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Firecracker flirting with still waters: a bromance
This was a casual but enjoyable summer watch for me. I'm a sucker for minguo visuals and was looking for a more lighthearted drama, and this one delivered. This is a classic story of a policeman and ‘special consultant’ developing a close relationship as they solve cases together all over Beijing. Yuan Hong is an illegitimate son of a warlord who joins the police to uncover the truth about his mother’s death. Zhao Shaoshang is a spoiled baby of the family of an ultra-rich cabinet minister in need of a friend and some growing up. Together they work hard to piss off everyone in the city who’s got something shady going on, which is …everyone;)
Some cases were more interesting than others, but at least they were varied and the investigations progressed in a believable way (not counting some interrogation scenes that were pure comedy skits;)). They have a common theme of appearing supernatural at first glance but turning out to conceal thoroughly human motives. The spooky parts of the cases were fun, I think they could’ve leaned even more into it. The cast was great! There were some really colourful and entertaining secondary characters.
The drama has a lot of lighthearted situational humour, which I really liked. I normally hate comedy sound effects, but the instrumental ‘laughter’ here was kind of infectious:) The main characters' interactions were very entertaining as they got to know each other and used that knowledge for teasing and jokes. Their friendship has depth and develops in a natural way helped along by great chemistry between the two actors. As you can guess from the title, this is an intentional bromance sparing no effort to let the audience happily ship the two together;)
As for the main characters, tbh, I had no chance of liking Zhao Shaoshang because (1) I’m allergic to screaming and his tantrums were driving me crazy, (2) I find this type of smart-ass characters annoying, especially when it’s paired with rich family privilege, (3) it took me a while to get used to Zhai Zilu’s acting, which seemed too exaggerated compared to the rest of the cast. He absolutely did grow on me as some depth and vulnerability materialized, and a lot of his earlier bluster turned out to be just a shield. I appreciate that the drama didn’t hesitate to expose his flaws. Ironically, I found his absolute pettiness and inability to keep his cool even under the tiniest of provocations weirdly endearing …if only he weren’t abusing my eardrums.
Yuan Hong had an interesting air of mystery and capability going at the beginning, but the actor lacked charisma and presence to really pull it off. For the rest of the drama, he’s mostly a tolerant ‘still waters run deep’ type but rather one-note in emotional moments. If Zhai Zilu is a bit ‘too much’, then Ma Sichao is 'too little’, but they balance each other surprisingly well.
I hope season 2 comes next summer and keeps the same level of writing and production. The last few episodes switched to a more dramatic tone, so I hope the story goes back to the lighthearted and bromantic mood because that’s where it shines☀️✨
Some cases were more interesting than others, but at least they were varied and the investigations progressed in a believable way (not counting some interrogation scenes that were pure comedy skits;)). They have a common theme of appearing supernatural at first glance but turning out to conceal thoroughly human motives. The spooky parts of the cases were fun, I think they could’ve leaned even more into it. The cast was great! There were some really colourful and entertaining secondary characters.
The drama has a lot of lighthearted situational humour, which I really liked. I normally hate comedy sound effects, but the instrumental ‘laughter’ here was kind of infectious:) The main characters' interactions were very entertaining as they got to know each other and used that knowledge for teasing and jokes. Their friendship has depth and develops in a natural way helped along by great chemistry between the two actors. As you can guess from the title, this is an intentional bromance sparing no effort to let the audience happily ship the two together;)
As for the main characters, tbh, I had no chance of liking Zhao Shaoshang because (1) I’m allergic to screaming and his tantrums were driving me crazy, (2) I find this type of smart-ass characters annoying, especially when it’s paired with rich family privilege, (3) it took me a while to get used to Zhai Zilu’s acting, which seemed too exaggerated compared to the rest of the cast. He absolutely did grow on me as some depth and vulnerability materialized, and a lot of his earlier bluster turned out to be just a shield. I appreciate that the drama didn’t hesitate to expose his flaws. Ironically, I found his absolute pettiness and inability to keep his cool even under the tiniest of provocations weirdly endearing …if only he weren’t abusing my eardrums.
Yuan Hong had an interesting air of mystery and capability going at the beginning, but the actor lacked charisma and presence to really pull it off. For the rest of the drama, he’s mostly a tolerant ‘still waters run deep’ type but rather one-note in emotional moments. If Zhai Zilu is a bit ‘too much’, then Ma Sichao is 'too little’, but they balance each other surprisingly well.
I hope season 2 comes next summer and keeps the same level of writing and production. The last few episodes switched to a more dramatic tone, so I hope the story goes back to the lighthearted and bromantic mood because that’s where it shines☀️✨
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