Editor’s Note

The "First Episode" series is here to help you watch the drama. Are the recently aired dramas worth watching? Let's take a look at the good ones and the weird ones.

Some shows may gradually get better, while others may start strong but end badly, so this article only represents the author's opinion on the first few episodes, for reference only. If there are any subsequent disappointments, I will keep you posted.

"dislocation"

Broadcast platform: iQiyi

Premiere date: July 11

The repeated failures of Misty Theater have made the audience develop a "wolf cry" mentality. When they see Misty's productions, they feel both excited and stressed.

"Misplacement", starring Ma Yili, Tong Dawei and Lan Yingying, is adapted from Seicho Matsumoto's novel "Interlaced Scenes".

The popularity value of "Misplacement" on iQiyi has exceeded 8,000.

Many netizens commented that the drama reminded them of "Echo", which was previously starred by Song Jia and received many negative reviews. Perhaps it was because the female police officer played by Ma Yili also encountered the problem of her husband's cheating.

The author watched the first five episodes and was not disappointed. This time, the Mist Theater abandoned the method of mystification and told the story honestly, which was pleasing to the eye. The opening is a murder case, the characters are very focused, and the relationship is clearly explained. One main line is the police part. Ma Yili took the novice and detective novel enthusiast Shi Luo to investigate the case and found some related people. The other main line is the suspect part. The writer played by Tong Dawei has the same content of the new book as the case scene. Lan Yingying plays the eldest lady, who has disabled legs and loves her writer boyfriend very much, plus the gunman writer who may have witnessed the murder process. The two main lines are intertwined.

Of course, the quality of the series is hard to compare with the original novel, and the screenwriter has made a lot of changes. Putting aside the controversy over the adaptation, just talking about the series itself, the story is attractive, the plot is clear, and it does not fool the audience. Although it cannot become a suspense drama, it may become a suspense drama worth watching.

"East Side Nightmare" is a criterion for many suspense screenwriters. Does the husband of a female police officer have to cheat?

Finally, according to the "bad ending tradition" of Misty Theater, the above evaluation is not responsible for the plot after episode 5.

"Longing 2"

Broadcast platform: Tencent Video

Premiere date: July 8

Alas, I can only sigh. In the summer season, "Longing 2" performed well, but compared with the popularity of the first part, the second part was obviously much weaker.

The reason is that the show was split up and broadcasted separately, which lost the expressiveness of the whole show. If the first part was good-looking and the sadomasochism in the later part, it could still attract the audience's enthusiasm and discussion, but after it was forcibly split into two parts, the part currently being broadcast should have allowed the audience to make a sober, calm and painful decision with Xiao Yao. This is the tension that only a coherent emotion can bring, a happy, painful, turbulent, calm and sad choice.

But after being split into two parts, it is really difficult for the audience to empathize with the emotions of all the characters in the play right from the start. Anyone who is not so obsessed with the first part may give up on the show after watching the second part, not to mention those who have not watched the first part.

Thanks to the unremitting efforts of the main creators, "Longing for You 2" finally entered the hit club on Tencent with a popularity value of over 30,000.

To be honest, the rhythm of the first few episodes of the second part is not so smooth. Every character in the play is very depressed and has a bitter face.

The male protagonist, Xuan, although he successfully ascended the throne, still looked like a little bitter gourd who thought "marriage is like going to a grave";

The heroine, Xiaoyao, is still troubled by the question of who to marry, as if her life mission is to get married right away. But the basis of your engagement was to help Xuanxuan get promoted. Now that he has already been promoted, do you still need to rush to get married? I don't understand.

In addition, Xiaoyao seems to have been waiting for others to give her an answer. For example, she would repeatedly ask Xiangliu, "Who else can I marry?" Many viewers have great doubts about this. Regardless of the imaginary conditions or the relationship between the characters, Xiaoyao should have more choices, instead of frowning every day and unable to choose a man.

Finally, the plot reaches the part where she leaves the man behind and starts her own medical career. You think the heroine's story is finally on the right track... But when it comes to the key plot of escaping marriage, she is caught up in a complicated love affair with Tu Shanjing, Fangfeng Yiying, and Tu Shanhou. Is this a must?

Perhaps for fans of each Xipi, the focus of watching the second part is just to watch their own Xipi give out sweet cuts.

As for the political drama, this cause of consolidating the country which can only be accomplished through marriage, isn't what the male protagonist has in his hands really a script of marrying a princess?

Dream City

Broadcasting platform: CCTV-1, Youku, iQiyi, Mango TV

Premiere date: July 9

Many netizens have made venomous complaints about this drama and gave it very low ratings. The author persisted in watching three or four episodes and roughly understood what was wrong with this main theme drama.

The series begins by explaining that this is a story about an intelligent system to cooperate with urban road planning. Around this intelligent system, disagreements and struggles arise between major technology companies and the protagonist's company.

The complaints of netizens focused on the fact that the protagonists did not act like they did technical work at all, and the plot did not make up for the lack of professionalism. The computer interface jumped around, hackers attacked, and after a few more clicks, the bug was solved, like magic.

This kind of filming method might be fine when computers and the Internet were still new things, but now we are in the information age, and everyone has AI and navigation at hand. It would be too confusing to use this kind of filming method. It is like a medical drama where the operation is declared a success after a curtain is pulled and a few blood-splattering shots. The audience will never buy it.

But if you watch a few more episodes, you will find that the creators want to use cool technology to attract the audience, but in fact, it is a story about personnel struggles in the workplace. It's just that the cool technology was not done well and had the opposite effect. After the second or third episode, the story focuses on the capital's desire to maximize its interests, and its means include layoffs, divisions, parachuting CEOs, equity, family strategies... But for technical personnel, the integrity and maturity of product development are the most important. Once a conflict occurs, from the perspective of employees, why should they consider the company; from the perspective of capital, starting a company is to make money, and no one is doing charity.

Even though the struggles in the play seem childish, the same pattern actually happens in large domestic companies, especially the parachuting of leaders and layoffs, which every large company will play once. In this sense, "Dream City" has its practical significance.

"Dream City" poster

However, a meaningful theme needs to be supported by details, and a good-looking TV series is the kingly way. The childish foreign capital and technology shots in the story make dreams seem like fantasies. The lead actor Yang Shuo's acting style is also very interesting. He played a rural reformer in "A Flowing River" and led the technological innovation of the manufacturing industry in "Song of Lushan Mountain". His performances were quite convincing, but in "Ode to Joy" and "Dream City", he also played the leading role, but it gave people a greasy feeling, and his acting was a bit floating.

"A Wonderful Night"

Broadcast platform: Tencent

Premiere date: June 28

Although it is a variety show, I still want to recommend it. How can life be without comedy and laughter! Just like life cannot be without Coke!

Ma Dong changed the platform to continue making comedies, and his first hit was a slam dunk. "A Wonderful Night of Comedy" brought together some of the previous comedians from "One Comedy" and "Two Comedy", and absorbed some new comedians. The format was still the same, inviting Huang Bo, Qin Hao, Jia Bing, and a female actress to be the celebrity audience.

These are actually not important. The most important proof of a good show is that the work is funny. The process of watching it is really enjoyable. There are different types of comedies, and different laughs for the audience to feel for themselves.

For example, some people like those with a strong sense of stage; some people like those who go for deconstruction, satire, and tribute style like Lu Yan; and some people like those with superb performing skills.

Every dish is a solid choice, and you can always find a comedy genre that suits your taste, allowing you to temporarily forget the pressure of life and feel a moment of pure happiness.

Not only that, these different types of pleasing people and works can basically maintain a relatively high standard of "universal humor". Even if some people don't get a certain type, they won't think it's bad. From time to time there will be extremely outstanding works, such as "The World of Sketches" and "Eighty-one Difficulties".

Stills from "The World of Sketches"

Happiness is short-lived, please cherish it.