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DECODED / 解密 / CHINESE DRAMA REVIEW

 
*warning: long post and spoilers ahead

Hello guys! Its been a long time since I've posted anything. 

I finally graduated high school! That means I got time to binge on dramas. Yay! So today, I am going to review a new Chinese drama. The English title is DECODED, and for the Chinese title  解密 (jie-mi). Honestly, I stumbled into this drama coincidentally. Usually I only watched dramas that are recommended by my friends or the ones that I have read the news about and anticipating about it. So this drama is a big exception.

Upon laying eyes on the cover, I instantly recognized the main character. He is Cheney Chen (Chen Xuedong-陈学冬), my bae yet I don't know about his new drama. I liked him since I watched Tiny Times. So since the male lead is Dongdong my bae, without second thought I clicked on it.

A short summary of what it is all about: 

Decoded is based on the best selling novel of the same name by author Mai Jia (麦家).  It tells about Rong Jinzhen (容金珍) who is an autistic math genius being scouted by Zheng Dang (郑当) to be a member of Unit 701. Unit 701 is a government unit (something like the CIA) and its job is to decode the Purple Code (Zhi Mi) that is used by the enemy party to do evil in China. Decoded follows Rong Jinzhen in his days in Unit 701, where he met precious people and had precious experiences such as love and even betrayals.  

First impression: 

The story is set on the Early Republican China era. Personally I do not like dramas or films or anything set in this era. I don't know why, I don't have a particular grudge against this era. Maybe I just felt bored because my mom watched tons of drama set in eras like this (Oldish Shanghai eras stuffs) and I do not like the fashion. Period drama - Early Republican China era - Modern Drama. See, this era is in the middle, and I just do not feel like being in the middle /if you're confused nevermind cause im confused too/. But I still decided to give it a chance. This drama made me wait so long before Rong Jinzhen appears /dongdongfeels/. I was excited when Zheng Dang oh so mysteriously appeared and pass a supposedly extremely difficult math question for the students in his alma mater to solve.

  

1. About Unit 701.

Unit 701 is something like CIA which is divided into two section, the North division and the South Division. Before entering Unit 701, recruits were given training and the final exam to decide whether they would be going to South Division (the division that gets actual work in decoding and field operations, this place is where those people are decoding the Purple Code) or the North Division (the useless division whose job is sending out newspaper and office boys chores). There are 7 new recruits including Rong JinZhen.

Unit 701

THE RECRUITS:

  

Rong Jin Zhen

 (Chen Xuedong)

Autistic Math Genius, solved the Purple Code. Male lead.

Zai Li 

 (Ying Er)

The girl with super memory, she remembers detail of everything she saw. Female Lead.

 

                                       Zhao Qi Rong                                          Han Bing 

   (Jing Zhao)                                        (Zhang Zhe Han)

                                
                                  Meng Xiao Yun                                     Yan Shi
                                      (Yu Heng)                                                (Yang Yi)

    

    

Pan Shen

(Wang Yan Yang)

 

 

THE CHIEFS

    Zheng Dang                            An Neng

         (Guo Jing Fei)                            (Yin Xiao Tian)

                                      

Lei Ting

(Bai Qing Lin)

  

2. Rants

***Firstly, I do not get what the actual hell is Purple Code. 41 Episodes and I didn't saw the "super hard to solve" Purple Code. There is a scene where Rong Jinzhen was being bratty because he couldn't endure the physical training. He attempted to leave Unit 701 then Zhen Dang stopped him, telling him that he must prove himself worthy to get into the South Division. He then rebutted Zhen Dang by asking him to just give him the Purple Code. Then Zhen Dang said that the code is very very big and is unable to bring it out of the South Division. But throughout the drama I see nothing but people scribbling. The cameras doesn't show what they are scribbling about. Sure there are some very little scene where it showed Rong Jinzhen's messy solution. And the rest just scenes of him scribbling. I searched at Chinese forum regarding the actual identity of the Purple Code. But they just answer vaguely. They said since there is no computer at that period, the Purple Code is a code that computers solve, something like that and since there are no computers, then the computation must be done manually, resulting in huge amounts of trees died to provide them paper. But still, when the Purple Code is decoded, what is the actual answer? Nah, we get nothing, its just everyone celebrating the Purple Code is decoded. After they moved on from the Purple Code, the question still remains in me. What exactly is the identity of the Purple Code? The same as the Math question that Zhen Dang distribute in Ningzhou University to find recruits. What exactly is that hard to solve question? I was disappointed and frustrated. I was watching for the sake of Purple Code too. But nah, I guess this focused more to the 'drama' part rather than the solving process. They didn't explain about the Purple Code, sigh. I expected that I would be able to receive some Math knowledge, but there were none or maybe its like this in the novel too? Because I haven't read it yet. So if anyone can explain to me the true identity of the Purple Code, please feel free to comment!

This is a glimpse of the solution for Purple Code. But what's that all about?

***I am so unsatisfied when this ended. The ending is rushed. In short, everything is lacking. There is no in depth solution for the problem Unit 701 was facing. True its about solving the Purple Code, but what about the greater motive behind the creating of Purple Code? Why would Rong Jin Zhen's Math teacher wanted to create the Purple Code to wreak havoc in China? There sure is a greater controversy behind all this, because apparently the Math teacher is being instigated by country X to create all of these mess (as written in Baidu). Purple Code was his masterpiece sure, but why would he use so much energy, so much people, so much time to make China a mess? What grudge does he have if he isn't instigated by other people? But all these were unexplained in the drama. The ending is just Rong Jin Zhen (him with white hair and wrinkles already) who is apparently the last Leader of Unit 701 before the world moved on and Unit 701 close their business and he stood in front of the tombs in North Division while being interviewed by a lady reporter. The ending made me mad. If I am Country X, I won't give up even if my China mole failed and died.

 

Elderly Rong Jin Zhen, not really convincing but at least they added wrinkles.

***My heart was broken twice. First because An Neng died. At first it never crossed my mind that he would die. But when his screen time is so excessive, and he is leading a quite peaceful life. Moreover he is a big mentor to Rong Jin Zhen, plus there is a very dangerous mission going on. I got a slight feel that something must've going to happen to him. But I did not expect the author to make him die /sobs/. He was one of my favorite character in the drama, as he is really a nice and cool person. Second, Shen Yu left. I am not really a great fan of An Yi Xuan, on the poster, I thought she does not match Shen Yu's character. But boy I was wrong, ever since her appearance, I just can't help but admire her strength, independence and how brave is she. Shen Yu is truly a role model. She appeared from episode 23 until episode 31. Just when she was spending happy times with Rong Jin Zhen, everything just have to fall to pieces. She left. She freaking left without a word. She went to report the whereabouts of Rong Jin Zhen and then disappear into thin air. We never saw her again. Unit 701 used all means to find her but to no avail. Gosh. Why Shen Yu, why? I am sure if she could join UNi 701 with her stealth hands. 

    An Yi Xuan as Shen Yu Er 

This ship is supposed to sail fine. But the wind *cough, the author, cough* just have to break them up.

 

3. Pros

***First thing first, the visuals of this drama is good. I totally adore Bai Qing Lin who plays Lei Ting. She is extremely gorgeous. I simply think that Lei Ting's character is tailored for her. Even though she keeps on picking on Rong Jinzhen and has a bad temper, she emits that strong woman aura. In short, I approve of her hotness. Other than her, all the other characters are good-looking as well, like Rong Jin Zhen, Ying Er, basically the Unit 701 recruits to Zhen Dang and An Neng. 

 

Bai Qin Lin as Lei Ting, oh my god she is even more gorgeous when she let down her hair, but sadly, throughout the drama, when she is on duty, she just rolls her hair like the second picture. That picture still doesn't do her justice, guys you should watch the drama to know how fabolous she is.

 

***The story is very realistic. From the death of An Neng, Shen Yu leaving, the Math teacher being the bad guy to Pan Shen's case, all of these taught us that in real life, death can happen anytime especially when you have a job that dangerous. Betrayals could happen from the person closest to you. Decoded taught me that life doesn't always goes the way we wanted to. The ending isn't really happy anyway, its just realistic. Even if I am not satisfied with it, but that how life actually goes. Kudos to the author!

***I liked the setting, even though the places they used are just those few, but it looked really real, and the vibe is on point. I would like to taste those biscuits that Yan Shi is so fond of. 

By far, the uniform worn by Zheng Dang is my favorite. It looked so comfy and stylish as well. Even though on the Chinese forum netizens said that their uniform isn't relevant to the time setting. But either way, I liked it. One more thing, all the female actresses' eyebrow are so on-point. I think it looked too modern especially in Rong Jin Zhen's sister. But oh well, I guess its the trend right now.

 

 

To watch or not to watch?

I would say to give it a try. It isn't really that dark and deep as I expected to be. The plot was okay, it

got a little bit draggy in the beginning but its still good enough. The acting is great, the visuals as well. So I would recommend you to watch this for entertainment. Just don't take it too seriously. You could watch this on Youtube. Just search for China Huace Film & TV Official on Youtube. Its the official channel for Decoded. Other than Decoded there are several other dramas as well. That's it for now, enjoy the drama! 

XOXO

Joy