For the forty-second drama, I've chosen Catch Me Now 原來愛上賊. After so so many years, I finally cracked a TVB series. Despite being Cantonese, I've never grown up watching TVB in my house. This time I've decided to give a TVB drama series a try and to go with my favorite genre: modern action series. After watching the first episode of Catch Me Now, I found a delightful surprise. One of the main actresses in Catch Me Now was an actress I met during the time I worked at the airport. I can't deny that it was one of the main reasons I enjoyed watching Catch Me Now. Nevertheless, Catch Me Now is a great series to watch for various reasons.
Kong Yueng (Joe Ma) and Jack Ko Chit (Damian Lau) are two men chasing after a drug dealer in Hong Kong. However, their methods and reasons are entirely different. Ko Chit is a criminal mastermind who leads a group of modern vigilantes in high-profile robberies. The group targets greedy businessmen who have obtained wealth through unethical ways and cannot be touched by the law. Unlike typical thieves, they take all the stolen money and donate it to various charities in a modern Robin Hood-esque fashion. Kong Yeung is an inspector for the Crime Investigation Department and is also one of the best in Hong Kong. While investigating a case, Kong Yeung traces a large sum of money transferred to Ko Chit, that also gets donated to charity. An intense chase between Ko Chit's thieves and Kong Yeung's detective squad begin. Tension flares up when Kong Yeung suspects Ko Chit may have been involved in a case related to his mentor's death. Catch Me Now is a story about cops and thieves. As two individuals trying to protect their friends and family in a world with a lot of injustice, Kong Yeung and Ko Chit find out that they really aren't that much different from one another.
Catch Me Now does a great job providing a detailed background of all the main characters. All of them faced an injustice in their lives and struggled to achieve their dreams. Ko Chit gave them a means to make something of themselves instead of wasting away into a nobody. By delving into the pasts of Ko Chit and his group, the characters are given another dimension and it opens up the drama more. Midway through the episodes, I found myself wishing more of the story was dedicated to Ko Chit's heists. From a producer's standpoint, I could understand dividing more of the screen time to the side characters and their stories. I found little interest in Bao Yung Yung's family affairs, both with her ex-husband and with Ko Chit. Personally, I enjoyed watching the storyline between Tam Bun and Kong Kiu. I think their relationship added another viewpoint to the main theme of 'not all thieves are bad people'. I felt that Catch Me Now was able to cater to a wider audience by not focusing on any specific characters for a long time.
The most disappointing part about Catch Me Now is the lack of a good soundtrack. Even if I lowered the standards down to having only one song to listen to while watching Catch Me Now, this series still fails to meet the criteria. Drama soundtracks are able to make an average drama enjoyable to watch and turn good dramas into award winning ones. Although technically there is a main theme, it sounds more like a short ringtone than a theme song. Lack of lyrics makes this observation especially more apparent. Nonetheless, I don't feel that lack of a proper soundtrack takes away from enjoyment of Catch Me Now.
Catch Me Now is a drama series that takes a movie like Ocean's Eleven and gives it an Asian drama twist. Hong Kong style dramas are quite different from the style of Korean dramas, Chinese dramas and Taiwanese dramas. As with Hong Kong culture, the usage of Cantonese, English and Mandarin is used interchangeably, which may draw interest or deter viewers. Of the many Asian television series I've watched, I felt Catch Me Now can be enjoyed by the most diverse audience. For those looking for a detective action thriller, Catch Me Now is a recommendation. For those looking for a romantic melodrama, Catch Me Now fulfills that genre too. It's a series worth checking out.
