The Knockout

... to take note and think beyond the media.

This TV show is based on real events, namely the dismantlement of the government-affiliated and government-corrupting criminal syndicate in the city of Jinghai. There's no spoiler to that, really, because one can go onto wikipedia and read about those events.

What's different, and preoccupying in reality, and preoccupying for those of us who live in "democratic" countries, however, is the glaring inefficiency of our police forces.

This TV series might be "propaganda" in a way that is filmed and the very ending of contains is a deliciously quaint "thanks to the Party" movie quip, however this contains a reality.

China executes corruptioneers, while the West praises them and puts them in positions of power. I know dozens of people like the protagonist regularly making the headlines of our newspapers and our government (France) can do nothing about them. The average waiting time for a police intervention from a call call in China is under 15 minutes. The average waiting time in France is between 40 minutes and several hours. Average ER waiting times in Europe are counted in hours.

Same for other public services. All the while the rich are enriching themselves. We are, collectively, going down the Gao Qiqiang's Xinhai road.

That is very worrying, because ANYONE promising the same level of efficiency will actually rafle the ballot boxes and when you're unable to provide basic services like that, a dictator becomes a (good) option - that which most will vote for - which could end in a collapse afterwards - already seen in 2023 Russia, between this and ethnosupremacist police brutality and undercurrents of civil war in the US the future looks extremely grim - OR - otherwise - you have the Chinese system, which works, produces real results and TV series detailing how those results were produced.

This is the message of this movie and everyone better take note of it.

If so, why?

I can't even concentrate on watching the drama, the camera moves a lot and unnecessarily. They used a lot of handheld camera, and felt like without steady camera. The angle of shooting, the framing, the movement of characters are just terrible. I wondered if it was done on purpose, so I tried to watch 2 episodes but I just couldn't finish the 2nd one. I just felt dizzy watching it. I trust the story was excellent as many many people had said, but I wouldn't be able to find out myself. Acting-wise, yes OK, but I still can't sit still to watch it.

One more thing, if the story is good, cast is good, why not invest a bit more in hiring better crew? Editing wasn't good either, it's just sloppy, and no one ever mentioned this on the internet, I really wonder why. Maybe it's just me...

The drama spans more than 20 years and focuses on how hard-working and talented opportunists rise from the bottom of the Chinese social pyramid. The first 3/4 is very exciting, but the last 1/4 is a bit slow, thus I rated this drama a 9 instead of 10.

The acting of Zhang SongWen (who plays Gao Qiqiang) is incredible. He is a ruthless mafia boss but also a warm, loving father, husband, and brother. He handled the two faces very well. The scenes where he protects his family, showing warmth and strong humanity, really moved me.

The supporting actress Gao Ye (who plays Chen Shu Ting) is also very eye-catching. Her portrayal of the tiger mother is very realistic!

Good effort from actors and actress, and the original story is facinating enough.

There are 3 chapters in total. The first chapter is definitely the good one. It has emotions, drama, conflict and character development. It's attractive and it gives a good start to the whole story setup.

When it comes to the 2nd chapter, the conflict and character development are still there, but the story pace becomes very unstable. There are certain parts of stories very slow and the ending of chapter no.2 is wrapped up in a storm manner, which makes me feel very disappointed.

The 3rd chapter is totally crap.

In addition, the main cop character has no long term character development. I know there are changes to his life, but I don't feel the description of that makes me feel his changes. So this character is very thin to me, more like a guy who stitches up the story.

Once again, I like how the actors and actresses interpret and perform the whole thing, but the final storyline and directing presented in these 39 eps certainly let down my expectations and their overall effort.

The plot is compact and exciting, that reflects the determination of the government to deal with the problem of official corruption. "Kuang biao" not only restores the clothes, but also the mobile phones and vehicles used by the protagonists. This is a rare phenomenon in early TV dramas. However, the play "Kuang biao" has well balanced this point. It has not only completed the important task of education, but also made the play happy to fly. In the past, I was very curious that China's online Shuangwen has gone to the world, not only can cure depression, but also can help foreign youth detoxify. Why can't such a powerful Shuangwen model be transplanted into TV dramas?