Kidnapping Game (2020)

Amazing Chinese crime drama

Much like "The Bad Kids", this is one of the best modern Chinese dramas I've watched. it started off a little bit slow and complicated but once the plot hit its stride from episode 2 onwards, it was such an addicting and enjoyable watch. The story is interesting, extremely well written and you never know what happens next, with little to no plot holes. The characters were brilliantly realized and acted - as a previous commenter noted, the chemistry between Gina Jin and Zhu Ya Wen was amazing; in all honesty, all the actors did their roles well. I would 100% recommend this drama if you're into crime, thriller, detective and whodunnit genres. There's a fair bit of romance too if you're interested in that sort of thing.

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Fast-Paced and less time-consuming

I have always liked fast-pace, investigation dramas ,and this one is only 12 eps so I decided to give it a try. Here are my opinions on this drama;

Story- 8/10
The story is nothing special, but the way they executed is innovative. I was so confused at first, because they were showing the two time periods at the same time, but later I get the direction of the plot.
Still, it is not perfect, at times it isn’t very logical but isn’t most of the crime dramas like that?Thus, I was able to get over those little shortcomings.

Acting- 9.5/10
Story didn’t make the drama special but acting did. Zhu Yawen is impressive as always, he can act either as a funny guy, or a serious one. Thus, I was not surprised by his good acting as I expected it from the beginning. Jin Chen, on the other hand, is a true gem. She is stunningly beautiful and can act superbly.Her chemistry with Zhu Yawen is on fire, their chemistry alone makes the drama worth watching.
I would say, they made the right casting.

Production value- 9/10
The production quality is also top notch. Actors’ voices ain’t dubbed, and cinematography is well done.And there ain’t western foreigners as villains (I am so sick of portraying Foreigners as villains)

Rewatch value- 7/10
It is one of those dramas that you will enjoy at the first time, but not at the second time. I won’t probably watch it again but I will look forward to future works of Jin Chen.

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This is the second drama of light on series and I watched the first one and it became one of my favorite that's why I eager to watch the second one.
Story- It was something new in which I never saw in any of the Chinese Drama and I really liked it. At first the investigation part was least interested and the kidnapping game which was played by the main leads was interesting because it also has some romantic part in it.
Things I liked- I really like the concept which was totally different from others suspense or mystery dramas and beyond the imagination of the audience. I also like ML , he was so clever. And this is the first of his to kidnap someone but he was brilliant in it. I also like the kidnapping part most.
Mostly in this type of drama the audience was in the favor of cops but this time I can say that you can't move your eyes from the scene of ML and FL.
Things I don't like- I don't know why in every Chinese Drama ML got FL in the end but they also showed the chemistry or whatever you say of the SML and SFL. Just like in this no need show the chemistry or attraction between the male cop and female cop.
For me it was something new and I really liked it but not more than THE BAD KIDS.
You can take rest from the romantic drama and watch this.

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Twisty Light On Series

Among all the Light On Series' I've watched, this is my favourite. It's my fav because I like crime shows with a twist and this is it. For the other LOS's, most of the time, the murderer is already known from the start and the entire 12 episodes are more of a cat and mouse game between the cops and the criminals (albeit, still very well done).

The cast list caught my eye and indeed, they performed. Expect no less from Zhu Yawen, Liu Yi Jun and Geng Le. I've not watched any of Jin Chen's dramas and I like her in this show too! She starts off as this annoying teen but you see her morph and change as the twists unravel themselves. There's also a sweet little love story which is important for the decisions made in the show. Overall very touching.

I would say the twists are well-thought out. Whatever questions I had were answered towards the last few episodes.

My complaints for this show would be just 2 things;
- the main plot was a little draggy ie. the kidnapping could have been cut short.
- confusion over which is the main plot.
There were 2 sub-plots I identified that were not expanded on enough. In fact one of the sub-plots felt more like the main plot.

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Heart racing!

So firstly finished it one day! It was very overwhelming. Yu Hai's character definitely caught my eye. The acting was on point and at certain scenes, the character was completely deceiving. till a certain point in the drama, my views kept changing. The actor did justice to the role. The female lead role was portrayed well. Even though she was cheating the ML, she made out her expression to let me think that something was definitely wrong! The plot was great! It is rare to find a good plot with perfect timing. Wu Yuke did an amazing job, and it kept me in the twist and turn of whether to trust Yu Hai or Wu Yuke! The ending was very unexpected, but as always the least expected happens! the last few min definitely had me in tears. The rewatch value might not be much as it spoils the plot, but would surely suggest it as a first-time watch with a keen-on Mystery, investigation, plot twist, and thriller watch! Definitely a nice pick!

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A whole lot of nothing.

I loved the film g@me which is based on the same novel as this, so I was very interested to see another adaptation. This version does too much unfortunately. They add a lot of extra story to fill the runtime, but they also change the characters in personality. They make them all (ML, FL, & FL’s father) too nice, too sane, and too pitiful. They give them all extreme morals and provide constant (theoretically) valid excuses for their actions. Let the characters be evil! Let them be chaotic and selfish. Then when they become vulnerable due to the circumstances, it’s so much more interesting and easy to buy. To see bad people be shocked and care despite their usual priorities. This is what the movie does and does so well. This series becomes dull and boring unfortunately. It loses it’s footing after the twist halfway through when in reality that should have pushed it forward excitedly.

I plan to read the novel soon but until then my only reference point is the 2003 film, and I think it was insanely better overall. If the c-drama is a more faithful adaptation I may be able to appreciate it a little more, but as of now it was a disappointment to me.

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