Ever Wondered About the Safe House in “Lives of Omission”?
Fans who often chase to watch Lives of Omission <潛行狙擊>, do you feel rather envious every time you see Michael Tse’s (謝天華) Laughing Gor meeting up with Fala Chen’s (陈法拉) Madam Jo or Damien Lau’s (刘松仁) SSP Harry meeting of Ben Wong’s (黃智賢) Lat Keung, all in the safe protection house?
Being able to live in the exquisitely designed safe protection house definitely adds on a little consolation to the dangerous life experiences of an undercover spy. Then how about the actual safe protection house provided by the police force in real life?
A friend of the reporter who was from the police force, laughed and said not to dream too early as the luxurious designs of the safe protection house in drama series were created for visual effects. Whereas in real life, most of the safe protection house that the undercover agents live in were low-cost housing estates. In any case, it must be enough ordinary, civilian and less eye-catching as possible, in order to disguise his identity.
To deceive and blend in with the others, the undercover agent does not meet with his superior in the safe protection house but in a hidden and concealed area. The reporter felt curious whether the undercover agent would be like the plot from the movie, Infernal Affairs <無間道> and stand on the rooftop of a commercial building and reminisce about his “three years after another three years” undercover story while looking at the skyline of Hong Kong? The police officer friend laughed and remarked that the reporter and the audience were too into the dramas. He pointed out that in modern times, most of the commercial buildings would have their rooftops locked so the possibility of meeting with the superior up on the rooftop was completely ruled out.
Earlier on, the reporter mentioned that in the drama, the police force was worried that the undercover agent could not withstand the temptation of material needs and would end up changing his alliance. That police friend revealed that the undercover agent’s safety is of the utmost important consideration when carrying out secret missions. In the event that the undercover agent’s identity was to be doubted by a secret society, his superior would immediately request the undercover agent to stop all his missions, in order to protect his safety.
The police friend divulged to the reporter a real case scenario from the police force. Many years ago, there was a police undercover agent who reported to his handler that his undercover identity could have already been exposed by the triad society. After which, his handler reverted this matter to the upper authorities. However a high-ranking police officer felt that it was almost time to reap in the net (that they had previously cast) and didn’t want their efforts to go down the drain and hence requested the undercover agent to hang in there for a few more days. In the end, the plight of the said undercover agent was rather tragic as he was beaten up badly by several members of the triad society and had to be hospitalized for quite some time. Although the undercover agent wasn’t in any life-threatening condition but that high-ranking police officer did not even bother to ask after him.
This article was translated by Ah K, a Contributing Writer at JayneStars.com.
Ah K, you should be a writer by profession as you’re so good at it. I have nothing but admiration for people working in the Police Force because apart from lots of hard work, they must have families who would worry about their safety all the time. Myself I could never be a police woman.
@Pineapple:
Haha sorry to disappoint you but I didn’t write this, I merely translated it from Chiness/Cantonese to English! I’m not as eloquent as the reporter in terms of writing skills! 😀
Yes, I definitely agree with you as some of my family members are from the Police force too! But it’s a process almost every policeman or policewoman has to go through upon graduation from the Police Academy and in order to be promoted.
I would say the real life undercover sucks, it is really like the Infernal Affairs, “three years after another three years”. Glad that TVB makes Laughing Gor guilty pleasure.
Everything in Lives of Omission is pure fluff. There are many situations in the drama that don’t make sense at all, but it’s a really enjoyable drama nonetheless.
i agreed but i find the series boring. i dislike the relationship between fala and michael
I like Michael x Fala’s relationship more than Bosco x Kate’s, but Fala’s character is rather dull. Bosco and Kate’s characters are despicable. Both pairings in this drama are very unconvincing and unrealistic, IMO.
But other than that, I really like Michael’s Laughing character, and I like all of the UCs (including the traitor T Two). I also like watching Damian Lau and Elena Kong.
Fala is still isn’t capable to carry the female lead role. She lacks soul in the series and while she has a lot of scenes she seems to be overshadowed.
I also don’t like how the series going so far, it’s a bit ridiculous imo. With Michael turning back as an undercover without Bosco and others’ suspecting is a bit silly.
Totally agreed that it is a bit ridiculous that he turned back to an undercover without Bosco and others suspecting him. Is it possible in real life? They should have mentioned this in the article as well. I would love to know if the scenario could be real. 30 episodes are way too long and drag on.
Michael was a cop and Bosco knew about that and all of a sudden Micheal turned undercover and Bosco didnt suspect anything??!! I think TVB figured out that if Michael continue to potray a cop in this series, it will lose out in winning this year best actor simply because people like to watch bad boy aka undercover more than nice mr cop??? hence, the story twisted back like Part I where Michael was an undercover then only his popularity among the housewives will retain??
Well, Ron in E.U, suddenly one day he said he wanna become a gangster and all the gangsters welcome him? Why Kong believed Lap Man than Laughing – the one who is just found out to have an old police gf.
Sorry I didn’t watch E.U, so I don’t really know what you mean.
Ron’s character Chung Lap-man, who’s a cop in E.U., became an undercover the same way Laughing did in LOO. Everyone knew CLM was a cop beforehand, but the triad still welcomed him. CLM was also dating the triad boss’ daughter.
Well you know what they say, the times are tough, and good talent is even harder to find. Insert proverbial Chinese idiom: “No matter cat black or cat white, catch rat is good cat” yea… something like that…
Guess that it really take to use love to convert to triad, or it is usually that way to link cop to triad.
Maybe one day in the next next next Laughing/Academy series, Kong will be found as an undercop. Well, who know?
I guess TVB can get pass with the idea of a cop going undercover when the Triad knew he was a cop beforehand and no one is suspecting. Then why not use the same idea again. But I felt like this is what not good about TVB, they don’t like to improve.
I’m still unable to accept that the triad will take Chung Lap Man’s in with the full knowledge of his previous job. What more, Lap Man was acting all subordinate when scolded by his ‘dai lou’ which is also very un-Lap Man.
“Being able to live in the exquisitely designed safety protection house definitely adds on a little consolation to the dangerous life experiences of an undercover spy. Then how about the actual safety protection house provided by the police force in real life?”
I have never thought to see a safety house being sold like some high end accommodation! Of course safety house isn’t that luxurious. In fact I doubt any houses in HK is as luxurious as TVB makes it out to be unless you’re rich/super rich/sinfully rich.
And being an undercover agent is not glamarous. Not like Bond or like Laughing Gor, it is worse. Your life is at stake, you’re cut off from your family and you’re all alone. I think HK movies cover those situations thoroughly.
And it is a fallacy everybody cares for everybody. Some are for themselves. More so between a boss and his minions.
“This article was translated by Ah K,”
This was translated? Where is the original article? May I suggest for all articles translated to include the name/date/author of the original. If this is an original article, then the sentence should be changed.
@Funn Lim:
Hi! Yupp! This was a translated article! This is the link of the original article in Chinese/Cantonese if you are interested in reading it: http://www.ihktv.com/livesofomission-safe-house.html 😀
“lthough the undercover agent wasn’t in any life-threatening condition but that high-ranking police officer did not even bother to ask after him.
This is disgusting. This high ranking official has no compassion. His underling risk his life for the case and he didn’t even care. Should send him to be undercover and see how he feels being in constant danger.
But, many superiors are like this. My mom’s workplace also has such superiors who step on people to go up the ladder.
The term should be “safe house” not safety house which is commonly used in English spoken movies and drama series which all of you so-called experts missed. Again, LOO is a TV drama series filled with many unrealistic scenes to “ENTERTAIN” people of moderate intelligence. If you truly want pure realism in your shows, watch DISCOVERY Channel or National Geographic.
@aptos:
Thank you very much for pointing the error out!
It should be “safe house” and not “safety house”, apologize for my error! 😀
Maybe, like me, the commentators above just happened to miss catching it lahs! Lol! Yes, definitely agree, we can’t expect full realism in any drama but sometimes, drama mirrors life and vice versa too. It’s good to have some realistic elements in dramas so that audience can relate to it but not to the point of nitpicking it. 🙂
@Jayne:
Hope you don’t mind helping me correct the error as kindly highlighted by @aptos! Thank you! Haha, I think I did some form of loose translation from Chinese to English hence the translation error! 😀
*I meant not to the extent of nitpicking it
Ah K,
I’ll make the change tomorrow, as I need to get some sleep now. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday afternoon!
@Jayne:
Sure sure! Anytime! Thanks once again! You work too hard for this site lahs, maintaining it after office hours but you certainly don’t owe this site your life manx! So feel free to eat, sleep, date, shop and play whenever you feel like it cause all work and no play makes one a dull Jayne! Lol! Heehee! 😀