Cat's Cradle (2020)

One of the best C-Dramas: excellence all around

A thought provoking and tightly-written story with excellent production quality that could rival the likes of Western Crime shows on Netflix. If you decide to watch just ONE c-drama this year (or ever), make it this one - you won't regret it. This was an EXPERIENCE.

THEMES
While this drama is labelled as a mystery/crime genre, I would also call it a gritty humanistic drama that explores themes such as family trauma, societal pressures, psychology, and the origins and morals of good vs evil. Are we born good or evil? What makes someone evil? The complexities of criminality is explored and what I appreciate is that the drama showcases the 'grey' area of good vs evil - not everything is black and white.

ACTING/CAST
The acting from the entire cast, especially from the kids, exceeded all of my expectations - they BECAME the characters and brought them to LIFE. The chemistry between the kids were perfect. The parents and of course, Dongsheng, were also strong in their roles and contrasted well with the innocence of the kids. In many ways, Dongsheng serves as a parallel to Chaoyang - they are similar in so many ways, and once you start to watch the drama you will see how they start to mirror each other.

PRODUCTION
The soundtrack, cinematography, and production design came together seamlessly, effortlessly bringing the story to life. What I also respect is that the screenwriter challenges the viewers to think deeply about the story and leaves it up to the viewer to decide how they want to interpret certain details, such as the ending. A lot of times we may watch mindless dramas as a way to 'escape'. However, this drama is opposite as it demands your undivided attention and will require you to keep up as not a single scene is wasted. There is meaning behind each scene - symbolism in not just the way the script unfolds but the cinematography and camera shots.

It's rare to come across a drama of such high calibre, not just within c-dramas but Asian dramas in general. Several western media outlets such as Variety have even included The Bad Kids on their list of the best international tv shows of 2020. It is also no surprise that the drama is so popular in China and highly rated on Douban. All in all, this is the kind of drama that stays with you long after you have finished and leaves you with a lot to process. I would also recommend watching AvenueX's analysis of the drama on YouTube to make sure you haven't missed all the easter eggs and hints!

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domino effect

it was well produced, well acted and high quality content but I felt the plot and the process were lacking and draggy, and I really hated the inconsistent ep lengths xD (also the way they didn't sub the texts, I deducted 0.5 for that!)

throughout watching this I heard things like "omg that was unexpected, everyone should pay attention to every detail or you'll miss everything" and well, it wasn't that unexpected and I also didn't pay that much attention to the side dialogs but I missed nothing ;D


it's like there are a few "twists" that can happen
- 1 or more of the mains were a figment of someone's imagination
- the story was a "what if", what if the teacher killed his in laws, what if the kids sent a letter, what if he didn't open the door, what if the sister died
- maybe "Yan Liang or Zhu Chao Yang" are actually the teacher's past self
- one of the kids will end up as a psychopath and kill someone

and so forth. and that's why I dreaded it, but it was actually a reversal, one of them did kill and it had nothing to do with the mind games of the teacher.
it some ways Zhu Chao Yang probably pushed his sister becasue he saw the teacher do it, and so everything was indeed a domino effect but tbh there were many many times I just screamed "they should tell the cops!"

they should've told the cops right away, their intention was never the money they were just too naive to write a "warning letter" to a killer telling him to live the rest of his life without killing.
pau pau should've told everyone about Zhu Chao Yang, she shouldn't have bullied the kid.
they shouldn't have blackmailed, they should've told the truth when the creepy uncle came about....

it's kinda like death note, at a certain point one wonders if they should root for the 1st main becasue they are usually the "hero" (not root for his murders but like after he lost his memories I always wondered if he's supposed to be "good" again ;D) and the kids were fragile and easily breakable.
before pau pau and Yan Liang, Zhu Chao Yang was an outcast, his dad never paid attention becasue he had another family, his mom worked hard to earn money while also hoping for a life of her own, and Zhu Chao Yang thought he could break away and gain their respect if he studied hard but everyone just hurt him more

so like I get the "thought provocativeness" of it but I do think they had too many filler scenes, yes I don't pay attention when I get bored, but attention is earned not given. if something is done well enough to grab my attention then they get the right to be called a 10 storywise ;D

I never rewatch stuff so ;)

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Wow. Just Wow

Wow. This drama series is brilliant. Just wow. Amazing. This is not your typical c-drama with romance or historical wu xia costume drama. This is psychological thriller. It's dark and gripping and keeps you on your toes while watching. The episodes are only 12 but I wished it were a bit longer. There are still a couple of questions that I have that haven't been answered but I thought it ended quite well. Maybe I have to read the novel to find those questions.

But this drama is just great. A must watch if you like the thriller and mystery genre. What blew me away was also the acting of the main leads, particularly Qin Hao. He can play the character really well I thought. My kudos goes to the kid actors that played Zhu Chao Yang and Yue Pu. For a very young actors, they can display the emotion of the characters really well. I thought they deserved special recognition. The other kid that played Yan Liang is good also, but I thought the other two kids are better. But they all played their character well.

Music is not good. not memorable or ones that make you click shazam because you want to know the title and add them to your library, but I thought it adds to the suspense well.

This is one of the best that I've watched. It deserves a rewatch just to see the brilliant acting of the actors.

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Extremely well-made drama but can be a bit confusing

I had a very high expectation of this drama, considering its huge popularity and rave reviews in China praising its dark and engaging storyline. After finishing the whole episodes, here are some of my thoughts:

STORYLINE
This drama is adapted from a suspense novel and according to some reviews that I read, the novel itself is much much darker and more "evil" than the drama version. Therefore the storyline in the drama version has to be modified in order to pass the censorship. Even the characters personality are modified in the drama version to make them more "likeable". I guess this is the reason why some of the plot can be a bit confusing and raised questions in regard to the plot logic.
The plot holes could be explained if the audience read and understand what the original novel's story plat is supposed to be. The drama tried its very best to convey the original story while at the same time passing the censorship, there are a lot of hidden details which if you pay attention to it may actually tell you what the original intention is. However, to the people who never read the original novel this can be pretty confusing.

The pace of the story is quite tight compared to the usual draggy plot of many Chinese dramas and a lot of stories are told within 12 episodes. I really appreciate it since I am used to relatively fast paced story and few episodes of Korean and Japanese drama. However, I still found that the pace was a bit slow to the point I stopped watching it after ep 8 and didn't continue until 2 weeks later. I can't help but compare it to my fave Korean suspense drama Signal, which I binge watched all 16 episodes in one go and was kept at the edge of my seat all the times.

ACTING
No need to say that the acting is TOP NOTCH. This is the aspect that makes me keep watching this drama. Qin Hao is excellent as the gentle but cold-blooded murderer, but my fave is the Rong Zi Shan who played Zhu Chao Yang. Wow, his acting really blew me away. Considering he is only 13 yo, it is already very impressive and he surely will have an excellent acting future ahead. Not only the main cast, acting skills of all the supporting roles are also top notch. I can't find any of the supporting roles whose acting is not convincing enough to make me believe that their character is real.

MUSIC
The music in this drama is excellent! Especially the opening music, it is dark and creepy and set the tones of the drama, I always get goosebumps when listening to it. All the accompanying music are also well made and enhances the atmosphere of the story.

Despite of its shortcomings, this is an extremely well-made drama, it has set many new standard for the drama making in China, including its script-writing, directing and overall quality of the acting. Chinese drama industry is plagued with poor quality of script-writing and draggy plot which only put emphasis on looking good on the surface, but totally ignores the importance of the logic and quality of story. This drama has garnered so much attention and hopefully it will set the standards for the future drama to follow.

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My top priority was rom-com Drama but this took me to the hook. The Best Drama with dark story. It was a way better than the other Cdramas.
This drama took me from the first episode and the first scene which was so hilarious. But later I found that in each and every episode they start with some hilarious scene and end with the turning point. And in my opinion it is the thing which keeps audience to stick with it.

Story-The story is about the three kids who unintentionally get filmed the crime scene and get involved in it. And later it get more complicated and they also got their family involved in it.

I would like to appreciate the acting of all the characters specially the kids. They were beyond our expectations. I don't know why but I'm so touched with the that I literally cried in the last episode.
I'm telling you if you want to watch something different from rom-com in Chinese Drama then you may recommend this.
In the last I want to add one thing that "They were not bad kid's."
They started this light on series and this the first Drama of it that I've watched and I'm eager to watch more in it.

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Worth Watching Drama

Phenomenal. Every episode gave me chills. this is always the sort of dark realism thriller i crave and ones that only chinese or japanese dramas can give me. my mistake was not watching this sooner. it's been on my ptw for ages and now that i've finished i can say it absolutely deserves the praise it receives.

Although i'm still dissecting the ending, i'm still in shock (and awe) about the journey getting here. the use of complex characters blurring the line between "good" and "bad" is memorable in of itself. i don't want to say he was my "favorite" character, but dong sheng was the most interesting for me. playing the role of the mirror anti-villain, there were times when i found myself sympathizing with him, much to my own surprise. even better was Chaoyang. although, i'll leave that up to everyone else to make their own interpretations about him. the interlacing of different families was done fantastically and the stakes only grew and grew as the episodes progressed. whenever it was playing my eyes wouldn't be able to look away. it's THAT incredible.

my rating is bridged between a 9.5 or a 10. let it all sink in more first

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This drama deserves its fame!

I have been keeping this drama until the end of the year as crime/mystery dramas are not my favorite genre. I also heard this drama is quite dark, which discourages me from watching.
But since I heard so many good things about it, I just had to give it a go now that the year has ended. After going through the 12 episodes, I understand why it has been crowned the year's best Chinese drama.

1. "Sleepness Night": 5/5★★★★★
I did not binge this drama though I totally could have done it. It has probably the best storytelling I have seen in any dramas so far. In contrast to traditional mystery stories, the show reveals the main villain, the dark but tragic Zhang Dong Shen, in the first 10 min of the show with a bang. Slowly after that, it introduces to the remaining protagonists, the three kids, Zhu Chao Yang, Yan Liang, and PuPu. The four of them get entangled when the three accidentally recorded Zhang Don Shen performs a murder in action. The drama then tells how this event snowballs into a gigantic non-stoppable monster that alters the fate of all of the involved. Each episode ends at a key event of the story that is perfectly timed. On top, it is accompanied by a dark BGM that sometimes even sounds like acoustics rather than music. There are no big "reveal moments" but rather a slow but steady description of each character's actions that force you to glue your eyes to the screen, desperately wanting to know what the characters will do next.

2. "Emotional Rollercoaster": 5/5 ★★★★★
What this drama perfected is the casting of the roles. The crew auditioned thousands of kids across the country until they found our leads. All of the leads, even our main villain, both light and have dark elements in their personalities, which the actors brought to light perfectly. Nothing is what it seems. The details and clues that the makers hide in the show wanted to give us a much bleak and gloomy story, which was also the original novel's intention. I will be spoiling if I tell more, but Zhu Chao Yang, the three kids' brain, is one of the most interesting roles I have seen in this year's drama. I saw myself, not sure if I wanted to support him or not. When I read more about this series and the original work, I finally understand that this kid, unlike the surface, has a darker side than anyone in this show. There is also Pupu, who I loved as a character. This kid has a pure heart and even showed mercy for our villain. But even if this was the case, you will notice how all the snowball events started with Pupu. Finally, there is Zhang Dong Shen, for whom you develop a strong empathy towards the end. Rather than putting him as an emotionless psychopath, he is a victim of societal and familial pressure. Deep in his heart, he longed for a family and love. One of my top three villains this year.

3. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling." 5/5 ★★★★★
The story is told in a natural flow, leaving out all the unnecessary fillers. What I love the most is that a lot of characters' inner motivation and emotions are exhibited without them uttering any words. Many "still" scenes give the viewer a big room for own interpretation. That reminds me of a lot of Hayao Miyazaki's form of storytelling. This open storytelling does not dictate to the viewer how the director wants the viewer to see and think, but it is up to the viewer to form their own opinion and ideas of the characters. And isn't this what real life is all about? Nothing is absolute, and everything is subjective through our own lenses.

4. "Loveable supporting Roles.": 5/5 ★★★★★
This show has chosen a tremendous supporting cast. Most of them are played by respected veterans from the industry who present deep emotions by a small look, a tear, or a simple gesture. My favorite supporting characters are Zhu Chao Yang's mother, acted by Liu Lin, and his dad, starred by Zhang Song Wen. Hats down to their acting.

5. "Proper Pacing.": 5/5 ★★★★★
The pacing of this drama is perfect. With only 12 episodes, it tells a complex and dramatic story, emphasizing the right occasion, slows down and speeds up adequately, and gives all leading and supporting characters their moments to shine without making them feel redundant in any moment.

6. "Technicalities": 5/5 ★★★★★
The whole show primarily provides a feeling of a movie. This is achieved using long and wide shots and not beautifying the characters. The dirt and wrinkles are seen clearly, which gives a perception of realism. The color and tons of each scene are chosen by professionals. Each shot's camera angle is carefully selected so that it does need to be altered many times that otherwise would disturb the scene. Thus, you can see the results of perfect play between light and shadow. The director is a musician who composed some of the original BGM of this show. You do not notice the BGM; they blend in with the scenes and elevate the audience's emotions.

7. "Solid Finale": 5/5 ★★★★★
The drama has a close ending on the surface, with each character having his/her proper closure. But in reality, it has an open finish. Like many viewers, I immediately started to watch and read all kinds of interpretations of the ending. They give another layer of depth to the show - I cannot help but praise the makers. Without spoiling, I would just say that anyone will find an ending that suits his/her interpretation: those who like tragic ending will get their tears and sorrow; those who believe in fairytales will get their "happy ever after."

All in all, I am proud that today's Chinese drama world can produce a masterpiece with this kind of quality. It is not a story for the fainted hearts. But to everyone else, I would recommend it without any hesitancy. Your time is well spent!

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Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:

After having watched many dramas and also written several reviews. I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
2. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster etc.). The degree on how much I care about the fate of the main leads.
3. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think that this looks fake.
4. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have the proper motivation behind their actions.
5. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
6. "Technicalities": professional camera works and shots, fight scenes, color grading, lighting, editing, music, sets, costumes, use of CGI etc. I try to grade this in relation to the drama budget, so a low-budget drama can equally get a high score when used at the right place
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that start to lose their grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.

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The bad kids!!

3 kids from not so well-off families, accidentally get involved in a murder case,which gets accidentally filmed in their video camera while on a excavation.How their lives take a turn and the car and mouse games in their lives form the crux of the story.
I felt that the drama was a bit draggy and also some scenes were too lengthy.The whole plot was a bit underdeveloped in my honest opinion and the story lacked depth.
Honestly,the scenes between the teacher and his wife were the same and repetitive.
The story focused much more on Chaoyang's sister's death rather than the original incident.
The 3 kids could have simply reported to the cops instead of going through so much trouble.
Many incidents, scenes, situationsand the behaviours of the roles didn't make any sense for me.
Or maybe it's not my cup of tea,or my lack of understanding,but somehow this drama did not impress me.

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Great actors and storyline!

"The Bad Kids" (2020) delves into the intricate web of hidden secrets and complex relationships among a group of students. The storyline centres around a mysterious incident that intertwines their lives together, each grappling with personal secrets and struggles.

I was initially drawn to this drama by its captivating trailer and the idea of contrasting fairy tale narratives vs. harsh realities. I had no specific expectations when I decided to watch this drama - unaware of what it may encapsulate… Typically, I don't gravitate towards shows featuring younger actors, but this group of actors delivered exceptional performances, portraying raw emotions and adding depth and authenticity to their roles. The genuine chemistry between the characters made their relationships compelling and engaging to watch.

The storyline was particularly enjoyable; while some might find it predictable, I personally found it well written and unpredictable. Just when I thought I had a handle on the plot, it took unexpected turns!! Nonetheless, the series isn't perfect. I particularly felt that the pacing was uneven at times, especially in the last two episodes, where events seemed rushed compared to the rest of the series, with certain character arcs receiving more attention than others.

Overall, it’s a good drama, and I recommend those who enjoy psychological dramas with a focus on character development and moral complexity to give it a watch! Just a little warning… there may be a rollercoaster ride of emotions and revelations (cause I did end up a little emotional).

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Do you want to believe in the Descarte's fairy tale?

MASTER PIECE dramas have it all: storyline, acting, cinematography, OST and most importantly, direction that really bind these elements together to create a cohesive and astounding drama/suspense thriller.

This is one such serial that has it all and that will keep you on your toes as you will definitely want to see how it unfolds and to understand how the various pieces and clues join together.

However, I read most of the reviews on MDL before starting to watch this drama. Hence, my expectations were very high and the first few episodes more than fulfilled these and in fact, surpassed them. I was totally immersed in the suspense and could hardly allow myself to miss a single minute.

However, the ending killed it for me. It felt like the director tried to compromise with viewers' feelings and was afraid of an alternative, more dramatic but logical ending. Also, looking at the promo poster of the serial, Pupu is really lost in the background, which is in stark contrast with her character and the pivotal role she plays. For these reasons, I am giving this serial 9 instead of 9.5.

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Conflicted Feelings

Before reading other people's reviews and speculative blog posts, I thought this drama was a very high-quality production of an engaging story with an oddly weak ending. After finding out about all the clues I missed (hint: always watch the credits), I can certainly appreciate the brilliance of the storytelling but have some quibbles with how it was done. I also don't particularly like the "secret twist" because it is boring to me. That's just personal preference, of course.

Spoiler-free complaint: I think there are better ways to mislead your viewers by mixing multiple characters' perspectives than how this drama did it. To be honest, finding out that it was based on a book made me think the book was probably better because text is a more suitable medium for that sort of thing. But of course I haven't read it, so I don't know if it's actually better.

Spoilers below:

I can easily believe that the ending was just Zhu Chaoyang's wishful thinking. However, in that case they might as well have thrown in a scene showing Pupu alive, if it was all fake anyway. Instead we got many scenes featuring Yan Liang that I doubt Zhu Chaoyang would imagine in such detail. At some point, in their quest to make the mystery difficult for viewers to figure out, the creators of this drama unfortunately went overboard and starting including contradictory evidence instead of mere red herrings.

I still think it's a fascinating story exploring many interesting themes. The acting is phenomenal, I love the animated intro, and the soundtrack is very unique. But before I understood the complexity of it, I thought the ending was weird and underwhelming, whereas afterwards I just felt disappointed because "nerdy loner kid who seems so nice and polite on the surface is actually evil" is such an overdone trope. If I had known I was supposed to be watching out for hidden clues to a secret twist, I would have figured it out immediately because that is ALWAYS it.

A certain other drama recently surprised me by pulling a "guy who seems suspicious is actually just a nerdy loner kid" instead. XD

In conclusion, I have very mixed feelings about The Bad Kids. Aesthetically, it's so well-made that I wish I could like it more.

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I promise you won't think of dropping it.

First of all, I was shocked that this was adapted from the novel based on true story. The more 'wow' is that they execute it so well hence as the audience start watching they will curious how it will end up all the way. The storyline is interesting where all the conflicts really match up with strong plots. BUT, I just don't understand ... why ZCY really need to talk about the copied file with YL at that time and I don't think it's important since he actually didn't copy it, huh? why? It felt like only adding some reason to extend the story.

All done very well for the pace, at least from eps 1 to 11. I think in eps 12 they tried to end up really in a rush. I know the story is actually has already told completely, but still how they closing everything is too in hurry.

The acting of the main casts make me speechless, I'm feeling that Rong Zi Shan gonna be the next generation of Wu Lei. No wonder this series won the awards and so the actors.

I'm not type of watcher rewatching any, but I gave a quite high rewatchable value since I think this really has the high potential for the other watchers to rewatch, it's kinda a masterpiece.

Btw, the sentence on headline only valid if you are this genre lover. If you still dropped it anw, maybe it's personal preference issue, lol. As I watched this one, the word 'to drop' never came into my mind.

P.S: I have a question about ZDS' wife, I don't really understand the story around her death, can anyone please tell me? TIA!

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