First Episode 19: 5号特工组

[roddy]

A part of the Grand First Episode Project -- See this thread for more info.

June 4: 5号特工组 - A team of special agents work to fight the Japanese in late-30s Shanghai

Youku - Emule

Summary & Vocabulary

This one was pretty average I thought - bunch of people with 'secret agent' written on their foreheads running around 1930's Shanghai, basically. Didn't really grab me, couldn't see anything to recommend it . . .

Edited February 9, 2010 at 02:12 PM by renzhe

[renzhe]

I actually found this quite good!

It's very easy viewing, with an atmosphere that has a bit of James Bond and a lot of Mission Impossible.

I really enjoyed the 1930s Shanghai streets, I thought that was very nicely recreated, and I found that the episode moved at a reasonable pace, and was interesting enough to follow. Sure, it's not exactly an accurate depiction of secret service activities, but I found it entertaining enough. I wouldn't mind watching a couple more either.

What I really liked about it was that the language was very clear, relatively slow (and therefore easy to follow) and the subtitles were easy to read. Very good one for the intermediate people. Mostly regular, everyday vocabulary. Even lower intermediate people can get most of the story, though it does get slightly more difficult in the following episodes.

---- PLOT SUMMARY ----

A star secret agent, 欧阳, meets her boss 冯先生 in a restaurant and saves his life. She later explains that she recognised the barman's sign language, as he signalled the assassin to shoot the guy with glasses wearing western clothes. They discuss the current situation, Beijing and Tianjin have fallen to the Japanese, and she needs to form a small elite group to combat the Japanese spies. She has prepared a list of names, all of them her friends from the academy days.

马云飞 is on his way from Tokyo. After chatting with an idle medicine salesman, he follows a woman (酒井美惠子) to the dining car, and later to her room. He suspects that she could be a spy, so he seduces her after lots of mutual distrust.

高寒 arrives to Shanghai port from Munich. She finds out she is being followed, so she beats the poor guy in an abandoned warehouse before meeting up with 欧阳. They discuss her background and go to the house where they will be staying (full of cool spy gadgets).

马云飞 manages to escape from the train before customs and catches up with the medicine salesman, who ended up carrying his typewriter (which the Japanese mistake for an encryption machin). Nobody had known that all the important information was in a pen 马云飞 had left in the guy's jacket. He goes to meet the rest of the gang. Apparently, he had broken up with 高寒 3 years ago, and she's not exactly thrilled to see him.

酒井美惠子 loses 马云飞 at the train station and argues a bit with her people. Apparently, another top Japanese agent, 竹内云子, is still in Nanjing. She joins her boss on a Japanese ship docked in Shanghai, and they go to a bar. They discuss how dangerous the Communist underground are, and she runs into 马云飞 on her way to the washroom and the episode ends with a gun pointed at him.

--- SUMMARY END ---

阴晦 yīn huì dark / gloomy

俗套 sú tào convention

刺客 cì kè assassin / murderer

手语 shǒu yǔ sign language

哑巴 yǎ ba mute

调酒师 tiáo jiǔ shī barman / someone who mixes cocktails

比划 bǐ huà to gesture / to use sign language

匆忙 cōng máng hasty / hurried

落实 luò shí to implement / to carry out

平津 Beijing and Tianjin

沦陷 lún xiàn to fall (to an invader)

危在旦夕 wēi zài dàn xī on the verge of death / in imminent danger

政治 zhèng zhì politics / political

形势 xíng shì circumstances / situation

国防部 guó fáng bù Defense Department

东京 Dōng jīng Tōkyō

慕尼黑 Munich

考文垂 Coventry

同胞 tóng bāo fellow citizen or countryman

默认 mò rèn to agree tacitly / tacit approval

勾引 gōu yǐn to seduce / to tempt

笔杆 bǐ gǎn the shaft of a pen or writing brush / pen-holder

华北 Huá běi North China

奢侈 shē chǐ luxury / sumptuous

小肚鸡肠 xiǎo dù jī cháng small-minded (also 鼠肚鸡肠)

固执 gù zhí persistent / stubborn

孔雀 kǒng què peacock

艳遇 yàn yù favorable opportunity for an encounter with a beautiful woman

邂逅 xiè hòu to meet by chance

淘气 táo qì naughty / bad

舞文弄墨 wǔ wén nòng mò twist words for dishonest purposes

妩媚 wǔ mèi lovely / charming

密码机 mì mǎ jī a cryptographic machine

无恙 wú yàng unaffected

载 zǎi year

Edited July 2, 2009 at 01:27 PM by renzhe

[renzhe]

I'll bump this one because I've updated my previous post with some more information.

I've been watching a bit more of this show, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It doesn't take itself too seriously, it's obviously unrealistic, but it's quite entertaining all the same. A perfect type of show for me -- not too deep, and interesting enough to keep watching, without confusing me with complex subplots. That way I can concentrate on the language.

Essentially, we are following an elite group of agents in the Jiangsu province (at least in the beginning). They need to counterbalance the Japanese intelligence presence and gather information on future attacks and enemy plans.

They are lead by 欧阳, a level-headed and experienced spy who puts the team together by gathering her former classmates who are currently working all around the world. They are: 马云飞, a sleazy womanizer coming from Tokyo; 高寒, the feisty communications / encryption specialist from Munich (also 马云飞's former lover, apparently); 李智博, the experienced engineer working in Coventry who often acts as the voice of reason; and 何坚, a somewhat emotionally unstable kleptomaniac with ninja skills whom they rescue from the prison (he robbed a general).

They are facing 酒井美惠子, a top Japanese spy (who gets seduced by 马云飞 in the first episode) and her top student, 竹内云子 (who gets seduced by 马云飞 in the third episode). Soon, they get involved in thwarting a plot to assassinate 蒋介石, Shanghai gets attacked, and many other interesting things happen.

If you're into action/spy entertainment, this one is not too bad. I'm enjoying it.

Edited November 3, 2008 at 11:37 PM by renzhe

[The Elf Piper]

I can't watch videos on my computer but this one sounds like fun and looks like it's on DVD:

http://www.yesasia.com/global/search/5%E5%8F%B7%E7%89%B9%E5%B7%A5%E7%BB%84/0-0-0-bpt.48_q.5%E5%8F%B7%E7%89%B9%E5%B7%A5%E7%BB%84+-en/list.html

Stupid question, why is the H-DVD cheaper than the other one?

[renzhe]

I've finally finished this and it stays the same way up until the very end, at which point it turns into Rambo.

Overall, quite enjoyable, you are dealing with the 5 main people and their nemesis throughout, but it's all packaged into smaller missions/story arcs spanning 3-4 episodes each. Relatively easy to follow with reasonably easy language.

Throughout the show, our fearless friends basically single-handedly win the second world war, and prevent Hitler from getting an atom bomb (no, I'm not making this up), all while jumping off motorcycles into aeroplanes and shooting traitors left and right and getting the better of their Japanese foes through the use of the dumbest, least feasible tricks imaginable.

A good one for the fans of action, who don't want too much in terms of realism.