Interlaced Scenes (2024)

Murder He Wrote.

After an injury related leave of absence, veteran detective Jiang Guangming teams up with rookie Shi Luo to tie up a few perplexing loose ends in a murder case. Shi Luo is a crime fiction junkie and notices that the crime scene is disturbingly similar to one described in Gu Jiming's debut hit novel Black Rain. Is it a bizarre Murder He Wrote type of coincidence or is the author somehow complicit? The plot thickens when they discover Gu Jiming is not the only writer with links to the victim or the crime scene. The list of suspects grows as they delve deeper into the incestuous and cut throat literary world of aspiring and established writers and their messy personal lives.

The murder mystery is riveting from the onset as the search for a missing dog becomes a hunt for a missing witness. As they hone in on the main antagonist, the narrative morphs into a police procedural and a terrifying, gut wrenching exploration of man's quest for relevance. For Zhenzhen and Guangming it is about being in control; for Jiming and Tang Xun it was about writing that memorable first and last novel. All too easily, they slip down the path of moral decay in their pursuit of what matters to them. Even though I was fascinated by this dark and cynical treatise on human nature and how toxic relationships can get, I didn't like or root for any of the characters in this story.

I always regarded Tong Dawei as an overrated actor but I was floored by his compelling portrayal of the pitiful, conflicted and ultimately selfish character that is Gu Jiming. I also was surprised by his dark chemistry with Su Zhenzhen and how they fed off each other. While I appreciate the attempt to flesh out Guangming's character and to somehow connect her marital problems to the case, I was bored by her relationship arc. Despite Ma Yili's fantastic acting, the great cop terrible wife plot-line is unoriginal and went on for too long; often disrupting the flow and pacing of the main narrative. The final two episodes are quite anti-climatic but its still overall an excellent suspense thriller. This could have been a much tighter and more engrossing watch had they cut it down to 10-12 episodes. I rate this an excellent 8.0/10.0.

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Don't go looking where you don't belong

Interlaced Scenes is an unusual crime drama that managed to scratch a very deep and persistent itch. Rarely do I find a mystery thriller that offers only a dash of grittiness rather than the whole shaker. The main character is not some gruff, self-sabotaging genius on the warpath for justice, and the villain is no moustache twirler calibrated to piss you off. Instead, nuanced characters with rich interiority live in a world often saturated with warm, natural light. There are scenes of dreariness, of course, but the contrast allowed some genuinely beautiful moments to shine through from the muck. When I look back, those are the moments that I will remember.

SYNOPSIS

Veteran detective Jiang Guang Ming is hastily summoned back from desk duty to shore up a murder case awaiting trial. While she investigates several loose ends including the missing murder weapon and a runaway dog, rookie Shi Luo becomes obsessed with the eerie resemblance between the crime scene and the opening pages of a best-selling mystery novel. As past facts unravel, the author gradually turns from a wild lead to a likely suspect.

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Minor spoiler of first 8 episodes below...
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The blurring of fact and fiction is interesting enough of a hook for driving suspense, but about half way through the drama the brutal whodunnit is suddenly resolved and the investigation transitions into a missing-person case. Murder fades into context, and the hook lingers only as a few unanswered questions. Even the detectives themselves find the development rather anticlimactic.

Here is where the drama makes a daring turn, in my opinion, from generic crime thriller into meta commentary. Not in a cynical, fourth-wall-breaking kind of way, but with frank discussions about how empathy is more than just words, how desire for approval poisons the psyche, and how stories of crime obscure the countless societal failings that led to those abhorrent acts of desperation.

While the storytelling can be masterful at keeping viewers in suspense, I found that the drama's best moments were when it dropped the guise of a mystery thriller altogether. Thanks to strong performances by the veteran cast, the narrative never loses momentum even as the truth becomes apparent in the final arc. Instead, the release of tension gives space for those seeds of turmoil planted within each character to flower into nobility or violence.

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A murder of innocence

‒Overview‒

Interlaced scenes is a short, engaging crime thriller that pulls you in with a deceptively straightforward murder mystery in the first episodes, then methodically reveals the the larger contours of the crime piece by puzzle piece. As a viewer you will first be drawn in by the mystery, then the characters, and later on the social commentaries on Chinese society and human nature. As with most dramas I rate above 8, this show has excellent acting, production, and an unique story.

‒Review (minor spoilers)‒

The show opens with the murder of a young woman. And flash forward almost a year to the present day, we are shown a successful author, Gu Jiming, receiving accolades for his thriller novel that contain passages eerily similar to the crime. Gu Jiming looks every bit the shady character, and even one of the detectives becomes convinced that Gu is the murderer. Open and shut case Watson, as I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the lame setup. But please don't drop the show based on the initial evidence as we are quickly shown additional clues about how the murder is much more complicated than it first appears. Along the way, our initial impression and assumptions about characters are continuously questioned, tempered, and even reversed multiple times.

We follow the footsteps of a brusque, incisive female lead detective Jiang Guangming, played by the always excellent Ma Yili, and her protege Shi Luo, played by Gao Zhiting. On the list of potential suspects and witnesses, are Gu Yiming, played by an excellent Tong Dawei, his wife Su Zhenzhen, skillfully portrayed by Lan Yingying, Jiang Na, Tang Xun, and others. I should first preface that I generally do not enjoy mystery dramas. This is mainly because too many mystery dramas are what I consider the 'gotcha' category, where the story deliberately throws out multiple bait to manufacture suspense, then toss in some convoluted explanation at the end, often based on some trivial or arcane detail that only the detective would pick up on. This is the other type of mystery drama that I do enjoy. The difference is that this one is much more of an organic mystery and suspense, we are right there with the main leads, be presented with the same details, and following the same thought process as they are. The mystery and suspense, come from the complexity of the crime and the appeal of the characters.

What I liked the most about this show is that the second half is mostly devoted to fleshing out different aspects of the key characters and social commentary. The most intriguing aspect of the story was about Gu Jiming and his former girlfriend Jiang Na, and his current fiancee Su Zhenzhen. The parallel and contrast between the two women, GJM's approach to both, and the metaphorical significance was riveting and profound. While I ended up lamenting the injustice to the victims and the depravity of the perpetrators, I was even more intrigued by what the show says about contemporary Chinese society, its problems, and values.

What were the circumstances that turned a decent man turn into a killer? Was it just him, human nature, or something about society? How much did the social inequalities and attitudes contribute to the tragedies? What is the price for innocence and dreams, especially for those of average material and social resources? I was actually surprised that the show offered pedestrian message at the end, even though all the narrative in the second half pointed to much more incriminating criticisms of society. And unfortunately, if I don't return with more writeup, I will only leave with those questions.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 8.3
- Plot - 8
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 8.5
- Acting - 9
- Visuals - 8.5
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 8
- Accessibility - 7.5
- Subtitle quality - 8

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It is nice to see Tong Da Wei branch out to play bad guy instead of good guy in other dramas.

Interlaced Scenes is a crime drama and another light-on series from iQiyi. The drama is predictable because of how it is presented in the first 1-3 episodes. By that time, I knew the ending because the writer, Gu Yu Ming, was a murderer. Episodes 4 to 16 are more fillers that review the investigations and the linkage between Gu Yu Ming and the victim.

Synopsis: Detectives Jiang Guang Ming and Shi Luo investigate a case when they discover that the crime scene resembles the crime scene from a novel by Gu Yu Ming. Fiction and reality get intertwined. Is it truly a coincidence?

My Reviews:
1. It is great to see Tong Da Wei branch out to play the bad guy instead of the good guy he has been playing in other dramas.
2. The drama focused more on Tong Da Wei's character than the actual FL and 2nd ML investigation scenes.
3. It would have been better if the drama had been cut to 12 episodes instead of 16. It was draggy and repetitive. I would like to see more evilness in Gu Yu Ming. Still, his character is an unsuccessful writer who plagiarizes a story and becomes famous with the help of his wealthy wife.

It is not a bad crime drama, so I give it a 7.0 rating.

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