Drama: Justice in the Dark (Ep 1-8)

[autodach]

• This is the live action adaption of Mo Du. 8 Episode out of 30 were dropped out of the blue; no news since then. At this point it is unlikely the drama will air in its entirety.
They managed to squeeze almost two cases into 8 episodes without butchering the story, I’m impressed. The drama is also much closer to the source material than I expected.


• I prefer to consider and judge adaptations in two separate ways: As a standalone work and as a transformative work. It’s entirely possible for something to be an amazing masterpiece and a terrible adaption at the same time, for example.

Neither perspective is inherently superior to the other, but it is important to be clear what one is talking about. I’ve seen so many discussions turn ugly because people weren’t on the same page about this. This is similar to the distinction between Watsonian (in-universe view) and Doylist (meta view) arguments.

Since I watched this show immediately after reading, the novel fresh on my mind, I have no illusions about being able to meet the series on its own terms right now.
All this is to say: I am primarily assessing the show as an adaption and highlighting differences between the two versions of the story.


• Zhang Xincheng is amazing as Pei Su. He really is President Fei come to life, exactly how I imagined this character. Also he is very handsome <3


• Some event makes a small percentage of people unable to feel empathy. Does this mean there were no psychopaths in this world previously?

I understand the purpose is to skirt around censorship and portray more of the story elements that fall on the mature side. But it comes at a price.

The change undermines a major theme of the novel: Trauma and abuse being passed from parents to their children. The three Su girls are part of this, but most importantly it is a part of Fei Du’s story: His fear of being/becoming too much like his father is a major aspect of his character.

In the novel, some of the central questions about Fei Du are “has he inherited his father’s psychopathy?”, “how is he affected by his childhood abuse?”, and “to what extend can he resist this influence?”.
It also ties into general questions about nature vs. nurture: What makes us the people we are? Do we have a choice?

In the show, the question instead becomes “was Fei Du affected by a random event no one had control over?”. There’s no meaning in it.


• In the novel, a lot of information about Fei Du’s childhood is only revealed very late into the story. In the drama, we find out about how Pei Su was snooping in his father’s stuff and got caught (his lost memories) early on.
I think other things are also foreshadowed/introduced earlier, but it might just be that I missed it in the novel, as I have only read it once so far.


• Pei Su actually messes with his father’s medical equipment – which is, you know, a pretty serious crime - Fei Du merely implied he could/would like to.


• They aged up a lot of the child characters, most notably Su Ruowan. This lessens the impact of the incongruence between the presumed innocence of a child and her depraved actions.

In the novel, her character is built largely on her being way younger than either the other characters or the audience would expect. Her criminal activities rely on her being a peer of her victims and an unlikely suspect. The eeriness of a child committing these crimes is important to the emotional impact of this arc.

I especially noticed when Pei Su acts like she can’t possibly be the perpetrator because she’s just a little girl; it seems so odd – the actress is a grown woman.

She is also no longer too young to face legal consequences, making her the only member of the Su family to be punished.


• I have to say I found this show delightful. The bar was set high and they did a great job.

Comments

[shipperslist]

Hi! Here via the network page. Mo Du has been on my reading list for ages but I have a friend who loved it to bits and had no idea this drama adaptation was airing. They were very happy for the info. :D

[trobadora]

I'll have to check out these episodes at some point, you make them sound like fun! It's such a shame this drama is stuck in probably-permanent limbo.

[autodach]

It is fun! My heart bleeds for this drama being unfinished, but I can still recommend the episodes we got.

[autodach]

Glad I could help! Mo Du deserves all the love <3