Of Swords and Parasols

For whatever reason, no matter how much I love TVB dramas, unless it's a wuxia, I find it hard to post on one.

Before I get started, I shall offer a brief explanation of names.  TVB has a rather small talent pool, and most of the TVB dramas I watch are at  calixa's recommendation, so generally, I see even a smaller pool(not really a problem, as out tastes tend to line up.)  We also talk about them a lot.  Since I watch with English subs and she often watches with Vietnamese subs or dubs, we end up with different names for the characters.  As a result, they get nicknames.  As a result of that, I often have to force myself to learn real names.  For whatever reason, I never bothered to do that here.  Not an indication of liking, just laziness on my part.  Anyway...

Playboy:  Playboy is the male lead.  He is played by Wong Hei, who I first met in Shades of Truth, where he played a playboy cop who is a reincarnation of a famous hero, and who falls for a nerdy doctor.  His name will always be Playboy to me, even when it's totally wrong for the character(like here.)

Myolie:  Myolie is Myolie Wu, calixa's favorite TVB actress.  We just never bother to call her anything else.  Female lead.

Model:  Model is Playboy's love interest.  It's her profession.

Puppy Cop:  Puppy Cop is Myolie's love interest.  He plays an undercover cop, and a good one, but tends to have adorable puppylike expressions when not in cop mode.

Angry Cop:  Playboy's old friend and now his rival.  Not a bad guy, just in a bad mood because his girlfriend's been in a coma for a few years.

Triad Boss:  Self-explanatory.  Villain.  Really only brought up here because the actor seems to specialize in fun villains.


Note:  It's all pretty unspoilery...everything I mention is in the credits, revealed very early on, or typical TVB final act stuff(which, like kdramas, involves comas and blindness and amnesia and such, but not death in snow.)