Hand of Hope


Reviewed by: sukting

September 26, 2008

Rating: three

Foreword
This is the third drama that Lo Kar Leung and Chan Sau Mun have worked together. Did they create sparks as expected?

Story/Introduction on characters

1.Cheng Lap Yan – Lo Kar Leung
He is a responsible and caring social worker, to the extent of neglecting his own family. He knows too late that his wife is dying of cancer and has to see her leaving his side. From then on, he becomes a lifeless corpse as guilt often pricks him. This hasn’t affected his work but he keeps on imagining that she is still at home and he talks to her!

Being together with troubled youths also implies that he needs to risk his health as he is exposed to drinking and smoking vices. Once, he has stomach cramps but simply ignores them. Only when he vomits blood at home does he realize the seriousness. Lok Yee rushes him to hospital to discover that he has a stomach ulcer. It is from then on that Koi Mun takes care of him despite her busy work to rekindle the love in him again.

Kar Leung's acting is passable although not fantasic. Probably this is a boring role so it is hard to the character come alive.

2. Lo Kum Cheun – Cheung Chi Kwong
He is in charge of the social workers and is a helpful senior.

3.Lam Bak Ho –Chan Kai Toi
He is Lap Yan’s close friend and colleague. Knowing that Lap Yan’s relationship with his father is strained, he tries his best to make both reconcile.

4. Kwok Yiu Leung – Mak Cheung Ching
He is Koi Mun’s subordinate who is very experienced in finding the troubled youths’ hideouts. He is also Lap Yan’s buddy who is interested in Lok Yee all along.

5. Yu Kar Lok – Ngai Chun Kit
He is Lap Yan’s colleague too. Being young, he lacks the patience like Lap Yan and Bak Ho but he tries to learn hard from them. He is often at loggerheads with Koi Ting but they end up becoming a couple.

6. Cheng Hoi Pang – Kwan Hoi San
Lap Yan dislikes him for being a drunkard and neglecting the family by being always away. Lap Yan counsels the youths but doesn’t consul him. It is only through Lap Yan’s hospitalization that both patch up as he truly shows his concern for him for the first time.

7. Cheung Koi Mun – Chan Sau Mun
She is a calm and also cool police inspector. Noticing how weird Lap Yan is, she manages to bring him out of the shell and accept his painful past. The troubled youths often cause her a lot of headaches and she often sends them to the team for counseling. I get a bit tired of seeing Sau Mun often in short hair and playing career women. Can't she make some changes?

8. Cheung Koi Ting – Wong Siu Yin
She is the only female counsellor in the team. Koi Mun never expects her to stay in the job for long because she is very short-tempered.

9. Lee Lok Yee – Yeung Ling
She is Lap Mun’s sister-in-law. She doesn’t blame Lap Mun over her sister’s misfortune. In fact, she falls for him and takes care of him after her death. However, he only treats her like a younger sister.

10. Fung – Lau Ying Hung
She is Lap Mun’s mother-in-law who doesn’t forgive Lap Mun for not showing enough concern to her late elder daughter.

Song
The theme song is by Lee Hak Ken. The title is ‘The real face’. A very touching song.

Conclusion

This drama is very realistic. It tells of the difficulties faced by the social workers, but it is filled with hope and warmth. It also shows the problems faced by the youths. The new immigrants are not used to the new educational system and get looked down by their classmates. They end up selling drugs. Some leave home to loiter on the streets and become karaoke singers. Some come from gangs or the underworld and create trouble constantly to get expelled from schools.

Lap Yan and his colleagues spend a lot of effort to bring them back to the right path. Through this process, he also ponders the problems he faces with his father. Both have lacked communication for years. He also has a bittersweet romance with Koi Mun. Of course, the scenes of him imagining his wife still with him will give you the creeps. As a counselor, he should know that he should seek treatment early and move on but he simply misses her too much.

A rare drama which shows the true face of life – I strongly recommend all to watch it. You will get to know that it is tough being a counselor and respect them for their dedication towards others.

Sukting’s ratings :
On acting : *** (Scale of 5)
On story : **1/2 (Scale of 5)
On song : *** (Scale of 5)


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