Gold Panning told the story of Chen Baojin who came to Simu Goldfield to pan gold. But that's not his real intention. He came to find his brother who mysteriously disappeared. Soon, he was caught in confrontation between forces who owned each river beds, though in the surface they all acted normally, deep inside they plotted to get rid of their rivals. Greed can kill but not every man aware of that.
The twelve episode show brought us a tight package of drama without any boring second. All the actors & actresses acted good. Haunting opening soundtrack. The use of unique local dialect (when you heard it's just like a westerner who learned to speak chinese). But sadly i can't give this show a high rating more than 7 due to some cons:
1. So many scenes got cut off, especially the action part. Eg: when Alai went to Ma's hut & Ma suddenly returned, there was a tense standoff between the two. One in front of the door who realized someone was inside, & the other who prepared to attack behind the door. But the next scene, Alai was already got bound at the chair. There were just so many scenes like that. Smh.
2. A kid who in 12 episodes went missing 3 times. LoL. This already crossed the border of nonsensical.
3. Plot in the cave was rather messy, who's inside, how did he even get in, that was unclear, especially Baojin's brother who went Rambo guerilla mode & started killing people.
In conclusion, this show is good to watch but don't hope it is better than The Bad Kids, Burning Ice, or The Long Night.