While "Daddy Good Deeds" doesn't offer anything much besides simple entertainment, it is still a fun and humorous series. No breakthroughs were made here, but I unexpectedly found myself quite enjoying it.
The key to "Daddy Good Deeds" turning out to be enjoyable was that it was a light family series, reminiscent of the warm family series like "Family Man" from the good old days of TVB. While it can't compare to "Family Man", I like that it's just a comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously. Once you remove the excessive and unnecessary family feuding of series like "Moonlight Resonance", I actually quite like family series for their sweetness and warmth.
The series is silly, but manages to still be funny without becoming too over the top and ridiculous. It doesn't try to preach anything, but still offers good morals. Additionally, the rhyming of the dialogue's lines were witty and upbeat. All the pop culture references were funny too!
The whole cast performed decently. Ha Yu once again pulls off the father figure with warmth. Linda Chung proves to be endearing and likable when she's not forced to cry in every episode. Evergreen Mak and Nancy Wu were definitely mismatched as a married couple, but still performed well with what they were given. Even Cilla Kung, whose acting could even be described as cringe worthy in the past, was surprisingly natural, adorable, and lovable. What anchors and makes "Daddy Good Deeds" so fun though, are superb performances from Steven Ma and Edwin Siu. It is definitely Steven and Edwin who are the shining stars here!
Steven's character may have not been high profile, but managed to be his most memorable and lovable role in years. "Fat Dat Gor" is a breath of fresh air from Steven's recent boring and righteous roles. He is caring and generous, but knows when to stand up and think for himself as well. He's not ridiculously selfless, which makes him realistic. Steven finally gets to bring a great character to life again, giving "Fat Dat Gor" the humor, charm, and sincerity. This was a fantastic way to end his TVB career with a bang - though I hope this is not his last TVB series ever. Watching Steven in such a wonderful character and performance again makes me love and miss the respectable actor even more.
Edwin continues to slowly rise in popularity and status again, and it's all deserved. He's played some more minor supporting roles since his return to TVB, but gets to shine here. "Ah Yap" is such an adorable, endearing, and unique character and Edwin was the perfect young actor to play him with his cute charm and liveliness. He has vastly improved and proved his comedic timing here, and is therefore already my choice for this year's Most Improved Actor. The character seemed to experience an abrupt change, in terms of wardrobe and personality (he became less goofy and more intelligent as the series went on), but I didn't mind too much since Edwin pulled it all off so well. I hope he keeps becoming more successful and gets to portray more great roles!
Besides Steven and Edwin's individual performances, the next best thing was hands down their bromance together. They made such convincing and cute "brothers"/good friends! The "broke back mountain" scene was hilarious. They genuinely seemed like the close friends they were supposed to be. I loved how even when they fought for Linda, they played fair and maintained their maturity, as well as still looking out and thinking for each other.
Steven, Edwin, and Linda's friendship was also very sweet and enjoyable. I loved how they were so supportive and helpful to each other. The scene where Edwin and Steven pretended to be Linda's boyfriend at the police station in front of Awesome Sir was too funny and cute. Linda retained her likability all through out here, and it was cute watching them fall for each other.
Conclusion
"Daddy Good Deeds" is not amazing and had some more boring moments, but is notable for performances from Steven and Edwin, and there are lots of hilarious moments. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much in a recent TVB series. It's silly, but not stupid or lame. It may not be for everyone, but I recommend it to someone who wants some good hearted fun and a couple laughs. I love Steven and Edwin even more after watching this, and others probably will too. They make it worth watching.
Rating: 3 stars
