will return to add onto this review once i’ve finished seeing all 12 episodes! just want to get some thoughts down first.

trying so hard not to burst through all the episodes released in one go. let’s start with casting. so…casting is perfect, it is! there’s such good chemistry between both women leads, that should go without saying. people have criticized sun yihan’s acting before, but i think she’s wonderful here. the styling for both women is amazing. sun yihan is boyish and mysterious; zhang nan has this mature elegance that she takes on especially well after you-know-what happens early on and her character is forced to grow and evolve some.

the mystery that the plot explores is pretty fun too. there’s some stakes involved, and the story focuses heavily enough on love between the women and mystery and suspense and it doesn’t really talk a lot about misogyny and gendered violence. that’s a plus for me. i’ve been waiting to get into a story about women with some murder mystery/suspense tossed in but without emphasizing any misery about being a woman.

production value shows in the editing, which sometimes was a bit funny. the show makes up for it in a lot of ways, that is in the love and care they’ve put into everything else—the writing and the acting most significantly. there is an overall warm and melancholy mood all over the show and the tone is decently consistent. no weird unexpected turns and twists (like killer healer), angst is written in but it’s not excessive (…killer healer)… just a great and well-balanced program. i really hope that there will be more gl shows like this from china in the future. everything was done right and pleasantly, and it’s exactly what i’ve been waiting for at least.