Chinese Drama 2023

Echo (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)

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• Genre: Investigtion, Thriller
• Release Date: 16 March 2023
• Origin: China
• Cdrama: 13 Episodes

 

Cast

• Song Jia as Ran Dongdong
• Wang Yang as Mu Dafu
• Bao Bei Er as Wu Wenchao
• Wu You as Xia Bingqing
• Zhu Yu Chen as Xu Shanchuan
• Hou Wen Yuan as Shao Tianwei
• Dong Jie as Bei Zhen
• Chuai Ni as Shen Xiao Ying
• Liu Guan Lin as Xu Hai Tao
• Liu Kai as Liu Qing
• Chang Shi Xin as Bu Zhi Lan
• Jiang Han as Yi Chun Yang
• Guan Hu as Wu Dong Hong
• Xu Ya Jun as Mo Han Jun
• Co Co Chen as Mu Huan Yu
• Zhao Yuan Yuan as Ling Fang
• Zhao Zhuo Ting as Xiao Lu
• Lin Xiao as Xiao Qiong
• Huang Man – [Xia Bing Qing’s mother]
• Hao Ping – [Xia Bing Qing’s father]
• Tian Ling – [Lao Li’s wife]
• Meng Xiu – [Mu Da Fu’s mother]
• Ma Wen Zhong as Mu Bo Lin
• Kai Xuan as Fang Xiao Yu
• Hu Jian as Mr. Qian
• Mu Li Yan as Lin Chun Hua
• Liu En Jia as Ceng Xiao Ling
• Elwin Wang as Fang Zi Ming
• Zhou Hao Dong as Li Zhan Wang
• Zhang Ling Xin as Zhu Yu Fen
• Huang Wen as Wu Qian Cao

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Episode 1

Wow, what an opening.  It is very atmospheric, stylishly made, and acted.  The script is very taut and told in a gripping way.  You just wanted to find out more.

I love it,  it is very cinematic and controlled.

Anyway, it started with a beautiful woman standing alone by a stunning waterfall. Someone was lurking behind with a hammer.

At that same time, a man who has a record of wounding his victim was surrounded by police.  the man had a woman in stranglehold and would slash her with his knife every so often.  The police told him to surrender but this only enraged him.

In a police car, Ran Dongdong, a police captain sat.  She is a sharpshooter so she thought enough was enough.  She walked near the man and his victim and reasoned for him to release the girl and take her instead.  A police hostage has greater leverage.  But the man was not having it and was going really mental. Quick as a flash, Dongdong reached for her gun and shot him not once but a few times until he was dead.

She was declared a hero by the mobile phone-wielding audience.

Very late that night, Dongdong was woken up by the whirring of the washing machine.  Her husband, Mu Dafu had just got home and said that his colleague vomited all over his trousers so he had to wash them.

He saw the trending video of Dongdong shooting the criminal.  Instead, of reassuring her that she did well, he told her that she went overboard.  She should have not shot the man dead but should have let the law punish him.

Dongdong could not believe what she was hearing.  So she said what if the woman being hurt by the man was his daughter…

Mu Dafu finally shut up and then apologise to Dongdong

The body of a woman was found in the water.  She was knocked with a hammer behind her head and one of her hands had been cut off from the wrist.

After an intense investigation, they found out that the victim was Xia Bingqing.

They found out from Bingqing parent’s how sad her life had become.

Apparently, Bingqing wanted to study finance but she was forced by her parents and circumstances to do nursing instead.  They needed the money because the father run over a man, whose family had been asking for lots of financial support, for medical bills, housing, and nutrition.  Their final request was for Bingqing to marry their horrid son so they could become a real family.

They were shocked but Bingqing said that she will go to Beijing as she found herself a job at a rehabilitation centre where the pay is not bad.

That was the last time they saw her.

Having learned her name, the team managed to find CCTVs of the moments leading to Bingqing’s murder.

They had two suspects.  The first one who shocked Dongdong was her husband, Mu Dafu.  He was seen sitting nearby Bingqing at the Lotus Hotel restaurant.  When Bingqing left, Mu Dafu seemed to follow after four minutes.

The other suspect was Xu Shanchuan, the owner of a rehabilitation centre and who was having an affair with Bingqing.

Episode 2

This drama is so good.  You don’t know who to side with because they all have faults including the female lead.  Love it.

It is intensely emotional.

Anyway, Tianwei told Dongdong that her husband is in the clear.  He had a solid alibi.  He was in the hospital with his parents.  The father collapsed from stress after being conned of his life savings.  The father also borrowed 200,000 more and he was being asked to pay it back immediately.  So they came to Mu Dafu, who asked his friends but no one was willing to lend him the money.  He then met the writer Bei Zhen who gave him the money.  It was Bei Zhen he was waiting for at the Lotus Garden Hotel.

The police interviewed Shen Xiaoying, the wife of Xu Shanchuan od the rehabilitation centre.  She knew about her husband’s mistresses and tolerated it because she can get what she wanted whatever it is at any time.  Her husband indulges her every whim.

Dongdong told off Bingqing’s parents because they hid a letter given to them by Bingqing.  The letter said that if something happens to her, they have to go to Xu Shachuan.   Their guilt came to the fore when Dongdong blamed them for giving the killer enough time to sort his alibi.  Anyway, the parents finally confessed that they know Bingqing was a mistress when she told them herself.  She told her parents that she did not have any choice because she needed the money to pay her father’s debt.

Now, not everything is well with Dongdong and her Mu Dafu.  She told him that while investigating the Lotus hotel, she asked to run Mu Dafu’s name in their system.  It came out that Mu Dafu rented a hotel room on the 20th of each month for at least two months.

Mu Dafu said that it was to play poker with his friend but Dongdong cornered him saying that both the friends he mention were otherwise engaged as she found out from their Moments.

Mu Dafu sent her a text to meet up in the same room at the Lotus Hotel, she found him being given a massage.  He told her that that was the reason he rented the room.

But Dongdong suspicion of him did not abate.  It was too deep.  She said that he had never loved her.  She mentioned that he was obsessed with Bei Zhen, and that he was always commenting on Bei Zhen’s novels and works, often Mu Dafu’s comments are longer than the novels. 🤣🤣🤣

Love this drama.

Episode 3

Mu Dafu and Dongdong’s relationship started with one of honesty and integrity.  They were so in love and tell each other everything including students who have a crush of Mu Dafu

In fact one of the students was so persistent, she wanted to meet Dongdong.

Dongdong was game so she met up the girl, who offered her a villa or anything she wanted for Mu Dafu.

Dongdong told her that she would give Mu Dafu to her if she could travel by coach everyday for 7-8 hours each day to give flowers for Mu Dafu for 100 days.  Dongdong said that as much as she loves Dafu, she can’t do it herself.

The girl said she will do it and Dongdong must not change her mind.  The girl only did it for days and stopped.

Dongdong said that Dafu had changed so much.  Every time they meet in their hallway, Dafu would flatten himself against the wall to let her pass as if she has a contagious disease.

Dafu said she was the one who changed.  She treats if as a suspect and interrogates him like he was a criminal.

Anyway, the next person to be interviewed was Wu Wenchao, who works nightshift at Oh Studio coffee house.  Often Bingqing would stagger to the coffee house at the dead of night completely drunk.  This became a regular occurrence until they became confidants.    Wen Chao told Dongdong and Tianwei that Bingqing could not listen to the song What a Wonderful World because when it was playing she was raped.

Episode 4

Poor Bingqing was raped by Xu Shanchuan. She was going to report him to the police but he promised her money and a chance to leave home.

She needed to leave home and needed money more because her parents are in dire straits.  They needed 30,000 immediately.  So Bingqing had to agree to Shanchuan’s proposal and be his kept-woman.  He gave her a million and an extra 80,000 plus got her an apartment next to Oh Studio.

Wu Wenchao said that Bingqing really hated Shanchuan but at the same time she wanted to marry him.

She got so desperate, she barged into Shen Xiaoying’s car and demanded why she had not divorce Shanchuan.

Wenchao said that he heard the recording of the conversation and Shen Xiaoying was very patient and even kind to Bingqing

Bingqing realised that Xiaoying was better than her in every way;  Wenchao was asked if he had sexual relations with Bingqing.  Wenchao said that if they had Bingqing would not have confided anything with him

Episode 5

Dongdong was really convinced that Dafu was sleeping with Bei Zhen.  In desperation Dafu asked Bei Zhen to send Hong Ange to convince Dongdong that Bei Zhen is happily and contentedly married to him.  But Dong Dong was so good, after all she is a police investigator.  Before you know it Hong Ange cracked and admitted that sometimes he suspect his wife to be having an affair with Mu Dafu;

He invited Dongdong to his hotel room as he bought her a kg of tea as a present.  But when they reached his room, he hugged her and threw her in his bed and proceeded to unbutton her shirt;

Dongdong did not react much but reminded Hong Ange that they can’t have revenge sex because how can face their children afterwards.

Hong Ange let her go and texted Dafu that Dongdong is one hell of a loyal wife.  He should hold on to her

Still, Dafu refused to really explain why he rented a room at the hotel. All he said was that her mental health would not be able to handle what he had to say

Speaking of mental health, Shen Xiaoying was called back at the station because the new info that she met with Bingqing contradicted what she said initially that she did not know Bingqing at all. She said explained that she said it because she does not want to get involved at all Dongdong questioned her about tolerating her husband’s many affairs.

Anyway, Shen Xiaoying was allowed to go and Dongdong offered to give her a lift home.  They were chatting about men and Shen Xiaoying who has a background in psychology said that Dongdong’s line of questioning indicates that she was cheated on by her husband.  She further said that Dongdong has a paranoid personality disorder.

Her paranoia is working well because she asked that they should call Wenchao again.  They found out from him that Bingqing had given him a lot of money to kill Xu Shanchuan, who she found out has mistresses that could fill a classroom.

Episode 6

Mu Da Fu made it hard for Dongdong to go back to work without seeking psychiatric help first but Dr Mo cleared her.  He told Mu Da Fu that Dongdong is as sane as can be. Her stress level is average so she was free to go to work.

Mu Da Fu wanted to know how Dongdong fool the doctor and pass the test.  Dongdong just looked at him as he was kidding.

Shu Shanchuan was called back for further questioning.

Episode 7

Shanchuan confessed the Bingqing did not initiate their first sexual intercourse.  He forced her so he admitted to rape.

But then the next day, he retracted his confession. Dongdong was so frustrated because the case had been passed to another team and she was also told to take a few days’ leave.

Being home, she took her frustration with Da Fu, questioning him about his love for her whether it still exist.

She was even playing mind games with him buying him boxer shorts anonymously to test him out.

Anyway, she confessed that she thinks that there are three stages to love, first was the gum, which is sweet and sticky.  It usually lasts three years to the relationship.  The second phase was the Cocktail where there is only half of the original love.  This happened when she has the baby until their daughter turned five.  Now the third phase is airplane mode where if you turn it off it is shut down.

Dafu told her that she stopped caring for him.  She never returns his calls.  She never calls him when he was late getting home.

Dongdong was so upset but not as upset as their daughter who could hear everything.

Da Fu had had enough and asked if divorce is what she wanted.  He said he knew she wanted him to say it.

Episode 8

They agreed to divorce after Dongdong had solved Bingqing’s murder.  They have already discussed the division of properties and who will have child custody.  Whatever Dongdong wanted, Dafu agreed to it.  But still, he kept asking her whether she really wanted to divorce.  She asked him why he agreed to it.  He said what else can he do when she told him that she does not love him anymore?

Dongdong went to see her parents to tell them that she will get a divorce.  They were shocked at first but Dongdong said she just doesn’t love Dafu anymore.  Her mother suddenly said that she should get a divorce and not emulate her and live in misery with her father for so many years.

Dafu and Dongdong still shared the apartment but they sleep in different rooms. One night, Dafu heard a crying sound from Dongdong. He went to see what was happening.  He found Dongdong with a bleeding wrist.  She said she wanted to feel how Bingqing felt when she tried to commit suicide.

Dafu was between concern and annoyance and insisted that she sees a psychiatrist.  With no choice, Dongdong agreed.

Once again, the psychiatrist found Dongdong sane and logical.  She does not have a problem at all.

Dafu called the psychiatrist a quack.

In desperation, Dafu met up with Shao Tianwei and delicately told him that Dafu is not quite right in the head.  She tried to cut her wrist.

Shao Tianwei was taken aback but said that Dongdong never manifests wrong judgment at work.  She was excellent and well-respected at work.  Dafu asked him to call him if something happens to Dongdong.

As to the Bingqing case, Xu Hai Tao, the nephew of Xu Shanchuan had been questioned but he has a solid alibi.

After further investigation, they noticed that Wu Wenchao seemed to be more involved in the crime than he lets on

Bei Shen met up with Dafu and said that she had divorced her husband after meeting Dongdong.  Since he treated Bei Shen with suspicion all the time, she parted ways with him.  Bei Shen then suggested to Dafu to get together as both their ex-spouses thought they were at it anyway.

Dafu declined.  Why?!!!

The reason why Dafu rented a hotel room for January and then February had now been revealed.  He was waiting for a girl but he changed his mind and did not answer the door when the girl had turned up; that was in January.  For February, he was ready and horny but the girl changed her mind saying she can’t do it.  It looks like the girl is one of his students.  Just because he did not really sleep with her, he doesn’t think he cheated.

Episode 9

Shao Tianwei is absolutely loyal to Dongdong and confessed immediately that Dafu approached him and gave him money to look after her.

Dongdong told Tianwei is a very decent man that the world is not completely dark and hopeless.  She asked him not to ever change.

Tianwei also mentioned her slashed wrist.  She showed him her wrist without any scar and just said that Dafu is over-sensitive.

Tianwei can’t help saying that Dafu really cares for her.

Despite this comment from Tianwei, Dongdong just can’t help herself reading something about everything that Dafu does for her like packing her things because she was to leave to catch Wenchao in his hometown.  She asked him how he found out about what skincare should he pack for her.  She wanted to know where he got the advice from.

Dafu felt that he just can’t win and was frustrated with it.

Dongdong is now wavering about divorcing Dafu after she had a conversation with Wu Wenchao’s mother, who confessed that she regretted divorcing her husband.  She reckoned that she should have stuck to the marriage for the sake of the children.  She said the trust may be gone but even in a second marriage, the trust would also be comprised because of what happened in the first marriage.  So if you are leaving a marriage because of a trust issue then it becomes a baggage…

Episode 10

The story is far from winding down.  There is another suspect in Bingqing’s murder.  Wenchao said that he was promised a payment of 500,000 by Xu Hai Tao to stop Bingqing from contacting Xu Shanchuan anymore.  They think that Wenchao was good at strategising.

Wenchao plotted to get Bingqing away and ask a college friend who has contact to immigration to get Bingqing leave for abroad.  The friend was Liu Qing.

Liu Qing agreed and said that he could take Bingqing away.  Bingqing and Liu Qing seemed to have fallen in love with one another so Wenchao gave Liu Qing more money to live happily with Bingqing.

But she ended up dead and when Wenchao tried to contact Liu Qing, he was unreachable.

Episode 11

Dongdong and her team went to the tea plantation to look for Liu Qing, who reunited with an old love, Bu Zhi Lan.

Both Liu Qing and Bu Zhi Lan were interviewed but they seemed to be innocent with Liu Qing saying that he did arrange fir Bingqing to immigrate but in the end she changed her mind and refused to go.

Fearing that Wenchao would ask for a refund, he left the city and made himself incommunicado.

Meanwhile, when Dongdong was alone with Bu Zhi Lan ordering some food, she got to talk to girl the reason why she broke up with Liu Qing.

Bu Zhi Lan said that it was because she fell for her professor who promised to get a divorce.  But he was taking his time because he can’t just leave his wife and daughter but still wanted a relatioship with Bu Zhi Lan. She said that she had enough and even thought of becoming a nun.  She was a nun for a month but she realised that she was of this world.

Dongdong could not help asking Bu Zhi Lan if the professor she was in a relationship with was Ma Dafu.

Bu Zhi Lan asked who was Ma Dafu.

Well, Ma Dafu received a text from someone who was asking why he seemed to be avoiding her.

And then Ma Dafu was having a date with Bei Zhen who asked him when he was getting a divorce and get together with her.  He did tell her that he will get divorce after she had divorce.

Ma Dafu was flabbergasted because he cannot remember when he told her that he was getting a divorce after she divorces.

He was further shocked when Bei Zhen said that they spent a hour in a hotel room four years ago.  Though it was dark, she can smell him and knew it was him.

Dafu said that four years ago, he was happily married and would not think of such thing.  He then said that perhaps Bei Zhen is confusing reality with her novel.

Dongdong asked Dafu to go on holiday with her.  He could not be happier and arranged the tickets and hotel.  But at the last minute, Dongdong said she was not in the mood anymore.  She realised that he did not want to go on a break with her because he genuinely wanted to but just to humour her.  She realised this after asking him if the dresses she wanted to take with her looked nice.  He agreed they were nice without looking at her🤣

Episode 12

Mu Dafu finally agreed to a divorce because he had really no reason not to get one because Dongdong even bought him an apartment to move into without consulting him first.

After they completed the divorce proceeding, Dafu had a cry in his car in the car park.  He then went to pick up Dongdong to give her a lift home.

Dongdong asked him why he was not more persistent in refusing to get a divorce, it ended up with Dongdong blaming him for having planned it all.  It was really his end game, he wanted to get a divorce all along.

Poor Dafu was at the end of his tether.

Anyway, Bu Zhi Lan contacted Dongdong about Lui Qing.

Dongdong went to the tea plantation to see Bu Zhi Lan who told her that after her team left Liu Qing was never the same, he was not sleeping well and he was prone to anger at the slightest things.  He was even crying on his knees when he found out she was pregnant.

During dinner, Dongdong tried to make Liu Qing, who was drinking heavily to feel as guilty as possible to make him confess.

Someone took a cleaver from the kitchen.

Then there was a knock on Dongdong’s door.  It was Dafu who came to be with her because he was really worried about her.

Meanwhile, the cleaver wielding person was Bu Zhi Lan who gave it to Liu Qing, telling him that if he was guilty and won’t confess, then he might as well kill her and her child because they would not want to live with someone who is guilt-ridden.

So exciting, can’t wait for the conclusion tomorrow.

Episode 13

This is the final episode.

I must admit there are so many negative reviews to this drama including the FL not good enough and the male lead being a scum of the earth.🤣🤣🤣

But for me, I have loved every episode and I was riveted and would wait for the next installment.

There was another random suspect in the person of Yi Chun Yang who was a schizophrenic.

Liu Qing befriended Yi Chun Yang and then gave the guy 10,000 to make Bingqing to leave Liu Qing alone.

Yi Chun Yang stalked Bingqing and then struck her on the back of the head with a hammer.  He seriously thought that Bingqing was trying to kill herself so he was just lending her a hand.

Then Dongdong went to Shen Xiaoying and half blackmailed her into giving the evidence she had on her phone that Xu Shanchuan raped Bingqing.

As Dongdong had evidence that her daughter was not Xu Shanchuan’s biological child plus the fact that if Xu Shanchuan ended up in prison, she can have full control of the family fortune.

The case was wrapped up and young handsome Shan Tianwei told Dongdong that they should have dinner to celebrate.  Tianwei sort of said that he knew Dongdong had divorced Mu Dafu.  He said that why not start life again and with him.

Dongdong was visibly flattered but she told Tianwei that she knew him too well.  He will not last the distance of a lifetime relationship.

Meanwhile, Dafu was with Bei Zhen critiquing her latest novel where a character was based on Dufu who had an affair with the student.

Dafu told Bei Zhen that he like his life but Bei Zhen thought that it was too ordinary.  Dafu said being ordinary is romantic.

Three months later…

All the perpetrators involved in Bingqing’s murder have been punished, fined and sent to jail.

Meanwhile, Dongdong said to Dafu that he had too much freedom, and she is going to rein him back.

Aww

Happy ending for them.

The End

 

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