Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #452

Anne: Happy Tuesday everyone! So...recently there was a new vegetable that appeared at the China town supermarket. Water Spinach is one of my favorite vegetables. And what do I see but something called "White Water Spinach".

This is a picture. It looks like the regular water spinach, but everything is lighter in color and the stem is much "larger". It also doesn't cook like the normal one, it's much easier to over cook it (like I did), but I like slightly over-cooked vegetables. It also releases a lot more water when cooked, so it will be a little watery. It also has a much lighter taste, so...it's okay. Maybe I'll have to cook it less next time. So...for this first experiment, I still like the normal water spinach better.

So...I did spent last week watching a lot short dramas. But I did manage to catch one interesting new drama.

The Truth of Scent

This one popped up one the Chinese drama website last week, and they dropped all 24 episodes. To this day, the only place I've found this to be seen is on YouTube. Once I started, I couldn't stop. It is a very good period detective drama. The story is about Wen Xiang, a girl who came to the city to fine Wang Ya, the famous, legendary detective to help her solve her family's massacre that took place 15 years ago. (If you've read MDL, the first line kind of gives away a reveal...hm...not cool MDL..).

But when she got to the city, no one would tell her where to find him. All she could find out was that Wang Ya quit 5 years ago because he caused his best friend's death by not being able to solve a serial murder case. The first two episodes mostly setup the characters and all their relationships with one another. We meet the medical examiner, who was once the dead man's fiancée. We meet Zheng Yi Fei, the police captain who is in love with the medical examiner. During the first two episodes, we also meet Mo Xi, the magician who is in town to put on a show. As the audience, the poster for this drama is a bit confusing, because there was no relationship between the 3 of them, at all. 

I really like how this story is told from the beginning, by drawing a complete picture of how Wen Xiang, Wang Ya, and Mo Xi got together and opened up a private detective agency. The major plot line running through all the murders in this story leads back to the "nameless" murderer who remained uncaught from 5 years ago. Even all the intervening cases are intriguing. All the characters are well drawn, and the pace is good, without too many slow, dragged out moments.

Wen Xiang has a superpower, in that she has a very keen sense of smell. However, her superpower also seemed to extend to being able to "know" things. You just have to ignore the slightly inconsistent logic in this one. Also, I don't understand why all the foreigners spoke with such an odd accent. Is this what the director/writer, or whoever, thinks westerns sound like?

I would highly recommend this if you liked The Imperial Coroner. Also, Ripe Town, another period crime drama is about to air....so excited!!!

Behind Your Touch

This is one of the last few scenes of the drama, which ended with the same silliness that it started. The awkward situations that Moon Jang Yeol always put her in, to help him solve his cases. While this was not the best crime/romantic comedy drama, it did have a very good villain. Until my slow mind finally got the clue about how someone close their eyes and still manage to chase down their victim, that was when it finally dawned. And the prop that the clue pointed to was prominently shown from the very beginning.

This show went on a completely different flavor in the last 3 episodes. The drama was ruthless, I can't believe they killed Sun Woo!!! The reveal was very good. I'm not thrilled about the plot that stretched after the killer was caught, but sure, whatever, I guess they needed to fill the 16 episode length. Once the killer was revealed, the character did a complete transformation. There were unanswered questions that left the audience with a bad taste in out mouth. That reveal almost make up for the loose ends. 

I would still give this drama a recommend. However, one has to like farce mixed in with some really crazy fantasy elements and brutal murders. 

And this is yet for the discussions. I'll probably update as the week goes by as I finish more dramas that were lingering. Most of the other dramas that I watched were the short ones. I think I'm developing an attention deficit disorder.