The Defected Review

The Defected (鐵探) is one of TVB’s blockbuster dramas for 2019 with much action and the star appearance of Kara Wai Ying-Hung as the female lead. As everyone should know by now, Kara Wai is a renowned actress that has won awards for her roles in films. Like Dicky Cheung Wai-Kin in The Learning Curve Of A Warlord, she has not acted in any TVB drama for a very long time. Thus, to have her back on the small screen together with Philip Keung Ho-Man is a nice surprise and a change from seeing the usual faces among TVB’s own contract artistes. But did TVB make good use of the talent of these two highly-rated stars to give us a good drama? Well, check out my The Defected review below.

Episodes: 30
Type: Crime
Aired: April 2019
Images Credit: TVB

The Cast

• Kara Wai Ying-Hung as Chief Superintendent Man Hei-Wah – subsequently promoted to Assistant Commissioner
• Benjamin Yuen Wai-Ho as Inspector Sheung Sing – a hard-working police officer
• Philip Keung Ho-Man as Bingo – an undercover cop working for Man Hei-Wah
• Sisley Choi Sze-Pui as Jill – an ex-undercover cop and police constable
• Ben Wong Chi-Yin as Cheif Superintendent Samuel Ching – subsequently promoted to Assistant Commissioner
• Matt Yeung Ming as Senior Inspector Matt Yau – Man Hei-Wah’s youngest son
• Oscar Leung Lit-Wai as Sargeant Kuk Wing-Ching – Sheung Sing’s subordinate and close friend
• Benz Hui Shiu-Hung as Chief Superintendent Kan Kwo-Chu – Man Hei-Wah’s rival in the police force
• Grace Wong Kwan-Hing as Yeung Hiu-Yi – Sheung Sing’s de-facto wife and mother to his daughter
• Berg Ng Ting-Yip as The Commander – a crime boss that the police is after

Main Characters

Man Hei-Wah

Man is a very ambitious woman who has aims to become the first female Police Commissioner of Hong Kong. She is depicted as ruthless and willing to sacrifice others in order to achieve her goal. She had 2 sons. Both are also police officers but the eldest, Senior Inspector Yau Lai-Chun, died while trying to protect his undercover agent from getting killed by Shan Gau, The Commander’s underling. She always thinks that her eldest is the more capable officer compared to Matt, the younger son. She heaps a lot of pressure on both of them to succeed and this subsequently affected her relationship with Matt.

Sheung Sing

Sing is a responsible inspector who cares for his team members. He loves his job but he would also bend the rules in order to solve crimes. He is also prone to insubordination when he sees his fellow officers in danger or feels that they are being made pawns by his superiors. This puts him on the warpath with Chief Superintendents Man and Kan.

Because Sing is very committed to his job, he has a strained relationship with his wife who is on the verge of marrying another man. However, he has a close relationship with his young daughter and this still allows him the opportunity to maintain ties with his wife whom he still loves very much.

Bingo

Bingo is portrayed as a filial son and a man who values friendship. He is an undercover cop who has to tread a fine line between being a law enforcer and a criminal. After working under Man for a number of years, he knows what she is capable of and how ruthless she can be. He also knows some of the bad things that she had done in order to climb the ranks.

Thus, Bingo begins to lose trust in Man as his handler as he knows she would not hesitate to sacrifice him if the need arises. As such, he decided to work on his own for self-preservation as well as to take down The Commander.

Jill & Matt

Both of them are childhood friends. Jill has been in love with Matt ever since but it was a one-sided love. When Jill was young, she was a kidnap victim which caused her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. But she persevered and joined the police force because of Matt. She ended up being an undercover cop to investigate a drug syndicate under Matt before joining Sing’s team later on.

Matt is a righteous cop who prefers to follow the rules. He cares for Jill only as a friend as he has feelings for his late brother’s girlfriend. He also has to constantly face pressure from his ambitious mother who once scolded him from running off with Sing to save Jill during a police operation when she was at risk of dying from a drug overdose.

Samuel Ching & Kan Kwo-Chu

Both are Chief Superintendents in different departments of the police force. Samuel is a cripple due to an accident and moves around in a wheelchair. But he keeps himself fit by rock climbing and is a righteous cop who heads the internal investigation department. He is not fighting to be the Commissioner but Man and Kan see him as a rival because of his capability despite his physical disability.

On the other hand, Kan is the type of superior who is always looking to gain credit from other people’s work and pushing the blame to someone else when things go awry. He is portrayed as a deceitful character who will play both sides when it suits him. He also doesn’t mind teaming up with his enemies to bring down another rival as long as he stands to benefit from the arrangement. His relationship with Samuel is hostile not only because they are rivals at work but also because his ex-wife, Eunice, is now married to Samuel.

Kuk Wing-Ching

Kuk is a trusted team member and good friend of Sing. He is also a gambler and an ex-undercover cop who used to work under Man’s late son. Kuk saw how his superior was shot to death with his own eyes while escaping from the scene. During his stint as an undercover agent, he also fell in love with his gang leader’s girlfriend, Iris, and started a relationship with her. They broke up after his mission was over as Iris felt used by Kuk to gain intel. But they reunited later on in the drama when they crossed paths again while Kuk was investigating a case.

Yeung Hiu-Yi

Yi is Sing’s de-facto wife and a bar owner. They didn’t officially register their marriage but together they have a daughter, Ching Ching, who dotes on her father. Because of Sing’s dedication to his job, he is always letting down his wife and daughter and couldn’t spend time with them. They also often worry over his safety which puts pressure on the marriage.

When the drama begins, Yi has already broken up with Sing and started a relationship with another man, Dr. Hanson. But because of Ching Ching, Yi and Sing still see each other often.

The Commander

The Commander is the ultimate crime boss that the police is after. He is a former captain of a Vietnamese army brigade which explains his ruthlessness. He leads a team of former soldiers that have fought alongside him in the past to make money in the underworld by trading in drugs and arms. The Commander is a prized catch for the police which is why Man wants to be the one who arrests him as it will boost her chances of getting a promotion.

The Plot Of The Defected

Basically, the synopsis for The Defected can be summarized as a power play in the police force among the high-ranking officers which results in their subordinates being made as pawns and sacrificial lambs. If the lower-ranking officers fight back, they will be transferred out or put in cold storage as punishment.

Power Struggle

The drama begins with Sing suing Man in court for compensation due to her abuse of power and testifying that he only has 2 years left to live. The story is then told as flashbacks about the events that happened over a period of 2 years or so that led to his condition. With an Assistant Commissioner due to retire soon back then, the fight among the senior officers to replace him intensified. These officers include Man, Kan, and Wan who all head different departments.

To ensure that their rivals fail in apprehending big-time criminals to boost their own chances of promotion, these senior officers will withhold intelligence that they have at times rather than share them for the greater good. They will also take high risks in their operations. This results in danger for the frontline officers which is why Sing and his team do not like the way Man leads the department.

Undercover Agents

In order to catch the underworld bosses, these senior officers would also have placed their own undercover agents to gather information for them. One of these agents is Bingo who reports to Man. In one operation to catch Shan Gau, an underling of The Commander, Man promised Bingo that she will let Tai Wai off but killed him instead. Tai Wai works for Shan Gau but is like a brother to Bingo. So, in a moment of anger, Bingo fired a shot near Man’s ear but the bullet hit Sing who was nearby saving Kuk from Shan Gau.

Sing was shot in the head but survived. However, he had to contend with the side-effects which include headaches, dizziness, and incontinence. His health got worse over time as he continues to chase after criminals against his doctor’s advice. As the drama unfolds, the plot thickens as viewers are led to believe that there is a mole among the high-ranking officers who is feeding information to The Commander. Bingo lost trust in Man and began to work with Sing to try to nab The Commander and flush out the mole.

The Defected Theme Songs

The theme song, 鐵石心腸, is sung by Fred Cheng Chun-Wang and composed by Dominic Chu Chun-Kit. However, I find the ending theme song, 鋼鐵有淚, for The Defected is a nicer tune to listen to. This one is sung by Hana Kuk Tsz-Kiu and composed by Alan Cheung Ka-Shing.

The third song, 我記得, is a melody that gets played in some melancholy scenes in the drama. It is sung by Jinny Ng Yeuk-Hei and also composed by Alan Cheung. This song is also worth listening to and it is a tune that is easy to get familiar with.

The Defected Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Sing & Man

In the final episode, Sing died due to his brain injury that got progressively worse while Man was investigated for power abuse and made to retire early. These are not shown in detail but merely explained in words towards the end of episode 30. Prior to that, Samuel managed to apprehend The Commander with investigative help from Sing and his team which earned him a promotion to Assistant Commissioner. This ranking allowed him to finally lodge a complaint against Man and open an investigation file into her role in various cases. As a result, Sing managed to win his court case after an appeal before he died.

Man ended up alone with no family as she had indirectly caused the death of her own sons. She has to deal with her own regrets and feels tormented.

Yi

While Yi decided that she still loves Sing after all, the latter told her to leave him for Dr. Hanson instead before his court case started. This is because his health was failing and the court case would put an additional toll on the family which he didn’t want Yi to face. Although Yi didn’t end up with Dr. Hanson eventually, Sing still didn’t want her to come back with his daughter because he wanted to spare them the pain of watching him die as his health deteriorates.

Matt

A lot happened in the last 6 episodes or so. Matt died at the hands of The Commander. Samuel was heading an operation to nab the criminal when Man blackmailed Bingo to help The Commander escape by using his mother’s safety to threaten him. This was done to ensure Samuel fails in his mission while Man laid out her own plans to arrest The Commander after he has escaped so that she would get her promotion. While fleeing from the police, The Commander killed Matt who was on standby with his team in the area on the orders of Samuel earlier.

Bingo

Bingo died in episode 27 after being shot by police snipers on the orders of Man while trying to make an escape. He knows too many secrets about Man including how she ordered him not to try to save her eldest son when he was caught by Shan Gau’s men. While it seemed like her son died courageously in the line of duty, the truth is he could have been saved because Bingo was at the scene at that time. Man sacrificed her son in order to climb to the top.

Kuk & Iris

Kuk’s girlfriend, Iris, turned out to be part of an all-girls Vietnamese gang that is planning to take revenge on The Commander who killed their families and fellow villagers during the war in Vietnam. When The Commander found out, he tied up Iris in her own home and turned on the gas. Using her phone, The Commander messaged Kuk to get him to go over to her place. When Kuk rang the doorbell, a big explosion ensued resulting in the death of Iris and part of his own face and body also suffered horrible burns.

The Defected Review – Is This TVB Drama Worth Watching?

Seriously, I think they could have done it much better rather than waste the talent of Kara Wai and Philip Keung. The whole drama could have ended with 20 to 25 episodes. But for some reason, they stretched it to 30 with one or two sub-plots that don’t really contribute much to the whole story. In fact, they made it worse. If they have shortened the drama, it would have been more fast-paced and exciting to watch.

The storyline for three quarters of the drama gel together quite well. But the last quarter seems to miss the mark completely. Let me explain below.

Why The Drama Fell Apart (Spoilers Included)

At one point in the drama, we are led to believe there is a mole among the high-ranking officers. So, I thought this would get more interesting as we would be guessing who that mole is. As it turns out, it is an anti-climax because Kan’s laptop was hacked by one of the members of the all-girls Vietnamese gang when he brought her home to sleep with her. That is how confidential information was leaked out.

Towards the end of The Defected, we are then made to sit through an investigation into a murder case which involved rape. It turns out that the girl who died was Iris’ team member and the rapist was involved in Jill’s kidnap years earlier. Iris and her friend then caught the rapist and tortured him. I don’t really know why the scriptwriter needed to bring in such sub-plots into the picture when they could have just written a story about an actual mole rather than Iris and friends seeking revenge on The Commander which just has a thin connection to the main plot.

Anyway, The Commander’s own team also had one of these girls as a member. We are not told how he found out about this gang but he killed her off as well as Iris. Similarly, the relationship between Matt and his late brother’s girlfriend is poorly explained. When she rejected him to watch a concert together and asked him to let go of his brother (all done via a few phone messages), the next thing I know is that he suddenly has feelings for Jill. Unfortunately, he died before he could tell Jill what she wants to hear and we too end up not knowing exactly why he couldn’t pursue a relationship with her earlier.

My Verdict

Watch it for Kara Wai and Philip Keung’s acting. Benz Hui and Berg Ng are also a joy to watch being veterans. Benjamin Yuen also sacrificed much by reducing his weight rather drastically to fit into the role of a person with failing health. But beyond that, don’t expect a great drama with a great plot. It started off well but it was disappointing towards the end. If you are prepared for a poor ending in terms of storyline, then you can give it a go. But if not, skip it and wait for the next crime thriller by TVB. That’s my verdict for The Defected review, a much anticipated TVB drama that falls short.