Kai Duan (2022)

Adictiva!! Súper recomendable!

Magnífica serie sobre bucles en el tiempo que recuerda muchísimo a la película Código fuente. Con grandes actuaciones, momentos emotivos y sentimentales, (con pinceladas de romance), adrenalina, thriller, misterio y acción. Todo está muy bien explicado y encaja muy bien y no hay casi ningún fleco ni misterio por resolver. Es súper adictiva y te mantiene al borde del sofá todos los capítulos! La pareja principal es buenísima y tiene una gran química!!! Las dos canciones principales de la serie son geniales!! La fotografía, los planos, todo está muy cuidado.
Muy recomendable!!!!

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This is fine

It's a fine drama. I was emotionally involved in the story from the beginning almost to the end. The tense moments were tense, the protagonists were likable, and the attention to detail was high. However, near the end it slipped a bit.

Here's why.

I think the choice to focus on the motives of antagonists and the related case was bad. First, because their motives and the case were predictable, and they themselves weren't likable or sympathetic people like narrative wants us to feel. Second, because it dragged on too long, the last 2-3 episodes are about that rather then the loop and how to break it.

I also think that portrayal of police was too idealistic, all police officers were dedicated, kind, willing to risk their lives, zealous in their devotion and the phrase "trust the police" was told multiple times, then we were shown on multiple occasions that trusting the police is always the best idea. It felt like propaganda.

The ending "slideshow" showing the endings of various passengers was idealistic too, like what kinda guy would be happy to see his estranged former criminal father suddenly show up at work with a bunch of dirty watermelons? And the boomer parents cosplaying for the cat guy, I just laughed at that.

Also, speaking of the cat guy. He "rescues" cats from the street by putting them in cages and locking them in his small room in darkness. Tbh death is probably better then such rescue.

And the romance between main characters, literally zero chemistry.

Finally, the reason why time loop happened wasn't explained.

So I can't rate it higher then 8/10. There are much better time travel and time loop works of fiction around.

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Annoying at times but redeems itself

I chose Reset to be the last of 2022 and first of 2023 - so rang in the New Year with Bai Jing Ting. I saw it was highly rated and was a short watch. I am giving it a 7.5 - a decent, interesting and original drama but with a few complaints.

This first arc of the show cultivates anti-police sentiment. It was frustrating to see the powerless protagonists go through the same cycles of questioning. I was not sure how much more I wanted to see them being badgered or accused of lying or how many manhunts I'd have to watch or how many sneers I'd have to see from the detective.

When the culprit for the explosions is finally revealed, I thought to myself, "Please don't tell me they are going to try to redeem or cast this person in a positive light."

But once the culprit's backstory was ultimately played out, I cried. Heartbreaking. I didn't expect their story to affect me so much, but it explained the descent into madness and I felt for them. The performance is what salvaged the drama for me to rate Reset at 7.5 instead of lower because when I was watching the first half, I was already writing a scathing review in my head.

I will say that I felt the romance addition was completely unnecessary. I was rolling my eyes. The story would've been fine being a pure thriller mystery.

Also... there ends up being no clear explanation for any of the time jumping or looping or why Bai Jing Ting's character's health suffers when the girl's doesn't. Things just happen and you accept it.

I think this can be good entertainment if you can survive what annoyed me. Shout out to Cat Boy - he was a highlight as well.

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very bingeworthy tv show!

ok so this is my first drama of both main leads and i mainly watched for the plot that many had raved to me about. this drama is definitely worth my time binge watching it! i've been a fan of this particular genre with relations to mystery and time travelling related stuff so this is def one drama i would enjoy. for the casting, i think it's pretty okay. however, im not sure if its because i watched this drama when its already finished but i kept skipping many scenes that i found "boring/unneccessary" as i was more intrigued with the ending lol. if you enjoyed this drama, i would def recommend to you "derailment"which is a drama related to time travelling but it isn't recurring time travel like this drama.

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Fun Premise With Little Character Development

Reset was a quick and fun psychological mystery thriller. I typically shy away from the time loop genre as the “what ifs” tend to drive me crazy, but I couldn’t pass up a premise so similar to the movie Speed. The show layers intense action sequences with an intriguing “who done it” mystery, and, at fifteen episodes, the story is a quick and entertaining binge. It had some plot holes and pacing issues, but it was overall a fun and frenetic ride.

While the plot kept me entertained, I found myself frustrated with the characters. Secondary characters, such as the suspects of the bombing and the police officers, are given more character development that the main protagonists. Ziao He Yun is by far the more developed character as he actually has character-driven interactions outside of the main plot. Li Shi Qing is given little to no backstory other than broke college student. These two had loads of chemistry and excelled at the emotional beats of the story so it was disappointing to not know them as well as the secondary characters at the end of the show. More time fleshing out their backstory would have made for an impactful, not just interesting, story.

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ONE HELL OF A RIDE!!!

!!!NOT REALLY CONTAINS SPOILER, JUST A GLIMPSE OF IT!!!

This is my first time ever writing a review on a drama of any kind. I actually started this drama with little to non expectation at all cuz this is not really my type of jam. I mostly tried it cuz it has a really high rating on MyDramaList and that's it.

Starting off, this drama really keeps me intrigued to its plot at the first half of the show, and halfway through I think it starts to be somewhat predictable, at least for me. But thats not the point, want I'm trying to say is it's logical and totally got a point with no absurd ploting, which fits everything together and when the picture started to reveal as a whole, you'll be like "OHHH, that's what I thought, make sense".

Lets talk about the police specialty, I can say this is by far the most convincing crime solving drama I've watched, whether it's Kdrama or Cdrama, but of course not on par with some US UK crime show, they're like on a different level. But, I'm amazed by the thought process of the polices trying to solve the case as it is how it should be, unlike most other shows, where detectives and polices are just no more than a joke. Keep it simple, logical and everything will be in its place.

The acting is just superb, especially the one who bombed the bus, she nailed it perfectly. Her eerie vibe smile just sends goosebumps straight to me. Other than that, everyone's acting doesn't feel out of place at all, just stick to the fundamentals and all should be great.

The drama has a proper pacing with no rushed or over dragging details, all problems got sought out adequately and with a mix of cute little romance at the end makes it a very pleasant experience for myself.

Overall, EXCELLENT is the word I want to give to this drama. Rewatch value is a nah, it's an one time drama for me.

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Perhaps a little overrated.

The premise of this tv show is good, playing with a "time loop" theme which i believe hasn't been done before. The casts are also good. I don't have any complain of their actings. The scenes however, can be boring sometimes, particularly during the police interrogations. I feel a little frustrated seeing the couple trying to hide the time loop reason and telling lies to avoid being suspects. Some of their actions also bear questions, as they seem not cleverer after many trial & errors. Annoying, to see how the couple plus all passangers couldn't handle the two prepetrators, sometimes, just standing there blank.
As for the music, i don't have any complain. I enjoy both the intro & outro songs. The biggest letdown are, they don't explain why there's a time loop, and more importantly, why only HeYun suffers the agony later. And there is still a plothole in ep2. The couple used the "pervert" reason to get off the bus the second time. That was exactly the same like the first one, where the bus made an illegal stop. And because of that slight delay, the bus needed to stop at the intersection because of the red light, But why didn't it collide with the oil truck like the first time? Instead, the bus exploded on the bridge.

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Not your typical cdrama

TLDR: Incredibly engaging mystery/thriller with fantastic storylines and acting

Overall: If you are looking for a typical cdrama with the dramatic romance with cheesy lines and wtf situations this is not gonna be your cup of tea. This is the least cdrama cdrama you could get and it is so much better for it. Side note, I tend to mentally rate cdramas on a different scale from other shows I watch because there are inherent things that you have to overlook in order to enjoy them. If you start asking too many questions of the story or the characters you'll probably find quite a few holes that might otherwise annoy you in a different medium. But most cdramas have that unique cheesy romantic charm that lets you look past these things and just enjoy the show. Its like comparing mcdonalds to a michelin star restaurant. Like yeah, maybe your fries are objectively too salty or a bit on the crunchier side, but its mcdonalds, you'd probably give it a pass because quality wasn't why you chose to eat there. Similarly, I don't watch cdramas for tight storylines, well paced action, beautiful dialogue or remarkable acting, but I never go into them expecting that so if they don't deliver its whatever. This cdrama though attempts to deliver all of these things and more and it mostly succeeds.

Story: This is a super engaging mystery/thriller plot with tense moments and dramatic reveals. The pacing is fantastic and I am so happy that they cut it off at 15 episodes instead of dragging things out for longer. Not gonna spoil anything here because it deserves to be experienced blind. Needless to say this is a refreshing break from the norm in the cdrama sphere.

Characters/acting: Acting across the board was great. Everything was played serious with the exception of a few parts and every cast member did a fantastic job with what they had.

I liked the leads as characters and was a huge fan of the way they played out the earlier episodes. They were convincingly shocked and lost while also trying to maintain a sense of composure in a living nightmare. While they were engaging in the mystery elements I did not like the romance at all. Maybe the characters had chemistry and maybe something could've been there, but I felt that it just got in the way of the rest of the story when it did show up. The structure of the story meant that there was virtually no time for any romantic subplots to develop so it was never going to be a very convincing relationship. I think the characters would've been much better as simply two strangers who got stuck together and formed a bond through the trauma they faced. Maybe hint at some future stuff in the closing credits but honestly the romance was never going to get enough time it needed to be good within the 15 episodes. The random jealousy thing for half an episode was super random and was one of the only times I was taken out of the otherwise engaging story. Other than that there were some points where the characters kinda behaved on the extreme end of what I was willing to believe but overall it was easy to overlook. I was hoping the leads would get a little more development than what they did over the course of the loops they went through, but they were consistently suspicious af, stumbled over clues/words, and had difficulty explaining their story in ways that I thought would've come more naturally after the 10-15 loops. The reason I point this out is because it was the source of most of the drama between them and the detectives and I felt like there was room to be more creative toward the second half of the story once the leads got their story down and were able to convince the police they weren't evil.

The side characters were fantastic and in many ways outshone the leading characters in the amount of development they received through the snippets of backstory on display. Loved the detectives and the villains especially with great performances and compelling backstories across the board especially for the villains. The couples backstory scenes were incredibly well done.

Music: The sound design was great and managed to bring up the tension in the show during key moments without feeling too intrusive. None of the usual OSTs that are common to the genre but good nonetheless.

Rewatch: While the show is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone, it isn't the kind of show that has a lot of rewatch value for me personally. Great story with good characters but not the feel good/guilty pleasure that tends to make me give things a second go.

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Lu Di is best character

This show surprised me, I did not expect it to be this good, i was only watching because i need to learn Chinese. But there were moments that really made me smile. Also, there are anime and videogames references and i think Razer was a sponsor of the series. I rated 8 to music just because there weren't OST that were absolute bangers, still everything was perfect and i almost binged the series, even though it's really rare for me to get THIS interested in tv series, not only regarding c-dramas. But I have one question for people that already finished the show... How did the police not question all their knowledge in the last cycle??

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Adrenalina e recitazione, zero noia

La continua ripetizione di un giorno è il massimo della noia, giusto? No, sbagliato. Perché in questo mini-drama di soli 15 episodi da circa 40 minuti non ce ne sono cinque di noia. Anche quando, verso la fine, pare che il ritmo per un paio di puntate rallenti fino a fermarsi, in realtà il coinvolgimento emotivo è tale che non si avverte alcun sintomo di stanchezza.

Si comincia dal primo episodio, decisamente straniante, in cui ci si ritrova su un bus. Una ragazza, seduta accanto ad un ragazzo, improvvisamente lo accusa falsamente di averla palpeggiata e fa una scenata per scendere dal bus con lui, per poi andarsene per la sua strada. Ma, poco dopo, lei viene investita da una moto e finisce all’ospedale mentre lui, che nel frattempo ha preso un taxi, rimane coinvolto nell’esplosione del mezzo da cui sono appena scesi. La polizia indaga, partendo dalla discesa dei due dall’automezzo, immortalata dalle telecamere di sorveglianza. E ben presto scopriamo che quel bus continua ad esplodere ripetutamente, in un continuo loop temporale, qualsiasi cosa la protagonista, e poi il ragazzo, e poi la polizia facciano…

In un crescendo di altissima tensione, con punte da cardiopalma, con pochissimi momenti di sollievo umoristico, ma con la perfetta descrizione dell’urgenza, della paura continua cui i protagonisti sono soggetti, scopriamo a mano a mano i meccanismi di questo circolo vizioso, e le dolorose storie personali degli ignari passeggeri dell’autobus che vi sono intrappolati. Oltre a lottare contro gli sconosciuti che fanno esplodere il mezzo, i due ragazzi devono anche guardarsi dalle onnipresenti telecamere, cercando nel contempo di ottenere l’aiuto della polizia. Lungi dall’essere ripetitivo o noioso, il continuo reiterarsi delle condizioni di partenza, ogni volta sviluppate in modo più o meno diverso, contribuisce a rendere l’atmosfera oppressiva e claustrofobica, lasciando lo spettatore senza fiato, come se stesse correndo con i protagonisti alla ricerca di risposte, soluzioni, vita. Perché il numero delle ripetizioni possibili non è infinito… Il canone in D di Pachelbel, che pure tanto mi affascinava già prima della visione di questo drama, sicuramente non mi uscirà più dalla mente.

Nel proseguire delle vicende l’affiatamento dei due protagonisti aumenta, partendo da una comprensibile sfiducia reciproca fino allo sbocciare di una credibile storia d’amore, con un’ottima chimica fra i due, supportata da una recitazione davvero verosimile, e mai esagerata. In verità l’intero cast recita in maniera ammirevole, senza mai eccedere, pur riuscendo a trasmettere una grande varietà di emozioni.

Non solo il protagonista maschile Bai Jing Ting che, nonostante non abbia ancora 30 anni ha già al suo attino decine di ruoli in altrettanti film, drama e show televisivi, ci consegna un ottimo ritratto di un giovane sviluppatore di giochi che cerca inutilmente di non farsi coinvolgere in una situazione letale, rimanendovi tuttavia immischiato fisicamente ed emotivamente.
Non solo Zhao Jin Mai, di appena vent’anni e con alle spalle già una sequela infinita di ruoli anche principali risalenti fin dalla tenera età, interpreta alla perfezione il ruolo di una studentessa appassionata e un po’ ingenua, decisa a salvare tutti i passeggeri del bus condannato, dibattendosi contro le infinite difficoltà generate dalla situazione improvvisa e estrema.
Il cast secondario è costellato di attori di fama, che aggiungono peso e spessore al drama. Tra tutti, citiamo Liu Tao, che interpreta la vice capo della stazione di polizia, e che in passato ebbe il ruolo da protagonista nientemeno che in Nirvana in fire, e Liu Yi Jun, capitano della stessa stazione, anche lui già visto in Nirvana in fire e in almeno una cinquantina di altri drama. Ma anche la maggior parte degli altri personaggi, eccetto forse la madre isterica del gattaro, un po’ troppo caricaturale, sono resi mirabilmente, contribuendo non poco alla riuscita della serie.

Non solo della coppia principale, ma anche di molti dei passeggeri del bus conosciamo via via le vicende, il che contribuisce non poco a dar loro spessore, evitando di relegarli a semplici figure di cartone destinate a bruciare nel prossimo loop.
E’ soprattutto apprezzabile che, oltre a mantenere alta la tensione praticamente per tutte le puntate, vengano delineate chiaramente, e seguite, le leggi che governano il susseguirsi dei vari loop e il modo per interromperli. L’unica mancanza in proposito è che non ci viene spiegato come e perché i protagonisti vi si siano ritrovati invischiati. Voglio credere e spero che sia perché intendono farne una seconda stagione, possibilmente con gli stessi attori, ma credo sarà difficile: la serie è un adattamento del romanzo [i]Kai Duan[/i] di Qi Dao Jun, che ha anche partecipato alla sceneggiatura.

Il tutto è aiutato da un’ottima cinematografia, attenta e non avara di momenti spettacolari. Pur non trattandosi di un colossal, non si tratta nemmeno di una produzione a budget completamente risicato. Quello che hanno risparmiato nei costumi (trattandosi di continue ripetizioni, i vestiti cambiano poco) lo hanno sicuramente investito in altri comparti. Il commento musicale è piacevole e attinente alle scene e, soprattutto, vanta [i] My Only [/i], una canzone cantata dal magnifico Zhou Shen: un nome, una garanzia.

In sunto, un drama adrenalinico che non pecca in coerenza, magnificamente interpretato, con un finale che non deluderà gli spettatori, lasciando un buon sapore in bocca e una distinta sensazione di vuoto allo stomaco, sintomo inequivocabile dell’inizio di una potente crisi di astinenza.

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Same old thing in terms of timing and motive but divergent encounters and experiences every cycle

Warning: Minimal spoilers ahead but still safe to read before watching the drama.

I'm late to the party but man this was a ride! If you haven't seen this drama yet, do it now! This is one of the rare dramas out there that will treat you to a balance slice of its genre coverages. I accidentally clicked an account here in dramalist with over a 100 reviews done. I stumbled upon their "Reset" review. I was intrigued so I checked it out and binge watched for a day straight. Now, I officially caught a vibe. A little paranoid post-binge watching. The ringtone isn't exactly horror but hearing it haunts me and gives me so much goosebumps. The plot is so interesting. No boring parts. Every character mattered. It gets better as episode goes by. Bunch of takeaways for you to bring as you venture life in the long run. OST sounds good enough. Required emotions were nailed by the actors. I'd say "MASTERPIECE". Once you're in, you're legit in. They'll make you starve for more details about their findings and other possibilities. Eventually, you'll find yourself invested in the show.

All cast members are new to me. I personally don't get enticed by C-dramas as they're usually full of cliché. But this one is different. The characters and the story itself got me hooked. I love how the female lead and, eventually the male lead, felt a sense of responsibility to stop the loop. Most likely because their personal lives are also affected. The way they solved the mystery - and the investigation they did will truly entice the viewers to participate and create their own theories. There'll be times wherein letting out a scream or sigh is required. You might also feel hopeless at times, but hey don't worry, you can just anticipate the next cycle if there's more! LOL. Jokes aside, the slow paced romance was sprinkled around just the right amount. It wasn't draggy and cheesy. The way the police officers do their job. The brilliant interrogation that will exhaust the hell of weirdos who try to explain some sci-fi to dead serious cops. After watching this, I'm eager to check more C-dramas. As well as follow the careers of the main leads and some supporting acts. We'll see if they can successfully lock me into their world.

Anyways, don't waste no time reading for more reviews. It's just 40 minutes long per episode with an additional 10 minutes for the finale but nobody's complaining. This is worth your time. A very unique story that comes with a great effort in production. Realistic blood color though a little extra explosion effect. But for real, go now, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the ride!

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