Time Off

Vietnamese Title : Long Ho Tranh Hung
No. of Chinese Episodes : 22 (?)
No. of Vietnamese Tapes : 16

ATTENTION : Some Spoilers

The Cast:
Felix Wong
Mark Kwok
Monica Chan
Charmaine Sheh
And many familiar faces

"Time Off" is Charmaine’s first series since the Miss HK pageant and is Mark Kwok’s first series as second lead. The series is not bad at all and is somewhat refreshing. The main character is not our typical nice, caring guy, but someone hot-headed and does things without expecting consequences.

Brief Summary:
A hot-tempered, righteous dad is willing to do anything for his friends; however, he treats his wife and children poorly. This lead to a divorce with his wife, and he has to raise his two children. After a fearful accident at work, he is put in prison. Will he change after his sentence? Will his children forgive him? Who will raise them now? These questions will be unanswered; find the answers by watching the series.

A business man is quite successful and is married to a loyal and well-educated wife. They face many obstacles in their marriage, and the wife is accused of cheating. While he’s drunk, he is involved in an accident and kills a person. He is then put in prison and while there, meets the raging dad. Will his business be easy after being released from prison? Will his wife still be faithful to him? Another set of questions left unanswered.

Opinions on Story & Solution
The plot is actually quite simple but not to the point where it’s boring. Both protagonists are sentenced to prison; however, the series does not focus a great deal of time on that. "Time Off" is not the kind of series where murders take place while in prison, though it did show some scenes of the prisoners not getting along. I like the series, you get to laugh, you get to worry, you get to be angry, and you get to experience a load of emotions. The solution is somewhat expected, but I have to say the last few episodes were very intriguing.

Opinions on the Cast:
Felix Wong – Felix is just so versatile! I have no complaints with his acting and character portrayal. Felix’s character is great fun to watch and man... if I were his child I would "hate" him as well. No wonder his children are always scared and never share anything with him.

Mark Kwok – An underrated actor of TVB. He is pretty good and versatile to me; however, he keeps getting small roles, especially nowadays. It was great seeing him having more screen time. Charmaine and Mark did not really appeal as a couple, so that was a disappointment.

Monica Chan – She’s great in here as a nice girl who is always willing to help others. Monica’s character is the type of person who would be great as a friend if not girlfriend. She is responsible for helping Felix find a job after his sentence, but she also grows to care for his family and children and this leads to a relationship between Monica and Felix.

Charmaine Sheh – I have so much to say about Charmaine. Charmaine is no doubt a beautiful actress and she quickly becomes my favourite due to her tremendous improvement. Since "Time Off" was her first series, she was very stiff and didn’t portray her character comfortably. As I watched the series, I was surprised to see how much she has improved ever since "Time Off." As we all know, Charmaine is great at crying and emotional scenes, but in this series, she didn’t handle it well.

My Final Comments
"Time Off" is definitely not a great series – nowhere near perfect, but it’s undoubtedly a passable series to watch. Strong performances from the cast with the exception of Charmaine, but it’s her debut series after all.