Gold Panning (2022/CN) - Liao Fan, iQiyi

[laagi]

I'm a total noob when it comes to C-Drama. Not to mention Asian Series in general. Or maybe it's just lack of patience paired with laziness to watch a story over the course of God knows how long. That's what life is already for, right!?

Anyway, enough with the personal sentiment. I actually found Gold Panning as is the case with a lot of other content by accident. The story and at least one recognizable face on the poster had me intrigued enough.

10 episodes later and I gotta admit I'm still enjoying this for the most part. The location in the midst of the fog ridden jungle paired with a bunch of desperate men infected by the "gold rush" make for a great scenery. The cinematography really stands out also the overall quality of the production. It's honestly something I didn't expect from a C-Drama. 

Not to mention all the actors do a great job! Kudos to them and I can only imagine that shooting this wasn't all that easy.

However it does come with certain shortcomings. It moves VERY slow. So if you're hoping for some hot jungle action (sounds weird) you'll be sorely disappointed. It's a human drama first and foremost about family, brotherhood, greed and desperation. Again something that fits the gold panning as a center stage for the story perfectly.

Also the longer the story progresse it does have a certain feel of repetition. I caught myself more than once going "Wait... Again?". Which is really unfortunate and unnecessary at least IMHO.

Fun fact I really wonder where the whole "girl dresses as man" disguise came from. In all these years it never made any sense to me. I mean c'mon it's too obvious (at least in fictional work).

Overall if you're intrigued by the setting and story this might be well worth checking out. You can even stream for FREE on their YouTube channel. First episode below for your viewing pleasure.