theotherayn

yes, that's the one. another accurate melon owner posted it (and YZ hasn't denied it yet) so looks like it's likely true. the writer/director is Zhang Yimou's daughter.

YZ said yesterday it wasn't a time travel mystery and another rumor just dropped (edited it into my comment above) and OMG I think I want it more because it seems to be a villain role lol

it's still included in their upcoming projects for now. and if YZ is to be believed, he said after all the rumors started flying that the contract with Tencent is secure. platform changes are always possible but hard to speculate on.

yes, YZ said a few weeks ago that XZW is delayed to the end of the year so WXY is shooting another drama instead. the contract for XZW was signed last year, the deal was supposedly WXY as the ML, and Tencent chooses the FL. the delay is because YZ wanted to choose his own FL and fought with Tencent. maybe that's part of the reason why they're implementing that rule for the future.

the first drama rumor was already debunked but the second one hasn't so I'm hoping that one is true since the writers are good (previous works: The Ingenious One, War of Faith) and it's not a pure idol drama. it's still somewhat costume though since the ML is a firefighter who'll be traveling back in time to the republican era to solve a mystery around the Chongqing bombing.

melons are basically gossip from industry insiders. they can be drama related information like casting news, or actor related like dating news.

the CD accusations just aren't blowing up as much but there's a lot of evidence in the douban data group. the "too perfect" is because the heat curve is always an exact replica of the previous day, just around 200 higher, regardless of it being a weekend/weekday. it's a sus trend because all dramas fluctuate, especially on Mondays. and none of the baidu/douyin/xhs/quark/douban/advertising data matches, at least when Feud hit 10k, the baidu index legit rose to 200k and the BL fans were spending money on iQiyi's popularity chart. + CD's TGI Index is 80% female, aged 18-23 so it's not the 🥝 silent audience driving the heat either.

anyway, it's just annoying because that melon owner dragged CW into it and now douban is gunning to attack before it even airs.

melon owner reviews (anonymous industry insiders) so take with a grain of salt but I marked those that are from melon owners with a track record of more reliable information.

B, A(+), S(+) is the budget rating, with S+ being the highest. Calming Waves is an iQiyi A, not S. after a drama airs, B/A/S can also refer to the Yunhe (playback) rating.

from a weibo user in reply to the xhs review:

"The beginning is good, and it gets better and better. The so-called "the first few episodes are slightly inferior" is compared with the later plots, not compared with other dramas. The pace is fast, not the kind of short drama fast, but the kind of fast with logic and tension. The case is exciting, the group portraits are good, and it is a high-quality long drama. A poor but sincere little A-level drama, neither loved by its father nor its mother (iQiyi). I hope it can be broadcast well."

from an anonymous xhs account who says they watched the first 10 episodes:

"Positives: (1) It is completely different from Coroner's Diary style of costume detective story. It is a bit like Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty or Legend of Zang Hai. (2) Xingyue's acting skills and original lines are awesome, 360 degrees without any blind spots. (3) The rhythm is very tight, the plot is not dragged out at all, and there is no unnecessary scenes in the plot at all. (4) Strong OST, large volume and full of highlights, all the original lines are comfortable to listen to."

"Negatives: (1) The rhythm is very tight, the plot is not dragged out at all, but the clues and lines are a bit dense, so it is not suitable to watch in 2x speed. (2) This is not a drama that hypes up male and female CPs. If you are holding to that mentality, you may be disappointed. (3) The first few episodes were a little bit inferior, but the later plots were really good, and it is worthy of being named a good script by Yu Zheng."

additional comments in replies:

"(1) The pace is very tight, and it is impossible to guess who the murderer is, but when the truth is revealed in the end, you will find that all the clues match up, and the plot is amazing. (2) The team members have a good relationship, but the male and female CP feeling is average. (3) The plot in the beginning is not bad, but compared with the later part, the latter part is too explosive."

from a somewhat reliable Weibo 🍉 owner:

"Calming Waves can be said to be the result of serious drama making. The script is very well-written, and the overall style is more obviously micro-horror and detective. The highlights of the case are greater than the CP, and there are many plot twists. It can be regarded as Wang Xingyue's personal show. I think he held up, and I understand why the platform is optimistic."

additional comments in replies:

re CP - "there is no romance, the focus is on the plot. / I think it's okay. A solid drama that focuses on the plot and hooks, it's relatively more masculine."

re WXY - "the lines and acting skills are amazing, this kind of male lead is definitely a test of his acting skills."

from a reliable Douban 🍉 owner:

"Calming Waves is a serious detective drama, full of sincerity. The plot is remarkable but there is still a lot of explaining through narration. The detective part is inferior to Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty and far better than Coroner's Diary. The lighting is average, the outdoor scenes make people look poor, and the production is average. The heroine found a costume style that suits her. Tentatively scheduled for early August but it might be postponed to a later date if other dramas need to be broadcast first."

🍉Project Updates:

Calming Waves - most recent date I saw is August 5 but some melon owners still say it's very tentative. will share some of the initial reviews in spoiler replies to this comment. EDIT: there'll be a pre-screening event at a cinema with the creators on the 29th and some ads have popped up on subway stations so we're getting it soon. melons say August 1 now, with the announcement on July 28th.

+ Yu Zheng just said that WXY's next project will be a modern mystery/suspense. so far the guesses are Youku's A Chan (time travel/soul swap romance that's a bit too similar to Xing Zhi Wan) and iQiyi's Xun Zhao Li Shun Zhang/Looking for Li Shun Zhang (time travel to republican era + double male lead), hopefully we'll know soon but the melon owners who know are keeping quiet because they don't want to piss of YZ lol

EDIT: time travel dramas were debunked by YZ and another strong possibility just dropped. it's a big get if true (because the team usually does movies.) it's supposedly more female driven but the male role seems to be an ex-con the FL is taking revenge on.

Mango's Lie Xin (Hunting Hearts/Heart Hunter) - directed/written by Zhang Mo, starring Zhang Xiaofei. Synopsis: A serial murder and cremation case in a dry well resulted in the reopening of a dusty serial murder case, but it turned out to be a copycat crime that misled the police investigation. The chemical murder case resurfaced, and the two victims turned out to be accomplices in an organ trading case five years ago. It turned out that someone was playing a big game for the victim of that year. As the murders happened one after another, the police gradually locked on a female chemical expert Wu Xiaonan who lived alone, and the two sides launched a thrilling cat-and-mouse game.

EDIT: YZ had a livestream today and said that WXY was approached for Heart Hunter after they had already decided on the next drama (a new melon owner says is Bao Hu Feng He, a police drama from the director of Under the Skin, which will start shooting in September. the role is also an ex-con lol) So guess it'll depend if the HH team is willing to wait for WXY.

a melon owner just said August is still very tentative and it could be delayed again. but 🥝 is having reputation problems right now (CD is being accused of faking popularity because the heat curve is a perfect copy every day) so whichever drama follows will be highly scrutinized. another big melon owner already accused CW today of being the next drama 🥝 will unconditionally "support" LOL there wasn't even a new trailer or poster for the 717 event and WXY was there for LIRD.

re OG: iirc they said it looked old fashioned and that it couldn't make up it's mind if it wanted to be a group portrait of youth or an idol romance.

yeah, water armies exist. Yu Zheng has also been accused of using them for his artists. I sometimes wonder how so many fans can be so jobless and it makes more sense if you think that it is their job to be fans.

ZQ's short drama with CHS is supposedly good. LYQ is good but for some reason he always looks like he's on the verge of tears to me and it worked in TD but not so much in Feud. but sometimes the dullness can come from the writing/directing too, TV shoots can be grueling so I try not to judge too hard if they have a bad scene or two (of course if it's a pattern then that's when I judge haha.)

first melon owner just dropped a longer review: the filming (lighting/production elements) is average but the plot is good and the detective work is serious/sincere. screenshot here: http://xhslink.com/m/3f7kslkEzKD

this xhs note collects them: http://xhslink.com/m/9e3BdC0k6JJ

but for context, the first screenshot is just a comment under a review of another drama but the melon owner is more reliable than the others. the third (longer) one seems to be written by Yu Zheng's PR team lol and the second screenshot is a reply to that review.

usually more reviews come out once a drama is scheduled so we'll see. the script reviews when it was first announced was also supposedly good but I can't find screenshots of those, just comments from his fans on douban. plus 🍉 says WXY chose it over a 🐧 S-rated drama even though it had a lower budget so there must have been a reason.

re ZQ: not really sure where she started but yes, she did better in The Double vs Scent of Time but idk, her eye acting is a bit dull and I like eye actors, thus WXY lol.

re LYR: I think the speed of it happening (within an hour, WXY's weibo square was already being attacked with all the memes and yxh were posting about it) made WXY's fans believe everything was photoshopped and ready and they were just waiting for any excuse to fight. the initial comment only had 2 likes so it's not like WXY's fandom was even aware of it.

re CW: 3 melon reviews have said it's good. I'm not sure about the other 2 but the 1 melon owner also reviewed CD and Our Generation and so far what they said about them was pretty accurate so I'm hoping that their impression of CW is also correct.

I don't really see what he sees in her but who knows, maybe she'll surprise us.

that's not a c-ent only thing though. Hollywood tries to make a lot of bland actors happen too. and honestly sometimes it's just a mismatch of roles too like I remember being so bored with Kit Harington throughout Game of Thrones but he's actually starting to get more interesting now that he's doing dark comedy roles. at a certain point, the truly mediocre ones will probably disappear too when the industry loses interest and tries to make other artists happen.

yes, the rumored supporting roles in Xing Zhi Wan are from short dramas.