Al Cappuccino (2020)

Perfect blend, best TVB drama so far in 2020

Perfectly orchestrated drama with a good strike of balance between comedy and seriousness. Brings me tears of joy and caught up with the serious tension while guessing what will happen next. The chemistry between Vincent Wong and Owen Cheng is so good and really excited to see more of them in the future.

The cast is huge but I like how each of them has their own story to tell to enrich the flavor of the various characters. The Keung Family, even though they did not grow up together, the four of them look like they are inseparable siblings. Sai Lung knows that he is not blood-related to the three sisters, but treat them like his own family.

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U guys need to watch this. This show is like Hong Kong tvb show break thru. It’s realistic, reasonable, funny and most importantly and actors r good looking.

P.S I ship ko bin and the gang eldest sister. They r so quite omg. Y’all really need to watch it, but u guys wouldn’t regret

So yea basically is about a fake gang leader helping the cops solve a murder case. But in the undercover process, more undercover fall in love with the people they like. During the undercover journey, Vincent Wong fake gang leader place keeps getting snatch by other smaller leader. Other smaller leader find ways to get the big boss position. And in the end found out that the current big boss is a fake one.

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Refreshing Series for 2020

This drama takes a common TVB plot line (undercover cops) and adds a comedic spin to it.

Music: Pretty catchy, but not enough for me to look it up or listen to it outside of the drama. Vincent Wong sings it. I think my favorite is the upbeat opening song that matches the comedic theme of the series.

Acting: Owen, Vincent, and Brian (the three musketeers) played their roles really well! Wing Tsiu also played his character really well! I think it was nice of TVB to pair novice actresses with Vincent, because he usually has good chemistry with his costars. Winki and Angel (Shui jie) had the best female performances in my opinion. I also liked the older gen actors too. Although I did not like Samantha Ko's character, I thought she played the role well though (it was a hard role to play, especially when she had to be two-faced in the beginning). Kelly Fu wasn't bad, but the character she played was pretty irritating at one point. Serene Lim, Kathy Yuen, and Crystal Fung have room for improvement (this could be biased though bc I also just found their characters annoying).

Characters: I loved the bromance between Sai Lung and Ko Bun (and Luk Chau third wheeling lmao)! Most of the female leads were annoying as hell to watch. I only liked Shui jie and the eldest sister. Angel was pretentious, selfish, and needed to be knocked down like 10 notches, but she did earn some points in the end. Si Tou Sir was a POS and only semi-redeemed himself in the end. I dislike Si Tou Sir more than KT even... bc KT started out as a triad member who infiltrated the police, so you can't really be mad that he has no morals; whereas Si Tou Sir always aspired to be an upright cop yet does borderline illegal stuff to move up in rank. I couldn't feel bad for the second sister bc she is literally so dumb and couldn't see the signs when they were right in front of her (she found out he has a wife and forgave him before they even left the restaurant...). The third sister is so irrelevant and only was there to mess things up. Cherry and Rachel were the absolute worse though. I liked Cherry's morality, but her "innocent" trait came off as annoying eventually (could be the actress's acting). It was especially annoying because her dad is literally a triad boss-- it's not realistic to be that pitiful and helpless. Rachel should be fired as a cop. She basically manipulated a civilian into risking his life as an uncover informant. She also has zero deductive skills and basically only succeeded in the end because she was on the good side. She is pretty much no better than Si Tou Sir (using deceit to move up in rank), except she was just helping the good guy. She prides herself in being "independent" and a "good cop," yet she basically relied on daddy's money and connections to get through everything. Knowing how to use your resources is smart, but pretending you are self-made is hypocritical. Sai Lun is the third worst character. I really like Sai Lung, but Sai Lun is the king of idiots. At first, I thought the IOU notes were cute and gentlemanly, but he helped out the three ladies (Cherry, Angel, and Rachel) so many times I'm pretty sure they owe them now. Sai Lun thought he was being a good person, but I think he just came off as a fool. He let himself be pushed around so much that I eventually just stopped feeling bad for him-- at that point, maybe he deserves to be played... The only redeeming quality he had was his character quirk of being a cinephile; it was good comedic relief.

Plot: I think they timed the serious and comedic scenes really well. I also liked that a lot of the plans hatched by Sai Lung and Ko Bun were based off of movie plots. I also shipped Ko Bun and the eldest sister so much! I loved all their interaction scenes. They have many funny scenes (i.e., when Ko Bun was reluctant to become her Fu Ma in the beginning), and their romantic scenes were light and wholesome (also cute but not cheesy). My favorite scene is when she is being piggy-backed by him after drinking too much but started crying and apologizing bc she lied to him about being 30 when she is 32, the Ko Bun responded with "I knew" (although she already passed out at that point. The main plot is also very interesting. It was exciting to see how an actor would get out of sticky situations without raising suspicion. The subplots of Sai Lung x female lead was kind of unnecessary though. I did like how he ended up with no girl at the end. My main complaints about the plot have to do with the character flaws I listed above. I mentioned that I liked the bromance scenes and found them funny, but there were times I felt conflicted. The general trend of media is becoming more PC and so there were certain scenes where I was worried that the drama was making homosexuality a running gag or punch line rather than something that could seriously happen. However, I think they redeemed themselves by making most of the characters accepting of it (e.g., Luk Chau would have funny reactions, but he still supported Sai Lung and Ko Bun being together and kept their secret).

Cinematography: The series found a good niche for itself, because I don't think any other dramas has done this idea before. They referenced a lot of classic movies and pointed out common movie troupes. In a way, they were poking fun at the film industry. I also liked how they have the episode recaps in a yellow-filtered frame (reminiscent of old movies) and the occasional exclamatory remarks being presented as words on a screen instead of being acted out (reminiscent of silent films).

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HILARIOUS, ADDICTIVE, ACTION-PACKED!

BROMANCE? CHECK!
COMEDY? CHECK!
ACTION? CHECK!
ROMANCE? CHECK!
ACTING? THE BEST!

MUSIC? The opening song is so catchy, but I don't recommend watching it all the time because of spoilers but it really grows on you!

I think this is the best HK drama that came out this year. It has all my favorite gang/undercover tropes with a twist. The acting is perfect! And I really loved Ko Bun played by Owen, he was my favorite character (I hope he gets more comedic roles in the future).

This drama also had many sweet and heartwarming moments between the siblings. A MUST WATCH!

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Super fun watch but you have to ignore ridiculous plot

One of my favorite recent tvb dramas! It was so much fun and I binge watched the whole thing. I'm a huge fan of Owen Cheung because of this drama - his comedic timing is fantastic and I hope he does more roles like this.

I would recommend this drama to people who like comedy and don't take these dramas too seriously - because the plot makes very little sense if you think too hard. There is a certain gravitas that you get from mafia in other tvb dramas, but in this one, the mafia is kind of a joke.. that's fine in a comedy, but I had to constantly remind myself whenever silly things happened. The undercover stuff is also So ridiculous - they talk about being uncover in public ALL THE TIME, like how is it even possible for them to not have been caught. At one point, Madam koo showed up at Owen's home without notice. The older sister also at one point showed up at Owen's home without notice. What if they had bumped into each other?? The lack of secrecy was crazy.

I didn't really care much about any of Vincent's relationships unfortunately. He didn't have very much chemistry with any of them. What I did love was his friendships with Owen and Brian, and especially with his sisters. I loved all three sisters and am a huge fan whenever family dynamics are done well in shows. It was kind of unbelievable that they were so accepting of him - but I was okay with it.

I thought the length of the drama was fine but also feel like a lot of storylines were rushed at the end. I was a huge fan of Owen/Winki's relationship - but how is it that we never got a conversation about Owen being an undercover cop in the end? Surely she would be upset? Wish we had some more scenes there.

My favorite parts:
- The bromance was adorable
- Honestly just Owen's character - I felt really bad for him though. He was undercover for years and is almost the head of the mafia and then suddenly someone else comes in?? His old handler was like, just prostitte yourself, and his new handler is someone younger/less experienced telling him what to do. He also got beat up SO MUCH with like no consequence, which again was so silly.
- The family parts - it was so sweet to see the sisters and Vincent, and I wish we got more scenes
- Owen/Winki were super cute - I was rooting for them from the start - again, I wish we got more scenes and more honest conversation - I find it hard to believe that Winki wasn't ??? about Owen's constant flip-floppiness between wanting to be a mafia leader and being scared of dying.
- The fact that there were no deaths for the sake of shock value
- Vincent did his 'descent into madness' very very well
- I appreciate that there weren't too many evil-for-the-sake-of-being-evil characters. I thought the uncle would be a snake but he ended up just being a chill dude. Even the dumb brother character had moments where he helped out.
- I didn't like Madam Koo at first and found her to just be spoiled and annoying (why would you blackmail a civilian into going undercover and still think you're doing the right thing?? all to find a murdurer of mafia members??). However, I grew to like her more over time and appreciated her persistence. I also liked that Vincent calls her out for all the shitty things she did, because they were shitty! I felt like there was consequence to her actions, which I did not expect.

My disliked parts:
- The wishy-washiness/back and forth of characters
- The actress character drove me CRAZY - she had so much audacity with so little substance.. I really thought we would get a moment with her that would change my opinion but no.. she was unlikeable the whole time.
- The blatant homophobia while promoting with bromance. I don't really care if the characters are homophobic in a conservative mafia setting (since that's unfortunately the norm in hk), but I really didn't like the line from Owen's character about being a 'real man'

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How a messy script can turn into an enjoyable Drama!

-------------------Review from the Heart------------------


This was the 4th in a row Drama i watched with Vincent Wong and the 3rd with Owen Cheung!Yes they both have now a new fan!

Oh Gosh!DId i enjoy this??Yes!To the fullest!It was silly good.I got silly addicted.And i had a silly crush on it!
And ofc i use the word silly here with the most adorable way.This it could easily be a "serious" drama with gangs,mafia bosses and undercover cops.But iam glad they chose to make it a great comedy with serious parts instead of the opposite.

From the really inspiring title(a reference obviously to the great actor Al Pacino)to the famous Quotes from different movies,theatrical plays.actors and writes,everything was well chosen.It was the little touch which added alot to this drama.

Music:I was realy confused how to rate this part.Vincent Wong sings the OSTs, as he usually does in almost every drama he stars.The intro song was "cartoonish" silly and funny.It makes you laugh before the episode even starts!(though i couldn't understand a word!)So i thought "ok.Hands down!This is Vincent!"

The chemistry between the 2 Mls was GREAT!That ofc wasn't their first Drama together so you can easily feel this.The Bromance was AMAZING!I will never get tired of watching those two on screen.I will endlessly follow their work!
Their acting was flawless,natural and..bold!--tiny spoiler.they share a kiss scene!---shhhh you didn't hear this from me!

As for the female characters i really liked the Gangster female leader and the older sister of the Chiang Family.
Both well written chars,this is the right way female mafia/gang members should act.Must be cold and make hard and cruel decisionsThe actresses portrayed their chars the best possible way.These 2 chars were the most believable gangsters!Lol.

Rate from the Heart :9,5!


----------------Review from the Head------------------
Be prepared:Bitch mode is now ON

Music: What Music?Well is Vincent but..i didn't like it much,except one song which was really good and emotional.All the rest was just "noise"in my ears.So i gave a generous 7,5!

Production/Direction/Cinematography:Was good at its best.Mostly average.This is just a 2 years old Drama.The Cinematic techniques seemed old-fashioned.The indoors scenes were poorly made.I had the feeling i was watching a telenovela back from 90's!(well i never watched any but anyhow!)Outdoor scenes were much better.Direction gave me awkward vibes.

Acting:Only the above 4 actors stood out for their acting skills.Personally i didn't like any other.

Characters:As i didn't like any other character too.Actually all the rest really got into my nerves!

_The head of the Police and the male detective were okish.Played the bad guys.End of their roles.

_Madame Koo,the female cop.Ughhhh yeah what to say about this char.Stupid,superficial,throwing millions of dollars(daddy's money )like peanuts for the sake of her operation(!!??)No Ma'am!This is NOT the way you do it!The char lacked depth as almost all the female characters in this Drama.(Mr Writer,why???)

_Angel,the actress!Ok one of the most dislikable female chars i have ever watched in a drama.And i will explain why.
This char is an insult to all modern women.Or at least this is how i see it.
Her pursuing towards the ML.Her dirty tricks.Insisting chasing and even blackmailing him to be with her.Not taking a NO for an answer.No is always a No despite the gender.There is always a limit when a woman chases a man.And Angel did everything the wrong way.
I know this is a comedy so i didn't take it too seriously but as a woman i was annoyed.


Story/plot:
This is a comedy drama.Period.You should take it as it is.Do not take it too seriously.After all the drama itself,doesnt so why you should?
Story has many flaws and plot holes.This is one of the most unrealistic scenarios ever!I chose to overlook all of them and that is the reason i really-really liked it and enjoyed it so much!

All the time i was wondering how on earth they were going to wrap all the mess up at the end.Chaos and more chaos episode after episode.I was in a stressful situation!Lol.

Ko Bun was an undercover for 7 freakin years!Seriously what great intell he provided all these years to the Police to have him at this position for so long?And lets say he actually did.We don't see it.Are we suppose to use our imagination here?Again,Mr Writer,why?

Also the main concept of the story lacks depth.Having a civilian as an undercover without any training at all wasn't just risky but too stupid as well.And all this for what?Just solving 3 gang's murders?If that was the case Police should orchestrate undercover operations for every single murder case.I mean c'mon cut us some slack here!

Rate from the Head:7!

All in All.This is not a "watch at your own risk"Drama.Is a "Go watch it.Feel free to have a good laugh with our silly characters doing silly things and taking irrational decisions."

Enjoy it with your heart,not with your head.
At the end the choice is yours and only yours!

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