Xiao He was just glad he hadn't joined that production team.
Such a solid character like Zhou Lin had been torn apart like this.
He wasn't perfect, but he felt real. His core was complicated. He wasn't purely good; facing the apocalypse and utter peril, he had considered giving up searching for his crush and fleeing alone, but in the end he clung to a shred of humanity, which is why in the original script he led everyone to escape, willing to lend a hand to those in need...
Back when he auditioned, Xiao He had studied this role very seriously.
Zhou Lin's initial kindness and eventual dark turn both had triggers. He was pushed there bit by bit by a complex environment and human nature, with very deep emotional shifts.
But letting Chen Yulin play the role meant you couldn't expect any subtle, layered emotions. He played it entirely like an idol drama, taking every line about the goddess at face value. His love for the goddess was unquestionable, and everything else didn't matter.
Xiao He felt like punching something.
Love, love, love—what a time for that. Put away your romance brain, man! What a simp!
What Xiao He could not stomach most of all was that Zhou Lin's dark turn at the end was simplified to "the goddess died, so he drags everyone to die with her..."
Xiao He: ?
This domineering-boss vibe of "she's dead, so you all must die with her" — that couldn't be his imagination, right?
Darkness kept flashing before Xiao He's eyes.
Chen Yulin, you big fool, look what you've turned Zhou Lin into!
Although once Chen Yulin joined the set he probably couldn't fight the screenwriter's changes or the director's instructions, still... you can't really turn someone into an idol-drama tyrant!
And if the protagonist didn't have the protagonist aura protecting him, Chen Yulin's Zhou Lin might have nearly killed every other character.
Even so, in the finale the male lead was still gravely wounded and escaped the hospital carrying the little girl.
At this point, already at the big finale, Xiao He belatedly realized that something about the later plot seemed off—
Wait a minute!
Wasn't the male lead looking for his daughter?
Did the later plot show any scenes of him actually searching for his daughter?
The whole time these people just ran back and forth in hallways, then moved to different hospital rooms, held little strategy meetings, recapped each character's background, then ran again, then met, debated whether to save people, then ran again, met again, blamed each other for causing harm...
Hello, where did the male lead's daughter go? Your "Silent Search" really is a silent search—gave the male lead no clues at all, extraordinarily low-key about finding anyone.
In the last few minutes, as the male lead was about to die and turn into a zombie, his phone suddenly rang, and he heard his daughter's voice through it.
Turns out the daughter had been taken away in time and brought to a safe place.
A relieved smile appeared on the male lead's face; he had hidden the little girl who had been following him in a car to wait for official rescue, while he locked himself by a nearby utility pole and slowly closed his eyes...
The story ended.
When the lights in the screening room came up, Xiao He finally had a chance to move.
He and Liu Zehang exchanged a look, then instinctively stood up. Before other viewers reacted, they were the first to run toward the exit.
Once they reached a quieter corner with fewer people, the two of them finally exhaled.
"What did you think?"
"Any thoughts?"
They asked almost in unison.
Then they fell silent again.
Liu Zehang was the first to speak: "This film... the post-production didn't deliver."
Xiao He nodded and replied delicately, "Yeah, feels like it fell a bit short."
Despite their wording, both of their faces were full of the single word "relief."
Indeed, a relief—the opponent's production quality was far below theirs. How could they possibly lose?
They called it a zombie film, but the zombies hardly appeared. Even though the protagonists were always running, the following zombies were just a small repeating group. Most of the time everyone stayed in safe rooms, then bickered like they were playing Werewolf, endlessly blaming one another.
And the male lead, Tong Junhui, was basically a prop: he pushed the main plot forward and connected scenes, then faded back into the background, watching the big-name actors "perform" and argue in rooms.
Honestly, in some shots Xiao He could even see the helplessness on Tong Junhui's face—Xiao He believed that helplessness was genuine, not acted.
Although Tong Junhui likely did the film to act as an inside man for the police and wasn't wholeheartedly committed to the project, Xiao He still couldn't help wiping an imaginary tear for him.
It was absurdly tragic and funny.
Of course, while the rival's misfortune was entertaining, their opponent's failure was equally satisfying.
"Hey? Right."
Xiao He suddenly remembered something.
"Did we forget someone?"
"Huh?"
Liu Zehang glanced left and right.
Then both of them widened their eyes: "He Junhao!" / "Your classmate!"
A few minutes later they finally dragged the missing He Junhao back into the corner.
He Junhao stared at them in disbelief. "I'm a living, breathing person—how could you forget me?"
"Ahem, my bad, my bad."
Xiao He cleared his throat awkwardly to change the subject. "So, tell us, what did you think of the film?"
"Of course it's trash!"
He Junhao didn't bother softening his tone like Xiao He and Liu Zehang; he raised his voice, then quickly lowered it upon realizing there might be fans of the Silent Search cast nearby. "Especially that Zhou Lin and his goddess."
"Totally absurd!"
"Compared to your 'Law of the Jungle,' it's a complete no-contest!"
"The ending made me think it wasn't about finding the daughter at all, but a group of lunatics warring with simps."
"At first I thought the male lead and the swapped baby girl were the real emotional core, that the plot would explore their bond and mutual redemption, but in the end the male lead is just background, the little girl is an accessory to an accessory, utterly betraying the theme..."
He Junhao's tongue was already sharp; once he started roasting, he couldn't stop. Xiao He suspected he was less of a food streamer and more of a roasting streamer—he could talk forever.
"But I don't get how a film like this got theatrical release and so many screenings. Don't they review content when scheduling films? Ridiculous!"
After complaining, He Junhao added his real confusion. "What were the theaters thinking? This movie looks untrustworthy. Are they really hoping to boost box office and make a killing?"
"That's pretty normal now. The theaters probably took a cut of the film's share, so they want more screenings to make more money. Besides, many theater executives won't personally review every film," Liu Zehang said quietly.
Otherwise, over the years so many ugly, low-quality films wouldn't have kept getting theatrical slots and even decent screening proportions.
A lot of things don't need to be the best to get a chance.