The Defected 鐵探 TVB Review

Hello everyone,

We are finally back with a drama review! This is for The Defected  鐵探, a co-production between TVB and Tencent Penguin Pictures. It stars Kara Wai as Madam Man Hei-Wah, Benjamin Yuen as Sheung Sing, Philip Keung as Bingo Yau, Sisley Choi as Jill, Ben Wong as Samuel/Ching Sir, Mat Yeung as Matt Yau, Oscar Leung as Kuk Wing-Ching, Benz Hui as Kan Sir, and Grace Wong as Yeung Hiu-Yi. It also stars Berg Ng, Sharon Chan, Gloria Tang, and Angelina Lo as more supporting characters. We may use the actor and the character’s names throughout the review, our apologies if it gets confusing. There are SPOILERS AHEAD!

Jay’s Thoughts:

The Defected is the best drama I’ve seen this year so far. With a rich plot and competent cast, the drama delivered what it promised. There were several story arcs including the struggle between the higher-ups of the police force, the investigations of the lower ranked officers, and the story of the criminals, and it was very interesting to see how these three main storylines intertwined.

The higher-ups story arc included primarily Madam Man, Ching Sir, Kan Sir, Carrie (Sharon Chan) and Kwok Sir/ 一哥 (Chief Commissioner of Police) played by Shek Sau. The power struggle between Madam Man and Kan Sir and then with Ching Sir to get promoted from Chief Superintendent to Assistant Commissioner was very entertaining to watch. Some people found these parts boring, but I thought the contrary. It was super interesting to see more of the inner political structure of the police force, which is something not seen very often in police dramas, where we are used to seeing them investigating cases and chasing criminals. While this show had all of those  elements, the switching to the internal struggle within the police was a refreshing change, especially to establish the motives of each of these characters and why the operations went wrong due to their individual selfishness. I also liked how the plot deviated from having 黑警(literally black cops due to their dirty, corrupted dealings with criminals) often seen in these shows. While Madam Man’s actions were often borderline unethical, she never directly worked with the criminals to solve cases, and Dominic Tang/Ying Jeung’s (Berg Ng) source came indirectly from Kan Sir instead.

Kara Wai was undoubtedly right for this role: she was cunning and sly and a complete powerhouse. I can’t really imagine anyone else playing the role. I do, however, wish she could be more subtle in asserting her power at times - she mainly manifests her dominance through language and loudness like shouting how she is of a higher rank to the others. Although you did feel some pity for her causing the death of both her sons, you couldn’t help but kind of despise her by the end of the show having killed several others like Bingo and Ng Sir (Otto Chan) just for her goal of getting promoted to the top. She had lovely chemistry with Benz Hui as Kan Sir, who were rivals at the beginning and became allies after Kan Sir was defeated by her. You could tell how both were cunning in their own ways, each with their own goals and ways of attaining them. Ching Sir, on the other hand, played by Ben Wong was the righteous guy who wanted to stop the abuse of power by ironically gaining power for himself. Ben Wong is a competent actor and the quarreling scenes with Kara were well done. It is true that he’s had much of the same roles these past few years as the noble, honourable person, often a mentor to the young people, so it would be nice to see him perhaps playing a villain again.

The lower ranked officers consists of Sheung Sing, Kuk Wing-Ching, Jill, and constables played by Brian Tse, Dickson, Yu, Bowie Cheung, etc. It was very nice to see how each of Sheung Sing, Kuk Wing-Ching, and Jill had their own personal backstories and struggles to get through. Of course, the repercussions of Sheung Sing’s gunshot wound in the head was at the forefront of the show, with frequent postings of how many days it was after Sing was shot throughout the drama. I was not disappointed with Benjamin Yuen’s performance as Sing. Given his heroic qualities, they still managed to make the character complex by focusing on his struggles with his injury and inability to sustain a proper family life with his wife and daughter. Sure, Ben wouldn’t have been able to carry the drama all by himself, and it was definitely a risk to already foreshadow his death by being shot early on in the show as viewers may lose interest, but because there was such a variety of story lines and characters, I did not find it a big problem. Ben has put in a lot of hard work like losing weight for the show, and he did a decent job delivering his role, though perhaps overshadowed by Bingo’s character. Sheung Sing’s wife was played by Grace Wong. It felt like she was wasted into a pretty small role, and it would have been nice to see her doing something different, since the character was a little like her last one in OMG, Your Honour, but it’s obvious to see that the role was needed for Sing’s own storyline, and she was not too big of a hindrance to the plot. In fact, one could argue that she played a crucial part in the end when she decided to reject Hanson and continue supporting Sing which could be why Sing fought till the very end to prevent Madam Man from becoming 一姐. The very last scene of the drama was cleverly planned out. Instead of explicitly showing Sing’s death, they showed Sing and Bingo in their full police attire, saluting one another in the Gallant Garden. This was a very great way to show how symbolically, these two characters meet in death. A very beautiful ending note to the series.

I really enjoyed Sing, Kuk Wing-Ching and Jill’s friendship and found the actors had great chemistry. It was especially funny when Kuk Wing-Ching and Jill had conversations about their respectively messy love lives, and the bit of comic relief was definitely needed for this serious drama. Oscar Leung playing Kuk Wing-Ching was a pleasant surprise. I initially thought he would be a normal police character and a sidekick to Sheung Sing, but I was proven wrong. As the audience, we really got to experience his many hardships of gambling, finding courage to be with his ex-lover, Iris Luk (Joman Chiang) again, and overcoming his guilt of causing the death of Yau Lai-chun (Tony Hung), Sing’s injury, and finally Iris’s death near the end. Oscar was convincing, being emotional or funny when needed, and definitely proved to be much more than a sidekick. This would have been a much better character to win for Best Supporting Actor than his role from OMG, Your Honour last year. Sisley Choi playing Jill was another surprise. Having seen Sisley in so many roles and disliking most of them, I must say this has got to be her best role by far. I did not find her annoying which has always been one of the biggest problems for me. She complemented the other characters quite well especially with Oscar, Ben and Mat, and had a complicated story of her own that was interesting to watch. On a side note, I wasn’t really sure where to put Mat Yeung as Senior Inspector Matt Yau into these categories, since he is in between the higher ups and the lower ranks. It was a disappointment that Mat’s role was relatively small compared to the others. I wish he had more screen-time, and his story with Janice (who is surprisingly voiced by Priscilla Wong) was very unclear and a bit unnecessary, though it was good he got to confess to Jill before he died. They never did say how Mat and Jill met besides school, which would have been a small detail to complete their stories. Plot-wise, it was heart-wrenching to see how the lower ranks had no choice but to oblige what Madam Man orders because of her rank, and they were powerless to defend.

The criminal side of the show was always filled with tension and excitement. It follows Bingo’s journey as an undercover who becomes involved with Dominic Tang/Ying Jeung and his accomplices. Bingo is the most complex and perhaps most tragic character of the whole show. Being betrayed by his handler Madam Man, he becomes a grey character who must reassess his identity. What’s tragic is he becomes a lost soul - failing to belong to the criminals or the police and living by his belief of using a “wrong method to do something that’s right”. While he expects to die in the hands of Ying Jeung, it is ironically Madam Man of the police that kills him in the end. Despite his final conviction that he is a policeman, he never gets this identity restored and dies labelled as a criminal, with only Sheung Sing and a few others knowing the sacrifices he made. The softer scenes with Bingo and his mother (Angelina Lo) were perfect breaks from the action. The scenes were all very bittersweet with the sad inevitability of Bingo’s fate as an undercover, and I loved how they chose to magnify the importance of this mother-son relationship instead of having a love interest for Bingo. I also enjoyed his relationship with Tong Tong, who he kind of adopted as his daughter. I usually find TVB kid actors to be very unnatural and cringey, but not in this case. Both Ching Ching (Sheung Sing’s daughter) and Tong Tong were great additions to the cast to develop Sing and Bingo’s softer sides and similarities as fathers. Philip Keung who plays the role as Bingo is absolutely exceptional. You could tell how conflicted he was just by looking at his eyes.

Berg Ng was definitely creepy and fit his role as the ultimate villain, Ying Jeung. A little backstory might have been nice for the character though. Personally, I think one of the best scenes with Ying Jeung is when he meets face-to-face for the first time with Madam Man in the last episode, when she visits him in jail. The audience was left to draw many similarities between these powerful characters with Ying Jeung leading his gang and Madam leading her police team. It was interesting how Ying Jeung was the only person Madam Man could truly confide in, revealing to him how she is haunted by her sons’ deaths. A very well executed scene.

Some people may find the plot overly convoluted, but I am a fan of rich plots as long as they still make sense. I think the complicated plot worked well for The Defected  to give us a variety of perspectives in the story. Each story was finished with no loose ends, though the end of how Ching Sir arrested Ying Jeung felt a bit rushed and unrealistic, with him soaring in the air by grabbing a rope and escaping the explosion in time. It is a visually entertaining scene. I guess they could get away with it by showing Ching sir practicing climbing rocks with only his upper body in previous episodes. Again, some parts when Madam was just yelling to assert her power was entertaining, but not the most effective as compared than when she was more subtle with her sly smiles and schemes. The theme songs were weak with the golden Voice Ent. trio with Fred, Jinny and Hana. I have trouble recalling the tunes of the main and ending themes even right after I watch an episode. Overall, I am thoroughly pleased with the drama, knowing how rare it is to come across dynamic and well-written characters and a captivating plot these days. I would give The Defected  a solid 9/10.

Cee’s Thoughts:

First I will talk about the high points of the drama, then I will move onto some lower points that I think would’ve made this drama even better.

I enjoyed the filming locations of the drama and I'm glad TVB is finally straying away from their fake sets that are still used in Lo and Behold. It gives the audience a more real perspective of what's going on and what the police are facing. I think with bigger productions like this one that has outside partners and will be airing on Netflix, it's important to also show off Hong Kong and attract people to the city as well as being realistic.

One thing I liked about this drama was the lack of the usual TVB stupid love pentagons. This was very clean and clear. The pairs were clear from the beginning, there were never 3rd parties. Yes, each pair had their difficulties but they did not take up too much screen time and they did add to the character’s development outside of the workplace which was nice to see. There were some moments where I was on edge because I would’ve hated the scriptwriter if they made Jill fall for Sheung Sing and create this stupid tension between everyone. It would’ve been easy and Grace Wong could’ve been with her doctor; this has happened so many times in past TVB dramas that I’m pleasantly surprised they kept the pairs so clean. Speaking of the pairings, Grace Wong’s only purpose was to be Ben Yuen’s love interest, whereas Sisley and Mat, Oscar and Joman (Iris) all added their own story to the plot. I didn’t mind Grace Wong - she was adequate. I don’t know how she worked at the bar though, when she had to take care of her kid and she seemed like a very professional lady, dressed for OL type work.

I really liked the little girl Ching Ching; she was very cute. It was sweet seeing Ching Ching meet Tong Tong, the girl who was kidnapped then rescued by Bingo. Didn’t realize the age gap until they were put side by side! It was nice having Tong Tong as the tough older sister looking after Ching Ching despite going through her dad’s death and being kidnapped and forced into hiding. Bingo would be so proud he set her on such a great path! The difference that Bingo made in people’s lives was really a highlight in the show for me. That brings me to how he inspired Gloria Tang to do the right thing despite being Madam Man’s undercover with the mission to arrest Bingo. Gloria was also introduced to Madam Man by Kan Sir, a villainous character as well. She knew she had no real power to do anything against Madam and that she would probably never be promoted again, but she found her own way to help arrest Ying Jeung (Berg Ng). Bingo also took care of his old buddy’s wife and let her live with his mom and take care of her. There were some episodes where he was completely missing out of the storyline and I think it would’ve been even better if we got more time with Bingo. Needless to say, his storyline with his mother (Angelina Lo) was one of the most heartbreaking ones. Unfortunately he will never be able to tell her all the work he’s done to be a good person and to be a good police officer. She will always worry that he’s getting into trouble again and it’s just depressing to know that she will never know what truly happened to her son. Even if she learned about it, she would just forget. Loved the chemistry between the mother and son here.

Something Jay touched on earlier was the ending scene when Madam Man visited Ying Jeung in prison. I also thought that was great and you could also see their faces reflecting on each other as if they were mirror images of one another. I also enjoyed Madam Man's relationship with Bingo's mom. I was surprised that Madam even thought about letting Bingo go take care of his mom once she saw that she had forgotten him. She even kept a log book of all things related to his mom that she gave Gloria Tang. Maybe I missed it or I forgot, but what was her excuse to visit Bingo's mom and how did she introduce herself to his mom? I think if her character was true to using everyone and everything to get to the top, then she would not have cared even if his mom died. So she did have some humanity... that all got lost when Ching Sir stepped up and 'invaded' her workplace.

I would have loved to see more of Mat Yeung. I think he is at a peak currently and if TVB does not take action then he will become too old for these types of roles. I’ve noticed his acting mature over the years and especially in Fist Fight last year, when he was better to watch than TV King Vincent Wong. It was unexpected for him to die as well but I do think it was to drive home the fact that Madam Man lets nothing stand in her way when it comes to her future prospect of becoming 一姐 (Chief Commissioner of Police). In fact, the death of Matt Sir may even drive her to think that she deserves it more now, since both her sons died fighting for the police force. If she hasn’t given more to the police force, who has?

Benz Hui was marvelous in his role, and before the drama aired I read a lot of comments about how Benz does not seem the type to be power hungry and ruthless. We were proved wrong very quickly in the beginning episodes when Sheung Sing gets shot in the head and is still recovering after his surgery. He had the disregard to keep poking his head that had no bones in it yet and even asked the little girl (Ching Ching) to call him god-father, LOL. I know when Line Walker first came out, I felt it was weird Benz was playing a gangster boss… Benz was always the happy-go-luck guy. That Line Walker role led him to even more recognition and once again, in The Defected, he proves his true acting range.

Now something I did not like were the questions that were floating in the air for 20+ episodes for a couple plotlines. I also found some of the cases to be closed very hastily. First off, I had always wondered what happened to Madam Man’s husband, and it wasn’t until the 20 something episode that we find out he died from suicide. For the people that gave up before this episode aired, I understand why. But I think the last week or two served to tie all those ends together. We found out about the dad/husband’s failed attempt at becoming the CEO of a company driven by Madam Man’s power-hungry nature, he was hated by all co-workers and OD’d on sleeping pills. We even found out that Tony Hung (Matt Sir’s older brother) also attempted suicide before his death because of the amount of pressure he faced to keep rising up in the police force. This further shows that Madam was the main cause in the death of her entire family. As expected, she did not stop her ways or revisit her motives even after Matt Sir’s death because she does not realize she’s at fault and will never realize it. Matt Sir’s message to her before his death was very poignant to me and I enjoyed Kara’s performance when she was trying so hard to listen to her son’s last words.

I was really not looking forward to Sharon Chan being in this drama because I never really liked her and thought her old roles were always about her long legs. They weren’t mentioned here at all, in fact, I found her quite boring and her whole character unnecessary. What was her motivation? What did she add to the plot? What made her choose to marry Kan Sir (Benz Hui) in the first place? What then, made her change her mind and marry Ching Sir (Ben Wong) instead? Not that I would like more plotlines to be added, and certainly not this middle aged love triangle. But she was a waste.

I don’t remember many cases being solved in this drama, and I understand that this was more of a political police drama than it was about criminal cases. I found the throwing corrosive liquid case finished quite abruptly. They took so many weeks, and they used so many people and in the end they didn’t catch the main culprit. Madam Man just said, well as long as we’ve scared them into never doing it again then we’re good, lol. It seemed kinda lazy that the same dude who was involved with Jill’s case over a decade ago was the same dude that they were trying to find all along. What a lucky coincidence! Wow! Who would’ve thought?

I found the repetitive flashbacks of Sisley’s kidnapping and her old scenes with Matt Sir as kids sometimes detracted from the story because her backstory was never told but we were constantly reminded of it. It wasn’t told until the last week or so of broadcast when we find out what actually happened to her. I found it weird how the murderer decided to come out like 11 years later and do the same things… what made him wait so long?

Our overall rating for the drama was 9/10.

Thanks for reading our review and hopefully you enjoyed it! Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

- CeeJay

Images retrieved from: 

http://programme.tvb.com/drama/thedefectedhongkongversion0001/photo/7876407?page=1

https://www.goldposter.com/movie/310142/

https://m.mzxccg.com/t/bXmrBNrBly/