Insect Detective 2 (2024)

Bugs Make the Best Detectives

I very much enjoyed the first one so was very surprised that they made a second one though in Thailand and China as back drops. Again this show was very underrated and I wish more people had watched it. It really had great friendships, crime solving, overcoming differences in traditions and so forth and of course the bugs make for the best detectives.

Pros: The friendships formed amongst the leads. You don't have to watch the first series in order to watch this though it does explain ML's (JT) background and how he and FL (JL) got together. Also very glad the Chinese detectives that had become ML's brothers in the first show made their appearances here and that was like a welcome homecoming for a few cases. In Thailand, the first detective aka Chai to welcome JT became also like an extension of that brotherhood. The running gag of the show was that Chai would either call or appear each time the leads would try to kiss. It's like he had a spidey-sense about it. There was definitely some underlying flirting between guys and some storylines depicted transgenderism and other LGBT notions which is why this series had no promotion and very little publicity during its run. Ter (played by Nine, first time seeing him in a series as he's most known for being a boybander from Into1), was a great character though he rolled his eyes so many times, I thought they were going to get stuck in his head lol. He was an immature policeman that was jealous of JT getting his boss's/mentor's/partner's attention but eventually he came around to value JT as part of the team. Kan was another great character from the police squad and so these guys took JT under their wing as well.

I liked the diversity of the cases though they did have an overall serial killer to catch, there were smaller cases that had to be solved in between both in Thailand and China that tested JT's mental health and knowledge of bugs. Mario was a very creepy and convincing serial killer. From the moment you met him, you knew something was off about him and than when he hallucinated what we found out later to be a witch in the mirror, it was obvious he was the serial killer. His obsessive crush on JL started from the get go and it was very creepy, which didn't help his case.

I also liked the authenticity of using both Thai and Mandarin speakers in the show, it gave that real feeling of two sets of investigators from two countries working together or when JT asked Chai to translate something to someone not speaking Mandarin. The surroundings including sets and OSTs were awesome and authentic to being Thai.

Cons: There were a lot of loop holes or strings left untied. Plus much like the prequel, they did too many flashbacks. But instead of them being repetitive, here they should have just left them until the entire case was solved. Here they were given to us in parts as particular portions of a case was solved which felt unfinished and unnecessary. There were two car bombs towards the end but they were never explained as to who caused them or why. We never saw JT go to school even though he was enrolled; they conveniently skipped over that part.

The ending was very rushed; it went from Mario possible suspect for one murder of a guy to not a suspect at all to he may have killed one woman to holy crap he's got JL and is the serial killer, run and get him! But not before we stop at his home and JT conveniently finds the book on how to kill witches in Mario's apartment's bathroom under another book yet we saw just 5 seconds beforehand he just glanced in there. So other than prodigal bug knowledge, does he also have X-ray vision? It was just very unbelievable and rushed.

Finding JL and Mario in that abandoned factory on the first try and taking him down was a low budget fight. There was no real emotion from Mario save his explanation on how he thought his foster mom took his real mom away and all of the other women morphed into this witch as well as what JT got from the book. Later finding out that Mario suffered from a condition called Capgras Syndrome which is real but I had to look it up myself as they didn't really explain it as thoroughly as they did each bug related anything. It's indeed a mental illness and is a type of schizophrenia where the brain substitutes the real person for someone or something else like Mario did with the witch. It was always one witch but because he sought after women that looked like his foster mom, something in his brain would glitch to form that image and he'd be thrown into a violent rage. I really wish they explained that in detail as opposed to three sentences. So he had a type of schizophrenia, mommy issues, and was a psychopath to boot. And that last part gave birth to a serial killer because with the other two, if treatment is sought after properly, can mitigate anything from manifesting.

Also wish they explained or showed what happened afterwards; other than Mario in the mental hospital not taking his meds and stalking a new victim. JT in school and obviously still helping Chai and the cops, was JL still in that lab or helping the coroner. Let them kiss for lord's sake! That was the only time when we felt chemistry between them two; otherwise they were like two good friends, which was fine too. That didn't take away from the story.

Would I recommend it? I absolutely would; it's a great crime solving show whether you watched part one or not. The insect portion of it was what made it the most unique. And how said insects helped solve crimes. For the friendships both new and old. Definitely give this underrated gem a go.

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The dub very disturb me

Not many people watch nor know this show. But I've watch season 1 & in my memory I quite like it, for mystery detective drama, this drama quite interest me. But in term of the story, I've completely forgot about this & not have any willingness to watch the season 1 first before jump watch this. Fortunately, the story is quite separated from season 1, only the important cast remain the same (ML & FL), so I or anyone can just jump to watch this, without need to watch the season 1 first.

This time, this drama joined between 2 country, Thailand and China. The story, Jin Ling (JL) has been working with police in Thailand for some time (don't know how long). This drama open with Tan Jing Tian (JT) also go to Thailand for student exchange & met up with his girlfriend, JL.

Arrived at Thai, JT welcome with a murder case and him as a suspect ^^. After investigation, of course JT proven to be innocent just wrong place and wrong time. And with that JT also get acquaintance with the Thai police. Of course at this foreign country, JT also help police with their investigation, especially when it comes to insect. And over time the police more and more trust JT, especially the captain, "Chai" Vorarit.

That's overall the story for this drama. Now let's discuss what I like & don't like.

What I like:
+ The relationship between JT & JL is just cute. They're really one traditional Asian couple. No kiss, hardly hold hand & absolutely no sleep together. I don't know this the decision of the director or the actor/ess themselves. And the funniest thing, Chai is like the third wheel in their relationship. Always disturb JT & JL, especially when comes to crucial moment, like when they're about to kiss. That's why sometimes JL just be jealous for JT & Chai relationship.
+ The world of insect really wide, deep & interesting. In here we get a brief explanation about many insect, that in my opinion, sometimes we can learn & can't take it lightly.
+ The earbud translation... Haha... You know the smart technology that can translate any language directly to your ear. Yeah, because JT & JL in Thai and they don't understand Thai, they use that earbud for most of the time to communicate with police Thai.
+ They use the Conan cursed but ward it off nicely... Haha.. You know Detective Conan. Yeah... JT like Conan, who always find case around him, so some people just mocking JT with that mockery.

What I don't like:
- The final case seem anticlimax. I can't really explained how or what I mean. That's just what I feel.
- Sometimes they're not too consistent with the language. Sometimes they like forget to wear the earbud but they're like understand the conversation between Thai & Chinese.
- The one thing that's really bothered me for the whole drama, that make me HAVE TO give this drama quite low score is... The over dubbing. OMG.... They already join production with several Thai actor, but sometimes when it's all only the Thai people speaking, they still dub it into Chinese. It just make me feel weird & quite confuse actually when it's only Thai people and there's no people from other country between them, they still dub it into Chinese. And when suddenly there're Thai or English voice it just make me weird as a whole.... Oh yeah they still sometimes use Thai not dub into Chinese.... If maybe they're just completely dub in Chinese with a few English it's gonna be a little bit better.... Why...? Why must spend extra budget for some voice actor to dub the Thai language instead just use their own voice with Chinese sub...? I know I know maybe it's due to censorship b*lllsh*t.

And you know what the most funny thing for me. It's only for me & I'm sorry if that's make whoever read this feel I'm homophobic or whatever. But I think I watch too many BL drama, that's make me feel or rather search for BL vibe... Haha... And several times I feel like they try to insert the BL vibe into the drama... Like the relationship between Chai & JT, or Chai & Ter.

But overall I really happy this series get the chance to get season 2....

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