Survivor's Law II

Cast:
Kenneth Ma as Sun Man Kwan (MK Sun)
Sammul Chan as Vincent Cheuk Wai-ming
Ella Koon as Suen Lei Lei (Lily)
Selena Li as Chang Choi Yuk
Waise Lee as Brandon
Rebecca Chan as Brenda
Kwok Fung as Suen Pak-to
Queenie Chu as Noel Kan Ming Wei
June Chan as Lai Na
Power Chan as Sun Man Kam

This is a sequel to the 2003 series "Survivor's Law". However, three of the original cast (Raymond Lam, Myollie Wu and Bernice Liu) did not act in this sequel due to their filming schedule conflicts.

(contains spoilers)
The 2003 series left off with Vincent Cheuk Wai-ming (Sammul Chan) being suspended from practising law. In this new series, he started off as an assistant in T&B which is owned by husband and wife team, Brandon (Waise Lee) and Brenda (Rebecca Chan). Here, Vincent's girlfriend, Jessica (played by Bernice Liu in 2003), has already left Hong Kong and soon we find out that she is getting married to someone else. In the meantime, Choi Yuk (Selena Li) is the lady in waiting and dotes on Vincent. Yuk is a simple girl who wants nothing but a happy and loving family. She is ready to wait for Vincent to establish himself in the legal profession. He did, eventually leaving T&B to become a barrister. As in the 2003 series, Vincent is still very much self-centered and would act unscrupulously if it is for his, or his client's benefit. However, all is not lost as he does alternate between behaving badly and having a conscience. He does want Yuk to have a good life and he works hard to provide for a secure future.

MK Sun, or Sun Man Kwan (Kenneth Ma), whose idol is Brandon, also works in the firm alongside Lily (Ella Koon). MK Sun, with his bad dressing, is a disgrace to his fellow peers in the legal profession, but he does strive to uphold justice and honesty in his work.

Lily's father is rich entrepreneur Suen Pak-to (Kwok Fung). She is spoiled and a terrible spendthrift. MK and Lily started off tearing down each other's neck but as celluloid would have it, they ended up falling in love with each other. What pulled them together is MK's "daughter" Po Po; not his flesh and blood as we will find out eventually but this little girl is the daughter of his ex-girlfriend.

In between love lost and love gained are the court scenes. I feel that the cases in the 2003 series were much better. Some of the court cases in the new series are terrible, and of all things, have to involve people who are related to the lead lawyers.

This series is more comedy and ridiculous than a serious legal profession act. I was disappointed. There were also other instances of unrealistic writing, for example, Yuk's recovery from having been in a coma for some time, is too quick. As with coma patients, I think it takes a while for that patient to recover fully. On the other hand, they have to end the series with Vincent also losing his memory, and never recovering. I was not sure if the writer meant it to be it this way. There were instances in Sammul's acting that makes me think he's faking his loss of memory. Maybe perhaps the writer had hoped to write a different story?

Another instance of unreal writing is the character Brandon (Waise Lee). While MK depicted him as someone to be reckoned with in Court (how else would MK regard Brandon as his idol?), Brandon became so useless and even suffered from "indecisive" psyche after a failure in the stock market. Then towards the end of the series, he got out of his shell to fight a case with his mentor. A wee bit too fast of a turnaround for someone who has to use a green and red torchlight to help him make even trivial decisions.

Kenneth Ma's dressing for a lawyer is also in poor taste. Off court, he dresses and behaves like a gangster-like. I think any lawyer worth his salt would dress more decently. Except for when he is in court, Kenneth dresses inappropriately for a lawyer. We know how image counts in the real world, so how could MK hope to convince people to
use his legal skills. Besides, MK would have developed a certain finesse about image and clothes after studying several long years in law school.

Then there is the cast of Po Po, the little girl who initially was thought to be MK's daughter. It was a poor set up and at the end of the series, the poor girl is cast off somewhere, not to be seen, but that she had gone to Canada with her auntie (sister of MK's ex-girlfriend). I feel that Po Po is an awkward character in this series. Without a flesh and blood connection to MK, how could the Court grant MK custody of this child? Since both MK and Ella are still young, they could well have children of their own, so why the need and hurry to adopt Po Po as their own? Sure, kids are cute and lovable and it can be argued that as Po Po lives with them, they grow to like her. However, it is not realistically true that MK and Ella, and MK's mother, must have her come what may.

Suen Pak-to (Kwok Fung), Lily's father, appears initially to be a honest and straight entrepreneur but come Noel Kan Ming Wei (Queenie Chu), his business dealings got a little out of hand. Noel, Lily's best friend and senior in school, is in a relationship with Pak-to, which is only discovered much later to the chagrin of Lily. However, Lily accepted their relationship eventually.

Acting - how the leads fare:
Honestly I am disappointed with the cast. There seems to be no chemistry between the loved pairs. The bickering episodes between MK and Lily are scripted and stiff. Between Vincent and Yuk I see no love between them. Brandon and Brenda are just acting their part as husband and wife. Pak-to and the much younger Noel are not given opportunities to display lovey-doveyness. Except for some eye contacts, viewers are supposed to deduce that there is something going on between them. Honestly, there are no heart-stopping moments at all. Some scenes are so silly I could fast forward if I am pressed for time.

Power Chan is cast as MK's brother, Sun Man Kam. The owner of a drinks club, he is too much of a goody-goody guy. His "love affair" with Lai Na (June Chan) is like lightning striking a tree. I wondered if Lai Na truly and honestly love him or is she accepting him out of sheer convenience so she does not need to return to mainland China.

I am also disappointed with Sammul's acting here. He seems to have lost his sparkle. Unfortunately too, he has gained weight on his face and the closeups of him only emphasized his fat cheeks. His hairstyle in this series is not right either. Sorry, but that's the honest truth.

The storyline:
Bad, bad, bad. Except for brief mention of Jessica (Bernice Liu) and a clipped voice of hers to Vincent (Sammul Chan), there was no mention of the previous characters who were in the original series, namely, Raymond Lam and Myollie Wu.

Po Po, the little girl, is a superfluous character which serves to add no flavour, except to prolong the ridiculous agony. MK is definitely not ready to be a father, nor is he a father-figure! Ella, though rich and has the means to look after Po Po, is too worldly and materialistic to be a good role model to the little girl. I shudder to think how the girl will grow up given that all Ella knows is to plonk her with expensive and branded things.

The lightning marriage of Sun Man Kam (Power Chan) and Lai Na (June Chan) carries no meat. They both looked like two worlds apart; definitely not a pair of star-struck lovers.

The coma incidents, first of Yuk, then of Vincent, are not realistic. Yuk's baby (Jophy) was delivered when she is in coma. Then she woke up to full realisation of everything and from where she left off. On the other hand, Vincent never got out of his coma, yet was able to return home to Yuk and Jophy. Gee...

I wish the sequel was done more seriously than this. If there are no good stories or meaty characters or gripping court cases, this sequel could have been put on hold. Even better if it had waited until the original characters could come together.