The most wonderful counterattack of domestic dramas in 2023 is none other than "Ordinary Road".
The series has broadcast 16 episodes, has won 6 national ratings first, and the popularity of online broadcasting is also in the top three, closely chasing "Long Moon Ember Ming", but this is not the most powerful place of the show.
The most powerful thing is that the play has completed a counterattack for domestic workplace dramas.
Before it, domestic workplace dramas were a big pit, and once a new drama was labeled as a "workplace drama", it was almost equivalent to word of mouth hitting the street.
The best-rated legal drama in the past five years - "Elite Lawyer" starring Jin Dong, with a score of 5.3 points.
Although "Ideal City", also directed by director Liu Jin, has a good reputation and is more and more recognized by the audience over time, the original ratings are very dull.
Until "Ordinary Road" came out.
Liu Jin, the director of "White Deer Plain" and "Cliff", won ratings for the first time in a legal drama, won word of mouth for the second time, and this time, finally won both.
What is the basis for "Ordinary Road"?
The key is that it understands the workplace drama.
The plot is rare not suspended, nor forced sensationalism or dog blood, the intention of the drama begins in the workplace, but it is not limited to the workplace, although the choice of the seemingly "elite" profession of the lawyer industry, but the core of the story focuses on the ordinary road of a new generation of migrant workers, the realistic plot allows the audience to see "us" through the workplace, see the faces of all living beings, and see the feelings of the world.
Human favor in the workplace is a human affection mixed with responsibility and kindness. "Ordinary Road" is also a rare drama that has thoroughly explained the feelings of Chinese workplaces in recent years.
As the series continued to advance, various unexpected reversal plots began to be staged, and the male protagonist Pan Yan was stormed by the Internet and also reaped a bright ending.
The cast composed of Guo Qilin, Jin Chen, Yan Zidong, Zhu Zhu, Zhang Zixian, Niu Li, Li Naiwen, etc., has gradually entered a good situation until now, and has also caused heated discussions.
Today, pick out the 11 best characterization among these actors and rank their acting skills.
The ranking combines a personal viewing experience and may not be the same as yours.
But it is certain that when the story finally makes "ordinary people" the protagonists, domestic workplace dramas finally embark on a broad and open "ordinary road".
Eleventh place, Jin Chen (as Zuo Na)
Because of his overly thin look, Jin Chen's performance suffered a lot of controversy this time.
But what must be justified for Jin Chen is that in terms of character creation alone, Zuo Na's character creation is successful.
Zuo Na is the backbone of the trio and a model for contemporary working women, working hard at work, and collecting evidence of her father's cheating with her mother after work, and her father's cheating object is still his only girlfriend.
The director set such a character personality to prevent the protagonist group from producing large-scale love scenes, and successfully avoid workplace dramas and love workplace dramas, because of the original family, Zuo Na has doubts about feelings and is highly alert to love.
This character seems very cold, but in fact, his heart is warm. In the opening scene, Master Zuo Na, played by Li Naiwen, jumped to the law firm with the client and all the trainee lawyers, but Zuo Na hated this betrayal and left a suitcase alone to successfully retain the client.
She is cold and frosty on the surface of Pan Yan, who is not familiar with her, but actually holds great goodwill, if she hadn't covered Pan Yan's tardiness at the beginning, the first episode would have ended.
The charm of this character does not lie in her beauty or ability, but in the independent and persistent personality of contemporary female professionals. This kind of person is a very real existence in the workplace, looks cold, but quietly helps others.
Jin Chen could have harvested a wave of drama fans with this role, but now it is somewhat a pity.
10th place, Yan Zidong (as Shu Yinan)
Some netizens said that this is the most extraordinary character in the whole drama, and it is high and high all day, which is inconsistent with the down-to-earth style of the series.
I take the opposite view: this role is too important.
Because the ordinary depends on comparison.
As soon as the whole play begins, Shu Yinan's family environment and interview process are compared with Pan Yan, compared to Pan Yan, who has nothing, Shu Yinan graduated from Oxford University, his parents are figures in the red circle of the legal industry, and he has booked a trainee lawyer seat in a large law firm in advance before the interview.
Even the name is particularly arrogant: it is difficult to lose (Shu) a game (South).
After he entered Rongke, Du Feiyu had to "sacrifice" Pan Yan without thinking about it, leaving him the hired place. Under normal circumstances, this kind of role is the standard for villains, if it is a Hong Kong drama of that year, the next scene is his leather shoes stepping on the male protagonist's head, and then one day he will encounter the male protagonist's counterattack to take revenge.
But Yan Zidong's immature performance unexpectedly became a wonderful pen, Yan Zidong did not perform the superiority of the character's tsundere, but instead performed a silly look, and the result constituted a unique comedy character.
Every time he got up, he buttoned his suit, sat down and unbuttoned his suit, such gentlemanly etiquette was engraved into his muscle memory, and in the eyes of his colleagues, he was the Oxford Magic Master "Shusai" who loved to eat Benedict eggs, and even pulled a group without him.
I didn't like him at first, but as the plot progressed, I liked this "Shusai Saisai" more and more.
When Pan Yan was framed for seeing righteousness and bravery, Shu Yinan wanted to temporarily borrow the new house his parents bought for him to live in Pan Yan's family, but his father rejected his idea, and he moved out in anger, and ended up becoming Pan Yan's roommate.
The "Nanyan Hidden Girl" group quickly became the chief crosstalk partner of the whole play, and the two people got along, one like a joke, the other like a funny, and the audience wanted to laugh when they saw the rivalry between the two.
Shu Yinan represents the idealism of law and the workplace, idealism may not be grounded, but it cannot be said that idealism is wrong.
We have all had moments when Shu Yinan was as immature but wanted to change the world.
In the end, we were all changed by the world, but Shu Yinan was able to say to the lawyer who fired him, "I'm glad I didn't pass your test, your question was wrong," and then walked away dashingly.
I hope he can keep going and never be changed by the world.
9th place, Yue Yang (as Lao Chunlei)
This is a face that seems to have seen a lot of his plays, but he just can't name the actor.
But when there is a scene of his uncle advising Zuo Na's mother for divorce in the play, the barrage will immediately pop up "Sure enough, No. 76 mixed up", which is the unique helplessness and glory of a good actor, the audience can't remember the actor's name, but always remember that he played Liang Zhongchun in "The Pretender".
Yue Yang's characteristic is that he can rely on some details of life to catch people, shape characters in the bland, and brush aside the actor's observation of the surroundings and understanding of life.
In the past, Yue Yang always played the villain, but this time he played an uncle who was dedicated to his sister and had clear thinking.
A scene where he took Zuo Na and his sister straight to Wang Zhifei's character's home to catch the mistress, was directly performed by him in the atmosphere of a spy war drama.
A good actor is one who has only small roles and no bad roles.
This role is a little smaller for Yue Yang, but he left his own wonderful, and the audience of small roles is also enjoyable to watch, and the acting level of a play is held up in this way.
Eighth place, Xiang Hanzhi (as Dong Jiaojiao)
Xiang Hanzhi's Dong Jiaojiao is an inconspicuous role, and if she plays it badly, she will be another model unflattering role that loves the poor and the rich.
But Xiang Hanzhi plays very well, although the shots in the play are limited, but she plays the characters full of girlishness, and her empathetic and pure and cute character is also very convincing.
So even if the character unilaterally breaks up with Pan Yan, does not answer the phone and does not return text messages, and does the most annoying thing in the Chinese drama, the audience can't hate her.
With one look in her, she is full of that kind of eccentricity in love, I don't know how many audiences, because of this bright smile, like this actor.
With this look up and a bright smile, you can also read her feelings for Pan Yan, and in the Northeast dialect, write "rare" in her eyes.
Most viewers hate the love scenes in workplace dramas, but hope that she and Pan Yan can finally be together, and Xiang Hanzhi's interpretation is obviously successful.
Seventh place, Li Naiwen (as Liao Songting)
No matter how realistic a legal drama is, it is also an artistic creation, and it is inevitable that there are elements of fiction and beautification.
Lawyer Liao, played by Li Naiwen, is the one closest to a professional image in real life.
As soon as the story began, he jumped ship with the elite soldiers and went to the big law firm upstairs in Rongke, and even the last old client in Zuo Na's hands did not want to let go.
This character acts decisively, and he can use anything for the sake of profit, and throw away anything.
As soon as Li Naiwen wore his suit, he completely performed the style of a successful person, although he behaved elegantly and talked calmly, but I wanted to haibian him when I saw this role, and I couldn't tell why.
In each subsequent scene, Li Naiwen vividly interpreted what is called villain Dezhi, what is called legal elite, one second he also praised Shu Yinan to the sky, the next second he ruthlessly abandoned the other party, everything is the interests behind it, are all chess.
Li Naiwen's interpretation hides needles in the wool, every sentence has words in the words, waiting for the audience to hear the words themselves, smiling at everyone without smiling, and writing "human love" on his face.
It's just that Rong Ke's lawyer seniors will care about human feelings to some extent, and his eyes are only worldly. Li Naiwen acted too steadily.
Sixth place, Wang Xiuzhu (as Cai Xiaolei)
Xiao San has never been a fawning role in Chinese dramas, but Wang Xiuzhu's interpretation is outstanding.
Cai Xiaolei, played by her, is first of all beautiful.
This beauty is what the character needs. Wang Zhifei's Zuo Na's father is a big carrot, rich and career, and has lived in a thousand flowers, but only set in Cai Xiaolei, and his appearance is not convincing enough.
Wang Xiuzhu appeared in a brightly colored long dress, wavy long hair, an indescribable sultry temperament, and Jin Chen's beauty in the same frame did not fall behind, and the audience would believe that she could subdue an old prodigal son.
In terms of acting, Wang Xiuzhu is also very stable.
In front of Zuo Na, she is an innocent and good girlfriend; In front of Zuo Dajian, she is a charming lover. Later, she is a scheming junior.
Faced with her girlfriend's angry slap, her reaction was to glare angrily, not feeling that she was at fault at all.
The uncle took the whole family to Zuo Dajian's home to collect evidence, and she responded in a straightforward manner at the Public Security Bureau, saying that she was Zuo's father's subordinate to talk about work, which was really hard to the end.
30-year-old Wang Xiuzhu plays the beautiful, vain and scheming Cai Xiaolei into three points, and the more angry the audience is, the more it shows that her performance is successful.
Nearly 10 years after his debut, Wang Xiuzhu, who left her name in the entertainment industry with Sister Qiong, who didn't talk much in "Ice Rain and Fire", often plays a villain with more sense than a positive role, this time, from beginning to end, the audience's emotions are driven by her, such a interpretation is of course successful.
Fifth place, Zhu Zhu (as Yi Fan)
The moment the audience saw Zhu Zhu, it was not strange at all to dream back to "Elite Lawyer", both dramas were filmed by Liu Jin.
But both a legal drama and the same legal beauty, Zhu Zhu played a completely different role this time from the last time.
Last time, Zhu Zhu had a variety of styles in the play, which can be called a walking workplace dressing manual, and he is also exquisite, proficient in people's feelings.
This Yi Lu is a legal idealist and a noble person of Pan Yan, a practicing lawyer can only bring two apprentices, because she is Pan Yan's master, Pan Yan has the opportunity to become a professional lawyer.
As soon as this character appears, he is full of youthful black long straight, and a casual blue striped shirt is completely distinguished from the image of the dressing guide last time.
In the workplace, Yi Lu does not aggrieved himself in the slightest, does not accept cases that he does not like, and turns around and leaves in the face of the unreasonable shouting of the parties, this stubbornness is also reflected in the Pan Yan being exploded on the Internet, and the entire Rongke high-level only she stood on Pan Yan's side the whole time, unswervingly speaking for the apprentice, and her eyes showed concern for the apprentice.
In a sense, the ordinary road is not extraordinary at all, Pan Yan meets all good people in the workplace, the boss played by Qiu Xinzhi is a gentleman, colleagues are good colleagues, and the master is a good master, which is simply extraordinary.
But Zhu Zhu's interpretation makes the audience want to believe that all this is true, and this is a good performance.
This is also Zhu Zhu's role after the simple and kind Ma Suqin in "Children of the Qiao Family", another role that deliberately reduces her appearance, when an actress who was once known for her appearance dared to give up her once best weapon, which also proved that her acting skills gave her enough confidence.
Fourth place, Niu Li (as Tang Meiyan)
Niu Li's character name is Tang Meiyan, but as soon as she came on the scene, she gave the audience a big surprise in terms of image.
With an old-fashioned hairstyle, the whole person's complexion is sallow, the style is earthy and rough, and as soon as he appears, he plays the image of a middle-aged aunt who has been sharpened by life for many years.
This character has the weakness of the world's mother: half a meter away, but blind to the shortcomings of their own children, always feel that their children are the best.
Pan Yan's interview has not yet begun. She started the show-off mode early in the family group, and the good face and vanity of the city people were also performed.
In the scene where she went to persuade Zhang Rumei with her son, she substituted her whole head, and the whole person was more excited than Zhang Rumei, and as a result, Zhang Rumei, who turned on manic mode all the way, was completely blinded.
But as the plot develops, the audience discovers another side of the characters.
She is her son's biggest support, and she has no heart and lungs on the surface, but in fact, her heart is clear - this mother uses superficial pompousness to alleviate her son's anxiety at the beginning of his career.
So when her son encountered online violence, she just quietly gave her son a warm hug.
Niu Li, who repeatedly performed sketches at the Spring Festival Gala when she was young, not only followed the inherent temperament of the characters, but also used very few limbs and expressions to outline the layers on this basis, extending the seemingly simple and actual emotion between mother and son.
This role is definitely not as good as Niu Li's past roles, but can you say, isn't this a living character?
In my opinion, the female characters of this drama are not men's set boards, on the contrary, they are all big heroines with full vitality.
Third place, Guo Qilin (as Pan Yan)
Some viewers questioned that Guo Qilin had turned a tall lawyer into a chattering little chatter.
I admit that the lowest and least tall little character in the whole drama is Pan Yan played by Guo Qilin, but this is the best thing about the whole play.
Because of Pan Yan played by Guo Qilin, this drama can be called an ordinary road, and the role of Pan Yan bears the drama of the whole drama, and also echoes the theme of the drama - ordinary little people, climbing-like life.
If there is no such character, or a top class with outstanding appearance to act, I am afraid that the drama can only be renamed "Extraordinary Road", then this is another extremely ordinary legal drama.
If the success of "Son-in-law" can also be attributed to Guo Qilin's own comedy effect, then this time Guo Qilin's performance can prove that Guo Qilin has real skills as an actor. Guo Qilin may not be a powerful actor, but he is the best actor who plays small characters in this current wave of young students.
Pan Yan's family is average, his education is average, and he is not regarded by major law firms at all, even a third-rate law firm like Rongke wants to turn him away in the case of a serious shortage of people.
But it is such a small person who is the most ordinary and inconspicuous in the workplace, and even the interview location is wrong, but he has shown his outstanding side in the actual combat such as handling Zhang Rumei's divorce case.
This coincides with the performance characteristics of Guo Qilin, and the experiential performance style can often be praised, and the kind of performance that has not been polished and tempered too much, but shows talent and characteristics, is also rare.
Compared with the professional interpretation of Zhang Dahe, on the contrary, Guo Qilin's crosstalk performance plays the little character Pan Yan naturally and with pyrotechnics, and also establishes the audience's "trust" in the actor and the character in the small daily life.
Guo Qilin shakes out the comedy baggage in many scenes, especially the scene where he pretends to be a decoration master and a primary school student and mixes into the mansion area, it can be said that he has to be him.
But the best part of his performance is not humor, but the ordinariness of the characters.
Whether you are a newcomer or an elite in the workplace, you can see yourself more or less in "Ordinary Road" - because we are all ordinary or have walked on ordinary roads.
This graduate, who graduated from Southern United University and was mistaken by the top students for an ordinary undergraduate graduate of the University of New South Wales in Australia, a kid from a small town, has been suffering various blows since he "picked up leaks" and entered the Rongke Law Firm in the storm.
The leader was very unwilling to see him at first, always criticized him for such and such a small thing and did not allow explanation, his girlfriend's father felt that his financial conditions were too poor to oppose their relationship, and his girlfriend also proposed to him to break up.
But he saw that the sewing needle helped the customer's son solve the problem of being "touched porcelain" when reversing, showing a very practical "street wisdom".
Zhang Rumei's case showed super empathy and ultimately provided the key idea for solving the problem, which is exactly what Pan Yan has and other elite lawyers do not have: the wisdom of small people.
The audience is very tired from starting work every day, and they don't want to start a show after work and watch a boss pretending to be a king on the screen. Such a little person is both funny and relieved, how can the audience not like to watch it?
"Not being favored" is the general impression of Pan Yan after dealing with this society.
The ordinary road of ordinary people is the process of subverting this impression, some people succeed, most people fail, but Pan Yan's advantage is that he can not forget to complain about his mother at the most embarrassing moment: "You take a good look at your son, how can he have so much confidence." ”
This kind of self-ridiculing complaining is both daily and dissolves the troubles of ordinary people.
Guo Qilin played this scene of online violence especially well, from slightly complacent for himself becoming a "war-damaged man" on the whole network, to being anxious and aggrieved after being framed and beaten by self-media, and then exhausted to say to his mother, "Mom, I have embarrassed you", Guo Qilin's performance is like mercury pouring impeccable, a little aggrieved, a little unwilling, crying like a child.
And in the final counterattack live broadcast, Guo Qilin's solid mouth also made this drama that was actually too ideal, quite convincing.
Guo Qilin, who is the most unsuitable for professionals in the audience's stereotype, has a wonderful chemical reaction with the character, he makes the character of Pan Yan ordinary and three-dimensional and full of vitality, so that most workers can empathize with Pan Yan.
Ordinary people are often tortured by this world to the point of exhaustion, but Pan Yan has never wanted to give up and maintains the purity of his nature. No matter what the age, everyone will appreciate the ordinary and kind.
Second place, Zhang Zixian (as Du Feiyu)
Usually an excellent supporting role is already very remarkable as long as it plays through the side of the character, but the more powerful supporting role performance is to create rich and complex characters with supporting roles, bringing the audience into the situation of the character.
Zhang Zixian, who played Du Lu in "Ordinary Road", showed us such skills.
From the webmaster in "Rebel", the little people in the workplace in "Ordinary Glory" to Du Lu, watching Zhang Zixian's performance is simply watching life rather than acting.
As soon as the audience saw him at the beginning, they were angry, because when he first appeared, the impression he left on the audience was a grumpy and impersonal snob, and when he saw Shu Yinan, a high-quality student, come in, he directly wanted to fire Pan Yan.
But Zhang Zixian played Du Lu, but played a supporting role like peeling an onion, peeling one layer after another. Behind the seemingly sleek world is actually a gentleman's heart.
Looking back, Du Lu's most irritable only the opening, and that is when all his customers and teams were robbed by Li Naiwen's Liao Lu, can you calm down? After being criticized by the personnel sister, he obediently bought coffee to apologize.
Before Pan Yan was cruel to him, and spared him to face the law firm boss and was retained, he didn't go to his heart, what to do and how to deal with it, when Pan Yan showed his ability, he immediately reused.
Compared with Wang Shi'an, who has a face in front of him and a face behind him in "Rebel", or Liao Lu, who turns his face and does not recognize people after saying it in this play, Du Lu does not know how many times better.
Because he looks the same.
Professionally, he also has real skills, although Pan Yan provides ideas for solving Zhang Rumei's case, but without his super powerful translation ability, no matter how good the method will not work, Zhang Zixian performed Du Lu's strong affinity for convincing clients, and maintained the professionalism of lawyers, every "uh-huh" pause is a play.
Behind the calm on the surface, it is to accompany the customer to drink until it is broken, and still think about the things in the house, and faint in the taxi in a blink of an eye, which perfectly interprets what is called a Chinese-style middle-aged social animal.
All this makes this role, and it is also the charm of Zhang Zixian, an actor.
He can always show the audience the multi-faceted aspects of the characters with limited scenes, because he is a person, it is multi-faceted.
The so-called human feelings in the Chinese workplace are the relationship between characters in the professional environment, and Liao Law shows a complex and subtle side, everything is profit, everything is business.
Li Naiwen's performance is worldly.
And Du Lu often shows that although there are subtle moments, the background color is bright.
Zhang Zixian's performance is human favor.
First place, Arya (as Zhang Rumei)
This is really just a small role in the play, and the actor is not even on the Douban cast, but this character is too vivid.
In fact, Zhang Rumei is not Pan Yan's customer, it is Liao Lu's customer, and they serve Zhang Rumei's husband.
The purpose is to assist the client in dissolving his marriage with his wife Zhang Rumei.
The customer made a request: as soon as possible. and refused to meet Zhang Rumei.
And Ms. Zhang Rumei, played by Arya, wears sunglasses, no one loves, and her emotions explode and beat the lawyer every minute.
In the words of the client, she had a physiological reaction as soon as she opened her mouth, and later as soon as the court proved that what she said was true, Arya fired like a cannon, and the big man fainted directly.
Arya did perform a physiological reaction to me, and if this scene didn't end, even I would faint, and the verbal offensive was too dizzying.
But just such a small supporting role was also played by the actors on two sides.
The other side of the role is that he has successfully started a business with the old public, but sharing happiness and suffering has not prevented the breakdown of the relationship.
The two have been separated for many years, she is disgusted by her son, lives alone in a mansion, and just wants to ask for an explanation.
But her husband refused to meet her, and Zhang Rumei, who was snubbed, suffered from mania and became "hateful" day by day.
But when she and her husband Zhang Jianye finally came to a secluded place and spoke in the afterglow of the setting sun, the audience saw the warmth and warmth of people in the details.
Husband and wife have been of the same heart, they don't have to become enemies if they can't go down, not everything needs to go to court, and there is warmth outside the law.
The actor did not have an outbreak of crying in this scene, but full and full emotions gushed out, and the audience also felt sorry for the loss of the relationship between this middle-aged couple.
No one likes people with bipolar disorder in life, and these character characteristics also make the role played by the actor suffer a big loss in the audience's likability, but in the face of such a complex role, the actor's acting skills are still at ease. Wonderful.
Written at the end:
A good performance itself has power and makes people better into the story.
Director Liu Jin found an incredible lineup for the series, not because of popularity, but because the actors of each role are weighty.
Even if the group performances that appear for only a few minutes are all well-known actors, such as Luan Yuanhui, who plays the boss of porcelain, and Li Hongtao, who plays the opening customer Lu Zong.
The performances of these actors have made the audience more clearly understand the connotation of the ordinary road, elite is not the fate of most of us, but more important in life than becoming an elite may be to face your own ordinariness calmly.
I like the perspective of the drama, the national drama rivers and lakes, finally came out a workplace drama that looks at ordinary people with warm eyes, and ordinary people have finally become the protagonists of the story.
After watching the play, listen to Pu Shu's "Ordinary Road", and have a deeper understanding of "I was once lost, disappointed, and lost all directions, until I saw the ordinary is the only answer".
What is the "ordinary road" of people in the workplace?
Just like Pan Yan played by Guo Qilin, what he tried his best to stay behind is just a third-rate law firm that cannot be compared with the big law firm where Liao Lu is upstairs, there is no perfect and spacious working environment, there is no eight-fold discount to go to the gym, the cases are short in the parents, and the most encountered are divorce cases, because this is the daily life of the small law firm.
But "lawyers don't handle cases, they handle other people's lives."
Although the office is dark and cramped, and the workplace is uncomfortable, the life of ordinary people who are not optimistic about it also has value.
Not every effort pays off, as Pu Shu's "Ordinary Road" sings, "I have asked the whole world and never got an answer." "But life will always find its own answer.
The triviality of ordinary years is the moment that most tests the essence of an ordinary person.
What is even more remarkable than having the extraordinary is to face your own ordinariness calmly.
As another song of Pu Shu that often sounds in this play sings, "Go your way forward and guess what gift the future will give you".
This song is called "New Boy".
No matter how ordinary it is, life will always go on.