The Outsiders (Vol.1-20) (End) (US Version) DVD Region All

As the S.E. Hinton-inspired title implies, The Outsiders is first and foremost a story about youth from the wrong side of the tracks. The drama follows the lives of three longtime friends as they grow from delinquent students to triad leaders; as the world around them continues to change, their brotherhood stays true to the very end. The Outsiders opens in fairly comfortable idol drama territory with photogenic too-cool-for-school protagonists and a burgeoning romance between group leader Yu Hao (Dylan Kuo) and girl-next-door Xiao Yan Zi (Ady An). But the story soon leaves schoolyard coming-of-age tropes behind for grittier rites of passage. Just as Xiao Yan Zi chooses love without ever looking back, the boys enter the triads, understanding that theirs is a road of no return.

Much like the Young and Dangerous films, The Outsiders both romanticizes and humanizes. The story takes its characters through the different stages of triad life, from their first hit, to their rise in the ranks, to bloody rivalries and deceptive triad politics, balancing the darker elements with humor, camaraderie, and romance. The drama does not shy from violence and tragedy, or more specifically violent tragedy, and each person must pay a price for the life he/she chooses. Relationship issues, though at times plodding, are not unrealistic. Although it descends a bit too much into melodrama near the end, as a whole The Outsiders delivers an unexpectedly compelling and engaging story.

True to its Young and Dangerous comparison, acting is not the selling point of this drama, but the sum proves to be greater than its parts. While lead Dylan Kuo cuts a fine figure in his leather jacket, he is not much of a thespian, although his blank acting seems oddly appropriate for the role. Ady An also gets the short end of the deal, occupying a rather muted character in a drama full of brash types. Zhang Xun Jie fares better, bringing welcome comic relief and exhibiting great chemistry with the brassy Joelle Lu. Blue Lan, whose earlier acting pedigree at the time consisted of looking suspiciously like Takeshi Kaneshiro in Meteor Garden, is surprisingly effective in a quiet, complex role. Bad guys Xie Cheng Jun and A Pang are caricaturishly sinister, but quite entertaining, while Hong Kong action film staple Ken Lo cashes a paycheck here as a two-faced shades-wearing triad boss. No single actor shines, but together the cast makes almost perfect sense.

Ultimately, that is the draw of The Outsiders: it works very well as a complete glossy package. The images and shooting style are sleek, the action is decent, the acting is serviceable, the people are pretty, the premise is interesting, and the story folds out well. The triad theme, though common in cinema, is actually rarely covered to this extent in television, and certainly not with such populist, photogenic trappings. Perhaps the biggest drawback of The Outsiders is that it does not cater to its target teenaged audience as well as it should, but for the rest of us, that's a good thing.