Was watching SOTM and the actor (Wang You Shou) who played He Na grabbed my attention, and though I ended up dropping that show, this one with him was recommended to me and I decided to give it a go. I loved the 6 piece version of X-Men just without the fantastical elements. This drama didn't disappoint me at all.

Pros: Loved the mystery and intrigue and how with the ML you never knew exactly what he was thinking and how many steps ahead he actually was. Also how even if he didn't have a plan, he could weasel himself or others out of nearly impossible situations under near death circumstances. There was a constant question of what was really going on but it never dragged until the end and nothing was what it seemed. My second favorite character was of course the reason I started watching or Wang Kuan played by WYS; man was like a walking Siri, encyclopedia Brittanica, and fortune teller wrapped up into one dude. He never told a lie, was loyal to a fault, and a wonderful friend and later on partner. Zhang Jian and Xue Ying were also great and I loved their strengths and weaknesses. Each character had flaws and that was very important.

I'd have to say my least favorite out of the 6 were Ya Nei because he was too flashy and though he did mature a bit as time went on, his arrogance just couldn't be tapered down. Also Ah Jing, she was the least qualified and though I felt that she did grow in strength as the series progressed, her outfits and the baby voice with which she talked made you constantly think you were leading a kid along on dangerous missions. It didn't make much sense. I wish they had evolved her more to fit a grown woman as the series continued. Even with WK by her side as protector and love interest, she still never came into her own. Hopefully that'll happen in part 2.

Other favorite characters from both the protagonists and antagonists side were Dean Lu, big bro of our Jack of all trades, old thief, instructor Liu, Old man minister of war, and even the creep Ding Er (I can't spell his other name). He really was the perfect antagonist and repulsively creepy at the same time. But it made him believable and therefore, he shall stay.

Loved the scenery, martial arts were awesome, OSTs, costumes, etc. just a nice round off of a lot of things.

Cons: With so much going on, many little variables were just left alone. Though the plot didn't drag until the end, it seemed many questions were left unanswered after each mission was completed. Like move on to the next one and the audience will forget. The last arc was an absolute mess. What was the point of any of it? To return Ding Er to annoy everyone and Dean Lu to have his final showdown, only to show YJX propose to ZJ and all be awesome and literally two scenes later in the same outfit and in the same location find out from the gang that the creep escaped from prison, kidnapped her, her father and sent a note to the team saying "he'll take good care of his wife and father" opening up the official season 2 approach. It was way too messy and could have been done way better.

All things considered a lot of the plots and subplots could have been executed tighter. That said, this is still pretty good for a lower budget 2019 drama.

Would I recommend it? If you like mystery, intrigue, light comedy, and great friendships, then yes I totally would. I'm very much looking forward to part 2 myself since they literally wrapped filming it a few days ago.