This is the kind of drama that you might watch if you are a fan of one of the actors/actresses, but there's still some things in this drama which might make it unwatchable regardless if you are a fan of the actor or not. The storyline is sort of made up of mini stories along the way, which contribute to the overarching plot (the male/female lead's story), which I personally don't mind. In fact, the mini stories were more entertaining than the male/female lead's storyline, which...is not the best in terms of making an engaging drama. To be honest, I skimmed the leads' storyline to watch the side stories and I'll explain why in a bit. My takeaway from this drama was "love makes you do stupid things." If that's a trope you don't mind, then maybe this is watchable for you.

*Major spoiler territory ahead*
Plot: Love, greed, and selfishness basically drives the actions of the lead characters. The main gripe that I have for the leads' storyline is the "secret" of the past. The female lead's memories were wiped and the male lead refuses to tell her anything. With the way they crafted this "mysterious secret that the ML couldn't tell FL" I expected a bigger shock when the "reveal" came. Instead, the reveal was very disappointing since I already guessed what had happened so that defeated the entire purpose. If ML told her the truth in the beginning, so much time could have been saved and prevented misunderstandings and FL being manipulated by antagonist (who was the only one willing to tell her anything). I personally didn't understand ML's rationale for keeping the secret from her; it was a pretty weak reason.

The side stories were pretty entertaining; I liked some more than others. Some of them were short (2 eps) while others could span for 5 or so eps. I didn't mind them since they had a part in advancing forward in the plot. The beginning few episodes were pretty engaging, before it became draggy in the middle and then the pace started picking up slightly towards the end. I skimmed through the boring parts and you won't miss much if you do.

Climax: I thought ML was too OP, especially in the final battle. After all the trouble that antagonist goes through to gain new powers and all that, the final fight was so short. Like they traded a few blows and then ML just defeated him. Felt very anti-climatic, especially considering all the effort the antagonist went through for those powers. I was half-expecting him to be revived since the fight was so unconvincing as the "big finale" but it was.

Acting/Characters: I have never seen Gulnezer in another drama so I can't compare her acting. It was okay, if you don't expect too much from her "emotional" scenes. Crying scenes fell extremely flat to the point where I felt more sympathy for antagonist when he was trying to get pity from FL than for FL herself during her sad scenes. FL's character is kind of naive and fits the bill of "love makes you do stupid things" but I didn't feel that her character was overly dumb. At least she was still wary and made her own decisions at times and not totally helpless since she can fight.

ML is example 2 of "love makes you do stupid things." His character is usually pretty rationale and smart, until it comes to the FL. While he doesn't do anything outrageous, it's his hesitance that draws out the storyline/probably leads to avoidable deaths. I liked Jasper as an actor and he did a pretty good job at portraying ML. His voice is dubbed in this drama, if that makes a difference.

The second leads (Li Xian, Xiao Qing) bought some comedic relief with their antics and they were pretty good side kicks to ML. I have never seen these actors in another drama, but in this one, they played their roles well. Their love story was better written than ML/FLs. At times, you might get frustrated at Li Xian for his hotheadedness which leads to unfortunate consequences but that's part of his character. Shame that they made him so weak for the sake of plot - he didn't have any victories against the bad guys.

The Ye siblings: The sister was really annoying at the beginning but she becomes less annoying later on. I skipped most of her parts in the beginning because it was very cringey...and how much she harped on about being a "modern woman" all the time. Her character redeems herself later on. The brother was great all the way through, the definition of a true friend.

Antagonist: I have seen Liu Chang in other dramas and I have to say I was pretty impressed with his role as a villain. The dubbing was quite off at times (especially when he did his evil laugh) which made it quite awkward. His acting has improved lots from his older works and he played his part pretty convincingly, especially the parts where he tries to gain sympathy from FL.

Overall, not the best drama. Time will probably be better spent on other shows, unless you want to watch for a fav actor/actress and a mediocre plotline. CGI was alright for the most part; my bar isn't set that high. The only CGI that looked really weird to me was the mermaid tail.

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Season 1 vs Season 2

It's a shame that this season wasn't subbed, which I suspect, was due to the poor reception of having the cast changed. As a disclaimer, it's been a while since I watched season 1, which might be part of the reason why I enjoyed season 2 more than I would have if I watched it directly after season 1 finished. Like someone else mentioned, if you treat this as a completely new season and not bearing much in mind what happened in season 1, you might enjoy season 2.

The Story: I personally thought the plotline was better executed in this drama than season 1. The overarching villain story was present from the very first case, connected well to the later cases, and even tied well with Dr. Qin's backstory. There are a few mini-cases sprinkled in between the main cases conducted by the main villain, so the show was a mixture of mini cases that get solved within an episode or two and a serial killer case. The ending was pretty satisfying and addressed most questions/mysteries, and my only gripe was that there was one character's motives that wasn't really addressed.

Characters: The original trio's dynamic was brilliant and the reason why season 1 had gotten as popular as it did. This season seemed to focus more time on supporting characters, so this left less screen time for the trio's interactions. However, I appreciate the development of the supporting characters since it allowed for ample foreshadowing of who the villain was. Props to the person who played the villain; it really brought the character to life instead of being a 2D filler character.

Regarding the trio, the assistant's character had completely changed. Since they changed the female's name, I could treat her as a completely new character so I was fine with the fact she didn't have the same personality as in season 1. Qin Ming in this season seemed to be softer and spoke slightly more than season 1, which isn't necessarily a bad change. Besides the occasional slip up of him touching something at the crime scene without PPE, the actor did a decent job at portraying an OCD, introverted forensic scientist. From what I remember, Lin Tao got more screen time in this season (they seemed to balance the criminal investigations and forensic side more equally) and I thought he was a good fit (appearance wise) to play a police officer. Of course, I might be slightly biased since I saw Liu Chang in Missing Persons, where he played another police officer role. Personality wise, the humor was still intact - they even mentioned his ever elusive girlfriend! - but serious when he needed to be. I don't remember much about Lin Tao's personality from season 1 so it's hard to compare.

Music: The background music was nice, especially the one that comes on when the villain appears. It's also ironic that Qin Ming's playlist in his car also has the theme music for the show.

Watch Value: If you can get over the fact that it's not the original cast and/or if enough time has passed that season 1 doesn't have such a deep impression on you anymore, I think this show is worth watching. Like many others, I didn't intend to watch this season after seeing the cast change, but picked it up for Liu Chang (after seeing him some other shows). I came for an actor, but stayed because of the story line - which I personally believe was executed better than season 1.

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I really enjoyed this show despite it not being the typical crime investigations show. While others might find it to be boring since it centers around economic crimes, rather than murder mysteries, I found it intriguing even if there wasn't a whole lot of action. If you like finance, economics, business, and legal subjects, this show might interest you. Even if you don't have a background in these subjects, I don't particularly think the terminology was difficult to understand.

Story: Probably the best part of the show. It centers around an economic crime case that built up over a span of ten years. From the very beginning, you already know who the villain is, so the drama is more about the process of chasing and catching him. The first episode was a good opener for the case and as you progress through the episodes, you begin to see how everything begins to unravel. While there is no evidence to pin anything against the main villains in the beginning, the more greedy they become, the more reckless they become while eventually leads to their downfall. I appreciate the fact that the case didn't go smoothly; the failures made the show a lot more realistic. Both leads' backstory/personal life were also intertwined into the case, contributing to their dedication to catch Wang Bo Lin.

Characters: I watched this show for Wang Kai, but the entire cast did a great job with their roles. Besides the leads, even supporting characters received ample amount of development. The four main criminals that they were trying to catch in the latter half of the show all had good development so their characters had more dimensions than just simple greed. The actor who played Wang Bo Lin really did a great job of convincing me in his role.

Music: It was fitting but not the most memorable.

Watch Value: 44 episodes is quite long but I watched the entire thing without skipping too much since the finance/economics subjects interest me. For others who aren't interested in that kind of stuff, it might be quite a boring watch if you're just here for a particular actor/actress. The case also spans many, many years, so it's a very slow process of catching the criminals. There's also no suspense either regarding who the criminals are; their identities are revealed early on, so watching this show is more of a process of seeing how it all plays out: how greed tempted "good" people to become involved, the backstories and motives that led them there, how the crime eventually fell apart, and the chase across multiple countries to bring back the criminals.

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