A hit TV drama in China asks hard questions about right and wrong
Its moral code is messy
IN THEORY “The Bad Kids”, this summer’s most talked-about Chinese television drama, is a thriller about a teacher turned mass killer, matching wits with three plucky children in a quiet coastal town. In practice, like all really successful horror stories, the 12-part series is also a window onto things that frighten people in their everyday lives. A case can be made that the drama—despite its impressive body-count and inventive murder locations (a seafood buffet will never look the same again)—is really a meditation about how hard it is to be a good parent, or a good person, in a society that is as competitive, stressful and unequal as modern China.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Lessons from a summer hit”
From the July 25th 2020 edition
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