Monday, November 19, 2018

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...

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