Murder Diary (2021)

Would have been better if it didn't leave so much unresolved

This is probably one of the more unique series from Hong Kong's TVB in recent years. It's pretty solid in many ways, but roughly halfway through the series, it gets unnecessarily complicated and leaves too much unresolved (the "cliffhanger" for a Season 2 starts way too early for the ending to be satisfactory.

The series adopts an unconventional approach to several conventional elements. In a way, it is a series about a serial killer and also a detective series that has several mysteries. It is also about mental illness. The unconventional approach: the identity of the serial killer is revealed surprisingly early, and he is also caught but we are kept guessing if he might be the main villain of the series. There is no single straightforward detective figure--even the serial killer is at one point one of the detective figures. And there is a surprising load of mental illnesses featured in the series, with various characters suffering from them at some point, including the (apparently/likely) good guys. It's not the same old "killer with multiple personality disorder" plot for sure.

It seems, unfortunately, that the HK audience has not taken very well to the series, finding it confusing. Actually it is not confusing--perhaps the ending is a tad confusing because it deliberately leaves major questions unanswered, but it is quite easy to follow most of the time. To me, the problem is that, halfway through the series, that narrative trajectory suddenly splits into several mysteries (as though the series itself is getting a sort of multiple personality disorder). It isn't confusing, but it is quite a risky way of telling the story. It demands patience from the audience, and the fact that some of the mysteries do not get solved by the last episode may upset those who patiently follow the series.

If there's anything that makes the series worth expending patience on, it's Kara Hui and the character she plays. Her performance is remarkable throughout in her role as someone with schizophrenia. She convincingly portrays a pitiful victim of mental illness, a fiercely loving mother afraid that she would harm her children but also willing to go to extremes to protect them, and even a person with a somewhat sinister and menacing presence at times, all in one character. She has to be convincing as a victim and as someone who might just be playing the victim at the same time. It's a very difficult role to handle, especially when she is a character who has secrets right to the very end: if she overdoes one facet of the character, the overall effect would be compromised.

I was also interested in how the police would be portrayed in the series, given the controversy surrounding the HK police since 2019. Glamorizing the police would perhaps make people upset while an overly negative portrayal may cause the series to be more politically provocative than it wants to be. The portrayal turns out to be somewhere in between. Some of the police characters are flawed and self-centered, but they can also be smart and competent. I don't see any overt political messages, just a number of complex characters motivated by different things.

I still feel a little cheated that so many things brought in so early in the series do not find closure by the last episode and there's no promise of a sequel. But the series is also intriguing enough to keep me watching.

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