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Disappointing
I love a good Joe Ma drama, but this one just had me going “what?” What do you get if you take the classic Justice Bao drama and try to modernise it in Hong Kong? If you were hoping for some awesome then this is not it. This drama was so bad I considered stopping it early if it wasn’t for Joe Ma being in it.So Joe plays the role of the main prosecutor, and instead of being a judge like in the classic Justice Bao dramas, he is instead prosecuting evil doers and sending them to prison for their crimes. His bodyguard is now a cop played by Ricco Ng, and his clerk is played by a Winki Lai. Yes, Winki Lai is Miss Kung Suen instead of Mr Kung Suen.
We get some classic Justice Bao cases modernised for this drama like the bastard Chan Sei Mei story but turned into a k-pop star for this drama. These - for the most part - were okay. Identifying what cases they were remaking was at first novel and a lot of fun, but this quickly wore off as the drama pivoted towards Joe Ma’s backstory. The biggest issue I had was with what they did to the main characters.
Ricco Ng starts off in typical TVB fashion of cop undercover as triad but later is reinstated as a cop. He immediately becomes Joe Ma’s best friend and they solve crimes together. He isn’t too bad, but his love interest played by Kayan Yau was soo annoying. A career criminal, she falls in love with him - for some reason as we see hardly any romantic chemistry between them - and then spends most of the drama swooning over him like an idiot. This made her look so cheap.
Then we have Winki Lai. She works as Joe’s clerk and wants to become a prosecutor like Joe and practically worships the man. She is always serious and I mean she is ALWAYS serious, and there was one scene where she tried to dress sexy to use the honeytrap on someone. Man, no offence but her trying to act like a young sexy girl to trap someone just made me laugh. She’s okay but she is not super hot so I found it really offputting.
Joe Ma as a Bao is all good, I mean he looked sauve and sophisticated as a DOJ prosecutor, but the problem I had was how he solved crimes. He had a condition called Mirror-Touch Synesthesia - or MTS - that allowed him to feel what people were feeling such as pain or anger, to such an extent it would hospitalise him. He uses this super power to analyse guilty defendants and then get them judged guilty. On top of this, he also plays pictograms to help him think of a strategy, and coincidentally the pictograms always end up showing him a picture to provide a clue to solving the mystery. Why? It is so lazy and makes no sense. And to top it off, he also has this super power to look at a letter, which he needs to sign to close a case and if he does not see rainbow colours (wtf) he knows there is something missing and the case needs further investigation. Again, why does he have this power and wtf does it have to do with anything? They’re not related to his MTS condition at all!
We later find out that his sister-in-law played by Alice Chan really hates him, and we find out in flashbacks that they dated for a while but Joe’s older brother was in love with Alice as well. During one evening of drinking, Joe’s older brother blurts out that he was in love with Alice and hated that it was his younger brother who was with her. Because Joe had MTS, he felt his brother’s pain and so as a result - and I am not making this up - he broke up with Alice to not hurt his brother and went abroad to study. Alice, angry with what he had done, decided to marry Joe’s older brother out of spite. This had me going wtf so many times because that made nooo sense. Why would you let go of your love because someone else was in love with your partner, that was just epically stupid. I hated this subplot.
And to top it off, we later find out why Joe got MTS. His mother had Joe’s older brother first but unfortunately he was average intelligence and could not help her run her company. As a result, she contacted her ex-boyfriend, who happened to be a talented geneticist, to create a test tube baby with superior DNA traits so he would have high intelligence and be taller than average. This test tube baby was Joe Ma, and a side-effect of having superior genes was that he was afflicted with MTS. Joe’s mom spent most of the drama calling him a creature and a monster when she was the one who did this to him. This part also had me going wtf because it was simply too absurd.
The big bad ends up being Angel Chiang, a former student of Joe Ma. She started off as a nice person but suddenly turned evil at the end. This gave me whiplash so fast my neck still hurts.
This was supposed to be Joe Ma’s final drama before he retires, and I am sad he had to end on this note. The earlier cases were okay to watch but his plotline and the revelations of his past had me asking what the producers were smoking. If it wasn’t for Joe Ma’s star power I wouldn’t have even bothered finishing this drama.
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Pleasantly Surprised!
The Unusual Prosecutor is a modern, legal drama inspired by Legend of Justice Bao Zheng (包拯). The story follows Pau Hey-Yan, Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, who suffers from Mirror Touch Synesthesia. Because of his condition, he deeply feels the pain and sorrow crime victims have to bear. By understanding victims’ suffering, he vows not only to seek one hundred percent of the truth but also to shield victims from further distress of court appearance. He faces many challenges and obstacles to uphold justice but receives great support from his assistant, Kung Suen Pak and inspector, Chin Hung Fei.The show writers deserve “a pat on the back” for a job well done. To stay close to the original legend, the series writers modernize symbolic cases such as The Case of the Black Basin and Civet Cat for the Crown Prince. Furthermore, this is one of very few shows that attempts to explain why the protagonist is so righteous. Pau Hey Yan, who has to shoulder victims’misery, can risk losing everything including his own freedom to ensure the truth is revealed. Writers also set the tone of the show very early on: there will not be many courtroom scenes as court appearances place a great burden on victims. Due to my personal experience, I greatly appreciate this aspect of the series. It also shows how humane and kind the protagonist is.
Having said that, the Unusual Prosecutor shows multiple flaws in its plot. While some cases are unnecessarily dragging, the final showdown lacks development and seems rushed. I believe these issues are due to budget constraints and promotion intentions. Since TVB is grooming young actors and actresses, their screen time is longer than needed. While it is understandable, it causes imbalance in the story.
In terms of acting, my score is purely for Joe Ma and his ability to carry the team. Joe Ma delivers a better than expected Pau Hey Yan, who is kind and righteous but lonely and hurt. Pau Hey Yan seems stressed and unhappy often. I do not know if Joe Ma intended to act that way or he was actually under pressure at the time of filming. But his distress look fits perfectly to the story. Pau Hey Yan is the man who understands the feeling of the world, but is struggling to recognize his own. Joe Ma does not show his teary eyes, which seems to be the preferred acting method at the moment, too often. However, his microexpression is enough for sympathy! Besides Joe Ma, Alice Chan is an experienced actress, she is her usual-self, unfortunately providing no “icing on the cake”. As for the younger actors and actresses, there is still so much to learn, thankfully they have been given chances to polish their skills.
I had not ever paid attention to Joe Ma until The Unusual Prosecutor. With this newfound interest, I probably will rewatch the show for him. However, like all crime drama series, mysteries and surprises disappear after the first watch. I do not think there is any rewatch value for the show.
On another note, Joe Ma personally refuted the rumor that he was retiring. Having said that, I believe he may be entering his semi- retiring phase, where he accepts minor supporting roles to satisfy his passion for acting. He may fill his time with other hobbies and spend time with his family. Too bad, I am too late to this party. I do not think I can catch him being the first male lead anymore!
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