Qi pao mei tan

I have watched many of the Miss Fisher's Mysteries - still haven't seen Crypt of Tears yet, so I can echo some other reviewers. While these do initially follow the basic profiles of the characters and some of the plots, the shows come off as a totally different experience for me, especially from a cultural sense. Like anyone who covers a good song, Miss S is successful in making this show its own enjoyable take.

I'm trying to avoid having to do a spoiler tag, so here goes. What did I enjoy most about the show?

1) Su Wenli is so likeable from the very beginning. I honestly think her some of her best scenes in the whole show are her interactions with Su Yun (Li Ya Zhen). Her emotion just pours through the screen sometimes. Plus, Yili Ma is just a classic beauty, looking gorgeous in every outfit and I admit I had a little bit of a crush going on.

2) The best character arc for me is Tao Zi's. She may be my favorite. Her transformation over time is just more satisfying than Dot's arc, as well as her relationship with Xiao An.

3) I have greatly enjoyed the relationship between Inspector Luo and Miss Su, much more than 'Phrack'.

4) The show doesn't take itself too seriously. I mean, there are plenty of serious moments, but the humor, though sometimes a little on the nose, just works so well.

5) I thought the acting was great. By the end of these 30 episodes, everyone seemed to have found their stride.

The only reason I didn't give it a 10 was mostly because of the production value:

1) some of the small inconsistencies with localization on the subtitles (especially when it came to describing medical conditions). Fortunately the context of the show gave no problems in identifying the afflictions or conditions of certain characters. And I don't mind subtitles anyway.

2) Props at times were a little anachronistic. Wenli browses through a PATRICIA CORNWELL book while in Inspector Luo's office. A unicycle at the cirus has a modern knobby BMX type tire on it. Little things like that.

3) Some of the set pieces were a bit on the cheap side (the jail, the walls of the sauna room in Episode 2). A couple of times I thought a wall might fall over.

Some viewers may not be used to the way the script delivers each story with its approach to dialogue, whereby there are often times when in a conversation one character may rephrase and repeat what another one just said a minute or so before. Also, people may not be used to how characters speak another character's name to express concern over their emotional condition. If Wenli was upset and crying, instead of saying "Wenli, I'm really sorry about your sister," the other character will just say "Wenli..." or perhaps use their full name. I watch a lot of shows from Japan, Korea, and China, so I'm used to this.

I really really liked that HBO didn't release a dubbed version. So much is lost in a dub. Although the 70s and 80s Shaw Brothers kung fu movies have a certain nostalgia about them with the sometimes terrible dubs, my experience has always leaned towards the slightly unfavorable. Miss S would have had a totally different atmosphere and loss of enjoyment without being able to hear the emotion and tone of the native Mandarin (and some Cantonese here and there).

If you like fun murder mysteries that have occasional crazy twists where you do find yourself maybe second-guessing what you had right from the beginning then you'll love Miss S. Kudos to HBO for bringing this to America.

I thought the show was about crime and mystery but it really isn't. The show is a constant hedonistic glamour show. There's more focus on flexing and displaying wealth and power than anything else.

The main character is very unlikeable. She's always kidding or messing around and she always has a condescending attitude towards everyone around her.

I absolute LOVE the fashion, styles, colors, and art in this show but it shouldn't be the main focus of the show. The story feels like an afterthought and sort of thrown in.

A lot of the scenes make no sense and the main character is pretty much a Mary Sue. She an extremely rich person that can do and say anything she wants and things always just work out.

I just finished Miss S. Simply wonderful. The production was top notched, beautifully done. The acting was fantastic! If you liked Miss Fisher, you should LOVE this! It is fun to compare the 2 versions. There aren't that many differences and the ones that are actually made it more enjoyable. And the fashions on Miss Su and Inspector Luo are beautiful. In fact Inspector Luo dresses better than Detective Robinson. I hope they do the rest of the Miss Fisher stories. GREAT fun! A must see! I really can't anything wrong with it at all. Don't let the fact it is Chinese stop you from watching. I'm a middle-aged white woman from Texas.

I really enjoyed this Miss Fisher remake! As you would expect, there were a lot of changes made for cultural reasons when you compare Miss S to Miss Fisher, but that made watching even more enjoyable and interesting even though I already knew what was going to happen. This series and the actors had their own unique personalities and comedy that was true to the original but still unique and very likable, they kept me laughing. The staging and wardrobe was beautiful, I definitely want to watch a second time when I'm not only focused on reading the subtitles and would love a dubbed version for the same reason. I did take off a couple stars for a few reasons: the Dr. And Uncle Xiang (Mr. Butler) are not as developed as in the Miss Fisher Series and I missed them, I wished that Miss Su was a little bit more "kick butt", and because the accuracy of the wardrobe and styling was REALLY off for the era. Everything worn was beautiful, and I especially loved seeing the more traditional Chinese dress woven in, however the mix of random vintage stiles was pretty distracting and made it hard to get into spirit of the era. This series is supposed to be set in the early 1930s, as opposed to Miss Fisher which is late 1920s, but the primary style theme of Miss S was strongly leaning towards 1950s with a random mix of other decades too. Overall, very enjoyable and I really hope they make another season. It's pretty cool that I, an American, get to enjoy a Chinese remake of my favorite Australian show!

This series pays a nice homage to the "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries". If you are a fan of the original series set in Melbourne this is quite a treat. Miss Su is Phryne Fisher with the series being set in Shanghi instead of Australia. It does incorporate some cultural differences but the spirit of the lead remains the intact. An independent woman of means who becomes a lady detective in the 20's. The costumes are a delight, and much of the original storyline remains intact. I would recommend the Essie Davis version as a first introduction, but this is a very nice adaptation.