February 4, 2023 issue | Issue 3137
"Detective has become a part of my life."
"The pilot film is so advanced, this season is going to be a god again!"
Less than half a month after its broadcast, the Douban score of the eighth season of "Detective" (hereinafter referred to as "Detective 8") rose from 9.2 to 9.3. Like the first bud that blooms in spring, it dispels the chill of late winter. The audience is all pleasantly surprised by the re-innovation of this variety show evergreen.
As a popular reasoning variety show, "Detective 8" has a unique balance between seriousness and fun. The endless suspense stacking and similar game modes constantly increase the aesthetic fatigue of the audience. The innovation of many programs cannot cope with the increasingly "tricky" audience demands, and it is difficult to escape the curse of the N generation.
As the first IP of the lost track, although "Detective" has a large number of loyal audiences, it has never stopped upgrading itself, whether it is scenery, case design or post-production effects, it can properly balance the sense of variety, reasoning and story every season, and at the same time convey the general knowledge of the law and the belief in the rule of law through the facts of the case.
To borrow the words of the audience, ""Detective" has long been not as simple as a variety show." Mystery innovation is difficult, why can "Detective" shine again and again? Looking back on the past seven seasons, from the small escalation between cases, we may be able to explore the secret of its long-tail value being so powerful.
Case reasoning, hardcore upgrade
The just-concluded live-action series "Sunset Horror" of "Detective 8" once again released a new charm of trickery in real space.
Since the third season of "Detective" opened the real scene investment, the brain-burning and visual stimulation of the case have risen sharply, and the first and last live scenes of each season have become the most anticipated part of the audience. The exquisite restoration of the details of scenes such as Gulangyu Cruise and Xiaoyun Hotel has surprised many audiences. Objectively speaking, the sincerity of "Detective" to create an offline landscape is obvious to all.
The fine polishing of decoration and props is the premise of immersive puzzle solving, but "Detective" does not stop there. The core trick of "Sunset Cry (Part I)" adopts a combination of elevator shafts, niches and oil paintings, breaking the mechanism routine based on secret passages and secret rooms, and the mechanical design of brain holes is rigorous and beautiful.
At the same time, the institutional innovation that closely follows the characteristics of the building once again confirms that real-world reasoning is not only about atmosphere.
The concentration and hardcore of reasoning are directly linked to the appeal of the puzzle, but different audiences have different views on reasoning. In order to satisfy as many people as possible, "Detective" focuses on the balance of personality, declension and social style every season. The first case of the eighth season breaks through the limitations of the reasoning genre with a more intricate story line and more elaborate mechanical and time trickery.
The elevator blinding method is the most amazing thing about the first case. In Blizzard Villa, players found that the clock was wrong through DV, gradually observed the position of the niche and the painting, the abnormal weight ball, and gained insight into the hidden mechanical structure of going up and down the stairs, and finally determined the murderer's line. The whole inference process is like watching an Agatha Christine movie, and the classical meaning is even better than many reasoning adaptations.
In terms of program mode, the pilot of the eighth season and the first two cases have significantly increased the difficulty of the game.
After watching the second case, many people found that the "forest evolution theory" in the advance party only helped the guests turn on the high-play switch in their brains in advance.
Creative board games introduce cases and broaden the boundaries of imagination of declension reasoning. If the previous camp warfare was only the traditional mode of group promotion based on clues, then this combination of "consciousness hunting" and "forest evolution" undoubtedly found a new way to open up camp warfare. The initial form of all-staff dark cards makes everyone's speech difficult to distinguish between true and false, winning or losing is in a single thought, no wonder many viewers say "the brain has burned out" after watching it.
Scene construction and game mode innovation are the difficulties and focuses of the puzzle. For the audience, this may be just a small improvement in the look and feel, but it is not an easy task for "Detective", which has reached the eighth season and the mode has been so mature. "Detective 8" has upgraded various cases to grasp the coolness and fun of intellectual confrontation, and once again stands at the forefront of the puzzle track with more hardcore puzzle solving and more enjoyable visuals.
Popularize the law and spread wisdom, and continue to care for reality
Some scholars have said that good reasoning stories can give people a glimpse of more timeless ordinariness from unusual places.
That's the case with Detective. Every crime in the show is like a microcosm of real society: intergenerational conflicts, gender equality, domestic violence, technological ethics... From inner emotions, group crises to social ills, the show's ideas radiate to almost all corners of reality, and are warmly presented through the discussion of characters and cases.
The details of the story of "Sunset Horror" echo the issues of the moment. The irresponsible reporting of "Every Three Differences and Five News" indirectly led to the destruction of Jia Dazhuang and Zhang Rock (played by Zhang Ruoyun), which is an examination and rethinking of media ethics; Hao Pingfan's face of accusations after being sexually assaulted is the epitome of the deep-rooted "victim guilt theory" in society.
When the trauma can be confronted, when the story is full enough, positive values will naturally grow from it.
When analyzing the clues, someone found that Jia Dazhuang, who was required by the family to have a manly taste, was abused by others because he liked to sew skirts in private, and everyone immediately felt unfair for him: "In fact, Zhang Fei can also embroider needles, and butchers can also like female red." "Dresses are not designed for girls." When Hao's ordinary experience caused heartache, the program's copy appropriately interpreted the gender dilemma: "Home is not a shelter for violence, and the silence of the victim is an indulgence for the abuser." "Beauty that is not defined is true freedom."
No wonder the audience said that "Detective" is more than a variety show. It conveys ideas in the face of games, emotional appeals without didacticism. It repeatedly speaks to topics that might otherwise be overlooked, eager to reach more people.
Positive values allow us not to harm others, but to protect ourselves, we need to know the law. "Detective 8" retains the "Great Detective Collegiate Court" and upgrades the "Detective National Law Popularization Class 2.0" to bring the complex murder story to life. Judges from the Supreme People's Court made a more practical interpretation of the law based on the story. Just like the first case not only discusses sexual assault in the story, but every collegial panel at the end of the film, judge and sociology professor Shen Yifei will give practical suggestions on how to protect the victim and retain evidence.
The deep integration of law popularization and reasoning, and the professional interpretation of ideas, make the program jump out of the niche reasoning circle and become a knowledge program for the whole people. When experts analyze the social hotspots behind the case from a legal perspective, the audience can re-examine the rational choices between the perpetrator and the victim, and clarify the boundary between right and wrong more rationally. As the collegial panel clearly defined the murderer at the end of the second case, "The family of origin is not the root cause of the crime, let alone an excuse for exoneration." ”
Spin-off ideas to build a detective universe
"Acquaintance Bureau YYDS!" Looking through the Douban comment area of "Detective 8", this season's praise is not only about the case and popular science, but also focuses on the guest lineup. The acquaintance effect in the variety show is the source of laughter, and the tacit understanding value of full marks makes each other's stalks more proficient, and when the audience is immersed in the pleasure of solving the case, they will also be complained and laughed by Wei Chen and Da Zhang Wei, and the fatigue of high-density puzzle solving is alleviated.
Reasoning deduction requires the logical ability and empathy of the guests. Old players have grown up with "Detective", each with their own strengths, and are quite familiar with each other's gameplay, and even formed the "laws" of the detective universe such as "there are Rong Tou Rong, there are terriers and Wei, and there are gulls and gulls chosen". The starting lineup of the eighth season is all experienced veteran players, so the lineup of the second case is so sparkling and reversing.
The stability of the guests gives the audience a sense of companionship that "develops", and it is also more convenient to form a story linkage. Bone data shows that every time "Detective" is launched, it will drive the traffic of previous seasons of the show. The linkage of "Detective" is not only reflected in the continuous appearance of character names, but also the continuation of character temperament and story core. For example, the innocence of Rong in "Sunset Horror" who cuts black in white and black is the same as the Rong doorman who suffered from a dark childhood in "Midnight Hotel", which makes many viewers uneasy.
In addition to the iterative upgrading of feature films, "Detective IP" also condenses audiences from different circles through creative derivative programs.
"Detective" spin-off amateur variety show "Detective Academy", which was originally only recorded during rehearsal time, has now grown into a new independent IP; Each family concert before the main film brings dance beauty and audio-visual enjoyment beyond reasoning, and also satisfies the feelings of many "group fans"; After the fifth season, the detective interactive drama and the offline real-life experience hall MCITY were continuously launched, and the innovative game "Forest Evolution" in the eighth season was launched at the same time, and it was also updated simultaneously in MCITY, satisfying the puzzle solving fun of reasoning fans in multiple ways.
"Detective" can make derivative content comparable to or even exceed the quality of the main film, which is inseparable from the production team's keen capture of the audience's psychology.
When a variety show goes through seven years, the audience will inevitably put forward higher requirements for it. Whether it can move people is precisely reflected in those details that are not easy to detect. The image design of the story characters, the return of one-on-one interrogation and body search, the stage change of the concert... Every bit of change shows the importance that "Detective" attaches to the audience.
At present, the Douban score of "Detective 8" is still showing an upward trend. The end of the first live-action series made many viewers strongly look forward to the live-action case at the end, but the new storytelling and gameplay of the eighth season made me look forward to the reasoning story in the studio. Perhaps, as the review says, the detective's innovative power will never let you down.
【Text/Kwai Chung】