Small town murder mystery, but in a Republican Era jianghu
I want to sum up the awesomeness of this show and just how unique and quirky and different it is from the majority of cdramas I've seen (although I haven't watched too many mystery shows, this one still feels somewhat special). It's a wacky, but very believable mix of spiritualism and the underground world of jianghu if it were to survive to the modern days with all its weird lil cults, graverobbers, courtesans, gang wars, and pretty much people ready to do stuff if only you pay them enough.
The director built such an intricately crafted world of its own that I, as a viewer, simply didn't question anything XD The characters carried their stories and lifestyles so well, and the shamanic aspect of the Tientsin Mystic added that extra something that propelled the show a little further from the simple gimmicks of just styling and using peculiar design sets. That stuff was weird in the best way possible in S1, and although they used less of it in S2 to solve the cases, when they did, it was so-so good.
The overall visuals, the designs, the main OT4 characters and their chemistry - were all crisply written, and I even ate up the actor change of Guo Deyou in season 2. I felt like the dynamics tweaked a little bit, and it was different, but his character was still acted out very nicely (my brain just naturally switched into the new story, and I went with it :D). So, kudos to Li Xian for giving the perfect version of Guo Deyou, but equally, kudos to Jin Shijia for carrying that torch further, he did a very good job.
Story-wise, I might have liked the second season even more :D It was so tightly written in terms of cases and the grand conspiracy, hehe :D it was dynamic and action-packed, with a decent amount of drama and character development - just pure fun! Despite the uncanny amount of deaths, the atmosphere was surprisingly lighthearted (but the freaky moments were indeed freaky, and the yucky ones were reasonably yucky, so there's that).
The murdery-plotty-mystery aspect of the show is what makes it a super interesting watch, and the characters are beyond lovely, and the visuals are unusual, and as I've been craving to lay my eyes on something different and non-period, I was fully satisfied :D
Also, I adored their wacky curly/fluffy/braided hairstyles, they were so extra))
