Phenomenal. Every episode gave me chills. this is always the sort of dark realism thriller i crave and ones that only chinese or japanese dramas can give me. my mistake was not watching this sooner. it's been on my ptw for ages and now that i've finished i can say it absolutely deserves the praise it receives.

Although i'm still dissecting the ending, i'm still in shock (and awe) about the journey getting here. the use of complex characters blurring the line between "good" and "bad" is memorable in of itself. i don't want to say he was my "favorite" character, but dong sheng was the most interesting for me. playing the role of the mirror anti-villain, there were times when i found myself sympathizing with him, much to my own surprise. even better was Chaoyang. although, i'll leave that up to everyone else to make their own interpretations about him. the interlacing of different families was done fantastically and the stakes only grew and grew as the episodes progressed. whenever it was playing my eyes wouldn't be able to look away. it's THAT incredible.

my rating is bridged between a 9.5 or a 10. let it all sink in more first