This espionage thriller about the making of a communist spy begins in 1936, a pivotal year in modern Chinese history for both then ruling Kuomintang and the rising Communist Party of China (CPC). The look and feel of this Republican era spy drama from the muted palette to the understated characters to the way even action scenes are shot is markedly different from its flamboyant, glamorous and absurdly bullet proof peer, The Disguiser. What I like about The Rebel is the realistic portrayal of spies who are much more like George Smiley than James Bond. None of the main characters have deep political or ideological convictions beyond a burning desire to expel the occupying Japanese forces from China, thus their allegiances and motives are easy to understand and relate to. The dumbing down of the competing ideologies and political factions of the day however gives the overall impression of a lack of substance that is at odds with how seriously this drama takes itself. And that is my biggest gripe: yes, those were chaotic, stressful and dark times and spying is a serious business but does it have to be so completely and utterly lacking in wit and humor?

The drama opens in a thrilling and suspenseful way with the arrest of a CPC operative by Chen Moqun, the head of the Shanghai district of the Fuxing Club, which is the Kuomintang's secret service. Together with his young protege Lin Nansheng, they use psychological warfare to turn him and use him to try to weed out the Mailman, a long hidden spy in their midst. Thus begins a chilling, suspenseful cat and mouse between two equally matched spymasters trying to out manoeuvre one another. This was by far the best arc of the drama, anchored by masterful performances by both Wang Yang (Chen Moqun) and Wang Zhiwen (Gu Shenyan). This is one of those rare dramas where the villains steal the show and on many levels they are more cunning, more ruthless and more capable than the protagonists. Chen Moqun is by far the, best most interesting character and the only one that is written with some humor - a complete sociopath, terrifyingly intelligent, flamboyant, suspicious, foolishly blinded by Lin Nansheng's competence, a surprisingly reluctant traitor and a wild party animal! Both lead actors are completely upstaged by the veteran actors for most of the drama.

I am a huge fan of Zhu Yilong and it is clear from how gaunt he looks and from the intensity of his acting that he really poured himself into this role. And he is a terrific actor so it is not to say that the role is not well acted, there are some really good moments. But overall Zhu Yilong delivers a cautious interpretation of the character and one that is not noticeably differentiated from his past roles. He has the most incredible, expressive eyes that together with the tiniest facial muscle movements, can convey an incredible range of emotions and in this case, way too many emotions. Zhu Yilong's interpretation of the character is more fitting for someone who accidentally and reluctantly becomes a spy but Lin Nansheng is a young man that voluntarily joins the spy academy and graduates practically at the top of his class - he should be more cold hearted and have a better poker face to begin with. As much as I appreciate seeing how events and relationships reshape his values and ideals over time into burning conviction, it is better to have to occasionally guess at his emotions rather than to see everything written all over his face. It is telling that later in the drama when he matures into a colder more inscrutable spy, they cover his eyes with tinted glasses to stop them from spewing his guts. His journey is portrayed as very lonely and intensely introspective; so much so that he doesn't seem to connect with most of the main characters. Thus when he mourns their loss, it doesn't always resonate.

Zhu Yizhen starts out as an archetypal character for this genre - a passionate young student CPC member that is perplexingly inspired by Leaves of Green, Walt Whitman's greatest, heavily democratic works. I don't mind the spy who loved me trope so I was really looking forward to watching her turn Lin Nansheng, recruit him and them work together as a kick ass spy team. But unfortunately it doesn't quite play out that way and she doesn't become the strong female lead character I was looking for. She remains pretty much a passionate, reckless amateur and damsel in distress that needs saving all the time. As much as I like that all of the CPC spies are written to be very fallible in the vein of John LeCarre's spies, she really takes the cake in terms of incompetence. What I find most unbelievable is she falls for the same grift twice! The only mission she manages to complete successfully is the final one. Tong Yao's portrayal of this character is textbook but bland and forgettable and her frequent blank stare with lips slightly parted gets really old very quickly. There is no spark between her and Lin Nansheng so I never bought into their rather pedestrian love story. Lin Nansheng's relationship with Lan Xinjie is deeper, far more complex, better developed from many dangerous missions and much more moving.

The first arc of this drama is everything you want a spy thriller to be. Each progressive arc is less good and they don't transition that well, leaving a feeling of anti-climax. The latter half becomes noticeably less tightly written and loses suspenseful intensity. Characters start popping up out of the blue from nowhere whenever someone needs to be rescued. Lin Nansheng's classmate has a particular knack for showing up at the right place at the right time. In order to advance the plot, many of the most important characters get dumbed down to be rather cursorily written off to make way for Lin Nansheng to step up. I didn't like how some of the best most interesting power dynamics between Chen Moqun, Gu Shenyan and Wang Shian fizzle out without coming to a climax, a moment of truth and closure. Thus when Lin Nansheng comes of age, he isn't even going up against truly worthy opponents and there is no psychological thrill. The last arc is the weakest, it is too long of a time jump, deviates into patriotic tropes, gratuitous sacrifices, leaves open threads and like most of the arcs, comes to an anti-climatic and very predictable end.

If I have to rate just the first arc of this drama, it is at least an 8.5 or a 9.0. Unfortunately the storytelling doesn't hold up and the second half is at best a 7.5-8.0. I really dislike dramas that fade at the back half so I rate this at 8.0-8.5. I would also note that I have read and watched a lot of amazing spy thrillers so I tend to be tougher on this genre.