Cold Blood Warm Heart

Vietnamese Title: Thien Dia An Tinh
Tapes: 1-20 tapes

Main cast:
Adam Cheng as Bang
Gallen Lo as Trinh A Lap
Julian Cheung Chi Lam as Kien
Louis Koo Tin Lok as Diep Thanh Khan
Jessica Hester Hsuan as Truong Tuyet Dinh
Nadia Chan as Phuong Hao Dung

This was a very long series with many sub plots so let's start with the character description.

Bang - He was a middle-aged man with a kind heart. He helped many people and respected everyone. He was also a police cadet who could never achieve a high rank with his lack of education. What troubled him most was his painful past. His father and his mother were poor so his father went away to look for a job. He left little Bang and his mother behind. From then, the family was separated. The father became rich and went to search for his family. He couldn't find them so he moved on and married two wives and had two sons while Bang's mother past away. Bang was left in the care of a family. As he grew up, he knew who his father is but his father never took him in the family. The reason was publicity criticism.

A Lap - He was the scoundrel in this story. He was Bang's brother (not by blood but the one whose family raised Bang). At the beginning of the series, A Lap was a very nice person yet, he became ambitious and power-hungry. This made him a very corrupted man. He deceived many, was associated with many illegal deals, and killed people who stood in his way. Underneath his vicious self, he showed humanity with the only woman he loved, Tuyet Dinh. I guess this represented "Cold Blood Warm Heart".

Kien - Kien was a new cadet in the Hong Kong Police Department (Bang worked here as well.) Kien achieved a high rank as he got into the department. He had only a sister for a family. They lived in caring for each other. There was only one word to describe him: noble. He was noble because he took responsibility for his actions.

Diep Thanh Khan - Khan was Kien's best friend. He was playful and spoiled sometimes (He was the grandson of Bang's father.) Since he loved Kien's girlfriend, he did everything to separate them, including cheating and lying. He may seem despicable at times but seeing the way he treated Dung, you'll definitely love him.

Tuyet Dinh - Tuyet Dinh was an outgoing and loving person. Her most fatal flaw as a character is that she was too blind in love. She loved A Lap more than her life. After A Lap dumped her to marry a rich girl (Khan's half sister), Tuyet Dinh was heartbroken. She tried to commit suicide a couple of times. Luckily, Kien saved her. They began to have feelings for other. Still, she never forgot A Lap and came back for him. What can I say? Love is blind.

Dung - Dung is a quiet and endearing person. Her family was very poor and her brother was involved in illegal businesses. Dung met Khan in the countryside. From then on, he had a crush on her. However, Dung had eyes only on Kien. Kien loved her as well. They secretly dated because they were afraid that Khan would be angry. However, Kien caught Dung's brother doing illegal things and put him in jail. Her brother died in jail. With this incident, their relationship began to break apart. Khan also tried to drag Dung away from Kien.

Plot
Despite what this series may seem at first glance, it is not a series that is just about some detective solving different cases. The series is about love, hatred, revenge, apathy, and greed. There were many plots happening at the same time between each character. So I'll let you watch it and find out. It was definitely a good script. At the end, the main story was to capture A Lap. Tuyet Dinh tried to stop him and killed herself after because she only loved him.

Acting
Adam Cheng portrayed a Bang's character very nicely. Sometimes I find that this character could get boring and old. There's not much to say about him except that he kind of dragged the series.

Gallen Lo was one of he best actors in here. His role as A Lap was very convincing. After this series, I could never forget his evil impressions from my mind. Even though A Lap was a character that you would love to hate, you would felt some sympathy towards him

Julian Cheung as Kien was the best I thought in this show. From this series, Julian became one of my favorite actors. He looked the cutest in here with these adorable dimples when he smiled. Also, the scene where he cried when Tuyet Dinh died was very sweet. He definitely stole the spot light from Louis in this series.

Louis Koo as Khan was a slight disappointment for me. Louis is one of my favorite actors and I expected him to have a good role. In return, I saw a sleazebag character. However, Louis's cute smile saves the day a couple of times. Also, he didn't look so hot in this series :). He had this long hair going on with very pale skin; he looked kind of sickly if you ask me. On the other hand, this is his normal skin; not like his awkward tan in "A Step into the Past".

Jessica Hsuan as Tuyet Dinh was very enjoyable to watch. After this role, I love to see Jessica's series. The only thing I found disappointing was her weak minded character. I could have screamed a thousand times when she left Kien, the man who treated her with love and respect, to go with A Lap, a man who dumped her once for being poor. Also, she was so in loved with A Lap that she killed herself. Many times I just want to jump in the TV and slap her.

Nadia Chan portrayed Dung very well. However, she didn't look good in this series. Her face was so ark, and her haircut was blocking her face. I didn't realize it was Nadia until someone mentioned it to me. I think Nadia didn't have enough facial expressions in this series. I felt bad for her character when she was blinded due to saving Tuyet Dinh.

Most Memorable Scenes
- Every time Kien was with Tuyet Dinh. They always quarrel playfully with each other.
- When Kien saw Tuyet Dinh making up with A Lap. He cried (Awwww).
- At the end where Kien met Dung again after years of separation.
- When Dung finds out that Khan bought her all of those things she set eyes on.

In short, this was a good series. Those who love modern series should watch this. Also as tidbits, the songs in here are really good. The main theme called Never Give Up sung by Adam Cheng had a good beat. The sub-song sung by Julian "How Could It Be" was my favorite. He has such a good voice that is so soothing.