Linda Chung and Mandy Wong Show Tough Spirit in “Tiger Cubs 2”
TVB introduced some of its strongest female characters yet in Tiger Cubs 2 <飛虎II >, which premiered on Sunday, October 19. The 10-episode action-packed crime drama, which is the sequel to 2012’s summer hit Tiger Cubs, follows an elite team of paramilitary officers from the Special Duties Unit (SDU) of the Hong Kong Police Force. Although mostly dominated by a male cast, Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣) and Mandy Wong‘s (黃智雯) characters manage to stand out.
Linda Chung’s Breakthrough Performance
Known for portraying kind and gentle characters, Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣) made a 180-degree turn for her role in Tiger Cubs 2. Her role, Chung Wai Yan, was one of the most challenging in her career. “She is a CIB investigator who was a former undercover. She was betrayed and her identity exposed. Because of that, she becomes manic. She completely distrusts people and disregards danger to arrest criminals.”
Linda is grateful to the producer for offering her such a different role. Linda said, “I’ve always thought I could do more than just playing obedient characters. I can handle more difficult characters, and this drama definitely shows the audience a very different Linda.”
To show the manic side of her character, Linda had to be aggressive in her movements and voice. It was tiring and mentally exhausting, but Linda is satisfied and happy with her performance. “My most memorable scene was the part where my identity was exposed and was nearly beaten to death. When I filmed that scene, I put myself in this maniacal state. I also told the staff to make sure my handcuffs were tight and secure so I would be able to put myself in that state.”
Dominated by a nearly all-male cast, Linda’s character exhibits a strong personality that challenges traditional female stereotypes. “My character is someone who has the skill and strength of many men,” said Linda. “Because of that, I tell myself that I cannot lose to them and I have to prove myself.”
Mandy Wong as First Female SDU Officer
In Tiger Cubs 2, Mandy Wong reprises her role, So Man Keung, as Hong Kong’s first female SDU member. Despite her confidence and unwavering determination to succeed as an active SDU officer, Mandy said her character will encounter various challenges in the team.
Mandy explained, “A woman’s physical strength is different from a man. During her training, she encountered these obstacles. She knew she was not as physically strong as men, so she wanted to overcome that with more diligent practice. One operation damaged So Man Keung’s spirit, which led her to question herself if she was still suitable to be an SDU officer.”
Facing similar challenges in real life allowed Mandy to completely immerse into her character. “I didn’t wear full gear on my first day of work, just a tank top and long pants. I had to a scene where I had to run back and forth while carrying bricks. After filming the scene, I felt really hot and thought I was having a fever. It turned out that I had a heatstroke. That was only on the first day. It made me very worried.”
Filming the physically demanding drama in the summer heat was taxing on the entire cast. Mandy said, “We got through it all together with teamwork.”
The sequel follows Mandy and Him Law‘s (羅仲謙) developing relationship as a bickering couple. “We share a unique relationship. We are dating, but we are also kind of like comrade-in-arms. He trains with me and supports me. We both have very strong personalities. We’re not a typical couple.”
Source: TVB Weekly via kuangaitvb.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
i’m so excitd to see Mandy & Him as a couple again!! they were really cute in the first episode, but not enough scenes together! hoping for more!
wow!!~~~ LOL~~~
so far…linda acting is realllly bad! she cant even express the character.
Give her a chance, mabye she will surprise us in the later episodes 🙂
you mean the “queen of boredom in acting”
Hmm… Just watched second ep, I’m afraid Linda is still bad.
I think Kate will be a better choice than Linda
I agreed with Puff. No improvement at all. She is not suitable for this character. Her expression – frustration, anger and at a loss is not natural at all. I am sorry to say that the show is great, but not with her around.
Second episode – Linda’s still bad. She can’t fully be natural in her character.
Linda was so disappointing in the first episode. She just didn’t deliver her character at all. It was so blatantly obvious that she was trying so hard to act out the tough girl image. I hope she improves later on in the episodes to follow.
First episode was good except Linda. Something happened to her, she can’t act very well recently, deteriorated
Linda was tough alright in tc2…. So tough to watch >_> I think this role is a bit too tough for Linda to handle… >_> sigh… Why can Jessica come back for this series Dx’
Mandy is so good in TC2. Hope she can win BSA during this award season.
Why Linda????? This character is not suitable for her at all…… Very disappointed!!!!!!
Her fierce look was too forced… Seems like she will have that one mad face look in every episode. Smh!
i honestly think none of us are use to her fierce look. it doesn’t look forced to me, just strange because we have never seen it before. in my opinion the first episode was really good in terms of Linda’s acting. only the introduction to her character was weird.
Linda’s role was different in this drama, but she could not express it well mabye she was not used to acting these types of roles, hope she will perform better in the other episodes 🙂
Linda Chung in tiger cubs is like Kate Tsui in tmrw is anither day: both are trying too hard. Linda is trying too hard to be the cool and aloof mdm. Kate tsui is trying too hard to be the buddly character that she is outside of work.
The thing with Linda and Kate is their crying skills are improving, but their character adaptation as whole not so much, so they might look good in one crying scene but unnatural in other scenes.
I don’t know what happened to Linda. Her acting has gone downhill kinda like Tavia and Myolie at one point.
On a different note, I miss Jessica, lol
Usually bashed for her sweet, innocent, crying roles…. Now comes a tough manly role and people are saying shes trying too hard..-_-
Lol, wow…
She lookedso un-natural in esp 1. She tried but not good enough
No matter what she do people will just complain and complain especially here. Poor Linda. Honestly, she is not doing bad at all in episode 1. Her handcuffed scene when she was bleeding in a room was very well done! The only problem I can find is her eyes dilate too big. If she can lower that a bit will be so much better. still have 9 more episodes and she just might surprise everyone at the end with her performance. U never know!
there is only 10 edisodes in total?
Yes it’s only 10 eps series but each eps is 1.5 hrs long. So rly it’s 20 eps if it’s in normal airing schedule.
I think Linda gave me a very refreshing look and performance in Tiger Club 2.I feel she had put in a lot of good effort to act like a tough undercover police. Nice attempt and good job so far. Big improvement.Keep it up!
I agreed…Linda is really good. Her acting is awesome in Tiger Cubs.
Honestly Mandy looks and can act tough much better than Linda, just look at the pics above. Linda still looks the same as usual, the good girl image, as Mandy looks like a strong female sdu character. There is a huge difference between them. I think Mandy stands out much more.
Why is the article saying this is a breakthrough role for Linda again, another lie like her role in BK which is not a breakthrough role
Because her role is written on paper to be breakthrough with the super tough bipolar female cop thing going on, but Linda wasn’t able to give the breakthrough character justice as she can’t make her performance natural. Right now as of episode 2 she’s trying too hard to be tough. Sometimes I want to laugh at her.
Linda is good and convincing in some character roles, but so far, not really seeing it for TC2.
That’s the other problem with TVB. Putting some actors/actresses in roles when they may not even be able to act out well in.
Another example is Ron Ng. He’s okay and fine in some roles, but other roles, very stiff and unable to portray the character well.
Loved Tiger Cubs I. Great cast, acting, and action!
I’ll continue to see how TC2 holds up, but for now, probably won’t surpass the first one.
Don’t blame Linda if her acting as a tough cop is too forced. Blame TVB and the casting agent for scripting her into that role versus something “softer”. Again, it is TVB pulling the strings deciding who gets which role.
Im aint gonna complain though. CWY is a BADASS indeed!!!!!!! I like it!!!!!!!!!!
You can tel the media loves Linda. Every role she has is “breakthrough” role, from BK, Bitter/Sweet, to TC2. It’s different type of characters, yes. But it’s not “breakthrough” until she can actually deliver it! SMH. You know she’ll win BA regardless how her perfromances are. TVB is so bluntly pushing it. Though I must say that I agree she was bad in B/S, BUT it’s a little too early to condone her in TC2. Everyone loved her as Ms Cool and I see this character is a version of that so maybe she can pull it off. Still got 9 more to go before the verdict.
Agree every artiste has his/her strength and weakness, but a good artist should be able to overcome her weakness. Experience in acting different types of characters will help an artiste to strengthen his/her weaknesses.
Even Linda Chung may not be good in Tiger Cubs 2 this time, her exposure to a completely different character will definitely help her improve her acting skills.
I found Linda’s performance as a u/c and Police refreshing, compared to her previous good/nice girl roles.
Would you seriously prefer Kate Tsui wearing 5″ heels pretending to be a Policewoman or Sharon Chen pouting/trying act tough with her eyes as a u/c? You cringe nearly every scene…
Yes I agree! So tired of seeing Kate and Sharon as cops! Must be 10 dramas from each of them as cops by now. It is refreshing to see Linda be a crazy brave tomboy cop for once.
Linda is okay in TC2, but not great. But still a whole lot better than the horrible performance in ATIBIS
Mandy looks tough, but she looks so short when standing next to the other trainees
Although Mandy looks short, her toughness doesn’t look made up ie she doesn’t try too hard to look tough, it’s more natural that way.
Omg even in the scene shots, Mandy has that look down. She’s so friggin versatile. Linda can act tough, but she has such a vulnerable vibe that i dont feel convinced. It’s her voice too – still too soft.
I agree with you. Mandy is such a versatile actress…
Uhm, I haven’t seen Mandy being a soft girl. Most of her characters are all strong women, none of them are soft. So versatile is not yet what I would call Mandy.
Think mandy was good in suspects in love as the bespectacled shy younger sister of flora chan.
Btw, does anyone think she has amazing chemistry with him law? Were they ever going out pre-tavia days?
Linda is ok in TC2. i want to see more of Mandy!
I really like Mandy. She can pull off the tomboyish look. I wish they cast another actress for the role of Linda. She tries too hard to be badass and I don’t think these type of roles suit her, because she has a ‘fragile look’to her. I also think she still can’t act. Well she can act to a certain degree and she has improved a bit, but I don’t think she has star potential.
When Mandy first debuted, I saw that she had potential but now I find her to be very one-dimensional.
And Linda still doesn’t know how to act. Being a maniac does not mean that her jaw has to be clenched all the time.