I was lucky enough to enter the world of Chinese dramas via RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE, a show that has compelled me to watch 12 more series. I was so impressed with Zhou Xun I'll watch anything with her in it, and she's here in IMPERFECT. (I even saw her IMPERFECT LOVE show as well.)

This IMPERFECT also features another Ruyi alumni, Dong Jie -- who I'm beginning to respect as a truly great actress. In Ruyi she had to play a very cold and distant character, which she pulled off brilliantly, but was utterly unlikable. Here viewers might say she plays the same, but I found her far more sympathetic in this series. Her sad yet beautiful face constantly spoke to me of a woman that could have had lifelong love but instead made a very bad choice.

Frankly the entire cast is terrific, even amongst the smallest of roles. My only disappointment was with Police Captain Yan Ming, who wasn't convincing as a cop. She is very pretty and her that was kind of distracting. I've seen THE DISAPPEARING CHILD and that lady cop seemed so real that I was disappointed not to see her type cast here. Understand Elaine Zhong is otherwise fine here, and again she is in an otherwise perfect ensemble.

Our villain Cheng is portrayed beyond perfect by Liu Yi Jun. I'm new to this actor and his ability to make such a despicable person sympathetic goes football fields past Dong Jie. He is terrific in his completely lack of awareness of how horrible he is, which is why you can't help but feel for him a little now and again and kinda a little bit always.

Also new to me is lead actress Jelly Lin, who portrays the title of this series. Her character is as compelling as perplexing. Often you want to hug her but sometimes you want to slap her, which is painfully ironic considering the series them of appropriate actions upon a young lady like this. But despite the irony these feelings run real because her character Zhoa Xun makes you want to pull your hair out during the first two thirds of the series.

This paragraph will run mildly spoiler-ish in giving away the victim's main flaw. I'll talk around it by saying she behaves like almost all 'kids' her age. When you get them on a topic that makes them uncomfortable, they won't say it makes them uncomfortable. Instead they go silent, off topic, or just behave oddly. Because they're really still half children, aren't they? That is how a child reacts when you accuse them of having their fingers in the cookie jar.

The point of this series is to indicate that victims of rape and sexual harassment can't be expected to be perfect victims. The series plainly states that when you have an older man with power over a young person it is very difficult for the 'girl' to react and respond proactively enough to impress the Court system she wasn't complicit.

What drove me a little crazy is this discussion of the victim kind was always with respect to her adulthood. What I just did two paragraphs up I wish the series had said over and over again: the victim was so young she was basically still a child, and you can't expect adult behavior from a child. It's THAT simple. It is this innocence and lack of adult experience the likes of Cheng count on and prey upon.

That idea was never said in such words but hammered upon with Lin Kan's lawyer story. (By the way, who was the genius that cast Zhou Xun but named our victim Zhoa Xun? That would be like naming Harrison Ford's STAR WARS character 'Mark Hemill".) Anyway, as usual, Zhou Xun was TERRIFIC as our lawyer character. I love Zhou Xun only like one other legendary actress, Bette Davis. This means that no matter the age of either actress or the project -- it's must see.

I was, at first, a little surprised when this production didn't use Zhou Xun to play her younger self. They did so in RUYI and really pulled it off. Her size and figure can easily pass for a college kid. But I said at first because, at second glance, the face of Zhou Xun is evolving. Filmed in her late 40's there is nuisance of age. I'm not talking about wrinkles and such that special effects could hide in flashbacks. I'm talking about her lovely eyes that speak of this woman's journey.

It was for this reason I understood her central role in this series. Zhou Xun is what lives in between a Jelly Lin and and Dong Jie. (I just learned this statement doesn't make real sense since Dong Jie is 6 years younger than Zhou Xun, but it's Xun's youthful features the suggest the opposite.) Still -- our lawyer Lin Kan is attempting to rescue herself before it's too late and she turns into a Dong Jie, if you will.

Great credit needs to be given both to the female writers (Gao Xuan and Ren Bao Ru) for creating this vivid world where all these actors get to shine. Where the depressing subject matter dissuades viewership the writing and direction and cast DEMAND a viewing. This is probably the best series I've seen yet, tying with RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE in quality.

The series was not perfect, though. (Dare I say it was 'imperfect'?) Luckily the problems can be counted on one hand --

1. I found almost all the songs to be 'fake' somehow. As if someone insisted they be inserted and so they came off as an awkward after thought. Plus I've heard better songs. The closing credits song in Zhou Xun's IMPERFECT LOVE is incredible, if you need a point of comparison. (Go catch that on YouTube or wherever now.) I almost always listen to the opening and closing songs of these shows with a big smile, but for the first time every I found them skippable. This is extra weird since some even had my native language (English)in them.

2. I don't mind lighthearted funny scenes, but towards the end of the story they were no longer needed but inserted anyway. The inclusion of these overlong 'smirky' scenes took away desperately needed time to --

3. -- resolve a few more storylines. The boy that loved Jelly Lin? He was seen in the last episode but only as a prop. To have him there at the court but not let him speak to the victim or her parents was a missed opportunity. The same for the security guard, who not only should have said something after the trial but have his victim friend by his side. It honestly felt like the series was padding a little to get to the last two episodes, and once there, they realized they needed more time... but didn't have it.

4. Call me an Old Softie but I wanted Lin Kan's assistant (Zhou Cheng Ao) to be somehow back with Lin Kan at story's end. But not as her love interest or employee. Instead I wanted a scene where he was doting on the victim at Lin Kan's home, implying that at some point these two might be a couple. But no hurry.

I've come to learn no Chinese series is perfect. I had a string of series that were disappointing and one was so terrible it had to be abandoned. IMPERFECT VICTIM won me back over... because it is near perfect.