XiaoQing
Highly recommended to those who are looking for more grounded, bleak and R-rated stories
This is my first Light on Series drama, so I can't compare it to any other and I'm reviewing it as a standalone work. I liked this drama so much that I'm going to check out the others soon.
The Long Night follows two different timelines spanning a decade, revolving around a series of interconnected crimes.
The present-day (2010) timeline sees detectives Yan Liang, Ren Yueting and others deal with a puzzling murder case that has its roots in another case from the previous decade, that saw procurator Jiang Yang trying to right the wrongs done to a friend. The second timeline follows Jiang Yang himself and his story. The two timelines come together in the end, culminating in a spectacular finale, with plenty of shocking turns and emotional moments.
This is a bleak story about injustices and a group of people determined to stand up for those who were wronged. It's also a story about those people's faith in their ideals and their dedication to pursue justice by (ab)using the law and the judicial system as a means to do it.
The bleakness of the reality depicted is reflected in the grim and washed out visuals and the joyless, unembellished environments. The theme of "longing for a ray of sunlight" is strong throughout the story and comes from the words of the characters themselves. But for the majority of this story, there is no sunlight for them. Only cloudy skies and darkness.
One of the strongest points of this drama is definitely the acting, which is solid on all fronts. The cast is phenomenal. The realism of the sets, which are accurate to the time period(s) and adjust to the passing of the years, draws you into the story. This drama has a movie-quality look overall.
Finally, this review won't be complete if I didn't mention the small flaws that are the reason I'm not giving it a 10/10 score. I think some of the flashback sequences in the early-to-mid episodes weren't as strong as the present-day ones and dragged a little. In those episodes, I didn't find Jiang Yang's story as fascinating to follow as the present-day lead Yan Liang's, so I sometimes fast-forwarded through the flashbacks. I also think the present-day storyline is enriched by supporting characters Iike Ren Yueting, Zhang Xiaoqian and Gu Yiming while the past storyline has weaker supporting characters. However, this changes as the past storyline moves closer to the present and the two stories become more and more intertwined.
I don't think I'm going to rewatch this drama any time soon. I see it as a one-time, very depressing yet so enthralling must-see experience that is best enjoyed once. And the mind-blowing effect of the reveals only works once, after all.
The Long Night follows two different timelines spanning a decade, revolving around a series of interconnected crimes.
The present-day (2010) timeline sees detectives Yan Liang, Ren Yueting and others deal with a puzzling murder case that has its roots in another case from the previous decade, that saw procurator Jiang Yang trying to right the wrongs done to a friend. The second timeline follows Jiang Yang himself and his story. The two timelines come together in the end, culminating in a spectacular finale, with plenty of shocking turns and emotional moments.
This is a bleak story about injustices and a group of people determined to stand up for those who were wronged. It's also a story about those people's faith in their ideals and their dedication to pursue justice by (ab)using the law and the judicial system as a means to do it.
The bleakness of the reality depicted is reflected in the grim and washed out visuals and the joyless, unembellished environments. The theme of "longing for a ray of sunlight" is strong throughout the story and comes from the words of the characters themselves. But for the majority of this story, there is no sunlight for them. Only cloudy skies and darkness.
One of the strongest points of this drama is definitely the acting, which is solid on all fronts. The cast is phenomenal. The realism of the sets, which are accurate to the time period(s) and adjust to the passing of the years, draws you into the story. This drama has a movie-quality look overall.
Finally, this review won't be complete if I didn't mention the small flaws that are the reason I'm not giving it a 10/10 score. I think some of the flashback sequences in the early-to-mid episodes weren't as strong as the present-day ones and dragged a little. In those episodes, I didn't find Jiang Yang's story as fascinating to follow as the present-day lead Yan Liang's, so I sometimes fast-forwarded through the flashbacks. I also think the present-day storyline is enriched by supporting characters Iike Ren Yueting, Zhang Xiaoqian and Gu Yiming while the past storyline has weaker supporting characters. However, this changes as the past storyline moves closer to the present and the two stories become more and more intertwined.
I don't think I'm going to rewatch this drama any time soon. I see it as a one-time, very depressing yet so enthralling must-see experience that is best enjoyed once. And the mind-blowing effect of the reveals only works once, after all.
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