01 Chen Jianbin and Chen Xiao's "Chemical Reaction"
Looking at the title of the play "Thirteen Years in the Dust", as the name suggests, thirteen years ago there was an unsolved case, and thirteen years later, the murderer made a comeback.
In the past thirteen years, there has also been a pair of criminal police masters and apprentices who have changed positions, and the master Lao Wei, Wei Zhengrong (played by Chen Jianbin) has changed from a criminal police captain to a civilian management library.
Apprentice Xiao Lu, Lu Xingzhi (played by Chen Xiao) has grown from a newcomer to the current criminal police captain and has become "Lao Lu". Time also came to 2010 in the blink of an eye, and another murder case opened the past that they held in their hearts and sealed for thirteen years.
The body of dancer Wang Nannan was found in the bathtub of Furniture City, and the scene was arranged like a body oil painting, as well as the victim's hammer on the back of the head and an "HB" pencil at the scene, these clues deeply touched Lao Lu's nerves.
Because thirteen years ago, the unsolved unsolved case was very similar to this one today. The most critical point is that the police found that Wang Nannan's hair accessories were the "cherry hair rope" taken by the murderer in 1997, and there was also the hair of the first victim on the hair rope!
Back in 1997, in an abandoned photo studio, the victim was Liu Meng, who was dancing in a dance hall.
The killer left three clues: First, he took the "cherry hair rope" with her hair (echoing the "Wang Nannan case" in 2010).
Second, the murderer wore rubber gloves, indicating that he had a strong sense of anti-detection; Third, the murderer glanced at the watch and revealed the brand of the watch. (Consistent with the watch brand of the later character, but this may also be a smoke bomb).
Of course, all three clues are viewed from the perspective of the viewer (God). The police cannot "open the hanging", and can only adopt the most basic criminal investigation means - investigation. The suspect identified was Yao Le (yuè), a down-and-out rock singer who had an emotional relationship with Liu Meng, and soon he was arrested, but during the interrogation, another woman was killed, and Yao Le was naturally cleared of suspicion.
This time, the victim was Du Mei, a worker who had danced in a nightclub in the early years, and the scene was similar to the "Liu Meng Case", and the body was put into an oil painting.
So far, the two "Liu Meng cases" and "Du Mei cases" that occurred in 1997 have five characteristics in common:
First, the victims were all women; Second, the same back of the head was hammered to death; Third, none of them were sexually assaulted; Fourth, the victim was put into a very artistic shape, like a body oil painting; Fifth, there was a "HB" pencil left at the scene, suspected to be the signature of the murderer.
Therefore, the "Liu Meng case" and the "Dumei case" were investigated together, and after investigation, the suspect in the Dumei case, Ma Chengqun, was arrested, and after preliminary investigation, he did not have the time to commit the crime. The follow-up investigation was also unsuccessful, and the "Liu Meng case" and the "Du Mei case" were not solved. It became a piece of heart disease for Lao Wei and Xiao Lu.
At that time, Master Lao Wei was the criminal police officer in charge of the case, and apprentice Xiao Lu was the assistant criminal policeman. The former is experienced but inevitably "backward" in thinking, while the latter has new thinking but is still very "rookie".
The character setting is a typical police force with the new, the old and the new friction, collision. The excellent performances of Chen Jianbin and Chen Xiao made a brilliant spark between these two characters, and also produced a fascinating "chemical reaction".
At that time, the old guard was an impatient, invincible mouth, and fearful leadership. Let him take a new person who is obsessed with the case? Xiao Lu met Lao Wei in the toilet on the first day of reporting, and just patted his back and asked Lao Wei to press it with a catch, but you can imagine that the days after this are not good. It is out of place from the point of view, Lao Wei loves to eat spicy when eating noodles, Xiao Lu does not eat spicy, Lao Wei said, do not eat spicy white!
Xiao Lu was also disliked by Lao Wei for being too tender and idealistic, and asked him why he became a criminal policeman? Xiao Lu said that he would catch the criminals who did the most harm to mankind. Old Wei straightforward: Sixty years earlier, you should go and catch Hitler!
In short, Lao Wei felt that Xiao Lu had a strong book anger, which was completely inconsistent with the rough man aura of the criminal police team. And Xiao Lu is indeed like Lao Wei said, fledgling, will not visit, will vomit when he goes out of the scene, trying to use theory and new thinking to handle cases.
Regarding the "Liu Meng Case" and "Du Mei Case", he believes that the two cases have committed multiple murders, and the motive is unknown, which is in line with the serial killer mentioned in the criminal psychology book, while Lao Wei does not agree.
But despite this, Lao Wei would personally teach Xiao Lu "who to ask, what to ask, and how to ask" when he would not visit. Later, Xiao Lu began to visit independently, and when he encountered a street scoundrel asking for benefits, he gave the scoundrel a "big bibi" to ask Xiao Lu's money back, and taught him a big truth: Have money to honor your mother.
When Xiao Lu's wife Yang Man (played by Ni Ni) urged him to go to the family banquet, and Xiao Lu was indifferent, Lao Wei saw it in his heart and asked him to hurry to the dinner party to be responsible for the finishing work. Please note that the family banquet here is a foreshadowing, and an important clue revealed at this family banquet will be mentioned later in the article!
It can be seen that Lao Wei, the master, is very competent, and Xiao Lu has grown up very quickly under his care, otherwise it would be impossible to replace him as the captain of the criminal police in the future. If it's just this comparison between the old and the young, the routine is really old, and the beauty of this play is that the change of positions between the master and apprentice after thirteen years is still very interesting.
Therefore, the plot also alternates between the two timelines of 1997 and 2010, allowing the characters to walk through it, shape the changes of fate, and also describe the changes of the times. The transitions between the two space-time are very silky, and at the same time, there is no need to worry about being indistinguishable.
Time goes back to the "Wang Nannan case" in 2010, and the preliminary judgment is that it has the same characteristics as the two cases in 1997, especially the appearance of "cherry hair rope" and Liu Meng's hair, so the case is investigated together. Xiao Lu wanted to find the idle old guard, but he had this heart disease together.
The two were in the previous noodle restaurant, this time Xiao Lu ate spicy, but Lao Wei said that his stomach was not good.
In a play, the master and apprentice changed positions, and the apprentice finally "returned" the master after 13 years: Didn't you say that you don't eat spicy white.
For participating in the investigation, Lao Wei said no, but his body was still very honest.
Xiao Lu deliberately exposed a few files of the new case and quickly put them away, and he could not read the files without participating in the investigation of the case. Lao Wei still couldn't let go in his heart, his eyes kept skimming the file, Chen Jianbin's eyes were curious, entangled, unwilling to act too well, Lao Wei "bit" the "fish hook" under the apprentice.
On the surface, Xiao Lu has changed from a rookie to an old hunter, and actually began to "fish" Master, but is Master really a fish? What is it that high-end hunters often appear in the form of prey, and the seemingly idle uncle is just the appearance of the old guard, who dares to say that his true intention is not to let the apprentice beg him to investigate the case? These scenes make the plot very vivid and beautiful.
Thirteen years, how to show that a young criminal police officer of that year has grown up? It is not that he has a beard, becomes vicissitudes and other exteriors, but a judgment of the case, which makes Master Lao Wei impressed. After investigation, the suspect who had an emotional dispute with Wang Nannan was called "Yao Xuan", and he was the suspect "Yao Le" in the "Liu Meng case" thirteen years ago.
The two analyzed today's "Yao Xuan", Lao Wei said, you said the characteristics of serial murderers back then, this "Yao Le" back then is not like ah.
Xiao Lu denied himself without hesitation, saying that it was just a theory in the book and had certain reference value, but it was not an absolute standard that could be applied everywhere... After so many cases, specific problems need to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.
Here I want to praise Teacher Chen Jianbin's performance, without lines, a look vividly expresses - the apprentice is not what it used to be, which impresses me, the master.
And Lao Wei began to talk about the "tirade" of criminal psychology, and serial murderers suddenly stopped because of huge changes in their lives... There are many cases abroad, and even the example of the "BTK killer" is cited.
Shocked, the apprentice asked him directly: In the past ten years, you have gone to the Ministry of Public Security for further study?
In two scenes, another master-apprentice change was completed, the apprentice accumulated experience from practice, and the master absorbed new knowledge from reading books at leisure. The apprentice became another master after time was tempered, and the master became more and more similar to the apprentice in the early years. This change is cleverly integrated into every master-apprentice rivalry scene, and the sparks are everywhere, which is wonderful!
Thirteen years later, both master and apprentice have absorbed each other's advantages and once again combined their swords, which also indicates that this unsolved case that has been sealed for thirteen years will finally be revealed!
After Yao Xuan's explanation, Wang Nannan once said that he had a netizen who talked about everything, and the police locked the suspect who appeared in the Internet café through the IP address, and it was actually Ma Chengqun, a suspect in the "Dumei case" 13 years ago. Leather pants and cotton pants, there must be a reason! The two suspects in 1997 were linked to the 2010 case, and either the killers were hidden among the suspects or had some close connection with them.
Thirteen years later, Ma Chengqun also said something that he did not explain to the police, that is, on the night that Dumei was killed, he saw a man wearing an owl mask, that is, the murderer.
The pit of "Thirteen Years of Dust" is dug deep, in fact, in addition to the above suspects, there is another person who is not within the scope of police investigation because he has no intersection with the victim. But through the perspective of the viewer (God), he has a big problem, which brings back to what exactly does it mean to have three murder scenes that are put into oil paintings!
02 Murder according to famous paintings, the case is surprising but not a trick
The most striking features of the three cases are "oil painting" and "HB pencil", and two details are "cherry hair rope" and "owl mask", which can be interpreted to get close to the murderer. Or insight into the motives and patterns of the murderer.
It is a pity that the rough old guard of that year had no artistic cells. Although Xiao Lu has culture and reads a lot, he can't fight with art, but as an audience, we see more than Lao Wei and Xiao Lu. By consulting the relevant information, I will boldly interpret it below.
At the beginning of episode 4, the murderer was looking at a part of a painting with a magnifying glass with a cherry on her head, so I looked up the painting, which is a masterpiece by Hieronymus Bosch by the painter Hieronymus Bosch of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries (the old Netherlands included an area equivalent to the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of northern France, and the official name of the Netherlands was the Kingdom of the Netherlands), and careful viewers will also find "HB" It is the abbreviation of the painter's name.
The murderer also drew a sketch of the human body, which is exactly the shape of the victim Liu Meng.
Then from these, we can roughly infer that the murderer has a considerable degree of artistic accomplishment, and can even be said to be proficient in modern Western painting (Jerónimis Bosch is not a well-known painter, and people who do not specifically like or study generally will not know), and the murderer can also paint.
Assuming that he was an adult male at the time of the crime in '97, he could reach this level of sketching, and at least one or two years of drawing foundation in his teenage years. In other words, in the late '80s and early '90s, his family had the financial foundation and cultural heritage to learn to paint.
Combined with the characteristics of the victim's time, thoughts, and patience in oil painting, it can also be inferred that murder is not a crime of passion for him, but a satisfaction and distortion of psychology, perhaps like completing a work of art - "Paradise on Earth".
So in the first case, a large part of the reason why he chose Liu Meng may be the "cherry hair rope" worn by Liu Meng, which is in line with the shape in "Paradise on Earth".
There is also a detail here, that is, the murderer glanced at the watch while waiting for the corpse to stiffen after posing Liu Meng, revealing the brand of the watch.
And immediately afterwards, Xiao Lu happened to meet his wife Yang Man's classmate and Fa Xiao Yang Zhe's family eating next door when he went to the family banquet, Xiao Lu's father-in-law immediately asked, Minister Yang is also there?
Later, Yang Man also asked, do you still live in the family home of the municipal party committee?
Obviously, this Yang Zhe is the second generation of famous officials and currently works in a foreign language publishing house.
He also glanced at his watch during the dinner, and his watch was exactly the same as the murderer's watch.
Of course, this is not conclusive evidence, and it is not impossible to happen to have an identical watch, but it is also undeniable that this is an obvious clue. At least it shows that the murderer's economic conditions should be good, and he can wear the same watch as the second generation of officials. In other words, it makes sense, that is, Yang Zhe's background is also in line with the characteristics of the murderer I analyzed above.
Especially in episode 8, when Yang Zhe and Yang Man had dinner alone, he said that he went to Europe, visited several museums, and brought back a few souvenirs. One of them is the famous painting by French painter Paul Gauguin, Where Do We Come? Who are we? Where are we going? ", the play is specially given a close-up. It also shows from the side that Yang Zhe has a deep study of Western painting.
Speaking of Western painting, let's go back to "Paradise on Earth", because the shape of the second case "Du Mei Case" in 1997 is completely imitating a shape in the painting.
And the "owl" worn by the murderer also appears in many places in "Paradise on Earth".
Through understanding, the cherry on the heads of the women in the painting symbolizes pride, and the owl is a symbol of evil in Dutch legends, as a nocturnal animal, it is hostile to other diurnal birds, and represents a person who is blind to the darkness of the world.
So, the murderer compares himself to an evil nocturnal creature who only comes out at night to murder, while the women he murders represent pride. Then think of the three victims "Liu Meng", "Du Mei" and "Wang Nannan" are all beautiful women who can dance, because dancing women always give people a proud gesture.
Therefore, I infer that the murderer's heart either hates beautiful and proud women, or admires and even obsesses with beautiful and proud women so much that he wants to make them part of art. Note that none of the three cases were sexually assaulted, so I prefer that the murderer admire it rather than hate.
At present, the show is just over halfway through, airing to episode 12, according to the known plot I temporarily analyzed here, and came to the following conclusion: Yang Zhe is likely to be the murderer of the "Liu Meng Case" and "Dumei Case" in 97, if not the person who really committed the murder, at least he was an accomplice, he described "Paradise on Earth" to the murderer in detail, or brainwashed the murderer, instigated the murder, and even conspired with the murderer. Then maybe the whole case does not rule out that there will be two murderers.
According to the 2010 "Wang Nannan Case", I took a closer look at the painting and confirmed that her style was not taken from "Paradise on Earth", but the "cherry hair rope" and "HB pencil" of the 97 case were specially placed, so it looked like a crime imitation.
Another point is that the murderer of the 97 case has not committed a crime for 13 years, and I agree with what Lao Wei said, the murderer has encountered major changes in his life, and even died. And the accomplice of that year, the other person who instigated him to commit the crime, obtained the evidence of that year, out of distortion and thrill-seeking psychology, again carried out imitation crimes and challenged the police, this inference is also in line with my inference that there were two murderers in the previous 97 case.
Then the possibility that this murderer is Yang Zhe is even greater, because when he met Yang Man and Xiao Lu for dinner in 97, he saw Yang Man's expression when feeding Xiao Lu to eat was very strange, and there was an element of jealousy, in other words, he felt that Xiao Lu, who was a policeman, was not worthy of Yang Man.
Later, he also cared about how Yang Man lived, and said that he had never been married, and he also said that he did not expect Yang Man to marry a policeman.
It also implies that he may have special feelings for Yang Man. Maybe they were childhood sweethearts, and later he went abroad to study, and Yang Man was married after he came back, or maybe he had confessed to Yang Man and was rejected, maybe in his heart Yang Man was also a beautiful and proud woman, but he married a policeman.
So he changed from appreciation to hatred, so he hid behind his back to kill people remotely, challenging the police is also challenging Xiao Lu, and then the real murderer died, he may also go abroad to avoid the limelight, settled for a while, and then came back when Xiao Lu had become the captain of the criminal police, so this time he personally shot and challenged Xiao Lu again.
Yang Man once asked Yang Zhe during another meeting with him, you won't write detective novels again, right? It has also been said that Yang Zhe is thoughtful, which also proves from the side that Yang Zhe is a person with a strong sense of anti-detection, and has the ability and willingness to layout, remote control, and even record and write books in the future.
Through the words of Xiao Lu and Yang Man's daughter, we learned that Yang Man was 36 years old in 2010, so Yang Zhe, as her hair junior and classmate, should be about this age, and 13 years ago he was 23 years old, with the physical and mental strength to commit crimes, and now he is in the prime of life, and it is not difficult to attack young women. Therefore, my final inference is that it is very likely that the murderer is Yang Zhe.
What do you think? Welcome to say your analysis in the comment area, if I analyze correctly, remember to come back and like me!