Text | An Qing
Edit | 9527 Meow Goo-kun
The most popular out-of-the-circle masterpieces in 2023 are "Hurricane" and "The Long Season". The two crime suspense dramas received praise as soon as they were launched, not only with excellent reputation, but also with unparalleled popularity.
But the second quarter of 2024 is here, and there is no suspense drama in the domestic drama market that has caught the audience's attention.
However, judging from the suspense dramas to be broadcast that CCTV has warmed up, the most important thing in the domestic drama market is the suspense works with top-level configurations.
The specific date of the four upcoming releases is unknown, but from the perspective of configuration, each of them is a work with explosive potential, and these dark horses are waiting for the TV series to be launched and judged by the market.
The first is the suspense drama "Unspeakable" starring Ou Hao and Li Yitong.
This drama takes suspenseful criminal investigation as the highlight, the positioning is brain-burning, and the painting style is outdated. It tells the story of the male protagonist as an undercover policeman, in order to explore the truth of the mystery case many years ago, find the missing old policeman, enter the game as a person, survive many crises, and uncover the truth.
Director Liu Xin used a "Thirteen Years in the Dust" last year to show his strength in the field of suspense. The TV series "Unspeakable" can hardly hide the advantages of heavy industry in terms of plot texture, and director Liu Xin will definitely bring more surprises to the audience in the creation of this drama.
Moreover, Ou Hao and Li Yitong are worth looking forward to in terms of image and acting skills. As a tough guy, Ou Hao's positioning in the early years has always been the film market, for him, it is not difficult to shoot TV series, and the suspense theme can better show his own sexual tension and sense of story.
As for Li Yitong, who also participated in the hit drama "Hurricane" last year, although he has been ridiculed for being too "cold" and the drama celebrities are not popular, in fact, Li Yitong has a strong shaping power in the stage of Xiaohua, and her match with Ou Hao will definitely bring unexpected joy to the audience in "Unspeakable".
The second drama "Just Defense" is a suspense drama from a female perspective, Gao Ye followed "Article 20" and once again created the role of a prosecutor, but this time the heroine created by Gao Ye is a heroine, occupying the highlight of the protagonist, and the cases she faces in the plot are also more tricky.
Judging from the trailer, "Just Defense" is quite brain-burning in terms of plot, the case spans more than ten years, and the former partner is imprisoned at the same time and puts on prison uniforms. In the limited teaser content, "Just Defense" successfully piqued the audience's curiosity.
And every one of the powerful actors of Gao Ye's partner this time is very reliable. The male advocate Lu Yi himself is the acting benchmark of Mesozoic actors, from "Da Qin Fu" to "The Three-Body Problem", Zhang Luyi's acting strength has long been a household name.
In the trailer, Zhang Luyi's state also makes people curious about the truth and secrets hidden by the character. The male supporting actor Bai Jingting, who can obviously rely on his appearance but has to rely on his talent, his outstanding appearance in suspense works such as "The Beginning" has proved his strength.
It is worth mentioning that this time Gao Ye fought against Zhang Songwen, another popular actor in "Hurricane".
The third CCTV suspense drama "The Boy Who Can't See the Shadow" revolves around the story of three teenagers. In terms of plot and painting style, it is very similar to "The Hidden Corner" many years ago.
The plot focuses on the 90s of the 20th century, taking a tracking murder case that occurred in a small county town as the starting point to investigate the truth of the mysterious disappearance of three teenagers. Zhang Songwen plays the role of Wang Shitu, the criminal policeman in charge of this case.
The strange disappearance, the amnesia of the unknown truth, in the trailer of "The Boy Who Can't See the Shadow", the audience really felt the treacherous and changeable suspenseful atmosphere.
And Zhang Songwen is the guaranteed male protagonist of the drama "The Boy Who Can't See the Shadow".
In "The Hidden Corner", Zhang Songwen cooperated with Rong Zishan to play a father and son, and now Zhang Songwen is in the same frame with Rong Zishan again in "The Boy Who Can't See the Shadow", although the continuation is no longer "father-son love", but the tacit understanding between the two still makes people look forward to the launch of "The Boy Who Can't See the Shadow".
At present, "The Boy Who Can't See the Shadow" has no shadow of emotional lines at all in terms of actor matching, and a work focusing on suspense cases and criminal investigation is also destined to be more textured in terms of plot.
However, this time, Gao Ye and Zhang Songwen both starred in suspense dramas online, but the two fought in the air, and it was really difficult to judge who would lose and who would win.
But from the audience's point of view, "Above the Clouds" starring Sun Li is definitely the most likely to become a hit among the suspense dramas to be broadcast on CCTV.
Those who are familiar with Sun Li know that her current status no longer needs to be stabilized with high-frequency output of works. Over the years, Sun Li has basically starred in dramas every two years, and each of them is a hit that has attracted many audiences.
From "Peaceful Residence" to "City in the City", Sun Li broke away from the heroine of ancient costumes and began to interpret some heroines in the industry. But this time, Sun Li once again broke through her comfort zone and starred in "Above the Dark Clouds", shaping the heroine Han Qing in the play.
Judging from the trailer, "Above the Clouds" also takes the disappearance case as the starting point, telling the story of the sudden disappearance of Zhong Wei (played by Luo Jin), the tacit partner of the female criminal policeman Han Qing for many years, and the heroine tried every means to investigate the truth, but found that the missing Zhong Wei was related to many cases.
In the trailer, the treacherous atmosphere of "Above the Clouds" becomes more and more terrifying under the aesthetic lens of the movie level, and the advancement of the plot has pinched the audience's heartbeat across the screen, whether it is the texture of the work or the pictures involving disappearance, murder, and broken corpses in the plot, it is enough to support the drama of "Above the Clouds".
The key is that the audience is looking forward to Sun Li breaking through her comfort zone and showing her strength in the field of suspense, and she is also looking forward to Sun Li and Luo Jindi working together again.
You must know that when "Anju" was launched, the CP pair of Sun Li and Luo Jin had already caught the attention of many audiences. Although "Peaceful Residence" has become a thing of the past, the starring configuration of "Above the Clouds" does have a sense of familiarity that reassures the audience.
All in all, with Sun Li's national degree, "Above the Clouds" will be a potential dark horse as long as it is launched, and as long as the quality of the plot is passed, then this drama will inevitably escape the fate of a hit.
Of course, the market for suspense dramas is very active, and there is not only one hit, "Above the Clouds" has the most eye-catching potential for hits, Zhang Songwen's "The Boy Who Can't See the Shadow", Gao Ye's "Just Defense", and Ou Hao's "Unspeakable" also have a chance.
As for who can come out on top in these four dramas, it depends on the quality of the plot and the quality of reputation.
In the end, which of these four suspense dramas are you most optimistic about, or which actor are you most looking forward to? Participate in the discussion in the comment section and leave your opinion.