Bland and Contrived

This series falls flat because it lacks substance. Its over- dependence on flashbacks makes it messy to follow at times as it’s not always obvious whether the storyline is in the present or the past. While Huang Pei ja is strong as Su Yen, the whole note-writing concept comes off as contrived and not very believable. On the other hand, Anson Chen as Yu Jin Yu struggles with his character, often appearing awkward, bland and lacking energy. In the end, he is nothing more than eye-candy, his expressionless persona unable to convince us he is truly in love. Edison Wang should have played the main role as his acting is superior. Unfortunately his ill-defined character of Su Yin gives him little to sink his teeth into. J.C. Yang adds much needed comedic input but often overreacts making his character appear artificial.

By the time this series reaches its finale, you wonder why you bothered to sit through it all. Disappointing.

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Prone to Deus ex machina

The Devil’s Punisher is more enjoyable in its earlier episodes where the plot is less convoluted and the pacing more balanced. The evolution of Anson Chen’s character becomes almost laughable because of his overacting and total lack of nuance . The second challenge is that I’m not convinced the writers knew where the plot line was heading so to move the story to some sense of conclusion in later episodes, they resorted to a number of instances of Deus ex machina making the end of the film appear clunky and convoluted. From a filming point of view, someone discovered colour enhancement and went wild with over-saturated scenes and colours that appeared artificial. On the whole, though, the show was enjoyable but is in need of better editing and direction, particularly for Anson.

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