Apparently I'm in a ride-or-die phase with media right now

[frith_in_thorns]

I've caved to the c-drama abyss. I watched 9 episodes of Detective L tonight while doing school admin stuff.

It's nice, isn't it? It's so nice. The filming is gorgeous, the people are gorgeous, the murders are interesting (except for the latest one actually but hopefully that's an outlier.)

Luo Fei is great -- yes, Bai Yu in 30s-style suits is absolutely as pretty as promised. I was also told about Qin Xiaoman before watching and SHE IS INDEED SO GREAT, I WOULD DIE FOR HER. Outfits! Waistcoats! Sensible shoes! Tiny girl who is THE MUSCLE and absolutely respected for this by everyone around her! Ben Jie Ming is also great although I look forward to seeing more of him. Yes I am on board with them as an OT3. Extremely on-board.

I was warned that it doesn't have much of an arc plot/character development, but frankly in a 24-ep procedural I don't mind about that at all. I love all of the main characters very sincerely and I would like them to love each other very sincerely, which they in fact do. This is all I need here.

I'll definitely read the fic for this when I'm done. It's very probable that I'll end up writing some. It's a nice counterpoint to Guardian where everything I write is turning into something big and dramatic and completely OTT (I mean, see the show.) Detective L fics, on the other hand, are likely to be along the lines of 1.5k of Luo Fei has a migraine and everyone looks after him. Which is nice!

It's such a nice show. Yes I love it. Thank you everyone for sending me down the Bai Yu rabbit hole. (I still don't think I'm going to be watching Zhu Yilong's "pretty, not good" filmography though. Sorry XD)

Comments

[umadoshi]

Everything I hear about this show makes it sound even more delightful. *^^*

[frith_in_thorns]

It is SUPER delightful. And so pretty!

[qikiqtarjuaq]

Detective L was super fun eye candy!

[frith_in_thorns]

So much!

[clevermanka]

I'm waiting to watch past episode 3 until I hear from other people I trust about how it ends. Please report back when you're done?

[frith_in_thorns]

I asked on twitter whether it had a tragic ending because I wasn't willing to watch it if so, got this reply:

"No, it doesn’t end tragically - if they want to make a second season, they absolutely can - and I hope they do, because the last few episodes try to concertina a LOT into a short space of time to slightly :/ effect, and there are plot arc threads just left hanging."

So I'm happy :)

[clevermanka]

I'm not so much worried about sad endings as I am cliffhangers. I don't do well emotionally with cliffhangers at all.

[frith_in_thorns]

Aha, yeah, I completely get you on that. Will report back.

[clevermanka]

Thanks, bless you.

[frith_in_thorns]

Right, yes, it does have a cliffhanger ending. I have to say, it does not feel very high-stakes at all as cliffhangers go, since the cliffhanger... is actually in Our Heroes favour? I don't know, it was a bit weird XD

I was told that the last three episodes are actually 9 episodes crammed into 3, and that is very obvious when watching them. Also every case is a bundle of 3 episodes, so you can extremely easily jump ship after ep 21 and get some Ominous Foreshadowing but not suffer for it (although I assume spoilers will be over fandom.)

Overall would highly recommend for extreme pretty but not if you're actually invested in the case part of detective stories because many of them make sense only on a very tenuous level. But SO PRETTY and I adore the characters A LOT so overall it is a rec but with those caveats!

[clevermanka]

This is super helpful, thank you VERY much!

[unrelaxing]

It's very probable that I'll end up writing some. FRITH, FRITH. FRITH.

There is VERY LITTLE FIC in Detective L, I can probably list all of them at this point. WHICH I MIGHT? I'm also super glad you're going down the Bai Yu rabbithole, his shows tend to be good. Always enjoyable. I once had a discussion about how Guardian is actually one of his worst shows... its likely that happened because the company went broke? He seems picky and discerning when it comes to his projects, or someone on his team is!

Even his debut drama, as low budget and low... everything it is, is pretty special, and I find it worth the watch too. Maybe I'm biased. MAYBE.

[frith_in_thorns]

It would genuinely be all short h/c floof things. Which is usually what I write -- Guardian is an extreme outlier in my fic so far! (I like having prompts to vaguely work from, leave them on my bingo card or the linked post from there.)

I am really enjoying Bai Yu, he is a very good actor! (I need some Detective L icons. Or at least to make some more Zhao Yunlan ones.)