The Penalty Zone (2020)

Fifty shades of grey.

I expected this to be just another undercover narcotics cop drama. Which it is -  but still it hooked me from the very first episode. A sudden explosion sends Gan Tianlei (Ou Hao) into an 8 year coma in the middle of a decade long deep undercover mission to infiltrate the Ceasar drug organization. When he wakes up, he has no memory of his teenage daughter and her mother and only retains shadowy images of the events leading up to his accident. As his memory returns in snatches, he grapples with where his true loyalties lie and whether he had crossed over to the dark side. Ou Hao really shines in this role - he is heartbroken, moved, bewildered,  cunning, disingenuous, inscrutable, conflicted and enraged at all the right moments. His fight scenes were also really gripping and jam packed with raw, powerful fist-slugging and high impact kick action.

The main characters in this drama are extremely well written - they are multi-faceted, imperfect and complex such that the lines between protagonist and antagonist are frequently blurry. In particular the reluctant chemistry between Gan Tianlei and Che Lizi  as they encircle each other warily at times as allies and at times in combat is the best, most fascinating portrayal of the conflict between black and white and the fifty shades of grey in between. The drama throws them into moments where they are stressed into revealing themselves and their true priorities in the split second choices that they make. Both actors Ou Hao and Xu Hongjie are nuanced and compelling in the way they articulate themselves; theirs is the best frenemy bromance I watched in 2020. The entire ensemble cast delivers a very strong performance in terms of the rapport of the anti-narcotics force and the depth, length and endurance of their relationships and loyalties to one another. The collegial humour and comradeship pulls you in with sketches that are equal parts funny, cynical, nostalgic, light and dark and makes vivid what anchors Gan Tianlei as he walks the line between dark and light.

For about three quarters of the drama, the pacing is excellent and transitions seamlessly between suspense, action, comedy, tragedy with a few good twists and reveals mixed in at all the right moments. Then the drama peaks in an epic showdown between the remnants of the Ceasar group and the Tan family that had succeeded them as drug kingpins. And that is where the drama could have and should have ended on a high note. Up until then, my rating was an 8.0 with an eye towards 8.5. But in the final arc, it seems another writer took over. The mad scientist Lu Mingxiong is another decently written grey character but falls far short in comparison to Gan Tianlei and Che Lizi and the dynamic becomes more like two's company, three's a crowd. His relationship with Gan Xiaoyuan was so oily even the drama admits as much. It is clearly intended to set the stage for another season that sees Gan Tianlei, the ultimate undercover cop go after an international drug ring. I really didn't enjoy the final short arc that felt long, which is why this ends up an 7.5 for me. That said, Ou Hao has really impresses with his acting in this and in The Eight. I believe he is the best up and coming actor I came across in 2020.

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Action-packed!!!

Very good drama. Exciting all the way. Amazing casts. They were all really good especially Oho and Xu Hong Jie! And the fighting scenes were cool! I like it that they don't have too much of a complicated romance. This drama is full of mixed emotions. Happy, sad, funny... I enjoyed watching it. Hoping there's a second chapter to it since Tian Lei is assigned to look into Fuchun Club. Couldn't wait to watch it if there's going be one. Hoping we get to watch the same casts as they have got good chemistry. Anyway, Oho is such a promising actor. Have watched him on The Eight and Wukong. He's fantastic!

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better drama than expected

The drama has a tendency of stretching the story with unnecessary screens.

What bothered me is the one playing the daughter Gan Xiao Yuan. I cannot stand her. The child, a loud mouth, disobedient, ill-mannered, disrespectful teen who is totally unmanageable. As an actress, she is actually pretty good....... It is extremely harmful for young ones watching and think it is OK to behave and act the way she does. I would have slap her across the face long ago.......having her in the drama kind of ruined it for me.....

The acting mother, Yang Xiao Lei.......all she does is scream and criticize others...she is suppose to be a law officer?????

All in all, it is a pretty good drama but it could be better....I'll give it an 7.5*

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Feel very stupid..

Episode 44
Duration: ALL 45 minutes
status: unknown ,maybe end or maybe can be s2?


I quite enjoyed this drama in the first episode, and thought it would be different from the other absurd police dramas I watched that were obscure, but starting from the middle of the story everything seemed so absurd and unclear ,, looks really stupid,, I FEEL VERY STUPID END THIS DRAMA, WITH A FUCKING ENDING! ,they can end it very quick but just postpone it until the people die


The story is quite complicated, and somehow when watching this drama I feel the same feeling when watching another confusing police drama "Burning 燃烧" and think the production crew was the same, but no, just the same actress "Karlina Zhang"


a story with a flashback plot that is not comprehensive, very chaotic and messy ,, some flashback just a glance , some flashbacks are full flashback with the year , some are only flashback but not add the year it happened

The story is quite complicated, when handling a case they may suddenly get evidence out of nowhere ,, can suddenly investigate this, suddenly investigate that,,,and it seems that the story line is only read by characters from the script


Until the end, I did not understand what cherry's purpose is? he only complicates the story which can be finished by ep 30

I think this drama will be completed until Fuchunhui? But I don't think the story after ep 30 is meaningful ,,, and I don't understand Cherry's motive until have to pretend to be dead, even though he could give the correct password, because the real ending of this drama is the final puzzle of the CAESAR case, "the caesar's illegal money." "





#ABOUT CAST #

after finishing this drama I am very tired to review other cast ,, I just want to talk about "Karlina Zhang" as suling ,,, the first time I realized her was during the police drama "Burning 燃烧" even though I had seen her in several dramas before but it was not dominant and I hope she has a good ending in this drama ,, more or less same with burning...,, maybe it could be said ,, the story of her and gantianlei that made me bear up to finish this drama, but she was just a passing cast ,, the story about her is not detailed and not even fully explained


And about TAN family relationship it is also CONFUSING, so who did Gantianlei and Cherry kill at first? tanlaoshan father and second son tan lao san?
Or Brother Tan Laoshan and Anak Tan Laosan?
‎or every time I have concluded it,, the tan family member said the different again ,,
‎when cherry said about tanpopo and laobai illegal son,, chery said they should thanks for him for kill the old master of tan,, so tanpopo(madam household of tan family) husband?
And when ep 40 xiao四 said who was death is his "大伯" that call for his father brother?
But xiao四 call tanpopo granny?
And tan song (lumingsong) and wu qingfeng? What the relationship? First chensidong said wuqingfeng is tanlaosan smart first son,, then but tan xiaoshuai said tan song is the real elder brother and elder grandson of tan family? And is they use they mother surename why one is WU one is LU?





# ABOUT EDITING AND TIMING

&& Scene editing looks not good, at the beginning of episodes 1 - 10 ++ it is still quite good and detailed in the appearance of the story ,, in the middle of the story it starts to get messy and rushed, even the general scene, can be wrong ,, like "scene A have bagvon his back ,, scene B, the bag not on his back ,,,scene C has a bag on his back and ready to run away" (ep 6 when rescuing xiaonuan)

starting from episode 30 ++ ,, edits, stories, everything got messier, to be honest I didn't understand what they were talking about at all, and what was the real goal of lu Ming Song, actually he want anti-drug drugs, or new drugs ?, , in this case the story seems meaningless because it is not completely finished,,I was thinking about how they ended it with only 2 episodes left but ..... Huft... Feel very stupid

I just want to end it as soon as possible, even watching it 2x feels very long, different from the first episode

Ep 16 ,,in the 9 minute,, caishenye said there are four groups of passwords,and each group 8 digit of number, he only know 1 group of password,, but when 33:19 caishenye said he have 3 group of password,, and need 1 more,, which is right?!


&&Timing! From flashback can see that 2004 xiaonuan already born? Maybe 3 yearls old? Because she said her mother death when she 3 years old,, and the drama date is 2019,, and the explosion is when 8 years ago 2011? So where suling? When 2004-2011?
From the flashback i predicted that xiaonuan born 2001 and now 17-18 years old? Gan tian lei 1989 ,,7 years old mean he 38-39 years old



#ABSURD THING#

when xiaonuan was kidnapped and had an unknown fluid injection, the hospital doctor performed CPR but the doctor's hand was like Parkinson's patient just like seizures that CPR,, and when the flashback scene of Xiaonuan's adoptive parents accident in Los Angeles was like that too

2nd stupidest scene, Ep10 as a professional killer, I just feel too absurd, he avoids passing hospital nurse , but goesto chase a policeman and ganxiaonuan ,, ARE YOU SERIOUS?


When gantianlei goes to jail, they lock an important PATIENT and AN important WITNESS along with dangerous prisoners and victims who are being chased by gantianlei(xiaolengzi)? but actually they have a private room (tanxiaoshuai room)

When Gantianlei promised to go with Cherry, every time he moved to new place he go to toilet one times,, did he think Chery was a fool? isn't it too obvious? he as a spy for many years ,, he doesnt know the basics like that?

When Cherry wanted to rescue Xiaonuan ,, he put the GPS in Linda's car ,, but he was busy calculating and remembering the distance and location of Xiaonuan? ,, and when he arrived at the place he just said "grateful I put the GPS in her car?" HOW A STUPID MOVE?


there were so many other absurd incidents, so much so that even the notes is full

How can gantianlei,, cherry, caishenye survive from the exposition? even though suling was beside gantianlei when the bomb detonated?

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