Shades of Truth

Infobox Television
show_name = Shades of Truth
(水滸無間道)


caption =
genre = Modern Action
format =
runtime = 45 minutes (approx.)
creator =
director =
producer =
writer =
starring = Wong He
Julian Cheung
Gigi Lai
Tavia Yeung
Yuen Wah
opentheme = "沒有半分空間" by
Wong He
endtheme =
country = flagicon|Hong Kong Hong Kong
language = Cantonese
network = TVB
first_aired = December 27, 2004
last_aired =
January 29, 2005
num_episodes = 25
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related =
website = http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/shadesoftruth

"Shades Of Truth" (In Chinese: 水滸無間道) is a TV series produced by Hong Kong's TVB in 2004. It consists of 26 episodes (the last episode being 2 episodes long), starring Julian Cheung, Wong He, Gigi Lai and Tavia Yeung as its main casts.

Title

English: Shades Of Truth
Chinese: 水滸無間道
Pin Yin: Shui Hu Wu Jian Dao

Main Cast

Julian Cheung as Ha Chung Yum (Dung Chung Cho) / Mo Chung (Wu Song)
Wong Hei as Lam Ji Chung / Lam Chung (Lin Chung)
Gigi Lai as Nichole (Man Fung Lin) / Poon Kam Lin
Tavia Yeung as Hong Ji Sin (Siu Sin)

Soundtrack

Theme song: 沒有半分空間 by Wong Hei
Sub-Theme song: In Another Time by Jodie Simmons

Overview

This is a romantic and yet hilarious tale about justice, brotherhood and family ties that fuses the stories of 水浒传 an old Chinese tale and a modern film 无间道 (Infernal Affairs), as its title 水浒无间道 suggests. And yet, it has its own interesting twist and unique style of comedy that sets it apart from the other two stories.

Synopsis

900 years ago, Mo Chung (known as Wu Song in Chinese) and Lam Chung (Lin Chong in Chinese) were the best of friends, as the characters in Shui Hu Zhuan were. They were as close as brothers and swore to uphold justice together even in their next lives.

900 years later, Mo Chung has reincarnated as Ha Chung Yum (who is nicknamed Dong Chung Cho - a name of a herb) and Lam Chung as Lam Ji Chung. Both of them are policemen, Lam Ji Chung being of a higher rank. Dong Chung Cho was just a normal patrol officer. However, when Dong Chung Cho was promoted with very high recommendations to be under Lam Chung's colleague, KY's team, KY approached him to act as an undercover cop. He was supposed to get close and find evidence to nab Song Boh (played by Yuen Wah), a top member of the underworld society.

Dong Chung Cho then got a chance to work under Song Boh by pretending to be a massager. It worked, and Dong Chung Cho rose quickly to become Song Boh's most trusted man.

Initially, when Dong Chung Cho first met Lam Ji Chung, both of them disliked each other immensely. They were still unaware of their identies from their previous lives at that time. Dong Chung Cho disliked Lam Ji Chung because in the day, he was an unreasonable boss who was mean to his subordinates, and often claimed all the credits in cracking cases. However in the night, he was a playboy who frequented pubs and had one night stands. He was never serious with any girl and has never fallen in love before. On the other hand, Lam Ji Chung dislikes Dong Chung Cho as he was unaware of his actual identity, thus he assumed the undercover to be a follower of Song Boh. Dong Chung Cho also played several decoys and tricks to have him and the police literally 'running in circles', as a result things got quite personal between them.

Nichole is a DJ who hosts the programme "Desperate Men and Women" on their local radio. Dong Chung Cho harboured an immense dislike for her as due to a huge misunderstanding, he thought of her as a slut who has affairs with married/attached men.

Siu Sin is a Chinese physician who harbours a deep crush on Lam Ji Chung after he rescues her from a bank robbery. On the other hand, Dong Chung Cho has secretly admired Siu Sin since their schooling days. She meets Nichole during a hot yoga class and they become best friends.

Dong Chung Cho soon recovers a vague memory of his past when he hit his head after slipping and falling on the ground. After seeing flashes of images in his head, he realises that Lam Ji Chung is in fact Lam Chung, his "big brother" from the past, and seeks to help him to recover his memory too, so as to honour their promise of upholding justice together. His attempts frequently fail in a series of hilarious slip-ups.

Dong Chung Cho and Nichole fall in love with each other while Dong Chung Cho's on his undercover mission. As Nichole turns out to be Song Boh's daughter, Song Boh ordered Dong Chung Cho to be her 24-hour bodyguard to protect her from harm's way. Seeing this as an opportunity to get even closer to Song Boh, KY instructed Dong Chung Cho to make use of the time he spent with Nichole to "nurture their feelings into love".

Dong Chung Cho hesitated at first as he has always looked upon Nichole as a slut, and this idea was strengthened when he realizes she was a reincarnation of a slut - Poon Kam Lin - who seduced Mo Chung in his previous life, after her husband, his brother, died. When they slowly began to fall for each other, Dong Chung Cho refused to believe that he has actually fallen for a 'slut' and continued the self-denial that he was only pretending to love her.

Lam Ji Chung finally recovers his memory of the past after a fire broke out during a mission. He became a changed man, and was even kind to his subordinates. After putting two and two together, he realises that Dong Chung Cho's an undercover cop.

On one occasion when Dong Chung Cho almost got caught by Kwan, one of Song Boh's most trusted and capable aides, for stealing information/evidence from a computer in Song Boh's company, Lam Ji Chung went to his rescue. He pretended that he was the one who wanted to steal information, and ended up being suspended from all duties.

As it turns out, Kwan was starting to be suspicious of Dong Chung Cho's identity, and soon he set up a trap for him and Lam Ji Chung. He brought the two of them together and forced Dong Chung Cho into a situation where he had to shoot Lam Ji Chung. Through Dong Chung Cho's hesitation and eventual confession under the pressure, Kwan managed to expose him to Song Boh and Nichole. Song Boh was devastated at the news, and so was Nichole when she realises she had been used. Dong Chung Cho resumed his normal duty as a good cop, but he could never forget Nichole despite his self-denial.

After getting rid of Dong Chung Cho, Kwan slowly reveals his true colours and is determined to take over Song Boh's position. Song Boh refused to believe the hints, until Dong Chung Cho showed himm a few photos of Kwan having an affair with Song Boh's current young and beautiful wife. Song Boh then gathers all his men together for a meeting and reveals to them Kwan's betrayal and affair. He pulls a gun at Kwan, only to learn that Kwan had been prepared for this type of confrontation. Already Kwan had turned most of Song Boh's men against him, and he threatened to hurt Nichole and his mother. He drove Song Boh to the brink, taking away his power and authority, causing Song Boh to attempt suicide.

From here, the story takes a very complicated and exciting twist that isn't what it appears to be on the surface, everything to be explained in the last episode.

Lam Ji Chung's and Dong Chung Cho's appeared to be well, but soon Dong Chung Cho started suspecting Lam Ji Chung. As a reference to "Infernal Affairs", it seems as if while Dong Chung Cho was sent as an undercover to the Underworld society, Lam Ji Chung was sent as an undercover to the police, and the infamous parking lot scene where the Underworld undercover pulled a gun out at his mentor (In this case, Song Boh) occurs. Song Boh reminds him that without Song Boh's help, Lam Ji Chung couldn't be where he was, so the undercover puts the gun away and states he would continue working for him. Dong Chung Cho soon learns that Lam Ji Chung used to be in a soccer team that Song Boh sponsored, and realizes their relationship. All his attempts to find evidence is foiled, and it is him the police suspects. As a result, he is suspended of police duties.

Lam Ji Chung proposed to Nichole, knowing that Nichole would agree to the marriage because she wanted to spite Dong Chung Cho. Dong Chung Cho on the other hand, finally got together with Siu Sin, only to realise that they weren't each other's true love. When Nichole finally came to her senses and called off the marriage, Lam Ji Chung appeared to hate Dong Chung Cho for stealing his girl and strayed to the bad side.

Kwan finds out about Lam Ji Chung being Song Boh's undercover, and decides to recruit him to his side. To prove that he wasn't putting on an act, Lam Ji Chung had to open fire at Siu Sin, and it appeared that she was killed by him when she fell back into the sea. Kwan finally trusted Lam Ji Chung, enough so that he sought Lam Ji Chung for help to retrieve some weaponry that was confiscated by the police. With his careful planning, he managed a plot that would bring all the weapons out and make it appear as if everything was Dong Chung Cho's fault. The plan worked, and soon Kwan, Dong Chung Cho, Lam Ji Chung and many other Triad members gathered together to take the weapons. It was then Lam Ji Chung announced that Kwan had outsmarted himself and fallen into a trap.

As it turns out, when Song Boh attempted suicide, Dong Chung Cho and Lam Ji Chung were the ones who stopped him. They set up an act where Lam Ji Chung was to pretend to be Song Boh's undercover in the police. Then he and Dong Chung Cho were to pretend they hated each other for their identities and deeds. As for Siu Sin's supposed death, Lam Ji Chung had already got her to put on a safety bullet-proof vest beforehand, thus she was safe. Nichole, who had been hidden away with a bomb set to explode and kill her, was also rescued. Kwan was arrested, and when he attempted escape the police caught him and even managed to find Kwan's own undercover in the police force.

In the end, Lam Ji Chung realised that he truly loved Siu Sin. When he had to shoot her, he felt as heart-broken as he felt 900 years ago when Lam Chung's wife killed herself. Dong Chung Cho on the other hand, could not get over the fact that Nichole was Poon Kam Lin the Slut. Unable to get over this psychological barrier, he didn't do anything when Nichole left for Shanghai to publish a book.

After much persuasion from Siu Sin, Nichole finally returned to help Dong Chung Cho overcome his psychological barrier. Lam Ji Chung fed Dong Chung Cho something that knocked him out. When he finally awoke, he was in Mo Chung's clothes and with him was Poon Kam Lin replaying a scene where she seduced him. This particular scene had haunted him in his sleep many times before, and 900 years ago, Mo Chung stabbed Poon Kam Lin with his sword, killing her. But this time, he hesitated to kill her and he could not figure out why. He got even more confused when he heard a strange ringing, only to learn it was a cell phone. Lam Ji Chung and Siu Sin then reveal to him and the viewers that they were actually in modern times and he should forget the past and hold on to the present. Dong Chung Cho finally overcomes his psychological barrier and he and Nichole finally end up together.

Song Boh on the other hand served his time in jail, but before doing so he finally proposed to Nichole's mother (whom he couldn't marry 20 years ago due to a huge misunderstanding). He also did good by filming an advertisement to discourage youngsters to join the triads. All other characters also end up well.

External links

* [http://www.tvbsquare.com/shadesOT.htm TVB Square's Review]
* [http://www.spcnet.tv/reviews/review.php?rID=786 spcnet.tv's Review]