The first of three eight-episode seasons of Light the Night premiered on Netflix in November, and it has now reached its climax with a series of thrilling revelations.
The first season begins with the discovery of a woman’s body on a hiking trail near Taipei. The victim is quickly identified as one of the hostesses from Light, a Japanese-style club in the city that provides flirtatious companionship.
Light, owned by Ching-yi (Yang), known as Sue to her customers, and managed by Yu-nung (Lin) known as Rose, is already being watched by Detective Pan (Yo Yang) as part of a drug-dealing operation, so the investigation into the young woman’s death falls to him as well.
Season one ended with the revelation that the victim is Sue, who we’ve seen make enemies of all her coworkers, including Rose, in a kaleidoscope of flashbacks.
When the show’s rich ensemble of supporting characters is being developed, it’s at its best. The Light girls are a vividly realized collective of damaged and downtrodden women who are nursing broken hearts, shattered dreams, and tarnished reputations.
Sue and Rose provide them with a safe haven, but as the show delves deeper into their troubled pasts and tumultuous personal lives, it becomes clear that each of them has grudges against their boss.
Ah-chi, the indomitable veteran hostess buried in debt and driven by desperation, sees Sue as a competitor for the affections of a wealthy Japanese regular, played by Cherry Hsieh (Kagami Tomohisa).
Puff Kuo, a former member of the Dream Girls, plays Aiko, a disgruntled college student who takes a job at Light after her mother cuts her off. Yu-en (Derek Chang), a classmate, discovers her secret and is instantly smitten by Sue.
Yuri (Nikki Hsieh), who is dealing drugs at the club on behalf of her pushy boyfriend Henry (Wang Po-chieh), a male escort from a rival nightclub, is also noteworthy.
The show includes cameos from celebrities such as Vivian Hsu, Gingle Wang, and, most amusingly, Ruby Lin’s real-life husband, Wallace Huo, who plays an overprotective gangster.
Sue’s relationship with Rose is, unavoidably, the most complicated. Their shared secrets go all the way back to childhood and an unintended pregnancy that still has ramifications. Rose came to work at Light after being released from prison, where she had been held responsible for her unscrupulous husband (Joseph Cheng).
Season two ended with Chiang Han’s death in an apparent deliberate hit-and-run caused by hot-headed rookie cop Ah-ta (Nash Zhang), and the third season wastes no time delving into his conflicted motivations for doing so, his desperate attempts to cover it up, and his increasingly strained relationship with his superior officer, Pan.
In fact, much of the third season of Light the Night deviates from the murder investigation to delve deeper into the drug-dealing operation and how senior police officers may be involved. The show’s producers appear to have responded by including a disclaimer at the end of each episode assuring viewers that the events on screen are entirely fictional.
The murder mystery eventually fades into the background. In its celebration of 1980s excess, Light the Night is knowingly melodramatic and gleefully gaudy, and triumphs not so much as a whodunnit as a timeless tale of trust and betrayal, and of the suffocating burden of friendship.