The writing is weak. I felt that the story tries to create engagement by constantly showcasing the injustice and suffering the victims/false accused go through throughout the show. Everything felt forced rather than natural. Kang Tae-ju is a weak character internally, and I noticed that he is quite capricious. Sometimes he thinks things through carefully before making a decision, while at other times he acts on a whim. This inconsistency is one of the things I disliked about the show. The prelude was undoubtedly brilliant, but little by little, the show went to shambles because of its weak writing.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I have never been a fan of endings where the bad guys escape accountability for their actions. It feels as though I spent the entire show watching my blood boil for nothing. No matter how well-written or well-executed a story may be, that kind of ending rarely works for me. It leaves a lingering sense of frustration and a bitter aftertaste.
It was good. Terrific acting by main leads. Their chemistry was well matched. Ahn Eun Jin was a surprise for me, really liked her character, such a strong acting by her. She is good, too good.
P.S: Bae Suzy is such a beauty. Her bare face, without any makeup, is something you just can't stop staring at.
Definitely on the weaker side of c-noir dramas. The last 3 episodes were far too melodramatic. Went full on to…
I agree with you to some extent. Could have been shorter as well. The plot was weaker too, they marketed this as a crime thriller, rather family drama would have been a more fitting. Anyways, my take on the most positive aspect of this show was Xu Kai’s acting.
Why are you all care about ratings that much? MyDramalist's at that? These things are not in our control, we just watch, and rate accordingly, if there are dim-witted people who are deliberately trying to rate this drama low, that is unfortunate, but we can't do anything about that, can we?
"As of May 2, 2026, the cumulative effective viewership of Xu Kai's starring works exceeded 30 billion views."https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5294771929351419Edit:…
Edit: This 30 billion figure accounts only for his lead roles. If we also include his appearances in second billing or supporting roles, the total rises to 45 billion.
There is a news that great escape season 8 will start filming from the third week of May. And most probably xukai…
Xu Kai is a regular member, so unless he has some scheduling conflict with an ongoing shooting of a drama (which is highly unlikely), he'll surely take part in it.
Just watched the trailer - this could be good but I am more certain now that my fears for this drama will come…
Male Lead be like, Oh! FL is ignoring me! Already has fiance? Perfect, let's pursue her like a simp. This is same illogical plots which people actually like for don't know what reason.
Read this today which may offer some insights:The main reasons Tencent is accused of "suppressing popularity":•…
I’m not being sarcastic at all, I genuinely mean this. If you really think Tencent is doing something shady specifically targeting Xu Kai, it just doesn’t make much sense. By that logic, Xu Kai himself, his co-actors like Tian Xi Wei, Esther Yu, Deng En Xi... plus the producers, directors, and even his management team would all be aware of it and still choose to work with them? That sounds unlikely, doesn't it? As fans, I get the frustration when a drama doesn’t meet expectations. That’s totally normal. I also check heat index every 5 minutes, even at work, lol. But blaming things like this or making claims that don’t really add up isn’t fair either. Overall Popularity of a drama isn’t based on just one thing like heat index, there are other metrics too like Datawin, Yunhe, Lighthouse, and so on. What about them? Are they also doing shady things?
At the end of the day, a lot of this is out of our control. Better to just enjoy what we have and look forward to his upcoming shows instead of overthinking everything.
And honestly, this is already a really good result. The highest popularity on Tencent’s X Theatre is around 26,600, which was achieved by The Long Season, highest rated C-drama on Douban and IMDb. This reached around 24k, and that too without big promotions, a major team, or a strong IP backing it. Also, keep in mind, this is very niche genre drama, 1 episode per day and so on. So overall, I think we should be pretty happy with these results.
The writing is weak. I felt that the story tries to create engagement by constantly showcasing the injustice and suffering the victims/false accused go through throughout the show. Everything felt forced rather than natural.
Kang Tae-ju is a weak character internally, and I noticed that he is quite capricious. Sometimes he thinks things through carefully before making a decision, while at other times he acts on a whim. This inconsistency is one of the things I disliked about the show.
The prelude was undoubtedly brilliant, but little by little, the show went to shambles because of its weak writing.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I have never been a fan of endings where the bad guys escape accountability for their actions. It feels as though I spent the entire show watching my blood boil for nothing.
No matter how well-written or well-executed a story may be, that kind of ending rarely works for me. It leaves a lingering sense of frustration and a bitter aftertaste.
Ahn Eun Jin was a surprise for me, really liked her character, such a strong acting by her. She is good, too good.
P.S: Bae Suzy is such a beauty. Her bare face, without any makeup, is something you just can't stop staring at.
Could have been shorter as well. The plot was weaker too, they marketed this as a crime thriller, rather family drama would have been a more fitting.
Anyways, my take on the most positive aspect of this show was Xu Kai’s acting.
Naa, this is disappointing.
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5294771929351419
Edit: This 30 billion figure accounts only for his lead roles. If we also include his appearances in second billing or supporting roles, the total rises to 45 billion.
Which is huge to be honest
This is same illogical plots which people actually like for don't know what reason.
If you really think Tencent is doing something shady specifically targeting Xu Kai, it just doesn’t make much sense. By that logic, Xu Kai himself, his co-actors like Tian Xi Wei, Esther Yu, Deng En Xi... plus the producers, directors, and even his management team would all be aware of it and still choose to work with them? That sounds unlikely, doesn't it?
As fans, I get the frustration when a drama doesn’t meet expectations. That’s totally normal. I also check heat index every 5 minutes, even at work, lol. But blaming things like this or making claims that don’t really add up isn’t fair either. Overall Popularity of a drama isn’t based on just one thing like heat index, there are other metrics too like Datawin, Yunhe, Lighthouse, and so on. What about them? Are they also doing shady things?
At the end of the day, a lot of this is out of our control. Better to just enjoy what we have and look forward to his upcoming shows instead of overthinking everything.
And honestly, this is already a really good result. The highest popularity on Tencent’s X Theatre is around 26,600, which was achieved by The Long Season, highest rated C-drama on Douban and IMDb. This reached around 24k, and that too without big promotions, a major team, or a strong IP backing it. Also, keep in mind, this is very niche genre drama, 1 episode per day and so on.
So overall, I think we should be pretty happy with these results.