The Gentle Crackdown [TVB]

Written by Joanne Lee

"I actually thought that when he (Moses Chan) did more serious scenes towards the end, he didn't do them nearly as well as he did the comedic scenes."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Cantonese Title
Sau Choi Yu Jeuk Bing

Released In
2005

Number of Episodes
20

Main Cast
Sui Dong Lau - Moses Chan Ho
Sup Yee Mui - Niki Chow Lai Kei
Sup Yee Ma - Michelle Yim (Mai Suet)
Si Kei Wong - Wayne Lai Yiu Cheung
Luk Sau Gu - Halina Tam Siu Wan
Cameo - Sun Bo Luk Jin - Yuen Wah

Summary
Sui Dong Lau (Moses) is the judge who wants to rid corruption from the small town that he presides over. He uses unorthodox methods to achieve his aims, causing constant friction between himself and Sup Yee Mui (Niki). Sup Yee Mui's mother Sup Yee Ma (Michelle) is an ex-outlaw, who settled down when she got married, and never told her daughter of her past. Sup Yee Ma is constantly following her daughter around to protect her without her daughter knowing - and eventually this leads her to get hurt and Sup Yee Mui finds out the truth. All is forgiven, and during the series, many cases are tried and some comedic storylines are shown throughout the series. Towards the end of the series, Fei Ying is framed for stealing a royal object and Sup Yee Mui (Niki) and Sui Dong Lau (Moses) work to clear her name.



Sui Dong Lau
He is the new judge in town, who gradually tries to rid the corruption in the government officials (constables, etc). He's very intelligent and quite scheming. He usually tricks people into giving in, sometimes without them realising it. He faints at the most appropriate of times, but he does grow alot more serious towards the end of the series.

Moses Chan as Sui Dong Lau
I always thought of Moses as a person who could only play serious characters in modern series. His performance in this series surprised me very much - I didn't think he could play comedy so well! He was hilarious as Dong Lau, and I actually thought that when he did more serious scenes towards the end, he didn't do them nearly as well as he did the comedic scenes. And I loved how he kept fainting - there'd be a close-up of his head, and then suddenly he just dropped out of the camera's sight.

Sup Yee Mui
She has always looked up to her father Luk Jin (Yuen Wah) who was a famous constable - but he had passed away when Sup Yee Mui was young. She was raised by her mother Sup Yee Ma (Michelle Yim), and despite the fact that all her colleagues are corrupt, she strongly believes in justice and doing the right thing. She's stubborn, and very honest - so much so that she often doesn't realise when she's being lied to or tricked. She likes to do what she wants, and often doesn't listen to reason. She thought that her kung fu was very almighty, but later learns that it wasn't as good as she thought.

Niki Chow as Sup Yee Mui
She has improved since Hard Fate, and I'm a little surprised she's been given a leading role so soon - but she handled it well. Her character was very cute and lost throughout, but at the end, Sup Yee Mui got irritatingly unreasonable, often putting others at risk just for a little revenge - she didn't look at the big picture. Of course this wasn't a fault of Niki's - She portrayed the character well.

Sup Yee Ma
She used to be an infamous outlaw (Robin Hood type), Fei Ying - but she met and fell in love with constable Luk Jin (Yuen Wah), settled down and raised Sup Yee Mui (Niki). She pretended to be a simple housewife who knew nothing. She had never told her daughter about her identity as Fei Ying, because she knew her daughter would be angry and upset to know that her mother was an outlaw. She often followed Sup Yee Mui around to protect her because she knew her daughter's overconfidence in her own kung fu could sometimes get her into trouble.

Michelle Yim as Sup Yee Ma
Easily my favourite character and actress in the series. I love how she gave up her previous life as an outlaw to get married and raise a family. Michelle was adequately serious when she needed to be, and funny and lost when she needed to be as well. I always laughed when she rolled her eyes or made faces at her daughter's overconfidence or her daughter's ignorance. I remember seeing an interview where Michelle said that she is enjoying doing wirework - it's great to see an actress who loves to do her own stunts. I'm happy she had quite alot of screen time too - when she played the younger version of herself in flashbacks, she looked convincing-Michelle looks at least ten years younger than she is!

Si Kei Wong
The judge's assistant, who disliked Sui Dong Lau (Moses) at first because he thinks that all judges are corrupt. He thinks that he does all the work for the judges but the judges reap all the rewards. His mother raised him on her own, and he is extremely obedient to her. He dislikes Luk Sau Gu (Halina) at first because he hates people who gamble too much, but he later helps her in getting her son back from her divorced husband, and they end up falling for each other.

Wayne Lai as Si Kei Wong
No complaints at all. Wayne is such a versatile actor, and this series didn't disprove that. His comedic scenes had such spark but when he had to talk about cases and be series, he was also fantastic.

Luk Sau Gu
She gets divorced by her husband, who won't give her or let her see their son without charging her money. Her lucky streak leads her to develop a gambling problem, and when she asks for money to see her son, everybody thinks that she wants the money to gamble with. When it is revealed that it really is for her son, Si Kei Wong (Wayne) helps her out and ends up falling in love.

Halina Tam as Luk Sau Gu
They made the character out to be abit oldish, but I thought Halina still looked young. She can play comedy quite well - but some of her serious scenes were a little stiff. And she can play hysterical quite well too!

Minor characters
There are other constables that are throughout the show, the four main ones being Mo, Si, Sung, Fei. (In Cantonese, these four words put together roughly means "Create trouble out of nothing". Mo's father was a colleague of Sup Yee Mui's (Niki) father, and when Mo's father passed away on the job, Sup Yee Mui's father (Yuen Wah) vowed to care for ah Mo. Sup Yee Ma (Michelle) has always lived up to the promise, so Mo lives and grew up with Sup Yee Mui. Mo, Si, Sung and Fei originally follow Yiu Gong (the head constable), who is extremely corrupt. Towards the end they follow Tong Bo Tau, who is anti-corruption. Siu Choon is Sui's (Moses) servant, who has quite abit of screen time.

Chemistry
I thought that basically all the actors/actresses seemed quite comfortable with each other. Moses and Niki were great as a crime fighting pair, and they were cute at the end too. Michelle and Moses were so funny when they knew about the Fei Ying secret, but they were still keeping it from Niki. Yuen Wah was only a cameo and only appeared in a few flashbacks, but I loved the flashbacks with Michelle - you could just feel the love! Mo Si Sung Fei worked together perfectly, always in the background. There basically wasn't anybody at all who didn't seem to fit in.

Comments
I didn't intend to watch this series, it didn't appeal to me too much, but when I heard the theme song I decided to watch a little of it - and I was hooked after the first episode. It's a very light hearted comedy, which turns into a drama towards the end of the series - whilst still maintaining some comedic scenes. I didn't like the ending at all - the last episode was a little anti-climatic, and I thought the very very last part was unnecessary - but I suppose it is hard to wrap up a comedy because they can't exactly kill off any characters to make it dramatic. The veteran actors and actresses really stood out, and it was basically a very enjoyable series.

Rating

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Unbearable Heights [TVB]

Written by Joanne Lee

"So basically I thought it was a pretty entertaining hour and a half. Of course I had minor complaints, but they weren't major enough for me to dislike this. The whole thing is pretty much centred on Maggie Siu, and I enjoy watching her."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Type
Telemovie

Released In
2003

Cast
Maggie Siu - Ada
Bowie Lam - Joe
Sonija Kwok - Kimmy
Michael Tong - Patrick

Outline
Ada (Maggie) and Kimmy (Sonija) are air-hostess', and Joe (Bowie) is a passenger in first class. Patrick (Michael) is a passenger too, but he is also Ada's boyfriend. Joe is born with the ability to see things (kind of like flashes of the future), and he keeps seeing things like the plane having a bomb, blowing up etc. Ada on the other hand, doesn't really believe in fate, but rather that everything is earned and controlled by the individual. Kimmy and Patrick had known each other before, but they never told Ada.

The plane is then hi-jacked by terrorists, (partly how Joe predicted) and the last half of the movie is all about how the terrorists couldn't come to an agreement from the US president, and therefore has to choose a person on the plane to die.

Basic Opinion
The whole thing was only 90 minutes, so there really wasn't much time for character development or anything in-depth with the characters. It was mainly the plot, and all these small sub-plots to do with all these other passengers on the plane.

The story was a pretty new idea (or at least I wouldn't have thought of it) but there were quite a few clichés in the sub-plots I thought. And then some of the sub-plots were just plain boring/annoying. But the main story basically kept my attention the whole time.

Complaints
Something that really got me confused was the flashes between reality, and what Joe (Bowie) was seeing in the future. They just kind of mingled together, and they were filmed exactly the same (i.e. there wasn't any kind of cloudy stuff over the shot or anything, like dream sequences usually are, or black and white like flashbacks). A few times, I didn't realise it was a flashback until a while afterwards!

The ending was too preachy. I realise that TVB is trying to send out a message, but it was way too outright. There were probably ways they could have been much more subtle about telling the public to be good people.

I heard TVB actually spent a lot of money on this, because they actually bought the plane to film in. But then it came across as a really low budget telemovie because the only setting that you ever saw was the inside of a plane, and a few computer generated shots of a plane flying in some thunderclouds. And the inside of a plane looks a bit bland after 90 minutes.

Other Stuff
I'm thinking that this is classified a drama, but there sure was alot of comedy in it. But the crying probably classifies it as a drama, and plus plane hi-jacking really isn't a funny thing. But when the telemovie first started out, it filmed the plane and passengers from outside the plane windows, and then it suddenly had a close up of Ada on all fours looking for something, with Kimmy's voice in the background asking "What's wrong Ada? Did you trip over?". And another part I found amusing was when Ada had a dream that she kissed Joe. There was a gradual close up on Maggie's face, and then a flash of what she saw in the dream, and suddenly Maggie wakes up, her face scrunches into a frown and she starts to spit and cough and wipe her mouth (she didn't like Bowie's character at the time).

So basically I thought it was a pretty entertaining hour and a half. Of course I had minor complaints, but they weren't major enough for me to dislike this. The whole thing is pretty much centred on Maggie Siu, and I enjoy watching her.

Oh and another bonus. You should watch this if you're a Sonija or Maggie fan, because I thought they were so pretty in the pink outfits. And Sonija's acting improved quite abit, I didn't think she could pull off a crying scene like she did.

By the way, Sonija used to be an air-hostess, so she said that filming this was just like being back in her old job again.

Rating

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Net Deception [TVB]

Written by Adelyn Lim

"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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Summer Heat [TVB]

Written by Funn Lim

"Maybe it would be a better twist if she realises she killed her own father and she vows to avenge her father's death by tracking herself down and putting herself into prison, or she will never rest because she knew she was the killer and she must be punished?? "

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Title Deciphered
This is one series with a very schizophrenic identity. The English title makes this series sound like some teeny bopper series set on some vacation island. The Chinese title, very very long title sounds like some comedy & ghost story. The themesong sounds more like to teenage love story in the light hearted sense. And the contents of this series are nothing of the above. In fact it began with an exploding yacht, a dead father and a grieving daughter looking for answers. You can say it is a thriller, but no where in the title, the themesong or even the trailer indicate that IT IS a thriller. I don't think the writer or even the director knew what to make of this series.

Released in
2004

Episodes
20

Cast
I can't remember any of the characters' names to tell you the truth which shows how unmemorable this series was. But I do know the actors. Surprising, usually second liners became leads in here, which shows how small a production this is.

Joyce Tang
Joe Ma
Mark Kwok
Margaret Chung
Kok Fung
Natalie Wong
Raymond Tso
Victoria Jolly
Law Kwoon Lan

And that is all I remember. The rest are faces you ALWAYS see but can't quite put the name to the face, or maybe it's just me.

Plot
Kok Fung apparently got blasted into smitherins when he was on top of the yacht. I think the daughter, Joyce witnessed it. And guess what? I already told you the ending! I am so so so sorry.

Anyway, they were in a small town. Joyce, a workaholic who has not really communicated or even spent time with her apparently dead father wanted to investigate who was responsible for this. In fact she wasn't convincedhe was dead when everybody in that town was. And again, I told you the ending!

Where was I? Oh yeah, blown to smitherins.

So grieving Joyce, very guilty that she hasn't spent time with daddy went about investigating with her detective boyfriend played by Mark Kwok. She suspected basically everyone except herself or her boyfriend and everyone seems to have a reason to kill this poor old man and then the reason turned out to be a fluke. Anyway, along the way she befriended the chief of the town, the ever sandles wearing, bermuda pants sporting Joe Ma with the messy surfer dude tan and hair. Slowly by slowly she began to accept that her father was dead, until Law Lan, the local "man mai" (don't know what you call that in English) saw the dead Kok Fung, as in his spirit. But that wasn't it, people argued she must have been very confused when she thought she saw who she saw. At the end of the day, apart from running around accusing everybody of either plotting to kill her father to having killed her father to wanting to marry her father to being proposed by her father to having affairs with other men thus plotting to kill her father, she finally fell in love with Joe and vice versa.

Then something really bad happened that may threaten her relationship with Joe and finally, we shall know did the father really really really died? Who wanted to kill him? Why this person wanted him dead? How the father solved his own mysterious death. And the biggest question of all; will Joe and Joyce EVER get together EVER again?

The Ending
Need I say anything more?

Oh yes, for one father didn't die, he pretended to die for reasons I absolutely do not care to know. It was Joe's mother's sister who wanted the father dead because she loved him, he loved the younger sister, and she ended up being carted off to an asylum. All along people thought she had a child and her husband died from some accident, when she never ever married and she concocted this story, thinking Joyce is her daughter and her father her husband. Of course she knew all was a lie, but she wanted to live in her own imagination. This was around the time when the father came back with Joyce who was a little girl, and she nearly killed Joyce by pushing her into the sea (which explains Joyce's immense fear of the sea) and then when Joyce went away, she dreamt this story about her happy family, I think. Frankly by that time I was numb with boredom. And the absolute end? Oh yes, Joe and Joyce did ended up together, sailing off into the sunset, literally..maybe no sunset but there was sailing.

Comments
I wrote a darn good review on this series some time ago and the story was I forgot to save it and kaboom! All info lost and here I am again, writing this review again, for this series I didn't quite care about for actors I didn't quite fancy in a series with a plot that really was heading nowhere because at the end of the day, all those speculations about how the father died, etc, all was pure nonsense because he didn't die.

OOPS! Did I just reveal the whole story to you? I am so sorry if I did but then by the 2nd episode you would know the father isn't dead yet because Kok Fung is playing the father. Too famous a name and he can't be dead! But to get to why her father hid himself was itself a tortorous affair.

For one, we have to watch how Joyce accusess everybody, and I meant EVERYBODY of killing her father, but of course to be fair, she accused one, found him innocent, then accused another, found her innocent and so on and so forth. Just because she saw Joe digging a hole, she immediately jumped to the conclusion he killed her father because Joe didn't like the father. Just because a singer had an accident crippling his arm which the singer blamed the father, Joyce immediately jumped to the conclusion the singer did the deed. Of course I must pause here; what has crippling an arm (and it is still attached to the body) got to do with the death of a singing career? More so when he didn't play any musical instrument? I wonder...

And then just because her father gave money to Natalie Wong, she immediately jumped to the conclusion her father was having an affair with Natalie, and just because Natalie was whispering to the singer, she thought they were having an affair and killed the father.

And she went about pointing fingers at everybody who is not the witness to the boating accident or who is not a witness to someone professing hatred for the father. At this point I was already wondering how come she suspected everybody EXCEPT herself? Maybe it would be a better twist if she realises she killed her own father an she vows to avenge her father's death by tracking herself down and putting herself into prison, or she will never rest because she knew she was the killer and she must be punished?? Silly? So was going around the town and accusing everybody and making enemies with everybody.

Of course we then found out SOMEHOW the father's life is connected to everybody, that everybody disliked him for some purpose and the father was secretly helping people who disliked him because he was a nice guy and he was like a benefactor. Then he didn't die, he came back and the dilemma then shifted to not who wanted to do him in but will the romance between Joe and Joyce ever be fruitful since the father was in love with Joe's mother and if they do marry, then Joyce and Joe will be like brother and sister. Cue, the lightning, thunder and the violin.

Guess what? Parents decided to be just friends and so dilemma solved. BUT no, not yet. More dilemma. Because neither could confess their love for one another, Joe finding out that Joyce has been offerred a high paying job, which was what this career minded woman always wanted and Joe wanted to sail the world in his yatch. So how now? Simple. Joyce saw his yatch sailing by from her office and she ran I think barefoot to the pier only to arrive to nothing and she was so sad and then quietly Joe appeared on his yatch. Amazing she didn't hear anything. Anyway, happy ending, dilemma solved.

And the point being? Maybe to show how a career minded woman regretted not knowing her father when she thought he died and then how she forsaked her career for the man she loved and the man likewise. But that is such a stretch because the entire series was about her pointing fingers, everybody having some dirty little secret which turned out to be not so dirty and the so called perfect ending.

This series in the end was as pointless as its characters, aimless as its story and confusing as its title.

But there must be something worthwhile about this series, there must be. The performances perhaps?

This series has the distinction of having Joyce Tang as a bona fide leading lady, no other leading ladies but just she in this series. And how did she do? I must admit, she looks gorgeous. And she does look like a strong willed career minded stuck up hoity toity type of woman until she begans to crumble emotionally and cry. I understand her character's grief but I do not understand why Joyce, everytime she cries she ends up mumbling a whole lot of script I couldn't hear and she always cries like a baby, like a baby throwing a tantrum and needed to be cooed to sleep again. Whenever she cries, irrespective of the fact that her character is a strong willed policewoman, career woman, cold hearted killer or tomboy, she always ends up looking and sounding like a big crying baby girl. It wouldn't be all that bad to have such a girly girl but the problem is she is supposed to be arrogant, stuck up, career minded strong willed woman. My only conclusion is her character is just a facade to the real her as in the character, someone emotionally vulnerable and weak in the face of a crisis. All her characters always ended up the same way. Maybe it is just Joyce Tang who is actually a very girly girl in real life. Asides from the fact that she is exceedingly pretty in here involved in some scantily clad scenes (as in when she was learning swimming but guys, no bikinis but still very hot looking by a woman's definition), her performance is like all her other performances. It simply doesn't help that her character is so single minded in annoying everybody, including the viewers with her incessant finger pointing and bursting into tears every 10 minutes or so, and the camera so intent in pushing the lens right up to her face, I can even see her flawless blushing skin right up close, and sometimes too close for comfort. It was to me an average performance.

Joe Ma was again the lead actor, only this time he is more like a surfing dude permanently on vacation on some beach resort because he was permanently dressed that way with his hair, looking like he just surfed and his body like he just went for some tanning. I have no complaints about the healthy surfing dude look nor the bermuda pants. But his acting is totally the usual. He fared better here because there isn't much drama, just look suspiscious, irritated, annoyed, relaxed, happy, cool, suspiscious of everybody else and well, just look the look. His character had little to do .. no no that would be unfair to say that he had little to do. More like running around the town with Joyce, trying to placate her from pointing fingers at everybody whilst he himself investigated the matter. And of course to fall in love with her. I find Joe Ma utterly boring when the entire series focus on him and when he is the lead actor. I find him interesting as a secondary side line actor, I find him quite captivating when on game shows but when the series concentrated on him, I find him simply uncaptivating, uninteresting and darn boring as an actor. He just didn't seem to exude the presence of a lead actor, or even having the charisma as one.

Mark Kwok was surprising in here in so far as his character not ended up being the jerk of all jerks. That is the only surprise this character has and this only proves how typecast this actor has been all these while.

Margaret Chung gave a surprisingly convincing performance as a young step mother who genuinely cared and loved her teenager step son. I find her relationship with the rebellious step son very heart warming because well, it's rare to have such a relationship and the woman genuinely cared for the son when she was not much older than he was. That to me is the only part worth watching.

The rest gave average performance for a series that is offering nothing new nor interesting.

Verdict
Avoid it like a plague, even if you love Joe Ma or Joyce Tang. It is simply a series about nothing much in particular except to fill in those time slots where there aren't any shows being shown.

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My Family [TVB]

Written by Bridget Au

"Kind of a minor rip-off of The Family Man , My Family plays like an afterschool special. Preaching family communication and the importance of having a good relationship with family members, the series is watchable yet unnecessary."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
Tim Suen Ye Ye ( Sweet & Sour Grandpa )

Released In
2005

# of episodes
20

Theme Song
Alex Fong

Cast
Ha Yu as Kit (father to Long, Hei, and Ching)
Chung King-Fai as Ye Ye
Rebecca Chan Sau Ju as Sin (mother to Long, Hei, and Ching)
Hawick Lau Hoi Wai as Freeman (Long)
Alex Fong Lik Sun as Ray (Hei)
Sam Chan Yu Sum as Kevin (Ching)
Shirley Yeung Si Kei as Miki
Belinda Hamnett as Akubi

Plot Summary
The Man family is headed by the paternal grandfather, Ye Ye, whose traditionalism and wisdom is rooted in his long-time career as a school principal. Ye Ye sets all the rules of the house, including the sons' curfews and what the family will have for dinner daily. Misunderstanding and miscommunication has created a tense relationship between Ye Ye and his son, Kit - the former has always been disappointed with Kit's carefree, undisciplined ways, while Kit has always resented his father's dominance within his own family.

The Man family also consists of three sons who enjoy an excellent relationship with the family despite their differing personalities. Oldest son Freeman is 25 and has a "my way or the highway" of doing things, not caring too much about anything in particular (he is neither sad or troubled when his longtime girlfriend dumps him) yet remaining very loyal to his family. After some family disputes, he finally chooses a career path that matches his personality: a singer in Hong Kong's notorious entertainment circle.

Middle son Ray is a fresh university graduate seeking a job. Possibly the most unselfish member of the family with the exception of the mother, Ray is also caring, filial, responsible and devoted. Extremely family-oriented, he often acts as the "middle man" in family disputes. Youngest son Kevin spends his days playing video games, begging for a new computer, breaking curfew, and barely passing his university courses. The three brothers get along extremely well despite their differences, and often team up to discuss family matters and problems.

Enter Miki. Outgoing, bubbly, and hardworking, she befriends Freeman and Ray under some peculiar circumstances. Working for Freeman's record company, Miki becomes his "boh moh" (a singer's personal assistant) although the two often butt heads. Ray falls in love with Miki after befriending her, and predictably, Freeman also falls for Miki. Although Freeman is the one Miki loves, their relationship is rocky due to the record company's disdain for singers dating assistants. There are also other problems.

Freeman and Ray engage in a classic 2-brothers-over-one-girl argument that is surprisingly affecting, concluding in an agreement that the "good man will win". In the end Freeman and Miki begin dating, but Freeman's carefree ways reveal that he is not a girlfriend kind of guy (i.e. non-committal). So they break up.

Meanwhile, tension is brewing between the father and grandfather. Ye Ye hands over the "man of the house" position the his son, who serves to turn the whole house around, claiming democracy in the family while imposing even harsher rules. In addition, Kit happens to be a monetarily petty man, and refuses to acknowledge that he has a lot to learn about his new role. Indeed, under his "leadership", both Ray and Kevin end up leaving home to live with the recently moved-out Freeman. The family remains somewhat intact due to the fact that Ye Ye has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, and then Ye Ye and Kit get kidnapped. Welcome to Hell.

Basically all of the family's problems come down to this kidnapping. Ye Ye and Kit have a heart-to-heart while they're in the kidnappers' hands, who in turn were smart enough to keep them in an apartment unit that is directly across from their home. The police and the rest of the family come save them. Cue happy happy ending.

Comments
Kind of a minor rip-off of The Family Man , My Family plays like an afterschool special. Preaching family communication and the importance of having a good relationship with family members, the series is watchable yet unnecessary. Let's start with the positive aspects.

Rebecca Chan. A veteran actress seen in many TVB series, she manages to portray a mother who is both authoritative and understanding. Very nice performance, a huge diversion from her role as the Empress in War & Beauty . Rebecca excels in both dramatic and comedic roles, she is proof that versatility will get you far in TVB.

Alex Fong. My Family is his first TVB acting job. He is 25, an average singer, and enjoys a squeaky clean image within Hong Kong's relentless, dog-eat-dog media. I like him here not because he is a good actor per se, but because his real-life sunny, positive demeanor translates onto the screen. As played by Alex Fong, Ray is giving, dedicated, and thus very easy to like. In fact, Alex Fong is a lot like Bernice Liu. Both are not-so-great actors, yet are very cute, very watchable, and very likeable. I can see why Alex Fong won a Best Newcomer Award for this role, although if acting was part of the criteria, the award should have been named Most Popular Newcomer or Most Welcome.

I never thought I'd say this, but Shirley Yeung is another reason this series is watchable. Before all you Shirley Yeung haters throw raw eggs and tomatoes at me, let me explain my logic. By no means am I saying she is a good actress. I have never been a fan nor a hater of Shirley. In fact, My Family is her first work I've seen. I have read nothing but attacks and criticisms, so I expected to start ranting about how she overacts and tries to be cutie cutie.

So why do I like Shirley in here? It is in part due to the character of Miki, a chipper, hardworking girl who is very believable yet not at all cartoonish (though I was hoping that Freeman and Ray would both kick her to the curb for her initial undecisiveness between the two brothers) I must give the actress some credit here because she is, after all, the one portraying Miki. Nonetheless, I do not see any real potential in Shirley and I can't really picture her delivering an engaging performance in any role beyond this one. She is simply a young girl playing a young girl, which is probably why she is so convincing.

Chung King-Fai. Like Shirley, an old man who plays an old man. Neither cartoonish, precarious, nor particularly engrossing, this never-seen-before actor delivers a quite ok performance as a grandfather who is trying to change with the times. Though there are times where my patience ran out with his delayed lines, this actor is quite adequate. However, like Shirley, I can't picture him in any other role besides that of Man Tai Loi. Of course, Chun Pui would be fabulous in this role.

The Man family dynamic. TVB's scriptwriters have always had a talent for portraying real, strong friendships ( Burning Flame I ) and family relationships, whether they be positive ( Triumph in the Skies ) or dysfunctional ( War & Beauty ). The Man family is yet another very watchable family whose everyday disputes are unexceptional yet still affecting. Of course, everything goes to hell when the father takes over as man of the house... which leads me to the bad stuff of this series.

The father, Kit. Oh my god he is annoying. The actor, the character, everything about this being on the screen just made me want to kick his bulgy-eyed face in. How can I summarize everything that's wrong with this guy? Let's start with the character. Kit is, pardon my language, a jackass. Cowardly, stingy, sleazy, and astonishingly dumb, he just refuses to grow up. Even after he is given the chance to play man of the house, he manages to make his own sons turn against him. He never seeks to communicate with or appreciate all his father has done for him (given, the latter hasn't done that great a job in the communication department either), and instead embarks on an almost maniacal journey to turn the Man family into a tyrannical household where no one has any say.

Then there is the actor, Ha Yu. So likeable as Ji's dopey father in AR IV, here he is annoyingly dopey. He provides little depth to perhaps the most potentially interesting character of the series. There are deep-rooted reasons as to why Kit is the way he is, but this actor gives an Kit irritatingly cartoonish demeanor that is inadequate and simply wrong for Kit.

Then there are the other bad performances. Notable ones come from the good-looking but charismatically challenged Hawick Lau, the irrelevant Sam Chan, and the two actresses who played Miki's friends, whoever they were.

Through the Grapevine
Cue drumroll... Alex Fong is dating Gillian Chung from Twins! Like anyone cares.

Consensus
I'd pass. My Family is nothing exceptional although it manages to wring some affecting moments out of its cheesy plot and actors. Fans of Alex Fong will enjoy this.

Rating

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