MBaldelli
Covington, LA
This is one series that teaches, "don't go in with preconceived notions"
Imagine something like "Murder, She Wrote" or -- if you're old enough "Ellery Queen" -- meets a Wuxia show and you basically have the premise for this series.
Jian Bu Zhi (played by Tim (Ji Wei) Yu) is a man trying figure out the mystery of the murder of his father in his hometown and he has 4 people that were there that could hopefully give him the information for his father's fate. In his search for these people he frequently encounters death and murder and because he is incapable of learning Kung Fu (for reasons that weren't apparently through most of the series), instead uses his keen mind in deducing the clues left to figure out who did the killing in setting he's currently in.
Along the way he makes friends with Zhao Wo Huan (played by Wang Yan Yang), has a love interest Zhan Shi Qi (played by Rachel (Ruo Shan) Wang) and an assortment of others in the typical Wuxia/Custom Drama way that unlike series like "Nirvana in Fire" or "Battle Through the Stars"; "Ancient Detective" was a mere 41 main and supporting characters which were easy enough for this casual Wuxia fan to keep track of **and** remember all their back stories.
While I was somewhat off-put by the almost 1950s-like method of collecting the facts, having Yu look at one person that seemed to indicate was the culprit, only to turn to someone else and accuse them instead; by the second murder mystery plot (the one at the inn), I learned that all the evidence was clearly displayed for the audience to deduce who the killer was and all the audience would have to do is come to their own conclusions and then wait until Yu confirmed all the facts collected.
I was also impressed that in spite of the clear roles for many of the characters (from the assassins/information gatherers from the Ten Killing Gate) to the main and secondary characters, human nature prevailed through each of the character's introductions and interludes for their back stories given them a richness that allowed me the ability to immerse myself into the world and their influence on it and forget for more than a few moments that I was watching a series online. Also I would like to thank @ChineseDramaFan for their review as it included what the character names meant which gave it an added treat as to the irony of their characterizations.
This is a series that reminds me of the following quote: "...We are star stuff, we are the universe, made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective..." And while the murder mysteries were in fact cut and dry thanks largely to the evidence presented, the characters being human are not. There's elements of good and evil, right and wrong, and a whole lot of gray area in all of the characters in this show. Because of this gray area, it strongly allowed for personal interpretation and personal attachments based on emotional chords. Case in point Madam Hei Wu (played by Peng Bo). While he came off like the stereotypical bitter queen of Western Archetypes, in judging that book by it's cover I learned how wrong I was about his attitude and that in spite of his bitter veneer underneath he was nothing more than a misunderstood compassionate healer spurned by the stereotyping society dished in his direction.
While not spoiling anything really, I have to say that I was surprised that not all the facts were presented until the end and because of this, I'm reminded of another quote I love seeing in action in shows (like this one), "...you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view..." I skimmed some of the other reviews and them requesting another season for this show, and I find myself in disagreement with the sentiment. Sometimes leaving something to the imagination of the viewer is better than explaining it in a second season. This being no exception of that rule.
Jian Bu Zhi (played by Tim (Ji Wei) Yu) is a man trying figure out the mystery of the murder of his father in his hometown and he has 4 people that were there that could hopefully give him the information for his father's fate. In his search for these people he frequently encounters death and murder and because he is incapable of learning Kung Fu (for reasons that weren't apparently through most of the series), instead uses his keen mind in deducing the clues left to figure out who did the killing in setting he's currently in.
Along the way he makes friends with Zhao Wo Huan (played by Wang Yan Yang), has a love interest Zhan Shi Qi (played by Rachel (Ruo Shan) Wang) and an assortment of others in the typical Wuxia/Custom Drama way that unlike series like "Nirvana in Fire" or "Battle Through the Stars"; "Ancient Detective" was a mere 41 main and supporting characters which were easy enough for this casual Wuxia fan to keep track of **and** remember all their back stories.
While I was somewhat off-put by the almost 1950s-like method of collecting the facts, having Yu look at one person that seemed to indicate was the culprit, only to turn to someone else and accuse them instead; by the second murder mystery plot (the one at the inn), I learned that all the evidence was clearly displayed for the audience to deduce who the killer was and all the audience would have to do is come to their own conclusions and then wait until Yu confirmed all the facts collected.
I was also impressed that in spite of the clear roles for many of the characters (from the assassins/information gatherers from the Ten Killing Gate) to the main and secondary characters, human nature prevailed through each of the character's introductions and interludes for their back stories given them a richness that allowed me the ability to immerse myself into the world and their influence on it and forget for more than a few moments that I was watching a series online. Also I would like to thank @ChineseDramaFan for their review as it included what the character names meant which gave it an added treat as to the irony of their characterizations.
This is a series that reminds me of the following quote: "...We are star stuff, we are the universe, made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective..." And while the murder mysteries were in fact cut and dry thanks largely to the evidence presented, the characters being human are not. There's elements of good and evil, right and wrong, and a whole lot of gray area in all of the characters in this show. Because of this gray area, it strongly allowed for personal interpretation and personal attachments based on emotional chords. Case in point Madam Hei Wu (played by Peng Bo). While he came off like the stereotypical bitter queen of Western Archetypes, in judging that book by it's cover I learned how wrong I was about his attitude and that in spite of his bitter veneer underneath he was nothing more than a misunderstood compassionate healer spurned by the stereotyping society dished in his direction.
While not spoiling anything really, I have to say that I was surprised that not all the facts were presented until the end and because of this, I'm reminded of another quote I love seeing in action in shows (like this one), "...you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view..." I skimmed some of the other reviews and them requesting another season for this show, and I find myself in disagreement with the sentiment. Sometimes leaving something to the imagination of the viewer is better than explaining it in a second season. This being no exception of that rule.
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