[Mainland Chinese Drama 2016] Decoded 解密

[sugarplum892]

Details:

Title: 解密 / Jie Mi
English title: Decoded
Genre: Action, Romance

Episodes: 44
Director: An Jian (Entrepreneurial Age 创业时代, Empress of the Ming 大明皇妃孙若微传 )

Broadcast Date: June 20, 2016 - July 14, 2016

Cast:

Ying Er

Cheney Chen

Jing Chao

Guo Jing Fei

Ady An (Guest Star)

Synopsis:

In his gripping debut novel, Mai Jia reveals the mysterious world of Unit 701, a top-secret Chinese intelligence agency whose sole purpose is counterespionage and code breaking.

Rong Jin Zhen (Cheney Chen), an autistic math genius with a past shrouded in myth, is forced to abandon his academic pursuits when he is recruited into Unit 701. As China’s greatest cryptographer, Rong discovers that the mastermind behind the maddeningly difficult Purple Code is his former teacher and best friend, who is now working for China’s enemy―but this is only the first of many betrayals.

Brilliantly combining the mystery and tension of a spy thriller with the psychological nuance of an intimate character study and the magical qualities of a Chinese fable, Decoded discovers in cryptography the key to the human heart. Both a riveting mystery and a metaphysical examination of the mind of an inspired genius, it is the first novel to be published in English by one of China’s greatest and most popular contemporary writers. 

Credit

**Please use spoiler tags for those who have not seen the episodes yet**

[spoiler ]enter your spoiler here without the spaces inside the brackets[ /spoiler]

Preview:

 

 

 

OSTs:

Coming soon..

Additional Links:

Decoded 解密 Viki English Subbed Episodes

Decoded 解密 Raw Episodes

Empress of the Ming 大明皇妃孙若微传 Official Drama Thread

Entrepreneurial Age 创业时代 Official Drama Thread

 

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[IMOmusings]

First ep and I'm hooked 

[PaulaL]

where can we download this? It seems very good!

[IMOmusings]

On 3 July 2016 at 6:56 PM, PaulaL said:

where can we download this? It seems very good!

Do you want to watch in RAW or english subbed?

[40somethingahjumma]

This show looks amazing. I imagine it's the China version of The Imitation Game.

Will definitely look into it when I get a bit of time. Didn't realise that Ady An's in it.

[jongski]

 I found a sub.  Decided to marathon.  Was hesitating as it looked like period drama and it is.  But so far I'm liking it.

 Burst out laughing the exchange in the library....

 Zhao Quirong:  Explain this to me ( showed a complex math calculation, I suppose)

Rong  Jin Zen:  Why?: You wouldn't understand even if I explain it.

 And said that straight face.. Ha.

 

[PaulaL]

I found raw episodes, now I'm trying to find matching subs... I can't watch it online...

[40somethingahjumma]

I dropped this after the early 20s because I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the way autism was being portrayed here. The cloak and dagger stuff was okay and I really liked the lad who played Rong Jinzhen.

The implication that autism was just a temperament or phase that the boy was going through was something I didn't really care for.

Just my 2 cents.

[IMOmusings]

On 8 July 2016 at 3:42 PM, 40somethingahjumma said:

I dropped this after the early 20s because I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the way autism was being portrayed here. The cloak and dagger stuff was okay and I really liked the lad who played Rong Jinzhen.

The implication that autism was just a temperament or phase that the boy was going through was something I didn't really care for.

Just my 2 cents.

I don't think it's so much portraying it as a phase...more so that the situations and surroundings forced upon him has had a profound impact on the way he responds to things. It's not like there was a change overnight and he decided "oh hey, I should act more mature", rather, there's a slow change and parts of his original self still shine through.

In saying that, there wasn't really a clear indication of just where on the autism spectrum he really lies. He could be a high functioning person but became sensitive and withdrawn because his uncle/aunt didn't know how to raise someone with autism and decided the sheltered and safe route would be best. 

Another aspect to take note of is that the original author wrote this, I believe, without much research into autism (I haven't actually looked this up, but correct me if I'm wrong). The main char, I think, is meant to be representative of the author's inner demons and sense of him against the world. Not sure why autism was chosen in particular though...

 

[40somethingahjumma]

14 hours ago, IMOmusings said:

 

Another aspect to take note of is that the original author wrote this, I believe, without much research into autism (I haven't actually looked this up, but correct me if I'm wrong). The main char, I think, is meant to be representative of the author's inner demons and sense of him against the world. Not sure why autism was chosen in particular though...

 

Undoubtedly.

No seriously, the portrayal of autism was fine (actually very good) but the absurdity of expecting him to be like other trainees wasn't. But for some reason I found it very upsetting, not just the rampant prejudice that he faced (which is a valid part of the storyline) but the fact that he was thrown completely into the deep end and nobody was really ready for him... frustrated me. I was mostly angry with "Crippled" for putting him and everyone else in such a untenable position. 

I know people who have autistic kids and maybe I'm overly sensitive. 

[IMOmusings]

1 minute ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

Undoubtedly.

No seriously, the portrayal of autism was fine (actually very good) but the absurdity of expecting him to be like other trainees wasn't. But for some reason I found it very upsetting, not just the rampant prejudice that he faced (which is a valid part of the storyline) but the fact that he was thrown completely into the deep end and nobody was really ready for him... frustrated me. I was mostly angry with "Crippled" for putting him and everyone else in such a untenable position. 

I know people who have autistic kids and maybe I'm overly sensitive. 

If circumstances must then sometimes the most undesirable situation must play out.

I'm not a history buff but I think back then (whenever this story was set), not much was known about autism. In which case, the way people treated ZJR was probably the way that others with autism were treated, as a mentally disabled. For the context of the drama, he was being treated exactly as he should be. If he were treated as how we understand it now, the history buffs would have started calling foul and he would have been totally out of character. Sad....but sometimes the discrimination we hate the most is a necessity for a good and close to reality, story.

[NewKDramaAddict]

I am simply blown away with this drama! I like the detail! Some people might be upset with JinZhen's treatment but actually if you think about it, they treated him as if he wasn't autistic! I don't think the word autistic was available as a description for someone like him. I really like this. I must! Watched 36 episodes in 2 weeks! Now waiting for the last 5 episodes to be subbed.

[lovehbhjw2013]

I completely love this drama!  Been chasing until panda eyes now... 

In any case, I think little is known about RJZ's condition.  They have no idea what diagnosis for him, except that he appears a bit socially inapt.  So during that period they just looked upon him as someone slow and falling behind, no medical labels were known to anyone.  All "crippled" knew was despite all these, he has a hidden talent for Math.  This is the reason why he never tries to find any medical excuse for RJZ's condition except to ask them to be patient to watch his talent in action.   If he had a confirmed known diagnosis at that time, I think it would have made "Crippled"'s job much easier to tell Lei why he could not do the training so rigorously like the rest.

Nevertheless, every diamond needs to undergo the furnace to come up shining.  Though tough, RZJ grew up knowing himself better and eventually knew what he was capable of doing.   

[hayperreality]

Signed up so I could just rave how amazing this drama is. This is my first Chinese drama and each episode is great! 45 minutes just passed by. I love it! I'm curious about the book now.

The way I see it, they have no idea what's up with RJZ. They only know that he's ~simple minded~. And as all things we have difficulty of understanding, it elicited various reactions from the people around him. How afraid his foster parents were to let him go out to the world. How mad Director Lei was when she found RJZ sleeping during training. How Zhai Quirong was both patient and protective of RJZ. How Chief Deng knew that he's the guy that could crack the code and his condition is just a minor setback. I love the characters and their contribution to the story and how natural the story unfolds without over the top acting.

As this is my first Chinese drama, I am hopeful that it will be able to sustain the rhythm until the end. I hate it when I'm all invested and the series will end poorly.

 

 

[40somethingahjumma]

@hayperreality

If you really like period Chinese flicks then I will highly recommend Nirvana in Fire (Lang Ya Bang) which was last year's best C drama hands down. In my very humble opinion, it's one of the best dramas in any language ever made. It has everything in it... martial arts, court intrigue, plots, schemes... and the performances are stellar.

And then, there's Vigilantes in Masks (Guai Xia Yi Zhi Mei) which is a lot like the US tv show Leverage but set during the Ming dynasty.

I've seen both dramas multiple times.

[lovehbhjw2013]

I like the ending of the drama... RJZ has come a long way and it is a positive growing up experience for him from all aspects despite the difficulties he went through in the initial stages of his life.

 

[Frank Pelletier]

On 7/14/2016 at 7:35 PM, 40somethingahjumma said:

@hayperreality

If you really like period Chinese flicks then I will highly recommend Nirvana in Fire (Lang Ya Bang) which was last year's best C drama hands down. In my very humble opinion, it's one of the best dramas in any language ever made. It has everything in it... martial arts, court intrigue, plots, schemes... and the performances are stellar.

And then, there's Vigilantes in Masks (Guai Xia Yi Zhi Mei) which is a lot like the US tv show Leverage but set during the Ming dynasty.

I've seen both dramas multiple times.

Yi Zhi Mei gets a thumbs up from me as well.  It is a phenomenal drama that I've had my friends also watching, and they aren't hugely into watching shows with subtitles either.

 

Decoded is definitely a serious show to me, and I like how it takes place in more modern times, to give that feeling that it's dated, but not extremely. I've been having a bad habit watching 3 episodes a night when it should be 1. Well worth the time and construction of the story.

[IMOmusings]

I would have loved it if the drama explored more of the 'aftermath' of code black. The book itself...does not have a happy ending I don't think. I will confirm once I finish reading it xD