The Spectator (2023)

Underrated drama worth watching

I was surprised I hadn’t heard too much about this drama and just happen to come across it. I was immediately hooked and binge watched the entire 20 episodes in two days. It was a snowy weekend and not much to do. But I was drawn to the story (somewhat unique), the casting (I’m a fan of Pakho, Venus was somewhat convincing, and the rest of the cast was pretty decent), the way the drama was filmed (had a movie feel to it), and the story (reminds me of a tamed down anime with characters that have special powers or psychological control over others). While the special powers did not seem realistic, the story and casting were enough to keep me going. I would actually recommend this somewhat different thriller drama, and I tend to be quite critical of dramas from TVB nowadays.

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What a messy drama

This drama’s only saving grace is Pakho Chau. The handsome owner of a cafe who is charismatic and friendly and awesome. Even when he goes into his vigilante mode to kill what he sees as bad people or “bad bugs”, I kinda found myself rooting for him. He already made the drama a 8/10, but then oh boy… the problems mount up like wtf.

The female lead is played by Venus Wong and her story is pretty sad, but I find her heighten senses and how she controlled them a little unbelievable. To dampen her powers she eats a ton of sweets, and to awaken them she drinks a lemon and salted water concoction. How in earth can she do this for years without suffering from diabetes or high blood pressure is beyond me, but the most ridiculous part is how - with her powers - she can walk into a room where a crime had happened and *feel* what happened there with the residual emotions left behind. She can get into the role of the victim or the perpetrator and deduce the perpetrator with said emotions. I kept on thinking: come on yo, if we wanted a superhero drama we would watch one, what is this? And of course, to force the tension, TVB had her paired with vigilante Pakho so he was constantly having to do this “hide emotions” thing or else she would sense his “evil” side and expose him. A predictable move and I saw it coming a mile away. The only other interesting characters for me was Jinny Ng as this really manipulative and vindictive bitch of a woman who tried to play with the people around her to see how far she could push people to do her bidding, and Mark Ma as this misunderstood working class loudmouth who actually had a heart of gold and was almost a victim of Pakho.

The writing I found was quite messy and the stories do not meld together well enough to form a cohesive whole. It just feels like lumps of stories thrown together at a wall and the screenwriters were hoping the main actors would keep the whole thing together, but it just doesn’t really work.

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