La Femme Desperado (2006)

Entertaining and has fresh female characters

As someone who grew up watching TVB and always has a soft spot for the nostalgia of 90s and 00s TVB, I remember that this drama was really popular when it came out in 2006. Watching in 2023, I will say that the story does not age too well since the tropes are a bit outdated. But if you can put yourself back in 2006 when watching this drama, it is actually quite fresh for 2000s. It touches on some very prevalent gender norms that were more relevant for 2006 even if it may seem absurd or unrealistic in 2023. The main takeaway from this drama is that women can make whatever decisions they want in their life and that a woman's value is not in the beholder of men but is in the beholder of their own selves. This message is communicated well for 2006 with the exception of Ida and Venus's side plots. Ling and Hilda's storylines do successfully challenge two extreme versions of a modern woman.

The character development for Man and Hilda were done particularly well and of course Sheren Tang always delivers on a memorable performance. I think one character that did not age well at all is Ling's character. Her character was beloved back in 2006 because she was the typical girl next door character but I think that if you are watching in 2023, her character is really annoying. Her romance with Chai Foon is also extremely annoying and did not age well past 2006. But I do appreciate the show challenging age gaps in a relationship where the woman is older than the man. They did successfully tackle that message by setting them up romantically.

This drama is also really funny. I find that Michael Tse is always unintentionally funny. The funniest part to me is that the old guy's name is Please-- like who names themselves that? But overall Michael Tse's character Man was really funny and had great development as well. Overall, this drama is funny, hits on some controversial topics on what being a modern woman was like in 2006, and provides different types of female characters for the audience to relate to. Despite the cliche and some outdated storylines, it's still very enjoyable and I can see the hype it had in 2006.

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