Kotori
Singapore
Comical detective combi duo (trio?) who will brighten your day
"My Roommate is a Detective" is a light-hearted and quick-pacing detective drama with great main lead chemistry. For me, it was the perfect drama to watch in this slight depression period.
What this drama has done very well:
♡ Excellent character design and acting:
Unlike many other detective dramas, the detective (aka Sherlock) in this drama is not this far than perfect. Lu Yao is socially awkward, cares only about himself, and has only eyes for money or food. And did I forget to mention that he is also a coward? But to complement his characteristical flaws, LY has an eye for details and is extremely intelligent. At the start, he sorely started cooperating with Qian Chu Sheng, the police officer, for money and self-satisfaction. However, LY realizes later that his work reveals the truth and provides justice to victims. That is when he starts to care for the people around him genuinely. LY develops a more mature personality and realizes that the purpose of his existence is no longer to only care about himself but also to fight for those he loves. What this drama has done very well is to focus on the dorky and shallow side of his character at first and slowly reveals the depth. LY gives me a feeling of finding him cute and funny at the start but later on liking him more after "knowing him better".
Many netizens say that Hu Yi Tian has had a breakthrough with acting as LY. I agree. I have only seen HYT playing Hua Wu Que in Handsome Siblings (2020). At that time, his acting skills did not impress me and I, in particular, did not get attached to him. But this time, HYT was able to become one with LY and expressed all the flaws and strengths of this character and their attached emotions exceptionally well. What also impressed me was that HYT's own personality is nothing like that of LY. I am looking forward to seeing more of HYT's future work.
But the drama's real highlight for me is the performance of Zhang Yun Lun. Between his character Qian Chu Sheng and LY's characters, LY has the more interesting personality. QCS (aka Watson) is the cooler and sporty womanizer, who grew from an ex-gangster to a police officer. A popular type of male lead character but not new nor difficult to act. But ZYL has made this character alive. He was able to show "love", "heartbreak", "care," and "concern" so vividly with his facial expressions that he genuinely moves my heart. I am especially in awe of ZYL's beautiful smile, such as when he laughs about the stupidity of Lu Yao or when the team successfully solved a case. What makes my heart jump is that he shows his "miracle smile" rather seldom due to the more serious nature of his character. Reading the live comments of the netizens during those scenes, I clearly was not the only one.
I have never seen ZYL's work before. Later I found out that he is the more mature actor who has starred in many dramas and movies but never really made it to the top. That explains why his acting is so natural and offers magnetic attraction. When MRiaD aired its last episode, ZYL published a personal letter to QCS, beautifully describing the inner emotional world of his character. In his letter, he expresses his empathy, knowing that QCS puts on a tough and player cover, chooses to live without attachment is because QCS is afraid of making others heart-broken should they lose him. In the world in which QCS lives, tomorrow is never certain. But it is Bai You Ning and LY who came into his life that he realized that there is another way of living, that he does not need to face the world alone anymore. It is such a marvelous letter, and it truly shows how much ZYL has researched his character and understands how he feels.
What needs to be highlighted is the excellent character design of all supporting "culprits", "victims," and other "suspects". Though most characters appear in no more than 1-2 episodes, all of them have a story, and the acting was superb. I felt sorrow and sympathy after hearing their stories. MRiaD showed a world that there is no clear line between white and black, good and bad. LY and QCS never preached after solving the cases but quietly hand over the culprit to the police with expressions of compassion.
♡ Beautiful chemistry between two male leads:
Both actors have an in-depth understanding of the psychological structure of their characters, and they work marvelously as partners. Though it is not a BL drama, they have a few extremely sweet moments together. It is very clear that their relationship is not simple. QCS quickly discovered the detective talent to LY and convinced him to work for him. Despite how selfish and improper LY often acts (e.g., stealing objects from the crime site or eat at a restaurant without picking up the bill), QCS would clean after him. These scenes always trigger fans to comment frantically: Awww, QCS is spoiling his wifey again! I soon noticed that those annoying expressions of QCS slowly evolve to smiles of acceptance. And this process is so sweet to watch. Whoever watches this show would agree with me that the couple QCS x LY is one of the best couples of 2020.
♡ Quick pacing of the story: The fast forward button is my best friend when it comes to watching draggy Chinese dramas. However, when it comes to MRisD, I have not used that button once. There are over 20 cases in that total of 36 episode drama. The quick revealing of the mystery is very satisfactory. After each case, the shows quickly introduces the next victim so that netizen comment with love: welcome the next "dying person" on stage! There is a rumor that the scriptwriter might be very famous in the past but has not been writing because of some personal scandal. It is not very certain who this person is, but it could be his protest to the Chinese drama industry to stop producing lengthy and poor written dramas.
I also need to mention how happy I am that this is the first republican era drama that I know of in which Japanese is NOT the evil behind everything! I am really tired of this type of one-sided bashing towards the Japanese, and this is the main reason why I tried to avoid republican era dramas as it gives me the strong flavor of propaganda by the Chinese party.
Now a few words on what this drama could have done better:
❤︎ Lack of realism in the cases: I have to say that many cases in this drama have the flavor of Detective Conan. To create more dramatic and higher satisfaction of case solving, the writer intentionally creates highly peculiar crimes (e.g., disappearing trains, bloodsucking vampires or self-flammable man, etc.). As a result, the process of conducting the crime had to be remarkably complicated. It is difficult to imagine that it would work in reality. Also, because the stories are high-pacing, there is not enough time to leave hints to create enough audience involvement. Besides looking at supporting characters' facial expressions to guess who the culprit might be, it is nearly impossible to guess the mechanisms. At the end of the series, similar to many detective dramas, it becomes clear that all cases are linked to each other and backed by a "big boss". This process felt very forced and not at all convincing to me. Those who often watch detective dramas with more thought-through cases and proper audience involvement might be disappointed here.
Overall I was not this happy with the ending. It felt abrupt, with LY's family playing a major role in it. I am not going to spoil anyone, so I would not go to detail here, but their motivation for their actions is not logical, and it was only written this way to create the dramatic for the ending.
❤︎ Questionable female lead character design: MRiaD has three main leads: LY, QCS, and the female lead Bai You Ning, played by Xiao Yan. She is the daughter of elderly Bai, the gang leader and boss of QCS. Because of her righteous character, she does not support his dad's business and becomes an independent reporter from a small newspaper who has a strong character. She is the roommate of LY in this drama. After watching a few episodes, it becomes obvious that this character was added after the script was written. Moreover, her character seemed to have been carved out from LY. Unlike the two male leads and many supporting characters, her character lacks depth and even shows conflicting behavior. Her actions are predictable and often not necessary to the main story. Ther is a strong assumption that originally, QCS was supposed to be LY's roommate (noticed that the drama never showed where QCS lives?!), but because of some commercial or political reasons, the makers decided to add a third female main lead.
Xiao Yan didn't do a bad job playing this BYN, and though her personality was not likable at the start, it added humor to the drama. Later one she underwent a positive character development, which made her presence more pleasant. I just wished that when producers and makers who make these types of decisions that decrease the quality of drama due to some odd reasons, they shall rethink again knowing that audience are not stupid.
Because of the last two points, I rate this drama as an eight. But overall, I really enjoyed and would recommend it to anyone who loves detective, comedy, brotherhood/two male leads/BL, and republican era dramas.
What this drama has done very well:
♡ Excellent character design and acting:
Unlike many other detective dramas, the detective (aka Sherlock) in this drama is not this far than perfect. Lu Yao is socially awkward, cares only about himself, and has only eyes for money or food. And did I forget to mention that he is also a coward? But to complement his characteristical flaws, LY has an eye for details and is extremely intelligent. At the start, he sorely started cooperating with Qian Chu Sheng, the police officer, for money and self-satisfaction. However, LY realizes later that his work reveals the truth and provides justice to victims. That is when he starts to care for the people around him genuinely. LY develops a more mature personality and realizes that the purpose of his existence is no longer to only care about himself but also to fight for those he loves. What this drama has done very well is to focus on the dorky and shallow side of his character at first and slowly reveals the depth. LY gives me a feeling of finding him cute and funny at the start but later on liking him more after "knowing him better".
Many netizens say that Hu Yi Tian has had a breakthrough with acting as LY. I agree. I have only seen HYT playing Hua Wu Que in Handsome Siblings (2020). At that time, his acting skills did not impress me and I, in particular, did not get attached to him. But this time, HYT was able to become one with LY and expressed all the flaws and strengths of this character and their attached emotions exceptionally well. What also impressed me was that HYT's own personality is nothing like that of LY. I am looking forward to seeing more of HYT's future work.
But the drama's real highlight for me is the performance of Zhang Yun Lun. Between his character Qian Chu Sheng and LY's characters, LY has the more interesting personality. QCS (aka Watson) is the cooler and sporty womanizer, who grew from an ex-gangster to a police officer. A popular type of male lead character but not new nor difficult to act. But ZYL has made this character alive. He was able to show "love", "heartbreak", "care," and "concern" so vividly with his facial expressions that he genuinely moves my heart. I am especially in awe of ZYL's beautiful smile, such as when he laughs about the stupidity of Lu Yao or when the team successfully solved a case. What makes my heart jump is that he shows his "miracle smile" rather seldom due to the more serious nature of his character. Reading the live comments of the netizens during those scenes, I clearly was not the only one.
I have never seen ZYL's work before. Later I found out that he is the more mature actor who has starred in many dramas and movies but never really made it to the top. That explains why his acting is so natural and offers magnetic attraction. When MRiaD aired its last episode, ZYL published a personal letter to QCS, beautifully describing the inner emotional world of his character. In his letter, he expresses his empathy, knowing that QCS puts on a tough and player cover, chooses to live without attachment is because QCS is afraid of making others heart-broken should they lose him. In the world in which QCS lives, tomorrow is never certain. But it is Bai You Ning and LY who came into his life that he realized that there is another way of living, that he does not need to face the world alone anymore. It is such a marvelous letter, and it truly shows how much ZYL has researched his character and understands how he feels.
What needs to be highlighted is the excellent character design of all supporting "culprits", "victims," and other "suspects". Though most characters appear in no more than 1-2 episodes, all of them have a story, and the acting was superb. I felt sorrow and sympathy after hearing their stories. MRiaD showed a world that there is no clear line between white and black, good and bad. LY and QCS never preached after solving the cases but quietly hand over the culprit to the police with expressions of compassion.
♡ Beautiful chemistry between two male leads:
Both actors have an in-depth understanding of the psychological structure of their characters, and they work marvelously as partners. Though it is not a BL drama, they have a few extremely sweet moments together. It is very clear that their relationship is not simple. QCS quickly discovered the detective talent to LY and convinced him to work for him. Despite how selfish and improper LY often acts (e.g., stealing objects from the crime site or eat at a restaurant without picking up the bill), QCS would clean after him. These scenes always trigger fans to comment frantically: Awww, QCS is spoiling his wifey again! I soon noticed that those annoying expressions of QCS slowly evolve to smiles of acceptance. And this process is so sweet to watch. Whoever watches this show would agree with me that the couple QCS x LY is one of the best couples of 2020.
♡ Quick pacing of the story: The fast forward button is my best friend when it comes to watching draggy Chinese dramas. However, when it comes to MRisD, I have not used that button once. There are over 20 cases in that total of 36 episode drama. The quick revealing of the mystery is very satisfactory. After each case, the shows quickly introduces the next victim so that netizen comment with love: welcome the next "dying person" on stage! There is a rumor that the scriptwriter might be very famous in the past but has not been writing because of some personal scandal. It is not very certain who this person is, but it could be his protest to the Chinese drama industry to stop producing lengthy and poor written dramas.
I also need to mention how happy I am that this is the first republican era drama that I know of in which Japanese is NOT the evil behind everything! I am really tired of this type of one-sided bashing towards the Japanese, and this is the main reason why I tried to avoid republican era dramas as it gives me the strong flavor of propaganda by the Chinese party.
Now a few words on what this drama could have done better:
❤︎ Lack of realism in the cases: I have to say that many cases in this drama have the flavor of Detective Conan. To create more dramatic and higher satisfaction of case solving, the writer intentionally creates highly peculiar crimes (e.g., disappearing trains, bloodsucking vampires or self-flammable man, etc.). As a result, the process of conducting the crime had to be remarkably complicated. It is difficult to imagine that it would work in reality. Also, because the stories are high-pacing, there is not enough time to leave hints to create enough audience involvement. Besides looking at supporting characters' facial expressions to guess who the culprit might be, it is nearly impossible to guess the mechanisms. At the end of the series, similar to many detective dramas, it becomes clear that all cases are linked to each other and backed by a "big boss". This process felt very forced and not at all convincing to me. Those who often watch detective dramas with more thought-through cases and proper audience involvement might be disappointed here.
Overall I was not this happy with the ending. It felt abrupt, with LY's family playing a major role in it. I am not going to spoil anyone, so I would not go to detail here, but their motivation for their actions is not logical, and it was only written this way to create the dramatic for the ending.
❤︎ Questionable female lead character design: MRiaD has three main leads: LY, QCS, and the female lead Bai You Ning, played by Xiao Yan. She is the daughter of elderly Bai, the gang leader and boss of QCS. Because of her righteous character, she does not support his dad's business and becomes an independent reporter from a small newspaper who has a strong character. She is the roommate of LY in this drama. After watching a few episodes, it becomes obvious that this character was added after the script was written. Moreover, her character seemed to have been carved out from LY. Unlike the two male leads and many supporting characters, her character lacks depth and even shows conflicting behavior. Her actions are predictable and often not necessary to the main story. Ther is a strong assumption that originally, QCS was supposed to be LY's roommate (noticed that the drama never showed where QCS lives?!), but because of some commercial or political reasons, the makers decided to add a third female main lead.
Xiao Yan didn't do a bad job playing this BYN, and though her personality was not likable at the start, it added humor to the drama. Later one she underwent a positive character development, which made her presence more pleasant. I just wished that when producers and makers who make these types of decisions that decrease the quality of drama due to some odd reasons, they shall rethink again knowing that audience are not stupid.
Because of the last two points, I rate this drama as an eight. But overall, I really enjoyed and would recommend it to anyone who loves detective, comedy, brotherhood/two male leads/BL, and republican era dramas.
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