My picks for the best of TVB series in 2023 and a little prediction for upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023.

It’s a wrap for Hong Kong’s TVB series in 2023 after I have finished ‘The Queen of News’ over a week ago. It’s the time again for me to choose the best of the year based on my personal judgement, observation and analysis. This is purely my own preference and is limited to only the television dramas of the year that I have watched.

By the way, I have been doing this since 2007. Hence, this is my 17th year of annually selecting my personal best of TVB series. I have watched a total of 8 dramas this year as listed below (along with my rating to each series out of 10 points).

• The Invisibles. (7.8)
• Speakers of Law. (6.3)
• Secret Door. (8.0)
• Unchained Medley. (7.0)
• Narcotic Heroes. (7.1)
• Let Me Take Your Pulse. (8.0)
• Romeo and His Butterfly Lover. (6.8)
• The Queen of News. (8.7)

As expected, ‘The Queen of News’ is my highest rated TVB drama of 2023 while ‘Speakers of Law’ is my lowest rated. You may also look up for my individual review to each of these dramas by using the ‘search’ function in my blog page and key in the relevant drama’s title.

Here below are my personal selection of the best of TVB series in 2023 in 15 categories:

Best Drama : The Queen of News

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Narcotic Heroes, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Best Leading Actor: Kenneth Ma (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Ruco Chan – Secret Door, Owen Cheung – Unchained Medley, Edwin Siu – Narcotic Heroes, Moses Chan – Narcotic Heroes)

Best Leading Actress: Selena Lee (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Charmaine Sheh – The Queen of News, Mandy Wong – Secret Door, Aimee Chan – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Sisley Choi – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite TV Male Character: Owen Cheung (Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Kenneth Ma – The Invisibles, Ruco Chan – Secret Door, Kalok Chow – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Matthew Ho – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite TV Female Character: Charmaine Sheh (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: Selena Lee – The Queen of News, Katy Kung – Unchained Medley, Kelly Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Sisley Choi – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Best Supporting Actor: Matthew Ho (Narcotic Heroes)

(4 other finalists: Hugo Ng – Secret Door, Joel Chan – The Queen of News, Max Cheung – Speakers of Law, Ram Chiang – Narcotic Heroes)

Best Supporting Actress: Elena Kong (The Invisibles)

(4 other finalists: Moon Lau – Secret Door, Joman Chiang – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Samantha Ko – The Queen of News, Regina Ho – The Queen of News)

Most Improved TV Male Artiste: Nicholas Yuen (The Invisibles, Secret Door, Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Arnold Kwok – The Invisibles, Alex Yung – Speakers of Law, Mark Ma – Narcotic Heroes & The Queen of News, Ricco Ng – Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Improved TV Female Artiste: Tiffany Lau (The Invisibles, Unchained Medley)

(4 other finalists: Regina Ho – Speakers of Law & The Queen of News, Bowie Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Erica Chan – Let Me Take Your Pulse, Joman Chiang – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Most Favourite Drama Theme Song: ‘Crystal Clear’ by Gigi Yim (The Queen of News)

(4 other finalists: ‘They Aren’t You’ by Shiga Lin for The Invisibles, ‘There is No Reason to Leave’ by James Ng for The Invisibles, ‘Blurred in Dream’ by Owen Cheung & Sherman Poon for Unchained Medley, ‘Will Not Say Goodbye’ by Vivian Koo for Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Most Favourite On-Screen Couple: Matthew Ho & Sisley Choi (Let Me Take Your Pulse)

(4 other finalists: Kenneth Ma & Natalie Tong – The Invisibles, Owen Cheung & Katy Kung – Unchained Medley, Edwin Siu & Kelly Cheung – Narcotic Heroes, Moses Chan & Aimee Chan – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Most Favourite TV Villain: Hugo Ng (Secret Door)

(4 other finalists: Ruco Chan – The Invisibles, Max Cheung – Speakers of Law, Mandy Wong – Secret Door, Timothy Cheng – Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

Best Technical & Production Design: Romeo and His Butterfly Lover

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Unchained Medley, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

Outstanding TV Veteran Artiste: Timothy Cheng (Romeo and His Butterfly Lover)

(4 other finalists: Angelina Lo – Secret Door & Let Me Take Your Pulse, Mary Hon – Secret Door & Romeo and His Butterfly Lover, Cheung Kwok Keung – Secret Door & Narcotic Heroes, Ram Chiang – Narcotic Heroes)

Outstanding Cast Ensemble: The Queen of News

(4 other finalists: The Invisibles, Secret Door, Narcotic Heroes, Let Me Take Your Pulse)

‘The Queen of News’ is the most celebrated drama with 6 honours including best series. It is very likely that this drama will snatch the most wins at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 too (to be held in 14th January 2024). I will be going mad if it doesn’t win best drama.

Competition for best lead actor is very weak this year and out of intense scrutiny, Kenneth Ma prevailed from his performance in ‘The Queen of News’ (particularly from his emotional scene in the last episode). This is his second time winning this honour. Anyone could take this win at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023.

I was also very hesitant between Charmaine and Selena for best lead actress. They are both outstanding in ‘The Queen of News’ but finally I picked Selena as I find Charmaine had all the charisma and aura in the series but her character lacks a little depth/character’s development when compared to Selena’s character. This is also Selena’s second time winning this honour. I do hope that she could win best actress for the first time ever at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards but Charmaine is likely heading for her historic third win. How about a tie, TVB?

Anyway, if you are a fan of TVB series over the years, what are your picks and predictions for this year? Feel free to share your thought.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘The Queen of News’ is top-notch and is Hong Kong’s best series in recent years.

Urrghh…the final episode of ‘The Queen Of News’ has already been released in streaming platform yesterday ahead of its airing date on Friday next week. I would not have any new exciting episode to catch up on evening from tomorrow onward sadly. What should I do?

‘The Queen of News’ (新聞女王) is a Hong Kong drama that centers on the challenges faced by journalists, their dedication to uncover the truth, and the conflicts that arise in their personal and professional lives in and out of their news reporting office. Themes such as journalistic integrity, ethical dilemmas and the pressures of the media industry are explored throughout the series. This 26-episode drama starred Charmaine Sheh, Kenneth Ma, Selena Lee, Samantha Ko, Regina Ho, Venus Wong, Matthew Ho, Eric Tang, Shaun Tam, Mimi Kung, etc.

26 episodes aren’t enough for me (and I believe for many audiences too). The storyline could easily be expanded to 30 episodes or more without losing its intensity and appeal. Some of the characters’ conclusion felt rushed and there are some unanswered questions (maybe hinting a sequel?). I felt like the last episode was way too rushed too although the outcome is still extremely fantastic (and very touching) which featured a case of which Joel Chan took kids at a childcare centre as hostage as he could not come to terms with his own daughter’s death. The ending which saw the five main female leads finally settled aside their differences after the incident is resolved brought a warm and beautiful closure to the series.

Charmaine Sheh impressed everyone with her superb performance and breathtaking charisma in this series. Critically lauded for that, many has already predicted her to clinch her third best actress win at the upcoming TVB Anniversary Awards 2023 to be held next month (its nomination list had just been released yesterday with huge support to this series as expected). However, I would prefer more if both she and Selena Lee were crowned best actress together. Selena Lee also delivered outstanding work in this series and their on-screen intense interactions were brilliantly executed. Selena is always solid in her performance. She deserves best actress and shouldn’t be outshined by Charmaine.

The other actresses who tagged along were doing fine too. Let’s not forget the actors. Kenneth Ma was ordinary until the very last episode on a scene when he teared up during a live broadcast after streaming showing Charmaine in danger at the childcare centre was interrupted and he revealed his honest feeling of Charmaine as his friend (finally not viewing her as work nemesis). Although Joel Chan was only participating in the last episode, but his role as the mentally disabled father who lost his daughter is very engaging. Eric Tang do stood out too in his supporting role as a chief director here.

Excellent script, impressive performances, fast-paced development, engaging storyline, and thought-provoking plots that revealed lessons in journalism and life; what else do you need to be crowned best series of the year? ‘The Queen of News’ is not only the best of the year, but also the best in recent years. Out of 10 points, I rate it 8.7.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Review to TVB series ‘Secret Door’ (2023).

‘Secret Door’ is a 2023 Hong Kong series with 25 episodes that starred Ruco Chan, Mandy Wong, Hugo Ng, Roxanne Tong, Moon Lau, Nicholas Yuen, Hugo Wong, etc. The series revolves on two childhood friends, Zhong Zi Kiu (Ruco) and Cheung Sam Yue (Mandy) who have taken very different paths because of crimes committed by each other’s fathers. They two met again and all hell breaks loose once Sam Yue’s father was released from prison and her husband died mysteriously.

The plot for this series is quite captivating. However, while the series comes with quite a lot of thrilling and tense moments, it also unfortunately comes with a lot of silly scenes. The main characters tend to always reveal some major plot in a very exposed/public setting and then as expected, get heard or seen by the other character hidden at the back. You will surely get what I mean after you have watched the series. It happened a lot of times throughout the drama and it just proves the scriptwriter lacks fresh idea or just being lazy. Certainly one of the major flaws of the series.

The ending is too rushed and did not provide a sufficient conclusion to the series. Immediately skipping the timeline to 10 years later in a short finale scene of few characters standing in front of Sam Yue’s grave with minimal dialogue is definitely not a satisfying ending I’m looking for. Roxanne’s character is not even there in the final scene. How is her relationship going on with Ruco in the series at the end? How is Roxanne’s dad or Mandy’s mother-in-law doing in the end? A lot of unanswered questions. I also expected a bit more climactic end to Hugo Ng’s character when Mandy decided to finish him.

Let’s talk about the acting performances. Hugo Ng is the star of the show portraying as the criminal father in the series. His energy and performance is top notch here and he has my support to clinch best supporting actor at this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards. Mandy Wong is given a very good role here who get to switch from playing both nice and wicked personalities. She did it quite convincingly too (although I still feel she has not done her best yet). If luck is on her side, she may even end up winning her first best actress from her performance in this series.

Yes, the series comes with some flaws as highlighted earlier, but overall, I do enjoy the series. Interesting plot and exciting performances from the cast successfully brought up my impression of the drama. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Secret Door’ a total of 8.0.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Completed my first TVB series of the year. ‘The Invisibles’ is one of the better police action dramas in recent years.

It’s the middle of April. How I wish that this month would be gone sooner as this has been one of the toughest months in my life. Never expect year 2023 to turn out like this. Well, I believe there is always a reason my path is set out this way and will eventually lead me to the right direction. There’s a deep void in me, huge inner stubbornness in me, and plenty of self-reflecting in recent days and I’m glad I have really grown up from this.

While I will try my best to move on and stay positive, it is sometimes also okay to not be okay. After all, we are still human with emotions. Here are the two songs I would like to share that I love to listen to and the lyrics hit right to my feeling or thoughts now. Feel the sadness, cherish on the past memories, and then go on and focus on being the better self.

Alright. No more emotional stuff. I have recently completed my first Hong Kong TVB series of the year. It is ‘The Invisibles’, a 30-episodes police action drama that starred Kenneth Ma, Natalie Tong, Joel Chan, Tiffany Lau, Moon Lau, Alex Lam, Elena Kong, Jimmy Au, Ruco Chan, etc. I have to say that this is one of the much better police action TVB series in recent years especially after considering that this genre has been very common.

Excellent performances by the cast including those on supporting roles. It’s refreshing to see Ruco as the main villain (only appear in later half of the series as one of the supporting roles) here. Although it is not a main lead role, but Ruco nailed it flawlessly with brilliant acting. I am also impressed by Elena Kong’s turn as the head police officer with strict and cold personality yet with warm heart within. Kenneth Ma did well too especially during tense scenes but he flaunts too much of his signature ‘puppy-eyes’ during sad moments in this series (a bit too much!).

The series has a lot of gripping action scenes but also has too much of love storylines. I felt there’s a bit too much of romantic relationships featured in this series including those minor supporting characters (I haven’t even mention there are three main couples already in this series!). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Invisibles’ a total of 7.8. Still a pretty solid action drama with some forgettable flaws.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Brief update of my status in New Zealand now and brief review for TVB series ‘Against Darkness’.

Hey…it’s October now. One last quarter of the year left before we say farewell to 2022. This is going to be an exciting month as I will be finally embarking on my full-time road trip across the entire country of New Zealand beginning mid-October with my friend. Two more weeks of my work at The Remarkables. Time flies. We have worked there for almost 4 months now.

Just when I am getting familiarized with most of the variety of tasks of my present work and just when I am about to be confident on my skiing on the green route at The Remarkables, the ski season is coming to an end. Coronet Peak is having its last day for the season tomorrow. 16th October will be the closing date for The Remarkables. Mount Hutt on the other hand will close last; on 24th October 2022. These three mountains are managed by NZ Ski company.

My full-time road trip will begin on 18th October and will go on for about 2 months. Our itinerary is almost complete (did a lot of homework/research to prepare the itinerary!). We think 2 months are good enough to cover most places in New Zealand. We will then also travel to Australia (visiting Melbourne, Sydney and Perth) before heading back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on January 2023. I hope everything goes according to the plan.

Before ending the post, I will write a quick review for another TVB series that I have watched. It’s ‘Against Darkness’, a 20-episodes Hong Kong series revolves on a great partnership between Sergeant Ko Fai (Ruco Chan) and Sergeant Chi Kiu (Alice Chan) in solving a complicated series of linked murder cases. Besides Ruco and Alice, the series also starred Kaman Kong, Sharon Chan, Joseph Lee, Brian Tse, Andrew Yuen, etc.

Just one case, but of multiple murders and drug offences along the way. The plot is quite interesting but we didn’t get to understand the whole background or motif behind the villain until the last 15 minutes of the entire 20-episodes series. That’s a bit too late. However, it was so predictable from the very beginning who the main villain is. It just kills off the suspense.

I’m glad that there isn’t any romantic storyline wrote between the two main leads. However, Ruco and Alice do have good chemistry in here. Kaman’s character is so full of potential but she is still annoying in portraying her role. Brian is considered good for his main villain role here due to his minimal experience but I don’t get why he create that online game in this series in the first place. It is like pointless. Overall, ‘Against Darkness’ is an average police drama with nothing to shout out for. Out of 10 points, I rate it 7.0.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Brief review for TVB series ‘Communion’ and my ski update.

I’ll start off the post with my brief review of yet another TVB series that I have finished watching recently. It was the 8th TVB series I have watched this year so far. It is a 15-episodes drama titled ‘Communion’. It starred Roger Kwok, Alice Chan, Kalok Chow, Rico Ng, Joey Thye, Matthew Ho, Hera Chan, Tsui Wing, Shek Sau, etc. The story revolves around a man who owns a traditional Chinese restaurant. He struggles to reconnect with his estranged wife who runs a much more successful restaurant business empire with the same name.

I do enjoy its fast-paced storyline. It is a pretty short series too (only 15 episodes!). I felt that this story can be slightly expanded to 20 episodes though. The cast has done great job and there’s quite a great chemistry between all of them including the seniors and the younger ones. Overall, the series has quite a lot of hearts in it and I enjoyed watching it. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Communion’ 8.0. It is also the first time that a Hong Kong series features story about virtual reality/computer technology heavily. That’s interesting!

It’s almost end of July now. Last week I did have a plan to visit Arrowtown and go for night ski but those plans didn’t went through due to the predominantly bad weather last week. It was raining all day long on my planned day to visit Arrowtown. And on the day for the night ski, when I reach up the mountain, it was all too foggy and a bit of shower as well. The condition isn’t good at all especially for a beginner like me. So, I ended up travelling back down to the town.

Anyway, I did manage to go for ski this week (went up last Wednesday). Still falling down quite a lot of times (they do hurt and felt pretty exhausting to get back up on my feet every time). Have tried on new route but is still on the novice’s level. I would be no where close to intermediate level yet based on my present condition. Well, practice makes perfect. Hope that I can be much smoother on the novice’s routes next week onward and then my plan is to get to intermediate’s routes before the end of this winter season. Yup…that’s the goal!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Time to begin research on places to visit at New Zealand after the winter season…and a brief review to TVB series ‘Big White Duel 2’.

In three more months, we will have to leave Queenstown to start on our full-time travel across New Zealand before our working holiday visa ends on early December. If we are not able to complete the planned trip before early December (and we have to leave since our working holiday visa expires by then), we will most probably go on a brief stop to a city in Australia and then departs back to New Zealand to finish up the remaining planned trip.

We have actually not making any real plans yet on our full-time travel around New Zealand as mentioned above despite being here for over a month by now. It’s time to commence on the necessary research to plan out the road trip across North and South Island, choose the suitable walking trails at the picturesque national parks, find cool complimentary and paid attractions to visit, search for budget-friendly guided tours and accommodations, etc. There’s quite a lot of homework to do to ensure the full-time travel later on will go as smooth as possible without missing any major destinations while staying below our budgets and schedule.

So far, some of the places that I am keen to visit later on would be the Milford Sound, Hobbiton (sets for the famous Lord of the Rings film series), Kaikoura (for whale watching!), Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Wai-o-Tapu pools, Lake Tekapo, Bay of Islands, Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, Blue Pools, and some adventurous national parks. We will certainly cross through these cities or towns as well along the way; Oamaru, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Nelson, Rotorua, Hamilton, Auckland, etc.

On a side note, I have recently completed watching a TVB series called ‘Big White Duel 2’. It is a medical-themed drama and is a direct sequel to 2019’s ‘Big White Duel’. This 30-episodes drama starred Roger Kwok, Kenneth Ma, Moses Chan, Nancy Wu, Natalie Tong, Kelly Cheung, etc (that’s 3 TV Kings and 2 TV Queens there!…what a cast!). The first series didn’t leave a huge impression on me and yet it won best drama at the TVB Anniversary Awards that year.

I actually think this sequel is slightly better than its predecessor. It features more cast (Moses and Nancy are great addition here, although it is a bit disappointing that Ali Lee who was in the first series dropped out of this sequel), more relatable accident-driven medical cases, and more engaging conflicts between the characters. That’s all for my review on this drama. I have nothing further to comment. It is a solid drama that stays in the same path as its predecessor (similarly going in a distinct political direction) rather than the typical storylines of plenty of previous medical dramas. Out of 10, I rate ‘Big White Duel 2’ a total of 7.7.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘Brutally Young 2.0’ was unexpectedly good.

It’s almost end of the month. I have already been in New Zealand for 20 days now. Still can’t stand the freezing temperature over here. Taking a shower here feels like a torture and going downstair to the kitchen and living area was an undesirable thing to do due to the chilling winter here.

A quick update for my current working holiday here at Queenstown, NZ; I’m still familiarizing myself with all the variety of tasks for my front of house job (including handling some back of house works as well) in a restaurant up on a ski mountain called The Remarkables. I also went up to Coronet Peak (another ski mountain) earlier this week, took a first-timer lesson in ski (for free from my privilege as a staff…both mountains are managed by same company) and managed to learnt how to slow down/brake while skiing. Good first step. My plan is to practice once a week so that I will be able to ski (at least until mastering beginner’s level) before end of this winter season.

Back to the main topic of this post; a brief review for another Hong Kong TVB drama that I have recently finished watching. The drama is called ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ (十八年後的終極告白2.0) and is an indirect sequel to the original which was released few years ago and was quite good as far as I can remember. TVB usually fails when it comes to sequel but that isn’t the case for this one surprisingly. ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ was actually very good and kept me engaged and thrilled by its suspenseful story, brilliant plot twists and excellent performances.

This 20-episode drama starred Shaun Tam, Joel Chan, Katy Kung, Candice Chiu, Zoie Tam, Raymond Cho, etc. It is not a stellar cast but they shined in their respective roles in this drama. I won’t see them as great actors/actresses previously. However, after seeing their performances in this series, I have to change my mind. Their roles here allow them to showcase their wide range of acting. Out of the 6 people I mentioned above, I actually find Shaun Tam (first male lead) to be the least convincing in terms of acting instead (he was last year’s best actor winner for his performance in ‘Take Two’).

The series has a very fast paced storyline (which is good) and was full of nice suspense, secrets (yes, all characters hold so many secrets from one another especially from their partners…and eventually blown up to a hot mess that we love to watch) and surprises along the way. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ a total of 8.3. My highest rated drama this year so far. By the way, this drama is Joel Chan’s third drama this year (after ‘The Righteous Fists’ and ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’). Have been seeing him on screen a lot of time recently. What a busy year for him. Well, he deserves more opportunities like these. His time for best actor win will come soon. He was splendid in this series too.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

My working holiday trip to New Zealand is now just around the corner…and my brief review to TVB series ‘Stranger Anniversary’.

It’s the month of June already and four days later, I will be flying to New Zealand to commence my working holiday trip. The trip was planned since March once I got my working holiday visa approved. After nearly 3 months of waiting and preparation, the trip is finally within sight.

Settling on a new place to live is never easy and is pretty daunting at first. Fortunately, I have such experience in the past twice when I moved to Australia for two years for my postgraduate study and then moved to Singapore for work purpose. Haha…I was like a nomad; changing places to settle at once every few years.

I would already be in New Zealand by the time my next blog post appeared. I will most probably write on my first impression of Queenstown, share some stunning pictures of the place during winter (opps…it’s going to be freaking cold over there!), and share some of the things I have to do once I arrived there before I start my seasonal job at the Remarkables ski resort. Looking forward to this view below of Queenstown and the Remarkables mountain at the background when I get there next week.

Before ending my post, I would like to share my quick review to a recent TVB drama that I have watched; ‘Stranger Anniversary’. It is a 25-episode series (cut short to 20-episode for TVB version due to extremely poor rating this series has received) with a story that revolves on two people who are not related by blood, but very similar in appearance. They contact each other, and have been miraculously affecting each other’s life trajectory. The series starred Joe Ma, Roxanne Tong, Winki Lai, Matthew Ho, Alice Chan, David Chiang, Angel Chiang, Tsui Wing, etc.

I understand why the series received such poor rating. A very simple answer; it is simply bad. Comes with a non-engaging storyline and poor chemistry between the cast, the series just couldn’t deliver. Joe Ma is too old for the role and is not compatible at all especially with her much younger female co-stars (Roxanne and Winki). The comedy part of the series was also not funny. For its drama side, it was uninteresting. My only compliment to the series is its effort on putting two Joe Ma’s characters together in the same frame in a couple of scenes which require some hard work. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Stranger Anniversary’ a total of 6.0. A light-hearted show but could not bring anything fresh to the table.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Review to the highly anticipated sequel; ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’.

When the original series ‘Barrack O’Karma’ was first released in 2019, it was met with critical acclaim and success due to its mind bending story, great performances and unique take on its supernatural theme. Many were immediately looking forward to its sequel that was planned soon after the first series. After several filming delays, pandemic and postponement of its release, its sequel titled ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ is finally released this year with high anticipation.

With almost all of the original cast returning, the series once again centred on the various sub-plots taking place mostly in the Twilight Mansion building. The core of the story was still based on themes of parallel universes with Joel Chan and Selena Li taking on multiple characters again. Besides the two of them, the 20-episodes series also starred Timothy Cheng, Christine Ng, Henry Yu, Willie Wai, Jazz Lam, Candice Chiu, Roxanne Tong, Arnold Kwok, Karl Ting, Hubert Wu, Shiga Lin, Bob Cheung, etc.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a very positive reception to this sequel this time. It felt to me as though the main storyline is confusing for the sake of being confusing. Most of the side stories have little to no connection to the main storyline or the main characters. The side stories are only made more scary/darker but less interesting this time around. They felt very detached to one another too.

The series is still good that it is able to make you scratch your head, think and put some imagination on why it ended up this way. Not many TVB series are able to accomplish this. However, I felt that the scriptwriters overdid it and all the juxtapositions of ideas and universes made the drama quite a confusing mess now. It is also a pity that Joel and Selena’s multiple characters in this sequel are more flat too although they still share very great chemistry on screen.

A good attempt for a sequel though. It is extremely difficult to write a follow-up sequel from the original which was already so spectacular and out-of-the-box. There are still some very creative ideas in play here but diluted by detached side stories and super confusing and over complicated approach on the theme of parallel universe (everyone is talking about multiverse now!). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ a total of 7.1.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)