Law Ba Returns in “Ghetto Justice 2”!
Riding on the success of Ghetto Justice <怒火街頭> last year, in which the series received high ratings and the two main cast, Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎) and Myolie Wu (胡杏兒) swept numerous acting awards across Asia, TVB will premiere the sequel on Monday, July 30th during the primetime slot following the London 2012 Olympics.
Ghetto Justice 2 takes us back to where the original series left off. Law Ba (Kevin Cheng) completed his time in jail for altering evidence in a previous case, while Wong Si Fu (Myolie Wu) successfully took over his law practice in Shum Shui Po to help out the neighbors.
Fans of the original series may be disappointed that Eddie Kwan ( 關禮傑) , Sharon Chan (陳敏之) and Joyce Tang (滕麗名) will not be reprising their roles in the sequel due to change of management companies and scheduling conflicts. However, Christine Kuo (苟芸慧), Raymond Cho (曹永廉) , JJ Jia ( 賈曉晨 ) and Crystal Li (李雪瑩) will bring some fresh faces and develop a relationship story line with Jazz Lam (林子善) and Sam Lee (李璨琛), Law Ba’s buddies. The producer also promised that there will be more opportunities for the cast to develop their characters because Jazz and Sam’s friendship with Law Ba was very well received.
While the original series heavily revolved around murder cases, Ghetto Justice 2 will incorporate recent controversial headlines so that viewers can be able to relate, such as a case that involves an evil landlord who released his dogs to bite his tenants. The producer said, “We’re taking everything one step further with the sequel. In fact, we filmed a scene where a naked pregnant woman was being chased by the cops because she was smuggling drugs. We didn’t include this scene to create controversy; it was solely for the purpose to dramatize the series a bit more.”
Speaking at a promotional event, Kevin said, “I want to thank the viewers for their support of this series. ‘Law Ba’ is a very unique character; he is playful and smart, yet lazy and obnoxious. In the sequel, we didn’t intend for his boxers-revealing incident to be the talk of the town. Imagine filming in a populated district like Shum Shui Po in your boxers while a huge camera is following your bottom, it made me feel so violated!”
Although the producer is no stranger to developing series revolving around lawyers, the original Ghetto Justice found success because it touched upon the working class citizens in the Shum Shui Po area of Hong Kong. Viewers fell in love with Kevin’s character, Law Ba, because of his good heart despite obnoxious behavior such as urinating in public. Given that the sequel included recent events which are more relatable for viewers and involves a complicated love triangle between Law Ba, Wong Sifu and his ex-wife (Christine Kuo), will Ghetto Justice 2 be able to recreate the success it had last year?
This article is written by Natalie for JayneStars.com.
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Looking forward to it, hopefully it’s just as good as the original.
As though adding Christine Kuo and JJ Jia in the series will make me not miss Eddie Kwan or Joyce Tang..
Hmm.. change in management companies? Did Joyce or Eddie leave TVB!?!
Joyce at that time was doing TVB sitcom.
Eddie is still there with TVB. He is in Beauty of War. I think he will be in a cameo appearance in GH2.
So who is the one with a change in management company?
Ask Mr Leung and Ms Zhang who both in charge of TVB series
In terms of acting, Christine Kuo and JJ Jia cannot be compared with the veterans, i.e. Eddie Kwan and Joyce Tang. Even Sharon Chan is a lot better than Christine and JJ.
Totally agree with ya!! i cant stand Christine Kuo and JJ Jia voies and acting skills
Christine Kuo: horrible
I can stand JJ but not Christine even tho both of them can’t really act.
i’m going to miss eddie in the sequel too. he didn’t have as big a role in the original as the other three, but i found him one of the most likeable because he was always neutral and in a good mood while the others often argued and fought. still, i like raymond cho too. hope he has good chemistry with the other 3 too.
Very bad substitutes indeed! I liked Eddie’s charachter very much.
I can already feel that this won’t be as good as the first one. The first one wasn’t even that good compared to TOT…
…… Agree. Unfortunately “Ghetto Justice” was aired first and had the advantage of getting higher viewership ratings, and “TOT” was aired right after. As a legal drama series, “TOT” was a lot more interesting; it was about cases and lawyers prosecuting and defending their cases. “GJ” had a more casual theme and was not a real legal drama series.
The Other Truth is a joke.
Still waiting for tv to show The Other Truth. Still no sigh.
The Truth as they say is out there… somewhere
Larry 3
What do you mean “The Other Truth” is a joke? Would appreciate your comments.
Personally I think “Ghetto Justice” was a joke! No lawyers is like that in reality.
Do the lawyers act like cops chasing criminals? Plus the crappy relationship triangle between Ruco-Tavia-Raymond. What a joke!
Well, most of the storyline and characters do not make good sense anyway.
Agree that lawyers “should not act like cops chasing criminals”. How about the forensic heroes in FH3? They always told the police what to do and when to chase criminals, like their supervisors. Were they supposed to get involved in cases actively (like an investigation unit)? They only had to get the forensic evidence to show it to the Police Department and should not involve in any cases actively. All TVB characters are like that. At least I could watch more legal arguments in court in “TOT”, not just Law Ba eating fish ball noodles with Wong Sze Fu all the time.
FH3, who the funk cares. The Other Truth went downhill from the start. I assume there is no plans for the sequel, which is good.
If “TOT” was not aired right after “GJ”, the viewership ratings would have been a lot better. All the cases were short and reasonably described.
Chan Chin Pang’s defense arguments were a lot better than Kevin Cheng’s. The only selling point in “GJ’ was the four buddies and their good interactions, and was not good as a legal drama series.
It did not make sense to me that a lawyer committed a crime purposely in order to save his other partner (or girlfriend). A lawyer should know what is right and what is wrong, and he would not risk his career to do something so stupid. I only watched a few episodes in that drama series (only where the four buddies were involved), and I watched every single episode in “TOT”. Don’t agree that “GJ” was a better drama series, at least not to me.
Heard that it was easy to get a lawyers license in HK, so perhaps there are indeed lawyers like “law ba” in HK, LOL
No TOT 2?
Law Ba becomes a lawyer again after his prison vacation? ROFL
I think it is a lot easier to become a lawyer in Hong Kong. First it is an undergraduate program and students can get in after matriculation or Form 6 (or Form 7 in the past). Moreover, they can study law in evening schools. However, it is a full-time day school and graduate program in Canada. After law school, students have to work in law firm as a student-at-law for a few months. After articling, they have to complete and pass a bar examination in order to get a licence to practice law in Canada. A licensed lawyer usually is 26 years old or older.
Thx for the info sandcherry that’s what I thought i.e much easier to get a license in HK.
According to my frd who is s lawyer in HK, it’s quite easy to get the license but how to maintain the license is the hard thing. Any mistake can cause to the revoke and once revoked, harder to get one again. Twice revoke causes to low credit and then the chance to have license is very low.
Does it include “getting a criminal record”? Not sure?!
Up to which crime he had. If the criminal record states that he cant do lawyer job in a period, he only can try to get the license after this period. If not, he can apply for one. But this criminal record will follow him and even with the new license, his credit is low and chance for him to have clients decrease. Getting the license the second time is harder than first time
In other words, many lawyers in Hong Kong could have been prisoners in the past. Very funny and unacceptable. Will check it out if it is allowed in Canada.
I don’t think that the suspension or losing a licence for a lawyer is not as serious as committing a crime + going to a prison. Hope some people in the legal profession in Hong Kong would correct me.
You should watch Files of Justice. How many times did Bobby AuYeung, Micheal Tao’s characters broke the laws…
If I remember correctly, the ending was a total crap; first ten episodes were “real” court cases; relationships fail; Tavia’s big nose; Ruco’s shown off his body; catching criminals better than the police; rushed; sloppy; etc.
Larry3,
I have to disagree with you. I had watched the two dramas, and I found that ‘TOT’ was much more interesting than ‘GJ’. If I had to choose which drama was a joke, then it must be ‘GJ’. Well, that’s just my opinion, so no offence to you.
sandcherry,
Are you a Canadian? I have a query regarding becoming a lawyer. Well, I’m from Malaysia, and I will be studying a law degree for 3 years in my country. Actually, it’s an international program because the certificate is awarded by University of London from UK. Therefore, my question is, could I continue studying my law master degree in Canada? Another question is, could I use my law degree from UK to sit the bar exam in Canada and become a lawyer there?
By the way, others are also welcomed to answer my question. Thanks a lot.
Wpop
I live in Canada and I have an immediate family member practising law here as a lawyer. However, he went to both undergraduate and law schools here.
Regarding your questions, I will have to find out for you. Will let you know later (a day or two).
Wpop
I checked with a local lawyer about the requirements for a qualified lawyer from Malaysia (or anywhere outside of North America) to practise law or go for Masters Degree of Law in Canada. He told me that you will have to re-qualify here by taking some extra credits in a local law school — minimum of one year — . Then you will have to enroll in provincial Bar Admission Course and pass their Bar Examination. Even qualified lawyers from other provinces or the States will have to take local Bar Admission Course and pass Bar Examination to get their licences.
Canada and the States have similar law degree programs, i.e. a graduate degree program (LLB or Juris Doctor in Canada and JD in the States), so law graduates will not have to re-qualify but just to complete the Bar Admission Course and Bar Exam. to get their licences to practise law locally.
What is the program called? I mean the one that I need to re-qualify in order to take some extra credits.
By the way, I thought Canada was -and is- a commonwealth country? Correct me if I’m wrong.
Wpop
Regarding the details of the re-qualification program, I think you will have to write to either the university in Canada that you want to go or the Law Society of that particular province, such as Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario) or Law Society of British Columbia, etc. You can find the names and websites on Google.
Canada is a Commonwealth country, but our university programs are structured very much the same as the ones in the States so that graduates in Canada can easily go to the States for post-graduate studies or work, or vice versa. Our programs are completely different from the ones in U.K. As a matter of fact, I think Australian systems are similar to English systems. Perhaps you can think about taking your Master’s degree in Law or practising law in Australia or U.K.
Okay, thanks a lot.
Can Law Ba still practise law in Hong Kong after getting a criminal record? Strange and unbelievable. I don’t think people can practise law any more after getting a criminal record in North America. Will have to check on this.
Shouldn’t be possible, however in TVB world impossible is nothing, LOL
exoidus
“however in TVB world impossible is nothing” ……….. Good comments. Nothing is impossible in TVB. A person’s character can change 180 degrees in a few episodes. You are right!
Can but low credit. It’s like a big dent to his image and since lawyer’s credit is very important to make the clients blv, it’s a disadvantage for him. However to the authority issuing the license, if he can passes the exams and the requirement, they dont care that he had a criminal record unless this criminal record banned him for doing in law field.
But Law Ba committed a crime while he was practising as a defense lawyer ….. directly case related, not something like drug abuse.
I really doubt it if Law Ba can practise law again (of course TVB can and has the authority to “change” the law in Hong Kong).
Still can. Law is fair to everyone and everyone deserves to have second chance, that’s wat law can say.
Btw he wont have the license right after the prison time. He’ll have to wait until the law allow him to do it again. But he can do the assistant work in a law firm if someone hire him.
Public demonstration is quite popular in HK these days, so they will prolly pull one and change the law 🙂
Suppose he needs to inform his new and prospective clients that he has a criminal record.
Waiting for TOT2.
I don’t think there will be a “TOT2” because its viewership rating was not as high as “GJ”. “TOT” was aired right after “GJ” and it was too much for people in Hong Kong to watch 2 legal drama series in a row unfortunately.
I thought TVB confirmed it already. Too bad TOT was the best series for me last year by far.
exoidus
Glad that you liked “The Other Truth” as well. It might not be the best drama series in 2011, but it was much better than “Ghetto Justice” (in terms of legal drama series)
Yeah agree in terms of legal series TOT is way superior.
Only TOT and BP was worth my time last year 🙂
TOT is a good legal series, but nothing special and not as good as FOJ etc.
GJ is not a good legal series since it’s court cases suck, but it created a iconic and loved character.
People will forget about good legal series when they are a dime a dozen on tvb. So are crime or police series. Unless you are one of the first or best.
Not as many are gonna forget about Law Ba or Laughing. I bet even 20 years from now (since TVB basically keeps recycling their old stuff, just look at the stupid TV Funny show), they will have people mimicking Law Ba or Laughing.
TOT was good except for TY
Ruco Chan’s acting is way more solid then Kevin Cheng. That alone is worth it. I’ve watched The Other Truth twice, never want to see GJ again although I did enjoy watching the first time. Can’t stand Kevin’s acting again.
TVB lawyers comparison
Male: Ruco>KC>KM=LF
Female: TY=Myolie>LC=Kate
TVB has not confirmed to filming The Other Truth 2 since it was lack of popularity on news, ratings, and the web. Unless The Other Truth 2 will film a sequel a decade from now.
@Vivien: what about Nancy and Sammul?
IMO Nancy beats all of them.
Michelle:
You are right. Ruco Chan acted better than Kevin Cheng in a lawyer’s role. His voice is loud and clear in presenting his arguments in court vs. Kevin’s. I enjoyed watching him in “The Other Truth”. The storyline could have been better.
But “Ghetto Justice” was not considered as a legal drama series to me. It talked more about the poor working class people in Sum Shui Po areas
@ sandcherr; Ghetto Justice is not a legal drama? Oh boy, you really havent watch from the start to the end.
Larry 3
This is what Nicole wrote and I agree with her.
“TOT is a good legal series, but nothing special and not as good as FOJ etc.
GJ is not a good legal series since it’s court cases suck, but it created a iconic and loved character.” …………. I agree with Nicole particularly on this. It is a legal drama series theoretically, but with very little focus on cases and court procedures.
Tell me which court cases suck?
“Ghetto Justice” was a drama series with characters of legal backgrounds, and not a legal drama series with emphasis on cases and court procedures.
sORRY, should be court *scenes sucked.
If you watch the series with the expectation of watching a legal drama, then TOT is better, but on the whole, all characters in GJ are better and more endearing than TOT with the exception of Ruco’s character. Some of the cases in TOT are pretty boring too, like Ben Huiz case.
“not a legal drama series with emphasis on cases and court procedures.”
Are you really kidding? Thats proves my point. You have not watch GJ from start to finish and came up with that conclusion? lol.
There were several court cases in this series, are you really that blind or you did not watch it entirely?
I knew a few cases were prosecuted in court, but the legal arguments were pretty bad in courts. I lost interest in it. Chan Chin Pang acted better than Kevin Cheng in being a defense lawyer.
Then why did you wrote Ghetto Justice is not a legal drama? Which it is.
Larry 3
I am NOT going to argue with you any more on “Ghetto Justice”. If you like it, watch it by all means.
I personally did not enjoy it and did not think it was a good legal drama series, at least not to me.
I don’t believe lawyers should be like that.
I dont care if you like GJ or not. Im pointing out why did you wrote GJ is not a legal drama? I assume YOU watch it. It is very simple question. If you can’t come up the explanation, then so be it.
“Law Ba committed a crime while he was defending his client as a defense lawyer in “Ghetto Justice” ……. directly case related” ———- I checked with a local lawyer here about such an incident and was told he could be banned to practise law for life if he was committed a crime in his own case.
Well, I don’t know the situation in Hong Kong. Of course, TVB can surely change the law there in his legal drama series.
Not surprised that Sharon Chan won’t be in it as her character died in the first instalment. Was really hoping to see Joyce Tang again though!
Wasn’t Sharon Chan dead in the first series?
Sharon Chan is in this series, just a guest star.
“While the original series heavily revolved around murder cases, Ghetto Justice 2 will incorporate recent controversial headlines so that viewers can be able to relate”
TVB’s so called controversial is not controversial at all. Truly controversial they would never ever show.
I wish Bowie was Law Ba but I am looking forward to this sequel and blogging about my emotions and feelings for this series in my blog.
“TVB’s so called controversial is not controversial at all. Truly controversial they would never ever show.”
True. Then again, if you have the HK audience constantly on your backs, complaining over the lamest things, you’d think otherwise. I wonder if people’s tolerance has receded over the years or something. Perhaps TVB’s level has dropped significantly so audience expectation has also fallen? Whenever they try to raise the bar now, the audience will almost have a fit over it. “Hey! You’re not meant to be amazing/cool/edgy/innovative/controversial. Get back in that rut you’ve been in.” Will we even get an Adam Cheng moment, throwing his children off the roof?
Then give the audiences something worthy of a complain. THe idea of being bold for TVB is to cloak a typical nonsensical series with some so called different or controversial theme. Why not film a standard series but using truly controversial story? No just the theme? But they won’t. Which I suppose why I don’t see Based On A True Story for movies in HK.
Creativity and good writing are simply alien concepts to TVB these days.
(Another thing – which might be completely baseless and off-the-wall – is TVB sucking up to mainland these days. I rarely watch mainland dramas, save for a few ancient series every now and then, so how controversial does their work get anyway?)
Cannibalism and serial killing are pretty controversial, too bad only Jonathan Chik n TVB attempts to challenge himself, but he hasn’t been my favourite director of late. Hopefully WAB2 will be good.
Serial killing MOP was boring like hell. Jonathan Chik got issue but make the series ultra boring and slow and pretentious
I also can’t stand Moses moping around. This guy not only a horrible ex boyfriend to Bernice but also has pretentious and OTT acting skill
And Jonathan chik always uses the same few people in his series! so boring! first i see Moses as cannibal then next as serial killer. Then next he will be chinese opera singer.. Can he just mix it up a little? It’s like TVB already only have a few leading fadans and siu sangs, but Jonathan Chik even worse.. sticking to that group of 5 or so..
Kevin will slap Myolie’s butt in this series to score ratings LOL
cant wait.. i agree wth u funn… bowie make a great law ba.
Yay, can’t wait for the series. The only thing I’m scared about is Christine Kuo’s acting in this though. Hope it’s better than her acting in Tiger Cubs.
Christine Kuo is going be a major disappointment if she sucks/if she can’t lead well. JJ Jia is ok, she still in supporting role.
I like JJ. She’s good at showing different emotions, but it’s just her accent that she needs to work on (although it won’t really matter here since she’s supposed to be from Mainland).
Not her accent that matters but the poor delivery of lines.
Its not her accent, like oceane zhu has accented mandarin but she has a natural way of speaking her lines.
JJ is very awkward in the way she speaks her lines.
i like jj. never minded the accent and i don’t think her acting or delivery is bad. i can certainly stomach her easier than christine, and even cilla lok.
Agreed. Christine Kuo sucks. She’s annoying in TC
JJ can act and very pretty but when she talk you want to make her shut her mouth again
Does anyone have clips of JJ speaking in mandarin?
I don’t know that ppl noticed or not, but JJ isn’t a Han girl :D. I find it brings her uniqueness.
“I don’t know that ppl noticed or not, but JJ isn’t a Han girl “
I know that for some time already.
Where is Mandy ?
Mandy is written off. Unless she comes back to Ghetto Justice 3
All the decent artistes are gone; the only one left is Law Ba (Kevin Cheng) …… at least to me!!
No Mandy? No way!
I like JJ but can’t stand Christine! Horrible!
Same here!!!!
looking forward to Ghetto 2. kevin and myolie get so many awards from ghetto. it’s their best TVB series in their career. they will shine!
yes love them. They are original. Cannot be replaced by ANYONE, NO ONE.
Yes, Fiona, I do agree with you on what you said. I don’t think anyone can take the place of Kevin as Law Ba. To me he’s there to stay, Myolie as Si Fu too.
i dont know why they give christine girl so many roles, i dont like her and her acting aint good, and jj annoys me
Both their lips are very very weird when they speak Cantonese. Christine’s lips are like some cartoon character, while JJ’s are comical.
I’m looking forward to GJ2, support Kevin 🙂
So looking forward to watch this! Kevin n Myolie FTW!
I am looking forward to another vintage performance and possibly last TVB drama for KC.
He will be establishing a TV drama production company in Shanghai for the China market.
Anyway, the new characters that I am looking forword in GJ2 will be Raymond Cho, Evergreen Mak and the funny man King Kong.
He still has undisclosed amount years left on his current TVB contract.
Another suprise from KC. He is the main lead in coming Ip Man TV series and will not have any more rest for most of this year.
Kevin Cheng as Ip man? Uhm…….
KC is miscast. I cant see him as Ip man ROFL. Why not cast someone who know martial artd!
Maybe he’s copying tony leung’s Ip Man, not donnie’s version. So it’s more talk and less fighting. And probably more romance too.
Sigh, Kevin won’t be able to fight off those mainland girls for long. He’ll probably be a goner soon.
Kevin’s nowhere near Tony Leung either.
I won’t mind if he gets a respectable and low profile mainland girl like Gao Yuan Yuan, too bad she’s spoken for. But most are blecch!
KC might go back to Charmaine. LOL Charmaine manage to get KC from Niki before.
Praying for Charvin 🙂
Love all the episodes so far.