This review may contain spoilers
One Bad Choice after Another
I never expected a drama starring Xu Kai to make me actively dislike the character he was playing, and I mean that as one of the biggest compliments I can give this show.
We're so used to seeing big stars in idol dramas playing perfect green-flag male leads with endless plot armor. No matter what happens, they're usually written to stay likable and justified. Eight Hundred does the complete opposite. It gives Xu Kai a deeply flawed character who keeps making one terrible decision after another, and I found that far more interesting than watching another perfect hero.
I've always thought Xu Kai was a good actor, but most of his previous roles never really gave him the opportunity to show his full range. He often plays the same serious, reserved type of character. Here, however, he gets to portray someone far more complicated. Chen Hui is desperate, selfish, loving, reckless, sympathetic, and frustrating all at the same time. This is easily one of the strongest performances I've seen from him because it finally showcases just how versatile he can be.
What I found fascinating is that I felt bad for Chen Hui, but I never truly sympathized with him. Those are two different things. I understood why he was desperate. I understood his fear and his love for Song Ge. But understanding him didn't make me agree with him.
At first, I could see how someone might end up trapped in a situation like his. But there were multiple moments where he could have stopped. The biggest turning point for me was after the cough syrup incident. If he had gone to his father and confessed everything then, his life might have taken a completely different path. Instead, he kept digging himself deeper and deeper until there was no way back. Once he crossed the line into deliberately planning violence and involving other people in his crimes, I could no longer defend him. By the time people were dying, whatever sympathy I had left was gone.
That's why I never viewed Chen Hui as a tragic hero. He was a tragic character, but those aren't the same thing.
Interestingly, I cared far more about the father-son relationship than I did about the romance. The romance is the catalyst for the story, but it never felt like the heart of the story to me. What kept me invested was the cat-and-mouse game between Chen Hui and his father. Every confrontation carried more weight than any romantic scene.
I also found myself disagreeing with many viewers who blamed Hong Bin entirely. Was he a perfect father? No. But I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Imagine dedicating your life to protecting people, only to discover that your own son is responsible for harming countless others. The disappointment, guilt, and conflict he carried throughout the story were heartbreaking.
I do think there were moments when Hong Bin's obsession with catching criminals overshadowed his role as a father. Part of me wonders whether a genuine heart-to-heart conversation much earlier could have changed Chen Hui's path. At times, it felt as though Hong Bin trusted his instincts as a police officer more than he trusted his son. Yet even with those flaws, I never saw him as the villain. He was simply a man trapped between his duty and his family, and there was no outcome where he could truly win.
The people I felt the most sorry for were actually the parents, especially the mother. She lost everything despite doing nothing wrong. Watching both parents suffer the consequences of choices they never made was devastating.
As for Chen Hui and Song Ge, I honestly didn't find them romantic. I found them tragic. Their relationship wasn't something I was rooting for as much as I was watching in horror. They loved each other, but they also destroyed each other's lives. Everything they sacrificed was supposedly for a future together, yet in the end neither of them got that future. He was executed, she received a life sentence despite finally getting the kidney she needed, and all the suffering ended up being for nothing.
The ending hit me harder than I expected. Not because I thought Chen Hui deserved a happy ending, but because of how young he was. Twenty-three years old, and his entire life was gone because of a chain of choices that kept escalating. It felt like watching someone repeatedly choose the wrong path until there were no paths left.
My biggest criticism is that the investigation sometimes becomes repetitive. There were moments when it felt like Chen Hui was always one step ahead and the story kept circling the same conflict. The pacing occasionally dragged because of this. However, the emotional payoff was strong enough that I stayed invested until the end.
In the end, Eight Hundred isn't really a romance or even a crime thriller. It's a tragedy about consequences. Every bad decision creates another one, every compromise leads to a bigger compromise, and eventually there comes a point where there is no way back.
It's frustrating, heartbreaking, and sometimes difficult to watch, but it also gave me one of my favorite Xu Kai performances to date.
We're so used to seeing big stars in idol dramas playing perfect green-flag male leads with endless plot armor. No matter what happens, they're usually written to stay likable and justified. Eight Hundred does the complete opposite. It gives Xu Kai a deeply flawed character who keeps making one terrible decision after another, and I found that far more interesting than watching another perfect hero.
I've always thought Xu Kai was a good actor, but most of his previous roles never really gave him the opportunity to show his full range. He often plays the same serious, reserved type of character. Here, however, he gets to portray someone far more complicated. Chen Hui is desperate, selfish, loving, reckless, sympathetic, and frustrating all at the same time. This is easily one of the strongest performances I've seen from him because it finally showcases just how versatile he can be.
What I found fascinating is that I felt bad for Chen Hui, but I never truly sympathized with him. Those are two different things. I understood why he was desperate. I understood his fear and his love for Song Ge. But understanding him didn't make me agree with him.
At first, I could see how someone might end up trapped in a situation like his. But there were multiple moments where he could have stopped. The biggest turning point for me was after the cough syrup incident. If he had gone to his father and confessed everything then, his life might have taken a completely different path. Instead, he kept digging himself deeper and deeper until there was no way back. Once he crossed the line into deliberately planning violence and involving other people in his crimes, I could no longer defend him. By the time people were dying, whatever sympathy I had left was gone.
That's why I never viewed Chen Hui as a tragic hero. He was a tragic character, but those aren't the same thing.
Interestingly, I cared far more about the father-son relationship than I did about the romance. The romance is the catalyst for the story, but it never felt like the heart of the story to me. What kept me invested was the cat-and-mouse game between Chen Hui and his father. Every confrontation carried more weight than any romantic scene.
I also found myself disagreeing with many viewers who blamed Hong Bin entirely. Was he a perfect father? No. But I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. Imagine dedicating your life to protecting people, only to discover that your own son is responsible for harming countless others. The disappointment, guilt, and conflict he carried throughout the story were heartbreaking.
I do think there were moments when Hong Bin's obsession with catching criminals overshadowed his role as a father. Part of me wonders whether a genuine heart-to-heart conversation much earlier could have changed Chen Hui's path. At times, it felt as though Hong Bin trusted his instincts as a police officer more than he trusted his son. Yet even with those flaws, I never saw him as the villain. He was simply a man trapped between his duty and his family, and there was no outcome where he could truly win.
The people I felt the most sorry for were actually the parents, especially the mother. She lost everything despite doing nothing wrong. Watching both parents suffer the consequences of choices they never made was devastating.
As for Chen Hui and Song Ge, I honestly didn't find them romantic. I found them tragic. Their relationship wasn't something I was rooting for as much as I was watching in horror. They loved each other, but they also destroyed each other's lives. Everything they sacrificed was supposedly for a future together, yet in the end neither of them got that future. He was executed, she received a life sentence despite finally getting the kidney she needed, and all the suffering ended up being for nothing.
The ending hit me harder than I expected. Not because I thought Chen Hui deserved a happy ending, but because of how young he was. Twenty-three years old, and his entire life was gone because of a chain of choices that kept escalating. It felt like watching someone repeatedly choose the wrong path until there were no paths left.
My biggest criticism is that the investigation sometimes becomes repetitive. There were moments when it felt like Chen Hui was always one step ahead and the story kept circling the same conflict. The pacing occasionally dragged because of this. However, the emotional payoff was strong enough that I stayed invested until the end.
In the end, Eight Hundred isn't really a romance or even a crime thriller. It's a tragedy about consequences. Every bad decision creates another one, every compromise leads to a bigger compromise, and eventually there comes a point where there is no way back.
It's frustrating, heartbreaking, and sometimes difficult to watch, but it also gave me one of my favorite Xu Kai performances to date.
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