After having watched so many Xian xia dramas I needed to watch something completely different something that would get me really thrilled just like when I watched « The disguiser ».
« Autumn Cicada » became the drama I obviously needed to watch, mainly because of the actors.
From the very first episode, you know exactly what you’re going to get : spy games, bloodshed and heroism. « I wow to strive all my life for Communism. The Party interest prevails anything else. I will never yield, never become a treator » these are the words of Shanghai communist underground’s leader before shooting himself in the head on December 1941.
Autumn Cicada, undercower Japanese Major Ye Chong, has just arrived in Hong Kong while the Chinese communist underground in Hong Kong has to be reorganized. Japanese forces are blowing up the Communist Party ; activists are left with no leader. Who to contact in Hong Kong for Autumn Cicada to accomplish the mission he was supposed to be given? The « who is who game » starts and will really end on last episode !
At times when watching the drama, you may think that from both sides (Japanese intelligence officers and communist underground people) there is a lack of keen intelligence, so that actions tend to drag. Still, you really want to know who between Major Ye Chong and Major Miyamoto will have the last word…. These two characters keep us in suspense, the actors are so talented that it’s hard to take sides for either. Maybe that’s the reason why you keep watching the series ! Of course you can’t side with the Japanese but you can understand and support Miyamoto from a human and psychological point of view. After all, he only fulfills the tasks entrusted to him.
In this series, too much space is given to telegraph messages that one has to decipher or locate, espionage revolves a lot around that. The action and development of the story prevail over the relationships between the characters. This does not allow a good understanding of feelings between them or their psychology. Some characters are simple stereotypes or have no realistic basis. Take the example of Ye Chong’s brother : ask him anything, he can help. Yet he is not a magician nor a God! Ye Chong would have been helpless without him yet we know very little about him and his status, he is just another Ye Chong not knowing how to get in touch with Shanghai Communists underground . Anyhow the drama ends up stating : « This series is to commemorate every hero who fought in the war of anti-Facism. » That’s what we got ! Who cares about the script flaws ?
I like spy and republic era dramas especially when the action takes place in Shanghai, so right now I am thinking about watching « Sparrow » (a 2016 drama) I planed to watch long time ago...). Let’s go !