Yes, this is a defense post. Don’t pay attention to the ratings. It just doesn’t do the drama justice. Whatever the reasons, considering how most people prefer soaps–or because of the time aired, those factors do not define the drama. Hey, they’re popular enough to have a sequel. Well, any drama could try to come up with a reason for the sequel. But this one is one of those well deserved. They actually circulated quite a number for their fanbase. Anyway, without further ado, here’s my list (in no particular order):
Not overly flooded with romances. Well, aside from the constant banter between Lei Gong and Yang Qian and the crush Xiao Xin had on Yang Qian, it wasn’t overly in your face type of thing. Unlike other cop/crime dramas that just wanted to put everything in and must match everyone up, especially the main leads so perfectly (rolling eyes here). Tou Mu also had his sweetheart (who died tragically), but again, it wasn’t like overwhelming with focusing on romances all the time. And how could anyone forget Xiao Gao’s cute relationship with the hacker?
Case by case. Hey, what I loved about it was managing to pull one episode per case, except for the last case but that was understandable. It seemed simple, but it was like how the U.S. version of CSI that I had watched (unless there were big cases that needed more time). Also, similar to some Japanese crime shows I’ve seen. They didn’t need 5 episodes or more to get the point across. Sometimes cases in real life aren’t that complicated so these reflect that. Some cases were more intriguing than others.
They didn’t dwell on personal matters. Yes, I know we all love seeing our favorite characters having more time. But I think they managed to do it just right. We, the viewers, learn stuff about the characters–whether small details or more complicated ones, but it wasn’t in our faces all the time, distracting us from the cases. I know people have lives and it’s more real that way in a sense (if you want to argue for those dramas kept dragging on and on about personal stuff), but I rather they focused on the case for the majority of the time. So this show had done that just fine. We know Xiao Gao owns a cat, Lei Gong loves plants, Jing Ling has a little brother, Professor Yang and his daughter aren’t that uptight like most drama would portray of strained relationships with family members and how other dramas like to drag out, and other cute quirks other characters have through their interactions during the cases. But for the most part, it wasn’t dragged out. We just know.
The cast chosen. I think this is most important, even if I didn’t put it first. But like I said before, it wasn’t about the ordering, but more like my brain buzzing too much so had to tackle one at a time. Some people might not agree with cast selection, but I felt the team was perfect. I will admit that I came in wanting to watch Dou Hua Mei for the most part. Not sure how the others would fit into the roles yet I didn’t have problems with the main cast. So I dived in. I ended up loving the team for their randomness and how each character had their own story and quirks–without making it too much. They also had great chemistry with one another. Their togetherness made the team even more convincing. Although they do get into disagreements, they learned something else about one another and learned to move on.
They didn’t glamorize everything. Yeah, I know with HD age and all and how other dramas, they always splashed around the royal feeling OR trying to lure us in with it. Well, it made sense because of the theme. But nowadays, some stations just aren’t thinking and just want to pretty up everything, making it unrealistic. Aside from the hi-tech that might or might not reflect real-life stuff with police resources (which I do understand why they needed to upgrade everything to make it more interesting), the majority didn’t try to just splash the fanciness around.
*All images were captured by DTLCT.