Discussion post - episode 1

[yantantether]

I've just started a rewatch, and I thought it might be fun to put up discussion posts for anyone who's also rewatching, watching for the first time, or just has random thoughts. I'm watching on Viki, where there are 10 episodes of 45 minutes each, so I'll start with a short summary and then some brief thoughts of my own (and then hopefully everyone can join in in comments!) I'll aim to get these up twice a week, on Saturdays and Wednesdays.



Episode 1

We meet our leads! Tang Yi's efforts to move his gang into legit business and Meng Shao Fei's long-standing obsession with him are both sketched very vividly. We also get a quick picture of Jack's insouciance, Captain Shi and his hilarious exasperation with Meng Shao Fei, Zhao Zi and Meng Shao Fei's friendship, and Tang Yi's close relationship with Hong Ye. Following Tang Yi's confrontation with Wang Kunchen and the latter's murder, we learn that Chen Wenhao is returning from Cambodia and the joint police and Interpol investigation into him begins. The episode ends with Meng Shao Fei looking sadly at his mentor's ID card as he thinks of her.



I love just how quickly the vibe between Tang Yi and Meng Shao Fei comes across, with TY seemingly as cool as a cucumber and MSF all peacocky, frantic energy - maximum efficiency in a short show and a great credit to the writing and acting. I also love the lift scene for many reasons, but one is that we briefly see TY flustered. Having MSF all up in his face is clearly having an effect on him, before he turns the tables so delightfully.

It's clear from his comments about Tang Yi that Zhao Zi is already finding men attractive, even before Jack turns the mega-wattage of his flirting on him. I really like this - it's one reason that the drama feels so grounded in its queerness. Zhao Zi isn't "gay for you" he's just gay, even if he hasn't necessarily articulated it to himself yet.

MSF is SO EXTRA that the character could have potentially been a bit annoying, but he's just so funny and charming. The "again" in "I, Meng Shao Fei, am not afraid of getting sued by you again" really cracked me up. OH MSF.

JAAAAAAACK (that is all.)



(Mod, could we please have a rewatch/discussion tag?)

Comments

[no_detective]

during the entire first scene, you never get a solid shot of Tang Yi's face - yessss i love that!

the way he places his gun into the hand of the guy he's just beaten up with a little grin - jack's almost constant grin is AMAZING and says so much about the character. what a great performance choice!

(I think Kenny was actually close to corpsing, you can see his little smile.) - i just had to find the scene again, and yep, that's totally visible! thank you for pointing it out :D

(And when he talks about TY having a nice smile...guess who else we've seen so far this episode who has a nice smile.) - LOL THIS.

he takes obvious pleasure in riling Ah-De up because of it - omg exactly. jack may be a super competent merc, but he's also a trickster/chaos agent by nature.

I'm pretty sure Jack just straight up killed a dude. (And I'm also sure this is far from the first dude he's killed.) - agreed on both counts, and also much clearer on the rewatch than the first time i saw the episode. which makes jack pretty scary. when we were watching the eps as they aired, we spent much time wondering if jack would end up as the morality lesson by the end of the show, since he was portrayed as quite cold-blooded.

this is also the first hint we get that MSF did something previously (the Thailand case) to mess up Interpol's plans - YES OMG I AM WITH YOU ON THIS! WHAT DID HE DO?!?!?

[yantantether]

he's also a trickster/chaos agent by nature
That's such a good way of describing him. And this plus him being the assassin of Wang Kunchen is giving me even MORE feelings about him being so soft for Zhao Zi and wanting so badly to take care of him.

[doctorskuld]

Agreed, that is such a good way of describing Jack. He plays for chaos. XDDDD

One of the things that is often bouncing around my head is how exactly Zhao Zi will react when he finds out that Jack has actually killed people (emphasis on the plural) in cold blood - not out of self-defense, not by accident, but because he was instructed, because it was part of his job.

How would Zhao Zi initially react to his househusband actually being a killer?

[joatamon]

I've seen the whole series now and I don't understand how Jack's general murderyness jives with Jack working for Interpol - I'm still confused about whether Jack is an actual undercover agent, or just a snitch, and if he is a snitch, why? (Can you tell I haven't read the novelisation yet!)

[doctorskuld]

The second epilogue of the novelization has been translated, and that gives you a little more on Jack's backstory, but honestly, you are allowed to make up what you want!

[joatamon]

Honestly I love this show to bits but the more I think about it, the less it makes sense xD

Thanks for the link!

[doctorskuld]

The mafia plotline definitely does not make sense. Don't think about it. The romance plotlines though, 💯💯💯

[doctorskuld]

YES OMG I AM WITH YOU ON THIS! WHAT DID HE DO?!?!?

In steebee and weilongfu's translation of the novelization, I specifically went to read the scene where they are supposed to have the briefing with Interpol...and that scene is cut from the novelization.

*FRUSTRATION*

I want to know what happened in Thailand. I mean, it's implied that it involved Xin Tian Meng, somehow, right, which was why Shao Fei acted so brashly? I WANT TO KNOWWWWWWWW