Ghost Cleansing Ltd (2021)

Commendable if imperfect in several ways

Apart from a plot twist that I could see coming from Episode 1, I find this series more than decent. It has elements of horror but its horror is not exactly its forte--some scenes that are meant to frighten are clichéd. (But rarely do we see something in the horror genre that is free of the clichés of the genre.)

The series does much better at telling a reasonably good story about two friends (Chiu and Hung) who do something that get themselves into trouble with supernatural forces, changing the entire courses of their lives as a result. There is a plot twist that I think many people are likely to see coming from Episode 1. This could have been handled more effectively: either do without the twist and exploit it fully to convey nuances in characterization from the start or do it so skillfully that few would see it coming.

Another flaw with the story is that there could have been stronger connections between the part of the story about a building with many inexplicably haunted apartments and the part of the story about how the main characters deal with the problem that has started eighteen years ago. (Perhaps the bad guy in the first part could have been given a role to play in the events of the second part.)

One may also find that many of the ghosts are caught too easily and in more or less the same methods without much of a back story for them. Still, through the events, we see how Chiu is affected by his past. On the one hand, he still has a certain anger against ghosts. On the other hand, he is taught to be merciful and not destroy the spirits. He is also tormented by guilt as he sees himself as being responsible for causing a family tragedy. His coping mechanism is different from Hung's, and he tries his darn best to face things bravely, so he becomes an inspiration for Hung when they meet again after eighteen years.

The human relationships aspect of the story is probably the series' strongest point. It is not perfect though. I find the romance element between Chiu and Siu Mei (Yanny?) somewhat unnecessary. The woman spends too much time being irritating at first. I get the feeling that the romance is added out of a sense of obligation to have some romance, and it is not done very well. In contrast, the friendship between Chiu and Hung is nicely portrayed. The bromance is nicely done, and there might even be slight hints of BL for the imaginative. I'm not saying that the story must focus on bromance or have BL elements to be good, but the romance element pales in comparison to the depiction of the friendship..

The HK drama industry is now a shell of its former self, with an exodus of talents over the years and lack of new talents to replace them. While there are still decent productions, one can imagine that the same productions nowadays would look more slick if they had been made elsewhere. Ghost Hunting Ltd does give the vibes of a production that could appear more polished if TVB were still in its heyday. Still, I did find myself enjoying the series while watching it. Some of the weaknesses that I have mentioned were not something that bugged me as I was watching but rather issues that I started to think about when writing this review.

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