Take My Word For It [TVB]

Written by Adelyn Lim

"Almost everyone inside made it boring. Bobby, without his usual laughter, was boring. The ever-busy Kenix, who was so utterly useless in every PNC mission, was boring. Annie's character of Yip Hor Yan was boring, and the appearance of Winnie Yeung made the entire serial as horrifying as possible."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Production

2002



Genre

Modern



Episodes

30



Cast

Bobby Au-Yeung - Pang Kwok Dong

Kenix Kwok - Kan Kit

Julian Cheung - Yeung Gwong

Annie Man - Yip Ho Yan

Moses Chan - Mok Ka Chung

Winnie Yeung - Poon Man Jing

Ellesmere Choy - Yeung Hau Mo (Jacky)

Wai Ka Hung - Chai Kar Chuen





Plot

This serial revolves round the lives of police negotiators.



Summary

Pang Kwok Dong (Bobby) and Kan Kit (Kenix) were both in the Police Negotiating Cadre (PNC), which consisted of only the most outstanding police officers. Dong was also the senior inspector of the West Kowloon Major Crimes Division, while Kit was the inspector of the Anti-Vice team. While saving a slightly retarded man, Kar Chuen from jumping off a building, one day, police constable, Yeung Gwong (Julian), became involved with negotiating duty. Kit, impressed with his performance, encouraged him to join the PNC. Gwong agreed reluctantly to please her. During PNC training, he met a fellow trainee, Yip Hor Yan (Annie). Yan being the total opposite of the happy-go-lucky Gwong, consistently became worried and unsure about the exams. Dong got a bad impression of Gwong did not think highly of him at first. The latter later vowed to pass the exams when the former urged him to quit the training. Yan and Gwong passed the exams with flying colours and even won the "Dream Team" award. Despite that, Kwok Dong still remained apprehensive about Gwong as a PNC member. Kit found out that her husband, Kar Chung (Moses), was having a long term extramarital affair with Dong's wife, Man Jing (Winnie), and decided on a divorce. Dong's misunderstanding with Gwong deepened when rumours began spreading in the police station soon after the latter witnessed Jing eloping with Chung. Yan fell for Gwong but was rejected by him as he could not forget his past relationship with his ex girlfriend, Ada. Gwong and Yan soon became good friends with Kar Chuen (Kar Hung) after a few of the latter's failed suicide attempts. Soon after, Chuen died by accident and Yan became traumatized it. Gwong's brother, a psychiatrist, Jacky (Ellesmere), treated her and they became friends. Jacky had broken up with his girlfriend, Joyce, a while before, and he decided to woo Yan. Dong's impression of Gwong changed for the better after experiencing the latter's excellent performance during the PNC missions. Dong then decided to take Gwong as his disciple. Meanwhile, Kit realized that she was pregnant with Chung's child and vowed to bring up the child single-handedly after much dilemma. Dong became the child's god-father. He was promoted to the position of Superintendent only to meet with an accident - His younger brother was a gay and Dong could not accept it. In a struggle at a roof-top, he fell and broke his leg. Dong's leg could not recover fully and he would only be able to walk independently after two years of physiotherapy. His condition worsened after his visit to a miracle doctor and was faced with the possibility of amputation. Dong's attempt to kill himself fails when he was saved by Kit, Gwong and Yan. Dong's relationship with Kit deepened after the operation. Gwong realized that Jacky had been two-timing Yan and quarreled with him. Yan relationship with Jacky's family improved significantly. Gwong fell for Yan while comforting her when she found out about Jacky's relationship with Joyce. They started dating. Joyce broke up with Jacky again and the latter immediately asked Yan for a reconciliation. She rejected him and Jacky soon realized that the third party in the relationship was actually Gwong. The brothers quarreled. Both ended up in hospital after a car accident. Their family members blamed Gwong for it. Gwong then decided to break off with Yan. Kit gave birth to a baby boy. Chung returned after breaking off with Jing. He hoped for reconciliation. The baby was found to be having liver problems and only Chung was a suitable donor for the liver transplant. He saved the baby and returned to Canada after being rejected by Kit. Not knowing Kit's decision, the wheelchair-bounded Dong left for Singapore and Malaysia for PNC training. The Yeung family's supermarket underwent rapid extended promotions and services causing the displeasure of the workers. One worker, a mute, was injured in an accident. The company refused to pay compensation and the injured worker's brother got violent. He held all the people at the company hostage and the PNC was called in. The hostages developed the Stockholm syndrome within hours of the hostage and the only person who had ever dealt with this type of situation was Kwok Dong who was still in South East Asia.



The Ending

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!



Gwong informed Dong via email, and the latter took the first flight back to Hong Kong. He managed to turn the situation around while Gwong's job was to convince the man that his brother would get the full compensation. Just as everything was going smoothly, Gwong's elder brother became injured while saving his sister. The siblings patch up. Dong and Kit decided to take care of the baby together. Gwong apologized to Yan. They got married.



My Comments

What caught my attention at the beginning was the PNC part. I thought the PNC job was pretty cool. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the work and I liked the uniform. I liked the people acting inside. I'm a Bobby fan. I'm a Kenix fan. I'm a Julian fan. I'm an Annie fan. Then before I got past the second episode, I was half asleep on the couch. You know why? Because it was boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. Almost everyone inside made it boring. Bobby, without his usual laughter, was boring. The ever-busy Kenix, who was so utterly useless in every PNC mission, was boring. Annie's character of Yip Hor Yan was boring, and the appearance of Winnie Yeung made the entire serial as horrifying as possible.



Bobby as Pang Kwok Dong

As I've said before, I'm a Bobby fan. I love Bobby. I loved him since Files of Justice and I love him now (not romantically, please). But I absolutely hated him in here. Pang Kwok Dong was a horrible person. A self-centered male chauvinist pig at the beginning and a self-pitying loser at the end. But that wasn't the reason why I hated Bobby here. Bobby is a very versatile actor. I would say that he acted the role of Pang Kwok Dong to perfection. I could see the MCP in his eyes and I could actually feel the fury when he found out that his wife was having an affair with his best friend. However, I still think Bobby is more suited for comedies. When I see him on TV, I have to see his cheeky grin and hear his infectious laughter, if not, it just seems dull. I think that was what happened here.



Kenix as Kan Kit

I guess Kenix was alright in this serial. I think her acting here was just mediocre. Not too good, but not that bad either.



Annie as Yip Hor Yan

You know, I could just sit there and sympathize with Yan. She was the most innocent one in the serial. I think her only mistake was to fall in love with two jerks, namely Gwong and Jacky. Just her luck to be ditched by Jacky and rejected by Gwong twice!



Winnie as Poon Man Jing

I feel so repulsed by her. In any serial I see her, I get sick. I think I'm just allergic to her big goldfish eyes and innocent expression on her face. I think she's a horrible actress. I criticized Winnie in my Square Pegs review and I will criticize her now. I don't care how many people will hate me for saying this but I think she's TERRIBLE. This woman just cannot act. She should attend more acting classes and get a bag to cover her face.



Julian as Yeung Gwong

I think Julian was the only entertaining one. Gwong was just so lively and hilarious. I think the serial would have been a flop without him.



Another factor that made the serial a disaster was the love factor. There was absolutely NO chemistry between the characters. AT ALL!



Bobby - Kenix

After watching Crimes of Passion, I thought the Bobby-Kenix pairing was okay. No "fireworks" or anything but it was a safe-bet. But actually I got pretty grossed out after thinking it through. I mean, I was already horrified when Chung and Jing had their little sinful affair, but later Dong and Kit too??? I know they're not committing adultery or anything of that sort since they were already divorced. But it seems that they four were like switching partners or something. But that was beside the point because I realized something else. There was not a single "I love you" being exchanged there. I think for Dong and Kit, it was more of an "I need you" rather than an "I love you" situation. I mean, look at them. One's a divorced pregnant lady while the other's a wheel-chair bounded, self-pitying loser. They NEEDED each other. And that was all. I absolutely cannot see their relationship beyond that. I remember this scene where Kit said to Chung, "I see Dong as the man who can walk with me through my future journey in life." I laughed when I heard that because I think Dong would be more suited to walk with her as her god brother or something rather than her husband.



Kenix - Moses

Instead, I could sense a little something between Kit and Chung. They look more like a couple. In fact, I feel that they should have remained together. It was such a pity that they had to split up. I thought that Chung was an excellent husband. He was caring and sensitive. He knew how to handle his father-in-law; he knew how to coax his wife. He was a good cop. I thought he was a wonderful husband. Of course that was because I missed out the part about him having an affair with his best friend's wife/wife's best friend (pick one). The only problem about Chung was that he was a weak-willed man. You should see the times he got manipulated by Jing. I could tell he loved his wife but was just a little stupid to have an affair with Jing. Don't know what he sees in her anyway. I mean, he could have little flings with women outside but why her?



Anyway, I thought Kenix looked good with Moses. I felt that she had a little "glow" whenever they had scenes together at the beginning of the serial. Maybe TVB should pair them up more often.



Julian - Annie

Julian and Annie were the cute couple of the serial, though sometimes I just want to kick him. Look at how many times he rejected her. Broke her poor little heart. I just sympathized with her all the way. But sometimes I feel that she was like a ball being kicked around between Gwong and Jacky. It was just so sad. But I cheer up sometimes when I see scenes with Julian and Annie. I think the duo was pretty good and very fun to see. They had chemistry BUT not romantic ones. I mean, acting as friends, they were good. I thoroughly enjoyed them bickering all the way. But once they started dating, or having awkward moments of He-Loves-Me-He-Loves-Me-Nots, even the only entertaining parts of the serial just faded away. Their chemistry just died. It was terrible. The pairing up of the main characters Dong with Kit, Gwong with Yan was a total mistake. No sparks at all!



My Favourite Character

Yeung Gwong. No doubt about it, Gwong was the only character that kept the serial from being a tragedy right from the beginning. I absolutely loved his happy-go-lucky character. An absolutely pleasant character in the serial.



My Most Hated Character

Poon Man Jing. I hated her right from the beginning. Even though both Jing and Chung were both unfaithful to their spouses, I hated Jing more. That was because she was the mastermind and broke Chung and Kit up. What's more? She had the cheek to blame Dong for her adultery! I mean, so what if he didn't have time for her? So what if he was an insensitive husband? That doesn't mean she could go around fooling with Chung. It doesn't give her the right to do so. If Dong was a lousy husband, what does that make her? I'd say she was a lousy wife.



The Best Performance

I would say Bobby did a great job. Much as I hate Pang Kwok Dong, and Bobby, himself, for acting as Dong, I would applause his acting. As I've said right from the beginning, Bobby is a very versatile actor. He was great. I could see the fury in his eyes and the disappointment and despair on his face all at the appropriate moments. Great job, Bobby!



The Worse Performance

Need I say more? Winnie. That woman can't act.



The Amazing Thing

The amazing thing about the PNC work is that every time you run into personal problems, don't worry. Because the next person that comes along trying to jump off the building or taking someone else hostage, definitely has the same problem as you. Hey! You're not alone! I thought it was totally ridiculous. Give one example. Kit got divorced and during the PNC mission, the women she tried to save from committing suicide also had an unfaithful husband. The only thing that ran through my mind was "STOP IT! STOP IT!" Can't they make the cases just a teeny-weeny bit more realistic?



The Ending

The serial ended so abruptly. Everything was so incomplete. There were problems between couples and siblings and all of a sudden, in the last five minutes, they all patched up. It was unbelievable. And there was another thing that everyone forgot about. That was the problem of the Yeung Family supermarket. I think in the last few episodes, there was some trouble with some guy trying to take over the company by tricking them into signing some ridiculous contract which finally let to the final showdown with the workers. So everything ended. But what about the contract? It still exists right? Wouldn't the family business still be in trouble?



Another thing that put me off was to have to end the show with a wedding. To be more specific, Gwong and Yan's wedding. Whatever for? I thought it was utterly useless and only added to the boredom.



Rating





Should I rent it?

No. Unless

1) You love Julian Cheung Chilam

2) You hate Bobby Aw-Yeung Chun Wah

3) You have insomnia and ran out of sleeping pills

4) You just want to abuse yourself by forcing yourself to stare blankly at the TV screen till you go blind

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