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This review may contain spoilers
An In-Depth Character Study
Please don't read this review unless you've finished the series! The show is so much better going in blind!
This series is a very unique take on a character study. The main genres are thriller and mystery and they take you on a wild ride as you try to understand who Fei Ke really was. What were his goals, motives, and what made him into the person that he was? That question is never answered, because he himself never got to find out.
The series plays as each character takes a turn describing their own story with Fei Ke. Each person describes a different personality, a different type of manipulation, and a indescribable pull towards him.
But this is not a story of a man, evil, intent on on gaining money or power. He is not some master manipulator. Though, his intentions can be subjective, I think it's clear that he didn't set out to scam people. When opportunities arose, when he was betrayed, when the victim created and walked into their own trap, he pushed forward. He was oddly sincere and kind, searching for genuine connection and treating others as meaningful to him, but also preparing for the worst. As soon as they betrayed him, he did so back double fold. The story is more so about a man who continues to make the wrong choice, meet the wrong people, and push away the only person that stayed on his side, honest and good Shen.
The one and only chance he had at escaping his dark childhood, becoming the person he was meant to be, when he was given the choice, he chose revenge. From the moment he chose revenge, he set his life on a course of lies that led him to twisted people, further twisting himself until he became a "fake" version of himself. Rather than actualize the person he was going to become, bright and clever and kind, he chose to hurt those that had hurt him. This moment destroys him and that is where the story truly began and where Li Zenrui's ended.
The ending was truly heartbreaking and brought my score up from an 8 to a 9.5.
It ends with each person returning to their happiest self or their truest forms of themselves. For Fei Ke, only after his death did he regain his name. Only in his last moments, did he do something that was true of himself, returning to his innocent self still full of hopes and dreams. Only once before his death, did he get to hear someone call him by his real name, only once...only once.
Only one person remembered who he once was, Shen was his only lifeline. And in his final moments, he chose to save that lifeline, the last remaining piece of his hope.
This series is a very unique take on a character study. The main genres are thriller and mystery and they take you on a wild ride as you try to understand who Fei Ke really was. What were his goals, motives, and what made him into the person that he was? That question is never answered, because he himself never got to find out.
The series plays as each character takes a turn describing their own story with Fei Ke. Each person describes a different personality, a different type of manipulation, and a indescribable pull towards him.
But this is not a story of a man, evil, intent on on gaining money or power. He is not some master manipulator. Though, his intentions can be subjective, I think it's clear that he didn't set out to scam people. When opportunities arose, when he was betrayed, when the victim created and walked into their own trap, he pushed forward. He was oddly sincere and kind, searching for genuine connection and treating others as meaningful to him, but also preparing for the worst. As soon as they betrayed him, he did so back double fold. The story is more so about a man who continues to make the wrong choice, meet the wrong people, and push away the only person that stayed on his side, honest and good Shen.
The one and only chance he had at escaping his dark childhood, becoming the person he was meant to be, when he was given the choice, he chose revenge. From the moment he chose revenge, he set his life on a course of lies that led him to twisted people, further twisting himself until he became a "fake" version of himself. Rather than actualize the person he was going to become, bright and clever and kind, he chose to hurt those that had hurt him. This moment destroys him and that is where the story truly began and where Li Zenrui's ended.
The ending was truly heartbreaking and brought my score up from an 8 to a 9.5.
It ends with each person returning to their happiest self or their truest forms of themselves. For Fei Ke, only after his death did he regain his name. Only in his last moments, did he do something that was true of himself, returning to his innocent self still full of hopes and dreams. Only once before his death, did he get to hear someone call him by his real name, only once...only once.
Only one person remembered who he once was, Shen was his only lifeline. And in his final moments, he chose to save that lifeline, the last remaining piece of his hope.
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