"Very enjoyable series with the right mix between action and romance."
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
Chinese Title (Cantonese)
"Zhi Yong San King Kaai" which means the bravest new police squad
Released in
2003
Cast
Bowie Lam - Fong Nga Chai
Kenix Kwok - Lok Ying Cheung aka Natalie
Joe Ma - Ma Hau Yin aka Ken
Tavia Yeung - Wan Ka Lei aka Kelly
Benny Chan - Tao Chin Hung aka Dai Hung
Eileen Yeow - Lau Yuk Yan
Evergreen Mak - Lok Chun Ying aka Sa Dam Ying
Ben Ng - Chan Sau Yung aka King Sir
Kwok Fung - Wong Sir
Law Kwun Lan - Fong Yee Gu (Nga Chai's aunt)
Mark Kwok - Howard
Summary
Nga Chai, Dai Hung and Ah Ying (Evergreen Mak) grew up in the same village in the New Territories. While Nga Chai and Dai Hung became policemen of the New Territories North District Crime Squad, Ah Ying gets by with some odd jobs. Nga Chai works very hard and focuses mainly on his career. Unfortunately, being a hard worker, he's never promoted to a higher rank than sergeant. His girlfriend, Lau Yuk Yan, has the feeling that he treats her more like a maid than a girlfriend. On the rare occasions that she needs him by her side, Nga Chai sends Dai Hung in his place. Naturally, the relationship between Dai Hung and Lau Yuk Yan slowly but steadily develops. When Nga Chai finds out about their affair, he decides to back out of this triangle love as he finally admits to himself that the one he really loves is Natalie. Natalie is the daughter of the mayor and Nga Chai's childhood friend. She also is a very career minded person, which means that she rarely has time to see her boyfriend, Howard. On the day Howard died, she found out that he was two-timing her and was actually going to leave Hong Kong to begin a new life with his pregnant girlfriend. Just before he died, Howard asked Natalie to take care of his girlfriend Kelly and their unborn baby. Meanwhile, Nga Chai's team got a new supervisor, Senior Inspector Ma Hau Yin. When Natalie discovered that Ken actually saved her life once and gradually they began a relationship. On the other hand, Nga Chai slowly gets to know Kelly better and feelings of love very soon develop between them. In the mean time, Ah Ying climbed up the triad rank and became the big brother. The sworn brother band between Nga Chai, Dai Hung and Ah Ying shattered and the two policemen are determined to catch the gangster.
Performances
How come Bowie Lam always play this goody-good cop type character? Not that he doesn't do a good job, I actually quite enjoy his performance. Even though he portrays this chauvinistic and old-fashioned guy, I do found his character to be a softy. Even though he looks down on women, it seems that some girls can easily walk over him for example Kenix' and Tavia's character. Anyway, performance wise was his acting just above average. I have this feeling that I've already seen his character before, it gets boring, in fact, seeing him in this role. Luckily, TVB gave it a refreshing twist by pairing him up with Tavia. At first, I was very sceptical about the chemistry they could exude. However, gradually, I grew fond of their relationship and they even became my favourite couple.
This is mainly thanks to Tavia's performance. The change from a tough girl to a gentle and matured mother was very natural. This change also influenced their relationship that evolved from very playful and trickery to a more loving and caring one.
According to me, the real star and main character of the series is Joe Ma and not Bowie Lam. Perhaps it's because of his character, Joe's Ken is heroic, romantic, funny and intelligent and all this traits are wrapped up in a fit body. Yet, I sometimes found his facial expressions gave him a sort of villain look. A very decent performance as I really see some improvement in him.
Moving on to Kenix, same comment as with Bowie. I think I watched her character as an independent, stubborn and career-minded woman too many times. As always I love how her face is able to portray the emotions that she's feeling. She has a flair for acting, very natural and convincing.
It's been a long time since I last saw Benny in a series, I think the last one was Gods of Honour. I liked his casual look with that spiky hair. His acting does get better as I could really see him struggle with the mole's role that Joe's character assigned him to.
Wow, Evergreen was superb as Sa Dam Ying. He was really convincing in his villain role. Although, he's the villain, but you can't help sympathize with him… Especially, in the beginning, always trying to believe the best in people, but gradually by circumstances he's turned evil. Although evil, he still remembers his bond with Nga Chai and Dai Hung.
My favourite scenes
Joe Ma singing 'My girl' to Kenix Kwok. Dead horrible but at the same time, very sweet to humiliate himself like that.
Bowie Lam saving Benny Chan in the restaurant where Benny accidentally thought that some men were illegal in Hong Kong. It turns out that they were a martial arts team from Mainland China coming to Hong Kong to perform. They wouldn't let Benny Chan go unless Bowie Lam performed his martial arts. But the only kung fu moves that Bowie know are a few moves acting like the Monkey God.
Most scenes with Tavia Yeung and Bowie Lam
Comments
I didn't like the ending as I found it very cheesy. It was a happy ending, not exactly rushed, which is a good thing, as TVB tend to wrap up their series so quickly that it seems like you've missed it.
This series was set in the New Territories. I quite like their setting as they usually film in Kowloon, which gets kind of boring. However, it was very annoying that the actors who lived in the village sometimes switched from Cantonese to Hakka, I presume. Which means I usually don't know what they're talking about as I'm someone who don't understand Hakka and who can't read the Chinese subtitles.
The verdict
Very enjoyable series with the right mix between action and romance. Except for the last 10 episodes or so were it seems that the love scenes are ruling.
Rating
Interesting facts
Tavia Yeung won the Most Improved Female Award this year for her role as Kelly. I totally agree with it as I think she gave a wonderful performance here and she totally deserves it. Looking forward to more series of her.
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