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This review may contain spoilers
The Heavy Cost of Saving Each Other
Had I Not Seen the Sun is a mystery romance drama centered around a young serial killer Li Jen Yao, known as the Rainstorm Killer. At twenty-five, after murdering ten people, including his own father, he turns himself in, cooperates with the police, and accepts the death penalty. The one thing he never reveals is why. Years later, two journalists decide to make a documentary about him, hoping to uncover the truth behind the murders. As they begin investigating, strange visions and dreams start haunting one of them, and little by little the past begins to surface.
Most of the drama unfolds through extended flashbacks, telling the story of Li Jen Yao’s life, first during high school in part one, then in early adulthood in part two. His life is bleak from the beginning. He is abused by his father, repeatedly let down by his mother, chased by debt collectors, and constantly targeted by bullies at school. There’s very little warmth in his world.
The only real light in his life is Chiang Hsiao Tung, a girl he meets at school. She takes an interest in him and decides they should become friends. She’s everything he isn’t: bright, talented, surrounded by loving family and supportive friends, with a future ahead of her as a ballet dancer. For a while, she becomes the one beautiful thing in his otherwise miserable existence. But once she gets pulled into his world, everything slowly starts falling apart. The love that grows between them feels like it should save Li Jen Yao, but instead it turns painful and destructive, and in the end it leaves both of them broken.
The drama explores a lot of heavy themes: family abuse, sexual assault, corruption, the way powerful people use their influence to bury their crimes, and the issues surrounding the death penalty. It mixes mystery with romance extremely well, and there are even a few scenes with a horror-like atmosphere that genuinely unsettle you. It’s intense, at times graphic, and emotionally exhausting in the best way possible. The story keeps hitting both the characters and the viewer with tragedy after tragedy, with only a few tender moments between the leads offering any relief.
It’s a very bleak and heartbreaking watch, but if you love angst and emotionally painful stories, it delivers beautifully. What makes it work so well is that it handles all of those difficult themes with real care and depth. Even when it gets heavy, it never feels empty or overly dramatic. You just can’t stop watching.
The acting is phenomenal (especially Tseng Jing Hua as Li Jen Yao, and Moon Lee as Chiang Hsiao Tung) the casting feels perfect, the cinematography is beautiful, and the soundtrack is chosen incredibly well. And by the end of part two, when the mystery from the opening finally unravels and every piece falls into place, you’re left with this overwhelming heaviness and deep pity for the characters.
It hurts from beginning to end, and somehow that’s exactly what makes it unforgettable.
In the end, the famous line, "Had I not seen the sun, I could have borne the shade," rings hauntingly true. Had Li Jen Yao never seen the sun in the form of Chiang Hsiao Tung, he might have endured the bleakness of his own miserable life. But once he glimpsed that light, returning to the shadows became impossible, and ultimately, it was that glimpse of the sun that ruined him.
Most of the drama unfolds through extended flashbacks, telling the story of Li Jen Yao’s life, first during high school in part one, then in early adulthood in part two. His life is bleak from the beginning. He is abused by his father, repeatedly let down by his mother, chased by debt collectors, and constantly targeted by bullies at school. There’s very little warmth in his world.
The only real light in his life is Chiang Hsiao Tung, a girl he meets at school. She takes an interest in him and decides they should become friends. She’s everything he isn’t: bright, talented, surrounded by loving family and supportive friends, with a future ahead of her as a ballet dancer. For a while, she becomes the one beautiful thing in his otherwise miserable existence. But once she gets pulled into his world, everything slowly starts falling apart. The love that grows between them feels like it should save Li Jen Yao, but instead it turns painful and destructive, and in the end it leaves both of them broken.
The drama explores a lot of heavy themes: family abuse, sexual assault, corruption, the way powerful people use their influence to bury their crimes, and the issues surrounding the death penalty. It mixes mystery with romance extremely well, and there are even a few scenes with a horror-like atmosphere that genuinely unsettle you. It’s intense, at times graphic, and emotionally exhausting in the best way possible. The story keeps hitting both the characters and the viewer with tragedy after tragedy, with only a few tender moments between the leads offering any relief.
It’s a very bleak and heartbreaking watch, but if you love angst and emotionally painful stories, it delivers beautifully. What makes it work so well is that it handles all of those difficult themes with real care and depth. Even when it gets heavy, it never feels empty or overly dramatic. You just can’t stop watching.
The acting is phenomenal (especially Tseng Jing Hua as Li Jen Yao, and Moon Lee as Chiang Hsiao Tung) the casting feels perfect, the cinematography is beautiful, and the soundtrack is chosen incredibly well. And by the end of part two, when the mystery from the opening finally unravels and every piece falls into place, you’re left with this overwhelming heaviness and deep pity for the characters.
It hurts from beginning to end, and somehow that’s exactly what makes it unforgettable.
In the end, the famous line, "Had I not seen the sun, I could have borne the shade," rings hauntingly true. Had Li Jen Yao never seen the sun in the form of Chiang Hsiao Tung, he might have endured the bleakness of his own miserable life. But once he glimpsed that light, returning to the shadows became impossible, and ultimately, it was that glimpse of the sun that ruined him.
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