【Audio-visual observation】

  As a relatively active theme for the exploration of "authorization" of domestic dramas, suspense dramas have always been a hot spot for innovation. Recently, many suspense dramas including "Yellow Bird", "Sandstorm" and "Chessman" have been aired online. They either explore subdivided subject areas, conduct complex narrative experiments, or explore new methods of suspense construction, each with their own strengths. Among them, "The Chess Master", which tells the life transformation of an ordinary Go teacher Cui Ye, is the simplest film with time and space and plot structure, but it is also a film with a more complete expression of suspense.

  From the plot point of view, "The Chess" tells a simple but profound story. At the turn of the century more than 20 years ago, Cui Ye, a gifted but difficult Go teacher, was taken hostage in a credit union robbery. He was stubborn and accidentally discovered that his Go strategy could be used for high IQ crimes. From then on, Cui Ye broke away from his normal life trajectory and slid step by step into the abyss of sin. At the same time, he also embarked on a different path in the game of fate with his brother Cui Wei, a policeman.

  In addition to the "introduction" at the beginning of each episode, "The Chess" does not use too many time and space crossing techniques to increase the confusion of the narrative. The creator provides the audience with an omniscient perspective for every important case involved in the play, and immediately reveals the trump card of "who is the criminal". But this seemingly life-like presentation method has not affected the suspense of the series.

  On the one hand, the unknown fate of the brothers Cui Ye and Cui Wei formed a strong traction, which constituted the biggest suspense of "The Chess". For Cui Ye, his life began to lose control after a robbery case forced him to go from a "king" between the square and the middle and the latitude to a "chess-holding man" in life. He planned to extort smugglers and planned to plot against usury gangs, which seemed to have reversed his own situation with perfect crimes. But no matter how clever the plan is, it is a lie. How will the edges of the truth make his life "lost everywhere"? This is the suspense of Cui Ye's fate. The same robbery also completely changed Cui Wei's police career. In the process of pursuing the truth, he was subject to resistance due to the special identity of the person involved in the case and fell into trouble because of Cui Ye's report. Will his originally smooth life trajectory be completely reversed because of Cui Ye and this case? This is Cui Wei's suspense in his fate. "The Chessman" uses the suspense of fate to grab the audience's attention, giving this seemingly accidental crime story a symbolic, compassionate and restrained meaning.

  On the other hand, the plot of using chess is laid out, making the case narrative of "The Chess" interlocking and small suspense. In this drama, Cui Ye repeatedly commits crimes under the name of "chess skills". In order to clear the suspicion of the robbery, he used the "Li Dai Tao Zombie" strategy to escape; in order to overthrow the smuggling businessman Wang Hongyu, he used chess to guide his opponent to use the strategy, while he hid behind his back "mantis stalked the cicada"; he spoke of the Go term "you must abandon when you are in danger", which made the audience worried, and I wonder when he would treat the people around him as "abandoned son". Most importantly, the person who pursued him was the brother who knew his "chess crazy" nature best. Cui Wei's unfounded but suspiciousness has also effectively enhanced the suspense of the narrative of the "Chess" case.

  It is also worth mentioning that although the suspense narrative is the main tone of "The Chess", what is more empathetic than the case is always the daily life hidden in it. Behind the symbols of the era such as video halls, neon lights, old-fashioned taxis, etc., is a metaphor for an era of rapid development and change. The fate of a group of people is intertwined, and the encounters of several families are ups and downs. Whether it is a big suspense or a small suspense, they are ultimately mediated by characters and are transformed into the engraving of life in a specific era.

  But it is a bit regrettable that this drama is more attentive in the "chess" side, but the "scholar" side has not yet been explored. Faced with the wave of the times, Cui Ye, who went downstream due to changes in life, was obviously not a "scholar". Then why do you think of a "scholar" and what should a "scholar" be? This book is the meaning of "The Chess Master", but this reference system that can form a contrast with Cui Ye is not developed in the play.

  In short, as a suspense drama, "The Chess" has not stopped at the level of crime-seeking. It tries to use "chess" to write about the changes in people's hearts and social changes, and digs deep into the dilemma of human nature and destiny, which is worth learning from.

  (Author: Zhang Xinying, Vice Dean and Professor of the School of Journalism and Media, Shandong Normal University)

[Editor in charge: Tang Wei]