Dim Light In The Shadow | Recap and Review

A youth, suspense drama about four friends deciphering who locked them in a room-sized closet. But they’ve bullied too many people to narrow it down to one.
Notable Actors/Actress:
Yang Lin: Yuan Wei
Chen Yi Fan: Chen Qing

Chinese Title:

那年夏天的秘密
That Summer's Secret

Genres: Contemporary, Slight Romance, Suspense

Network: MangoTV

Year: 2020

Episodes: 16 (Mini)

Jump to Review

Mini Recaps

Ep4: Girl is interesting, not your ordinary good girl

Ep5: Omg blood. This is getting scarier that I thought
Ep6: These 4 are cruel.
Ep8: Culprit is revealed. Or should I say the victim is revealed... Now then, who’s the real culprit?
Ep9: So he’s the real mastermind? 😱
Ep10: Wait no, she’s the crafty one.
Ep11: Why is this guy still friends with these horrible people if he knew all along?
Ep12: She thought she played him, but she’s the one that got played. Scary people.
Ep13: Very suspicious that this is a trap for the three of them set up by the guy who booked the mansion (who suggested hide and seek anyways?)
Ep14: One of them finally admitted it. However, they’re all guilty.
Ep15: So he is the nicest one. But still a bully. They’re all bullies. The butterfly effect of their actions not only tormented the victims but also their friends and families.
Ep16: Ending is anticlimatic. Too much preaching. Unexpectedly lighthearted seeing the victims prepare for their grandiose revenge.

Last Remarks

Drama starts off with four of them as victims locked in the closet. However, they're the true bullies. They're the popular ones in school: the good-looking smart kid, the prettiest tomboy girl, the easygoing rich kid, and the aggressive jockey guy. They each have their way of bullying their peers whether it's physically, psychologically, or neglectfully. 

Chen Qing is an interesting bully. I think there's a bit of him in many people. He's a high-achiever and when he failed he found someone to blame but he didn't dirty his own hands. He manipulated his friend to do his dirty biddings meanwhile keeping his image clean and fresh. To be honest, what he did was very minor but the effect it had on the victim was almost devastating. 

 

You Yang and Yuan Wei are pretty wicked. True bullies. The guy does it physically and the girl psychologically. The girl keeps up a nice, sweet image just like Chen Qing. I quite liked their love line in the beginning. Now that I think about it, they're perfect for each other, both superficial and narcissistic. Don't touch Xiao Jiu please.

Xiao Jiu's a good kid if not for joining the wrong crowd. He was more like a bystander: knowing everything but doing nothing. Neglecting all the peers who were wrongfully ostracized. He’s the least vile of them all but felt the most guilt of them all. 

Intriguing and suspenseful drama. Everyone had an equal chance of being the culprit. By Episode 13 it's pretty obvious who the culprit(s) are. Ending was a nice wrap-up, not too dark, lighter than I thought it would be. It's like a drama-movie (~160 minutes total).

Rating: 3/5