One of my favorite genres of Chinese dramas are historical crime/investigation dramas. I COULD WATCH A MILLION OF THEM and not get tired of them. Now, I am aware there are a lot of Chinese dramas with this theme and I am happy about that. It gives me lots of dramas to choose from. There are many historical crime dramas I have not seen yet. Miss Truth had been on my list for a LONG TIME! I finally got access to it on a streaming site so, I decided to check it off of my list.
*Now as per usual with any review I write, I will not be including any spoilers in this review.*
A QUICK SYNOPSIS OF MISS TRUTH - The story follows a forensic examiner Ran Yan, as she investigates the truth around her mother's suicide and solves murder cases one at a time. She encounters a judicial official and an assassin by chance and finds true love through the course of searching for the truth.
Overall, I think I had too high of expectations for this drama. I always seem to have high expectations when it comes to crime dramas. The first half of this drama was SO GOOD but then the second half of the drama just fell apart for me. I wonder if other people had the same issues I had with this drama.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THIS DRAMA
THE FEMALE LEAD - I loved the female lead in this drama. She was smart. She was brave. She spoke her mind. She was FOR SURE stubborn BUT that made her stand up to people even more. Now, the writers did change her and make her do some ridiculous things in the second half of this drama which drove me nuts BUT I still liked her overall in this drama.
THE CHEMISTRY - There are 2 potential male leads in this drama. From what people have said on the internet, there is definitely people who want the female lead with one male and another group of people who wants her with the other male. I think this speaks to how much chemistry the female lead had with both male leads. I was EXTREMELY bias and wanted the female lead with one male lead over the other the entire drama. This is probably why some of the writer's choices drove me crazy during this drama. The two males even had chemistry together as well. They made a great team when they worked together.
THE ACTING - I loved the acting in this drama. I thought the entire cast did a great job. It blew my mind when I found out that this was the first drama that the female lead ever did. I am always a fan of actors and actresses who express emotions, even subtle ones, just through their eyes and facial expressions. There are plenty of talented actors and actresses in this drama that do that.
THE OSTs - I am still mad that I can't find the OSTs from this drama on any streaming sites. I enjoyed these OSTs so much. I think they complimented the drama so well.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
THE PLOT - Most of the things I am naming that could have been better I think all comes down to the writers and the choices they made for the drama. As I said above, the first half of this drama WAS SO GOOD! The writers ran it into the ground during the second half. The writers dropped some story lines they introduced in the first half of the drama that we did not get a conclusion too by the end. They left threads hanging. They let conflicts last too long. They wrote in conflict when it didn't need to happen. The second half really turned heavily into the love triangle/romance aspect of this drama and less about the crime investigation which in my opinion was not the best choice to make.
THE ENDING - While the ending was the ending that I was rooting for the entire drama, I still found it not satisfying. You make the chosen lead couple forced a part for a year and then you give them like 1 hug in the last 3 minutes of the drama. THEN on top of that, you have an open ending by bringing back the other lead? What was the point of that? Were these writer's expecting a second season? Were they going to have a second season and have the other male lead try and get the female lead back? I just did not understand why the ending had to be this way. The pacing overall in this drama was just all over the place which I will talk more about next.
THE PACING - As I said above, the pacing was all over the place with this drama. It was like the writers changed their mind half way through this drama. They brought in conflict and drew out drama where it did not need to happen. Things should have been revealed earlier on in the drama. Decisions should have been made earlier on in the drama. WITH THAT ENDING - this drama did not need to be 36 episodes long.
THE 3 MAIN LEADS - I get that you don't want a chosen couple to known to early on in a drama. At first, I liked that there was a love triangle where I supported the female lead being with either male lead. It was refreshing to see 2 good options. Eventually that got boring and infuriating. I will admit, I became VERY BIAS with who I wanted the female lead to end up with. It did not help that the writers drew out this decision to the BITTER end. It did not need to be written that way. I also think that the way that the writers wrote in the reason the female lead eventually chose what male lead would be with her in a romantic sense was a cop out. The writers realized they needed a decision to be written in and they just chose a definite, easy way for the female lead to make this decision. I mean she tried to tell the male lead that didn't get chosen earlier and he didn't take no for an answer so, why would he now. HENCE WHY I WAS ANGRY WITH THE RIDICULOUS ENDING! Even when the chosen couple was decided and happy together, the writers had to write in conflict. I just don't understand why the writers were adamant to keep the options open until the very end. This type of writing also made the writers make their female make STUPID uncharacteristic decisions as well. They changed their characters to fit the narrative which was RIDICULOUS!
THE SISTER - DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THIS SISTER! The writers used her as one of the devices to create conflict between the leads. I MEAN HOW MANY TIMES CAN THE MALE LEAD TELL YOU NO! This character was AWFUL! She drove me nuts the entire drama but again what drove me MORE nuts is that she kept popping up and creating conflict. WRITERS, YOU CAN USE MORE THAN ONE PLOT DEVICE TO CREATE CONFLICT! Why did you have to use and repeat the same devices over and over again?
THE PRODUCTION - Now, I am not saying the production was HORRIBLE! I will say I did notice some things in the production that I normally don't notice in other dramas or can let go of. Now, does this mean that Miss Truth didn't have a lot of money? Maybe...Parts of this drama were GREAT and beautiful. Other parts were blatantly cheap and I could not pass on how bad some of it was. When it is noticeable to the audience watching in a drama, that can be distracting and a problem.
Rating: 6.5/10 (Streaming on VIKI/AMAZON PRIME now)
If you are curious about my reaction to the drama IN REAL TIME - here is my tweets/watch thread for the drama
AND THAT IS MY REVIEW OF MISS TRUTH!! Did you watch Miss Truth? What did you think of the drama? Is it on your list to watch? Will you watch this drama now after reading my review?