Editorials 
1
1
Kind of absurd, full of personality
Every other show: ACTUALLY, it was part of the plan all along! Carefully put in place by the mastermind behind the mastermind behind the mastermind.
This show: No, no, it was all pure coincidence.
Born With Luck is fairly unique for a Cdrama. It’s got a real absurdist flare, or maybe just absurd. It’s pretty funny if you like that sort of thing. Every ironic coincidence that can happen, happens. Meanwhile, all the characters are tripping over themselves reading meaning into things. The success of any plot seems to be 1 part bluffing and 9 parts luck. And we the audience get a bird’s eye omniscient view, so we can see whenever yet another character goes running full speed down the wrong track. It’s like watching a slow motion train wreck from the side- or rather, several train wrecks.
The main character is Zhang Yi’ang, a police detective who previously retired from the frontlines and is not taken too seriously by his colleagues, now pushed back into action. This guy- I could not tell for the longest time if he is actually secretly brilliant, or really the bumbling space cadet he seems to be. As the show goes on he transitions a bit from the latter to the former, but he stays likable and kind of unintentionally funny. Kudos to Lawrence Wang for that perfect blankish expression where you can just see the hamster wheel spinning in his head (while space cadet music plays).
Aside from Zhang Yi’ang, we also get several other colorful figures, from the police who serve with him to several different groups of thugs of varying skill levels. Everyone is a real personality.
To be honest, I didn’t actually particularly care for or relate to any of the characters. The show seems more about being absurd(ist) than emotionally engaging. Though I did sort of feel lowkey sorry for a lot of the thugs. They just had such personalities that I couldn’t help sympathizing. At least the show isn’t too brutal towards them- just a couple smaller deaths throughout that then turn into fodder for dark humor.
For maybe 5-10 episodes I thought this show was absolutely hilarious, but then I slowly started to sag on it. It didn’t get any worse or anything- it’s quite consistent- I think I just got a bit tired of the ongoing ridiculousness. I mean, I do think it’s impressive that the plot is able to weave together everything just so to form this house of cards. But I wasn’t that emotionally engaged and it really is kind of like watching a slow motion train wreck, which can occupy my morbid fascination for awhile, but at some point gets to be too much. Only in the last few episodes do things start to come together, whereupon I breathed a big sigh of relief.
For the acting, I think the actors across the board did a fantastic job. They’re able to capture the idiosyncrasies of their characters without too much exaggeration, so that these whacky personalities come to life. I also love how normal everyone looks, not pale and filtered like in idol shows. The way the characters are styled gives them more... well, character. And for example, the closing credits freeze on the actors’ more ridiculous expressions, rather than trying to make people look cool. Ironically this show does also star Tian Xiwei, who got a huge bump in popularity after Pursuit of Jade, the most idol of idol shows. But she does a good job here in a more muted side role.
The music in this show is also unhinged. But strangely catchy... two days later, still stuck in my head. It also fits the show way too well.
Overall I think this is a fun show to try if you want something that is non-idol but also not too dark, heavy, or serious. In that sense it definitely fills a niche that I would love to see more of. But the distinct style of absurdist, dark humor may not be for everyone, and for me personally it got to be too much. I’d give it a 7 (“entertained but not a masterpiece”) but then extra 0.5 points for being a non-depressing non-idol show.
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
The ending is ok. The police figure it all out, and the final answer is not surprising by the end but also a pretty good reveal. What left me unsatisfied is that we don’t get to find out what happens to ANY of those sympathetic thugs, like what kind of sentences they each get. Zhang Yi’ang and friends get a pretty good resolution, though.
This show: No, no, it was all pure coincidence.
Born With Luck is fairly unique for a Cdrama. It’s got a real absurdist flare, or maybe just absurd. It’s pretty funny if you like that sort of thing. Every ironic coincidence that can happen, happens. Meanwhile, all the characters are tripping over themselves reading meaning into things. The success of any plot seems to be 1 part bluffing and 9 parts luck. And we the audience get a bird’s eye omniscient view, so we can see whenever yet another character goes running full speed down the wrong track. It’s like watching a slow motion train wreck from the side- or rather, several train wrecks.
The main character is Zhang Yi’ang, a police detective who previously retired from the frontlines and is not taken too seriously by his colleagues, now pushed back into action. This guy- I could not tell for the longest time if he is actually secretly brilliant, or really the bumbling space cadet he seems to be. As the show goes on he transitions a bit from the latter to the former, but he stays likable and kind of unintentionally funny. Kudos to Lawrence Wang for that perfect blankish expression where you can just see the hamster wheel spinning in his head (while space cadet music plays).
Aside from Zhang Yi’ang, we also get several other colorful figures, from the police who serve with him to several different groups of thugs of varying skill levels. Everyone is a real personality.
To be honest, I didn’t actually particularly care for or relate to any of the characters. The show seems more about being absurd(ist) than emotionally engaging. Though I did sort of feel lowkey sorry for a lot of the thugs. They just had such personalities that I couldn’t help sympathizing. At least the show isn’t too brutal towards them- just a couple smaller deaths throughout that then turn into fodder for dark humor.
For maybe 5-10 episodes I thought this show was absolutely hilarious, but then I slowly started to sag on it. It didn’t get any worse or anything- it’s quite consistent- I think I just got a bit tired of the ongoing ridiculousness. I mean, I do think it’s impressive that the plot is able to weave together everything just so to form this house of cards. But I wasn’t that emotionally engaged and it really is kind of like watching a slow motion train wreck, which can occupy my morbid fascination for awhile, but at some point gets to be too much. Only in the last few episodes do things start to come together, whereupon I breathed a big sigh of relief.
For the acting, I think the actors across the board did a fantastic job. They’re able to capture the idiosyncrasies of their characters without too much exaggeration, so that these whacky personalities come to life. I also love how normal everyone looks, not pale and filtered like in idol shows. The way the characters are styled gives them more... well, character. And for example, the closing credits freeze on the actors’ more ridiculous expressions, rather than trying to make people look cool. Ironically this show does also star Tian Xiwei, who got a huge bump in popularity after Pursuit of Jade, the most idol of idol shows. But she does a good job here in a more muted side role.
The music in this show is also unhinged. But strangely catchy... two days later, still stuck in my head. It also fits the show way too well.
Overall I think this is a fun show to try if you want something that is non-idol but also not too dark, heavy, or serious. In that sense it definitely fills a niche that I would love to see more of. But the distinct style of absurdist, dark humor may not be for everyone, and for me personally it got to be too much. I’d give it a 7 (“entertained but not a masterpiece”) but then extra 0.5 points for being a non-depressing non-idol show.
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
The ending is ok. The police figure it all out, and the final answer is not surprising by the end but also a pretty good reveal. What left me unsatisfied is that we don’t get to find out what happens to ANY of those sympathetic thugs, like what kind of sentences they each get. Zhang Yi’ang and friends get a pretty good resolution, though.
Was this review helpful to you?
