Fluffy Fun

Fairly light, feel-good drama. I love the extra scenes at the end of the episode too! They aren't related to the story line, but it is cute to watch more interactions between the leads! Bai Lu is soooooo pretty and such a good actress :). I highly recommend this drama if you are looking for a light-hearted laugh.

The premise of the story is that the king and a palace maid switched bodies and have to keep up the pretenses. They solve a lot of problems together and gain new perspectives. There are some cheesy moments and obvious plot armors, but overall, it is a cute little rom-com.

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Refreshing Series for 2020

This drama takes a common TVB plot line (undercover cops) and adds a comedic spin to it.

Music: Pretty catchy, but not enough for me to look it up or listen to it outside of the drama. Vincent Wong sings it. I think my favorite is the upbeat opening song that matches the comedic theme of the series.

Acting: Owen, Vincent, and Brian (the three musketeers) played their roles really well! Wing Tsiu also played his character really well! I think it was nice of TVB to pair novice actresses with Vincent, because he usually has good chemistry with his costars. Winki and Angel (Shui jie) had the best female performances in my opinion. I also liked the older gen actors too. Although I did not like Samantha Ko's character, I thought she played the role well though (it was a hard role to play, especially when she had to be two-faced in the beginning). Kelly Fu wasn't bad, but the character she played was pretty irritating at one point. Serene Lim, Kathy Yuen, and Crystal Fung have room for improvement (this could be biased though bc I also just found their characters annoying).

Characters: I loved the bromance between Sai Lung and Ko Bun (and Luk Chau third wheeling lmao)! Most of the female leads were annoying as hell to watch. I only liked Shui jie and the eldest sister. Angel was pretentious, selfish, and needed to be knocked down like 10 notches, but she did earn some points in the end. Si Tou Sir was a POS and only semi-redeemed himself in the end. I dislike Si Tou Sir more than KT even... bc KT started out as a triad member who infiltrated the police, so you can't really be mad that he has no morals; whereas Si Tou Sir always aspired to be an upright cop yet does borderline illegal stuff to move up in rank. I couldn't feel bad for the second sister bc she is literally so dumb and couldn't see the signs when they were right in front of her (she found out he has a wife and forgave him before they even left the restaurant...). The third sister is so irrelevant and only was there to mess things up. Cherry and Rachel were the absolute worse though. I liked Cherry's morality, but her "innocent" trait came off as annoying eventually (could be the actress's acting). It was especially annoying because her dad is literally a triad boss-- it's not realistic to be that pitiful and helpless. Rachel should be fired as a cop. She basically manipulated a civilian into risking his life as an uncover informant. She also has zero deductive skills and basically only succeeded in the end because she was on the good side. She is pretty much no better than Si Tou Sir (using deceit to move up in rank), except she was just helping the good guy. She prides herself in being "independent" and a "good cop," yet she basically relied on daddy's money and connections to get through everything. Knowing how to use your resources is smart, but pretending you are self-made is hypocritical. Sai Lun is the third worst character. I really like Sai Lung, but Sai Lun is the king of idiots. At first, I thought the IOU notes were cute and gentlemanly, but he helped out the three ladies (Cherry, Angel, and Rachel) so many times I'm pretty sure they owe them now. Sai Lun thought he was being a good person, but I think he just came off as a fool. He let himself be pushed around so much that I eventually just stopped feeling bad for him-- at that point, maybe he deserves to be played... The only redeeming quality he had was his character quirk of being a cinephile; it was good comedic relief.

Plot: I think they timed the serious and comedic scenes really well. I also liked that a lot of the plans hatched by Sai Lung and Ko Bun were based off of movie plots. I also shipped Ko Bun and the eldest sister so much! I loved all their interaction scenes. They have many funny scenes (i.e., when Ko Bun was reluctant to become her Fu Ma in the beginning), and their romantic scenes were light and wholesome (also cute but not cheesy). My favorite scene is when she is being piggy-backed by him after drinking too much but started crying and apologizing bc she lied to him about being 30 when she is 32, the Ko Bun responded with "I knew" (although she already passed out at that point. The main plot is also very interesting. It was exciting to see how an actor would get out of sticky situations without raising suspicion. The subplots of Sai Lung x female lead was kind of unnecessary though. I did like how he ended up with no girl at the end. My main complaints about the plot have to do with the character flaws I listed above. I mentioned that I liked the bromance scenes and found them funny, but there were times I felt conflicted. The general trend of media is becoming more PC and so there were certain scenes where I was worried that the drama was making homosexuality a running gag or punch line rather than something that could seriously happen. However, I think they redeemed themselves by making most of the characters accepting of it (e.g., Luk Chau would have funny reactions, but he still supported Sai Lung and Ko Bun being together and kept their secret).

Cinematography: The series found a good niche for itself, because I don't think any other dramas has done this idea before. They referenced a lot of classic movies and pointed out common movie troupes. In a way, they were poking fun at the film industry. I also liked how they have the episode recaps in a yellow-filtered frame (reminiscent of old movies) and the occasional exclamatory remarks being presented as words on a screen instead of being acted out (reminiscent of silent films).

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Decent Cop Drama (slightly generic/predictable)

Music: Pretty good music, but I didn't really pay attention to it (there is a comment that lists out all the music from the drama!)

Cast: Basically started watching this for the cast and because it is on YouTube (free with ads, just search up "White War"). I just finished Flying Tigers not too long ago and wanted some more on-screen collaboration between Ron Ng and Bosco Wong. I grew up watching their series, so it's always a treat to see them on screen! Gallen Lo once again reminded how great of an actor he is! Even though he was an evil villain, his emotional scenes were so good that I had to remind myself to not feel bad for him lol. I also liked the actor who played 太子, I've seen him in older dramas, seeing him again reminded me how time has flown by (all the TVB actors I grew up watching have also aged too :'(). His acting is pretty good, but I don't think he has had much main roles, but he played his role well.

Plot: Honestly, an easier to follow plot than the Flying Tigers (2019 one) that I just finished. I think this plot was better. It is still a pretty predictable cop drama, but there was enough happening to keep me interested for most episodes. Honestly one of the better plots for a cop drama. There are multiple bosses, and Turbo's rise to the top didn't come off as too fabricated. Bosco's acting did convince me at some points that maybe he did give in to the dark side, so did Kenny Kwan's acting. I think the plot was pretty good because it wasn't too cheesy and unrealistic. A good cop did get put to jail because of the law and technology being used for evil. There were good people who had to do bad things because of their situation. I also like Gallen Lo's character, but I wish the drama developed him some more instead of splitting the series villain between him and the Doctor. I became more interested in his character when he broke down in the end, because there really are people in the world who think that they can own other people if they have enough money. I think he made a good villain because of his interaction with Jessie-- it really showed how much of a psychopath he was. The strongest point of the plot is the three brother's relationship. Ron's character does a good job at reinforcing the white/absolute justice viewpoint, Kenny's character does a good job of showing how the lines between good and bad can be blurred, and Bosco's character dances between the line of gray and black. Although I mostly found the character Carman to be annoying, I do have to commend her personality. She is a strong, independent woman who has a strong moral compass but is still compassionate. In cop dramas, we often are told to sympathize for characters through the lens of the traditional criminal justice system-- if they break the law, they are bad. But Carman's character reminds the audience to also be a compassionate person and makes us question how should we judge a friend. A good amount of other characters also remind us of this, but I think the obvious portrayal of this is when Carman refuses to leave Jessie despite finding out about her criminal activities. She doesn't help Jessie, but stays as a friend. This contrasts with the three brother's relationship, where they view helping a friend as stopping them from committing crimes (although do note that the 3 guys are cops, so they have other positions to consider). In the end, I'm glad that the the three brothers can still remain buddies and have a happy ending (no one dies, they are all good guys again).

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Just Sit Next to a Box of Tissues

I binged this series in two days. That's how good it was.

Yes, there were sometimes when the storyline dragged (slight pacing problems) or felt rushed. I felt like they focused too much on Bei Bei's storyline. Although I get that she is a significant character in Ma Kwai's life and I like her character, they could've given more time to flesh out Ling's story (especially since her son is likely to be the next big boss if there is a season 3) and Thalassa's story (main villain). I also found it annoying sometimes how the characters don't communicate with each other, like shit has to hit the fan before they actually put two and two together. That was mainly directed at Ma Kwai, because although his character is supposed to be carefree, you'd think he would learn from his mistakes and be more observant in the future.

With my ranting aside, I really enjoyed the series. I fell in love with the first one and was worried that they'd mess up this sequel, but I actually ended up crying so much more this time around. Maybe because became so invested in the characters since the first season. I was crying pretty much every episode. Although sometimes it seems like they are milking the emotions from characters that died in the first season, they raised a lot of deeper questions about life and death that just made this season more heavy (i.e., the burden of survivor's guilt, what it means to be a hero, the harshness of reality vs the beauty of a lie, death vs eternal suffering).

This series made me become a fan of Hubert Wu. The OSTs for both seasons are by him. I liked the OST from the first season more, but the songs this time were still really good! I loved Shek Kan Dong in the first season, and I thought I would be annoyed with Ho Jai this season, but Ho Jai is honestly my favorite character this season. Both have such tragic endings. Ho Jai is literally the perfect kid and deserves everything wonderful in this world, but he was tricked by a sea demon as a kid and now suffers eternally. He has to feed off human souls to survive but he doesn't want to be a monster. However, he cannot die, so he just exists until the hunger inside him forces him to become a monster and kill people. Although he is a powerful demon now, deep down, he is just a scared little boy who longs for his mother and brother-- and every second he is able to spend with them and his own humanity is on borrowed time. In the end he chooses to have his brother kill him in order to set him free, his existence is just filled with so much suffering. I was sobbing at the end scene when they had to duel as brothers... Ma Kwai provokes the fight and lets Ho Jai win, telling him that the Demon Slayer finally wins (a roleplaying game they used to play as kids, where Ho Jai would purposely lose rock, paper, scissors every time and become the demon so that Ma Kwai could be the Demon Slayer).

I really hope there is a third season and we can finally get some closure about Ling's son, Dr. Jeung and Ma Kwai's relationship, as well as Shek Gam Dong and Ho Jai's fate (because the final scene left off on a cliff hanger).

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Cute, feel-good drama for when you want to turn your brain off

I just binged this in less than a week. I have been busy with work, and all I have done after work is binge this show. I wanted to pace myself, but I found myself staying up late to watch one more episode. I don't think the story was that unique or superb, but the acting was amazing and I really enjoyed something light-hearted and funny after a stressful day & my ever persistent SAD.*

Storyline:
- I've read some reviews that appreciated the whole kidnapping subplot, and they make some good points, so I dislike it less, but I still would've preferred if it was not written in the story. I would have preferred if the plot stayed in the direction of a narcissistic CEO who slowly learns how to appreciate and value someone who had always supported him-- and fleshing out the difference between his need for control vs fear of losing someone he slowly realizes he has come to like. However, the kidnapping plot just kind of reverses the entire image of the ML and makes him into a misunderstood man who is actually sweetest and most perfect person for the FL (+ an occasional narcissism as a character quirk). It just detracted from the current relationship they built over 9 years of working together-- by playing it out as they were promised to be together since age 5. I will say that the kidnapping plot did make it more believable that ML has been single all this time & would hire the most unqualified applicant for the job.
- Another gripe I had was that towards the end, it seemed like the FL was getting cold feet. But upon second thought, it mostly seems like FL has only been responding to the affection, and only engaging/reciprocating retroactively after the ML has made a move and expressed disappointment in the non-response. I will say that I like how the FL's response to the ML's narcissism, as it makes it feel like she is the only one who can do that/finds it endearing.
- There were also a lot of cringe scenes (cue all the slow scenes of them falling onto each other), but there were also genuinely warm moments as the ML grew and learned how to love someone else. I felt like the ML progressed as a person, improving on his expressiveness, his thoughtfulness, and his ability to put others before him. It made his character super cute and likeable-- enough to overlook the continued self-absorption. The one thing I didn't like was how this character development only extended to the FL. He was still a jerk to his "best friend," which was kind of a let down. The FL also tried to reciprocate, but it was just tiring to see her do so only after something happened (ML is upset, FL doesn't know why --> FL also hears similar situation from her friends/co-workers and realizes how she had been hurtful --> makes it up). It was nice the first couple of times, because it shows them compromising/forgiving/overcoming rough patches in the relationship, but it was weird that that was always the directionality of the relationship. It gives off the feeling that he likes her way more.
- It was nice to see FL stand her ground and really take her time to figure who she was as a person, but she didn't really challenge herself to continue to grow (it would have been nice to at least see her try to do something else or pick up a new hobby). I like that she came to the conclusion of being proud of her secretarial work and chose to continue to stay in the company because of her passion for her work. It was refreshing to see that "finding yourself" doesn't mean making a 180 change, but rather finally sitting down to think about who you are and what makes you happy.
- The love stories of the sub-characters were light and fun. They weren't super fleshed out, but that's expected given the smaller screen time allotted to them.

Cast: PSJ got better and better as the series went on. I really came to like his character because of how well he was able to express the ML through his amazing facial expressions and timing. He did a really good job of delivering some of the narcissistic lines in a way that made it seem like sometimes the ML would say those things just to tease FL or had some level of self-awareness of the cringiness. I also really like PMY, but her character fell flat towards the end. It felt like she didn't do much besides smile, and even that looked forced. I think this was mainly because the camera work for PMY just tried too hard to stress her smile. PMY is already gorgeous, but blurring out the background and drawing out the scene every time she smiles just made it feel too forced. The other characters were more trope-y, but their respective actors & actresses shined when it was their time.

Pacing: Overall was pretty good! Once they became a couple, it seemed like each episode was them encountering a new rough patch that resolves by the end of the episode. I found it to be enjoyable and it felt like less time was wasted on miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Soundtrack: very heartwarming, I feel like they made the scenes more memorable and emotional for me!

Rewatch value: I usually don't like to rewatch anything, so this is no exception. I think it was a great series to help me out of a slump and was something I looked forward to after a long day. It's a cute little love story with an amazing cast, and you can always fast-forward through the cringe parts, as I think it is worth seeing the heartwarming romantic confessions (I think a lot of the ML's lines were done pretty well-- not too cheesy, but poetic enough to make your heart swell a little) and scenes.

*I do feel a little down now that I don't have something to look forward to after work now, but I also did put off some work I should have done, so I will be busy catching up anyways. I will also feel down because I want experience a fraction of the endearment ML shows to FL and get to pretend that money is just a concept-- but that is a personal issue to no fault of the series haha.

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Came for Wang Ziyi, stayed for Qin Lan and Godfrey

Plot: I thought this series provided viewers with insight into the darker BTS of the entertainment industry. They covered everything from manager-celebrity relations, secret dating, celebrity contracts, buying hot searches for celebrities, controversies, deceit, live vs recorded acting to the difficulties in film production. My interest and understanding of the entertainment industry in China increased after watching this series. I found the love story between Mo Xiangwan and Mo Bei to be kind of boring (it was unrealistic how they haven't moved on from each other despite being separated for 20+ years), but the actor and actress made it work okay.
I also think this series gets major brownie points for the storyline of Mo Xiangwan's dad after he gets released from prison! I wish they elaborated on it even more, because it depicts an important issue that is not often portrayed in movies/dramas. The only scenes I cried in were the scenes with the dad! The main issue that subplot addresses is how convicts readjust to life after being released from prison. It was never something I really thought about until watching this series. Time keeps passing, but life stops moving in prison. The outside world continues to progress, but convicts are usually living very routine and disconnected lives in prison. There is a jarring transition phase once they are released (especially if they are in prison for a long time). Although some may have saw the dad's subplot to be a generational gap thing (he didn't know how to use any technology), but I think the addition of him being scammed shows how he feels like the world has progressed without him. He feels that the world has changed so much, and he has become a burden to his kids (this is where I see the generational gap come into play). His attempts to reconnect with his children and keeping his illness a secret depicts a more talked about issue of the challenges China's aging population's is facing (loneliness, disconnect from busy child, increasing pressure on child bc of one child policy).

Characters:
- Mo Xiangwan is strong and independent. Qin Lan is also a great actress, so it was easy to like the female lead and root for her. She comes up with effective solutions to keep her celebrities safe despite being met with so many setbacks. The only thing that confused me was her character inconsistency. The story is that she used to be cold hearted and then starts to care for her celebrities as people, but I thought she was fighting for her celebrities since the start? I never saw her coming off as cold hearted.
- Mo Bei is a good person from start to finish. He is a supportive boyfriend and a kind human being. He is a likable character, but comes off as having no character development because he doesn't really change much (he was already good to start with).
- Xu Ling was not on screen enough (I really like Wang Ziyi lol). I like his character a lot more than Xiang Xiang. At first I thought his character was a bad guy because he wanted to switch management companies secretly. But in the end, he proved to be a very loyal and genuine celebrity (he did so much to help Mo Xiangwan).
- I really dislike Xiang Xiang and found her to be pretty annoying for the entirety of the series. She was delusional in love and had a princess complex. She was a hot shot celebrity who owed all of her fame to Mo Xiangwan being a good manager. She had her ass saved so many times by Mo Xiangwan-- well more accurately, she would throw fits and create problems that her manager had to solve. I know that Mo Xiangwan is nice to Xiang Xiang bc Xiang Xiang signed a long time contract with her during the lowest point of her career. However, a contract is a professional relationship yet it felt like Xiangwan was raising Xiang Xiang like a child the entire time. Xiang Xiang did not have the qualities to be a good celebrity. I had to skip a lot of her scenes bc I really didn't like her weak character when it came to love, and I found her shitty behavior to everyone around her to be very disrespectful. She was only nice to her ex and gave everyone else attitude bc she is self-important. The movie tried to make her come off as this pure/innocent child that was wronged by the world to make viewers empathize with her suicide. She is an adult and a professional, she should have more emotional control than a child. She basically throws all logic away when it comes to her ex despite all the support by her side to help her get better. I couldn't understand her conflict bc she created all of it herself. She is an actress, but it seems like she doesn't care for her craft nor her fans throughout the series. She treats her fans as an ATM (her fanbase was also toxic af) and shits on Xiangwan until she needs a favor. She half asses her acting roles and only gets serious when she is acting with her ex. The only time I appreciated Xiang Xiang was in the scene where she is filming for a wedding scene and finally tells her ex that she is gonna let him go bc she finally realized she can be better than that. I was really proud of her for that and actually thought her character finally had some development from that. However, in the episode right after, she basically reverts back to her old, detestable self... that was when I decided to fully abandon all hope for this character. The only end I could see her having is quitting the entertainment industry completely bc she is unfit for it.

Music: I love Yan Renzhong's voice!!! The soundtrack for this series was really good! 去爱你 is my favorite! I also think the title of the series is based off a Leslie Cheung song of the same name (怪你过分美丽), which is a classic song! I highly recommend listening to the soundtrack and Leslie's song!

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Interesting Premise, Failed Execution

Quick Snippet: What is death in a world of assassins? Anyone can be an assassin in this universe, and there is an intricate underground syndicate of assassins for hire. The assassins have managers that help them book jobs, and there are cleaners to help dispose of the body and evidence. Most of the jobs are made to look like accidents or gang casualties, only a rookie police suspects anything is afoot. The idea for this series is interesting and refreshing-- TVB hasn't done a series like this before. However, the plot gradually deteriorated the quality of this series.

Plot: There were a lot of contradictions in character design on top of bad writing. The bad writing mainly stems from overused movie troupes and awkward pacing. If you have to make something predictable, at least make it enjoyable. I could basically guess the main plot towards the end of the series but it wasn't the traditional feel good or bitter sweet ending so I just became disengaged with the series. All the characters I wanted to live, died; all the characters I could care less for, survived.
I did not understand how Zero and Cash suddenly become so deeply in love with each other when they started off as FWBs bc I could not sense any chemistry between them. The characters in the story are also very inconsistent in order to follow the plot:
1. The assassins are written to be smart and seasoned, yet they were really oblivious sometimes. For example, Yim Mou was completely unsuspecting of Bingo's death despite being familiar with Bingo's daily patterns and behavior (Bingo basically follows Yim Mou around everyday, it is very unlikely that he wouldn't contact Yim Mou for days on end). Also, how do you not hear a person being hit by a fucking car when you are literally around the corner?? Another example is how no one suspects foul play from Dino when Sofia goes missing and he stands up to not only find the killer but promote himself to be the new leader...
2. Another plot is how despite Parker and his uncle being billionaires, they can't seem to hire bodyguards to protect them from Faat Ye. If the uncle already broke the law by hiring prostitutes, he might as well hire an assassin to kill Faat Ye too?? This is a series about assassins, yet the richest person in the series doesn't think to hire one to solve their problem? Also, Faat Ye is not a realistic villain, he basically takes what he wants... how is he allowed to do that? Aren't there Jiang Hu rules? Why wouldn't all the triads and underground criminals gang up to get rid of this wild card and just split his property?
3. The timeline of the plot was also very choppy. In one episode, Faat Ye uses Megan to blackmail Parker, but we don't hear anything else about that until like 4 episodes later. This demolishes the sense of urgency or threat of Faat Ye bc the audience doesn't get a follow up on the situation. The plot didn't do a good job of mixing all the characters together. It basically seemed like there were 3 separate stories being told (Yim Mou, Zero, and Faat Ye + Parker). A lot of problems could have been solved if the characters appeared on screen together and communicated.

Characters:
- My favorite character was Sam Sam, she is the woman girls aspire to be. She is perfect, but the plot did her dirty. Samantha Ko looked really good with the asymmetrical bob, hair color, and outfits. What I really like about Sam Sam is that her EQ and IQ are through the roof. She has a very mature perspective when it comes to love and friendships. She takes a very logical approach to relationships and doesn't let emotions cloud that. She is also well informed in topics she is interested in. I really shipped her with Zero, because they would have been such a power couple! But alas, she doesn't have that kind of plot armor and ends up alone. Her friendship with Cash also seemed very one-sided, I couldn't wrap my head around how she could be friends with someone like Cash. She has bailed Cash out so many times, yet Cash doesn't even seem grateful for it! It seemed like Cash thought she was entitled to Sam Sam's good graces and help because she was down on her luck. I also didn't like how Cash have Sam Sam manipulate the guys that liked Sam Sam to benefit herself (i.e., coffee shop job, tutor for her son, etc.). Also, I think it is a plot hole to have Sam Sam not be a good fighter. She has a dangerous job and her personality is one who studies everything to mastery-- it doesn't make sense that she wouldn't have learned some self-defense along the way.
- I also have a soft spot for Bingo. Not only was he good comedic relief, he actually had some depth. He knew he was being taken advantage of by Ah Mou, but he willingly continued bc he believed he gained companionship and exposure to a new world. He is aloof, but he is smarter than some main characters.
- Megan and Parker: I actually have a lot of empathy for this couple. I was glad that Megan chose to stay with him, because I think Parker did love Megan and she could be the key to saving him. I was disappointed that the plot made him turn into a killer, but I had a feeling that would happen, sadly. I think Parker was a really good guy in the beginning, but he was traumatized and later snapped. I don't think the series did a good job depicting his mental breakdown. He was afraid to even hold a gun, so how did he become a crazed killer 5 episodes later? The series also showed that he was a weak fighter, so how was able to overpower trained assassins later on? A lot of the character progression had no build up. Also, the oversight of Zero, Yim Mou, and Charlie was baffling. How did it never cross their mind to get mental help for Parker after everything with Faat Ye ended? Being assassins, they of all people should be aware of the mental toll of the initial exposure to death. Parker was locked in a coffin with his uncle and literally watched his uncle die before his eyes. There is no way he didn't have any mental repercussions afterwards. I think his long exposure to Faat Ye and no mental health debriefing afterwards precipitated his spiral later on.
- I found Man Man to be pretty annoying; it was hard to feel bad for her when she died because I had no attachment to the character at all. She was still okay the beginning, albeit a little too innocent. For someone who has been travelling Asia alone to look for her father, her innocence and bubbly-ness comes off as fake. Maybe the actress had some difficulty portraying the nuances between hope stemming from optimism (fitting for the character) and hope stemming from ignorance (character comes off as fake). It was also bad writing to not flesh out the internal conflict of Man Man. When she saw her dad die in front of her, she had a 180 change in personality. This is understandable, but the series didn't illustrate it well. She just became very self-destructive, which is normal, but it came off as very distasteful because she continued to blame Zero for everything and kept throwing herself a pity party. She became very entitled-- thinking every one owes her pity for things she did to herself (no one forced her to start getting into drugs). I had no empathy for her, until the plot redeemed itself with the night scene between Zero and Man Man (when he gives her the teddy bear keychain). That scene showed me a new POV on Man Man's situation. Finding her dad was her only goal in life, so when her dad died it was less that she was sad about her dad dying than the removal of purpose for her character in this story. Yes, her dad dying is sad for her, but the audience (and probably herself) know how much of dirtbag he was, so he got what he deserved. The biggest emotional hit to her was that she no longer had a purpose in life, and so she felt lost and turned to the wrong things (resentment and drugs) to fill that vacancy. It was just annoying how she would try to guilt Zero and Yim Mou into feeling responsible for her downward spiral when she was the one who decided to jump in the first place. And it was dumb how Zero and Yim Mou were able to so easily guilted. They are professional assassins who have killed countless people-- how many innocent people have they already hurt and how many families did they break in the process? How are they so easily guilted by what Man Man says to them?
- I found Cash to be incredibly annoying, she was like a parasite in this story. It blew my mind how someone as abrasive as her could survive in this universe of assassins for more than 3 episodes. Unfortunately, since she is the female lead she is given some out-of-character advantages (an intellect that only seems to pop up in critical times and hidden sniper skills!?). I don't have anything against her being cheap, but she's very brash and judgmental-- doing what she feels is right for her without considering how other people will be harmed (even when others point out what she is doing wrong, she insists in her thinking). The worst part is that none of the situations pertain to her! She butts into these situations because she thinks that she knows what's best for everyone-- except she doesn't bc her thought processes are too short-sighted and simple. She also likes to victimize herself for being so outta luck (e.g, poor), when the main reason for her misfortune is herself (she is a terrible employee). She is also a bad mother and rude to her own mom. She no doubt loves her son, but she is too selfish and immature to teach her child well. I really like Ali Lee, but there were scenes where I literally had to press mute when Cash came on... Yumi was an annoying character too but she is a secondary character who didn't have much substance to begin with, thus her irrelevance is not that disappointing. However, Cash is the female lead so it was disappointing to have her disaster of a character drag down the whole series. I would rather have her die than Parker (the final villain of the series), which says a lot bc Parker did some really messed up things.
- Zero's character flaw was falling for Cash. He changed into a less respectable character after that. It was cool that he was really loyal to her, but I couldn't see why he would like someone like her. He was supposed to be a prideful character, but that trait just turned into a joke towards the end of the series. It was a character inconsistency, bc the series did not depict his growth into a more humble person-- it was as if the series just forgot what kind of character Zero is for some scenes.
- Yim Mou was mostly enjoyable. I really like the play on his name! Back in his prime, he was nicknamed "Yim Wong" (~ Grim Reaper), but in the current timeline he is referred to as "Yim Se" (~gecko). The two nicknames are homonyms to show that he used to be pretty badass but has fallen off since. He really let himself go, and I found myself frustrated with how dejected he was. He eventually steps up to the plate, but usually after shit hits the fan. He really is a legend in the assassin industry bc he still has is when he gets serious. He can even still go toe to toe with Zero!

Acting: I think all the actors did a really good job. My favorites were Moses, Wayne, and Brian Tse. Moses did an incredible job of giving life and personality to the character. Granted, the script made Zero and interesting character, but Moses delivery of the lines and portrayal of his character quirks really defined the character. I loved how he would slip in some English words and hand movements to make Zero more comical while maintaining that cultured image. It's been a minute since Moses has been in a drama-- I was impressed by how attractive he was in this. I used to watch TVB when Raymond Lam, Bosco, Ron Ng, and Moses (+ others) were the popular main actors, and I never really found Moses that attractive. I think he aged really well. Wayne is always a treat to watch, he did such a good job in portraying his character's loss of will power and self loathing. Wayne plays a "ma laat lou" character well, and I was so surprised by how fit his body could be when he trained at the end of the series. Brian Tse was very versatile in this series. He pulled off the genuine rich guy without coming off as flat, and his performance as the serial killer was really good! I got chills in some scenes when he got triggered or blood thirsty. Katy Kung also impressed me with her performance as a love sick, crazy assassin!

Music: The opening theme song is pretty catchy and fast paced. I also liked the ending OST, but it didn't exactly match the theme of the series.

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Watched for the cast

Acting: This seems like it was a 2019 big budget production. Star studded cast. Michael Miu can basically get me to watch anything. He is just so good at his cop roles! Bosco Wong also did well too. Poor Ron Ng seems to only get cop roles, but he really does fit the image of a cop well. Kenneth Ma and Kristine Kuo also made a good comedic relief couple (Kenneth also did well in his serious scenes too!). Oscar Leung's acting and character actually moved me the most in this series. A bunch of other veteran actors were all really good (even the villains were hard to hate completely because they played the role so well). You can really tell the acting caliber difference between the seasoned TVB actors and rookie actors (the two female leads). I also have not seen Yoyo Mung in forever! She still looks so young and pretty! I also enjoyed her scenes, but maybe I am biased lol. Also, a lot of foreign actors and a lot of English spoken in this series (Bosco had a lot of English lines and did pretty well in the delivery!).

Music: Karen Mok never fails to make good music. Her voice still sounds wonderful after all these years!

Plot: Basic cop drama lol. Sometimes the story got a little muddled because it seems like they were trying to mix too many levels of bad guys in there to make the plot seem dense. The main plot is that a special team is created to combat enemies that are too big for any police department's jurisdiction. This special team is called the "A Team" and is headed by Michael Miu (still as chok as ever). The A Team is very covert and is hidden within the SDU (飞虎队). They basically are battling against terrorists and special agents sent by other countries (so basically international affairs). I think this series had some comedic relief and did better than other cop dramas in fleshing out the romances of the lead characters. But it also made the world seem small because everyone was related to someone (not necessarily blood relation) in one way or another in order to all appear on the same screen lol. The acting was good, but they didn't space out the action and drama logically (ie, an action scene will be cut all of the sudden to focus on a drama piece).

Production: It just got slightly confusing because this series was produced in corporation with some mainland production companies. This meant that some TVB style was limited. There's good and bad to it. The pro is that the production quality increased tenfold, so they didn't have to use the usual potatoes to shoot the entire thing and we get decent special effects. We also get some nice shots of London and more foreign faces (Bobo is no longer playing the only Indian guy). There's also less TVB cheese in the plot line. A con is that the drama obviously has some censorship from mainland now, which was why I was confused for half the series because they used fake country names. You can also tell when they sprinkle in some propaganda about Justice and the HK police department. Minor stuff like that.

Overall: A good watch if you just want a basic cop drama to kill some time. The amazing cast line-up is enough to get you through the basic plot line lol. Not sure how I feel about all the English in the drama yet, because it's not as cringe as when they used to do it, but sometimes it did feel like they put it there as a desperate show of how international HK is (mainly just salty they didn't ask me to play an extra haha).

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Feel Good Movie About Sisterhood

Music: I thought the songs were not that memorable besides the main song that they play during the sad scenes. That one sounded pretty good. I did some digging and found that the song is called 时间煮雨 (Time Boils the Rain). The song is originally sung by Kris Wu (lol ikr, I was surprised too). Links to the songs:
Kris Wu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp-wyHzQx4k
Movie/Girl Vers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK5nEJCS2HQ

Acting: I thought the cast was pretty good. Watching the NGs at the end of the movie, you can see how well they bonded irl. Everybody in the movie was so good looking (although some outfits might be outdated now). I kind of wished they fleshed out the Wan Ru's character more though. I understand that she's kind of the the comedic relief one (who still gets her share of sad scenes and drama), but like I sometimes feel like she's just there for the other girls to laugh at... I guess she's kind of like the heart/innocence of the group (even though Lin Xiao and Gu Li seem to be the core of the group). Kai is good looking af in this (all the guys are lol, but Kai was my fave bc his character is literally the epitome of dream husband). Everyone acted pretty well in this!

Plot: A weaker part of the movie. Honestly, the best part about this movie is the bond that the four girls have. It is not a deep movie though. I recommend watching this if you are just looking for a movie to cry to but still feel good about at the end because there's a happy ending for everyone. I read the comments saying that the ending is super sad because everyone dies in a fire? Maybe I watched a different version, but the end was supposed to make it seem like something bad happened, but the audience is just tricked into thinking that. The girls have all since moved out, but they get together once a year at that old house to celebrate their friendship. That was what I saw happen. Anyways, the lot (and I mean A LOT) of the plot in three of the four movies could simply be avoided if these "besties" just talked to each other. This was what made me angry while watching sometimes. If this movie is supposed to show how these girls are so close, then how are they so oblivious to each other's body language?! Like how can you not tell when your BFF is lying or feeling sad-- especially after living together for like 4+ years??? If they are BFFs, then they should help each other through problems, not lie about stuff and then have it all blow up in their face later. If anything, they are just a group of people who have a really high tolerance of forgiving each other for stupid things that could've been avoided in the first place lol. But I still cried in some scenes because the actors/actresses were good at convincing audiences of their pain. Also, I can kinda see where the criticism of this movie being too materialistic comes from. It's like these characters live in a separate world. They pin it all on Gu Li being rich, but even the dorm they lived in in the first movie looked like a studio flat only someone with six figure salary could afford. However, this is a "chick flick," so the critics also don't have to be so particular...

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Foggy Memory of Drama, but Not a Bad Watch!

I watched this a long time ago, so I apologize ahead of time if the review is not that helpful lol. First off, I am the type of person that likes period dramas. I really like imperial dramas as well as the post-imperial era (sorry, I'm actually not sure what time period this is called). The set and costumes are pretty on point for that era. I started watching this drama for Tavia, but I quickly fell in love with Louis Cheung's acting! I was not familiar with Louis before this, but after watching this drama, I am sold on his acting skills! He is really good at portraying his character's pain (good emotional scenes), and he is comedic. He is not your traditional "handsome" actor-- in fact, you can visibly see his acne scars on screen many times. This makes me appreciate him more, because he is able to act so well that he is not just typecasted into the "ugly, but funny guy" character. As someone who also has some acne scarring, it is nice to see that a "regular" looking actor can still give the character that aura of attractiveness that main characters/protagonists need.

This drama takes place after the last dynasty has been toppled and foreigners started to have started to try and claim their stake in China. Throughout the movie, viewers can see that political tensions and injustice as the foreign-installed law officers become tyrannical. They are the backdrop antagonist, but the heart-wrenching part of the drama is the fact that we have to slowly watch the beginning protagonist slowly turn into the final antagonist of the series. To make up for that, another main character of series slowly develops a conscience. The series makes us compare the fates of the two main leads. One guy who has always been pure and then later becomes tainted as he does more questionable things compared to a guy who has always just went along with things (he was kind of a jerk/prankster, but didn't outright do bad things) but later chose to do the right thing. In those cases, what makes one character non-redeemable despite the previous good he has done and what makes one character redeemable? I think another cool point of the series is the love triangle/square running in the back. Girl A likes Boy A (who was good at first but later turns bad) and later may like Boy B (who was average but later becomes the hero); Girl B likes Boy B, but Boy B also likes Girl A; Boy A likes Girl A. I feel bad for Girl B because she is a good person, but ends up putting herself through a lot of pain in hopes of trying to make Boy B feel something. This is something I see happening in real life a lot, so it is a realistic and sad part of the series. The love triangle with Boy A-Girl A-Boy B is your typical movie trope, but an interesting twist is that Girl A is called Leung Sum, which literally translates to "conscience." Throughout the series, you can notice how Girl A becomes closer to Boy B-- symbolic of the transition of both male lead's "conscience".

TVB music usually grows on me because they play it throughout the series, but I honestly forget this one since it's been so long lol. I just gave it a 2 bc I really don't remember it hahah. It's not something I'd rewatch (bc I don't like rewatching anything in general), but writing this review made me recall a lot of the plot, so that was kind of nice.

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Awesome Story, Good Music, Prepare the Tissues

Such an awesome series! I especially like this drama because it was not one of TVB's heavily backed dramas that year. It had a smaller budget and lesser known writers and producers (correct me if I'm wrong). The CGI and special effects are a bit cheesy, but I think it is fitting because this is not meant to be a horror drama-- just a story that takes place in the supernatural world. The best thing about this series is the story line (Kenneth Ma's acting really helps drive the feels home though!). The plot line coupled with the amazing OST by Hubert Wu brings you on a lot of feels trips. Highly recommend!!!

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