Under the Skin (2022)

Pretty paintings and crime

DISCLAIMER: My opinion, that's all!

The concept of this drama reminded me very much of many US shows, police procedurals in which they usually pair up a gruff but extremely honest policeman and a quirky highly intelligent civilian (mostly mathematicians or psychology professors or some such profession) who comes up with the right remark/discovery at a crucial moment thereby solving the case gaining admiration by everyone!
It is the same here: this time an art history professor and highly skilled painter is brought in to help with investigations. At first there is animosity between him and the detective but that quickly vanished when the painter skilfully solves the case in the nick of time, impressing the detective who becomes his main fan.
I was actually a bit disappointed that the conflict was resolved so quickly: I hoped for the tension to last a bit longer. From episode three onwards, we were on the full bromance(not chines censors' one though which it could have been seeing the physical differences between two characters who looked like they just came out of a shounen ai manhua!LOL).
Once their relationship was firmly established, we were treated to a series of "case of the week" episodes featuring different stories: murders, scams, suicides (the slightly GL overtone one did not sit well with me: it sent the very wrong message!)
Over these 20 episodes we did not find much about the main characters: their past and their families are barely mentioned.
And this is where the plot holes come in: the detective comes from a well off family but was caught being a delinquent in a gang fight. Painter looks like he was a homeless kid, taken in by a kind art teacher but still living as a rebel? He was nearly drowned to death (who saved him the first time?) and forgot the face of the woman who asked him for a sketch (that too: why did she have a photo of a 3yr old to find someone easily found 30 years later?I must have missed the explanation!LOL). A psychologist told him he needed to have another near death experience to jog his memory but he had had another such event just a few days previously and nothing happened to his memory. As the plot progressed, the painter got to have many new capabilities: highly observant, highly knowledgable in anatomy, highly competent in psychology (the way he manipulated the computer baron was amazing and of course chess master and extremely talented painter.Makes you wonder how the police managed to catch anyone before he joined with his drawing skills.
Last but not least, the police is painted in such a positive light; everyone is nice, honest, competent, trustworthy and cheerfull, supporting each other for the greater good! Amazing!

The paintings and the drawings were beautiful: in the last scene we are shown sketches of characters from the cases they solved and each sketch is in a different style! There are some really pretty pictures! The painter who did these for the drama production is a very talented individual!

I must admit that as much as I enjoyed this at start, I was getting bored with it by the end. It is not half bad, a fun watch but I just have trouble getting used to c dramas. Again I had the impression they first filmed everything, edited everything in a block then chopped it up into 40min pieces: sometimes the episode would end mid-sentence. They should really learn how to make a cliffhanger cliffhangy!

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ORIGINAL SYNOPSIS

What I like about this? Original story, different synopsis from any C-drama, Tan Jian Ci and collaboration of the casts, ordinary people with real contribution in life. One of good drama in 2022....trust me on this.

1. Original story, different synopsis from any C-drama
Shen Yi (Tan Jian Ci) was still an art student when a man came to ask a drawing what a child would look like as an adult. He did so well that later caused the death of an undercover agent Lei Yi Fei. A young policeman Du Cheng (Jin Shi Jia) was raging mad of Shen Yi, he accused him for the cause of the death of his long-time friend and mentor. Out of guilt, Shen Yi accepted the invitation of Director Zhang of the Public Security Bureau and became a portraitist of the Interpol Team in five years later. By that order Du Cheng had to accept reluctantly Shen Yi to became a colleague with annoyance and uncooperative assistance toward Shen Yi’s drawing to solve cases, and the two became the “ticking bomb” in the team. The strange thing is that, no matter how hard Shen Yi tried of recall for a few years, he couldn't draw the face of the man who asked him to paint the child's photo. Eventually, Shen Yi helped out to uncover many mystery of crimes with his drawing including the biggest case of his involvement 5 years earlier.

2. Tan Jian Ci and collaboration of the casts
As a talented criminal sketch artist (Forensic Artist) he's a character that could translate details from witnesses at the crime scene, to make sketches that police and the public may use to identify and capture criminal suspects. Teaming with Du Cheng (Jin Shi Jia) was kind of frienamy - they knew they're depending to each other and respect their own field but because of mistrust and grudge, Du Cheng found it hard to get along with him. Lots time working solo, Shen jin forced to endure 'cold reception' from the team until proven to be successful. All the casts did well, Tan Jian Ci acted he's the real artist.

3. Ordinary people with real contribution in life.
All actors didn't have visibly make up like they're just ordinary people that doing their job well in real life; sweating, panting, running, angry, protest all done convincingly just like the real investigators.

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More than skin deep

Composite art, image modification (age progression), facial (post mortem) reconstruction - the 3 main disciplines of forensic art. These are the 3 main elements that’s used in identification, assessment and resolutions of the cases in Under the Skin through the gifted Artist Shen Yi and his reliable partner Detective Du Cheng.

And they are used masterfully in UTS.

Truth to be told, Under the Skin was a difficult series for me to sit through. Not because the story is crappy. On the contrary, it is often because of the disturbingly humane reasons of the perpetrators when revealed why they did what they do. UTS highlights the social issues that’s plaguing our current society - gender equality, view of beauty in society, bullying and feelings of outcasts, human trafficking, identity fraud, abuse, rape, organised criminal, and of course murders. All heavy topics. All too real. All grey. All more than skin deep. The cases may have concluded, however, the underlying social issues that spark the cases…not so.

Besides the heavy utilisation on forensic art in solving the cases, one of the things that stood out about UTS was Shen Yi’s character, as the gifted artist. Usually, gifted characters are stereotyped to be eccentric because they are gifted with a special ability that normal people can’t understand, pun intended. Like Sherlock Holmes. I appreciate that UTS made Shen Yi a gentle, calm, smart introvert who relates well with others. And often, he shows an empathy to the perpetrators in ways that others can’t. Through Shen Yi’s eyes, he helps bring out the humanity side of the cases.

One fun fact that was brought out by this show is the amazing ability that certain gifted people have. I thought UTS exaggerated the ability of Shen Yi in facial reconstruction with the little information he had to go by. (Age progression technique is popularised by app in recent years, so more “believable”.) And through others’ reviews and comments, I got educated on a real world person who has this ability - a retired Chinese police forensic artist Lin Yu Hui who can sketch image of a person based on few clues. He helped solved a high profile murder case in US back in 2017 and now establishes his own studio to draw portraits of missing people, usually children, and martyrs. Inspiring and admirable.

Another fun fact is the various arts and stories behind them where Shen Yi used to teach the university students. More than art, they symbolise the messages that Shen Yi / UTS wants to relay to the students / audiences. Such as the female artist who drew Judith and Holofernes and gifting the portrait of Marie Curie to one of the perpetrators.

All in all, the forensic art aspect of UTS is like garlic and onion in Chinese dishes. On its own, garlic and onion can be rather blend and not something we will have as the main dish. With other dishes though, they bring out the flavours and make for appetising meal.

Not sure why I use food analogy to describe a crime fiction story. Long analogy short, UTS is a story that peels into the complexity of social issues through forensic art.

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Binge worthy crime drama

This is a new take to crime dramas centered around a portrait forensic artist, instead of just a policeman. It gives the crime solving plot a different feeling, which was very refreshing. I love art myself, so seeing art used as a way to solve crimes is so intriguing. I don't know how much of this is real though. Maybe it's too exaggerated in some cases? I think they could have toned done how "genius" Shen Yi is with his portrait accuracy.

Talking about Shen Yi, the actor Tan Jianci, did a really good job portraying his character that was mentally, psychologically scarred by a crime that changed his entire life. He had this baggage that I felt in his eyes. He acts with his eyes, and subtle facial expressions. One scene when he cried, a tear ran down his face. I actually felt the sadness. I am impressed. I've never seen any of his other works, so I'll be interested to watch more of him. It could be that this character finally gave him that break through. I'll give him a 10/10 on acting.

Du Cheng's character is the typical rash policeman, so nothing special about this character. I didn't feel Jin Shi Jia's acting, which was usually sprinkled with loud and exaggerated actions. hence why I dropped acting down from a 10. The reason was in his "sad expressions", when someone dies or some sad scene, I can't feel his sadness. In some scenes, he looked like he was smiling not frowning. The tip of his lip was supposed to angle downwards, but it twisted upwards a bit. His facial expressions seem hard and stiff.

The story started with the main "crime" that interweaved throughout the story and of course ended the series. It was well paced and told well overall. No major plot holes which are common in Chinese dramas. The lighter crimes sprinkled throughout the series had their pros and cons. I liked the high school crime story most because it had a sad theme around the whole situation, that feels realistic (except how Shen Yi got to the victim's portrait!). The small crimes were mainly there to show different situations of portrait forensic artist's job. At the same time, it built up the trust between Shen Yi and Du Cheng. Their character relationship development was built up in a well paced manner. I felt their bond, especially in life and death situations. It was believable.

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Good script

I have now watched a few Cdramas and
I havent been disappointed . I knew who Tan Jiance was as he is a great talent in Cpop world his vocals are beautiful..Hes a dancer..a rapper and even sang "You
raised me up" in perfect English and another arrow to his bow he can act. I
thoroughly enjoyed this series..the acting was great..the storyline was well thought out.Tan played the part of a forensic profiler adept at sketching people's faces from descriptions given by the victims. I enjoyed it more knowing TanJ was in it so Im biased to watch it but overall the actors..
Scriptwriter..Director and the storyline made it a great series.
TanJ is also great in Lost you Forever..fantasy drama wbere he plays a not so pleasant vampire...

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Art importantance in crime

The individual cases were layer up until the last one making the audience comfortably enjoy the complexity of human nature and the unfortunate circumstances the victim and perpetrator ended up with. It shows human behavior and how art is used to show that as it not only identified suspects but was a vital part of Shen Yi and who he is
Shen Yi is a very perspective individual who noticed the little things that made breakthroughs in cases making him highly popular among the police force which for me made but likable with his empathetic nature toward others
There is character development as at first he is a little unsure of himself and his position but slowly warms up, especially with Du Cheng whose past is linked to him with a tragic event.
Du Cheng, I believe he is a great officer but at times reckless with his decisions endangering other's lives

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Beautiful Tan Jianci and Art, what more do you need?

Another completely biased review from me to you.

This is the show that introduced me to Tan Jianci, and I must say I am hooked!? What an incredibly talented entertainer he is! I have watched this show a few times. I'm keeping this on my permanent list of shows to watch over and over again.

The opening credit visuals are really striking and set the mood for the entire series nicely. The series can be rather dark at times but it does keep your interest and your heart rate going. The music and lighting all add to the atmosphere. Probably a not-very-realistic depiction of forensic artists but damn they do such a beautiful job showing the process of creating these portraits. I really wish I knew who was doing the drawing when they show close-ups of the hands. Beautiful! And who did the paintings that are part of the series. Whoever they are, fantastic job! Do they show in the credits? Sorry, I can't read Mandarin.

The friendship that develops between the 2 MLs is good, after a rocky start. A spoilery bit: it's sad to know that the age-progression drawing basically ruined/changed both of their lives forever. I find it hard to believe that Shen Yi forgives the cop for the way he blamed him and treated him and ruined his life. A promising young artist has his creative life forever cut short ?

The different cases are interesting, strange, and somewhat twisted. The methods used to solve the cases may require you to drop your logical thinking for a bit but I really love how they show the process. Being able to draw someone's portrait from a blurry partial side view of a masked person? Hmm, nice skills?

The ending credit song is just so gorgeous and dark and emotional. It perfectly fits the series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXOsDojKP0k

I cannot wait for Season 2!

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对剧情有个疑问？Have a question about the plot?

GOOD DRAMA. ENJOY WATCHING VERY MUCH. Will recommend to others to watch this stand.

Have a question about the plot?
Why take out a picture of a child and hope he can draw what the child in the picture will look like as an adult? Since Officer Lei was investigating the case and hindered the criminal, the criminal should know his appearance. This was not elaborated upon.

为何需要拿出一张孩童的照片，希望他能画出照片上的孩童成年后的样貌？ 既然雷警官是在查案中，阻碍到犯罪人，犯罪人就应该知道他的样貌吧。 这点没有详细说明。

Xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

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Disgusting moment about punish cat mowing!

warning! i rewatched that moment few times !
in the 7th episode from 9:11 minute where cat appear close to painter , the cat is meowing and you can see that they (ppl) are pulling his tail ( behind the scene) provoking meowing ... because the cat wants to go / goes forward but they pull him back (it’s not literally visible with their hands but directly visible on the video by cats moves , that he drives back and obviously against his will ) .. it blocked all my emotions about this series! why torture animals? where did the director look when he controlled the shooting process ?! disgusting!
i tho Chinese respect animals and care about on movies also but seems not ...so i guess also no one animal protecting organization ofcoz didn't checked that or noticed if they even verify some content in video or better say if they pay attention to it in China...
so i can say ..that one's who's agreed about escenario in that way is an idiot , who's for money violet animals to make his movie look realistic !.. are computer technologies so better ya use them to make the sound close to the natural than make pain to the animal !
can't wonder how many cats/ animals was jus a toy in producers hands ? i can't even imagine ??‍♂️
my anger ofcoz not to all Chinese coz are normal who's love animals and protecting them but my anger to these ones including director producer who's agreed to violent them in his series ! ???

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