EPISODE 2

A very good episode that I immensely enjoyed. I am beginning to fall in love with Ben and his principles as a lawyer. He's a good lawyer, believing in his relaxed sense of justice but doesn't mean he doesn't care about the law. He uses the law to give justice that his clients deserve. My brand of justice.



Anyway, I did not really mention how Ben got the job in HK Law Firm ran my Master Hung. You see, quite simply, Ben was fired after he helped Juno because Doug Lee was his previous firm's biggest client. Business comes first so he had to be sacked. Moreover, Sister Na made sure he got sacked to save her own niece's job. Her niece is Jessica (played by the ever cute and energetic but not a very convincing actress Bernice Liu).



But how on earth Ling (played by the stylish looking Myolie Wu) and Vincent (played by the sour looking and not a very good actor Sammul Chan) ever joined HK Law Firm? Answer is simple. All got fired. Vincent got fired when he spoke up to that judge in episode 1, his master felt his student was now better than him. Ling got fired in today's episode when she helped Ben to solve the marital case rape. Jessica fired herself because she found out her idol, Vincent was now working in HK Law Firm, which is very interesting TV Mistake because of the time line. Vincent just got interviewed by Master Hung when Ben popped into his office and said Vincent was very good as a lawyer, they walked out and in walked Ling and Jessica who both came for interviews. How then would Jessica had known Vincent was working there, so fast so soon? Hmmmm...



Anyway back to marital rape case. The solution was simple but frankly ridiculous. Ben convinced Ling to help him patch up the couple but Ling said her client the wife was so angry she wanted to pubish the husband. Punishing is very different from making sure her husband got what he deserved. She still loved her husband but was very pissed off that he drugged her which she felt he was raping her. And yet she still wanted him. Surely she must realise rape is a very serious allegation. A point that was emphasised by Ling. Then Ben and the husband appeared, teh husband begged for forgiveness but the wife couldn't just let him go. So Ling suggested that they nullify their marriage for non-consumation and then the husband and wife can start all over again. Both agreed and patched things up. Ben thought of this solution.



My problem with this solution is 2 fold.



1. Can the husband every forgive the wife for accusing him of rape and return to her after so much hoo-haa about what happened? I doubt it. I for one will doubt her love for me and in future if I were to touch her and she refuses, she will go crying rape again. Not a very secure marriage.



2. The more serious one, the nullifying of marriage. I think the law in Malaysia and HK is quite similar. There is a difference between divorce (meaning there was a marriage and the court pronounced the marriage as dissolved) and nullifying a marriage (meaning there wasn't a marriage in the first place, all that never happened). In this couple's case, they nullified the marriage based on non-consummation. Ling said there wasn't any sex since the first and only sex after the marriage was non-consensual. I do not know whether to agree or disagree and I need to research on this. A good point of law. Anyway the more serious one is because of this. When they nullified the marriage based on that point eventhough sex took place but it was non-consensual, wouldn't the husband be admitting to RAPING his wife? If that is the case, shouldn't he be charged for RAPING his wife and be punished for it? Isn't the wife slapping herself also by crying rape and then not? So was it rape or no rape?



Very illogical and legally interesting stuff.



But Vincent had a more interesting case referred to by his father, a policeman (played by Liu Kai Chi). A young schoolboy was accused ot causing grevious bodily harm to schoolmate. The thing is this young skinny boy was accused of beating the crap out of his bully but the boy said it wasn't him. Ahhhh the plot thickens. The answer I guess will be in the next episode.



Now back to relationship sequences.



I do think Ben gets along very well with Master Hung, both of them having the same sense of how to find business but Master Hung is more about business than about justice. I suspect he must have been a very good lawyer. How Master Hung got struck off from the roll is interesting (or was he just suspended?). It seems that whenever he's nervous or in court, he would repeatedly blink his eyes. The judge thought he was communicating with his client so the judge gave a guilty verdict. In anger Hung threw the file at the judge hitting the judge's eye! And why has he got such a bad relationship with Sister Na? It seems that Na was not only his former partner, she was his former girlfriend until he married someone else, Na left the firm, he promised to pay her the shares, his other partner ran way and now Na coming after him for money. How then can HK Law Firm continue practice? Simple, Hung has got another partner living overseas who is a qualified solicitor who can open a law firm. Brilliant!



Anyway, the relationship between Vincent, Ling, Jessica and Hung is a bit shaky. Ling does not like the idea of soliciting any kind of clients, Vincent believed that he can not associate himself with such low class client hurting his image and Jessica ...well she has nothing much to do.



Whilst Vincent may ignore Jessica and is extremely arrogant, he is not a bad guy. He loves his father, and he even wanted to forward a case to Ben when he saw Ben running away from the authorities pushing a cart of food (illegal hawker) when Ben was just helping out a friend. He also saw Ben eating cheap food. So Vincent isn't really bad. Just arrogant. because he knows he is good at what he does for a living.



Ling is still cautious about Ben and Ben is extremely friendly and physical man. Yes, he likes to lean onto her and all but he's not sick or anything, just intimate in his friendships with people he liked. The fact that he recommended Ling to her current job is an indication what a great guy he is. He is still afraid to tell his parents he got fired and now working on a profit basis (meaning bring in work, get paid, no work, no pay) basis, assuring his parents he could support them when he can't. Only Juno knew the truth. Ling and Jessica also saw Ben running out after one phone call wearing his best suit (normally it's tweed jacket, his roller skates) to meet his ex-girlfriend called Mary. Mary in turn wanted Ben to help defend her current boyfriend whow as accused of molesting a girl. You see he got a telescope on his balcony and the girl next door accused him of spying on her. Ben asked Ling to help out but Ling has this feeling this man may not be what his girlfriend thought him to be. Ben as usual does not suspect this man.



Next episode must be more about these two cases. I have a feeling Ling's feelings may prove accurate and perhaps by Ling losing once in her judgment (in the marital rape case) and Ben locing his judgement (in this molestation case), they learn to trust one another's instinct.



Overall I find this episode highly entertaining. The legal issues and court antics may be dramatic and wholly and purely for drama value (never that way in real life), the story of 4 young struggling people and their boss is very interesting to watch. My favourite scene has got to be when Hung took themto the seedy town and said something like "Lawyers are businessmen now, we must get business everywhere, legal repsentation is no longer just for the reach" and then he went laughing, smiling in the most humblest way (like an insurance salesman) and started to say hi to the gangsters, prostitute, all of whom he knew by name. When he witnessed a car accident, he refused to let Ben help and waited for the fighting to escalate to serious fight and then police came (he called the police) and quickly ran to them volunteering to represent either of them. The way he got his business is very funny and very real. Yes, nowadays lawyers are not yuppies that go to pub and sleep around like in Healing Hands or Files Of Justice (though FOJ was about established lawyers). I find this series about young lawyers very real in a sense of their struggles. And I find the young cast very energetic.



The performances are also very good for most main players. The veterans are always excellent, especially Lok Ying Kwan. The worst actress (veteran) had to be Ruby Wong.



Now the young ones, Myolie Wu never disappoint me. She is now my favourite TVB actress unless Mariane Chen comes back to acting. She is a natural, very stylish, totally believable as a young lawyer. Her hairstyle is chic BUT she can improve on her performance when she is in a courtroom. We call that advocacy and she is too emotional. Lawyers are rarely emotional. No time to be emotional. The judges in this series are very believable as well but I hope to see one sarcastic mean one because every country has one like that. They're not very patient if you're wasting their time.



Raymond Lam gave the best performance tonight as Ben, a character that I absolutely adore. He reminds me of Louis Koo though, only more intelligent looking. He actually sounds like Louis, including that "I can't believe you did that" look and his cheeky smile. I find him very handsome in here. Whilst someone commented that he doesn't look like a lawyer, believe me, he looks like one of those who works in a smaller law firm. BUT there were times he was a bit shaky, like he didn't know where to put his hands. That is just a minor complaint.



Sammul Chan is ok. He improved in his acting since I last saw him. When I look at him I do not see an idol worthy star. In fact I find him boring but I am glad he took on this role because it will be a departure from his usual weak nice guys role. I am looking forward to see him manipulate to winning a case (assuming he will turn rotten). He looks indeed like a hot shot rising lawyer, arrogant and all. In this part I must congratulate him because the way he just walked past Bernice straight to Myolie to say hi, that was mean. But I still find him weak in certain scenes though admittedly he hasn't done enough worth for me to comment on. Maybe later on. But he doesn't have the screen presence. I just find him ok but not all consuming when he's on screen.



Overall I love the first 2 episodes. I look forward to more episodes. Do catch this series if you have a chance.



I must comment on the themesong though, I think sung by Raymond Lam. He can sing but the song, SLOOOOOOOOW. Shouldn't it be something hip, young?



P/S: I was wondering anybody knows the name of the actors who played Myolie and Raymond's parents?