Shadow of Justice (2021)

I don’t understand the hate…

伙记办大事 or Shadow of Justice is, in my opinion, getting hated on far too much. The criticism mostly comes from the lacklustre plot and focus over 常笑 and 戴政君 romance story.

Firstly, I would like to say that this was one of the first dramas I watched and it was THE ONE that got me into TVB dramas (along with 铁探 but thats for another review). This year, I decided to try my luck and rewatch it after reading the terrible reviews about it.

What did I think of it? I loved the show even more.

Plot:
The plot was compelling and complex, with the romantic and brotherhood scenes perfectly balanced. Another thing was the humour which was top notch. I loved the scenes of Bobby Au-yeung and Joe Ma when the were battling it out. The villains were also amazing, each one of them having an amazing personality and storyline. Even Matt Yeung and Jeannie Chan were great and I don’t get the hate about their acting.

The series from start to finish was excellent, something quite rare for TVB’s shows nowadays. I won’t spoil the show too much but I must say this is one of the best written dialogue and plot from a show I have ever seen. However the best part of this show was the foreshadowing. Brilliantly executed with the idea of 报应 and 天网恢恢，疏而不漏.

Acting:
If you thought the plot was good, the acting was even better in my opinion. Everyone acted well, no need for further elaboration.

Songs:
I loved the theme song 对与错 and I think it fits the theme perfectly. A slow-paced song but filled with meaningful lyrics and a midly catchy tune. The sub theme 错的一天 was even better and I would say was close to 越难越爱 from Jinny. One thing about TVB’s songs is that they play it waaay to often in their dramas. However, I never felt sick of hearing these two songs at all.

There are some problems though. The songs can be forgettable at times and I felt that sometimes the music didn’t really match the scene.

Rewatch:
Definitely. I decided its better when you rewatch it so you can see the depth of the excellent foreshadowing.

In summary, WOW. I am so surprised by the amount of people that don’t like this show (I might be on my own here). A controversial drama to start off my very first review ever but I just had to say what I had to say. I promise my reviews are not all this controversial (I like most shows that the general like, except for this and a few others.)

Take note this is just my personal opinion of this drama. Thanks for reading.

P.S. I hope I did well for my first ever drama review

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Bobby, step out of the way for the younger TVB actors!

Bobby was an absolute joke in this. Actually, that is kind of ironic because Bobby thinks he's funny when really, he is just a loud, mentally challenged old man, you know, the kind who can't stop laughing when he talks. There's nothing worse than an old actor who can't get out of the way for the younger TVB actors to step up. If I may quote Bob Dylan's song "The Times They Are A-Changin": "Your old road is rapidly agin'/Please get out of the new one/If you can't lend your hand/For the times they are a-changin."

The trailer and the opening theme song video both seemed to say that the storyline is too clever for its own good. I may have only watched 1 episode, but I felt my hunch was right. It's a bad idea to base a TV drama on chess when it's not about playing chess! It's a particularly bad idea to use playing chess as a metaphor for mind games because "Queen's Gambit", a very-well received Netflix series that needs no further introduction, only came out a few months before this drama.

I praise the other actors and actresses in "Shadow of Justice" because they had to put up with fat-headed Bobby who improvises when he can't remember his lines. Anyone who has watched "House of Spirits" (a 2016 drama Bobby was also the lead in) would know what I mean. I think he gets away with stuff like that at TVB because he is a senior citizen and in Chinese Culture, respecting your elders goes without saying.

In short, don't watch. Go wash your hair or clean your room because that would be better time spent.

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