#The first shot

[twofunerals]

THE FIRST SHOT (2024) 雪迷宫 "Mr. Zheng, you can use my card. Teachers get a discount." "Oh no, I wouldn't dare."

[ao3-anonymous]

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (10/22/2024)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

[rageprufrock]

I really doubt anybody on Tumblr is watching but The First Shot or 雪迷宫 is making me LOSE MY MIND. I’m on episode like 10 and just yelled WHAT IN THE LANYU IS HAPPENING HERE IN 1997 DONGBEI. The first and second male leads are the dude from Addicted and the guy who plays all the mean cold CEOs and also was in Imperial Coroner. They live together and somewhere in the next four eps someone is getting kidnapped by drug dealers and tortured and handsome rough northern drug cop from Addicted is going to princess carry his six foot tall delicate southern nerd wife. This show is produced by Zhang Yimou and is ruining my life.

[qpjianghu]

The First Shot (2024)

Ep. 15 ~ Gu Yiran whump + bridal carry

[movielosophy]

The First Shot | them.

[lunarriviera]

hi hey hello i have started watching a new crime drama and I AM OBSESSED. it's called 雪迷宫 or, for some reason, The First Shot, although it should be more properly Snow Maze. it's a period piece set in 1997 and it's produced by ZHANG YIMOU which must be why the production values are actually good??? anyway i am here to tell you all about it and why you should be watching it okay here we go

first of all there's a big hot dumb cop, zheng bei. yes that's huang jingyu and you might not like him because of his apparently quite sketchy personal life but all i care about in this case is that he's tall, and thoughtful, and a police captain who's protective of his people and a little bit of an idiot. my catnip tbh. (i guess he was in addicted too? somehow breaking the you-can-only-be-in-one-BL rule?)

(ETA that by "dumb" of course he's not dumb at all, only by comparison; cf. my own stupid meta on this fascinating topic)

then there's an effete genius consultant, gu yiran (wang ziqi), who knows everything there is to know about drugs. he comes from the south to help these ignorant northerners form an anti-narcotics unit. he's such a massive nerd, the team doesn't like him until they realize that he runs 10k every morning and can outrun motorcycles and is actually quite useful. then suddenly it's no longer "gu-laoshi" but is all "ran-ge" this and "ran-ge" that. he can't dance for shit. i adore him.

there's a superb seven-samurai style Assembling The Team sequence in which this cop is brought in as the muscle. Her nickname is mad dog yao and she kicks the ass of an entire club at one point. we love her. her only problem is that, not unlike zhang haixing in tibetan sea flower, she will in fact fight a wall. here's gu yiran's face after a drug dealer mistakenly underestimates her and she stomps on him.

one of my favorite things about this drama so far is how poor the police are. it's 1997 in a dinky northern precinct and these cops ain't got shit. no computers. rudimentary cellphones. barely any forenic analysis, and most of that is on pieces of paper. no bullpen. no interrogation rooms. they have to interview suspects at their desks.

captain zheng is so underpaid he can't even afford a real pointer for his situation board, he has to go outside and get a literal stick.

drives his dad's chicken delivery van. has to slam himself against the front door to open it. everything about this is absolutely perfect.

i'm only on episode 7 but this shit is already brotastic. please behold:

yes that is an actual line from the show. yes gu yiran has to live with captain zheng, they can't afford fancy accommodations for him. turns out there's a trundle bed made out of paper clips but that's okay, they still get plenty of cosy domestic time together.

and that's also what i already love about this drama—in spite of being about anti-narcotics, it's also very slice of life, very daily city life, with meals and neighbors and friends and family and did i mention food, there is so much eating in this drama. it's gorgeous. also i'm improving my colloquial chinese by leaps and bounds.

of course you are you stupid service top, now take care of the baby.

and those are just some of the reasons why you should be watching the first shot, which is funny and suspenseful and unexpectedly brainy and well-cast and has beautiful opening credits. there are 19 episodes on youku's youtube channel right now and the subs are shockingly high quality. i'm hooked, and also so mad at my day job because i can't just binge it, pls join me in this handbasket

[hideyseek]

HELLO???????

[superwholockian93]

In the middle of a serious drug busting case, they out here on a night market date

[melodious-tear]

[lilianhuas]

“There’s only one bed? No I’ve a spare fold-up one under the bed.”

[twofunerals]

THE FIRST SHOT (2024) 雪迷宫 "You can call me that."

[ao3-anonymous]

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (10/28/2024)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

[moononmyfloor]

The First Shot (雪迷宫) Ep 1-10 rough commentary

So @rageprufrock 's promotion of First Shot totally worked on me and I binged 10 eps.

The Zhang Yimou-produced Anti-drug brain/brawn Notherner/Southerner BL-ish drama is BL-ing, guys 👀

Johnny Huang Jingyu who was one of the leads in the cancelled BL Addicted, who has been doing dozens of cop shows recently as if to prove something, and now he's a cop again *and* in a M/M pairing again 🤣 Genius, Mr. Johnny

The sparks were there from the first second they appeared together on the screen, I was grinning the entire time. It's just... the vibes are exactly right!

Both of them are mature, experienced actors by now (the other one is the ML from The Imperial Coroner) and both of them know the *exactly* right way to play against each other's energy. It's so effortless and magnificent.

You don't always feel such easy chemistry between an actor-actor pairing, I can count with one hand the people who were capable of that (the strongest and most natural of such that I rem are Bai Yu/Z1L from Guardian). They understand that to be queerplatonic you don't have to anything too extra, just show your genuine emotions towards your partner, keep your personal space open for the other and boom, magic.

They have that here too.

Hehe that "Oh wow he can eat, I'm in love" face 🤭

THIS IS SO GOOD

ALSO ALSO ALSO

A suspect got hots for the Cop ML and invited him over for dinner in a way Cop ML couldn't reject. When Cop ML returned to office to get the key he saw Nerd ML hasn't gone home yet and is burning midnight oil.

Nerd ML:

He's like Welcome Home Cheater lol

And speaking of the other side pairing, WHAT is going on with these two heh

And I really like this 2ML is also a very nicely done ambiguous grey role, played by the amazing Zhang Yu who works mostly in indie movies, he's putting on amazing unassuming and innocent persona one second and puts on a ruthless and unreadable demeanor one second. Just amazing. They did a great casting job for this drama, everyone NAILS what they are doing, gotta be the best ensemble this year.

Yeah save your boyfriend from your sister HAHAHA

And then the sister be salty and says this line and camera cuts to them I can't 😆

Yes, everybody involved in this project TOTALLY knows what they are doing.

And ALL of that happened within the first 10 eps!

It's just not chemistry and acting that makes this show worth watching, it's a visual feast too, lots of creatively shot action sequences and lots of impressive single-camera takes, it's quite different from you usual Chinese drug crackdown drama experience.

I can confidently tell you that if you enjoy M/M pairings in high energy setups like this that have fast-paced and satisfying plot and where the characters aren't dumb and behave like actual mature adults while still being so lovely and likeable, The First Shot is a must watch.

[movielosophy]

The First Shot | Stop worrying.

[lunarriviera]

something that touches back by lunarriviera fandom: 雪迷宫 | The First Shot (TV) rating: E words: 13.7k warnings: no archive warnings apply relationships: Gu Yiran/Zheng Bei characters: Ding Guozhu, Zhang Xueyao, Zheng Nan, Zheng Bei's father, Zheng Bei's mother, Zhao Xiaoguang, Xin Tiegang tags: Gu Yiran POV, post-canon, first time, getting together, there was only one bed, police, undercover, arguing, crime fighting, angst and hurt/comfort, team as family, family feels, idiots in love

Gu Yiran had taken everything off the situation board that morning, and boxed it all up for the archives. There was one photo he kept, ripped in half. He thought Zheng Bei might want it back, later. Zheng Bei’s face is drawn and his eyes are haunted. He's hardly spoken since he woke up. Gu Yiran hates it. He doesn’t know what to do, to make it alright again.

[qpjianghu]

Just finished The First Shot (2024 cdrama)...

Y'all were right and I am now UNHINGED

I'm a little embarassed by my unrelenting obsession with chinese crime dramas, they just all truly have the most delicious cocktail of whump, found families, and homoerotic insanity??? On the menu of this show specifically:

workplace found family to put all others to shame

retired policeman uncle whose one job is to cook for everyone

Manpurses

"but there's only one bed" (a literal line literally said by one ML to the other)

A Very Satisfying Cathartic Hug

Traumatic Backstories!

neck caresses!!!

the rare m/m bridal carry!!!!!

"are you going back to your hometown after we catch all the bad guys?" / "Probably" / "But what if I want you to stay?"

the girl one is also the unhinged badass

the girl one isn't pigeonholed into a love interest for someone else on the team

be gay solve crimes AND be gay do crimes

"now that we've discovered your secret murder wall, give up your two bedroom apartment and come back and live with me in my tiny one-bedroom" / ":) kk"

several divorces for added ~drama

married behavior so romantic it literally gave me secondhand embarassment

oh yeah ostensibly the show is about a narcotics investigation team but it seems like the only thing the writers care about is the capital-F Feelings which is great because hard same