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Mini Review: Ancient Detective
Jun. 7th, 2020 01:39 amAn amnesiac detective in Wuxialand attempts to find out what happened at a devastating battle eight years ago; he woke up on the battlefield with no memory of the events, and has been trying to find closure ever since. Along the way, he solves a series of murder mysteries, meets and befriends a diverse cast of characters, and falls in love with a beautiful ex-assassin.
This series is basically a series of locked-room murder mysteries, linked together by the overarching plot of the main character’s search for his past. There are a number of interesting characters, but they take a very long time to develop – almost the entire series in some cases. The same is true of the plot, which only really gets going in the last ep. This is when many characters (including the lead!) become truly interesting for the first time, various relationships come alive, and riveting plot potential for an entire series materializes… with absolutely no time left to do anything with any of this.
The last ep showed me a drama that I might have *loved* to see. This series could have been that drama, if they’d condensed the first 23 eps down to maybe 8, then had now-ep 24, and then gone on to use the remaining 15 eps to narrate what happens after – with an actually fascinating plot, as well as characters and relationships that have acquired depth, interest and potential.
The drama features two noteworthy organizations that I’d like to mention briefly. ( Mild general spoilers under the cut! )
Would I recommend it?
Maybe? I do love the roving historians, and the ineptitude of the Ten Killing Gates is good for a laugh. There are some nice bits and characters, and the last ep is lovely. But overall, I have to say that to me, the entire drama seems like a prologue.
Where can you find it?
Ancient Detective is available for download here (hardsubbed).
Have you watched this drama? Do you think it sounds interesting? Would you like to be a roving historian? Let me know! :-)
This series is basically a series of locked-room murder mysteries, linked together by the overarching plot of the main character’s search for his past. There are a number of interesting characters, but they take a very long time to develop – almost the entire series in some cases. The same is true of the plot, which only really gets going in the last ep. This is when many characters (including the lead!) become truly interesting for the first time, various relationships come alive, and riveting plot potential for an entire series materializes… with absolutely no time left to do anything with any of this.
The last ep showed me a drama that I might have *loved* to see. This series could have been that drama, if they’d condensed the first 23 eps down to maybe 8, then had now-ep 24, and then gone on to use the remaining 15 eps to narrate what happens after – with an actually fascinating plot, as well as characters and relationships that have acquired depth, interest and potential.
The drama features two noteworthy organizations that I’d like to mention briefly. ( Mild general spoilers under the cut! )
Would I recommend it?
Maybe? I do love the roving historians, and the ineptitude of the Ten Killing Gates is good for a laugh. There are some nice bits and characters, and the last ep is lovely. But overall, I have to say that to me, the entire drama seems like a prologue.
Where can you find it?
Ancient Detective is available for download here (hardsubbed).
Have you watched this drama? Do you think it sounds interesting? Would you like to be a roving historian? Let me know! :-)
