Freedom Memories (2022)

New talent should be given opportunities to flourish but not at the expense of the viewer!

I'm keeping this review short - but my review is definitely not sweet because the truth hurts. My review hurt me when writing it because I liked watching Kelly in "Home Sweet Home". To put it bluntly, this whole drama is a mess and should never have been made.

The only good thing about "Freedom Memories" is it is only 15 episodes long. Cutting the series short at 15 episodes reduces the amount of suffering viewers have to endure when watching TVB.

I know what TV Exces were trying to do: promote new talent. The problem with that is, a decent drama needs to have some reliable Star power. Without a single proven TVB star, you know, one that actually portrayed one character well in a good drama, this drama just falls flat. It's hard, no impossible, to believe, the characters depicted represent in any way the careers of Stephen Chow, Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau, all of whom have their place in Hong Kong TV and movie history.

Whoever was in charge of casting should be fired because it's a terrible idea to have Dickson and Ding whatshisface, who stole the best supporting actor at the 2021 anniversary awards, play leading roles. I won't start on the girls Tiffany and Kelly but I'll just say they are not ready to play leading actresses yet. Tiffany sticks out like a sore thumb because she instantly comes across as an ABC (American Born Chinese) and it's hard to see her as a Maggie Cheung inspired character - she seems more like a basketball player than an actress. Kelly has bad body language, struggles to deliver lines and can't effectively portray emotions through facial expressions. In short, their acting is very, very wooden.

This time I won't have a go at the script because the careers of TVB stars in the 1980s is an interesting concept, and could have definitely been a good breeding ground for comedy, like in "Old Time Buddy", an immensely funny 1997 TVB drama. I feel they just needed to get the casting right to pull it off. The casting was crap and that is the main reason why this series is unwatchable.

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