A man is looking to prevent his own genetic disorder from manifesting and in the process solves others’ psychological disorders.
Notable Actors/Actresses
[Ep1] Li Jia is admitted to a Hong Kong university. His purpose is to meet a renowned psychiatrist (Chen Ming Xuan) to diagnose his own genetic schizophrenia that's supposed to take over his life at age 24. But the doc is like schizophrenia makes your life fun, look forward to it. Aight.
Within ten minutes of this drama we’ve met two psychopaths on Li Jia’s first day of university. He saved Zhang Cha Cha from one. In return, she rents him a spooky and haunted condo at an incredibly cheap price. So nice of her. Li Jia signs the deal. It hasn’t even been a day, and the condo is already acting up. When Li Jia lifts the bed, a soft ball rolls out. On the ball, there’s a scary face.
A classmate, Shi Cheng, gives Li Jia a lift home. That’s when Li Jia learns from him that his condominium is haunted. It used to be a psychiatric hospital. None of the patients made it out of this hospital alive. Next to this condo is a cemetery.
[Ep2] There’s a man living in this condominium who’s spooking Li Jia out of his condo. Li Jia chases after his broker (Zhang Cha Cha) to ask her what the deal is with his condo.
[Ep3] Li Jia is the type to leave no stone unturned. He knows his place is spooky but he’s determined to know why.
It seems like this drama will have a crew of weirdos (masters at fortune telling and ghost hunting and stuff like that) helping Lu Jia solve the mystery to his condo. One of them is a fortune teller, Xiao Xi. He likes Cha Cha which is why he’s even helping Li Jia.
Notable Actors/Actresses
Zeng Shun Xi: Li Jia
Yan Zhou Ling: Zhang Cha Cha
Zhou Cheng Ao: Shi Cheng
Director
I Met Him in Hong Kong
Network: Youku
[Incomplete Recaps (Ep6)]
Recap Grade: B
First Impression: 2.3/5
First Impression: 2.3/5
Mini Recaps
Within ten minutes of this drama we’ve met two psychopaths on Li Jia’s first day of university. He saved Zhang Cha Cha from one. In return, she rents him a spooky and haunted condo at an incredibly cheap price. So nice of her. Li Jia signs the deal. It hasn’t even been a day, and the condo is already acting up. When Li Jia lifts the bed, a soft ball rolls out. On the ball, there’s a scary face.
A classmate, Shi Cheng, gives Li Jia a lift home. That’s when Li Jia learns from him that his condominium is haunted. It used to be a psychiatric hospital. None of the patients made it out of this hospital alive. Next to this condo is a cemetery.
[Ep2] There’s a man living in this condominium who’s spooking Li Jia out of his condo. Li Jia chases after his broker (Zhang Cha Cha) to ask her what the deal is with his condo.
[Ep3] Li Jia is the type to leave no stone unturned. He knows his place is spooky but he’s determined to know why.
It seems like this drama will have a crew of weirdos (masters at fortune telling and ghost hunting and stuff like that) helping Lu Jia solve the mystery to his condo. One of them is a fortune teller, Xiao Xi. He likes Cha Cha which is why he’s even helping Li Jia.
[Ep4] Li Jia investigates into the man who’s forcing him out of the condo. This man supposedly killed the previous condo owner. He’s forcing Li Jia out to prevent him from discovering the truth. The man had used a secret passage to enter his condo spook him.
In actuality, it wasn’t this man who entered his condo. It was the lady who Li Jia is accusing him of killing. He’s trying to protect Lan Lan (the lady) from being discovered because she killed a man (as a form of self defence) who was trying to rape her. Then when her child (with autism) needed to go to the hospital and she was unable to carry her son by herself, all her neighbours closed their doors on her. Out of revenge, she’s haunting them out the condo. The man is helping her.
[Ep5] The man commits suicide with the lady. He also sent a message to Li Jia's friends to save Li Jia. He had no intentions of taking Li Jia's life. Since the man is dying (from some disease), he's worried about Ah Lan. She cannot possibly sustain herself so that's why he's taking her with him.
[Ep7]
[Ep8]
[Ep9]
[Ep10]
[Ep11]
[Ep12]
[Ep13]
[Ep14]
[Ep15]
[Ep16]
[Ep17]
[Ep18]
[Ep19]
[Ep20]
[Ep21]
[Ep22]
[Ep23]
[Ep24]
[Ep25]
[Ep26]
[First Impression (Ep1-5)] This has a Hong Kong backdrop. It does add a very different flavour to this drama. It probably doesn’t matter to most of you if you’re not used to watching TVB dramas or you’re not from HK. As for the content, there’s psychologically disoriented individuals; there’s a haunted condo; there’s a bunch of experts in superstitious arts. This channels a ghostly vibe. Quality wise, I think this is pretty good. Definitely not a low budget one. If you buy into the mystery of why this man has to force Li Jia (ML) out of his supposedly haunted condo, and a crew of eccentric individuals solving cases together, this seems like a good one.
The above is as objective as I can be. First cases set the tone for the rest of the drama and I don’t think this one captured me intellectually or emotionally. I’m not quite into watching the drama depict the crazy committing crimes because of stigmatism. The way the first case resolved, I personally feel there's going to be more ethically challenging cases and if they're not handled properly it'll leave a horrible aftertaste.
Potential Bias: This really isn’t my type of drama.
[Actors/Actresses] Joseph Zeng Shun Xi seems like he’s playing the same guy in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre except he’s in the modern world now. I can’t unsee him as Zhang Wu Ji. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy his acting. Here, he’s just a very straightforward guy solving cases with a pending schizophrenic diagnosis.
In actuality, it wasn’t this man who entered his condo. It was the lady who Li Jia is accusing him of killing. He’s trying to protect Lan Lan (the lady) from being discovered because she killed a man (as a form of self defence) who was trying to rape her. Then when her child (with autism) needed to go to the hospital and she was unable to carry her son by herself, all her neighbours closed their doors on her. Out of revenge, she’s haunting them out the condo. The man is helping her.
The man and the lady hit Li Jia until he's unconscious.
Li Jia tells Zhang Cha Cha he promised himself to not fall in love before the age of 24. However, it seems like he's already in love with her, especially when she saved him earlier in the episode. She too keeps flirting with him.
*No Recaps beyond this point*
[Ep6][Ep7]
[Ep8]
[Ep9]
[Ep10]
[Ep11]
[Ep12]
[Ep13]
[Ep14]
[Ep15]
[Ep16]
[Ep17]
[Ep18]
[Ep19]
[Ep20]
[Ep21]
[Ep22]
[Ep23]
[Ep24]
[Ep25]
[Ep26]
Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-5)] This has a Hong Kong backdrop. It does add a very different flavour to this drama. It probably doesn’t matter to most of you if you’re not used to watching TVB dramas or you’re not from HK. As for the content, there’s psychologically disoriented individuals; there’s a haunted condo; there’s a bunch of experts in superstitious arts. This channels a ghostly vibe. Quality wise, I think this is pretty good. Definitely not a low budget one. If you buy into the mystery of why this man has to force Li Jia (ML) out of his supposedly haunted condo, and a crew of eccentric individuals solving cases together, this seems like a good one.
The above is as objective as I can be. First cases set the tone for the rest of the drama and I don’t think this one captured me intellectually or emotionally. I’m not quite into watching the drama depict the crazy committing crimes because of stigmatism. The way the first case resolved, I personally feel there's going to be more ethically challenging cases and if they're not handled properly it'll leave a horrible aftertaste.
Potential Bias: This really isn’t my type of drama.
[Actors/Actresses] Joseph Zeng Shun Xi seems like he’s playing the same guy in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre except he’s in the modern world now. I can’t unsee him as Zhang Wu Ji. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy his acting. Here, he’s just a very straightforward guy solving cases with a pending schizophrenic diagnosis.
[December 13 Update] I had dropped this when it aired in September 2020 but picked it back up because I was told of a very big twist in the ending. It didn’t disappoint.
[Ending] To describe this ending as simple as I can, I’d say it’s a little crazy.
As the drama progresses, Dr. Chen Ming Xuan becomes increasingly obsessive and manipulative towards Li Jia to make him think he is schizophrenic when he’s not. I had thought Chen Ming Xuan was definitely the person who had problems. He was just too suspicious but in the end he might just be the sanest of them all.
Everyone believed Li Jia was going to be fine on his 24th birthday. I did too. Li Jia even cried which means he can feel human emotions but that was until the last 15 minutes of the drama. His alternate persona who likes apples (the forbidden fruit, but it’s green and not red!) takes over. Li Jia has developed a dissociative disorder. He escaped schizophrenia but still became psychotic. And that’s how the drama ends.
Li Jia is definitely psychotic but I think Dr. Chen Ming Xuan is crazy too. He’s been under immense stress to research schizophrenia using his own wife, and then using Li Jia and he still can’t complete his research. I do believe that he wants to help future patients but his methods are unethical.
It’s questionable whether Chen Ming Xuan's constant harassment on Li Jia made Li Jia cave under the pressure. However, Li Jia probably had the dissociative disorder for a while because the girl from the last case (“Stranger”) clearly acknowledged that Li Jia is just like her. In the end, she was right.
Unfortunately, the ending doesn’t quite explain what the heck is going to happen after Li Jia has dissociative disorder. I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more of bad boy Li Jia. Definitely not.
Final Review
[Review] A Journey Across the Night follows Li Jia and his quest to overcome his schizophrenia. Along the way he solves cases, all with mental health disorders as the focus. Each case seeks to undermine our beliefs of “the crazy”. Li Jia has two friends (Si Cheng and Zhang Cha Cha) to help him solve cases. There’s bromance with Si Cheng and an ongoing romance with Cha Cha. It’s the most fun when the three of them are together.
I had thought I would have problems with the ethicality of this drama. I was wrong. It was a nice surprise how the drama subtly challenges the ethicality in society and in hospital settings of how mental health patients are treated. [Spoiler] I think the ending is a smart one. Despite it being a cliffhanger, it’s rather complete in terms of the message the drama repeatedly emphasizes: the “crazies” are human beings. With Li Jia solving the case, it’s a regressive understanding of the stories and motives behind each of these individuals deemed as crazy by the society. As for Li Jia ending off with dissociative disorder, it’s a progressive process. We watch him transition from normal to psychotic. It’s the drama way of reminding us that each one of them are human beings despite their condition. Li Jia is the most obvious example. We went through his pain with him. Seeing him forced to that mental state at the end doesn’t deny that he was a hero we grew to love in the drama. [/Sp]
Frankly, the cases aren’t all interesting to me. Some were a little too crazy. Undeniably, they all have its unpredictability. My favourite would be Heterochromia. Si Cheng was cute with his crush. Cha Cha was funny when she questioned him why he liked the girl. The case had a quite a few twists that I enjoyed.
There’s romance but I wouldn’t say it’s romantic. Li Jia and Zhang Cha Cha’s personalities are like night and day but there’s an underlying similarity in their childhood that probably explains their natural attraction towards each other.
Overall, it’s a satisfactory mystery drama (plus some horror elements) with an intriguing ending. If you pick at the details, it might be deeper than you think. Solid performances by all three leads.
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