Review: “Lives of Omission” (TVB 2011)
Lives of Omission – <潛行狙擊>
TVB 2011
Producer: Chong Wai Kin
Genre: Crime Thriller
Number of episodes: 30
Rating: 
Who’s In It?
Cast in no particular order:
Michael Tse as “Leung Siu Tong” or “Laughing Sir” or “Laughing Gor” or just “Laughing”
Bosco Wong as “Michael So” or “Cripple Co”
Fala Chen as “Jodie Chau” or “Madam Jo”
Kate Tsui as “Paris Yiu”
Damian Lau as “Harry Kung”
Cheung Kwok Keung as “Mok Yat Lit” or “Lit Gor”
Elena Kong as “Yuen Kwan Lam”
Ben Wong as “Tang Kwok Ban” or “Spicy Ginger”
MC Jin as “Yeung Lap Ching”
Derek Kok as “Szeto Hoi”
Mandy Wong as “Vicky Mung”
What’s It About?
Expert undercover officer Laughing Gor/Sir is back from his last mission (or grave, according to the original ending in E.U.) and he’s now placed in the Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CIB) to train novice officers in how to be good undercover police officers with the help of Madam Jo (Jodie). Apart from his normal job, Laughing also meets Cripple Co (Bosco Wong), a low-level gangster with a limp, and the two begin a cooperative relationship with very conflicting goals: Laughing wants to rid the triad named “Yee Fung”; Co wants to become top dog of Yee Fung. A battle of the wits ensues!
Review Begins Here
Now if you have watched (and finished) the series already, you will have realised my emphatic statement regarding “a battle of wits” is not only misleading, but virtually outright incorrect. I could have replaced it with “an action-packed thrill ride” but that would just be throwing a pie in your face and I’ll explain why later. First, I’d like to clarify that I have a personal bias towards dramas about cops and triads, and despite the fact the whole “undercover” concept being excessively overused, I’d still buy it. Problem: what appeared at the start to be a potential shift in tone from the formulaic rehashes of the undercover cop genre, soon revealed itself to be little less than just that formula with two exceptions plus a few gaping plot holes.
My first complaint is an obvious one. Where is the action? Alright, I know cops don’t have action-packed days every day, nor do they create complex schemes to outsmart their superiors, but they don’t fold origami and leave it everywhere, or keep having boardroom conversations. The action sequences are limited. So limited that it has become extremely difficult to believe this is a series about triads. Triads also don’t gather in meetings this often. It is not sensible for kingpins to be located in one space so often for one million reasons. Nor are, and this one is a guess, so many triad seniors compared to junior leaders. Yee Fung really lacks some youth on its board. They should have convened a special meeting to select some new directors…
Much of the series becomes a coming together of words. It gradually shifts from being an acts-driven drama to a talk-driven drama. In detective style dramas this may be appropriate. But for a triad style police drama, all this talk is superfluous. Then there’s Laughing, who’s a character with a shady personality. He is the highlight in all of this, as every time he is on screen, you’re just dying to find out what he is going to do next. This also changes gradually. You find your sensation of “dying to find out” shifting to “waiting to find out” because as the drama progresses, you will have realised that Laughing isn’t really such a complex border-treading wild-horse as we were led to believe in the first five episodes. In fact, he is really quite a good respectable cop, until the end of course.
Laughing At The Plot Devices
What is with all the illogical plot devices? The first one is obvious, and although strictly speaking it is a spoiler, it isn’t going to spoil much if you were slightly aware of Laughing’s back story, or watched episode one, as you will have realised his penchant for going undercover. Of course, the series wasn’t going to break the fourth wall and have characters acknowledge this. In fact most of Yee Fung acknowledge this in a half-ass manner and generally accepted that Laughing is so “useful” to overlook his roots. Hong Kong triads must be suffering from brain drain to overlook this punch in the face. One and a half punches to be exact, but that’s another spoiler for later.
The second plot device is Co and Laughing’s movement up the ranks of Yee Fung, when Laughing joins. It all sort of happens in the amorphous unknown. Sure Laughing and Co get together and “take out” some supposed triad mid-tier leader to gain control of some turf that is supposedly extremely valuable. So valuable is said turf that no other triads want to take it off some half-ass mid-tier leader who doubles as a police-informant (illogicity #61?). Has Laughing actually committed any other crimes? Shouldn’t he chop a few goons to prove his loyalty? And why does Lit Gor have no right-hand man? Why doesn’t he have an entourage? Why doesn’t any of the triad members have an entourage? Is the economy that bad to hire some good muscle?
A final plot device I will mention is Paris. Is Paris a plot device? Not really. So am I deluded? To be honest, anyone who finds the character of Paris to be anything other than wasting screen time for bigger things is deluded. Paris serves no purpose than flushing out Co’s back story and provide a love interest. Both things could have been better achieved if her character was written into the actual plot, rather than as a side character who has zero interaction with anyone else other than Co. This is a narrative fault. You either write parallel plots or write a main plot that branches into side plots. Paris fits into neither category. She is the creation of writers’ fatigue: too tired to interweave characters, events and relationships.
Direction Is Key
The problem with the series is poor direction. Poor direction because many parts showing good potential for development to upgrade this whole undercover shenanigan to a new level is begun but not followed through. For instance, the consequences of betraying people while undercover and then have the betrayed person come to terms with it many years later and forgive the cop. That is a very intimate story I would have liked being fleshed out. Another plot that would have enlivened matters is showing a stronger brotherhood between Laughing and Co, going through life and death together, resulting in Laughing’s wavering loyalty to his duty. Instead, Laughing and Co are ambivalent towards each other most the way, and because neither ends up showing much wit at the end of the day, the rivalry is more contrived, contrived by Lit Gor and the scriptwriter, than convincing logical build up. However, the most disappointing let down has to be the underused triple-crosser portrayed by Ben Wong. His character was a genuine surprise, and his being as a confounding factor disrupting both sides was a welcome development. But nothing is pushed further. Neither is his motivation for straddling his loyalties. Instead, his character is reduced to an annoying spoilt brat who just messes about without a defined plan.
Performances Are Key!
What of the characters then? Tse’s Laughing is understandably the highlight and he deserves most of that luminescence because his screen charisma is second to none and only upstaged by Tse’s constant hands-on-hips posing. It looks kind of silly for Laughing Sir to keep posing, but it looks cool for Laughing Gor. This is truly one of those split personality issues. I find Tse’s injection of attitude truly noteworthy as he outshines, partly by exaggerative gestures, everyone else. What is important is that in a cop and triad drama, some attitude is necessary. No one else has any attitude. Most of the other gangsters are cardboard cut outs, except for Ben Wong.
What about Bosco? His hyped performance was truly undermined by the script. There was no other performance in the series that showed more potential than Bosco, yet he was confined by the script as his character never received any defining treatment. Even Paris had her upheavals and chaos. Bosco got nothing. He was supposed to be a cunning, suave and tactful mobster. The white-collar gangster. Instead his character ended up limping around, talking here, talking there, smiling in a few shots and being angry with Paris. Who killed So Sing Pak you ask? The writers killed him.
Then there’s Fala Chen, who is fine in her role, but because she is never given any substantial role it would be unfair to say she was just “bland.” Safe to say she could have provided a bit more strength into her role. She has the bossy-classy tone. But she misses the mark when required to be tough and determined. However, co-female lead Kate Tsui faired worse. While her expressions are there, she is unable to channel a distinct personality. She goes from manipulative, to resourceful, to cool, to loving, to lovelorn. She shows each of those emotions in ways she knows how to show them but she forgets she is playing a “character” with an actual personality. People have different ways of expressing emotions. A person who is externally cool will not pout and show the puppy dog tears of being cheated in love. Of course, nothing is definitive, but Kate has failed to convince me that her character is such a varied person. My guess is she would play a great schizophrenic though.
The series staple is undoubtedly Damian Lau, who proves he can play any role you throw at him. A darker character would have suited the story better, but whatever the case, Damian did his job here. The supporting actors were acceptable, two notable performances was MC Jin, who plays righteous triad and juvenile cop fittingly. The other deserved mention is Derek Kwok but for different reasons. His character was rather ingenuous, but he seemed too detached most the time to convey any memorable weight. I suspect it was a scripting issue for Derek as his not known to give poor boring performances. Mandy Wong also suffers from poor scripting and once again is able to make much work of the small unimpressive role.
Notable Mentions
Before I end this, I’d like to point out two very odd developments in the series. One is that smoking is actually shown. Wasn’t that banned? And two, there is indeed some “rough” language. I suppose both were required to give the triad theme some credibility, but TVB doesn’t have me on this one. There are too many poor plot devices to convince me Yee Fung is a real triad. Lit Gor is a big one, being one of the most uninspired triad leaders I’ve seen in fiction to date. He is neither scary nor sauve nor cunning. He is nothing. Worst of all, where’s his entourage?! A very special note is the fact that there are actually five total “undercover” personnel operating in this series. Isn’t that a little too many? And what about that anticlimax ending? It makes the whole series just that much better by leaving us feeling incomplete and swindled (because some twerp decided to make a movie…)!
Final Thoughts
I found it quite difficult to assess how much I liked this series, as opposed to how much I was let down by it. Sure it was interesting in some parts, but in many other parts it was too derivative, too illogical, too annoying (Paris and Yuen Kwan Lam). The presence of so many double-crossers should have provided a new dynamic to the genre. This would have required a much more innovative and interwoven narrative, but the scriptwriters failed to deliver. The final product ended up being a crowded mess – a reservation for two people, but instead, five people show up and no one gets to eat.
Verdict
A few genuine plot twists cannot lift what is really more of the same thing. Nothing here has taken it beyond E.U., its closest predecessor. Laughing was really the soul of the series, but even he was too underused to convince me this was really something great.
This review was written by SDS, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com.
Obligatory disclaimer: in writing this review, I encountered numerous obstacles, including general fatigue, lapses of concentration, corrupted computer files, and a feeling that a pair of eyes were constantly watching me; hence the late entry. On the upside, this should slightly prevent the problem of giving away too many spoilers, right?
” Obligatory disclaimer: in writing this review, I encountered numerous obstacles, including general fatigue, lapses of concentration, corrupted computer files, and a feeling that a pair of eyes were constantly watching me; hence the late entry. On the upside, this should slightly prevent the problem of giving away too many spoilers, right? ”
Uhhh no fear on that. Spoilers have been given away already, no less by TVB themselves.
**Disclaimer**Biased view written from the POV of someone who likes Bosco’s performance(and starts to like Kate) and never fell(!) under Laughing’s charm. NOT INTERESTED DON’T READ
I’ll compose a more detailed and thorough review of the drama later, but for now just on Bai Co and Paris.
SDS, yeah, Bai Co is quite hyped, but while I agree the script undermines his potential, this shows how deep he can go into the character, Bai Co is not Bosco at all.
I don’t know if others notice, but personally I think he deserves credit for throwing himself into the character and doing well. The gloomy and dark aura of Bai Co is nothing resembling his normally childlike, sunshine self. So was his body language. The moustache helped a lot too, and his eyes acting have also gone deeper. Applause.
It was a pity that the Yee Fung triad is damn weak on the first place and everything is lacking dimensions and depth required for a convincing triad movie and made me gritted my teeth many times at how things can be written or plotted better so that Bai Co’s triad story development can be more convincing. Grrrr…..I dislike TBB!
In MY POV he deserves whatever hype and positive reviews he’s getting from netizens, viewers and media. Of course there’s always room for improvements for everything.
Note for Kate’s: I personally like her performance more than Fala’s, yet I admit that it’s easier to be charmed by Fala’s “cute” character.
Addition: (I wish there’s Edit function hahah) I think personally it’s too harsh to say Bosco got nothing. I can see he gives a darn of an effort to be the dark Bai Co; without making Bai Co a “cartoon-like” villain. Given there are better materials with more nuance who knows what he could churn out?
Agh I’m slacking. Gotta get back before my IS “kill” me heheh.
I agree! Kate did better than Fala performance-wise, but her character is pretty much useless. I thought TVB’s alternate ending to the drama is pretty interesting, as it gives significance to Kate’s character, but the writers really didn’t give development towards that storyline. So even if TVB made the alternate ending the official ending, it still wouldn’t make sense, lol.
you said this about kate “She goes from manipulative, to resourceful, to cool, to loving, to lovelorn. She shows each of those emotions in ways she knows how to show them but she forgets she is playing a “character” with an actual personality”. The way you describe her performance -showing different sides of her character- in the first part of this quote normally are requirements to be a good actor. Therefore I think your rant is a little confusing ! And about the “she didn’t give the character a personnality” I guess blame the writing. Even you said before Paris was badly written and somehow useless -I agree with you here because in some episodes she hardly had any scene.
About Bosco I don’t agree too. Maybe I saw a different show but he perfectly showed me the good and the bad sides of his character !
@Zaza
Actually, showing different sides to a character is not necessarily done by being overly dramatic. Kate is too dramatic in her approach. Certain emotions are too pronounced, which does not fit with other less drastic emotions. The character isn’t well writte, but Kate should have underplayed it.
Bosco’s main problem is he was limited by the character. He himself outshines his character. But I can’t really ‘review’ something I cannot see or have not seen.
As I said maybe I didn’t see the same show as other people. Too dramatic ? I didn’t think her sad/emotional scenes were too dramatic especially in the latest episodes. The only problem I have is her character was not well written/developed. And I don’t think that Jaynestar said in her/his review that Kate showed the different sides of her character (what she succeded in) too drastically. Jaynestar said “she had no personality”. And I replied blame the writing.
I’ll have to agree that Lit is no big boss and when I saw him act like a big boss I cant help but compare him to the REAL BOSS,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Y6YCjNMX0#t=5m55s
and you’re right, how could they let Laughing rise the ranks so easily when hes an ex cop, why don’t they just make him kill an enemy triad or kidnap one and have him kill him on the spot. Not to mention the whole stupid “Oh….well i can’t kill him cause he works for me!” excuse. That coverup can’t fly twice, man how gullible are these so called Triads? Rule number one is not to trust anyone so easily, come on gangsters.
Now I was still watching the series religiously when it came on everyday, but mainly to see Fala with her new haircut(HOT!!!!) and watch Laughing do his cocky poses and what not.
Overall the story is pretty stupid, but the acting and the eye candy should take you to the finish line.
I have alot more to complain about this series, but I’d rather not spoil it.
@EkinFan:
Hi! i hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty to make some slight amendments to your comment as it was caught in the system for some crude words used! Thank you for your patience! 😀
Nice review. Though I’ve never watched E.U. and must say that the series has some flaws, I actually really enjoyed it and thought it was good! Michael Tse was great =D
Btw, was anyone curious about that guitar background song that was played in the romantic scenes. I can’t get it out of my head and can’t seem to find it online =[
I was quite impressed when I first watched the first few chapters of LOO. The fact that there were so many undercovers throughout the series made it quite interesting. Though I wish Ben Wong could have had further character development which would have given it a twist rather than being so predictable.
Paris wasn’t too impressive either and just seemed to have the same facial expressions throughout the series.
Laughing Gor was played well by Michael but is that enough to win the TV king title?
Good review btw…
I like LOO. One of the best series this year. Michael Tse and (quite surprisingly) Bosco did well. I find Kate not bad in here and better than in her previous dramas.
I think it wasn’t that bad of a series although the scriptwriters for EU did better with the storyline and characters.
For some reason I don’t think Laughing Gor has that magic that he had in EU here. He shined brightly in EU, but in LOO not so much. It’s a given by TVB that Laughing might win Best Actor because of the overhype, but I had the same feeling with asianfan. Is this enough to win the title? In LOO Laughing has every circumstances to make him the central figure, but he doesn’t give the shining magic that he gives in EU when he was just a supporting who outshined even the main leads.
I think Michael did very well and Bosco(surprisingly) did equally very well too.
Fala is ok when she’s required to be Laughing’s girlfriend and not a madam, and Kate is ok when she’s So Sing Pak’s girlfriend and not the lawyer. I think Kate got the shorter end of the deal than Fala. Paris is an annoying and unlikeable character.
For the supporting cast, Ben Wong stood out the most and his character has the best written role. Damian and Elena are good as usual but Damian can do this type of character in his sleep. Mc Jin stood out the most among the newbies. Everyone else are forgettable.
The actress who’s playing the mistress and Damian’s son need to work a lot on their acting 🙁
I confess to being mildly suprised that you label Fala’s performance as “fine” and that she has the “bossy-classy” tone. I thought she was egregious, and she got the better character than the other female lead. Michael Tse just preens and preens the entire show. Forgive me, perhaps I am no longer capable of enjoying exaggerated acting.
I agree Bai Co was not a well developed character, but Bosco put more depth into his character than Michael Tse did. I don’t see how Kate failed to give a “distinct personality”; she never shed what you label as “puppy-like tears” nor did she ever wail like a kid. If anything, she conveyed h*ll of a lot more in one third of the screentime than Fala ever did – and how convenient to blame her and not the scriptwriter for the character’s inconsistencies.
When I said ‘fine’ I meant it in a ‘meh’ tone. Like she was there, she did her part, that’s it. nothing memorable, nothing poor, nothing particularly worth mentioning. She has the bossy-classy tone, but its not necessarily the right one for a police woman. At least she didn’t convince me she was a female officer. But her character has limited change, so its hard to really assess.
In contrast, Kate had a lot of scenes to really ‘act’. Problem is she overacts her emotions. I’m not sure if its directors orders, but she needs to tone down her expressions so they are more balanced. A cool-manipulative person should not be so obvious when she’s angry. Its not incorrect, but its just a little… easy. She is conveying more, but she’s conveying it using bursts of emotions. A character so rich in emotions is better underplayed. You get a sense the character is layered, conflicted, and leaves it more mysterious, like a real person.
Bosco did well to bring a little depth to his character, but he stalled after the first 10 episodes due to the limited script.
Fala sounds like a little girl trying to play Madam to me.
Fala sometimes act like little girl too. She’s like one of those little girls who’s acting grown up.
I think Kate’s ok. I don’t think she overacts. Instead she underacts in her lawyer scenes.
I think Bosco did well throughout the series and don’t let Laughing overwhelm him.
Fala’s worse scene is when she cried with Damien.
I think Kate cries better than Fala. Kate is weak in her lawyer scenes. She don’t look as comvincing as Myolie.
Kate isn’t really underacting in her lawyer scenes, she’s just playing a particular character type – cool and calculating. Then for a love scene, she plays another character type. In her firghtened scenes she plays another character type. I can’t tell if she’s confident or insecure. Or if this was an intended effect.
Normally isn’t that called good acting ?
Its competent acting. Its good if the effect is intended, or there it leads the viewer to understanding the character better, insofar as showing changes of emotion, its sometimes not show necessary to show it all on your face
I just realised everyone is referring to this as LOO. Oh dear, hopefully not all down to the drain sort of Loo. TITs, Loo.. oh dear!
Yah, Funn… TITS and LOO hit me the same way too…
Excellent review once again. Keep it up!
Overall, I’d say LOO had good story potential, but poor story writing. The first week’s episodes were good – the way how the characters were introduced and how each of them had such distinctive personalities and character development – but when the second week came, all of that went down hill. I also expected more action in the drama, but it turned out that the drama was more psychologically thrilling than anything.
Spicy Ginger was definitely the most well-written character in the story, and Ben Wong’s performance was wonderful. Unfortunately, the writers didn’t give him a well-developed finish. As for Bosco, he was definitely in character – didn’t get that “silly Bosco vibe” at all – however, his character was poorly written. As with Paris and Yuen Kwan-lam. All these characters had potential to be colorful and significant (with their interesting back stories), but that all went down the drain pretty fast.
And that is a terrible poster, lol. Unflattering at all angles.
It’s a poor poster of Kate. She looks aged. Fala looks pretty though, with her shorter, sharp haircut. I have yet to see an ugly picture of Fala. Perhaps that girl is just really pretty.
Have never liked men with moustache, also the skinny thin line moustache. Why do people think moustaches are sexy!?
In my POV, the moustache doesn’t look good on offscreen sunshine-smiley Bosco(as seen from events), but is hot inside LOO for the gloomy Bai Co. I miss the stache 😛
Yeah, his character is quite poorly written. I can feel that the scriptwriters had good ideas and intention, but they don’t know how to materialize the ideas into a well defined and developed character; and a practical storyline. Bai Co is a “hanging” character. Lack of background story, lack of development, ending is lacking too. His motivation is weak for a crime thriller drama – because it’s mainly romantically based.
Liet Gor is underdeveloped too. Cheung KK is a capable actor, but he’s not given enough material to work on.
Is Spicy Ginger written by another team from the above characters? Do they have separate teams who wrote for separate characters in a single drama? Spicy Ginger is perhaps the most “complete” character in this entire drama. He has a well defined background story, clear paths of development, enigmatic development from good->gray->bad->crazy->remorse and enough elements of “surprise”, and a clear cut closure. Ben Wong did well. I might as well voting him for Best Supporting Actor. Thumbs up.
Personally, what makes the drama loses points for me are not the acting or the cast – these parts are fine, the cinematography is also worth noticing;
but rather I sense weakness in the lack of substance and nuance in the plot and characters. What happened to the “frienemy” part of Laughing and Bai Co? Never get a chance to be developed to the deep by the plot, and just left floating on surface. What a shame since this part could’ve added extra punch to the plot area.
So, Spicy Ginger is practically Laughing Gor in EU, the supporting character that is well developed and over shadowed the leads?
Spicy Ginger the movie?
You all must be joking. While I too think Ben might take home the Best Supporting award I don’t think he create a Laughing phenomenon. Laughing stole the limelight in EU and outshined everything. Lat Geung might be the best written role but he didn’t steal the show.
Good reviews, good story, good cast… TERRIBLE ENDING…..
I agree. Kate Tsui was not Paris Yiu at all, she was just… Kate Tsui. Kinda like what Tom Cruise is, he doesn’t become the character he’s playing, he’s simply just being Tom Cruise.
True true and worse Tom Cruise tries hard and it shows so much so he looks like he is acting.
I am not a Tom Cruise fan but I will never rant on his performance in “interview with a vampire”. The first time I watched this movie the man succeded to be really creepy…
Tom Cruise in my eyes is a pretty boy(middle age man now) who always “look good” in whatever movie he’s in. I’m not sure if that’s working to his advantage as an actor..or not.
I used to view Leonardo as a pretty face too, but as he grew older perhaps the type of movies he worked out helped getting rid of that image – and let others including me taking him more seriously 😛
Keanu Reeves is another actor whom I suspect is playing “Keanu Reeves” most of the time, but I admit he’s quite droolworthy too.
Off topic note: I never took Jim Carrey as more than a comedian until his more subtle performance in Truman Show.
I always think that all Hollywood actor are like this :P. They are always themselves in the movie, watever the role is. I dun find it’s a matter.
P/S: I watch Hollywood movie for the CGI and plot more than for an artist. I really like Keanu and find him drool worthy but some of his movies are as boring as TVB series now.
Does anybody here following Criminal Minds? One of my favorite US TV series 😛
The team leader Hotch(played by Thomas Gibson). It took me a while before I learned he was the Greg in Dharma and Greg. Darn versatile in my POV.
Fox, yeah honestly I’m also watching Hollywood films or US TV series for the plots more than the artistes.
Keanu is yummy but boring to me. Period 😛
Keanu’s less boring role maybe in Speed. He curses and runs, haha. Matrix, The day the world should stand, etc. are boring and repetitive.
Fox, yeah. Speed and perhaps Devil’s Advocate are less boring work of Keanu. Other than that, I thought I’m seeing Keanu Neo Reeves everywhere. He has stage presence though, that tall and defining pretty face helps 😉
I guess because Neo’s shadow is too big.
[Note: This is just a fun tease :D] Gulp.. Let’s wish this won’t happen to Laughing. The last I’ve read is he wished to engrave “Laughing Gor” onto his watch..hahaha.
Matrix is revolutionary. Someone told me that whenever she sits in the toilet she wonders, am I in the matrix? I kinda have the same feeling too.
Funn, perhaps we’re all living in Matrix or dream-state(Inception)..hahaha. The results of watching too much movies 😛
I like Keanu Reeves’ portrayal of Buddha.
Keanu Reeves is the worst Hollywood actor I have come across. He can’t act AT ALL. If it wasn’t for The Matrix, and his few other financially successful films, I don’t think he would get that far. But I guess being pretty does help. Too bad he’s getting old now. 😛
Tom Cruise is better than Keanu Reeves, but not that much better, lol. And yes, Interview with a Vampire is definitely one of his best, if not THE best, works.
@Funn: I have to think of Inception more. Are we living in a dream?
Addy, hoho why not mention Mission Impossible? I think MI to Cruise is what Matrix is for Reeves? Hahaha
Mentioning Inception, Leo’s character isn’t the man who attracted me the most after watching. I like watching two supporting characters more – the Jap guy and Leo’s sidekick.
@masaharu:
Do u mean Leo’s sidekick who is in the new movie 50/50? He was a cute child actor and quite handsome now, just like Leo.
BTW, I liked keenu in “the lake house”, so romantic.
Josie, yeah specifically Joseph Gordon Levitt. I found his presence unique.
Kidd, I agree. Somehow his portrayal as Buddha as in Buddha under the tree Buddha was most convincing. That is probably because his eyes has unspoken depth. He was best in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Keanu is not THAT bad an actor. But yes, he is bad. BUT he has iconic roles. Without Matrix he would have been famous. But he took a chance on Matrix, so good for him for being so rich.
Anyone rmb Brenda Fraser? He likes disappeared. I have just watched Geogre the Jungle and suddenly miss him.
Fox, u are probably the only person that would miss Brendan Fraser.
I think the last time I saw him was mummy 3 and that is enough for me.
Agreed! Brendan fraser is just a big goofball.
I dun watch Mummy 3 haha
Fraser is not my cup of tea haha
Leo was great as a child/teenage star, like he was in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, even Titanic. But as he grew older, he acts in more and more serious movies, to the point I think he is desperate for an Oscar. Maybe when he does win an oscar he might try comedy.
Agree with Funn. Leo was a great child star. I already like him in Growing Pains. I think after Titanic, he tried way too hard to established him as a serious actor. So, he filmed all those serious movies.
Ooh I started noticing him only after Titanic, so I don’t know how he was as a child star 😀
Not a fan to michael tse cos really not fancy actor with plastic surgery face n to bad hong kong madam like him with surgery face so anyway i past all the serial which he in it i love bosco but to bad his not the main actor in this serial so i past.
May Scully, although Bosco’s character isn’t the main point nor it is that well written, but the overall results is far from disappointing.
Unless you don’t like
-hating the character
-BoscoxKate smooch kiss hug caress x10
-That moustache 😛
Overall, its a good series, except the ending was unexpected, disappointed and there were few draggy parts and boring parts and too many undercover crap.
Regarding to…..
Kate Tsui’s role. I believe she is a miscast in this series. Her performance was ugh. Her makeup is bad on screen. ZI really dont know why cast her. Thankfully, her screen time is less.
Fala Chen, I hope she’s not taking a police role again. She just suck. That role is too challenging for her to be Madam at a high rank level.
Micheal Tse ok and overrated.
Bosco ok, he could have had a better co-star to makeout.
I think Jin AuYeung did very well in his role for a first time TVB acting with more screen time, wish there was a romantic scene with Mandy.
The rest of the cast did well.
I hope this is the final time we see Laughing Gor series.
I doubt this is the last time we see Laughing Gor. There’s more to come…
I get the feeling the title picture of Bosco looks poorly photoshopped. lol
i thought michael tse’s acting was very 1 dimensional in that everything he said, he always just drags the last tone in a ver sarcastic manner which is exetremely annoying. He has basically the same emotion for everything, althought some of you may this thats what it means to act “cool” or “chok” i personally did not like his acting at all and found it to be very poor and hard to watch
I think his character was very one dimensional. Though that may just be how the character is, I don’t know. Probably the most underused character in the whole series if you consider his role relative to the plot. I’m not sure who to blame though… I mean I have to blame someone right?
I’d say Omission’s scriptwriters had absolutely no clue what made EU’s Laughing so well-loved. If people argue that Michael’s success in EU was aided in part by the character and script, then in Omission it was mostly Michael’s acting that lifted the character and made him as attractive as weibo response appears to indicate.
Honestly I think anyone who only sees 1-dimension in his acting is just… plain blind or biased, I dunno which… I mean c’mon, he portrays different sides when facing different characters — if you choose just to focus on the “chok-ness” when he’s facing down the “bad guys”, and totally ignore the wariness replaced by professionalism when facing Gong Sir or the mischieviousness followed by tenderness and then heartbreak when facing Madam Jo… I really dunno what else to say
SDS,
You mention that the character of Paris appears to be isolated in interaction from other characters in “Lives of Omission” and serves no more than Bai Co’s romantic interest. This inability to weave characters’ lives together successfully is indeed a major flaw in recent TVB scriptwriting and makes it less enjoyable to watch.
Your review was enjoyable to read, as you pointed out the structural flaws in the series with a very detailed analysis.
Thanks for taking the time to write the review a second time, as you mentioned you lost the first copy due to corrupted files. 🙂
No worries. Please to write for Jaynestars. I figured, if anything, Jaynestars would need some sort of comic relief regarding HK series being a hub for HK entertainment.
The way I see it with Paris/Kate, the problem was twofold, and it was more Paris than Kate.
The other aspect of the series that was irritating was downplaying Laughing’s role as the series went on. His personality sort of lost flair. And he lost his coin…
SDS,
“No worries. Please to write for Jaynestars. I figured, if anything, Jaynestars would need some sort of comic relief regarding HK series being a hub for HK entertainment.”
We are so honored to have you write reviews for JayneStars.com! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to entertain all of us. Your sense of humor is a definite welcome and love the original phrases you coin to make your point. 🙂
OMG! Fala is horrible. Geez! what idiot give her this role and as always Michael is overrated.