Detective Chinatown is loosely based on the original movie franchise starring Wang Bao Qiang and Liu Hao Ran. The season is split into three parts, following three different cases.
The first case is tackled by Lin Mo (Roy Chiu/ 邱澤) and Detective Sasha (Zhang Yi Shang/ 张艺上) where he is called in on a mystery that seems to involve a paranormal manifestation that fixates on a group of four women.
Together they make their way through countless twists and turns. Many things they discover are not always what they seem, but Lin Mo is very good at keeping the best realizations until the last minute.
He also has a crazy “nose” for things. He can uncover a wealth of knowledge about a person or circumstance just by smelling them. You could say it is his superpower. This ability gives him an advantage in many situations, ultimately helping him uncover many clues that would have been overlooked by anyone else lacking his special skill.
Once the first case is laid to rest, Lin Mo takes on a second with a murdered man’s widow, who goes by the name Ivy (Janine Chang/ 張鈞甯). They both set out to find the one who killed her husband. Unfortunately, this leads to him being targeted as the prime suspect.
The husband’s death ties back to a series of murders Lin Mo has been trying to solve for quite some time. Not only was his master murdered by an organization called “Smiley”, but his parents were mysteriously killed by the same group when he was just four years-old. This group is also behind her husband’s death.
Of course, once you think things are just about solved, a wrench gets thrown into the mix and opens up a whole other can of worms. This leads us into the third big case of the season.
It opens with a gaming challenge, called the Ghost Invitational, where a five-person team vies for top placement among the games’ elite returning players. The team members are each from wealthy families, and have seemingly little talent when it comes to playing video games. In fact, they basically buy/cheat their way into the competition.
There is no time for slackers, however, as a returning Ghost player takes over the game operation and ups the stakes by killing one of his former teammates. He then challenges the remaining gamers and audience to uncover a sinner among them, thereby saving all those who are innocent. The catch is, if they do not find this sinner, they all will die.
Naturally, things are never black and white, and the quest to find an alleged sinner turns into a frenzied who-dun-it. No one can leave the remote gaming location since they are trapped inside, and almost every gamer is a suspect.
Noda Koji (Chen Zhe Yuan/ 陈哲远), one of the teammates who originally cheated his way into the game, steps in to try and solve the mystery before anyone else gets killed. He believes he is uniquely qualified since his brother is one of the top detectives in the world.
He doesn’t really stand a chance against a fast-paced clock and the over-zealous rules laid down by the Ghost manipulator before another victim goes up in flames, however. At this point, things really start to get interesting.
Multiple versions of the same story start to emerge, leading the would-be detective closer to the real sinner, but not before another player dies, and the certain destruction of all ensues.
I have to admit, the third case was my favorite, maybe because I like the gamer concept the best as I relate to it more. The story is more twisty and the rollercoaster ride it takes you on, all the way to the end, keeps you highly engaged.
Overall, all three cases’ stories are well done. They each maintain a good rhythm from beginning to end, keeping you guessing as you watch each journey unfold on screen. The actors for each case’s storyline worked very well together as ensembles.
If I had to choose stand-out performances for this series, I would probably say the two who resonate with me the most are Roy Chiu and Chen Zhe Yuan. Chiu has clearly honed his skill for the brooding, broken man, while Chen surpassed his character’s seemingly shallow makeup by inserting just the right amount of depth and intellect to make him more human and multidimensional.
Definitely a must-see for anyone who enjoys crime dramas or mystery. My take —Love ♥.
Watch it on iQIYI.
