This was my first airing C-drama in 2024 that I watch diligently live, waiting for new episodes with bated breath. That means theres sometging grippling about the plot that makes me come back for more.

I thk I have a thg for female coroners. *Cue.. one of my favs: The imperial coroner. I like when FL have brains and wits in historical China. Then there's this face swap thg that reminded me of ..*Cue another great drama: A familiar stranger.

We have a strong cast but Liu Xue Yi's Pan Yue was bang on the money. He is so commanding on the screen, and brings so much to the character. It wouldnt be rash to say he's a great big part of why the drama is so popular. JJY's Yang Cai Wei was okay, she did remind me of some of her other period characters. Shes probably more memorable as the obsessed Shangguan zhi. The leads have chemistry and I enjoy the push pull in their relationship when the secret wasnt reveal yet. Li Ge Yang was a great casting too and he had lots of chemistry with 2FL Wu Jia Yi. I felt like I wanted her character to do more than just being there for 2ML.

For the reasons above i nearly rated this at 9 but rationally I thk an 8 is more deserving. The biggest reason being overly convenient and glaring plotholes. Evidence no1 both ML and 2ML are great in fighting but they stand around and let the resource person (imp on revealing the secrets they were trying to solve) to be killed right under their noses. Evidence no2 they make the leads a bit out of touch with the rest of the world. We were first shown ML and FL who upholds and values justice but the writing makes them brush past and move too fast from the deaths and sacrifices of ppl around them. This kind of writing is just careless imo. Because I've watched other C dramas execute this much better, I cant help penalising.

For rewatch I would only do so with clips and shorts. It has been a good enjoyable watch for 80% of the time and among the better historical dramas offered this year.