Asian drama series (tag)

Lives of Omission is a Hong Kong TVB drama series. It’s a spin-off of crime drama E.U. (2009) with Michael Tse reprising his role as Laughing Gor, an undercover cop. His co-stars includes Bosco Wong, Fala Chen, Kate Tsui and Damian Lau. Premiering in Malaysia and Hong Kong next week.

Laughing is an undercover officer who infiltrates a large triad in the original show. Gor literally means brother, a term for senior gang members. Laughing Gor becomes the right-hand man of the crime boss, and at some point it’s not certain whether he sees himself as a gangster or policeman.

His affiliation becomes clear when he sacrificed himself to save another cop late in the series. Despite not being THE main role, the character becomes so popular that TVB jointly produced a prequel/spin-off movie, Turning Point, shortly after the end of the show.

The film was a decent success and prompted TVB to revive the character in Lives of Omission. The loose sequel/spin-off follows Laughing after he completes his undercover mission. He joins the the Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CIB) and becomes the handler for other undercover agents instead.

Laughing is the only notable character from E.U. in the new series. Fala Chen – who starred in Turning Point as Karen, Laughing’s girlfriend – plays a different role as senior inspector of CIB who resembles her character from the film. The actress will also appear as Karen in some flashbacks.

The supporting cast includes Cheung Kwok-Keung, Elena Kong, Ben Wong, Derek Kok, MC Jin, Mandy Wong, Mary Hon, Daniel Chow, Bella Lum, Law Kwan Moon, Candy Yuen, Adrian Chau, Yu Yang, Sammy Sum, Det Dik, Eddie Li, Shermon Tang, Matthew Ko, Jim Tang and Marcus Kwok etc.

Some promotion images for the show below. Updated with news and short review.

Updates 2012 – Great drama / sequel movie

Life of Omission is the second highest rating drama series of 2011 in Hong Kong. It also won the Best Drama at the 2011 TVB Anniversary Awards, with Ben Wong named as the Best Supporting Actor.

It’s a great drama series. Good plot, nice action and great overall performance from the cast. To be frank the Laughing character is not as amusing after he becomes a real cop. The likes of Bosco Wong and Ben Wong steals the show instead, and this is probably the best performance of Fala Chen to date.

Not a fan of the ending though, it’s a bit rush and messy. Apparently it’s to pave way for a followup movie, Turning Point II, which aired in December 2011. Haven’t watched the film so I can’t tell much, hope it provides better closure than the TV series.