Let's help everyone watch the "first episode" of a drama. Are the recently aired series worth watching? This episode reviews: the book-traveling martial arts drama "Going to the Mountains and Seas."
Going to the Mountains and Seas
Start date: September 11
Broadcasting platforms: iQiyi, Tencent Video
The costume martial arts drama "Going to Mountains and Seas", directed by Ren Haitao and Lin Feng, written by Liu Fang, and starring Cheng Yi and Guli Nazha, exceeded 26,670 views on Tencent Video and 7,680 views on iQiyi on the first day of its broadcast.
Poster of "Going to the Mountains and Seas"
As a syndicated drama, "Going to the Mountains and Seas" undoubtedly had a strong opening performance. Furthermore, the number of online bookings for lead actor Cheng Yi's fans reached a record high this year on the first day of its premiere, demonstrating the long-tail effect of "Lotus Tower," which has generated significant traffic and a significant fan base.
Cheng Yi's return with the director and screenwriter of "Lotus Tower" has naturally sparked anticipation. Combining a book-traveling, system-based, and martial arts-themed story, what's the quality of "Going to the Mountains and Seas"? Let me share my thoughts.
Cheng Yi as Xiao Qiushui
"Going to Mountains and Seas" is adapted from Wen Ruian's novel "Heroes of China". It tells the story of Xiao Mingming (played by Cheng Yi), a lazy boy who loves martial arts novels but has his edges smoothed by reality. He travels through the martial arts world from the perspective of the novel's male protagonist Xiao Qiu Shui, and eventually grows from a young swordsman with low martial arts skills and hot-blooded impulse to a hero who is loyal and protects his country.
"The Heroes of China" was first published in 1995. In Wen Ruian's own words, it was written when he was young. Although he gained more experience and his writing style became more sophisticated as he grew older, it is still a "heavenly book" that he cannot surpass. This shows the extraordinary nature of this book.
Making it into an adapted drama at this time is undoubtedly a challenge for the screenwriter. How should this literary work of the last century be adapted so that it can resonate with today's young audiences?
Liu Fang's approach incorporates elements of book-traveling and system-based storytelling. This choice is inherently sound. In recent years, book-traveling has become a common occurrence in both long and short series, S+-tier and split-revenue dramas. Its popularity stems from the fact that the person who travels through time is either a chatterbox, serving as a barrage of comments for the audience; or a novel character, not incredibly intelligent, possessing a remarkable memory, and expertly solving various bugs, in line with the trend of "cool" stories; or, simply a laid-back, casual persona, resonating closely with the modern worker's MBTI.
"Go to the Mountains and Seas" aims for this kind of reversal. Xiao Mingming, convinced he could successfully cheat through various lucky bags and survive to the finale, unexpectedly faces a host of challenges. He then transmigrates into the body of Xiao Qiushui, a man with extremely low combat power and a family background who is a loser. Even picking up a lucky bag and mistakenly identifying someone is outrageous. Then, a gradual leveling-up and monster-fighting development system unfolds, showing that even the most humble of characters can find their way.
Xiao Mingming character card
Xiao Qiushui character card
As for Cheng Yi's personality, everyone can get it from "Hello, Saturday" or various offline drama promotions. He is the slow-paced and slow-moving type. Letting him play a fast-talking chatterbox is originally a hard mode, and he can only go for the route of dry humor. Occasionally, he drops a golden sentence or two, and then hides his achievements and fame and escapes. This kind of humor has a demystifying effect on the male lead in male-oriented dramas. After all, not everyone can be like Guo Qilin. The loser in a light comedy is really not that easy to play. It must be lively and interesting, but not useless all the time. The audience must see the possibility of becoming bigger and stronger. Once the character setting is not sweet enough, or the plot is not exciting enough, it is difficult for the audience to stick to watching its slow growth. This requires very high requirements for lines and acting skills.
Judging from the first six episodes, the light comedy approach of "Going to the Mountains and Seas" is, to borrow the famous words of teacher Li Chengru, "like a thorn in the back, a lump in the throat, and sitting on pins and needles." It feels like when you see Cheng Yi dancing to "QUEENCARD" on Douyin. You know he tried his best and has his own style, but there's an inexplicable awkwardness, like forcing an honest person to perform.
To be honest, the action scenes in "Go to the Mountains and the Sea" are still worthy of praise. Slow motion, slow motion, and long shots, all kinds of showmanship are on display. The fight scenes between the male and female protagonists in the first two episodes are a bit like watching the director's coordination of the Korean idol's year-end stage performance. The smooth camera movements are so smooth that the audience is afraid that they won't see how much money has been spent on the set. But all the literary scenes where people go back home to chat, the real scenes are shot with the effect of cutouts, wasting the blessing of this group of resident ancient idol actors in vain. In this fast-paced era that values the "golden first three episodes", the ability to tell a good story is particularly critical. The main plot of "Go to the Mountains and the Sea" is not complicated, but the editing effect is a bit mixed up, making people confused and struggling.
Li Chenzhou character card
Of course, with the male lead playing three roles, and a villain still to come, perhaps he can break out of his comfort zone? However, using traffic for trial and error is also a form of loss, to some extent. It depends on whether the fans of "Lotus Tower" can be more patient.
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