What TVB's last anniversary series of the year lacked in plot, it made up for with its characters in spades. "Wonder Women" has a very simple plot that follows a woman moving on from her unfaithful husband by rebuilding her career and falling in love. It has the formula of a typical lighthearted series, but succeeds because of its unlikely cast and character ensemble.
The female trio's friendship
Miriam Yeung and Pakho Chau are the core of the series, but the three girls' friendship were my second favorite part. While there are countless series that feature close male brotherhood, one of my many gripes with TVB is the poor portrayal of female friendships (or lack thereof). Male characters go through thick and thin with and for each other, but female TVB friendships tend to come off as much more superficial and surface-level. They go shopping and to the spa, but that's pretty much it. While Miriam, Alice Chan, and Rebecca Zhu's characters are definitely shown going shopping and out to eat, their friendship is actually fleshed out. You feel the trust, warmth, and bond between them. The friendship feels genuine rather than cliquy, and I truly appreciated that the writers here took the time to develop and put a focus on this sisterhood. Additionally, these female characters are written dynamically as well with their strengths as well as their flaws.
Of course, this friendship would not have been so enjoyable to watch if not for Miriam, Alice, and Rebecca's chemistry. The trio's casting seemed odd and random to me at first, especially given that Rebecca is considerably younger than the other two, but they mesh and play off each other incredibly well. Pakho’s “Ho Tin” also adds a very fun dynamic to their friendship. I was cracking up right with Lam Fei at the scene where Fung Wah and See Lui were waiting to see who Ho Tin would want to drop off first to see who he was interested in, only for Ho Tin to come out and ask them to decide amongst themselves who wanted to be first.
By far the individual performance I was most surprised by was Rebecca's. She has been a rather bland and forgettable actress for years, but last year she showed considerable improvement in "The Stunt," particularly in her emotional scenes. She displayed fantastic comedic timing here that we have not seen before, and her emotional scenes are done very well too. The scene in episode 23 where a crying Rebecca is trying to get Miriam and Alice to talk and reconcile is heartbreaking and convincing. "See Lui" could have easily been written as a one-dimensional ditzy trophy wife, but the script and Rebecca's performance thankfully develops the character to be more dynamic. She can be overdramatic and silly but is also rather clever and smart, as well as a caring, good friend. She has a comfortable and fun chemistry with onscreen husband Tony Hung who has his funny moments too, but is very much outshined by Rebecca.
Alice suits these strong, career-minded characters best, so this role was no challenge for her. However, in keeping with the theme of likable but flawed characters, "Fung Wah"'s handling of her love life is more messy. While I like Alice a lot, I did not care for her storyline with Jonathan Cheung too much. Alice seems like one of those affable, personable actresses who could spark chemistry with a tree if she had to, so while she and Jonathan look physically mismatched, their chemistry does not completely fall flat. However, it still came off as bland and a little awkward-looking, and simply lacked the "it" factor that the main couple has.
Lastly, our leading lady Miriam is of course solid. She plays her character with sympathy and wit at all the right places with no trouble.
Miriam and Pakho's relationship
One different casting choice would have been the difference between Lam Fei and Ho Tin's relationship being enjoyable and engaging or incredibly awkward and forced. Given that these characters' relationship is the driving force behind the series, TVB got lucky and struck gold with this couple.
The series succeeds in large part because Miriam and Pakho surprisingly have so much chemistry. Miriam is an award-winning actress while Pakho also has acting experience and just seems like an easygoing person, so I went in expecting there to be some chemistry, but nothing to shout about. The physical incompatibility does not hinder them but rather adds to their romantic storyline, showing that age and appearances are not everything. The two are so natural and at ease with each other, sparking many laughs early on when they are a bickering landlord and tenant and later good friends, but very sweet as they become a couple. It was rewarding to see Lam Fei finally accept Ho Tin. The relationship is also rewarding to watch because Ho Tin is not the savior to Lam Fei's damsel-in-distress. He is right alongside her supporting her as she picks herself up and moves on, as are her friends.
The series takes the character archetypes of the cheated ex-housewife, the career woman, and the trophy wife and fleshes them out a bit more with the women. Meanwhile, Ho Tin is the rich second-generation with a heart of gold. The man is a chronically unemployed almost 30-year-old relying on his father's debit card who literally started the series by paying exorbitant rent so he could stalk his ex-girlfriend to get back together with her just so he could dump her! There were many reasons to not like him, particularly when he failed to be straightforward to Ms. Lui about not having feelings for her and his general lack of direction in life, but they are overshadowed by how caring and thoughtful of a person and friend he is not only to Lam Fei, but to Kai Kai, See Lui, Fung Wah, and Jonathan. While I am a fan of Pakho and his music, I did not like his character in "Another Era" and he was noticeably rather wooden in what I saw of "Line Walker: The Prelude." There was much apprehension about whether Pakho could perform or even deserved this leading role, including even from myself, but he is charismatic, affable, and natural as Ho Tin, and makes us can't help but love him for his positive traits rather than focus on his more negative ones. His scenes with Kai Kai are particularly sweet, and while TVB's child actors are typically pretty annoying, "Kai Kai" is rather natural and adorable, especially given his lack of prior acting experience.
Other noteworthy aspects
Raymond Wong has long been a solid, talented actor, and it is a shame that TVB seems to not know what do with him anymore in the last few years, mostly casting him in boring characters or low-production series. He is convincing and absolutely detestable as "Kim Hung." It was rather puzzling that his former father-in-law (played by Benz Hui) never truly yelled at Kim Hung for breaking his daughter's heart yet still treated him as a son so long after the divorce.
Other than its characters and relationships, the series is also just very funny and in a refreshing way. Rather than relying on typical over-the-top humor or craziness, there are many humorous and clever moments that aren't played so deliberately. Notable scenes include when everyone is enjoying hot pot inside while Kim Hung is sitting outside in the hot with his glasses fogging up and the dancing scene with "Wing Boss" and "Old Sim" with everyone watching. The humor keeps the series going, and the episodes that suffer from feeling slow-moving are ones that are too serious or focus on boring aspects like the business deals.
This is the second series this year that focuses on a woman moving on from a failed marriage after "Girlie Days," and it is interesting to see how the two series executes its similar themes. While that is by far the inferior series, I liked "Girlie Days" for how Kristal Tin's career storyline is done. She finds an outlet and regains control and direction of her life by working out (as a personal trainer), and it becomes where she is most confident and in her element, and we see it along the way. Lam Fei is shown moving on with the endless support of her friends, which is certainly another realistic take on it that paid off given these cast and characters, but the portrayal of her career development left much to be desired. After she transitions from the cooking booth to a higher role, there are a few scenes here and there of her running around with files and going to boardroom meetings that felt like they were simply tacked on to remind us Lam Fei is a career woman now. The magazine covers showing Lam Fei was now a successful chef and restauranteur in the finale made me realize I wish we could have gotten to see more of this along the way.
The Ending
*spoilers!*
Like with many TVB series, "Wonder Women" would have benefitted from just being 20 episodes long. The episodes after Ho Tin recovers from his amnesia still boosts some individual fun scenes, but overall feel like an unnecessary coda. After 24 episodes of easy, relaxing watching in a universe that feels mostly grounded in reality, Jonathan's sudden death after trying to save Maggie Yu's unhinged, annoying character was an absurd curveball that was uncalled for, especially given that they just brushed over his actual cause of death. To me, it also felt a little too on-the-nose that Fung Wah lost her love after Lam Fei told her she could not find love and marriage because she had disrupted another marriage. While Lam Fei obviously did not mean it, Fung Wah's ending still felt like the ultimate slut-shaming and her karma for having a one-night-stand with Kim Hung, whom she did not even know was marrying Lam Fei. It harms Fung Wah's character yet is inconsequential to the series itself, so it was nonsensical to include this plot point. If the writers really wanted drama for the end, Jonathan falling into a coma and eventually waking up would have been sufficient. It was also unnecessary to include the scene where we find out Jonathan had a twin if they were not going to resolve that, unless the plan is to film a sequel. Thankfully, Lam Fei and Ho Tin are eventually reunited to have a happy ending, though given the age of social media, it is odd that they did not speak to each other at all for six years. Not even birthday texts? It would have been understandable if they decided not to be in a long-distance relationship, but it was bizarre they appeared to have completely cut off contact with each other.
Conclusion
I watch a lot of television and rarely watch movies. TV appeals to me more because I love becoming invested in characters and watching them grow. There is more time to watch characters, relationships, and storylines develop. While this also gives writers ample time to mess up, create filler, or spin in circles, if done correctly, TV shows have more of an opportunity for payoff. "Wonder Women" does not have a concrete plot. Yet, this is the first TVB series in a long time that I genuinely feel like I will miss watching because in the span of 25 episodes, I got to know, like, and care about these characters. The scriptwriters put an effort here into developing the three female characters and Ho Tin to seem like real, flawed people with feelings and thoughts as well as develop their relationships with each other. It is an effort that pays off here to make an overall entertaining, easy, character-driven watch, proving you don’t need a big, flashy plot full of twists and turns to be engaging. It will not be everyone’s cup of tea given the more relaxed, uneventful nature of it, but for fans of character-driven series, TVB proves it can still be capable of making them.
Rating: 4 stars
