i love the way the pilot episode sets up the show. there's a lot of history at play, but it's presented very dynamically (later eps get a little more exposition-y with flashbacks and recounted memories etc). that opening scene, with tang yi filmed like smooth criminal/power from the shadows, and jack too cool to let himself be implicated even as he's arrested in the middle of a literal standoff? AMAZING. and i love tang yi's use of the Significant Lighter to set on fire the debt he owes to the other gang.
i also LOVE the first confrontation between tang yi and msf (tho i did kind of yell at a cop for pointing a gun at an unarmed civilian... dude, come on). you can tell there have in fact been four freakin' years of msf yelling righteously after tang yi, and tang yi being wayyyy too skilled to fall for it... but he also secretly respects the passion behind it, even as he's super annoyed by all the hassle. he can probably relate to msf's fervor in pursuing justice for a mentor's murder, which is what they have in common from the very start.
the tailor shop scene is DELIGHTFUL; it looks like msf never had the chance to observe tang yi that closely before. i love that he knows his schedule by heart and that he's noticed the regularity of it in the past year. this might be related to tang yi turning to the legal side of his businesses, and letting his second/third in command handle gang operations - he's accompanied by either jack or li zhide wherever he goes, and they both seem to run things on his behalf the rest of the time. since jack joined his gang about a year ago, he was probably hired by tang yi to help facilitate that process... anyway. another observation: msf discovers that tang yi can speak tenderly to someone, and it's ADORABLE.
poor captain shi. so much yelling to do, so little time... (btw, note on interior design choices: that green/living wall in the police station is a+++.)
after the gratuitous shower scene - thank you, female gaze among the production crew - we meet hong ye, who is as protective of her big brother as he is of her, which i love. i cracked up at her "i won't tell you who told me what's happening w the gang and the police bc if you keep firing people who tell me stuff, you'll end up without a crew" line. (their convo shows that tang yi is separating gang business from legal business and that he's ruthless in that separation - he's tough and determined as a leader.) she knows he's up to something, even if he doesn't want to involve her. and she's rightfully worried, after losing their father figure and almost losing her big brother 4yrs ago. i did LOL at her observation that he's getting too close with msf - oh, the foreshadowing! :D
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH THE ELEVATOR SCENE. i can't believe msf physically fights his way into the elevator, and then tries to give tang yi A GIFT OF KEYCHAIN (okay, it's a troll-y gift, but STILL). by this point, tang yi is self-aware enough to know he finds msf sort of vaguely, annoyingly attractive (i would bet some cash money he's had a fantasy or two about hate sex with the dogged cop - he's got a healthy imagination, okay - but he'd never pursue it) whereas msf is utterly oblivious, bless his socks. and he's trying to intimidate someone very intimidating, except he's SUCH A CINNAMON ROLL that he's playacting like a tough cop - and once he notices tang yi's blush, he laughs that his move worked at all?! OH MSF, YOU ADORABLE FAILBOAT.
and THEN tang yi decides to turn the police intimidation move, as playful as it was, into gangster intimidation with a side of gay chicken, and it all ends in handcuffs and an extremely flustered msf. (i'd also like to credit zz for planting the thought into msf's head that his obsession might be... a little more than just professional interest, because you know that thought flashes thru msf's mind when tang yi reaches for his back pocket.) i love that the dip in the elevator is filmed from like three angles and played in a cadence including slow motion, because that's totally when msf "fell" for the first time. (side note: i bet tang yi's wearing some tom ford fragrance & smells like very expensive, darkly dreamy sex.)
....right, where were we? oh yes - episode recap.
we see tang yi dealing with yet another kingpin, except as cool as he was in the opening scene, here he gets a bit hotheaded... because this confrontation is both a more direct threat, and personal.
i adore zz's purple-and-blue sweater and want one for myself. (it's the same sweater he wears the first time jack kisses him!)
interpol and unit 3 join forces to investigate the cambodian drug dealer's murder. tang yi, li zhide and jack were all caught on camera going to a party... but other cameras covering the building were damaged, so none of their alibis are 100% airtight. (besides, we saw tang yi and li zhide meeting with them, with jack presumably hiding in the trunk until he gets the chance to kill the kingpin, so... not a huge mystery.) the tension between the police unit and interpol is palpable and super understandable. i am sorry to report that i'm CHARMED over msf having a BAD REP among the interpol people - the cinnamon roll is the resident hothead!
finally, msf and his adorable cowlick are sadly sitting in the window and gazing at the SUBTLY SYMBOLIC PUZZLE BOX (the music box he got from his mentor). so many tropes, so many more to come!!! what a fun, fun show :D
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Date: 5 Jan 2020 04:45 (UTC)i love the way the pilot episode sets up the show. there's a lot of history at play, but it's presented very dynamically (later eps get a little more exposition-y with flashbacks and recounted memories etc). that opening scene, with tang yi filmed like smooth criminal/power from the shadows, and jack too cool to let himself be implicated even as he's arrested in the middle of a literal standoff? AMAZING. and i love tang yi's use of the Significant Lighter to set on fire the debt he owes to the other gang.
i also LOVE the first confrontation between tang yi and msf (tho i did kind of yell at a cop for pointing a gun at an unarmed civilian... dude, come on). you can tell there have in fact been four freakin' years of msf yelling righteously after tang yi, and tang yi being wayyyy too skilled to fall for it... but he also secretly respects the passion behind it, even as he's super annoyed by all the hassle. he can probably relate to msf's fervor in pursuing justice for a mentor's murder, which is what they have in common from the very start.
the tailor shop scene is DELIGHTFUL; it looks like msf never had the chance to observe tang yi that closely before. i love that he knows his schedule by heart and that he's noticed the regularity of it in the past year. this might be related to tang yi turning to the legal side of his businesses, and letting his second/third in command handle gang operations - he's accompanied by either jack or li zhide wherever he goes, and they both seem to run things on his behalf the rest of the time. since jack joined his gang about a year ago, he was probably hired by tang yi to help facilitate that process... anyway. another observation: msf discovers that tang yi can speak tenderly to someone, and it's ADORABLE.
poor captain shi. so much yelling to do, so little time... (btw, note on interior design choices: that green/living wall in the police station is a+++.)
after the gratuitous shower scene - thank you, female gaze among the production crew - we meet hong ye, who is as protective of her big brother as he is of her, which i love. i cracked up at her "i won't tell you who told me what's happening w the gang and the police bc if you keep firing people who tell me stuff, you'll end up without a crew" line. (their convo shows that tang yi is separating gang business from legal business and that he's ruthless in that separation - he's tough and determined as a leader.) she knows he's up to something, even if he doesn't want to involve her. and she's rightfully worried, after losing their father figure and almost losing her big brother 4yrs ago. i did LOL at her observation that he's getting too close with msf - oh, the foreshadowing! :D
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH THE ELEVATOR SCENE. i can't believe msf physically fights his way into the elevator, and then tries to give tang yi A GIFT OF KEYCHAIN (okay, it's a troll-y gift, but STILL). by this point, tang yi is self-aware enough to know he finds msf sort of vaguely, annoyingly attractive (i would bet some cash money he's had a fantasy or two about hate sex with the dogged cop - he's got a healthy imagination, okay - but he'd never pursue it) whereas msf is utterly oblivious, bless his socks. and he's trying to intimidate someone very intimidating, except he's SUCH A CINNAMON ROLL that he's playacting like a tough cop - and once he notices tang yi's blush, he laughs that his move worked at all?! OH MSF, YOU ADORABLE FAILBOAT.
and THEN tang yi decides to turn the police intimidation move, as playful as it was, into gangster intimidation with a side of gay chicken, and it all ends in handcuffs and an extremely flustered msf. (i'd also like to credit zz for planting the thought into msf's head that his obsession might be... a little more than just professional interest, because you know that thought flashes thru msf's mind when tang yi reaches for his back pocket.) i love that the dip in the elevator is filmed from like three angles and played in a cadence including slow motion, because that's totally when msf "fell" for the first time. (side note: i bet tang yi's wearing some tom ford fragrance & smells like very expensive, darkly dreamy sex.)
....right, where were we? oh yes - episode recap.
we see tang yi dealing with yet another kingpin, except as cool as he was in the opening scene, here he gets a bit hotheaded... because this confrontation is both a more direct threat, and personal.
i adore zz's purple-and-blue sweater and want one for myself. (it's the same sweater he wears the first time jack kisses him!)
interpol and unit 3 join forces to investigate the cambodian drug dealer's murder. tang yi, li zhide and jack were all caught on camera going to a party... but other cameras covering the building were damaged, so none of their alibis are 100% airtight. (besides, we saw tang yi and li zhide meeting with them, with jack presumably hiding in the trunk until he gets the chance to kill the kingpin, so... not a huge mystery.) the tension between the police unit and interpol is palpable and super understandable. i am sorry to report that i'm CHARMED over msf having a BAD REP among the interpol people - the cinnamon roll is the resident hothead!
finally, msf and his adorable cowlick are sadly sitting in the window and gazing at the SUBTLY SYMBOLIC PUZZLE BOX (the music box he got from his mentor). so many tropes, so many more to come!!! what a fun, fun show :D