"To be honest, Jack Woo is the worst actor I've ever seen in TVB history. Apart from the fact that he looks young, fresh and good, he shouldn't even be onscreen, much less the lead actor."
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
Cast
Wong Hei - Yiu Shing Tin
Myolie Wu - Kong Kin Yee
Jack Woo - Tong Ka Ming
Eddie Kwan - Chong Chin Pang
Tiffany Lam - Erika
Year of Production
2004
Genre
Modern
Number of Episodes
20
Summary
Yiu Shing Tin is a computer expert who owns a cyber cafe cum game producing company. He is also a hacker on the sly.
Chong Chin Pang, a Commercial crimes Police inspector has already spent a few years on Tin's tail, trying to get evidence of his crimes but to no avail. Apparently, Tin has conflicts with Pang, not only legally, but also privately. It turns out that Pang has a comatose girlfriend, whom he believed was comatose because of Tin.
However, Tin has always been too quick for Pang, so the latter never had the opportunity to nab him.
Pang then decides to deploy an undercover cop in Tin's midst.
He employs a nearly expelled police trainee, Tong Ka Ming to do the job. Ming was almost expelled as he was caught hacking into the police computer system, trying to alter his friend's marks.
Ming takes up the job and ends up as a waiter in Tin's cyber cafe, much to the dismay of his family.
From there, he meets Kong Kin Yee, whom he has met on a few occasions before. Unknown to him, Yee is Tin's half sister. Even Tin himself does not know of her existence. Yee and Ming soon become fast friends.
Tin soon realises that Ming is a cop, but does not expose him. Instead, he convinces Ming that he indeed commits crimes, hoping that one day Ming may be persuaded to join the "dark" side.
Ming soon finds out Yee's identity but promises to keep it a secret, yet Pang causes him to reveal it to Tin unknowingly.
Tin is shocked and has mixed feelings. He hates Yee, yet wants to protect her.
Tin has a girlfriend, Erika, who is a spy from a fellow money launderer. Tin, though heartbroken, loves her very much.
Ming soon gets promoted to games designer and through Pang's urging, falls out with Yee.
Ming breaks up with his girlfriend, who is also his cousin. An incident with a molester causes Yee and Ming to start dating despite objections from Yee's friends as well as Ming's mother.
Things start to go well for them and Tin and his grandparents start to accept Yee.
Ming realises that Tin already knows his identity and panics. He soon suspects that Pang's grudge against Tin may be personal and becomes confused. Finally, he accepts Tin's invitation to join the cat-and-mouse game.
An illegal business strife causes Yee and her grandparents to be kidnapped. Both Tin and Ming are worried about their safety and decides to settle it in the illegal way, much to the Pang's displeasure.
Yee and her grandparents are saved but her grandmother soon dies, while her grandfather is soon diagnosed with dementia. Yee is heartbroken, while Tin is guilt stricken. Yee puts the blame on Tin and urges him not to commit more crimes, but Tin is determined to revenge his grandmother's death.
Pang fires Ming but the latter remains determined to get evidence of Tin's crimes.
Yee finds out Ming's real identity and is angry, yet he is the one who initiates the breakup.
Tin decides to sacrifice his own freedom to catch those involved in his grandparents' kidnapping. He tries to collerate with the police but Pang remains skeptical. Only Ming believes in letting Tin take the risk.
Yee is once again kidnapped when she tries to interfere. Tin goes alone to save her and is later accompanied by Ming. Yee is shot while trying to save Tin and becomes comatose, while Tin goes blind.
Tin regains his eyesight soon and Yee wakes up. The police manage to get evidence of a counterfeit gang and Tin surrenders himself to the police.
Yee begs Tin not to testify against Tin in court but to no avail. Tin gets a fifteen year sentence.
Yee goes to Australia to study law while Ming ends up being a commercial crime inspector. Erika waits for Tin and helps him run his cyber cafe. Tin does his PhD.
Yee returns to Hong Kong after four years and ends up as a prosecutor' assistant. Yee and Ming get back together while Tin and Erika get married behind bars.
My Opinion
Ok, the first thing I want to comment is that I love this serial. I am a sucker for serials where the cops are so utterly useless. Haha... From the moment I saw Wong Hei's character, Tin, driving the cops nuts, I knew I'll enjoy it. I absolutely loved Wong Hei's character, so cunning and oh, so clever. The crooks were so clever and the cops were so stupid, and never really improved their IQ even till the end. A real refreshing plot from TVB, after showing so many cop serials.
Wong Hei as Yiu Shing Tin
Deprived of a happy childhood, Tin grew up as an introvert. He is a computer designer by day, and hacker by night. Apart from computers, it seems that philosophy is his only obsession. He always tries to teach Ming abstract concepts, which Ming always fails to see. I guess he's either plain stubborn or merely stupid, because I myself actually found Tin's philosophical views rather logical. Like for example, he loves to stress that in this world, there is no black and white - only grey. Well, it is true, isn't it? No one can be totally good and no one can be totally bad. Another thing he loves to say is "Only stupid people will become a cop. Smart people become thieves." Haha. I like that one...
Despite being the bad guy and all, he genuinely cares for his loved ones. That I appreciate. I love the fact that he treats his grandparents so well, though I really detest the fact that the two old folks seemed to be like two young kids. Doesn't really make sense to me.
I would say Wong Hei was great here, so different from some of his rather comical roles in the past. He got the hardest role here because Tin is such a complex character. He tried to put on that mysterious and cunning look on his face throughout the entire series, which I find kind of appealing.
Wong Hei was also great in his grandmother's death scene. Devastation and guilty conscience was written all over his face. I particularly enjoyed that scene, not because I'm a sadist, but because I feel the actors, with the exception of Jack Woo, gave an adequate performance.
But honestly, I think I love Wong Hei better in this series than in any other series.
Great job!
Myolie Wu as Kong Kin Yee
Yee grew up with a single, lesbian mum and her lover. I think that's what they were right? Anyway, she knew right from the beginning who she was, who her father was. No secrets hidden by her mum. She was Yiu Kin Yee, and her brother was Yiu Shing Tin. And she knew she had a duty to perform. Her mother had broken up a happy family, and she was there to put it all right again. So with her funny hairstyle and all, she went to work in her brother's cyber cafe where she met Tong Kar Ming, an undercover. So from there she tried to start a romance with him, as well as try to earn her brother's forgiveness. Well, in the end, she succeeded with both.
Honestly, the more I watch Myolie, the more I come to appreciate her acting. She isn't drop-dead gorgeous, but she does have adequate acting abilities unlike some of the other new young artistes. Myolie had taken the backseat in the past, while people like Michelle Ye took the lead in Eternal Happiness. But Myolie has proven herself to be able to handle a lead role even better than Michelle.
Jack Woo as Tong Ka Ming
Tong Ka Ming is your average Joe. He grew up in a regular family - a mother, father, aunt and cousin. So like a normal boy-next-door, he dated his cousin, who happened to be his neighbour too. He applied and got into his dream job, to be a cop. But because of his kind passionate little heart, he hacked into the police computer system and altered his friend's marks. It was the same friend who conveniently disappeared from the picture even when Ming was facing expulsion. Where was he to defend Ming and own up saying yes, it was me he was trying to save, so get rid of me, not him...
So anyway, Ming got himself expelled, nearly. Luckily for him, he met Inspector Chong Chin Pang. Pang invited him to be an undercover to find evidence to nail Tin. Through this experience, Ming learnt to deal with the conflicts between law and ethics, finally making friends with both Tin and Pang, and falling in love with Kin Yee.
To be honest, Jack Woo is the worst actor I've ever seen in TVB history. Apart from the fact that he looks young, fresh and good, he shouldn't even be onscreen, much less the lead actor. He has no facial expression whatsoever. No matter whether he was suppose to act happy, sad, shocked, he simply never showed it at all. This is not even lousy acting. It isn't even acting at all. It's just regurgitating the script. He should go for acting classes first. Why in the world did TVB cast him as the main lead? Why not Raymond Lam? Even Ron or Bosco may have been a better choice.
I-Don't-Get-It
As the heading implies, I just don't get it. What did Ming do actually to receive so much praise at the end of the series? Pang claimed that Ming was a good cop, much better than what he would ever be. Well, if Pang can be considered a darn good cop, then I guess Ming is a great one… but actually, neither one did much. If you actually notice, none of the cops actually achieved much at the end. I mean, Pang had been going on for years but never got to catch Tin. In fact, I've never even seen them catch a crook based on their own ability and without the help of Tin. Ming never did achieve anything too. He didn't find evidence against Tin, it was Tin who surrendered himself to the police. He acted like a fool from the beginning to end. The only thing Ming did was to make a good judgment by trusting Tin at the end. So why was he praised to sky high?
Rating
I would have given the series a 4.5 if not for Jack's lousy acting. Apart from that, I was impressed with both Wong Hei and Myolie's performance, as well as the refreshing plot.
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