Who's the Murderer S7 (eps 0–4)

[halfcactus]

Wanted to document my thoughts for each episode since this is all I've been watching (apart from groupwatches; presently watching Delicous Romance). Last season due to Wang Ou's schedule and Guigui's?? situation??? there was a shortage of women (it's really sad to me when there's only one woman in a case), but this season they got more women to commit.

S7 changes:

notable absences: Sasa, Bai Jingting, Guigui (is she ever coming back!!!), Wei Daxun, the rest of the NZND

new continuity: a Sasa message/"cameo" in each ep, with the detectives "chasing" after his shadow from universe to universe... feels a bit like Doctor Who XD

no gold bars, just detective badges, which I think is sad

each episode now ends with guest lawyers talking about the crimes and their corresponding punishment (I think! I never watch these haha)

Episode 0: A Party for Detectives

OFFICIAL SUBS FINALLY OUT here

Players: He Jiong (moderator/GM), Da Zhangwei, Qiao Zhenyu, Qi Wei, Wang Ou, Wei Chen, Wu Xin, Yang Rong, Zhang Xincheng

Season-opener party game! The premise: two thieves are planted among the detectives. The detectives must figure out who the thieves are and find a way to prevent them from stealing the gold bars. The thieves must steal all the gold bars from a locked vault. I really loved the episode, it was so fun and cathartic, with complex, layered maneuverings from the thieves! The game runs for around an hour. It's mostly a tabletop game but has the full satisfaction of a heist movie, 10/10.

Episode 1: Fairy Tale Academy Graduation

Players: He Jiong (detective), Da Zhangwei, Qi Wei, Wei Chen, Yang Rong, Zhang Ruoyun

Fairy Tale/Disney episode, with a little bit of HP in its setup. The individual investigations in this ep came across as really lonely to me because they were in a massive mansion, and had to spread out significantly—He Jiong couldn't holler at Da Zhangwei to come over from across the set, he had to send over his assistant (whose name I don't know, sorry!) to fetch him. :( But the secret room and some of the puzzles really felt like a level higher than they normally are! And they maximize the space for the murder and the mechanisms used to fake the time of death.

I hope Yang Rong wins MVP for this case, she did so well in figuring out the relevant details!!! She's one of my favorite players because her approach is more empathetic and situational than analytical (which is not a bad thing to be, but there's no shortage of analytical players in the show), and it benefits the team dynamic by spreading out the focus.

Favorite moments: Zhang Ruoyun inspecting the crime scene and He Jiong fondly saying that that's Sasa's thing

Contains: Bullying, forced kissing between two unwilling parties

Episode 2: Rooftop Apartment

Players: Da Zhangwei (detective), He Jiong, Wei Chen, Wang Ou, Wu Xin, Zhang Ruoyun, Pu Yixing (detective's assistant)

A case about insomniacs who live in the same building and the power of memory. Hilarious because Da Zhangwei is not good at detecting but he never puts on any pretenses. The second half was fun because of the science fiction reveals, and because a lot of the mysteries were in He Jiong's room, and everyone had to work together to find the clues before he could answer them.

Favorite moments: Da Zhangwei asking Wang Ou why she moved to this building, and Wang Ou pointing out that she just explained it

Contains: Domestic abuse and manipulation, DZW making an ill-advised colorist joke (Wu Xin makes him cut it out)

Episode 3: Lantern Festival Episode

Players: Yang Rong (detective), Da Zhangwei, He Jiong, Qiao Zhenyu, Wang Ou, Zhang Ruoyun, Guo Wentao (detective's assistant)

A pseudo-historical fantasy case about characters from three different kingdoms (one of which got destroyed). Tbh I fell asleep through most of this episode because my vocab isn't broad enough for this setting and all the damn letters LOL. But this was a pretty cool and compact mystery featuring interesting devices: the murder occurs while they're all solving Lantern Festival riddles.

Favorite moments (before I slept through the rest XD): 7 stabs

Contains: War, the pillage and destruction of an entire nation

Episode 4: Sugar Storm

Players: Qiao Zhenyu (detective), Da Zhangwei, He Jiong, Yang Rong, Zhang Ruoyun, Zhang Tian'ai (new player), Guo Wentao (detective's assistant)

A murder in 1996! IMO this is the most immersive case so far even though the plot and the characters aren't innately interesting. Maybe it's the setting and how fun the singalongs are? Yang Rong is absolutely luminous in this, and Zhang Tian'ai is very graceful, focused, and unfazed in spite of this being her first time on the show. The puzzle of the lock was very cool, the discussions/arguments were very productive, and it felt that everyone was actively solving and putting together different sections of the mystery instead of He Jiong carrying the investigation.

Favorite moments: SO MANY:

90's karaoke (甜蜜蜜 & 美酒与咖啡)

on Zhang Ruoyun's BGM

Zhang Tian'ai playing herself

Zhang Tian'ai zeroing in on how crucial the window is and laying out a scenario where He Jiong is the murderer without hesitation (idk this was just really attractive, I feel that people don't confront He laoshi enough haha)

30-second compilation of Yang Rong being [insert fire emoji]—she goes from "你猜 (✿◕‿◕)" to "你猜 (ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿", it's AMAZING.

Contains: Domestic abuse, childhood abduction trauma