The Dance of Passion [TVB]

Written by Joanne Lee

"On the whole, this is definitely a series I recommend, but not if you only like light hearted stuff because this definitely is not in that category."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Cantonese Name
For Mo Wong Sah

Number of Episodes
32

Main Cast
Bowie Lam Bo Yee – Yim Man Hei
Moses Chan Ho – Sung Dong Sing
Ada Choi Siu Fun – Jiu Yuk
Gigi Lai Ji – Gai Ming Fung
Charmaine Sheh Si Man – Ga Chun Fun
Maggie Shiu Mei Kei – Long Yuet
Kenny Wong Dak Bun – Sung Dong Yeung
Chan Hung Lit – Mao To
Chung King Fai – Yim Kwok Yip
Helen Ma Hoi Lun – Gwai Laan
Catherine Chow Ka Yee – Mao Siu Kam
Vince Wong Yin Ji – Yim Man Tin
Rebecca Chan Sau Ju – Yim Siu Hung

Summary
Set in the early-mid nineteen hundreds, Yim Ga Po is a small village in China, ruled by the Yim family (mainly Yim Man Hei (Bowie)). The Sung family also occupies the village, and they are essentially viewed by the Yim family as lazy and useless – but because the Yim family was aided by the Sung family many generations ago, the Yim family is bound by their ancestor’s wishes to always live in peace with the Sung family.

The plot is long and intricate, with many twists along the way, but the general theme is murder, revenge, climbing up the ladder of power, etc. The relationships between characters is just as complex as the plot, and so often you’re left wondering whether one character hates another or in actual fact loves them.

Much of the cast were also in War and Beauty, and comparisons were made even before filming began. The notable additions to Dance of Passion were Ada Choi and Maggie Shiu, and the absentees were Sheren Teng and Maggie Cheung HY. Personally, I really enjoyed Dance of Passion, more so than War and Beauty, although the latter achieved much higher ratings.

Acting / Characters
Yim Man Hei / Bowie Lam
At first you hate the Man Hei, and then as you watch further into the series, you almost feel bad for him because he tries so hard to help out Jiu Yuk out of the guilt of killing her son. The change seemed almost too fast – to go from a brutal heartless man to a caring and understanding one in such a short time. Bowie has always been a steady actor, and rarely will you see him give a bad performance. This was no exception – but it was rather unspectacular. Perhaps having seen him portraying this type of character before, his performance just comes as nothing really special.

Sung Dong Sing / Moses Chan
I found Dong Sing to be quite irritating on the whole. It was so often that he was stubborn and selfish, which caused trouble for those around him. He had heaps of chemistry with Charmaine, but their whole relationship just seemed so cliché that it just didn’t really manage to grab my attention. As a person, Moses seems like a really nice guy and I quite like watching him, but there’s something about the way he pronounces his words that sounds really unnatural. It’s almost as if he’s being over-careful with his pronunciation to make sure every word is clear, and it just ends up sounding weird.

Jiu Yuk / Ada Choi
Jiu Yuk was definitely one of my favourite characters. She had so many different faces, yet you could still see where her motives were for each one. She lived her life for her son, and after he was gone, she just felt like she had nothing left (although that child’s lack of acting ability made it hard for me to like him much). A very intelligent woman, she was quite cunning, but you could almost feel sorry for her because she hadn’t had a comfortable life at all. Ada would definitely not have been my first choice of casting, and I was very surprised when I first heard that she was cast as such a mature character. I had doubts that she could pull it off, but I thought she did a fabulous job. She gave off a very strong air of authority, and the way that she delivered her lines sounded suitably calm and steady. Unlike Charmaine who has played similar types of characters to Chun Fun in other series, I’ve never seen Ada as a character like Jiu Yuk, so it really made it a fresh experience.

Gai Ming Fung / Gigi Lai
Another character I found irritating. She was so stubborn in her ways, and her “friendship” with Chun Fun (Charmaine) seemed to revolve around Ming Fung telling Chun Fun how to live her life. Ming Fung always thought that Chun Fun was hard done by, but if Chun Fun was happy to live that way for the sake of causing no trouble, why didn’t Ming Fung just let her be? She seemed to think that being outspoken automatically made her correct, and biting your tongue in any situation meant weakness, even if that were really the appropriate action to be taken. She did learn to bite her tongue in the end, which was good, but it still didn’t make the character likeable for me. I’ve never particularly liked Gigi, but she was good as Ming Fung, she seemed very comfortable. Too bad I just hated the character too much to really enjoy the performance.

Ga Chun Fun / Charmaine Sheh
Most of the characters that Charmaine has portrayed in her career must be the same as Chun Fun. It is nothing new, it is nothing special. Chun Fun was timid and sweet, and written to be likeable. Charmaine was sweet, but it’s been done many times before so it wasn’t too exciting.

Long Yuet / Maggie Shiu
Long Yuet was another one of my favourites. She started out as a quiet, loving wife, and gradually (or maybe not so gradually) turned to the dark side. Her first evil deed was the killing of Gwai Lan (Helen Ma), which was to protect her beloved husband from finding out what his father was really like. And afterward, when she confessed to Jiu Yuk (Ada), she was crying uncontrollably and seemed very remorseful. After that, she seemed to go evil again and it just got worse and worse, until her very end. Which was so incredibly anti-climatic, and did no justice to her character. Maggie was very believable as the quiet wife, and she was believably mean as the demanding wife towards the end. Her crying scenes were fabulous and as always, she acts out so much with her eyes. I was surprised she was cast as a character that was meant to be kind of young, but she sure looks the part so it wasn’t a problem. She had heaps of chemistry with Kenny too.

Sung Dong Yeung / Kenny Wong
Dong Yeung’s stupidity could be so grating, but he was just a man who wanted a simple life and couldn’t understand all the politics behind everything. You had to feel sorry for him when he was being lied to or used, but his drinking and everything at the end was pretty stupid. Kenny is an actor I’ve always liked watching, despite only getting small roles in past series. I was very surprised to see his name in such a strong cast, and the opportunity has obviously done him a world of good considering how much more exposure he’s had since the series aired. I’m looking forward to seeing more screen time for him in the future.

Supporting Cast
These characters may not have had much screen time, and the actors are unlikely to have a huge fan base, but I thought it’d be appropriate to write about them anyway, and individually too, because they were all pretty good and very integral to the series.

Mao To / Chan Hung Lit
Chan Hung Lit was dressed so differently that he was almost unrecognizable – until you heard him speak. Mao To wasn’t a particularly exciting character, but I don’t think he was supposed to be. He did serve as somebody who Dong Sing (Moses) could talk to, and somebody who would give him advice, of which he rarely seemed to listen to.

Yim Kwok Yip / Chung King Fai
Not much screen time, but enough to make his presence felt. He matched Bowie quite well as father and son. Maybe because of his theatre background, Chung King Fai just speaks in a way that seems uncomfortable on television. The pauses are too long, and in odd places. It’s even stranger in modern series though.

Gwai Lan / Helen Ma
She was good as Gwai Lan, but I was surprised she got nailed so early in the series. I think it may have been around episode 9, so it wasn’t even a third of the way through. Anyway, she served as the evil influence early on, but when she resigned to forgetting revenge and resting, she got rested for good which I suppose was karma.

Mao Siu Kam / Catherine Chow
Siu Kam wasn’t likeable at all, but Catherine Chow was good. I applaud her for playing an “ugly” character too. I’d never noticed Catherine before, but since watching DOP, I’ve noticed her in quite a few older series.

Yim Man Tin / Vince Wong
Not a difficult character to play, so Vince did well, and he most definitely looked the part too. Yim Man Tin was a nice, helpful, quiet, but cowardly man, however he was likeable enough.

Yim Siu Hung / Rebecca Chan
Yim Siu Hung was the auntie of Man Hei (Bowie), meaning his father’s sister. His father had pushed her down the stairs, causing Siu Hung to spend her life in a wheel chair as a vegetable. Rebecca Chan has usually had bigger parts in series, and even if she was just a guest character, she’d have plenty of lines. I kept expecting her to suddenly start moving and talking, and it just never happened. Her facial expressions were good, but other than that she didn’t do anything else, literally.

Chemistry
Bowie and Ada
They didn’t get the joint storyline until nearer the end, and by then, Ada was trying to get revenge for her son’s death. The very end part where they’re about to be punished and they run away, is very touching. They matched quite well, despite never being a total ‘couple’.

Bowie and Gigi
Maybe because I found her character to be so cold, I never really felt the passion between these two. It was acceptable, but I wasn’t moved.

Moses and Charmaine
Great chemistry, but clichéd romance. They go together well, and you can feel the love.

Maggie and Kenny
They were lovely. You could feel how caring they were towards each other at the beginning, and when he found out she was pregnant, he drank himself to a stupor which was silly, but it meant he kind of felt he had let her down over the whole impotence thing. The ending was sweet, how he dreamt about their happier times together.

Gigi and Charmaine
Again, it was hard to feel the friendship with Gigi’s character there. It was nice to see that not everybody was trying to kill everybody else though.

Moses and Kenny
They were really good together, two rough boys who were the best of friends. I found their friendship much more genuine than the one shared between Gigi and Charmaine’s characters.

Ending
I liked it. Despite a lot of people saying it spoilt the whole thing, I thought it was appropriate. Despite my favourite characters all dying, the way that Jiu Yuk (Ada) had sacrificed herself was really effective, especially when Bowie (and the viewers) all thought that Ada came out of it alive and was caring for Bowie. I thought the very very end was unnecessary though – the part where the older Chun Fun walks through Yim Ga Po and sees all the other characters, back when they were living happily. It was great to finish with seeing my favourites alive again though.

I didn’t like the ending for Maggie and Kenny’s characters. It was just so anti-climatic, so nothing. Especially Kenny, who burnt his field and told Moses that he was going to keep going forward, run and keep running…and then he just ran away. And that was it. And it was a whole 3 episodes from the finale too.

Themesongs
I’m not a fan of Bowie’s singing, but the song did grow on me. I particularly like how it starts off as a three beat tune, and then goes off into a four beat when it gets more dramatic. The sub theme by Charmaine grew on me too, although I still don’t like her voice. The song itself is very lovely though.

Overall
I really enjoyed this series, despite there seeming to be quite a lot of negativity from viewers. It didn’t live up to the expectations that was placed onto it, which I thought were too high anyway. The plot got a little too complex in the middle, but other than that, I thought it flowed quite well. There were people complaining about it being too “yellow” – I don’t see why. It was set in a desert landscape, were they expecting it to be pink? The color went well with the atmosphere. On the whole, this is definitely a series I’d recommend, but not if you only like light hearted stuff because this definitely isn’t in that category.

Rating

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The Dance of Passion [TVB]

Written by Bridget Au

"Although the desert and mountain terrain is breathtaking at first glance, the series is eternally stuck in its yellowish background that gets very tiresome on the eyes. Trust me, by the 15th episode I thought I be getting jaundice. "

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
"For Moh Wong Sah" (literally translates to fire dance yellow sand)

No. of episodes
32

Year
2006

Cast
Ada Choi Siu Fun as Jiu Yook
Bowie Lam Bo Yee as Yim Man Hei
Gigi Lai Zhi as Kai Ming Fung
Moses Chan Ho as Sung Dong Sing
Kenny Wong Tak Bun as Sung Dong Yeung
Charmaine Sheh Si Maan as Ka Chun Fun
Maggie Siu Mei Kei as Long Yuet
Chung King Fai as Yim Lo Ye (father to Man Hei)
Chan Hung Lit as Uncle Ma
Chow Ka Yee as Siu Kam
Rebecca Chan Sau Yu as Siu Hung (aunt to Man Hei)

Foreword
Dubbed ‘War and Beauty II’ by some due to the reappearance of more than half of its cast, I would consider DOP to be an equally good, if not better, TVB series. I've been waiting and waiting for TVB to return to its days of writing a script consisting of strong characters, secrets, lies, revenge, and hypocrisy and The Dance of Passion gives me all of that. An exceptionally well-acted, compelling series. Highly recommended.

Quick Summary
Northwestern China, 1930’s. Yim Ka Po is a remote desert village located somewhere in northwestern China. It is a village inhabited by two families battling in a power struggle, the ruling Yim family and the more or less useless, gambling Sung family. The Yim tribe is headed by Yim Man Hei, a ruthless, deaf man and the Sung tribe is headed by Jiu Yook, the intelligent widow of the former Sung leader.

Their lives are governed by their traditional emphasis on the purity and ‘honour’ of the women in the village, with any kind of destruction of a woman’s honour having the power to bring the entire tribe down. This creates both internal and external tension within the village, with both families engaged in a cat-and-mouse game to reveal any suspicious activity concerning the women of the village. The women, in turn, rise above their suffering in an effort for self-preservation, sometimes befriending each other for support (Ming Fun and Chun Fun) and at other times turning against each other in the worst of ways (Long Yuet and Kwai Lan).

The tension and drama all culminate in one of the most ridiculous endings in TVB history, which all but destroy the credibility of this series. You really have to see the ending for yourself because it is so hilariously out of place that I am pulling my hair out just thinking about it. I’m still mad about the ending. Anyway, for those of you who want to know who dies, here’s the list – Jiu Yook, Jiu Yook’s son Dong Hiu, Kwai Lan, and Bowie becomes blind too.

On Acting
Ada Choi was just weird. Usually she plays two kinds of characters. Type 1 is playful, young, and ever-energetic (Armed Reaction IV, Healing Hands I-II, Files of Justice), Type 2 is ladylike, gentle, and intelligent (Where the Legend Begins)… and as a person, Ada comes off as girly, friendly, and genuine. Jiu Yook is none of those things. She is young in age, but old in the sense that she has a high social status and is also a mother. She is calculative and yet everything she did (bad or good) was motivated by one thing only: her beloved son, so in that sense she is compassionate and does have a heart. While Ada did a fine job portraying the many facets of Jiu Yook, including her transformation to the mellow, I-live-for-nothing-now-that-my-son-is-dead woman… there is something that isn’t quite right with her. It could have been a breakthrough role, but in my opinion Ada was wrongly cast.

Gigi Lai’s performance gave me the shock of my life. She has never been on the top of my 'Actress to Watch' list, especially after her horribly overrated and overacting performance in War and Beauty. She's a sweet girl in real life, but she is one of TVB's ugliest criers (along with Flora Chan, Yoyo Mung, and Tavia Yeung). Thank goodness she only has one or two short crying scenes in DOP. In fact, she is exceptional in here and I commend this series for changing my opinion of her. Kai Ming Fung was my favourite character of this series, and Gigi gave her depth, strength, intelligence, and plenty of personality. Dare I say, she delivers the series' strongest female performance.

Charmaine Sheh is in her 700th role as the weak, quiet waif and delivers nothing extraordinary. With that said, she has surprisingly excellent chemistry with Moses Chan and her friendship chemistry with Gigi Lai (who her character rivalled in W&B) is equally phenomenal. There are times when she whines too much as Chun Fun, but in general she gains the audience’s sympathy with her character’s many troubles.

I have never really liked Maggie Siu, probably because she often plays icy characters (Healing Hands, At the Threshold of an Era) and even comes off as cold and unfriendly in real life. But I felt she gave a very nice performance here as the gentle, devoted wife Long Yuet. She was equally good when her character became a little stronger and smarter when she had to take over the family's leadership role. Good chemistry with Kenny Wong too.

Kenny Wong, the least well-known member of the main cast, gives an average performance of a useless man. Not great, but adequate. But I have two words for him: Button up. No one needs to see your bare chest for more than one episode, thanks.

Bowie Lam was excellent as usual. His performance was somewhat overshadowed by other actors whose performances improved so much in this series from past performances (Gigi Lai, Moses Chan, Maggie Siu, even Charmaine Sheh). Bowie, on the other hand, is consistently excellent. In particular, he made a very convincing deaf man who spent much of his life concealing the fact that he was deaf. He also has great chemistry with the entire cast.

Moses Chan was a shocker too. I have never liked him in drama, but here he proves that he has improved a lot. He made a lovely couple with Charmaine Sheh’s Chun Fun and achieves a remarkable balance between controlled emotion and explosive anger as Dong Yeung that I can only describe as shocking. I guess this series proves that many in TVB can act, as long as they’re in the right role.

Ke-le-fe nominated for Most Improved Actress Chow Ka Yee was wonderful as Siu Kam. Her performance was impressive simply because she was able to effectively emote even though she was behind a scarf 90% of the time. The older actress who plays Kwai Laan was also really good. Chan Hung Lit’s accent is annoying as hell but he is one competent veteran actor and this series proves is once again.

The one glaringly bad performance in this series comes from Chung King Fai, who plays Yim Lo Ye. A true pity because he is the oldest actor (and supposedly the veteran one of the cast). Why was he so awful? Because he seemed like a jolly old man, like Santa Claus almost. Yim Lo Ye is supposed to be cold, calculative, and unbelievably chauvinistic, but I see no sign of that kind of sinister intelligence in Chung King Fai's performance. I can only imagine what Lo Hoi Pang would have done with this role. There is also something wrong with the way Chung talks, like his speech is rhythmically wrong. I can’t quite explain it. Basically when he talks there are unnatural pauses and he also speaks way too slowly – by the end of his sentences my eyes have already glazed over! Rebecca Chan's totally blank expression as his mentally disabled sister was more interesting to watch.

On Characters
Favourite Character
Kai Ming Fung. A strong woman who was truly in love with her husband and did everything in her power to protect him.

Favourite Couple
I do like Ming Fung and Man Hei, no matter how badly Man Hei treated her. I also liked Long Yuet and Dong Yeung at the beginning of the series. Dong Sing and Chun Fun were fine but too predictable.

Most Useless
A toss-up between Sung Dong Yeung and Yim Man Tin. Sung Dong Yeung was rash, impulsive, and unable to protect his family – he’s like a cow, all strength and no intelligence. Man Tin was basically a dog to his father, obedient with no mind of his own, except his lovesick obsession with Ming Fung, who he earlier abandoned because he was such a coward.

Greatest Transformation
Long Yuet. Though Jiu Yook could also take this award, her transformation was reasonable, because she lost the one motivation she had, her son. Long Yuet, on the other hand, suddenly became a more manipulative, cunning, and cold person for her family’s interests, while her love for her husband (which is what drove her at the beginning) somewhat dimmed at the end. I blame the writers.

Most Pitiful
Nope, not Chun Fun, who many a time whined about how everyone connected to her is ultimately doomed. Not Ming Fung, who was raped by Man Hei. Not Jiu Yook for being married at a young age. I thought the most pitiful was Kwai Lan, who was not only raped by her master but became pregnant, then suffering from illness when her fetus died and was never removed from her stomach, and then ultimately murdered (by Long Yuet, of all people). Or maybe Dong Hiu, Jiu Yook’s young son who was accidentally shot and killed by Man Hei.


Best Scenes
Plenty.

When Ming Fung confronts Man Hei about her will to leave and how she will do anything to leave: “If you don’t let me leave I will continue to do everything in my power to do so. One day passes and I will burn down your house. Another day passes and I will burn down your business. As long as I am your wife, I will be against you”.

Whenever the two families meet to discuss various issues. Enormous tension and amazing acting by some of the veterans.

When Ming Fung discovers that her aunt-in-law (Rebecca Chan) isn’t actually mentally disabled. Only an actress of Chan’s calibre can convey so convincingly without uttering a single word.

Things That Make You Go “Huh?”
How Ming Fung ended up falling in love with Man Hei. She had always been against her arranged marriage and loathed the man, and then he ended up raping her as well. What woman in her right mind would end up falling in love with a man you already hated and then raped you as well? Totally illogical.

Same goes for Chun Fun. In a sense Dong Sing raped her as well because Chun Fun thought she was sleeping with Dong Yeung. How on earth did she end up falling in love with Dong Sing?

Did Man Hei actually love Jiu Yook or was he just regretful about accidentally killing her son? I suspect he did love her for some time but then realized that Ming Fung was the woman for him.

Criticisms
There are some negative reviews out there about this series, and also websites and media reporting that this series started out with high ratings and then declined in popularity as the drama went on. Although personally I highly enjoyed this series, I can understand why the ratings dropped so drastically over time. Here are the three main criticisms I have with this series.

Cinematography. Although the desert and mountain terrain is breathtaking at first glance, the series is eternally stuck in its yellowish background that gets very tiresome on the eyes. Trust me, by the 15th episode I thought I’d be getting jaundice.

The premise of the series can really turn off modern audiences in this day and age where La Femme Desperado wins the TVB award for Best Series, I’m pretty sure many people feel disgusted by how much women suffered in the storyline of this series. I know I was one of the ones who were pretty sickened by it. While War and Beauty was adored for its presentation of women as strong, intelligent, and powerful figures, I figure that you have to see this series as entertainment and not get so caught up in the whole ‘omigod I can’t believe they treat women this way’ social aspect in order to enjoy this drama for what it is – good writing, good direction, good acting

The ending. I praised the writers of War and Beauty for giving us an unconventional yet fitting ending, and I condemn the writers of The Dance of Passion for ruining the previous excellent 31 episodes with the final 10 minutes of the drama where they unsuccessfully attempted to ‘connect’ the ancient element of this series to the present day with scenes of tourists in the modern age visiting and taking photos of the village. This, along with the scene of an old granny who looked nothing like Charmaine Sheh grinning from ear to ear as she spotted the aged Moses Chan in the crowd was supposed to be touching, but I laughed.

Rating


Through the Grapevine
I watched an interview with the cast members shortly after I watched this series. Some interesting discoveries (voted by cast members): Gigi was the pickiest member of the cast and has a long list of phobias including heights, bugs, and germs. She also packed so much for filming that she exceeded the travel limit. Bowie was voted the most caring cast member: he bought down jackets for the entire cast as well as the filming crew. Moses Chan and surprisingly Charmaine Sheh were voted most able to withstand the tough conditions of the desert setting (including sand blowing everywhere, a mini tornado during filming and getting stuck in a well for hours to film one of their love scenes).

This series was nominated for a slew of TVB Awards including Best Series, Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actress/Actor, and Most Improved Actress. Kenny Wong won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as Dong Yeung in this series.

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La Femme Desperado [TVB]

Written by Bridget Au

"At first glance it seems TVB has hit the nail in terms of presenting a gender-swap, socially aware series but with a closer look, you will realize that LFD only scrapes the surface. A major problem is that it does not delve deep enough to examine the roots of the gender issues it presents."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
"Lui Yan Mm Yee Jo" (translates to it's not easy being a woman)

Year
2006

No. of episodes
22

Cast
Michelle Ng Mei Hang as Ko Ji Ling (Ling)
Raymond Lam Fung as Chai Foon (Siu Chai)
Sheren Tang Sui Man as Hilda
Michael Tse Tin Wah as Man King Leung (Man)
Kenneth Ma Kwok Ming as Ko Ji Lik (Lik)
Kate Tsui as Hoi Suen (Ida)
Cindy Au Sin Yee as Crystal
Tsang Wai Kuen as Pluto
Jacqueline Wu as Venus
Mary Hon Ma Lei as Siu Chai's mother
Tiffany Tse as Wing Yee (niece to Siu Chai)
Leung Ka Yan as Ling's father

Foreword
This series received very high ratings as soon as it was released. The great cast is one of the reasons, but the main reason is this series' attempt to present a very refreshing look at gender roles and stereotypes. As soon as I watched how Hilda (Sheren Tang) taught Ling (Michelle Ng) how to choose and wear a bra in the first episode, I knew this series would be different. Though the plot kind of gets lost towards the end, it is in general a well-written story with strong, complex characters and one of the wittiest, knock-down-stereotypes scripts of all time... in TVB terms, at least.

Quick Summary
The story revolves four main characters, two women (one strong, career-minded one, and one weak, traditional one) and two men (one scumbag-turned-good-father, and one juvenile-turned-man). Hilda, the strong and ambitious woman, is determined to prove that women can succeed in a corporate world dominated by men. She was once deeply hurt by an ex-boyfriend, so she doesn't trust men at all. When she meets the weak, traditional, dominated-by-her-husband Ling, she takes her under her wing and tries to instill confidence and power in her. The two become best friends, but their friendship is tried several times due to numerous events.

Though Ling slowly gains self-esteem, she remains very much the traditional-minded woman, and when Siu Chai, a fitness trainer 7 years her junior, professes his undying love for her, she has trouble reconciling her feelings for him and her worries about how society will view their relationship. However, the immature Siu Chai throws caution to the wind and convinces Ling to marry him without her chauvinistic family's approval first. This causes a lot of friction among the in-laws, with Siu Chai's family also against their marriage. Eventually the stress and a lack of communication separates the two and they divorce, but eventually get back together.

Surprisingly, and probably unintentionally on behalf of the writers, the more interesting relationship of the series is between Hilda and Man. The two have a one-night stand, and Hilda becomes pregnant. However, untrusting of any man and particularly the loser Man, Hilda doesn't tell Man she’s pregnant with his child. Instead, Man requests that he become the surrogate father to her unborn child, and is willing to uphold any responsibility for a little girl that he doesn’t know is his biological child. What follows is a series of touching scenes showing Man’s devotion to his new ‘family’, but Hilda is afraid of becoming hurt again and pushes him away. However, when she realizes that Man truly cares about her and her daughter, she lets him back into her life.

Evaluation of Cast and Characters
Melissa Ng / Ko Ji Ling
A pathetic character and mediocre performance. Some people may feel sorry for Ling since she was so weak and prone to being bullied by others, but if you look carefully, Ling isn't that pitiful, or more precisely, she really doesn't deserve anyone to feel sorry for her. There's an inherent flaw in each of the characters in this series... for Ling, it's found in the friendship between her and Hilda. On the surface she refers to Hilda as her sister, but so many things in this series show how the two women really aren't that close at all. On Ling's behalf, she is always ready to betray Hilda when someone badmouths her. For example, when Pluto's wife Venus tells Ling that Hilda is her husband's mistress, Ling schemes with Jackie to bring about Hilda's career downfall, without even consulting or asking Hilda for her side of the story.

Then the actress. To be honest, I find Melissa Ng boring. She doesn't have enough screen presence to be a lead actress although she does well in supporting roles, like Michelle Yip. Michelle is pretty and even classy, she does very well in supporting roles (her cameo in Hard Fate, for example) but when she takes on a lead role (ex. Triumph in the Skies, Eternal Happiness) she loses her charisma and her emotional scenes don't register with me. Melissa is the same. I find her emotional scenes inadequate, although she does have chemistry with Raymond Lam and she looks quite pretty here. But basically I find her boring. The series would have been more interesting if she and Sheren Tang switched roles so that they could both play against-type, but I'm laughing at the prospect of watching Sheren Tang and Raymond Lam together...though I have no idea why.

Sheren Tang / Hilda
The powerful, hardworking, ambitious counterpart to Ling. Her character represents the breakdown of the stereotype of the submissive, quiet female, and because of this, Hilda comes off as truly heartless and cruel. Many males may cry foul at Hilda's one-track-mind of finding a sperm donor in Siu Chai without ever planning to let him know, but then, for thousands of years men have used women just for their ability to bear children. Many (like Man in this series) may also criticize her for placing her career above family (like the part when she insists on continuing a business meeting when her baby daughter is in the hospital with a fever)... but on the other hand, how many people will condemn a man for doing the same thing? This series and especially the character of Hilda raise a lot of questions about these double-standard perceptions, which is refreshing coming from the usually patriarchial TVB.

The flaw in her character, like Ling, is found when one looks at their friendship. Seriously, if friendship is what it is as shown between these two women (who claimed to be best friends and 'sisters'), I have lost all faith in friendship. Fully knowing that Ling has feelings for Siu Chai, Hilda still targets him as a potential sperm donor. 'Inconsiderate' does not begin to describe that. There is something weird and inconsistent about the way the writers portrayed the friendship between Hilda and Ling, and in a way it's never really resolved.

Anyway, Sheren delivered a strong performance. Her best scenes are opposite the talented Michael Tse and as the vulnerable, soft, loving older sister to Kate Tsui's character. But I wish she would take on a different character next time. One Jessica Hsuan is enough for me, thanks...though Sheren is a much better actress than Jess.

Michael Tse / Man
An intriguing character and excellent performance. The success of Michael's performance lies in the fact that he absolutely personifies Man. At the beginning, you loathe him as the ultimate disgusting scumbag and cheating husband. You cheer when he is constantly insulted by Siu Chai. Then when he reveals his past as an orphan, you suddenly empathize with him. When you watch his scenes with Hilda and the baby, you start to love this guy because you know that inside, deep down, he is a good person, only driven to becoming a jerk due to his unhappy childhood and for self-preservation. When Hilda rejects his love and takes away their daughter, Man becomes his old scum self again. There is something very human about Man and Michael conveyed it extremely well. I loved watching him as the jerk in the beginning and also as the caring husband-father figure with Hilda. My only complaint is the scenes where he is playing the piano and singing to Hilda. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to throw up or laugh.

Raymond Lam / Siu Chai
This character is, at first glance, too easy for Raymond since he has done this role so many times (A Taste of Love, A Step into the Past, Yummy Yummy, etc.). The challenge is to present this kind of character in a refreshing way, given his interesting older-woman-younger-man romantic storyline. Raymond rises to the challenge. He is funny and dead-on at the beginning with his witty insults and comebacks towards Michael, lovable as the doted-upon son of his widowed mother and grandmother, but it is his pairing with Melissa Ng that is oddly compelling. As I've mentioned, I wasn't crazy about Melissa's Ling but Raymond's performance made this couple very watchable. His portrayal of the very juvenile, blunt, impulsive Siu Chai with a one-track mind towards loving his 'goddess' Ling was very good. I find his performance so satisfying because he made the character very real - the way he delivered his dialogue in defence of Ling and their relationship was totally fitting - he really acted like a young man would in defence of the woman he loved. My only complaint is that he looks too thin here to be convincing as a fitness trainer - he looked even more muscular in Survivor's Law.

Kate Tsui / Ida
I'm surprised that not many of the reviewers noticed her performance here. I thought she was really good, much better than Melissa Ng, and for Kate's first series, that's high praise. Her lips look kind of freaky in here because they're thick and loaded with too much lip gloss, and she's not pretty either, but Kate has a face with character. Though she was shaky in the beginning here, she gives the rebellious, angry Ida spice and personality; her best scenes are opposite Sheren Tang. As well, very few actresses (especially Hong Kong actresses) can accurately depict a tomboy, but Kate is the epitome of tomboy in here. From the way she speaks to the way she walks, she conveys a very powerful image of a boyish girl. Wonderful performance, and if TVB gives her a chance, she will be a newcomer I recommend looking out for.

Kenneth Ma / Lik
One of the TVB actors who is underrated for a reason... because he's boring! I once compared him to Joe Ma, who delivers the right emotions at the right times but has no screen presence. And since they both have the same last name, I will from this day forward refer to these two guys as the uncharismatic long-lost brothers of TVB, though they aren't related in real life. Anyway, Kenneth is dull here - he pouts too much for a grown man though his character made a cute couple with Kate Tsui's Ida and was hilariously chauvinistic, but Kenneth is such a boring actor. I can feel myself about to yawn as I'm writing this, that's how boring he is.

Other Characters
After a none-too-successful singing career and various cameos in movies and series alike, Cindy Au seems to be regaining some exposure, although it's not a 'comeback' by any means. Meaning she has a cute personality in real life, is a decent actress, she's not stiff and she doesn't overact, but she will never get a lead role - she's missing the X-factor. She gives a good performance here as the rational, educated, body-language expert and her outburts of "You're lying!" add comedy to this series. A great performance was given by Leung Ka Yan, who is downright hilarious as the super-chauvinist but caring father to Ling. The supporting cast, actually, is generally very good - excellent performances by Mary Hon, Tiffany Tse, and the actors who portrayed Ling's older brother and mother, Siu Chai's grandmother, Pluto, and Venus. The acting in this series is top-notch with the disappointing exception of Melissa Ng.

A Breakthrough?
At first glance it seems TVB has hit the nail in terms of presenting a gender-swap, socially aware series but with a closer look, you will realize that LFD only scrapes the surface. A major problem is that it doesn’t delve deep enough to examine the roots of the gender issues it presents. For example, Ling and Siu Chai get married simply without addressing the issue of their older-woman-younger-man relationship – it was just like “get married, worry about family’s blessing later”. The relationship between Hilda and Man is more intriguing, but again, only scrapes the surface in terms of examining the interaction between men and women. The one ‘social change’ that was presented fairly well in this series was how Ling’s mother gained independence in face of a strict, demanding, chauvinistic husband. La Femme Desperado does well as a first step, but as a breakthrough series insightfully challenging gender stereotypes, it still has some way to go.

On the Titles
The Cantonese one is very easy to remember, but it is the English one that is confusing. Actually, it’s not even English. It seems like TVB messed up in their foreign languages department: “la femme” is French for woman, and “desperado” is closest to the Spanish or Portugese word for desperate, “desesperado”. Catchy title nonetheless though.

To Watch or Not to Watch, That is the Question
Not to be missed. You will laugh yourself silly at the wit of the first part and Michael Tse's amazing performance is worth your time alone. Worth buying if you are a Raymond Lam fan.

Rating


Through the Grapevine
Jacqueline Wu (who portrayed Venus) is actually deaf in one ear. Raymond Lam is a self-proclaimed bore: when he's not filming series, he stays at home and "walks to the kitchen, washroom, and living room, then walks back to the kitchen".

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Casino Royale [Mov]

Written by Funn Lim

"This is a must see for any action movies fans. Not just Bond fans could enjoy this"

SOME SPOILERS!

Are you watching Casino Royale? I am not a huge die hard fan of James Bond or his movies but I do have my own perception of how James Bond should look like. I had my doubts about Daniel Craig as James Bond. I still have my doubts but there is no doubt this man can act, he can run, he can do fight scenes convincingly and he can be very charming when he wants to be. He may not be traditionally handsome but somehow those cold steely blue eyes, very nice body and that face full of lines kinda accentuates his world weariness and thus makes him forbidingly dangerous and very attractive. There was the pout and all of course. I still don't see in him the previous movies' James Bond but I do see in him MI6 agent, killer, a man with a conscience but with a duty to kill and possibly a man that could be loved and fall in love as in this movie. So Daniel Craig may be blonde, balding and short but in those scenes where he sat down with Eva Green (as Vesper Lynd) just talking, having a very interesting coversation about knowing the other's real person and all whilst flirting non stop and when he laughed, I find him very handsome. It is like seeing a tightly wound up person being relaxed for once and that moment of being relaxed is like golden, rare and so satisfying.

The actions scenes were magnificent. From the get go, we have Bond chasing after a guy who was doing free jumping, such agility and gracefulness and Bond, never slow and chasing just as hard lacked the agility and gracefulness but he had brute force. He kills in a very "this is just work for me" manner and yet his eyes flinched for a moment, was that a regret that he had to kill? And he believed that his killings had a purpose; to rid the world of bad guys, even if it may be one bomb maker. That makes him reckless as he could not see the big picture as M reminded him again and again. I love his relationship with M and we do get to see M at her home, her husband, and possibly even her name that starts with the alphabet M. I loved the scenes where she scolded him, expressed her disappointment in him and how he responded, as callous as he could but you know her words hurt him even if he didn't look like he give a damn. Some scenes showed he had integrity, like under severe torture using the simplest tools had him screaming unshamedly with pain but yet I felt what a man, what a macho guy because he simply did not yield. It was also a very funny scene as the way Bond responded to the torture and I thought it was a brilliant scene. There were also car chase scene where Vesper was lying on the road and he had to avoid her and his Aston Martin when tumbling and tumbling. The number of times he was bleeding, scarred and in pain was like every 10 min or so but it was real. The previous Bond lacked that jittery scary moment and in this version you have plenty. Many times I sat at the edge of my seat thinking how he will escape it all and he did it all, in a very realistic way. My absolute favourite scene was the one where he was poisoned whilst playing poker and he quickly rushed out and contacted his HQ via a laptop-thingy in his Aston Martin. If this was Streamyx he was using, I am afraid there wouldn't be anymore James Bond movie. Anyway he was dying, his heart was stopping and he was receiving instructions on how to revive his own heart if he should then faint and die. He did everything and the moment his heart was about to give, he pushed the red button of the defribilator and guess what? It didn't work! He realised he did not attach the switch and all and before he could do it, the HQ via their computers heard the doooooooooooooo sound. Oh yeah, Bond was dead. How he overcame this? Well watch the movie for yourself. Anyway as the movie went by he fell in love, then felt betrayed for reasons that I think I need a 2nd viewing to understand and then in the end, only in the end you will see him in a very nicely cut suit (before that he preferred the slack and shirt) with a huge gun saying "Bond, James Bond". If I may add, perfect delivery. And then the original theme came onto the picture. It was not the reworked theme I think because it sounded like the original theme, only louder.

Although there's no Q or Moneypenny (here Moneypenny as in M's secretary is a young man) or even a real villain per se, this movie did not lack in technology even if they were real and workable instead of fanciful. I was not happy at first seeing Bond in a Ford car. Then he switched to 2 types of Aston Martin and oh my, what gorgeous cars. There was no shaken or stirred Martinis, in fact Bond retorted "Do I look like I give a damn?" or fancy stuff. No perfectly cut suit every scene but one very fine looking tux. No sex scenes, but probably because Malaysian cinema must have cut it. Amazingly kissing scene not cut much and instead of women running around in a sexy bikini, we have Bond coming out of the water in a very nice looking baby blue swimming trunks ala Sean Connery time and I feel men should wear those instead of speedos or whatever.

What you do have is a lot of very funny or intelligent banter, a very good poker game scene (instead the poker game was long), amazing action sequences and in a movie that was 30 min too long, luckily a few good actors to hold your attention.

For one Dame Judi Dench is amazing. She was always underused as M, more supportive before but here you will see her standalone, you see her getting angry, scolding Bond and trying to teach him how to be a better agent which involves looking at the big picture and putting own emotions aside for the sake of your country and Queen, you see her home life, you see her out of office and doing some real work and you see her being harassed by Bond so as to assist him in his investigations. You even see the back of her Husband and her gorgeous apartment. I liked her end scene where Bond said something horrible about Vesper Lynd but it was M who chided Bond in a very gentle manner.

Eva Green was in Kingdom Of Heaven looking beautiful with heavy mascara and nothing much to do. In 007, she has loads to do and still looking very beautiful indeed. I read she is French and if she is, and she does have those wispy French looks that most French actresses have, she has a very good English accent. She could have fooled me. Anyway, her role as Vesper Lynd was interesting in that she has a temper, she held her own against the not that chauvinistic but still as egoistical Bond and more importantly she didn't have some funny name. Her role is beyond sleeping with Bond, in fact her role is to make us believe she could make Bond fall in love with her and even quit his job for her. I could believe that. Her Vesper is alluring without being too inaccessible or inconceivable that such person could exist and yet you sense she is someone special. In other words she has a role and a purpose and she is treated with respect by Bond not because she could fight and all, in fact she could not deal with the fact that she had to kill even if to save her own life but rather because she has personality and she has an opinion and she is not afraid to let Bond hear what she's thinking about. My only problem with her is her awful night gowns. Her overdone eye makeup made her looked bruise. In fact she has a tendency to grimace a bit which makes her look drugged out. Other than that, she is fine. In fact her most beautiful moment was when she was stripped of makeup and looking fresh and very young. Her chemistry with Daniel Craig is first class.

The villain Le Chiffre played by Mads Mikkelsen was interesting. He is not really a villain per se but what he does is still bad enough. He has such a cold plastic face that is scary. I thought his performance was brilliant and I have never heard of him before.

Last but not least Daniel Craig himself. No no no, he is still not my idea of Bond. But if this is about Bond starting to be comfortable with his 007 status, then yes I have to admit, grudgingly he was perfect. He can deliver those light hearted moments as well as heavy drama, he could fight and jump and run and looking bruised and yet still look he can face more of those whatever may come, he has a nice looking body and although a bit stocky and a bit too short, he looks he can kill you if he wants to. His Bond is a bit clumsy, in fact makes major mistakes and is egoistical but his Bond is also human, with a conscience, idealist perhaps in the way he thought about his job and is earnest and has this never say die attitude. Under torture he did not yield even when he knew the woman he loves was being tortured also. He has yet to become that cold hearted chauvinistic mean killing machine and Craig portrayed that aspect very well. He could do a bit of lighthearted moments too. My only worry for him is the suave and debonair department like Roger Moore was. Could he do that in later movies? Because James Bond will become as such in later movies. Although I still don't see James Bond in Daniel Craig I felt he is such a fantastic actor and a fantastic athlete that I could see an action star in him. Maybe being suave can be polished, I am not very sure and I won't say he is the best Bond ever. This Bond movie is totally different from the rest but I can say he had me hooked the moment he appeared. No doubt, he is charismatic as well as having an interesting face that one could remember.

There are several aspects I did not like about this movie. The plot for one is confusing towards the end, it was almost too narrow but well it works for the purpose of reintroducing Bond to the world. Whilst there is still that opening sequence with music, the themesong was truly the worst aspect and the most awful thing about this movie. But the opening sequence was very artistic and I enjoyed it because I didn't cringe like I did before where I had to endure naked looking women gyrating to the music but now from the moment of the director saying ACTION, even in the themesong sequence you see Bond, James Bond. Oh this movie is bent on promoting Bond, hence the rising from the ocean scene. I like that because why should Bond movie be about the villains and women? It should be about the man himself, the rest should be sidelines.

But one aspect was improved from the previous movie apart from the campiness thing (I mean previous Bond movies can be said to be a tad campy, almost a joke by itself and a caricature of the character of James Bond for simply being James Bond), the scenery were amazing. No more filming in a fake studio place like the awful last Bond movie, now we have scenery, we have yacth, we have sea and we have beautiful exotic buildings. That was a marked improvement. And the first scene shot in black and white with camera work remisnicent of the olden days camera work was pretty interesting. And the one liners that Bond movies are famous for is in full glory here without being too sexual, too cringe worthy or too much of everything.

Verdict
So my verdict? This is a must see for any action movies fans. Not just Bond fans could enjoy this. This is one of the best action films this year and for me the best Bond movie because I didn't cringe. I bet women will fall for Daniel Craig's rugged James Bond whilst men will enjoy the action scenes as well as the beautiful Eva Green. I loved it for the performances and Daniel Craig himself. Now, for the sequel I hope Daniel works on the debonair part and the song writers write us Bond fans a better song.

Watch it on the big screen as this movie deserves it.

Interesting stuff
The structure of the movie is almost similar with Batman Begins. Very interesting.

Anyway, I can understand why the fans hated Craig at first. He went through an amazing transformation by just gaining a few pounds, looking a bit more muscular and give his lips a pout. Just look...

2004 he was this :-


2006 as James Bond :-
AND

He's still short though.

It's True Fact
I don't know how our Malaysian censorship board rates movies but this movie got a U raing, meaning for viewing of the general publis including children without any parental guidance. I mean are they crazy? First scene itself we have Bond smashing a guy's head on the sink a few times. Of coruse some were censored. I'd rather this movie get an 18 whatever rating (meaning only for those 18 and above) so that the movie is left untouched. Alas ... it was not to be.

More Info
And for fan reviews, check out imdb.com

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The Academy [TVB]

Written by Funn Lim

" She (Fiona Sit) should marry Ron Ng and then give birth to a generation of awful actors."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Released In
2005

Cast-Character
The following were taken from Bridget Au's review of the same series.

Michael Miu Kiu Wai as Lee Man Sing / Sunny (Lee Sir)
Ron Ng Cheuk Hei as Chung Lap Man (Man)
Sammul Chan Kin Fung as Wai Pak Kiu (Kiu)
Fiona Sit Hoi Kei as Ma Oi Lam (Fiona)
Michelle Mai Suet as Ivy (mother to Man)
Tavia Yeung Yee as Hor Fa (Ah Fa)
Chin Ka Lok as Kook Sir
Priscilla Koo Kei Kwan as Madam / Ann
Deep Ng Ho Hong as Ming (brother to Fa)
Eddie Lee Yu Yeung as Ryan
Law Koon Lan as Chan Yin-lan
Lau Kam Ling as Ma-cheung Wai-sum
Tang Ho Kwong as Ma Fung-tai

Synopsis
For the story, check out Bridget Au's review or Debbie Law's review

Comments
This has got to be one of TVB's very worst series ever, I am sure there are others worse that this crappy series but right now, this has got to be it, the one, the ultimate, the one and only. It has a promising story ala Burning Flame, where young idealistic people aspiring to join the police force must undergo training at the dreaded Academy. A mish mash of different personalities, characters and outlook that hated each other at first, with many sub plots revolving in major character, including those of the trainers and made worse with jealousy and competetive surroundings who at last bonded together and graduated having learnt the meaning of partnership, cooperation, that one man can't do it all. Added into that is also family crisis, love, friendship and ultimately losing someone. Sounds promising?

It does, on paper. The actual final product is awful beyond words. One point at a time ....

The training
I wanted to see real training, but I got glimpses of gun traning, judo training and regretfully, a lot of marching exercises. In fact from the 1st till the last episode they were marching and marching and marching. That gave me an impression that

a. police training consists of marching only so that the young ones will be trained to march their criminals to death or maybe out-march the criminial

b. after so many bloody episodes, they're still not good at marching

c. no one can speak decent English and even after finishing the series I still can't get what was said except I think "HALT" but sounded more like "HUT" and everything was like gibberrish. Also heard FALL OUT but more like FOH AUT, spelt like German doesn't it? They might as well have been speaking French.

d. everytime they start to march that darn music comes out, end of marching that music again.

It conditioned me in such ways where when I heard that music, I just turn the channels.

And they went on marching. You can see so many variations in here; in the rain, in the sun; along the alley; everywhere in the academy. And march and march and march. Why not just call this series THE MARCHING ACADEMY or THE MARCHERS MARCHES ON THE MARSHES?

Then they had studies. Like what kind of studies? The law? The constitution? How to beat a confession out of a hard core criminal? Rights of the criminals? Right of arrest? When to arrest and search and warrant and stuff? Nope. They studied something, I just can't remember exactly what they studied. But a lot of smiling teachers and inspired faces who will then go marching.

Awful. And it was even more awful that the training lasted until the last episode. They had to graduate some time in this series, but I didn't expect to see them train until the very end.

The drama
What drama? One male trainer Lee Sir seems to be stuck in girlfriends with awful sons type of relationship. One is with Ah Kiu whom I think turned out to be his real son, like yeah yippee and the other the son of a woman he fell for. Ah Kiu was cold but the other was nasty. The worst plot in history of TVB is to make this man

a. live with one trainee

b. good friends with the mother of the other trainee

Maybe good drama perhaps you think? Sounds ideal but imagine this; both boys listening to him in school but outside of school rude like hell and even threatened him. Then back to school and there they were compliant, although still as stubborn. It doesn't work. Lee Sir in this silly plot became such a wuss. In fact he shouts, he scolds, he persuades and did any of them ever listen? Not for 89% of this series, oh no they don't. They continued to defy him whenever they can. Totally zero respect and I wonder why go to study there if you have such attitude problem that lasted so bloody long?

Then we have rivalries. Two types; male and female, both involving boycotting, gossiping, back stabbing ... hey are we watching The Bold And The Beautiful in here? The girls especially a bunch of useless complaining bimbos. The guys fared no better, more co-operation but every much the himbos. They spent almost the entire time bickering, to the point where they had to go jungle trekking and the guys failed miserably whilst there were divas in the girl's group. This is not about police training; This looks like some bitch fest to me. And the fact that it continues on and on is just so darn boring.

Then we have love. One silly subplot on the occupation of Tavia Yeung's character, Fa who comes from a family of pickpokets. Modern day Fagin if you wish. Then we have her all serious and all huffing and puffing everytime, most of the time very unreasonable and childish. Understandably Man got her brother into jail so when she played tricks on him and vented her anger at him, ok, understandable but in a way silly because she knew her brother did do the crime as charged. Instead of advising her brother to stop and just go find a real job, she felt angry that her brother went to jail. We have also various love stories and relationship stories as subplot, trainees with trainees (rich girl, poor cool boy), trainers and trainers (understanding madam and silly sir), trainer and trainee's son (two in fact, one dead, one alive) and I can't keep count so frankly I can't list them all. Too much time on relationships, too little on really real substance like when are they ever going to graduate? Will they be good policemen? Stuff like that.

Policemen or drama queens?
That's my point with this series. They're training to be policemen but they're all acting like hissy fussy sissy but never sassy drama queens. Fights, gossips, bitchings, temper flares...all seems like War & Beauty to me, set in a police campus. Generally all these fightings should be interesting since when they unite it will be like truly team spirit and all but somehow this series successfully turn all the fights into brainless boring bland activity (hereinafter the BBB factor). You can see this BBB factor in almost every episode, all of which regarding the trainees and sometimes the trainers themselves. The girls especially, I felt like what is this? Policewomen or ultimate bitch fest? No matter how many times the trainer Lee Sir said to them unity is of utmost importance, they listened and then again, the whole BBB bitchfest begins, right up until the last few episodes. Even the men had internal competition, like who can do the head stand longer perhaps, that when the trainers said stop they went on. So the punishment? Run 10 rounds around the field. If I were the trainers I fail them all for indiscipline and general stupidity.

The adults in this series
Believe it or not, there are adults in this series who acts like adults, unlike the trainees who are worse than children indulging in BBB activities. But the adults fared no better. They seem like they have problems, but in actual fact do they? I find even the adults' woes as very superficial like love, denial, familial problems. Whilst I understand a son's hope of reuniting the parents like Man's parents in this series, but after so many episodes also the same plot is almost BBB but not quite yet. Some adults acted in such a way that can stretch my patience, that like the aunt of Man. I know, forever young, a bit childlike and cute and free spirited and hippie-ish and all that trash, to actually see this woman acting like that is really frustrating because already the plot is going nowhere, we have characters who are wasting screen time with useless storyline. Like what is her purpose? Comic relief? Was she even funny in the first place? To lend support to her sibling? So why is she hogging the limelight with her antics? I don't see support. Then there was the Fagin family. Just silly.

The houses in this series
Maybe that's why pickpockets are such good business because look at their house! Huge. Every single apartment in this series is like luxury home, just how luxurious. Like they're so rich and yet we have the characters complaining of not having money. These days TVB series are too optimistic about HK real estate I suppose because their characters' seem to be living in bigger homes despite not having big time jobs. So I can only imagine how the houses will look like in Healing Hands III.

The Characters
Is there at least one memorable character in this series?

Some may say Sammul's character. Most would probably say Michael Miu's character. For me, all are memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Plenty of stereotypes.

Kiu is cool. Cool and cool until he melted, still melted cool.

Man is hot headed. Hotheaded until he got himself roasted (and he does look roasted) and became less hotheaded.

The girls, like Fiona is the ultimate complain queen and did she change for the better? Less dependant you say? I don't know and I don't care.

There were of course the essential 3 trainers standing at the front facing the trainees, usually in white shirt and blue shorts as Lee Sir and gang will walk to the damn theme music. Always those 3 whose moments in this series are always in those white shirts and blue shorts and stand there pretending to train these brainless bunch when in actual fact they are never utilised at all. Like mannequins, carried out when needed and carried back in when finished.

Lee Sir, I really pity him. Not only had he to come to terms with 2 sons of one past relationship and the other forming relationship and having to speak English and giving advice nobody wants to listen, scolding when nobody cares and being supportive when nobody appreciates him, he of course then had to be killed off. This is really the most pitiful character ever. I did not see the episode where he died but I read he died in a gunfight? Which leads to my next complain ...

When will this series ever end?
From the start it felt superficial. Introducing various characters for the sake of introducing them, we immediately have the BBB activities and factors. They never seem to be close to graduating at all, the story went on and on and Lee Sir scolded and scolded and it still went on and on and even in the last episode after Lee Sir has died, they're still not graduated yet! I told myself they had to graduate because the series has to end. And to end the series with a graduation, all characters must end having achieved their goals, so all those love problems, rivalry problems and whatever has to be settled by the last episode if not the series will never end. Now they have a sequel!! A sequel!! For a moment I feared like they're never going to end this series because they want to carry on into the sequel. I don't know, I missed the last episode, except for the part where all of them sang and get this, march again. So sick of this series which is about right because the next slotted series on ASTRO was Healing Hands III, so it's like I got so sick of this series I needed to be cured, hence the doctors series but alas! Saw the 1st episode of Healing Hands III and I got sicker this time with this pretentious English class disguised as a smart doctors series. English class? Well the pronunciation are ok, I think those who can't speak English at all are banned from HH III, whilst those that can't speak well will play characters that need not see patients but just walk on the hospital grounds to fill in the quota I suppose. This HH III reminds me of Hindi movies ..."Cantonese...cantonese...cantonese... APPRECIATION ... cantonese .... cantonese ... DIFFICULT... cantonese...cantonese...cantonese... CLEAR!!" You get my meaning, and the worse was having the attending BRAIN surgeon asking an intern what is defribilator and the guy went on to describe what it is with the surgeon nodding his head. Oh please....Why am I talking HH III when I am writing about The Academy? Anyway the series finally ended, much to my relief.

The casting
Please refer to The Performances for more comments on this. Suffice to say this is probably one of the worst cast ever, because almost everybody was ill suited for his or her respective character, it was either forcing someone who can't act into a character whhich requires a huge amount of acting or simply dump an actor into a role without any consideration on the overall effect on the series, which is awful of course.

The Performances
Michael Miu looks good for his age, and I was shocked to see Sammul Chan taller than he is. But he is wrongly cast as the stern disciplinarian that is Lee Sir. He didn't look stern enough, in fact he looked pained. He just didn't have those authoritative wise quality that demands respect or even fear. In fact nobody feared him in this series. I find his performance too casual, more suited for other characters like maybe a doctor in Healing Hands III because they don't seem stressed even when the patient's heart has exploded and he is screaming with all the blood gushing out like Sentosa Island's musical fountain (do they still have that at Sentosa, Singapore?).

Amongst all Sammul Chan surprised me a bit. Firstly because he looks better than Ron when he was half naked. Ron looked flabby and roasted, Sammul Chan looked, ok a bit on the slim side but he looked believably strong and athletic even if he didn't run like he ran before. Nobody looked like they can run in this series. His acting improved a lot, but after a while his character seems to be stuck in staring people to death. And his Mona Lisa look (is he smiling? Is he not smiling) can be quite annoying at times. Also very inconsistent performance, like is he happy? Is he sad? Orn is he happy after being sad? Compared to the other trainees, he fared better but amongst many others good actors in TVB, he still has some way to go.

Ron Ng was interesting because it is difficult to categorise his performance except that in the awful department. He went through many transformation in his acting which I shall summarise below...

God awful -> dead awful -> very awful -> still awful -> awful -> never going to be anything but awful

So he got better as the series went on and on but still stuck at awful. When he was like being cute with Michelle Mi, I was like cringing because even when cute he was as awful more so when a scene requires him to act angry, to act sad..and he has one look for them all..stoned look. He is the stone man as opposed to Sonija Kwok's automaton and Shirley Yeung's robot. Quite simply, awful.

Michelle Mi wasn't any better. She was much better in The Gentle Crackdown but in this series somehow something was missing. She has zero chemistry with Ron who plays her son and Micheal who plays her friend. By herself she is ok but her character is perpetually in worried mode.

Law Koon Lan sadly failed miserably in her hippie desperate for a guy role. I was just so annoyed with her presence and I was even more annoyed that more time was spent on her subplot with Michael Miu rather than showing proper training and stuff. Her over the top performance in never ending scenes just sealed her fate; her performance did nothing to enhance this series, in fact it kinda speed up its doom.

Tavia Yeung was ok. I was expecting her to play one of the trainees, instead she is Fa and the general description of Fa is she is very pretty. That in itself is a miscast. Tavia Yeung isn't so that very pretty. I mean Michelle Mi is like probably 3 decades older than her and yet look at that woman! Like she didn't age past 40! But Tavia, whose performance was like her other performances lately which is getting boring to watch is in this series the best actress in light of many awful performances. But I think she is a miscast because she didn't fit into her character's description. And she does look more mature than Ron Ng.

Chin Ka Lok was ok, but I was surprised why he is cast in this role as firearms trainer? Then I realise he didn't do much as firearm trainer, in fact his job is to walk around the campus whole day doing nothing substantial and being a friend to Lee Sir and providing comic relief. In other words, he has nothing to do. He was funny, at times but most of the time his lack of good dramatic acting, his silly antics and his non existing storyline weighs down this series and did nothing to enhance the watchability of this series. Disappointing performance.

Fiona Sit and I just learned her name talks like she doesn't bite. You know some people talk like their lips never closed? And she forever looks sweaty, probably her hairstyle. Notwithstanding the fact that I got the shock of my life seeing Jan Lau as her mom, come to think of it if Jan is 36 and this Fiona is 18, it could happen. She plays the spoilt rich girl, and she looks like one. Fullstop. Her character never advanced further. Seeing her do judo on criminals was just funny because this girl doesn't even look like she has the strength to carry a mineral water bottle more so kick and punch. That one scene where she fainted was awful. It was really poor acting and she is the entire series' worst actress and some of the worst I have ever seen. Just because she can look lost or downcast or whatever whenever Sammul's character got angry with her doesn't mean she can act. You and I can do that, maybe even better. The general feeling is this girl simply does not know what she is doing, and her performance reflects the amateur in her. Simply awful. She should marry Ron Ng and then give birth to a generation of awful actors. Maybe just maybe that awful acting gene will skip one generation. Who knows?

The rest were forgettable except maybe for the girl who plays Ron Ng's sister, she was ok and some veterans who were cast in thankless roles that are either too silly or underutilised.

Verdict
This is junk. One of the worst series ever, the writing is awful, the casting awful, the performances mostly awful and the entire series awful in every way, don't waste your money on this piece of awful entertainment. This series insults the viewer's intelligence and the police workforce generally and you will probably live longer avoiding this series because watching these amateurs act may give you instantenous death by frustration.

Interesting Stuff
There are interesting stuff in here. Like in the original series starring Tony Leung and gang, I remember the male trainees were mostly half naked when in training, including the trainers. How come this one so little?

There was one scene, this madam trainer whose name I forgotten has a dog, a male Golden Retriever I think. Chin Ka Lok was talking to this madam trainer and the dog was supposed to be friendly and nice. But the camera had to zoom away fast, away from the dog because the dog was busy trying to climb Chin Ka Lok's leg! You know, that stuff horny dogs do? Like mate with one's leg? I was like laughing so hard as Chin Ka Lok, poor him was trying to say his lines and at the same time his hands kept pushing the dog away! The dog is officially is love with his leg!

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