Checkmate (2022)

All style no substance.

I was really excited to watch this Republican period detective drama. Having enjoyed Hu Yitian and Zhang Yunlong's chemistry in My Roommate is A Detective, I couldn't wait to see them team up again in a similar setting. The adaptation of Agatha Christie's Poirot mysteries seemed like an added bonus. Sad to say, despite the visually sumptuous set and costumes, both the characters and cases are bland, uninspired and the pacing is very draggy.

While Situ Yan is the lead detective, he is not meant to be a literal adaptation of Hercule Poirot. Poirot with his known eccentricities including his fastidiousness and obsession with symmetry, is one of the the most distinctive, well dimensioned fictional detectives ever. He has a clear process and methodology that is based on human nature and psychology for solving the case. I would never cast Hu Yitian as Poirot and I am ok with the fact that Situ Yan is not Poirot. What I am not ok with is the colorless, cardboard characterisation of Situ Yan as simply a highly intelligent but rather lethargic lawyer with a strong sense of justice. Hu Yitian does his best with the role but he doesn't have much to work with. This is made worse by Luo Shaochuan, the money guy whose contribution to the crime solving aspects of the partnership is unclear. This character is so indifferently written it is not worthy of an actor of Zhang Yunlong's calibre. The two leads get little screen time together as they go down disparate paths in the investigations. Unlike their previous best loved collaboration, Zhou Mowan is more often Situ Yan's sidekick than Luo Shaochuan is. Thus we don't get to enjoy their banter and their incredible chemistry that builds up and fleshes out both characters as they work through the cases. While both female leads are well written and likeable, they crowd out the bromance.

When it comes to adapting these beloved Poirot classics, I am no die-hard Christie purist. I am receptive to and have seen good adaptations that take a fair amount of liberties with the original works. This can be successfully achieved because changes notwithstanding, the adaptation remains true to the essence of Christie; the psychology of the crime. This is where Checkmate fails to deliver. The supporting cast is very mediocre and lacks screen presence. Bland storytelling and poor pacing with unnecessary romantic digressions disrupts the build up in suspenseful tension into the final reveals. The cases must be evaluated convincingly from the point of view of each character, to assess their psychology as a sense of imminent peril escalates. Who was the victim? Why would someone want them dead? Who would cross that line and actually do the dastardly deed? This drama fails to make me feel invested in the human aspects - the victims and potential suspects; it fails to create a sense of urgency to solve the case or engender that mixture of sorrow, pity and revulsion for the perpetrator that is signature Christie.

The first case is Murder on the Orient Express, a well known case that has been adapted to death. While this version does not stand out, it stays close to the original and is fairly well done. Although Roger Ackroyd is also quite well done considering how difficult it is to adapt an unreliable narrator case into this format, from there, things start to go downhill. These cases are masterpieces; material changes should be weighed carefully and not made with the misguided idea that such impeccable Christie plots have scope for improvement or merely for the sake of delivering a surprise twist. Which is what they did to one of my personal favourites. They went for the plausible alternative solution which simply did not fit the human nature aspects of the case. And thus fails to deliver Christie's magic wow factor, the thrill and the chill and that sense of shock, sorrow and acceptance that it all made sense; that it is the best and only solution. It devolves further as cases are stitched together in a cut and paste fashion that is increasingly incoherent. The final case bears little resemblance to what I think must be the original. While it took no genius to spot the the final antagonists a mile away, their motives are uninteresting and unconvincing and the ending is frankly farcical.

If you are a Christie purist, I would say avoid this drama. You will feel they have desecrated some of the author's best works. If not, this is a watchable if unexceptional adaptation. The production values are quite good and the Republican period setting in Harbin has some novelty appeal even though the drama overall is all style no substance. This is a 7.0 for me but I would have rated it 7.5 if they didn't ruin Five Little Pigs and finish in such an absurd manner.

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A successful adaptation!

Just finished watching this amazing drama .
Let me summarise it for you in case you won’t read my whole review!

SOLVING CASES , 10% ROMANCE , Smart FEMALE LEADS , Cute Bromance, Gorgeous Sets and Clothes and good writing ! No time was lost with unnecessary things .

I know this drama and My roommate is a detective have many things in common such as the same 2 actors playing the male leads , similar time setting and it’s about solving cases (also made by the same company ) but they are still 2 different dramas after all . I think that if you will compare them too much you probably wont enjoy this one .

First of all I feel like I have to mention that the time setting and genre of this drama are exactly my type so I was waiting for this one ever since it got announced.

As someone who also watched previous Agatha Christie adaptations such as Poirot and Miss Marple I find this drama to be a very well made adaptation which not only lived up to my expectations but also went past them!

The cases are a bit longer , taking about 3 to 4 episodes to be solved but the way they lay down the details of each case was actually really interesting and kept me curious till the end .

Now if you wanna watch this drama thinking it will have much romance then I will just let you know that this drama has very slight romance , if I had to give it a % I would say it would be maximum 10% romance and 90% solving cases
Nevertheless the ‘let’s say 2 couples of this drama were really enjoyable! Because guess what? They finally made the female leads to be actually smart and not disturbing the male leads from doing their job but actually Helped them solving cases .

I really loved Situ Yan’s and Luo Shaochuan’s chemistry, as usual they do really great together and complement each other’s acting .
Situ Yan was a far more serious person , which I would compare with Hercule Poirot , meanwhile Luo Shaochuan was more playful and confused reminded me more of The Chief Inspector Japp , and at times of Hastings. For the ones saying that Luo Shaochuan’s character was dumb and didn’t help at all , I would like to disagree. I think his character was a good satirisation of the typical policeman of that time , and even now . I found him rather adorable, especially in the last episodes when he even became jealous !

The sets were absolutely stunning ! Loved the train , the downtown of Harbin , the church , the inside of the houses and OF COURSE THE SNOW ! i enjoyed the snow scenes , I think this would have a very high rewatch value during winter .

The fashion was pretty good , way better than some other republican dramas that claim to be set in this era ? I especially loved Jingxuan’s engagement dress from the last episode, found it absolutely beautiful. The setting of this drama is supposed to be mid 1920s from what I’ve understood from this drama .

Now the SOUNDTRACK ahhhh. It was such a delight. I loved the opening song and how well its lyrics and sound fit with the drama , I will definitely have it on replay for a long time .
The ending song was also a pleasing surprise, as someone who likes classical music I totally loved how mysterious yet relaxing the ending song was , matched perfectly with the video and vibe of this drama .

To conclude with , This is a very good drama which I totally recommend if you like detective dramas and the republican era . If not , this might not be your cup of tea !
Nevertheless this was a 10/10 ! And I might hope for a season 2 maybe ? I think I could never get tired of this duo and them solving cases ! Hu yitian and Zhang Yunlong rock the republican dramas ! Till next time ?

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A mature, yet soulless and disappointing spiritual successor to MRIAD

User 'PeachBlossomGoddess' wrote a great review comparing this drama to the original material. For me, I have never watched or read any of Agatha Christie's works, so I will instead base this review on making direct comparisons to the predecessor, My Roommate is a Detective, and more specifically on the MCs.

Some say "You shouldn't compare these two" to which I say "Why shouldn't we?" Same director, same premise, same setting (just more snow), same character roles, same main lead actors, they are purposefully similar because of the success of MRIAD. A lot of the hype around this drama is from fans of the predecessor. This review is for those who have watched MRIAD and want to know how Checkmate compares.

I'll get some general points out of the way before focusing on the meat, the characters.

Production - Checkmate no doubt wins in quality, but MRIAD production quality is still good enough to enjoy.

Cases - A bit harder to say which is better, it's definitely personal opinion. Checkmate gave a lot more breathing room for cases to unfold, and directly used Agatha's brilliant works, so if anything she should get the credit. Especially the first, Murder on the Orient Express, was so artful and intriguing, no wonder it is her most famous work. But cases started to drag on a bit when they lasted so many eps. On the other hand, MRIAD was all about fast-paced hamminess. The cases were often ridiculous, but as over-the-top it got, it was just so fun to watch it didn't matter how unrealistic it was. I prefer this to Checkmate, though the train case was better than any MRIAD case.

Romance - Checkmate wins hands down. Romance is subtle, mostly makes sense, and doesn't intrude on the plot. (I did skip through the last few eps so unsure how prevalent romance was there) MRIAD romance is a joke. Lu Yao liking Bai Youning? Doesn't make a lick of sense. Fortunately only becomes more prominent in the latter end of the series.

Now to the part where Checkmate really made me want to drop this drama, making it a chore to keep watching.

Characters - MRIAD's characterisation for the two male leads is amazing. 2nd male lead Qiao Chusheng has an interesting dark backstory related to the mafia, influencing his personality in a really unique way and giving a realistic understanding into why he becomes so enamoured with Lu Yao. Female lead is less amazing but has her own weird charm if you can get over her brattiness. All three are given reasonably in-depth backstories. Checkmate characterisation is so average it hurts. There's no love put into them, and it shows. The relationships between the characters also feels forced, put together for plot sake rather than actually enjoying each other's company. Backstories are few, revealed only when involved in cases or in some horribly written way (cough Jin Qiming alcohol scene cough).

This review is already long enough. I'm only going to go into detail on the MC from the respective series.

Backstory
MRIAD MC Lu Yao. A stock department manager from Haining, studied at Trinity College in Cambridge Uni, getting a double degree in maths and medicine. Other tidbits include that he studied law but was too lazy to write a thesis, he's a deacon of UK Freemasonry, and has cut himself off from his very rich and powerful family with ties to the government and military. What I'm saying is, Lu Yao actually has a fully fleshed-out background and existence that explains his personality and motives.

Checkmate MC Situ Yan. A lawyer in Beijing, who studied under a teacher that now lives in Harbin. And... that's it? Maybe I missed something, but for 19+ episodes, this was basically all I knew about the background of Situ Yan. Perhaps they wanted his past to remain mysterious, but it only made him hollow, not really worthy of being a solid MC.

Personality
MRIAD. Lu Yao is a genius. But he is also a cheeky money-lover who wants to live a simple life away from the messiness of politics. He's crass and selfish, a huge troll, super wimpy when confronted with danger, likes solving mysteries to test his intellect and bantering with his companions. He's not a goody-good, but he is on the right side when it counts. Hu Yitian goes above and beyond to craft this multi-faceted character into the charming smartass we all know and love.

Checkmate. At first, I really liked Situ Yan. Dedicated wholeheartedly to justice, mature, calm, intelligent, has OCD. And... and? I enjoyed the first case as it was introducing Situ Yan as a somewhat distant but honest man with amazing reasoning skills. But then... that was all there was. As the episodes went by I found myself feeling more and more despondent at the fact that Situ Yan was so dull and lifeless, like a boring Gary Stu. It's as if his character was just a case-solving medium with no individualism.

I could go on, but this should be enough to prove my points I hope!

For those that read the whole thing, congrats! If you hate my opinion, that's okay! I just wanted to give a genuine analysis on why Checkmate fails to live up to the hype from MRIAD. At the end of the day, it's worth giving it a go so you can judge for yourself.

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Agatha Christie & Sherlock Holmes All in One

I was completely unfamiliar with the cast going into this though the FL was ironically in another series I just finished; though the other series was poor, the actress did quite well in both. What drew me to this series other then the recommendations of several trusted sources was that it was a Republican era whodunnit that was based off several Agatha Christie novels (of whom I'm a big fan off).

Pros: This was a wonderful piece of work, one where romance didn't take center stage nor was even a tag thankfully, but the cases did. I liked all 3 leads though STY took top spot. I loved how he started out as a bit stiff but then gradually softened with the people around him. The funny banter between him and his best friend LSC was always on point from the very first episode. His subtle flirtation and caring with/of ZMW was also a nice added and very well balanced touch.

I really liked how seriously all of the cases were taken and it reminded me of actual documentaries on crime solving. The way STY's brain worked was pretty spectacular (it was like he was Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes rolled into one) and I liked the confidence he had in himself and his friends.

All of the cases were well done and even when the big bad was first coming into existence and things tying together, it didn't seem like there was a stitch out of place. Something that surprised me, as I have seen other series in this genre before, was just how much Russian there was. It being my native tongue, hearing it pop out of a character's mouth in the first episode, made me pause the series and rewind to make sure I had heard correctly lol. It was written on many buildings, the train station, references of Russian/Soviet food was a constant. It was actually cool and totally unexpected in a c-drama. I liked the blending of different cultures and it wasn't done in a negative way, which some others have.

Production like in all Republican era dramas was stunning, as were the OSTs, and costumes. There wasn't a single fault I could find with that. The ending though happy in one sense was left open ended in another and I truly hope there will be a season 2 with the same cast save one individual as he's kinda dead. I would totally watch another season of this if the cast remained the same but moved over to Beijing now from Harbin as the ending showed.

Cons: To be honest, there weren't many things I could pick apart and would have given this a very rare perfect score had the pacing of the story been better. I wish there was more time in between the cases instead of them bleeding from one straight into another sometimes a few at a time. That time in between could have been used to further evolve the characters and their relationships with one another and those around them. I understand with 24 episodes and a lot of ground to cover, it was difficult to do, but it would have made the best sense.

Also wish the SML wasn't turned into a glorified taxi driver with very little deduction skills of his own; he couldn't solve a case by himself if his life depended on it but he was a trusty sidekick to STY plus one with a weapon and some fighting skills. They could have made him slightly more intelligent.

Lastly and it's a silly one but just annoyed me to no end, was the younger unmarried rich women's hairstyles especially our FL. I'm sorry but ringlets don't belong on anyone save a young Shirley Temple. Adult women look absolutely ridiculous with them and whosever idea that was, I truly hope they never do it again. It made me question the seriousness of the character even before she opened her mouth. The only place where production totally failed.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely! Many people are comparing it with another series with the same cast and genre, but as I'm watching that one now too, I have to say I like this one way more. It has that stickler, seriousness aspect of all the characters; each case is solved in the right way and all of the characters fit for as long as they need to. So, give it a go and see for yourselves.

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another cliffanger

Another director that I want to hang.... Ugh... While My Roommate Is a Detective itself still end with cliffhanger he has the gut to start another drama that also end with another cliffhanger!!! And the cliffhanger even worse than in My Roommate Is a Detective.

OK enough rampage to give you idea for you who don't like cliffhanger in the end of the show.

What I like:
+ The bromance between Hu Yi Tian & Leon Zhang still one of the top. Always enjoy their interaction in the drama.
+ The woman more compatible than in My Roommate Is a Detective. I more like Zhou Mo Wan than Bai You Ning for Hu Yi Tian character. Feel more fit & perfect.

What I don't like:
- Feel like they forcing the story. It's like every story must have connection one and another.
- Kinda bored to watch Hu Yi Tian always play the serious part. If they can flip the character for Hu Yi Tian & Leon Zhang that's more interesting. Haha...

Overall this drama is about detective in the revolution era that end with big cliffhanger.

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I'm in immediate need of a season 2...

Eventhough MRIAD had many flaws I really enjoyed the show and so when I saw a 'companion' series was coming out with the same cast I was super excited. Surprisingly, it turns out that the two dramas were completely different in terms of mood and pacing. However I personally found that I enjoyed both about the same amount.

Checkmate most definitely had flaws, perhaps relying on the original Agatha Christie stories a bit too much and becoming a bit boring in parts. At first I found the characters dull compared to MRIAD but they eventually all grew on me and I like the subtle chemistry between them.

Zhou Mowan was possibly what made it good for me, I enjoyed her mysterious character and especially with the massive cliffhanger in the final episode I'm desperate to see what happens next between her and Situ. I hope that they actually make a second season and don't just leave it on a cliff hanger forever like they did with MRIAD.

Overall, its definitely not perfect but nonetheless I really enjoyed watching it and if they do release a second part I will definitely be tuning in to see what happens next.

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Good setting and costume, but not a groundbreaking detective story

Disclaimer : I haven't read all of the original stories, but surely will after watch this drama.

I enjoy the dynamic between the (main) characters. We know STY is the big brain of the team, but the other character is also play a big role to solve the cases. STY probably can't solve those cases easily without the information provided.
As for the character,
STY : He's quite and might looks cold but still well-mannered and respectful, not that usual scumbag ML type. (still can't defeat David Suchet's Poirot).
LSC : Sometimes I see LSC as a really dumb spoiled police, but I realized that his thought is simple and represent 'common' people thoughts, which offer view that STY often missed to see.
JQM : He really did a helpful job for both STY and LSC. I like the way they put consideration to make him shine.
ZMW : A perfect combo of beauty and brain. STY - LSC have a better chemistry but can't blame her bcs romance is not the big theme here.

I know they try so hard to make us suspect some people, but even for someone who hasn't read the original story like me, the villain is still noticeable, so it's not a big surprise when they revealed the villains of each cases. Actually feel a little disappointed with the way they finish the story. How they reveal the main villain and how they make a plot twist with some character at the end, but overall it's still worth to try especially if you like are new to detective, republican, with bromance and a sprinkle of romance.

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A bit draggy, a bit disappointing

So I had high expectations for this, especially after watching MRIAD, but I'll try not to compare these two except for this one fact, there is a lot less bromance.

The cases did start out interesting, especially with Murder on the Oriental Express (an Agatha Christie og), but I'm currently up to ep15 and have been feeling that the cases are all incredibly long and a bit too complex. They are dragged out through episodes and have made me lost interest gradually.

I don't like the characters' personality, especially that of our great Mr. Detective. Unlike his counterpart in MRIAD, this one lacks any kind of personality, except maybe for the fact that he's mysophobic (if that's a word) and loves to find out the truth. His 'Watson' aka Mr. Rich Policeman, similarly lacks any personality except for him being loaded and prideful maybe. FLs on the other hand, were done much better i would say, they're skilled and have the brains to actually help with solving cases.

Overall, I haven't found this series to be very interesting, and giving it a 7 is generous to me. Hopefully it will get better.

Edit: I'm currently up to ep17, and I've unfortunately decided to drop it. The mystery of the plot truly either drags on too long, or is way more complicated than it needs to be. For some, the complicated cases might be interesting, but it really hurts my brain even though I'm even trying to use it in the first place. I'm really sad that there's no bromance, and Mr. Detective's monotone character and voice is really making me drift off to sleep.

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