This is a drama that I watched a few years ago and re-watched recently. I have just been into detectives drama these few months.
Summary
Like Miss Truth, the story also happened in the Tang Dynasty. The story began with Li Zhi who is the nephew of the current emperor recruiting members for his team of investigation: Samo Duoluo, the brain, Shangguan Zisu, the library, Tang Shuangye, the coroner. Together with his side kick Huang Sanpao (the brawn), they solved many cases. The cases cover one episode. Some are amazing, some less so.
The one case that left a deep impression on me was the case of episode 5 of season 1. It was about a woman from a good family who had eloped and married with a scholar. Because of this, her family severed all ties with her. One night, her husband was murdered while she was away from home. Naturally, she became the main suspect, but her alibi was too strong. As the team investigated, they found out that it was indeed her who had murdered the husband. The sad story was that her supposed scholar husband wasn’t that talented after all. He plagiarized other people. So, all the things that made her fall in love with him turned out to not be true. Not only that, but the man also cheated countless of times on her during their five years of marriage. This time, he wanted to divorce her and be together with his mistress. In those times (even now in China), divorced woman are looked down upon. Besides that, she didn’t have a maiden family to return to. So, she murdered him. That way, at least she would keep a place to stay and she also murdered him out of anger and hatred. A tragedy.
The main story revolves around some people who wanted to revive the fallen country Jia Lan and all the cases that happened seemed to be linked to this grand plot. However, after season 2, there was no season 3. I hate it when the producers leave a drama unfinished. I’m dying to know what will happen next.
Review
Joe Xu as Samo Duolo: Not much was known of his past aside from the fact that he came from Jia Lan and that the leader who wants to revive Jia Lan had once saved him. He is the brain in the investigation cases and also a comedy character. He works for Gongsun Siniang at her inn and is a glutton. He often got himself into trouble because he ate what was supposed to be the customer’s. Also, he likes money very much. Joe Xu was brilliant in his acting. He managed to pull of the funny, smart and childish Samo Duolo so well. Rating 5/5
Herman Li as Li Zhi: Li Zhi was the leader and the serious one of the group. He had a sad past because his father, the crown prince had been killed by the current emperor. The officials advised the emperor to be wary of him, but the emperor liked him and made captain of the Dalisi. He is in charge of solving strange cases. He is very loyal to his friends and would do anything to protect them. During the course of the serie, he and Gongsun Siniang seemed to have a crush on each other which was very cute. As the serious character, Herman Li didn’t have many expressions. His expressions only changed during the times he had to pay Siniang for information. So, based on his no-expression acting, I can only give him a 3/5.
Serena Cheng as Tan Shuangye: The cutie pie who is in love with corpses. Her family was forbidden from being a coroner until Li Zhi hired her again. It’s a pity that I didn’t get to see her dissect a body in scene. She is supposed to be good at it. She sometimes gang up with Samo Duolo to tease Huang Sanpo which provide a comedic relief. Compared to the others, she didn’t have much screen time. From the few times, she appeared on scene, I rate her 3/5.
Ju Jingyi as Shangguan Zisu: The daughter of a high-ranked official and. She has a photographic memory. Her only “flaw” was that she put her family before justice. She also didn’t appear much on the screen. I find her performance the weakest. Rating 2/5.
Liu Guanlin as Huang Sanpao: He is the comedy relief of the show, although everyone seems to be good at comedy in this show. He got teased the most. He likes Zisu and would do many funny things to get her good feelings. Lin Guanlin acted pretty well. Rating 4.5/5.
Zhang Xinyuan as Gongsun Siniang: The show stealer. Aside from her beautiful red lipstick, she had a personality that will captivate people. She was bossy, funny and have a good heart. She also had a sad past. She had lost a child and the child’s father is the leader of the one who wants to revive Jia Lan. She also seemed to know Samo Duolo’s past and would protect him when necessarily. She is a highly-skilled martial artists and can get any information she wanted. Hence, why she always extort money from Li Zhi for her information. Li Zhi and her seems to have a thing going on for each other. Sadly, the show ended before it could progress. I love her so much in the show that I will give her a 5/5 for her acting.
It had been three years since season 2 has ended. I think that there would be a season 3, but hey, God’s Quiz got another season after four years. So, one can still hope. This show seems to be a light-hearted serie, but when watching it, you will know that it is more than a comedic show. I watched it three times, so it can’t be bad. However, season 1 was the best. Season 2 felt a bit lacking and the scriptwriters didn’t seem to put as much thoughts in the cases as in season 1. I will rate season 1 a 4/5 and season 2 a 3/5. Therefore, the whole serie gets a 3.5/5.