No.of Epis: 37Year/TV Station: 2007/TVB
Cast:
Moses Chan ~ Wei Jin Long
Yuen Biao ~ Yuan Huo Xin
Gigi Lai ~ Huang Jing Ying
Yoyo Mung ~ Jiang Ya Ru
Kevin Cheng ~ Zhuang Wen Xi
Maggie Siu ~ Lin Chu Yu
Synopsis: (edited from Wikipedia)
Famous for his unparalleled kung-fu skills, Huo Xin has cracked a large number of difficult cases, which makes him very popular within the police force. Despite the recognition he has achieved, Huo Xin quits his job to become a monk. But later, as luck would have it, he gets back to Hong Kong again, where he experiences a series of mysterious, supernatural events.
With the assistance of Huo Xin, Wei Jin Long, an undercover police officer, manages to solve a big case. Later, Long returns to his police inspector position. Xin believes that there is a special bond between him and Long. Long dates Jing Ying, whom he used to bicker with. However, Long and his bosom friend Ya Ru have been very close to each other. Feeling upset, Jing Ying starts going out with her boss Zhuang Wen Xi, which leads her to the point of no return…
To seek revenge, Long has shown his complete disregard for law and order. He is ready to sacrifice himself and even Huo Xin to reach his goal. Things are happening as Huo Xin predicts.
Meanwhile, Huo Xin knows what will happen to him and decides to push Chu Yu back to her husband.
Slacker's review: This drama was actually quite nice to watch initially. The cases were linked with supernatural events, thus it seemed to be rather unique compared to other case-solving dramas. Plus, Huo Xin can know what happens before an event actually occurs. However, this plot did not continue for long. It was skewed towards Jing Ying's death case and it simply dragged too long for the case to be solved. Seriously, there's no need for 37 epis. (I think 25~30 is enough.) After a case ended, it was not continued with another new case straight away. The storyline spent 2-3 epis to let the characters built up chemistry. That's good actually, but then the drama lost the excitement between cases. So, the storyline was rather inconsistent to the previous part, as we didn't get to see any more supernatural stuff, and Jing Ying's case turned out to be Jin Long's revenge show.
Moses's acting was really good, and his character gave him lots of chances to show his acting skills. He was so funny when he acted as the Thai gigolo. I like how Moses was back in his suit and he's all serious during work. He did pretty well with his "couldn't-be-bothered" attitude & expression to JY too. Then, JL finally realised he loved JY all along...but JY was with WX. (Jealousy and anger were all written on his face...) Though I didn't like how JL's character changed after JY died, Moses's performance after JY died was excellent. He's kinda like a "living dead", thinking only about revenge, and forgot his principles as a law enforcer. He went literally "crazy", threatening his colleagues and even his friends. JL actually became WX as he continued to do the wrong thing...hunting down WX's bro WK,who witnessed him killing WX. This is one of the most "developed" character I have ever seen in TVB dramas.
As compared to Moses, Yuen Biao's performance seemed to be average. As a kungfu action actor, I didn't blame him la. He did well for his character...a super righteous guy. Though I find HX's romance with CY kinda awkward, i think his chemistry with Maggie wasn't bad. However, YB's chemistry with Moses was the best. Haha!
Gigi Lai looked so different here. E.W kept saying that JY was so ugly. Yes...our pretty Gigi gotta act such a character. So, she's not those "can only act pretty" actress. JY is quite a "dreamy" person, and she got jealous too easily, and she's too nice. I was very sad when JY had to die. Without her, the drama seemed to be missing something. Butta, together with other characters (except JL), JY was pretty one-dimensional.
Yoyo's YR was her usual "boyish" character. I think Yoyo's performance was not bad, but nothing new. She's another righteous fella, but becoz' of love, she's willing to sacrifice her career for JL.
ZWX..this kind of character normally wld get a B lister to act, so dunno what happened to Kevin ah...offended mgt ah? (Joking...) Anyway, it has been sometime to see Kevin in such a role. Though he's nt a male lead, his character was one of the main characters in the back part of the drama. Kevin's acting always bothers me. He's alright, but not exceptionally good. He was evil in the drama, but I thought his acting didn't bring the best out of him, as compared to Moses. Kevin really needs to buck up in his expressions.
As for other cast like Maggie and Nat Tong...they were not bad. I really like JY's dad..though he's ridiculous at times. Hahaha..
Ending theme "Ci Wo Yi Si" by Moses Chan.
Overall, I think "TUCF" is still quite a gd drama to watch, despite its flaws. It's not the mainstream police dramas which focused only on the cases & romances. There are lots of Buddhist philosophies in the drama. For e.g. the life cycle of the tree is one classic illustration of 轮回.
