Miss S mysteries

I found a new show on HBO Max called Miss S. At first I wondered if this was the Japanese Miss Sherlock show with genderbent leads, but actually, this is a Chinese adaptation of the Australian show Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Instead of Melbourne, it's set in 1930s Shanghai with all the style and devotion to fashion as the original show. All the characters are there under different names, with slightly tweaked backgrounds. They speak Mandarin, but you can pick different languages for the subtitles. At first I wondered why she called her detective agency "Miss S" when her name is Miss Su; it seems a pointless abbreviation, but then she explains that the S also stands for Shanghai. I love seeing all the business cards and the Chinese script on screen.

It's very sexy and entertaining, with a few interesting changes for cultural reasons. For example, they changed a show about Zionists into one about a political movement to try to restore the Qing dynasty. Also there are references to the Chinese war with Japan, with mentions of incidents such as the invasion of Mongolia. So it does feel like new mysteries are being solved. So far I like it, though I wish that the mysteries were not two-parters. I'm mostly just confused by the story of the Russian woman Natasha being in trouble for being a Communist.

Edited to add comments on Dr. Mac

I worried that there might be some Chinese censorship, but not all gay characters have been suppressed. There is a very sympathetic storyline of a gay couple being blackmailed in one episode, and the Inspector eventually allows Miss Su to destroy the blackmail photos. The Dr. Mac character is no longer a lesbian; still, she wears men's clothes and remains a feminist, teaching other women about contraception and abortion. Dr. Mac has only been in a few episodes that I've seen. But that was true of Miss Fisher, too, when I kept wondering where Mac went (and why the adopted kid was written out). Inspector Luo does sometimes point out that "this is Shanghai, not Paris" when Miss Su is annoyed with conservative morals.