I'm not a big fan of republican era and cultural revolution drama because of the ideals the dramas sometimes take on. But in this drama, the main protagonist, Gu Yaodong, is a simple policeman and is a person who wants to maintain justice and protect the citizens 匡扶正义，保护百姓, which is a simple but strong message. Unlike other republican and war dramas, this drama doesn't focus on how fearless and self-sacrificing the characters are but on the realistic side of life. Many parts of the plots focus on the different lives of citizens living in the era, policemen who have a dream of protecting citizens but realize that the government they are in is corrupt; citizens whose goals were just to enjoy life as normally as they could but the times don't allow them to do so; and the warmth of family and friends. The drama started off strong, different characters playing their role, seeing Gu Yaodong and his interactions with family, colleagues, and life. The supporting characters all played their roles very well, which really helped the story become strong and interesting. One of my favorite characters is Xia Jicheng because of his care and humor towards Gu Yaodong. He saw the light and brightness in Gu Yaodong that people in that era rarely had and also his ability to play his role of being a spy.
One of the problems I had with this drama is the character growth of Gu Yaodong. In the beginning, he is shown as a naive and kind of stupid character. Halfway through the drama, around episode 30, he still didn't really learn and relied on the help of others. But afterward, it did get better and Gu Yaodong becomes smarter and mature. The growth of the protagonist was a bit slow for me but in the end, his growth didn't disappoint me though. Another problem I had with this drama is the lighting. I had to turn up the brightness on my device when I watched since many of the scenes were filmed in dark settings, sometimes it was hard to figure out what was happening in the dark.
The acting and the casting of the drama was awesome. Li Yifeng was a great actor for his character, Gu Yaodong. He showed the naiveness and simpleness of Gu Yaodong really well and the eventual character growth really well. The actor for Xia Jicheng did really well too but one of the castings that was the best is Gina Jin as Shen Qinghe. I had never seen her before in any dramas before, but her acting and beauty she showed here were amazing. She was able to portray the calmness and decisiveness of Shen Qinghe nicely. Also, I think the most realistic character was Zhao Zhiyong. Both he and Gu Yaodong have the same dream of maintaining justice and protecting citizens but the conditions of Zhao Zhiyong did not allow him to follow his dream. (first time writing a review here, please excuse if my grammar is off lol)