Thursday, May 24, 2012

"Sergeant Tabloid" Review


In a nutshell, "Sergeant Tabloid" is a decent and entertaining drama, but lacks one specific theme.  There are bits of sisterhood, rushed romance, cops running around, and even the journey of a surprisingly heroic character.  Yet, it doesn't seem to have a point or purpose besides offering some decent entertainment.

The Premiere

First off, "Sergeant Tabloid" wins the award for cheesiest first episode ever.  Niki and Vincent's relationship felt lame and even cringe worthy, making it seem like an idol drama.  While the rest of the series was by no means excellent, the premiere episode was not an accurate representation of the series itself.

Characters and Performances

Niki Chow has that X-Factor that makes her liked by audiences, but her acting leaves much to be desired.  I can't deny she has something very endearing about her, but her performance did not offer anything new. 
 
Going into this series, I was prepared to dislike Michael Tse once again.  Ever since the success of Laughing Gor, he seems to have trouble not injecting a little of the character's "chokness" into his performances.  However, Michael's "A1" turned out to be the highlight as well as the anchor of the drama.  The character is fleshed out with strengths as well as weaknesses.  He is a slimy yet smart and ambitious reporter, but has so much humanity in him.  His journalistic integrity and conscience was tested with the tragic suicide of a tormented teen he indirectly caused.  He learned to confront and forgive everything that happened in the past.  As a result, he was a very dynamic character.

The first half of the series saw a Michael Tse that still couldn't shake off the chokness, but he successfully sheds it after.  The whole plot with him and his family, as well as the grief he went through after the teen's suicide, could've easily been cliched and cringeworthy. However, Michael portrayed the character very well.  A1 went through many stages of emotions, and Michael nailed them all.  He unexpectedly became my favorite character, and was what kept my interest.  This is hands down my favorite performance of his in years.  I hope that he will continue to deliver, and show that he is more than just Laughing Gor.


Press coverage and hype of Mandy Wong's character, nicknamed "Madam Kill", led me to believe that she was going to be a tough and ruthless madam with no emotion at all.  Szeto Kiu was simply a lonely girl who didn't know how to communicate with people or express her emotions properly.  Mandy continues to prove her potential by being a convincing tomboyish inspector despite her young age.   

Matthew Ko was lucky enough to get a second chance at being second lead, and the opportunity wasn't wasted.  This is Matthew's best performance to date.  Although he still has a lot more improvements he could make, he was quite natural here.  He is lovable, cute, and funny as the playful and sweet "Wong Tze", or "Prince".  I enjoyed his scenes with Mandy.  Perhaps it's because the character is more like his real personality, but Matthew appeared very comfortable onscreen unlike in the past, where he was awkward and wooden.    I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.  With his improving acting and refreshing honest and straightforward personality, I might finally have another actor to name for promising rising siu sangs.

Oceanne Zhu  continues to prove to me how much potential she has.  She was adorable and sweet as "Lam Oi-Oi", and her Cantonese has improved vastly in a short amount of time.  William Chak also did decently, and his initially lazy character sparked a few laughs. Becky Lee is usually likable, but proved to be very irritating here with her foolish and annoying character.

The Plot


The problem with "Sergeant Tabloid" is its lack of direction and true purpose.  There is no concrete plot or theme.  A little of everything is thrown in, which would be great if there was one main story.  The series was more focused on the characters, which served as a problem as Michael's "A1" was the only character that came close to being compelling.  Other than that, everyone and everything felt flat.  As a result, I finished the series feeling unsatisfied.

The ending was poorly written, and heavily contributed to my feeling of dissatisfaction towards the series.  The sudden appearance of Elaine Yiu was very random and unnecessary.  Niki and Michael's and Matthew and Mandy's relationships were arguably the main focus of the series, yet were sloppily resolved.  Everything was all a rush.

Overall

"Sergeant Tabloid" is nothing spectacular, and yet another example of lack of direction in a TVB series.  It is still enjoyable at several points, but forgettable.  Michael Tse gives a notable performance of a surprisingly decently written character, and anchors what is otherwise a mediocre drama.

Rating: 3 stars

========================================

Comments: Sorry if this review was not as well written and seemed a little all over the place.  I put off starting and writing this review for the longest time because I was busy, and by the time I started, I had already forgotten many of the series' details.


8 comments:

  1. i changed a browser to post this, as my previous LONG comment just disappeared without a trace when i clicked 'published'. grrr....

    will type whatever i can remember using bullet points as i'm too lazy to do it all over again. haha.

    - lol that u described the 1st ep as 'cheesiest' ever. tvb can't do idol drama!
    - agree show lacked direction. it's almost like a diary of happenings by the 2 main characters of niki & michael.
    - like u i can't stand michael since his laughing gor role. for me, he didn't redeem himself here at all. still don't like him and his highly sculpted eye brows. ;P
    - mandy's character started of interesting but ended disappointingly due to lack of screen time & proper development.
    - mathew ko impressed me too here, but like u have said, i think it's cos he's acting himself.
    - does it even take a 'scriptwriter' to write the ending part with elaine yiu? like u said, it's totally random. looks more like the work of a primary / lower secondary (high school) kid's story composition.
    - overall, it's an entertaining watch, relative to tvb productions in recent years, if one doesn't think too much into it. at least there is no sudden and ridiculous personality changes or brain degeneration (as far as i can remember) that is becoming a real pain the neck for me watching tvb shows. i can't wait for competition from new tv stations to start soon to bring up the standard of hk productions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i changed a browser to post this, as my previous LONG comment just disappeared without a trace when i clicked 'published'. grrr....

    will type whatever i can remember using bullet points as i'm too lazy to do it all over again. haha.

    - lol that u described the 1st ep as 'cheesiest' ever. tvb can't do idol drama!
    - agree show lacked direction. it's almost like a diary of happenings by the 2 main characters of niki & michael.
    - like u i can't stand michael since his laughing gor role. for me, he didn't redeem himself here at all. still don't like him and his highly sculpted eye brows. ;P
    - mandy's character started of interesting but ended disappointingly due to lack of screen time & proper development.
    - mathew ko impressed me too here, but like u have said, i think it's cos he's acting himself.
    - does it even take a 'scriptwriter' to write the ending part with elaine yiu? like u said, it's totally random. looks more like the work of a primary / lower secondary (high school) kid's story composition.
    - overall, it's an entertaining watch, relative to tvb productions in recent years, if one doesn't think too much into it. at least there is no sudden and ridiculous personality changes or brain degeneration (as far as i can remember) that is becoming a real pain the neck for me watching tvb shows. i can't wait for competition from new tv stations to start soon to bring up the standard of hk productions.
    queen_owl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry you had so much trouble posting your comment. So it was a problem with the browser?

      Haha, it's a good thing TVB doesn't try idol dramas often. Only ones I can think of are "Aqua Heroes" and the "Hearts of Fencing" series. I enjoyed AH though.

      Yeah...it was like a diary. LOL, highly sculpted eyebrows. No like or feeling of neutralness for his character at all?

      Mandy as well as her relationship with Matthew was very rushed near the end. Agree, bad development. I'm hoping Matthew is more mature in real life, lol. Interested in seeing his future performances. Since this was rushed to release overseas right after it just finished filming, it's very recent. Perhaps that means his upcoming performances are good as well?

      Yes, ending was just ridiculous. Looks like the scriptwriters were experiencing writer's block.

      A relief that at the least, there was no sudden personality changes like you said. It wasn't great, but not inconsistent, something that annoys us both so much nowadays. I'm excited for the CTI's new series! Hopefully, it'll give TVB a run for their money (which it should).

      Delete
  3. dunno. sure seems to be my browser........

    nope. i still see strong shadows of laughing gor in him throughout.
    and of course, those highly sculpted brows are distracting. haha. dun like it on him, though i am perfectly ok with them on say, members of the Kpop band, Big Band. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. i meant Big Bang.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You seem to be a big fan of Big Bang. :P

      Delete
  5. It seems hardly fair to blame Michael for being "chok" when so many of his recent characters have been calling for it, being mostly the arrogant or intense type. A1 started out that way as well, which is why "the first half of the series saw a Michael Tse that still couldn't shake off the chokness" (both scriptwriter and producer especially had him channelling Laughing on purpose in the first two eps), but as your review also noted, he "successfully sheds it after" -- which was after the *character* sheds off the cockiness. When you take into account that scenes are usually not filmed in episode order, it is apparent that it is not him "(having) trouble not injecting a little (of the character's) "chokness" into his performances" (parentheses added precisely because if it is the *character's* "chokness" then I don't see the problem) but it's a matter of the type of role and character personality he has been asked to portray. That, together with not having enough time to grow his hair between characters, is IMHO what is causing some people to continue seeing "strong shadows of laughing gor" in him. But I am strongly of the opinion that Michael has always been more than just Laughing Gor, and given decently written characters have never failed to deliver.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for pointing that out. I still do not doubt that Michael Tse is a great actor. I hope that in the future the producers and writers he works with will allow him to show he's so much more, instead of having him channel Laughing or making references to him. It's interesting you bring up the comment about him not having enough time to grow his hair between characters/series though. My dad recently commented on how Michael seems to have "lost a lot of his hair" as he's always seen with the buzz cut these days. I told him that in reality, from filming E.U., to Turning Point, to Lives of Omission, to Turning Point 2, he's had to reprise the role so many times he doesn't have a chance to grow his hair out! :P

      Delete