ShortCircuit

TU isn't wuxia, it's xianxia (that means there will be some supernatural/paranormal things in it, other than the fighting.)

There are two big parts with different timelines. The present timeline starts in epsidoes 1-2 and then goes on from episode 33 to the end. The past timeline is presented in episodes 3-33. Which is to say, don't worry if you think they're going off on a tangent or if you don't really understand what's going on in the first two eps, that will be revisited once the past is explained (the past timeline shows you what happened to get them to that original, present, storyline).

This is also as epic as can be. You don't need another entry point into Chinese costume dramas, this one's basically perfect for it. I hope you'll fall in love with it as most of us did, too :D

As for the main points of the story - it's a good vs evil, conscience vs reputation, sacrifice vs personal gain tale. Give it a bit of time to get going - there will be some setting up before it gets very serious. I'd say around eps 15-17 it turns for most viewers that weren't caught in it from the very beginning - but pay attention because there are some hints that are pretty important even if they don't seem like it, LOL.

This is my favourite (fan-made) trailer of it (subs on) for a look-see - no spoilers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ldvydu34Is

Enjoy!

(At 34th). Daddy Di, NOOOOO!!!!

Also, damn, Cheng Yi can emote like nobody's business. I felt for LLH all throughout that fight. I hope SGD drops dead.

Edit Now I have to avoid this page til the rest of it is TLed and aired. Dammit.

For a super-power themed drama, the first episode is so damn bland. I have no strong impression of any of the characters, I didn't notice any OST, there were no FX (much, so far), and I am not certain I actually want to continue it.

The first time was when LLH sent FDB to get "medicine" from his wagon, so that LLH could hot-foot it out of there (and FDB came back immediately).

The second time was when he tried to tell him his Shifu's wife was away on some looooong, long journey and won't be back and they could come back some other time (maybe in his next life, LOL). And then FDB caught on immediately - the house was un-lived in, nobody was not home because they lived elsewhere, it was the usual LLH Jedi mind-trick to get out of a situation he doesn't want to be in. LLH looked at FDB when he figured it out like he was sighing in his mind, LOL.

By ep4, wife and kid-to-be are gone, MJS tries to get revenge and fails and then invites a demon in. He's going to be a villain.

They're character teasers, I guess I was expecting them to give a hint on the characters (appearance, mostly), not the plot.

JLQ at DFS: I did it all because I LOVE YOU. You don't get it and you don't want it, but I know what's best for us (~me~) and you're going to want and like it too.
DFS: B!tch, crazy much?

The interractions are pretty fun. Mostly LLH going from totally fooling FDB (and leaving him knocked out to find his way home) to FDB basically rolling his eyes at LLH's obvious deflections.

First time (and about three more): LLH knocking FDB out with some drugs. FDB: totally bamboozled!

Second time (or twice more): LLH sending smoke signals for auntie and FDB footing it out, raging.

Third time (worked about twice in total): LLH sending FDB on wild geese chases and himself footing it out of there. FDB left behind and raging about it, again.

Fourth time: nothing works any more, FDB FINALLY caught on. Every time, LOL. LLH: Dammit, they grow so fast :D

He's catching on though, the last two times LLH tricked him he was back in an instant, even confronting him about it. I loved LLH's surprised look the first time around - by the second time, he'd come to expect it wouldn't work, LOL.

I don't know if I remember correctly, but ShiFu isn't buried on that mountain where his wife still lives, right? They (LLH and FDB) re-buried fake SGD next to him, and when they started suspecting the corpse was fake, they traveled from master's wife's mountain to the burial place.

Time enough for SGD to go meet DFS, then go to the burial place himself (or the inn in that town close to it). And he doesn't need to be physically present to watch them, he has plenty of spies - his and the Alliance's.

Ehh... not too impressed TBH. (And still no Neanthals, I hope they're being kept back for a surprise and would still appear in the story).

No bodychains for Tae AlHa :(

Okay, now I'm caught up. Dammit. The wait begins.

I guess I'm a bit of a sadist. I quite liked the latest eps, what with the guys being all hurting for each other, LOL. Give me more. And also bring back Daddy Di, I've been missing him.

Someone should really give a good a$$ kicking to that girl. She's getting to be really really annoying. Let the boys be, you b!tch!

Edit Wait what, they're fast-tracking the rest of the eps?!! All the way up to 40th?

Bloodhounds has the best fighting scenes this year, IMHO, better than this one (so far). And there are way too many in the past where action not only looked good, it made sense more, in the context of the story (things like Weak Hero Class 1, for example).

3&4 are just a tiny bit better. But now, fight scenes aside (and they're great), there's nothing too personal going on, like it did in the first season. I find it pretty hard to stay engaged...

I wanted to wait to binge it, then made the mistake of watching the next ep, and now I'm at 19 and can't stop. Don't do the same, this is extremely binge-able and currently my favourite ongoing drama.

I couldn't quite put my finger on what is it that irks me about A-Fei... He is practically Yan Wushi's other soul LOL. The stance, the offhandish manners, the cynicism, the need to bug Li LinHua, even the outfitls, LOL - he IS Yan Wushi. (If you don't recognize the name, he is the ML of a Meng Xi Shi danmei novel, A Thousand Autumns. There's no drama, but there's a donghua, go watch it to see what I mean, if you're interested.) Then again, Li LinHua definitely is no Shen Qiao, LOL, so that worked against my identification of who exactly A-Fei reminded me of :D

So far, I love the three leads - they're great when they're together. LLH is the best detective to ever not be detective, FDB is sooo cute and likeable (especially when he's promising to always protect LLH as if he needed it, LOL, and when he's pouting for being left behind again, hahaha) and Yan Wushi, errrr, I mean A-Fei is cute when grumpy, handsome when fighting, nice when trying to pretend he doesn't already care about LLH anyway.

I was expecting to like Chen DuLing this time around, as her character in TTEOTM made her turn completely black in all incarnations... but sadly, it's either the limited screen time, or her inability to cry convincingly (and she keeps having crying scenes) while emoting that makes me still not like her character. And again, just as in TTEOTM, I am amazed how they turned such a pretty girl into such a bland looking character. Why the heck not use her natural beauty?! Why give her that hairstyle that makes her forehead huge, and that makeup that makes her eyes seem like she's always tearing up for being grazed by the breeze or something, what, is that the Chinese ideal of ancient beauty? I need to look up some real-life pictures of her to realise again she's actually a beautiful woman in reality. Or, if people watched her in more dramas than I have (only this one and TTEOTM), is it her acting skills instead? I just can't tell.

Anyway... I am almost caught up (yeah I know I have some 10 released eps to go through, but I was at 3 yesterday LOL, I'll catch up too fast), and I'm hoping for a good resolution for this story. Let's go out fighting, drama!

The hardest part of the watch was NOT seeing it as a biopic. I mean, I know it's based on a book that tells some of the cases of one of the original SK profilers, but it's still a work of fiction, and I had a bit of a struggle separating the fiction from what was reality, As in, I would keep wondering if this was how it went down, if this was the thought process, etc. But in the end, it's fiction and eventually it clicked.

The worst part of this was the eternal LOUDNESS and RAGE that most of the cops show throughout the story. It's in other dramas too, even in timelines set closer to us (this covers about 1997-2007, so some outdated practices were to be expected). I wanted to go there and... just have a talk with some of those cops.

The BEST part about this was the pace. It's so realistic it overcame all shortcomings for me. I mean, we've all watched those police procedurals in Western TV, where they realise they have a serial killer on their hands and solve it in one episode's time (days or weeks at most in showland). That's totally unrealistic, but we suspend disbelief because dragging it for too long would be boring. But I guess real police work, in serial crimes' cases, where the killer is smart enough to change things up, or clean up the scene, or just change the area so that stations don't put two and two together... well, those are BOUND to take time. And this drama does take its time for all of those reasons. I liked that very much.

Also, it sure doesn't hurt that KNG is so damn fine, LOL, I'll be honest. Though I had a bit of a disappointment when SHY ditched the tshirts for the costumes. For some reason, he was pretty hot in tshirts, more than in his MiB outfits, LOL. I guess that's it, I might as well try out Fiery Priest after all.

PS And after all... the very best killers (yeah, I'm aware how it sounds, but the actors need to be recognised for their talent to impersonate them): Go Geon Han as KangMoo (the killer who sets SHY on the tail of Red Cap) - wow! He was the smartest, lightning-quick wise ass ever. If that man was a cop, he'd have solved each murder as it happened LOL. Great job from the actor! And Kim Jong Hee as Nam KiTae - also wow! Though his sheer joy when describing murdering people really did a number on me, as it did on SHY. He (the actor) went all in, and it was perfect! Kudos to them!

Yes, as it sets up the world, the clans, the original conflict and love interests, and the origin of the Neanthals - the OTHER, mostly-human, tribe they're trying to genocide. The previous season is only 18 eps and pretty cool, though, and you get to watch it KNOWING there's going to be a sequel (original watchers were left hanging, and NF really dropped the ball on this one).

But it's still pretty good, story-wise and FX-wise, the music is great, and the original cast (with SJK as ML) is good, too. You have time to see it til September :D

A... sword in a stone? Like, really? I seriously, deeply, hope they won't go there.

Since this isn't NF, maaaaybe it means 12 eps are a complete season, and not put out into small pieces until nobody cares any more what happened before.

I have to say, I am not happy with this being LJG's 2023 drama, as he only does one per year usually and he can do much better than a sequel where the ML was changed (to him). But here's hoping.

And let's bring back the Neanthals, COME ON ALREADY!! They're the coolest thing about AC in the end. Oh, and the magic thieving horse, can we please, pretty please? That horse got the most unfullfilling non-finished story in the first (three) part, LOL.

Akatsuki no Kuruma is the bomb! And some of the sequences they used it for are heartbreaking. GS (and GS:D) had the best soundtracks. (And they made me discover TMRevolution, and his voice is the best, too!)

Can't wait for the next MGS (they're making a movie, Freedom, in 2024, and some info says it's going to be about Kira and Lacus, but I seriously doubt they'd leave out Athrun. Still, if they do, I'll probably throw a tantrum and still watch it, LOL, I NEED more Gundam!!)

... I have to admit I only remember (WELL) "Ship of Fools" from TC, because Kajiura Yuki is just amazing!

Still no news of (maybe, hopefully) a second season? Who do we have to call to make it happen? T_T

I'm missing Tantai Jin the hostage prince so much. Come on, Tencent, give us 2ha already, I need another LYX character to get addicted to! (Though I have to admit, I'm already addicted to CWN.)