Good Against Evil

(20 episodes)

Deric Wan as Hwa Hak/Lau Gao Long
Yoyo Mung as Chao Dandan
Chin Ka Lok as John Liu Jian Feng
Tavia Yeung as Shao Anqi

The story
Deric Wan (Lau Gao Long) is a reluctant thief who chooses to steal for a living to pay for his sister’s education. On a chance encounter, he assumes the identity of a corrupt police inspector (Hwa Hak) to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. It seems at first Lau Gao Long has been given an unlikely chance by fate to discard his thief life for a better future as a police inspector. However problems arise when Hwa Hak's misdeeds caught up with him and he tries to resolve Hwa Hak’s bad relationship with his family, friends and colleagues…

Review of the show
I liked the show from the start, as it featured an old favorite of mine, Deric Wan, whom I last saw in “The Breaking Point” in the mid-90s. It also featured an excellent group of supporting actors such as Chin Ka Lok, Tavia Yeung, Sheren Tang and Melissa Ng.

The series despite being only 20 episodes was well-paced throughout; there were no draggy scenes that I could remember and the ending didn’t seem rushed (for once!) for a TVB production. (Forget the scene after the closing credits.)

“Good against Evil” can be classified as a Comedy drama depicting the attempts of Deric Wan’s Lau Gao Long as he used the identity of Hwa Hak to try to start afresh without being found out. Hwa Hak’s misdeeds soon became known to him and he tried to make amends for Hwa Hak's past wrongs (Lau Gao Long's way of compensating the dead Hwa Hak for using his identity?) and make everyone accept the new Hwa Hak again.

The fake Hwa Hak slowly reforms a previously corrupt police force, patches up the strained relationship with his father, and tries to appease his father’s ex-lover Xiaotao (Sheren Tang). Also he tries to look after his pen-pal Chao Dandan (Yoyo Mung) who loathes him at first sight because she hates Hwa Hak. Deric is in a dilemma throughout the series. Life isn’t smooth sailing, someone is after his life and Deric has no idea who Hwa Kak has offended. His peers try to influence his decisions. A fellow cop, Liu Jian Feng (Chia ka Lok), is good friends with Hwa Hak. It is Jian Feng who indirectly convinces Deric that he should be a clean honest cop instead of going down the corruption road like Hwa Hak used to do.

Meanwhile he is also wary of Jian Feng finding out his true identity. At the other side, his other good friend cum mentor fellow thief Robert (Lei ka Sing) wants him to grab as much money as he can (through corruption and stealing from the Hwa family) and leave, which Deric, being a good guy, doesn’t want to do. Soon, Yoyo became Hwa Hak’s girlfriend, and Deric is worried that she may leave him if she knows the truth. There is also the added pressure of his sister coming back from abroad and Chin Ka Lok doubting his identity and finding out the truth. What should he do? Should he run away or take a gamble carrying on being Hwa Hak, which has enabled him to obtain everything – wealth, status (police inspector) and love (Dandan)?

A lot of events push Deric along to the road of no return and he must eventually face up to the truth – confessing his true identity and face the law or run away.

I thought the lead actors in the show all gave good performances. The script was brilliant and it helped that the show didn’t take itself too seriously - there were lots of comical situations. The dialogue was witty and some one-liners were memorable. There were plenty of surprises through the series and twists and turns of events that were meant to tease the viewers. Slices of humor were noticeable throughout. The series also had its fair share of warm-hearted moments that were quite touching. The characters in the show were well-developed which make you feel for them more and understand the reasons behind their action.

The characters
Deric Wan gave a good enough portrayal as Hwa Hak/Lau Gao Long and I’m sure fans of his will not be disappointed by his performance in this series.

Yoyo Mung’s role as Hwa Hak's love interest was a snubbed role. Her acting was rather stiff but Yoyo is eye candy enough!

I thought Chin Ka Lok had a meaty role as the righteous cop. His lines were interesting and I looked forward to watching scenes of him with Deric / Tavia. His love relationship with Shao Anqi (Tavia Yeung) was very much centred on in the show (surprisingly for a 2nd lead) and very interesting and well-developed too with lots of surprise and laughs!

Tavia Yeung is as adorable and lively in “Good against Evil” as in her previous shows.

The relationship between Melissa and Yoyo, who are good friends, took a surprise turn toward the end while Sheren played ananguished woman who has an axe to grind against Hwa Kak’s family.

Lei Ka Sing, who played Deric’s thief friend Robert, also gave a memorable performance as a good-for-nothing thief who grew estranged with Deric after he became Hwa Kak. I think he’s a good actor and I have always liked his supporting roles (Hope For Sale, Gods of Honor)

Deric’s grandmother is fierce and sarcastic at her very best. Finally a refreshing change from the nice grandmother we are used to seeing.

Best performance
Lei Ka Sing (Robert)
Somehow, I find his portrayal of the greedy ruffian “Robert” a delight to watch.

Complaints
Too many coincidences in the show (Deric pen-pal was Yoyo, Deric's sister’s boyfriend was Tavia’s brother). These coincidences were necessary in pulling the story along but the script-writers could have thought of more innovative ways.

Ending
Good enough… Deric and Yoyo got married, every character lived happily ever after! Usually I don’t like those fairytale happy ending for everyone but this time I’m fine with it because I really like the people in the series, especially Deric Wan (Hwa Hak/Lau Gao Long) and Lei ka Sing (Robert).

Final
What I like about TVB shows is that they often give their supporting cast (2nd or even 3rd leads) enough screen time and this adds more depth to the show. The supporting cast in Good against Evil was great! – This includes the cast of Deric’s police colleagues.

I liked the theme song sang by Eason Chan as it really suited the drama.

TVB tends to make great drama series set in, 60s, 70s hongkong times. Again, this was one of TVB's excellent low-budget production which outshone the blockbusters.