[Review] Ruse of Engagement (叛逃)

I love this drama. I felt that the acting was adequate for most actors and even superb for some. The plot was definitely satisfying and intense in many moments. Honestly, I'm not sure why they took forever to air this, because this drama exceeded my expectations. It might not be the best drama TVB has ever aired, but it's definitely one of the best in recent years.

I've found myself unable to finish some TVB dramas that I started nowadays, as they were pretty boring. For some, I finish them for the sake of it. For this particular drama, however, although I thought that it started out pretty slow, I've found myself looking forward to the next episode everyday.

Warning: This review contains major spoilers.

Ruco Chan (陳展鵬) as Carson
I think Ruco won me over in this series, but then again, this was filmed 3 years ago. I'm just not feeling his recent roles. He looks hot in the series. Acting was pretty solid as well. His character was interesting and developed well. I find myself rooting for him, especially in scenes where Ron was being annoying to him. I prefer the pairing between Ruco and Aimee than Ron and Aimee. I feel that Ruco has more chemistry with Aimee (also as seen in Outbound Love), and Ron just seems like a kid. His character truly loves Aimee, and even asked Eddie for a favor in letting her be a witness instead. Unfortunately, Aimee doesn't understand his love for her. Was he too harsh in forcing Aimee to turn herself in? I was thinking that he would live with regret for forcing her to commit suicide, but instead, he turned to suicide instead. I like the way TVB handled this, because he was sitting in his and Aimee's favorite place, and he was peacefully (and happily) sipping his poisoned drink.

Ron Ng (吳卓羲) as Alfred
I feel like Ron is great at acting immature, annoying, and stubborn. He makes an excellent "I'm pissed" face easily. I've never been a Ron fan. I just remember that I didn't like him that much in Rosy Business. He also plays the cute, younger brother part well. Initially, I was drawn to him in ROE, but his character got too annoying. How could he not trust his own brother? Is he really that selfish because he wanted Aimee all to himself? His acting was satisfying, but his character is definitely easy to hate. Why is he even a cop? His emotions get in the way too easily.

Aimee Chan (陳茵媺) as Jessica
Dresses very professionally, similar to her role in Forensic Heroes 3. I've found myself not hate Aimee as much these days. She looks quite cute in ROE, and her crying scene when Ruco "died" was pretty good. However, I thought that it was a huge 180 move to have her look ultra serious in the very beginning of the series, but turn more laid-back when she began dating Ruco. This could be an editing problem though, so I wouldn't place the blame entirely on her. Satisfying acting, except I don't know what the heck she was doing in episode 20 when Ruco and Ron each had a gun pointing to each other and she was just weakly clinging to Ron, trying to stop him from shooting Ruco, while looking at his clothing. Now that part was just mad awkward. Definitely felt bad for her character though - she loves Ruco, but he had to distant himself from her in order to protect her as well as make it more believable that he has gone to the dark side. Now, another 180 move was that it actually turns out that she not only knows about her father's operation, but she also took part in it. And so the mole that Ruco was looking for was actually her. I think it's quite sad that her life was basically planned for her as soon as she was born because of her father. She killed her father (unintentionally) and took the biological weapons away, but with a selfish intention to sell them to other countries for a profit. She suffers a tragic ending with her committing suicide (as she refuses to spend even one night in jail, which Ruco was forcing her to do). Her final words were, "The person who truly loves me is not you, Carson. [I think this is referring to the fact that he wanted to shoot her as she turns away, and Ron stopped him, meaning that Ron is that one that truly loves Aimee.] I'm wrong in loving you. Goodbye." I freakin' teared up at this part. Incredibly sad.

Eddie Kwan (關禮傑) as Ngo Sir
He is the leader of the intelligence team in ATF, and he looks damn hot for his age. He originally seems like a strict boss type character, but it turns out that he is willing to let his subordinates do what they have to do as long as it's for the good of ATF, such as when he lets Ruco have his private mole (Yoyo) and also letting Ruco bomb the place. And so, he was willing to go extremes in order to satisfy ATF's goals. Eddie has a very "righteous" look to him that never made me suspect that he was the mole. There was also no way he would personally tell Ruco that only he and Eddie would know where the safe house is if he was indeed the mole. As always, great acting from Eddie.

Yoyo Mung (蒙嘉慧) as Yip Ting
Her character seemed annoying at first, and her hairstyle is just...I don't even know. She also seems like she should belong in ATF or something, because man, that girl can find out things so easily! You can tell that although she lied to her step father about liking Ruco, she did indeed have some feelings for him. She is an incredibly strong person and definitely very patient, such as when she wanted to get closed to her step father in order to find the truth about her real father's death. She was able to forgive her father at the end. She provides encouragement for Ruco, and I feel that she was the one that is keeping Ruco sane. When her father died, she started to lose focus, but luckily, there was Ruco. In the end, she attained her goal of revenge for her father and step father, because she just wanted Lee Kwok Lun dead.

Louise Lee (李司棋) as Carson and Alfred's mother
Another actress who acts great as being annoying. This character started off being quite annoying, but I appreciated her when she trusted her son Ruco. I remember that one part where she told Ron that he can arrest his brother, but he must not shoot him, and she knows for certain that Ruco wouldn't harm Ron. Although, Ruco did indeed shot Ron (but not fatally) in order to get away, and this caused her to no longer suspect that he was going undercover. She became super disappointed at him. Her hair style was atrocious. I was disappointed that we didn't see her in the last episode - like she never got to see her son again. Perhaps Ron will not tell her that he was an undercover cop and committed suicide and instead keep her at her current state where she's extremely disappointed in Ruco but still like to think that he is alive and well somewhere.

Law Lok-Lam as Yip Ting's father
His character was a bit interesting as he was torn between his terrorist group and his love for his adopted daughter. He can be very ruthless sometimes though. There were two memorable parts for me regarding him and his daughter. One is when he saw that Yoyo had been poisoned by Vivien and saved her, and the other was when he didn't shoot Yoyo because she claims that she saved Ruco only because she likes him. Sadly, he died in the hands of Law Kwok Lun after he wanted to leave the group, and also Vivien didn't save him.

Chris Lai Lok Yi (黎諾懿) as Negative
I had a feeling he was the mole early in the series, because he looks like someone who just is. Sadly, I was wrong, so I must commend TVB for setting it up so it led us to believe it was him. It was unfortunate that he was used by Vivien and later, by Lee Kwok Lun for medical testing purposes. He was eventually saved, but he was left in a state of comatose because of the numerous torture he endured. We never got to see if he woke up.

Vivien Yeo
She's really good at playing both the innocent and the villainous part. I honestly did not suspect her to be part of the bad guys until it was revealed that she was. When she's villainous, she has a really bitch look on her face, and when she's innocent, she resembles a slow lori. I've always thought that her acting is quite well, and although her accent might bother some people, it never affected my thoughts on her acting. Plus, her character is from Malaysia, so her what I assume is a Malaysian accent (since she is from Malay from what I recall) would be appropriate for her character. Anyway, this character is evil. 1) She tried to kill Yoyo, who was her best friend, 2) she killed her boyfriend/fiance(?), 3) she used Chris and had no second thoughts when it comes to discarding him, and 4) she only cares about herself. All her actions are for the group, as she is very afraid of losing it all and going back to Malaysia where she had nothing. However, towards the end, she said that she considers Law Lok-Lam as her father, but I remember that she instantly turned against him when she thought that he was going to kill her. Then again, I would probably do the same to someone who is close to me if I believe that they were going to do me harm. But then I knew that she was lying when at the most critical time, she leaves Law Lok-Lam right after he saves her. Grade A bitch. The way she was killed was well-deserved. She tried to kill Yoyo, only to lose the gun to her. Then when Yoyo told her to leave (and knew about the large sum of money her step father gave to her), she tried to kill her again, causing Yoyo to push her sofa toward her and Vivien fell into some glass.

Leanne Li as Beauty
Not much to say about her, to be honest. She was just a sort of "filler" character to be placed next to Aimee to be her best friend. Her character has an interesting skill where she can usually tell the relationships among her coworkers - sort of like reading them. She usually stays inside the ATF headquarter to do her work.

Kenny Wong (黃德斌) as Wai Sir
Satisfying performance, but his character was kinda boring. He is the leader of the assault team in ATF. He also temporarily took over Eddie's position when the latter was under investigation. He sorta disappeared in the last few episodes.

Lee Kwok Lun as Jessica's father
I had a feeling he was the villain behind the terrorist group, because well, I read somewhere that he was a villain. But it was also because he seems like the type - only caring about wealth. But, you can tell that he really cares about his daughter, and he wants a good relationship with her. He was evil and wanted to make money off of his biological weapon by releasing both the specially made disease and the cure for that. His death was very similar to Vivien's death - he was trying to kill Aimee, she pushed him away, and he accidentally landed on his knife.

I love the opening of the episodes. Instead of going for a song with lyrics, ROE went for some pretty epic music that, when I watch the opening, my friends asked me if I was playing a video game. The song at the end is pretty nice as well, sang by Ruco and Ron.

The last episode was crazy. I was satisfied with the ending, although quite tragic. However, it appears that Ruco never reunited with Louise. Also, if I interpreted it correctly, he committed suicide by poisoning himself (happily). How will Louise and Ron feel?? Also, I like how they've kept his relationship with Yoyo a bit ambiguous.

Overall, I definitely would recommend you to watch this drama. The plot was quite refreshing (for TVB anyway) in my opinion. I appreciated the fact that they definitely kept me guessing on who the mole was, and even led me to believe that someone else was the mole when in fact he was just a victim. For me, I wished that this drama was way more than 25 episodes.

What are your thoughts on Ruse of Engagement?