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Under the Skin 猎罪图鉴 [2022]


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under skin 8

 

Title: Under the Skin

Chinese Title: 猎罪图鉴 (Translate to: Hunting Down Crimes with Illustrations)

 

All episodes are available for viewing

 

Cast

Tan Jianci -- Shen Yi

Jin Shichia -- Du Cheng

Qin Hailu -- Chief Zhang

Zhu Jiaqi -- Jiang Feng

Lu Yanqi -- Li Han

 

Synopsis:

Seven years earlier, a gifted young, up and coming portrait artist, Shen Yi is commissioned by a mysterious woman to draw a portrait. Unbeknownst to him, this leads to the death of a decorated police officer who had recently cracked a big case. When asked by the police to identify the mysterious woman later, Shen Yi is unable to draw her portrait. As a result of this case, he sets his prized artworks on fire, abandons his artistic career for a life as a crime fighter.

 

Sheng Yi has recently been posted to Beijiang Public Security Bureau under the leadership of Team Leader Du Cheng, a somewhat resentful protege of the dead police officer who has a beef with Sheng Yi for his role in his mentor's death. Du Cheng doesn't take Sheng Yi seriously at first but when he sees what the forensic artist is capable of, he develops grudging respect for him. The duo are part of an investigative team that deal with a variety of criminal cases that require Sheng Yi's expertise as an artist. 

 

 

Edited by 40somethingahjumma
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Currently Watching: Queen of Tears, In Blossom

 

"Love is not an affectionate feeling but a steady wish for the loved person's good as far as it can be obtained." -- CS Lewis.

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A Quick Review:

 

I started this thread because this drama really deserves to be watched by far more people than it has been. It's almost criminal that it has gone under the radar but it is destined to be one of the year's best C dramas. It is a genuine gem. Neither of the leads are big names although both are familiar to me from previous projects. But the script... The script... blows me away. This is why I keep trawling through the Cdrama haystack in the hope that I can find these kind of rare needles. This is an underrated gem in the fullest sense.

 

While this is a fantastic police procedural in the vein of Through the Darkness, it is rather more whimsical because of its focus on art as a means to solving crimes, the artistic process and the artist as the psychologist. Rather than forensic profiling, the featured tool in the tool box here is portraiture and composite sketching. The main character here Shen Yi is something of an artistic genius but apparently such people do exist. He is not only able to recreate faces from witness testimonies but he can use very little information from video footage and memory fragments to reconstruct an entire face. On his days off, he lectures about art and crime. I was hooked from the first episode when he did a detailed analysis of "The Death of Jean-Paul Marat" to a highly engaged group of students. 

 

While Tan Jianci doesn't have the usual stature of a male lead, his Shen Yi is warm, likeable and commands a presence among his colleagues. He is good in the role and very convincing as the criminal investigator as well as the teacher. Jin Shijia who is strikingly taller, is decent as the seasoned detective who is still trying to solve the murder of his beloved mentor. I remember him from the immensely likeable My Amazing Bride. The two don't start off on the right foot but soon Du Cheng realises where Shen Yi fits in to the overall scheme of things. They don't banter as much as you'd expect in a show like this but when the two start to work better together, it becomes a well-oiled machine.

 

Personally speaking, this is probably the year's best C drama for me so far. I think I like it even more than Reset. The real strength of the show is how the show plays on the theme of "art" in every case. The team works different types of cases but with very unique twists that are uncovered by Shen Yi's multifaceted talents. The best part is that each case (even the more complex ones) gets resolved very quickly like the Dr Qin and the Talking Bones franchises. We also gain insight into the leads' backstory which are very well integrated into the overall storyline.

 

All episodes are available for viewing.

 

 

I'm tagging those I think that will enjoy this...

 

@abs-oluteM@Tofu @SilverMoonTea @ktcjdrama @NiteWalker

 

Edited by 40somethingahjumma
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Currently Watching: Queen of Tears, In Blossom

 

"Love is not an affectionate feeling but a steady wish for the loved person's good as far as it can be obtained." -- CS Lewis.

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12 minutes ago, SilverMoonTea said:

Looks intense and good @40somethingahjummaMore important thing the young oppa & the cat looks cute  (I need some motivation, don't blame me for being shallow 🤣🤣🤣)

 

 

Not at all dear. Not at all. ;)

Tan Jianci happens to be both adorable and a fine actor. The cat is also a nice addition but doesn't come into the picture until the third arc, I think. 

 

It is a relatively fast moving drama. 

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The first case sending such a good message about beauty and hard work. The culprit is actually one of his succesful case of plastic surgery, not the botched one. It's so nice of SY to gave the murderer the paintings that encourage her about her talent and referring her as Marie Curie. The surgeon himself was not a saint and his demise save many other females as future patients. 

 

The storyline and production quite impressive. It did remind me a bit to Dr. Qin. As C drama seldom have solid rock crime drama that is good enough recently. I enjoyed a lot of paintings in this dramas too. 

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@SilverMoonTea

I really appreciate how the criminals are portrayed in the entire series (the final one an exception) because they come across as real people with real issues who took a wrong turn at some point and couldn't come back from it. They're not mad bloodthirsty monsters who just want to inflict serious harm because of a bad childhood. They commit their crime because they are driven by very human, relatable impulses. The stories behind the crimes are generally moving. I particularly like the way the show uses these men and women -- a lot of women are featured here -- to highlight many pressing social issues. If you like the plastic surgery one, I think you'll like some of the others as well. 

 

The show uses art not only to solve crimes but also as a way for Shen Yi to connect with the criminals on a human level is undoubtedly one of the show's highlights. There are many fascinating themes running right through this and even though I've finished watching it now, I'm watching it again just to pick up on all the nuances.

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Currently Watching: Queen of Tears, In Blossom

 

"Love is not an affectionate feeling but a steady wish for the loved person's good as far as it can be obtained." -- CS Lewis.

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3 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

@SilverMoonTea

The show uses art not only to solve crimes but also as a way for Shen Yi to connect with the criminals on a human level is undoubtedly one of the show's highlights. 

 

It's so refreshing to have someone who is highly artistic to join the police force that normally highlighting more on the logical and rigid approach. It seems SY also make a lot of adjustment to be in the police force. In his younger time he looks very artsy and seems more on the unruly side 😅

 

Oh and need to note that his handsome face seems very useful in interviewing female criminals or the victims 😆

 

Btw, @40somethingahjummain the beginning he explaining about Death of Marat painting, I was a bit distracted with eating my food 😅. Anything special about it? 

 

I've already gone through skull school case, female prisoner and now at the girl kidnapping story. 

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16 hours ago, SilverMoonTea said:

 

Btw, @40somethingahjummain the beginning he explaining about Death of Marat painting, I was a bit distracted with eating my food 😅. Anything special about it? 

 

 

I think the point of that painting was to illustrate the point that art can be used to fabricate history by giving misinformation within the artwork. The moral there is that we shouldn't assume that the artist is always truthful when recreating historical events or the lives of historical figures. He was trying to get the students to see where the discrepancies between the artwork and the autopsy reports were. 

 

The kidnapping story is really one of my favourites because of what the offender achieved in that one on his own. Wonderful. 

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"Love is not an affectionate feeling but a steady wish for the loved person's good as far as it can be obtained." -- CS Lewis.

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I'm on holidays at the moment and the internet here is decent enough but I might not be around as much.

 

@SilverMoonTea With regards to the kidnapping case, I think what I really liked was the "perpetrator" and the fact that he is someone that nobody cares about or notices. What he did was wrong of course but the fact that he almost got away with what he did proves his point (and that which is reiterated by the show) that the world is obsessed with attractive people to the point that it has become unhealthy. It was the same with the plastic surgery case. That's also the reason why plastic surgery is so popular. Preoccupation with physical appearance leads to all kinds of negative outcomes.

 

Where are you up to now?

 

 

@NiteWalkerFamily always come first. Enjoy your time with your sister and nephew while you can especially if your opportunities are limited. Life's too short.

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Currently Watching: Queen of Tears, In Blossom

 

"Love is not an affectionate feeling but a steady wish for the loved person's good as far as it can be obtained." -- CS Lewis.

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On 4/3/2022 at 6:25 PM, SilverMoonTea said:

@ktcjdramaI thinking that you might like this drama, I remember you mentioned you have a lot of pencil colours or watercolour? Haha... The drama is mixing art & crime procedural. I enjoyed it a lot. It makes me want to draw something... I have an artist soul that is dormant 😅

Yes, I love it! I've been so busy that I only have started binging it to ep.5 now. I like that they give us a backstory to the criminal's motive. The case of the art school students was really poignant, I thought... I think I would keep binging this if not for some RL calling again, sigh.... Gotta stop first and continue soon!

 

Btw, the male lead, from various angles, looks like Vic Zhou, haha....

 

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12 hours ago, ktcjdrama said:

The case of the art school students was really poignant, I thought... 

I think the whole series that art school case is my favourite. It's quite haunting, sad and beautiful. Lucky my school never asked us to draw real life human skull 😅 I remember I draw my own finger and shoes as task. 

 

10 hours ago, Tofu said:

I finished episode one, must slower at this than everyone else. It was a busy week so I couldn't watch too much. But so far, I like it!

I still haven't complete the last 2 episodes of this drama 😆

 

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7 hours ago, SilverMoonTea said:
20 hours ago, ktcjdrama said:

 

I think the whole series that art school case is my favourite. It's quite haunting, sad and beautiful. Lucky my school never asked us to draw real life human skull 😅 I remember I draw my own finger and shoes as task. 

Still only halfway through, but so far that is my favorite case too. Then it’s the abused women case, although I don’t understand why the girlfriend has to involve another person. She could just do it all herself? Maybe to gain strength and confidence, but I still think she shouldn’t have involved another person. 
 

I am always anticipating the finished drawing whenever he starts sketching on the pad 😃

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Love this quote from ep.14:

Cutting edge technology can never surpass the human brain in identifying complex human nature and everyday objects” and Shen Yi continued “I have faith in my eyes and hands.

 

Also love what Shen Yi taught his students from the madhouse painting, about the society being the one defining sanity and insanity. Judging and being judged. 
 

LOL, at first it was Shen Yi’s teacher asking Du Cheng to persuade Shen Yi to quit police force, then we have Du Cheng’s sister asking Shen Yi to persuade Du Cheng to quit. And the way these two defended or speak up for the other separately... they’re like soulmates already, LOL... 
 

Interesting that I find the name Shen Yi 沈翊 has a similar (not exact) sound to 神艺 which is translated to Divine Art. What he has is truly a special talent, in drawing and in seeing beyond the surface —> Under the Skin. 
 

Edited by ktcjdrama
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