Review : TVB Series - Lives of Omission

Disclaimer: All pictures and videos are from TVB.

One of the highly anticipated TVB series of this year proves to be just ok for me. The plot is pretty typical - i.e. the undercover cop / triad gang setup. If you ask me, I prefer Emergency Unit (E.U) as the plot is more convincing and has more twists to it. Further, I think Laughing Kor is a tad too over-rated and TVB should stop riding on the character. Anyway, here is the official site of Lives.

Laughing & Michael

The Cast:

Casting was not too bad .. except for Fala Chen (Madam Jo). Thought they should've gotten someone of a more authoritative figure.

The recruit at CIB

Michael Tse (Laughing aka Leong Siu Thong). Nothing spectacular in my opinion. Too much of over-acting. Too poser for my liking. I think he did much better in E.U. He's not even good looking to began with.

Bosco Wong (Micheal aka "Pai Ko"). I have always liked the versatility of Bosco's acting skills. And true enough, he played the role as a crippled gansgter really well. There is something sinister that I love in this character. A learned, smart, and egoistic person who schemed his way up the ranks in the triad society. Nicely played. His love-hate relationship with Paris Yiu is worth taken note of.

Fala Chen (Madam Jodie). Again as mentioned earlier, I didn't like her playing the character. She doesn't bring Madam Jo's character to live. It was pretty boring and she kinda mumbled her words.

Kate Tsui (Paris Yiu). She fitted the character very well as an ambitious lawyer for the triads. However, the indecisiveness of calling off and on the relationship with Michael for fear of jeapordising her career can be a bit irritating. I can't stand fickle-minded people!

The on-off relationship 

SPECIAL MENTION: BEN WONG CHI-YIN ("LAT KEUNG aka TANG KWOK BAN")

OH MY GOD! Ben's acting skills totally blew me away!!! He has always been a behing-the-scene actor and now as Lat Keung, he really stepped up his game. No one expected that Lat Keung was actually an undercover cop who turned bad. And his acting skills was awesome. Can't stop raving about how good he is. Lat Keung is a character that I look forward to seeing in each episode of "Lives". Love the transition where he was a good cop, to being power crazy, to being bad, to being insane, and eventually to realising his mistake.

Excerpts Worth Mentioning:

(may contain spoiler)

Initially the show was kind of slow and I was getting a little dissapointed. However, towards the middle there was a twist whereby Lat Keung is an undercover cop who has been placed in the triad for a very long time by his Handler aka Director of Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CIB) Harry Sir (Damien Lau). Now that is something I didn't expect! From then onwards, Lat Keung's character has been really colorful. Love the fact that he turned power-crazy and eventualy joined the "dark-side" i.e. the triad society.

The twist whereby T-Two (Ronald Law), one of the newly recruit/trainee in CIB is actually the god-son of Mok Yat Lit (Cheong Kwok Keung). Yat Lit is the head of the triad society and he had implanted T-Two as an undercover in the CIB unit. Certainly didn't expect that.

T-Two

The scene where Szeto Sir (Derek Kwok) who everyone thought would never betray CIB ... in fact did betrayed CIB. He was in a gambling debt hence was caught and used by Yat Lit. He eventually realised and came clean with Harry Sir.

I also like the relationship between Kit Siu (Daniel Chau) and Fong Chun Long (Adrian Chau) who are twin brothers. Kit Siu, the younger twin is a trainee in CIB whereas Chun Long, the older twin is a trusted drug runner for Michael. Both characters came together and the brotherly love that Chun Long potrayed to Kit Siu is quite heart-warming despite both being from different end of the side.

Micheal, Kit Siu, and Chun Long

P/S: Noticed that I didn't mention about the four main characters? Exactly! Nothing worth mentioning.

The Ending:

(may contain spoiler)

FOR ONCE I LOVE LOVE LOVE THE ENDING OF LIVES!!!

Why?

(1) Because it is not typical

(2) It is not a happily ever after ending

(3) Good people die too! *yes*

Lat Keung escaped from prison and went crazy because he could not take the stress of being an undercover cop. He died in the hands of police officers. Eventually, he realised his mistakes but is unwilling to head back into the prison. Before dying in Harry Sir's arms, he professed that being chosen as an undercover cop is the happiest moment in his live. Nice! :)

Paris Yiu was shot in the chest by Michael and her body was dumped into the sea (this I didn't expect!). Michael did it to save both of them from being killed by international triad members. The twist was that Paris has a medical condition whereby her heart is borned on the right side not the left. So, he arranged for someone to save her and put in a safe haven to wait for Michael to return to her.

Jodie died too in the hands of Michael. This too I didn't expect!

In his fury, Laughing actually took matters into his own hands and killed Michael. He ended up in prison. And of course, Paris ended up being alone although she survived the ordeal.

AWESOME RIGH?

NOT TYPICAL RIGHT??

There is an alternative ending though that TVB shot; Jodie and Laughing end up marrying each other. Paris will be the one who killed Michael either because she is an undercover or she was hired to kill him at the wedding altar. (there are two alternative endings to Michael's death).

I am so glad that TVB didn't choose that alternative crappy ending. *phew* Here is the short clip of the crappy ending as mentioned.

Conclusion:

The series only started picking up in the middle and of course ended with an explosive ending. Worth watching. Please keep an eye on Lat Keung's character ok! Shall end this with the theme song.

Love;

Mrs Lee