"Hive" CCTV premiere! Led by Song Yi and Han Dong, it's time for the spy war drama to break
Who would have thought that this year's spy war drama would "go high and go low".
What is high is the audience's expectations and ratings. "Infernal" and "Thin Ice" in the first half of the year, and "Stalker" in the second half of the year, were all placed on high hopes before they were broadcast, and it turned out that these episodes all received good ratings.
What goes low is the reputation of these spy war dramas, and the spy war dramas that appear one after another are often broadcast with great fanfare, and end in one place. The plot is complicated, the characters are confusing, and the result is difficult to say.
Domestic spy war dramas seem to have formed a certain peculiar landscape: the audience always complains while chasing, and in the controversy, the ratings of these spy war dramas are not bad.
But the audience's domestic spy war drama is not excessively harsh, but deeply responsible for love.
The more disappointed, the more the audience misses that man, the eternal white moonlight of the spy war drama, Liu Yunlong.
A "secret calculation" and a "kite" not only created the myth of the "godfather of spy warfare", but also seemed to complete the opening and ending for the golden age of domestic spy war dramas.
Two-thirds of 2023 has passed, Huang Xiaoming, Wang Zhiwen, and Wang Jinsong can't be saved, and there is no hope for the revival of spy war dramas?
The big drama can't work, maybe the sword will go sideways.
Tonight, CCTV finally shot again——
A spy war drama that has been "hidden" for three years, "The Hive" will land on CCTV eight sets to meet the audience.
"All the Way to the Sun" continued to be broadcast in prime time, and "Hive" landed in prime time.
Three suspense: 1. Will "The Hive" take over the mantle of "Kite" and become a new ceiling for spy war dramas?
2. Compared with previous spy war dramas, what are the highlights of "Hive Tip" in terms of scale and expression?
3. What surprises will Song Yi, who starred in the spy war theme again, bring in the performance?
Don't wait for tonight, go to "The Hive" first and explore the secret.
01, the middle game of the spy war bureau, the domestic Smiths and his wife, this time it is a high-end bureau
In recent years of domestic spy war dramas, a common problem is that the stories are too similar, just like made according to the mold of the classic spy war in the past.
And this "Hive", at least from the plot, created an interlocking "high-end bureau werewolf killing".
The story takes place in 1933, on the eve of the all-out War of Resistance, when China was already in dire straits, and the metropolis of Shanghai gathered many forces, spy war, and was in full swing.
The story adopts a two-protagonist mode.
The male protagonist is our agent Luo Xingming, who pretends to be an identity, infiltrates the enemy, and starts a battle of wits and courage with the enemy.
Gu Pan, an agent of the Nationalist Army, from the Aoyama Military Academy, was hunted down and killed by all parties after carrying out the assassination of high-ranking Japanese officials.
Luo Xingming, who was lurking inside the enemy, came to the rescue and took her into another enemy secret organization "Hive".
After some efforts, Gu Pan not only found out the truth that he was framed, but also learned the dark face of the enemy.
She took the initiative to move closer to us and became a member of our side.
In the end, the two teamed up to destroy the hive and contribute to the victory of the War of Resistance.
The plot is not new, but the tension is enough, the male and female protagonists are always in danger surrounded by tigers and wolves, it is already reluctant to save themselves, and it is even more difficult to destroy the enemy's plan, so the story is more dangerous.
I also noticed 3 interesting details foreshadowing.
The first is the middle game of the spy war bureau.
The familiar symbols of spy war dramas such as military unification and No. 76 do not appear in the play, but new spy organization names such as Hive and Qingshan Military Academy appear.
The male and female protagonists shuttled through it, nine dead in their lives.
This sense of unknown undoubtedly adds to the mystery of the story.
How to use the internal contradictions of these enemy spy warfare organizations to break each one, and how to uproot the hive while lurking, is obviously the main plot.
The second is the domestic Smiths.
In that difficult environment, surviving is extremely difficult.
Especially for those who walk on the tip of the knife, they are always facing the test of death.
But what is more difficult is that the male protagonist must prevent the female protagonist from backstabbing while guiding the female protagonist.
Because Luo Xingming did not pick out the identity of his underground party, how this secret war will be carried out will also be an important side line of the plot.
The third is "Yu Manli of the parallel universe".
It is not difficult to see the similarities between the female protagonist Gu Pan in the play and Yu Manli, another classic spy war drama character played by Song Yi: they are all in charge of performing important assassination tasks in the military commander, they are all betrayed by their mentors, and they are also in the execution of tasks, and they have feelings with the male protagonist.
Audiences can also see the whole play as another version of Manly's story.
The above are only some of the details in the trailer, and every shot is a piece of the puzzle of this spy war puzzle.
Under the foreshadowing of various details, the suspense of the story is directly full, and it also makes people look forward to the true face of Lushan in the main film.
Although the thematic framework of the series is not new. But the victory lies in the rich plot, and there are inevitably many dramatic conflicts, the key is to see how to shoot and how the plot rhythm advances.
In a word, look at the director, how to "build a nest".
02, Song Yi's "poker face", Yao Gang's smile hides a knife, making people's sweaty hair stand upright
The director of "The Hive" is Zhou Jingtao, formerly known as Zhou Yuanzhou, who is good at camera narrative and has strong screen control.
His "Qingyunzhi" and "Soul Town" have become national drama hits, and "Sparrow", which refreshed the spy war drama record in ratings, is also his work. Although the show's reputation is controversial, it can still be seen that it has control over the spy war genre.
The main actors of "The Hive" are Han Dong, Song Yi, Yao Gang, Yan Mila, Fan Xing, Wan Nien, Cheng Cheng, Zhao Yaoke, Zhang Liwen, Leng Haiming, etc., the lineup is indeed not gorgeous, but there is no lack of highlights.
What I was particularly concerned about was the three faces of the actors.
The first face is Song Yi's "poker face".
Song Yi's famous work is "The Pretender" 8 years ago, although it is only the third woman, but the character of Yu Manli has become one of the biggest difficulties for the audience of the entire drama.
After breaking through with this play, Song Yi starred in "Qing Yu Nian" and "Son-in-law" one after another, and has become a first-line actress, but the audience is still looking forward to her spy war drama performance.
In the trailer of this show, she never smiles, maintains a capable appearance, sharp eyes, but especially in complex situations, her expression is more calm and serious, making it difficult to approach.
But in the situation of ten ambushes, this face is the best disguise.
It can be seen that Song Yi has a lot of room for play in this drama, and whether she can continue the glory of "The Pretender" depends on herself.
The second face is Han Dong's "calm face".
Han Dong is a middle-generation actor with both appearance and acting skills, from Yin Yu in "Step by Step", Wang Chongyang in the new "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", to Yan Shifan in "Under the Brocade", his performance has always been steady.
In recent years, Han Dong has appeared in dramas one after another, such as "Across the Yalu River" and "Public Prosecution", and his performance is still remarkable.
This time, he played the male protagonist Luo Xingming, going deep into the tiger's den, not to mention, but also to guide the female protagonist to the right path.
In the play, he was in danger more than once, pointed at by a pistol, and suspected by the enemy, while Han Dong's performance was deeply hidden and calm as water.
As a lurker, he must remain calm and calm; But in fact, as he gradually developed feelings with the heroine, he had irrepressible emotions.
Repression and release, coldness and tenderness, two completely different emotions were well compatible with Han Dong.
Looking forward to this drama, Han Dong's acting skills can be seen by more people.
Chapter 3 The face is Yao Gang's cold face.
The 53-year-old actor Yao Gang should be no stranger to the audience.
He is Dai Li in "Lurking", and he is also the leader of the enemy agent Qiu Yuangu in "River and Mountain".
As a frequent guest of spy war drama villains, Yao Gang has never disappointed the audience in this familiar genre.
And in big dramas such as "Little Aunt Duohe", "Chu Han Fighting", "People's Procurator" and "Crossing the Yalu River", his performance has always been steady.
In "The Hive", he plays the heroine's mentor and the one who betrays the heroine.
In the play, Yao Gang looks forward thoughtfully, and the doubt and cruelty in his eyes are the creepiest pictures in the trailer.
The ruthlessness of this character is also a major attraction of the series.
In addition to these, there are also Leng Haiming, who has performed dramas such as "Secret and Great", "Crime Hunting Guide", "County Party Committee Compound" and other dramas, his eyes are sharp in the play, and there is a wistful sneer on the corner of his mouth.
Zhao Yaoke, who starred in "The Imperial Gift",
This time as the enemy female agent, the appearance is still heroic, I don't know if it will fall to our camp.
03, can domestic spy war dramas still return to bravery? Hope to find the right answer this time
Domestic dramas in 2023 are somewhat deadlocked.
A "Crazy" at the beginning of the year, and a "Long Season" in the middle of the year, once made the audience full of expectations for domestic dramas.
But into the summer season, the momentum of domestic dramas has stopped, big dramas are constantly being updated, but the explosive ones are not deserved, there are fewer word-of-mouth dramas, and among many types, spy war dramas are even more difficult to say.
However, the audience never gave up on this genre.
The previous one was disappointed, and the next one followed suit. And spy war dramas only need to seize one opportunity, they will have a chance to turn over.
Will it be The Hive?
Overall, "The Hive" has a very personal style of the director in terms of image.
One is a new style and a narrative fan.
It is very different from traditional spy dramas in terms of narrative method and plot structure.
For example, the "non-linear narrative" method and the dual-protagonist mode are adopted, breaking the single-line narrative mode of several spy war dramas this year, and whether it can break the game depends on the feature film.
The second is American dramatization and strong plot.
In terms of plot structure, the play has the characteristics of the Chinese version of "Nikita", pursuing strong suspense, dense dramatic conflicts and fast-paced narratives that benchmark American dramas, at least in terms of watchability.
From the image, the play continues the cold color of "Sparrow", but there is more cold and slaughter.
In the midst of the spying shadows, the undercurrent of crises is rendered.
After more than ten years of high-energy creation, spy war dramas are inevitably repeated and solidified in mode.
Innovation is hard, but innovation is necessary.
In 2023, domestic spy war dramas have fallen into the curse of "opening high and going low" for too long, and I hope that tonight, it will be broken.