First of all, let me give a shout-out to the best thing in the drama: the ending theme. Awesome rendition by a great singer. So I didn't know what they were doing with the opening theme. Even I can sing miles better than that.

For the drama, I would say it's very clearly a docuseries in disguise as a drama. The show tries really hard to put in tidbits about law, explanations of the different roles in law enforcement, and the different methods of fraud. They also emphasized heavily on confessing your guilt for a reduction in sentence. This is a show clearly meant for the masses in China (and realistically Asia in particular) where online fraud is rampant. And so, you might find that it's simply not that interesting, especially with heavy screen time given to the higher ups in the procutorate, where you see them stuck in meetings, watching live broadcasts of police operations and whatnot.

I have talked about several flaws in terms of the script already in the comment section. First of all, the first case of insurance fraud was very sloppily concluded. There are also notable grammatical errors in the dialogue. I also think that the fact that a single case spanned the whole drama was a little too slow for pace. What I'm most disappointed with is how there was a lack of misguidance when it came to unveiling the actual antagonist. The show really could have done with more red herrings. All of which could have been a lot better executed.

That being said, I have to give props to how the production tried to make the show as realistic as possible. I am a software engineer and I have to say they actually provided very decent and layman-enough explanation on how the "malware" was injected. I might disagree with the ease of execution which was implied but on the whole I find the research well done. They also touched on monopoly and anti-competition acts by social media companies, which I found oddly satisfying given the current climate. In fact, Douyin (Tiktok's Chinese origins) and Weibo are currently engaged in a battle regarding that, though it might not be publicized.

I also thought interesting issues were raised about the neutrality of a platform, the intentions of the user, and the necessity of restrictions. The discussion on this is actually not unlike the debate on gun laws, though the web is arguably less potent a weapon. Another interesting topic brought up was about whether Xiao was really as heinous as claimed, given that he only delivered the bait, and his victims willingly got themselves hooked. I have my own conclusion, but I won't touch on it any further. It's, however, a pity that when he spoke about it during the trial, there was no attempt at a rebuttal.

On acting, there's nothing really wrong imo. I do feel that some of the calefares and guest actors need some help, but it's a problem with Chinese productions in general. It's pretty common for shows with part time actors to appear jarring because they don't sound and seem professional. I feel that Dilraba does have an elite air to her naturally, and she is one of the younger female actors who can take up a professional role, but this role isn't as challenging because she is just our point of view. And this being a drama produced by the official agency means that there is no room for creative liberties.

All of the above contributed to my conclusion that this was a misclassified docuseries. I stuck through it to actually voice my opinions on the potential debates but unfortunately I didn't see any deeper analysis from people outside of yours truly.

P.S. Dilraba is gorgeous in this show. Absolutely stunning. It's interesting that a sponsored drama like this brought out her looks more than a romance-themed show.