Limadunia
This review may contain spoilers
This series is a lot of things, and in the end I can say it's right on top with my other favourites.
Story: At the beginning the story seemed to be surreal, for the first 3 episodes I didn't know where I stood with it, it had a slow story introduction with bits of odd elements with how characters acts. After that the story suddenly started to make more sense, the detective elements and the true storyline got introduced slowly, but somehow in the long run it served good to the series, it added to the mystery element. It really got me hooked up and by the 5th episode I couldn't stop watching the series. I loved how the different customs and everyday life of Tientsin city unfolds in front of me, from the way a temple works and how it treats their dead to more comical shamanistic rituals, the police who might or might not be powerhungry and neglecting, but still somewhat caring about their profession even if in a cowardly way, the mysterious "udnerworld system" whith illegal activities from opium smoking to grave digging.
There are two negatives in the story that I feel weird about. First time they introduce the zombies, the way they suddenly started reanimating and hunting down our main characters in the hospital, it definitely reminded me to a B rated horror movie. Not sure if it was intentional to add a bit of parodic value or not. The second and main reason most of my downvotes are coming from is the ending. Dear director, this is not how you end a series!!! Seriously, no closure at all, we find out the motive behing the Evil gang boss and what caused the illness, but that is all. Suddenly the old master of little river god reappers without explanation of where he was all along and what the heck happened, a heroic battle that ended with some relevations and a scene cut right when our main here ...
and yes that is how I felt about the end, just cut out, like when in the middle of the episode you got advertisements pop up and and you wait patiently for the 2 minutes to be over to continue to watch your series, expect it never happens. And now we will have season 2 sometimes with a complitely different main actor ... that is a story for another time but certainly made me pissed off.
Where this series really shines is the cinematography which is amazing, the quality is really unique and outstanding regarding other Chinese dramas, the costumes are made very well and perfectly reflect the time period, the mysterious elements and uniqeness of each character. The way they used different camera recording methods is amazing, each time it reflected well the scene and the story. The colours too, mostly it is kind of dark, but certain clothes and scenes are so bright and colourful, it's amazing how they played with these elements. It's very obcious this is not your usual cheap budget Chinese drama.
Music: I gave this a high rating even though most people don't think much about it. Well I guess most westerner people are used to big hits action drama Two steps from hell kinda epic battle songs or such, here you get little background music, some during fight scenes, and to be honest this is the case where less is more. It reflects perfectly the state of the story and the way it doesn't take the spot from the scene unfolding is actually very refreshing. So yeah there is not much typical soundtracks here, but the ones we have actually suits imo this type of show. Pity people don't even realize it.
Acting and characters: it's very good, in fact I'm amazed by most of the acting, from the old lady to the main characters they executed it really well. The 4 main characters have a very unique bond and a chemistry, it's lovely to see them together, and it seems very natural, the friendship, little bit of rivalry and doubt in the beginning, the ever loyal and brave, kind hearted girl who in her simply ways is just amazing, the super inteligent female journalist, what a refreshing thing to see strong and not stupid females! The mysterious and scientific approaches of the detective element is also very intersting. Each are well conveyed through perfectly by the actors.
All in all this is a great series, but the way they ended it is kind of unforgivable., even if you want cliffhangers this is not the way to do it.
Story: At the beginning the story seemed to be surreal, for the first 3 episodes I didn't know where I stood with it, it had a slow story introduction with bits of odd elements with how characters acts. After that the story suddenly started to make more sense, the detective elements and the true storyline got introduced slowly, but somehow in the long run it served good to the series, it added to the mystery element. It really got me hooked up and by the 5th episode I couldn't stop watching the series. I loved how the different customs and everyday life of Tientsin city unfolds in front of me, from the way a temple works and how it treats their dead to more comical shamanistic rituals, the police who might or might not be powerhungry and neglecting, but still somewhat caring about their profession even if in a cowardly way, the mysterious "udnerworld system" whith illegal activities from opium smoking to grave digging.
There are two negatives in the story that I feel weird about. First time they introduce the zombies, the way they suddenly started reanimating and hunting down our main characters in the hospital, it definitely reminded me to a B rated horror movie. Not sure if it was intentional to add a bit of parodic value or not. The second and main reason most of my downvotes are coming from is the ending. Dear director, this is not how you end a series!!! Seriously, no closure at all, we find out the motive behing the Evil gang boss and what caused the illness, but that is all. Suddenly the old master of little river god reappers without explanation of where he was all along and what the heck happened, a heroic battle that ended with some relevations and a scene cut right when our main here ...
and yes that is how I felt about the end, just cut out, like when in the middle of the episode you got advertisements pop up and and you wait patiently for the 2 minutes to be over to continue to watch your series, expect it never happens. And now we will have season 2 sometimes with a complitely different main actor ... that is a story for another time but certainly made me pissed off.
Where this series really shines is the cinematography which is amazing, the quality is really unique and outstanding regarding other Chinese dramas, the costumes are made very well and perfectly reflect the time period, the mysterious elements and uniqeness of each character. The way they used different camera recording methods is amazing, each time it reflected well the scene and the story. The colours too, mostly it is kind of dark, but certain clothes and scenes are so bright and colourful, it's amazing how they played with these elements. It's very obcious this is not your usual cheap budget Chinese drama.
Music: I gave this a high rating even though most people don't think much about it. Well I guess most westerner people are used to big hits action drama Two steps from hell kinda epic battle songs or such, here you get little background music, some during fight scenes, and to be honest this is the case where less is more. It reflects perfectly the state of the story and the way it doesn't take the spot from the scene unfolding is actually very refreshing. So yeah there is not much typical soundtracks here, but the ones we have actually suits imo this type of show. Pity people don't even realize it.
Acting and characters: it's very good, in fact I'm amazed by most of the acting, from the old lady to the main characters they executed it really well. The 4 main characters have a very unique bond and a chemistry, it's lovely to see them together, and it seems very natural, the friendship, little bit of rivalry and doubt in the beginning, the ever loyal and brave, kind hearted girl who in her simply ways is just amazing, the super inteligent female journalist, what a refreshing thing to see strong and not stupid females! The mysterious and scientific approaches of the detective element is also very intersting. Each are well conveyed through perfectly by the actors.
All in all this is a great series, but the way they ended it is kind of unforgivable., even if you want cliffhangers this is not the way to do it.
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