Da Tang nü fa yi

This drama started out very strong, but for some reason, episodes toward the end fizzled. Perhaps, some things got lost in the editing room so scenes were kind of choppy moving from one to the next. There were also plot holes and questions that never got answered. Still, I stuck with it to find out "who did it." And I enjoyed the show's portrayal of a strong, smart and independent female lead as a coroner/forensic specialist, and of course, the cat-and-mouse between baddies and the good guys. Throw in a love triangle and voila! we have a drama. The fight choreographed sequences were okay and served their purposes. However, some parts seemed to be thrown in out of convenience to move the plot along, such as how many times can the female lead get abducted? Boring.

Without giving away spoilers, the ultimate reveal of the mastermind was definitely a surprise (couldn't have guessed in a million years) though. I also really enjoyed the performances of the 3 main leads--the sacrifices both males suffered due to their love for the female lead simply made my heart swoon. I started on team Su Fu but eventually moved to team Xiao Yu. So, if you ignore some plot holes and suppress your inner critic, you'll enjoy this show for the smart solving of murder cases. There were some humor speckled in here and there to lighten up the mood as well. As I said, I really enjoyed this drama, but unfortunately, the last few episodes and ending was a bit anticlimactic for me. BTW, the final scene seemed to hint of a season 2, so I look forward to seeing what happens next.