Who Is He (2023)

The hunt for a serial killer.

Who is He is an intensely gripping police procedural that narrates the hunt for a serial killer that evaded justice for decades. It draws inspiration from two well known, real life cases - the 1988 Gansu serial killer case and the 1996 Nanjing University dismemberment case. These investigations were hampered by a lack of access to modern forensic technology, especially DNA evidence. The brutality and horror of these cases instilled national shock and outrage. For those following the heinous Abby Choi case in Hong Kong, the dismemberment case invokes chilling parallels.

During the hunt for a serial killer in 1988, Wei Guoping comes within a hairsbreadth of capturing him. In a close encounter, Guoping saves the intended victim Nie Xiaoyi but loses his partner. He has survivor's remorse and the case continues to cast a shadow over his existence long after it goes cold. Eight years later, he is convinced that the 1988 killer has resurfaced in the shocking Nanjing University dismemberment case.. His peers and superiors however are concerned that his rushed conclusion could steer the investigation down the wrong path. The drama dives into the inner workings of the department and how they collaborate and resolve internal conflict. It shows us that there are many ways to skin a cat and internal debate is healthy and produces a more rigorous process with defensible chain of evidence, and effective witness and suspect testimony.

This drama does a fantastic job zooming in on the procedural aspects of an investigation from the thankless, painstaking and smelly task of collecting and analyzing evidence to effective (and not so effective) methods of interviewing persons of interest. Without modern forensic technology, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack and can span decades. The show's meticulous attention to detail and commitment to vivid realism makes it stand out in the genre. The uncanny simillarity in the dumpster dive scenes to real footage from the recent Abby Choi case adds another layer of intrigue and sense of real life horror. There is an everpresent sense of urgency and suspense that is captured by highlighting the terror of the witnesses, survivors and the afflicted communities. The audience is also kept invested by dramatising the character aspects of the investigative teams and how unsolved cases can haunt key members of the investigative team.

The character writing and portrayals are among the drama's strongest aspects. Zhang Yi delivers yet another exceptional performance as a hard core detective single-mindedly focused on hunting down the 1988 killer. His Wei Guoping is a much less perfect character than An Xin (from The Knockout), which makes him more interesting and relatable. I loved how Gu Kaiyan calmly puts him in his place, asserts her authority and earns his grudging respect. The rapier-like way she breaks down and corners a suspect in interrogation is insanely awesome. Xu Fangyi steals the show with this riveting portrayal of a cooly logical and formidable female cop. The unique mixture of camaraderie, conflict and attraction between Wei Guoping, Song Zhe and Gu Kaiyan really made the team dynamics fun to watch.

Where the drama falters is in plot. This is somewhat unavoidable as the underlying cases are true crimes where major breakthroughs were only achieved with the help of DNA, which is ultimately anti-climatic. Maybe it would have been better if they went with something similar to Netflix's wildly successful serial killer docu-drama format rather than to try to dramatise it. The less interesting crime syndicate arc with the overused "forbidden" romance with a gangster's sister trope grew bigger than itself in the final third of the drama. Logic holes emerged and there were simply too many coincidences to force disparate cases to converge. The antagonists' motives in particular were contrived and in the Gansu case, deviates too markedly from the profile of the real serial killer. This may have been one of the reasons it was so harshly criticised by Chinese audiences. Because of well written protagonists and all around strong acting, I don't think this was that bad of a drama although it did not live up to its early promise. As a fan of the genre, I still enjoyed this well enough and rate it 7.5/10.0

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