DramaAjumma

Just keep watching. The situation is far more complex than that.
It's not just because he's an assassin. And he is using her too.

Gets better progressively which is great. LOL. They even have their own Baker Street Irregulars. Using Dong'er as a human computer is gold.

Can I just say from the perspective of some of us... that not all criticisms of FL has anything to do with romance... whatsoever... She is annoying regardless of whether she's going to end up with LY. She's just badly written. She is used to generate conflict when it doesn't exist.

The strength of this drama lies in the way the trio male leads are used in this drama and how their ever-evolving dynamic plays out. That part of the show is particularly well-written. Kudos to the actors as well. At this early stage the cases are fairly straightforward, nothing that particularly boggles the mind. So far it's predominantly a police procedural dealing with matters related to the royal Ming court. Not all of the humour works for me but that's because I probably don't fit into the target demographic.

I'm not sure how I feel about romance at this stage. I don't need it but I'm not entirely against it. Aha was a popular Norwegian band from the 1980s. That Aha I liked. This Aha.... I have mixed feelings about. Is there some kind of recent trend in C dramas that female add-ons need to be extremely unlikeable to begin with just so there's some kind of obligatory sniping to signal the start to the romance?

It seems to me too that the petulant Noble Consort isn't especially bright. She shows her insecurity rather too easily. Luckily for her though she has smart people to do her thinking for her. My feeling is that one of these days that Wang Zhi will have to choose between her and the emperor. It won't be pretty.

For some reason this drama reminds me of the British series Wallander that starred Kenneth Branagh. Or UK dramas in general that are set in remote areas. I chalk it up to the bleak, existential quality that undergirds it. I was expecting something fast-paced, thriller-like when I looked at the trailer. Instead it's a much more brooding, contemplative drama. That's not a criticism at all actually but clearly it's one for the adults.
It's quite a different beast from the current crop of detective/police procedural shows airing.

Nice trio of male leads with very different personalities working together. Kind of. The first thing that struck me about the cast is how young the leads are. I've only seen the first four episodes but it's very promising.

Wow... I had to do a double take on Alyssa Chia. I really almost didn't recognize her.

You're probably assuming a bit too much here. I have and had no romantic expectations whatsoever. I only criticised the writing of the character as being extreme. I don't care who ends up with whom. As far as I'm concerned this is a detective drama first and foremost. What matters to me is good storytelling and well-constructed cases. I don't enjoy the bickering... I don't think it's funny and it doesn't improve the storytelling or add to our appreciation of the characters. All it does is make YL more unlikeable in my eyes because she's the one initiating most of it. This doesn't have anything to do with her intelligence or her role as a tabloid reporter. It feels like all she does is pick on LY for sport and she moved into the apartment just to make his life hell. The only redeeming aspect to her character seems to be her ability to recall important information and provide important tips. I've watched other dramas with other bickering duos/trios and they worked really well. Here... not so much.

It's fine that we all don't see things the same way. That's what tends to happen in a forum like this. :D

LOL. Thank you. Nice to know someone else feels the same.

I find myself fast forwarding through the bickering bits. Her character is just too extreme for my liking. I don't mind her giving the MLs a useful tip or two. But she desperately wants to prove to her dad that she's an adult and yet she seems to take perverse pleasure in giving Lu Yao a hard time. It's highly unnecessary, not to mention childish. She doesn't have to like him or approve of him but she doesn't have to make his life hell because she has daddy issues. She comes across as nothing more than a spoilt brat looking for a fight. And what's the point of nagging him? He has his own way of conducting the cases and always comes through in the end.
I hold my nose watching her scenes only because the rest of the show is good.

Here's another one this C drama season that's drawn very loosely from the Sherlock Holmes template. :D As far as the investigative side of things are concerned, it's a pretty solid drama. and loads of fun. Love the backdrop. Male leads have a good dynamic and work well together. Hu Yi Tian is pleasantly surprising me with this against type outing. However, the female lead... really doesn't do a whole lot for me. The writing for her character feels all over the place. Plus she's so bratty. Maybe it's my age showing but the bickering is rather over-the top.

Decent stuff but so far it hasn't reached the heights of Detective L.

LOL. I guess that takes a certain kind of talent as well.

It's Toby's performance, isn't it? He's so good in Episode 17 that you can't help but be drawn into what the character's feeling and thinking.
I find that to be consistently true all throughout the drama.

It was all done very hastily to protect himself from having to marry Ran Mei Yan and also to protect Ran Yan from the killer inside the family home. I believe SF's family also pulled out of the marriage arrangement at the time so it gave Xiao Song room to move.

In general it's true that hostilities are due to their having different masters rather than duking it over a girl . But as we've seen in the Snow Demon storyline, SF is not past using XS' feelings for RY to shake him into making errors.
Let's have this conversation again after you've seen Episodes 19-20. :D Tag me!
But my comment was about how well the love triangle is integrated into the big storyline. Unlike a lot of other dramas when the love triangle is just an optional extra.

Yes, I've seen that. It's on my list.

That's the problem with hereditary positions in general. Not always but more often than not.

This promising drama is somewhat ruined by what appears to be marketing material for spin-off films in the second half.
The first half however, is a fascinating twist on the hard-boiled, film noir style detective genre of the 1940s and 50s. Evokes resonances of Polanski's Chinatown.

Fantastic drama so far. Keeps you on your toes and guessing. Came for Lee Jun-hyuk and stayed for the Hitchcock-style suspense. Acting is great all round. Nam Ji Hyun is great as the webtoonist and LJH is just ridiculously adorable as the simple-minded cop finding his detective legs.

It's a love triangle that actually has significance for the big storyline.

Yeah. I know exactly how you feel. :D I adore Xiao Song as well.