Editor's Note: This article is just a preview of the first episodes of recently aired series. Are they worth jumping into? Some shows may gradually gain momentum, while others may start strong but then falter. This article only reviews the first few episodes for your reference. If there are any subsequent disappointments, I'll keep you posted.
Ding Fengbo
Start date: August 1
Broadcast platform: iQiyi
After the popularity of "Chao Xue Lu" continued to exceed 10,000, iQiyi also brought up another ancient costume suspense drama "Ding Feng Bo", and it seemed that it couldn't wait to take on the "suspense +" ancient costume drama.
On August 1, the first day of the premiere of Ding Feng Bo, the popularity value on iQiyi was 6800. After watching the first six episodes of the premiere, the author only wants to say: Tao, you still want too much.
Poster of Ding Feng Bo
Wang Xingyue, Xiang Hanzhi, Chen Youwei, Zhang Nan, He Luoluo, and Deng Kai—if you've got enough ancient idol dramas, talent shows, and short dramas, these names from "Team Bobo" will be familiar faces. It's clear that the show aims to be an ensemble drama, with a chaotic clash of the cliques. However, after watching a few episodes, the main plot, whether it's the main plot or the cliques, revolves around Xiao Beiming, the foremost detective of the Qi Dynasty.
Team character relationship diagram
The show starts off incredibly melodramatic. Whose hero gets framed as a Night Fury on his wedding day? Not only is he responsible for four deaths, but he's also accused of murdering his master and father-in-law. Only in the second episode is he shot dead with an arrow, forcing him to flee.
The overall narrative rhythm of "Ding Feng Bo" is actually a bit awkward. If you call it fast, after three years and six episodes, both cases remain unsolved. If you call it slow, there's only one case of a bride sewing murder, but the victims keep popping up, one after another, and it feels very awkward.
Within the scope of the "golden first three episodes", only at the end of the second episode when the male protagonist falls into the lake after his wedding and suddenly switches to the ending rap, does it have a weird and eerie feeling.
Poster for "The Bride's Sewing Murder Case"
In terms of shooting style, "Ding Feng Bo" is a typical Chinese horror film, but the close-up scenes are not as "scary" as "Zhao Xue Lu", so the audience can watch it at night without covering their eyes.
Although it is an original script, "Ding Feng Bo" has a collage feel in terms of both its structure and the process of chasing the murderer. It once made people wonder whether the "bride" in domestic dramas will be included in the "high-risk occupations".
Some of the plot designs were also within the audience's expectations. For example, when the male protagonist jumped off a cliff, the barrage appeared with the "script mechanism" complained by the female protagonist of "A Dream of Books": "The protagonist will definitely not die if he jumps off a cliff."
The core of the historical suspense drama, the crime-solving part, suffers from significant editing issues. It relies too heavily on the male and female protagonists' narration, with few scenes of actual investigation and investigation, and even fewer scenes showing the crime itself. This makes it difficult for the audience to immerse themselves in the situation and empathize with it. The murderer is somewhat obvious, and the foreshadowing is plentiful, but lacks subtlety.
No wonder some netizens complained that the feature film was not as good as the trailer, which was a stark contrast to the positive reviews received at previous film festivals.
Wang Xingyue as Xiao Beiming
In terms of acting, Wang Xingyue, who carries the lead role, has above-average body language and facial expressions, but the long and dense lines in the first two episodes are a bit labored to deliver, with strange accents and punctuation, and his speech is too close to "Xiao Heng", not as natural as before, which somewhat detracts from the viewing experience. It's only in the later episodes, when he is inexplicably poisoned by the female lead and the second male lead, and becomes "Xiao Daiyu", that his lines return to normal.
I also don't understand the scene where the male protagonist was poisoned and suffered inexplicable damage. The male protagonist was dizzy the whole time, and he had to be carried to the scene of the investigation, which really reduced the sense of Su...
The heroine clearly realized from a few details three years ago that he wasn't the real murderer, yet upon their reunion, she still kills him without a word. This setup is ridiculous. The heroine has been in this situation for three years, and her investigative skills should have improved. She can't even tell the difference between good and bad? Her characterization is a bit broken. Furthermore, the heroine is supposed to be a dashing character, but Xiang Hanzhi's facial expressions are so limited that the emotional expression in the key scenes is forced.
Overall, the beginning of "Ding Feng Bo" is a bit disappointing. I wonder if the subsequent cases can be salvaged.
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