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Review: Evil Nights (罪夜無間) (2019)
Oof. I would not recommend this drama. It was a pretty amateurishly written crime drama. Only watch this while you're doing other things.
Spoilers.
Story
Like most crime procedurals, this drama had a few mysteries and a final one that related to the main characters.
I felt that the sleuthing was oddly paced. They were very drawn out, but at times, the story would pop several reveals onto the audience at once. The suspense wasn't built effectively. I think the most fun parts of the drama were the times when the main characters were just hanging out, because at least the pacing matched the actual events.
The final mystery wasn't very interesting to me either. It was constantly referenced that Chen Yiming had past trauma relating to him hiding in cupboard. But we never learned anything new after each nightmare. I also felt that Chen Fei being the big bad, who was also Jiang Hanzhi was...random. It didn't make me feel anything. I felt nothing and also felt like I learned nothing as well.
Yao Fei's reveal to be a Japanese ally was really random and brought up at a time that felt kind of inappropriate as Yao Fei was mostly irrelevant to that final crime. I know that Chen Yiming and Yao Fei were supposed to have a romance during the drama, but it felt forced to make her confess her love at that last moment. Their romance worked a lot better as something that was subtle and understood but not broken.
As for the post-credit scene, what a mess. Chen Yiming turned into a vigilante, and also had someone helping him out in the shadows that he didn't know. It was all set up for a second season that probably isn't going to come. I personally am not a fan of post-credit scenes because it invalidates the ending of a story, but I can't really say that this drama even had an ending.
I will say that I liked the dynamic between the three main characters. I liked that though they were stereotypes, they weren't extremely so. I still felt charmed when seeing them do everyday things.
So overall, the story was a mess. Disorganized and rather amateurish.
Production
Oof, the production was rough. The costume and set design were not good. They were extremely modern and I did not feel that I was in the Republican Era at all.
The acting was...fine. I think the actors were doing their best given their script. Frankly I only gave this show a chance because I liked Wang Longzheng and he managed to at least have me taking his character seriously.
Characters
Chen Yiming
Our main character, a tortured detective. Wang Longzheng plays the same character in every drama, and he played it here too. And there's a reason he's typecast; because he's GOOD at it.
Chen Yiming was appropriately tortured, but not a total edgelord. There were times when he was a bit ditzy or muddleheaded and it did endear his character.
I will say that though Wang Longzheng did a good job with acting, it was sometimes hard to take the tortorous scenes seriously (mostly at the end), because I didn't care for the story. Sorry Wang Longzheng v.v
Yao Fei
Yao Fei was a modern lady. She knew many languages and was rather worldly. She was the cool gal. By the end of the drama, it was revealed that she was a Japanese spy and because of that she killed Detective Jia and was going to kill Chen Yiming and Zhang Tianxiao as well which was...random. Seriously. I think they just needed a reason to have drama between these characters at the very end and it was brought up at a time when we were totally not thinking about it nor did it matter. I think the show wanted us to believe that she died, but honestly with the whole post-credit scene, I bet they wanted to surprise us with the fact that she was alive all along.
Zhang Tianxiao
A rich boy, son of a higher up at the police station. He got into a rift with his dad and basically decided he would strike out on his own with Chen Yiming and Yao Fei as detectives. I actually thought he was quite entertaining. He did have some arrogant young master moments, but overall he was still agreeable.
Overall
So yeah, overall, not a success. Like I said, I would have dropped it if it were not for Wang Longzheng.
Spoilers.
Story
Like most crime procedurals, this drama had a few mysteries and a final one that related to the main characters.
I felt that the sleuthing was oddly paced. They were very drawn out, but at times, the story would pop several reveals onto the audience at once. The suspense wasn't built effectively. I think the most fun parts of the drama were the times when the main characters were just hanging out, because at least the pacing matched the actual events.
The final mystery wasn't very interesting to me either. It was constantly referenced that Chen Yiming had past trauma relating to him hiding in cupboard. But we never learned anything new after each nightmare. I also felt that Chen Fei being the big bad, who was also Jiang Hanzhi was...random. It didn't make me feel anything. I felt nothing and also felt like I learned nothing as well.
Yao Fei's reveal to be a Japanese ally was really random and brought up at a time that felt kind of inappropriate as Yao Fei was mostly irrelevant to that final crime. I know that Chen Yiming and Yao Fei were supposed to have a romance during the drama, but it felt forced to make her confess her love at that last moment. Their romance worked a lot better as something that was subtle and understood but not broken.
As for the post-credit scene, what a mess. Chen Yiming turned into a vigilante, and also had someone helping him out in the shadows that he didn't know. It was all set up for a second season that probably isn't going to come. I personally am not a fan of post-credit scenes because it invalidates the ending of a story, but I can't really say that this drama even had an ending.
I will say that I liked the dynamic between the three main characters. I liked that though they were stereotypes, they weren't extremely so. I still felt charmed when seeing them do everyday things.
So overall, the story was a mess. Disorganized and rather amateurish.
Production
Oof, the production was rough. The costume and set design were not good. They were extremely modern and I did not feel that I was in the Republican Era at all.
The acting was...fine. I think the actors were doing their best given their script. Frankly I only gave this show a chance because I liked Wang Longzheng and he managed to at least have me taking his character seriously.
Characters
Chen Yiming
Our main character, a tortured detective. Wang Longzheng plays the same character in every drama, and he played it here too. And there's a reason he's typecast; because he's GOOD at it.
Chen Yiming was appropriately tortured, but not a total edgelord. There were times when he was a bit ditzy or muddleheaded and it did endear his character.
I will say that though Wang Longzheng did a good job with acting, it was sometimes hard to take the tortorous scenes seriously (mostly at the end), because I didn't care for the story. Sorry Wang Longzheng v.v
Yao Fei
Yao Fei was a modern lady. She knew many languages and was rather worldly. She was the cool gal. By the end of the drama, it was revealed that she was a Japanese spy and because of that she killed Detective Jia and was going to kill Chen Yiming and Zhang Tianxiao as well which was...random. Seriously. I think they just needed a reason to have drama between these characters at the very end and it was brought up at a time when we were totally not thinking about it nor did it matter. I think the show wanted us to believe that she died, but honestly with the whole post-credit scene, I bet they wanted to surprise us with the fact that she was alive all along.
Zhang Tianxiao
A rich boy, son of a higher up at the police station. He got into a rift with his dad and basically decided he would strike out on his own with Chen Yiming and Yao Fei as detectives. I actually thought he was quite entertaining. He did have some arrogant young master moments, but overall he was still agreeable.
Overall
So yeah, overall, not a success. Like I said, I would have dropped it if it were not for Wang Longzheng.