Burning Ice (2017)

This is the best Asian thriller I have watched in ages. The story starts relatively simply. An intern to a law firm tries to save his loved one and gets involved with the police and underground. How a simple action gradually snowballs into many events and the whole thing spiral out of control is a treat to watch. The best thing about this drama is that it isn’t just 12 episodes long so things happen very fast . The characters are also immensely well etched . At least the fur ,aim characters keep moving between the black and white so that the distinction between right and wrong, as in real life, gets blurred.
The other two things I loved about the drama are the music and the location. While the music really set s you in the mood, the drama is set in Harbin, a Chinese city that looks like Moscow. The location is a stroke of genius and really adds to the atmospheric effect.
Highly recommended if you are in the mood for a noir

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Solid story, riveting throughout

I got to know about this series as I was looking at some of the Light On Series installments. Burning Ice has a sequel in Light On Series: The Long Night though Burning Ice isn't one of the Light On Series installments.

It's not often that we get a crime thriller with a solid story, excellent storytelling and nuanced characterization while also being thought-provoking. The gradual moral degeneration of Guo Yu, a lawyer who unwittingly gets embroiled in criminal activities is one of the best elements in this series. He can be naive, he can be devoted in love, he can be cowardly, he can be callous. Dai Xu brings the character to life, making Guo Yu both a person we can empathize with and a villain we condemn.

The suspense regarding the layers of truth beneath the serial killer dubbed Snowman is also maintained very well. We get to learn about the identity of Snowman early on, but even as we know more, the mystery deepens. Everything comes together very well eventually, and there isn't an implausible twist or unconvincing criminal motivation to mar the story.

In comparison to the sequel (a different story except for the character Yan Liang, the policeman), perhaps Burning Ice has a less exciting story. But it more than makes up for it with very compelling and interesting characters (who suit the story). My opinion is that The Long Night has an even more compelling plot, but most of the characters are not developed with the sort of nuance that we see in Burning Ice.

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