Cat's Cradle (2020)

Amazing talented kids actors!

I found this after watching some of the light on series through similar recommendations & I can't believe I missed this for 2 years. This is one of the best suspense crime dramas out there. Yes it's dark, disturbing and may not be everyone's cup of tea but it's must watch if you enjoy heavier content.

The entire cast was strong however I was blown away by how talented these kids are. The transformation of Chang Yang's character from good to evil is portrayed perfectly by the young actor. It's hard to just showcase that kind of transformation through such an introverted character. What's more the parallelism between Chao Yang & Zhang Dong Sheng is undeniable. It's like they can sense each other. That pressure continues to build up, until the ultimate betrayal pushes them over the edge.

Pupu's character was the only innocence that could've brought Zhang Dong Sheng & Chao Yang back to the light but as the lies continues to build up there was no going back.

Yan Liang protector of Pupu was the most tragic one as he trusted Chao Yang time & time again. His bad decisions out of good intentions started the whole snowball effect.

In the end "You can believe in fairy tale." ................... but that's not the reality.

Hidden Details of the Drama:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RInCXdE9to

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A kid is always a kid-

-no matter how clever they may be. Having seen The Long Night, I was expecting an equally good plot in series and The Bad Kids did not fail me. The children actors/actresses were excellent, even those in small roles.
The actor in main character (the Math teacher) was also excellent. The retired detective, the step mother, were also excellent in their performance. The directing of the series was great, I liked that some scenes were without any soundtrack, it made the whole story more realistic.
The only flaw I found was that of how unexpectingly the detective connected all the dots and solved the case, it seemed like out of the blue.
The series portrayed very well how easily children can be manipulated due to their immaturity and that, for me, was the key of success of that story.
Rewatch value, 9,5/10 which means, you must watch it!

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Twisted and filled with secrets

Wonderful acting from all actors, especially the kids paired with an intriguing story really allows this drama to flourish.

The story is quite dark and there are many unexpected twists. The family dynamics and friendship I find the most interesting and developed. The character growth here is also incredibly mature and well written. This is a show that is jam packed with evidence, which really increases its rewatch value for me. One last positive thing here is that all the characters have pretty extreme flaws, which allows for realistic characters to really drive this story and create simple but strong conflict.
This show has some plot holes that I think were hard to fill because of the complexity of the story line. The characters also change their views very fast and unexpectedly: something very small can trigger unexpected emotions in these fragile characters. This type of change of behavior can sometimes be confusing to the viewer though who is already accustomed to how they normally act.

The ending is quite surprising and I personally think it can be interpreted in many ways. If you're into this genre this is a must watch, if you're not I would say to stear away because it does get quite dark.

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Watch only if you are willing to invest time to further analyze on the plot

Up until the last episode, I thought I would be giving this drama 9 or 9.5 rating. Beautiful cinematography, realistic portrayals of characters that makes you feel anyone of them could have been your next-door neighbor or office co-worker or classmate, and I love those little scenes of no dialogues such as Chaoyang hiding his mother's valuables and setting a trap so he would know if his friends tried to search his house for items of value to steal (this is in ep 1, so I don't consider this a spoiler).

But, but-- the frustration and anger that arise in me at the last scene.... Made me decide to give this drama a 7 rating. Then again changed it to 7.5 becos director has successfully made me feel about 5% of the frustrations that Zhang Dongsheng would have felt. Why such a sharp drop in my opinion of this drama? Here's why:-

I was expecting some flashbacks scenes in the last episode, that would give some clues or hints as to at which point in the drama that the narrative becomes unreliable. But lo and behold, they leave this completely open-ended to our own interpretation! The very obvious "fairytale" parts I have understood (who are imagined to be alive), but no hints, no clues given as to at which point in the narrative that things are "enhanced" and not what it seems.

I wouldn't mind if this is a movie or telemovie (in 4, 5 parts). But this is a 12 episodes drama!! Are we actually expected to rewatch from ep 1?.... Because for those who have watched this, isn't it suspicious that only Chaoyang can hear the whistles that his 2 friends made (when they want to meet him)?? Notice how no one else complain about the whistling, I mean an adult could have opened a window and shout some profanities about the whistling! So, should we doubt that this form of communication, the whistling never happened?? ..... there lies my frustrations.

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Dark and Depressing

This drama is a dark and intense story taking place in Ningzhou, a southern region of China. The weather in the summer is mucky, everyone is covered in sweat and dirt. Unlike the usual glamorous sights of high rises and high fashion in cities like Shanghai and Beijing where most modern dramas are set, Ningzhou is dilapidated, people work hard to eke out a living. Being in this part of China, apart from speaking mainly Mandarin, Cantonese and other dialects are also used.

Accordingly, this drama is adapted from a novel. When I first read the English title, The Bad Kids, I was expecting street urchins. Surprisingly, the kids I saw were nothing but honest, courteous, upstanding, compassionate and intelligent children who try to help each other out. Apparently, the characters of the children have been greatly rewritten to make them more humane as compared to the actual novel. The motives of the characters have also been changed to garner more sympathy from the viewers. Though I have not read the novel, from the reviews of viewers who have, I can see the original novel is even darker than what is depicted in the drama.

The sound effect is amazingly good and the dubbing is first rated. The child actors are simply fabulous to say the least. The lighting is natural and there's hardly any noticeable whitewash of the actors' faces unlike most other Chinese dramas; blemishes and pimples remain on the teenagers' faces. Their skin tone is also natural. The overall acting is really 10/10. The children song, Xiao Bai Chuan (Little White Boat) brings back childhood memories - it's one of the most well-loved children songs. Other music played at the strategic moments brings enormous intensity to the drama, preparing the viewers for imminent happenings.

I stopped at episode 6 and couldn't continue anymore because it's getting very dark and convoluted. I'm a rom-com kind of viewer and the story here depresses me with deaths and situations out of one's control. For that matter, I couldn't even stomach the award-winning movie Parasite. However, don't let my personal taste deter you from watching this drama, especially if you're a thriller buff. This is a great drama, just not my taste.

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A beautiful drama showcasing the real antagonist in cdramas.. Censorship

What could one say the exact moment after finishing this series for the first time? Work of art? Masterful directory? Addictive storytelling? No no no, you’re more likely to just sit there and go “What in the absolute fuck did i just binge in a day?”

The Bad Kids is undeniably on a completely different level than 99% of cdramas out there, in more ways than one. Rather you were addicted to its layered writing, artistic cast, the chilling ost, stunning cinematography, hell the intro animation even, you wouldn’t question why after experiencing it yourself. At least one of these aspects will keep you glued to your bed clicking one episode after another, with ill patterned lengths that has you go “huh, so short, might as well go for another” to “huh, i can delay my afternoon run to the gym, just this last one”.

The characters are heavily layered, with the actors executing them phenomenally. Almost everyone are highlights, you don’t get bored of seeing any single one of them work their magic on screen, rather it’s one line, a confession,reveal, a whistle, spit shining shoes, you come to appreciate every little detail that’s being displayed by some of the freshest actors that will have you mistaken them as the veterans around them.

This drama may be short, but it will without a doubt leave you in your bed constructing theories and analyzing several little details and actions to create your own takes away from the series.

Despite the fact that you shouldn’t be in these reviews nor comments until blindly experiencing this series yourself in order to interpret the story your own way first , it’s human nature for many to still take peeks beforehand. So I won’t go further in detail. Do watch every episode until the VERY end though to not miss details even the outros subtly throw at you.

I’ll end this simple review something we all are left with to interpret . Believe in the fairytale told or find your real story hidden behind the pages read aloud, flipping between one another only to uncover untold details and blank spaces waiting for your interpretation to fill them.

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