["Heart of Embers"? At first glance I thought this was some tomb-raiding themed plot.]
[Actually the trailer seemed quite interesting.]
[Haven't there been enough trailer scams recently? First open your eyes wide and see clearly who the director is.]
[Wang Xingyuan? Sounds somewhat familiar—]
[Wang Xingyuan, famous works include "Sweet Thoughts of You", "Dream Spirit Chronicles", "Our Time Together", "Heart of Embers".]
[Ah, all idol dramas? That's quite a leap then. Hope they don't suddenly start making out midway through.]
[I watched the trailer, it's mostly career-focused with little romantic involvement, and there are very few female characters appearing.]
[Honestly, very risky. Just look at Heart of Embers - it was lucky to have Xiao He who pulled the drama up to a height it didn't originally deserve through his role as Mu Ze. That plot was really terrible.]
[So Mu Ze was directed by him.]
[But to be fair, the atmosphere built in the early parts of Heart of Embers was actually quite good, especially Mu Ze's solo scenes. The overall filming atmosphere was very well done. If it weren't for the characters becoming stupid when facing the protagonist, the Mu Ze he filmed did have quite some personal charm.]
[Am I the only one who noticed that the special guest actor this time is actually Xiao He?]
[Ah? Brother Xiao is collaborating with Wang Xingyuan again?]
[Although the Mu Ze that Wang Xingyuan filmed back then was indeed one of Xiao He's acting highlights, I think Xiao He is really confused this time. The industry doesn't have high expectations for Wang Xingyuan's work, yet he still went to film it... sigh.]
[I heard he went as an emergency replacement.]
[Apparently it was because an important character in the production team ran away, Director Wang was searching everywhere for someone, and Brother Xiao happened to be filming in Haishi at the time, so he took some time to help out.]
[Can't be helped. After all, Brother Xiao became famous through Mu Ze, and Director Wang did give him his big break. Now that Director Wang encountered difficulties and Xiao He happened to be nearby, being able to help out a bit can be considered repaying Director Wang's kindness.]
Since "Sea Fog Pursuit" announced its broadcast date, online discussions have been endless.
As an assembly-line idol drama director, Wang Xingyuan has an extremely high output volume, and many people still have some impression of his works.
With lead actor Su Ji and special guest actor Xiao He, the discussion around this topic became even hotter.
Xiao He looked at these comments and felt both amused and exasperated.
It seemed his portrayal of Mu Ze had left a deep impression on people.
He just didn't know this time... he hoped Director Wang wouldn't ruin his reputation—
The next day, "Sea Fog Pursuit" officially began airing.
Although opinions online before the premiere were mixed, and Director Wang was under great pressure, perhaps because he had been continuously supplying his assembly-line idol dramas to the Penguin platform over the years, helping Penguin Video earn some money, the platform was quite generous this time, creating plenty of momentum for "Sea Fog Pursuit" and even giving it a recommendation spot for promotion.
That night, after the first few episodes aired, online reviews actually shifted somewhat.
[Hiss, I actually think it's quite good.]
[Feeling somewhat addicted. Su Ji's performance as the lead is pretty good. This kind of weak protagonist setting is actually quite rare in the current environment, but the plot is very engaging. Su Ji doesn't feel out of place when acting alongside several veteran actors. The plot is very tight, making people want to keep watching.]
[Originally thought it was a tomb-raiding theme, but after clicking in to watch, discovered it's about antique smuggling. The protagonist isn't the expected police officer or tomb raider, but a smuggler forced to aid the villain... this setting feels quite interesting.]
[I think so too... let's keep watching...]
Viewers who originally came to roast the show actually found themselves genuinely enjoying it after it started airing.
However, the early broadcast data for "Sea Fog Pursuit" wasn't very good. Its related heat rankings on major platforms consistently stayed outside the top twenty, with effective viewership only ranking seventh on the Penguin platform. On the premiere day, its market share didn't even reach 2%, with total viewership less than nine million.
In the fiercely competitive winter break season, this data was completely crushed by the top few popular traffic idol dramas.
It could basically be described as dismal and gloomy.
When Wang Xingyuan saw this video data, his anxious heart finally died.
With trembling hands, he lit a cigarette for himself, looked up at the sky with great melancholy, took a shaky deep breath, letting the cigarette's nicotine enter his lungs and stimulate his brain.
Although industry friends who paid attention to this data sent comforting messages, and the promotion manager from Penguin Video also comforted him, telling him to come back and film idol dramas since his previous results weren't bad and the road ahead was still long.
But Wang Xingyuan felt suffocated in his heart, feeling very unsatisfied.
"Could it be that Old Wang here can really only continue filming those damn idol dramas in the future?"
Wang Xingyuan exhaled cigarette smoke, looking at the gloomy sky with tears in his eyes.
On the other side, Liu Rulan also told Xiao He this news.
After hearing about the data situation, Xiao He also sighed: "Actually I watched the first few episodes too, I thought it was quite good."
From the protagonist Mu Wen being captured, to being forced to help with appraisals and smuggling, the early development was very rapid, and the story progression was clearly explained. Xiao He originally thought Director Wang was about to rise up this time.
But the result...
"We can wait and see a bit more," Liu Rulan said. "Based on what I've observed so far, the reviews and audience retention for 'Sea Fog Pursuit' are both quite high. Maybe later when word-of-mouth improves, it could start low and finish high."
"I hope so."
Xiao He shrugged.
Although there are indeed dramas that start low and finish high, they're mostly rare cases. Very few hit dramas throughout the year can be found as examples of this.
Perhaps every drama holds the fantasy of starting low and finishing high, but more dramas die immediately at the start - praised but not popular, destined to fail regardless.
We can only hope that "Sea Fog Pursuit" won't fall into the strange cycle of having good reviews but no traffic.
...
Just when many people thought "Sea Fog Pursuit" would finish its run uneventfully, after the sixth episode's minor climax, "Sea Fog Pursuit" which had accumulated several days of high ratings and good word-of-mouth, suddenly exploded without warning.
That night, the related episode viewership on Penguin Video surged dramatically, discussion across the entire internet suddenly spread out, overall related data skyrocketed vertically. The first batch of viewers began enthusiastically promoting it everywhere, various bloggers and marketing accounts finally turned their attention to this drama that nobody had been optimistic about, and jumped in one after another, bringing traffic while also scrambling to share this traffic—
By the time Xiao He received the news, "Sea Fog Pursuit" had already exploded in popularity across the entire internet.
The most direct feeling was that more and more bloggers analyzing "Sea Fog Pursuit" started appearing online.
["Sea Fog Pursuit": Several stages of chanting reflection reveal the inner darkness of protagonist Mu Wen...]
["Sea Fog Pursuit": Several overlooked details!]
["Sea Fog Pursuit": Who is the ultimate protector behind the scenes?]
["Sea Fog Pursuit"...]
Now when you open short video platforms, it's all about "Sea Fog Pursuit".
Even Yan Shaohan, who was secretly following the drama, quietly came to Xiao He to ask in a low voice who the final protector was in the plot.
Xiao He: "...I really don't know."
He only filmed for two days, what could he possibly know?
And this guy, is he specifically here to be funny! Why does he never do his proper work! You're the director of your own production team! Your own drama isn't even finished filming yet, and you're already watching someone else's!
"Didn't you also play some smuggling second-in-command?" Yan Shaohan looked suspiciously at Xiao He. "Haven't you met your boss?"
Xiao He: What nonsense! What nonsense... actually, it seems I really haven't.
Yan Shaohan was quite enthusiastic: "By the way, which episode do you appear in? I can't wait to cheer for you in the bullet comments!"
The character Mo Tun played by Xiao He did have some foreshadowing of his character setting in the early parts, but he himself hadn't officially appeared yet.
Xiao He thought of his bloody methods when he made his appearance and coughed lightly: "I'm not saying. When the time comes, I'll naturally appear."
Just hope you won't be scared.