Being a Hero (2022)

Gripping and intense

This drama really dished out the gritty police world as they try to wipe out drug trafficking in Yunhe (and subsequently to other parts of the country).

Beautiful cinematography that leaves everything to be desired, makes it seem like one long movie spanning 32 episodes. So well-done as it really adds to the mystique of the story and sublime plots.

I love the blend of young blood and veterans in the acting cast, I came for Wang Yibo and stayed for everyone. I had already seen Chen Xiao in A Dream of Splendor so I know he has the acting chops.

The trio of Chen Yu, An Ran and Yang Yi are bold, fearless and eager to perform their duties. Wang Yibo especially is always passionate in everything he takes on, he was already excellent in Chen Qing Ling and he was also excellent in this drama. His transformation from an eager beaver police officer to a passionate person trying to uphold law and order is wonderful to watch.

I especially love all the bits of Yibo’s screen time with Chen Xiao, the push and pull in their relationship is interesting.

The world can be ugly out there especially in Yunhe but you can trust the police force to try their utmost best.

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Crazy police drama with ups and downs

SUPER LONG DETAILED SPOILER FILLED REVIEW

I’ve been waiting for this show since they started filming in 2020 so I started the show with high expectations which ended up not being met now that I got to finish it. I actually watched the last 7 eps through Youku’s express VIP but waited until the series finale to submit a review. Have to also note this is my first time watching a cop drama in general so I wouldn’t have watched this show if it weren’t for Wang Yibo.

Pros:
I like the show’s main cast and how they all have a part to play in the overarching plot about Yunhe being riddled with drugs that are ruining people’s lives. Pretty much everyone in the cast is someone whose life has been changed drastically by drugs so having a personal stake helped me want to root for the police’s goal to stop all drug related crimes. Of course, some character’s individual plots get alot more screen time like Captain Liu stuck between his duty as a policeman and his obligation to protect his nephew who has become a major drug dealer. But I would say Liu and his nephew were vital in blurring the moralities of the police as they are still human after all. I was actually surprised to find out the show didn’t have so many super black and white characterizations, but of course the good stay good and the bad all get punished in the end.

Everyone’s roles are pretty balanced in my opinion, as in no one is just written to be filler and do nothing. Even Chen Yu’s girlfriend ends up playing a larger role in the second half of the drama. The show’s pacing is also pretty fast as even the first 10 eps dump alot of major/minor character and plot info on you with no time to breathe so it might be very confusing at first, but once all the small fry are eliminated and the main villains are introduced it becomes alot easier to follow the story. I also believe the fast pacing has to do with Chenyu’s ambitiousness to chase after and connect every clue he finds about the drug rings–much to the chagrin of his superiors who have to yell at him in almost every episode for going too far. I’m just glad the show didn’t devolve into “young smart cop solves everything while older superiors sit back and do nothing.”

The supporting cast is great, especially the senior officers of the narcotics team who have all been through some shit in their careers. Other good things about the drama would be the consistent tone and rugged atmosphere and the setting being in two different countries. There are alot of suspenseful moments and big flashy stunts that every cop show is expected to have. I wasn’t expecting some brutal scenes though meant to shock the viewers so squeamish people might have a hard time watching this. Everyone’s acting was really good too. I didn't feel like any of the main leads were overpowering one another. The reveal of the true villain of the series was fine for me as I’m not the best at predicting plot twists. However for a Cdrama about police there are only so many suspects to choose from.

Cons:

Ok so despite all the good stuff I just said what really sticks to me the most from this show are what I would consider to be its major flaws. I really wanted to like this show as it’s Wang Yibo’s first serious role so the expectations were higher than average, but there’s just too many writing issues that impacted my viewing experience.

First gripe about this show is Chen Yu’s characterization and development (because I care about him the most). I get that he is young and impulsive and eager to find the truth out of duty and personal reasons, but he’s a bit too reckless for most of the show. He isn’t even a fresh graduate either but he just keeps willingly getting himself into dangerous situations that could cost him his job, but I think his talent and plot armor is the reason why he gets to keep getting away with it. I just feel like that impulsive side of him didn’t really match with the early setup of him kinda haunted by an operation that failed 3 years ago because of his mistake that led to his superiors getting lifelong injuries. I wanna root for this dude but he’s pretty crazy. I’m not kidding you Chen Yu does alot of investigative stuff on his own without permission, even breaking and entering a suspect’s office which leads to him being suspended. But even while suspended he’s still meddling with police operations and STILL disobeys orders and so he gets rewarded by being taken off suspension. There are just so many episodes of Chen Yu doing something reckless then getting told off then repeat until episode 25. I think his growth moment is supposed to be requesting Director Lin to let him do a dangerous undercover mission to infiltrate the bad guys near the end? Beats me.

Second flaw is that the drama does alot more telling than showing, and by that I mean we are told the two male leads Chen Yu and Wu Zhen Feng are supposed to be close friends but they don’t really do a good job at showing it and convincing me. I know their relationship or bromance isn't meant to be the main focus of the story about busting drugs but sadly it is a big part of Chen Yu’s personal motivation to eliminate all drugs as he feels like WZF is his responsibility and chases after him for a good chunk of the show because of that . I don’t feel as emotionally connected to their bond from only being told they were childhood neighbors who only reunited as adults after WZF’s dad’s death 3 years prior to the show. By that time their relationship was already getting rocky due to differences in opinion. We mostly only get Chen Yu’s pov of their relationship so for 25 episodes their estranged friendship feels one-sided with Chen Yu doing all the chasing and pleading with WZF to cooperate with him and the police to clear his dad’s name and catch drug dealers but WZF is just constantly being stubborn and rejecting his help because he believes his underhanded methods are faster. It took a failed operation and scolding from an accomplice for WZF to actually start changing as a person, but he is mostly in undercover drug dealer mode after that from CY's pov. This back and forth goes on for a long time it made me question Chen Yu’s dedication to this dude.

The big plot twist however is that WZF has been working with the police deputy chief since the early episodes but it just feels weird that WZF’s big moment of clearing his dad’s name (which Chen Yu has been wanting to help with since 3 years ago) happens without Chen Yu. It is kinda sad to see WZF spill everything he knows about drug dealers to ChenYu’s bosses rather than the protagonist who has been begging for his trust for many episodes. It gets even crazier when WZF officially becomes an undercover informant for the police but CY is not meant to be trusted with this information which leads to an incident that could have been avoided if they just told him. At the point where CY gets suspended he is starting to understandably feel like he has been used by WZF after all the times he tried to reach out, but he eventually realizes that WZF has been undercover since a few episodes back and I think that is supposed to be the “I forgive him” moment. To me being an official informant in the second half didn’t really excuse how poorly he treated Chen Yu at the beginning but oh well. Ok but after that realization, in episode 26 the two just somehow jump straight into properly coordinating as policeman and undercover spy for the next big operation and they really play it up in front of the drug dealers with WZF calling CY “xiongdi” repeatedly. Some time later when the coast is clear they are suddenly bickering like old friends and sharing snacks in a car when their previous onscreen interaction didn't end well. The mood whiplash felt so jarring because I personally feel like they really needed to have a more climactic confrontation scene that would finally put them on the same page as that would make for a better transition to their cooperation for the port raid. TL;DR I feel like 75% of the drama shows them chasing, arguing, and mistrusting one another, 3% repairing their old friendship in a super subtle way and then 22% cooperating for the final raids like brothers in arms.

It is because of the weird pacing of those two’s friendship I didn’t really feel much when WZF is bleeding to death on Chen Yu’s back in the last minutes of the finale. And if you’ve read other reviews I HATE THIS ENDING SO MUCH IT PRACTICALLY RUINED THE SHOW FOR ME. I watched the finale a week before it officially ended with Youku’s fast pass only to find out that there was a special bonus epilogue. But that didn’t do anything to answer questions except prove that WZF managed to survive. But it confuses me to no end that the “official” ending to this show that had good pacing is a cliffhanger of WZF bleeding out and we are only TOLD the fates of every criminal. The criminals the show spent sooo long to capture only get a fast explanation of their sentencing. The ending is just so abrupt I expected with all that buildup since the beginning and the personal stakes on why they need to get rid of all drugs in Yunhe we would get to see proper aftermath of the biggest drug raiding operation that’s been done, but nah we get nothing. Just a small nitpick but I also wanted to see Chen Yu and Yang Ling reunite because they literally have two moments in the final eps where Chen Yu promises her a “happy and normal life” after he finishes his mission. Would have been nice to see the main casts’ efforts to eliminate drugs pay off after suffering so much but I guess that wasn’t the plan for this drama.

If you’ve read this far I appreciate the time you took for my review. I liked this drama for the not so black and white direction it took on the war against drugs in modern day society, interesting characters and how they all contributed to the overarching plot that never slowed down but the lack of emotional impact from the two main leads and the abrupt ending made this a 7/10 for me. Drugs are bad.

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