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John Woo's Once a Thief: Once Was Enough

© Jael Mehr

NOTE: Originally this article was supposed to be a continuation of last week's article on CTV's fall line-up, but my home computer (and, therefore, all my research, notes, and the completed article) are currently suffering from some sort of degenerative hard drive disease.

The 1997 - 1998 television season saw the inception and existance of yet another in the never-ending list of short-lived, low-rated television serieses, "John Woo's Once a Thief". "John Woo's Once a Thief", or OAT as it is known to fans, is the typical example of what happens when a decent movie is made into a bad series. Actually, it's the not-so-typical example of when a fairly good overseas movie (the original "Once a Thief" was a 1990 film by John Woo starring Chow Yun-Fat) is made into a semi-decent American remake (in which only one of the core characters is of Asian descent as opposed to the entire cast), which is then picked up and turned into an hour-long series.

That's not to say that OAT didn't have it's fans -- I watched the entire series, as did many other cable-less individuals. But I was the typical OAT fan -- I didn't watch it for the plots, for the crew, for the writing, for the storylines...the series had a weak premise at best, and the storylines were a cross between a 1950s sitcom, and a 1990s daytime soap. I watched the show for the same reason as most other people -- the actors. I've been a fan of Nick Lea and Jennifer Dale for a long time, and was suitably impressed with relative newcomer Ivan Sergei. Late-comer Vicky Pratt (whose character, Jackie Janczyk, was the 1998 equivalent of Kristy Swanson's Buffy) and recurring guest star Howard Dell were also quite a treat. Sandrine Holt was an excellent co-star for Sergei, but never piqued my interest.

The idea behind the show was that Mac and Li Ann (stars Ivan Sergei and Sandrine Holt), the "adopted" children of a Hong Kong mobster, had left their criminal roots behind and been recruited by a top-secret Canadian spy agency. Although the two hour TVM was made and set on the west coast, the series was filmed on the east coast (although occasionally location references made within the series placed the setting on the west coast). Mac and Li Ann, lovers in Hong Kong, were separated in the TVM, and Li Ann has become engaged to another agency worker, Vic (supporting cast member Nicholas Lea). A recurring theme throughout the series is "Who will Li Ann choose?" They finished it off as they would any good spy series -- they blew the three to smithereens, and fans watched the Director (supporting cast member Jennifer Dale) reminisce about moments with her three late employees. Later, the US networks made two TVMs taken from the series, and at the end of the second TVM ("Brother Against Brother"), the three walk out of the building alive.

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