Ripe Town review

A constable, Qu San Geng (Bai Yu Fan) gets caught up in a series of gruesome murders in Jiangnan County. The first victim? His beloved master and superior.

The victims do not seem related to each other; their bodies are bizarrely posed and a cryptic message is always left behind.

Somehow this all ties back to a terrible fire many years ago.

Together with fellow constable Gao Shi Cong (Liu Yi Tong) and scholar Feng Ke Zhui (Zhang Hao Wei), he tries to unravel the mystery.

The story

Once upon a time, they were young and innocent… but a corrupt world can ruin the sweetest souls…

At the start of the show, our three main characters give a toast and exclaim to each other: “It’s really difficult to be a decent man!”

This statement gets more true as the show progresses.

Ripe Town is set during the 37th year of the Wan Li Period of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Wanli is said to be the cause of the dynasty’s downfall.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about his reign:

During the later years of the Wanli Emperor’s reign, he became thoroughly alienated from his imperial role and, in effect, went on strike. He refused to attend morning meetings, see his ministers or act upon memoranda. He also refused to make necessary personnel appointments, and as a result the whole top echelon of the Ming administration became understaffed. He did, however, pay close attention to the construction of his own tomb, a magnificent structure that took decades to complete.

Wikipedia

Sounds like a great guy.

His neglect of government affairs caused corruption to fester in the kingdom and had a trickle down effect. Ripe Town is a great illustration of how this corruption affected the lives of the common people.

What I like

When Ripe Town dropped, there was barely any buzz about the show. There weren’t any high-traffic idol actors, and the story didn’t seem enticing. A historical serial killer drama? Hmm. I wasn’t in the mood for something that dark.

Then, I saw the trailer, and my jaw dropped at how athmospheric and moody it all was, so different from the day-glo plasticky beauty of so many cdramas these days, that I couldn’t help but watch it. I was further motivated by the fact that it was only 12 episodes long.

In the end, I binged through the entire series in two days and I have to say it was totally worth it!

The high production quality

What a pleasure it is to watch Ripe Town. There is no overuse of filters (actually none that I can see), no over-bright lighting, and the costumes are fitting for the time.

In fact, I really like that people’s outfits have literal patches of fabric used to repair the outfit, which often than naught, appeared worn out on our characters. Talk about determination to portray things authentically. The lower classes rarely have pretty robes to wear and often mend their clothes over and over again.

The acting

It is👌 I enjoyed the heck out of the acting. Loved the actors who played Lu Zhi and Judge Song.

The tight plot

Ripe Town is a rare drama, not just because of its high production quality but that it is succinct. It is a 12-episode drama in an entertainment landscape littered with 40-episode, bloated dramas. (To think that a drama could get up to 80+ episodes in the “old days” before the government decided that 40 episodes was the maximum number of episodes allowed.)

Every minute of Ripe Town demands your complete attention. You can’t fast forward to skip ahead because you’ll probably miss an essential clue in a dialogue or a scene.

The complex characters

Of all the characters in Ripe Town, it is the honorouble Judge Song that catches my attention. Not just because of the excellent actor who played him, but because he has a streak of nobility and goodness that seemed incongruous at a time when law officers “partner” with criminal gangs to maintain “peace”.

But in this world, is anyone free of the stain of immorality?

The authentic mood

Ripe Town is filmed in an ancient town where the walls were covered in moss or patched over or grey with dirt, as if symbolising the decay in the society. It magnifies the feeling of decay pervasive not only in the crumbling society, but in the justice system.

It is like watching a historical Chinese version of a moody, serial killer drama, and they make sure that everything, from the sets, the color palette and the lighting, reflect that.

What I didn’t like, and thoughts about the ending (slight spoilers)

Before I finally watched the ending, I was a tad worried about how the show will end because someone on Mydramalist complained how disappointed they were with the ending.

But after watching it, I thought it was really appropriate and fitting. All in all it was a very satisfying ending.

The thought that came to my head was: I was sad for everyone, including the bad guys. Because they were the product of their brutal environment, and one must do what one must to survive. In this upside-down world, being honourable and just is a foolish way to live; the smart ones use deceit and subterfuge to get ahead.

Ripe Town also kept me guessing till the very end. I could not guess the identity of the killer until the very end and did not expect that person to be the big bad at all! The actor who played the person was excellent too. Totally threw me off.

The only thing I wasn’t so pleased about was the twist at the end where (warning: spoilers!) the Big Bad turned out to be someone unexpected.

It would’ve been far, far, far more satisfying if the writers had not made the unexpected twist. In fact, I thought it was a rather cheap twist. It was a flaw in an otherwise almost perfect drama.

Still, I was SO worried that Ripe Town would go the open-ended route that is so trendy these days with so many CDramas that I didn’t mind that extra twist. I was like, phew, at least we get some kind of definite closure!

Ripe Town really highlights how corruption was the downfall of the Ming dynasty, and what enabled the Manchus to take over. With the rot infecting the justice system, the entire foundation of the empire was going to crumble sooner or later as good men are sacrificed on the altars of deceit and vengeance, to the detriment of the entire civilisation.

All in all, a very worthwhile investment of your time. The very high Douban rating of 8.6* seems to agree with me!

* It is incredibly difficult to score a 7, let alone anything above 8 in Douban, China’s version of IMDB. Anything marked above 8 is considered a gem.

Final rating: 9