“OMG, Your Honour” is One of TVB’s Highest Quality Dramas of 2018
TVB’s legal drama OMG, Your Honour <是咁的，法官閣下> finished broadcasting last Friday. Although the series fared a disappointing 23.1 points for episodes 11 through 15, it was one of the company’s highest quality dramas of the year. Its storyline notably encompassed a lot of true Hong Kong events, and the plot was relatable and strayed from the usual formula for legal dramas.
For one, the lawyers in TVB’s past legal series typically have luxe presentations. However, OMG, Your Honour went a different route and shed light on the hardships of lawyers through the characters of Kirby Lam (林秀怡), Jonathan Wong (王梓軒), Louisa Mak (麥明詩), Jackson Lai (黎振燁), Oscar Leung (梁烈唯), and King Lam (林景程). Portraying green lawyers, they were faced with the challenges of living in subdivided flats, having their lawyer’s fee unfairly deducted by advisers, and discrimination against women among other problems. The realistic obstacles were widely discussed among those in the legal profession and the audience.
On top of that, the drama recalled the memories of many Hong Kong people. Occupy Central, the infamous grandma who closed her newspaper stall after half a century following a shoulder dislocation, and the case of the dismembered parents were all true events that made their way into the series.
The plot was also interesting in that it no longer revolved around just the protagonists – in this case, the complex relationship between Ben Wong (黃智賢), Eddie Kwan (關禮傑), and Grace Wong (王君馨). Even the supporting characters had their own stories.
For example, Louisa and Hugo also had a romantic relationship, while Harriet Yeung (楊詩敏) had an unrequited love for Oscar. In the series, Mandy Lam (林淑敏) was forced to leave because of rumors in the workplace and the other barristers’ powerful influences; Jonathan was forced to give up his interest for law; Angelina Lo (盧宛茵) was raped in the past. Even the defendants in each case had their own backstory. Unlike other dramas, most of the actors in OMG, Your Honour were given in the opportunity to flesh out their characters to leave a deeper impression on the audience.
Aside from the characters, the ending also left its mark on viewers. OMG, Your Honour did not end with the typical barbecue scene. Instead, the final scene took place in busy Mong Kok, and it was littered with catchphrases including, “The world has 7.5 billion people, yet why is half the wealth only in the hands of eight people?”
Aside from some food for thought, there were also some inspirational lines, such as “Hong Kong still has a lot of things to be proud of, so everyone must prevail, don’t give up!”
The drama was quite inspirational and thus worth exploring.
Source: Hk01
This article is written by MelodyC for JayneStars.com.
The producer is probably the best tvb has seen in a while. He also made my personal favourite Swipe Tap Love. Good for the scriptwriters to actually create refreshing fleshed out characters. Although it didn’t do a great job of developing the mental illness aspects, it’s a start to get people start talking about it and remove stigma.
It doesn’t matter if the series did not have a main plot. It is inspirational and like western dramas/comedies it doesn’t need a main plot to be successful….
I disagree on high quality. The acting and casting is high quality. But the story deserves more than just 25 ep and ophelia-john-icy diversion. It was terribly unfair to the young actors when their story shld be the focus. And I understand the references but they are pointless. They are so underdeveloped it didn’t matter. Because all time given to ophelia and John. I don’t care about them. Story so disjointed in the end it felt half hearted and rushed. So no it is not HQ drama. It is entertaining.
There are many factors that determine quality. Personally I enjoyed this drama, the acting and the plot. That’s all I care about in a drama.
Finished this drama and felt it was more watchable than Fist Fight but wouldn’t consider it high quality. They definitely wasted too much time on the John-Ophelia story arc, which I found not only incredibly annoying but also very boring. I do wish that more screen time was given to the younger group. I felt misled since the first episode opens up with Jackon Lai’s Archie narrating the story, yet his screen time became minimal especially towards the end of the series. I was under the impression that he would have a slightly bigger role. I find him very charming and hope that TVB continues to give him some more opportunities. It was also disappointing that he and Kirby didn’t really have a chance to develop into a proper romantic pair.
In terms of production, I felt that there were a lot of very awkward transitions – mostly during the last 5 episodes or so. The random inserts of Jonathan Wong watching the girl play violin and then he, himself playing violin on a cliff felt very unnatural and didn’t flow. The story arc with Oscar and Hariett was also confusing because their relationship development felt very abrupt – unless I missed some scenes in between.
I do like King Lam here but seems like they are typecasting him, as his character here feels very similar to Raising The Bar and Threesome.
Siu Bo (Sai Sai Lup) put up one of her best performances yet in that last case, which I also thought was the most interesting.