The Exorcist's 2nd Meter 降魔的2.0 TVB Review

Hello Everyone!

We hope that you have all been staying safe and healthy during these unprecedented times. For us, staying at home has allowed us to keep up with a variety of different dramas and series. Today, we decided to bring you another TVB series review for The Exorcist's 2nd Meter (降魔的2.0)! This series had 25 episodes and was aired from May 4th to June 5th, 2020. It is the highly anticipated sequel to The Exorcist's Meter (降魔的) that aired in 2017 and generated a lot of buzz.

SPOILERS BELOW!

Plot Overview

After the taxi driver, Ma Kwai /Siu Ma (Kenneth Ma), gains exorcist abilities from the previous series, he inherits the responsibility from stone spirit Shek Kam Dong (Hubert Wu) to wipe out demons. In this sequel, he encounters the ghost of his childhood friend, Mok Wai Ho/Ho Zai (Hubert Wu). While preparing to battle sea spirit, Thalassa (Zoie Tam), who turned Ho Zai into a man-eating Rakshasa, he continues his journey with characters of Dr. Chong Tsz-yeuk (Mandy Wong) and Bella/Beh Beh (Moon Lau) who is now a ghost, while meeting Fung Sze-ye (C-Kwan) and the exorcist siblings, Liz Sze Loi-sze (Gloria Tang) and Ross Sze Lo-sze (Alex Mak).

Our Thoughts

Story:

After the first season, we were excited to see how the story would continue in this sequel. The first few episodes started off strong with a good mix of humour and action. We liked the way the story picked up right after the first season with some flashbacks to remind the audience of important events that happened previously. These first episodes seemed promising, as they set the stage for new conflict and the potential for Siu Ma to improve his exorcist skills with the introduction of Ho Zai. It was nice to see the continuation of characters like Dr. Chong, Jing Jing (Susan Tse), Beh Beh, Lily (Kayee Tam), etc. From here, we were looking forward to seeing greater development of these characters, especially Dr. Chong, as she was very boring and forgettable in the first season.

However, after a few more episodes, the plot started to dive into many sub-stories like the girl whose parents were drug users, or how Ling (Iris Lam) tried to bring Kwok Chin-ming (Hugo Wong) back after his death with help of lying demon, Billy (Julian Gaertner). While these stories were touching, they didn't really contribute to the progression of the story. It was interesting when Siu Ma got trapped into the world of the painting and met some, and we thought this would be the turning point where he would become even more committed to being a better exorcist. When he got back though, there was barely any change and he reverted to being lazy and hea.

About mid-way through the series, we really began to lose our patience. There were more and more random bits and stories that kept coming, but nothing was bringing them together. As a result, the plot was messy and disjointed, and the pacing was horrible. They introduced too many characters and side stories that left minimal development for the main characters. They seemed to initially make Siu Ma and Dr. Chong become partners in catching demons, but that intention got lost, and their romance ended up going nowhere. Instead, Dr. Chong mainly shared screen-time with Fung Sze-ye, trying to fulfill Beh Beh's wishes to help her let go and accept her death. She was a totally wasted character (once again), and we forgot that she was even a main character.

We did enjoy Beh Beh's story since she showed the most progression of the characters, though it came painfully slow. The news reporter story with Ivy (Mandy Lam) and Tony (Tsui Wing) was a beautiful and heart-wrenching segment, but unfortunately, it felt like another story that was loosely tied in with Beh Beh. It would have made a bigger impact as the impetus for Beh Beh to realize that she should leave this world if they took away some of the earlier sub-stories. We liked seeing Beh Beh complete her final wishes like confronting her parents or being trapped in the time loop with Siu Ma⁠—which were memorable and touching scenes. But unfortunately, this was put near the end of the series when it should have been much earlier, so they could focus more on trying to beat Thalassa at the end. This made Beh Beh's arc very draggy and a bit annoying because she was not doing much for the majority of the time at the beginning.

Another part that was completely unnecessary and a bit creepy was when Jing Jing went to Cheung Chau with the three characters including Ngai Tit-man all played by Ram Chiang. We don't really understand why this was added... A lot of the show was also devoted to Ho Zai's story of losing his humane side to Rakshasa as well as the siblings, Liz and Ross, and their deal with Mephi. With these new important characters, they should have definitely talked less about the older characters like Ling and Kwok Chin-ming because they detracted from the main storyline.

At the end of the day, the supposed climax with Thalassa was a huge letdown. There was practically no preparation nor suspense. Siu Ma's skills basically sucked until the last couple episodes when he suddenly became super powerful and could conjure a bow and arrow with his powers or something. The major anti-climatic part was when Thalassa just decided to give up in the end instead of fighting. The final episode was a disappointment because there was no closure, other than Ho Zai being killed. This was the final tear-jerking moment of the season; unfortunately, for us it felt like this moment had been anticipated for too long, so it lost some of its effect. We understand they wanted to leave some things open-ended in preparation for season 3, but a strong ending was lacking. What happened to Tsz-yeuk and Siu Ma's "不見不散" promise to find each other after the fight with Thalassa? It was super confusing with how Siu Ma seemed undecided about his feelings the whole time between Tsz-yeuk and Beh Beh and now Thalassa.

To sum up this section, they could have done with 20 episodes without a lot of the side-plots and random stories, instead, bringing the few main characters and their growth and interactions really into focus. The story tried to fit in too many elements and was too disjointed, unlike the first series that was much more straightforward. It lacked a true climatic moment with bland main characters. The overused and inappropriate jokes also got very old.

Performances:

Kenneth Ma as Ma Kwai/Siu Ma: There is no doubt Kenneth is able to deliver a good performance over his 20+ years of experience. He did a lot better in the emotional scenes in this drama than previous ones where he has one puppy dog eye sad face throughout the entire scene. He has expressed many times that he would like to play different characters, in particular, a gay man. And in one of his interviews with Hubert, he shared his belief that to be a successful actor you must be playful in order to experiment with different roles and scripts. He thinks there is an element of fun in acting. We definitely see this with Ma Kwai and his easy going personality. We were disappointed with his duties as an exorcist though, he barely did anything throughout the 25 episodes. Even in his final ‘defeat’ against Thalassa, he didn’t show much skill and left things to fate.

Hubert Wu as Mok Wai Ho/Ho Zai: As a relatively new actor, we enjoyed Hubert’s performance. He was able to convince the audience of his darker character compared to the first installment’s Shek Kam-Dong. His transformation into the demon monster was well done and he showed the struggle between being human and monster. We could’ve done with a little less dialogue about his hunger for eating people, he just kept repeating the same thing to Ma Kwai about how hard his life is. His chemistry with Gloria was good and much better than Kenneth and Mandy. Throughout the broadcast of the drama, Hubert hosted many live shows with actors and off-screen personnel for the drama that we tuned into. They were entertaining for the most part and gave us more behind the scenes knowledge, perfectly timed for everyone staying at home during COVID-19. His personality is quite fun and outspoken, vastly different from the serious Ho Zai. It leads us to believe his acting skills are solid. In contrast, vlogs with Kalok Chow from Lo and Behold show a very similar character to his On-Zai role in the drama.

Mandy Wong as Chong Tsz-Yeuk: Mandy as Dr. Chong was unfortunately a low light for the drama. In the past, we looked forward to seeing more of Mandy since she was a promising performer. However this role, along with Brutally Young’s Madam Yuen and My Life as a Loan Shark’s Mary Chu have been lacklustre. She seems to have lost her charm and ability to capture the screen, allowing many other characters to walk over hers. Perhaps it’s the role itself? But how many times should we push the problem onto the scriptwriter? She was simply boring and at times⁠—we forgot she was a doctor because she was out of the hospital for so much of the drama. It was also hard to feel any chemistry between her and Kenneth, did she even like Ma Kwai? We felt no excitement whenever she got to see him and only a little concern when Ma Kwai kissed Beh Beh in the cafe. We were confused why she kept helping Beh Beh spend more time with Ma Kwai when she was supposed to like him? Overall, it just seemed like she was going through the motions but not really contributing to her character.

Moon Lau as Bella Pui Pui-Na/Beh Beh: Her storyline was dragged on for too long as said in our comments before, to the point where it detached from the main story in defeating Thalassa. Having said that, Moon’s Beh Beh did not come off as annoying. We’ve seen time and time again of other actresses taking on the role of a sad girl dealing with unrequited love who is unable to accept the truth. In the past, it has simply made us want to shut off the TV. Moon handled the character well and the script allowed us to uncover more of her story. Moon handled the character well and the script allowed us to uncover more of her story other than her undying love for Ma Kwai (pun intended). She has been typecasted as the cutesy sidekick girl for a while now, TVB please give her some tough roles like Sisley.

Susan Tse as Leung Ching-Ching: Susan Tse is a great veteran actress who does a great job as the doting mother. We were touched by her scenes with her sons, and she portrayed the mother torn between her sons realistically. Sometimes she was naggy, maybe because she had many scenes that were similar. If the series was cut shorter, this wouldn't have been much of a problem.

C-Kwan as Fung Sze-Ye: C-Kwan provided a comedic relief as usual with some inappropriate jokes about going around the world to smell women’s underwear. His scenes were mostly with Mandy, trying to protect her and her kind heart. There isn’t too much to say about his acting since he’s usually there just for laughs.

Ram Chiang as Ngai Tit-Man: This was a reprise of his same role in Ghost of Relativity. We found it silly how they just introduced the same character from another drama. Some people were confused if Mok Yau-Wai’s soul went to a new body. Of course, with TVB’s cheap tricks and lack of creativity, we aren’t surprised they just ripped an old character.  In terms of Ram’s performance, it was fine. No much to comment on since he’s already played it before.

Gloria Tang as  Liz Sze Loi-sze: Gloria has been gaining attention for her back-to-back dramas (Airport Strikers) and improved acting these days. We agree with the comments about her improvement since her debut in The Ultimate Addiction. Of course, many pageant winners come in with no acting experience, much less how to position yourself in front of lights and cameras. At this point, we can attribute her acting to hard work, more experience in filming and in life. In terms of pure acting talent, we will have to wait and see how she fares in other roles. She has some more productions coming up like Armed Reaction 2020, so we’re looking forward to her continued improvement.

Alex Mak as Ross Sze Lo-sze: This is a new face on screen. He is definitely quite raw, but some of his comedic scenes were decent.

Zoie Tam as Ah Fa/Wun Ying/Thalassa: We have always enjoyed Zoie in supporting roles as she frequently steals the limelight. Her opportunities in a diverse array of roles has undoubtedly helped her grasp many roles. Hopefully we are able to see her in a 2nd lead actress role soon. In fact, as soon as Moon left the story we felt Zoie take the lead, overshadowing Mandy.

Julian Gaertner as Billy: We were wowed with Julian! We thought he would be evil, but he turned into a kind and adorable servant in the end. With his little mannerisms, Billy was a funny addition to the show. We hope to see more of Julian in other roles.

Kayee Tam as Lily: Kayee really looked and acted like a doll, though her character was quite minor.

There were many other guest appearances and supporting actors and actresses who had stories that stole the show, so well done!

Production:

The production of the drama was satisfactory. As this was a supernatural drama, there were a lot of special effects. Of course, we can’t expect much from TVB since they never really invested in this department. Everything was pretty fake, especially the final taxi in the ocean scene. It seemed like they were sitting on a ride with a green screen of the same waves repeated to make a moving scene. The fighting scene between C Kwan and Zoie Tam was also quite comedic because of the bad effects. They were quite gimmicky with the weapons of Rolls Royce (Liz? And Ross?) and it honestly reminded us of Men In Black’s weapons against aliens. Good on the actors for having the right timing when imagining the effects without going OTT.

Many of the sets were the same as the first drama besides the high tech basement and mansion of the Sze siblings. We have said many times before that we prefer real scenery instead of the fake sets and the same TVB canteen for the university, hospital, police station, etc. This one had a mix of scenes, and we understand that more funds might’ve been allocated to the special effects department.

We didn’t notice many costume changes for most of the characters. Kenneth always had the blue long sleeve underneath the black puffy vest and front facing mini crossbody bag. Hubert was wearing the long black jacket with weird blue prints down the front. Mandy was either wearing her hospital scrubs or some semi-formal blouse type shirt. C Kwan was always wearing his huge baggy clothes. Needless to say, Kayee’s Lily never changed her doll costume, though we heard Lily's dress with the doll was handmade and difficult to make. The devil Billy always wore white shirt and pants with yellow rubber gloves. The more we think about it, the less costumes we are able to come up with for each character.

On another note, HD TV is really not doing Kenneth’s skin any justice though. We are noticing his aging and imperfections in many of his recent dramas. Recently, we have noticed some issues with TVB’s makeup department lacking for men’s skin coverage. Andrew Yuen in Lo and Behold always seems to have a foundation 2 shades too dark for him. Many other male actors have mismatching faces and necks as well. Hubert’s makeup was well done although obvious, due to his extremely pale and smooth complexion.

Overall the production of the drama probably could’ve been miles better from special effects to costumes. We will give it a pass, but going into a new decade we’re hoping there is more seriousness towards production quality. Local HKer’s have been turning away from TVB dramas for many years now mostly due to crappy plots and low production quality. The executives need to understand that the audience aren’t blind to these things and won’t watch whatever random story with the same 50 year olds they slap together with the same TVB City hallways as hospitals.

Songs:

Since we didn't write a post on the theme songs, we thought we would talk about it here.
This drama boasted 4 songs for its ‘soundtrack’, compared to the usual 2 songs. We liked having a  few more songs in the series that fitted different scenes and moments. Considering the singing talents of Hubert and Kayee, we knew they would have a song each. We were not expecting 2 songs from Hubert alone, but he joked in his live video that he had specifically asked for a second one because he didn’t want Kayee to be the queen of sub-theme songs with existing hits Can You Hear? And Can You See?

The theme song is sung by Hubert Wu called 十字路口. It is quite similar to the original theme song 到此一遊 released in 2017. After hearing it a few times, the song worked its brain-washing magic, but we do prefer 到此一遊 more as we like the lyrics more. 十字路口 seems even more repetitive than the previous song.

The sub-theme by Hubert called 凡人不懂愛 has become quite popular with many covers. There is even a dance cover with Mandy. We do like this song, especially when it played in touching moments with Ho Zai and Ka Ka's story or Tony and Ivy. We were surprised to hear a bridge in this song! It seems like it's been a while since we have heard a TVB song with a bridge.

The second sub-theme is by Kayee Tam called 原來有愛 which has also garnered lots of praise. It is especially known for being the ‘ocean devil’s’ song that brings out the worst and truth in humanity. There is a cover rendition with Kayee and Moon as well. The lyrics are quite simple, but Kayee's vocals are soft and smooth.

The ending theme song is sung by Hana Kuk (of course?) called 我未能忘掉你. It's one of the weaker songs of the set. As we are writing this post, we already forgot what it sounds like because all her ending theme songs sound relatively similar. Can The Voice Entertainment give us some variety besides having Fred for the opening theme and Hana for the ending theme in every drama? We’re starting to lose it.

Final Thoughts:

Though we were excited for the sequel of The Exorcist's Meter, we were mostly disappointed in the end. There were some redeeming points such as the heartfelt moments, much like the first series. Unfortunately, the story fell short trying to put out too many side stories and characters that did not contribute to the main plot. The slow pace was frustrating to watch and the plot kept getting stuck on inconsequential things. Kenneth and Mandy lacked chemistry and their spotlight as the leads was stolen by other characters throughout the show. The performances were mostly fine, and the supporting cast proved to be more interesting than the main characters. The production quality was what was expected for a higher budget TVB drama, though we did not enjoy the fake sets, and the costumes could have been better.

We give this drama a rating of 7/10.

Thank you for reading this review! It has been a long time since we wrote a TVB review, so it was very fun to get back into it. We hope you are all finding ways to cope with the changes in our lives, and please don't hesitate to reach out and talk to us if you ever need. Take care!

-CeeJay

Images retrieved from:

https://cdn.hk01.com/di/media/images/4469731/org/2378d87e5281e8fdfe8851ffc4586fdd.jpg/P1HdElArgEZHcTvmRuDdbJ-Lb-ENcDXX57866-e_Ous?v=w1280r16_9

https://programme.tvb.com/drama/theexorcists2ndmeter0001/

https://my.com.my/trending/entertainment-news/the-exorcist-s-meter2-1