final_flash

With a cast like Charmaine Sheh you can’t go wrong really. And you have the return of some old school TVB actors like Patrick Tam and Annie Man, so you know this will be something special. The only problem is that it draws huge parallels to the Netflix k-drama Juvenile Justice, but with a few changes here and there so that it doesn’t fully copy the story and plot like-for-like. Charmaine is a judge and was going to be a permanent judge in the High Court after judging a case involving Alice Chan’s underaged son. After acquitting him of murder, it turned out he really committed murder but there was no evidence to prove it, resulting in Charmaine giving up her position out of guilt and becoming a Juvenile Court Judge. This has the repercussions of her getting divorced and her daughter hating her.

Now, whoever it is that played Alice Chan’s son did an amazing job being this creepy kid who just exudes a psycho aura whenever we see him onscreen. The smirks he throws were great especially in the scenes where he secretly revels in getting away with murder. I want him to get caught but at the same time love how psychopathic he is. Alice Chan can feel something is off but as a mother she can only protect him, and this makes for great drama.

Kalok Chow also shows up as a Juvenile Court Judge who works with Charmaine, and it is so weird seeing him in this sort of role. He is well spoken and speaks calmly and yet in this monotone voice that is so strange to hear. After getting used to his comedy antics in his other roles, I found it extremely difficult to take him seriously in this role and I always laugh a little after he says a serious line, expecting his next line to be a follow up punchline to his last sentence.

So far I am 5 episodes in and this is shaping up to be a great drama. Could this make Charmaine get another best female actor award? Who knows but for now it is looking good.

Update up to episode 15: so far the cases have been great. Charmaine is unapologetically stern yet fair, even when her own step-daughter was called into a bullying case as a possible bully, she trusted her daughter was coerced into doing something she was not aware of and it turned out okay. Many were worried that they may mix her role up with the character from The Queen of News series, but this character is completely different in feel and unique in its own way. There are similarities, but here she is strictly within the bounds of the law with no grey areas allowed. However, in typical TVB fashion, they had to add some medical problems into the mix, and sure enough Charmaine suddenly has tinnitus and having hearing and balance issues. You bet your bottom dollar this is going to become a plot point very soon.

Seeing the late Benz Hui acting is bittersweet because this was his final role before his untimely passing, but what a role he played. His subplot was relatable as a father who doubted his son’s credibility and kept on scolding his son for things he did not do. The scenes where he was emotionally distraught were very powerful, but seeing the scene when he made up with his son was very touching and felt like a great conclusion to the father son finally making up.

Alice Chan is still being this overprotective mother and is constantly butting heads with Charmaine. Her son had once again committed murder, but this time Alice took the initiative to send him abroad after giving him a fake alibi, forced onto her by her son sure, but she still played along. I know her son will face justice before the drama ends for sure because his/her smirk as they flew away on the plane while watching how they murdered someone else again made me feel sick.

And I actually got used to Kalok Chow’s new mellow and calm demeanour. I mean, it took a while for sure, but I got used to it and I find it actually quite endearing because he is trying to fit into high society despite having a background of poverty and suffering from terrible parents.

Speaking of Kalok Chow, he started dating Joey Thye, a lawyer and also grand daughter of a powerful judge in the drama, but this came out of nowhere. One minute they were colleagues and then suddenly, out of the blue, boom they are now dating. There was no build up to it so it was just BOOM oh you guys are dating now? Okay la! I hated this as there was no visible chemistry between them so it needed scenes for them to get romantic. And the dumbest part in the drama was at the end of episode 15 when Joey suspected Kalok knew she was the grand daughter of a powerful judge and was only using her as a stepping stone, so she literally says this to him -

Joey: My grand father asked me if I was dating anyone
Kalok: So what did you say to him?
Joey: Aren’t you going to ask who he is? *pause* So you knew who he was then?

From that she worked out Kalok already knew her background and who her grandfather was. I call BS on that because who on earth would say “who is your grandfather?” To a question like that? Imagine if someone said to you “My dad asked me if I was dating” who would reply “who is your dad?” That is not how a conversation would go, so that made the scene immediately turn to crap. Most of the dialogue in the drama is okay but the writing staff must have been sick on that day and so they asked some intern to write that part for them.

Finally, my goodness the theme song. I am getting so annoyed at hearing it because it sounds like a wailing ghost who cannot find its way home, just screaming AHHHHHH!!!! Whenever I hear the end credits start and the singer screaming “LAAAAAATE!!!!” I immediately cringe. Awful song.

Besides from the 3 complaints above, it is so far a great drama. Let’s see how things go from here.