Notable Actors/Actresses
Qin Hao: Zhang Dong Sheng
Rong Zi Shan: Zhu Chao Yang
Shi Peng Yuan: Yan Liang
Wang Sheng Di: Yue Pu (Pu Pu)
Director:
Scriptwriter:
Pan Yi Ran, Sun Hao Yang
Chinese Title
隱秘的角落
隱秘的角落
The Hidden Corner
Zhu Chao Yang has his mouth covered by Zhang Dong Sheng. ZCY can't tell the truth about Zhang Dong Sheng’s murder initially because of Pu Pu’s brother and ultimately because of his own guilt from Jing Jing’s death. Zhang Dong Sheng is also the one who introduced an alternative reality to him (Descartes lesson). It’s from ZDS that ZCY learned to hide the truth with his fairytale.
Wang Yao has her mouth covered by Zhu Yong Ping. Her intuition tells her it's Zhu Chao Yang who in/directly killed her daughter but her husband is stopping her from investigating any further. Her brother's kidnapping incident is also preventing her from revealing the truth. Her daughter died, she can't lose her brother too (not knowing she already lost him). 
Zhang Dong Sheng has his right eye covered by Pu Pu. He's a cold blooded murderer. It's Pu Pu who makes him believe that he can live on like a good person. Pu Pu’s trust in him is giving him hope that he can create a fairytale despite the cruel tragedy he imposed. Unfortunately, he’s not resolute nor crafty enough to turn his fairytale into the truth. 
Zhou Chun Hong has her left eye covered by Zhu Chao Yang. This confirms to me she knows the truth about what her son has done. It’s ambiguous if she knows the extent of her son’s crimes but she knows for sure he isn’t innocent and that her son might just be a psychopath. Unlike Pu Pu and Zhang Dong Shen, mom isn’t unconditionally trusting of the fairytale she chose. Her expressions are fear. Perhaps that’s why her right eye is exposed because the right eye is connected to the left brain where logic precedes emotion. 
Lao Chen’s ears are blocked by Yan Liang. YL never told him about blackmailing Zhang Dong Sheng. I don’t think YL wanted him to know about his misdemeanours which makes it questionable why he would reveal it to Lao Chen. Perhaps it wasn’t Yan Liang who wrote that letter to him at the end.
Ye Jun’s ears are blocked by Pu Pu. She’s the true witness to both murders: Zhang Dong Shen killing his parent-in-laws and Zhu Chao Yang in/directly killing Jing Jing. The truths remain unknown till her death.
Unrelated but related, there's another scene that utterly shocked me: the baldness of Zhang Dong Shen. Honestly, it was the second scariest scene for me. His wig was such a good camouflage for his baldness, I had no idea he could be bald. It was a seamless disguise until he met his match and was forced to pass on the baton.
Network: iQIYI
This drama is like excellent, high quality wine. The more I savour it, the more flavour I taste. Except my usual go to drink is soju. What I'm trying to say is it's a huge contrast to the dramas I normally watch and despite it not being my usual go to, it's impossible to deny how well crafted this drama was. Firstly, I admit, I joined the bandwagon. I would never have watched this if it wasn't this highly praised. I did also have to search for spoilers to know why everyone was so attached to this and that actually heightened my expectations for the drama. The drama’s delicious appeal to me is the ending or more specifically after the ending because the ending is not the ending. It's impressive how many interpretations there are. Below are mine. There are actually a lot more than what I have here.
[Good Spoilers to Know Before Watching the Drama]
Zhu Chao Yang is the main character. He’s the bad kid in this drama. He and Dong Sheng are the same except one succeeded in murdering and the other did not. However, who won over the other is still questionable. [Characters]
This section isn’t a normal introduction to characters. After watching the drama, these character posters are absolutely ingenious. Each one of them have either their mouth, eye, or ears covered and only having watched the drama can one actually understand these posters. Those whose mouth are covered are prevented from telling the truth: Zhu Chao Yang, Zhu Yong Ping, and Wang Yao. Those with one eye covered know the truth but chose to see the fairytale instead: Zhang Dong Sheng, Pu Pu, and Zhou Chun Hong. Those with their ears covered don't know the truth: Lao Chen, Yan Liang and Ye Jun.
Zhu Yong Ping has his mouth covered by Zhu Chao Yang. He can't reveal his son in/directly killed his daughter. It’s basically the drama telling us he knows the truth that his son did kill his daughter or at least had a part in killing her.
Pu Pu has her eyes covered by Zhang Dong Shen (too many wrinkles on his hand to be Zhu Chao Yang). She believes in him to turn over a new leaf. She believes in the magic of her letters to the murderers. She's a true believer of fairytales. Unfortunately, the innocent shouldn’t believe in fairytales in this drama. Just like the fairytale song she sang, she follows the lyrics and dies and neither letters worked on the men.
Yan Liang's ears are blocked by Zhang Dong Sheng. He doesn't know the truth about Pu Pu's death because ZDS lied that he saved her. That’s the only information ZDS could ever withhold from Yan Liang. Therefore this confirms Pu Pu’s death even more.
[Theme: Light and Dark / White and Black / Sun and Moon]
Both Zhang Dong Sheng and Zhu Chao Yang's names refer to the sun. Both like white when they’re the darkest characters in the drama. The darkest and cruelest scenes also happen in broad daylight: the beginning scene when Zhang Dong Shen pushed his parent-in-laws down the mountain; the death of Zhu Jing Jing from the 5th floor; the death of Yan Liang (yes, he is mostly definitely dead) on the ship; the killings of Zhu Chao Yang's parents in the building. The only one time a death happened at night in the dark was when Zhang Dong Sheng saved Zhu Chao Yang. Ironic.
Zhang Dong Sheng and Chu Chao Yang are the darkness under the sun. Their real selves live in dark shadows despite the bright colours they display. It's like the brighter they are, the more they can conceal their darkness. In contrast to them is Pu Pu. She is the light in the dark; she is the moon in the night sky (even her brother is named "Xing Xing" which means stars). She is pure and willing to believe in fairytales when the reality is dark. She believes there is good in the bad. She believes in Zhang Dong Sheng and Zhu Chao Yang. However, these two men are tainted and fabricate the truth to create the fairytale they want. They are the bad who pretend to be the good.
[Theme: Broken Families]
Every family in this drama is broken or will be broken. Zhang Dong Sheng is facing a divorce. His wife is having an affair. We also don’t see him have any other family or friends. Zhu Chao Yang is raised by a single mom. His father is quasi present but neglects him for his new family. He doesn't have any friends. Zhu Chao Yang initially appeared to be the victim: a righteous child who's bullied; he doesn't cheat and he was the one who wanted to call the police on Zhang Dong Sheng. The darkness in them is revealed when their closest family members betray them. For Zhang Dong Sheng it's his wife's betrayal; for Zhu Chao Yang it's his father's betrayal.
- Zhang Dong Sheng's first murder was his parent-in-laws because he thought they were the obstacles to his marriage. As long as can win the pity of his wife for being the caring husband he is, he thought he could protect his marriage. The truth is his wife has already betrayed him. That's when he killed his wife.
- Zhu Chao Yang's first "murder", whether it was intentional or not, is Zhu Jing Jing, his step-sister. By getting rid of her, his father will be all his. When his father suspected him of killing his daughter, Zhu Chao Yang used pity to win his father over. However, his father once again betrayed him by telling him to lie to the police officer about his wife's brother. It's questionable whether the death of his father was orchestrated by him. It's a possibility.
Despite every kid having a broken family, it doesn't make them all evil.
- In contrast to Zhu Chao Yang, Yan Liang looks unclean, tanned, and dark but he is the most righteous one. His name even says so. Despite his death being unclear, his ending prior to that is the ending that Zhu Chao Yang wants: a loving father. Yan Liang got to see his father who never betrayed him and got a new father (Lao Chen) along the way.
- Pu Pu, who's also an unwanted orphan, is the true light in this drama. She thinks that as long as she can clean the white shoes dirtied by Jing Jing everything will be alright for Zhu Chao Yang not knowing his heart is already black.
The true foil to Zhu Chao Yang aren't the orphans but Ye Jun's (the policeman's) daughter.
- Just like Zhu Chao Yang, she was raised in a single family. Her dad is also away most of the time. She's smart. Perhaps she loves math too, who knows. Initially, it looked like Zhu Chao Yang had the better relationship with his mom but we soon see how distant they are especially when he blames the divorce on her for destroying his perfect family. On the other hand, Ye Jun's daughter kept throwing tantrums at her father but as more of their scenes are revealed they have quite the friendly rapport. They're a normal father and daughter. It's Chao Yang who isn't normal; he's always polite with his mother despite being family. Both children are raised in the same environment but she is very different from Zhu Chao Yang emphasizing how innate his darkness is.
- Was it really nurture that pushed him to be dark or was he innately dark to begin with?
[Theme: Letter / Writing / Journal]
- When the three children found out about Zhang Dong Sheng's murder, it was Pu Pu’s idea to write a letter to the murderer because they couldn't report him to the police. She wanted to warn the murderer to prevent him from committing another murder. It's a very innocent idea, very iconic of Pu Pu. She is a believer of this method and uses it on Zhu Chao Yang. She promises to keep his secret forever, but just like the letter to Zhang Dong Sheng, it is her warning to prevent him from committing another murder. This letter is proof to me that Zhu Chao Yang had a direct role in Zhu Jing Jing's death and Pu Pu is the witness.
- Things I did not pick up on my own
- The ink pen. Each kid wrote a letter in this drama. However, the last one from Yan Liang to Lao Chen is questionable. Did he really write that letter? Why don't we get to see that letter even though it's all written out? Why is it smudged? Although it's blurry it does look like it's written from an ink pen much like the ink pen Yan Liang and Pu Pu gave Zhu Chao Sheng. Therefore did Zhu Chao Yang write that letter to make it look like Yan Liang was planning to die with Zhang Dong Sheng? Was this all within Zhu Chao Yang's murderous intentions? [Credit: Youtuber]
- The journal. At one point Zhu Zhoa Yang switched to a new journal. Correct if I'm wrong but I think it was when Jing Jing died. That's when he started fabricating his fairytale. [Credit: Same Youtuber]
[Theme: Camouflage]
There’s not a scene wasted in this drama. Immediately after the shocking first few minutes of the drama where Zhang Dong Sheng pushed his parent-in-laws down the cliff the scene switches to a reptilian lurking around. I don’t know my cold blooded creatures but I’d like to assume that is a chameleon and that camouflaging chameleon is Zhu Chao Yang who successfully blended in as the witness when he is the true cold blooded mastermind. [Theme: Fairytale vs. Reality]
The drama presents two truths: the truth people want to see (the fairytale ending) and the truth people don't want to see (the real hidden ending). Two different truths cannot coexist and the winner of the storytelling is Zhu Chao Yang; the true bad kid. His fabricated truth has become reality.
There’s two sets of people in this drama: the fabricators and the audience. Some of the audience remain clueless to the end of the cruel reality, some know the truth but can’t reveal it and some choose to believe the fairytale knowing very well what the cruel reality is. What type of audience are you? Or are you the fabricator?
[Ending Interpretations]
What’s undeniably brilliant about this drama is the ending. The real ending is in the opening song, it's in the three little chicks' story, it's in the journal, it's everywhere but the ending of the drama. The opening song started with three ghosts running away from a dark shadow and in the end only one ghost remains. It's kind of amazing how some reviewers have analyzed the opening song and deciphered using the mountain climbing scene between the three kids to know exactly which ghost refers to which kid. The chick story I was able to pick up by myself. One of the skeletons isn't a chick but a wolf. Therefore, the three who died are two chicks and one wolf.
Did Pu Pu die? Yes. It's alluded to in the song she sang when Zhu Chao Yang asked her and Yan Liang if they believe in fairytales. Zhang Dong Sheng lied to Yan Liang about saving her. I think her death was the last straw for him. She's the only one Zhang Dong Shen didn't want to kill. He wanted a daughter like her. He truly loved her (note: McDonald's scene where he ate three hamburgers by himself because he promised to have them with her but he fulfills the promise on his own). With her death he no longer has a reason to turn over a new leaf.
Did Yan Liang die? Yes. It's apparent that it was Zhu Chao Yang's imagination of him in his school because only he notices Yan Liang. The only other person who can see Yan Liang is Lao Chen which could also mean he's dead too. There's also a "pear" scene with his father prior to his death. The first time his father gave him the pear, he didn't eat it. The second time he did. "Pears" in Chinese can have an ominous meaning because it sounds like "Separation". It's the drama hinting at his separation not just from his father but also from his life. If you know someone who's Chinese and are sending them to the airport, don't give them pears. The confusing part to Yan Liang's death is "when". Was it between the battle with Zhang Dong Shen or when he fell off the ship into the water? I think it's the former. There's another theory that he died in the fire and that every Yan Liang scene thereafter was Zhu Chao Yang's imagination. Meanwhile I believe Zhu Chao Yang's imagination of Yan Liang began when Zhang Dong Sheng found him on the ship deck.
Did Zhu Chao Yang plan Yan Liang's death? Yes. It began when CY asked YL at McD's whether he was going to report Dong Sheng to the police purposely allowing Dong Sheng to hear. Chao Yang is fully aware of how betrayal can change a man like DS and is fully aware of YL's intentions without having to ask. He therefore expertly uses Dong Sheng to get rid of Yan Liang. Chao Yang wants to kill Yan Liang because if he does report DS to the police then his involvement with Jing Jing might be revealed too. In the freezer scene where Chu Yang was tied up with his father by DS, he purposely hollered at the direction of YL's phone ringing guiding DS to YL. It's absolutely chilling how a young kid at 14yo could think like that on the spot. In the last scene CY guides DS in the opposite direction of himself and leads him to Yan Liang once again. Why Yan Liang agreed to this plan and gave CY his phone beats me but CY purposely used his phone to call DS. If we rewind back to the scene where the three kids were deciding how to threaten DS to pay up, it was Chu Yang's idea not to use the phone Lao Chen gave Yan Liang in case the phone call could be traced. In this last scene, Chu Yang wants the police to trace this call and frame everything between DS and Yan Liang making himself the perfect victim. He then waits on the ship deck for Dong Sheng knowing Yan Liang isn't his match. When he saw Dong Sheng arrive, he knew Yan Liang was dead. There’s an interpretation (not to my credit) that Chao Yang was waiting at the deck prepared to submerge himself in the water if Dong Sheng had planned to kill him too and that’s how his swimming skills would be put to use.
Did Zhu Yong Ping know his son murdered his daughter? Yes. I read this as a spoiler as I was watching. Zhu Yong Ping listened to the recording and knew that his son purposely made himself pitiful to win his love. He heard the zipper sounds of Chu Yang opening and closing the bag. The deliberateness and craftiness of his son makes Dad certain that Zhu Chao Yang is guilty. In his dying scene, he told his son to be reborn, further hinting that he knew. A "good" kid wouldn't need to be reborn. There's also his character poster with his mouth covered indicating he knows but he can't tell.
Did Zhu Chao Yang murder Jing Jing? Yes. Initially I thought he just watched her die but he could have actually pushed her and directly murdered her. This would make more sense in the grand scheme of the drama. From Pu Pu's words it's evident that she said Jing Jing was going to fall which is different from his statement that she had already fell. Right before the rolling credits, the drama is pitch black but there's audio revealing the truth that Jing Jing did not die immediately. There was a delay in her initial sounds (that indicates she hung onto the edge) and the final "thump" sound to her demise. At this point there's two interpretations: either he didn't help her or directly pushed her off. When Zhu Chao Yang "imagined" Yan Liang hanging onto the edge of the ship could have been a hint that he only watched Jing Jing fall off without helping her as well. That for the most part was my understanding of Jing Jing's death. As I'm typing out the review though, there is this eerie feeling that Chao Yang is more cruel than that. His father died and the kid can happily talk about his grades. Pu Pu encouraged him in her last letter to tell the truth to be reborn but he still chose to lie. Dad's dying words are for him to forget and be reborn. I guess Chao Yang is going by those words. In the end, he kept scrubbing the blood off his hands and the dirt off his white shoes. But what is tainted is tainted.
Did Zhang Dong Sheng plan to kill Zhu Chao Yang? No. He said he went to help. Help who? Zhu Chao Yang. Their psychopathic nature can sense each other. Zhang Dong Sheng knew it was impossible for him to escape the police with Ye Jun closing in on him. Thus, instead of dying pointlessly he wanted to die in Zhu Chao Yang's hands and be reborn in him. Except Zhu Chao Yang still played the good kid card until the very end. Zhang Dong Sheng is shocked that Zhu Chao Yang is the better camouflager. Admitting defeat, Zhang Dong Sheng draws the police's attention by aiming his weapon maliciously at Zhu Chao Yang just to be shot by the police. Zhang Dong Sheng's last words to Zhu Chao Yang: "You can believe in the fairytale."
That is the cruel ending. Or do you want to believe in the fairytale?
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