Recap: Tiger Cubs Episode 12

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I’m loving Tiger Cubs. Although there are glitches in the writing, the acting comes out strong and consistent. Each case has a story, and behind each one is gray characterization of the culprits and victims. No one is completely black and white, which makes a compelling storyline. Plus, each episode focuses on a back story of one of the tiger cubs, so we aren’t skipping character depth for them. These moments are short however, sometimes feeling like a quick gloss over the issue, but I’m glad they are inserted rather than completely missing.

Episode 12:

Aw. This episode begins with Chin Sir going on a fishing date with Madam Chong as their bond continues to grow. Thankfully, Madam Chong has finally let go of her dead ex-boyfriend because it has become repetitive to see her attempts at committing suicide in every case! Fishing calms him down while giving Madam Chong a chance to view the beauty of nature and having a friend by her side.

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Later at the bar, the boys make fun of his outing with Madam Chong, why is it so frequent now? His parents, the owners of the bar, take turns to tease him as well. Mom: “Did you guys hold hand?” Well, his father is more aggressive, “Did you kiss her?” Chin Sir denies the love rumors with a stiff smile so Madam Chong’s brother, our adorable sniper, Ah Yuen, chimes in with his strategy, “Don’t tell me your grinning is just because of fishing? Come on! Admit it! If you love someone, tell her!” Tired of the nagging, Chin Sir moves about, leaving Ah Yuen to corner him right and left, while continuously speaking of his strategy, “Don’t you know what love is? Love isn’t just a noun, it’s a verb! Action! Ok? Get it?” He winks and clicks his tongue. I love this boy.

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As planned, Ah Yuen informs his sister the next morning that her car is broken down. He’s sorry that she has to travel to work without a car this week. He then suggests asking Chin Sir to be her chauffeur since he’s off this week anyway. Her eyes light up, “But he has to agree first.” On Cue, Chin Sir rings the bell to their apartment and hastily says yes to Ah Yuen’s unfinished question. Ha. Someone is in a rush. Now that his side job as a cupid is done, Ah Yuen excuses himself, leaving Madam Chong in an awkward silence with Chin Sir.

The silence doesn’t go on for long because Madam Chong is called on duty. A bank robbery is taking place with 3 robbers holding 18 people as hostages. SDU arrives on scene and quickly shoots down the three robbers. As Ah Lai (Him Law) and Ah Hin (Vincent Wong) head to the main room, they find a woman, tied to a chair with a bomb strapped to her chest; it’s set to explode in 90 seconds.

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Ah Hin then notices that the bomb is made with ammonium nitrate and is relieved to know that aside from static electricity, it needs a detonator to explode. Since there’s no evidence of electric detonator around, it’s safe to cut the wire. Unfortunately, the micro detonator is attached elsewhere – in the phone of the bank financial controller. Boom!! Blood splatters on the wall and we are spared from seeing the scattered brain parts.

As her subordinates list out the details of the case, a sentimental chord strikes Madam Chong. In her head, she deduces that the mastermind behind this explosive phone cases could be the same one that killed her ex-boyfriend two years ago. Seriously, drama? I thought we’re good.

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During lunch with Chin Sir, Madam Chong is all about reading the files over and over again. She reveals to him that her boyfriend might have been a scapegoat for the financial controller two years ago. Since the culprit didn’t succeed in killing him the last time, he plotted the same plan two years later. Narrowing her eyes, Madam Chong promises to send the culprit behind bars for the rest of his life. Worried about her conviction but still helpful to the case, Chin Sir points her to a professor who is an expert in electrical engineering.

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Oh. Hey there Lau Bei! No wait, this isn’t Three Kingdom RPG. He’s playing the role of Dr. Chim (not to be mistaken with Chin Sir). Basically, he tells her it’s really hard to integrate explosives into cell phones because of the tight spaces. It’s possible to decode the handcraft behind the work if the phones weren’t blown to pieces. He sees her out. After she’s gone, he lets a sigh, clearly keeping some secrets in his pocket.

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That night, Dr. Chim visits a girl, or should I say the culprit behind the phone explosion? The girl is Ching Yuen Ting, played by Yoyo Chen (Vincent Wong’s wife, cute couple). Turns out she used to be a loner until she met Dr. Chim and the two developed a great support system for each other. She’s also interested in electrical engineering and studied hard under his wing. Unfortunately, Dr. Chim’s research is rejected by the Grants Community. He’s saddened by the news but couldn’t do anything about it. Therefore, she took revenge for him by manipulating the guy who had a crush on her so that he would carry the detonated phone to the jewelry store, where Koo Tak Sing was headed. He escaped, fortunately.

Looks like Dr. Chim and Ching Yuen Ting’s revenge path isn’t over yet. He still bears a grudge against the members of the Grants Committee so she aids him by switching the old man’s pills, replacing it with a capsule bomb. The old’s man internal organs are promptly turned into mush. O.O

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Madam Chong’s and her subordinates follow the list of experts in Hong Kong, bringing them back to search Dr. Chim’s house. She finds that he keeps clippings of the bombing news and even have drawings of a micro bomb blueprints. During the interrogation, Madam Chong slips and starts accusing Dr. Chim with her own assumptions. But Dr. Chim is no fool, he has a lawyer to keep her at bay.

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With her intense focus, Madam Chong orders her minions to play tricks and lock up the lawyer in the bathroom accidentally, while she drags Dr. Chim to the morgue room and shoves his face violently against that of Koo Tak Sing’s skeleton, forcing him to reveal the truth. This back-and-forth conversation goes nowhere and her abuse of power is stopped when her minion receives news of another bomb location.

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Ah, so Yuen Ting fakes a show of kidnap to divert police investigation against Dr.Chim. Imagine if SDU didn’t come on time…. She comes out unscathed, with only a sprained ankle but her lie that she doesn’t know Dr. Chim raises Madam Chong’s lie detector to a red flag. Sensitive with the bombing lately, and coupled with her ex-boyfriend haunting spirit, Madam Chong seems to be losing it and is stripped from following the case.

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Outside, Chin Sir voices his professional opinion, “I don’t think you should handle this case anymore. I know you want to get behind the truth but I don’t want to see you hurting yourself and the people around you.” His semi-confession goes unheard in her ears, and she glares up at him, spitting out ugly words, “You’re in SDU! Stick to your job! I’ll get to the bottom of this no matter what. I won’t let Bong’s killer go free!”

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Walking home alone that night, Yuen Ting feels like someone is stalking her so she increases her speed. When she’s right at the door, Dr. Chim covers her mouth and pushes her inside the house. Yet again, he’s here to blame on her stupidity, “We’re finished now! The police is onto us!” while she holds her head in pain, muttering in tears, “No! I did as you asked! I’m sorry! I didn’t want to get you in trouble!” Afterwards, he whispers to himself, he needs to end this story.

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We then see Madam Chong rushing to the hospital after being informed of Dr. Chim’s attempted suicide. He tried to blow himself up, and now that his internal organs are blasted, the situation doesn’t look good. Upon arriving at the scene, Madam Chong yanks the curtain and enters the room to interrogate an unconscious Dr. Chim. Using his last breath, he chokes out, “My death will end it all…”

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Uh. No Sir. Your death agitates Madam Chong more than anything. She needs to hear that YOU DID IT! And now you have successfully turned her into a nutcase. I like how the three most important men in her life gather in a bar to discuss her case. 😆

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Well, the wait is over. Yuen Ting is making a move, wanting to meet with Madam Chong to tell her the truth while the three men come up to Yuen Ting’s apartment to find it unoccupied. They throw glances at each other and decide “To hell with it” and enter her apartment after finding out from a janitor lady that Yuen Ting has been purchasing a huge amount of fertilizer, which contains ammonium nitrate and can be easily turned into explosive bombs with added fuel oil. In her apartment, they find a sketch of a pressure detonator. With the right designated pressure, the bomb will explode accordingly. They quickly deduce her next target to be Szeto Kwok Cheung, the man whose application for grants was accepted over Dr. Chim’s.

In the meantime, Madam Chong reaches Szeto’s office and finds him muffled and tied up, with Yuen Ting standing nearby with her arms crossed. She welcomes madam to her ‘My Date with Death‘ party. Oh man, this girl is smart, she has settled the pressure detonator under the rug where Madam Chong is standing on! Any slight changes in pressure….will lead to an immediate explosion. She’s ready to die and meet Dr. Chim.

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Like in all tvb cop dramas, it’s Yuen Ting’s turn to relay her sob story to Madam Chong in the last hour of her life. When she’s done, she closes her eyes, ready to press the button to end three lives. In the last second, Chin Sir rushes inside and calls a stop.

Whoa. Yuen Ting can actually discern right from wrong as she advises Chin Sir to leave the premise immediately because she doesn’t want to kill the innocent.

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Too bad, before she can do anything to physically hurt anyone, the SDU’s assault team break through the windows and arrest her on the spot. haha Is that Vincent Wong tying up his wife? Adorable. The problem now is the temperature in the heat sensory device installed in the remote controller has been altered because of Chin Sir’s touch, Yuen Ting smiles evilly. They have two minutes left before BOOOM!

Chin Sir turns to Yuen Ting, taking up chances to appeal to her conscience. He tells her to repent now when there’s still time left. Dr. Chim risked his life to cover up her crimes. She shouldn’t head down the path of doom and throw away his effort. She shuts her eyes and finally says, “The red wire.” Chin Sir then orders Ah Hin and Ah Lai to take her out, leaving him behind with Madam Chong.

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Now that she has finally understood the value of life, Madam Chong thinks it’s better if he leaves too, “What happens if she lied to get us both killed?” He looks up at her, determined, “We’ll leave or die together.” Chin Sir finally learns the arts of timing. heh. He glances down and prepares to cut but stops himself. He walks over to Madam Chong and holds her hand, “Do you trust me?” “You stayed here because of me. How could I not?” They stand like that…until the screen fades to black.

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Later, Chin Sir explains to Madam Chong how the sketches in Yuen Ting’s room doesn’t have one of a heat sensory detector and concludes that she was bluffing before. In the end, he gambles his and her life on the line.

Kap: Well, I must admit, this is a nice closure to Madam Chong’s arc (as well as starting her romance with Chin Sir), although I’d have preferred if it were solved sooner and leaves the story to develop other characters. On a side note, Bong is one annoying ghost. He’s second on the list of annoying tv ghost characters, right after Denny from Grey’s Anatomy.

This is rare, I’m actually nervous going into the finale of a tvb drama! The preview doesn’t make me feel any better seeing explosions, gunshots, torture, and the return of our ultimate villain portrayed by Sima Shun Kenneth Ma. Tvb is going to kill someone off! I can feel death miles away! Please don’t let it be my favorites! This means all of the tiger cubs!

Don’t spoil the ending for me! KEEP THY LIPS SEALED!

  1. 5 thoughts on “Recap: Tiger Cubs Episode 12

    I love this show! The ending is so much better than Witness Insecurity’s. Much, much better. And a lot better than Three Kingdom RPG’s too, I heard. Was gushing over the endings of these 3 dramas with another friend during a 12am fire alarm one night. Hahahaha.

    Watched it in Cantonese, so I didnt really get all the details, since I couldnt be bothered to pause all the time to read the subs for what I didnt understand. Learnt a few things here. Thanks Kap! 😀 Look forward to the ending!

    • 5 thoughts on “Recap: Tiger Cubs Episode 12

      Xy, Three Kingdoms is the first Tvb series I finished this year! Next would be Tiger Cubs (OMGOSSSSSSSHH still nervous, but looking forward to it!).

      I saw the ending screencaps for Witness Insecurity!! The same writer/producer is in charge of both series, so I can see how she headed to the same, dumb endings. Sima Shun had it worst though. 😡

  2. 5 thoughts on “Recap: Tiger Cubs Episode 12

    am hopelessly in love with oscar leung. people NEED TO GIVE THIS DRAMA A CHANCE! AND HE NEEDS TO WIN AN AWARD THIS YEAR! HIM LAW IS STILL YOUNG! give it to a better actor in Oscar. plzz!

    i won’t spoil the ending for you alice, as you asked. this episode drove me batty with the names and detonator. glad you were able to sort out my confusion. looking forward to the next recap. *devil’s horns*

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    bosco’s death in WI is so stupid, right xy? the writer is dumb. the same goes for 3 kingdoms which i watched some episodes and skipped some episodes.

    • 5 thoughts on “Recap: Tiger Cubs Episode 12

      So. Very. Stupid. But what my friend said was right. Even if he survived, it’s pretty hard for the drama to continue with a good plot. He was the one who went after her father, landing him and her uncle in jail for probably the rest of their lives. Might be hard for her to be with him even though she does like him. But still, stupid and such an unsatisfying ending. ):

      I tried watching the first few episodes, but it didnt catch my attention, so I didnt bother watching on. I dont wanna deal with another poor ending either. Hahaha.

  3. 5 thoughts on “Recap: Tiger Cubs Episode 12

    An ex- of mines looked a lot like Joe Ma. Tall. Dark. Handsome. Deep voice. Too bad he couldn’t “deliver” many moments. Lost my patience for him, ex-ed.

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