# The Bad Kids (2020)

> Three children from a coastal town accidentally film a murder and get drawn into a tangled case that ensnares several families.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/87749

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 48 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, mystery, drama
- Created by: Xin Shuang, Zi Jin Chen
- Network: iQiyi
- Cast: Qin Hao, Wang Jingchun, Rong Zishan, Shi Pengyuan, Wang Shengdi, Zhang Songwen, Liu Lin, Li Meng
- TMDB rating: 8.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12477942/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: tense, melancholic, somber, unsettling

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim the miniseries as a tense, carefully plotted mystery whose child-led investigation exposes the damage adults inflict on children.

## Synopsis

The Bad Kids (2020) is a Chinese crime mystery miniseries created by Xin Shuang and Zi Jin Chen for iQiyi. Across twelve episodes of roughly 48 minutes each, it follows three children from a coastal town who accidentally film a murder scene and then become entangled with the suspect. Their curiosity and fear pull them into a case far more complicated than it first appears, and the investigation opens doors onto several local families whose private lives are shaped by secrets and buried wounds. Qin Hao plays Zhang Dongsheng and Wang Jingchun plays Chen Guansheng, two principal figures whose paths intersect with the children's as the truth slowly surfaces. The engine of the story is the gap between what children can see and what adults choose to hide, with each episode peeling back another layer of the community's respectable surface. The mood is somber, tense and melancholic, with a lingering dread about childhood innocence and the cost of knowing too much. Set in a contemporary Chinese coastal town, it is a self-contained limited series rather than a case-of-the-week format. Fans of Broadchurch and Big Little Lies will find resonance in its small town unease and its patient unraveling of family secrets.

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