In Hualin, a small northeastern town in the 1990s, a speeding train whizzes past a cornfield.
The camera slows down, the young and old Wang Xiang meet marvelously. The old Wang Xiang chases the train, running and shouting:
“Look forward, don’t look back.”
When you look back, everything is deserted. When you look forward, the sea and sky are brighter.
This scene of The Long Season ending directly leaves a mark on the audience’s hearts. With a score of 9.4 from 950,000 people on Douban, it is a well-deserved phenomenon among Chinese dramas in recent years.
The Highest Praise
Why does The Long Season receive the highest praise from the audience?
Not to mention the ratings, reputation, and quality, but it also proves that the suspense genre is not always connected with the dark. The bright autumn in the Northeast of China, the open fields of corn, and the railway tracks leading to the distance can also carry the world’s unknown.
The Long Season is not a suspense drama, but a tragedy of the times. What is interesting is not the murder case, but fate. The most attractive thing is the true state of getting along between people.
The whole drama has three levels. The first level is suspense, the second level is the torrent of the times and social changes, and the third level is the fate and struggle of the small potatoes.
Suspense is the thread, humor is the skin, life is the flesh, and care is the bone. There is a profound concern for people and life, and there are many deeply buried details, which are a wonderful metaphor for “human nature”.
The drama is very short, with only 12 episodes. There are not too many assumptions, nor is there excessive emotional rendering. Three middle-aged and elderly people who are full of diseases, while laughing and scolding, open up the cruel past page by page.
It turns out that love and hatred are hidden in the flashy appearance, and sadness and separation are buried in the vicissitudes of eyes.
Suspense Plot
There are three lines (1997, 1998, 2016), which are intertwined in the form of narration, flashback, and interlude.
In 2016, a second-hand car bought by taxi driver Gong Biao (played by Qin Hao) at a low price was impounded due to a traffic accident. The traffic police judged that it might be a fake car.
To prove his innocence, Gong Biao and his cousin-in-law Wang Xiang (played by Fan Wei) went to the hospital to find the injured and inquire about the vehicle involved in the accident. Unexpectedly, the one had quietly left the hospital.
After much effort, the two finally found the car responsible for the accident, but due to their negligence, the car owner managed to escape.
The injured did not report the crime, and the phone number he left was empty. The driver who caused the accident was unreasonably panicked.
Wang Xiang fell into a deep thought.
The camera turned, time back to the autumn of 1998.
At that time, Wang Xiang was a train driver at Huagang factory. He was full of vigour and wanted to be active in everything.
One day, a mutilated corpse suddenly appeared in Wang Xiang’s dormitory area.
Just passing by, he accidentally got involved in the case because of his positivity.
Soon, an unexpected inside message came: He was among the first batch to be laid off in the factory. This prompted him to pay more attention to the case, and thus came into contact with Ma Desheng (played by Chen Minghao), the policeman in charge of the corpse dismemberment case.
The person who tipped off Wang Xiang was Gong Biao, a new college student from the factory office.
The reason why he curried favor with Wang Xiang was simple: he wanted to “advance” his relationship with Wang Xiang’s relative Huang Liru.
He also gave Wang Xiang advice. The only way to avoid being laid off was to strive for meritorious service.
As a result, Wang Xiang was forced to be deeply involved in the case.
As for the cause of the murder, we have to go back to the autumn of 1997.
Wang Yang (played by Liu Yitie), who was not admitted to college, sneaked into the university campus with his friends and met the new freshman Shen Mo (played by Li Gengxi).
Wang Yang fell in love with Shen Mo at first sight. In order to get close to her, he even worked as a waiter at the place where she worked part-time playing the piano.
Shen Mo is beautiful and calm.
She was hesitant to say anything about Wang Yang’s advances.
It wasn’t until her brother Fu Weijun (played by Jiang Qiming) and her eldest uncle appeared one after another that Shen Mo’s confusing life gradually became clear.
Shen Mo and her brother were orphans since childhood. Shen Mo was adopted by her uncle. Because her younger brother was deaf and mute, he was rejected and had to go to an orphanage and changed his surname to Fu.
It wasn’t until Shen Mo was admitted to college that the siblings reunited again.
With her younger brother to protect her and Wang Yang to accompany her, she could work and make money, before Shen Mo’s cold and dark face could fully relax, the plague-like uncle and aunt had already followed her.
Nail clipping, flowery skirts, pulling collars, touching hair, a series of suffocating scenes revealed Shen Mo’s secret past.
The above is the general outline of this drama.
Regarding the case, “who is the deceased” and “who is the murderer” have become the most interesting parts for many viewers.
The director is also unprecedentedly powerful, not only filling in all the pitfalls of the case with a humorous and relaxed style, but also including an easter egg at the end, allowing the audience to fill in the blanks and come up with their own satisfactory ending.
Excellent Metaphors
As mentioned before, suspense is just the “coat” of this play. The director did not explain the parts about the characters and fate in the plot, but used many metaphorical expressions such as transitions, light and shadow, and details.
For example, this drama uses a Chinese traditional chapter-like narrative method that cleverly echoes the title of the drama.
The whole drama has a total of twelve episodes, divided into four chapters (meaning spring, summer, autumn and winter)
In the first episode, the first three chapters appeared one after another.
The first chapter “A train lost in Autumn“, introduces the background and characters.
The second chapter “Xiang“, introduces where the protagonist’s story comes from. Wang Xiang is the absolute core protagonist of the play, and the story begins to enter the key plot at this point.
The third chapter “Till death do us part“, tells Wang Xiang’s long autumn story in a huge space.
Then it wasn’t until the episode 12 that the fourth chapter “Don’t look back in anger” appeared.
It perfectly corresponds to the title of the play The Long Season.
Audiences who are not careful enough may not notice how long it took between the third chapter and the fourth chapter, and they may have long forgotten that this is a chapter story.
Another example is the hint of fate,
Gong Biao’s death uses the uncanny technique of creating suspense, sometimes making people speculate secretly, and sometimes making people suddenly realize it. It can be said to have refreshed the audience’s experience.
In the first episode, he proudly showed off to Wang Xiang that he bought a cheap car.
But after a brief inspection, Wang Xiang discovered that not only had his car been soaked in water, but the engine had also been overhauled.
This originally thought to be the past of taxis, but I didn’t expect that it was also predicting Gong Biao’s future.
Gong Biao finally got stuck with this second-hand car.
There are also many meaningful camera changes used to hint at the fate of the characters.
For example, Wang Yang and Shen Mo met for the first time.
The weather was sunny one moment, but cloudy the next.
As the weather turned, Wang Yang’s complexion also changed from sunny to gloomy, and he finally shivered in the rain.
This seamless transition is the only time in the whole play that feels particularly scary.
It also directly pointed out the unhappy ending for the two.
And “Titanic,” which appeared twice in the drama.
Jack willingly gave up his life for his lover Rose.
The ending of Wang Yang and Shen Mo is almost exactly the same as in the movie.
Jack was buried in the sea, and Wang Yang stayed in Xiaoliang River forever.
From the moment they met to end, Wang Yang jumped into the river twice for Shen Mo.
For the first time, Wang Yang specifically emphasized after the jump that it was a dry season and no one could be drowned.
The second time, as Wang Yang jumped down, the camera slowly turned to the full moon in the sky.
The tide rises when the moon is full.
The director once again used the camera to tell the audience that Wang Yang, who encountered the rising tide, would never come back.
In the finale, there is a scene that is also very meaningful.
At the end of the cornfield, a man in a red sweater fell to the ground.
It is suggested that Wang Xiang may be dead.
This field of crops was like his lost life, where he couldn’t find a way out many times, just like himself who was once trapped.
And then, the Wang Xiang, who chased the train and said, “Look forward, don’t look back.”, is this reality or an illusion?
Who is the Murderer?
There is only one murderer in this drama, and that is Shen Mo, who is also someone that many people never expected.
Shen Mo’s life was bought with the lives of the two people who loved her most, her younger brother Fu Weijun and Wang Yang.
Shen Mo thought that the uncle and aunt who took her in had good intentions, but she didn’t expect that it was a sheep entering the tiger’s mouth. What was waiting for Shen Mo was years of molestation and control by her uncle.
The aunt, who had been silent, became an “accomplice”. She chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb and indifferent when Shen Mo was hurt.
Shen Mo’s turning point came from sunshine boy Wang Yang.
He was like a ray of light that shined into Shen Mo’s dark and hopeless life; he was also like a spring breeze that blew away the sadness in Shen Mo’s heart.
However, this touch of warmth did not last long, and the evil of the world came again.
She was drugged by Yin Hong, and was raped by Lu.
At this time, Shen Mo was pulled back into the abyss.
When a person is completely desperate, all she can see is the burning fire of hatred.
Shen Mo decided to fight back.
Shen Mo is a tragic figure. She had an unfortunate childhood and it was a nightmare that she could not get rid of for the rest of her life.
But she also tried to save herself. She worked on her own to try to get rid of her uncle’s control.
She helped her brother open a video studio, thinking that the world would be peaceful from now on.
She trid to accept Wang Yang and really wanted to be with him.
She even saved Yin Hong, who was as pitiful and unfortunate as her.
Shen Mo’s counterattack always makes people unable to hate her.
Compared to Shen Mo, Fu Weijun was even worse off than her.
Fu Weijun, who didn’t say a word but unexpectedly came out of the circle.
Abandoned since childhood, he lived on the edge of a knife.
He finally looked forward to being reunited with his sister, opened a video studio, and found someone he like.
But they were shattered one by one by the nightmares that followed one after another.
The dead body of the one he loved was thrown away with his own hands.
The one he wanted to protect needed to pay with his own life.
After Fu Weijun, who had been secretly helping him, was caught, Shen Mo found Wang Yang again. At first, she thought Wang Yang would stand firmly on her side. However, Wang Yang still chose to retreat.
In despair, Shen Mo committed suicide by jumping into the river. Wang Yang, who had already walked away, turned around and saw the girl committing suicide, so he jumped into the river without hesitation to save her.
After this jump, Wang Yang never came back.
Shen Mo, who survived, chose to become “Yin Hong”, swapping lives and living a comfortable life.
It wasn’t until Shen Mo, who was trying to retrieve Fu Weijun’s ashes, was recognized by Wang Xiang that the truth about the murder was finally revealed.
At Last
Every detail of the furnishings in The Long Season reveals the atmosphere of human daily life, cleverly combining elements of humor and tension.
The so-called life suspense is not to put a life shell on suspense, but to vividly describe the changes of individuals, families, and even the entire city.
Perhaps, suspense dramas don’t need to be one-dimensional, the rhythm can have tension and relaxation, and the scenes can be warm and clear.
It hides all the meaning in the small title of the play, and finally comes out through Wang Xiang’s voice, “Why is this autumn so long?”
Yes, it is too long. Like our life, the beauty of childhood is so short-lived, passing by like the spring breeze, while the heaviness of middle age is so depressing, like the fallen leaves swept by the autumn wind.
Finally, this long season passed, and after autumn came the snowy winter. Those things that they wanted to forget and those they didn’t want to forget were all buried together.
The plot is over and the suspense is over. Who the murderer is and what the truth is, is very important.
But equally important, and even more far-reaching, are the living people and the living city involved in the case.
How those things and that era passed by them, what kind of traces they left on them, and whether they can get up after being beaten by life and “look forward and don’t look back” are worthy of our attention and consideration.
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