Overview - Shadow of Justice

One transfer and a few complex cases leads Traffic Accident Investigation Unit Chief Inspector Bobby Au-Yeung to work closely with CID Superintendent Joey Meng. Both understand and appreciate each other. Logistics company heiress Jeannie Chan believes Bobby broke up her family and hates him. Bobby once promised Jeannie’s late mother that he will be accommodating towards her, but he discovers that Jeannie is becoming increasingly close with lawyer Joe Ma and triad leader Pierre Ngo. Bobby also learns that his colleague and good friend Matt Yeung is Jeannie’s ex-lover. To guide her back to the right path, Bobby and Matt target the brothers Joe and Pierre. Bobby and Joe’s values are different and each has their own interpretation of justice. When the two men meet, a battle of wits is quietly triggered.

Overview - Of Greed and Ants

In the 1970s, Hong Kong's economy is booming and the stock market serves as a battleground for greed. Thai-Chinese Eddie Cheung's perspective on life changed completely because of his father's misfortunes. He escapes from Thailand to Hong Kong. Learning of the stock market's power, he is determined to be the one that controls it. The upright Edwin Siu, who comes from a grassroots background, and his friends Tony Hung and Anthony Ho are young people with dreams. Unfortunately, they get bruised and battered by the storm in the stock market... Edwin lives with a mother and two daughters. The sisters, Elaine Yiu and Jeannie Chan, have polar opposite personalities, and are waiting a chance to change their lives. Eddie connects with the wealthy Ben Wong and gradually achieves his life's goals. At the same time, Tony and his friends get pulled in and their fates are rewritten.

Overview - Life on the Line

After his wife Ali Lee was killed by a drunk driver, Principal Ambulanceman Joe Ma has lived with his only daughter, sister (Pinky Cheung) and sister-in-law (Moon Lau). Because of his wife's death, Joe hates people who do not abide by the rules and who act recklessly. At work, Joe is strict and impartial. His new subordinate Matthew Ho is impulsive and frequently has conflicts with Joe. Meanwhile, the new Probationary Ambulance Officer Joey Law is a perfectionist and always picks on Matthew, causing the team members to feel pressured. As the intermediary, Joe works hard to maintain the team's cohesiveness and collaborative spirit. At the same time, he hopes to train a group of elite paramedics that can save more lives under different, challenging circumstances.

Overview - The No No Girl

Adia Chan's love life has been full of thorns. She is over 40 years old and still busy dealing with her ex-boyfriend's debts of gratitude. With no house and no job, and having experienced a woman's most painful of being abandoned by the groom on her wedding day, Adia has no choice but to participate in a comeback competition organized by a hotel for the biggest losers. She hopes that it will lead to a stable job and income. It turns out that the event organizer is Eddie Cheung, whom she had a one-night stand with many years ago. He appears to have forgotten about her. They develop a good employer-employee relationship. Eddie's son, Owen Cheung, was originally the general manager of the hotel, but is demoted to trainee after angering his father. With help and advice from Adia, Owen is able to gradually improve his relationship with his father. Owen loses his direction when he falls in love with a mysterious girl, fellow trainee Jeannie Chan. On one hand, she is a rival; on the other hand, he wants to love and protect her. More ironically, when Eddie inadvertently discovers that Adia was the girl that he had a one-night stand with, he immediately changes the rules to turn it into an elimination competition. It changes everyone's relationship as they compete against each other. The circumstances force a "nothing woman" to make a resolution...

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Extended Trailer

Raising the Bar Review

Producer: Joe Chan
Genre: Legal
Cast: Ben Wong, Grace Chan, Jeannie Chan, Stephanie Ho, Moon Lau, Louis Cheung, Elaine Yiu, Timothy Cheng, Natalie Tong

Review:
Raising The Bar takes a fresh angle on the oft-seen TVB legal drama. Instead of the typical case-by-case structure, this series focuses on the daily routines of a lawyer. The depiction of a lawyer's job is fairly realistic and shows the less glamorous side of the profession. There are also little tidbits, like the call to the bar or scheduling hearings, that are rarely seen in other legal dramas. The cases cover a variety of matters before the court and do not shy away from sensitive topics. For once, legal procedures and reasoning are mostly followed. It is also shocking to know that there is actually more than one judge in Hong Kong.

I was worried about the overwhelming number of characters at the beginning, but the series quickly deals with that by regulating some characters to the background. That is not to say, however, that the focus went to the best stories. The second half of the series put an overemphasis on romantic lines that no one cared about (ie. Elaine's affair). Further, it throws logic out the door with the sexual harassment case, which any competent lawyer should have gotten rid of a long time ago.

The four girls were surprisingly capable of carrying the series. They clearly had a lot of fun filming together, which shows in their on-screen interactions. Grace Chan shows why she is perhaps deserving of her rapid climb to lead status as she looked comfortable and natural in her role. Jeannie Chan suited the role of the snobby rich girl and smoothly managed her character's transition into a more humble person. Stephanie Ho is cute and provided comedic relief. Moon Lau fared well for her first series; though she was not particularly impressive, she was certainly not bad either.

Ben Wong hits the nail with his professionalism as an experienced barrister, especially with those reading glasses. Elaine Yiu needs to stop being given these discontent wife roles. Natalie Tong has been doing a great job with her subtle performances. Louis Cheung is a really versatile actor, but his character's odd obsession with aliens was something that I don't get. Timothy Cheng is funny in his interactions with Stephanie and Natalie. King Lam does a good job with his clueless lawyer, while Hugo Wong is great eye candy despite limited screen-time.

So does Raising the Bar actually raise the bar for TVB productions? Maybe slightly, but it is not without its faults. What does the jury think?

Rating: 4/5


Raising the Bar Alternative Ending

Raising the Bar Alternate Ending

This is Casual TVB's 400th post!

Netizens have discovered that there was actually an alternate ending to Raising the Bar, shown in the overseas version. In the alternate version, the characters participate in a silent protest in defence of Hong Kong's judicial independence.



The alternate ending is in reference to the protest staged by Hong Kong's legal professionals in June 2014. Around 1800 lawyers, legal scholars and law students dressed in black and marched from the High Court to the Court of Final Appeal. They then stood in silence for three minutes in front of the Court of Final Appeal. It was a protest against a "white paper" issued by the Chinese government which regarded the judiciary as part of the government and stated that "loving the country" is a requirement for judges. In a statement by the Hong Kong Bar Association, they felt that having these political requirements for judges would threaten the idea of judiciary independence.

Overview - Raising the Bar

A group of barristers and trainee lawyers vow to pursue justice and ideals, but the process is fraught with difficulties. Regarded as the "Condor Heroes" of the legal world, barrister Ben Wong and his wife Elaine Yiu have taught many students. Among them, Grace Chan, Jeannie Chan and Louis Cheung are Ben's favourites. Grace's classmate, Moon Lau, is a trainee solicitor at Elaine's law firm, while Stephanie Ho trains under barrister Timothy Cheng. Jeannie's half-sister, Natalie Tong, has an affair with the married Timothy and later switches over to work for Ben. With each of them using their own methods, how do these rookies become qualified legal practitioners, in a journey that is full of struggle, doubt and tough choices about their future? Theory turns into practice as they handle tricky cases and experience success and failures, while also dealing with love, family and friendship problems every day. Their biggest test arrives when legal standards challenge their personal orientations...


Raising the Bar Promo Clips

Raising the Bar Promo Clips

Overview - Raising the Bar

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Astro Promo