The Thunder (2019)

An Almost Perfect Drug-crime Drama

After going through an emotional roller coaster for 48 episodes — from being excited to questioning some plot holes, from laughing out loud to crying my heart out, from hating one character to loving another, from shouting, “NO DON’T!” to shrieking “OH YES!” — finally, this is my final review of the series.


1. Good premise. I cannot say that it’s unique, only that I’ve never seen something like this before. Now, who in this world ever think of an entire village producing drugs, and while the police are trying to catch them one by one they have to deal with clan problems and fight each other?


2. Good script. Well, except for some plot holes that’ll make you raise your eyebrows and some unnecessary, badly written scenes, that’s it.


3. Great acting. The entire cast were excellent: Wu Gang! Wang Jinsong! Huang Jingyu! Honestly, it’s the first time I saw HJY in any drama and he’s like a pleasant surprise for me. I mean, I know he’s a very famous celebrity, but I never knew that he is such a great young actor! This series was my first experience of seeing his performance, and he’s already won my heart. And there were some hidden gems, too, like Ma Yujie, Hong Junjia, and Liu Ruoyan. Really, really liked their performances here. Producers should give them more dramas.


4. Good music score and soundtrack. They really fit into the atmosphere and the tone of the story.


5. The best characters: Lin Zonghui and Ma Yunbo. Yep, those three-dimensional, well rounded, well written villains. And Ma Wen! Loved her so much! The worst one? Li Fei. Yes, you read it right. It’s him. BUT HUANG JINGYU PLAYED HIM SO WELL. The annoying, the being stubborn, the recklessness, the conflicted self, even the emotional crying at Song Yang’s death. He did it all amazingly.


6. The best things: Li Fei + Ma Wen partnership, and Li Fei + Zhao Jialiang father-and-son relationship. The worst thing: the product placement. Really, it’s everywhere. I know you needed money to run the show BUT PLEASE!


7. The things that I have mixed feelings about:

a). The underlying triangle love between Li Fei - Ma Wen - Chen Ke. Though at the bottom of my heart I’d have liked to see Li Fei & Ma Wen more than partners, my sensible side wanted them to be like Hou Liangping & Lu Yike in "In the Name of People", just friends and partners. That’s it. No romance whatsoever. But then they made her like Li Fei, too, while we could already see the romantic spark between Li Fei & Chen Ke (though they kept their feelings to themselves out of respect for Song Yang), and I felt my heart sank. However, they handled it pretty well. I mean, Li Fei had already had his hands full with the Tazhai case, so even if he really had feelings for Chen Ke he didn’t pursue it, nor did Chen Ke (because she still felt guilty about Song Yang). And despite her feelings for Li Fei, Ma Wen also didn’t say anything because she knew where Li Fei’s heart lay. And I think the ending was just the best for them (at least what’s being hinted by the English subtitles).

b). Speaking of the ending, there was so much anger about it. Well, I was broken-hearted, too. But I didn’t mind about it. I mean, how do you suppose they should have ended up? Happily ever after? Yes, they could have. But I think it would’ve felt awkward. What I did mind here is the way they handled it. There are just a thousand ways to kill someone at the end of a story, but not by virtue of a sudden impulse of an ever calculating villain.


The Thunder is not perfect, I know. But I loved almost everything about it. I loved the premise, I loved the narrative as a whole, I loved the superb acting (even the supporting actors/actresses really did a great job!), I even loved the directing. There are some annoying flaws, yes, but I don’t mind them.

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Veterans for the win

This is the best Chinese cop drama I've watched to date and it brings back so many memories of the good old TVB days from the 90's-00's.

The veteran actors are the real highlight. All my favs are literally in there. You can never go wrong with Wu Gang and Wang Jin Song. The other veterans are superb too and especially with Simon Yam in the recipe. Young actors - Huang Jin Yu definitely did a good job. The girls were a bit meh and weak to me but they're not that important since this is not a love/romantic drama.

It is not without flaws. There are plot holes and the ending was a little rushed but overall, the directing and execution were very very good. The action, the emotions, the yelling (lol).

I really recommend this if you're looking for a police drama.

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It won the best TV Drama of 2019 for a reason

I was a big fan of The Longest Day in Chang'an and was surprised to hear that another drama bagged the 2020 Magnolia Awards Best TV Drama award instead.

So I became curious and checked out why it has topped TLDICA. And, 48 episodes? Finished it in 3 days. Got myself an iQIYI subscription so I can skip ads.

Here's why: The story is gripping and suspenseful and frustrating - in a good way. It's a MUST for crime/police dramas to take us into a premise that we can actually care about and this drama, inspired by a real-life setting, by a real-life event that once took the entire nation by storm, is one drama that you cannot simply put on hold - once you start watching, you have to see it right through the end.

This is the first time I've watched Huang Jingyu in a drama, and since I've watched some of his series afterwards (some of those shot and aired earlier than The Thunder) I must say that his acting decently improved over time.

But actually, this drama made me more interested with the older male casts, those veteran actors that delivered really great jobs with their roles. It was just excellent.

I don't care if some people say that this won because of the police image propaganda or what. It has that kind of feel towards the end but it was justified and knowing that it was adapted from a real police operation, it was worth it.

So yeah, I lost sleep for this one. It's really that good. Finished 15 episodes in one go and slept at around 3 in the morning? Still, worth it.

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One of the Best

Let me start with this single line comment I extracted from Wikipedia:-

"Wang Kaihao of the China Daily says the series bears a resemblance of Breaking Bad, the fictional American series that compared to the actual event."

I wonder in which part of the drama resembles Breaking Bad?? The only similarity is they both involved meths.. One is based on a real-life event, and the other one is purely fictitious Maybe Wang saw something you and I missed, or maybe he suffered from the hallucination from the meth he took while watching The Thunder.

I find The Thunder one of the very best if not THE best Police Drama series anywhere!!! Everyone is great in it! I cannot pile enough praise on Johnny Huan g Jing Yu acting in the drama, He as a list of veterans from both China and Hong Kong China sharing the same limelight and he held his own! For such a young actor with no former acting training, he is amazing. In some ways he stole the show, playing the young impetuous, very smart, impatient, upright and cocky. He aced his characters. A job very well done! Someone to watch out for.

As for the story, apart from the actions and the plotting on both sides were quite quite well done, there was also the relationship between Li Fei and Zhao Jialiang was pretty amazing too, and certainly pulled hard on my heartstrings. Li Weimin character was also very impressive and believable.

I love love the series and I can't wait to find out what happened in the end.... And When I do I shall add more comments. Until then....

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