So far it seems to be your typical forensics cop show. Chipper, talented newbie (Jiao Jun Yan) starts her new job assisting an antisocial but gifted forensics expert (hottie Zhang Ruo Yun from “Joy of Life”) to solve cases with an equally hot police detective (Li Xian).

But there are a few things that have caught my eye, so far!

First of all, our girl is a tomboy. Has her hair short, no make up, dresses like a boy… and NO ONE thus far has even commented on it! In fact, one character even makes mention in passing of what a pretty girl she is! I’m not sure what to make of the fact that her dressing like a boy raises no one’s curiosity at all? Not even to remark upon it? Usually when the heroine cross-dresses it’s for a reason integral to the plot! But it’s early yet, maybe that will come up later. It just struck me as refreshing that every one is treating her sense of fashion as perfectly normal. Love it!

The second thing that caught my eye is that, already in the first episode, the drama has touched upon two “ripped from the headlines” scandals that were super-embarrassing to Mainland China. One was the Chinese toddler who wandered into the street and was struck by a vehicle, then trampled by another while at least 18 people walked past her crushed little body in the street. In the drama, a toddler is shown perilously in traffic with cars zipping by and only our heroine stops the car and runs to rescue him.

The second scandal was something our food tour guide in Shanghai told Robin and I about: That people were recycling gutter oil unfit for human consumption and selling it cheaply to street food vendors as cooking oil. Everyone out to make a quick buck at the expense of unwary consumers. (Our guide warned us strenuously against trying street food on our own.)

To say I was surprised that they would bring up these two issues in image-conscious China which rarely tolerates anything that portrays China in a bad light is an understatement. But ESPECIALLY when I spotted THIS in the credits:

Hilarious!!

I guess they are using these incidents to impress upon the public how conscientiously Chinese law enforcement address these issues? Anyway I’m looking forward to seeing what other dirty laundry, if any, show up to be cleaned later!!

Robin’s final impressions of Medical Examiner Dr. Qin here.

#forensics, #jiao-jun-yan, #li-xian, #medical-examiner-dr-qin, #zhang-ruo-yun