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Review: SCI Mystery (SCI 謎案集) (2018)
This show was A LOT OF FUN. I'd kind of been disillusioned by idol dramas so I wasn't really expecting much when I started this show, but it turned out to be pretty fun!
I enjoyed this show for what it was. Just a cheesy bromance buddy cop show. The mysteries were normal (not great but they were passable) and there were moments of cringe acting or awkward placement. But the show made up for it with how not-seriously it took itself.
Spoilers and as usual, no editing XD
I came into this show expecting something like Guardian but without the supernatural aspect. After all, both are buddy cop bromances based on BL novels. But I think SCI Mystery never took itself too seriously and the fact that it was a contemporary story made it easier on the production side.
Story
This season covered five main mysteries. While it wasn't the procedural format that I was used to in Western cop shows, there was still a bit of uniformity (in the fact that each episode was about 5 episodes and did not "bleed" into one another), which made the show less of a mess than Guardian was.
There were a lot of twists and turns to each story, but I didn't find them too distracting. Dramas with higher budgets could probably afford to have simpler mysteries because they would likely have the budget to film more interesting scenes or cast more skilled actors. However, SCI Mystery didn't have this luxury, so their twists and turns were the main draws to the mysteries, and I think they did well to keep me at least paying attention to the show.
There was a lot of hypnotism magic in this show, but I will forgive it because it wasn't used all the time.
I very recently found out that the webnovel that SCI Mystery was based on was actually a fanfiction of a fanfiction based on a piece of literature from the 1800s called The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, which is one of the many novels featuring Bao Zheng. For background Bao Zheng was a politician during the Song Dynasty, but he became the main character of countless mystery stories throughout history. The two main characters, Zhan Yao and Bai Yutong, were originally called Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and were two characters from The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants.
Originally, I thought this was just a light-hearted cop webnovel (which it is), but knowing that it was a fanfiction of another piece of literature seemed to give the characters a bit more depth (though only for those who care enough about the original story to read more about it). It also kind of justifies some of the random things in the show, like why Zhan Yao is called a cat and Bai Yutong is called a mouse (they were referred to by these nicknames in 7H5G). And of course, many of the supporting characters are based on the characters from the original novel, such as Bao Sir being an interpretation of Bao Zheng.
After I found out that the story was a fanfiction, I kind of had more fun with it. Maybe it's because I'm a big fan of AU fanfiction and SCI Mystery is one, although I don't know the source material very well.
Fanfiction aside, I thought the story was eventful enough to keep me interested. The light-heartedness of the story was well suited to the production value (i.e. this wasn't a low budget drama trying to tell an epic story *cough*Guardian*cough*).
At the end of episode 24, after the credits, we saw a clip of Zhan Yao stepping into the symbol, making a blood sacrifice, and doing the shush gesture that Zhao Jue seemed to use to hypnotize his victims. The mental struggle between Zhan Yao and Zhao Jue was an overarching theme in this show. While Zhao Jue was only really relevant in the first mystery, he was a looming character who constantly pushed for Zhan Yao to come to the dark side and to use his psychology and hypnosis skills to achieve power. Zhao Jue ran off by the end of the show, and the show even implied that there would be a second season. Mydramalist says that season 2 is coming out in 2020, but I wouldn't bet on that. In any case, Zhao Jue is going to be the Red John to Zhan Yao's Patrick Jane (anyone get my Mentalist reference?).
Writing
Relationships
The main pairing was Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao and while they were supposed to mortal enemies since birth, they were actually more of a bromance. Throughout the show, they didn't have any major relationships issues or angst, which was excellent. I'm the kind of person who hates relationship angst.
The relationship between Gongsun Zhe and Bai Qingtang was super not okay, but was also the only heterosexual and thus canonically confirmed relationship in the show. Bai Qingtang expressed a lot of stalkerish behaviour and wouldn't take no for an answer from Gongsun. In addition, she was supposed to be a tough woman, but she clearly melted into a puddle when around Gongsun, which I felt was bad writing in general.
Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi were kind of a side pairing in this show, but you know, they were pretty cute. Zhao Zhen was supposed to be a bit flamboyant and Bai Chi was the clueless boy, but both of the actors didn't overdo their roles too much and I thought the outcome was something more subtle.
I think it's implied that Ma Han is bisexual, considering the fact that one of the ladies in the third mystery was absolutely enamoured with her and thought she was the coolest cat ever lol. I actually came to think that crush was kind of cute. Later on I think that Ma Han had a bit of a crush on Feng Jie. So I think it's kind of implied that she's bisexual.
I also thought there was going to be an unrequited love story line based on that time Ma Han got "told off" by Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao and Jiang Ling taunted her for it (something like the Zhu Hong story line in Guardian). But I'm glad to find out that it was NOT what that was (*phew*).
Main focus
One of the things that this show really had going for it was that most of the screentime was devoted to the two main characters, Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao. Most of the viewers are probably coming into this show looking for eye candy and bromance, and the directors gave it to them.
Compare that with Guardian, where we spent a lot of time watching villains or one-off characters with poor acting skills that we did not care at all about and made that show unwatchable.
Production
Set in Hong Kong
The first thing I noticed about this show was the fact that it was supposed to be set in Hong Kong. They got some things right, but as someone who visits Hong Kong regularly, there were also some things that still made this feel like a Mainland Chinese drama. I read that the original webnovel only stated that the story was set in S City, so this was a choice made by th screenwriters. The final results was something that felt like a Mainland Chinese interpretation of what Hong Kong was like. It wasn't terrible though. It was actually a bit cute.
Some of the things that stuck out as being Hong Kong-ish were:
- Vehicles - Taxis, police cars, ambulances, etc.
- The officers greeted their bosses with "Sir" or "Madam" after their surname, which is something that happens a lot in Hong Kong, both within the workplace and when civilians address officers.
- Some of the landscapes did make me feel like Hong Kong, such as the mountains covered with trees.
Some of the things that stuck out as being NOT Hong Kong-ish were:
- Everybody speaking Mandarin. People mostly speak Cantonese in Hong Kong.
- Some of the surnames are incredibly uncommon in Hong Kong. But knowing that this show was based on older literature set elsewhere, I'd let that go.
Awkward placement and movement
This is something that I notice a lot with idol dramas and other low budget dramas.
Near the beginning of the show, I remember seeing a really awkward interaction, where Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao were stopped from entering the prison. Bao Sir presented documentation to the security guards and they were let in. This was extremely unnecessary because it contributed nothing to the plot. In the same prison, security guards were watching Zhao Jue draw something in his prison cell through the monitor, when they were sitting right outside his cell. I get that the director probably wanted a scene with the guards watching through the screen, but it was hard to believe that they'd look there first as opposed to directly at the screen.
Costumes
The costume budget was low, but all the characters wore something that suited them, kind of like how cartoon characters wear the same clothes every episode.
Zhan Yao was always wearing a trenchcoat and either a suit or turtleneck underneath. Bai Yutong was always wearing completely white. Zhao Fu and Wang Shao were just in normal clothes though Wang Shao normally had a hat on. Jiang Ling was usually in more casual clothes including jeans because she usually worked in the office. Now, for Ma Han, the first thing I noticed was that NO COP would be waring what she was wearing. Shorts? In this economy? Anyway, I just came to accept that it was part of her character and it basically didn't bother me by the end of the show lmao.
Dubbing
The dubbing was pretty bad for this show. A lot of the time, it didn't match the actors' mouth movements.
I think a lot of the actual script was heavily edited through dubbing because of censorship. It seemes that the actors had acted out the characters with the names Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and this was corrected in dubbing. In addition, there were a few scenes in which Bai Yutong called Zhan Zhao "mao" (cat) but that was replaced with something else.
There were many scenes with foreigners speaking English and other languages, but a lot of them were pretty gruelling to get through and had poor pronunciation.
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes footage would be shown during the credits scene. I only started watching these around episode 15, after I'd started bonding with the characters, and then I went back to the older episodes to watch those behind the scenes footage. I admit they were pretty cute, especially since the vibe of the show was already light-hearted to begin with.
Something I noticed a lot in the behind the scenes footage was that the director(?) seemed to really love demonstrating what Bai Qingtang had to do in her romantic scenes with Gongsun Zhe, or what other female characters had to do. It was kind of funny but also a little awkward?
Characters
Bai Yutong
Bai Yutong was supposed to be the rash one of the duo, but he was also more capable of taking care of himself, both in terms of fighting and in terms of everyday things like cooking and doing chores.
He didn't have much of a character arc in this show, and most of his struggles were due to him solving both personal and work-related problems with Zhan Yao.
In the behind the scenes footage, it seemed like Kido Gao was a pretty rambunctious guy, so I think he probably suited Bai Yutong's role, though the actor definitely seemed to smile a lot more than the character.
Zhan Yao
Zhan Yao was the intellectual, and constantly butted heads with Bai Yutong about psychology's role in capturing serial killers. However, he and Bai Yutong tended to agree on a middle ground between brute force and using wits to track down their culprits.
Zhan Yao did also have an ongoing character arc between him and Zhao Jue. Zhan Yao and Bai Yutong overheard a conversation between Zhan Yao's father and Zhao Jue that implied that Zhan Yao actually might've been Zhao Jue's son. That was not confirmed, but we obviously see there was an intellectual connection between Zhan Yao and Zhao Jue. They understood each other's methods, but where they differed was that Zhan Yao only ever intended on using his knowledge to catch the bad guys, whereas Zhao Jue wanted to be more of a vigilante. In one of their conversations, Zhan Yo said that Zhao Jue probably didn't consider himself a serial murderer because he didn't consider his victims to be people.
The teaser at the end of the show implied that Zhan Yao would go to the dark side, but I hope that we weren't supposed to take it too literally. I think that perhaps we can just expect that Zhan Yao and Zhao Jue would be engaging in more intellectual battles, but Bai Yutong would probably be there to ground Zhan Yao every time.
Gongsun Zhe
Gongsun Zhe was the doctor in the SCI team. He was supposed to be super cool but honestly I didn't love his character. Maybe it was because his romance with Bai Qingtang really grinded my gears, so I just couldn't take him seriously as a character.
Bai Qingtang
There was so much wrong with Bai Qingtang. I wish I didn't hate her character but I thought she was super annoying.
When we first met her, she was pretty forceful. Not that it was bad, but it was something that made her less agreeable to other characters and was perhaps something that she could learn to use with more tact throughout the show.
She fell in love with Gongsun Zhe soon after they met, and she was very stalker-ish around him. She confessed her feelings to him and he rejected her, but she wouldn't let go. Gongsun Zhe had a meal with a female friend and Bai Qingtang had the gall to be all "how dare you do this to me after I confessed my feelings to you," like he owed it to try to be with her even though he already said he wasn't interested.
Bai Qingtang basically kept butting into Gongsun Zhe's life, and that's how he "fell in love" with her. Anyway, super problematic.
In terms of who Bai Qingtang was, she was supposedly a cop, but that was completely unnecessary, as she barely did any cop duties throughout the show. It would've worked better if she'd just taken over the family business (that Bai Yutong refused to associate with).
In summary, Bai Qingtang was the most problematic character in this show, and I had a headache any time she came around.
Bai Chi
In my had, I still inadvertently call him 白癡. I just can't help it lmao.
Bai Chi was Bai Yutong's younger cousin, but cousins whose fathers are brothers are considered "closer" by blood, so he could technically call Bai Yutong and Bai Qingtang his "tangge" and "tangjie."
Bai Chi was a very timid guy, but was also supposed to be super smart. Bai Yutong, being a brute, was not the person to bring out his true potential, so it was usually Zhan Yao who encouraged him to pursue intellectual challenges.
Bai Chi also had a budding relationship with Zhao Zhen, and in episode 24 he said that he moved in with Zhao Zhen to take care of him.
I'd seen the actor for Bai Chi in a few shows now. He's just one of those supporting actors who keeps popping up everywhere. Anyway, I thought that he did an alright job of portraying a timid character without making him a total pushover.
Wang Shao
Wang Shao was one of the SCI team members. Usually more of a chill guy and a jokester.
Zhao Fu
Zhao Fu was another of the SCI team members. He was supposed to be more cool than Wang Shao, but obviously not as cool as Bai Yutong or Zhan Yao. It was implied that he ended up in a relationship with Qi Le.
Jiang Ling
Jiang Ling was our techie. You know, I thought that her styling was actually pretty cute and casual. The show didn't go for the "sexy nerd" and instead went for the "poor sleeping habits nerd."
Ma Han
She was our cool girl. As I mentioned above, the first thing I noticed when I saw her was SHORTS which is very not appropriate attire for a cop, because shorts generally aren't professional attire and also because I'm the kind of person who feels physically unsafe with more skin showing out (what happens if someone throws a burning match or a hot pan at me???).
Funnily enough, Ma Han was also kind of the muscle of the team. We know that she's an excellent sniper, but we also see her going into dangerous situations with confidence.
Commissioner Bao
I was PRETTY SURPRISED when we first saw Commissioner Bao because the actor is someone who usually plays uncle characters in Hong Kong dramas. By uncle characters I mean dudes who play like tax drivers or people who are up to no good. He's rarely in a cool protagonist role, so this was new. Good for him.
He was Bai Yutong's boss. Originally I thought he might be a bad guy since it seemed he was purposely hiding information from SCI about Zhao Jue. But over the course of the show we find out that he was not as shady as I initially thought. In addition, after I found out that he was the stand in for Bao Zheng, I figured there was NO WAY he was supposed to be a bad guy.
We also found out that he used to be in a task force with Bai Yutong's dad and Zhao Jue. He'd worked closely with Zhao Jue and that was why he was so wary of him.
At times, Commissioner Bao was like Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao's work dad. First of all, he made Bai Yutong move in with him lmao. But he also kind of used their egos and competitive natures against each other to bring out their true potential. There was a scene when Commission Bao acted super mad at Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao and as soon as they turned around Commissioner Bao smiled because he kind of forced them to work together.
Feng Jie
Feng Jie was Bai Yutong's old classmate from the police academy, and was later involved in the Tutsi case. He was seeking revenge on the man who killed his girlfriend.
Lan Chenglin
At first he was introduced as an asshole rival to Bai Yutong, but he was not as involved as I'd expected. I thought he'd be popping up in every episode as an annoying obstacle to Bai Yutong, and then they'd finally get to take him down at the very end, but he only appeared in the final case where he was shot dead after taking Zhan Yao and Luo Yang hostage.
Da Ding & Xiao Ding
They were Bai Qingtang's twin bodyguards. It turns out there were twin heros surnamed Ding in the Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, so that's where their names come from.
Instead of being the stereotypical cool bodyguards, they were actually a little silly, getting into arguments, and also getting their identities mixed up (they'd argue over who was the elder and who was the younger).
Zhao Zhen
He was Zhao Jue's nephew, but they didn't really interact much during the show. Zhao Zhen first came into the picture when Bai Yutong, Zhan Yao, and Bai Chi attended his magic show. He was later involved when a victim showed up during one of his acts. He also served as a consultant for SCI when it came to illusions and magical symbols.
Zhao Zhen happened to see Zhan Yao getting picked up by a sketchy looking taxi and that was how Bai Yutong found out he'd been kidnapped. Extremely convenient, but I'm not even mad.
Zhao Zhen also teased Bai Chi throughout the show, but it was later implied that they became a couple, since Bai Chi had moved in with him to take care of him.
Zhao Jue
Zhao Jue was the big bad of the show without actually having done anything. In the first case, he met Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao for the first time, and already showed a fascination with Zhan Yao. He was broken out of jail later in that episode.
He wasn't involved in the next few cases, but he did show himself to Zhan Yao from time to time, tempting him to use hypnosis skills to achieve his true potential.
Zhao Jue came back into the picture in the last case, when he told Zhan Yao to contact him if he needed help. Zhan Yao did eventually get his help to hypnotize a witness to get information out of him, and after that, Zhao Jue promptly dipped.
It was not confirmed whether Zhao Jue was actually Zhan Yao's father, but I think there's like a 50% chance that he is. We don't know much about Zhan Yao's mother or anything else about his family though, so things will clear up next season (whenever it comes).
Qi Le
Qi Le was the sister of one of the murderers/victims in the second case and it was implied that she ended up dating Zhao Fu.
Luo Yang
Luo Yang was an orphan whom Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao befriended during their last case. He was the victim of an illegal experiment that sought to turn people into killing machines, but he got out along with Luo Tian.
Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao took care of him for a while until Luo Tian got better and officially adopted him.
Comparison to other BL adaptations
My hot take is that SCI Mystery was a more enjoyable adaptation of a BL novel than Guardian and maybe even the Untamed.
I personally am not a big fan of grand romances, so the angst between Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji and Zhao Yunlan/Shen Wei was not my cup of tea. It was alright, but I preferred the lighthearted domestic and steady relationship that we had between Bai Yutong/Zhan Yao.
I also felt that the characters in SCI Mystery were less tropey. Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao were character archetypes, but they just didn't feel so exaggerated. Maybe it was because they were in a contemporary setting, and they weren't dealing with life or death situations that accentuated certain character traits and made the characters seem more stuck in their ways.
I mentioned this above, but one of the areas where this show succeeded over Guardian was the fact that most of its screentime was spent on the two main leads. We're all here for pretty boys and bromances so let's not pretend that we care about a tight plot, alright.
SCI Mystery took place in a contemporary setting, whereas the Untamed was a fantasy Xianxia setting and Guardian was a supernatural setting. SCI Mystery did have its share of bad CGI, but it wasn't as important as it was in, say, Guardian which was about aliens and monsters and the like. So there was a lot less of laughably bad CGI.
The low episode count also made this show easier to digest. I bet you Guardian could've conveyed the same story in 24 episodes as well. I can't say the same for the Untamed because that did follow the webnovel story line which is pretty intricate and detailed.
Overall
Overall, I enjoyed this show a lot! I obviously don't think this is top tier TV, but it fulfilled its job of being a light-hearted bromance that didn't take itself too seriously. It also had a low episode count which made the entire show more easily digestible.
I enjoyed this show for what it was. Just a cheesy bromance buddy cop show. The mysteries were normal (not great but they were passable) and there were moments of cringe acting or awkward placement. But the show made up for it with how not-seriously it took itself.
Spoilers and as usual, no editing XD
I came into this show expecting something like Guardian but without the supernatural aspect. After all, both are buddy cop bromances based on BL novels. But I think SCI Mystery never took itself too seriously and the fact that it was a contemporary story made it easier on the production side.
Story
This season covered five main mysteries. While it wasn't the procedural format that I was used to in Western cop shows, there was still a bit of uniformity (in the fact that each episode was about 5 episodes and did not "bleed" into one another), which made the show less of a mess than Guardian was.
There were a lot of twists and turns to each story, but I didn't find them too distracting. Dramas with higher budgets could probably afford to have simpler mysteries because they would likely have the budget to film more interesting scenes or cast more skilled actors. However, SCI Mystery didn't have this luxury, so their twists and turns were the main draws to the mysteries, and I think they did well to keep me at least paying attention to the show.
There was a lot of hypnotism magic in this show, but I will forgive it because it wasn't used all the time.
I very recently found out that the webnovel that SCI Mystery was based on was actually a fanfiction of a fanfiction based on a piece of literature from the 1800s called The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, which is one of the many novels featuring Bao Zheng. For background Bao Zheng was a politician during the Song Dynasty, but he became the main character of countless mystery stories throughout history. The two main characters, Zhan Yao and Bai Yutong, were originally called Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and were two characters from The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants.
Originally, I thought this was just a light-hearted cop webnovel (which it is), but knowing that it was a fanfiction of another piece of literature seemed to give the characters a bit more depth (though only for those who care enough about the original story to read more about it). It also kind of justifies some of the random things in the show, like why Zhan Yao is called a cat and Bai Yutong is called a mouse (they were referred to by these nicknames in 7H5G). And of course, many of the supporting characters are based on the characters from the original novel, such as Bao Sir being an interpretation of Bao Zheng.
After I found out that the story was a fanfiction, I kind of had more fun with it. Maybe it's because I'm a big fan of AU fanfiction and SCI Mystery is one, although I don't know the source material very well.
Fanfiction aside, I thought the story was eventful enough to keep me interested. The light-heartedness of the story was well suited to the production value (i.e. this wasn't a low budget drama trying to tell an epic story *cough*Guardian*cough*).
At the end of episode 24, after the credits, we saw a clip of Zhan Yao stepping into the symbol, making a blood sacrifice, and doing the shush gesture that Zhao Jue seemed to use to hypnotize his victims. The mental struggle between Zhan Yao and Zhao Jue was an overarching theme in this show. While Zhao Jue was only really relevant in the first mystery, he was a looming character who constantly pushed for Zhan Yao to come to the dark side and to use his psychology and hypnosis skills to achieve power. Zhao Jue ran off by the end of the show, and the show even implied that there would be a second season. Mydramalist says that season 2 is coming out in 2020, but I wouldn't bet on that. In any case, Zhao Jue is going to be the Red John to Zhan Yao's Patrick Jane (anyone get my Mentalist reference?).
Writing
Relationships
The main pairing was Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao and while they were supposed to mortal enemies since birth, they were actually more of a bromance. Throughout the show, they didn't have any major relationships issues or angst, which was excellent. I'm the kind of person who hates relationship angst.
The relationship between Gongsun Zhe and Bai Qingtang was super not okay, but was also the only heterosexual and thus canonically confirmed relationship in the show. Bai Qingtang expressed a lot of stalkerish behaviour and wouldn't take no for an answer from Gongsun. In addition, she was supposed to be a tough woman, but she clearly melted into a puddle when around Gongsun, which I felt was bad writing in general.
Zhao Zhen and Bai Chi were kind of a side pairing in this show, but you know, they were pretty cute. Zhao Zhen was supposed to be a bit flamboyant and Bai Chi was the clueless boy, but both of the actors didn't overdo their roles too much and I thought the outcome was something more subtle.
I think it's implied that Ma Han is bisexual, considering the fact that one of the ladies in the third mystery was absolutely enamoured with her and thought she was the coolest cat ever lol. I actually came to think that crush was kind of cute. Later on I think that Ma Han had a bit of a crush on Feng Jie. So I think it's kind of implied that she's bisexual.
I also thought there was going to be an unrequited love story line based on that time Ma Han got "told off" by Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao and Jiang Ling taunted her for it (something like the Zhu Hong story line in Guardian). But I'm glad to find out that it was NOT what that was (*phew*).
Main focus
One of the things that this show really had going for it was that most of the screentime was devoted to the two main characters, Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao. Most of the viewers are probably coming into this show looking for eye candy and bromance, and the directors gave it to them.
Compare that with Guardian, where we spent a lot of time watching villains or one-off characters with poor acting skills that we did not care at all about and made that show unwatchable.
Production
Set in Hong Kong
The first thing I noticed about this show was the fact that it was supposed to be set in Hong Kong. They got some things right, but as someone who visits Hong Kong regularly, there were also some things that still made this feel like a Mainland Chinese drama. I read that the original webnovel only stated that the story was set in S City, so this was a choice made by th screenwriters. The final results was something that felt like a Mainland Chinese interpretation of what Hong Kong was like. It wasn't terrible though. It was actually a bit cute.
Some of the things that stuck out as being Hong Kong-ish were:
- Vehicles - Taxis, police cars, ambulances, etc.
- The officers greeted their bosses with "Sir" or "Madam" after their surname, which is something that happens a lot in Hong Kong, both within the workplace and when civilians address officers.
- Some of the landscapes did make me feel like Hong Kong, such as the mountains covered with trees.
Some of the things that stuck out as being NOT Hong Kong-ish were:
- Everybody speaking Mandarin. People mostly speak Cantonese in Hong Kong.
- Some of the surnames are incredibly uncommon in Hong Kong. But knowing that this show was based on older literature set elsewhere, I'd let that go.
Awkward placement and movement
This is something that I notice a lot with idol dramas and other low budget dramas.
Near the beginning of the show, I remember seeing a really awkward interaction, where Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao were stopped from entering the prison. Bao Sir presented documentation to the security guards and they were let in. This was extremely unnecessary because it contributed nothing to the plot. In the same prison, security guards were watching Zhao Jue draw something in his prison cell through the monitor, when they were sitting right outside his cell. I get that the director probably wanted a scene with the guards watching through the screen, but it was hard to believe that they'd look there first as opposed to directly at the screen.
Costumes
The costume budget was low, but all the characters wore something that suited them, kind of like how cartoon characters wear the same clothes every episode.
Zhan Yao was always wearing a trenchcoat and either a suit or turtleneck underneath. Bai Yutong was always wearing completely white. Zhao Fu and Wang Shao were just in normal clothes though Wang Shao normally had a hat on. Jiang Ling was usually in more casual clothes including jeans because she usually worked in the office. Now, for Ma Han, the first thing I noticed was that NO COP would be waring what she was wearing. Shorts? In this economy? Anyway, I just came to accept that it was part of her character and it basically didn't bother me by the end of the show lmao.
Dubbing
The dubbing was pretty bad for this show. A lot of the time, it didn't match the actors' mouth movements.
I think a lot of the actual script was heavily edited through dubbing because of censorship. It seemes that the actors had acted out the characters with the names Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and this was corrected in dubbing. In addition, there were a few scenes in which Bai Yutong called Zhan Zhao "mao" (cat) but that was replaced with something else.
There were many scenes with foreigners speaking English and other languages, but a lot of them were pretty gruelling to get through and had poor pronunciation.
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes footage would be shown during the credits scene. I only started watching these around episode 15, after I'd started bonding with the characters, and then I went back to the older episodes to watch those behind the scenes footage. I admit they were pretty cute, especially since the vibe of the show was already light-hearted to begin with.
Something I noticed a lot in the behind the scenes footage was that the director(?) seemed to really love demonstrating what Bai Qingtang had to do in her romantic scenes with Gongsun Zhe, or what other female characters had to do. It was kind of funny but also a little awkward?
Characters
Bai Yutong
Bai Yutong was supposed to be the rash one of the duo, but he was also more capable of taking care of himself, both in terms of fighting and in terms of everyday things like cooking and doing chores.
He didn't have much of a character arc in this show, and most of his struggles were due to him solving both personal and work-related problems with Zhan Yao.
In the behind the scenes footage, it seemed like Kido Gao was a pretty rambunctious guy, so I think he probably suited Bai Yutong's role, though the actor definitely seemed to smile a lot more than the character.
Zhan Yao
Zhan Yao was the intellectual, and constantly butted heads with Bai Yutong about psychology's role in capturing serial killers. However, he and Bai Yutong tended to agree on a middle ground between brute force and using wits to track down their culprits.
Zhan Yao did also have an ongoing character arc between him and Zhao Jue. Zhan Yao and Bai Yutong overheard a conversation between Zhan Yao's father and Zhao Jue that implied that Zhan Yao actually might've been Zhao Jue's son. That was not confirmed, but we obviously see there was an intellectual connection between Zhan Yao and Zhao Jue. They understood each other's methods, but where they differed was that Zhan Yao only ever intended on using his knowledge to catch the bad guys, whereas Zhao Jue wanted to be more of a vigilante. In one of their conversations, Zhan Yo said that Zhao Jue probably didn't consider himself a serial murderer because he didn't consider his victims to be people.
The teaser at the end of the show implied that Zhan Yao would go to the dark side, but I hope that we weren't supposed to take it too literally. I think that perhaps we can just expect that Zhan Yao and Zhao Jue would be engaging in more intellectual battles, but Bai Yutong would probably be there to ground Zhan Yao every time.
Gongsun Zhe
Gongsun Zhe was the doctor in the SCI team. He was supposed to be super cool but honestly I didn't love his character. Maybe it was because his romance with Bai Qingtang really grinded my gears, so I just couldn't take him seriously as a character.
Bai Qingtang
There was so much wrong with Bai Qingtang. I wish I didn't hate her character but I thought she was super annoying.
When we first met her, she was pretty forceful. Not that it was bad, but it was something that made her less agreeable to other characters and was perhaps something that she could learn to use with more tact throughout the show.
She fell in love with Gongsun Zhe soon after they met, and she was very stalker-ish around him. She confessed her feelings to him and he rejected her, but she wouldn't let go. Gongsun Zhe had a meal with a female friend and Bai Qingtang had the gall to be all "how dare you do this to me after I confessed my feelings to you," like he owed it to try to be with her even though he already said he wasn't interested.
Bai Qingtang basically kept butting into Gongsun Zhe's life, and that's how he "fell in love" with her. Anyway, super problematic.
In terms of who Bai Qingtang was, she was supposedly a cop, but that was completely unnecessary, as she barely did any cop duties throughout the show. It would've worked better if she'd just taken over the family business (that Bai Yutong refused to associate with).
In summary, Bai Qingtang was the most problematic character in this show, and I had a headache any time she came around.
Bai Chi
In my had, I still inadvertently call him 白癡. I just can't help it lmao.
Bai Chi was Bai Yutong's younger cousin, but cousins whose fathers are brothers are considered "closer" by blood, so he could technically call Bai Yutong and Bai Qingtang his "tangge" and "tangjie."
Bai Chi was a very timid guy, but was also supposed to be super smart. Bai Yutong, being a brute, was not the person to bring out his true potential, so it was usually Zhan Yao who encouraged him to pursue intellectual challenges.
Bai Chi also had a budding relationship with Zhao Zhen, and in episode 24 he said that he moved in with Zhao Zhen to take care of him.
I'd seen the actor for Bai Chi in a few shows now. He's just one of those supporting actors who keeps popping up everywhere. Anyway, I thought that he did an alright job of portraying a timid character without making him a total pushover.
Wang Shao
Wang Shao was one of the SCI team members. Usually more of a chill guy and a jokester.
Zhao Fu
Zhao Fu was another of the SCI team members. He was supposed to be more cool than Wang Shao, but obviously not as cool as Bai Yutong or Zhan Yao. It was implied that he ended up in a relationship with Qi Le.
Jiang Ling
Jiang Ling was our techie. You know, I thought that her styling was actually pretty cute and casual. The show didn't go for the "sexy nerd" and instead went for the "poor sleeping habits nerd."
Ma Han
She was our cool girl. As I mentioned above, the first thing I noticed when I saw her was SHORTS which is very not appropriate attire for a cop, because shorts generally aren't professional attire and also because I'm the kind of person who feels physically unsafe with more skin showing out (what happens if someone throws a burning match or a hot pan at me???).
Funnily enough, Ma Han was also kind of the muscle of the team. We know that she's an excellent sniper, but we also see her going into dangerous situations with confidence.
Commissioner Bao
I was PRETTY SURPRISED when we first saw Commissioner Bao because the actor is someone who usually plays uncle characters in Hong Kong dramas. By uncle characters I mean dudes who play like tax drivers or people who are up to no good. He's rarely in a cool protagonist role, so this was new. Good for him.
He was Bai Yutong's boss. Originally I thought he might be a bad guy since it seemed he was purposely hiding information from SCI about Zhao Jue. But over the course of the show we find out that he was not as shady as I initially thought. In addition, after I found out that he was the stand in for Bao Zheng, I figured there was NO WAY he was supposed to be a bad guy.
We also found out that he used to be in a task force with Bai Yutong's dad and Zhao Jue. He'd worked closely with Zhao Jue and that was why he was so wary of him.
At times, Commissioner Bao was like Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao's work dad. First of all, he made Bai Yutong move in with him lmao. But he also kind of used their egos and competitive natures against each other to bring out their true potential. There was a scene when Commission Bao acted super mad at Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao and as soon as they turned around Commissioner Bao smiled because he kind of forced them to work together.
Feng Jie
Feng Jie was Bai Yutong's old classmate from the police academy, and was later involved in the Tutsi case. He was seeking revenge on the man who killed his girlfriend.
Lan Chenglin
At first he was introduced as an asshole rival to Bai Yutong, but he was not as involved as I'd expected. I thought he'd be popping up in every episode as an annoying obstacle to Bai Yutong, and then they'd finally get to take him down at the very end, but he only appeared in the final case where he was shot dead after taking Zhan Yao and Luo Yang hostage.
Da Ding & Xiao Ding
They were Bai Qingtang's twin bodyguards. It turns out there were twin heros surnamed Ding in the Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, so that's where their names come from.
Instead of being the stereotypical cool bodyguards, they were actually a little silly, getting into arguments, and also getting their identities mixed up (they'd argue over who was the elder and who was the younger).
Zhao Zhen
He was Zhao Jue's nephew, but they didn't really interact much during the show. Zhao Zhen first came into the picture when Bai Yutong, Zhan Yao, and Bai Chi attended his magic show. He was later involved when a victim showed up during one of his acts. He also served as a consultant for SCI when it came to illusions and magical symbols.
Zhao Zhen happened to see Zhan Yao getting picked up by a sketchy looking taxi and that was how Bai Yutong found out he'd been kidnapped. Extremely convenient, but I'm not even mad.
Zhao Zhen also teased Bai Chi throughout the show, but it was later implied that they became a couple, since Bai Chi had moved in with him to take care of him.
Zhao Jue
Zhao Jue was the big bad of the show without actually having done anything. In the first case, he met Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao for the first time, and already showed a fascination with Zhan Yao. He was broken out of jail later in that episode.
He wasn't involved in the next few cases, but he did show himself to Zhan Yao from time to time, tempting him to use hypnosis skills to achieve his true potential.
Zhao Jue came back into the picture in the last case, when he told Zhan Yao to contact him if he needed help. Zhan Yao did eventually get his help to hypnotize a witness to get information out of him, and after that, Zhao Jue promptly dipped.
It was not confirmed whether Zhao Jue was actually Zhan Yao's father, but I think there's like a 50% chance that he is. We don't know much about Zhan Yao's mother or anything else about his family though, so things will clear up next season (whenever it comes).
Qi Le
Qi Le was the sister of one of the murderers/victims in the second case and it was implied that she ended up dating Zhao Fu.
Luo Yang
Luo Yang was an orphan whom Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao befriended during their last case. He was the victim of an illegal experiment that sought to turn people into killing machines, but he got out along with Luo Tian.
Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao took care of him for a while until Luo Tian got better and officially adopted him.
Comparison to other BL adaptations
My hot take is that SCI Mystery was a more enjoyable adaptation of a BL novel than Guardian and maybe even the Untamed.
I personally am not a big fan of grand romances, so the angst between Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji and Zhao Yunlan/Shen Wei was not my cup of tea. It was alright, but I preferred the lighthearted domestic and steady relationship that we had between Bai Yutong/Zhan Yao.
I also felt that the characters in SCI Mystery were less tropey. Bai Yutong and Zhan Yao were character archetypes, but they just didn't feel so exaggerated. Maybe it was because they were in a contemporary setting, and they weren't dealing with life or death situations that accentuated certain character traits and made the characters seem more stuck in their ways.
I mentioned this above, but one of the areas where this show succeeded over Guardian was the fact that most of its screentime was spent on the two main leads. We're all here for pretty boys and bromances so let's not pretend that we care about a tight plot, alright.
SCI Mystery took place in a contemporary setting, whereas the Untamed was a fantasy Xianxia setting and Guardian was a supernatural setting. SCI Mystery did have its share of bad CGI, but it wasn't as important as it was in, say, Guardian which was about aliens and monsters and the like. So there was a lot less of laughably bad CGI.
The low episode count also made this show easier to digest. I bet you Guardian could've conveyed the same story in 24 episodes as well. I can't say the same for the Untamed because that did follow the webnovel story line which is pretty intricate and detailed.
Overall
Overall, I enjoyed this show a lot! I obviously don't think this is top tier TV, but it fulfilled its job of being a light-hearted bromance that didn't take itself too seriously. It also had a low episode count which made the entire show more easily digestible.