Last One Standing

Plot / Storyline
Ten years ago Cheung Sing-Hei (Kevin Cheng) was sent to prison for supposedly murdering his stepfather for sexually assaulting his sister, Cheung Jung-See (Yvonne Ho). The witness who also caused his imprisonment is his cousin Tong Lap-Yin (Roger Kwok).

Now ten years later, Hei is released from prison. During his ten years in prison, Yin has established a career and a happy family, however Hei has nothing. Believing he was not responsible for the death of his stepfather, Hei continues to investigate into his stepfather's death. Eventually he finds out that Yin may be connected to his stepfather's murder. However, this causes problems with Hei's family and Yin's girlfriend Lei Pui-Ka (Yoyo Mung) who believes that Yin is a good man. This is the basic premise of this drama.

Review
One of the main attractions to this drama is that this is different to the usual TVB drama series. This drama is about two men in a silent battle where they are manipulating each other (and sometimes the people around them) and trying to outwit the other.

Another attraction to the series is seeing Roger Kwok as the main villain. Roger Kwok has up until now generally portrayed a good person in previous dramas and seeing him as a villain is interesting. This is also due to the fact that he does the role very well; seen on the surface as a good person but underneath a manipulating, short-tempered and eventually obsessive individual.

Cast
Roger Kwok as Yin
One of the main attractions to this drama is seeing Roger Kwok play a manipulative villain. Roger Kwok who has generally portrayed the "good guy" roles before this one does this role quite well. It can also be considered that he is playing two roles at once because on the surface, Yin is a good man, however underneath he is a manipulative person. Roger Kwok shows that he is a great actor here by portraying a villain when previously he has generally portrayed "good guy" roles. He is almost perfect in this series. The thing that stops him from being perfect is his transition from pretending he is a good man to revealing he is a bad person. This change feels too sudden especially after his foster father (Chun Wong) and grandmother's (Lai Suen) death. However, when Yin finally reveals that he is a bad person, it is done well and you will hate him which also shows Roger Kwok's acting talent.

Kevin Cheng as Cheung Sing-Hei
Kevin Cheng portrayed his character quite realistically. Being just released from prison at the start of the drama, it can be seen clearly why he seems to be always upset and has a difficult relationship with his mother and others. It is because Yin who is the true villain has everything and Hei, who was undeservingly imprisoned is left with nothing. The only part I disliked about this is when Hei is holding a knife and sharpening it in his room, this scene made him seem more murderous and crazy than his cousin Yin. Hei eventually has the idea of manipulating others and appears to be on good terms with his cousin Yin again so he can expose Yin to everybody for the person he really is. This is generally done well though sometimes he seems to be portraying a character he has done before in a previous drama. I would have also preferred that Hei ended up with Kelly (Macy Chan).

Yoyo Mung as Lei Pui-Ka (Carmen)
Yoyo Mung's character is a surprising disappointment in this series. Although I can't say she acted badly (which she didn't), her relationship with Yin didn't seem to have enough chemistry and they didn't seem like a great couple in this series, nor with Kevin Cheng's character, Hei. However Yoyo Mung still acted well in this series, just that her relationships with Yin and Hei didn't seem real enough.

Kiki Sheung as Lau Git-Yee
Kiki Sheung's acting was good however her character was sometimes unrealistic. For example, she seemed to always favor Roger Kwok's character, Yin, even when Hei had supposedly turned over a new leaf. This appears stupid and unrealistic because Git-Yee is Hei's mother and even though they had a difficult relationship in the beginning, she did not seem to care that her son went missing on one occasion. She also seemed to still trust Yin over Hei even when Hei and his mother's relationship was on better terms. Overall, this character should have been written better.

Elaine Yiu as Tong Hoi-Man (Mandy)
Elaine Yiu's portrayal of Hoi-Man seemed to easily fit. There aren't many flaws within her character which is why I thought she deserved an honorable mention. Elaine Yu did her character quite well and she was quite likable too. Elaine Yiu's acting ability seemed to improve too as I found her better in this than previous dramas that she has been in. Her character was also more realistic, especially during the events of her father's and grandmother's death and when Yin was showing more of his bad side. Her reactions to these events were done well.

Yvonne Ho as Cheung Jung-See
If it wasn't for Yvonne Ho's character, Hei would not have beat up his stepfather and went to prison so I could say that she basically started this series, however that is one of the good things she did. Yvonne Ho's portrayal of this character is extremely annoying and seeing her on screen any time also frustrates you. Her character also seems mentally unstable or this could be Yvonne Ho's bad portrayal of the character. There is nothing to say about this character except that Yvonne Ho did this extremely badly and made the character extremely annoying. The other and final good thing is that this character doesn't appear in much episodes so you do not have to put up with it too much.

Ellesmere Choy as Yeung Kin-Yip
Although not one of the main characters, I thought Ellesmere Choy's portrayal of his character was done very well so I thought it also deserved an honorable mention. He was done realistically; initially disliking Hei because of his status as an ex-prisoner and then eventually secretly working with Hei to help him prove his innocence when Hei helped him. His character, Kin-Yip was also funny on a few occasions which helped make his character likable.

Conclusion
This is a great series with great performances from many people. Although this is a drama, there is not much or any romance in it which in my opinion is fine, as this series is generally about Hei and Yin's battle against each other and trying to outwit one another. Although some characters can be slightly unrealistic, this is compensated with a good and suspenseful story and good acting. The ending is left slightly open-ended for a sequel with Yin wanting revenge on Hei once he leaves prison, however, I believe there should be no sequel as there is not much to continue on. Overall, I highly recommend this series.