T-drama Review: Million-Follower Detective
- Very Average Joe
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
English Title: Million-Follower Detective
Chinese Title: 百萬人推理 [lit. million-person logical problem solving]
Director(s): Shaun Su
Screenwriter(s): Shaun Su, Wan Zhen-zou & Jia Huei-ke
Studio: Gift Pictures, Bossdom Digiinnovation Group
Released: 2026
Runtime: 8 episodes, ~45m each.
Starring: Ekin Cheng, Shou Lou, Patty Lee, Lee Lee-zen, Jacob Wang, Buffy Chen, Lyan Cheng, Chloe Hsiang
One night, a popular influencer rocks up to the police station with a gun. Refusing to cooperate, he is shot by Detective Chen Jia-jen (Ekin Cheng). As expected, the incident is recorded by witnesses and goes viral. Chen Jia-jen looks bad in the eyes of some, particularly Lin Ting-yu (Shou Lou), who is a friend of the influencer and himself also a popular influencer.
The incident is obviously strange in the sense that anyone turning up to the police station with a gun like that is asking to be shot. In addition, a masked young woman calling herself Baba Witch uses tarot cards (or something like them) to foretell these events. Whilst vague, they are accurate enough regarding the deaths (or near deaths) of these influencers.
The plot follows Chen Jia-jen as he investigates the deaths and their connection to Baba Witch.
The premise is intriguing, making use of today’s social media–orientated society. Baba Witch reminds me of something that one might see in Psycho-Pass; it may be a different medium and sub-genre but both involve crime and mystery and, initially at least, Baba Witch does come across as a bit freaky.
Chen Jia-jen is a bit old-school and doesn’t appreciate the internet as much as the younger generation. Li Hsin-ping (Patty Lee), a younger officer from the cybercrime team, looks up to him and wants to tag along in order to contribute.
Meanwhile, Chen Jia-jen tries to reconnect with his daughter, Chen Yu-chieh (Buffy Chen). A few years ago, his wife passed away and in the process of grieving and losing his temper, Yu-chieh moves out. Not sure how she managed to pay rent at that age but the audience is supposed to just accept that.
Despite the use of detective-story tropes if not outright clichés, it is nonetheless watchable. This is probably because the case is interesting and the performances are generally good enough.
Related to the above are the flashbacks. Although some elements are clichéd, they do provide necessary character background expositions. They do make the characters more real and these scenes are strategically placed to break up the present.
Chen Jia-jen naturally investigates Lin Ting-yu since the victims are friends of his. Quite frankly, these influencers are so obnoxious that it is very difficult to feel sorry for them; one is tempted to just let them die. But still, even if some of them are like that in real life, it is probably too cheap a storytelling tactic to evoke sympathy for Chen Jia-jen (if that is the intent).
Chen Jia-jen sees clues that suggest his daughter may be Baba Witch, except he does not do anything about it for a while. Obviously, he’s not going to draw attention to his own daughter but one expects him to quietly look sooner rather than later.
This is one example of the main problem of this series. Generally, the narrative signposts very well. The problem is that these are not just for the audience but for the main characters. Despite the knowledge, they don’t act on it. Also, given the number of cameras and relative ease of access to information, one expects the police will try to do at least some superficial digging on anyone who is a little suspicious.
In other words, the pacing of the series is a bit off due to the slow activity of the characters. This is mitigated by the fact that it is only 8 episodes, each at about 45 minutes long.
There are other convenient and cheesy moments like the villain getting away just as they are about to be caught or people getting into trouble because they’re stupid enough to get close to it.
Would it be more gripping if the tone is more like a psychological thriller? Maybe. It is not aiming to be one. Would it be more captivating if there are more murders? Possibly but it is trying to be focused, that there are specific reasons behind them.
The production is solid. It adapts a moderately gritty look without being outright dark or detective-noir. It has a good balance between conventional shots and handheld, avoiding heavy stylization. If anything, it could be more stylized. The sound design and sound editing are clean.
Ultimately, it is a decent series, even if the intrigue and associated tension plateau somewhat towards the end when things get predictable. It avoids social commentary apart from pointing out the obvious: social media is full of vanity-driven idiots whilst law enforcement is negligent even if they do get unfairly criticized when they are not. It probably would be more interesting if it tried to explore the issues but perhaps it is trying to avoid being pretentious.
But, as already mentioned, even if there are pacing issues, the relatively short series masks the problems somewhat so it is still watchable and entertaining.
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