I have to say, even with the tragic and full of scandals ending that led to the cancelation of the finale, it’s still my favorite survival show I have ever seen.

⇢ Cast aka the contestants and mentors
The most unique and diverse cast of the trainees I have ever seen. I am not going to lie, I usually struggle quite a lot to remember the contestants - mostly I just give up trying and just pay close attention to two or three that I like. Here, there were so many unique characters, I was happy to do my research, make some notes and try my best to use the few brain cells I have to remember as many of them as possible.

I also believe that the production team did a good job promoting some pairing and groups of friends that had great chemistry with each other. The focus was (almost) never on the rivalry, but rather cooperation and friendship, which was simply delightful to watch.

This show also has the sunshine, the only true pure boy - Lian Huaiwei. It would NOT be an overstatement if I said I was completely obsessed with this guy. R.I.P all my friends who had to deal with my spam in chats as I was watching the episodes. Half of the messages were variations of “OMG I JUST LOVE HUAIWEI SO MUCH”.

As for mentors - almost pure perfection. I am slightly salty about Lisa being a dance mentor when she could not be present on set. This affected the dance training, and at times other trainees had to do the job the dance mentor should be doing. I also think she was sometimes not quite careful about her remarks which at times quite hurt the trainees as a result. I still enjoyed her a lot and her interactions with some trainees were fun to watch, but overall, she was the least mentor-like in my eyes.

On the other hand I want Chris Lee in my life. She was strict, but also patient. She had realistic expectations towards trainees, and knew how far she can push them to not cross the line. Not to mention, her socially awkward attitude was just entertaining.

Both Will Pan and Li Rong Hao took the mentoring seriously - they were both teaching, but also supporting the contestants. The interactions were funny, inspiring and at times heartwarming.

⇢ Music aka the the performances
I have to say, I was not crazy about a good 50% of the stages, and it’s not on the trainees - the songs/arrangements were just boring. That said, it also has so many amazing bops that I listen to daily - from ballads that make me into a crying mess every single time I watch them, to hype pop tracks that make my heart race.

I appreciated how the trainees had some creative freedom, being able to tweak the stages and performances to add various elements here and there. We were also able to see some self written and produced songs, which is always an additional plus in shows like that.

⇢ Story aka the production
I’m just going to completely ignore the finale issues, because before that I was completely in love with the production of the show.

First of all, “more means more” aka 2 episodes per week was a great idea. The issue with these shows is, they want to showcase 100 trainees in one episode that lasts around 2 and half hours - it’s simply impossible. We get to see at best 10 seconds of some audition stages, not everyone gets a chance to be shown during the practice time, and at the end, we end up with 10-20 trainees we remember, and 80-90 guys whose names we don’t even know. Since YWY S3 gave us 2 episodes per week, each around 3 hours long, we got an actual chance to find out who the trainees are.

Another thing I truly loved was the fact I could feel iQiyi cares about international fans. Providing English subtitles is a bare minimum, but they went beyond that. We always got the indication who was speaking at any given moment (even when it was just an offhand comment made in a crowd). Most of the ranking after stages was translated, so we knew who actually got how many points (comparing it to season one, where the lists were in Chinese, and I was able to figure out the results only by seeing the reactions of the trainees).

The gold editing. Truly, the editing team needs a rise. The fitting sound effects, memes, and other visual effects added made the show so much more enjoyable. They just knew how to turn the entertainment value of the show to maximum.

Overall, it’s an mazing journey with a painful ending. Do the trainees deserve more? Yes. Was it completely iQiyi's fault and should they be canceled for what happened? No. It’s easy to criticize the end result, but if we are honest with ourselves, they could not really make any other choices. The only thing I was truly upset about and it’s truly 100% on iQiyi was the lack of closure. At first they did give updates about the current situation around the finale, but after the cancellation, there was no definite answer. I would love for them to just be honest and say: sadly we will not debut the team. Without a closer it’s harder to move on. And believe me, it was hard to move on. I rewatched the show twice.

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Too much drama, not enough variety.

In my eyes, season three repeats the same mistakes season two made. Everything felt scripted, even the jokes and fun interactions between the cast.

While in season two the plot presented at least seemed interesting, and separate cases were for sure fun to follow, here... I couldn't care less. The crimes were not exciting, the games were not entertaining. I was left with close to nothing.

I'm not gonna lie, there were moments when I could not stop laughing, but they were few and far between. More often than not I wished the episode would just end and I wanted to skip some scenes.

One thing that truly took me aback was the amount of violence in this season. Some in the form of jokes and some part of the plot. I get it, it's a crime driven show, but it does not mean we need to witness someone getting killed (mostly shot) outside of the investigation, aka the dead bodies that were the source of cases. Not to mention the recurring "slapping" joke. It was funny the first time, but after that, it was too much.

I still love the cast, some of their interactions were amazing, but the script was weak and the overall flow of the show depended too heavily on it. The best and most memorable moments for me would be the traveling between houses in the last episode. It felt organic, natural, funny and not painfully rehearsed and scripted.

Since there will be no season 4, I am truly confused why they included the last scene in episode 8. They wrapped it all up quite well, just to open a new door that will never be closed.

Unless someone is a big fan of the cast, I wouldn't really recommend watching it.

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“The TV station needs to use sweet moments between Nubsib and Aey to promote the series, so as to gain viewership.” aka the tale that exposes how even the people behind the BL industry know the quality of the content they create is not good enough to gain the viewers, so they can only rely on cheap tricks attracting delusional fans.

Lovely Writer had a great beginning and the end, with a rather mediocre middle part. Exploring the romantic relationship between Gene and Nubsib in the context of the BL industry was interesting, but the moment the focus moved from that to a childhood connection, it lost the appealing aspect that made me invested in the story.

Gene was also quite a frustrating character. One would think by episode 11 we would witness some character development, him standing up for himself, not being so easily swayed and manipulated. Sadly, that is exactly who he was till the end of the show.

Nubsib was rather one dimensional. Everything about him revolved around Gene. All his goals and motivations were related to Gene. Each decision he made was influenced by what he thought would get him closer to Gene. Sure, their scenes together were extremely cute, they were an adorable couple, but I always wish to see the characters not only as a part of a relationship, but also as their own individuals.

Many character developments happened in the last episode, and I was questioning where most of it came from? We had a 4 month time jump, so I guess all the self-reflection happened off-screen.

I have to say, after I picked this drama again, I started to appreciate the fakeness of Aey more. His “I’m fine, I’m not sad about Gene and Nubsib” live was truly iconic. Him trying to manipulate the situation left and right was simply entertaining to watch. He was the definition of a professional victim.

One thing I for sure appreciated was how the comments fans were making in the show truly reflected the nonsense some fans are saying in real life, for example “How can prime minister allow this” - I’m sorry, but what does prime minister has to do with 2 young gay dudes dating?

It’s nice to see a BL drama drag the problematic aspects of BL industry, even if the topic was addressed only at the beginning and the end of the show. Discrimination happening during the production, the lack of personal freedom for actors, the overbearing and intrusive delusional fans and many other issues that go even beyond the industry itself.

That said, some things missed the mark for me. Lines like “I might look gay, but I’m straight” - I get the good intentions, pointing out that liking feminine stuff does not make one gay, but framed in such a manner it suggest there is in fact something like “looking gay”.

The thing that bothered me the most was the introduction of the past/kids story. It was borderline inappropriate. While just the scenes did not really cross the line, how they were framed was a problem. Adding music typically associated with romantic scenes, Gene saying they will reignite their past affection (if they were not romantically involved, there would be nothing to reignite) and how salty he was simply because a child from his past did not show up to say goodbye. How Nubsib kept saying he was already in love with Gene back then. All that context made it borderline wrong. Gene was a teenager, Nubsib was a child - it did make me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Acting wise, Up delivered what he was asked to deliver and what the audience might want to see. I loved him in the role of Gene, even if at times I felt frustrated with the character. Kao… looked nice? For sure he can sell the confident flirty look, but sadly, I was not convinced by more emotional scenes. Overall, the whole cast did well. My favorite ones were definitely Up and Zorzo.

Overall, Lovely Writer has some amazing elements that were truly refreshing to see in BL. It falls back into some stereotypes and cliché bits, but at the end of the day, it was quite an enjoyable watch.

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Saying I did not have a good time watching this show would be a lie. It's also important to point out that my enjoyment did not come from amazing writing and excellent directing. The show is a mess, but that's why I liked it so much.

It's not the best opening for a series of dramas. Plot wise, we are just left with no answers and more questions than we can handle. As I was watching, I was waiting for the info and the lore, the whole background for the characters to be slowly explained. I wanted to understand the world presented, so when I decide to watch the next installments, I would have a grasp on the background and the relationships/connection between the characters and could fully focus on the plot. Nah... ain't gonna happen. There has been just too much info introduced, but not explored.

I definitely enjoyed some characters. Main lead, Wu Xie, had his dumb moments (quite a lot... probably more than the smart ones), but was still fun and easy to root for. Zhang Qi Ling is the biggest question mark of the show. We know nothing about him. He obviously, for some strange reason, cares for the ML, but it's never explained. I love his overdramatic emo ass and the fun fighting scenes.

Some characters annoyed me more than ever. Wang Pang Zi? Needs to chill. He was too unreasonable and awful with any type of social interactions. The more I saw him, the more I could not stand him.

The biggest problem (which by the end of the day became the reason I enjoyed the watch so much) was the lack of logic behind characters actions. I was just sitting in front of my laptop and asking myself: but why?, every time someone made some dumb or unrealistic decision.

The production value was... questionable at best, but docent in some scenes. Scenes heavy on CGI could make people cry though. Feel warned.

I think this is the case of a show that is bad and confusing, but that's what makes it an enjoyable ride. I truly loved the watch and it was simply a lot of fun. Since there was no point in figuring out what is happening and why characters do what they do, I could just focus on whatever mess was happening on screen and laugh about it. There is just something weirdly endearing about The Lost Tomb.

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The good parts were truly good, but the bad parts were so awful I was annoyed more often than not.

Both the premise of the corruption and the way good guys dealt with it had a nice and refreshing twist to it, but how some extremely cliche and sometimes senseless plot points were introduced ruined the experience for me. Does it matter how good of an idea you have if you surround it with bullshit?

By episode 9 I suspected where the drama was going, but some scenes did not make any sense with my prediction. It would make the characters look too dumb, so I dropped that idea. Guess what... it did happen at the end. By episode 13 I figured out the biggest plot twist and it just got me angry, because it made no sense. And I'm not some genius for figuring it out. The writing was just predictable.

As for the characters, some were great, some were bad, some barely existed. I definitely enjoyed the detectives’ team, and the investigation aspect was my favorite part of the show. Jin Kyung and Ho Gyu stole my heart and became my favorites. Jo Tae Shik was your typical hero cop, and if it was not for Lee Min Ki's acting, I would not pay that much attention to him.

The biggest let down? Kim Seo Hui. She just never learned from any of her mistakes, jeopardizing the investigation too many times to count. For the majority of the show she had nothing to do. I am quite honestly convinced this drama could have been more or less the same even if we write her off completely. If you ask me, she should be relegated to supporting character and her image should have never been used in posters.

The big bad wolf was boring and obvious, but then it's not like they tried to hide it. I did enjoy Dong Gu quite a lot though. His desperation was interesting to watch and I wished we had seen more of him on the screen. Other shady characters were... there doing shady things? I don't know. I hated how there were excuses and explanations made for some bad characters, but not others, when they were all equal trash.

Overall, this could have been so good. There were some episodes I actually enjoyed a lot. The dynamics between detectives was gold, the rivalry between Dong Gu and Young Min was exciting, but then they ruined it all with some really cheap and lazy writing and directing choices that I just couldn't ignore.

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I think I’m too old for a nonsense story like that.

The idea of this adult guy going back to school to take revenge on his old friend is quite unrealistic, to say the least. Maybe if I was able to turn off my brain as I was watching, I would enjoy it more. And if the characters were any better.

Kang Bok Soo - the underdog hero with amazing brains (but not really), and some unrealistically good investigation skills. Was Seung Ho cute? Sure. Was the character interesting? No.

Female lead? Amazingly useless. At first she was there to tip the scale and get the misfortune rolling in Bok Soo’s life. After that, she was nothing more than a love interest. Quite frankly, you could remove her character from the drama and not much would change. She is also a prime example why I believe sometimes chasing your dreams is not a good idea, especially when you ain’t that good at the activity. Keep it as a hobby, because at times, you, somehow achieving your dreams, might hurt people you interact with.

Se Ho was an interesting character, but even he failed me by the end, bringing no nuance to the plot. Not to mention his mother has been just your typical mother-villain.

I have to say, I enjoyed the supporting characters far more than any of the leads. My heart broke a few times for Park Dong Jun, I was rooting like crazy for Park Sung Woo, and I wanted to help Lee Chae Min.

The acting was overall good. I am not the biggest fan of Jo Bo Ah, since she kind of acts the same in all her roles. By the end, I was also a bit tired of Kim Yeo Jin’s overacting, but then I cannot be sure how much of it was her decision and how much was she instructed by the director to go for such a delivery of the lines.

The production value was good except for the makeup. I would put better make up on the cast. What was that weird brown smokey eye, they did on Kwak Dong Yeon? Why did Yoo Seung and Ho Jo Bo Ah’s lipstick look as if they had kept it on their lips for 10 years until their lips looked so chapped it pained me to look at them? Someone explain, because I do not understand...

As for the ending, I don’t think it was possible to make it more of a cliche.

I get that this show has some nice wholesome and heartwarming messages, but there are so many better school dramas with the same messages, I see no reason why anyone should try this one. I would recommend watching anything else.

Overall? It would probably be better if I left it on my drop list.

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I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did. It’s truly not the top notch writing and the characters are quite frankly dumb. But the show has a weird excitement to it, I could not resist. It might be the result of a quite well balanced mix of genres: politics, military, mystery and corruption with action sequences on top.

So how were the plot and characters? The whole team is full of silly little potatoes. The decision making would probably be better and more logical if they flipped a coin. They were all supposed to be professionals and specialists in their fields, or at least close to being them. How could Son Ye Rim just walk around like it’s not a big deal after being exposed to an unknown substance? How come in such a small team so many people have ulterior motives that can at times endanger other team members? How come they truly do not care about any military regulations 90% of the time? I think them being such idiots added to the entertainment value. Who doesn’t like watching people make stupid decisions?

That said, even though the dumbassness was frustrating, I enjoyed the characters themselves. The dynamics were fun to watch and slowly discovering any potential connections kept me more focused on what is going on on the screen.

I appreciated how they didn’t dump a massive exposition in episode one explaining all the details, but they also didn’t leave me in the dark till the last moment. Clues, hints and puzzle pieces have been dropped throughout the show, slowly forming a whole picture. In the process I flipped from loving to hating to loving again many characters.

Let’s talk about CGI. Thank god the crazy dogs only happened at the beginning, because they were laughably bad. I always believed that sometimes not showing the monster is better than showing it with the use of shitty CGI. People are creative, they will fill the gaps.

The pacing was well done, I didn't really feel bored during any episode. Keeping them an hour long (compared to the 1 h 30 min. we get lately) and only 10 episodes was a wise choice. This plot is definitely not something that could have been successfully stretched to 16 episodes. The biggest flop was episode 3, which for some strange reason, did not follow linear storytelling, and we jumped around the timeline like crazy. This made little sense.

Overall, it’s not a smart show. I have no military knowledge, but some of the decisions that have been made were simply illogical, even for me. And yet, I liked it. For some strange reason. It was probably because of the characters and the cast. I wasn’t that interested in Dong Jin and Ye Rim, but all the rest truly caught my attention. A girl needs to appreciate the real stakes too, even though it was painful to watch and it broke my heart a few times.

Also, mad respect for including pictures of dogs with other actors in the end credits of the last episode. Let's all appreciate their hard work.

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Impressive level of blandness.

There isn’t anything wrong with the drama, but there is nothing truly right? No highs, no lows, nothing to truly grab my attention. Such a smooth flight, one might actually fall asleep.

I loved the idea behind the drama - seeing different professions that are related to airports. Usually we see the “glamorous lives” of flight attendants and pilots, but here we saw a greeted variety of jobs. So how come it did not work out?

I think the biggest issue was how all the issues and conflicts got resolved within five minutes of screen time. There was no suspense, no stakes. What’s more, while I understand they wanted to stay true to reality, sometimes cutting short the realistic depiction of procedures is not a bad thing - at the end of the day I am watching a drama, not a manual.

I did like all the characters, but I also disliked how most of them did not need any character development. They were smart, great, kind, and the “bad traits” were simply miscommunication. Nothing to work on. And because of that Kawahara Kasumi became my favorite character - she was the most dynamic in writing - both in external presentation and internal growth.

The production was fine. As most things in the drama. But fine is such a mid level of entertainment.

One thing to appreciate was for sure the acting. The whole cast did an amazing job.

Overall, I will probably forget this drama exists in a month.

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I’m kind of amazed. To make such a fun concept into such a boring movie - that’s a skill. It could easily be an easy to digest mix of different short ghost stories based on the new “stigmatized property” the male lead moves in. Why was it not just that?

It became this weird mix of horror, slice of life about unfulfilled dreams and mellow romance. And nothing matched well together. I understand that they needed to set up a proper motivation for Yamano Yamame to even move into these problematic houses, but so much focus on these failed dreams was not needed - it made the initial exposition too long and too boring.

Then we have the romantic undertones between Yamame and Azusa and honey, no one watches horrors for romance. Not one person. It never happened. It’s unnecessary.

And the worst aspect? No development nor closure for any of the actual ghost cases. The actual screen time they spent in these “hunted” locations is laughably short.

The worst crime though? Nao’s acting. She truly needs to tone it down. I have not seen someone this animated and over the top in a horror movie in a while. Girl was determined to use every muscle on her face in every scary shot, even if barely anything was happening to validate such a strong reaction.

Overall, poorly constructed plot, decent editing, mediocre directing, questionable acting.

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I honestly feel bad about rating it so low, since it had quite a few enjoyable elements and the first half was exactly what I always look for in Tomb dramas, but there were a few too many flaws that I just cannot ignore.

Starting from the things I liked.
Iron Triangle as one of the best trios ever created. A typical case of characters representing a heart, body and brain, but it never felt limiting in how they were interacting with each other. All of their scenes together were easily the best in the whole show.

Likable female characters with their own goals and ideas. We all know how limited in that aspect are Tomb dramas. Here we got a variety of women with unique personalities and perspectives.

The acting was great. I think Chen Ming Hao is my favorite Wang Pang Zi at the moment. This character is always hit or miss - I either like them, or hate them. Here, he was probably one of my favorites.

Another positive thing was proper lighting. Big props to the team for making the caves/warehouses/underwater scenes look dim, but not ridiculously dark when the viewers can’t see anything. A few more candles or flashlights as the light source is all it takes for the viewers to not question how bright some places might look. The whole production quality was great - the set designs, costumes (excluding Glasses, I just cannot deal with that outfit), camera angles - all working well to create nice pictures.

To the less enjoyable things.
First and second half of the show felt like completely different dramas. Not only did the plot seem too loosely connected, the main cast completely changed. We literally cut from the show the characters we followed at first.

While I appreciate the female characters, I am also a bit sad how all of them were put in the context of being romantic interests. No one watches the Tomb series for romance, this is really unnecessary.

Second half was painfully repetitive and failed to make me care about the plot progression and even the characters safety. I am sorry, but how many times can I watch Wuxie do exactly the same thing over and over again in more or less the same manner in a boring environment, surrounded by barely established characters?

Wuxie being sick. Oh god, too many times it felt like watching a wuxia with male lead being poisoned and coughing blood - so dramatic for no reason, because we all know he is not going to die. My issue was how they presented it as something dangerous, but it never felt really limiting. All the potential issues always showed up after he was done with whatever task he had to accomplish.

While I do believe everyone in the cast did an amazing job, I am also a bit bored with Zhu Yi Long (don’t kill me). There is not enough variety in the roles he takes and his portrayal of them. Sure, I only saw a few of his dramas, but it always feels like a similar character just put in a different context.

Overall, it was not bad, but felt too “all over the place”.

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Mindless mediocracy with great friendship.

I'm not gonna lie. There were some scenes so dumb I had to pause the episode in the middle of them and stare at the wall in my room trying to prevent the neurons leaking from my brain. The show is made with the idea of kids as the target audience. Lack of realism was not even the worst part, it’s the complete disregard of logic and continuity.

Yes, the writing of the main plot was a pile of trash. It made so little sense and it was presented in such a bad manner, I found it amusing. The villain was a poorly written joke, the twists and the character’s reactions to them were comical and the conclusion to the story was all over the place. Not to mention the last minute redemption arc for one of the bad guys.

That said, the show shined when it focused on more mundane aspects of the police academy and the growing friendship and bond between the main characters. We’ve got a variety of different characters which led to many funny and heartwarming moments when they started to open up to each other more. Learning how to lean on others and ask for help, how to trust your friends, how to communicate with people with different outlooks in life and previous experiences. That was the best part of the show.

The fair share of romance was fine. Personally, I couldn't care less about the main couple and a lot of it had to do with the performance. Thankfully, we’ve got more than enough screen time for the second couple that was far more natural and adorable. I also got a massive second lead syndrome from the female lead’s senior.

As for the performance - I have never seen a more obvious case of someone getting cast for their name and not their skill. I adore Kang Daniel, I do. He is an extremely talented performer and entertainer, but he just cannot act at all. He literally made me cry from laughing from his bad performance. His face was just white wall of emotions and the line delivery was less expressive than Alexa or Siri. He did fine with the scenes showcasing more daily stuff, but any moment that needed to tap into these more raw emotions, he failed miserably.

Others did a lot better. Granted, most characters lacked depth, so these performances were not exactly that demanding, but the cast did their best to deliver a good performance and chemistry. Especially impressed with Park Sung Joon in the last few episodes.

Production value was great, but that’s exactly what one can expect. There were a few editing mistakes and a lack of continuity between shots, but these were small details that are hard to avoid in any drama.

Overall, I had fun for both good and bad reasons. Enjoyed the friendship and characters a lot, and laughed about the poorly written plot and the whole investigation aspect of it.

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Atmosphere that carried a vague plot.

Something we often get from Japanese horror - vague plot with good atmosphere, great music and sound effects and still images inducing panic response. That’s also what we’ve got from Pulse.

By the end of the movie we are offered little to no real explanations, and most are left to the viewers interpretation. Is this a commentary about the dangers of the internet? Is this a commentary about the human need for interactions and the terrifying portrayal of loneliness? It’s up to the viewer to decide.

The characters were rather bland. I kind of stopped paying attention to who is who at some point, and it did not really take away from the watching experience. I honestly believe them as individuals was not that important plot wise.

The thing I loved about Pulse was the atmosphere and built up tension. There are no cheap jump scares and all the horror is based on the fear of the unknown, perfect choice of music and the prolonged shots of uncanny shots.

Overall, I would recommend it if you are in for a rather calm, but tense horror.

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It lacked a big brain energy.

It’s not like I expected realism - I went in to watch a fun action flick and it is more or less what I’ve got. Yet, it still bothered me how little it took for the main character to infiltrate the scammers and how the scale of their project did not match their security.

What’s more, the movie lacked interesting characters. Gwak Pro had some personality and that’s where the list of interesting characters ends. Everyone felt painfully flat and boring.

Truly the best part of On the Line was the behind the scene of how voice phishing works and how many victims may there be with just one fake call center. It’s a good watch for everyone who is on the more gullible side.

That said, the movie serves more as a criticism to the government and the lack of effort and work put into catching the criminals, over a valuable lesson for the viewers. There are no real hints on how to deal with similar issues if they happen in real life, except “hang up” - the issue is, you only hang up when you know something is a scam, and figuring it out is usually the problem.

Acting was fine. Since everything was rather flat, it’s hard not to deliver decent performance.

Overall, I would say a documentary on the similar subject would be a more interesting watch.

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Life so hard it feels like an endless night.

Stellar performance with a well executed story presented in three different timelines. While the show was not perfect with the execution, the strong points kept me interested enough to finish and give quite a high rating.

The Long Night has quite a number of positive aspects. Starting with a well written criminal case that does not lead to many unexplained events and plot holes. While the case was quite complex, as it connected many events throughout the years, it never felt ridiculously over the top. It was big enough it did not feel boring nor mundane, but realistic enough for me to believe it could happen in real life.

Then we have the amazing cast and the characters they portrayed. Not gonna lie, Bai Yu stole the show for me. The emotional impact his character had on me by the last episode was something I did not expect at all - especially since we know (to some extent) what kind of end he will face in episode 1. That one scene in the last episode literally made me hold my breath and I could not move a millimeter until it was over.

Jiang Yang, Chen Ming Zhang and Zhu Wei were the trio I especially enjoyed and their striving for justice and truth was both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Another aspect that amazed me were well presented transitions between all the years and time lines. They clearly indicated what year specific scenes take place in and how they relate to the current situation. This type of plot could easily be confusing, but they managed to present it in an easy to follow manner. The transitions between two timelines with the use of voice recorded were ones that I especially enjoyed.

The issue I had with the drama was how they tried to evenly use the screen time for two timelines. As the result, for quite some time, I was not that invested in any. Logically speaking, I knew the case was extremely interesting, but I could not get myself to feel that much curiosity. For me, they should have established one (present) timeline first, and only after that slowly expanded on the past stories, but this mix and max as we progressed was a bit too much storytelling wise.

What’s more, the first few episodes led me to believe this will be a mystery driven show with unusual investigation that will have the intriguing cooperation between the police and journalist, to uncover the truth behind the murder case, that has it’s beginning years ago and involves far more people than anyone could have predicted. But shortly after it started to look like any other investigation show, and all the fun and refreshing additions were forgotten.

That said, you know how dramas usually have mediocre last episodes, when they had a good start? This ain’t that. Last 4 episodes were extremely thrilling and got me on the edge of my seat. Truth to be told, only then I started to feel the severity of what was going on and how it affected the characters. It was easier to tap into the emotional connection. The last episode was especially dark, and I had to take a few breaks while watching.

Overall, a solid watch. I feel like this is one of the rare cases in which the rewatch would actually improve the entertainment value. Knowing the whole picture would make me appreciate all the detailed connections between the cases and scenes.

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Even tho, there were a lot of elements I did not quite like about this show, overall, it was an extremely fun ride with some smart, well placed humor and amazingly written characters.

Truth to be told, Fan Xian ain’t exactly a likeable character. The more I thought about his actions, the more pretentious he seemed - to the point I was actually anticipating someone putting him in place, even if just temporarily. For someone who just wants to live a joyful life, he did not try to avoid the attention. For someone who wanted to fight the corrupt, he was too good at manipulating others and using them to his advantage.

Even tho I was not on board with him as a person, I still extremely enjoyed his character. I do believe the simping over him from other characters was a bit too much, but there is no doubt - he was that charming.

By the end of the show I had my favorites: Emperor, Ruo Ruo, Teng Zi Jing and Shen Zhong. Seeing how some of these characters are not even the mains, and add to the story for a limited period of time, it shows how much care was put into making even supporting and side characters 3 dimensional, with their own arcs and depth.

Character wise, I have only one complaint: Wan’er. It’s not that I disliked her, I was just painfully indifferent to what her story is. For the majority of the drama she was passive, playing more or less just the role of Fan Xian “kindergarten” like love interest. That said, her character was the center of one of my favorite scenes from Joy of Life so she gain few pints form me.

I’m sure I am not the only one who thinks the characters were the best part. With how well written they were, how unique and entertaining their interactions were presented, no scene felt redundant.

The story itself was truly well paced. Probably one of the best pacings from any Chinese show I have seen. The comedy bits were funny and well spread throughout the show. Joy of Life provides a few emotional scenes, but they never hit me hard - mostly because they were not set up well. It’s hard to get emotional, when literally seconds ago I was laughing on the floor coz of the over the top fighting choreography.

The fighting scenes themselves were another aspect that was either hit or miss. Some were perfect, some far from it. Overall, I liked them all, either because I was impressed or entertained.

The drama is full of plot twists, it’s hard to predict characters’ motivations and future plans. Some twists were brilliantly planned, with clues scattered throughout the plot, some came out of nowhere, being completely impossible to predict, only guess (the type I myself quite dislike).

Sadly, the ending left a lot to desire. It was just anticlimactic and infuriating to me as a viewer. More about it in the comment section under spoiler.

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable ride that led to nowhere and doesn’t make me want to continue the journey - I am off this train. I feel like season 2 will clown me at the end too, leaving me annoyed and forced to watch last season, and I’m not up for it.

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