This series is a hit for a reason. It has comedy, drama, passion, and earnestness. While I was watching it, I couldn't think of anything else and when I wasn't watching it, I was thinking about it. That rarely happens to me; I have a very "out-of-sight-out-of-mind" attitude to television series in particular, but not in this case. I watched season one and less than a week later, I bought a month subscription to iQIYI exclusively to watch the second. It was worth every penny. I do have a few comments, but like every great story, the negatives vastly outweigh the positives.
So with that, let's talk details.
I have always been interested in how media portrays people with disabilities, and in particular blindness. I have spent maybe too much time hunting for and watching shows and movies that portray people with blindness, and to a lesser extent, deafness. If I can find it in with English or French audio or subtitles, it's a safe bet that I've seen it. I tell you this to make it clear that when I say that Vincent Wong deserved his award, I mean it. There were _multiple_ times when I had to pause the show to confirm that he is sighted. Out of everything I've ever watched that qualify, I can count the number of times I've done that and discovered the actor was actually sighted on one hand and have fingers left over! The other actors were good, but not in his league. Even removing the physicality of his work, Wong made me believe his character in a way that Owen Cheung and Sisley Choi didn't. GoGo's lovable, roguish humor and Sis Dean's commanding presence just weren't as compelling to me as the sharp-tongued, hidden mastermind that you love and hate in equal measures. Fostering such contradicting emotions as love and hate in a compelling way will always come out on top in my book.
With that in mind, I do have to say that as well as Wong acted, some of the feats his character performs such as hearing heartbeats and drawing perfect portraits from touch alone, did knock me out of the story. Hearing heartbeats from someone sitting next to you let alone across a room, is not possible, at least without a stethoscope. It just isn't something you can train yourself to do, despite what the characters say. Furthermore, why was it even necessary? There are a dozen different ways Man Sun-hop could tell someone was lying without resorting to super powers. My own annoyance aside, I feel that by portraying the character as super-human undermines the message that the character of Man Sun-hop, and by extension, the creators of the series, was striving for: equal opportunity and representation. It implies that someone has to be Daredevil to be a great lawyer with blindness. It would have been so much more respectful, and powerful, to highlight realistic ways that Counselor Man could use his disability to his advantage. That said, I have loved _Daredevil_ since I was in grade school. To see effectively Matt Murdock without the "Man Without Fear/blind ninja" persona made the long buried fan-fiction writer in me very, very happy.
That leads me to the writing. For the most part, the stories were engaging and the writers didn't shy away from the harder subjects. The dialogue, even translated and via subtitles, was only rarely awkward. They did a very good job with explanation without redundancy. I could have done without the ridiculous love triangles, but what is a drama without someone being stabbed in the heart? It's harder for me to swallow the number of times a character gets into a car crash and either dies or leaves the hospital with a single bandage on their head and absolutely zero bruises. Truly, how many times can a character get hit by a car just before they're supposed to testify? This does lead me to my other major gripe with the series: the law. I didn't realize that the original title of the show translates to "Crossing the Line" until I was almost done with season one, and maybe if I'd known that earlier, I'd be less annoyed by the appalling depiction of court procedures. I'm neither a lawyer nor Hong Kong citizen, but even I can tell that every single case that Hope Man and his cohorts tried should have ended in a mistrial.
Imagine my surprise, then, at season two. In season two, without spoilers, we're introduced to a new character who says basically everything I shouted at my TV regarding the way the "Iron Triangle" behaves. That was an excellent evolution to round out the world. So if you're like me and it's almost painful to watch such blatant dramatic license, just stick it out for season 2.
In conclusion, it's worth the time investment. Be ready to smile, shout, growl, and obsess. I wish I could watch it again for the first time.
So with that, let's talk details.
I have always been interested in how media portrays people with disabilities, and in particular blindness. I have spent maybe too much time hunting for and watching shows and movies that portray people with blindness, and to a lesser extent, deafness. If I can find it in with English or French audio or subtitles, it's a safe bet that I've seen it. I tell you this to make it clear that when I say that Vincent Wong deserved his award, I mean it. There were _multiple_ times when I had to pause the show to confirm that he is sighted. Out of everything I've ever watched that qualify, I can count the number of times I've done that and discovered the actor was actually sighted on one hand and have fingers left over! The other actors were good, but not in his league. Even removing the physicality of his work, Wong made me believe his character in a way that Owen Cheung and Sisley Choi didn't. GoGo's lovable, roguish humor and Sis Dean's commanding presence just weren't as compelling to me as the sharp-tongued, hidden mastermind that you love and hate in equal measures. Fostering such contradicting emotions as love and hate in a compelling way will always come out on top in my book.
With that in mind, I do have to say that as well as Wong acted, some of the feats his character performs such as hearing heartbeats and drawing perfect portraits from touch alone, did knock me out of the story. Hearing heartbeats from someone sitting next to you let alone across a room, is not possible, at least without a stethoscope. It just isn't something you can train yourself to do, despite what the characters say. Furthermore, why was it even necessary? There are a dozen different ways Man Sun-hop could tell someone was lying without resorting to super powers. My own annoyance aside, I feel that by portraying the character as super-human undermines the message that the character of Man Sun-hop, and by extension, the creators of the series, was striving for: equal opportunity and representation. It implies that someone has to be Daredevil to be a great lawyer with blindness. It would have been so much more respectful, and powerful, to highlight realistic ways that Counselor Man could use his disability to his advantage. That said, I have loved _Daredevil_ since I was in grade school. To see effectively Matt Murdock without the "Man Without Fear/blind ninja" persona made the long buried fan-fiction writer in me very, very happy.
That leads me to the writing. For the most part, the stories were engaging and the writers didn't shy away from the harder subjects. The dialogue, even translated and via subtitles, was only rarely awkward. They did a very good job with explanation without redundancy. I could have done without the ridiculous love triangles, but what is a drama without someone being stabbed in the heart? It's harder for me to swallow the number of times a character gets into a car crash and either dies or leaves the hospital with a single bandage on their head and absolutely zero bruises. Truly, how many times can a character get hit by a car just before they're supposed to testify? This does lead me to my other major gripe with the series: the law. I didn't realize that the original title of the show translates to "Crossing the Line" until I was almost done with season one, and maybe if I'd known that earlier, I'd be less annoyed by the appalling depiction of court procedures. I'm neither a lawyer nor Hong Kong citizen, but even I can tell that every single case that Hope Man and his cohorts tried should have ended in a mistrial.
Imagine my surprise, then, at season two. In season two, without spoilers, we're introduced to a new character who says basically everything I shouted at my TV regarding the way the "Iron Triangle" behaves. That was an excellent evolution to round out the world. So if you're like me and it's almost painful to watch such blatant dramatic license, just stick it out for season 2.
In conclusion, it's worth the time investment. Be ready to smile, shout, growl, and obsess. I wish I could watch it again for the first time.
