Recently I have started watching an old Chinese TVB drama series from the late 80's - ' And Yet We Lived' (當代男兒). I must have watched it when it was first released in the late 80's but have no memory of it. I must say I am quite enjoying it. The actors are excellent, the story is captivating, the character development is fully there. With these elements, it is easy to cheer or cry with the characters. Even the supporting characters are engaging & well developed. Such a far cry from what TVB churns out these days.
As an example, today's episode showed the development of the main characters from platonic friendship to perhaps something more. The male lead (萬梓良) is a police officer, already has a very nice girlfriend but highly respects the female lead (陳敏兒)who is a crown prosecuter. They worked on a number of high profile cases together - and in one of them he even saved her life from a deranged accused out for revenge. During the time he spent with her he realizes a softer side to her tough prosecuter persona. The catalyst is when her own younger brother gets convicted of a minor crime and is sentenced to 3 months in prison. During this time we see her vulnerability and that she has a lot of regrets when it comes to her family, having chosen to pursue her education & career over staying & caring for a much younger brother after their parents died. All this was played out in a mere 50 minutes, there were no big confrontational scenes, just strictly with quality acting & relevant dialogue. They really don't make these type of TV dramas anymore!
Another aside: Even the actor, a newcomer to acting & TVB at the time, who played the younger brother (張衛健) had a pivotal scene in this episode with his sister which he delivered amazingly well. It was during this scene he revealed how he felt all those years when his sister was away studying & establishing her career. He was young, left to the care of housekeepers, and he felt abandoned by his sister. This short scene before he was sentenced to prison for 3 months was very telling of how he ended up the way he was - it was because of the superb writing, directing, & acting that even though the scene was short, it made me feel everyone's actions were justified.
Too many dramas these days leaves the viewer to say, 'What' & 'Why'. Even if you have excellent actors, if the story & dialogue & the direction of the actors are sub-par, viewers are not going to 'get into' the show. It's no wonder that there is so much TVB-bashing these days - they just don't make shows like they used to!
YC
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