Female Lead – Xiang Han Zhi

Xiang Han Zhi is relatively unknown. Only in her early 20s, the speculation is that she comes from connections and money in Beijing, hence the ability to take on a lead actress role for a decently sized production. If she was a fantastic actress with the ability to take on the lead role, these rumors wouldn’t really matter. However, this did not showcase her acting ability which only fueled more speculation and negativity around how she got this lead actress role.

There were 2 problems with this role. First, the character of Zhong Xue Man is not engaging. In the first episode, it is basically shown or stated that Zhong Xue Man is a very powerful/skilled fighter. She wants to be a good detective like her fiance, and her character trope should be the one where she is the brawn of the group.

However, it didn’t leave her with enough brains. The plot of the show forces us to believe that Zhong Xue Man looked for 3 years for clues on what happened to Xiao Bei Ming and she couldn’t find a single thing. That’s rather difficult for me to believe since we learn that Xiao Bei Ming was doing quite a bit of investigating on his own. He only reappeared when he decided to, not due to her ability. And then the first thing she does when she sees him after 3 years is stab him in the chest? I get you’re pissed off at him potentially killing your father, but it’s been 3 years. There couldn’t be clues to the contrary? And why would your first reaction be to stab this person and not investigate them?

If we get past all that, in the second “case”, the team goes to the Huo manor to investigate the death of General Huo. Miss Huo Dai Rong, daughter of General Huo, became a suspect but she was wicked smart. I was almost like, why isn’t she in the detective bureau and a main character?  So, as a character, Zhong Xue Man was underwhelming.

Then, let’s talk poor acting ability. Xiang Han Zhi was very wooden in this role. If we think about how complicated the role should be – a woman who saw the man she grew up with and loved her entire life, kill her beloved father –  there should be a lot of complex emotions Zhong Xue Man needs to grapple with. None of that was evident because Xiang Han Zhi was too green or wooden to be able to show those emotions. Her eyes especially are very blank. This resulted in very limited chemistry or CP between the 2 main leads such that I couldn’t understand why they liked each other other than having grown up together. 

Overpowered Male Lead

It seemed like Xiao Bei Ming was a superhero. Wicked smart and a strong fighter, he could do everything. He was also quite arrogant as was evident in even the first 2 episodes.  In order to bring him down a few notches, he had to be nerfed when he reappeared 3 years later. 

The biggest forced plot point I could not stomach was the fact that Zhong Xue Man was accidentally given the wrong medicine, a lethal poison in fact, and she gave it to Xiao Bei Ming. This reduced Xiao Bei Ming’s physical ability such that he really needed to rely on other members of his team to survive. That was such a contrived conflict. But also like, DUDE. Doctor. Do you just keep the deadliest of poisons in a random box with other medicines? How can you just give it to some random person? I would not want this person to be my doctor. Attention to detail anyone? If this person was in modern day, how many people would be accidentally killed by this person or this person would be subject to a mountain of medical malpractice lawsuits. Yes, he may be a good doctor but still…

The problem with such an OP male lead is that it contributed to a poor chemistry dynamic with the female lead. Xiao Bei Ming could do pretty much everything Zhong Xue Man could do (before he was poisoned) but the opposite was not true for Zhong Xue Man. That undermined the partnership between the 2 especially compared to next door’s Coroner’s Diary where Shen Wan was an expert coroner, something Yan Chi could not do. In these types of detective dramas, you need experts in their own respective fields to show how valuable they are. Xiao Bei Ming was written to be so powerful that others paled in comparison which led to a less interesting show.

Anyways, I might watch the final episodes just to see the resolution but this drama did interest me enough to keep watching.