Airborne start broadcast rushed to the second place in the soaring list, Lin Xinru's suspense drama taught another lesson to domestic dramas

Unexpectedly, the last surprise at the end of October turned out to be a suspense drama.

Once upon a time, domestic suspense dramas once rushed to the peak of word of mouth, Pan Yueming's "White Night Chasing Murderers", Qin Hao's "Hidden Corner", Bai Yu's "Silent Truth", all applauded. Even became the "Drama King of the Year".

There are two main reasons why suspense dramas can explode.

First, suspense dramas come with "innate advantages".

There are brain-burning, witty fights, movements, and fertile creative soil.

The second reason is that the online platform has broadened the scale of creation.

Compared with traditional TV series, suspense online dramas have a larger scale, which can boldly explore society and human nature.

However, in recent years, the momentum of suspense dramas has slowed down significantly, and there are dozens of suspense dramas launched this year, many of which have strong casts.

But the only one that is really good is "The Long Season".

Many other works are either stories that "degrade intelligence" or are overly routine.

With more than a month to go before 2023 passes, is there really no suspense drama that can make the audience's jaw drop again?

At the end of the year, I finally squatted into an "old" drama.

"The Imitator".

The series has been launched on Netflix in March, but it was airborne on domestic mainstream platforms such as Youaiteng Xiaobao Station on October 27.

After only six hours of launch, it rushed to the second place on the platform soaring list.

An old drama, can still have such popularity, not bad.

Cast, indeed, heavyweight.

Wu Kangren, Lin Xinru, Ke Jiahui. The producer is still Lin Xinru, who has been a good work in recent years.

Not to mention, the combination of Lin Xinru + Wu Kangren made this year's Taiwan drama masterpiece, "Lifetime".

The story, adapted from Miyuki Miyabe's mystery novel of the same name, has long become a mystery classic.

The scale is definitely not small.

Women are imprisoned, abused, and even suishi.

Blockbuster booking?

However, the play opened a score on Douban earlier, and in just one day, it dropped from 8.0 to 7.3.

What a bad show?

But it was still this drama that won the Golden Bell Award for the most popular drama in one fell swoop.

The two male protagonists Wu Kangren and Yao Chunyao were shortlisted for the Golden Bell Award for Best Actor with this play.

What kind of drama will cause such a huge word-of-mouth controversy.

For the domestic suspense drama that has reached an impasse, what inspiration can this Taiwan drama bring?

Let's take you to see where "Imitator" is excellent and where it is inadequate, and why it carries so many flaws, but can make the genre of "suspense" shine again?

01, suspense drama is difficult to break through, the breakthrough angle of "Imitator" is eye-catching, and the three-layer "set set" is powerful

Whenever a suspense drama is broadcast, there is always a "guess the murderer" link.

Even the murderer guessing game itself ends up being more interesting than the real answer.

But "Imitator" does not believe in this evil.

After three episodes, many viewers can already guess the murderer, but why, the show is still good?

Because the series sets three traps.

The first layer is set up with a set, called "set buckle".

Buckle, as the name suggests, is to bait the audience, willing to take the bait.

The bait of "Imitator" is enough scale.

The streets of Taipei in the 90s. A mysterious video quickly occupied the reporting screen of major TV stations.

Noh, the masked man, claims to be the murderer of a recent female serial murder.

He not only shouted madly, but also directly issued a provocative battle letter to Guo Xiaoqi (played by Wu Kangren), the prosecutor who investigated the case.

The camera turns, and the story returns to the beginning of the serial case.

A red cardboard box was thrown on the lawn of the park, and inside was the broken palm of a woman.

The police rushed in, and media reporters rushed in.

The old policeman decided that it was another love debt and gambling debt, which was no big deal.

But prosecutor Guo Xiaoqi doesn't think so.

He found that the thumb of this severed hand seemed to be dislocated.

It reminded him of a similar case three years ago, when a woman named Jiang Yuping was killed. Her thumb is also dislocated.

The only device that can cause this injury is thumb cuffs.

Although Tamura Yoshi, who surrendered that year, has long served his sentence. But when he was interrogated again, he found that there were many doubts.

The victims have been carefully buried and no one knows about them.

It was Yoshi Tamura who took the initiative to lead the police and exhumed the body.

Also, his confession is too familiar, more like memorization than confession.

The strangest thing is that he doesn't use thumb cuffs at all.

So, the real murderer is still at large?

Who is the murderer? Why were these girls murdered, and why did the killers choose them?

Is the real murderer Noh the masked man shouting at the media?

This is the main line that the audience cares about the most, and it is also the main line buried in the entire drama.

Give the result first, and then reverse the reason, which is the usual method used in all suspense dramas.

But this is only the first set of "The Imitator".

The second set is to use a serial murder media show to completely attract the audience into the game.

Guo Xiaoqi followed the vine and came to Tamura Yoshi's house to try to find the truth.

Unexpectedly, the door of the house that had been abandoned for many years had been opened.

When I walked in, I saw a red gift box on the table.

In the red gift box, there is a picture of a girl.

Obviously, the murderer has prejudged Guo Xiaoqi's prejudgment, and he is guiding the police to find new victims.

Sure enough, one young girl after another was abducted, beaten and abused.

Even more egregiously, the killer turned the killing into a media show.

One, teasing the girl's family.

For example, a girl's grandfather received a call from the murderer.

Don't ransom, let him crawl in a busy city and learn how to bark.

He also deliberately parked the car not far from his family, waited until his relatives approached, and then drove away with a foot on the accelerator.

The pain of his relatives became his pleasure.

On the other end, there is an intention to attract media attention.

For example, hanging a girl's body on a cross or a midnight park attracts the media to flock to take pictures.

Brother Yong, a police officer who forced his daughter to be abducted, apologized on live TV broadcast.

Similar red marks are also left at the corners of the eyes of all victims.

The murderer seems to have turned the crime of homicide into a traffic explosion.

I'm not afraid of the suspicion of the police, I'm afraid it's not enough to burst.

However, when everyone was led by his nose, Guo Xiaoqi saw through his trick, rushed into the live broadcast room, and interrupted Brother Yong, a police officer who was broadcasting a live broadcast to apologize.

Because he found that once the murderer's requirements were met, the girl had no chance of survival.

Since this is the case, simply face the camera and openly declare war on the murderer.

At this moment, the murderer's media show completely turned into a battle between good and evil, and the suspense of the duel also firmly held the nerves of the audience.

These two good sets, like two grippers, set the tone of "Imitator" at the beginning and gave the audience a reason to continue chasing the drama.

But there is also a third layer of set-ups, called reversal.

The biggest suspense of a crime suspense drama is to find the murderer. Usually the screenwriter will crisscross various doubts, and the intricacies are indistinguishable.

But "Imitator" doesn't play cards according to common sense.

Before the episode was halfway through, it gave the audience two "big reversals" and almost flashed to our old waist.

A big reversal is that the murderer is caught.

Guo Xiaoqi investigated the victim's wealth background and found that they all loved to go to the same nightclub.

Following this clue, the police quickly found a suspect.

The DJ Shen Jiawen of the nightclub, all kinds of evidence show that he is the murderer.

The conventional suspense drama routine is to lock up the murderer and tell the audience: He is not, you have been counted.

But the special thing about "Imitator" is that the series tells the audience: Shen Jiawen is indeed the murderer.

More bizarre came - after Shen Jiawen took the initiative to blow himself up, he did not flee or turn himself in, but drove a fast car, took the heroine's brother, who has always been suspected by the police, and directly rushed off the cliff with a throttle.

The audience can't sit still here: the murderer is offline? What else to perform?

But the biggest reversal is here: the series will be halfway through, and the identity of the murderer will be revealed.

But more female bodies followed. Compared to before, the methods are more ferocious and the provocation is more direct.

Also targeted - prosecutor, Guo Xiaoqi.

It is clear that behind the murderer, there is also the mastermind.

This is where the series really shows its cards: the point is not at all the refreshing reasoning of the cocoon, but the sadism and powerlessness of the protagonist being played by the villain.

The murderer not only wants to torture the male protagonist, but also wants to hook out the evil in Guo Xiaoqi's heart.

Under the murderer's design, the male protagonist's girlfriend was also killed.

When the male protagonist can't bear to hold a gun directly at the murderer, this shot, open or not?

This is the ultimate reversal of the series.

It turns out that this series of reversals is both a set and a misleading, but also an emphasis on the main line and theme of the whole play.

Human nature is the ultimate theme of the entire show.

With the media show as the story element and the serial murder as the starting point, "Imitator" has found the most novel problem-solving angle so far this year.

The murderer committed the crime, the murderer exploded the wolf, the real murderer appeared, the three layers of suspense were added layer by layer, the truth of the story was constantly reversed, and the suspense style of "Imitator" came out.

02, this big drama is not good to perform, a vote of good actors in Taiwan drama, each of them is competing with themselves

In "Imitator", it can be described as a crouching tiger, hidden dragon, a total of more than ten new and old drama bones of Taiwan dramas, and a lot of them after the emperor.

In particular, many of the old actors in the play are supporting roles, but because of years of acting experience and acting skills, they can stand a role when they have a play.

Let's start with Wu Kangren, who has recently turned purple.

It can be said that if it were not for him to play, the male protagonist who is too stubborn and lacks a string at a critical moment would be somewhat annoying, but this role makes him perform divinely and full of substitution.

Guo Xiaoqi, played by him, is not daunted by anyone, and is simply born to investigate the case.

In the previous scene, he is either on the way to detective the case, or he is singled out the real murderer.

Good is good, but only normal play.

But in the scene where his girlfriend died, his face-changing acting skills really made people feel concerned.

From the beginning of not daring to confirm, to using trembling hands to uncover the cloth bag covering his girlfriend, to tears that can't stop flowing out, guilt, pain, self-blame, unwillingness to believe, all kinds of emotions burst out together,

The whole performance was completed in one go, enough to make the audience feel empathy.

Another scene that wants to shoot the murderer is even more emotionally explosive, and the acting skills alone are the most enough to make the audience's blood boil.

But his outstanding performance is inseparable from one person: Yao Chunyao, who plays the villain.

Does anyone recognize him as the river god in the first episode of "Bad Obsession Cleaner"?

This time, he played Chen Heping, who is a standard narcissistic personality, and gaining the attention of others is his pursuit.

This role, played by Yao Chunyao is evil enough and crazy enough, kidnapping the female anchor played by Lin Xinru, the action expression is absolutely creepy.

And the rival scene with Wu Kangren in the finale, the big outbreak after being angered by the male protagonist's contempt, with clear layers and full of emotions, ten thousand circles performed the contemptible and pitiful of satisfying self-inflation and attracting people's attention by killing the weak.

As the male protagonist said, "Such a person is not important at all." ”

There is also the host Sister Yaci played by Lin Xinru.

At the beginning, it seems that there is a media elite without media ethics, domineering, mean and self-interested, good at creating topics, so strong that the boss does not dare to talk too much nonsense, as if she is a bottomless ratings queen.

But as the story unfolds, she becomes more and more layered: a hard mouth and a soft heart under the hand.

In the face of arrogant criminals, only she dares to face the camera and respond as a woman.

"You only target women, because you only have the ability to bully the weak."

Even if he is kidnapped by the other party, he knows that he has no hope of survival. Don't forget to make a final counterattack.

Of course, I have to mention my favorite performance, Ma Lizheng played by the old actor Chen Bozheng.

Does anyone remember his role as the clown father "Kunshu" in "Son's Big Doll" directed by Hou Xiaoxian?

This time, he played Ma Liyuan, who has been through the wind and frost, but still has an open-minded heart. In order to save her granddaughter, she can kneel down and give up her dignity, but she remains completely awake, and she can guess most of the truth with just a phone call, a television set, and a book.

It is precisely because of the superb performances of the old drama bones that "Imitator" is full of tension and emotion in suspense scenes, and the motivation of the characters has a source.

Good acting is the end of the series.

03, "Imitator" is not perfect, but it points out another way to domestic suspense

In terms of story and theme, "Imitator" is the most "special" suspense drama I have seen this year.

Although, its story is indeed very imperfect.

Especially logically, worse than many of this year's low-scoring suspense dramas.

For example, the ability of the procuratorate to handle cases is so poor that it is not convincing, let alone investigate the case, and even the safety of witnesses cannot be protected.

On the other hand, criminals, the whole process is open, like entering no man's land, who wants to kill whom, simply omnipotent.

The male protagonist seems to be brave, but his ex-girlfriend was killed, why can't he guess that she will be retaliated?

There are too many loopholes.

In the end, the drama only got 7.3 points on Douban, which was not wronged.

But on the other hand, "Imitator" does not focus all its energy on the exploration of suspense, focusing not on the criminal investigation process, but on exploring the real criminal psychology, deep human nature, and almost crazy media environment.

On the one hand, as its name suggests, it makes a lot of in-depth discussions on the psychology of imitators, and in addition to showing the ferocity of criminals, the drama will touch the hearts of the audience, allowing the audience to see the complexity and multifaceted nature of human nature.

Not once did the murderer not step on the psychological weakness of the victim's family In the end, even Guo Xiaoqi almost killed himself for this, as the villain in the play said, "The truth is that as long as the evil in the heart is triggered, anyone can become a murderer." ”

This subtle insight into the highly professional criminal psychology also gives the real background of the suspense story and is easier to bring into the audience.

On the other hand, the combination of media and crime suspense, although not the first time to see, but the exposure of the media, has reached an unprecedented depth of similar works in the past.

The core of the story is not to catch a murderer.

It is to expose the real murderer, one of the biggest accomplices - the media.

In Taiwan in the 90s, those media people who chased the news like flies, in order to grab news and hot spots, there was no lower limit.

As soon as the serial murder case came out, it immediately became a "big hit" in the news. The TV station didn't want to insert the video sent by the murderer, and did not forget to mark "uncut, preemptively broadcast".

All the media are busy constantly exposing people's scars, for the ratings have no bottom line, as long as they can grab exclusivity, as long as the ratings can win, it doesn't matter what they do.

At the instigation of the media, when the bereaved Ma Legislator appeared on the show, he implored the audience to provide clues. In the face of the relatives of the victims, the public not only does not help, but is busy provoking the family members and aggravating the victims.

"What well-behaved girl would go to those places that are not good?"

What is even more frightening is that such a media atmosphere and public opinion unknowingly put the murderer on the altar.

When the media loses its journalistic conscience and becomes a traffic slave.

The "rabble" is also an accomplice.

In the end, the imitator does not refer to a specific murderer, but to a society in which everyone can be complicit in the real murderer in a crazy media environment.

But if it is chaos, in today's streaming era, has it disappeared, or has it intensified?

The title is always sensational, the story is always adding fuel and vinegar, and the netizens are always blind fanaticism.

That media reality show after media reality show, He Zeng stopped for half a second.

Traffic stages are all created by the desires of the audience.

There are audiences who are addicted to this, and there are crazy performers like Chen Heping.

The lines in the play are still appropriate in today's media environment: "Out of reason, or out of anger?" ”

Whenever a news breaks into a hot spot, what is the truth, do we really care?

Or all the hot spots, it is like a lively gathering.

We are scattered like birds and beasts.

There is a chicken feather left.

There's a line in the play, "I'm going to try to keep the news from poking people's wounds and feeding the audience."

That's a good thing to say, can it be done?

This is the biggest suspense.

On this drama, I saw new attempts and breakthroughs in Chinese suspense dramas, and also saw the possibility of breakthroughs in domestic suspense dramas.

Domestic suspense dramas, there is no need to imitate anyone for a long time. But this imperfect "Imitator" still teaches a good lesson to internal entertainment.

Of course, as a suspense drama, "Imitator" is very imperfect, but the excavation of the evil of human nature and social reality in Taiwan dramas is too deep, which is the biggest scale of Taiwan dramas.