Mission in Trouble
Cast:
Michael Tao - Sam
Yoyo Mung - Koh Bing Bing
Rachel Ngan - Moon
Ken Lo - Tit Yan
Danny Lee - Koh Fei
Ti Lung - Tai Pan
Lee Chi Hung - Lip Ying
Mark Cheng - Clone #17
Cheung Sut Jit - Mark Luk
Kiki Sheung Tin Ngor - Madam Song
Terence Yin - Sha Long
Amanda Strang - Sha Mei
Tai Soh - Sha Tai
Maggie Q - Yeung Lan
Ben Lam - Ah Long
This is a 2002 big production from Willie Chan Chi Keung and Jackie Chan with lots of talents, various locations and facilities in the investigation style of Charlie's Angels. You can rent it from ATV stores and it is distributed by Tai Seng Entertainment. The locations are great, with the first few episodes shot in Hong Kong, then moving to good-old Kuala Lumpur and Thailand, before heading back to China and Hong Kong for the rest of the 30 episodes.
There are 6 missions altogether for our "Red Heart" warriors to solve. The team is led by Sam - strategist, Kit - a computer genius, Fei Bou - firearms expert and lastly Tit Yan - a martial art exponent. They may seem like average Joes running their pub, but they are in fact secret crime fighters working for their flamboyant boss Tai Pan.
Their first mission introduces the tomboyish Koh Bing Bing, played by Yoyo Mung. It was hate at first sight for both Sam and Bing when Bing's father Koh Fei (played by Danny Lee), a professional con-artist, faked his death by falling on top of his brand new beloved Ferrari (or was that a Porsche?!) The car was smashed and Sam was very pissed off. Later, Sam and his team were assigned to protect Bing and her mum from the same criminal - Lip Ying, that her father was forced to work with. Sam was always in Bing's black books. Amid investigations, the team got to know another bubbly computer genius called Moon (played by Rachel Ngan).
After Bing's mum was murdered by Lip Ying, Bing was desperate to find her father at all costs and begged to join this elite team. Bing's icy cool and stubborn attitudes clashed with Sam's charming (read playboy) yet sarcastic attitude, resulting in a lot of fireworks.
2nd Mission - The team was sent to Malaysia to investigate the suspected human cloning by a certain Dr. Loo. Since Moon was a Malaysian, the team finally allowed Moon to tag along and to help in their investigation. Their plan to trap Dr. Loo in her cloning of human backfired and the doctor managed to escape, leaving the team to investigate the funding of the cloning project. This led them to a local bank owned by a charming banker named Mark Luk. In order to get close to Mark, Bing transformed herself into a stunning girl and succeeded not only getting Mark's attention, but Sam's as well. On the other hand, Sam became Mark's friend since both of them loved fast cars and women. Later, the team discovered that the actual funding came from a local triad boss, who was being investigated at the same time by the international police, led by Madam Song (Kiki Sheung).
3rd Mission - A continuation of their second mission, leading the team to a powerful drug-lord Sha Tai in Thailand. Sha Tai's son Sha Long (Terence Yin) was hungry for power and control of his father drug empire. Unfortunately his father never wanted him to succeed him and planned to abolish his own drug empire. Sha Long planned to recruit more youngsters to expand his military's power and it was a good opportunity for Kit and Moon to join them.
Kit and Moon quickly succeeded in gaining Sha Long's trust with their expertise in computers. Another fighter named Sam Chai (played by a Thai actor) become fiercely loyal to Sha Long. Kit and Moon managed to find out the location of the container. But Sha Long's army managed to grab the container while Sam's team rescued Dr. Loo. Madam Song planned to capture Sha Long and his army during a meeting with his buyers, but unfortunately it was a trap. It wiped out the whole police force except for Madam, even though Sam had already informed her earlier about the trap. Guilt-stricken, she hired Sam's team to capture Sha Long and they agreed. Will the team manage to capture Sha Long and his army? Amid this dangerous mission, Sam and Bing managed to develop a rather interesting and sizzling romance.
4th Mission - Sam and Bing planned to keep their new relationship a secret from the rest of the team, with hilarious results since everyone was aware that they were a couple by now! In this new mission, they were assigned to protect a rich, annoying old man Mr. Yeung and his priceless jade in his journey back to his ancestral home for a final burial. It was a simple mission that turned complicated with the reappearance of their ex-member Yeung Lan (Maggie Q), who happened to be Mr. Yeung's daughter. She put Sam and Bing's new relationship to test, since she loved Sam and wanted to win him back. It soon became a mystery when other members of this dysfunctional family started dying and with everyone having their own ultimate motive to get to their father's last will and priceless jade.
5th Mission - Sam and Bing's relationship failed to pass the Yeung Lan test and Bing broke off with him after his insensitive treatment of her. Even Fei Bou and Tit Yan were angered by his action and left the team. Everyone felt awkward as a team now, but must carry on professionally in their next mission. Ten years ago, four robbers carried out a robbery and the police managed to catch one of the robbers, Ah Long, who took all the blame and denied knowing the whereabouts of the money. The mission was to find the whereabouts of the money and who had taken it. After serving his sentence, Ah Long was finally released from prison and he decided to start anew. Their leader was suspected to have been murdered by another member, Ah Wah, during the heist. Bing took up the cover of a nightclub hostess and rented a room next to Ah Long. Ah Long always came to her rescue and she was deeply touched by his sincerity without realizing that she bore a striking resemblance to his beloved dead wife. When she discovered the truth, she refused to toy with his feelings and realized too late that she was beginning to have feelings for Ah Long too. Sam was very upset and watched helplessly as their relationship blossomed right in front of him....
After the completion of this mission, Bing quit the team and went to China to search for her father Koh Fei. Koh Fei was rescued by Siu Ching, a female pickpocket and she pretended to be his daughter when she learnt he had amnesia in the hospital. Sam managed to find Bing in a hotel and acknowledged his mistake in the way he handled their love affair. He pleaded with her to give him one last chance to change her mind. Sam helped Bing reunite with her father but she still gave him the cold shoulder...
6th Mission - This was by far the most exciting mission of all. The team fell for Lip Ying's traps one after another, but luckily for them Fei Bou and Tit Yan came back to help them and so did Madam Song. Lip Ying was a very crafty and cunning criminal, he wanted all the money as well as revenge. He managed to kidnap Bing and hypnotize her to do his bidding. The excitement continued in a final showdown between the bad and good guys. Lip Ying wanted to create another 911 scenario by having a plane crashing into a building while luring the team to rescue Bing and Tai Pan in the building....
Comment
It has been quite a while since I last saw Michael Tao and he still has that "housewives killer" charm. I liked his character in this Mission in Trouble drama even though I was quite annoyed by his attitude initially. But his charming side did get to me eventually. I love Yoyo's character Koh Bing Bing, she was so icy cool, stubborn, strong-willed and could fight really well. The chemistry she had with Michael Tao was excellent and their characters made their relationship very unique. The tension and the constant bickering between them were amusing to watch. Michael as Sam was charming, caring and protective, yet arrogant, sarcastic and egoistic. I guess Sam, being a ladies' man, had never met a girl who was not interested in him and constantly challenged his viewpoints.
I enjoyed the whole team's rapport with one another. It was very interesting to watch and their conversations were very lively and filled with sarcastic remarks and jokes. They teased one another a lot and that made it fun to watch. Overall, the team members had good chemistry. Another budding romance between Kit and Moon made it extra interesting and I loved the way they developed their relationship. The plot and action were fast-paced, exciting and very entertaining. The romance was complicated but it ended happily, which was kind of endearing.
Ending Spoiler!
The hospital scenes were really funny and cute when everyone ganged up to tease Sam. They kept referring Bing as Sam's tree and Sam was so disappointed and frustrated that his 'tree' had yet to visit him and was anxious every time the door opened. Glad that Moon was so protective of Kit and a romance would soon blossom from there.
Finally, his 'tree' arrived, but he's still this cocky fellow and wouldn't answer a question seriously. He teased her about her soup being lousy and if it was prepared by her, he would be willing to have it every day. When he tried to kiss her, she hesitated and the remark by Sam leading to the kiss was one of the most unromantic I've ever heard, though it was very funny and charming! It was so good to have all of them back as one team and their rapport with one another was excellent and funny at the same time. There, a happy ending to an excellent drama.
Overall, I've truly enjoyed these 30 episodes and it has been a highly entertaining drama with fast action, excellent plot, great locations, various talents and a complicated romance that ended happily. Two thumbs up for them!
The lack of promotion for this excellent series is beyond me, I can hardly find any news except a bit here and there. What surprised me was that this series was produced with backing from big names like Willie Chan and Jackie Chan!
Loved the theme song by Terence Yin. "Qing Yuan Rang Ni Zou" means Be Willing to Let You Go... too bad Terence Yin is not a popular singer and that makes it very hard to find this song! This song is about the relationship of Sam and Bing. In the beginning I always wondered why they chose a romantic and sentimental theme song when it was obviously an action drama... now I know!
