Ding Mo Trilogy (TV)

There are 3 different TV series and since I won't write much, I think I would put them in a single post. The trilogy can be watched separately and in no particular order.

1. Love Me If You Dare
The original title should be 'He has come, close your eyes' and I like this original title better. The story itself reminded me of Karen Rose or Sandra Brown novels so I guessed Ding Mo must be a female, and I was right. Male writers have different styles.
The series was enjoyable to watch, starring Wallace Huo, Sandra Ma, Yin Zheng, and Wang Kai. A criminal psychologist and his new assistant vs serial killers. The hero would fall in love with his new assistant. Btw, I think Wallace Huo's hairstyle looked funny from the left side. Among Wallace Huo, Yin Zheng, and Wang Kai; I think Wang Kai's hairstyle was the best. And I never thought I'd actually pay attention to their hairstyles.

2. When A Snail Falls in Love
I only recognized Wang Kai as the lead character, but the cast did a good job. I actually wanted to see again Wang Kai and his nice hairstyle - like in Love Me If You Dare - but here he wore a totally different hairstyle... It was short, like a police's should be.
This series had a more serious tone than Love Me If You Dare and less flirting between the two leads. They began with disliking each other anyway. My impression was: the story was fast paced and I got confused in some parts. There was no dumber character whom the smarter one would explain what were happening. I just followed the story and in the end I was happy with the conclusion.
The lead female character, Xu Xu, drew nicely. She thought of herself as a snail and her man as a lion. I like the drawings used on the opening credits.

3. Memory Lost
This series was very popular but I was disappointed. The quality of this one is a far cry from the two above -- but I finished all 36 episodes anyway :-|  The cast was dominated by young beautiful people. I think the police here didn't work seriously. If they spent more time to work on the cases, the series could be shorten to 21 or 24 episodes (like the two above).
Take an example when a fake bomb had been found on a mall. The two leads, Han Chen and Su Mian approached the site and they met a member of bomb squad who told them about the fake bomb. Han Chen told him to take a rest and he would follow the matter. But Han Chen did not enter the mall to inquire, but he stood with Su Mian outside the mall and talked about shopping and how he would take care of her.
The cast maybe too young and did not have solid acting skills. If this series was made for teenagers, why the topic was about serial killers? The lead characters were more trying to say: 'Look at me, I am cool.' than trying to be convincing in their roles. Sometimes they even talked to themselves...

The Disguiser (TV) - 2015

I am not familiar with Chinese histories. We did learnt a bit about Chinese Communist party in  junior high school, but I guess it's normal if by now I have forgotten most of it. I did know that in the middle of 1960's the Communists were strong in China, because it connected to our own history.

This series was set in 1939 in Shanghai. The main characters were from the rich Ming family: 1) Ming Jing, the eldest sister, who took care of the household 2) Ming Lou, her brother, who worked for the new government 3) Ming Tai, adopted since he was a child. Ming Tai's mother had been killed in a car accident when she was trying to save Ming Jing dan Ming Lou. 4) Ming Cheng, sort of Ming Lou's helper, but considered as a member of Ming family.

L-R : Jin Dong, Wang Kai, Hu Ge.

I didn't know the difference between Kuo Min Tang and Chinese Communist, but here they worked as two different groups against the Japanese, who were in the new government.

Ming Tai was kidnapped on his way to Hong Kong to study and trained as a spy. Need not to say that our hero became the best student, a super spy. He would be given (almost) impossible assignments but successfully did them well.

This series was very good, but I can't say I enjoyed watching it. Very often the plots got so intense and I was horrified at times, especially at those torture scenes. It's like that Irish film 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley'... the torture scenes were too much for me. I know they were just acting and effects... still they were too much for me.

However, this is a very good production. Three actors who played the Mings: Hu Ge, Jin Dong and Wang Kai, I think they are very good actors. They are very popular, too. I think they are three of the best actors in Chinese film industry nowadays.