Foong Woei Wan
Veteran Chen Liping puts on a taut performance despite the loose script.
Chen Liping plays a police mole in the Channel 8 thriller Unriddle.
As mad as it sounds to toss an auntie into an Infernal Affairs-ish scenario, it makes sense when you watch her in the show and find yourself worrying about her.
What if a maniacal human trafficker hacks off her hand? What if a mental murder suspect shoots her in the head? What if she does not make it past the commercial break? In a drama with a flabby, sometimes logic-defying screenplay, several taut, nerve-racking scenes are drawn just from placing her in some sort of peril.
Not so much tension from Rui En, who plays a hard-as-nails policewoman and looks like she is on top of things.
You cannot help caring because it is Chen, the cuddliest of Singapore’s television stars.
Her line readings are so lived-in, she feels real: She is just being Chen Liping – or a more heroic version of herself – whereas some of the other actors, straining and sweating, are just actors.
They are not flesh-and-blood characters you can hang a commercial break on.
UNRIDDLE Channel 8, Weekdays, 9pm. ★★★☆☆
Source: Straits Time Life!
Categorised in EN, The Straits Times, Unriddle 最ç«ææ¡£.
