Willie Wai Carries “The Witness” Through the First Week
TVB’s new comedy drama The Witness <木棘証人> may be a small, low-budget production, but it is far from being the worst one.
Similar to Go! Go! Go! Operation C9 <C9特工>, which was also produced by Leung Yiu Kin (梁耀堅), The Witness stars a dynamic trio never seen on the same stage before, bringing a sense of freshness into the scene. It stars Him Law (羅子溢) as a policeman who is tasked to protect an important witness, portrayed by Willie Wai (韋家雄), the eyewitness of a murder. In the meantime, Him and Willie grow from hating each other to being close friends, and Him also falls in love with Willie’s younger sister, portrayed by Kelly Cheung (張曦雯).
Due to the relatively fresh cast and production team, expectations for The Witness were kept low, but viewers are now pleasantly surprised with the turn out. Critics rated the first five episodes favorably, calling it “enjoyable and acceptable.” The first five episodes featured a mixture of comedy, action, and romance as entertaining buffer. With mystery at the center of the storyline, critics are calling The Witness as a comedic version of Brutally Young <十八年後的終極告白>.
Critics also praised the chemistry between the leads and their supporting cast. Main actors do a good job leading, and “green leaf” actors do a good job supporting, creating a perfect harmony.
But when it comes to the star of the show, one cannot argue that Willie Wai was the one who carried the show through its entire first week. The actor plays Lee Ho Fan, the murder case’s central witness, who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and a speech-language impairment. Willie made Ah Fan into a character of his own. Playing a character with disabilities, it was initially feared that Willie’s “Ah Fan” would be compared to Roger Kwok’s (郭晉安) TV King winning role, Ah Wong, in 2003’s Square Pegs <戇夫成龍>. But Willie did a complete 180, and rewrote the character into his own style.
“The very first scene we shot was in episode one, when Kelly and Willie were picking up forks on the road,” said producer Leung. “After watching Willie’s performance then, I knew that I chose the right actor. He was perfect in it. Not only was he able to digest his character’s dialogue, he was also able to add a lot of his own interpretation into the role. It was perfect.”
Source: HK01.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
This has the same producer as c9?!? Why is it so much better lol. I really do like this show a lot. It’s a nice surprise.
“Carries” is an understatement, willie is the star of this show and the only star of the show.
@tt23 totally agree, I find it way more interesting than C9. I find myself laughing at some comedic scenes which I don’t normally do while watching tvb drama cuz I don’t fully understand Cantonese. I was a little doubt at first because I see Him & Kelly lead the drama but I was bored so decided to give it a try to kill times and surprisingly enjoyable. Thumbs up for Willie, he’s amazing in this role. Him & Kelly are not as bad either. I watched C9 but I forwarded most of it but so far I been enjoying this drama, haven’t forwarded/skip any scenes yet.
@joyce I think cause c9 had a boring plot and outlandish topic that without better props and sets make it childish. The witness has characters that have well defined personalities so it makes it simple and to the point.
@joyce Kelly isnt as bad as i thought she would be. Maybe because she doesnt overact like other actresses?
@tt23 this one is a true comedy. Willie is the star but props to the script as well; the dialogue’s got punch lines. Today’s episode made me LOL so hard when the sister goes into meeting and starts marking their proposal like homework hahahaa.
@bubbles23 the script is so much better, agreed. honestly c9 was such a waste.
omg so funny. the jail visit when willie was talking about the cutlery, i don’t think I laughed that hard at a tvb show in a while hahaha. oh gosh willie is just the best.
C9 – overdose of Ko Ling. With her on the show – made it harder to watch. Thk god there won’t be her show for a while
@joanne Imagine if Ali had Ko Ling’s role in C9. The drama wouldve been 100x better
Really liking it so far! Willie (never knew that was his name) is perfect for this role. I’m also loving the comedic scenes
@jcc10 Same, just found out his name is Willie also. Glad that he’s getting recognition!
@luye LOL…Me too. Never even knew his name until now. He’s a good actor but just never promoted and if we didn’t know I would have thought he’s the male lead here even if appearance wise he’s not leading material. There’s really nothing much to see of Him Law as I didn’t know he’s as cute as before not sure if age had anything to do with it but he’s just not that interesting to watch. Kelly C is actually not a bad actress as I quite like her in this series way better than all those younger looking V group Ms. HK’s or any other Ms. HK’s. I didn’t even finish C9 mainly because I never like anything w/Kenneth Ma. haha lol..I like Ko Ling but that series was just not interesting enough.
@wm2017 him definitely aged and you can see it in his face so not as cute as before. But he does have good chemistry with willie in the show. In the other scenes, it’s nothing special.
I agree with you as I continue to watch, Kelly is not that bad in this series. I think I’m still scarred by her acting in flying tiger 2 which was HORRENDOUS. I think her personality fits much better for comedy shows.
@tt23 yes Kelly surprised me I thought she was gonna be boring but she is a good fit with Willie and Him. Not sure how she will do in LM2, but this gives me a little hope. Him is just same old… Not bad but not great. But it reminds me of him and Ali in Fashion War lol.
@bubbles23 unpopular opinion maybe but I kinda impressed by him’s acting in the last few episodes.
@tt23 I gotta said after today’s episode I see more depth. I’m really liking the characters in this show. The funny ones are funny, the bad guys are bad, and the leads have a well thought out background.
Unrelated but what ep are you on for LW3? Somehow now that it came out to 30 eps I lose the intention to keep watching lol. I watched till ep 20 I think.
@bubbles23 right??? This show is honestly such a nice surprise, I look forward to watching it each night.
LW3 – I think I’m on episode 23? I forget but I feel the same way as you. I’m not in a rush to watch it because there are so many episodes right now but also I want to watch it slowly to enjoy it. I want to ask you one thing but will wait till you‘re at episode 23 so I don’t spoil anything for you.
Are you going to watch LM2 btw？I wish Jayne had a discord channel or something for people to discuss and chat. I feel bad finding random posts to chat about shows lol
@tt23 omg yesss I’m on discord.
I’ll probably watch it cause I’m digging the VincentxOwen line up.
Watched a few episodes and surprisingly its quite entertaining… not a fan of Him Law but this role with ? Willie seems to have connected and chemistry between these two is good. Worth watching…..also have stopped watching TVB dramas for a long time but recently the dramas has improved!
So TVB is doing something good !
@applelim Agree that Willie & Him are so funny and cute together!
I am really enjoying this. I binge watched 5 episodes yesterday. Willie Wai with his dead-pan face and rambling dialogue is hilarious. Him’s bantering with his three team members is also really funny. Kelly is not very convincing as a lawyer but the brother-sister chemistry is not too bad. Him’s sister on the other hand is a tad annoying….Overall, I think think is a GREAT series!!!
And to add to that, it’s so funny whenever Willie Wai opened his wardrobe to display his selection of white shirts. It was also hilarious when Him and Willie wore identical outfits.
I don’t find this drama that funny. The humor is kind of dry, but not in the British way, just kind of plain and not that creative? I didn’t really laugh, but it sure is funny to other people. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I liked Willie best in Exorcist’s Meter as “Doot Doot Sir.”
What keeps me going is the slow burn…there is a cohesive plot so far, and the chemistry between the cast exists, and it has nice pacing. Hopefully it doesn’t devolve from here.