"I've always liked Roger Kwok as an actor but unfortunately his character in this series is terribly boring to watch."
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
Released In
2002
No. Episodes
20
Theme Song
Nick Cheung "Nothing Normal"
Cast
Roger Kwok as Cheung Kwok Fung
Fennie Yuen as Cheen Ngah Lai
Nick Cheung as Chow Ka Wing
Hui Chiu Hung as Chan Chow
Cameo Appearances: Wu Fung (as Wing's father), Ma Tai Lo (as Chan Chow's future girlfriend), Hawick Lau (as Ming), Tam Siu Wan (as Lai's good friend Yee), Sonija Kwok (as Fung's ex-wife), Joe Ma (as Sonija's new husband)
Character Description & Background
Cheung Kwok Fung (played by Roger Kwok)
A workaholic who previously neglected his family but still doted on his son. Divorced from his wife when he found out that he cheated on her and that the son he adored wasn't actually his biologically. Gained full custody of his son when his wife and her new husband died in a car accident after immigrating to the US. Believes that people are naturally good, is a patient boss who cares about his subordinates. Bright, instinctive, and a loyal friend.
Cheen Ngah Lai (played by Fennie Yuen)
Open, optimistic, sympathetic. Sometimes an overly nice person and therefore taken advantage of by many people, such as her ex-boyfriend who cheated her for money. A strong-willed girl who deals with problems well. Intuitive and understanding. Grew up as an only child in a modest family.
Chow Ka Wing (played by Nick Cheung)
The opposite of Roger Kwok's character. Believes that people are naturally evil. His philosophy is "once a criminal, always a criminal". A perfectionist who has high demands for both himself and people around him, causing him to sometimes unintentionally hurt the feelings of others. Observant and intuitive. Because he's such a perfectionist, he has never encountered an ideal partner in his heart until he meets Fennie. Suffers a strained relationship with his father who thinks that he cannot do much even as a successful cop, but with Fennie's and his mom's help their relationship is repaired.
Chan Chow (played by Hui Chiu Hung)
Old friend of Fung and Wing, filial, nosy, but always wants to be helpful. Prides himself on understanding matters of love, but finds that a relationship and/or marriage for himself will be a burden so he is still a bachelor in his 40's/50's. Not too ambitious, just wants to be someone happy and lead a simple life.
Plot Summary
The Love Triangle: Fung-Lai-Wing
Like many other TVB serials, Lai and Wing began by not having a very nice impression of each other. However, Wing begins to notice Lai's kind nature and then sets out to pursue her. Lai finally accepts after some time, but their relationship is a rocky one. They constantly argue and Lai continuously feels stifled by Wing's stubborness and bluntness. Wing does not mean to hurt her feelings, but he just tends to say whatever is on his mind without noticing that he can offend her. In the relationship, Lai also feels constantly forced into doing certain things or thinking certain ways by Wing who is a perfectionist. Finally, unable to bear Wing's blunt and forceful pursuit of his opinions, Lai breaks up with him. At first believing that they still have a chance together, Wing begins to pursue her again. When he realizes that Lai was really unhappy in their relationship and that she is also unhappy when he is around, Wing decides to just care about her from a distance.
As Fung is Lai's supervisor, they develop a nice friendship. Lai finds that she is very comfortable around Fung, and gradually falls in love with him. However, even after Lai and Wing break up, Fung remains passive when Lai declares her feelings for him because he is best friends with Wing. However, Wing tells Fung that he will be fine if they get together, but Fung remains uncertain. However, when Ah Ting takes hostage of Lai in the last episode, Fung realizes her importance to him and they finally begin their relationship.
The Other Subplot: Ah Lan, Ah Ting, and Fung
Fung was ordered to be an undercover immediately after he was released from the police academy. He enters a triad gang headed by Ah Ting, and becomes friends with him. However, when the time came Fung was forced to arrest Ah Ting. Ah Ting, however, forgave Fung and asked him to take care of his girlfriend Ah Lan, which he does. 8 years later, Ah Ting is released from prison and promises Ah Lan that he will no longer join or head a gang because Ah Lan has never liked that life. However, Ah Ting's greed and temper leads him to head down the wrong path again, and upon finding out, Ah Lan decides to leave him. Ah Ting convinces Ah Lan to come to back to him again by telling her he really will change. In reality, Ah Ting has not, and in a desperate attempt to escape from his crimes in the last episode, he takes hostage of Lai and takes the cops on a boat and car chase. In the end, he is subdued when Ah Lan tells him that she will still wait for him when he goes to prison as long as he truly changes for the better.
Evaluation of the Characters & Performances
Roger Kwok as Fung
I've always liked Roger Kwok as an actor but unfortunately his character in this series is terribly boring to watch. The writers really wasted his talent by giving him such a painfully boring character to play. In addition, he lacks chemistry with Fennie and also doesn't look good with her. However, his friendship scenes with Chow and Wing are great. TVB has always incorporated strong and humorous friendships in their serials. Although this one was not half as great as some other ones that TVB has done, the friendship between the 3 cops was pretty entertaining at times. Anyhow, Roger Kwok's best scene was the one when he was forced to give up his son to his ex-wife and her husband for his son's sake- he simply breaks down in tears brilliantly. From then on (which is about episode 3?) he becomes just boring to watch, as I've said, more because of the character than the actor.
Fennie Yuen as Lai
I haven't seen Fennie in TVB serials for a long time, and I must say her comeback is a disappointment to me. The last time I saw her was in Food of Love with Wong Hei, where I relatively enjoyed her performance. However, in here her acting has deteriorated. She is virtually expressionless throughout the whole thing. The hospital scene where she breaks down in tears in front of Fung because she is in deep pain from her hip injury was a good opportunity to showcase some acting talent but Fennie's crying seemed forced and fake. There is also something annoying about the way she talks. I don't know how to describe it, but I think it has to do with the way she adds "ga" and "ga lor" at the end of her sentences (this is especially obvious in the scene where she confronts Fung about his feelings for her). Anyhow, a disappointment here. Her character was also terribly intolerant and cold towards Wing after they broke up; this really is uncalled for. Even though she was unhappy in the relationship, Wing was very caring and not pressing towards Lai after they break up, but Lai continues to push him away. This was an incredibly irritating part on the way Lai's character was written, and the major flaw for me is described in more detail in the "Major Complaints" section below. Finally, Fennie lacks chemistry and doesn't look good with either Nick or Roger- a bad casting decision in general.
Nick Cheung as Wing
I can honestly say that if it weren't for Nick Cheung's performance and character I would have stopped watching this series after the 5th or 6th episode. Wing is the ONLY interesting character in this series and Nick Cheung does a great job playing the blunt, demanding, and really irritating jerk and then turning into the less blunt, less demanding, and more caring man that he did. He's always been one of my favourite actors and I feel sorry for him that he got stuck with this series, because everyone and everything in this series except him are either boring, irritating, or just downright terrible.
Other Characters
The actors that played Ah Lan and Ah Ting were okay. Ho, Wing, and Ming were just boring. Yee was incredibly boring with her gossipy character in the show (plus, I don't like Tam Siu Lan). The child actor who played Roger's son is incredibly cute and did a very good job. Chan Chow and Yan were hilarious.
Major Complaints
1) Plot: The way the plot was written killed this series. First of all, it was boring- completely predictable. Other parts were lame, such as when Fung's son uses the princess-and-frog story to try and convince his dad to get together with Lai. Some parts just didn't make any sense. I got the sense that writers inserted certain parts that had nothing to do with the overall plot to fill time (like the court scene out of nowhere when some guy was accused of assault). The cases were boring and lacked continuity- the way they discovered the crime and then caught the criminals were completely uninteresting to watch.
2) Fennie's character: She really started to irritate me halfway through the series after she breaks up with Wing. The way she handled the breakup and set her eyes completely on Fung was incredibly immature. She didn't have to completely cut off Wing, not accepting the watch as a present and acting completely cold and indifferent towards him was just plain cruel. He already told her that he just wanted to be friends, but Lai was so convinced that he wanted something more that she treated him horribly. I actually blame Lai's attitude to be the sole cause of the semi-silent treatment that appeared between Fung and Wing near the end.
3) The ending: Who wrote this?! It was terrible, illogical, and predictable in a sense too. First of all, when Ah Lan was forced to tie up Fung and Wing she didn't even tie them up tightly! They could have gotten out of those ropes in like 20 seconds. And when Ah Ting forces Lai to get out of the getaway car at gunpoint, they're actually far enough from each other for Lai to make a run for it! As a policewoman, Lai should know that a gunman has only about 1/4 chance of hitting a running target. Also, there's like 1/10 chance that the gunman will hit a vital organ. Plain stupid. Finally, the part when Lai struggles with Ah Ting and then gets thrown over the dock and Fung lunges to hold onto her is also stupid. First of all, Lai is only 10 feet from the water- just drop her! Aren't policemen supposed to know how to swim!?
But of course there were some entertaining and good scenes to watch, despite the incredibly boring plot. Here are some:
1) When Fung breaks down in tears after leaving his son in the US with his ex-wife
2) Any scene with Fung and his son- that kid is very cute
3) When Wing gets together with Lai- very cute
4) The argument between Fung and Wing when Wing realizes that Lai loves Fung- great performance by Nick Cheung!
The Consensus
I would say don't bother because this plot is too boring. If you really have absolutely nothing to do then I guess it's okay to rent it and pass the time. But don't expect that this will be a well-written and well-produced TVB series about cops. Actually, I'd feel pretty confident in saying that this is the worst TVB series about cops and criminal cases that I've seen. Watch for Nick and the child actor who plays Fung's son, though.
Rating
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