Episodic Thoughts: Ghetto Justice (Episode 17)

Ghetto Justice <怒火街頭>
TVB Series 2011

Cast: Kevin Cheng, Myolie Wu, Sharon Chan, Sam Lee, Eddie Kwan, Mandy Wong, Jazz Lam, Joyce Tang, Shek Shau, and others.

EPISODE 17

Remarks : This is a watch-as-I-write-from-memory episodic thought (a combination of episode summaries, reviews & critical analysis episode per episode) and therefore please take note that this write-up will contain MAJOR SPOILERS for this particular episode and some creative license was used when recreating certain scenes or dialogue. Please refrain from revealing future SPOILERS in this episode.

A new case today which thankfully gets an ending in this very same episode. But before that I must stress I was pretty shocked at one person for no other reason other than the fact I am rediscovering a fact that I have already stated a long long time ago.

Before that, a recap and this is an episode that can actually be titled THE BASTARD HUSBANDS because it’s true, the husbands in here are bastards.

Mrs Leung and George saved the poor trapped lady in the cupboard, whisked her and her son away to the centre and the husband had the nerve to throw her stuff out and said “You said you are leaving, don’t ever come back!!!” and the poor woman looked stressed at the prospect of without a home.

At the centre the lady asked if she could ever go back again since her son needs a father although she knows he is a bastard husband.

Pause here.

I am a firm believer that you must be willing to be helped and must help yourself before others can help you and before you are ready to be helped. So when that woman asked if she can go home, it felt like all the effort down the drain. More so when she said …

“I know he doesn’t treat me well but we have been married for so many years, if I don’t go back, where can I go? What can I do?”

George explained about the welfare she can get, job placement, free housing, etc and then Mrs Leung looked at her and said quietly “I was once like you, married to a man who went to China to be with his mistress and never came home for the past 2 years. I was lost too, until I realised I can raise my children, feed my mother in law and take care of myself. I came to realise I didn’t need him anymore, I can do it on my own. Believe me, if I can do it, so can you,” and that woman nodded and cried as she said “Yes I think I can…” but sort of in a resigned way. In real life she probably will run back to the bastard husband. And if they die being abused, who can they blame? The son will blame society. That is a fact when she has no one to blame but herself. I know I sound harsh but when you have a young son who loves everyday in terror and in fear, you work to feed that bastard husband, why not leave and work for yourself? If you won’t, do it for your son. Is it so difficult to leave that useless loser? Or is it easier to blame him if your life is that of a loser?

Anyway George took Mrs Leung home in his car and Mrs Leung was very quiet as George asked “Thinking of that husband of yours?” and Mrs Leung nodded and she got a call and it was from that useless husband of hers who said “Where the hell are you?!” and Mrs Leung quietly said “I am on my way home, I just finished work” and Mr Leung said “Work or out seducing men?” and Mrs Leung asked “Are you in HK now?” and he shouted “What? Afraid I will check on you doing something wrong on me? Come home now!! I am hungry!! Come home and COOK!!!” and Mrs Leung was very very upset as she dabbed her eyes and George said “Mrs Leung, is everything ok?” and Mrs Leung quietly said “I tried so hard, I worked so hard, I keep the family afloat, I worked hard, and all he does now is throwing accusations at me; seducing men, being a wanton woman, is that what he thinks of me? Why? Why do I bother? Why?” and George said “Mrs Leung if you want to cry, just cry” and Mrs Leung said “Cry? I am so tired, I want to cry, I want… to..” and she cried very very hard and George was shocked as he fumbled for his tissue and gave it to her and she suddenly stopped and said “I am such am embarrassment to myself” and George said “No you’re not…”. George reached her place, she was fast asleep and George used his coat to cover her and he looked at her, leaned closed to her and in one of the rather romantic kisses ever, he brushed his lips gently and lightly on her cheeks. She didn’t know what he did, she was still asleep and George was smiling slightly at his bravery. However bastard husband saw everything and took a photo of George kissing Mrs Leung and said to himself “You will get it you adulteress bitch!”.

Mrs Leung got to her place, assuming George woke up shortly after, and she was still wearing George’s jacket when she came face to face with her bastard husband, henceforth B.H. B.H cried “You are finally home!” and Mrs Leung said “I cooked those for MIL, if you want to eat, you can cook noodle for yourself”.

Pause.

When did she cook for MIL??

Continue.

BH refused and said “You can cook for her again when she asks for it” and Mrs Leung asked “Where is MIL?” and he said she is asleep after taking medicine and then Mrs Leung asked “Eh… where are the children?” and BH said “They’re downstairs buying cigarettes for me” and Mrs Leung cried “WHAT?! You know it is illegal for them to do so! They’re kids!” and BH cried “and so they won’t be able to buy, no big deal!! And just because you now work at some legal centre doesn’t mean you can throw legal stuff at me you know it all!!” and Mrs Leung was fed up when BH said “Where were you so late at night?” and Mrs Leung said “I already said I was working. I just came home” and BH venomously said “Driven by that sugar daddy of yours eh? So I see… dress so nice, seducing men eh?” and Mrs Leung said “I work at an office, I need to look presentable” and BH said “Yeah right. Anyway, got money? I need some, I now am planning my comeback in China, I have a new business plan” and Mrs Leung said “I have no money. If you can find it in this place, feel free to take” and BH said “What? No money? With that rich sugar daddy of yours?!” as he cupped her face in not so gentle way and then push her hard against the side of the table and Mrs Leung was touching her stomach, as if in pain as she cried and BH said “Oh save the crocodile tears! I didn’t push you that hard! Why are you damn crying?! Anyway, let’s pretend to divorce! Then I take custody of the children and mom, and I can get welfare, I heard it is $10000 or more!” and Mrs Leung cried and said “Fine. Divorce. I agree” and BH was very happy until Mrs Leung said “I want a divorce, this time for real. I will take custody of the children and I will take care of mom. You won’t get to use them to get your money!” and BH shocked said “You dare to defy me?! Fine.. fine… when someone is forced to a corner…” and he rushed into the kitchen, took a huge knife and said to Mrs Leung “I will chop you to pieces!” and he rushed at Mrs Leung who took a folded chair to hit the knife away, she grabbed the knife, he grabbed it and somehow in the chaos he got cut in the stomach, not very serious but got blood and MIL opened the door and saw what happened and nosy neighbour also saw what happened and cried “Oh god!! Blood! Blood!! Someone is attacked!!!” and Mrs Leung shaking crying “I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it!”

Pause here.

Get ready for the injustice of a life time. I already expected BH to behave the way he will behave, I already expected MIL to say hang her but I could never believe 2 biggest traitors since Ng Sam Kwai shall exist in this modern age.

Continue.

At the police station, Mrs Leung was interviewed, she told the truth and refuted BH’s version and then said to ask MIL, she should hear what happened. What makes her think MIL was ever on her side? BH was interviewed and he lied; said he went to china to work, wife was having affair, she wanted to kill him so that she can run off happily ever after with new boyfriend (Chinese uses the word Kai Ka Lou which is really not a very polite term to use-basically means sugar daddy although Sugar Daddy is also Kai Yeh which is also Godfather and so when a young pretty girl calls a much older man Kai Yeh it can mean real godfather or it can mean not the real godfather – yes very complicated). MIL said she was so drowsy, she heard nothing except when she woke up, she saw her son hurt, Mrs Leung holding a knife. Same thing said by nosy neighbour minus the drowsiness.

Mrs Leung knew she was being screwed and so she quickly asked for a lawyer.

George took her home, said she will pack some stuff and take the 2 children and MIL but once inside the place… oh I am so angry just remembering that scene! BH was a tyrant, MIL as usual told Mrs Leung to get lost and get this; those 2 traitors, saw their mom and cried not of happiness but of fear and they cowered behind MIL and cried “No, mom, don’t hurt us, don’t hurt us, we can’t grandma, not you!” and Mrs Leung cried as BH pushed her out and George saw her lying on the floor crying “Why won’t you trust mommy? Why?”

Pause here.

What on earth possess those 2 traitors to turn traitor? Surely years of love and devotion can break through any lies by the BH? I was like “TRAITORS!!! TRAITORS!!!!” Poor Mrs Leung.

Continue.

So.. new case!!

The Prosecutor vs Tai Ng Ting

The case : Causing hurt to Leung Fung, husband of the Accused

Counsel for the state : The prosecutor, name unknown (Either Russell Cheung or David Do – can’t remember the face)

Defense : Mai Jor Ji aka George Mike Jr

George was at his car when he received a message if I remember correctly and it was the picture of him kissing a sleeping Mrs Leung and then BH approached him and said “I saw you kissing my wife! You seduced her. Pay me and I will keep this quiet, if not all hell will break loose!” and George was very angry but BH was stronger and pinned poor angry George to the car, threatening him when Law Ba saw what happened and shouted “HEY YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!” and the BH ran and George didn’t say anything, sat in his own car and Law Ba sat inside as well and suddenly George beat the steering wheel very very hard again and again and again and again and again and Law Ba was quite surprised, when George showed him that picture and Law Ba understood and smiled and George said “He wanted to hold me ransom with this picture! Mrs Leung doesn’t know!” and Law Ba said “Why did you do it? I mean this picture paints a bad picture…” and George said “I just felt like I had to. She was sleeping, and I just kissed her cheek very very gently, nothing untoward, nothing beyond that! It was an innocent kiss!” and Law Ba said “You like her don’t you?” and George said “YES I DO!!” and Law Ba advised “Cousin, you must tell her before he takes out this picture and paint all sort of ugly versions with it. She needs to hear from you first” and George sat there thinking what he should do.

Trial day 1 or whatever day! What wil George do?!

Sorta worried George will stutter. Anyway Law Ba and surprise surprise, Teng in the audience. I thought he went to France?!

Anyway George looking spiffy in his gown and Mrs Leung in the accused dock and first witness was the nosy neighbour.

Pause for a while.

I like the fact that the prosecutor is a young dude. Like in that coroner inquiry, the prosecutor is a young girl although that was not suitable. It was a big case so the representative of the prosecution should be someone senior. This one, such a tiny case will be handled by young dude. Judge is also young. No jury. I am curious about HK legal system; when got jury, when no jury? Murder got jury? Causing hurt no jury? Meaning serious criminal case got jury?

Continue and exciting stuff ahead.

Basically George managed to punch holes into the nosy neighbour’s testimony, to the point she had to admit she didn’t see Mrs Leung actually hurting BH intentionally and she didn’t know what was going on before that. George didn’t stutter, he was on fire! And Teng asked Law Ba “How come he is not stuttering now? He is like a different person!” and Law Ba smiled widely and said “That is the power of love!”

Next up MIL and she stated she was too drowsy, she heard nothing, she only saw Mrs Leung with the knife and her son hurt. But all the while she was holding the sides of the dock very hard, like she was lying and trying hard to conceal. No questions from George. I mean what can he ask??

Next up BH. I think this dude deserves some recognition for his performance. Very very vomit inducing man!! Kudos to the actor though. He repeated what he said to the police, painting himself like some great husband who worked away from children like some sacrifice and kept saying his wife was having an affair with someone rich, making many terrible implications and outright accusations. George’s turn to question but BH was repeating the affair thing and he finally said “My wife is having an affair with a lawyer, in fact that very same one defending her! There must be a law against this sort of conspiracy!!” and the prosecution showed the judge the handphone picture which the prosecution said “The defence is free to examine this picture if he so wishes for its authencity” and poor Mrs Leung was so confused she said to George “Please explain to them he is lying! No such thing happened!” and the judge said to George “You will have to explain this” and George said “I intend to” and the BH said “What is there to explain!! That picture says it all! What do you want? A picture of both of you in bed?!” and George quietly said and everyone heard him “I wish you did take a picture of us in bed” and Law Ba and Teng were shocked at what they were hearing, so was Mrs Leung as BH screamed “SEE! SEE! HE ADMITTED!! THERE MUST BE A RULE AGAINST THIS!!!” as the judge annoyed at BH said “Be quiet!” and George said loudly “I said I wished there was such a picture but the truth is, I am in love with Mrs Leung and it is a one sided love. She never knew how I felt, she never reciprocated. That night, she was very tired. Early morning she had to send 2 children to school. Then she rushed to take her mother in law to the clinic and had to carry her up several flights of stairs because the lift broke down. Then she had to rush to a meeting at the legal aid centre and then had to man the calls and rush to the aid of an abused wife. Late at night she finally finished her work and was in my car when she received a call from the complainant, her husband demanding where she was, screaming for money and ordering her to cook for him. She couldn’t stand it. She cried for a very long time and then due to tiredness she fell asleep. I reached her house and I looked at her sleeping, and I was overcome by my emotions. I cannot imagine how she could have coped with a missing husband busy with his own mistress in China, how she alone took care of the family for 2 years, how she was accused of theft at her former employer’s restaurant, how she tried contacting her husband who turned up only to spurn her again, how she had to carry everything on her own shoulders and no one to help her carry the burden. And yet she never complained. At that moment, I felt… I felt the deepest respect for her, I admire her and I realised I was in love with her. That was why I couldn’t help myself and gently kissed her, just a gentle kiss and nothing more”.

Mrs Leung was very shocked at his confession and looked at him, tears in her eyes. I mean who wouldn’t be touched? Those were very romantic words. Law Ba and Teng both smiled, Teng said “Who would have thought he would confess such things in an open court?” and Law Ba smiled and said “That is the power of love!” and BH cried “See! See! He admitted!! He was having an affair with my wife!!” and George angrily faced him and thundered “If you so love your wife as you stated, why didn’t you rush out to use when you saw me kissing her? You didn’t! You hid and took a picture so that you can threaten her!!” and BH was silent, what more to say? And George thundered more “Where were you for the 2 years? Why have you suddenly returned? Did you not suggested a fake divorce so that you can use the children and your mother to get welfare? Do you deny that?! And then when she refused, you took a knife and tried to hurt her, she was protecting herself but accidentally cut your stomach and you now accuse her of hurting you? If she had wanted to leave you, she would have done so ages ago. If she had wanted to be rid of you, why then does she work so hard to keep the family afloat for 2 years when you were missing? Why would she use to much effort so that in the end to hurt you as you allege? You lied! You lied about everything! She didn’t hurt you! She was defending herself! She is the victim, not you! You’re the cause!!” and BH was basically left green/red/pink faced. Teng amazed, Law Ba smiled as Teng said “Is that George? How come he is like such a different person?!” and Law Ba smiled even more widely and said “That… is the power of love!”

Pause here.

I find it very amusing to see Teng so shocked and Law Ba smiling widely with his cheeky smile as he said “That is the power of love!” True! True! So happy to see George coming out of his shell. He was on fire!!

George drove to a park and took out 2 small boxes and was carrying them when he saw Mrs Leung, smiling back at him. Surprised he said “Mrs Leung, what are you doing here?” and Mrs Leung said “Barrister Law said whenever you are upset you will come here” and they both sat down by the bench and George proceeded to remove a pair of black shoes and he was brushing them. He said “Whenever he is upset or has something to think about, Papa will take out his shoes and brush them, so that he can calm down and think” and I can see Papa’s influence on George. What happened to Papa by the way?! Anyway Mrs Leung smiled and said “That will take a long time, the way you’re brushing the shoes. You’re worried about my case?” and George after a while said “If you lose, you can use me for appeal. The fact that I breached legal ethics and all.”

Pause.

Meaning he as her boyfriend cannot act for her, that sort of thing.

Continue.

Mrs Leung smiled and said “I don’t deserve what you think of me, and I think you did a marvelous job, I wouldn’t change you at all. In fact if I was sitting at the gallery I would have applauded your performance” and they smiled and after a while decided to go to dinner together. Nothing to suggest the start of a relationship.

Meanwhile MIL is suffering! YEAH!! She was carrying plastic bags of food and she fell down and someone helped her up and it was Law Ba.

Pause here.

Remember when I said “I was pretty shocked at one person for no other reason other than the fact I am rediscovering a fact that I have already stated a long long time ago” at the top? I was talking about Kevin Cheng. Shall say more a bit later.

Continue.

MIL said “Thanks very much” and Law Ba said “You’re welcome Mrs Leung” and MIL said “How did you know my husband’s surname was Leung?” and Law Ba said “I am Law Lik Ah, your daughter in law’s colleague at the centre?” and MIL said “Oh that Law Ba that Ting kept saying how brilliant he is? I see, I see” and Law Ba said “Your daughter in law asked me to bring you your medicine” and he gave her a pack of medicine and MIL looked stricken and said “I know she is a good daughter in law, and I know why you’re here…” as Law Ba said “Don’t you think Mrs Leung deserves the truth?” and MIL said “But one is my son, one is my daughter in law, I have to help my son…” as Law Ba said “Old Mrs Leung, you can choose to help one who uses love as a currency or one that has shown you unconditional love. It is your choice.”

True! True!

MIL said she had to leave, she needs to cook if not that BH will make a fuss and scare the children.

Pause here.

Stupid woman but of course, that is her son but who took care of her all these while and will continue to do so? Anyway that scene, I was pretty surprised at Law Ba who still has that stubble but more clean shaven and he wore a nice shirt with nice pant (not jeans or t-shirt but office wear) and he looks clean and all and for a moment I though WOW SO HANDSOME. True! I am rediscovering how handsome Kevin is, that scene alone, so handsome. I have always thought Kevin as the handsomest actor in TVB, that scene clearly reinforces my belief.

Continue.

MIL in court as witness. You might think wouldn’t she be charged with obstructing the course of justice and I my answer is the prosecution is very very busy. Anyway her son looked at her in disbelief and as George asked her what happened she said “I wasn’t asleep, I heard commotion” and her son shouted “Shut up old woman!!” and the judge said “One more word and I will hold you in contempt!” Yeah!

She continued to narrate what happened as per what we saw and George asked “Why didn’t you reveal all these when you were first here?” and she said “He threatened me, he said he will jump off the bridge if I were to tell the truth and now I realise he was just bluffing. His sort of person, he wouldn’t even dared jump off a stair, more so a bridge” and I was like laughing so hard at this!! HA HA HA HA HA!!

Judge’s verdict, after summation. I was hoping to hear what the prosecution would have said of MIL change of testimony. Anyway this time we get to hear the judge’s full verdict which is good.

“I have heard the summation from both side, I have heard the testimonies, I have seen and examined the evidence and here is my judgment…” basically he repeated the facts as narrated by Mrs Leung and then said “I find Leung Fung the complainant to be untrustworthy cowardly selfish man who failed as a father, a husband and a son. He misused Mrs Leung’s unconditional love for her children and his own mother for his own selfish gains and I believe he has lied through his teeth in his accusations, which I find to be unfounded. Mrs Leung has proven herself to be a selfless daughter, loving mother and a faithful wife. She worked hard for her family, she sacrificed a lot and I find the complainant not only ungrateful for what she did, but has hurled such serious unfounded accusations that is nothing more than his feeble attempt to extract some advantage from the accused. I did not find her conduct unbecoming of that of what I just said and believe her version of event. I therefore find Tai Ng Ting, the accused innocent of all charges and I shall be recommending to the prosecutor to charge the complainant Leung Fung for obstruction and perverting the course of justice as well as wasting the time of the prosecution and the money of the taxpayers with his false police report.”

Law Ba and Teng both looked very happy, BH looked miserable since he will be in jail (YEAH!), George looked relieved as the audience in the court clapped very hard and George looked at Mrs Leung who was in tears, smiling widely and clapping him for a job well done.

Next episode; gang fight resulting in one young man dead I presume and Kris finally realised her dream of working with PK but will she trade her soul with the devil himself?

You know, I like this case’s judge. He already disliked the lying BH and he never made any attempts to stop the clapping at all. Good for him! And I also like his decision. If you think how come the judge says things so emotional, truth is some judgments are THAT emotional. Always remember; judges are human too and if you win their good impression, you have won about 50% of your case. The rest of course depends if you really have a case. In Mrs Leung’s case, of course she should win. That BH is such a bastard.

And because of that, I must applaud Ngai Wai Man as Leung Fung for a job well done. That scene where he took the picture and then looked like he was scheming stuff, that look was pure malice and I thought it was a fantastic look. Some ke le fe deserves some mention. I also like the way he put his cigarettes box under his shirt on the shoulder. How typical. Minute details but really helped with the looks.

My wish is of course a show that shows the good balance between the prosecutors and the defence. Not some dramatic stuff but just at least a name. Poor Nameless, no name. The Nameless in here has little screen time but again, looks like a young prosecutor.

Lily Leung was of course fantastic as the MIL from hell. I love the way she said her lines in the court, especially that line “His sort of person, he wouldn’t even dared jump off a stair, more so a bridge”. I am still laughing remembering how she said it.

The 2 traitors no comment. What a poor scripted script you know? So now how Mrs Leung will look at these 2 and not feel utterly abandoned and betrayed?

Kevin Cheng and Sam Lee had little to do tonight but did well in their own respective roles. Love the court room interaction between friends on George’s performance and Law Ba’s “That.. is the power of love!” explanation. How true! And Kevin Cheng, tonight, so handsome!

Joyce Tang did a fantastic job tonight. Her burden, her pain, her sorry, her being abandoned, etc, I think she showed all these emotions. She is especially good at those silent moments with tears in her eyes and I do think she has amazing chemistry with Jazz Lam. Who would have thought eh? I like this pair a lot!

And finally, Jazz Lam. I have always said he is being cast against type. In the first few episodes it felt strange to see him so soft-spoken and gentlemanly and yet now I don’t think I can imagine him as anyone else but soft-spoken and gentlemanly. I love the fact he hardly raised his voice. Kinda reminded me of Wayne Lai and the way he flirted with Sheren Teng in No Regrets, the way he spoke so gently to Sheren, almost rather sexy. And who would have thought Wayne Lai as sexy eh? No no, Jazz isn’t sexy but the mark of a truly good actor is despite appearance he can show he can be someone else. I love his George and I love him more tonight. The way he confessed his love, his difficulties, his worries, everything. I think he did better in those court room scenes than Speeding Bullet Train Myolie Wu! Can Jazz play an emperor? Definitely not.. too much of a stretch but I think he may be able to pull off the role of a scholar. Fantastic performance and a pity he didn’t win the Most Improved at the recent TVB award because I do feel he deserved it! Like I said, Stephen Chow had good taste when choosing new actors. I still remember him from King of Comedy and for a very long time he was always cast in such roles until Ghetto Justice. And I welcome such a drastic change on the condition that the actor can pull it off. And Jazz Lam is a fine actor.

Oh, 3 more episodes and it is the end. Never realised so soon! I mean it is running out of steam so 20 episodes is more than enough. Come to think of it this sort of series work best as a Japanese series concept; 12 episodes, each case 2 or 3 episodes max. For sure Law Ba will be stylo type, maybe too much style though.

This Episodic Thoughts was written by Funn Lim, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com, and was originally posted at Point2e.com.

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