Pandora's Box | Recap and Review

A serial murder by a mind controller. 

Notable Actors/Actresses

Ray Cheung: Li Tian

Joseph Chang: Fu Bu Jie / Reporter 

Liu Xue Yi: Li Xiu Fu

Michael Miu: Yamazaki Daisho / Shan Qi Da Chang / Detective
Chinese Title
天目危機

Genres: Contemporary, Slight Romance, Suspense

Network: MangoTV

Year: 2021
Episodes: 12

Recap Grade: A/B
First Impression: N/A

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Mini Recaps

[Ep1] Opening Scene: A lady happily walks across the level crossing but for some reason she can’t hear or see the gates signalling that there is a train coming... It crashes into her... and suddenly, the sky darkens. It's nighttime. 

The lady's red umbrella flies away and it lands on the ground, conveniently for Li Tian to pick up on this rainy, rainy day. I have no idea if this is an artistic thing or it actually has meaning. 

Schrodinger's Cat Theory. Li Tian is a mad scientist from my perspective. Here's why: He has an explosion-proof safe. Inside there is a cat and a bomb to prove Schrodinger's Cat Theory: "As long as we don't open it, the cat inside, Candy, will be both alive and dead. 50% alive and 50% dead.” In his words: we can use the power of our consciousness to wish that Candy is alive – the 50% can increase to 51%, etc. If you think I understood what I typed, you are dearly misinformed. There's also some gibberish about the Quantum Universe. The countdown is on. Li Tian instigates the crowd to use their mind power to wish that Candy will be alive. The bomb explodes in the safe. Is Candy alive? Li Tian opens it, and Candy is alive. Mind power works! Eureka! Guys, this is so stupid. A scientist calls it bogus. The bomb must be a fake. Li Tian, our daredevil, turns on the countdown again (leaving the safe door open?). Now he's instigating the scientists to believe there is a real bomb. As the seconds tick down, he slowly retreats. The scientists fidget in their seats. It can't be....KABOOM. It's real. The scientists curse at Li Tian as they come out of the room, all with fried hair and burnt faces. Sooooo....is the cat theory proven?

Li Tian's mother is in Tokyo. Li Tian is busy and won't be celebrating his mother's, Mei Xue Yan, birthday. He sends her off and when Mom looks back, she sees an eerie scene – individuals with bunny masks standing behind Li Tian. She's hallucinating. This was the scene that made me stick around the drama. Mom arrives in Tokyo but lies to her son that she's in Beijing. She enters a building and at the top there is a train passing by. She plays a VCR (there's the same bunny masks in the hypnotizing video). She heads out again after she receives a phone call that "Li Xiu Fu" wants to meet. It's raining. She opens her red umbrella, and another train passes by above. My obsession with the train is because she's the woman that dies from the train in the opening segment.

Li Tian's experiment: Mind over the heart. Li Tian has another experiment. He slits the wrist of the prisoner and lets his blood drip. In an hour he is supposed to die but Li Tian says it this way: if the prisoner believes he will die then he will die. The reason: Li Tian never slit his wrist. The blood that is dripping is from a tube under the chair arm. In the end, the prisoner dies: his mind believed he was dying and so he died from his mind. His thesis: the brain may not be able to control the heart, but the mind, the consciousness can. I think I would understand this faster if the Show just told me this is the placebo effect. Also, how are any of his experiments ethical? Li Tian also has a brain-wave camera capturing the last moments of the prisoner's death and what the prisoner sees in his eyes. The pictures are in pixels. When he prints them out, he sees the words "The truth can only be seen from a distance". These were also the prisoner's last words. And so Li Tian prints out all the pixelated pictures, pieces them together, and peers from afar. The pictures spell "Level crossing" (in Japanese but in Chinese....). 

Ten very creepy bunnies watching Mei Xue Yan

Mei Xue Yan is searching for Li Xiu Fu. Mei Xue Yan asks this man who lives in a shrine if he's heard anything from Kuroki-sensei. It seems he has news of Li Xiu Fu. Uh. Li Tian's dad??? This man speaks confusing words: "1812 message", "224 people died and it was their fault', ""224 ants were crushed"

It's nighttime and it's still raining. Mei Xue Yan follows this man with a mask. She's smiling as she walks across the level crossing. The man who lured her there is recording her last moment. I think the Opening Segment is Mom's hallucination. She thought she saw her son and her husband but in reality it's nighttime and they're not even that age anymore. 

Li Tian receives a VCR. It's the video from the masked man's camera that recorded the last moment of Mei Xue Yan's death. 

[Ep2] Intro: Li Tian takes the plane to Tokyo. The passenger beside him is a lunatic, Zhang Ni, who's afraid the plane will crash. She freaks out from a sudden jerk. I am very intrigued by this inessential detail: the drink that's fizzing. When the cap is off for that long, can it fizz like that from one jerk? Li Tian uses hypnosis to calm her that she's the one controlling the plane. Awesome! Until she lets go of the controls and the plane is nose-diving. In reality, it seems the plane is accelerating to death as well... but then everyone is fine afterwards??? Did the plane crash or not? Why is this confusing. 

Opening picture: It’s a picture of Mei Xue Yan holding a gun to her head that she slowly lowers. I feel like this scene is played in reverse – as in the original clip is her picking up the gun to point to her head. 

The VCR recording mom's last moments. Li Tian meets with Shan Qi Da Jing (Detective) to show him the VCR. There are these symbols in the video: The Eye of Providence, creepy flies. The deaths also occur at "crossings" I think we have a psychopath who thinks he's a god. In the video, the Detective notices Mei Xue Yan's hands are drumming to a beat but she's not listening to any music. At the very end of the video, there's a reflection of a masked man. Li Tian has a hypothesis: someone is using consciousness to commit crimes. Therefore, this is a murder, and possibly a serial murder. 

By the way, Mom is in a coma. Not dead. 

Serial (mindful) murderer. The Detective visits another victim. This reporter's wife died at a level crossing too. She had opened her arms towards the oncoming train as if welcoming something blissful. Under the train, the Reporter (Fu Bu Jie) found her ear ... and attached to it was earphones, listening to this music ("Messengers at the Crossroad"). The reporter took a picture of this ear.......... Creepy.

Avant Garde. Avant Garde is a famous Japanese music band from twenty years ago. It has 12 members with bunny masks. 12 members....but only 10 bunnies when Mei Xue Yan was “hallucinating”. If she's the eleventh one, then who is the twelfth? Li Xiu Fu? It seems every victim was listening to "Messenger's at the Crossroad" before their death. The shocker: Mei Xue Yan was the main vocalist. Their last performance was at Lumingguan (a pub) when a fire took the lives of over two hundred people. It's as if their music was calling upon the blazing fires of hell.

The other odd thing about Mei Xue Yan is that she didn't die. Is this deliberate or a mistake by the murderer?

Li Tian finds the masked man and we enter virtual reality. Li Tian is with Zhang Ni (I don't get why she's so cranky) until Mask Man beckons for Li Tian to chase him. Li Tian sprints after him. Once in the building, Masked Man disappears from a door that is now a wall. The place is shifting like Tetras. Li Tian is lost and heads upward. This new place is covered in snow. The masked man is in front. Li Tian walks forward but then a voice stops him. It's Zhang Ni's. She's somewhere below but Li Tian can't see her. Actually, he's hypnotized/mind-controlled. There is no snow. Li Tian is on a rooftop, and one more step, he'll plummet to his death. Zhang Ni shouts his name to stop him but she doesn't notice a train coming her way. Who will die?

 

[Ep3] Li Tian uses his mind power to stop the train. Zhang Ni says Li Tian saved her by using his consciousness to stop the train. See, I totally knew that.

The monk dies. Apparently, the monk kidnapped Li Tian's mother and now he's setting the truck on fire with Mei Xue Yuan inside. Then he starts whipping himself and finally he hangs himself. Zhang Ni witnesses this because she wanted to steal, or as she says "borrow" the money that's lying around in this monk's room. She hears his last words: "Before the fans can feel pain, they must push them forward. Avant Garde will make this world beautiful."

The Reporter has pictures of Avant Garde. Horrific picture alert. Uh remember that ear the reporter took a picture of? The drama shows it. It's also the only part of the woman that is recognizable. Alright so, how did Mei Xue Yan even survive ... The Reporter has gathered other pictures of the level crossing where other victims have died. Li Tian finds a chilling similarity in the pictures: it's the same people witnessing the horrendous homicide each time. Are they the 12 members of Avant Garde? (Yes. They're music is making people die, well bad people)

[Ep4] Intro: The buzzing of a dying fly is the sound of death. And death is the similarity between all organisms. Hiroshi Kuroki wants to eliminate the world of rotten flies. Music will be humankind's fly trap for the evil ones. 

Opening picture: Kuroki-sensei holding a gun to his head with creepy skeletons behind him. 

Half-whole-tone. The episode starts with Mei Xue Yan (lying on the rails?). She remembers the past with Kuroki-sensei. 1812 was the mailbox they used to communicate with each other. They had a cult. She introduced "half-whole-tone". It is the space between the black and white keys on the piano. It doesn't actually exist on the piano, nor can it be played by itself. Then how is it played? Mei Xue Yan explains that when two completely different music scores are played together then half-whole-tone can be achieved. She also comes up with their band’s name: Avant Garde. They are to be the first set of soldiers to advance forward, leading the army to a better world. The purpose of Avant Garde is to eliminate the world of bad flies, using music to end their life. 

They also need a drummer who can follow the rhythm of death. Li Xiu Fu?

Ghost picture. Li Tian and the Reporter sympathize with one another. They're both victims. Li Tian notices he's still using a retro film camera. To the Reporter, film cameras can capture spirits, things the naked eye cannot see. Films have particles. It is living. Li Tian, our scientist counters that spirits, from the perspective of particles, are merely made of consciousness. To prove it to the reporter, Li Tian convinces him that he can use his camera to take a picture of a spirit in broad daylight. It’s a joke, apparently. Li Tian doesn’t know how to work a film camera and snapped a weird shot – the picture is all black. As the Reporter walks away, the picture comes into form and it indeed is weird. Li Tian seemed to have taken a picture of the future. I think. The scene transitions with the train passing by at the level crossing and the reporter's face disappears behind the train. 

Mei Xue Yan isn't dead. She's saved by the Waiter Guy who served her when she first arrived in Tokyo. She didn't wake up with all the medical equipment, but she does after almost being burned to death, eh. 

[Ep5] Intro: Liu Xiu Fu explains that every life has its own distinct heart rhythm but once all these rhythms enter the same beat, humankind is walking towards extermination. I think I'm in this drama for all these crazy theories. His role in the band is to create a "harmonious effect" in the rhythm of "Messengers at the Crossings."  This song will guide people who are lost at the intersection, not knowing where to go, to the right direction. 

Li Tian participated in the Avant Garde meeting!! Li Tian also saw Kuroki-sensei's face!!! And Kuroku-sensei's face morphed??? Does Li Tian not remember this? Was he brainwashed? 

Opening Picture: Young Mei Xue Yuan holding a gun to her head with a ton of creepy bunnies at the back.

Li Tian's research team died. A truck was swerving from an oncoming train and crashed into Li Tian's friends. The truck driver was listening to this weird music (Messengers at the Crossings). 

And then we also talk about parallel worlds. GREAT. Guys, I’m just going to repeat stuff here, I don’t actually get it: There is a probability we can meet another one of ourselves. A professor tells Li Tian  that there is no person who can control this. Li Tian refutes. This person has appeared. 

Mom is found but Mom is different. Li Tian notices Mom is different – she had woken up before. How do one "see" this? Currently, she’s in a coma. Li Tian uses his special camera to take pictures of his mother’s brain waves. He prints them, and once again, he has to see the truth from afar to know about “1812”. 

Finding 1812. At the place Mei Xue Yan is found, the Reporter suddenly lies down on the ground. He tells the officers to surround him. And suddenly (in his vision) the officers turn into Avant Garde members with bunny masks. So creepy. Seeing the buildings from this perspective, the Reporter now knows this is the place Avant Garde was born. This was the setting they took their album picture. 

Hypnotized by Messengers of the Crossroad. Li Tian and the police officers find "1812" – the mailbox (?) that Avant Garde members used to communicate with one another. Once they open it, Messengers of the Crossroad play in the speakers. Everyone is hypnotized. The Detective is this close to shooting himself. Only Li Tian is unaffected and he manages to save the Detective. 

Meanwhile the Waiter Guy who saved Mei Xue Yan takes a taxi. This taxi is driven by Kuroki-sensei. Li Tian chases after the taxi and ends up getting in a car accident. 

[Ep6] Li Tian's weird visions. Li Tian is okay (with a fractured arm). For some reason when he sees a video of Kuroki-sensei, he can recognize his face but he doesn't know why. More weird things happen. Li Tian is at a bar and he starts to hallucinate (or it might not be a hallucination). He sees his young self playing piano with Kuroki-sensei. Then he sees his (young) mother taking him (a kid) to flee. At the door, they stop in their tracks by another young boy who's wrapped in bandages. Li Tian is called back to reality by a waiter. Was it all a lapse of consciousness? However, in his hand is a mask, the one Kuroki-sensei wears. 

Someone is watching Li Tian. As Li Tian was hallucinating at the bar, it's captured on a surveillance camera. This is shown to a person whom we cannot see. Although this person has long hair, his weeping sounds like a man's voice. 

An Avant Garde member turns herself in to the police. As she's introducing each and every member to the Detective, I'm noticing the burn mark on her index finger. She's turning herself in, admitting guilt for her previous sins but she's here to explain she and the members are the victims. It's them who need protection from those who are seeking revenge against them. 

The Waiter and Kuroki-Sensei are the good guys? Li Tian has another set of brainwave pictures (I forgot who it was from... > <). In the picture is Li Tian with a sinister smirk and a crow on his shoulder. Later, the Waiter Guy appears and says he's here to help him. He tells Li Tian that Kuroki sensei is looking for him. Oh wait. Is the Reporter the bad guy? Li Tian gets Zhang Ni to drive him to meet Kuroki-sensei but on their way there, something falls on their car. Is it a body?

[Ep7] Intro: All the Avant Garde members are listening to their song. Mei Xue Yan is also listening. But wait, if she’s not singing, then who is? It seems they were all watching a kid. Oh, shoot. The one who sang the song....was Li Tian? 

Opening picture: Detective's gun scene

Li Tian tells Zhang Ni that a deer fell on their car. His expression is weird, though. Was it really a deer? All of a sudden, his hand fracture is healed too. He drives. Once they arrive, Li Tian tells Zhang Ni to wait in the car. There’s some romantic tension between the two..... 

Li Tian meets Kuroki-sensei. The day when Li Tian saw Kuroki-sensei's face, from Li Tian’s eyes, Kuroki-sensei knew they were the same but Li Tian is far more talented. They can both see into someone’s consciousness. I think. To Kuroki-sensei, everyone is a rabbit except Li Tian. Li Tian is a crow. And I am a pig. My brain does not compute. What is this about a crow? Li Tian was the real main vocalist! He sang the song that his mother couldn’t. With this song and their band, Kuroki-sensei was set on making the world better but Li Tian’s dad, Li Xiu Fu ruined everything. Li Tian demands to know where his father is. All Kuroki-sensei says is Lu Xiu Fu is still alive – the siblings (a brother and sister) want revenge – they wouldn’t kill him so easily. 

Zheng Ni is one of the siblings. Li Tian sees Zhang Ni (but I’m not sure if he saw her in his mind before she was actually there on site or Drama is hypnotizing me too). She attacks Kuroki-sensei with a knife. Li Tian tries to stop her. She swings her knife at him too but stops before she jabs his eyes. She doesn’t want to hurt Li Tian. Kuroki-sensei flees but Zhang Ni is like a zombie determined to kill him. Kuroki-sensei struggles to hold back her knife, but has the breath to tell her, “You and your brother are the real devils.” Zhang Ni doesn’t care as she swings her knife down. However, a gunshot stops her. A police officer fired at her. Li Tian rushes over to a bleeding Zhang Ni, telling her she’ll be okay. Zhang Ni thanks him for saving her and for telling her that blood is only a colour of red. 

Reporter is the other sibling! Reporter has captured the Detective. He’s the leader of all the victim’s families who died because of Avant Garde. He also lied about his crippled leg. He was the one who wore the mask and the coat to fool people thinking he’s Kuroki-sensei! (See the coat in the corner of his room).

[Ep8] Opening picture: Zhang Xiao Zhi’s gun scene at the railroad crossing 

Reporter isn’t Reporter. The Reporter's real name isn’t Fu Bo Jie. He’s Zhang Xiao Zhi. He’s the little boy Li Tian previously “hallucinated”. Zhang Xiao Zhi is Zhang Ni’s brother. Their father fell in love with Avant Garde’s music and took them to the concert. In the middle of singing, the band stopped. Kuroki-sensei went on stage to urge them to sing and bring the audience to hell. No wonder Zhang Ni hated the music whenever it played. Dad sacrifices himself to save Zhang Xiao Zhi. Meanwhile Zhang Ni is lost and stuck under a pole. It was Li Tian who saved her and that’s when he told her that blood is only a red dye the brain makes her think it is. She’s later saved by her brother. 

Avant Garde disbanded. The band members were rattled by the fire during the concert, especially Li Xiu Fu. He wanted their music to turn the world into a better place; he didn’t want to kill anyone. Li Xiu Fu tells Mei Xue Yan to take the young Li Tian and leave. This is when the mother and son meet the young Zhang Xiao Zhi for the first time. (This was the scene that Li Tian “hallucinated”. Apparently not a hallucination, but a memory that Li Tian forgot). 

Zhang Xiao Zhi. Zhang Xiao Zhi had bought Fu Bu Jie’s name and lived under this fake alias all these years. He also has Li Xiu Fu hostage.

[Ep9] Intro: After the fire during Avant Garde's first and last performance, Kuroki-sensei gives a press conference over the phone that the fire was done by a fan. Only those who seek death will sink into their music. Then Li Xui Fu steps on stage. He apologizes and takes all responsibilities on behalf of his band members. An angry family member plunges a knife in him. 

Opening picture: Kuroki-sensei with the gun, bloodied after the fight with Zhang Ni. 

All these years, Li Xiu Fu was imprisoned by Zhang Xiao Zhi. He's an old man now.

Zhang Ni is hospitalized. There are flashbacks of all the times she was working with her brother (unwillingly) to fool Li Tian. Everything was planned. She wanted revenge like her brother but she was against killing more people. Still, her brother convinced her. No wonder her phone kept ringing at important moments. She was contacting her brother.

Witness the power of killing with the mind! This is how Zhang Xiao Zhi killed Kuroki-sensei in the hospital. Legit – Zhang Xiao Zhi stood in a corner and stared him to death. The death stare! 

Li Tian is accused of murdering the Detective. The police escort him to prison but on their way, they're almost killed by an oncoming train. Oh yo, now witness Li Tian's mind powers! Li Tian can stop cars and trains with his mind. His consciousness literally detached from his physical body. Then he carried everyone, including his own body, out of the car. 

Please know that I'm faking my enthusiasm. 

[Ep10] Intro: Little Li Tian was hypnotized to forget everything. Like Pandora's box, he was taught to not open these memories. 

Opening picture: Zhang Ni holding the gun. 

Li Tian opens his "Pandora's box" – his memories and his powers. And guys, our drama is now officially supernatural. I guess it always was..? Li Tian is a mind controller, a superior one, he can physically stop a man from shooting a gun with his mind alone. 

Zhang Xiao Zhi had considered a normal life (whatever) with his girlfriend – married, have children. However, his girlfriend fell in love with Avant Garde's music and thus, she became his (Zhang's) prey. 

[Ep11] Opening picture: Li Xiu Fu (older guy) holding a gun

Now I'm explaining scenes I don't get. Here goes: Zhang Xiao Zhi has Li Xiu Fu hostage. It angers Li Tian so much that he takes Zhang Xiao Zhi into his consciousness. It's bright white. Li Tian tells him only devils will be afraid of the light. Zhang Xiao Zhi is the devil. Then snow falls. Zhang Xiao Zhi's head is on the rails. A train is coming. And then, poof, things turn to black crows. The world is now  engulfed in darkness. Zhang Xiao Zhi has control of this mind world – his darkness is swallowing Li Tian. But yo, Li Tian is like superman ~ With a scream, he breaks the darkness that tried to seal him. Then Li Tian commands a train or it might just be fire to attack Zhang Xiao Zhi. Then Zhang Xiao Zhi has a scream too. But it ain't working as well as Li Tian's scream. Currently, he's physically paralyzed to the ground. Zhang Xiao Zhi is mind-defeated. Li Tian wheels his father to the elevator to leave the building. I hope you guys get this. I don't. 

Hold up, though. Although Li Tian and Li Xiu Fu are in the elevator, no matter what level the doors open at, it's the same level. Zhang Xiao Zhi laughs hysterically at them. Li Xiu Fu tells Li Tian there's no way out of this tower. The only way to escape is to be back at the pub and have Li Tian kill Li Xiu Fu. WHY?? The reason: gotta kill the rhythm – the rhythm of death. So we gotta kill the drummer??? 

Okay. We are now in the pub. Repeat. A grown up Li Tian is in the pub from twenty years ago during the fire. He saves Dad Zhang! And reunites Dad Zhang with little Zhang Xiao Zhi! Zhang Xiao Zhi is grateful and will stay in this ... world ... with his father. 

Back to ... wherever we're supposed to be ... Li Tian takes his father home.... ???

[Ep12] THIS ENDING IS A BIG WTF. I DON'T GET IT. And I refuse to spend any more time to understand this but for the sake of closure, below is the best I can do: 

It's been four years. 

The man who walks on time. Professor and Li Tian had a conversation about this that I barely paid attention to. I think it's important; I just stopped caring. 

Zhang Ni is dead but alive but dead. 

• Her heart is dead. But her mind is keeping her alive. She can walk and talk. She just can't poop much or menstruate. She's not hungry most of the time. Maybe when she's happy she's hungry. Cool.
• Zhang Ni and Li Tian decide to look for Schrodinger's cat. For the past four years, Zhang Ni has been searching for Li Tian's mother because she's grateful he found her father. After these two hug, it seems that Zhang Ni has found Li Tian's mother (I still have no clue where Mom is. @_@ In his mind?). And then Zhang Ni disappears. 
• Was she ever alive? Was she also in his mind? 
• Zhang Ni's spirit (? or whatever) tells Li Tian that she'll wait for him at the "South Star-Crossings" (four stars in the shape of the cross)

Li Tian's Mother is 50% alive and 50% dead

• Li Tian locked his mother inside an electrical panel room. Within that space, time has stopped. 
• Like Schrodinger's Cat, Mom is 50% dead and 50% alive. lkfjsdklfj
• Li Tian doesn't want to open the door. He also doesn't want to think or mention about her because that is the cat theory. One is to not think or speak about the cat for it to be in that equilibrium of life and death. 

R is alive. 

• Who is R? The brain-wave camera. S/He or It takes life form. djfskldjflsj. R informs Li Tian that they now gotta go to Spain for a mission. Helicopter is ready. 

Zhang Xiao Zhi is alive........... 

• Zhang Xiao Zhi is in prison and then we get a wicked sly smile 

The end. 

Remarks

[First Impression (Ep1-4)] A psychological ’thriller’. There is a serial murderer who is killing people with their minds, their consciousness. 

I don't find this thrilling but I am intrigued. The drama has bombarded my brain with confusing philosophy, dark symbolism, cult practices, etc. I want to know how the ML fits into this cult and how Avant Garde (a music band) is controlling minds to commit suicide 

(Romance fans: I don't think there are any. There is a girl but she's kind of cranky for no reason and I don't like her, so I'm hoping this is romance-free).

 

[Actors/Actresses]

[Behind the Scenes] 

[Ending] I don't know. The person who I thought died didn't die. The person who I thought was sorta alive was probably dead. Then there is a person who's 50% dead and 50% alive. 

[Review & Rating] Can I un-watch this?

I'm not reviewing this. If only I had zeroes to give because that is my level of comprehension for this drama. 

This will be in my Dropped list. Rating it a "one"  when I don't actually get the ending doesn't sit well with me. Rating it a "two" feels like an insult to my twos. Perhaps those who understand the ending will rate it higher.