The Silent Criminal (2020)

Need a second season

The story is nothing extraordinary, but well executed. The actors have done a very good job. The male leads have really good chemistry that is shot through the roof in the last episodes.
The female leads/ supports have actual contribution in the story and not annoying characters who only bates their eyes and create nothing but trouble. They are kind of badasses too. There are hints of romance but nothing that derails the feel and flow of the story.
As the series progresses, it goes on becoming more interesting. There are scenes in a few episodes that I fast forwarded and missed nothing, but overall, it is engaging. Even with a cliche mystery, it actually have a good ending.
And the series actually gives hint of a following season at the end of the last episode and I hope they make it soon.

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A series well worth a second season

This series never felt cheaply made, a few scenes could have been better and some of the characters could have been a bit more developed, but overall the story was a great one. I really didn't like one of the MLs at first but his character developed very nicely throughout the story. The acting was really good, some were over the top but it was intentional for some of the characters, some used lightly here. There were some characters or acting of certain characters that I could have gone without but I watched this for the MLs and I was not disappointed in them.

The opening and ending song was beautiful. I love the ending and though I wish it was slightly longer and some of the scenes extended it was a great run. Really hoping they have a second season. I would love to see more stories on the two MLs, the emperor being my favorite of course. :) This is bromance but one can also categorize it as censored romance, you just have to look to find the subtle hints which are just too cute.

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Good, but censorship results in unfulfilled potential

This series deserves more attention. The story is pretty interesting although it is flawed, e.g. some plot devices are repeated a little too frequently, like the way characters are killed and brought back to life with someone's blood. Certain things like the powerful weapons and the magical blood are not adequately explained, but they don't really mar the story in general.

What makes the story weaker is the censorship of the BL elements. I don't mean that the story would magically be better with BL included. However, the censorship has unintended effects:

- The earlier episodes with moments of innuendo between the two male leads work quite well, but in the later episodes when the relationship is probably supposed to have developed much further don't work so well. The things the characters would do for each other need to be explained by romance or even bromance, which is hardly developed on.

- In censoring the BL. the series commits the mistake of replacing BL with straight romance by making the two characters interested in the same women--unconvincingly too, for they suddenly take an interest in her out of the blue. Tip for anyone making a censored BL: you can imply the BL or remove it, you can turn it into bromance (just no literally between brothers, please), you can even have the characters profess their interest in women, but never ever make them genuinely in love with one (or worse, more) women.

- The clash between the BL that is being hinted at and the two male leads' interest in the same woman can be glaring. E.g. In one scene, Long Yao rushes towards Shi Jing Yao to explain things to him when Shi sees him behaving intimately with a woman. Then VERY soon after, they are showing interest in the same woman. Is that the epitome of denial on Long Yao's part or is that a symptom of multiple personality disorder?

In general, the story related to the disappearance and seeking of a superweapon is good. There are some twists that are truly interesting. There is quite a bit of humor, but things do get serious and exciting as well. The only significant problem is that in some episodes (I think about Episodes 9 to 10 in particular), the editing/going back and forth in time is not always necessary and could have been minimized.

There is a clear hint of a possible Season 2 after the closing credits of the final episode, and I'm hoping to see one. The characters are likable enough and there seems to be potential more. If the production team avoids making the same mistakes that make Season 1 flawed, and circumvent censorship with cleverly suggested BL, it may just be great.

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Its a start

What started out as quite an interesting drama, the two male leads are quite cute and the restraint affection for one another is also very nice too. The million dollars question here is how did it get from nice and interesting to hating this drama in a short span of 13 episodes, actually by the 9th Episode I kind of screaming blue murder. The script has so much potential but the writer botched it up and turned it into a shit of a drama.

I can ignore an Emperor in disguise as a commoner to do investigation himself and away from the court for a long period of time, but the scenarios that really stink up the drama when the Emperor can be powerful, greatest swordsman and an intelligent on hand, and the most useless and powerless man at the same time, who couldn't even fight against a bloody ball-less man. Isn't wuxia the hero always live a hero and die a hero? AND the other male lead is completely useless and turned into a vile and disgusting character. .

This is not the reason we want to watch and read about a wuxia drama? This is just weakly written with potentially interesting ideas for plots that actually failed to amount to anything it promised.

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I wanted something quick to watch that would keep my attention and this show was it. Well, at least for the majority of it's episodes.

Story-8/10
I felt that the first nine episodes were awesome and it kept my attention. And then I went into episodes ten and eleven and was like...what?! And then episode twelve was good. And then thier was the finale episode where I just felt done as it felt rushed to me to try to tie up all the loose ends. But then, what do they do at the end? They give us a scene for a possible sequel- one that I must say I am not interested in...like at all.

Acting/ Cast- 8/10
While everyone's acting was okay, I am only giving this series an eight due to the acting of Leo Li. I loved his acting in this series and I actually don't mind to watch him in any other shows.

Music-7/10
The music was okay, so I will give it a seven.

Rewatch Valu- 6.5/10
I will say this- I am not that eager to watch this series anytime soon. It was nice watching it once, but that's it for me.

Overall- 7.5/10
All in all, it did start off good. However, I didn't like some episodes and that's why I gave it a 7.5.

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Great show

While this is not a BL drama, I really appreciated the strong bromance in this show and the developing relationship between the two male leads. I was also extremely impressed with the acting and the music was very impressive. The only downside is that the storyline is a little underdeveloped, but that may have been influenced by the short length (13 episodes). I sometimes had a hard time following the storyline and found some parts confusing. This was definitely outweighed by the other parts, though. Importantly, there were still multiple great scenes as well as poignant ones that were quite masterful. I would highly recommend and am hoping for a sequel (hopefully a season with >13 eps).

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This drama hasn't finished yet so I might come back and update the review, but as of yet I highly recommend you give it a chance. The story is interesting with a well constructed plot and its actually funnier than I expected. The actors are all doing a great job, with Wen Sheng as Long Yao being a particular standout. The music fits in nicely but I haven't noticed any particularly outstanding pieces. I've also noticed some really nice camera work and well constructed shots that make it visually much more interesting to watch. If you like detective stories with a strong bromance (can't tell if its bromance or like, subtext just yet) or shows that are more plot driven, this is probably to your taste.

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Silent Criminal

really interesting start and just gets better from quiet small beginnings in small provincial town about a clever local constable the plot becomes more complex progressing to involve high affairs of state〜the MLs have appealing chemistry of opposites reminding me of 「The Untamed」 and main female leads also have well-drawn characters〜 the wuxia is exciting without taking over the story。among the few dramas I can rewatch and wish was longer though one of the strengths is the tightness of the plot。music very good too。 very glad I found this drama and I wish the MLs had more good roles though seem limited to support roles from MDL list❤️

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Enjoyable, but not great

Not bad, not great, but enjoyable. The plot sometimes was a bit all over the place, and some things seemed too easy at times, but the two MLs' chemistry was very nice to look at. I'm hesitant to say that I wish it was longer, because while I do want things fleshed out, I'm not sure they would flesh out the right things if they were to make it longer. I know this was technically a bromance and there were FLs and all, but I much preferred the two MLs together, even as a bromance, and was relatively happy with the ending. It's a good watch if you're bored and looking for something to watch, but don't expect too much!

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