寒山潛龍 (Ghost Dragon of Cold Mountain) is a 2014 Hong Kong period drama by TVB that revolves on the Tin Kei Agency, an investigation agency of the Northern Song dynasty that specialized on solving strange cases in the kingdom. It is headed by Fung Nam Tin (whom later turned out to be the villain), and he had mentored many talented constables whom include Cheung Sing (Kenneth Ma), Chuen Gong (Power Chan), Dai Lik (Pierre Ngo) and Yeung Mao (Lin Xiawei). As the main character, Cheung Sing is entangled into various conflicts and troubles, of which mostly are from the Mei Leung (Selena Li), a prostitute whom appeared to look exactly like his wife, Tou Fa (Selena Li).
Yup. Like I mentioned earlier, both Mei Leung and Tou Fa are portrayed by Selena Li. So she is the main female lead. This is the fourth Kenneth Ma and Selena Li portrayed as a couple. And I find this on-screen pair quite compatible and cute together. It has been quite some time not seeing them together in a series as in present, the pairing is always Kenneth with Tavia. But I also couldn’t deny that Kenneth and Tavia’s pairing creates wonderful chemistry too.
Ok..back into this series I have just finished watching. It is 30-episodes long. It also starred Raymond Cho, Lau Kong, Mary Hon, Ram Chiang, etc. It started off very interesting. Constables solving weird cases which will certainly involves a lot of careful observations and thinking. I like this kind of storyline. At first, it was like one case per episode. So, things came and got solved very quick. This fast pace system that got me interested didn’t last long. After first few episodes, everything gets slow and draggy back (similarly to many present TVB series). They will only excite you in the first few episodes and the last two. That’s all.
The only major point that saved the series is Selena Li. She hasn’t been heavily promoted by TVB eventhough she had been in the industry for many years. For this one, she is given the main lead and she did it extremely well. It’s also not easy to portray two characters at once, both with totally different personalities. There is still room of improvement for her, but I can say this is among her best performance so far. Very underrated. I guess she would not be given any award by the end of the year too, but I hope she will get acknowledged at least in the top 5. I like most of her scenes. Realistic and comfortable watching her. Her scenes as Tou Fa are light-hearted, fun and cute while at the same time, I didn’t find that annoying for even a single second. Then, it’s really good.
Kenneth Ma delivered another typical performance here. He isn’t that good or outstanding here. You can see a lot of his ‘puppy-eyes’ look here. I have seen that several times in his previous series, but for this one, his character made him went too far, and that disturbed me. On the other hand, Power Chan had given another solid performance. Pierre Ngo is not bad too. Lin Xiawei and Candy Chang have both improved a lot as observed from this series. Both may stand a chance to face against each other for Most Improved Female Artiste Award at the end of this year.
The plot isn’t good nor terrible. Just average. Some plot twists add points but the plainness of the story development brings the series down. Even the ending I had watched just now isn’t exciting of which it should be as I’m expecting it. Nothing spectacular and no intense or any memorable scenes. This series would be easily forgotten. Nevertheless, still a good form of entertainment to kill off your time every night on weekdays. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Ghost Dragon of Cold Mountain’ a total of 6.8. Before I end this review, I want to say that this series’ title in English is a bit weird. Agree right?
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)
