Death Investigation Extension Review

Death Investigation Extension- 古灵精探

No. of Episodes: 25

Main Cast:
Roger Kwok as Yue Chi Long
Sonija Kwok as Ying Ching Ching
Kenneth Ma as Shing Ka-Tsun
Margie Tsang as Yue Chi Ching
Leung Ka Yan asYue Da Hoi
Kitty Yuen as Xiu Yee
Derek Kwok as Cheung Ching Yee

Synopsis
The "Death Investigation Extension (D.I.E.)" in the police force was established to accommodate those who have been sent away by their supervisors. As everybody knows, members of the Extension are to investigate unsolved cold cases. YUE CHI-LONG (Roger Kwok), who has cracked a large number of difficult cases by extrasensory means, is assigned to the D.I.E. believing that he will get promoted soon. Later LONG finds out that his supervisor still has a long way to go before he reaches retirement age. Hoping to leave the Extension as soon as possible, he gets to solve a lot of intriguing cases. New appointee YING CHING-CHING (Sonija Kwok) is a good-looking girl but she means to act tough and sassy in front of others. She takes an uncompromising stand over every case she deals with, which leads her into constant quarrels with LONG. The relationship between the pair is deteriorating day after day.LONG's elder sister, YUE CHI-CHING (Margie Tsang), has been living with him. While investigating an old case, LONG gets to find his long-lost father YUE TAI-HOI (Leung Ka Yan). Through close collaboration with LONG, CHING-CHING has gradually developed affection for him. As she is still torn between LONG and her two-timing boyfriend SHING KA-TSUN (Kenneth Ma), LONG has started to try to avoid her without rhyme or reason. Feeling so confused about what is happening, CHING-CHING decides to do some probing and is shocked to discover that LONG has been dogged by a female ghost called SIU SIN (Kitty Yuen).

Credits: Astro On Demand

Reviews:
I never heard of this series before it was aired and thought that it was just another series before the more anticipated ones arrived. Oh boy. How wrong I was. This series was excellent! It got me so hooked that I was anticipating the next episode every day. However, one thing got me sighing away was "Not another Kenneth Ma series". It was Survivor's Law II followed by The Master of Tai Chi and now D.I.E. I was getting so sick of seeing Kenneth Ma. TVB should really learn how to seperate series with the same actors.

Roger Kwok:
As usual, Roger puts up a great performance as the comical and weird detective who has a special power to see clues that other people can't upon touching the evidence. He acquired it after he got struck by lightning. God knows how he got struck. Thumbs up for Roger Kwok!

Sonija Kwok:
I'm not really a Sonija Kwok fan and her role in this series did not really WOW me at all. She always had the same expression and the way she said her script was really mono. Her character in here was rather boyish and rash. And she was always on to this criminal that she chased from Episode 1 all the way to Episode 25. She gave birth to a daughter in the end but overall, not a really impressive performance by Sonija.

Kenneth Ma:
He plays a very charming and hot police inspector in here. He and Sonija started off as a couple but he cheated on her with Queenie Chu. He was even suspected of murdering Queenie in the front few episodes. Kenneth's performance was just normal in here. Nothing wow except that he was quite charming. Then again, I was quite sick of seeing him all the time.

Derek Kwok:
He plays a police officer who is very loyal and thinks simply. His idol is Bruce Lee and you can see that some of his outfits in the show resembles him. Derek is again very entertaining in here and I liked the way he liked Margie but was too shy to express it.

Margie Tsang:
She plays Roger's older sister in here. I've never seen any of Margie's series before so it was a first time for me. She just plays the regular older sister and owns a match making travel agency. Not bad a performance from her.

Couples:
Roger & Sonija:
I believe that this was their first pairing together but they did it quite well and convincing. Their first meeting was hilarious when both drew their guns and showed their police passes to each other. Quite an ok pair. Sadly, they didn't end up together.

Kenneth & Sonija:
Their pairing did not really work for me. It was quite plain and nothing big except for that Queenie Chu third party thing. And Sonija looks way older than him even though they're almost of the same age.

Derek & Margie:
This is one of the few times I've seen Derek pair up with someone closer to his age and it fitted him well too. They were fun to watch as both were nice people. Derek didn't dare to admit his feelings for Margie for fear that Roger would object to their relationship. But all's well and ends well.

Overall Rating:
4/5

This is definitely one series not to be missed if you like comical detective series. The characters wer fun to watchand there was never a dull moment in this series. A few negative aspects was just the too predictable cases as the suspects were always someone close to the characters and that the very very bad ending. It was so so rushed. They had to solve one last case in the last episode, show a wedding, show how Roger got back with Sonija, show alot of other things all in one episode. The worst thing was I expected this series to have comical ending to complement its hilarious starting however, I was so disappointed to see the director kill of Roger's character in the end. I mean what in the world? It was supposed to be a happy ending. And Sonija just gave birth to a daughter from out of the blue.

*TVB will be making an alternate ending to this series but I have not seen it yet.