This director is vindictive.

Chapter 251: A mediocre start, lacking any highlights?
Chen Mo threw himself into his work.

It has to be said that "The Untouchable" is the most difficult drama Chen Mo has ever worked on.

The main problem was that the difficulty of shooting in extremely cold weather was underestimated.

Although we have tried our best to balance all aspects, problems still keep arising.

However, that's how filming is. But this was also the most enjoyable drama Chen Mo ever filmed.

Why do I say that? Because although this series is short, it's almost entirely high-energy, and in some ways, it's comparable to a movie.

The show has 12 episodes, but it still has more than a dozen memorable scenes, averaging one per episode.

It's especially exhilarating to watch actors who aren't very famous but have superb acting skills go head-to-head with each other.

In fact, the overall acting level of the actors in a drama depends not only on the director, but also on the atmosphere of the entire crew. If actors in the crew frequently showcase their acting skills, it is easy to motivate others to be more involved in their performances.

At first glance, the drama "The Untouchable" doesn't seem to have any particularly big-name actors. Even the lead actor, Qin Hao, isn't exactly a big name; he only made his debut in the previous drama "The Hidden Corner."

However, the actors in this drama are all actors who would be perfectly capable even in a movie. A group of actors who can act in movies are acting in a web series. In this respect, it is a complete game-changer.

Chen Mo, on the other hand, really enjoys the process of filming.

In fact, some people don't quite understand Chen Mo's series of actions.

For someone like Chen Mo, who can be said to have successfully transcended social classes, many people believe that he no longer needs to personally take on tasks such as frequently filming movies.

Isn't it better to enjoy life?
And then there are people like Yang Mi. They could actually retire from the entertainment industry right now without any problems. In fact, no matter how hard they try, they could never earn the wealth that Chen Mo gave them.

But why does he still seem to be pursuing career advancement?
This actually involves everyone's pursuits.

How can you, who are not fish, know the joy of fish?

Chen Mo himself felt that filming was the real enjoyment for him.

He enjoys the process, the process of turning words into images, and the pleasure of standing in a movie theater or sitting at home, watching his work, influencing, or even manipulating, the emotions of the audience.

Similarly, whether it's Yang Mi or Zhao Liying, their current net worth means they don't need to work so hard, so why are they still as busy as ever?
It's also a pursuit for them; everyone needs to have some hobbies in life.

Chen Mo didn't intend to interfere or persuade them; on the contrary, he tried his best to help them fulfill their wishes.

During the filming of "The Untouchable," the show featured many exciting scenes that demanded a very high level of acting skill.

Chen Mo would often send them behind-the-scenes footage after filming to show them what acting is all about.

The filming of "The Untouchable" has finally wrapped up. Director Chen Mo was actually alright, but the entire crew, especially the actors, had a really tough time.

The main reason is that Chen Mo usually only needs to sit in front of the monitor. Although the weather is cold outside, it's not too bad if he keeps warm.

But actors are different!

Even though Chen Mo had made ample preparations, frostbite was still commonplace for the actors.

So when the announcement of the wrap party was made, the entire crew cheered.

"Glug glug! Glug glug!" Chen Mo couldn't help but smile as he watched his son, who was only a few months old, lying there quietly and obediently blowing bubbles.

It's funny, the eldest daughter, DouDou, is a girl, but she's usually very mischievous, a real little devil.

According to Gao Yuanyuan, ever since her little one started crawling, it destroys the house in the morning and beats up the cat at noon.
But every time her son Chen Yan and Chen Mo talked to Gao Yuanyuan, she was always a little worried.

The main problem is that my son is too quiet and too well-behaved.

He eats and sleeps, and when he wakes up he blows bubbles. Even when he cries, it's a soft "ah-woo~" sound. Gao Yuanyuan said, "I tried to amuse him with a rattle and colorful cards, but the little guy just glanced at me calmly each time and then continued to study the ceiling."

"You know what? Even when he got vaccinated, he just frowned and the doctor said he was fine, but I always suspect he's holding back something big!"

"If it weren't for all the tests and examinations that showed the child was healthy and had no problems, I would have almost cried."

After giving birth, Gao Yuanyuan didn't change much. Apart from being slightly plumper and her size increasing slightly, she recovered quite well in other aspects.

Her originally slender waist has become more supple, but her collarbones are still clearly visible.

She added with a touch of Versailles, "Yanyan is so well-behaved, I don't even have a chance to get dark circles under my eyes."

As Chen Mo listened to her rambling on about her son, he felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

"Oh dear!" Gao Yuanyuan suddenly exclaimed, then sat up abruptly from Chen Mo's arms.

Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"What's wrong?" Chen Mo asked anxiously.

Following Gao Yuanyuan's downcast gaze, Chen Mo saw that there were two wet patches on her chest.

"It's overflowing again! I'll go fix it!" she said helplessly.

"It seems we don't need to worry about our son not having enough food. But stop for now. Our son is full, but his father is hungry." Chen Mo hugged her back.

Gao Yuanyuan's cheeks flushed slightly, and she glared at Chen Mo in annoyance.

However, she still cooperated by letting Chen Mo share his son's food rations.

Over the next few days, Chen Mo truly experienced what a quiet baby is like.

He was also a little puzzled. Could it be that two negatives make a positive?

Speaking of Gao Yuanyuan, she wasn't exactly a well-behaved child when she was young. She got into quite a few fights in the aerospace family compound, making her a true tomboy.

He himself was a very mischievous child, but how come his son is as quiet as a scholar, studying bubble-blowing techniques and ceiling structures every day, looking like he wants to be a scientist when he grows up?
He was completely baffled. For a moment, Chen Mo was worried that something might be wrong with the little one, but after all the tests and examinations, the child was perfectly healthy in every way.

Chen Mo was no longer worried.

As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Chen Mo spent a few days happily here, but was soon driven away by Gao Yuanyuan.

At first, Chen Mo did help her solve the problem of wasting baby food, but gradually she realized something was wrong.

This father was even more greedy than his son. He ate so much that he ended up eating all of his son's food. How could this be allowed?
Meanwhile, Chen Mo had been holding back for quite a while, so he was asking for sex more frequently, which Gao Yuanyuan couldn't stand, so she kicked him out.

Afterwards, Chen Mo extended his affections to several other pregnant women as well.

After experiencing the charm of several other mothers with diverse styles and personalities, she finally left to return to work.

The post-production of "The Untouchable" was completed very quickly.

The film was completed not long after.

In fact, the price of TV series has gradually recovered to its previous level since the beginning of the year when prices skyrocketed due to the pandemic, as work resumes.

Logically speaking, it would be difficult for a web series like "The Untouchable" to get the same price as "The Hidden Corner" before it.

However, after the screening, Tencent Video even used its priority rights to secure the rights to the show.

They were completely blown away after watching just a few episodes.

Having spent a fortune to acquire this drama, the promotional efforts must naturally follow suit.

Soon, Tencent Video launched a comprehensive and aggressive advertising campaign, which can be described as simple and direct.

However, the effect was also very obvious, mainly because "The Untouchable" really didn't need any more fancy promotion.

The biggest difference from the previous one is that this drama is directed by Chen Mo, and with the previous hit "The Hidden Corner" as a model, there are already quite a few people paying attention to this drama.

This publicity is mainly to let everyone know when the show will be released.

Zhao Lei became a fan of Chen Mo's dramas starting with "I Am Yu Huanshui," and to this day, he has watched almost every one of Chen Mo's works. Of course, Chen Mo has not disappointed him.

Therefore, he booked the show "The Untouchable" as soon as possible.

In fact, there are many drama fans like Zhao Lei. Although the pandemic has had a significant impact on the film market, it has had a greater positive impact on online dramas and television series.

Many people who don't usually watch online dramas or TV series have even started to develop the habit of binge-watching them because of this period of staying at home.

Although many excellent dramas were produced this year, Zhao Lei watched them almost all at double speed.

It doesn't affect the viewing experience at all. Currently, there aren't many dramas that can be played at a normal speed for the audience.

Among them, the most outstanding are Chen Mo's two web dramas, "I Am Yu Huanshui" and "The Hidden Corner"!
While viewers might complain about the number of episodes in other dramas, many fans of Chen Mo's web series mini-series have reacted quite differently, feeling that 12 episodes is far too few.

Soon, the premiere of "The Untouchable" arrived.

Zhao Lei clicked on it immediately and started watching.

Unlike other dramas, which often allow viewers to watch several episodes during their first broadcast, he habitually waits until a few days have passed before watching them, accumulating more episodes.

However, this is completely unnecessary for Chen Mo's dramas.

Because it only has twelve episodes in total, and there's almost no filler content; it's frighteningly dry.

The first episode of "The Untouchable" wasn't particularly outstanding.

Even the opening is no different from many crime and suspense dramas.

The vast expanse of snow appeared stark white in the darkness, signaling the arrival of another deep winter. A pedicab driver stopped in the snow, got out of his vehicle, and discovered a man, long dead, leaning against a snowman beside him. Early the next morning, sirens wailed, and several police cars lined up, led by Detective Captain Lin Qi, followed by a group of officers, to investigate the case. Unexpectedly, the murderer was truly audacious, having even pasted a note on the snowman that read, "Come and arrest me."

To be honest, the opening was full of suspense, directly challenging the police with a note that read, "Come and arrest me."

However, this kind of opening is actually used frequently in many crime dramas.

It's not that this kind of opening is bad, it's just that because this drama is Chen Mo's work, Chen Mo, who always gives people the feeling of not following the usual path, used a relatively conventional opening this time, which made Zhao Lei feel inexplicably disappointed.

The appearance of Yan Liang next was quite different from the police officers in many past crime dramas, which was a highlight.

But that's all. The plot remains tight and engaging, with no filler elements, and the Snowman serial murder case is gradually unraveled.

Compared to other films and television series, it can be considered to be of very high quality.

However, compared to the highly anticipated new drama of Chen Mo, the first two episodes of "The Untouchable" can only be described as mediocre.
Yes, it's pretty standard!
This wasn't just Zhao Lei's feeling; it was also the feeling of other viewers.

The comments in the first two episodes were almost all like this.

"That's it? That's it?"

"Disappointing. Was the pre-release hype too exaggerated, or were the expectations too high? It feels like Chen Mo has fallen into the clichés of domestic crime and suspense dramas?"

"Yeah, apart from Qin Hao's portrayal of the beat cop, which is quite different from the detectives in past crime dramas, there really wasn't anything too surprising about the rest!"

"It's decent, nothing special. It didn't have the high-energy start of 'The Hidden Corner'! I guess having too high expectations isn't a good thing!"

Chen Mo remained completely calm, as did Tencent Video.

Those who have watched the show, in particular, will chuckle at the comments from netizens.

why?
The "mediocre" quality of the first two episodes is merely a facade, or rather, it's not a flaw, but a trap carefully set by the director!
You think you're watching an ordinary crime drama, but the camera has already laid out the answer in front of you; you think the characters are just tools, but everyone's micro-expressions are actually acting out a play within a play.

However, even Chen Mo did not expect that a "normal" start would actually make it to the top of the trending searches by stupid netizens.

"Chen Mo's new drama 'The Untouchable' had a mediocre start, with fans saying their expectations were too high and the performance fell short of expectations!"

"Is 'The Untouchable' about to suffer a major setback, and is Chen Mo about to face his first defeat?"

"The beginning of 'The Untouchable' is bland and falls into clichés, and Chen Mo's surprises are gone!"

However, despite being criticized for being somewhat disappointing and lacking in high-energy content, the show was still a hit.

However, its online ratings are strangely not low.

As a die-hard fan of Chen Mo, film critic Zhou Xiaobin, although a film critic, occasionally dabbles in drama criticism.

After seeing that "The Untouchable" became a trending topic because of its "mediocre" and "unremarkable" opening, he watched it as soon as possible.

On his first viewing, he felt that, just as the audience had said, there really wasn't much of a "surprise".

But on the second try, he changed his mind.

I got really excited when I watched it for the third time.

It has a sense of accomplishment, much like a blind student discovering a key point.

Although he is not sure if his guess is correct, based on the previous publicity for "The Untouchable Crime", he feels that his guess should be correct.

Therefore, I immediately put together an analysis of why viewers felt the first two episodes of "The Untouchable" were "mediocre".

When "The Untouchable" premiered, many people felt that the first two episodes were mediocre and somewhat "below standard". However, after watching it three times, I want to say that if you really think that way, then you have truly fallen into the director's pre-set routine.

First, let's talk about why it feels "ordinary". This is because ordinary suspense dramas always start with a corpse and high-energy reasoning, like the family annihilation case in "Day and Night"!
So what kind of show is this?

The "cold violence" of burying a corpse in the snow replaces the shock of bloodshed, with only one hand of the body visible.

This makes viewers accustomed to "high-intensity" content easily misinterpret it as a slow pace.

But is this really the case?
Perhaps if you watch a few more episodes and then go back to watch the earlier ones, you won't feel the same way at all.

Actually, by working backward from the clues in the promotional materials, we can already see that the first two episodes are truly terrifying upon closer inspection, or rather, the dense details are enough to make your scalp crawl!
What I want to say is that the brilliance of this show lies in the undercurrents beneath the calm surface, which is the true aesthetic of crime!
First of all, the seemingly ordinary opening actually hides a secret, especially after reading the novel "The Untouchable Crime," this feeling became even more obvious.

The following contains spoilers, please read with caution!

Yan Liang's character appears nonchalant and carefree, like a seasoned, lazy policeman, but the details reveal his true nature!
Pay attention to the details: his desk is piled high with files of unsolved cases!
What does this detail indicate? It indicates that he wasn't truly lying flat as he appeared to be.

His mocking smile at the new police officer is revealed later: he was once an elite who was "exiled" for some reason!
The brilliance of this detail lies in how the audience will react upon first seeing it.
You might think, "Isn't this policeman incompetent?" But actually, it's setting the stage for his "disguise" and inner struggle.

Let's look at Li Fengtian, the actor played by Ning Li in the audition footage during the previous promotion. He is the murderer, a fact that was actually revealed long ago.

But why did everyone overlook this?

In the first two episodes, he made his first appearance, silently sweeping snow and taking out the trash, like an ordinary worker, but he paid attention to the details!

What's the detail? The detail is when the camera pans across his tool shed—the frozen fish hanging on the wall (see attached image).

A gasoline can peeking out from a drawer (see attached photo)!
Many people didn't pay much attention to these seemingly fleeting glimpses, which is understandable. After all, without having read the original work and knowing how things develop, it's difficult to grasp the key details.

The frozen fish was the murder weapon, and the gasoline can, needless to say, was a foreshadowing of the arson case!

I believe that when you see the later parts and then look back at this part, you will find that the more ordinary the villain is, the more terrifying he is, because "evil is hidden in the everyday."

Let's talk about the "cold" narrative of the case of the body hidden in the snow.

I don’t know why anyone would think that the process of discovering the body would be “mediocre” or “ordinary”. Doesn’t anyone think that the absence of bloody close-ups and the fact that only one hand of the body is visible, leaving the rest to the audience’s imagination, would be more terrifying?

Extreme cold weather itself is an "accomplice," as low temperatures delay solving cases and cover up evidence.

These details are meant to tell everyone that in this city, even the weather is a breeding ground for evil.

The reason why everyone thinks it's "mediocre" is simply because it's a comparison with expectations. Audiences expect American suspense to be "high-energy from the start," but "The Untouchable" is a typical "calm before the storm" in the Eastern style!
The first two episodes focus on establishing the network of relationships between the characters (police officers, forensic doctors, gangsters, and ordinary people) rather than simply advancing the case.

I don't know which episode the murder scene involving Li Fengtian occurs in, but if you find it bland, you might want to rewind and watch the first 10 minutes of the first episode—how many murder weapons are hidden in the scene of Li Fengtian shoveling snow?

(End of this chapter)