Split Second

Number of Episodes: 30

Main Cast
Alex Fong – Fung Chi Wai
Kevin Cheng – Wong Ka Fai (Vincent)
Patrick Tam – Yeung Kai Tung (Ah Tung)
Marco Ngai – Hao Mun Wa (leader of the largest gang in Hong Kong)
Yoyo Mung – Peng Wei (Hao Mun Wa’s girlfriend)
Sririta Jensen – Rita (Thai police officer)
Chatchai Plengpanich – Sam (Thai police undercover)

Supporting Cast
Claire Yiu – Chu Wing Kay (Wing)
Mandy Cho – Tang Wai Ching (Maggie)
Fiona Yuen – Law Sao Ling (Vicky)
Johnson Lee – Gum Yu Loi (Meow Gor/Panda)
Lau Gong – Cheng Kwun/Lee Man Ho (Kwun Sok)
Guo Hung – Wong Jung Yeung (Wong Sir)
Chris Lai – Au Geen Fone (Dick)
Wong Duk Bun – Hao Mun Wui
Lok Tat Wa – Hao Mun Ying

Special Appearances
Moses Chan – Lok Yiu Kwok (Lok Sir)
Miki Yeung – Fung Mei Yang (Yang Yang)

Story Outline
Basically, the whole series happened within thirty days, one day per episode. This series centred on three cops: Fung Chi Wai, Vincent, and Ah Tung. It began on April 1st, 2004. The attempted assassination of the appointed Chief Police Officer, Wong Jung Yeung, was the outbreak of the main plot of the story. Fung Chi Wai was the West Kowloon police officer who fell in love with Hao Mun Wa’s girlfriend, Peng Wei. Vincent only had thirty days to live due to brain cancer, which was at its terminal stage. He tried to accomplish his task of arresting Hao Mun Wa within thirty days. Ah Tung was a police undercover staying inside Hao Mun Wa’s coterie.

Characters
Alex Fong as Fung Chi Wai
As the leading character of this series, Alex did not disappoint in his acting. However, in the scene where his daughter, Yang Yang, was killed by a car, he was a bit unnatural and expressionless. He should have tried to remember the car’s vehicle plate number and traced it afterwards or yelled out loud. Instead he stood there emotionlessly, and walked to Yang Yang’s body. His character became weird in the end when he started killing all the main characters. Why? What made him want to kill Sam? Sam would have let him and Peng Wei leave anyway. He was the one who turned out to have a mental illness in the end? It was quite surprising, but yet nonsense. Overall, Alex Fong acted pretty well in the series.
Performance rating: 9/10

Kevin Cheng as Wong Ka Fai (Vincent)
Kevin did not do too well in the series. In most of his scenes his expression was consistent. He definitely needs improvement. He wore the black suit throughout the whole series. His illness did not really make any sense. If he was going to die in thirty days, then during the last few episodes, he should have been too weak and must stay in a hospital. Vincent seemed to have some chemistry with Maggie, but the relationship was hardly mentioned or developed. Instead, he still looked like a normal healthy man.
Performance rating: 7.5/10

Patrick Tam as Yeung Kai Tung (Ah Tung)
Patrick gave an excellent performance in the series. His character made the plot lively and interesting. He deserves an award for this series. He does not match with Sririta Jensen in any way. I think they are just really good friends who care much about each other. They never secretly love each other. His true love is always Wing.
Performance rating: 9.5/10

Marco Ngai as Hao Mun Wa
Marco’s role is the main antagonist in the series. He definitely performed the best out of all the actors and actresses. His triad-boss role really made the audience feel for his character. The series didn’t make sense at all when he was killed. It would be very unlikely for the boss of the biggest triad in Hong Kong to be killed by a mentally sick girl. His death should at least make some sense. Congratulations to Marco for receiving an award for The 10 Best White and Black TV Characters. Bravo!
Performance rating: 10/10

Yoyo Mung as Peng Wei (Hao Mun Wa’s girlfriend)
Yoyo’s plain appearance added reality to the series, since she had not slept for five days in the series. Her acting was quite impressive, but she can still improve. However, the series made her character unreal. How could she have mental problems within a few days? She was a perfectly fine human in the 24th episode. Then she became crazy on the 25th episode and stabbed Hao Mun Wa. On the 26th and 27th days, she had illusions of Fung Chi Wai in danger or Hao Mun Wa threatening her. All of these just happened too fast within a few days. In addition, she shouldn't have left Hao Mun Wa, because he truly loved her, while Fung Chi Wai thought she was really annoying and caused the death of his daughter, Yang Yang. In the end, Fung Chi Wai was just repaying Peng Wei. He never said he really loved Peng Wei in the series.
Performance rating: 8.5/10

Sririta Jensen as Rita (Thai police officer)
The purposes of her role were mainly to capture Cheng Kwun and support Ah Tung. She is a very cute and adorable actress. Her Cantonese accent was funny too. Her acting was pretty good and likeable. I look forward to her performances in other TVB series.
Performance rating: 8.5/10

Chatchai Plengpanich as Sam (Thai police undercover)
Chatchai is absolutely a skilled veteran. He acted really cool in this series. He really does look like Chow Yun Fatt. His role is pretty sad in the series, because as he finally returned to be a policeman, he got killed by Fung Chi Wai.
Performance rating: 9/10

Claire Yiu as Chu Wing Kay (Wing)
The scriptwriter could have expanded on this role and offered it to an actress who fitted this role more, such as Melissa Ng or Tavia Yeung. Claire doesn’t seem to fit this role, because this character needed a lot of expressions, and Claire didn’t seem to meet this requirement. I am not sure if you notice that, but she seemed to yell at Ah Tung and everyone else throughout all her scenes, which is very annoying to watch.
Performance rating: 7/10

Mandy Cho as Tang Wai Ching (Maggie)
She is unsurprisingly the worst character in the series in terms of acting. In most of her screen time, the camera focused on her, but she didn’t speak a word? She just remained silent and stared without expressions. I don’t see why TVB is heavily promoting her right now. She becomes the leading female in a new series, Gong Dam Kwun Lan (with Ron Ng, Sammul Chan, Joyce Koi, Yuen Wah, and Louisa So). I can’t imagine how her acting will be in that series. In Split Second, her performance was barely passable.
Performance rating: 5/10

Fiona Yuen as Law Sao Ling (Vicky)
She didn’t do much in the series as the CIB Officer of Team B. Her role could have been played by a male and it wouldn't have made much of a difference, except that she had a relationship with Vincent before, but this doesn’t show any significance. It is really hard to rate her performance because of her limited screen time, but overall, she did a pretty good job in this insignificant role.
Performance rating: 7/10

Johnson Lee as Gum Yu Loi (Meow Gor/Panda)
He looked so ugly during the whole series with his bruises all over his face. I feel so sorry for his character, because all he did was to protect Ah Tung and Wing and nothing else. His death had a great impact on Ah Tung and Wing, because he sacrificed his life for Ah Tung. Johnson delivered an average performance, but he can still improve.
Performance rating: 7.5/10

Moses Chan as Lok Yiu Kwok (Lok Sir)
He only appeared in the first five episodes and a few scenes from Ah Tung’s mind in some later episodes. It is really hard to rate his performance since he was just a cameo. All I can say is that he did okay.
Performance rating: 7.5/10

Miki Yeung as Fung Mei Yang (Yang Yang)
Miki acted as a cute, young, pretty, smart, pure-hearted 16-year-old girl, but she had to die. Her character was the saddest in the series. I was relieved by her performance as a newcomer. She can act! Well, at least better than Mandy Cho.
Performance rating: 8/10

Characters I Like the Most
1. Marco Ngai (suited the triad boss role really well)
2. Patrick Tam (excellent acting)
3. Chatchai Plengpanich

Characters I Dislike the Most
1. Lau Gongs (cold-blooded old man)
2. Yoyo Mung (she was so annoying)
3. Alex Fong

Overall
This series was a heavy-budgeted series in 2004. It combined actors from Hong Kong and Thailand. This series had bad viewership ratings, with an average of 27 points, and the rating of the highest week was only 28 points. This was mainly due to the lack of interest from the audience about the main plot. Most people thought that it was a copycat of a previous English series, 24, Infernal Affairs, and other movies about undercover. They preferred to watch comedy or sissy-like series, such as To Catch the Uncatchable and War and Beauty, the two drama series with the highest viewership ratings in 2004. There were too many flaws in the series. It was really unrealistic. Everything just happened too fast and there were a lot of events stuffed into one day. I recommend you to not watch this series unless (3 reasons): you are too bored and have nothing to watch; you like to watch cop-chasing-villains series; you are a fan of any of the casts. Otherwise, there is no need to give it a try.

Official Site at:
http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/split_second/story/index.html