supporting role," the entire story revolves around him—from his background, his rise to power, his friendships, his enemies, his hopes, his business, and his loved ones. This isn't that his acting outshined others either, it's just the plot making it this way. His character isn't built for ML and to have whole series about him like this. He is pretty dumb and shallow. It just shows that the screenwriter and director have lost in a completely wrong direction. Also, his accent feels overly pretentious. Younger BCY seemed much more natural and didn’t act too recklessly.
Dian Lao'er is my favorite. He is funny and helps is audience A LOT to go through the first half. This character is perfect, plot or acting. Dian Lao'er with his weird eyes is on point, very believable.
SL and WZX's Daughter: I get that she’s not important to the plot, and we may pretend adults don't allow her to hear about adults' issues, so she stays in her room. But the couple made so many fresh-cooked meals.. lol and she’s not allowed to join them?? There are a lot of character inconsistencies. Characters like Tianyi and Dian Lao'er inexplicably have the same hairstyle and hair color for 10 years. (but someone comments about this "perm on this new haircut"). They used a young cast for BCY nine years ago but the older cast for scenes 11 years ago. lol
Alright, I'm being too picking on this, we can still ignore these minor issues...
But gangster credibility though... the director fails to convince me that these gangsters or mafia are "cruel." They just hit each other with sticks and tools. Sun Chang Hai running around and jumping off windows is supposed to make him a "skilled assassin" and "tough"? Come on. For people with so much money and illegal activity, not even one of them owns an illegal gun? Ridiculous. Some of the fight scenes aren’t realistic. A big group of gangsters can't even fight against 2 simple guys, whole station of police and SWAT can't catch anyone. (Only person SWAT team can shoot down is the one who shouldn't be dead.)
Script
The director tries too hard to give the characters complex relationships, but it just makes them annoyingly unreasonable and contradictory.
- When BCY reminded Binbin about his dad's wish for him to be a police officer (a weird obsession in itself), Binbin said, "No one cares whether I am comfortable being a police," but later said, "This is my only goal in life."
- XL is almost useless at times with his favorite line, "This is the rule." I’m fed up with all his blaming Binbin for losing the gun. Binbin was attacked during an operation. He should be given compensation and a new gun, not blamed. Sometimes XL tells Binbin, "Remember, you are still a police with responsibilities/ Find your gun," and other times, "Don't ask, don't come, don't do anything," Like.. what do you want him to do???
- WZX is incredibly annoying. She gets mad at XL for being a crime suppression police but also wants XL to support his brother stay in police position. She never listens to her husband’s advice but later blames him for letting her in danger.
Acting
Most of the actors did well—too well for such a silly plot. From XL's wanting to be the police to prove he can save his family, WZX overconcern about XL's safety being a police, to Binbin don't want to disappoint his late dad. These reasons are not enough to be so emotional. Good acting with these plots only makes them seem overly dramatic over nothing.
I am a fan of DYX but I have to admit that some of his scenes feel a little forced, for instance, his first few breakdowns, and his idol-series acting style—with a cute angry-sulky face when arguing with his bros—doesn’t fit this genre. Tianyi sometimes acts more naturally and more mature than him. However, DYX’s acting improves over the course of the series. I was particularly impressed in the final few episodes.
However I still feel like I can watch it again.
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