Point2Entertainment

Officially it is THE END

2021-09-24T20:50:00.002-07:00

I haven't updated for a long time. So if you have stopped by once in a while, thanks for that. I myself thought this blog was long and gone and since it is still here I did consider deleting the blog. But my blog has some really complete reviews of some old series everywhere, not just HK but Taiwan, China, Korea and reading those did made me wonder what was I thinking when I wrote that. My opinion hasn't changed tho, that's for sure. But this post is to those, the visitors who still drop by every now and then for new contents, there won't be any. I am officially closing this blog but the posts stay for as long as Blogger allows. If you want to download and repost elsewhere, feel free to do so but with proper credit given. I doubt many remember me, I was pretty active almost 20 years ago? Has it been that long? Anyway I am still watching TV shows, cursing at TVB shows and all that. Life goes on. To you my fellow friends, netizens and constant visitors, thank you for your support and comments. What a great memory I had!

With much love and appreciation,

FUNN LIM
25.09.2021

GOOD BYE MY PRINCESS / 东宫 [2019][TV][Cdrama] : First Impression

2019-03-18T09:30:00.002-07:00

... since this series has no purpose, it makes it interesting where it is going and how it ends and if it indeed has a point.

SOME INFO

Here

CHINESE TITLE

Literally, Eastern Palace which evokes plenty of scheming and all so why not call it Eastern Palace or the Deception And Betrayal Of The Eastern Palace or China's favourite English title, The Story of Eastern Palace or The Legend of Eastern palace?

I just watched through 10 very emotionally draining episodes, some I skipped some I watched scratching my head, wondering how our hero can expect our heroine to survive on only his true love when he basically ruined her entire life thrice over (maternal grandpa is one, dad and mom is second and her own self third). I read the synopsis and can't figure out what the heck is this series about. I was hoping it isn't that sort of torturous love like Journey of Flower or those story of girl rising in ranks. It is neither I think. I am not sure what it is about. It is like he made the girl suffer and then REBOOT and hopefully she makes him suffer and what? REBOOT again? Never ending suffering? Reading this spoiler, whether either he suffers by her death or he suffers by her escape, it makes me feel their entire journey is pointless. Gonna start ep 11 aka the reboot so maybe I could be wrong and that this series has a point.

The actress reminds me of a shorter Tang Yan, even her voice dub sounds familiar. She can definitely act but the make up dept put too much foundation on her and too much spotlight and so suffers from No Sweat syndrome. The hero is skinny, dramatically... not good. sorry but I am not enamoured by him. Not very princely or kingly or even ruthless or romantic. How can anything he do be romantic when at the back of my mind he kinda caused a lot of deaths. This series is weird.

Hated the CGI.

Hated the English title. Made it sound so chirpy, comedy, lighthearted romance drama when it is just so much pain and suffering and loss.

I will continue to watch because since this series has no purpose, it makes it interesting where it is going and how it ends and if it indeed has a point.

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC [Movie][Eng][2019]

2019-03-01T09:57:00.002-08:00

The story is simple but effective. It won't win awards but it will give you a little smile in the end.

Released In

2019

Language

English, with Australian accent of course!

Where to watch

Netflix, like every other movie these days. Is cinema dying soon?

Cast-Character

Rebel Wilson - Natalie

Liam Hemsworth - Blake

Adam DeVine - Josh

Priyanka Chopra - Isabella

Betty Gilpin - Whitney

Brandon Scott Jones - Donny

Jennifer Saunders - Natalie's mother

Summary

A cynical (in love) timid woman who, after getting hit on the head, wakes up in a world where everything around her plays out like the genre of the movie she hates the most; a romantic comedy film.

More details

Wikipedia. Spoilers alert.

REVIEW

I'd thought I give this a try, since I had literally nothing to watch and my Netflix reminder recommended this film. Hot release you see. I knew the story, expected the ending but I didn't expect to be quite charmed by it all.

Natalie is a competent Architect with dreams but suffering from low self esteem. When she was young, she believed in the romance in movies. Of course, Pretty Woman is an unrealistic romantic dream. Her mother certainly chased away any romantic notions in here when she cruelly reminded her daughter men will marry her for visa. As a grown woman, her life was going nowhere. She is in a career where she was never listened to, her colleagues all but 2 treated her as some "ah sei" in the office. Private life, she had no love, her dog refused to listen to any of her command and her neighbour was a jerk. As for herself, her hair is a wreck, she is dreary person living in dirty dreary New York where she is constantly bullied. One time, when an attempted purse snatcher tried to snatch her bag , she knocked her head hard and woke up with her face and make up ready, her hair beautifully blown and facing a handsome young doctor in a huge first class looking hospital room. Everyone was mesmerised by her, she returned to her apartment which became as she said, stretched and certainly upscale, her dog actually listened to her every command and in her office, she was the star architect which had people applauding even when she really didn't give any idea. She caught the attention of a super rich and handsome client who kept saying "beguiling" to her and she was always perfectly dressed. She knew of course she was in her own rom com. The downside was her assistant ho was her best friend in real lie was now her mortal enemy at work. For someone who was a cynical person under everyone's radar, she was now in everyone's radar and she couldn't take it. She surmised her only way out is to live out the romcom movie setting meaning make someone fall in love with her. She thought it was Blake and there was a funny sequence where they kissed, she obviously didn't want to leave the romcom world yet and yet everytime they reached the "main point", scene was cut to the next morning and he was coming out of the shower. Again and again and again. It was rather funny. And then there were scenes where she kept saying the F word and they were all conveniently beeped out by a honk or alarm or something. So being in a romcom was bad, it was a PG 13 rated romcom which made it worse. And then there was the prerequisite gay best friend who had nothing to do but to be by the side of our heroine and that gay best friend happened to be her jerk neighbour in real life.

Frankly the cliches highlighted by this movie in the romcom mode were all hilarious and so true. Then there was Isabella, who introduced herself as a swimsuit model, yoga instructor/ambassador, role model. That part had be laughing hard.

Whilst the film pointed towards the many cliche in romcoms, and in itself was full of cliche in its real life mode, it did have a good message. Natalie thought she had to make Blake fall for her, and then realised she had to do a "My Best Friend's Wedding" and make Josh fall for her except in the end to leave the romcom world, she had to really fall in love with herself. It was all about self esteem and her journey of discovery that she worthy of her own love. It is quite an empowering message although not elaborated a lot, more like convenient plot point. I do like how in the romcom world, Natalie was never that enchanted by it at all and was constantly trying to find a way to escape to reality and then when she did leave that world, she appreciated her real world a lot more. She was never sucked into a lie so to speak, and preferred the truth except when she woke up, she became a more confident woman willing to fight for her job, respect, etc. In a word, she found her voice. And of course, love in one of the loveliest semi confession of love in the end.

The story is simple but effective. It won't win awards but it will give you a little smile in the end.

I do love how in the romcom world the screen suddenly became wide screen? Everything seem so colourful, so grand, so chirpy. I do think perhaps the colour scheme also changed when Natalie came back to real life. It felt different. I also love the many references of popular romcom films, where Natalie dressed like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.She actually looked gorgeous.

As for the performances, the cast had chemistry.

I never really felt much for Liam Hemsworth, the one who was in Hunger Games movies, the one married Miley and of course the brother of the one who played a god (and looked like one). It felt quite strange to hear him speak with Australian accent eventhough he is Australian. But I thought he was effective as the overly romantic but ultimately a douche bag Blake in the romcom world and a jerk but a professional client in real life. And he is so tall.

Seeing Adam DeVine almost made me think this was Pitch Perfect movie. In Pitch Perfect he was sort of a jerk at first but in this movie, he is the nice cheerful encouraging friendzoned guy. Not much for him to do actually, not much growth as a character but he had chemistry with Rebel Wilson.

Betty Gilpin as Whitney was effective as the best friend in real life and the mortal enemy in romcom. I was shocked to see her made up so differently in romcom, she almost reminded me of how Emily Blunt looked in The Devil Wears Prada. Perhaps it was intentional. It was like 2 very different characters. Again not much growth, but effective.

The least of growth or even a resemblance of a character is Priyanka Chopra's Isabella but she wasn't in this movie as some major character. She was the special appearance meant to be funny and she was funny! I actually thought she was interesting as Isabella, like some cliche character she was meant to be.

Brandon Scott Jones was really amazing. His persona in real life vs romcom life was so different, it was like Betty Gilpin's performance. He to me gave the best performance. I won't say more, you have to see him to believe it. Like Natalie said, Donny in romcom was like a huge step back for gay depiction in movies, but he was funny and in one scene very poignant as he was describing how his heart was broken. For me the best performance in the movie.

Rebel Wilson is an interesting one to watch for me. She's not a fantastic actress, or a fantastic singer, or a fantastic dancer, and she had to do all 3 in here. She's not exceedingly funny too nor is she some amazing dramatic actress. Her acting is like how you see her talking in real life. But I find her very very interesting to watch in interviews, more than in movies. However Natalie is a character that suits her well. But I do have to say, eventhough Natalie is meant to have the most growth in character since the entire movie is a basis for her character to realise an obvious proposition, however I do find her performance more fluffy than deep. There were moments of course but ultimately I felt for others I would have called this a below average performance, but for Rebel Wilson, who I never expected much as an actress, find this performance to be effective in her own way. But I do love her fashion, how she showed me whatever the size, you can still look magnificent.

IN SHORT

The cast has chemistry, the premise is funny, I like the story, expect some great performance from those you never expected but frankly fans of Rebel Wilson won't be disappointed even if she isn't the best actress in here. You will still be entertained and so for that alone, this movie is effective.

RATING

B+

TOUCH YOUR HEART [2019][KDrama] : First impression

2019-02-17T09:10:00.001-08:00

So yes, it is fluffy. I will take it as it is. So we shall see how good the series will go on.

More Info

Wikipedia

No. of Episodes

Released In

2019

Network

TVN

I have been thinking whether to watch this new Kdrama or not. It stars a popular pairing from Guardian : The Lonely & Great Goblin which frankly I didn't quite like because it was a narrow perspective for a series about immortals, gods and grim reapers. I didn't doubt Touch Your Heart is a fluffy romance dramedy. I looked at the synopsis in Wikipedia:

The romance between a top actress who is on the downfall due to a scandal and a prickly lawyer.

I think Episode 1 basically kinda encapsulate that entire synopsis. More precisely, it is about a bimbo actress ridden with scandal trying to get a new role and is forced to part time 3 months in a law firm under a super serious no nonsense young lawyer as his secretary to learn... well I thought she was supposed to act as a lawyer in her comeback series, anyway she is supposed to learn what it is like to work in a law firm. The thing is she doesn't know how to transfer calls (totally understandable, neither do I) and out of the goodness of her heart trying to do well, she made some mistakes which the prickly lawyer found to be annoying (also understandable, instead of a proper secretary he got an actress trying to feel what it is like to work in a law firm). But I find it confusing. Do actresses trying to get experience of the character they play actually goes to work as one? Or do they observe, assist but not actually become the secretary?

Anyway I find 1st episode rather funny. First impression is good. Except this is Kdrama and Kdrama, sad happy angry emotional whatever is always filled with side characters who are silly, whether they are rough people, gangsters, doctors, engineers or lawyers. Their level of silliness is always the cause of my annoyance because it felt so unnecessary. And that's just ep 1. This series have almost everyone BUT one who fawns over our leading lady because she was considered a goddess before her downfall which I am sure the series will later explain. Also she would of course improve and be a better actress. I doubt it would end with her actually quitting being an actress and work as a secretary. She probably might win awards and walk the red carpet with her new beau, the formerly prickly lawyer who like her has a heart of gold. Except she is not smart but kind whilst he is smart but also kind. The ending itself seems pre written. So 16 episodes is merely to explain why he will fall for her and she will fall for him and maybe throw in some ex lovers but hardly anyone who will dent their relationship.

In other words I anticipate a atypical kdrama-romance-comedy.

I think I will continue to watch. Only 16 episodes. I might be entertained. Lee Dong Wook has yet to have anything to emote except his "Really?" expression and his seemingly pink tainted lips that never seems to run out of pink taint and Yoo In Na does play ditzy well. It is similar to her Greatest Love role except she was mean in there whilst in here she is well... she has a temper but she isn't terribly smart. I like the scene where she was in a series within a series and her acting was god awful and that is something because Yoo In Na is not a terrible actress. I suppose a good actress is needed to play a terrible actress. I suppose might as well as Dokgo Jin to make an appearance.

So far chemistry wise, not much comment since the lady huffs and puff and the man just look blank.

Hopefully more growth and less silly sidekicks.

I am surprised though that Kdrama still has such series. I mean all of their series are about love but these days there seems to be a move to incorporate more story that is beyond love and no love stories at all. This series seems a tad old fashioned, you can say outdated, those you expect from 5 or 8 years ago. Also, in celebrity mad nation, they do love to poke fun at themselves by being particularly mean. I mean how many series shows actress as bimbo who doesn't know how to do basic stuff like eating alone, or taking a call or photostating stuff? How many pokes fun at them at not having life skills? Or very temperamental or petty? In fact all Kdramas always show at least one character who huffs and puffs and is perpetually angry or is trying to hold from bursting in anger. This series has that too. They shout a lot. They scold a lot. This series is like an insult to actresses but of course this is a parody. Or is it? And the lawyers seem rather free. One scene, our hero says he needs to go for trial. I suppose the translation is right but he goes to trial with a briefcase, no assistant, no trolley bags, no other documents, just his small briefcase. No robe too. So maybe he's going to lower court. Korean court system is different from what I do know. But it is not too much to expect a common link of all court dramas, especially about trials is at least one assistant holding documents or our lawyer holding documents. And I doubt his tiny briefcase can hold one stack. And no law books. But he is super smart so he probably remembered it all.

So yes, it is fluffy. I will take it as it is. So we shall see how good the series will go on. Somehow I feel it will be mediocre and won't make a splash.

DESTINATION NOWHERE / 迷 [2017][TVB] : A REVIEW

2017-03-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

And finally, watch this series for something TVB rarely does; lovingly create a series that made sense, that talks sense, ends sensibly and is in the end about sense.

Reviewed by
Funn Lim

Released in
2017

No. of Episodes
30

Cast-Character

Kevin Cheng - Man Kiu Pak
Winki Lai - Man Tze Yu
Kristal Tin - Cal Kai Wing Yin
James Ng - Lam Ka Wing
King Kong - Cheung Hak
May Chan - Cheung Fei
Yvonne Ho - Nat Gor
Lisa Lau - Chiu Siu Hung
Jessica Kan - Chloe Ngai
Louis Yuen - Lau Tsau
Parkman Wong - Wong Sir
Tyson Chak - Kwan Kai
Becky Lee - Mary Cheung
Oscar Leung - Lee Dai Hing
Gary Tam - Ma Chi Bun
Max Cheung - Ngai Chit
Gary Chan - Yim Cheng Sum
Stephen Ho Kai Nam - Wat Dee
Gary Chan Ka Fai - Yim Ching Sum
Sam Tsang Hong Sang - Cal's husband

Brief Recaps
Ep 1-2
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-1-2.html

Ep 3
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-3.html

Ep 4
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-4.html

Ep 5
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-5.html

Ep 6-9
http://www.point2e.com/2017/02/destination-nowhere-2017tvb-ep-6-9.html

More info
Jaynestars

No Wiki page? Serious?

REVIEWS

I was ready to sink this series, and for the 1st 5 or so episodes where usually it will tell you whether to continue or to abandon ship, I was ready to abandon ship not because it was boring but because the storyline was disconnected or independent of one another. But I stuck with it, I persevered and as it went by, I have to say, this ship not only sailed, but it sailed fine and smooth. In the end it was one of the most pleasant journey for me, and definitely one of the best TVB series in recent years which actually had a good ending. In fact I really love the last ending scene.

Now for the long opinion.

By the way, this isn't a disappointment like Dead Wrong and I think there are some similarities with Black Heart White Soul except the ending of Black Heart White Soul was quite interesting and different.

THE PLOT

Mannnnn.... this series seriously took its own sweet time for 2 main characters to meet and a bit longer for all 3 main characters to meet. By this time either you're wondering if the characters are lost or we the viewers are lost (like its chinese title!) or TVB is seriously slowly, very slowly building up the story to something rather special. I have never seen such careful slow deliberate pacing in building up not just the plot but developing the characters. This series can boast perhaps the best in recent memory in terms of character development that I am sure you will feel for the characters. And there aren't many in terms of main characters. There are plenty of supporting characters, from evil to bumbling bad, all are carefully developed and yet quite coldly dispensed with. For example, the first few episodes there were 2 foreigners who were bumbling thieves who were not bad people. In fact they were very very funny and yet when their screen duties were done, they were quite coldly and unexpectedly shot dead and so their stories ended. Just like that. And the same coldness is used on every character that will be killed later on,some you will probably cheer, some you feel a tinge of pity because they are not bad people, some you will punch in the air and scream YES and one you will definitely see coming (I mean pretty obvious he was gonna die) but when you actually see it, you will feel very angered by it because at that point you will actually feel rather attached to him because he is the ultimate innocent good guy. In fact his death was the downfall of Cal because that was when Cal lost her humanity. Not to say later on she didn't lose more of her humanity because her last act as a sane human being was to try to push the man she loved to die together with her and her very very last act as a wide awake human being was to beg for death not because she felt sorry but because that was the only way to go. That was why I like her ending. She deserved her end. Like how Pak said in the end, some people with sorry lives make bad judgment and you can choose either to turn back from that bad decision and start again and that means facing the consequences (like how Cheung Hak did) or refuse to admit your guilt and do more bad stuff (like Cal did). Cal lost her moral compass and she was not a bad person at first but there was always a tinge of selfishness to her. Whilst she seems to do many things that you may feel she did it for others, like taking $400k for her daughter, $4m for Wing to open a company, etc, she did so by taking bribes and betraying her principle which was very cheap to be sold. She always lamented if only she didn't take the 1st bribe but the fact is she did and she should have been strong enough to leave her greedy 2nd husband when she knew he was a bad man, she should have been strong to tell her daughter she can't afford her education in England and frankly, Wing never asked for the company at all. And then her problem was she wanted acceptance; she wanted people to understand why she did what she did and that was her downfall. Maybe what she said was correct; as she told Wing;

I have such a tragic life.. I lost the husband I love, I married a bad man who cheated me of all my money, my daughter who I love tried to blackmail me and then she got murdered.. I lost everything, absolutely everything and now you are asking me to confess, to go to jail. Why are you forcing me into the corner? Why can't you let me go? I am leaving HK very soon, you won't see me at all, why can't you just let me be?!

Perhaps true. I think if given time, Wing would have let her go. He lied he recorded her confession and what she did next was unforgivable. Wing was naive into thinking his goddess boss Cal will do the right thing but she was way past that and when she pushed Wing off the building, seeing poor Wing fell to his death so dramatically, frankly I hated Cal.

But none could describe Cal better than the 3rd man to love her and that was Pak. Pak fell for her when she was already flawed, and many times wanted reasons to believe in her but when Cal behaved the way she did and told an incredible lie about Wing, a lie that Tze Yue refused to believe and one which Pak found hard to believe as well, he began to suspect her. It was easy to investigate about her but finding the evidence was hard. You can say Pak used love as a weapon against Cal but he had to find out the truth. The more he knew, the more he felt Cal was not only selfish, but incredibly self serving and in the end scary. Whatever pity he had for her diminished each time she said something off hand which she thought was smart but he knew was a mistake on her part. When he found out the absolute truth (but not about Wing yet), he almost wanted to let her go when she said something offhand which was her way to manipulate him, or so she thought but that was when Pak realised this woman was scary and he was determined to find evidence against her. So he pretended. He always had the upper hand, whilst Cal thinking she was the smarter one never quite realised she already lost in this battle of wits. Frankly it was no battle at all. And throughout these times, I thought Cal will go insane and the revelation in the last 10 minutes was to me a fantastic end. I really do love how Tze Yue and Pak ended the series with a light banter and how life goes on.

If you rewind a bit, you can actually see that Cal was already doomed from the beginning. You see, there are 3 families in here. Cheung Hak despite his bad luck actually had a good ending as he started again. He found himself a great woman who loved him deeply despite his flaws but his flaws were merely cosmetic. He was never morally flawed. His sister whom he loved was also never morally flawed eventhough physically she wasn't perfect. Then there's Pak who was lazy and running away from work responsibilities, however he was also never morally flawed. He raised his niece who was also morally upright and when he was having a hard time at work, his niece cheered him on and even volunteered to have her allowance cut, she encouraged him to find a girlfriend and when he did bring one home, whatever her opinion was, she never said a bad thing about her. They depended on one another and her uncle, a good man raised his niece, a good woman. There's Wing a hard working ultimate good guy who is righteous as he was decent. Cal's lie about him goes to his character that almost everyone found it hard to believe. He was raised by a widowed mother who I suppose who was a decent woman as well.

Now we come to Cal. Her daughter turned out to be an absolute disappointment and between them two, there was as much of affection as was with animosity on her choice of a husband and the fact that she used up all the money left by her dead 1st husband (meant for Chloe's education) on that new husband of hers. Chloe felt deep resentment and never let Cal forget about that. In a way, Cal probably didn't raise Chloe well, and Chloe herself was flawed morally. Chloe's words against her mother was honest but deeply resentful and full of malice;

All the money left by dad for me, you used it on him. You questioned every penny I spent, you even stopped my auto payment, my own money! And yet you never questioned when he asked you for so much of my money, so much of your money, he is using you for your money and you gladly let him use you. You act as if you can't survive without him; is it so mom? Is it so that you just can't live without a man, is that it?!

When she died, brutally murdered if I may add, I felt no feelings whatsoever. By that time, whatever pity I felt for her was erased by the fact that she blackmailed her own mother, all because of money or in her words; "MY MONEY!". Kinda felt sorry for Cal but when she was so eager to move on and by her final act with Wing, same feeling as I felt when Chloe died. Nothing but disgust. These two deserved one another.

Perhaps that's what this series is trying to illustrate; choices one makes and who we grow up with or how we raise the other. You will be moved by Cheung Hak and Cheung Fei's devotion even if you feel terribly irritated by their presence for the first 16 episodes, wondering why are they there. You will feel very amused and touched by the closeness and devotion of Tze Yue and Pak and when Pak raised his voice at Tze Yue, as much as you feel her hurt and pain at being shouted by her most respected Uncle, you will feel Pak's heart was shredded to pieces having to raise his voice at his beloved niece. In fact he looked utterly devastated and you have a feeling he never had to even raise his voice a little at his well behaved niece. I loved how Tze Yue actually marched up to Cal's house to pack her uncle's belonging to bring him home, almost like how a son ran away from home and his mother came to fetch him. The devotion is clear. Her confrontation with Cal was almost scary because at that point I truly thought Tze Yue might be murdered by Cal. Cal was insane enough to do that. That was why I love Tze Yue's end scene with her uncle; a simple light hearted banter to signify life indeed does go on, which makes what Cal said as true; when Pak said he will wait for her and I do think he meant it, Cal cynically said;

You won't wait for me. You will move on without me. Even if you will want to wait for me, how can we continue when there's so much mistrust between us? I have lost everything, I can't go back. You have to let me go

She was right and I was happy Pak did sorta think about moving on. But perhaps his expression said it all when Tze Yue asked at the very end;

Uncle, I have always wanted to ask you, I just didn't know if I should... have you ever loved Sis Cal?

He never answered her and she happily tried to convince him to see a colleague she knows and he happily dismisses her effort as he said he is wary of female journalists now.

Frankly, you can debate if he did or did not, but I do think he did love her. The only flaw in that rooftop confrontation scene between Cal and Pak was when she screamed why he can't let her be, he said he was a cop. I felt that was just too PC talk. He should have just said because it was the right thing to do and killing Wing was the last straw to her humanity. Other than that, yes I do think he loved her and he loved her very deeply, enough to want to marry her which I feel is a bit of a stretch since he was investigating her at that point but whatever love or affection he had for her turned to disgust when she displayed her cold calculating manipulative ways and he began to doubt her sincerity and was convinced by her selfishness and even then he wanted to believe in her. In the end, I believe whatever affection he had for her turned to pity. And when enough time goes by, that pity will turned to nothingness and you can't blame him. It wasn't his fault she made her choices and turned out the way she did even if you can argue, technically he is the worst boyfriend for pushing her over the very last edge of her very last sanity. But as I repeated many times, for what she did to Wing, she had it easy in the end.

FAVOURITE CHARACTERS

There are so many characters in this series, some for a short time, some for a long time, all of them properly developed. Even the villains are good.

You often see unknown actors as the guy next to the supporting actor, in here you see those unknown actors becoming supporting actors getting major spotlight.

I don't know his name, but I often seen the actor who played Wat Dee. Man, that guy got quite a body doesn't he? He has played a whole range of characters but never one that gave him such range. Wat Dee is cruel, he kills without mercy, he is scary and he is a terrible person. And his death scene is memorable, harrowing, suspenseful and a proper send off to such a terrible evil person. And he dominates as the bad guy and he is so convincingly bad, many times you will feel scared for those people standing next to him. I rank him as my favourite bad guy in here.

There's the two bumbling foreigner thieves at the beginning who sadly met with very terrible ends that may not fit their crimes. They were funny! and sad at the same time.

There's Hung, the decent looking but turned ugly looking girlfriend of Hak who has a heart of gold. This series does try very hard to drive home the point that don't judge a book by its cover. She was the super dedicated woman crazily in love with Hak who in the end loved her back and she turned out to be a great supportive girlfriend. Can't help liking her and her bravery and in a sense her stupidity in going on the run with Hak. Hak is no super brainy person too. But I find it funny, those scenes where fans mistaken him with a superstar named Koo and I suspect that's Louis Koo because of their similar back.

And then there's my very favourite character, Wing. He shows himself as someone not only righteous but also kind. The kind words he said to Fei Fei can only come from a very decent person and there's no more decent person than Wing whose kindness killed him. He also has the distinction of having the most convincing fall from building and thereafter as a corpse, with the blood and all, it hurts to watch that scene. Fists will wave at Cal for what she did.

LEAST FAVOURITE CHARACTERS

The 3 bumbling thieves, that is Cheung Hak and his 2 fellow countrymen. This series is realistic in the sense of deep prejudice of mainlanders and the disadvantage due to their accent. They tried to find decent work, there were a few scenes where Hak wanted to bargain for a lower salary just to get a job and got rejected because there's a minimum wage law and so happily he got paid more than he asked for and yet when trouble looms, he is the first to get kicked out. Most of the time for good reasons because Hak often did more than he should and so troubles arose from his eagerness to do a good job. I don't really like these 3 not because they are bad people but because for 16 episodes and more, I couldn't understand why they were there.

MOST HATED

Three and they belong to the same family.

The greedy awful 2nd husband of Cal who became a constant irritant in her life. Am surprised she never killed him.

Then there's Cal and I have explained enough why I hate her.

But my very special "affection" for the hatred category goes to Chloe. She was impossible. The fact that she constantly talked about money is one thing, her constant battle of words with her step father and thus causing Cal much anguish is another, but her making Cal constantly choose sides is just terrible. However the ultimate was blackmailing her own mother, effectively calling her mother a man hungry woman who will die without a man (even if true, still coming from a daughter.. that's so low). She doesn't deserve to die that way or to die at all but no pity. What a terrible daughter. Can't blame Cal for her anguish when she said bitterly that her daughter blackmailed her, you can feel how it deeply affected her.

GUEST STARS

Only know Oscar Leung in one of his best performance for a character that was in this series for just a few episodes. His ending was shocking but it does make you wonder, is Wat Dee so scary that this scary follower of his is so scared of that guy? Well you get about 15 episodes or so to explain in full details that the conclusion is yeah, Wat Dee is a scary dude.

THE PACE OF THE STORY

Pacing is slow, let's face it, this series can do much with chopping off 5 episodes at least and making all 3 characters meet much earlier than 16 bloody episodes. But one thing's constant;

This series began with a major corruption story that led to the corruption of Cal, literally and figuratively. There seems to be many branches to the story, from Wat Dee to a guy named Ma Chi Bun to ultimately Yim Ching Sum and in the middle many side characters who all ultimately lead to that story about illegal chemicals used in wall paint commissioned by government agencies. The entire series is about this one case and it may seem tedious, but for once, this is one series where you see a cop doing actual cop work. Pak actually investigates and he needs to get evidence, first against Wat Dee, then against Yim Ching Sum and also ultimately Cal. You see him pouring hours of work and many of which are guesswork and detective work. Starts with a theory and then proof to back it up. Can't find proof? There are ways to use to lead to that proof. Basically this series is more police work than many police drama you have seen. It's not just interviewing people, it is actually looking through old files, sitting down and brainstorming, doing character charts, getting files from other departments, making calls, finding informants, leg work, car driving, spying, setting up equipments, doing reports, reporting to superiors, getting permissions to do something and yes, even on procedural stuff like how to keep Wat Dee in lock up for more than 2 days (make sure you arrest on Saturdays or during public holidays next to weekends and more public holidays), getting warrant, etc etc. I was very impressed with the amount of good reasonable police work in here and I hope to see a TVB series where the same sort of stuff is afforded to lawyers or doctors, the amount of analysis, research, etc. At some point you get to see Pak about to make dubious choices as a cop that you will perfectly understand. My god, as I write this, I do feel I have watched a proper cop series from TVB for once!

However this series also have too much monologues. I was waiting for one of them to talk to the camera or as they say, breaking the fourth wall. Or make it Shakespearean sort of rant. Well you have that a lot with Cal. She rants a lot to herself, always when desperate or scared or questioning why won't they leave me aloneeeeeeeeeeeee moments. For Pak, oh so many talking in his head. He talks to himself a lot, and a lot in his head. At one point you get Cal talking to Pak and in her head she explains why did she so, and Pak same thing except he questions why and what and all that stuff. So if you are ever lost as to what they're talking about, no worries. They will explain to you in their heads. I am not minding this much because it shows Pak saying one thing, meaning another. He is no hypocrite, he is just questioning. But Cal, she did the same thing and the sense is she is manipulative and conniving and ultimately a hypocrite, an observation Pak had, in his head. Some viewers may feel Pak is also manipulative but there's good manipulative and then there's Cal. You can't beat her at her own game by being honourable. Look at what happened to Wing. Like Hak said when he was asked did he set the microwave to explode and thus killing the assistant of Wat Dee (who is also a very bad man) and of course he did not because Cal did and he immediately said "Wow, that woman is such a cruel heartless woman, she wanted to kill me too!". Very accurate observation. Whilst Cal was justified to kill the man who killed Chloe, to want to kill Hak was simply to kill all witnesses to her corruption crime and that was cruel.

And then there's the super tedious repetition. Again if you're lost at some plot points, like how did he find out, no worries. Most probably, this series will have Pak explain FROM THE BEGINNING and you get flashbacks that takes forever to finish. There goes another 20 minutes of flashback, so to speak. The first one on how he recovered his handcuffs was the worst. At that point I wanted to give up on this series as I have tweeted it really felt like it was Destination Nowhere, plot wise.

There's also seeing ghostly apparitions scenes except of course there's no ghost, just wishful thinking of some characters.

And also plenty of one person rants/monologues where it is spoken dialogue, not just in the head. Like I said, quite Shakespearean theatre stuff.

All these amounted to at least 5 episodes too much for me. On the upside, you get to see, hear what the characters are thinking so you are never in any doubt whether Pak's good or bad, Cal's crazy or nice, etc etc. Takes the guesswork out.

PERFORMANCES

I think at the top of everyone's mind is how was Kevin and Kristal?

In fact there's 3Ks in here, Kevin, Kristal, King Kong.

KRISTAL TIN

Never a fan of hers but of course she can act. But like one observer who was watching this series with me said, in any given scene she is fantastic, but when you piece all her scenes together, it feels disjointed and it feels like a scene per scene performance. Like if she's happy in that scene, she's convincingly happy, if she's desperate, she looks really desperate but when the scene calls for happy to desperate, scene by scene next to one another, her performance falters because she is not convincing in the transition.

Frankly, that was what I said about Charmaine Sheh many many times and after hearing that, I gotta admit, my fellow viewer was dead right about Kristal Tin. It could be the editing is not as smooth, it could be in the writing, or it could be to show how Cal is descending into madness. But true, the transition is not only not smooth, it feels so jarring. There's no continuity to her character but there is also an advantage. If one scene she's so sad and then so calm, it does perhaps help to lend credence to the fact that Cal is one cold calculation woman and that she could be so calm when she was so desperate means a woman so in control of herself but yet others like Pak could see right through her fakeness. So in a way, that jarring transition helps her performance.

I am more concerned with the fact that I felt nothing for her Cal since day 1. First is because I never like Kristal even if she's a decent actress. But as the show goes one, it is because I feel Kristal does not have that quality of an actress who can grab people's emotion and latch onto them. Some actors or actresses could do so well that the viewers might begin to feel sorry for the villain even if the villain is terrible. Like how Roger Kwok was in any given role. Like some who despite doing bad stuff, you can't convince yourself they did it deliberately. You question if they are doing it for some reason. Some actresses are not good actresses but viewers like them and so feel for them. For me Kristal doesn't belong to that group. Her Cal should be someone that garners our sympathy and when she did the unthinkable, our hatred and finally when she begged Pak to let her go, maybe a tinge of sadness and ultimately when we see her in the final scene, sadness that she should become that way and only if she didn't take the bribe in the first place. Someone who when she said to Wing that her life was pitiful, you not only agree yes, plot wise but feel for her as well. Kristal to me lack that connection, I just don't feel that way about her so basically it was easy to dislike her and then to hate her and in the end feel nothing for her except "You reap what you sow" when it should have been "If only... if only..". Whilst her age is right for Kevin, she shares zero chemistry with Kevin. They don't look like a couple to me, I don't see the attraction and even if the relationship is one based on lies and wondering if at least Cal had ever loved Pak or vice versa, I don't feel the togetherness.

If I had a chance to recast, I would have loved to see Maggie Cheung Hor Yee in this role. She may not be the best actress, but she doesn't go OTT like Kristal who did well in desperate moments but I feel nothing for her desperation except on paper. On screen, I feel Maggie could portray Cal with whole background without showing me at all. No doubt Kristal might get at least a nomination for 2017 TVB awards, but there I feel is an actress who could do this better. In fact I will say why not get.. what's her English name now? Used to be Noel Leung? Leung Siu Bing? She once acted as the villainous Cixi if I remember correctly and she had my pity.

KEVIN CHENG

This series is touted as his last TVB series but I doubt it is for EVER. So no worries, he will be back. Am pretty sure like how fans reacted to Gallen Lo in Provocateur, you may also say the very first thing when you see Kevin; My god, how much he has aged!

Well, TVB saps your youth away, as much as a young girlfriend does! Ha! Don't get me wrong, I love Kevin as a celebrity person, but as an actor, it takes the right role. He found his breakthrough in either Ghetto Justice to some but to me it was Bu Bu Jing Xin (I refuse to call it by that stupid English title). He was so good in BBJX. In many ways Pak reminds me a lot of his performance in BBJX; don't give him anything too dramatic or if you must, nothing more than a few minutes because if any longer, you can see the flaws in his dramatic acting. He is perfectly suited for Pak; those sort where he is easy going, charming, nothing too over the top drama or comedy wise, and he reacts well to situation comedy by using his dead pan good looks and good humour. What surprises me was the depth of his performance. Let's face it, he was never in depth straight into your soul sort of actor, not even in BBJX. He played the elegant sophisticated but slightly troubled 8th Prince to perfection and he hardly raised his eyebrow in that series. He didn't even scream except maybe in despair. In this series, his performance of a not so elegant man is very elegant. I could find flaws but that makes Pak even more charming. I didn't like his Pak at first but unlike Kristal, I do think viewers can connect with his Pak very much as a single guy raising his only living relative. His chemistry with Kristal is nil but with Winki, it grows on me to the point I am convinced of their affection for one another. He's not supposed to be too old or much older than Winki's Tze Yue anyway so he is more like the fun uncle than the preachy parent uncle. He makes a convincing detective, the way he analyzes, the way he figures things out. He looks like an intelligent guy. Frankly many times this series everyone figures things out very very easily but I like the process he goes through, how he sees one fact, eliminates, sees another, accepts, finds proof. Kevin is convincing as that sort of thinking rational calm man who doesn't overreact but strategize and formulates a plan. At first his Pak did the same thing but to irritating effect. Later as he grew into his police role, you will see that detective side of him using the same thought process. The last few episodes showcases Kevin's maturity as an actor doing dramatic stuff in a more convincing way. The way he had to shout at Winki's Tze Yue and how much you can see that that act of shouting at Tze Yue shredded his heart to pieces and in the end as he held on to Kristal's Cal as she begged to be let go and how much he wouldn't. Or the scene where he saw her again in prison and I can't describe his expression adequately except maybe disbelief, deadpan disbelief or something like that. This role is made for Kevin and I can't quite imagine another with his easy charm and mature way of dealing with things could do better than him. Kevin is like an old soul in a now aging body but sometimes there's that playfulness and there's that steady good natured humour. Having seen him in person, for me, Pak in the later parts does closely resemble the Kevin I have seen. In so many ways, I really like his performance in here which to me is one of his best and most steady consistent performance ever. It helps that his character is properly developed and there is a good ending for him so I do think, if this IS his last TVB series, EVER, what a way to go.

My heartfelt congratulations to Kevin for a job well done. Kudos you handsome charming devil.

KING KONG

His Cantonese improved a lot, even if still skewered. His Cheung Hak is someone you can like, I do like him even if I question many times whether his character is needed or not. Frankly, I don't think his character is needed but his character with the character of Hung does provide for some special moments in this series. I do find his performance convincing as a hard luck mainlander who really wants to do a good job but bad luck and bad choices doomed him. His ending was uplifting as it should be. It was a good performance and a steady one throughout.

MAY CHAN

I really like May Chan but like for Cheung Hak, I wondered if Cheung Fei is needed. However her presence shows how kind Tze Yue and Wing were and also humanises Cheung Hak, if not Cheung Hak is just stupid without something to cheer on for. But her performance can be irritating. However I commend her for letting go. The scene where she was so upset at being fired that she cried her heart out by the sea and eating chocolates until her face, lips were messy with chocolate is not easy to watch but it is essential to show how much discrimination and biasness she faced due to where she was from. It does make her look ugly but in the end the one who's ugly is the people who mistreated her. There were many scenes where she is in scenes that many actresses may not want to be seen in, but May Chan was hired to do those ugly moments and she did them with aplomb. She was convincing when she is sad or silly or her affection and loyalty to her brother and I thought she was so convincing in those scenes where she was in pain and on the run. Yes she may talk in irritating high pitched voice when she is sad or happy but she can act. I long to see her act with Vincent Wong again, they made a cute couple!

LISA LAU

I don't think many actresses will want to be Hung, more so when she is described as someone ordinary looking made worse by plastic surgery. Even without the fake big gum in her mouth, obviously this actress did too much surgery on at least her nose that she looks unnatural. It is not a pretty sight but in this supporting role, as the love sick and fiercely loyal Hung, she excelled. I enjoyed watching her banter with King Kong and if she wasn't in this series, King Kong would have been tedious to watch.

WINKI LAI

I admit I was critical of her at first. I did say she wasn't pretty enough to be Kevin's niece but I suppose if you put two very attractive people next to one another, they may cancel each other out. Over time I grew to like her Tze Yue. Her performance is pretty straight forward and is convincing as well. Her crying scenes were very well done, especially her grief at Wing's death or her absolute disbelief her uncle would choose Cal over her. She shares some amazing chemistry with Kevin who does look and behave like her uncle. She is the one with the most hairstyle changes and her last scene, where she lets her hair go and has shoulder length hair made her look very pretty but no, she can't play Kevin's lover. She is officially his niece for life.

JAMES NG

I wonder why his nickname is Kwan Gor. Anyway, must confess, he is not a pretty sight. I mean look at him; he ain't tall, he looks a tad big, he has nerd hair, nerd glasses, strange teeth and a very ordinary face that doesn't spell STAR. And yet, man I love this guy. He can act. Oh yes! He may be deadpan, like he can compete with Kevin on that and yet there is a very straightforward sincere way in which he delivers his lines. He does it without drama, without fuss, he doesn't use huge hand movements, he just delivers. In fact I think he can do his entire scenes sitting on an armchair and still can convince me his Wing is a decent guy. Some people exudes that quality, like Felix Wong, like Steven Ma and here, this guy exudes the decency of Wing so much that when Cal did him in, you will hate Cal for it. His Wing is not an easy character to play. How can anyone be so nice without being a boring at the very least or hypocrite at worst? Well, Kwan Gor can. He also has one of the most convincing death scene and dead body scene. But when you dismiss him by saying he can play easy going only, he steps up with that confrontation scene with Kristal, in one of the scariest moment and he handled himself well. He expressed his shock, disgust, then pleading for Cal to turn herself in, made a bad lie, and the moments before his death, pleading for his own life, the entire sequence was fantastic from his performance alone. Kristal was at times OTT but this guy, he was steady and when he was required to cry and be angry and frustrated, he nailed it. A wonderful performance and I hope to see more of him. From Tiger Mom Blues to this, now we are sort of spoiled for choice in terms of young-ish actors. I am sure there will be some suitable character for this actor to portray but I will forever remember him as the tragic decent Wing.

JESSICA KAN

When I look at her as Chloe, I thought maybe she can be Tze Yue since she is the prettier version. She does sound old doesn't she? But when she was dressed in school uniform with little make up, I was shocked to see how young she looked. Her problem is she has an old voice and that spoils the performance a bit. But she can act; she does Chloe in how we all should see her as; selfish stupid silly girl. A very good performance and again, another young actress for TVB to choose.

YVONNE HO

I like her nickname, Brother Nat or Nat Gor. That's how her colleagues see her. Competent performance with some comic moments.

THE OTHERS

Finally I know his name! Thanks to Kidd and many others. Ho Kai Nam, the actor who underneath the shirt lies absssss. He was convincing as the crazy scary Wat Dee. Very convincing performance.

I really enjoyed Parkman's performance as Wong Sir. His is more like comic relief and his banter with Kevin was very funny to watch. A pity he disappeared later on and suddenly Nat Gor is permanently in Pak's team.

The other bad guys are great too although I can't name them at all since I don't know their names. Some more hypocrite than evil but all great performances.

Due credit must be given to the 2 foreigners who played the thieves in the first few episodes. They were funny as well as very good actors.

However a few faltered, such as Louise Yuen, Tyson who played mainlanders with very very bad accents that it was painful to watch.

And yes, that awful husband of Cal has the distinction of being the worst actor in this series. A complete jerk but the performance was sub par and cringe worthy. Perhaps he was so terrible therefore he was rather good as the jerk husband. Funny, he was the good dead husband in Tiger Mom Blues.

Performance wise, as in acting wise generally, frankly I find this series has pretty high standards.

VERDICT

You must have patience when watching this series, as in 16 episodes of patience if you are waiting for the 2 leads to meet and if you want to watch a great love story, don't watch this one. Watch this series for what TVB does best; family stuff. And watch this series for what TVB gets right finally; detective work. Also watch this series for what TVB never tries hard enough; develop characters in a character driven plot and spending 30 episodes on a singular plot device that is same story that didn't matter because in the end , it is the corruption that matters. And finally, watch this series for something TVB rarely does; lovingly create a series that made sense, that talks sense, ends sensibly and is in the end about sense. If only Cal had more sense than her desperate need to please her daughter, she wouldn't have been "lost".

You know, the Chinese title explains it all.

Ratings

⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

TIGER MOM BLUES / 親親我好媽 [2017][TVB] : A REVIEW

2017-03-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed this series and one of the few TVB series in recent times that is interesting and heartfelt.

Reviewed by
Funn Lim

Released in
2017

No. of Episodes
20

More info
Wikipedia, Jaynestars

REVIEW

I can give you my very short opinion on this series. It started slow, picked up in the middle, ended satisfyingly but not perfectly. In short, this is like a performance driven non-story no-conflict no-drama series where every performance averages from good to star in the making except if your name is Sharon Chan. Seriously, one of the best series for 2017 thus far and its scale is in the vein of House of Spirits where it is a small intimate series.

And now for the long one.

THE PLOT
There is no plot. It is basically about mothers and it kinda covers the bases as to what sort of moms out there. Except for one, the others aren't exactly tiger moms.

Natalie is the tiger mom. She is a housewife who manages her 2 very well behaved teenage daughters, so frankly she hasn't much conflict in that sense. Life isn't too difficult in that sense. Her eldest is Venus, 18 years old super obedient daughter (for a very heart breaking reason) and then there's I believe 12 year old Echo (who looks 13 or 14) who is precocious and slightly rebellious. Again, even slightly rebellious does not translate to any major drama or conflict. I find her life quite idyllic, with a devoted husband who listens to her, a mother in law who supports her and the little conflict is with her super grand mother (the grandchildren calls her GRANDma as it is reasoned because she is a very GRAND person) who dislikes her husband but again, not much conflict because she loves her daughter but had high expectations on her choice of husband. Money isn't much but they make do. The only conflict is Natalie herself who is very strict, has very high expectations but isn't a bad person.

Rebecca is a different sort of tiger mom. She is also a housewife except her husband is those rags to riches sort but still humble and she herself the daughter of a very rich father. She has one son, Oscar who is the same age and in the same class as Echo and basically, her problem is she is spoiled rotten as a daughter and as a wife and she spoils her son rotten as well. Her son turns out to be a bully who gets his way, always because of a mother who spoils him and a father who could not control him.

Claire is the youngest of the 3 I think and is a dedicated teacher as well as the head of discipline. She is a widow with a 9 year old son I believe, Isaac who is so well behaved, so smart, he is in the same class as Echo, thus creating a conflict where parents often complain of her biasness. She also has an 18 year old brother, Hayden who was a former good student and became what everyone sees as a badly behaved bad student ever since her husband died. Her brother is unhappy at home and at Claire's strict sense of impartiality and feels she is never on his side.

Things get a tad complicated when Natalie's husband, Yim Ha is accused of potentially having an improper relationship with a successful career woman, Venus falls for Hayden, Claire attempts in saving Oscar's schooling good credit resulted in her husband, Ko Yan's restaurants suffering a major setback and finally a little secret about Venus that led to the change in Natalie profoundly in her view as a mother.

But other than that, not much conflict. It is in fact a series with very little major problem because yes, the children are naughty but they aren't bad, parents are unreasonable and gossipy but they aren't very mean spirited or evil and husbands are mostly almost henpecked or chauvinistic but yet not truly chauvinistic because their philosophy as husbands is very old age; husbands work to provide food on the table and wives stay at home to educate children. Wives do not interfere with husbands' career and husbands do not interfere with wives' questionable choices when raising their children. I suspect feminists may not like this series, especially when Yim Ha forbids Natalie from working and Natalie, normally a very strongly opinionated woman seems ok with that until because of his suspected infidelity, it liberated her from that view and she rebelled by working whilst the normally non-confrontational Yim Ha rebelled and became more opinionated. Not a bad thing at all actually except I do feel Natalie was overreacting and Yim Ha was almost patient enough to withstand her OTT reaction to a non-issue.

The bigger issue is of course Venus and her past. From the get go you will already know Venus is not Natalie's daughter but is Yim Ha's child with another woman who ran away when Venus was very young. Natalie loves Venus like her own and in a way is very controlling of her every move, but it's ok because it is out of concern. Natalie's love can be suffocating but Venus doesn't mind it until she and Hayden is in a relationship and she met her real mother and was given an opportunity for a different lifestyle. I was waiting for Venus to implode on Natalie because Natalie will only change if Venus seriously explodes tantrum wise and this series does not disappoint. That scene where Venus tearfully argued with a very angry and emotional Natalie when she found out Venus was secretly meeting with her real mother, except Natalie thinks Venues doesn't know that fact was not only emotionally charged, but was very well acted. The revelation by Venus in the end was ended at just the right tone and manner and expressions and that was when Natalie changes, for the better.

My problem with that scene is the afterward and what happened. We never got to see Natalie suffering. We are told she is sick, she is without energy, she is emotional, she misses her daughter despite Venus not being her daughter, she regrets her over controlling ways, is very afraid Venus will never return... no such scenes. The most we get is Natalie looking sick on bed. It would have made this series so much more better if we get to see Natalie moping around sadly, scared, fearful. We do get to see Venus being slightly worried but after that revelation and explaining to her grandmother (father's mother) why she hid it so well, it was a heart breaking moment to reveal all the insecurities and yet, it feels almost nonchalant and detached. Her staying with her grandmother is more like vacation than running away or being fearful.

I also don't quite like the treatment of the real mother. Yes she abandoned Venus and Yim Ha but I find her reasons rather.... reasonable. Making her the villain of this series without villains is not the right move. Could it be because the actress playing this character is a nobody? Why not get a special guest star, put some star power in it rather than cast a third tier actress who did well but not well known enough. The blame or part of it should be on Yim Ha for being a chauvinistic husband. The feeling is the real mother was very young when she had Venus and felt trapped and so, left. She came back when she survived a cancer scare and wanted to reconnect with her daughter. However her methods are questionable as she either truly believes Venus is bullied by Natalie or is a sinister person, that whatever she does results in driving a wedge and creating mistrust between Venus and Natalie, rather unsuccessfully. This series probably takes the sinister path and so Venus basically had to choose between two mothers. To be honest, there's no choosing because the series had already decided the answer since Episode 1. I wanted TVB to surprise me. Instead, I get the message that "the bond with the birth mother is not as strong as the bond with the woman who raised you" thing but I don't see why can't Venus have best of both worlds. The real mother gives a sense of a woman who has seen much, traveled much, rather than Natalie's rather narrow view of the world out there and so why can't Venus have both, goes overseas to study and live with her real mother and come back home to Natalie? Why can't she have two mothers? Why must she choose between the two and it was to her the easiest choice and why must she walk away from her real mother, in a way blaming her real mother for walking out and thus choosing her father effectively? I mean why can't for once things end amicably with best of all worlds? And why again in the world of TVB career women got the blame?

Other than these slight hiccups, the other stories are very entertaining even if atypical of TVB.

There's the very entertaining antics of Rebecca and her son Oscar who both pack some major surprises at the end of the series by becoming truly nice people. I mean they're not bad people, just bad influence, especially in the case of Oscar whose bad behaviour is thanks to an overindulgent Princess Rebecca who always gets her way.

I also like the progression of Hayden who from rebel turns out to be one of the wisest sounding young man in this series. His relationship with Venus is believable as well although, again, no conflict.

Frankly, I do find the character Sing Kat Sze to be rather interesting as well, as a man who came to find Claire for good ulterior motive. However their love story is unconvincing, as much as his job as a janitor. I have never seen him fix anything outside of his own living quarters and Claire's room. In fact he seems to be so free; baking, chatting, dispensing with good advice. I was wondering what is his real job and when it is revealed he is a restaurant owner in Paris (rich, cultured, etc) which explains why he bakes so well, it is kinda surprising for me because that's rather convenient.

THE ENDING
It ended ok but doesn't tie up the lose ends like what happened to Venus' mom? She just goes away? What about Hugo's mom? Still as insane and abusive? Miss Man goes to Paris or not? Does she even love Sing Kai Sze? Or she just loves his eyes? Where's Frances? It feels like a sudden death sort of ending. I thought it deserves one more episode to end properly, tie up all the loose ends instead of rushing at the last episode and everything is just a-ok and perfect. The so called dilemma of Venus not being able to see her boyfriend for the next few years is non-dilemma. It is solved with a promise that all will be fine. So that ended in about 10 minutes of dilemma. The whole scene of Yim Ha trying to gain entry into university to study engineering I think is to me.. I don't know, it that how it's done in HK? Since he is a mature student with experience, he should be gaining entry via part time and open university sort of courses where it is night and weekend classes. Does he have to go begging for a place to study since his route is different from a young student? However I do like the ending scene where Rebecca and Oscar are up to their old tricks, being their competitive selves and racing with Yim Ha and family. Seriously, this series will be so less entertaining without Rebecca and Oscar.

THE PERFORMANCES
I am pretty impressed with most of the performances but it is the performances of the younger generation or younger younger generation.. you know what, there are like 4 generations here; grandparents, parents/sisters, older children and young children. I should say 4 levels of category here.

OLDER GENERATION
So few old people here but all of them did as veterans are expected to do; be the anchor. I won't talk about all of them but I particularly enjoy Michelle Yim's performance as the ultra arrogant GRANDma. However as the series goes on, you will likely to like her because in the end she is not a mean person, just an honest one. She doesn't mince her words and yes, she loves Echo more and she admits that much but in the end she did something for her daughter and that is to drag Venus away from the "evil" real mother. I think Michelle Yim is perfectly cast as the elegant former ballerina. She does have an air of sophistication to her and a certain innocence like she doesn't know she is creating conflict or is arrogant.

By the way I am watching Saimdang starring the ever beautiful Lee Young Ae and in that series in the modern times timeline, there is also a GRANDma but compared to Michelle's version, Saimdang's GRANDma is someone I wish I could slap eventhough both walk with their noses in the air and a perpetual scowl at the sight of poor people or poor neighbourhood.

MID GENERATION
My only gripe is when there should be more shown, this series held back and that is Natalie's suffering. But performance wise, wow...

Elena Kong seems ill suited for the role of a housewife at first because I always see her as an arrogant egoistical pretentious career woman, like she is perpetually bored with what you have to say and isn't too bothered to even listen. But her acting is not to be criticized. I especially love the scenes where she argues. She will go all out and argue, and not just argue loudly but emotionally, like really really argue. Never argue with Elena. She wins with her bulging eyes and louder, louder and louder voice and her very scary angry look. At her more quieter gentler moments, that's when I feel I find her inconsistent or rather her Natalie is inconsistent. Controlling at home, nice outside. Which makes me think she is not a bad person at all, but she does have control issues. I suppose in that sense Elena is perfectly cast.

Ben Wong excels as the ordinary man, and does look really frustrated when he is in those argument scenes with Elena. These two did not hold back and really looked like an arguing couple. If this was done years ago, I will want Felix Wong in this role, as someone who is likable. His Yim Ha is a soft sort of guy who found his voice to argue back but yet is chauvinistic in his view of the role of a wife? I am confused on this point. I suppose a man can be chauvinistic and yet empowering in a positive way at the same time.

Savio Tsang is a surprise addition to this series in the sense that this man has been languishing in third-dary roles of late and suddenly here he is in a secondary role with a character who is very prominent in this series. Whilst I wonder why his spoilt rich brat of a wife married him who was probably not too poor but wasn't too rich either, he and Koni Lui do make an interesting couple because they look so out of place together but just seems right towards the end. At first I did not like Ko Yan who I feel just couldn't control his wife or his son but towards the end when his business was suffering a major setback and he quietly narrated his father's story and his own vision and then silently alone (or he thought he was alone), he was crying his heart out, that was a very beautiful scene. For almost entire series this man was stoically silent, frustrating at times, and sometimes I wouldn't even notice him. His Ko Yan is serious but proves to be a good man with good intentions and ethics who somehow married a spoiled wife and a spoiled son. You will wonder what went wrong for him. I also like how this series highlighted his goodness when he proposed a very interesting scheme to guide his wife to the path of "goodness" so to speak and with that I just can't help but feel Rebecca is such a lucky woman to have such a wonderful husband. But make no mistake, he was lucky too to have Rebecca as a wife too.

Koni Lui is someone who is now cast in 2 quite similar roles; both loud and both unreasonable but both with redeeming factors and both wives to husbands with no voice and who spoil her. Her role is similar to House of Spirits and frankly I very much enjoyed her performance in here too. Fine, she speaks loudly but in her case, it is apt. I like how she will preface her son's name or when talking about her son to others with "My precious son, Oscar" or just "My precious son". She makes it sound so effortlessly right that it was rather funny. She is no great dramatic actress nor is she particularly funny but even when her Rebecca is frustratingly childish and incredibly spoiled, you can't say she is not one dedicated mother except she teaches her son all the wrong values. She is not a bad or mean person, but she is just highly competitive and always gets her way. I feel Koni's performance embodies all that. However, towards the end, her change is rather incredible. It isn't too in your face but it was more subtle. Koni never changed her acting style and yet there is a nice difference with her Rebecca in the way she dresses, the way she talks. I don't like that I never got to see a more slow change because her change was too sudden but it is never a doubt her Rebecca did change for her son.

Sharon Chan is a disappointment. Her Miss Man is so dry, so boring, for someone with such a sad backstory, I find her character the least interesting one. Her only saving grace is her interaction with Wai Ka Hung as Sing Kat Sze or the young besotted student but even then she is frustratingly restraint for all the wrong reasons. I only like her individual scene where she asked her biased principal if she is expected to resign and she won't. Her Miss Man is supposed to be someone stoic and with character, with principle but she comes across as someone preachy, almost like a young Liza Wang where everything from her mouth is preachy stuff. I get it she's a teacher, she's got to be strict, she's got to be a moral example, blah blah blah. I find her performance just about tolerable. As a teacher, as a sister, as a mother, as a friend, as a widow who misses her husband terribly (by the way her dead husband played the god awful SOB in Destination Nowhere, two polar opposites!) and she is not remotely convincing in any of the role except as Sharon Chan playing these roles.

Wai Ka Hung is Willie Wai, so says Wikipedia. Anyway, he plays his Sing Kat Sze in a straightforward way. A man without temper, he is also a very mild mannered nice guy. So he isn't convincing as either a chef, a restaurant owner in France or a janitor but I like his no nonsense performance as someone who has some kind encouraging words for everyone.He's like a beacon of positivity as opposed to Sharon Chan's pessimism.

I have not much comment for Becky Lee who seems perpetually typecast as either the suffering third party or any career woman character with her signature very glossy lipstick. I am however rather pissed that TVB continually shows a career woman as a childless, unhappy mistress who drinks and drive dangerously and almost causes the breakdown of a decent man's marriage whether intentionally or unintentionally. In this series, it is unintentionally and sadly she suddenly disappears from screen thereafter. And it is also why I hate TVB for making a guy choose between wife or female friend instead of having both.

YOUNG GENERATION
Plenty of talent in this group and I am very very happy to see young faces who can act so TVB has hope! Frankly I don't know any of them. May have seen them before.

Kaman Kong.. Kong Ka Man issit? Because that's a weird name for a pretty-ish actress. She isn't some great beauty, maybe because throughout the series she wears very little make up which highlights her youth. So she's 22 in real life, but she does look like a convincing 18 year old. She plays Venus in a very restraint non confrontational non emotional way and it suits Venus perfectly. Some might mistake that as no acting but it takes a good actress to be that restraint and yet emotional at the same time. She's raw but with much potential. Her biggest moment was when she had that huge argument with Elena and Elena as I have said, could really really argue. Kaman Kong held her own and delivered the punchline, that huge revelation with such aplomb that I too was taken aback. I like her performance. I like her ease of banter with her cast mates and how she fares very well against seniors and senior's seniors. Not this series' best young actress but quite close.

Matthew Ho plays Hayden. Nice name. I kept telling my viewing partner that this guy could have been perfect if his voice is deeper. He should really train his voice, to speak in lower tone because right now, his voice is the only problem. He does have a naturally gentle effeminate face, so his Hayden being a rebel is not convincing at all. I don't even find his Hayden as a loner convincing also. BUT I find his Hayden as a romantic guy or a nice guy rather nice to watch. I think Hayden is a great character with the cool loner surface, but passionate and kind and caring deep inside. Venus chooses well for her first boyfriend. I also like his scenes with his seniors where he held his own and even delivered some convincing lines about his choice for his future. This Hayden is someone who knows what he wants and knows how to get them. I especially like the scene where Yim Ha was discussing with him about his future and Hayden brilliantly turns the table around and in his own way, praises and criticises Yim Ha. That was a well written scene and well acted as well. Still raw but the talent's there.

What I like about Matthew and Kaman is they are both natural in respective role, so however raw, you can see the potential. And TVB needs that right now for this age group.

Arnold Kwok.. who?! No idea but man this guy is very good. His Hugo Lin Kwok Kai is someone you wanna kick and then hug and then give an encouraging pat on his back. Whilst I feel Kaman and Matthew were raw, I feel Arnold was a step up in a supporting role that required him to do 3 different characters in one series. His Hugo was at first a mean arrogant bully which he excelled. Then he was a lovable cute goofy guy besotted with his pretty teacher which he also excelled. And finally the abused son of an abusive mother which he also excelled. His only problem is towards the end he looks a tad too grown up for a teenager but I always keep forgetting, this series depict form 6 students, they are 18, technically end of teenagehood and almost young adult. I feel he makes Miss Man aka Sharon Chan interesting and I would not go NO WAY! if his Hugo comes back sayyyyy 8 years later and woo Miss Man. Miss Man isn't too old in this series. Arnold is handsome, tall-ish, robust. He just needs a tan. That's all and you have your future star for TVB. Frankly I know nothing about him so I googled and read he was in House of Spirits? As who? And he was a fashion model? Figures. So I suppose he has absssss..... perfect!

Hebe Chan plays Venus' best friend, Meg who hilariously from a girl who shops a lot whose career is to marry a rich man became a girl who wants to be a boxer. I find that hilarious but uplifting. Her speech about finding her passion and her purpose must resonate with a lot of young people and there are always a Meg or a Venus or a Hayden or a Hugo somewhere. They all teach a lesson for all young people; find your passion, pursue your dream but remember, be patient in getting your family's blessing and if they love you, and they do, they will accept your choice eventually.

Come to think of it, this series pretty much cover the types of teenagers today, of course like I said, if you ignore the delinquents and the trouble makers and those who are from very troubled background. Wait! Hayden's crush in this series got pregnant whilst at school and her boyfriend was charged and imprisoned for statutory rape! So that covers another type.

YOUNGER GENERATION
The talent pool is in this category and the future of TVB is in here as well.

The weakest of the lot is Ivan Chan who plays Isaac, the youngest of the lot and brilliant nice good perfect son of Miss Perfect Miss Chan. I have nothing against Isaac but this series is kinda telling us if you are a good person, you are a good mom, your son is also gonna be very very very good. I do think Ivan was ok as the decent kid. He's not cute though but as an actor, he was adequate.

Coleman Tam (wow! Coleman!) as Oscar is a standout. I really love this kid. I love how he was just so spoiled and mean bully that I just wanna slap him and scream at him to shut up. I love how he was so unrestrained in his performance. I mean I am sure his friends must tease him for those scenes where his Oscar throws himself onto the floor or bed or just went spastic and crying and throwing stuff and just being very very rude. He has most scenes with Koni and some guys may also think he's the luckiest because Koni's Rebecca just doesn't call him "my precious son" or in Chinese you can say it is closer to "my most treasured beloved precious son" who in her eyes is utter perfection, every time they are in a scene, there's a hug. A lot of skinship between these two. I also love his transformation to a good kid which was sudden, not too convincing (the process, not the acting) but it was a great change of character. He's very natural and I just love his performance.

Sophia Hung who plays Ben and Elena's youngest daughter, Echo is a revelation. To me she is the best actress in here who gave the most natural and best performance of a person of her age group. She was so precocious, behaving in such a natural way and the way she delivered her lines was so easy, so at ease and without any pretentiousness. She's a natural. I love her every scene, even when again she was arguing with super quarrel woman, Elena and she held her own. That was the only time Elena's character did not and could not answer back. So Echo's the boss! Back to that argument scene, her Echo was rude and selfish but her performance, the tears, the anger, the frustration, the rudeness, so very real. When she's teasing people, she really looks like a precocious kid. Both she and Coleman stole the show for me. Between these two, I feel Sophia is by far the best actress in the young and younger generation group. I could quite imagine her in a wuxia series playing a playful intelligent precocious princess or something. This girl has acting chops and yes, TVB's great new hope. She even sounds young.

Looking at these two pools, I hope TVB will consider a new category for 2017's award show, call it Breakout Star or Tomorrow's Star or Best Young Actor award. I will favour Best Young Actor and it should be for actors below 25 years of age (because if below 18, effectively the list will be short) and I will want to see Coleman, Sophia, and the gang in here all nominated and I will want to see Sophia win unless there's another acting prodigy hidden somewhere. To think decades ago TVB did not have a decent child actor or young actor or teenage actor, now in one series, there so many to choose from. Of course there's still Most Improved and that should be for actors who are most improved but it is time to create a Best Young Actor award to cater and to encourage young actors. Then create a Breakout Star award to recognise a breakout role, if there isn't one. I don't mean Most Popular or Best Actress, but Breakout Star can be anyone, any character, any role, any actor, need not just be leads or secondary or big production. Pump some new blood, build the bases for new idols instead of those nearing 40s still playing late 20s or worse still, 30s playing 50s. Not sure which is worse.

VERDICT
This is no huge drama. There isn't much conflict. It falters towards the end because there are just too many characters to focus on, some unconvincing but each serves his or her purpose. The acting for most is the highlight of this series, especially the younger generation where there are a few that if the progression is done right, will probably be the anchor of TVB if TVB is willing to invest in them. I really enjoyed this series and one of the few TVB series in recent times that is interesting and heartfelt. It's a small series, the actors are no big names but it has a huge heart. Whilst I may not like some aspects and some stories, overall my affection for it is the same as I have for House of Spirits. I appreciate this series and I will recommend this to anyone who likes good acting, decent story, great ensemble cast with personality and heart.

Seriously, it's good. Go watch it.

Ratings

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A FIST WITHIN FOUR WALLS / 城寨英雄 [2016][TVB] : A REVIEW

2017-01-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

"I was ready to criticise and not see any good in it. However on reflection I see the good as well"

Reviewed by
Funn Lim

Released in
2016

No. of Episodes
28

More info
Wikipedia, Jaynestars

REVIEW

The title is so apt. As I was watching this series (purely for Ruco Chan), my hand formed into a fist and I found myself punching all 4 walls, purely out of frustration. This series won Best Series in TVB Awards and I feel it was the popular choice but it was the wrong choice. The best series of the year was House of Spirits and it wasn't for its performances or story. It was for consistency in the story and performances.

What A Fist Within Four Walls lack is consistency in absolutely everything. Character, pacing, storytelling, focus, ending. It focused on A and ended on B when A was the more interesting story.

Basically it is all about Ruco Chan; he played father and then he played son. His two stories intertwined with many other as with every TVB series since time immemorial. TVB will never do a linear story because it would be too boring and they can't ever really completely focus on one storyline. That's fine until it reaches a crossroad of storytelling; continue with main story or go the other way and just muck up the main story. As with all TVB series, this series certainly went the other way. For example;

1. I was very interested in episode 1, the back story about the protectors of the walled city of Kowloon; Duen and Chiu. The series spent so little time on them and just zoom straight to meet, friend, kill, die, children grow up, in that order. I wanted to know more about Chiu Man San, and Duen Tung Tin. Surely the producer can take 6 episodes or so to just tell a proper backstory? Because it had TWO of the most heart wrenching death scenes ever; the mysterious unfortunate death of the noble upright Duen and then the downright murder of Chiu and his wife, the guest starring and almost zero dialogue Natalie Tong in a wasted guest appearance. It was a very shocking mob rule sort of scene that sets the pace of the story and then... the story simply failed to capitalise on that.

2. Whilst Kuen Lo had a very sad back story, I can never understand why the writer chose to make him grow into a bumbling country bumpkin, ever optimistic whilst Duen Ying Fung, the son of the noble Duen was far more cynical. Maybe because he was a city kid? Anyway I was expecting Kuen Lo to be the angry sort. He did witnessed the mob murder of his parents. Not only did he failed to investigate their tragic double murder, later we will find out he didn't even bother to bury them. He actually believed his father murdered Master Duen. The greatest joke is it was the younger Duen who suspected foul play. It was this change of direction that just frustrates me. Yes Ruco was cute to watch as some overoptimistic highly idealised person but Kuen Lo must have been blind, deaf and incapable of rationale thinking to grow up that way. He should be the one seeking answers, getting revenge, instead for the rest of the series he hardly did anything that one can say he did justice for his father and mother and his family honour. He was far too busy being noble, being forgiving, being in love, being blind and then being happy. The major dramatic thrust of responsibility of being the one doing all the questioning and all was left to Duen Ying Fung which makes me feel Duen Ying Fung was a far better character. And these two started as equal, and then Duen Ying Fung seems to take precedence, towards the end Duen Ying Fung was kicked to the back because the producers suddenly remember who is supposed to be the leading actor.

3. I was far more interested in the story of Fa Man than Tiu Lan and yet we are not shown Fa Man's back story, instead we have Tiu Lan's story about assassins, etc. Fa Man in passing narrated her life where she had to do things she didn't want to do but had to because she needed to survive and because she wanted to investigate the murder of her parents. By the way this little girl buried her parents. This little girl who was lost grew up knowing her father was maligned and unfairly accused of Master Duen's death. This little girl grew up seeking revenge and justice, and rightly so. And somehow she knew Kuen Lo was her big brother, so she was highly skilled in every area. I admire her from day 1. This is one strong female character and to me the strongest of all characters in this series, including the men. She was far ahead of her bumbling country bumpkin brother in all areas and she suffered more than he did and never wavered in her conviction. When she found love, it was sweet as opposed to her brother's love which was to me a hindrance to the growth of the character. Like I said, we have Tiu Lan's childhood story but nothing on Fa Man. How did Fa Man survived? Shouldn't this story concentrate on her at one side and then on Kuen Lo on another? Maybe spend a few episodes actually showing us how they grew up? Not everything has to be flashbacks you know.

4. And so we have Tiu Lan taking the spotlight from Fa Man when Fa Man was the main character to me. For everything about Tiu Lan, I feel those can be shifted to Fa Man, meaning Fa Man can be the one hungry and willing to kill for food, trained to be assassin, etc. That will explain why she can fight so well. And it will tie in with why she left the organisation and came to Kowloon. Basically Tiu Lan's character was just a surplus who did nothing to contribute to the story and frankly Kuen Lo doesn't need a love story to show he is capable of love and gentleness. That can be exhibited through his love for his sister, his only living family.

5. Even if we have Tiu Lan, which is ok with me, my biggest problem is Tiu Lan is a waste of space. For a moment she had so much potential. This was like Kung Fu Hustle, a place where great kung fu warriors live and hide their identities. When Tiu Lan was so distraught over the death of an innocent girl that she cared deeply about, that one scene where she single-handedly killed all those men was probably the greatest highlight of this series, apart from Fa Man killing those responsible for the death of her father. It was so promising, like what will Tiu Lan do next? I was expecting her to do more, to be unleashed more. Well, she fainted, woke up, had amnesia or pretended to and for the rest of the series quite simply disappeared into the background and occasionally resurface because hey, that's Nancy Wu, she's the leading lady, nobody can tell her her Tiu Lan was after that forgettable and rendered useless to the plot. It was so frustrating to watch. I was waiting and waiting for her to do something every time there's injustice but nope, nothing.

6. I was never convinced by the love story of Tiu Lan and Kuen Lo. Tiu Lan was too cartoonish. For someone who wanted to hide from the world, she behaved in such a way that the world will notice her. His blindness and her way of taking care of him led to one of the silliest plot error ever; apparently no one could find Kuen Lo since he was blind and wasting away somewhere deep in remorse, guilt, regret. People asked around, in fact people were dispatched to look for him but no one ever asked Tiu Lan because she could find him very easily. she knew exactly where he was.

7. Fa Man's death was tragic but in the end could have packed more punch. I just feel at that point the writer just wanted to move on from Fa Man who by then was my most favourite character so I perfectly understood that meant her death because it was either her or Tiu Lan and again you don't kill Nancy Wu because she is the leading lady. Would have been much better if Tiu Lan died because Fa Man had more things to be done.

8. One of the most tragic deaths, apart from the elder Duen and Chiu was Lung Shing Fu who spent half the series misunderstood and the other half just ended up doing the right thing. His death was brutal and was one of the best scenes in this series for the intensity and the drama. Again he was dispatched away and then for the rest of the series, pushed aside as the stories unfold. I feel he needn't die so soon or die at all.

9. My memory may have failed me but I kinda remember the folks in the Walled City didn't deserve protection from day 1. I didn't see them standing up for themselves, more so for others. In fact most of the time for such a packed city, I didn't see much people when there was trouble. There was no unity and sometimes you wonder why bother to fight for these people?

10. I didn't get why the ultimate bad guy wanted to control walled city unless he wanted a factory to produce his opium or drugs. Because I distinctly remember the pudding man had control outside the walled city so why is it so important that he must control the walled city? There must have been a reason for his disguise, for his secret identity but somewhere along the way the series abandoned that reason and just went all out of kung fu fighting and less about story development. When pudding man said he slept with the wife of another prominent villain and produced a very sweet nice daughter, I wonder was it real? There was no flashback. TVB, this is one scene you need flashback and amp up the sex but nope, nothing. So I wonder, was he telling the truth or was that scene cut? Poor Audrey; between a bad guy father and an evil father, I am not sure if she had the best of either world.

11. Poor Audrey that she never married. I mean she deserves a happy ending and it isn't learning muay tai and taking care of her would be mother in law. She never married Lung Shing Fu anyway. Her happy ending is going away, doing something, marrying someone else, moving on. Nobody ever moves on in TVB world, she's far too young to be a would be widow. I was hoping she ended up with Duen Ying Fung but I guess Duen Ying Fung is the bona fide widower. Wait! He wasn't married either. Was he?

12. The ending for Tiu Lan and Kuen Lo quite frankly left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, I said people should move on but at some point with so many deaths, it was highly inappropriate to have them ended up having sex in a public place as a happy ending. A wedding perhaps, traveling the world perhaps, a nice ending kissing scene by the sunset perhaps. But her removing his clothes and pulling him into some secluded area and giggling till the end? By this time, after being through so many things, so many deaths, so much pain and regret and sorrow, I feel the ending shouldn't be this childish and playful. This is no time for playful since they began playful, the ending should have been a more mature end because people do grow up and perspective change but love stays and with that, a more quiet mature ending was more apt. It just feel like all the deaths didn't matter; these two matters. By that time I didn't quite care for these two at all because I have had it with Kuen Lo spending most of the series moping around doing nothing much and Tiu Lan spending almost entire series doing absolutely nothing. And the fact that she wore a tight catsuit to fight is not a plus point.

13. The ultimate villain is a problem. I don't know what's with TVB these days. Any drama about mystery, murder, suspense, and they have this idea of villains and ultimate villain or rather ultimate boss, like some video game. In this series, the ultimate boss is Pudding Man. And it felt incomplete. Surely Pudding Man was working for someone? There must be an ultimate boss to the ultimate boss? If Pudding Man is the ultimate boss, and indeed he was, it was such a let down.

But there are goods in this series but they are almost always the secondary characters.

This series had 3 strong villains. Pudding Man was not one of them because I never quite got the guy. If only he had more time to be developed as a proper villain, he could have been a very cruel calculating cold one. The ultimate CCC combination. The 3 villains were the 3 fractions at the start of this series;

1. Fuk Sau Kam was an interesting character. He was the drug lord of the walled city and what I love about him was his death scene; because that was when Fa Man was unleashed and the way she killed him was the highlight for me.

2. Or Man Cheung was also an interesting character in the sense he was the hypocrite and he controlled the gambling dens. However he wasn't the ultimate villain because his villainess was checked by his love for his daughter, Audrey.

3. Fung Ha Moon was one half of the duo villains who controlled the prostitution empire. He spent his time mostly sneering. It was his other half, his older brother Fung Chun Mei who to me was the most memorable villain in this series. Cold, calculating, cruel, he had the CCC but he had one I suppose redeeming factor that Pudding Man didn't have; Fung Chun Mei loved his brother very much, blindly in fact. I felt he dominated every scene he was in by not really saying much or even talking loudly; he was rather soft spoken and to me he was the scariest of the lot.

Then there was a character I grew to like who was Lung Shing Fu who started shady and mostly half naked with oil slathered on his body. Then when he moved past that stage, he was in the end a rather noble character forced by his own sense of misdirected loyalty and saved by his love for his mother who disapproved of everything he did and his love for the sweet Audrey. That was why his death scene was significant; this was a major character heavily involved in the story and to lose him so soon for me is what a waste of a good story.

And of course there was Audrey whom I really like. There are characters that are so sweet you just want to slap them. But Audrey is a sweet character that you can't help but like. She has her own viewpoint and her own moral compass. Considering that she had the DNA of the Pudding Man (which isn't good news) and raised by another hypocritical bad guy (which should really have made her rotten), she turned out to be a rather upstanding character that you can cheer for.

Finally there was Fa Man, possibly my most favourite female character todate in a TVB series. She was strong as she was gentle, she was forceful as she was soft spoken, she sacrificed and she knew why she had to sacrifice. Whilst her brother was very forgiving of those who murdered their parents, she was far less forgiving and I felt her revenge scenes were the highlight. Her death was tragic but from my memory, not much significance given to her AFTER death scenes which frustrates me. I felt Fa Man could have merged with Tiu Lan as one character so that I don't ever have to see the silly Tiu Lan again but it seems a man is only whole if he ever got a girlfriend and the world will stop spinning if Kuen Lo doesn't get his love story. The joke is the quiet moments between Kuen Lo and Fa Man were the love story for me; the sibling love story as they reconnect and his horrified look as she told him her very very brief back story which deserved a flashback! TVB, flashback here!!!

There are other characters and it suddenly hit me But Tak Liu's wife was Emma in Dead Wrong. No complaints about those characters since they represent the ordinary folks of the walled city.

I should also mention the walled city itself. It was quite stunning backdrop even at times I do know it is a studio because it was too clean and too much echo. I like Thai Po's shop, in Malaysia we used to have such shops which we called "Kedai Runcit" where you see biscuits in glass jars, etc. Those are dying breed here except in small towns. I like the costumes or for men, the lack of costumes since whenever they fight, their upper torso is devoid of clothing and is mysteriously suddenly oily. Not complaining although the only one who should ever take off his top is Lung Shing Fu. The rest can keep their clothes on. And yet the one who was scariest was the guy who was always in the same costume and that was Fung Chun Mei. You don't see him losing his top at all. Not even his lipstick and eyeshadow.

And finally, the stunt work and kung fu deserves a mention, even if some of the actors do more dancing or aerobic exercises than kung fu. Some you know are trained, so it looked more effortless and packed with power. Some you know are good dancers, therefore they are more fluid, graceful and able to showcase a different aspect of the real kung fu used here when they used a bit more power. Some you know are hopeless and they seemed to be doing tai chi more than forceful kung fu and you can imagine them counting one.. two... three.. when throwing the not so powerful punches. It beggars belief why that particular person is even hired for this series playing not one but TWO kung fu experts when he didn't even played a convincing dentist. You will be surprised who was convincing; the secondary actors were the ones who surprised me most with their fluid movements and they were pretty convincing. You gets snippets of their choreography at the end of each episodes, how meticulous they were, how difficult it all was and how effortless they made it all looked.

Performances Evaluated

No doubt this series is a group effort and should be commended for their effort. Whilst the story is to me a total waste of resources, talent and opportunity and absolutely undeserving of any award, it is time TVB should create an award known as Best Cast or something like that to honour not the best series but the best group. I feel this series and House of Spirits should win that award.

Ruco Chan

I watched this series for him and I ended up despising his Kuen Lo from episode 2. I wished he was Duen Ying Fung because I think I long to see Ruco in a role that doesn't involve him being impetuous, reckless, shouting his lines. Between he and Nancy Wu, I needed ear plugs because they were loud. And I would think Ruco will look more convincing as a dentist, a master in kung fu and look mighty dashing in a suit. Unfortunately for Ruco, he got stuck with Kuen Lo. Or maybe fortunately because he undeservedly won the Best Actor award at the TVB awards. For body of work, I will give it to Ruco but for this series, no I won't. Kuen Lo was one of his weakest performances because his character was not well written and he didn't have much to do apart from spending most of the series moping around. Now I am really hoping TVB will remake Hanzawa Naoki. I always said I thought Roger Kwok would be my Hanzawa but since Roger Kwok had most of the more interesting characters, it is time Ruco is given a role like Hanzawa. In fact if there is a Nirvana In Fire, I want Ruco as the Prince where he can be honourable and impetuous, his best traits in all his characters. For Kuen Lo, I am not saying he was terrible but Kuen Lo hardly stretched his acting prowess. Also Kuen Lo made no sense; I just hated the whole country bumpkin over enthusiastic overly kindly noble sort of guy who was his father's greatest critic because he never believed his father. And no one ever remembers the poor mother. By the way Ruco was far better as the father and his kung fu was very convincing.

Benjamin Yuen
He played the senior Duen weakly (I wasn't even convinced he was the respected master) and the junior Duen in a way that when he wasn't doing the fighting, he was tolerable. Duen Ying Fung, if you must know, is my most favourite male character in this series because he is a human being unlike Kuen Lo who is god knows what he is. Duen Ying Fung actually do human stuff and have human emotions and could think better. Problem is Benjamin Yuen is such a snore. That guy just slowed down everything and his kung fu scenes were the weakest because he was so skinny, his kung fu had no force and he was rather slow. But his best scene was when he discovered his entire family murdered. Even then the grief was too brief, too little but since Duen Ying Fung is not a very emotional guy, you can interpret his detachment in the sense he is that sort of a person.

Philip Ng
A strange guy. He actually looks handsomer as the series went on and his character suits his performance or the other way around. Yes he was wooden, but Lung Shing Fu is wooden. Yes he was not very emotional or expressive but Lung Shing Fu is that sort of guy. The role is kinda written with him in mind. Another actor who could have played this role and not change one expression is Kenny Wong but frankly, Philip Ng is a far more expressive actor than Kenny Wong and that is saying something. Philip Ng was also very convincing in his fight scenes, considering his background. Really packed a punch.

Nancy Wu
She is the leading lady here. I find her performance here and her every other performances lacking variety. However the problem for her here is the lack of depth for her character. I could only imagine if Tiu Lan didn't go back to hiding but was unleashed or Tiu Lan is merged with Fa Man, what can Nancy Wu do? Maybe much more. Her scene where she killed all those men was the highlight. It was beautifully filmed, she was quite convincing except for the jumping up scene and for someone so skinny she packed a punch. Whilst fans lauded her chemistry with Ruco, I don't see any. Of course they are now basking in their popularity and no doubt helped by their so called chemistry and rumours of a relationship (could be true if Ruco ever change his taste in women and he might), but I feel she had far more chemistry with the older Bobby Au Yeung in House of Spirits than in this series. And I liked her much much more in the other series. In here, she is wasted and a waste of space. I will not mince my words about Tiu Lan; I am bitter that Tiu Lan took away much screen time from Fa Man who deserved her back story. Tiu Lan to me could be removed and A Fist Within Four Walls will still be the story it is.

Grace Wong
She gave perhaps her career defining performance in this series. Before, her acting is credible, except people hated her for her religious views. But the girl can act and I like that she whispers rather than shouts. She is Mandy Wong but Mandy Wong's problem is she speaks like she is teaching a language class whilst Grace speaks as if that's how she speaks. For someone so skinny, her kung fu was the most convincing amongst the women, Yuen Qiu included. Maybe it was her dancing background, but her movements were fluid, almost dancer like, very graceful and with such force you will believe she can throttle you to the floor and sweet talk you at the same time. I love her scenes with Ruco, the way they were rather sweet to one another and I love how she played Fa Man as someone that went through so much hell and yet could be the voice of reason, even if she was seeking revenge. I feel Grace Wong should have been the leading lady in this series because her Fa Man is so significant to this story, without her, there is no A Fist Within Four Walls. Fans of Grace Wong should seriously watch this for her.

Moon Lau
She was another actress whom I feel should have won Most Improved Actress in TVB awards. I couldn't believe this was the same actress I saw in other series where she wasn't wooden, but I never paid much attention to. Her Audrey could have been very annoying; I quite imagine if this series was made a decade ago or earlier, this role would probably be played by a young Charmaine Sheh or Shirley Yeung, neither I believe could have made Audrey not annoying. Because Audrey is supposed to be so sweet that you find her annoying. That's TVB's dictum in every series; mary sues I believe. But Moon manages to make her spunky, likable, lovable and god forbid, cute! Very very enjoyable performance but drama wise, she could work on her crying scenes where she squints a lot; a bad habit to me.

The rest

Yuen Qiu is Yuen Qiu. Her best scenes were with Philip Ng. No comments. So is KK Cheung.

Jonathan Cheung appeared for reasons I can't understand why. Like Tiu Lan, his character was a surplus. Perhaps to create some tension, like a choice for Tiu Lan to make when... come on, this ain't her story. It was so strange to see him appear and even stranger, his performance was so wooden. I wasn't sure whether he was good guy or bad guy and frankly, you don't need to care. He was a surplus.

Now I must comment on the 3 villains plus the pudding man.

What I love about this series is it gives probably the main characters in terms of villains to secondary actors who some I frankly do not know their names but I have seen them. You would expect a more famous face but that's where this series excels; it offers a chance to these actors to show their capabilities in a different way. Much like how it was in Three Kingdoms RPG, where that was a necessity since there weren't enough famous faces to fill so many roles. In fact it was Three Kingdoms RPG which I refer to every time I need to know the names of some obscure secondary actor because I sort of listed all the names of almost everyone in that series and deservedly so. Three Kingdoms RPG became my encyclopedia of secondary actors' name, one of whom is in here playing a very prominent role.

I think Oscar Li played the pervert very well. Not much comment. Vincent Lam was also very convincing in his fighting scenes and looking like he is always high on drugs. I am happy that Au Sui Wai is getting some love from TVB. He was convincing as the creepy villain Pudding Man except his character was not given much depth and development which is a great pity. All these 3 fought very very well, including KK who were all convincing and worthy adversaries to our heroes.

However the one deserving a huge praise is Carlo Ng. I would never guess him as a kung fu fighting super scary supremely calm villain but he was very very convincing in both. I will say of all the villains his Fung Chun Mei was most fleshed out although we hardly know his background, just enough to go on. A pity he hardly had a costume change but I think he gave an amazing performance and a special recognition award given to him at the recent TVB awards was most deserving although he deserved the Best Supporting Actor because that was what he was. I do think Raymond Cho could also nail this character if he was given a chance. But what a surprise to see Carlo Ng nailing this.

Verdict

Oh how I hated the story. The more accolades, the more I hated it. But as I wrote this review, something I haven't done in a long while, I was ready to criticise and not see any good in it. however on reflection I see the good as well; how this series was the shining moment for secondary actors who deserved this breakout chance. For the performances of Grace Wong and Carlo Ng alone, this for me is highly recommended. But if you feel no love for this sort of genre, or you can't stand another bad role for Ruco and another series with Nancy, perhaps give this a miss. There are better series with Ruco Chan in it. As a fan of Ruco Chan, I can't bring myself to recommend this series. Don't watch this for Ruco because Ruco deserves better than this half baked character.

Rating

⭐⭐

DEAD WRONG / 致命復活 [2016][TVB] : A REVIEW

2017-01-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

"For a while it was almost impossible to even relate to anyone in this series. I couldn't rank who I liked most but I could rank who I hated most"

Reviewed by
Funn Lim

Released in
2016

No. of Episodes
28

More info
Wikipedia, Jaynestars

REVIEW

You know, I'm quite fascinated with how TVB is these days. They want to be different, they try to be different, they do different things but infuriatingly, everything different leads to the same old thing before they try to want and do different things. The changes are superficial, in the end they stick to the usual "die hard fans say winning but disillusioned fans say what winning" formula. Fact is ratings are generally down on all fronts. To be fair, tech savvy people these days just watch online, download torrent, they don't hug the TV anymore, and they can record the shows to watch later, which I somehow feel does not count towards the ratings.

I have abandoned TVB for a long time or shall I say TVB abandoned us all by being stubbornly same old stuff. Then I read about Dead Wrong and it has Roger Kwok and some story about him being marooned on an island and he wanted revenge and I thought, well this time, TVB will get it right.

When it debuted, I watched, religiously all episodes and in the end, I can conclude that I like some parts of it, I dislike some parts of it, but overall, my emotional attachment to TVB does not make me say I love Dead Wrong because I don't. On a deeper level of my emotional self, as I asked myself, "Funn, do you love this series?" and I will zenly say "If love is hate, I love it so". No, I don't hate it either. It's just that it was just a series that went through the motions of a story that is not very well written and with some different stuff thrown into it to package it differently but open it up, lo and behold it's same!

But let's just go through the motions shall we?

Story

Simply enough, it is a story of an arrogant man who was kidnapped and locked in a cave for 10 years until he escaped. Once he returned home, he realised his entire life has changed; wife has remarried her childhood friend, his kidnapping may or may not be due to his own fault and he obsessed over finding who did it. Meanwhile, his wife or rather ex wife had to cope with her true love returning and having to choose between 2 men who loved her deeply, an autistic son who barely recognised his own father, a friend who suffered from severe PTSD for the guilt of having escaped the kidnapping, etc etc.

Quite simply, a story about discovery, revenge, redemption, rebuilding lives, forgiveness and moving on. You can say this series covers the entire spectrum of that and more. Problem is it covers way too much and after a while it became very repetitive.

When I watched the first 10 episodes, I didn't like anyone in this series save for only one guy; Max, the one with the PTSD. Everyone else was just either stupid, hateful, dumb, ignorant, arrogant, or for no other reason that just for being there. And that includes the overly silly character named Tracy. And typical for all TVB series, everyone seems to know everyone and almost everyone is either from HK or Vietnam. No other worlds exist. It shows off beautiful scenery of Vietnam and at the same time shows Vietnam in a rather negative light until it is revealed there was some story behind certain behaviour.

For a while it was almost impossible to even relate to anyone in this series. I couldn't rank who I liked most but I could rank who I hated most; it was either the arrogant go getter opportunistic Emma or the autistic teenage son. I suppose the fact I hated them so much means they both did a great job because they were both very annoying. Now before you say "Funn, how dare you say the autistic son is annoying?" and I will say it has nothing to do with his autism but rather he was just generally unlikable. Ok, it was his autism I suppose.

But the good thing about this series is as time goes by, the other characters do evolve and most do become a better person, easier to relate. Such as Emma who met with a pitiful end that will surely make viewers wish that hadn't happened. Even the autistic son suddenly became more independent and was in some way influential in Vincent (as in Roger Kwok's character) becoming a better less angrier person. Tracy the silly girl actually become rather likable and cute when she stopped being silly. Max became stronger in saying no and has a personality rather than being controlled.

However the main characters seem to languish in being same old even if they have very good reason. Vincent had 10 years of pent up hate and anger issues and went between being too zen to too crazy. At some point series seem to suggest he was utterly on the road of insanity and then he wasn't. Whilst the progression of Vincent is believable, it is the way that this series goes that just kills the effect.

As usual with any TVB series, there were too many things going on and for far too long. This series would have benefited from streamlining the story and stopping it at 12 episodes so that it just zoom into one guy and his ordeal. It would also benefit from actually filming more of the cave scenes instead of seeing the same snake eating, frog eating, suicidal scenes at least twice in each episode. The same goes for the scene of Ivy and her cryptic message about Vincent and their supposed love affair, which was the only scene between Ivy and her younger sister, Queenie. It was repeated ad infinitum. The only varied scenes were the wife looking for Vincent and some flashback of the orphanage but by the then, it feels like the story tries to hard to establish some emotional bridge to the villain in this series, Yan but just fails. Not that I like him; I find him very creepy but the series did not invest more time in establishing his creepiness and just tries too hard to establish him as some tragic secondary lead who loved the leading lady so much so as to justify everything he did. This series needed a villain and he was set up perfectly as one but TVB went nowhere with it.

I wanted more back story earlier on. I wouldn't mind if it takes more than 2 or 3 episodes to show how he ended up in a cave and what he went through and another few more episodes of his rescue and rehabilitation instead of just 1 or 2 episode which was not enough. I like the kidnapping scene, the brutality of it and seeing what happened to Ivy was so awful to watch for the right reason. I like how he reconnected with his wife and the trauma on his body with his super skinny CGI body but that was just for a few moment and then we are denied more access to that. When TVB could have manipulate our emotions more, they chose to abandon all that and just zoom straight to after recovery. And then for many useless episodes we are shown how he rebuild his career and actually went about working some cases which wasted time and moved away from the main story.And when I was starting to enjoy Vincent's redemption all of a sudden it switched to total revenge and quite literally, 2 dudes trying to kill each other over a woman.

Over entire series, we are teased with who was the guy or girl responsible for Vincent's ... you know what? I got lost what was the question to that. Was it for his kidnapping? Imprisonment? Non rescue? What was Vincent angry about? Because one thing is for sure... or maybe not.. let's see...

Ultimate boss

Vincent was in Vietnam to restructure a company and he caused a worker to be humiliated and fired and that worker in turn got angry enough to organise a kidnapping of Vincent for money.

Ok, that much we can agree right? Vincent did go overboard with that particular case. Later in the series we are told Vincent's former mentor organised the protest to make Vincent suffer a bit, and though the mentor was critising Vincent with a lot of made up stuff that not even the most gossipy woman will do, his involvement with Vincent's subsequent 10 years capture was quite simply hiring the head worker to rouse things up.

So who ordered the kidnapping? Will get back to that.

After kidnapping, there was ransom money. The wife paid the ransom money in two bags, one was stolen. So we found out Vincent's useless but ultimately harmless older brother together with a drug dealer/addict/loan shark plotted to steal the money. Again, the brother did not order the kidnapping, just took advantage of it by stealing some money.

By now Ivy was raped to death with viciousness, Vincent was captured and imprisoned and Max ran away. Wife reached the kidnappers and Yan practically killed everyone involved with the kidnapping and it was very obvious why. If you think it was Yan who ordered the kidnapping, wouldn't blame you. That would have been an awesome twist. But no, he didn't. He just made sure no one will ever find out where Vincent was, he himself didn't know although he followed Vincent to Vietnam to take pictures of Vincent and Ivy having an affair.

Max in turn didn't order the kidnapping. He just ran away, failing to rescue Vincent when he had a chance. No one in his family was involved.

Ivy's sister was far too young to be involved in the kidnapping.

At least twice Vincent thought he was the reason for his own kidnapping; if he hadn't been so hard on the workers during the restructuring, the main head honcho wouldn't have kidnapped him. But after all that, finally we are told the wife who actually knew the rapist kidnapper militant whatever told that creep to do something about that Ivy woman because Ivy actually sent a photo message to the wife telling her of the affair. So the creep paid very special attention to Ivy in a very vicious way. BUT he wasn't the one kidnapping Vincent right? The wife didn't order for Vincent to be kidnapped. Somehow the head worker hooked up with the rapist creep but we are not told how. Perhaps he was the only mercenary for hire.

So in the end Vincent's first instinct was right. He was kidnapped because he went too far and humiliated the head worker. But his delayed rescue was thanks to almost everybody in this series. I said if Vincent's son was older or he had a dog, even they would be involved somehow.

Which makes Vincent's anger rather misguided. Vincent unleashed his anger on everyone, especially Yan. And when he found out his wife played what the series termed as the ultimate role but for me, just a role, he forgave her. Because the series wants a happy ending which feels seriously weird. I know it is ultimately about forgiveness but at that point, the story was so messed up.

Yan's unintended creepiness

I believe TVB thought it was rather romantic for a guy to make sure his wife almost died of overdose of drugs and then to rescue her in a controlled environment so that to ensure the ex husband will leave her alone rather than tormented, much like how in K drama, when the guy screams at the girl and pushes her or she farts in front of him is like some ultimate expression of love.

Yan would have been a great villain, instead he was half baked villain, much like Vincent was half baked insane. I always find Yan creepy. I guessed he was a villain the moment he burst in and shot and killed everyone. The reason was because he wanted to punish Vincent for cheating on his wife. Never quite expressly said that he wanted the wife for himself, since he did walk away a long time ago. I never got the impression the wife chose Yan because she loved him; it was purely to thank him for him giving up a chance to be adopted for her and of course losing his leg in rescuing her from that rapist creep. Other than that, she stayed with him because she didn't want Vincent and Yan end up killing one another, primarily for Vincent's own good. Whilst I did like the ending for Yan which was the only way to go, I felt like it was far too convenient and a way to redeem Yan who was never fully depicted as a scary creepy stalker that he was for the entire show. If only he had been a possessive selfish crazy insane husband, that would have been different. I did like how he tormented Vincent with the calls; for a moment I thought Vincent imagined all that but nope, he really got those calls from Yan. I also like a hint of Yan's viciousness when he almost let the son fall to his death. I mean this guy is a creep, how can this series justify all that as his love for Cathy?

Wasted Cathy

I liked how she was a dependant wife who 10 years later became an independent woman with her career but infuriatingly ended up disbarred and back to a dependant wife to another man. Entire progression for her is regression. Then half the series she did nothing much. Frankly I can't understand why she was disbarred in the first place. She didn't pervert justice by lying; pretty much established that she told the truth.

Too many story lines

Basically, that's the problem. Instead of just Vincent and his tale of redemption or revenge, we got Max and his problems with his brother, his problem with his problem, his problem with 2 women, etc etc. I have no problem with Max as a character but at times it felt like whose story is this? If it is Vincent, can we go back to Vincent? Why do I need to know Max's problem with his father and brother? Why is everyone saying "Max has severe PTSD problems" BUT no one actually drag him to a psychiatrist or therapist? I like how he was having a lovely time with Tracy and when I want to see a progression, he lost his memory and went with Emma and even that didn't last long because the series suddenly remember, hey this is about Vincent.

And we have a story about Emma as well. Do we need to know why she is such a stuck up bitch? Maybe to redeem her as a person which is successful in my opinion but again redirected attention away from the original focus. Her death was unnecessary as it didn't help things but purely for dramatic reasons. It was by the way a very tragic death and you feel for Emma at this point, you like her, you are cheering for her because she was very upbeat and being very classy over the I-love-him-but-he-loves-another triangle love affair and then she died for unnecessary reason.

And some more later we have a story about Tracy going blind and this is seriously like 90s K drama series territory. But she is happily blind. And if that is not enough, we find out Max's father isn't his father, his younger hateful brother did some bad stuff which again make it as if HK is lawless and how Max had to persuade one shareholder to vote for him with Vincent as his advisor. All these boardroom stuff diverts attention away from even the other stories this series had going on and in the end easily resolved with the father not dying. I felt at this point poor Max; whole lot of problems piled onto his beefy shoulders and how much more can he take, all these emotional roller coaster? How much more guilt? What about the fact that he ran over some dogs or starved some kittens accidentally? Will he finally jump off the building? Whilst I love the story of how he connected with Tracy, I hated the memory lapse thing and after. I wished the story just continues with his love story with Tracy without diversion. We don't really need this much drama to show a good drama.

Vincent's Yo-Yo hatred and redemption

One second he feels he is the guilty one, next when he thought he wasn't, all hell broke lose. The first act was his entirely. Then back to step 1 and then all hell broke lose. That was Yan's fault; he drugged Vincent to lose his inhibition and that was when finally he did something I wished someone did much earlier; yell at his stupid brother and his hateful wife and also his disloyal son. Disloyal because the son doesn't seem to pledge any loyalty to either fathers in his life. And then back to step 2, as in being much calmer but then continue to unleash hell against Yan and finally he settled down to act 1; he feels in some way it was his fault and decided to forgive Cathy. Vincent swings everywhere and imagine a lesser actor in this role; what a disaster it would have been. In some ways, I wished, and hoped Dead Wrong would not be a story about revenge but an absolute story about redemption and rebuilding of life. It was fun seeing him trying to kill Yan and manipulate others into helping him through guilt but I really liked those times when he spent his effort in helping others heal their rifts in business, like the story about the ramen shop and 2 warring sons. I want this about Vincent having spent 10 years in hell now wants to make life better and not keep going back to that sewer cave and draw whatever the hell he was drawing (can never see, and my TV had bright settings). It felt like when it was in the right direction, the series went haywire again. The yo-yo emotional coaster ride is not a compliment; it just shows how misdirected this story was when all it needed was focus.

Amp up the sex

Vincent has 3 major kissing scenes, two bed scenes. One with Ivy, one with Cathy and one with Queenie. All 3 were extended in a way for TVB rather risque scenes. Frankly of all 3 the only one who seems like they kiss well together was Vincent and Cathy. Someone watching this series with me asked whether these scenes were necessary; if this series had focus and lesser episodes, I will say not necessary because we will be too busy following Vincent through his journey from hell to civilisation. But since it was 28 episodes, you need filler and in TVB today, it would seem in their mind to win ratings, just amp up the sex. None of these kissing scenes were really ever romantic or necessary or even needed at all to drive home any point. Neither were they sexual or sensual or sexy at all. They serve no purpose other than to show, to fill in and to amp up the sex. I am not complaining though because I'd rather kissing scenes than another repeat of Ivy's conversation with Queenie or Vincent eating that frog/snake/drink from rain scenes. But it would be nice if TVB just give us a good story and a well plotted story.

Amp up the sexual assault

I lost count how many times earlier on Cathy was assaulted sexually. Ivy was raped to death, that we know. It was graphic; we are not shown the rape, but we are shown the aftermath and it was graphic and tragic. However terrible the woman was, no one should suffer that sort of fate. Cathy herself was at least almost raped twice.

Unintentionally funny scene

That was the revelation where Cathy was in the room where Ivy was raped to death and the rapist was her "brother" from orphanage. Then Yan broke in and all 3 from orphanage was in the room and neither knew either involvement and connection to Cathy. I laughed at that scene. What a small world. Poor Yan never knew it was in the end Cathy who asked the rapist brother to get rid of Ivy and Cathy didn't know Yan was following Vincent and Ivy's affair. And it was strange that suddenly we have a scene where Cathy was crying in the car with rapist brother in HK when Ivy sent her her selfie with Vincent on the bed because there were no other scenes as to why she was meeting with the brother, why he was in HK, etc etc. It felt like they just inserted the scene to create a connection for Cathy to be the ultimate boss.

One unchanging thing...

At least one thing was consistent; the women's hair. Except for Tracy who actually has human hair where it looks different sometimes, even in death Emma's hair was perfectly made up. But no one wins that award except for Cathy that even in bed or wearing a hat, her hair is forever one side tuck behind her ear and the other covering half her face. No wind could change that look, no amount of being pushed, pulled could do so. It is as bad as in the past where the female character would hold onto their bags even when at home being pushed or pulled or whatever. Oh come on, mess up her hair please!

And by the way, 10 years after putting on the ribbon on the wishing tree, the ribbon is still there. So few make wishes in Vietnam?

Performances

Roger Kwok gave one hell of a performance here and he was robbed of his Best Actor gong in the yearly TVB Awards. Whatever my sentiments about this series, Roger was superb and a lesser actor would make me wish I could kill Vincent myself for his stubbornness. There was 1 scene that Roger did so well, I thought he would have already won with that scene; the one where he realised he got the wrong guy for his revenge plot and he expressed his guilt. Those lines etched on his face showed a man so torn by his actions, the acting was just superb. Another scene would be when his son nonchalantly said he knew his father was the clown in disguise, Roger cried with joy. The restrain in that scene was lovely to watch. I also love his outbursts at his family. Roger gives me an impression that he doesn't have a temper but in this series, he had to unleash, then leash then unleash again and again. Whilst the series went haywire, his performance was always controlled and measured. Superb performance. My only criticism is he need not lose so much weight, after all his Vincent supposedly recovered in Vietnam so he didn't need the gaunt look.

Vincent Wong also gave a mature measured performance of a PTSD Max who refused to say yes to Roger's Vincent. I thought Max was the ultimate good guy in this series and Vincent clearly portrayed him as someone torn between guilt and doing what's right. Whilst I don't like the story of Max being persistently angry at his father, I like the small scenes of flirtation between Vincent and Stephanie. These two have lovely chemistry when Stephanie isn't talking like a little girl with her high pitched voice. I wished there would be a romance drama starring these two! Superb performance by Vincent who should have gotten Best Supporting Actor or at least the silver gong.

Kenny Wong is a wooden actor and this series suits that woodenness because I feel Yan is the ultimate creep. A pity the series refuses to go fully that way. His acting performance is either zen or worried and only separated by that tiny crease between his eyes. That man's facial expression never goes beyond being wooden. By all accounts it was not a good performance because he was not a good actor. Also a missed opportunity; when he was hanging upside down whilst being tortured, his shirt should be off. Now that would be amping up the sex but I suppose TVB is allergic to nice bodies.

Joey Meng basically plays Cathy as a saint even when she was supposedly the ultimate boss, she didn't mean to be so. I like that part because to make her vengeful and all is just not right. She gave a credible performance as a wife torn between 2 men, not always due to love but again due to loyalty and guilt. No questions though; her Cathy loved Vincent.

Rebecca Zhu was terrible in the beginning, as wooden as Kenny was except she got to kiss Roger Kwok. It didn't help when she was mostly dressed in stiff looking ensemble. However her Queenie is at times stoic, at times naive and mostly likable.

Stephanie Ho is a strange actress. At first glance you get very annoyed with her but as times go by, you will eventually like her. One scene I thought she even looked so very pretty. I love her chemistry with Vincent Wong. She can be cute but she can also play the supporting girlfriend well. However she should seriously tone down the girly girl voice thing. You have to get past that before you can appreciate her simplicity in her performance. Nothing complicated.

Zoie Tam as Emma was I shall say superb for the fact that I hated Emma so much. She was arrogant and brash and attention grabbing bitch and Zoie portrayed all that well. She reminded me of a young Myolie Wu except I hope she won't go downhill from now onwards. I don't know nor do I care if she had stuff done to her face, but I thought she had a unique look that is pretty in my opinion. She looks strong as a modern woman but I suspect she will look exceptionally pretty in a ancient costume setting. I wish TVB would do some wuxia series; I kinda can see her as a heroine in those series.

All other secondary actors did their characters justice, with special mention to KK Cheung and Tyson Chak, both were effective. And let's not forget Koo Ming Wah who gave a wonderful performance as the inept but in the end concerned loving brother and Cadmus Chan (got the name from Wikipedia) as the autistic son. In fact I was very impressed with Cadmus Chan and frankly I have no idea who he is and although I hated his character, kudos to him for a job well done.

And I have two more names I must mention; Stephen Wong has been quietly working with secondary characters these days. He has gotten darker, grown more handsome and I feel has stepped up his acting as well. He did his character well in this series, a pity in the end his character was just written off to where ever he may be. And to me the best veteran actress in TVB who TVB must honour soon which would be the nameless grandma who in this series played the spunky maid to the rich man and what attitude she had! My memories of this series may have failed me but I do remember how I loved the way she slammed the door or scolded the old man. A natural acting talent and I wished I knew her name. TVB please give her an award!

Verdict

I wished it was more redemption than revenge, I wish it was 10 episodes shorter, I wish there were more scenes of the imprisonment, I wished there were more scenes of Vincent's recovery and I wished it didn't have so many other story lines to divert attention unnecessarily. Story wise, Dead Wrong got it all wrong but watch it for the performances especially if you are a fan of Roger Kwok and Vincent Wong; now in these two this series got it dead right.

For TVB, it is very difficult for me to even recommend you to watch anything so I will say watch this when there's nothing worthy to pay attention to.

Ratings

⭐⭐⭐

3 MEALS A DAY : FISHING VILLAGE / 삼시세끼 [2015][Korea][tvN] : Recap thru Instagram

2016-12-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

This is for ...
Fishing Village Season 1 at Manjaedo.

Language
Korean with English subtitles

Episodes
9

Broadcast
2015

Tidbit
Jang Geun Suk was the original maknae as you can see in the poster above. He actually filmed I believe a quarter of the series as in the 1st 3 or 4 days on Manjae Island. He even attended and did an indepth interview at the splashy launch event for this series. Because of his tax scandal, which wasn't a scandal at all, somehow he felt it was good for everyone to leave the show. Na PD, with god of editing residing in his body, somehow manages to work around Jang Geun Suk and edited him out. But you can still see his hand, his head, his luggae (I assume the leopard skin luggage is his) and even his laugh. It was an amazing achievement but I feel wholly unnecessary to erase him out. So for a while I thought he was not there at all and the timeline looks jumbled up. When Son Ho Joon appeared in around Episode 3 if I am not mistaken, I believe he was still there. Son Ho Joon later replaced him which was excellent for me. But I feel Jang was treated unfairly through no fault of his cast members or Na PD. It was just how K Entertainment world works. A whiff of scandal and off you go. If he had still been on board, I believe we would have had subtitles from day 1 thanks to fansub. A dark spot in an otherwise glorious TV moment.

Info including ratings
Here

A BRIEF REVIEW
I never really blogged about this series whether in words or in pictures except once (see below). I may pick it up later on since there is an English subtitle torrent out there. Not exactly fansub quality so I hope a Korean fan will take up this task because seriously, Season 1 is the mother of all 3 Meals A Day series. This is my most favourite of all seasons and of all reality show. Super Chajumma is created through necessity and Resourceful Papa Yoo was as amazing too. The bicker, they fight, they argue, they love and then there's poor Ho Joon stuck in the middle. This is real bromance. There was lack of supply and yet Na PD gave challenges, making sure he could bamboozle Chajumma into defeat and each time Chajumma rises to the occasion. If you have never watched this, I beg you to watch it. It was slow to start but things pick up in Episode 2 and the celebrities who came along also suffer along. This is a show with purpose and there is a sense of real danger of starvation and yet there's real love, concern and genuine affection amongst the cast, two of whom are old friends and these two were genuinely fond of the maknae. It won't change your life but you will love me for it. A must watch.

A LONGER REVIEW
First posted on 11.11.2015

I am not into K-dramas lately, and rarely watches K-reality show except for 1 Night 2 Days or its variant, The New Journey To The West. But the other day I caught half an episode of Three Meals A Day : Fishing Village Season 2 in M Channel which has English subtitles and I recognise one actor who was from Season 2 of 1N2D whom I quite like. The next thing I know, I chased down Season 1 and watched it without subtitles and felt like I knew what was going on. The concept of the show is so simple, that even the super cruel PD aka Na PD admitted he never forseen it to make any impact but it did make an impact in the ratings; like major impact. I myself am perplexed why I enjoyed watching it so much. Maybe because it is essentially a cooking show but not very scripted and shows a life I kinda like; by the sea. It comprised of 3 actors, 2 of whom I do not know. One cooks (aka wifely stuff), one fixes stuff and catches stuff (aka husbandly stuff) and one is perpetually on standby to serve the other 2 (aka sonly stuff). Their rule is; eat 3 meals a day using available ingredients. Can't buy them, but can use whatever is in the garden, on the beach, in the sea. And my god, I could spend 1 and a half hours watching one go fishing, one chopping and dicing, the other washing pots and pans. For me they do such mundane stuff and I see so many eating; 3 times, munch munch and yet, I am absolutely hooked.

First of all, the guys are easy on the eyes. I love how in reality shows, the K-actors always ask "Are you wearing make up? Did you go to the salon?" to the other MALE actor. Because in reality show, it is expected for them NOT to wear make up. Some of these are actors who are reliant on looking good and yet in such shows, they dress simply, use a cap to hide un-permed hair, less make up, etc. When interviewing, they do not hesitate to use lip gloss. Or ordinarily, do the 3 steps facial cleansing routine, or cologne. Mind you, MALE actors ok?

Then there's the cooking. To see a model like actor like Cha Seung Won who is able to cook so well, he must have his own cooking show. All his food looks simple and yet so very delicious. I mean for once I genuinely salivated over the food I see. I love to see how K-entertainers will unashamedly drool over food when they're very hungry and they will ask to be fed and I love to see them enjoying their meal without fuss or hesitation or drama. And they actually eat all the time at proper times at proper place with rice and all and yet maintain their slim figure because they eat small portions. Half a fish shared between 3 grown men. Seriously! The kim chis look seriously drool worthy. Cha or Chajhumma (love the moniker!!) even made bread, jams, pizzas ... whatever is asked by Na PD, he did it, with limited resources.

Then there's the McGyver moments by Yoo Haejin, the only actor I know from the 3 thanks to 1N2D Season 2. I always liked him. He has such old mannerism but very very fit man who hikes and eats heartily. I like his sincerity and genuineness and it shows in here more than anywhere else. He is also inventive with his ability to fix stuff or make racks, etc. His fishing skills however needs an urgent upgrade.

Finally I love the comraderie between the 3 men, especially with their adopted son whose name I only know as Hoojoon. He is not young; he looks young but he is 30 I believe. He does stuff quietly and without fuss. When people try to jostle for attention, he is one guy who is content with standing at the side and yet still stand out because his adopted mother, Chajhumma always look to him for approval with every first bite of the food. I love how he ended up smiling when eating good food or is on standby with the chopping board or onion or knife. One time his mother was in the other room speaking on the phone and the son heard a sound and immediately sat straight up in attention and asked "Yes?" when he realised he wasn't called, mother was on the phone. It shows at one hand who is the feared one, on the other how diligent he is at his duties which is mostly play with dog, fetch stuff, wash pots. Wash a lot of pots.

There are also a cute dog and a sly cat but overall, it makes you wonder, how can such a series even be entertaining, more so a ratings hit? Well you gotta watch to know why. It is just so magnetic, so addictive.

I really don't know why or how Na PD did it but I suppose it helps that Cha Seung Won is easy on the eyes and he actually makes cooking so sexy and masculine. He even did it in pink gloves and some very ugly clothings. In fact in Season 1 he had his porn-stach too.

Why ah? Why is it so addictive huh? Oh god, I am still salivating over the food I see. Wow.

What I don't like is why blur out certain parts of Cha Seung Won? Well I looked and looked and then I realise the mosaic covers are to cover his tattoos. Seriously? And originally the "son" is played by another actor who was edited out completely from episode 1 of Season 1 because he had a scandal; for not paying tax. And that tax scandal wasn't his fault, probably overlooked and he had fully paid his tax. I don't get the small whiff of scandal and poof, edited out.

Like how they joked in The New Journey To The West; gambling habit is scandal. Fine. Did not pay tax a scandal. Fine. Divorced from wife, also a scandal. Breaking up with girlfriend is also a scandal.

Getting ridiculous.

I know they're super huge pictures but the subject matter deserves to blow your mind out. Relive this excellent reality show through pictures. All were posted in Instagram.

Warning. Huge images follows after the jump. By the power of Chajumma, let's begin. The posts are in ascending order.

Chajumma. Looking sad probably because papa yoo failed to bring home fish again. So cute. Found in weibo.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on May 27, 2016 at 4:41am PDT

Ep 5 of #3mealsaday fishing village s1 where na pd demanded toast with marmalade and #chajumma not having baked before but probably got the steps online somehow miraculously baked bread so delicious looking using a stone stove with no measuring cup or timer. Love it when he decisively said 3 more min and it was 3min. Paul Hollywood wld have approved. No soggy bottom.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Oct 26, 2016 at 9:37am PDT

The look was #3mealsaday fishing village season 1. The impersonation was spot on. So funny. #chajumma #chaseungwon #parknarae
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Oct 28, 2016 at 10:35am PDT

3 MEALS A DAY : GOCHANG VILLAGE / 삼시세끼 [2016][Korea][tvN] : Recap thru Instagram

2016-12-27T04:23:00.000-08:00

Language
Korean with English subtitles

Episodes
12

Broadcast
2016

Info including ratings
Here

I know they're super huge pictures but the subject matter deserves to blow your mind out. Relive this excellent reality show through pictures. All were posted in Instagram. I practically recap each episode but two episodes are missing which is episode 11 and 12 which I will add later.

Warning. Huge images follows after the jump. By the power of Chajumma, let's begin. The posts are in ascending order.

This is my happy pic moment. Papa yoo is back in #3MealsADay !!! I suppose there can be 4 members and many more guests. Look at the firewood, bigger kitchen. Surely #chajumma needs more than 1 hand to help. But way too many males. Why not a daughter and a son instead of two sons?? Place looks huge. So so so so happy. I suspect chajumma will dominate and have all guests running around doing errands as he cooked. Hopefully now got meat and stuff. But can papa yoo hunt? At least he can shop right? This is more farming ver than the more difficult fishing village ver. I almost fell asleep watching the more idle farming ver. Am excited.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jun 12, 2016 at 9:25pm PDT

This just made my day.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jun 13, 2016 at 1:33am PDT

#3MealsADaySeason5 poster. Definitely sufferings abound. Look... Planting rice paddy field? Raining also? Well this time there's 2 young men for the old ones to boss around or for #chajumma 3 people for him to boss around. Life will be hard but I bet they will be rewarded with great food. I wish pd na to give chajumma the challenge to cook a non korean international 10 course dinner in one episode. Ohhhhh that will be fun!!! July hurry up
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jun 16, 2016 at 8:33pm PDT

Extreme motorcycle modelling? Papa yoo with the sexy pose, chajumma with his stern pose. Rather funny. 3 meals a day hurry up here!!!!
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jun 23, 2016 at 11:59pm PDT

1st meal of #3MealsADayGochang and it looks deceptively simple but seriously delicious. #Chajumma has yet to lose his touch. The entire place is bigger so they literally had to run between kitchen, stove, washing place,etc. Good news is there is a blender. So this season 5 is more abt endurance and what chajumma can make rather than for survival. Yeap this is korean masterclass with masterchef and his two young assistants for now. I do think the place is too big but i suppose when guests arrive it will be packed with celebs running everywhere. Makes no mistake who is in charge.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 1, 2016 at 9:45pm PDT

Chicken and toppoki for dinner in ep 1 1st night in #3MealsADayGochang Seriously delicious looking. My conclusion is either young men in korea has no opinion over food hence all is ok ok or i do believe this is seriously delicious stuff from #chajumma. I do miss manjaedo and whilst this place looks huge it is still a small farming community. Between chajumma looks tired. With an equal like papa yoo no doubt he will feel better. Someone he can joke to.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 2, 2016 at 12:44am PDT

Its just fried sausage with egg, almost too easy since sausage is ready made but look at the presentation. Perfect! #chajumma you win!! #3MealsADayGochang
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 2, 2016 at 1:02am PDT

The reunion. #chajumma immediately guessed it was papa yoo. U can see this is a happy surprise #3MealsADayGochang
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 2, 2016 at 1:30am PDT

Taufu. Yum. #3MealsADayGochang
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 2, 2016 at 1:35am PDT

egg? #3MealsADayGochang
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 2, 2016 at 1:36am PDT

All food of ep 1 #3MealsADayGochang credits to awesomeness of #chajumma
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 2, 2016 at 1:52am PDT

Ep 2 of 3 meals a day gochang village. Look at cha seung won's handphone wallpaper. Yup thats either him and his wife or daughter and from the looks of it his wife. Awwwwwwwwww.... Also maknae no. 2 is 23. Former maknae but still slave is 33. Papa yoo and chajumma are both 46. Decade apart and chajummas son is about maknae no. 2 age and chajumma is exactly x2 his age. Wow!
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 9, 2016 at 11:26am PDT

I knew planting paddy fields is super back breaking work but i never knew there is a machine to help do 40 percent of the work. Still the rest is still manual labour and two slave boys.... Well expressions say it all. Ep 2 of #3MealsADayGochang
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 9, 2016 at 11:37am PDT

This is foodgasm. Everything #chajumma does is perfection even if minimal cooking here. Dinner with pork. Yummmm but chajumma seriously needs a challenge. Did he even make his own kimchi? But poor chajumma he looks exhausted. Gochang is more back breaking because the area is so much bigger. #3MealsADayGochang ep 2
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 9, 2016 at 11:39am PDT

All food in ep 2 of #3MealsADayGochang #chajumma rules. The panjeon (correct?) looks super delicious. Hoojoonie made the sauce under tutelage from chajumma. Egg looks perfectly cook. Chicken dish from ep 1. Pork looks scrumptious. Black bean rice by papa yoo. Cabbage soup for dinner and breakfast. All meals as per the time meals shld be eaten. I do think chajumma has it easy ingredients wise. Anyway need guests and pets. Ducks dont count. I miss chajumma deboning fish. Surely we wont see him killing ducks. I suppose the ducks take over sanchae snd bul but i dont care for ducks. No complaints food wise but somehow new season feels missing something. And maknae no. 2 doesnt seem to enjoy his time even if he finishes work well. Food wise he is not expressive. I do miss manjae do. But this is hiking heaven for papa yoo. Anyway wheres the guests and isnt chajumma too dependant on the portable stove which is a brilliant buy?
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 9, 2016 at 12:15pm PDT

#3MealsADayGochang these guys seriously need a woman for company or at least female pet. Too much testosterone even if #chajumma alone is enough of female nagginess. Saw preview of ep 3 and epic temper tantrum coming soon.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 10, 2016 at 6:45pm PDT

Gotta admit this duckling mobile home is stunning and innovative. Only papa yoo can think this way. #3MealsADay #Gochand ep 3
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 16, 2016 at 3:27am PDT

Beautiful scenery of #Gochang in #3MealsADay
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 16, 2016 at 3:27am PDT

I wonder, no mirror in the bathroom? This is #chajumma beauty regime. Meticulous ad always. And theres even slow mo scene!! #3MealsADay #Gochang ep 3.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 16, 2016 at 3:29am PDT

Almost all food in ep 3 of #3MealsADay #Gochang . All made by #chajumma except for the noodle which they ate at a shop. So hungry. And got 3 style kim chi. Oh and ice cream but not yet eaten. Wow.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 16, 2016 at 3:31am PDT

Guess whats in the big black bag? #chajumma practically moved his kitchen utensils to #Gochang in ep 3 of #3MealsADay
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 16, 2016 at 3:33am PDT

Whise dog is this in #3MealsADay #Gochang ???
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 16, 2016 at 8:33pm PDT

My greatest regret from my korean trip is i didnt try jajangmyeon. Not that i didnt want to but i couldnt find it in seoul. I did find one but shop looks dubious. But i did try korean national dish for 2 days due to limited budget; they call it ramyeon we malaysian call it maggi mee but the world know it as instant noodle. These look yummy by the way. From ep 3 of #3MealsADay #Gochang am pretty sure #chajumma can reproduce this if he wants. By the way did he order mandu aka dumpling but didnt eat it??
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 16, 2016 at 8:40pm PDT

One is 23 and the other 46. Exactly one lifetime of the other. Not saying #chajumma looks the same age but with glasses which is supposed to make him look uncle like instead makes him look youthful. This is him with minimal make up. #gochangvillage #3MealsADay
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 23, 2016 at 4:17am PDT

Not sure abt the hair but here is #chajumma being cute. Awwwwwww!!!!! #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 24, 2016 at 1:47am PDT

All the food in ep 4. The fried rice looks yummy. HooJoon made the noodleat bottom right that got papa yoo and #chajumma praising endlessly. Love watching HooJoon agonising over all cooking decisions like how to cut the vege to how much soy sauce to put. Cooking aint easy. But chajumma sure makes it look easy. How come 4 eps in and still no guests?? #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 24, 2016 at 1:50am PDT

The cute dirty dozen of #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage that even got normally diliking pets #chajumma going gaga. I admit they are growing on me. But i wonder when the show is over will they as in other people eat them?? We know sanchae is retired but Bul? Not one mention. Na PD thats cold!!!
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 24, 2016 at 1:52am PDT

#chajumma Master of kimchi #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep 5
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 31, 2016 at 10:00am PDT

Can #chajumma join korean masterchef celebrity? U know some food looks good but very few looks like it tastes good. Everything #chaseungwon makes look mouthwatering good. He will easily win any celebrity cooking contest. #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep 5
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 31, 2016 at 10:18am PDT

I miss u sanchae !! The ducks are not cute. They just ... Be ducks even if Sohn Duck. I mean don't get too attached to the ducks because at some point they will be eaten.#3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep 5
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 31, 2016 at 10:23am PDT

Yummmmmmmmmmy!!! Power of #chajumma #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep 5
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Jul 31, 2016 at 10:34am PDT

Yum yum. All food in #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage #chajumma had outdone himself. But not happy. Never thought i would see instant noodle the national dish of korea after kim chi and black bean noodle as lunch in this series. Never in seasons 1 and 2 except in season 1 with a hungry guest. It look delicious but i feel chajumma is not tested. Needs pastry test. And must be very hot;everyone was sweating crazy. And where is the guests?! Why na pd why???
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 1, 2016 at 9:49am PDT

Papa Yoo upgrade on duck mobile is truly an act of genius and grace. Wonderful!! #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage #chajumma
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 6, 2016 at 11:50am PDT

So unashamedly metrosexual!!! He even got real boy hoojoon to use a mask!! #chajumma #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep 6
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 6, 2016 at 11:59am PDT

Papa yoo came home on a bike and #chajumma quickly hopped on for a ride. You gotta see this to understand why i said #chaseungwon was channeling the gentler side of his role in man on high heels!! So cute. #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep6
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 2:03am PDT

A very happy #chaseungwon #chajumma #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep6
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 2:03am PDT

I was wondering what #chajumma was making with the boiled chicken, maybe soup base for clear soup noodle. But instead he shredded the skinless chicken then mix with perhaps half a huge packet of pepper flakes or red powder chilli flakes with garluc pepper chopped spring onions and then mixed them into the clear broth! Sorry but this is the only time i feel chajumma made something i feel is not as delicious as it shld be. The clear chicken broth shld be left alone, shredded chicken can be stir fried with that whole lot of chilli powder. I just feel mixing them diluted and mask the pure clear broth of the chicken. No offense to korean friends and super cook chajumma but Chinese makes the best soup especially in hk and malaysia and thereabouts. This is one korean taste i dont quite get. Already weather is so hot, this soup will cause bad throats!! Too heaty . #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 2:28am PDT

#3MealsADay #Gochangvillage very pretty
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 2:50am PDT

Sleeping habits of celebrities. What i love abt k variety is they show almost everything. #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 2:54am PDT

Cute!!! #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep 6 #chajumma
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 3:01am PDT

Whats going on man? So many cute stuff in ep 6 #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ??
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 3:04am PDT

Ep 6 is all abt super cute antics by #chajumma poor papa yoo looks like he sweated enough to flood #Gochangvillage but chajumma looks like he is sweat proof. Farming is hard but thanks to a certain playful eternally youthful 46 year old farming can be cute. Those two young ones cant even get close enough to cuteness of #chaseungwon STOP IT!! You r supposed to suffer!! #3MealsADay
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 3:11am PDT

Happy together, suffer together. #3MealsADay #Gochangvillage ep 6 #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #sonhojoon #namjoohyuk
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 3:22am PDT

Not much cooked food in ep 6 #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage since breakfast is store bread. But dinner is cooked. Really miss fishing village and all home cooked meal and rarely ramen aka instant noodle. Their eating time also is later these days. Anyway ep 7 will prove why i was right; that they need a dog. #chajumma still a phenomenal cook but not challenged in variety. Wheres the 3 meals a day??
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 7, 2016 at 4:09am PDT

You know who #chajumma loves the most. Yes he may cook for the taste of papa Yoo but only #sonhojoon has the privilege of tasting first without asking. A whole piece. And he even got #chajumma wiping his sweat for him. ep 7 #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage #chaseungwon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 11:58am PDT

Farming aint easy. Fishing village was hard as to food but #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage shows farming for watermelon, sweet potato are back breaking work! Poor #chajumma
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 12:08pm PDT

Oh such a pretty drawing!! Sanchae!! Bul!!! Will only know next week what they say!! Bul so pretty. Ep 7 #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 12:13pm PDT

Sooooo cuteeeeee!!! Thisshow seriously needs a cute pet and here is papa yoo'sown dog he calls geoul-ni. Translation says winter. A she? Looks old. Not a young dog. But so playful. A corgi? Oh so huggable!! Love her look when was being bathed. Update : a boy definitely. So a he. 😜
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 12:54pm PDT

Definitely needs a dog. Ok, ducks are cute but nothing beats a dog with personality who does more than chasing after the plastic food bowl. Maybe the ducks are workers too but hoe can you say no to a fluffy dog who immediately runs and hops on Hoojoon ? Even dogs love him. No wonder he is papa yoo and #chajumma fave son. Anyway BEWARE!! WINTER HAS COME AND LONG MAY HE STAY AT #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 8:07pm PDT

When #chajumma is late these dudes eat these. Yes hoojoon cooking has improved but the amt of red pepper or tomato or not putting potato in water to remove starch or destroying a perfectly well fried egg into fried rice will make even us cringe, more so chajumma. Come quick before your husband and sons eat more of these and destroy good ingredients!! I wont put these in ep 7 food compilation since they are just desperate meals. #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 8:27pm PDT

Papa yoo snd son #namjoohyuk hard at work and drenched in sweat building something for Winter, my new fave star of the show. Does it mean he is the new permanent cast? Anyway never seen papa yoo not sweating these days. Ep 7 #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage #yoohaejin #sonhojoon #chaseungwon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 9:03pm PDT

Ha!! Papa yoo built Winter a house!! Very well built. Not as amazing as the duckmobil but you know, beautiful despite wrong spelling on the door! I bet give him some electronic stuff he wkd have added an auto gate!! Ep 7 #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage #chaseungwon #sonhojoon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 9:06pm PDT

Almost all the food in ep 7 #3mealsaday #Gochangvillage cooked by #chajumma does not include the mess by the three #sonhojoon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk earlier. You see the maknaes look and you can see how not tasty their own cooking is. The looked relieved chajumma arrived!! By the way is Nam more vocal abt the food he is eating? Is it really to his taste or he just had to act as if to his taste??
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 13, 2016 at 9:09pm PDT

My fave new cast member of #3mealsaday #gochangvillage winter the dog
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 20, 2016 at 2:17am PDT

Rather attractive and simple breakfast idea in ep 8 #3mealsaday #gochangvillage is this yeni's fave breakfast so imported into the show by #chajumma ?
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 20, 2016 at 10:25am PDT

All foods in ep 8 of #3mealsaday #gochang all cooked by #chajumma except for offals and fruits. Very little cooking in this episode which is disappointing. Feels more like travel show. Really missing fishing village where cooking skills is tested due to lack of ingredients. Here they have a garden they rarely use other than peppers and such and dishes look great but nothing very creative. Physically exhausting but creatively blocked. This show needs guests and dessert challenge. At least it has a dog.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 20, 2016 at 7:11pm PDT

Notice the time. Dinner at 8pm. The latest i remember was around 9.30pm in this season. Past seasons dinner around 7pm. #chaseungwon is reportedly always late but #chajumma is never late when it comes to food, #3mealsaday at #gochang
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 28, 2016 at 10:16am PDT

Ma po tofu? Rice below. This looks absolutely scrumptious. From ep 9 #3mealsaday #gochang #chajumma is simply amazing. By the way i notice Na PD and his team loves using animation movies soundtrack as background music. Some pixar, some kungfu panda but mostly ftom Hayao Miyazaki movies ftom Ghibli, especially Howl's Moving Castle.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 28, 2016 at 10:19am PDT

No joke. The guys in #3mealsaday #gochang are taking daily vitamins for pain. The heat aint helping. But for me in malaysia 34 degree celcius is daily stuff. Maybe korea is more cold than hot. Anyway it was #chajumma who gave them the pills.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 30, 2016 at 10:38am PDT

Luckiest grasshopper or is it cricket? I would have screamed and run like #namjoohyuk which is not shameful. #chajumma is unnatural! He posed played kissed that insect!! Model time. So brave. Ep 9 #3mealsaday #gochang #chaseungwon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 30, 2016 at 10:46am PDT

Yummmmmmm! With that much HQ grapes how can it not be delicious grape juice? Papa Yoo approves!! Gorgeous grapes. I love grapes. #chajumma added honey? Not sure. Oh yummyyyyyy!! Ep 9 #3mealsaday #gochang #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk #sonhoojoon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 30, 2016 at 11:01am PDT

#chajumma made kim chi sujebi in ep 9 #3mealsaday #gochangvillage which is very similar to malaysian pan mee or rather the more traditional meen fun kueh. My favourite. I tried seafood clear soup sujebi in seoul and the real test is the flour dough and it was perfect. This one by our fave cook looks great too. Lucky #sonhoojoon #namjoohyuk #yoohaejin that thet got #chaseungwon to cook for them. I doubt he even cook that much for his own family!!
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 30, 2016 at 9:36pm PDT

All food in ep 9 #3mealsaday #gochangvillage by #chajumma so hungry.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Aug 30, 2016 at 10:03pm PDT

This is the weirdest nicest cutest greatest awesomest non family family picture ever. By the way everyone is a male, including the dog. #3mealsaday #gochangvillage #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk #sonhoojoon #gyeoriwinterdog
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 2, 2016 at 4:29am PDT

Picture 1 of family picture old style. So cute. #3mealsaday #gochangvillage #chajumma #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk #sonhojoon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 3, 2016 at 10:45am PDT

Picture 2 of family picture old style. So so cute. #3mealsaday #gochangvillage #chajumma #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk #sonhojoon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 3, 2016 at 10:46am PDT

Picture 3 of family picture old style. This could be my favourite because of how Winter was captured. Too Cute!! #3mealsaday #gochangvillage #chajumma #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk #sonhojoon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 3, 2016 at 10:47am PDT

Picture 4 of family picture old style. This gotta be the official one because of the expressions. Stern Papa Yoo, smiling Chajumma and two cute sons. Plus the dog looking at the camera. Insanely cute. #3mealsaday #gochangvillage #chajumma #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk #sonhojoon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 3, 2016 at 10:49am PDT

Picture 1 siblings old style. So cute. #3mealsaday #gochangvillage #chajumma #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk #sonhojoon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 3, 2016 at 10:52am PDT

Picture 2 of what is getting increasingly weird bromance. #3mealsaday #gochangvillage #chajumma #chaseungwon #yoohaejin #namjoohyuk #sonhojoon
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 3, 2016 at 10:53am PDT

So much eating out in ep 10 of #3mealsaday #gochangvillage anyway they must love the noodle that they went again. The shop even used their first time there as promo. Then they had dessert at the place they first met minus papa yoo. Was thinking what was that white mound and realised it was bing soo or shaved ice. As usual koreas fave drink americano. Had it many times, like roasted coffee beans but not thick at all. Anyway too much eating out!!
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 3, 2016 at 11:25am PDT

OMG!! During this segment in ep 10 #3mealsaday #gochangvillage used a music from sbs #thecityhall the one where #chajumma was at his handsomest as Joo Gook opposite #kimsunah in that dramedy political romance series wayyyyyyyyy back in i think 2009. The series wth the sexiest kiss between tow people over 30 ina car. They sure can kiss!! And i believe one of the very few series or movies where #chaseungwon has a sex scene, sort of. Could be the only one. So happy to hear that!
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 3, 2016 at 11:57am PDT

Various poses by #chajumma in ep 10 #3mealsaday #gochangvillage definite scene stealer is the sexy back shirt spoilt only by the stupid blur. Come on just a tattoo and if i sm not mistaken dedicated to his wife elizabeth. Whats wrong with showing that? Such false hypocrisy. Lets keep it real!! Anyway wished they have a segment called battle of the abs for every decade!!
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 4, 2016 at 1:54am PDT

Cant help but laugh at winter's obsession with the ducks. He can just run round and round and round for half a day then stop to rat then back to run round and round the duck house. Dont know why i find that do funny. And he didnt bite them at all, not even bark but just run around them. So playful. One scene so funny; papa yoo was explaining why he had to tie him up because he was chasing the ducks and winter kept interrupting papa yoo by barking from afar and papa yoo pretended to be angry and shouted "dont you dare deny it!!!!!". So funny. The dog livened things up. #3mealsaday #gochangvillage ep 10 #chajumma #yoohaejin
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 4, 2016 at 2:07am PDT

All the food cooked by #chajumma in ep 10 #3mealsaday #gochangvillage very little cooking in ep 10 and i dont think one of those days even had 3 meals a day! But the food all looks good. I always watch this show when i am eating dinner to minimise my hunger pangs. My food always tastes so much better that way. Even if you dont like k food never watch this show when hungry. Maybe its the lighting but all the food looks so scrumptious even when some makes no sense to my Chinese taste bud. #chaseungwon is always. And credit to #sonhojoon for being the perfect assistant snd #namjoohyuk for changing his eating habits and #yoohaejin for being #chajumma staunch supporter. Lucky bastards for being able to eat these food and feel the love. Wished show also Na PD eating because i am sure he cooked enough for at least Na PD. So looking forward to running nan since it has cooking challenge but... Waiting for subtitles. Fansubbers!! Hurry up!!!
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 4, 2016 at 9:47am PDT

Preview of ep 11 #3mealsaday #gochangvillage family picture at the back. So cute. Looks like series is ending in perhaps 2 more episodes? But they havent harvest the paddy field yet! Will they return for perhaps winter season? I feel they will. I am already missing this show before it even end.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 4, 2016 at 9:57am PDT

Made by cha.doramama this is the opening sequence of #3mealsaday #gochangvillage which will end in ep 12. Actually ended in ep 11, ep 12 is the Dir cut. I shall miss #chajumma but pretty sure there will be next season later in maybe winter? No guests, just the dog Winter. Ratings slipped but still high. I didn't enjoy this as much as #fishing village but still heaps better than a lot of other reality show. Shall talk more when I finish the series. Anyway sequence is misleading. There's no pizza. Not even baking. No challenge except for hard work which after a while become mundane if not for the chemistry of the cast and the power of #chajumma and #yoohaejin who both shld be in a new movie. I want them as buddy cops in a TV series. Or in a movie like #traintobusan where it is action packed. Something. Anything. Whatever. Please.
A photo posted by Funn Lim (@funnlim) on Sep 10, 2016 at 6:46am PDT

I suppose I will complete this with episode 11 and 12. Episode 12 is basically a recap with some never been seen before clips.

NOBLESSE OBLIGE / 宦海奇官 [TVB][2014][R] Funn Lim

2015-01-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

Written by Funn Lim

In the end, however wonderful the performances are, however one note the story is, the ending is just what makes me breath fire. The ending is absurd.
SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

The Title Deciphered
I scratched my head at the weird title so I googled it.

Noblesse oblige is a French phrase literally meaning "obligation of Nobility". It is the concept that nobility extends beyond mere entitlements and requires the person with such status to fulfill social responsibilities, particularly in leadership roles.

Noblesse oblige is a French phrase literally meaning "obligation of Nobility". It is the concept that nobility extends beyond mere entitlements and requires the person with such status to fulfill social responsibilities, particularly in leadership roles.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noblesse_oblige]

Oh I seeeee!! Deeeeep! The title makes sense even in the context of the series which features a lot of super rich politicians and that in itself is such an oxymoron. Good title even if one that forces many to err... google it/find dictionary/ask someone smarter.

Released In
2014

... but finished airing in 2015.

No. of Episodes
21

Cast-Character
Kenneth Ma
Tavia Yeung
Benjamin Yuen
Cilla Kung
Joel Chan
Yoyo Chen
Lau Dan
Lee Sing Cheung

Plot
An illegitimate son of a super rich banker inadvertently becomes a magistrate of 7th rank in the district of Shanyang and with the help of Duke Yu, his 2 female bodyguards Wai Yu (I think) and Wai Lam and his best friend, he goes about fighting the corrupted officials who have a secret agenda of their own.

Set in the later years of Kang Xi in Qing Dynasty.

Comments
In retrospect I just realised the English title is N.O. Does it imply that NO, do not watch this series?

It depends on what you are expecting. It does have a bit of everything; comedic moment, lively banter moments, love, dilemma, family conflict, imperial struggle, corrupt officials, horrible deaths, etc etc. It in fact has a little of everything that in the end it became a master of none. I would really love to say this is the series that marks the return of the Kenneth Ma we thought we once knew; a dependable actor so to speak. Less with the puppy dog eyes and pouty mouth and more with the sincere likable nature. In retrospect his best role is in The Other Truth as the creepy accountant and there he was not the main focus. In this series he is. You may see Tavia in the cast list but believe me, she is the sidekick. Poor Tavia, one minute the bona fide lead and the next back to being the sidekick. But Tavia is the reason why this series is enjoyable. Kenneth sometimes exceeds my expectations; that man can be funny. He is rather good as the guy forced to doing something he thinks he does not want but in fact is born for it; in this series he plays the reluctant magistrate who once is given a task is hell bent on completing it. His To Chan Fung is weird; in one sense he is the most incorruptible nicest bloke ever and at the other, he doesn't always play nice. In one case the corrupt officials kidnapped the children of a village to steal rice, and he in turn kidnapped their children to steal back the stolen rice that was rightfully his in the first place! He will not hesitate to use torture as a means to extract confession and he doesn't lose any sleep if his enemies die or is suffering due to his actions. He even accepted money to pay for the food for the disaster victims since he couldn't think of a way to earn money legitimately. He will lie, cheat, pretend, kill, anything to get his way just like how the corrupt officials will and get this; he is the good guy. So he is the sort of guy where the end justifies the means and sometimes I wonder if he had been the bad guy, there goes the district of Shanyang.

There is never any doubt his To Chan Fung is the good guy with his sincere effort in helping the very poor by opening a bank called Cheh Chin Yih (a play on the words "Borrowing money is easy") where he lends you not money but tools for a trade to survive. He also believes that poor people are dependable; you treat them well, they will repay you. Imagine Hanzawa Naoki but in Qing Dynasty. Remember in Hanzawa Naoki who is a banker and he approves a loan to a small company that produces great products but is going under against all advice and in the end the owner helped him when he had been blamed for a bad loan which he didn't give. The trust in the ordinary folks to do the right thing and that is Chan Fung's philosophy in life. By the way if you haven't seen Hanzawa Naoki, please go get the series. It will be the best 12 episodes you have ever spent your time watching and in 12 episodes it will finish a tale that will take TVB 20 episodes and the Koreans 30 episodes to tell and the best thing is no silly love story to side step the actual story of a man struggling against time and the top brass to clear his name in the cruel world of banking in Japan.

Back to our N.O, my main struggle to love this series is Kenneth Ma himself. We know TVB series is always a mix and match of everything and hoping to hit a target somewhere. No doubt every viewer will find something to like about this series but for me, however much I like it, I never quite love it because of Kenneth's uneven portrayal of the incorruptible but harsh judge who .. yes.. pouts a lot. I never quite take him seriously because he never really tell me to take him seriously. I find his performance neither here nor there and I don't think Kenneth ever do understand if he was supposed to be funny, cute, harsh or super serious. In the end he was just someone I find difficult to accept as the harsh man as he was in his actions. Not when he shouts like a kid and pouts and what nots.

For a series about justice and fighting corruption, it presents a dilemma without really meaning to; everytime our hero wants to uphold justice, his family members will come into the picture and suddenly we see him wheeling and dealing with his older and much higher ranked brother, To Chan Ming for the sake of filial piety and family unity. And this is where this series just screws up its own agenda; it is against corruption and yet here our hero is somewhat corrupted too when it deals with his family. He doesn't take favours or money for the sake of it because that is too obvious but he lets some family members go lightly in sentencing because of them being family. Isn't that a form of corruption in a way even if it is favouritism? He allowed his brother to do the sentencing when he should be the one doing it. He would admit defeat to save his mother and then once his mother is saved he will find ways to fight back but to me there can't be like be corrupted and fight corruption and claim to be incorruptible along the way. It doesn't make sense. If you want to be incorruptible, be Justice Pao who will probably hack off his own mother's head if she ever killed someone without cause.

Therefore to me To Chan Ming is a more realistic even is useless character. He had so much promise and he allied himself with powerful figures and that is the difference with Chan Fung; Chan Fung did not depend on anyone or rather on anyone corrupt to get where he is. Chan Ming, even before he stepped into politics is already in debt to these people. He went along with it, reluctantly but he didn't fight hard. In the end the only reason he stepped out of it is because his own gang betrayed him and throw him into prison when he found out his father's death and ruined family business had something to do with them. He did not take any proactive action in regaining his pride; he was just forced into it. But he portrayed those who have too much debt in favours very well. In politics we all know you need favours to succeed but perhaps you need to be alone and a loner to be more effective. I remember a scene in Yong Zheng Wang Chao where Kangxi explained to the then 4th prince that he will have to be very lonely in his fight against corrupted officials. He can't befriend anyone, he can't owe anyone any favours, he can't mingle, he can't be the popular guy, he will in fact be the most unpopular and most hated guy and 4th prince hesitated and then took on the most unpopular job on one promise; no matter what happens, his father will have his back. Chan Fung has the same backer in the happy go lucky Duke Yu, the older brother of the emperor who against the popular knowledge of everyone, is very close to the emperor when everybody thought the emperor was giving him the cold shoulder.

But that was in the beginning. By the middle of the series, there were no secrets. Everyone knew who was working for who and for what. This series ties in well with the unseen imperial fight between 8th prince and 4th prince where Duke Yu is for 4th prince whilst the rest of the corrupted officials work for 8th prince, famous for having lots of friendship debts so to speak. And that's where the tie in stops. We never get to see the 4th or 8th prince, their struggles were off camera which made it more of a footnote and when we do get to see Kang Xi in his rather nice and new golden robe (probably newly commissioned by TVB's wardrobe dept), it was such a non event because the actor was such a nobody who lacked every kingly manners. It was such a disappointing sight. And for everyone hoping Chan Fung will assist in investigating corrupt officials and the famed "Book of Hundred Sins" (not the actual name, I just simply give it one) where it lists the corruption or wrong done by each official, he was just a measly 7th ranked magistrate. I was thinking wouldn't it be more effective to just make him the 1st ranked? Ahhhh but then the series has to shift to the Forbidden Palace and I suppose the producers don't want another palace intrigue. But don't mistake this series as some mystery investigations; it isn't. For more than half the series we see Chan Fung pitted his wits against the cunning officials in Shanyang who are hell bent on stealing government aided rice meant for disaster victims. After a while it became so repetitive I was wondering will it ever go beyond rice. Yes it does, it then moves on to a prostitution/gambling den/exclusive club for the corrupt officials and we are introduced to a spy named Pak Hau Ling who is supposed to be very beautiful. Yoyo Chen is pretty and compared to many actresses in this series, she is the prettiest but is she so beautiful so as to make men fall to their knees? Fala Chen has a better chance at that in Songs Of The Desert. But this is small production so everything, including beauty has to be scaled down. Pak Hau Ling doesn't make for an interesting character until the end. There is never any doubt how her character will end up, just a matter of why and her end was rather sad.

The best elements in this series are the veterans and some.

Susan Tse was marvelous as the most hateful and hated character, the 1st wife of the To family. Her sudden change in behaviour in the end is not explained at all and I was hoping there will be either comeuppance or redemption for her character but we get neither. However she was one of the bright sparks and my god, that woman can argue!

Ram Cheung is also marvelous as the playful but honourable Duke Yu. However his character was not developed well and in the end he was more caricature than a character proper. But he was fun to watch.

Lee Sing Cheung is now the A List amongst the veteran actors. He was in fact the most talked about character and practically the lead in Return Of The Silver Tongue. This man is a chameleon. He can play nice, he can play evil, he can play oily, he can play anything except emperors perhaps? In here his villain is strange; I am just not sure how to describe him but performance wise, even if he is burdened with one note character, he gave a wonderful performance as the manipulative villain of this series.

Cilla Kung was cute and gave a fantastic supporting performance to the more subdued and serious Tavia. I really liked those scenes where she was brutally honest, at times I wonder maybe she will betray everyone but in the end she remained loyal to her friends and quite wise in dispensing observations and advice. By the way this actress will probably never grow up. She is the new Leila Tong except she speaks too loud and less boring. If she tones down a bit, she will be a wonderful supporting actress even if she is typecast as the playful lazy loud cute younger sister of the lead. I love her banter with Kenneth though; it felt genuine and sincere.

Benjamin Yuen is effective as the dependable loyal friend of Chan Fung even if he didn't have much to do.

Joel Chan is back with TVB and he looks like he is ready to work his arse off. He was effective as the hypocritical Chan Ming who was never really the villain he should have been. He was just there, doing nothing much but looked stressed a lot. But you know what, I welcome Joel Chan who is a far better actor than Kenneth BUT his looks lack the sincerity of a really good guy that Kenneth has.

Yoyo was effective. I always find her a cute actress before she gave birth, now she looked rather haggard but she is a better actress than she was before.

Tavia Yeung is the best in this series for a variety of reasons. I love how she speaks; softly, almost a whisper at times and that suits me just fine. She looks pretty as she can possibly be even if I am frank here, she is no great beauty. She is still putting on too much make up. Yes I got used to her nose so let's move on. I was at first worried she may have worked herself sick because she tends to sound like she has a bad sore throat in every series she is in and I bet she was but I saw that green vein on her forehead and I thought poor woman, she is overworked. Nope, that was make up intending to be part of her character so fans of Tavia can breath easier. She may not be believable as a nun in training but she is believable as the soft spoken kind hearted person that her Wai Lam is. I enjoyed her nuanced performance so much, I do feel sorry that she is again probably the biggest A List actress in a supporting role but thank god she is in here, if not I think I will have to look at Kenneth Ma and I will just switch off the TV. Her story in this series is very very sad which I won't reveal and the ending for her character or rather those related to her is also very very dramatic which again I won't reveal here because you just have to watch it. My problem is this series is supposed to be semi comedy and I don't think anyone can make a comedy out of Titanic, don't you? It is that level of tragedy.

Everybody else, including the villains save for the god knows who the heck is the familiar looking actor as Kang Xi were effective but most were one note character.

In the end, however wonderful the performances are, however one note the story is, the ending is just what makes me breath fire. The ending is absurd. I don't mean the final ending or the last act, I meant the one before the last act. There is one thing unusual about this series and that is its portrayal about religion that is Buddhism and Christianity. Rather it is the non difference between the two as highlighted at the beginning where Wai Yu and Wai Lam coming to see Chan Fung to borrow money to renovate their temple, in the end we see 2 nuns coming to see Chan Fung to borrow money to renovate their church. The series tries to do away with any differences between these 2 religions and I do find it rather amusing. I am however not amused when it shows Wai Lam seeing Chan Fung again after 1 year and he was in priest robes but once he knows she is not a nun, he quickly abandon the notion of being a priest. Ok I do find that funny in its own funny way but I just find this series doesn't really try to break down barriers, it just reaffirms the disrespect people have for religion. Like how Tavia in one scene hacked off the head of a Buddha statue in anger. I know it is part of a scene to show her emotional anger or her one moment of lapse of better judgment and control, but nowhere does it tell me she ever stopped believing in the Buddhist teaching, so why that scene? Because to the director, it didn't matter. It shows to me a slight contempt for religion if you ask me. Maybe I am reading too much into it but it would be nice to show a bridge between that act and Wai Lam's anger; show Wai Lam not believing in God anymore or such stuff.

Also one minor complain; in the last few episodes one scene our hero and everybody was cornered and it was fight to their death and our 2 female warriors were fighting and losing and our guys just stood by the side gripping their luggage hard. Hey men, why don't you try to help by, I don't know, throwing rocks or something. It was annoying to watch.

But apart from that, apart from the constant fighting about rice and disaster victims and the ever unrepentant corrupted officials and the unseen imperial struggle and the inadequate ending, this series isn't so bad.

VERDICT
Watch it for Tavia, watch it when nothing good is on TV, watch it because of the seriously lacking ancient costume series in TVB today.

An Observation
China has moved on from Qing Dynasty to Han Dynasty and now to Tang Dynasty and I bet soon we will see Sung and Ming and whatever else. TVB probably not wanting to disturb budget constraints is still going about Qing dynasty. That is progress for TVB. Please TVB, move on from Qing dynasty. Stop shaving the actors' heads. Ditch the recycled boring costumes. The only new one is the emperor's yellow robe, the rest looked just taken out from cupboard and dusted after 100 years in storage. The ladies' hairdo and costume for this series looked uninspired, dull and did nothing to add to the actress' looks if any. Some actors are perpetually in the same costume throughout. I find the make up, costume and overall character conceptualisation for this series to be very very poor. Of course I was spoilt for choice; I just finished The Virtuous Queen of Han whose costumes were very nice and now I am watching Sound Of The Desert which was just awesome. I am sure once I see Fan Bing Bing's Wu Zetian series, I will just refuse to watch another TVB costume series because I heard great things about the costumes (but the make up is so scary looking, I wonder do emperors in Tang Dynasty ever wake up to see their consorts looking that way and just scream in fright?). TVB these few years have been declining in terms of costume and kung fu styles. Not even a decent fighting scene, definitely none in this series where we have 2 female warriors and some uninspired kung fu styles.Maybe it is time to go back to the trampoline years. At least that was entertaining and funny.

And TVB, please oh please stop with the awful CGI. That marble/stone boat that our villains have their evil meetings together is just so out of proportion in size, it is embarassing to watch.

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THE VIRTUOUS QUEEN OF HAN / 大汉贤后卫子夫 [TV][China][2014][R] Funn Lim

2015-01-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

Written by Funn Lim

This series reminded me why I liked him so before the singing and Karenas and all that scandals takeover. Raymond is not a bad actor and he can cry beautifully when he wants to. And when he doesn't scream as he cries, that's when he is an elegant actor.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

CHINESE TITLE

Literally, The Virtuous Empress of the Great Han Dynasty, Wei Zifu.

RELEASED IN

2014

NO. OF EPISODES

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Mainland China

LANGUAGE

Mandarin, all voices dubbed and usually dubbed by someone else. I saw the English subtitled version on TV but if you can understand basic Mandarin, this shouldn't be too hard as the level of Mandarin in the dialogue isn't too difficult to understand and the dubbers enunciated each word clearly.

CAST-CHARACTER

Wang Luo Dan as Wei Zi Fu

Raymond Lam as Liu Che

Niki Chow as Princess Pingyang

Xu Zheng Xi ad Duan Hong

Shen Tai as (沈泰) as Wei Qing

Chen Sha Li as Grand Empress Dowager Dou

Grace Yu as Empress Dowager Wang

Liu Ying Hong (柳影虹) as Princess Guantao

Zheng Miao Zhi (郑淼之) as Chen A Jiao

Li Xin Cong (李欣聪) as Shen Jia

Liu Yong (刘永) as Liu An

Peng Guo Liang (彭国梁) as Yi Han

Yang Zi Jiang (杨紫茳) as Xia Hou Po

Zheng Si Ren (郑斯仁) as Han Yan

Zhang Ya Xi (张亚希) as Huo Qu Bing

Miao Hao Jun as Ai Shu

Zhang Xu (张绪) as Bai Hao

Wang Meng Li (王萌黎) as Yao Ji 姚姬

Xu Jing Kun as Wei Chang Jun

Fu Tao as young Chang Jun

EPISODIC COMMENTS

I made some comments about this series in my blog with spoilers.

STORYLINE

About the rise of a lowly dancer who became one of the longest serving Empress in Chinese history. Be rest assured as with all dramatisation of a real historical figure, huge liberty taken with the real story.

COMMENTS

I will be first to state I seriously enjoyed this series. It started out unconvincing and there were many times I fast forwarded all the flashback scenes and repetition scenes and certain characters talking scenes (mostly Duan Hong who always looked drugged, dazed and tortured and of course the ultimate villain whose scenes you can fastforward and still manage to catch up on the story). As it goes on, the story falls into a pattern and yet it is surprisingly entertaining and very emotionally evocative mainly because you follow the characters from they were young and unknown until for some characters, their untimely deaths and so on and so forth. I became quite emotionally invested, but not as much as I was in Schemes Of A Beauty. There is similar pattern between the two, mostly in depicting the vast powerful Han Dynasty and downsizing it into a family. Now in TVB we often see that and often the Emperor and Empress and concubines are all so downsized, it never felt like a dynasty. Not in this series. Even if the emperor is a father, empress is a mother, etc etc you never forget that father is an emperor in a great dynasty known as Han dynasty. It is an intimate portrayal of a very vast and powerful dynasty. Of course something's gotta give and it is the actual history that is sacrificed. Certain real facts were changed, endings were altered but who are we to know what happened 2000 years ago eh? The story begins to build up and in the end a climax that is both scary and realistic in a familial settings because like I said, the husband is the emperor and anything can happen. The final ending for some characters are bittersweet but what makes this series so enjoyable is in TVB series, the women are marginalised into the concubine who scheme, the men are portrayed as the officials who also scheme and the emperor with the ultimate power never felt like an emperor with the ultimate power. Not in this series. In here, we have strong female characters, even if they do live by the unthinkable code of "husband is always right" and here even if we have decisive men, these men are quite emotional. Most of the time it is the women who have more self control. No doubt this series is more about women than about men and for a series whose title is about the lead character called Wei Zifu, she is a rather bland character most of the time. Luckily she had great supporting characters which made her character a little more interesting than she should ever be.

Anyway, first the women...

WEI ZIFU

From the very start I feel this character is seriously bland. Some will term her as Mary Sue which is not incorrect. She is not perfect as a person as she has her stubborness and her flaws. She seems perfect as a wife when in reality she is actually a wife who has to hide her own feelings because she married the emperor. She seems like the best sister there is and no doubt she loves her family, especially her half brother Wei Qing more than she could ever love anyone, including herself. She is like the best possible empress ever because she believes wholeheartedly in harmony within the royal harem, she strives to keep everyone in check not by force (she will have you killed if she really had to and the fact she had to means you must be the scum of all scums), she hardly is every angry, she is very very careful with what she says, what she does and how she conduct herself and she makes sure the emperor is worry free so basically she doesn't tell him everything. In other words, she is close to perfection as a person or maybe someone who is so good at playing mind games and politics. Her character captured the emperor's attention by her beauty but mostly for her political opinion which she will rarely express after she goes into the palace as a concubine. This series made it perfectly clear she is innocent of all charges, so whatever bad things that happen to her or because of her or due to her, she is the most innocent party of them all because she doesn't know what happened and why her. Now most of the time this will make for a very irritating and so easy to hate character but surprisingly I don't hate her. For all her perfection, the few times she lost control of herself were the times that is really the most interesting; like how she was poisoned and lost her senses and for once screamed at the emperor and her stupid mother (yeah! best moment!), how she squared off wit Empress Chen over the disappearance of her brother Wei Qing, how she lost her patience with a concubine and tried to defend herself against the emperor's stupid suspiscion (come one Mr Emperor, don't you know, she is always blameless and it is not sarcasm on my part, she is truly blameless!) and how in the end she marched out of the palace with style and into the prison to free her best friend in life, Duan Hong and then walked back into the palace to square off with the emperor who was becoming very emotional, almost like a girl which of course is stereotyping but you know what I mean. But can you see it? You can actually count how many of such great moment for this Zifu to act out of character because when she is in character, she is basically so in control I am sure she times how much oxygen she breaths in before she exhales. She is not a control freak but she lives in dangerous time so she has to be in control if not she will die. All these adds up to her being the virtous queen and you may scoff at the word virtous and all but the scene where she faced the guards and talked her way to the prison to face Duan Hong and many times the emperor sided her are purely because of her virtousness. She is a woman who proves she walks the walks and talks the talks and don't judge her by what she says but judge her by her actions. So basically the character is on point even if at times I just wish she is more woman than virtous perfection.

I WAS THINKING ...

Sex with her must be quite a non-event! But he finds her desirable enough to have at least 3 daughters and 1 son. Of course virtous means conduct not her womanly appeal. I just wish at some point she stop being so understanding to the emperor and just show him her temper, which she did in her own spectacularly underwhelming fashion in the end where she is clear minded although the best was when she was poisoned but that doesn't count. And like I blogged before, everybody just love to hate her, including her husband until his common sense came back to him.

BEST MOMENT

A few such as how she reasoned with the guards who let her walk past them despite the emperor saying she can't leave her chamber which explains why for so long in the series she is so virtous, all culminating in these series of scenes or her outbursts when she was poisoned but most memorable had to be towards the end when she cried "Since my husband does not believe me, what have I to live for?" and she ran towards the sword drawn by Liu Che and next we see blood spilt! Very dramatic stuff and at least, a change of character for this bland character.

THE PERFORMANCE

Wang Luodan. She isn't the prettiest but she does have a kind gentle ancient beauty face that fits the title character. Just don't talk about aging because aging in this series is represented by moustaches and redder lipstick. I thought she gave a fine performance to which I can't complain much. If I find her bland, that is because her character is bland.

IN HISTORY

If you watched Schemes Of A Beauty, you will be introduced to this character at the end of the series. If you're watching Songs Of The Desert, I believe she is played by Maggie Cheung Hor Yee. In real life, she exists. This series changed her fate in the end. She had a happy ending in TV but in real life, her ending was very sad. She was the 2nd longest serving Empress but her end was, she sided with her only son who chose to revolt against his father the emperor and in consequence, she was about to be stripped from her title when she killed herself. Her son was cornered and murdered and most of her clan was too. This series doesn't show all that but it does show a theory why she ended up such a sorry state. In the series the bad guys could get to her by planting seeds of doubt in the emperor's mind about her love for him only when Wei Qing died, her nephew Ho Qubing died, the princess Ping Yang and her entourage of friends all left the palace and Zifu was all alone. In real life, perhaps the emperor could get to her because all her support and ally in the form of family died and she outlived her usefulness and the emperor's love. Sad, very sad. If you're in such a position of power, better to die early and remembered fondly by the emperor because that is the only way to preserve your clan's survival. An early death will preserve all those perfection that was never there. Unfortunately she outlived two of her most powerful allies, her brother and her nephew, both who were great generals that the emperor depended heavily on.

GRAND EMPRESS DOWAGER DOU

I remember this character from 2 versions; Han Wu Da Di and mostly Ruby Lin's Schemes Of A Beauty. This Empress Dowager Dou is however neither of the two. She is shown as a formidably scary blind but clear eyed woman who is smart, sassy, forceful, respectable and yet clear minded. She has her mistakes but in the end everything she did was to preserve Han Dynasty so that in the end she can give this dynasty to her grandson, our hero Liu Che. She is not without her faults. She loves her niece too much because she loves her daughter too much and because of that she spoilt both of them which ended with I suppose tragic circumstances. She steps on Liu Che to ensure he doesn't rise above her, not because she was malicious as we are made to believe in the beginning but because she felt he was not ready. If he can't handle her alone, what more of those corrupted conspiring politicians. Basically she gave him good training. Her death left a void in this series for a little while because this character was so all encompassing in all aspects of this series. Even in the end her influence is there when Zifu begged the emperor to spare the empress Chen's life and later to see Empress Chen for one last time. It is also realistic as she cried very hard as she realised her end is near. Nothing graceful but not ugly either. She may look like the villain but as the series goes on, it shows she is not a villain but a woman tasked with a difficult task; to keep the dynasty from the hands of invaders and dirty politicians and to hand it to her grandson who she hopes is not corrupted by ideologies of others but have his own opinion that must first and foremost work for the dynasty and not for himself.

BEST MOMENT

For me it was when she curtly reminded Liu Che Empress Chen's title as empress is not for him to strip. The power, the authority and all that from a woman who is also old and blind. Who says in ancient times women were meek eh? Not in Chinese dynasty!

Also her last scene with Zifu where she begged Zifu; "I want you to promise me, no matter the wrong did to you, you will do all you can to ensure Empress Chen lives. I know after my death, Empress Chen will be in danger, but more so from the one person I know who will be the one to kill her; Che er (the emperor). I know this is too much to ask of you, but I can see you are kind and generous and with your attitude you will soon be an empress. Will you promise me?" and of course Zifu did and it took a few more years I believe before she had to carry out her promise.

THE PERFORMANCE

Chen Shali. I was complaining about the ultra red lipstick at first but when she was sick and dying and without the red lipstick, I really missed it because the red lipstick represents her vitality and the fact she is dying means I am gonna miss this mecurial character. It is not the best ever performance, she is not very convincing as a blind woman but I truly enjoyed her authority, her power, her assertiveness which this actress very convincingly portrayed. You can understand why Liu Che loved, respected and dreaded her all at the same time.

IN HISTORY

This woman existed and she was indeed blind for a better part of her tenure as the most powerful woman in the dynasty and she outlived her husband and her son. She was I suppose the defacto ruler and if history is to be believed, she is akin to Kangxi's grandma but more forceful; meaning she assisted, she guided, she raised the children, she sorta ruled but she didn't try to usurp unlike Wu Zetian. I quite admire her, blind, a woman, widow and all and still she managed to live I believe into her 70s (really old wayyyy back then) and keep the dynasty together whilst I am sure fending off hungry wolves. What is there not to admire about her? Maybe she was as scary as the actress who interpreted her in this series, she has to be, she can't be meek like how Zifu is portrayed and still survive. After all Zifu had her powerful scary husband and who this Dou had?

EMPRESS DOWAGER WANG

This is the meek mother of Liu Che whose best moment was after the death of Empress Dowager Dou, she sat alone and began to cry, not with sadness but with relief and happiness. At last, at long last she was free from the clutches of the powerful and domineering mother in law. Life must have been very hard for her. Well, once she was free, you will expect her to be a bit wiser, no? Like poor people who suddenly get very rich, what do you do? Spend! Same with this woman, once she is free from domineering mother in law, she herself chose to be the domineering mother in law, acting unjustly towards poor Zifu like taking away Zifu's children, imposing her will on how to manage officials on her son and insisting on the death of loyal subjects like Duan Hong. Of course she was misled but it does show the huge difference between her and Dou. Dou was harsh, she was domineering but she exercised her power with wise discretion although at times her hands are tied. This mother however with so much power tend to not only misuse but totally and carelessly misuse them on the wrong people! Exciting moments in this series. Luckily she realised she was an idiot and her death scene was one of the hardest to watch because it was a death filled with regret. Basically she died a very sad and regretful woman thanks to her decision which destroyed Princess Pingyang's happiness for quite some time.

BEST MOMENT

That moment where she threatened her son to either kill Duan Hong or she kills herself. Emperor, famous for being filial basically said to his mother he will make sure she will be buried with all the rites and grandness!! So funny! Yeah she deserved that wake up call.

THE PERFORMANCE

Grace Yu. Fantastic. THe actress looked the part of a meek mother turned crazy mother in law.

IN HISTORY

She existed. And quite an interesting woman as well.

PRINCESS PINGYANG

She will have my vote as the strongest female character in this series and perhaps one of the strongest in any series ever. She has her moments of jealousy, stupidity, unreasonableness and all those imperfection but for me, she is the wisest of them all and the most human. Zifu for all her down to earth qualities is hardly human in my book, Dou was larger than life, the mother was just silly, those concubines stupid but Pingyang could have existed and I would have wanted to be her best friend. At the time when there is chaos and stupidity, she was the voice of reason and luckily her brother, that is Liu Che listen to her counsel. Sure she blamed Zifu for destroying her happiness, but who wouldn't in a way resent Zifu for the fact that her brother gave up his love of the princess to protect his sister? She should know and she does know she is always 2nd to Zifu in Wei Qing's heart. As years go by she lived with the fact that she and Wei Qing would never be together and when she found out why Wei Qing let her go, she reconciled with him and was gracious enough to honour his wife with very kind words when the wife died. She was classy, she was smart, she was sassy and if she had been a man, she would have been a wise emperor. She doesn't let her heart rule her mind and yet she doesn't forgo her conscience and what her heart tells her despite the facts to the contrary. She was the first to speak up for Zifu and when the emperor said he has evidence, she said "I don't care about the evidence, I believe her with all my heart and all my soul". She married 3 times; 1st out of duty and she ended up in her way loving her husband who wasn't ambitious and wasn't smart but doted on her and let her have her way, the 2nd out of necessity since she has to remarry but it ended up her biggest mistake which she quickly corrected by telling her brother the truth about her useless husband which may sound heartless but this is a woman who doesn't dwell in small talks and her 3rd husband was her true love whom she spent the happiest of days but tragically for a very short time. Her ending was bittersweet, and I feel for her but in her own way, she is a survivor. She needs to live to protect her husband's memory, her husband's children, her husband's mother in law and her husband's biggest worry, his sister. A very purposeful life and I am very happy to watch that never once did she ever consider killing herself to be with her husband. In her own way, Princess Pingyang is as selfless as Zifu, at times I feel even more selfless.

BEST MOMENT

Many. One of the best and most entertaining characters, her best moment were with her brother. I love the scene where she explained why she believes Zifu despite the gossips. I love the scene where she advised her brother on whose son should be crown prince despite the fact that at that time she was having cold war with Zifu (as usual Zifu doesn't understand why the princess hated her). I love how she warned Li Furen and I definitely love the very sad scene as she cried very hard when her 1st husband died in her embrace. What I don't get is why she introduced that Li Furen to her brother, that makes no sense.

THE PERFORMANCE

Nikki Chow, who obviously delivered her dialogue in Cantonese. The first great fortune is her voice was dubbed because I don't think it would have worked with her original lazy tone voice. This voice was strong, regal and really suited her face. I did not quite like how unsteady she was; like most HK actresses in China ancient series portraying someone powerful or daughter of someone powerful, their heads tend to move too much. Case in point is Myolie Wu who by moving her head too much fails to show the elegance of a character. Nikki at first moved too much, her body bend over too much. Just look at the actress who played Zifu; still and steady. Nikki's Pingyang was a highly trained princess so it was disorienting at first. However her movement became lesser, maybe because her headgear was too heavy for her. Anyhow that was when she got better. Firstly, her character is great so it will be hard to screw up such a strong character. Secondly, whenever she is not required to be too emotional and be a little bit mischevious, Nikki more than filled the description. I think this is one of her best performance todate and she has a lot to thank for in terms of the voice dubber and the writing. But credit goes to her for her emotion on her face and the way she manages to seem so intelligent and 10 steps ahead of everyone. However my problem with her is she doesn't give me an impression that she is a princess, I find her lack of regalness that is not helping her. It took me a while to see her as a princess of high birth.

IN HISTORY

She existed, was the emperor's favourite sister. She did marry Wei Qing, she did marry 3 times, she did adopt a son (and so openly doing so for a woman of her background is admirable), I don't think she had any children like in this series and whilst I don't believe she would force her opinion on her royal brother, I believe in some ways her relationship with the emperor was truly one of loving siblings. Other than that I don't know much about her.

EMPRESS CHEN

Sometimes I wonder why this woman is so jealous. I got very tired of watching her jealous and temper tantrum and so when she was deposed, it was good news. Her end was near anyway when Empress Dowager Dou died. In a way this series depicts her downfall is thanks to her mother. The emperor may not love her anymore but he never gave any indication he will strip her off her title even if he doesn't go visit her sexually or otherwise. Sometimes I do pity her. She craves for the emperor's full attention. She doesn't mind the other concubines much but with Zifu she minded because she knew the emperor was in love with Zifu, hence all the things she did. She wasn't right and her ending was lenient for all that she did but yes I do feel the emperor was unfair to her as a husband to a wife. She later died in the arms of Zifu when the emperor refused to see her one last time and she laughed a little as she thought the irony of it all; that she should die in the arms of the woman whom she had hated and yet who has shown her kindness when no one bothered to.

BEST MOMENT

She learned humility when she begged, with genuine sincerity for Zifu to help persuade the emperor to spare her scheming mother's life and to take hers instead. Rather moving. I was also hoping the emperor will see her one last time but that would be a sell out to the usual stubborness of the emperor who has always been slow to forgive his enemies so I do think whatever portrayed was consistent.

THE PERFORMANCE

Zheng Miao Zhi. Very prettty, love the headgear (sort of) but the hair a bit too Korean for me. Hers looks especially Korean. Performance is rather good but I feel she is too young for this role because she never ages. In real life the empress was I read 8 years older than the emperor and was childless. This actress however looks far too young for this role even if she is nt 8 years older.

IN HISTORY

She existed. Apparently she was every bit as scary as she was depicted in this series. She was the "kiu" in the "Kam Oak Chong Kiu" where story has it Liu Che built her a chamber of gold for her to stay (which you will see to great effect in this series). But that saying in modern times now mean a man keeping a mistress. Not sure how it evolved into this modern saying. I think she was probably luckier than Zifu in the sense she lived out her life in seclusion, she wasn't killed or anything.

PRINCESS GUANTAO

The mother of Empress Chen and the most favourite daughter of Grand Empress Dowager Dou, this woman is haughty, arrogant, trouble maker and above all else, loves her daughter very much. Unfortunately she did all the wrong things and taught her daughter all the wrong methods in winning the emperor's heart. A sad end but she planted the seed of disdain by the emperor to the empress and in the end nurtured the hatred that caused Empress Chen to die deep with regret. Basically she really is something, this woman.

BEST MOMENT

One of the best if not the best scene in this series that I will choose also for the Emperor Liu Che which is the confrontation scene between Emperor and his aunt with the empress in tow. The princess knew she got caught and instead of displaying humility and being very truly sorry for what she did, she argued with the emperor about merit, about how she helped him, etc etc. The emperor grew increasingly angry as the princess became increasingly fearful. Stuck in between are the historians tasked as the emperor put it, to write what happened and to put the records straight. So we have the princess shouting "Historians!! Write all these down!" and the emperor screaming "Historians! You shall all that I say! WRITE! WRITE ALL THAT DOWN!!". It became a battle of wits, wills and authority where the emperor finally displayed his emperor like behaviour that basically forced the terrifying but humbled princess into submission. Excellent scene.

THE PERFORMANCE

Liu Ying Hong. I remember her as a Hong Kong actress but I can't pinpoint which series. I am often distracted by her silly Marge Simpson hairstyle but frankly nothing silly about her performance. She is well dubbed and the voice suited her even if she definitely spoke cantonese. She played the mean spirited mother of the empress with panache and her performance deserves a praise even if her character goes nowhere but to the abyss of the emperor's hatred. Seriously after a while it gets a bit tedious with her scheming non stop and teaching her daughter all the wrong things.

IN HISTORY

She existed (but can't find an individual page for her) and from what I can understand, wielded considerable authority. Named Liu Piao, she was the older sister of the previous emperor. Not sure what happened to her though.

SHENJIA

The faithful friend turned maid turned sister in law of Zifu. Not much to say except her ending was sad and admirable.

THE PERFORMANCE

Li Xin Cong. Not much to say. She was effective. And I was waiting for her to die so that Wei Qing could marry the princess and she didn't die until much much later.

WANG FUREN AND LI FUREN

Both concubines (Wang Furen on the left, Li Furen on the right) managed to capture the emperor's heart and both died for different reasons and different method. Both as stupid and both were means to an end by the ultimate villain.

IN HISTORY

Both existed, one more celebrated than the other. History was changed for Li Furen (Consort Li) who was poisoned whilst pregnant in the series. In real life she didn't die, her grandson became the emperor. I believe the same Li Furen is in Sound of the Desert portrayed by Fala Chen.

THE PERFORMANCES

Two of the worst female performances in this series.

Next, the men ...

LIU CHE

Emperor of China, the emperor famous for his defeat of Xiong Nu and known as the military emperor so to speak because he spent a lot of years in war. Of course this series shows he delegates the war thing to his trusted generals and aides and rules from his palace and he is a very busy emperor. He is not perfect. He is young and handsome and also lusty and easily falls for tricks and lies. But the good thing about this emperor is he is also not stupid. Given a bit of quiet moment he will figure things out and he will seek the counsel of people he trusts, such as his grandmother the powerful grand empress dowager Dou and his sister, Princess Pingyang, arguably the wisest people in this series who are both wiser than him at times. He is also smart enough to not seek his mother's counsel who proves herself to be rather stupid. He wants to be filial and often times almost makes decisions that would have been very wrong even if he was filial. He is a fighter that is ready to fight for his loyal aides but most of the times will fail not because he didn't try but his loyal aides would think of ways to assist the emperor even if it means by their death. He has good taste in who should be Empress and even if at times they argued like any couple would, for better or for worse as depicted in this series, he is a caring father, a loving husband and a good son. He is also a good leader who will listen but when he has had enough of listening, he will not hesitate to be very harsh to protect the people he loves. He gets jealous too and this would prove to be his weakest point but in the end, he is lucky he still has the counsel of his beloved and wise big sister who will not hesitate to tell him, tactfully where he gone wrong.

BEST MOMENT

The fighting with his mom where he declared "Mother, it is the tradition of the Hans to be filial but I will refuse to be filial if it will cause the death of my most loyal aide. Please forgive me but if you insist to threaten my authority with your death and demand for the death of my most loyal aide, I will promise you I will bury you will all the rites and honours as shall befit you after your suicide"

Ding!Ding!Ding! Knockout!

Another was his fighting with his aunt, with the increasing shouting match of "HISTORIANS!! RECORD ALL THAT DOWN! EVERY WORD! WRITE! WRITE!!!!"

Also that scene where he was fuming about the so called affair between Zifu and Duan Hong and he was angry and alone in the hall sitting on his throne when someone announced "Grand General Wei Qing seeks counsel" and by that time Wei Qing was dead and it was repeated and the emperor in anger shouted "WHAT UTTER NONSENSE! WEI QING IS DEAD!!!" and well it was Princess Pingyang carrying Wei Qing's armoured dress into th hall to square off with the emperor. He looked taken aback.

And many smaller scenes such as when he laid a trap for the stupid Wang Furen and his very stern decision which sounds cruel but I feel is wise; he definitely sides his empress more because as he said it many times; "The Empress has proven herself to be kind and virtous".

THE PERFORMANCE

Raymond Lam. He spoke mandarin and the guy who dubbed his voice sounded like Raymond except Raymond doesn't speak such fluent Mandarin. Perfect voice and compliments Raymond. But how was he you asked? Raymond these days have a lot of bad habits; bulging eyes, dramatic move of his head, overacting, chok all the way, those you can see in Line Walker. But in these settings, it works but it also helped he kept things to the minimum. At first you can see the chok stuff but as the series went on, as he gain a moutasche then a beard, he lessened his movements and kept them to a minimum. He lets his eyes do the talking and he has got very expressive eyes. This series reminded me why I liked him so before the singing and Karenas and all that scandals takeover. Raymond is not a bad actor and he can cry beautifully when he wants to. And when he doesn't scream as he cries, that's when he is an elegant actor. In this series, he also has to be authoritative. I didn't believe his emperor aura at first until he had his moustache and many scenes he had to display this complete authority over someone and he did remarkably well. There was no hesitation, there was no wavering but just pure power radiated from this man that at times you wonder, will he kill that person on the spot or will be spare them? He is almost believable as a loving father, almost believable as a loving husband but he did better as the lusty emperor and the jealous husband eager for assurances that his wife, Zifu loves him and only him. His best was his display as a reasonable man. He didn't do so well as a young emperor but he did much better as an older emperor who wants to have control, who has control and who at all times remain in control even if there were some scenes you wonder, has he lost his mind. What is great about Raymond's performance in here is his ability to convince me that people could fear him, loath him, love him and bow to him. I feel this is one of Raymond's best performance todate and it takes a great voice dubber and Mainland China to remind us all how much potential he had when he was much younger. You can forget about the substandard and OTT Line Walker. Any Raymond fan must watch this series even if his character is at times hard to like.

IN HISTORY

He existed and quite a bastard to his wives. He came from a prolific line of emperors, where his grandpa was known to be a benevolent Emperor, so was his father whilst he was quite scary. You can google Liu Che or Emperor Wu of Han. He ruled for 5 decades and as with long rules, in the end he became quite mad. So before you believe whatever is said in this series, do keep in mind in the end he forced Zifu to kill herself. I do think Raymond portrayed a much gentler version of this not so gentle emperor.I went to his father's tomb in Xian, China and it was an experience I never forgot. Everyone must go to Shih Huangdi's tomb, no doubt but if you are there do drop by at Emperor Jing's mausoleum. It is much quieter, fully air conditioned, some very interractive stuff but the best was you walk on top of the burial chamber and you can see the excavation and creepy dolls. Creepier because the place is literally empty, it is chilly because air cond on at full blast and you are reminded this is a burial chamber! You can also see cute looking pigs and cows and what nots. I feel the museum is one of the best organised museum and you can see the curator must be very proud of it. Still excavating though so if you go now maybe more things to see.

GENERALISSIMO WEI QING

Half brother of Zifu from a different father and they love each other the most. Whatever either party do they do it for the other party. Wei Qing spent his entire life protecting his sister, even on his deathbed. Started out as a servant then a stable boy and because I don't know how but he knew Kung Fu thanks to Duan Hong, and because he was smart and a capable leader, he rose ranks quickly as he won wars after wars. He remained humble and well liked. He fell for the Princess Pingyang but decided to let the love go because the gossips surrounding them was destroying the princess' credibility much to the annoyance of the princess who spent I think the next decade thinking he did it for his sister, he married Shen Jia not out of love but grew to love her over the years. Her sad death caused him to lose himself for awhile until he recovered and in his later years he married the princess but died of his internal injuries he suffered in war which was aggravated when he was attacked by masked assassins. He never saw his sister for the last time before his death.

BEST MOMENT

Not much but the best was his last where he begged the emperor that no matter what his sister did wrong or is accused of doing wrong, "please treat the merits I have earned from my faithful and loyal service to you as your repayment to me on my sister" and the emperor promised until of course he forgot about that not much later. Also a scene where he vommitted blood but he had to go to war for the emperor and his wife Shen Jia begged him not to but he said something very true; "I am who I am today thanks to my sister but the higher I climb, the more I need to cling on because now I have to remain where I am for my sister. I need to earn this merit to ensure her position, her son's position is secure".

THE PERFORMANCE

I didn't notice him in the beginning but age and moustache suits him perfectly and he does look honourable. However he was too small to be convincing as a powerful general. No complaints about the acting but the looks is rather unremarkable.

IN HISTORY

Definitely existed and very prolific. Not sure how he died though or what age he was when he died.

HUO QUBING

Major character in history, if he had lived long enough maybe as or more prolific than his uncle but died young as depicted in this series. I didn't find him remarkable at first and he had very few scenes but as the series went on, you see Qubing as someone very young but very capable. He is rash and at times acts before thinking but he is a passionate, playful and mischevious guy that walks around with a glint on his eyes like he is up to something. Noble, helpful and caring, he protects his aunt and he has no problem going straight to the emperor to tell him as it is. In this series he was a sickly child and he died from an undiagnosed heart ailment all of a sudden. It was quite shocking because one minute ago he was so full of life and playing pranks on his aunt Zifu and the next he was dead and took them quite some time to realise this time it was no prank.

BEST MOMENT

I can't speficy one since I like the character but he isn't given much time to truly develop.

THE PERFORMANCE

Zhang Yaxi. Not Eddie Peng for sure, no sex appeal like Eddie Peng and I suspect no six packs like Eddie Peng but he has the same mischevious look as Eddie Peng. This actor may be small in stature but he has a face that is perpetually up to something mischevious and playful. So for me the performance is on point.

IN HISTORY

Existed, very prolific and died very young, like early 20s, before his uncle from some illness. Whether he looks like Eddie Peng or not is debatable. Anyway this is the same character you will see in Sound Of The Desert but more prominent (one of the 2 male leads) but name is changed thanks to party spoiler that is China's censorship board.

DUAN HONG

Childhood friend and love of Zifu, he was in love with her all his life and he almost had both of them killed because of that. Loyal to the Emperor, loyal to his friends and all in all a really nice guy except for that face you wanna punch. I mean he is a good looking guy but why wanna punch him? Because this guy does not understand the meaning of moving on with life, forever wallowing in his unrequited love for Zifu which is really irritating because he always looks so sad, so morose, forever in mourning over something. Other than that, he is a really nice guy.

BEST MOMENT

I suppose his almost last scene where he was dying of poison and he asked Zifu tearfully I think whether she had ever loved him and she admitted if she never enter the palace, she would have married him and had a simple but happy life and he tearfully cried "Thank you" because he thinks she is lying for his sake but I think she is telling the truth and the emperor was nearby listening but he wasn't jealous or anything; after all Duan Hong was dying.

But no, he didn't die. His hand got chopped off, he left the palace finally and in the forest at night, in the middle of nowhere he met a girl that is a very panda looking (aka tired) Michelle Ye in a gueat starring role as some creepy keeper of an inn who resembles his Zifu in some ways and who invited him in. If there is a sequel, she probably drugged him, robbed him, chopped him up and served his meat in cha siew bao. Yes, the entire setting was just creepy. Anyway at least he found his big dipper star which is what he sees Zifu as.

THE PERFORMANCE

Xu Zhengxi aka Jeremy Tsui aka Nikki Chow's boyfriend and they had like 3 scenes at most and never any dialogue with one another. Good looking guy, tall, supremely thin with such a morose face that I wanna punch and an exaggerated way of speaking his lines whilst his lips is pursed, something like a Japanese animated series. Not a bad actor, just the character is yeah yeah someone I wanna punch.

IN HISTORY

Don't think he existed but maybe an embodiment of someone the real Zifu might have known as a child or when she was a dancer.

UNCLE YI HAN

Gifted fortune teller turned murderer turned fugitive turned chef turned Elder of Han turned charity worker. He was saved by the young Zifu as he laid dying from starvation and later met her again as a chef and quietly helped her to gain favour of the emperor. As for his ability as astronomer and fortune teller, they have no correlation with his duties in the palace. He is more like a friend and to provide some comic relief.

BEST MOMENT

Can't think of any. Enjoyable character but nothing stood out.

THE PERFORMANCE

Peng Guo Liang. I recognise him as a ke-le-fe HK actor who is suddenly given this very prominent role and he did very well. No complaints.

IN HISTORY

Figment of storytelling.

OTHER CHARACTERS

Many characters come and go and some around for a long time. Such as the ultimate villain whose name I can't remember but the actor is 9th prince from Yong Zheng Wang Chao and the kindly eunuch in The Glamorous Imperial Concubine who took a long time to die. He was good even if his character is just illogical. Then there the deceitful uncle of Liu Che whom I remember was the father of Ruby Lin in The Glamorous Imperial Concubine. Also got this weird man dressed as a woman who is the "sister" of the same sect with the ultimate villain's girlfriend who has a passion for belly dancing. And many more. Some were more competent than the others. None too terrible.

OTHER NOTABLE STUFF

THE COSTUMES

I do love the costumes. Nothing so amazing that jumped out like in Songs Of The Desert where royalty really looks like they dressed like royalties but for what it is worth, the costumes were very nice, especially those on the emperor.

THE HAIRSTYLES

The hairstyle is a different matter. Not as cumbersome as Beyond The Realm Of Conscience ...

which most looked like helmets,

In this series, some do looked too made up and too korean style. Zifu's pearls for jades crown were overkill. I quite like Princess Pingyang's headgear towards the end but still look rather clumsy. But the shiny gold must be complimented, like the mega OTT crown for Empress Chen which was so shiny...

But I feel it is too much for that dynasty. I don't know, I just thought they aren't accurate, no one ever will and most aren't very Han like to me.

PASSAGE OF TIME

You won't see the passage of time in women but for the men, I was most impressed with the men's moustaches and beards. They all look good with it and as there were flashbacks from the past, suddenly you see the difference in the passage of time.

MISSING SCENES

However probably due to budget contraints we never get to see how mammoth was the funeral for Qubing or Wei Qing and the series does confine itself to the palace whilst the war scenes were bare minimum. It doesn't feel limited though; it does feel like a palace like I said at the beginning because we have an Emperor who acts like an Emperor who happens to be a family man with many wives.

VERDICT

There were times I just fast forwarded a whole chunk because it was repetition and it concerned characters I didn't want to watch. I missed nothing. The main stars are the Empress, her Emperor and perhaps Princess Pingyang, the 3 most worthy characters to watch. The Empress by herself is terribly boring, nothing much ever eminates from her, she is like the little rabbit that everyone protects, and yet the hawks keep attacking and she never knew why she was target, why she is so hated, etc etc. You can say she is wide eyed most of the time but towards the end she wisen up and made some tough decisions even if it goes against her Emperor. No doubt this series took pain in explaining the virtous part but it never fully explained how a starving young girl ended up at the Pingyang mansion, how she knew how to dance so well although we can assume Princess Pingyang trained her. The start of the love affair with the emperor was cold and calculating and purely sexual. I never got the feeling she loved him at first but she had to since she is virtous and he is her husband. As for the emperor, I believe he grew to love her over the years. There are a lot of jumps in time and suddenly she has nephews like Qubing etc etc. Too much time is spent on Empress Chen and her deceitful ways and Duan Hong and his unrequited love. But luckily this series balances all those unnecessary in excess with some fine performances that grabs you. The passage of time, although unmarked except for deaths and moustaches and some costume changes is felt in the sense that you see the characters grow old and die one after another. History is changed but for once, I like that it is changed for a happier end and some a bittersweet end. In real life, Zifu had it worst.

Watch this for the costumes, watch it for Raymond, watch it for Nikki Chow who grows in confidence as the series goes on and on and watch it for the fairytale ending which we know in real life never happened that way.

Highly recommended.

FUNNY OBSERVATIONS
You can see Raymond looked exhausted towards the end of the series with his red eyes. I don't think Nikki Chow ever spoke Mandarin for her lines. Hers very consistent with Cantonese dialogue. For such a rich dynasty as with all the gold, Empress Chen hardly had any costume changes. And you will see the same black/white flag meant to announce death of someone important quite a lot towards the end, always the same shot. And you will see the same shot with the guards standing guard on the stairs, like the exact same shot. For a series so much about politics, it rarely shows the emperor ever in discussion with his ministers (apart from Duan Hong and Wei Qing) about politics. And don't hope for war scenes. Budget all gone to clothings!

SOME RECOMMENDATION
If you wanna watch the fictionalised lives of the real historical figures in this series, watch these;

Grand Empress Dowager Dou - Schemes Of A Beauty
Huo Qubing - Songs of the Desert
Liu Che - Han Wu Da Di

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LINE WALKER / 使徒行者 [TVB][2014][R] Funn Lim

2015-01-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

Written by Funn Lim
Main reason is because Sharon (Chan) was god awful

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Released in
2014

No. of Episodes
31

Cast
Michael Miu
Charmaine Sheh
Raymond Lam
Sammy Sum
Sharon Chan
Elena Kong
Benz Hui
Oscar Leung
Samantha Ko

Stefan Wong
Patrick Tang
Ankie Belkie
KK Cheung
Toby Leung

and more.

The Story
One cop sent out 5 cops as undercover at various section of society and one day he supposedly jumped to his death. Before he died he confided in his good friend, a fellow cop about the 5 undercover cops but before he could reveal their identities, he died. So now this friend of his has to find these 5 undercover cops to work with them to bring down the biggest triad in HK whilst protecting their identities and evading investigations and allegations that he is a corrupt cop by ICAC as well as threading the line with another sworn enemy, the O-kei.

Episodic Comments
I posed some of my thoughts with spoilers here by episodes. You will find more plot points there.

COMMENTS

It started sort of silly, a bunch of mad looking gangsters with huge knives and bats and what nots chasing after 2 very well dressed (in black if I remember correctly) Charmaine and Raymond (Lam, not Wong, not Cho) and they pledged their love for one another as one seeks death as a resolution and the other proclaims there is a way to survive and zoom, back to I believe 9 months or so ago. I don't believe it was even a year ago. The trouble with TVB is their flashback is usually a year or less and in light of so many episodes later, I kinda wonder, all these in less than 1 year? Woahhh... brutal world. When it comes to UCs and spies and moles and traitors, I do think maybe 3 to 5 years will justify all the pain, anger, heartache and fear. The series was still so good when we are introduced to an enigmatic Hong Sir who unfortunately died just 2 episodes into the series and the entire series thereafter is basically about a character very much talked about but dead since forever. I felt sad for Hong Sir but it should have been more. I wished the series took its time to establish Hong Sir who is the emotional string that binds all the UCs. In fact all of them have nothing bad to say about him at all but for him to die so soon and then so many minutes wasted on 2 couples, one of whom is just a complete waste of space is an injustice to what this series could have been. Which is slightly better than what it ended up becoming. Even then with Hong Sir's shocking but untimely death, the story shifted to an equally enigmatic Cheuk Sir who is one of the 2 men who is the glue of this series. I can even take Hong Sir's love story and all that lovey dovey stuff because this series has a kick ass villain in the form of the even more enigmatic Chum Foon Hei, the triad boss of Hung Ying triad. All is well and great, even if I had to sit through in total disbelief that Chum Foon Hei is basically surrounded by close men who, 4 out of 5 are traitors whereby 3 out of the 4 are UCs. But still, all is well until the story shifted to our young hot couple who kisses every episode, that is Kobe and Yan. And then it became worse and worse as the series tries to create an intricate web of conspiracies and betrayals that all ended being half baked and just silly before tragedy strikes where the veterans all die (except for Cheuk Sir who escapes that fate because he is only 40 therefore not quite a veteran) and then we are left with angry, disappointed young ones who either suddenly gone rogue and gone mad or gone missing or just simply gone. Of course some episodes later before the ultimate end, some young ones had to die and yes, one died but is totally unrelated to the UCs and moles. Frankly, this series died for me when Chum Foon Hei died. He was such an all consuming character that made me guess, is he good, is he bad, what makes him tick, why he is the way he is without any answer until the end. So all consuming that in the end when he died, when he shot himself to save the cowardly Bao Seed, whatever happened next until the end were just totally crazily mad bonkers. All the series ever wanted was to shock and the story, the consistency, the pacing, the integrity to the basic premise was thrown out the window for the purpose of style. For a series eager to showcase its youth and vitality, to modernise certain aspect, many of the storyline is really very very traditional and old fashioned.

Which is why in my blog writeup for this series, I thought the out of this world premise would have worked excellently in an ancient settings in a Wulin world or a world with dirty eunuchs and scumbag politicians in a dynastic settings where a minister is hell bent in discovering why his sworn blood brother was murdered and where the moles and UCs are. It would have been an excellent ancient series. They don't even have to change the dialogue, except changing English words to Chinese words. It could be Ming dynasty or really old Qin Dynasty, whatever. Unfortunately, it is set in modern times and as the series progresses, you can't deny the writers have balls since they criticised and theorised about bad cops as well as white collar crimes and drug dealers and what nots. And yet I have a hard time believing Escobars of the world would want to deal in real estate and retired respected politician like Chung King Fai will deal with such obviously in your face dubious character when the writers could have balls of steel to show the real bad guys as politicians from that particular political party in Mainland China. Now that would have gotten my respect and I would have forgiven all those stupid silly agonising love story between the main characters. But it didn't go that way. I do think though if this series had gone beyond the ending and give it maybe 5 more episodes, maybe we will find out Chung King Fai's big boss is from China and then that big boss from China in another 5 more episodes had his moles and spies in the White House. I mean it seems to be heading towards bigger and bigger revelations as it became more and more "mo lei tau".

And that's when I realise until the very end, our Cheuk Sir never managed to properly arrest anyone except in the end he managed to arrest Chung King Fai and himself. Yes, the ultimate sacrifice. His turn to the dark side was so predictably fake, especially when Bao Seed or someone accused Cheuk Sir of not understanding the life of an UC since he was never an UC and guess what? He became an UC not long later! Shocking? Nahhhh, expected. By the time I don't really care. Not after seeing Kobe laying on a chair as he manipulated the share market in no less than an abandoned house. Imagine if this was in ancient setting, Kobe would have been laying dying in an abandoned temple and using pigeons as his "laptop" to manipulate some general's order or imperial edict or whatever. It was just so funny to watch but it quickly became really stupid when Yan came along and for a man who could hardly push himself up to look at the laptop, could not somehow run away from Yan to hide from her. A perfectly capable healthy woman can't even chase after a half dead coughing blood and probably hungry sick man (his loaf of bread was on the floor, unopened for days so I assume he must not have eaten at all). Theirs was so supposed to be the love story of the century, but in the end it was just pain of the century for me. Did I mention how Yan seems to take all things personally and finds anyone who didn't do anything her way as a total disappointment? Like everything is about her and in the end I am left scratching my head why both Kobe and the dastardly Yip Sir fell so deeply for her? Must have been the perfect hair and long shapely legs. This series took pains to exploit that to such an effect that I wonder, what's the point again?

Talking about perfect hair, everyone has perfect hair in here and is hardly ruffled despite running, crawling, shooting, hacking, hiding and even extreme grief. It just felt so unreal. But no more unreal than the actual job of being a UC.

Of all the UCs, Bao Seed had the most believable UC role but even in the end when he became Hung Ying's leader, one wonders shouldn't he by that time have access to enough evidence to make some arrest? But then by that point, no one probably remembers what Hung Ying does in the first place. For a triad, it does everything. From small stuff like betting to drug dealing to real estate to ... sushi restaurants and of course money laundering to basically everything. Hung Ying is one triad that does not discriminate whatever illegal activities they do as long as it serves the plot and it is illegal. His ending was so super ridiculous. His identity as an UC is breached and yet in the end he is still an UC. But if this was set in ancient settings, well you can say he shot down all pigeons and so the secret identity is still safe in another town. But in the modern world of google, youtube, Facebook and Twitter, it is impossible.

Then there's the other UCs.

Sis Deng perhaps has the 2nd most believable UC except her job could easily have been done effectively by an informer. She runs a foot massage business and is more businesswoman with some legal ethics than an UC. In fact I wonder why she bothers to be a UC. JUst quit and be a thriving business owner.

Kobe has the best hair, look, wardrobe, car, everything and he even manages to leave USD20 million (or is it HKD? Whatever.. loads of money) for his ultimate one true love, Yan when one wonders, shouldn't he hand over that money to the police? After all who paid him his start up capital? If Bond had to handover his winnings in Casino Royale, why is Kobe keeping his? In fact why is Kobe an UC when he is such a financial whiz kid, he could have just quit, become a stock broker or trust fund manager or whatever and become so awesomely rich, legally. I don't get it. Poor man even had to go to jail to get close to Chum Foon Hei but let me speculate a bit; he was tried and convicted of either Criminal Breach Of Trust or fraud. Why is he allowed to even trade in stock market? Shouldn't those Commercial Crime Bureau of equivalent investigate him? I mean he can't even run a company, be an accountant, etc. Unless of course HK is different.

Ada of all the UCs was most pitiful and had a pitiful ending. She died before the series became incredibly stupid.

But Miss Lam, the scary PA of James Pong, one of the main bad guys before we reach the upper echelon of bad guys except we are never told his connection to the rest of the bad guys, she reminds me of a haughty harajuku girl than a woman so scary, even Bao Seed fears her. Well she died, horribly, not sure who killed her and the writers don't care either. Her story of betraying the UCs and Cheuk Sir is half baked at best. By that time everyone knows everyone is respectively a UC or mole and yet, not one killing. The most unbelievable was Sis Deng's ability to work with Miss Lam who was the singular reason why her 3 moms were shot so brutally that really shows me this series has lost its plot. By that time it has lost its plot for many many times. When the emotional aspect could be milked and some girl on girl fight most justified, nothing happened. You get that short fight some time later, but for the wrong reasons. I wished Sis Deng had exhibited her spunkiness when it comes to Miss Lam but this series suddenly shifted to her being a politician's assistant... yeah, like what? Huh? Really?

Makes no sense.

For a series that started about a kind handler with his 5 missing UCs, it in the end became an absolute mess.

No doubt, you my dear reader probably disagree with me and feels this series is TVB's best for 2014 because it is so exciting. Take out the excitement which is scene per scene and I wonder, do you still feel the same? Do you feel excited about Bao Seed's sudden madness and his sudden recovery? Sis Deng's sudden philosophical approach to her identity when she was one who exhibited the least philosophical approach? Did you not see Flea and Kobe dying like miles and miles away? Don't you wonder about Foon Hei's background and the stupid ending scene where his UC file was erased and you wonder, where did that come from? Why can't villains be villains and good guys be shady? Why must Foon Hei in the end be an UC too? And what about that embarrassing implied sex in an ambulance between two people so bandaged, they can hardly move their hands more so remove their pants to have sex? I mean after so many episodes of so much tragedy, shouldn't this series end on a mature note instead of rewinding to step 1, cue the childish cutesy music and cutesy expressions and cutesy expressions? So many deaths, so many lies, sometimes you can't just go back to the way you were. Innocence are lost, sometimes a more subdued ending would have heightened the ending rather than that stupid ending.

The only good ending was Cheuk Sir and wife but even they had some silly moments.

PERFORMANCES EVALUATED

There are some major players in here and considering how extensive the story tries to be, naturally it has lots of actors consists of veterans and ... more veterans. I mean I consider Charmaine and Raymond veterans.

Michael Miu

I suppose you can say this is his best performance todate, except I do think his performance in L'Escargot as the hardworking older brother (albeit he was too old for that role) was to me his best performance. He is to me not the best actor in TVB. He never was. But what he lacks in acting, he made up for his good looks that look younger as he grows older (which give proof to growing old gracefully), his height, robust physique and in this series, he shows he can be as dubious as he is persistently honourable. Frankly never quite believed his Cheuk Sir ever went rogue but that aside, he really is the 2nd saving grace of this series. By the way Tony Leung Ka Fai was supposed to be in this series and I bet as this character which would have been awesome either way.

Benz Hui

He is to me such a surprise casting for a role that requires him to be at first scary, then remorseful and finally pitiful only in so far that as a viewer, you sympathise with him. It is such a success because in the end you still know so little about this enigmatic character. Why did he quit being a cop? Why did he do what he did? Erase that stupid ending where his file as UC is erased. That is an afterthought and it is stupid. Taking away that one moment of stupidity, his Chum Foon Hei like Cheuk Sir are the 2 most consistent characters in this series. Whilst the story revolves around Hong Sir with Cheuk Sir as sidekick, Benz has an awful lot of screentime and I thank the power that be for that. When he laughed, it was scary. And yet in certain scenes you get a sense that if he wasn't the bad guy, you will like his jovial nature. After all, his name does mean Seeking Happiness. His final scene was rather sad and Benz handled that so well, I immediately missed his character. When the young ones took over the mantle from the veterans, frankly speaking they were all inadequate. For this, if there is a Most Favourite Supporting Actor, Benz has my vote. In fact he should be the TV King because TV King shouldn't be about Most Favourite Lead Actor but rather, the best actor with the most impact to a series, story and character of that given year and Benz Hui definitely fits that definition.

Jimmy Au

As Hong Sir, he has very few scenes but his character is one of the most talked about character, next to Chum Foon Hei. The actor looks honourable and good natured enough for this role. In fact I have seen him as a cop way too many times. I would have wished he had more scenes to build up the affection with the viewers but I suppose the series was in such a hurry to introduce the younger actors as UCs. For me his early death never quite balance well with the rest of the story, more so when the rest of the story was filled with such useless plot and unimportant character development.

Chung King Fai

His character is silly in a way, too short since he was introduced so much later but ever since Will Power, I can really see him as the ultimate villain. I suppose gravitas is needed for such an important role and it is supposed to be important. After all he is the top of the food chain of villainous characters, all the UCs are after that merits our main guy Cheuk Sir becoming a UC himself. Unfortunately, much too late, much too short even if his final confrontation scene with Michael was well acted even if it is frustrating to watch; after all, for all the capabilities of the women, at the end of the day they are reduced to damsel in distress.

Oscar Leung

One word; awful. His performance never quite gel it for me. It felt forced, it felt unreal and it felt so put on. His antics, his behaviour, even his god awful way too long death scene was annoying. There can only be one actor who can do sidekick well and that is Jazz Lam. Oscar was like a poor imitation of Jazz Lam in King Of Comedy and mind you, that was a comedy, that was a Stephen Chow movie and that was Jazz's debut acting ever. He is not helped with the fact that his character was basically nothing to do. If he had been UC, it would have made better sense. If his death scene was better handled, it would have made better sense. The only time I ever liked his character was when he attended his grandma's birthday bash. Those personal moments which unfortunately was not meant to enhance his character but rather pave the way for some flashback scene when he died so that the viewers can see how BFFs he is with his Bao Seed Gor and Deng Jeh. I feel so disconnected watching Oscar and kept wishing Jazz would show up except he showed up in All That Is Bitter Is Sweet.

Stephen Huynh/Stefan Wong

The actor with many names. At some point he must win Most Improved Actor because he has improved a lot. He is believable as the crooked businessman named James Pong except the problem is not much is known about his character. Where did all the time fly? Well, certainly not in establishing his James. But overall, a convincing performance.

Patrick Tang

Not the best actor around but his character is intriguing except again we know zero about his character in the end except he is a dirty cop. Pity.

KK Cheung

Nothing much, but make up is convincing.

Elena's husband

What's his name? Convincing as the ultimate bastard husband.

Foon Hei's son

Not sure what is his name but deserving of an honourable mention. I thought the kid had spunk. Unfortunately he had to die so tragically and in a way that is totally avoidable.

Sammy Shum

What a deliciously handsome man. That's where my compliment ends. Not his fault. I mean he has improved in his acting and many said he is winning the Most Improved. Well, not for this atrocious series I hope. He was far far better in his villainous role in All That Is Bitter Is Sweet with the same premise of longing for the girl he can never have except in this series, he did get the girl but then the tumour got to him. Yeap, tumour. In the dangerous world of white collar crime, imprisonment, gang war, drug war, and all wars, in the end he died of a tumour. So K-drama and was hoping Yan will die with him, but no such luck! I always thought Sammy is a star in the making. He has all the qualities; flawless look that is probably TVB's only answer to Wallace Huo in terms of HDTV durability test, he is young, he has a moldable face that can play any character (even gwailos because he looks mixed at some angle), he has a good voice and clear diction (maybe too clear diction, he can at times talk one word at a time) and yes, kissable lips. And this guy can kiss. Unfortunately, he is a tad short so he isn't Michael Miu but he has the talent, the looks and the charisma. His only major problem is his acting talent is still lacking behind his charisma. What I mean is this; he has the stage set up for him, but he still can't quite step on it yet because he has yet to have the skills to go with that talent. In time he will gain that skills, he has the potential and his performance in All That Is Bitter Is Sweet will convince you of that (oh please, not this performance though). Still needs a bit more "cooking" time. But in here, I am sorry to say, the character is poorly written. His Kobe comes across as delusional, destructive for love and just all round wimpy. When he died, I was applauding. That's the end of one suffering, whether it is his or mine is up to interpretation.

Raymond Lam

He started so well. I have waited so patiently for the Raymond I once knew but somewhere along the way when the drama is heightened, so is his chok-ness. It is still the same "new" Raymond that I am beginning to despise. He was ok in calm moments and as the street smart Bao Seed. But he was terrible as the grieving Bao Seed and the absolute worst when he has to grief, angry, hurt, pain and cry all at the same time. Maybe it does remind me of the old Raymond, the one who debuted many years ago and was so opera-ish in his performance. One of the worst performance in here and to think many fans are hoping he gets TV King. I'd rather Lawrence Ng or the exquisite Vincent Wong in Tomorrow Is Another Day winning than Raymond Lam.

Elena Kong

I never truly appreciated her. I always felt she was always so haughty in her performances and I am sick of her older woman-younger man storyline. But in here, she is well matched with Michael Miu and she has the boasting point of saying Michael kissed her on the lips, at least 3 times and I think he even nipped her on the nose once. How many times have you seen Michael kissed an actress, let alone nipped her nose? They share this amazing chemistry but at times I wished she did more in terms of touching him. There was a tender scene where she told him to ask her to marry him, that she is ready and she was gingerly touching his face I think, or her hands were on his shoulder. I wished she had sat on his lap, kissed him on the cheek and cupped his face with both the palms of her hands. I wanted more intimacy but Elena seems to hold back herself. Her performance as the battered wife was absolutely convincing. Whatever your personal opinion about battered wives who chose to stay with their husbands, you gotta admit that performance was absolute perfection; the begging, the justification, the pain, everything. The make up was convincing. Her hair was the only one that reflected her predicament. However in the need to connect all characters, she was made into a prosecutor and then we are told she married not too long ago so how she became from feared prosecutor to battered wife is not justified long enough. The timeline should be longer. Other than that, I do think she was stunning in this series and frankly I would have given her the TV Queen title, same justification why I will give Benz Hui because TV Queen shouldn't be best lead actress performance but should be best actress performance.

Charmaine Sheh

Not her best performance because An Herbalist Affair was her best. Not her second best because HSDS was her second best. You can this is her third best performance, and she has improved a lot since Time Off which was a long long long time ago. I know a lot of fans is hoping she gets TV Queen and between her and Linda Chung, I'd rather Charmaine but between Charmaine and a whole lot of other performnaces we have yet to see? Like Josie Ho, like a lot more? Let's wait and see. Standalone, Charmaine gave it her all and frankly the director used her to the hilt. She had to do everything in here, even sexual innuendos and outright sexual scenes apart from drama, comedy, cutesy stuff, annoying stuff, etc etc. Everything rolled into one. And guess which one she did best? Those that require her to act smart, making decisions with her wit, those still moment. I always thought Charmaine can handle a strong character that does not need to have a man next to her. She can be the Empress who rules over the harem and I believe she will be convincing. Unfortunately as in this series, at some point she is cast as the helpless damsel in distress or the shrieking mourning crying banshee. Mean words you think? Some may think the scene at the hospital where she had to mourn her 3 mothers' death was her best, I thought it was her worst. The shrieking was hurting my ear. To show pain, anger and hurt, see Elena's performance or see the numbness in Carmen Lee's performance in M Club. Everybody else will cry and shriek but very few will have that more powerful quiet moment. And plus Raymond Lam who was also crying hard, what you have is an overdone scene. The one scene that convinces me that she should at least get a nod as one of the nominees for TV Queen is the one where she faced off Benz Hui where he tells her he knows she is an UC. She hardly spoke in there but she used her ability to cry beautifully without grimace or uglfying her face to full and beautiful effect. She tried hard to change her voice to lower tone, but many times she failed and reverted back to her very girly voice. I am ok with that although it shows she is still lacking consistencey and she is still a scene per scene actress. I never get the feeling her performance in the present scene was ever connected with the scene before or will connect with the scene later, unlike Maie Cheung Hor Yee or Tavia Yeung. But it should pleased her fans to know she is not the worst in this series. Many were worst than her.

Sharon Chan

Sharon Chan has the distinction of being cast in characters that are consistent in one thing; capitalizing on her long shapely legs or close up shots of her buttocks or both. It is getting to tiresome and predictable. In this series her legs are used for zero effect; it makes no sense to set up a scene for her to dress sexily or dance sexily when at the end of the day there is no useful connection to the plot. So her role in here is to sex it up. I have made myself clear how I feel about her Yan; I hate her Yan. I find her Yan self centred and pulled down the series to a level called "What's the point again?" and she even manages at some point to pull it down to a further "Please die! Die! Die! Die!". She predictably lives. The problem is Sharon is cast in a hot babe role, and she isn't hot. Her character is a bit like Mary Sue and that is annoying. Everyone tumbles on his feet (note; not her but only his) to please her, to live up to their expectations but what about she herself? Sharon Chan could not bring out the sincerity in her character, she could not act out the idealised aspect of her character. I find Yan such a waste of space and I had to fast forward so many of her scenes because I just couldn't stand her and if that means fast forwarding Kobe's scenes, well sacrifices has to be made. And guess what? Not one storyline missed. Their story has no continuity in the main storyline. At least Deng Jeh and Bao Seed have some connection but Kobe-Yan is just a complete waste of time. Main reason is because Sharon was god awful.

Ankie Belkie

Now THAT is sex on legs. She should switch role with Sharon. A twirl of her little finger is sexier than the whole long legs of Sharon Chan. A good performance, a very pitiful character which unfortunately lacks development except to add on to Bao Seed's guilt and Deng Jeh's needless jealousy.

Samantha Ko

She should switch role with Sharon. Sharon should be Miss Lam and Samantha should be Yan. Maybe it might be better. Samantha was badly cast as the scary Miss Lam. She didn't look scary at all and was so very unconvincing and her role so lacking, when she died, I doubt anyone cared.

Toby Leung

My 2nd most unfavourite TVB actress in TVB right now and whilst her character is useful to throw us off in a few moments but frankly her performance was quite simply very bad. From her voice to her expressions to her interpretation, etc etc I find no merits just confusion.

The 3 Moms

Noisy when all 3 together and whilst I expected 1 or 2 to die, I never expected all 3 to die in the same scene. Brutal finishing of the veterans but I suppose at that point something super dramatic must happen to trump the mystery of "Who is NOT a UC" plot.

Now you must wonder, wow so few people? A whole lot more but most are not worth mentioning since they're mostly touch and go basis.

Before I end with my Verdict which you already know what it will be, I would like to bring back a segment which I haven't done for a very long time; Most/Least.

Most Overused Moment

Death/Sad scene > hug that person > cry hard > look up the ceiling > scream

Once was ok, twice maybe, but after that it was just funny.

Most Needless Moment

Three. Yan dressing sexily to go into a bar to do... what? AND Yan practices sexy dancing in front of Kobe for... what? AND Yan dressing sexily to dance with a villain for ... what?

Most GET ON WITH IT Moment

The nominees.

One mom's death, she screams, Second mom's death, she scream some more. Third mom's death and I thought so lucky Deng Jeh only has 3 moms.

Yan's inability to admit she is still crazy in lust with Kobe and wants to rip off is shirt and make mad love to him; instead she gave him a run around for so many wasted episodes.

Flea's death scene with flashback and back to death scene, some dialogue and still he is alive to the point poor Deng Jeh probably has no more tears because then Bao Seed enters and still no death.

The winner? Obviously Yan because her story has no connection to the main plot If it is to show how desperate Kobe is to leave his UC life, what a terrible way to explain it.

Most Pitiful Character

Three nominees.

3 step moms. Poor women. All dying one after the other.

Chum Foon Hei's son. Poor kid, all over for a kite.

On Lam. Poor girl. What a sad life.

My choice is On Lam. One very suggestive scene; she could hardly wal, her hair a bit tousled, her hands bruised and then we find out she had to give herself in exchange for an escape boat ride for her "father". Coupled also with her drug addiction forced on her and her sacrifice in the end, for me, On Lam's scenes were brief but they made a huge impact for me. A pity so little scenes. On Lam's story deserves more.

Most Hated Character

4 nominees.

Miss Lam because Samantha Ko was awful.

Yan because Sharon Chan was awful and Yan was begging to be hated anyway.

Bao Seed because he turned mental for no reason and Raymond Lam's god awful pained expressions towards the end.

Kobe for his wimpiness, his longing for Yan to the point many times he nearly jeapordised everyone.

Yip Sai Wing for his meaness.

Winner? Yan, clear winner for me. I wished Yip threw her off the building.

Most Embarassing Moment

Four nominees.

The ending. No not the ambulance scene, the deleting of Foon Hei as UC data scene.

Yan's seductive dance scene. Pointless.

Kobe dying and doing share market thing in an abandone building whilst lying on a chair coughing up blood and weakly punching the keyboard of his laptop.

Bao Seed opening a foot massage shop to continue being a UC. Seriously?

Winner?

Ending. What a cop-out.

Most Favourite Couple

Without a doubt, Cheuk Sir and Katie. Who can forget how her husband kidnapped her and crashed the car and then ran away as she lay trapped in the upturned car when in slow mo we see Cheuk Sir who also crashed his car and is hurt didn't care for anything but to save her as he slowly limped to her even when his head was I believe covered in blood.

A close second is Hong Sir and Ada but only because they're such a tragic love bird.

Least Favourite Couple

Who else?

Most Favourite Scene

Gotta be Foon Hei tearfully telling a tearful Deng that he sees her as his daughter. Most beautiful moment, most beautifully scripted and most beautifully acted moment in this series. Charmaine thrives when she is next to a very very good actor, like how she was when she was next to Roger Kwok in An Herbalist Affair.

Least Favourite Scene

Entire series except for the ones I labeled as Favourite.

Scariest Scene

Admittedly, the scene where Bao Seed and Deng were dragged out of their car by the angry mob was very scary.

Least Scariest Borderline Stupid Scene

The whole scene about UC's identity revealed on the internet. Could have been done better, so very Skyfall, you know? But none of Skyfall's elegance in showing how scary it should be because it is negated by the fact that Bao Seed later opens a massage parlour as a UC. By that time I think even the writers forgoten who is doing what.

Most Shocking Moment

All about deaths plus one but not the fact they died, but the way they died.

Hong Sir's death

Yip Sai Wing's death

3 moms' death

Foon Hei's death

Ada's death

On Lam's flash tradein for boat escape

Foon Hei's son dying. Shocking because it is revealed Foon Hei ran past by the very same ambulance his son was being given CPR and Foon Hei was smiling his smug smile for having escaped his enemy without knowing the higher power up there dictates he should win some and lose big.

Yan didn't die.

Toby Leung really has a pointless red herring role. I mean she is neither a mole, UC or whatever. She is just a cop, a niece. That's shocking. Ok also that scene where she was in a dumpster about to be crushed to death.

Winner?

Hong Sir for the fact he fell and it was shocking!

Least Shocking Moment

2 deaths plus one.

Flea's death

Kobe's death

Cheuk Sir is not a mole! He is a nice guy!

Winner?

All 3 but Flea's death is predicted by me since day 1. What is shocking is not how he died but why he died. Blame Deng.

VERDICT

It has its good moments, some very poetic moments. I am sure there will be a clear division of opinion; like When Heaven Burns, either you think this is the best ever or the trash of 2014. I tried to like it but after half way through when I had to sit through the slow mos and lovey dovey pointless scenes, I lost my patience. I fast forwarded them all and did not miss a single plot point. Fans of Charmaine and Raymond and the likes will be pleased because they're pleased with whatever their idols do whatever I say but to those who wants and seeks good performances and unique characters, you gotta watch this for Benz Hui, Elena Kong and Michael Miu. This is the series where veterans rule and the younger veterans just almost made the grade and the ones that the veterans are passing the torch to is just abysmal. It is a combination of poor performance, badly written character and poor direction but ultimately for me why I hated this series is because it is just so darn out of this world stupidity. And there's a movie coming soon! Guess what? Ditch the TVB version, go buy Infernal Affairs, HK's best movie about moles and UCs and triads and demi gods and semi devils in the modern world. If this series had been an ancient series, it would have been quite awesome but certain ideas just do not work in modern world.

I will say watch it with fair warning but I suppose you will probably say you have seen it and that I am wrong. Let's say opinions differ but validly given opinion either way is still an opinion worth reading.

Anyway, one of this year's most wasted story opportunity and for me one of the worst this year.

Great Tidbit
Michael's character was supposed to have been played by Tony Leung (Ka Fai) but he injured himself. Pity.

Sammy Leung was supposed to play the character of Kobe, now occupied by Sammy Shum who was supposed to play the annoying O-Kei cop now occupied by Patrick Tang! But is Sammy Leung suitable for the role of Kobe if Kobe is as he is as played by Sammy Shum? I doubt it. I think the casting now is just right. Sammy Leung would have been a better fit as Raymond's character or Oscar's but Jazz Lam was born for Oscar's character. Talk about a huge miscast!

I suppose this series marks the return of Charmaine Sheh to TVB, but not permanently of course.

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ALL THAT IS BITTER IS SWEET / 大藥坊 [TVB][2014][R] Funn Lim

2015-01-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

Written by Funn Lim

The shorter version is she never seem comfortable in this role.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Chinese title
大藥坊

This is
formerly known as Big Apothecary! Better change the name, since most can't pronounce the name anyway. Apo what? Apo then carry what?

Year released
2014

First Date of 1st broadcast
08.09.2014

End Date of 1st broadcast
17.10.2014

No. of Episode
30

Cast & Character
All names in Mandarin. I will change them to Cantonese as I go along.

Du Yan Ge as Du Shen / Dou Sam
Linda Chung as Du Jia Qi/Dou Kai Kei
Pierre Ngo as Du Rong/Dou Yung
Shirley Yeung as Feng Yu Qin/Yuk Kam
Raymond Wong as Zhuang Ji Zu (Chong Kai Cho) and Zhuang Ji Zong (Chong Kai Chung)
Natalie Tong as Xu Jun Yue/Hui Kwan Yuek
Pat Poon as Zhuang Dun Ru/Chong Duen Yu
Susan Tse as Wei Qiu Qing
Ruco Chan as Ding Yi Yuan/Ting Yat Yuen
Sammy Sum as Wei Jun/Wai Chun
Samantha Ko as Pian Pian
Elliot Yue as The General Hui Shung Ming
Alex/Jazz Lam
Ching Hor Wai
Choi Kwok Hing
Bak Yan
Choi Kwok Hing as Dr Sheung

Synopsis and Episodic Thoughts

I wrote detailed episodic thoughts until episode 11. Then I switch to opinion and summaries in my blog until the last episode.

NOTICE
At the time of writing this review I was pretty sure who is Kai Cho and who is Kai Chung. Now that my memory fades a little, I am not so sure so any mistake, I! AM! SORRY!!!! in my Linda Chung voice.

COMMENTS

I am gonna talk about this series on the 3 aspects;

1. Story and Characters

2. The stuff I absolutely hated

3. The stuff I absolutely liked

4. The performances

And I am gonna talk about this series from the perspective of a fan of Ruco Chan and Linda Chung.

If you are ready to take out that champagne for Linda because I am not ashamed to admit I am a Linda Chung fan and seen a lot of her series, do keep that champagne in the fridge. You should bring out the plates you do not ever want to see anymore, a nice cosy corner with a broom ready because if it was me, I would be throwing those plates on the floor screaming "Why? WHYYYYYYYYYYYY? LINDA! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?" in that "Linda Chung's Dramatically Betrayed By A Person You Trust And Feeling So Hurt That The World And All Worlds In All Dimensions Simultaneously Come Crashing Down And You Don't Have Your Helmet On Voice" which should have its own entry in the dictionary as a verb; like I just gave that traitor a piece of my mind with my Linda Chung Voice.

STORY AND CHARACTERS

This title is so aptly named in English if you look at the title the opposite. All that is bitter is sweet will eventually become bitter. That's how I feel with the ending. It is not the stupidest ending, that belonged exclusively to Bottled Passion. I mean in recent memory there are a lot of stupid endings so frankly ATIBIS is not THE worst. But it is one of the worst. It is not a genuinely happy ending unless you just want a happy ending for the sake of a happy ending. It continues the run where TVB simply refuses to invest in a good wedding scene which actually completes and ends with a happy couple. But then when I first watched this series, I could have guessed it isn't all rosy and in some ways I got some things right but in many ways, this series really defied my expectations.

The story is cut into 3 segments.

1. Kai Kei and her struggles. This is where the main story is.

2. Kwan Yeuk and her struggles.

3. Pin Pin and her struggles.

The men are complimentary to these 3 segments. Yat Yuen for Kai Kei and Pin Pin, Kai Cho for Kwan Yeuk and Kai Kei, 2nd Uncle and frankly can't remember who and Ngai Chun for first 3 but it all leads back to these 4 eventually.

Of all the male characters, Ngai Chun had the most to do. Yat Yuen at the end of the day is quite simply the hero and nothing more. Kai Chung is the short tempered rebel with a heart and nothing more. Ngai Chun is the villain, the antagonist to all characters, the go-to evil guy. In fact if there is any compliment to be given for this series, the deaths are very dramatic and probably the highlights of this series. I am sure many of you will clap happily when Ngai Chun died and I was happy for the way he died.

Before I venture further, I just wanna ask, why the name Kai Kei when everyone struggles to pronounce it? Most sounded like Ka Kei!

Ok, continue.

The story is standard stuff, even if it is supposedly about a strong female character against insurmountable challenges in life to become a success. Ahhh you must have noticed even my short description is inaccurate, that is because this series became different somewhere at the beginning of the series. The trailers, everything misled me to think this is a story about poor little rich Mary Sue who had to learn the hard knocks in life and lead her family to glory again whilst falling for our dashing hero who is dying of a heart disease who she will in the end save. For a series supposedly about the main girl that is To Kai Kei, you know something is gonna go wrong when even the cast sometimes got her name wrong; it is often sort of Ka Kei instead of Kai Kei. For such a series to work, it must wholly be on the main girl and she must be thrown into such situations that we either like her and cheer for her or like her but wonder maybe someone else can do better than her. Problem is I never liked Kai Kei because she was never proactive. She was always the damsel in distress. At the beginning she can't even speak in a timely manner and in the end she can't even count properly. All I can remember of the last scene she saw Yat Yuen and he told her to close her eyes to count to 3, by the time she actually started counting after breathing deep and hard, I have counted to 20. Let's just say Kai Kei redefines ladylike in the annoying slow mo way. Slow mo doesn't mean ladylike by the way. The main problem is that the story is so familiar. Someone did it first and did it better, like Jewell In The Palace which centres on the female lead. In ATISBIS, you get the idea Kai Kei is more of an observer rather than in the centre of it all. It also doesn't work as well because she is not a very interesting heroine. Her situation is dire and interesting but how she goes about it is not. She doesn't have one exceptional moment and towards the end when this series is so saturated with so many characters, our Kai Kei sort of got pushed into the corner and forgotten. There are other more memorable characters in this series and that is why Kai Kei never really fit in. The story does try to show her uniting her family, saving her father, saving people, saving our hero, saving everyone but it never really properly show it all. The limelight should be on her and her actions but the story was too busy with everyone else that there isn't enough focus on her. And I never liked her at all. She seems so weak, so whiny, too gentle and always the cause of everyone's problem that I didn't feel for her at all. And when Kwan Yeuk appears I feel less. When Pin Pin appeared, all my sympathies go to Pin Pin. Like what I wrote in my blog post, like every woman in this series, I detest Kai Kei because she is a non entity in a world where she is supposed to be the supreme entity.

The story is not standard stuff when it is about Kwan Yeuk. Half the time I was wondering is she nice or is she a bitch in sheep clothing. Well, she is an elegant, educated, practical woman who sees things as they are and a problem solver. She is not Kai Kei, she is who Kai Kei should be. I like Kwan Yeuk even if she was always miserable. Twice falling in love with 2 men who are brothers who both love the same woman. In the end I was never convinced Kai Chung loved Kwan Yeuk but anyway, she got her happy ending and that's pretty awesome. I like how she ended Ngai Chun's life.

Talking about strong women, Pin Pin is one tough cookie. Her background is not as innocent and protected as Kai Kei or as rich and educated as Kwan Yeuk but she is one street smart girl. Her only flaw is she fell for a guy who refuses to commit but at least in her own tragic way, she got her happy ending. After such cold deaths in Line Walker which I felt nothing, when Pin Pin died and it was a long death scene, it brought tears to my eyes. Could such a giving person ever exist? Someone who so understand how to love and is so unselfish in the sense seeing her death for the man she loved is worth more than living for nothing? She is to me a perfect character or near perfect. Kwan Yeuk had long bouts of jealousy and insane expectations for Kai Chung who never really promised her anything. Kai Kei's head is forever in the clouds that she is so unbelievable as a person. Pin Pin had her faults too but once she think things through, she would gather her wits, come to a correct conclusion and do the right thing, even if it meant her life. For that I like Pin Pin the most even if her character appeared late into the series and died so soon.

Shirley Yeung's character is not worth to talk about much except she is naive. Not naive smart like Kai Kei but so seriously naive you will wonder how she can survive all these years. I never got the impression she ever loved the 2nd Uncle but her ending is good. She smartened up after a lifetime of stupidity.

Let's talk about the men who are complimentary to the women.

We have Kai Cho, the calm beloved first born of Chong family and the lookalike (not twin) Kai Chung, the rebel of the family. Kai Cho is quite a charmer. His death scene which was the 1st major death scene was horrific and major and very upsetting because he is such a nice guy. Everyone likes him and he is Kwan Yeuk's adonis as much as Kai Kei is his goddess. However he appeared briefly and died and then came same actor, different character, Kai Chung who is the annoying righteous guy who is the Incredible Hulk of this series; he is perpetually angry. When he is not perpetually angry, he is suddenly as meek as a mouse, especially when it comes to women. He is the rebel but with a conscience and a heart. But I never really liked him much and sometimes he disappears from the series and from Kai Kei's life.

Then there's Ting Yat Yuen, the hero of our series, literally. He saves lives, he is a nice guy, he trades with a conscience and a heart. He believes he will die before he is 35 and so he lives as he says;

"..I live my life calculating the risks because I will soon die when I reach 35 and I don't want to waste my time and risk whatever time I have"

Interesting. Usually when people know they're dying, the story is almost always how they live life without calculating the risk and to the fullest since calculating time and risks would be too much of wasting whatever precious time he has. Anyway that is why he doesn't want to commit because he can drop dead anytime soon. At the very start I know he won't die because that will be contrary to the purpose of Kai Kei. I was right except Kai Kei did not save him. I suppose he had time to spare after the age of 35 by the fact that perhaps the disease skip a generation perhaps? I do not know. I consider this a plothole.

This is one character that is as helpful as he is noble. He is a bit like Kai Chung except with a cooler head. He is more like Kai Cho minus the wealth and education but he isn't stupid. He is a very appealing character, probably will be popular with viewers, except his only problem is he has no purpose. The fact that he will die when he is 35 is just a motivator. His entire singular purpose in this series is to help and assist Kai Kei. There is no Yat Yuen without Kai Kei. When Pin Pin appears, at least there is some individuality for Yat Yuen but again he is there to save and help Pin Pin. There isn't much dilemma when there should be since he chose Kai Kei over Pin Pin, even if he never really did promise Pin Pin anything. So Pin Pin had no just cause to be butthurt by Yat Yuen's refusal. I just feel at times Yat Yuen is the overhelpful pedesterian who has no legitimate story in this series. Quite a waste of a good character.

Then there's Ngai Chun, who is rather intriguing. The villains are rather intriguing. What is intriguing is he is a competent police but dirty corrupted and sadistic. But he is also defined by his worshipping of Kwan Yeuk as his goddess and admirably so. He is gentle, caring, attentive and sort of speak the truth when he is with her. He never really take advantage of her, never tried to kiss her, the only intimate thing he did was to gently wipe the tears from her face. And I so want to like him, and I do and of course that is wrong because he is supposed to be the villain and so he has to do villain stuff. He is always that sort of guy who has a sadistic cruel streak but I thought maybe Pin Pin is there for a reason. Well, not quite. Maybe Kwan Yeuk will change him but not quite. Since Kwan Yeuk is deadset on Kai Chung who has no other woman for him, Ngai Chun will be the "sacrificial lamb". Oh towards the end he is was evil and his ending justified. But I just wished why can't black isn't always black, white isn't always white? I find him more character than that annoying Kai Chung!

There's To Yung, the 2nd uncle. I thought maybe he has hope to be a better person, like how it was in Safe Guards but nope, in the end still rotten to the core. You can't say he is evil but he is definitely a selfish bad man who prioritises his own interest over another. Whatever he does, his first question is "What do I gain from this?". His ending is proper although he disappeared from the screen many times.

And finally the old ones. Plenty of old people in here with many scenes that overshadow the younger cast and obviously Kai Kei. They're the fathers and mothers.

There's General Hui Shung Ming who is quite a revelation. Like Ngai Chun (before his downfall at the end) he is intriguing. I so want to hate him but I end up emphatising with him. There is no doubt General Hui is a harsh cruel man who is as arrogant as he is brash. But he also loves his daughter very very much. Even his daughter is exasperated by his constant meddling in her love life but in the end it was all for good intentions. Any father who thinks the world of his daughter will do the same thing he did, minus the whole gun pointed to the head thing. He is also working in a highly pressurised work. But I can't understand if he is so rich, why not just cut the bs and just retire? Because he loves power too much? But he loves his daughter more! In the end he is ready to confess his sin and frankly he died a decent man at the hands of the dastardly Ngai Chun. A good ending in my opinion.

There's To Sum, Kai Kei's dad. For me To Sum is on the same page with General Hui, both as arrogant, as self centred, as self assured, as perfectionist. The only difference is To Sum has tact whilst General Hui lives in a world wen he doesn't need to be tactful. Both are good fathers, raising decent daughters. Both love their daughters very very much and think the world of them. However To Sum has the disadvantage if thinking his medical knowledge was complete, and nothing can harm him. In the end he was absolved from the death of Kai Cho who he thought he dramatically killed due to medical negligence. He didn't know the lingchi was poisoned by General Hui's biochemical factory. However I still think he was right to be imprisoned. Part of the reason why Kai Cho died was because To Sum was too arrogant to accept there may be flaws with his pills and his diagnosis. In some ways his diagnoses was flawed because he didn't pay enough attention to the symptoms, such as blackened fingernails. He was so confident that he didn't observe the basics of medicine; observe and diagnose. He jumped straight to medicine. He felt he deserved to be jailed which was great but how he accepted that fate was done in a very profunctory nature. I wanted to see how he finally accepted his part of the blame but the process was too short. And he has the shortest greatest dilemma ever; wife pregnant with his brother's son and all solved in the space of 5 minutes. No great dilemma for him. I do like his ending though; simpler clothings, back to being the physician rather than the businessman.

There's the mayor and his wife, who both are more accepting of a girl whose father pulled a gun and tried to kill their youngest son (and not to mention also a possible terrorist and homocidal maniac) rather than a girl whose father negligently killed their beloved older son. The father is meek who is lucky to have married a smarter more capable wife, much like how in the end Kai Chung the not so smart guy marrying Kwan Yeuk who is obviously the smarter one. They are major players in the story and I enjoyed their dilemma and interactions but I never quite warm up to the cowardly mayor and his smart wife who unfairly blamed Kai Kei for every jinx coming their way.

Finally, the supporting of the supporting. If Kai Kei is lead, Yat Yuen is supporting, then whoever next to Yat Yuen is supporting him and frankly I really like the silly tastefully comedic trio whose name I never quite catch. I know the actors, well 2 of them at least but did not catch their characters' names. They were witty and funny without sounding inappropriate. No silly cute music at the worst possible timing. Their comedy is subtle and I find them cute and did their job well in supporting the main cast. I don't feel they're time wasters.

THE STUFF I ABSOLUTELY HATED

Some are performance based, some are writing based.

I absolutely hated the way there is ordinary people slow mo and then there's Kai Kei slow mo. Even in emergencies, she doesn't break away when someone is holding her back. Instead she will stand still and finish whatever line when at the back of your mind you're thinking "Kai Kei, Kai Cho is dying! Hurry for god's sake!". Her interpretation of time is 10 seconds slower than we are and whilst it is not fatal, but 10 seconds is enough for a dying weakened body man to run away from her and into nowhere. And she never stood up to run and find him. Even when our hero is beaten to a pulp, it took her 10 seconds to register any reaction such as like you know, saving him? When she is walking she tends to trip a lot because you know, she is a gentle soul living in the protective coccoon of her father's love that she has never climbed onto planks and into boats without wobbling. She can't even carry anything without wobbling. She can't even fret at a shorter time. Her fretting is 10 seconds. The way she was there to warn anyone of any danger, when she faced some difficulty, she actually walks away when she should be pushing, running, panicking. She is hardly hard pressed for time. That is what I absolutely hate. The Kai Kei Time Factor. By the time she is done fretting, I could have finished half the pack of popcorns.

I absolutely hated the illogical story abot Kai Kei insisting the herbs in her foreclosed Sheung Chun Toong to remain exactly where they are. In the end it was Yat Yuen who moved them to a secure location which Kai Kei should have thought that in the first place.

I absolutely hated Kwan Yeuk's condition for a while. Was she a vegetable? Was she immobile? Was she crazy? Or was she just too traumatised for anything? Which is which?

I absolutely hated the notion chinese medicine can cure everything with 1 dosage, 1 acupuncture exercise, etc.

I absolutely hated the ending. So did Yat Yuen die? When he disappeared before her eyes, I thought she was imagining things and I was like "Oh dear, Ruco dying, YET AGAIN". And then I heard he actually DID disappear before her eyes. So the poison nearly killed him, right? Whilst he got rid of the poison his exertion shortened his already short lifespan because he tried to help the jinx called Kai Kei. So that should mean he should be dying soon. And yet had the energy to disappear, much like how Kobe did to hilarious effect in Line Walker. It was not figuratively; we are talking literally. And in the end Kai Kei climbs a hill in Yunnan and from afar she sees a guy and she smiled widely. Of course that's Yat Yuen although we are not shown Yat Yuen, probably because Ruco wasn't available for filming. It was just a silly end. Eithe he dies (and all pronogsis was telling us the viewers that) or show Kai Kei actually CURING him as promised. Nope. What we got was like perhaps 5 years later, pharmacy reopened, became a success, Kai Kei a successful doctor, likes picking herbs herself and climbs up mountain and sees Yat Yuen. Or maybe she was falling from some cliff and was imagining things and that was her personal heaven where the dead Yat Yuen was waiting for her. I find the latter a better ending than the crap I saw on TV. It does not justify at all that Kai Kei is a great doctor. DaeJanggeum, THIS IS NOT!

The underwater kiss. TVB, there are kisses and there are CPR. Which is which? And it is so funny Kai Kei is saved by the kiss of life and next thing it was Yat Yuen who was sinking to the bottom of the lake and so she had to drag him up for another session of... you guessed it! Kissing.. CPR I mean.

I absolutely hated the inconsistency in the Chong family's hate towards Kai Kei. Sometimes they do, and with such venom that they declare Kai Kei as a jinx (well, me too) and sometimes they don't, and could even emphatise with them. It disrupts the flow of the story for me.

I absolutely hate the following items;

1. Yat Yuen's hat! Get rid of the hat!

2. Kwan Yeuk outer mini top, she is forever in one.

3. Those silly pants of those GROs in Pin Pin's bar. Ugliest pants ever.

4. The short period of time from no remorse to deep remorse by To Sum.

5. But the most important one that I hated the most was Kai Kei's neck scarf, perpetually on her neck save for 3 or 4 occasions. It is like winter is always there, she is perpetually cold. Or maybe she is hiding the stranglings marks of fellow viewers who hated her. I wanted to rip off that scarf from her neck. I wanted to shred it to pieces. I don't get why her costume is so uninspired and worse, is is THAT cold all the time?

Of all my hates, the scarf is my number 1 hate.

THE STUFF I ABSOLUTELY LOVED

The deaths. Fantastic.

Kai Cho was poisoned to death, accelerated by negligence by To Sum. His death scene was so sad, so poignant, t sets the tone for the grief to follow. Everything was perfectly set up.

General Hui was shot point blank on his temple by Ngai Chun. You know Ngai Chun will kill him but how? Using the general's favourite golden gun and without any time to prepare. Blood splurting, perfect set up and perfect execution, pun intended.

To Yung's death was well deserved and was glad he suffered. He was shot in the back by Ngai Chun anyway, so he was probably dying but in his dying moments he punch a hole or something onto the cylinder with the biochem warfare in it and some splurted on his face and it basically acted like acid. Not a good looking death. But I was glad he died.

Ngai Chun's death was as sudden as General Hui, except this time it was Kwan Yeuk who shot him on the temple with her father's golden gun. Great death!

Pin Pin's death was the saddest. Knocked from her bicycle and even slapped by Ngai Chun, she basically succumb to her injuries but she died a very very happy woman.

I absolutely loved Pin Pin for her generosity and Kwan Yeuk for her classiness. These 2 girls defined this series for me.

But I absolutely loved that one scene where Ngai Chun was arrested for act of terrorism so to speak. First he taunted Yat Yuen about Pin Pin's death and so Yat Yuen basically beat the crap out of him. Then he made Kai Chung very angry who ended up punching and beating him. In the space of a few minutes, he taunted the Minister Wong who was always the cool headed one but he got so angry this time he kung fu kicked the table which hit Ngai Chun so hard he flew back. Oh what a satisfying scene!!

THE PERFORMANCES

The Good

Ruco Chan is good in a role that is like sleepwalking for him because he has done the cheeky nice fella so many many many times. Whilst his role is not well defined, his performance is good enough for me. Won't win him the TV King but sure to garner a few female fans and will please many hard core Ruco fans who love his brand of acting where his eyes speak volume. He does make a convincing sick dying man. Since when he was filming this series he was reportedly sick, I guess it wasn't much of a method acting for him. I just feel that since I have seen this performance before, I wasn't thrilled by it as much as I should be.

Pierre Ngo is in the obligatory jerk role and frankly, seen him in such roles before except this time his To Yung doesn't repent. I like his performance and he was effective even if pointless in the grander scheme of things.

Raymond Wong successfully pulls off 2 characters with distinct personality but seperated by just 1 eyeglass. I know which is Kai Cho and which is Kai Chung. I liked him more as Kai Cho. As Kai Chung, you have seen that performance elsewhere, where he is mostly very expressive with his eyes.

Samantha Ko has improved a lot in her acting. She is convincing as the unselfish giving Pin Pin and her death scene is as epic as it is sad.

Poon Chi Man is someone I haven't seen for a long time. He was good as the pressured cowardly mayor who we know is a decent man but isn't always standing to what's right.

Du Yange is not that believable as the much feared To Sum but at the end when he is humbled, I think that's where he is at his best.

Susan Tse was sublime as the intelligent Mrs Chong.

The Great

Jazz Lam is the perfect sidekick in a role only he can give justice to.

Wai Ka Hung is the perfect sidekick in a role he perfectly blends between witty lines, serious moments and sad times.

Bak Yan was amazing as the vile small minded grandma who became a better person in the end.

Elliot Ngok was wonderful as General Hui. I couldn't get his performance at first but as the series got on, I began to appreciate his interpretation of the scary brash General Hui. Love his chemistry with Natalie.

The Bearable

Shirley Yeung is not the best actress but surprisingly she is watchable in here as the naive simplistic "brain not all there" Mrs To. Stil can't stand the way she talks.

The Best

Natalie Tong has my vote as the best female performance in this series. Whilst I may dislike her clothing or her helmet hair, or the fact that she hardly smiles at all, I find her less dramatic than she was sayyyyy in A Fistful Of Stances. She was graceful, elegant, sophisticated, intelligent, not that nice but isn't a bad person and she is absolutely believeable as Kwan Yeuk. I love her earlier scenes where she was pining for Kai Cho, later on I love her tender moments with General Hui. She shares great chemistry with Elliot Ngok and balances well with his brashness and her gracefulness. Natalie has finally come of age as an actress.

Sammy Shum has my vote as the best male performance in this series, and it is of no disrespect to Ruco. Ruco was wonderful but the character was hardly a stretch for him. Sammy is in a role that I have never seen him in before. He has big expressive eyes and he used it to great effect in her. He was whiny and clingy and overall inadequate acting in Line Walker which will win him TVB's Most Improved but frankly if he does win for Line Walker, I will interprete it to include his fine performance in this series. His Ngai Chun is a complex character and he carried the role and around veterans with panache, gung ho and a certain sense of style. As handsome he is to look at, his character was ugly to behold and yet infused with the right amount of romanticism when he is with his goddess and sadism when he is cruel and in the end manic insanity that had almost every male character punching him. He was a revelation and even if he looked young to be the corrupt chief of police, his success was he was believable. Line Walker may gain him his legions of fans but it is in this series where his growth of an actor is reaching a point where I can say, he is almost there as the lead actor kind. I have always said he is one actor where he has the charisma and the looks and the ability to mold his face to any role but the talent is catching up, slowly. Now, it is catching up much faster. He still needs some more "baking" time in the oven called the actor rite of passage but I do believe we are seeing a potentially good actor with star quality in the making. If he has Vincent Wong's acting abilities with Vincent's body and his own looks, that would be deadly and the metamorphosis complete. Right now, not quite yet but on the correct trajectory.

The Worst

Linda Chung. She is by no means a bad actress. She is often better at roles that are opposite of her public image. This role however is sorta like her public image; nice sweet helpful girl. The problem is as highlighted above. The shorter version is she never seem comfortable in this role. The way she delivered her lines is too fact, like she is hurrying to finish the lines so she doesn't need to speak those lines, like she is afraid of them. She is a naturally gentle feminine girl (however much she may like to stress she is a tomboy, etc, don't be fooled) and she didn't need to put on those gentle movements but here it felt timed, calculated and nothing natural. She speaks with a naturaly higher pitch tone, almost lazy and very feminine girl voice but her, she somehow ramped up the girlish tone and coupled with deliberate heavy sighs,it felt like she is always burdened with something. It doesn't help that her character doesn't change much, not in personality, not in clothes. Linda herself did nothing to show that aspect of change. For someone who is well liked in the industry, I somehow hated her Kai Kei. I just felt something is way off with her performance and in the end my conclusion is she is having a bad day in the office. She never felt comfortable in this role; she looked like she'd rather be elsewhere. Not even her favourite costar Ruco can make her feel otherwise. Of course this is just my personal opinion but I thought her best costar was always Steven Ma who is every girl's best costar these days! I lament the fact that Linda is now becoming Myolie; everything she does is poison. Myolie never got out of that, and that is because somehow I feel she lost her enthusiasm for acting. For Linda, maybe it is nerves but she has been in more difficult roles in the past. So maybe Linda has lost her temporary touch. The writing isn't top notch either so that contributes to her failure in this role but at the end of the day, I just feel Linda was the main reason.

VERDICT

Good for an afternoon watch if you have no great expectations. You will be surprised how much you will like the supporting cast and some aspects of this character. Watch it for Ruco but seriously, watch it for Sammy Shum and Natalie Tong who are the stars in this series. I won't say this is a must watch but to those who enjoys such genre, this is a good choice but just don't expect great stuff.

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REAR MIRROR / 載得有情人 [TVB][2014] [R] Funn Lim

2014-09-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Written by Funn Lim

Drama is good for a series which is pretty much flat line in the romance department
SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Released In
2014

No. of Episodes
20

Cast-Character
See here at http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Rear_Mirror

Synopsis
Found here at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_Mirror) which is pretty accurate.

A single father who works as a mini bus driver that struggles to raise his young son with a severe food allergy problem alone, meets a female CEO of a huge corporation who seems to have it all on the outside but has struggles of her own due to her father's illness and family members fighting with each other for the CEO position.

COMMENTS
It is billed as a romantic comedy or a rom-com. It is more like draromedy with less romance, more drama and some comedy.

For a drama, it works. The drama is the entire story of the in fighting and outsiders' fighting for the place of CEO. Comedy is provided by Tony Hung's story which is really the real romance of this series. As for the romance itself, there is none between the 2 leads until the very end and even then it is more like suggested rather than all out romance. It felt like a romance story suitable for senior citizens; rather non happening, not very passionate and it is what it is without embellishment which this series badly needs. The embellishment is in the drama and at times I was wondering what am I watching.

You see, this series succeed in none of these elements.

As a comedy, it wasn't very funny. Sure it has its moments, like the awkward charm of Tony Hung's character who kinda grows on you. I like the fact that he learns to be decisive in his love life and goes for the real love of his life. Natalie Tong works well with Tony Hung and they are believable as lovers who became friends who became soul mates. I was not convinced with Tony as the fidgety guy who is unsure of himself with a domineering but nonetheless a father who meant well. I thought this was a role made for Jason Chan who defines fidgety and unsureness but towards the end Jason will have a hard time convincing me he is self assured and grows into a real man. So in a way Tony Hung does badly at the beginning but does better in the end. Truth be told, I find Tony Hung a far better actor than Jason Chan so all things worked out well. But quite a pity; I may actually like Jason Chan if he was in this character. As for Natalie, at times in other series she OTT in everything but in this series, she was fine. I enjoyed her performance and I do like how decisive her MK Mui is. I feel the romance is in this pair as well although the real pair is Louisa and Wayne.

Louisa and Wayne... it sounds like a pair made in heaven but in the end something is missing. Is it the spark? I feel it is more like the story that is unable to assist the spark. For a rom-com about a driver and his boss, there is no romance at all until at the end. For all the talks about being sublime, understated, etc etc the romance or pairing felt more missing than subdued. I get it; their love is like tea, takes time to brew. But we don't see the brewing, we don't even get to see the tea so how are we supposed to be convinced we sipped tea in the first place? Almost more than half the series is about the drama; first the drama about Wayne, his son and ex girlfriend coming back for the son for dubious reasons. Then we have the drama about Louisa and her brothers and step moms and the fight for CEO. Then we have Tony's father arguing with everyone about a project we often hear about (about some clean water project) but never get to see it in action. You will certainly hear one word a lot; CEO. The way this series goes, it felt like CEO is the single most important, more powerful, most awe inspiring and most dazzling position, E-VER. But do you actually get to see the CEO work? Nope. Implied, some board room maneuvering but not much. It is so funny when the board or employees sit down to talk about projects, the scene cuts to the end where "Ok, so now we know what to do..". Yeap, make life easier, just cut through the real work and go straight to the drama. But I will love to sit in this family's board room. Why? Drama every single time. Step moms snapping at one another, brothers questioning the CEO sister, uncle threatening to cut funds for very very personal reasons. Everything is personal in here. The way the business is run, I am surprised anything is ever agreed and carried out.

But that's not just the problem.

Earlier on we see Louisa as someone no one respects or rather no one even looks at her. She was in the legal department and of no significance to the corporate structure since daddy runs things with uncle. I never had the impression the father loves her very much or even prioritize her at all. And then she became CEO and I thought it is because she was the one least involved in the squabble. But thereafter we see how daddy loves her, enjoys her company, taking trips down memory lanes about her mother, her childhood, etc etc. But I never had the impression the father loved her the most. In fact it was understood she is there on temporary basis; eventually she has to give way to one of her brothers. I find that very insulting. Of course in the end we know the father's real intentions which is really all about challenges to keep his mind alert and he enjoys challenges very much.

When the series seems to be steering towards something interesting; how the driver protects his lady boss, how she deals with problems after problems, the entire thing stopped and switches gear to Wayne and his son's mother and the paternity suit and the entire custody hearing. That came out of nowhere because earlier the mother came back, did DNA test and then said cryptically "You won't win against the biological father" and then she disappeared for a good number of episodes and then came back when the plot requires some drama. And then more drama as the biological father wins the case, kid moves in with bio-daddy and quite as sudden, the kid is returned and the series switches gear to corporate takeover. And as I was beginning to enjoy the corporate takeover, there is a double corporate takeover and we learn the true nature of both the bio-daddy (KK Cheung) and the father (Chung King Fai) which really is very interesting. The entire dilemma would have merited a few episodes except quite as sudden, bio-daddy disappears from screen and father has dementia and we learn uncle was always right. Cut to 3 years later and the main pair meets again, some cryptic lines and the end.

And in retrospect, I realise I only ever truly enjoyed 2 parts of this series; the story of MK Mui which really steals the limelight of romance which this series is supposed to be and how Wayne did the Tokyo Drift thing with Louisa's car at the beginning which is really the drama for me. The suspense is great for watching but after that it kinda made me feel I was watching something incomplete; something that is half baked. The only thing I learn from this series is CEO is everything. Louisa's character even won one of the Top 10 Female CEO in the country. Which is funny. So there's top 10 female CEO and top 10 male CEO. Feels like TVB awards; dividing the pork. I don't even thing the portrayal of CEOs is anything near resembling a CEO in real life. All I can here is CEO this, CEO that, CEO here, CEO there. The court room drama is exactly that; drama. It is badly written, and mainly to facilitate that short moment of difficulty for our hero and his young son. It felt put on; it didn't feel natural. It would have been fun if one of the lawyer characters in The Other Truth guest star as one of the lawyer. Now that would be attention grabbing.

Performances wise, I am torn.

I am a huge fan of Wayne Lai who I feel deserves every single accolade showered on him. He is an actor's actor; a character actor with character. He is also an actor who can portray romance; he tends to be one of the most flirtatious and romantic actor on screen without being overly lewd or depending on so called physical aspect. He can stand 10 feet away from the girl and still show us passion and deep love. Which is why he is so disappointing in this series. For one, his character Sunday is certainly the most super achiever of a character. A former delinquent turned gangster turned reformed learned dude turned mini bus driver turned driver turned photographer turned cafe owner turned cafe franchise owner. His Sunday doesn't give me an impression he is poor; the way HK goes, England is like so cheap for everyone. I thought maybe he is some CEO in disguise or something. Ahhhh that is if this is a Taiwanese rom-drama! It isn't, of course. He felt out of place. He was god-awful in the first few episodes. It felt like he just walked out from Forensic Heroes 3, changed career and became a mini bus driver. I find his performance pretentious and he lacked chemistry with the young boy actor. But as TVB series go, give it 7 episodes or so before we are all brainwashed and so I was; by the 7th episode I got used to his over sophisticated driver character but I never could shake off the feeling Sunday is an impossible character. I was never convinced by him, never felt for him, never cheered or cried for him. That was for Tony Hung's character, not this Sunday.

Louisa So was also god awful in the first few episodes until she got into the rhythm of things. Her Anson never truly touched me. I was never convinced with her niceness. I kinda thought she cared more for her dog than for the kid. I never thought she ever truly loved her vet boyfriend at all. I find her cold, and that is Louisa's fault. She never exuded the warmth that is needed for Anson. I also dislike the way she slurs her speech. It is worse than I remember. Louisa is normally a competent actress but this series did not manage to bring out the best in her and quite frankly, I don't even think she bring out her own best for this series.

Natalie Tong impresses me. I used to dislike her OTT acting, like everything is personal to her even if it is someone else's problem. But in this series she balances well in her performance as MK Mui who is for me the most memorable character in here. Her chemistry with Tony Hung works and she is very enjoyable to watch. She is less sleepy looking, less bored looking and looks more alive in here.

Tony Hung as I have commented above is not suitable for the first half of the series but grows into the character in the 2nd half.

Benjamin Yuen and Stanley Cheung as the half brothers were enjoyable to watch since they don't have much to do except to antagonise Louisa's Anson in the boardroom.

Amy Fan is enjoyable to watch. I feel she is one of the very few whose character is fully fleshed out. She nails the part of Vanessa (Wan-Nai-Sa aka Play with Sand).

Elaine Yiu is typecast as the ungrateful disgruntled ex girlfriend who runs away from a relationship for own selfish reason. That being said, she has grown into a competent actress. I shudder to think of how she was in Safe Guards and my god, she has come a long long way. I wished she has more varied characters though. And she should take care not to slur her words, if not she will end up like Louisa So.

The young actor, not sure what is his name, is a very handsome boy! That's the first thing I noticed. Whilst I didn't like his acting at first, not as good as the ones in Coffee Cat Mama, he grows on me.

Ram Chiang has a role in here, a very important one even if I was thinking his role will be a villain, in love with Anson, etc etc. I was pleasantly surprised that he is personally without much drama and I like that. As always, a wonderful actor, as long as he is not the CEO.

The veterans were the ones who truly shine. From the bickering step moms that is Susan Tse and Mary Hon to the typecast Lau Kong as another angry uncle/demanding father, KK Cheung as the nice guy/bad guy/nice guy/bad guy/nice guy/bad guy character (yeap, series was indecisive as to vilify him or deify him) and Chung King Fai, the ultimate bad guy. In fact Chung King Fai steals the show in the end with the way he was so calculative and turns out to be the biggest villain. Pity is there is no consequence for this character except for dementia which was a blessing in disguise because it heals the rift between the 2 brothers. I would have wished Anson walk away from her father and run away with Sunday to England because what the father did was inexcusable. Unfortunately, this series decides not to go extreme in anything. The dilemma flat lines before it reaches the ultimate drama.

VERDICT
You can see it both ways; 20 episodes of nothing much or 20 episodes of too much. Either way, nothing is adequately portrayed or fleshed out or represented. It felt like it was badly edited or filmed in a rushed way without adequate films to cover all the intended scenes and stories. Great for those days where there's absolutely nothing to watch. I enjoyed it for that reason. But if there is something else on the telly, give this a miss. I wouldn't recommend it even for Wayne Lai.

This series will appeal to those who wants to watch something that is nothing much. Drama is good for a series which is pretty much flat line in the romance department.

P/S
I like the poster. One of the least packed poster in recent memory. However Natalie and Tony shouldn't be in the middle. Looks out of place.

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BLACK HEART WHITE SOUL / 忠奸人 [TVB][2014] [R] Funn Lim

2014-09-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

Written by Funn Lim

He is not the worst actor in this series, and to me this is one of if not Ron Ng's finest ...

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

TITLE DECIPHERED
Chinese title is 忠奸人 which is a pun to the word Middle Person. Except here it is literally "Good Bad Person". Love the title. English title also rather good except at the end of the day no one is ever Black Heart White Soul. Plenty of black hearts, no white souls.

RELEASED IN
2014

NO. OF EPISODES
30

CAST-CHARACTER
Entire cast list here at http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Black_Heart_White_Soul

SUMMARY
Thanks to Wikipedia.

This series will talk about the "grey area" of humans, that there is no absolute "good" or "bad".

MY POSTS
Did some short comments on this series here at http://www.point2e.com/2014/07/o-black-heart-white-soul-tvb2014.html

COMMENTS
At the end of this series I arrived at one conclusion about this series; I liked none of the characters because none of them are likable for some reason. This is not a series where you have cute cuddly characters with cute silly nicknames, except for Funny Sir. But nothing about him is ever Funny. This is not a series about redemption even if at first I thought it probably is about the bad dude in wheelchair playing nice at the end because he is really really really sorry. No one is ever really sorry or remorseful of anything in this series. No one is ever really happy either. This is a series about misery and how everyone is miserable in the end, except for one man but his is a sort of twisted happiness.

You can say this is one of TVB's best series for 2014. It also is one of the best for many many years if looked as a whole. However it is also one of the most confusing and inconsistent series ever. It started well, towards the middle it went insane when the original story was done with, it had to take a new direction without abandoning the original story but it ended with a bang. The deaths were mostly justified although I will say the deaths were spectacularly done. I can't complain about that. The end for those who remain alive is aptly miserable and subdued. The very last scene to me will remain as one of the most major revelation in TVB's TV history and will be one many fans will debate and argue eventhough it is rather clear and non debatable. Or rather you will debate about unseen characters who will be directly affected by that ending we see. There were some happy endings for some minor characters who had a major role to play, or some forgotten ending for some but mostly I do feel this is one series where the ending is pretty clear for all even if it is like I said may be debated for a while.

So what is this story about? A legal drama? A cop drama? A mole drama? Nope. It is a drama about being human and the flaws that defines us.

MATT THE CHARACTER
None defines those than the main character, Matt who is in a wheelchair. Usually when we see a character on TV in a wheelchair, he is one we view with sympathy and in TVB world, usually the nice sweet one. At first that's what we thought Matt is until the first revelation is exposed; his true colours is not as simple as we think he is. Even then as a viewer who is quite emotionally invested in this story, I thought perhaps he can be redeemed. But as the series progresses, I realise the story is not keen on redeeming Matt; it in fact vilifies Matt and exposes him not just as a pretentious bastard, but a pretentious bastard with selfish intentions whose first and foremost interest is his own interest. To Matt, it is always what have I got to gain from all these? First it was money for surgery to his legs. For that he sacrificed an innocent woman's liberty. Then it was for career and for that he sacrificed a really sincere man who wanted to atone for what he did wrong and to be Matt's friend. Then it was for love and for that he sacrificed everybody else, even if most deserved it. At the end it was for forgiveness, which in itself is a giving act but when it comes to Matt, it was not an act of selflessness but an act of utter selfishness and for that he sacrificed his own life, liberty and freedom. A heavy price to pay but he calculated it, he planned it, he thought about every move like a shrewd chess player and in the end he deduced he has more to gain than to lose. Even at the end Matt is a very calculative man, flawed and nothing likable. Can he be pitied? At times I do whenever he is being compared to the bigger villain and is proclaimed to be the worst of the lot. He wasn't. Yes he is manipulative, he uses love and friendship so perhaps that made him the biggest villain of all but he didn't kill. He never directly harmed another to be more precise. I never liked him, at times I try to feel for him and every time I almost succeed, there is another reason to dislike him. But I never hated Matt. It was never enough to hate him. In fact there were times I feel he indirectly helped the people he supposedly hurt.

For example, May his wife. He was the reason she was convicted of a crime she did not commit although he is not the reason she was arrested in the first place. And yet if without Matt, this silly May will still be chasing after bad guys and will eventually end up in prison some way of another. She seems so immature to me at first I felt prison matured her into a better more sensible person. In part it was due to Matt's encouragement, however insincere he may be, whatever he did May changed for the better.

Another example is Ming his own brother. Ming was imprisoned for a crime he did commit but it was entrapment from Matt. Ming was told by May that Matt was the reason, instead of anger, Ming reasoned whatever it may be, Matt helped him appeal his conviction and in a way if he was never greedy he would never have been caught in the first place. After being caught he reasoned he became a better man.

I know it is twisted logic but somehow Matt did the right thing but he did them with the bad intentions.

Another example is the issue of Scarlett, another silly woman and the violent numero uno villain, To Yee Hang. May find it disgusting that Matt manipulated and encouraged Scarlett to kill To Yee Hang when frankly, Scarlett didn't need any encouragement at all. That woman was stupid in the first place. I feel by wanting to kill To this Scarlett is doing the world a huge favour.

Same goes for Matt killing Lau Yim. Everyone blamed Matt for stabbing Lau Yim on the neck when everyone seems to forget Lau Yim was strangling Matt in the first place. It was part self defence part murder but the world is better off without a violent criminal like Lau Yim who killed without reason nor remorse. He even enjoyed killing people, such as throwing the fainted Sap Chai off a building, quite literally. No one remembered that but they all piled on the guilt on Matt for killing Lau Yim, which made absolutely no sense.

Unless of course you're talking about absolute black and white situations. For a series that is all about the grey, towards the end there is an insane need to justify everything in black and white matter. That is why I feel for Matt when he tearfully and frustratingly cried when May betrayed him as May said she did it because he was wrong, but to Matt, whatever he was doing was to protect her and for his own gain and there is no absolute right or wrong but in this cruel world, it is only me, myself and I. Sounds selfish but in that instance, I agree with Matt. This series almost destroyed itself when it needed to be right, wrong, black, white about everything. But the last scene proved otherwise and that is to me an apt ending which is why the English title is sort of on point.

Matt is the driving force of this series but other characters had almost equal billing in terms if interest and impact.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Woahhhhhhh!!! Cooooool!

He will die, eventually since his kidney's done for. He needs dialysis. But he will die a very happy man in prison because he confesses all his crimes, got himself probably decades and will die in prison but he atones his image before May who will be bound by either guilt or pity or love or all to spend the rest of HIS days to visit him in prison. Problem is he didn't really genuinely atone for his sins. He faked his atonement to gain May's pity because what Matt wants, he will manipulate, he will cheat, he will beg, he will pretend, he will confess all crime, he will sacrifice his life to get what he wants. And he wants May's attention and in throwing away everything, he in the end won what he wants and so to me, Matt is the happiest person in this series in the end. Poor May.

ROGER THE ACTOR
I made an observation earlier on on how this series was gonna depict Matt, will there be car chase scene, foot chase scene, etc etc when I kinda realise you know, all these were impossible.

His disability was supposed to be the driving force of Matt's nature but frankly I have never seen such a mobile disabled person which is positive to see but not much impact for the series. Towards the middle, Matt could have been fully able bodied instead of disabled, it made no difference. That doesn't mean Roger was terrible. Quite the contrary, Roger was masterful. Ok, so the legs moved, didn't seem heavy or dead weight enough, he was super agile for a person whose legs can't move, rather OTT in some scenes (especially his evil stare and sneer which reminded me of Tavia Yeung's awful evil look in Beyond The Realm Of Conscious.. sorry... Conscience) BUT his best scenes, all towards the end and in that scene where May confronted him to tell him she had betrayed him and he cried out in frustration.. those scenes showed why Roger is one of the acting kings of TVB. Some other actors may be able to act as well in this role without going overboard but Roger did an amazing job. He was willing to go so low for this character, I applaud him.

ALTERNATE CHOICE
Ruco Chan is my other choice for this role just so to match Ron Ng in age. Roger is arguably and admittedly too old but perhaps maybe Matt and Funny aren't supposed to be matching in age anyway. Frankly I do not know. However I do not know if Ruco could go as low as Roger did, even as a villain Ruco manages to be the desperate hero these days whilst Matt isn't supposed to be pitied or admired. In that sense Roger is to me the only choice for his ability to make the character so despicable.

FUNNY SIR THE CHARACTER
Funny Sir almost had a point to justify his extreme hatred and determination to catch Matt for his crimes. Almost until he went too butt hurt for me. It was almost vengeful, vendetta sort of butt hurt because Matt used him, he almost had Funny killed, etc etc. I get it that Matt is terrible, Funny is angry but the most infuriating thing about Funny is, he thinks he is always right even when he is as ruthless and at times as terrible as Matt. He drove his girlfriend to almost madness and depression, he married someone he love for the reason to get close to her dad to investigate her dad, he had a part in causing her to lie in a vegetative state at the end, he caused his own mother's death, he reasoned Matt was worse than To which was pure stupidity in my opinion (for one Matt never executed his own wife point blank without remorse), he used May to make sure Matt continue to go his criminal ways just so he can catch Matt later. I know he is supposed to be a righteous character but I do get a feeling towards the end he was supposed to be so out of his mind with vengeance he has lost his way until his mom died and in a moment of clarity he became the straight as an arrow cop again. Problem is I still hated Funny because I find him unjustly in his accusations and a hypocrite in justifying his actions. I am not sure am I supposed to hate Funny but like one commenter said some time ago about Ron in Ruse Of Engagement, he always manages to star in a character that "stops the world from spinning" sort.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Blahhhhhh!!!

Doesn't die, not maimed, lives to tell the tale. Skeptical over Matt's supposed atonement but still friends with May. And he will be the richest of them all. Why? To Yee Hang dies without a Will, Scarlet the wife dies, Gillian the daughter in persistent vegetative state and may die and so in the end all passes to the son in law, Funny Sir!

So unfair.

RON NG THE ACTOR
Poor Ron Ng. He somehow could make Funny so annoying or maybe on paper Funny is a funny sort of character, in a bad way. I will say this series is perhaps Ron Ng's best dramatic role, because I see more than bored stoned out look on his face. He could look angry stoned out, sad stoned out, etc etc. In this role he cried, he shouted, he teased, everything in one role. His best moments were the buddy-buddy moment, his worst will be his dramatic moments, but that being said, Ron Ng gave his best in here. He is not the worst actor in this series, and to me this is one of if not Ron Ng's finest eventhough I will say he was better in Triumph In The Skies II BUT Isaac is way classier than Funny. But you gotta give him props for looking admirable even when being called Funny Sir at the most dramatic moments in this series. As for his Funny, I don't know, could it be the Ron Ng curse that every dramatic character he plays always ends up being so "stops the world from spinning"?

MARCO MA THE CHARACTER
Marco Ma is the villain with a heart in here. His downfall is he is not as ruthless and self serving as Matt, not as manipulative and evil as To, not as carefree as a villain as Lau Yim and fell for the wrong woman that is Scarlet. Basically he is this series 2nd most pitiful character. I really do feel for this man.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Nooooooo!!!!!!!

Tried to kill himself after that Scarlet woman was a super bitch to him but he didn't die, had me guessing was he or was he not but in the end confirmed he was indeed crazy due to the impact of the water thing in the car thing in the river thing. And he remains so at the end and for me, 2nd happiest character in this series since he forgot his misery.

LOUIS CHEUNG THE ACTOR
Fast becoming one of my most favourite actor in TVB. I don't know what is it about him. He is not very good looking, he is not very tall, he is not even considered dashing but I can't stop looking at him. He wears those Bosco silly looking costumes and guess what? He wears them so much better! Bosco looks like hobo, Louis looks like a rich guy. His character reminds me of Bosco's in Ultimate Addiction and Louis was more convincing as a rich guy who has a secret. This man has serious acting chops, serious singing chops, serious dancing chops and he has a great speaking voice and very expressive eyes. And he does kissing scenes too without complaining. He made Marco Ma memorable and manages to maintain his dignity and in some ways his humanity, thus making Marco Ma the reluctant villain and the least despicable amongst the men in this series. He is the actor to look out for.

TO YEE HANG THE CHARACTER
There must be some irony that the character is a bald benign looking guy who loves his daughter the most and he turns out to be a rapist, an abuser, a violent wife beater, a murderer who does not gets his hands dirty except in the end, a control freak and a dirty businessman all rolled into one. Villain of the year? Perhaps because he is to me the ultimate villain. There are some inconsistency of course, like how again and again TVB never ever depicts a decent legal aspect in a drama, many of them revolving To Yee Hang but on the dramatic scale, this is one character you will be scared of and wanna smack as well. By the way I don't quite like how rich people are depicted. Surely there must be some nice kind hearted not very control freak rich person out there somewhere? This series tells me all rich successful people are bad people.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Perfect!!!!

Seriously, no TVB drama has ever ended a villain's life as satisfying as this series. First he ran away and off into the streets, turned back to smirk and suddenly WHAM! Got hit by a car and his back hit the stationary lorry when the same car that hit him got knocked at the bumper by a car that couldn't stop in time and so our villain was now knocked a second time and pinned between the car and the lorry. What could have made it ultimate death will be his prolonged death like blood oozing out of his mouth and he tried to move his mouth to speak but couldn't and then slowly die a painful death. But one can't complain too much. I will take this death as it is.

WAISE LEE THE ACTOR
I am however not convinced with the acting, maybe he looks too nice, you know. Maybe that's the point. In retrospect, maybe he wasn't egoistical looking enough, not angry enough, not control freak enough but in a way it was a competent performance by a veteran. Perhaps if he had been too this or too that he would have been a caricature because towards the end To Yee Hang was in the danger zone of being a caricature. Therefore, good performance.

LAU YIM THE CHARACTER
He has got to be the coolest most heartless villain ever, and yet this very same heartless villain put above all else the value of friendship. He was Marco's henchman and friend from prison and even when Marco betrayed him, he lied for Marco. I don't know; this cruel evil man threw Sap Chai down a building simply because he could and he betrays May his lover and also beats up his sister and yet I admired his sense of brotherhood. Strange.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Great but too short!!

Matt struggled with Lau Yim who was strangling Matt when Matt took out a swiss knife and plunge it into his neck. And that is how Lau Yim aka Ah Fo perished. Need more blood.

MATT YEUNG THE ACTOR
Since Matt Yeung is mostly expressionless but cool, this character suited him perfectly. No complaints although at first when the series started he was this super cool gangsta who robbed a designer bag store, I was like what? Poor gangsta issit? Rob a store? Of course that was before the whole story started.

NG SHING YEE THE CHARACTER
Aka Sap Chai. The most pitiful and perhaps the most blameless character even if he was flawed. He got set up from the get go and his ending was so sad and very very dramatic.

HIS ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Off the roof and puns intended!

Seriously, he was knocked unconscious and then Lau Yim carried him and threw him down the roof and we even get to see his body hit the floor. Very very dramatic and shocking, perhaps so shocking everyone watching with me gasped loudly. Now THAT is dramatic!

DAVID TO THE ACTOR
I did not realise this was the young actor playing Anne Heung's dark skinned son in Love Is Beautiful until Kidd reminded me and my god, now I remember. He looks the same. Excellent performance. He does look like a man in desperation, very scared, etc even if at times I feel too much scenes of him acting like a coward. The thing is his Sap Chai never really became brave and I suppose that is why this series rock. Not one character becomes the hero of the day but all of them are flawed.

MAY THE CHARACTER
Started out intriguing, the middle sort of disappear from the story and then came back into the storyline. I feel her story is not standalone; hers is to serve the purpose of Matt's story. Maybe to show that he has a loving side even if we viewers like May at the end finds out and accept the harsh truth; you can't love someone who proclaim to love you the most and yet treat everyone like shit. You can't ignore that. And Matt loves only himself at the end of the day, even if he wanted to sacrifice his own life for May, he did it because he knew he would look good in front of May and not out of the goodness of his heart. Which is realistic. I however ended up disliking May because I feel this series tries too hard to be black and white with characters. May is like a complete canvas where you can see everything, guess everything. The moment she found out Matt was responsible in part for her imprisonment, she broke up with him. When she saw the youtube video, she reconciled. When she was told by Miu Miu Matt seems to be the bad guy in disguise as the good guy, for a moment she hesitated and yet she went on to investigate him. In the end she betrayed him when she knew he did a lot of bad things (which to me isn't that bad to justify the betrayal). However as justice would have it (yes, justice because she needs to suffer too) she will probably bind herself to Matt when she finds out Matt confesses to everything and is dying, thinking he truly repents when he doesn't. What I would have love to see is May being hopelessly devoted to Matt. When she first found out about the prison thing, I would have hoped that she buried it deep inside her, forgive Matt and move on because by that time Matt was the man who in more ways than one encouraged her and changed her for the better. Prison was actually better for her. Then I was hoping it would fester, create a fake lull until she finds out about Ah Fo's death BUT even then she shouldn't have been angry. Ah Fo was violent criminal, she should understand. But it should be Ming's incarceration that should open her eyes and in the end she will come to a natural and sad conclusion the man she loved never was that man at all. Hence the betrayal which would justify the tears, the anger, the disappointment. Come on! You got on with a guy who took money to put an innocent woman into jail, how much worse can he be than that and yet you still got on with him. Surely everything else wasn't as worse. I feel May was badly fleshed out. I didn't feel for her because I feel she knew what she was getting; in fact when she betrayed Matt I thought she was more despicable. After all by that time we knew Matt did everything for her and frankly his crimes are more white collar than murder and stuff.

KRISTAL TIN THE ACTRESS
At first glance, a total and absolute miscast. She is too old for this role and she is not pretty enough because since May is pursued by quite a few, one would assume she is pretty and also because she is so idealistic and into romance with bad boys, one would assume young, maybe mid 20s at most. However her face suits when it comes the "strong on the outside, very weak on the inside". Kristal always gives me an impression she is a very independent strong woman. May shows the same aspect but when things fall apart, she crumbles and falls down hard. That is where again she is back to being a miscast. I am not convinced by her performance. It doesn't help she looks the same and dresses the same like in No Good Either Way except I like her more there and I do here. I also find the character not very well written so Kristal is basically given a weak character to play and she disappears from the screen and from the story, as if she is not the leading character next to Roger and Ron. Not her best work, not even memorable in that sense.

ALTERNATE CHOICE
If Charmaine was younger, I will say Charmaine Sheh. Now, ok you can go "WHAT?!" but I will say Aimee Chan but she is not very believable as someone not very educated but she has this youthful look, before the baby came along. Selena Li can play the bad girl turned desperate girl turned dutiful girlfriend turned angry girlfriend but I can't stand the way she speaks. So... at the end of the day I will say Linda Chung because this can be rather similar to her excellent and best role in A Journey Called Life. However the role can also be adapted to a Mainland China character working and living in HK so that will widen the pool of actresses.

SCARLET THE CHARACTER
One despicable woman. I should have guessed she would be such when she started the affair with Marco. On a scale of selfishness, she matches Matt but the difference is Matt is selfish but tries hard not to hurt his beloved whilst Scarlet is selfish and she has no problem walking over Marco's dead body.

HER ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Bull's eye!

I don't condone domestic violence and I felt pity when she was abused, raped, bullied by To Yee Hang. But when she from victim became the aggressor, and in light of poor Marco, I didn't care. She deserved the beatings. Quite simply because she crawled on all fours back to him. She had a chance to run away with Marco and enjoy riches, live a good life in South America. Imagine; samba in Brazil, tango here, flamenco there but she said she wanted revenge. Revenge my foot! She wanted more money and status and name and fame which only To Yee Hang can give. No pity for her. She asked for it. Her ending as well even if To Yee Hang did it in a cold blooded way, again no pity for her.

LEANNE LI THE ACTRESS
A very prominent role for her, in fact she sometimes have more screen time and more story than Kristal Tin. Was she good? Ok lar. She is not the best actress around. She still speaks haltingly, and breathing heavily. Fans seem to praise her that she has improved. Yeah, she improved but she wasn't great. Competent is the word but she does do the "fidgeting" aspect perfectly. Poor girl though; had to wear ballet slippers the whole time even when in revealing tight gowns that benefits from super high 6 inches monster heels.

One thing I must comment on. Remember all those 2 seconds rape scenes by prominent actresses which became the selling point of the series? And yet here is Leanne, filming a rather graphic scene (by TVB's standard) of her being forced by Waise's character. It was a long scene complete with visuals and sounds and some inter cut scenes with Louise and back to her and the guy on top of her looking very very in distress. And yet not one word on this in English news site, not that I know of. Anyway whatever pity I felt for her kinda eroded in the next few episodes in this series' attempt to vilify almost every character in some ways.

GILLIAN THE CHARACTER
Quite a pitiful character; deceived by her father whom she sees as a saint, betrayed by her husband whom she loves very much, despised by a mother in law she respected, hated by her own stepmother. And she has no friends. She is always alone. She is highly educated, very nice, very kind hearted to the point she can hurt people with her kindness (Sap Chai for example) and elegant in her educated rich girl kinda way. Pampered but not arrogant and never self centred. She is the perfect daughter that one could hardly believe To Yee Hang managed to give birth to. However she is also too much rainbows and ponies in her mind; too idealistic, too trusting and too mollycoddled that she can't face the truth of whatever is the truth. In the end one question is answered; she chose her father. Even when confronted with her father's criminal activities, she chose to run to her father and expose her husband. I think by that time she was already half mad. Blame Funny.

HER ENDING'S DRAMATIC SCALE
Bone crushing!

Poor poor girl. She was accidentally pushed by her father who was struggling against Funny when she fell head first. I thought she broke her neck. Nope, she just never woke up from her coma. No happy ending for her. Blame who? Funny!

LISA THE ACTRESS
Sometimes Jillian, sometimes Julian, sometimes G-lee-en (not as bad as Triumph In The Skies' Zoe), I do not know this actress. At very first glance I knew she had major work done to her face. If you think why Funn should you concentrate on her looks when acting skills should matter, well TV is something you watch, meaning you see. I can't help it; if actresses go to a cheapskate plastic surgeon or did extensive facial work, I am bound to notice it. I can't ignore it. I googled her original face and she did her eyes, her nose and not sure what else. Her makeup doesn't help. Her hair which was long at first is a wig but I question if her short hair is also a wig. She looks like this Mainland Chinese actress, Sun Fei Fei whose face is pretty but is so plastic she could hardly emote anything. Lisa is still young, her work is a lot but not enough to kill the muscle on her face, so yes, there's quite a lot of emoting. But I can't help it; she looks so plain weird, it is just embarrassing to watch. The surgeon did a terrible job. That being said, the pity is this girl has serious acting chops. She can act! True! She can! I mean she was more than competent. But her face, I just can't get over her face. It was scary, like one scene she suddenly appeared to catch Ron going through Waise's stuff. She looked very very scary.

OTHER CHARACTERS & PERFORMANCES
Miu Miu is annoying like hell. But the actress May Chan is good. I know the voice is annoying with the babytalk voice but I do think it was deliberate. But yes I agree, I wanted her to just shut up. Strangely though, Miu Miu is the character with the voice of reason many times over.

Becky Lee is Denise pronounced as Dennis. Poor girl, forever the unwanted unloved one to the hero, in this case Marco Ma. If Marco had married Denise, all would have been perfect. Denise is a loyal friend and lover, she never betrayed Marco and even till the end she would visit Marco. Becky the actress did a very good job. I enjoyed her performance even if she looked very very very sad with too much lip gloss.

Madam Sinn is another interesting character that fades in and out of the story that at times she seems pointless. Kiki Sheung did well as the stern but loving mother. Her scenes with Ron are very good to watch and Ron always does well when with a veteran. As if he suddenly feel "Eh I gotta do better in this scene because it's Kiki Sheung man!!!". That sort.

Can you believe Jason Chan has a role in here? Yeap! As a hot shot young lawyer named Alvis. Seriously, this man is good looking, he speaks good English with an English accent, and when he doesn't talk, when he just stand there and do nothing, say nothing and just smirk, he really looks the part. But then he had to speak. He is TVB's worst siu sang and yet he would have been perfectly cast as Tony Hung's character in Rear Mirror with all the fidgeting and the unsureness in his speech. Pity he is often cast as someone so very confident in himself and yet I feel he doesn't have that.

Not sure who is the actor who plays the bad cop who laid a trap for Sap Chai and his gun. He was thrown into the sea and drowned though I am not sure if it was on Marco's order or the boat people wanted his money and threw him into the sea. Looks the part, plays the part well.

I don't know who is the actor portraying Kwong King Cheong but I will bet his character's name is the most spoken of character apart from Hung Kwok Tung because the series started with these 2 characters. His character is also one of the few surprises in this series; he had nothing to do with Hung Kwok Tung's death or even Sap Chai's death. Funny never seem to declare this gangster as "worse than To Yee Hang" despite the fact that he was head honcho for Marco then Matt then To then Scarlet and then himself. And he has the happiest ending next to Matt; he got away with ALL his crimes because no one seems to be arresting or investigating him. The actor did fantastically well. He really looked like his character.

The actor who portrayed Hung Kwok Tung is the catalyst of this series and yet I do not know his name nor can I comment on his performance since he has so few scenes. But his death was dramatic.

SOME NITPICKING
The PP Vs May case is strange. I mean the arguments were well put forward; Roger did well and presented well and they were all logical. But the downfall for the case which is the fingerprints is also the downfall of the logic. Fingerprints on the bags is easily explained; she works there, she must have touched the bag. Why she kept the bag can also be explained; she panicked. She didn't have criminal record so she is not a seasoned criminal. Her reaction is expected. Why she told no one can also be explained. Ah Fo is her boyfriend, he is a violent man, if she tells he might kill her or maybe she loves him too much to betray him. The fingerprints on the necklace which was given by Hung Kwok Tung to his fiance/wife is harder to explain; but no one can say when Hung showed the necklace to his fiance/wife, May did not touch it in admiration or something. Doubt can be cast. It doesn't make sense at all in that sense.

VERDICT
Very good entertainment, very good series, well written for some characters, very well acted generally and for the first time, a series with a proper end for every character. The ending is one that I really really like. I like how bold it is, how controversial it can be and how in the end the anti hero never became the hero. He remained the anti hero or rather the villain. Now that is bold writing. Sadly the others had to be black or white which is disappointing but illustrates how frustrating for a man like Matt who lives in the real world whilst the rest live in their la la land. This is a series populated by villains, so I am sure you will find one to hate, one to pity and one to like. My bet is hate To Yee Hang, pity Matt at some point and like Marco Ma.

A must watch because even if it just a decent series, it is a very good decent series.

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Ghost Dragon of Cold Mountain / 寒山潛龍 [TVB][2014][R] Funn Lim

2014-08-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

Written by Funn Lim

One thing was absolutely dismal and total fail with this series; the kung fu. It was so terrible, so amateurish, so inadequate, it is not even worth reviewing this aspect.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

RELEASED IN
2014

NO. OF EPISODES
30

CAST-CHARACTERS
Kenneth Ma - Chu Cheung Sing
Pierre Ngo - Ngau Tai Lik
Power Chan - Ma Chuen Kung
Selena Li - To Fa / Yan Mei Leung
Lin Xia Wei - Yeung Mau
Raymond Cho - Hung Sap Kau
Lau Kong - Fung Nam Tin
Ram Tseung - Emperor
Law Lok Lam
Cheung Kwok Keung - 4th Duke/Royal uncle
Mary Hon - Empress Dowager
Candy Chang - Wan Ling
Eric Li - Sheh Pak Nin
Kelvin Leung
Hoffman Cheng
Jonathan Cheung - Jin's prince

SYNOPSIS
The Tin Kei Agency of the Northern Song, an investigation agency specializing in solving strange cases in the kingdom, is headed by the wise Fung Nam Tin (Lau Kong), who leads a group of extremely well-trained constables. His favorite apprentice, Chu Cheung Sing (Kenneth Ma), is wisdom and courage embodied in one, but Nam Tin and Cheung Sing end their partnership when they fail to come to a consensus on how to solve a particular case. Cheung Sing ends up leaving the agency to live a simple and peaceful life with his wife, To Fa (Selena Li).

Ten years later, the aging Nam Tin orders three of his most-skilled apprentices – Ma Chuen Kung (Power Chan), Ngau Tai Lik (Ngo Ka Nin), and Yeung Mau (Lin Xiawei) – to reach out to Cheung Sing and convince him to return. Cheung Sing agrees to work with the agency again, but his personality often clashes with his three partners, causing the four to frequently fight. Meanwhile, Cheung Sing is separated from his wife, but his feelings become conflicted when he ends up meeting a prostitute who looks exactly like her.

Cheung Sing learns that the opposing Jurchen kingdom has placed a mole within the Tin Kei Agency and his good friend, Hung Sap Kau (Raymond Cho) is exploited by the enemy. Cheung Sing does not know whom to trust. The line between friend and foe continues to be blurry. [Jaynestars]

FOR MORE INFO
Some episodic reviews here at http://www.point2e.com/2014/07/o-ghost-dragon-of-cold-mountain-tvb2014.html

COMMENTS
Originally billed as a return to wuxia until the story proper begins and it is nothing about wuxia. It is in fact a modern concept of a series with semi pseudo modern lingo throw in everywhere purportedly in the Song Dynasty which could have been Ming Dynasty for all I care and with characters doing things that I don't suppose anyone will understand. For one, what is this "Tin Gei Agency"? What does it do? Why is it there? Why the people in the town who knows the officers in "Tin Gei Agency" doesn't seem to know them when they're supposedly in disguise whilst looking the same or are they in another town? Is this Infernal Affairs in ancient time? And oh no, not another twin sisters storyline!!

But you know what? I like it. I was charmed by it. It has its good points as well as many many bad points but the effort and sincerity in the performances are good enough reasons to give this series a chance. Just a chance because I am sure you may be tempted to give up after 3 episodes. If you keep going, it takes a good further few more episodes to like this series and by the end of it, if you persevere, it has one of the most complete and to me satisfying ending in a TVB series. It is not Brother's Keeper crap or Ruse Of Engagement sadness; it is hopeful and for some, joyous.

The story itself is confusing. It tries to be too modern with the modern lingo and concept.

For example, Cheung Sing's wife suing for divorce based on Cheung Sing's adultery with her evil twin sister, Yan Mei Leung. Looks good in modern times but in olden times, if she succeeded and in a highly moral society like Song Dynasty, Cheung Sing and Yan Mei Leung would have been drowned. So it made no sense, but it made for a rather romantic moment as Cheung Sing repeatedly and forcefully tells Yan Mei Leung he couldn't care less about her. In fact, he couldn't care less about his unborn child "baking" in Yan Mei Leung's body which to me is nice to watch. It is realistic. This man is not gonna give up on the love of his life over a fetus.

Then there's the medical procedures, etc which made me see this series is pseudo Criminal Minds meets CSI meets FBI meets CIA. "Tin Gei Agency" has more characteristics of FBI (investigating federal crimes) than just a simple investigative bureau. They only investigate cases that falls within national crisis, like deaths of ministers, etc although after a while they investigate basically everything.

The story is nothing amazing, not consistent and you will need to suspend logic and well and everything your mind is telling you, such as this is a silly series. There are times I wonder where is the consistency, at most times I wonder "how on earth???" where the plot needed to proceed and didn't do too well in bridging between 2 scenes to proceed credibly. This is especially so during "Yan Mei Leung disguising as To Fa" scenes. There were too many things Yan Mei Leung seems to know about To Fa to make any of those scenes credible. It was quite simply too convenient.

Some characters had you wondering "are they, aren't they" which at times make for good suspense but at most times just confuses the hell out of me. When there is a spy in "Tin Gei Agency" and we know that much earlier on, we are left wondering who can that be? It was pretty obvious but not quite sure.

At first I suspected Sheh Pak Nin but he turns out to be a loser and nothing else. Disappointing though because this character could have turned out to be either redeemed hero or ultimate loser and he was the latter. I was hoping he would be redeemed when half way through the series Chuen Kung told Cheung Sing that Pak Nin lost his confidence due to the presence of Cheung Sing and I was really hoping Cheung Sing would try to help Pak Nin to find his groove again. Unfortunately the series needed a villain and Pak Nin was it. Poor Eric Li.

Then I suspected Chuen Kung because I like the potential dilemma; his father was framed as a traitor and so potentially he had every reason to turn on the Song Dynasty although it is shown earlier on Chuen Kung was steadfastly loyal to the emperor, his boyhood friend as well as saviour (the emperor saved his life from execution and becoming sort of stateless when his father was declared a traitor). Towards the end I was really hoping his father WAS a traitor or was a mole and so the son will continue his work. But then, that would be a great insult to what a great guy Chuen Kueng was. So in the end I am quite pleased he turned out to be a hero although he also had me guessing who he loved and guess what? His ending is very satisfying as well.

So in the end it was the chief of the agency who became the PM, that was Fung Nam Tin. You probably have guessed he was the one but yet, there is something you can emphatise with this Fung Nam Tin. He probably became a Song citizen longer than he was a Jin citizen. He was placed as a mole since very very young and he worked his way up which shows he was a capable man. He seemed to genuinely care about the emperor but we all know that is a fallacy. But he also seemed to genuinely care about his subordinates, like Cheung Sing whom he treated as his own son, his 2nd chance at life to Tai Lik, his gentle approach to Yeung Mau and his leadership with his agency. Like how Cheung Sing said in the end, Fung Nam Tin treated them with kindness, so was he a bad person? I find Fung Nam Tin very intriguing for the fact that he is a mole, he probably believe in his country's case and he was probably quite conflicted with his dual identity. His sorry ending was in a way bittersweet eventhough frankly he had zero chance at what he was doing. I find that the revelation of his deviousness half baked and rushed.

Then there was the 2 strange characters.

The emperor is one strange man. Many times he showed himself a kind person but useless. It was agreed he wasn't a good candidate to be emperor, and he only got the position because I believe his brother died young. He never wanted the position anyway. Many times this emperor had me wondering was he pretending or was he really that dumb? Let me assure you most of the time he was really that dumb. However his ending was to me the best ending for this series. In fact anyone questioning how will he survive will be answered by Chuen Kung himself. No half done or half baked ending. His ending was complete and the most joyous one for his situation.

The 4th duke/royal uncle is also strange. First he was the villain, trying to take over and supplant the emperor and he became sort of mad with anger when he failed and was imprisoned in a temple for the rest of his life. Even his eunuch was devious and I thought that was the end of his story until of course he will be revealed as the ultimate villain. Well, I was wrong. Fung Nam Tin was the ultimate villain and the 4th duke's story did not end when his bid for the throne ended. In fact the 4th duke's story has a rather strange twist and in the end a good one which redeems his character and just shows in the beginning all his wariness and suspicion over the emperor and Fung Nam Tin was justified.

But for me, I enjoyed this series because of a few interesting reasons. Some you may agree, some may baffle you.

I really do enjoy Kenneth Ma's performance in a limited sort of way. He looks great in this series, however I still dislike how he manages to "wimp" his every character by simply being really bad at showing sadness or crying. I hate how his character became so wimp like towards the end, nothing heroic, and certainly nothing suave. That being said, I also find him effectively funny when he is needed to be funny or cute or humorous. Just don't expect him to be great at the dramatic parts. Not a bad performance in my book and one of his better ones.

Surprisingly I also enjoyed Selena Li's performance. I will even declare this is her breakthrough performance and by her own standard, it is her best ever. And I stress, her own standard because a better actress, or rather a more nuanced actress would have been better than Selena Li. You can see she tried really hard in 3 different personalities and it shows. As To Fa, she was silly, not so bright (but not stupid either) and loud as the supportive wife of Cheung Sing. As Yan Mei Leung, she was dark, brooding, devious and a very very very angry woman. The third character was in the last episode she is the changed Yan Mei Leung who more gentle, refined and a happier person. I can certainly see the differences in all these 3 distinct personalities and I salute her for a job (or jobs) well done. However she seems rather OTT in the first 2 personalities, that to make the difference she has to be so totally and very very different which makes her performance not as great as it should have been. But she has improved a lot, she made the effort, she did her part(s) and kudos to her breakthrough and best performance todate.

I thoroughly enjoyed Raymond Cho's performance. He may be too old for this sort of character but he happens to excel as the goofy guy in this series who provides the comedy and the drama as well. I really enjoyed his chemistry with the male cast and although Candy as Wan Ling was not the best performance ever, they shared this cute chemistry together, mostly because of Raymond Cho. I also love how cute Raymond Cho was with Law Lok Lam. Have you ever imagined Law Lok Lam, the man with such a fierce and serious face with a very serious demeanour and a serious reputation as an actor (although a caring one) could be cute and funny? Yes he was! Check out his many cute moments when he was with Raymond Cho, especially the later scene where his character was facing the emperor waiting for rewards. It was just a little or small gesture but any gesture capable of bringing out the cuteness in this awesome well respected titan of a veteran is much appreciated.

I also enjoyed Pierre Ngo's performance as Tai Lik. He seemed like a ruffian at first and I thought for a while he may be an eunuch (how awesome would that be?!) but in the end he has a heart of gold. His character went through a huge change, for the better and even his complexion got smoother towards the end. Pierre Ngo is a dependable actor when in the right role and in here, he is supporting at best but he manages to stay within the eyesight of viewers and yet does not grab the limelight from others. In short, he is a team player and I enjoyed his performance.

I never liked Lin Xiawei. I never considered her pretty and I never liked the way she talked with that baby voice but luckily, she turned off the baby voice and adopted a serious voice. If her Yeung Mau is a tomboy, she failed. But if her Yeung Mau is strong and steadfast in her duty and person, then yes, she did well. However I never liked Lin Xiawei for reasons I do not know why. I just don't like her and so whilst she was ok as Yeung Mau, for me she didn't stand out nor should she since she is not the leading lady. Yes her face may be the biggest in the poster, bigger than Selena but the truth is she is at best supporting.

The one I absolutely love is Power Chan as Chuen Kung. That man is pure arrogance but I don't think he knows he is arrogant. He knows himself as very smart, the smartest of them all, very capable and very wise and he doesn't seem to know it offends people since he knows he is just that sort of a person and everyone should just accept that. Many times in earlier scenes he always declared himself as the most capable. He is in fact the most capable and should be leading the departments or even as the main top guy or even the PM. However he is not and I will assume he is the most important, respected and with the highest profile of anyone in a lowly position as his. But he is wise and perhaps the best representative of the Song era and none of the modern lingo and jargon we hear. He is the "what if" for me; meaning if the series were properly written in the way Chuen Kung best represent it in terms of his speech and in his seriousness, perhaps this series would have been a classic. Chuen Kung also happens to have perhaps a great unexpected ending and he also has the distinction of uttering my most favourite line in this series (not verbatim);

Your majesty, a person should only be concerned with 3 stages in life; past, present and future. Since whatever happened has happened, why worry about the past? Since whatever is going to happen you can't know, why worry about the present? Since whatever is going to happen has yet to happen, why worry about the future?

That line hit me like a runaway train. Very very wise and a complete gem. Who knew TVB actually had smart writers writing such a classy line eh? By the way Power Chan even got the chance to repeat his famous line from The Confidant (the one about the fiery phoenix) and in this series, he did it in a masculine way. I really do understand why Chuen Kung got all the attentions of the ladies!

But sadly, the writing isn't as classy for the rest of the series. This is such a confusing series. The title suggests a good wuxia series about the wulin world but it is so far removed from that. The English title is deceptive. The dynasty suggests it is about moral, law and justice but this series isn't really that. The content suggests a smart olden day Ruse Of Engagement sort of story; a mole within the organisation with a huge emotional back story but that was never properly realised, never properly told. It was more of a climax rather than the story itself, meaning it meant to shock more than assist in telling a complete story. The characters are fun to watch but in the end dragged down by the modern lingoes, modern concept and nothing resembling the olden days of Song Dynasty or any dynasty for that matter. It never felt Song, never felt ancient. In fact it would have been better to set this in Ming Dynasty to show highly skilled corrupt eunuchs but then there's no story of the barbarians or invaders like the Jins. Hence the necessity of this dynasty. The story is not consistent enough to be compelling but there were some moments where the story is good enough to chase and this was towards the end. The beginning of this series is more on investigations which were rather fun to watch but again bears no resemblance to the route it will eventually take for the ending. Like I said, not consistent but rather enjoyable to watch.

However 2 things were absolutely right with this series.

The costumes are good even if limited. And the scenery is jaw droppingly awesome, all filmed in China and is the redeeming factor of this series, apart from Power Chan. I love the natural surroundings, I can see Hengdian I believe but the temple where 4th Duke was supposedly imprisoned was amazing looking. You have got to see it to believe it. It may not felt like Song or ancient dynasty but these scenery and locations made this series look credibly well budgeted for a series set in ancient times. You can't fault the locations.

One thing was absolutely dismal and total fail with this series; the kung fu. It was so terrible, so amateurish, so inadequate, it is not even worth reviewing this aspect. In fact this series consciously knows how terrible it is that there are very very very few scenes of major kung fu moments and even if there were, they were mostly short. I find it very sad that TVB who were once rather good with all those kung fu in ancient series could be so terrible in this series. Maybe lack of good practice. TVB hasn't made any decent wuxia series in recent years. Maybe it is time to bring out the trampoline and go back to basics.

VERDICT
A good entertaining series that many will find elements to enjoy. I certainly enjoyed it very much, much to my surprise.

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STORM IN A COCOON / 守業者[TVB][2014][R] Funn Lim

2014-04-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

Written by Funn Lim

I can't say to ignore the last 2 episodes and how bad the editing was and how rushed it was as well but the last 2 episodes should not be used to deny the greatness of this series.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

NOTE
This review is a companion piece to the episodic commentary which you can read here.

RELEASED IN
2014

NO. OF EPISODES
32

CAST-CHARACTERS & SYNOPSIS
Please refer to Wikipedia

COMMENTS

I realise the Poon family is very very very forgiving.

Family forgives Ka Sing for killing Hau Yee and everyone is agreeable that Hau Yee would have forgiven him too. And Ka Sing spends the rest of his life helping others in repayment of this "debt".

Family forgives Ka Hin for sorta killing the father. He didn't actually do the actual killing but he did scold and threaten and do all sorts of act short of plunging the knife into the old man's heart and the father had a stroke and became incapacitated. The actual killing is by Cheung Chi Yan but it is fair to say Ka Hin put his already frail father into a very delicate situation. And the entire family forgives Ka Hin. Also he did kick his mother out, chased the workers away and they all forgave him. Chor Gau's death was not his fault and poor Chor Gau was very nice to stress that TWICE before dying. I suppose everybody knew he was used by the dastardly Cheung Chi Yan.

No one questions exactly what did Poon Weng Nin did to Ka Hin's mom. We know he had a wife whom he loved very much, he needed a son to secure his position and so he made his maid pregnant and gave birth to Ka Hin, knowing that the maid was in love and involved with Cheung Chi Yan. And he chased Cheung Chi Yan away. What is not said is he raped the maid. But the maid could have volunteered, because frankly series never mentioned what exactly did he do which resulted in Ka Hin. I mean they had sex, but was it voluntary? Did the wife tell the maid to do it? The fact that she felt so much injustice suggests to me that it was involuntary and perhaps the wife had something to do with it. Poon Weng Nin was quite a bastard and yet no on questioned that. In fact for Ka Yeung those were the older generations' problems, should not be exacted its revenge on the younger generation.

Bing Bing forgave Ka Yeung for using her to get to Cheung Chi Yan. Frankly I don't think she cares for her father one bit, and rightly so even if frankly Cheung Chi Yang could have been a good guy driven mad by his love for his wife (Bing Bing's mom) and his thirst for revenge for the man who took away his wife's purity and mobility. But then Ka Yeung was so loving to Bing Bing that he took all the guilt and left none for her. How can Bing Bing ever hate him for more than 1 episode?

Lai Kuen suddenly forgave Bing Bing and Ka Yeung. Frankly she had nothing to forgive them for since her brother was the one at fault and her mother as chinese said "grew a horn on her forehead" so to speak. But the sudden forgiveness is jarring and inconsistent with how much hate spew from her mouth and very very monotone delivery of lines which is pretty scary. Editing problem. I am sure in the middle there was a story leading to that forgiveness.

AND ALL THESE happened within 9 months of Yin Foon's pregnancy and subsequent birth. So many things happened on 9 months! I bet it was no more than a year from Hau Yee's death to Yin Foon giving birth. The timeline is a bit too fast. And if there is a sequel, WWII will probably drive the Poons to HK.

You know how much I love Steven-Tavia combination and I love their love story too except for Bing Bing leaving Steven for 1 episode. I detested Matt Yeung in Outbound Love who was busy reciting his line without any emotion but in here, his death scene was heartbreaking. Maybe because he has better chemistry with Natalie Tong. His death served a purpose; drama, grief and to show Ka Hin is not a complete monster yet. He did try to save Chor Gau.

But I don't get Natalie Tong's character. I remember in the beginning she was cheating money and then held many gold bracelets or something like that and suddenly the story shifted and giving her a more humane story. I believe somewhere in the middle something was changed. Whatever the change may be, her story is unnecessary and I find her love for Chor Gau unconvincing mainly due to lack of development.

Of all the characters in this series, I really like Poon Weng Cheung and his wife's story. They were the supposed villains but in the end redeemed themselves or as Ka Yeung said of his uncle that he actually had a backbone when the uncle refused to compromise his integrity and his wife actually was quite accurate in all the things she said to Ka Hin before she left. In fact this couple knew more than everybody else except Cheung got one fact wrong; Ka Hin was the son of Poon Weng Nin. But this couple, especially Weng Cheung the dastardly uncle had a very good ending that I feel was a proper way to begin and a proper way to end.

The next character I grew to like and respect is Ka Hin's nosy and not so smart wife, Yin To. Yes she had a bad mouth, she is a poor judge of character but in the end she was the one who questioned Ka Hin when Pik Wan herself failed to do so. Pik Wan asked but Pik Wan never really openly questioned Ka Hin. She loved him too much. And here lies this series greatest moment(s); Ka Hin was loved by Pik Wan and Yin To and yet both women reacted very differently to the challenges regarding Ka Hin. Pik Wan chose to die with Ka Hin whilst Yin To chose to lie and give Ka Hin his life. Very moving moments, and Ka Hin is a lucky man who have been loved so deeply by both women. And I like his ending where he learned to love and appreciate Yin To. Not to say Pik Wan died needlessly but it is funny how Yin To never thought of death whilst Pik Wan chose death as a way out.

Hau Yee is one character that is mentioned from episode 1 to the last episode. Her influence is great on the actions of everyone even if her presence is missing. Hau Yee turns out to be a very very flawed person but as Ka Yeung said, she was only human restricted by the unjust laws of the village. Same goes for Kwok Leung who may be a bastard but was not a murderer. The biggest change was Yin Foon (not through editing or change of story but proper change) whom I thought was gonna be the usual bad mouthing small minded villain but surprise surprise, once she fell in love, she actually matured and it was Lai Kuen who was the bad mouthing small minded villain.

I may dislike the last 2 episodes, from episodes 1 to 30 highlights what TVB can do with some smart storytelling, good location and a set of good actors. There were so many unexpected twists and turns, first with who killed Hau Yee and then what did Cheung Chi Yan wanted. Along the way various problems, mysteries and romantic love. The last 2 episode prevented this from being a classic in terms of storytelling but these 2 uninspired episodes and the uninspired ending does not ruin the entire series at all, just made it out of character.

Needless to say, the performances is for the most part solid.

Steven Ma is not the best actor nor is he the most expressive but he has been through ups and downs and rumours and gossips and has matured as a person and as an actor. Whilst he was hated in his debut as Kangxi in Duke Of Mount Deer, I felt he had potential even if raw. Frankly over the years he is still raw, very raw. But he has a quality that is very very similar with Felix Wong; a certain sense of likability and a sense of heroism that even if he is a villain, he had to be a villain with a purpose that we can all empathise with. He is definitely a viewers' actor, with an ability to be well liked in any role he takes on even if we can't agree on his acting abilities. He isn't Bowie Lam but he is almost Bobby Au Yeung except Steven has to be the hero and nothing else. Even if he was a hero downtrodden and tepped on, we will cheer him on. His performance in here is I can consider his best thus far. His character is very well written with very good lines and does things that is within the usual real life expectations and not just TV sort of life. I like how he breaks the rules to save someone all the time and to him black and white is not a definite black and white. His Ka Yeung is educated, well mannered, understanding and compassionate and yet he is also forceful and knows what he wants and gets it without walking over dead bodies. There is something very honourable about Ka Yeung and he is one of my most favourite heroes on TV, apart from Seung Chi from Safe Guards who is also played by Steven Ma.

Tavia Yeung is someone I kept saying does not look like a heroine or is able to hold up a series on her own. I stand by that. But she is also one actress who is at her best when she is partnered with Steven. In fact she, Fala and Linda Chung all do their best when with Steven. The chemistry is there, you know they like each other as people and yet they're able to show the romantic side despite not being romantically involved in real life. A simple eye contact, a simple hand holding.. I don't know, I wish Tavia or Linda or Fala marries Steven and make us all happy. Tavia's performance in here is at first very very jarring. Someone told me she is the most glamorous looking village girl. It really isn't her looks but rather the amount of lip gloss and make up put on her to make her look "natural". Tavia looks best with less make up. The look normalises when she marries Ka Yeung because she dresses better so there is a consistency. But the lip gloss bothers me a lot. It does nothing to add to her performance, I feel it held her back. Ignore the gloss, the amount of makeup, the nose, everything and what you have is Tavia in one of her best performance. She didn't have to do much really, but there was so much more in so little displayed. She started out talking loudly but that is to show her nature as someone who dares to speak up. Quite annoying at first but as she settled down and speaks normally, I love the tone of her voice, a little bit raspy (probably sore throat) but very gentle. My most favourite scene of her is that scene under the bridge on the boat as Steven held her hand and kissed her hand gently. Her face shows us all how deeply she is in love with that man. I love also the declaration scene of "Yes! I am a widow! Yes I am marrying again!". Very beautifully written with dialogue sure to be remembered for long.

Evergreen Mak was also competent. I see a huge change in his from being nice docile Ka Hin to angry jealous Ka Hin back to wiser nice Ka Hin. The eyes speak volume even if I quite dislike the way he delivers his line when he is near tears. He tends to go up very high pitch which is distracting. However his Ka Hin is interesting to watch. The unloved son. I feel he had every cause to be as angry as he was except maybe it was totally uncalled for to pin his anger and jealousy on Ka Yeung. But his father deserves his comeuppance in the sense for treating Ka Hin unfairly over the years mainly due to his own shame and guilt.

Maggie Siu's role is in the end not much to contribute. I think even the writers' don't know what to do with her so they just killed her off. I never knew how youthful she is until I saw her in this series; lacking make up, years older than Tavia but her every wrinkle and every line (not much by the way) enhances her performance and her beauty. She has hardly aged. Wonderful performance and Pik Wan has such a sad life.

Natalie Tong improved a lot but she is in a role that had me scratching my head as to her purpose. She is less dramatic these days though which is good. And she matches very well with Matt Yeung.

I don't know what is wrong with Matt Yeung. You can't say he is bad and yet you can't say he is good. He was at his worst in Outbound Love but in here, his Chor Gau is likable and a simpleton.

Tracy Ip impresses me with her performance. She is beautiful, she speaks her lines clearly and well even if in a higher pitch and she can act very very well. I thought her performance in here is one of the few I look forward to every night, like what she's gonna say and how she's gonna react. I also like that her story has a nice ending instead of some tragic end and hows her character to be a strong woman who can withstand the bad times.

Akina Hong is one of my most anticipated actress in any performance she gives. She is amazing as an actress in the sense same tone, same look, same face and yet she can play all sorts of characters. In restrospect her Hau Yee is a woman of substance even if she has a lot of skeletons in the closet. She ran the factory, the plantation and as a woman, she had to held back her greedy uncle and the unreasonable villagers. Akina Hong certainly displayed the woman of substance character very very well and although her character died earlier on, fans of Akina will be happy to know she is featured heavily in a lot of flashback scenes.

Katy Kung and Cilla Kung, two Kungs who deliver their lines as different as night and day. Cilla tends to shout and yet in here she holds herself back and for once I felt this girl has the potential and she is very pretty. Katy tends to whisper and with her half closed eyes, she looks like someone ready to hypnotise you, whether to sleep or to full attention is up to your preference. Between the 2, I prefer neither. They're not ready for big time yet. If the likes of Tracy Ip is not ready, they're double not ready yet. But you can see vast improvement in their performances.

Yeung Chiu Hoi (I got the name from Wiki) is someone I do not know, but he looks like a cleanly scholarly handsome young man, akin to Steven when he was younger. Acting wise is raw but definitely not raw enough to make you want to switch off the TV. He looks good in costumes of that era.

Stephen Wong has grown up. In A Fistful Of Stances he was still a kid. In Brother's Keeper he suddenly grew up and in here, he looks like a man. Handsome, dark and these days, in menacing role. There will come a point he will graduate from menacing roles and become one of the leads. Performance wise, not much to comment on.

Stefan Wong has also grown up as an actor. I used to remember he was raw but in this series he actually acted very well. His role is small but pivotal.

Cheung Kwok Keung seems to be the lead actor amongst veterans these days. He has a huge role in Return Of The Silver Tongue and although he appeared half way in this series, his role is huge in its impact on everyone, much like how Hau Yee was in the first half. It was a great performance simply because there is consistency; he walks like an old man and he is an old man in this series. Cheung Chi Yan probably died not knowing if Bing Bing is his child.

I never thought Raymond Cho had such a short role. I thought nahhh he didn't die.. but he did. Shocking eh? One of the many shocks from this series. Competent performance as always from him.

The other veterans are flawless except for Elliot Ngok who to me is a bit jumpy whenever he delivers any line especially those near heart attack sort of lines. I do believe if Chun Pui was here, he would have been cast. Elliot is a good actor but nowhere near Chun Pui.

VERDICT

Exciting plot, unexpected twists and turns, great dialogue, memorable scenes, romantic scenes, war, death, betrayal, sex, this series has everything. Fans of Steven Ma and Tavia Yeung will love this series. I can't say to ignore the last 2 episodes and how bad the editing was and how rushed it was as well but the last 2 episodes should not be used to deny the greatness of this series. But it did deny this series' label as a classic. It could have been perfection and I was disappointed how it ended for many characters in the last 2 episodes but it is near perfect and for many fans, this is indeed good enough.

A must watch.

STORM IN A COCOON / 守業者[TVB][2014][R] Tb1

2014-04-01T23:27:00.000-07:00

Written by Tb1

Steven’s performance and the imperfect, yet highly desirable well-written Ka Yeung character, are enough for me to recommend at least one viewing of this series.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

NOTE
This review is the first in a series of character analyses.

02.04.2014 : Added the first part about Poon Ka Yeung/Steven Ma

RELEASED IN
2014

NO. OF EPISODES
32

CAST-CHARACTERS & SYNOPSIS
Please refer to Wikipedia

REVIEW
Introduction
Let me start off by declaring Storm in a Cocoon took me out of my long break from TVB and revived my interest in its series. It has been at least 12 years since I actually watched a series from start to finish without giving up somewhere in the middle. It takes a lot to sit down and start a 20-plus episode series. I can’t remember the last time a series captured my attention, interest, and thoughts like Storm in A Cocoon did with its thoughtful storytelling, characters, dialogue, scenery, costumes, and musical arrangements. However, as much praise and love I have for this series, like Funn, I can’t place this series in the unforgettable classic category because of the last two episodes. This review is the first in a series of character analyses and will not be done all in one go. With that said, it is fitting to start with the central and protagonist, Poon Ka Yeung, as he was the driver of this drama series.

Character Analysis - All About Poon Ka Yeung
Although broken into two main plots, the series connected so well through the lives and events that befell the members of the Poon family and by extension, the village. Because of this, I feel the story took a backseat and the series was anchored by the characters. The death of Poon Hau Yee set off a storm of mystery, shock, twists, and finally a resolution that made the characters more real and pushed the viewers to think, reflect, and explore their own decisions and conscience. I will not go into detail but if one to explore the decision that Poon Ka Yeung had to make when he discovered the truth about Hau Yee’s death, a sudden realization will become more obvious – that each of us, at certain points in our lives, have faced similar dilemmas and tough decisions. What’s right and wrong? Should there be compassion and forgiveness because after all, nothing can be done now to right the past, but to learn from your mistakes, move on, and improve on becoming a bette! r person? As a viewer, I was pushed to think about my own decisions that often were made swiftly without much thought.

Poon Ka Yeung does not belong in pre-modern Republican era. He is a modern man with ideals representing independence, free thought, compassion, and individualism. Unyielding to societal norms, Ka Yeung questioned the traditions that conflicted with his experience, knowledge, and beliefs he acquired while exposed to the world outside of the village. He is not rigid and stubborn either and in one scene, while discussing the traditional practices of the Poon village with his brother, Poon Ka Hin, he declared that he was not challenging them, but will not accept such ideals either. Ka Yeung is also a very rational man with a strong ability to discern the situation before each decision. The best examples of Ka Yeung’s patience can be found throughout his investigation of his sister, Hau Yee’s, death. Facing devastating revelations about the cause of her death, he remained calm and listened while his partner, Tong Bing Bing, impusively jumped to conclusions and loudly s! colded him and the suspects. If he exists today, it will not be hard to imagine Ka Yeung doing great things for a society that lacks compassion and empathy for those who need help.

While he has many great qualities, he also has flaws as evident in his compassion, which gravely affected not only himself but those around him. He indirectly caused his mentor’s death by choosing to help the reprehensible Kwan Cho Yiu. Although Ka Yeung’s unquestionable and unconditional love for Bing Bing is very honorable, his selfless act in saving her nearly cost him his life. For Ka Yeung and for many of us, compassion can be a double-edged sword. How much can one do for strangers like what Ka Yeung did for many who received his help?

The ending was a disappointment. With his memory loss, the Ka Yeung we all loved was eradicated in not one, but two knocks on the head by flood debris. Outside of adding suspense, I can’t think of a logical reason why this was done to such an endearing character. Why TVB? Perhaps a sequel, remake, or even a modern interpretation was your intention? This sudden turn of events diminished Ka Yeung and all that he represented - a highly desirable, but very real and flawed human in which we can each identify. If TVB wanted to use disappearance and amnesia to wrap things up, then surely another episode or two would’ve helped in explaining what happened to him in the four years that he was gone. At this point, I don’t even begrudge the fact that it wasn’t a conclusive happy ending for our beloved couple. I fear Ka Yeung may have become a byproduct of either careless writing or ruthless budget cutting measures at the hands of TVB and its scriptwriters. Sigh.

Performance analysis - All About Steven Ma as Poon Ka Yeung
What to say about Steven Ma that many of his fans haven’t already expressed? Funn is correct about his onscreen connection with the audience. Ah yes, the likability factor he shares with Felix Wong. Ironically, both he and Felix fell out with TVB , but Felix was more vocal and direct with his criticisms. I’ve always been indifferent to Steven and found him one-dimensional, lacking in depth and versatility. He still slurs his line, and sometimes over exaggerates. When Ka Yeung was defending Bing Bing from accusations of adultery, he was a bit over the top and screaming his lines. However, this series has officially made a fan out of me. In Ka Yeung, Steven brought earnestness, passion, and refinement. Ka Yeung’s youthful and idealistic exterior hides a man of great pain, conflict, and torture from years of witnessing countless horrific deaths as an army medic. Similarly, Steven has nearly two decades of experience in show business and has weathered much critic! isms, gossip, and tragedy, and conflicts. In his Ka Yeung, Steven undeniably gave him the honorable and heroic traits, but for the first time in his career, he actually breathed some darkness to the character. In his quiet solitary flashback moments recalling the atrocities of war, Steven expressed emotions ranging from anger to regret without an utter of word. I’d like to see more of Steven playing more complex characters like Poon Ka Yeung, a role that allowed him to turn in the best acting performance thus far in his career.

Steven has amazing chemistry with Tavia. I wonder how many times they laughed together each time they share intimate scenes in this series. There were so many romantic moments, though subtle and not obvious, lends much greater realism – from handholding, eye contact, hugging, smiles, a small kiss on the hand, and dialogue – a lot of attention was given. As a viewer, you can see the natural body language both Steven and Tavia have in real life through their interviews, which explains the ease that both have when sharing the screen together. One scene, although without a kiss or gratuitous display of affection in sight, accurately depicts the love and realness of a married couple. It was in the kitchen and Bing Bing’s face was covered by hot steam in front of the boiling pot of soup. Ka Yeung made himself comfortable, wrapped his arms around her waist, placed his head on her shoulders, and observed that she had lost weight. Tavia didn’t flinch or was surprised ! at all with the very close contact. Steven didn’t appear apprehensive or awkward either. I can’t say the same for most other actors coupled in other series, except maybe when Steven shares the screen with Fala or Linda. I agree with Funn that they each bring the best acting in the other. And yes, I think we all would be ecstatic to see any of the three “sisters” married to Steven. They all have fondness and love for him.

Steven’s performance and the imperfect, yet highly desirable well-written Ka Yeung character, are enough for me to recommend at least one viewing of this series. Maybe, skip the last two episodes to save you from the subsequent disappointment and questions at the end.

VERDICT
A must watch!

COFFEE CAT MAMA / 貓屎媽媽 [TVB] [2013][R] Funn Lim

2014-01-20T23:55:00.000-08:00

Written by Funn Lim

His (Vincent Wong) performance in this series sealed his fate as TVB's best young actor in my heart.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Released In
2013

No. of Episodes
20

Formerly Known As
Mr & Mrs Bean

A bit on the former title
The cafe in this series is called Mr & Mrs Bean, named after Nancy's deceased husband and herself aka Mr & Mrs Bean. The new title is more about moms and cafes. Whilst both titles are kinda not on point, both titles are also kinda not NOT on point. Point is I like Mr & Mrs Bean more.

Cast-Character
Bosco Wong, Koo Ming Wah, Vincent Wong, Michelle Yim, Mimi Chu, May Chan, Jonathan Cheung, Nancy Wu, Eliza Sam, Miki Yeung, Mimi Lo, Regen Cheung, Du Yan Ge, Ha Ping

Summary
Taken from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Cat_Mama)

The drama revolves around numerous individuals and their relationship to a cafe start-up in Hong Kong.

That's it?! Really?

If you have been reading the synopsis here at http://www.jaynestars.com/features/hot-gossip/synopsis-of-coffee-cat-mama/, may I say the synopsis there is 100% inaccurate.

FURTHER POSTS
By myself in a separate post in main blog when I was watching the series. You can read them all here.

COMMENTS
I had little hope for this series since I didn't really like Bosco for a start. But I love Vincent Wong and the idea of him with May Chan as a couple intrigued me. With a skinny bean pole-ish guy and a heavy woman as girlfriend I was ready for onslaught of fat jokes and what nots but I feel in this area this series dealt with the issue marvelously. From episode 1 until episode 20 minus the last 15 minutes, I was perfectly happy with this series. The last 15 minutes had me scratching my head curiously and then as I sat on my opinion for the next few days, that curiosity grew into frustration which grew into anger. Yes, I am angry. I can't understand why for a supposed comedy had to end with everyone so bloody miserable. I mean misery is sometimes funny but not as presented in this series. And so, rarely do I say so but I shall say it, ignore the last 15 minutes ever happened and I like this series fine enough.

So what is there to like? I do agree with some criticisms that this series didn't really have a major plot. If opening a cafe is a plot, yes there was one but nothing major ever happened to the cafe except being trashed one time. But even after trashing there was no financial problem whatsoever. In other words, there was no disaster. I also agree with the relationships, nothing major happened also. Some summary wrote that Michelle and Nancy who disagreed with one another later ganged up to tear apart the lovebirds, Eliza and Bosco since they both disapproved of Bosco's lowly status and the fact that he was a single father of one. I was waiting for that to happen, and waited and waited and waited and in the end, nothing of that dramatic sort happened. In fact plot wise this series was lacking some huge punch. Basically this series is more of a character driven series and it flows where it wants to take you. Don't expect shouting matches, tearful goodbyes, angry encounters ... it was a rather "well behaved" series which to me is ok because after Brother's Keeper with it plot driven series minus any character growth, I welcome a relaxing funny witty series.

And this series has plenty of that sort; witty funny scenes, thanks mostly to the male cast. The ladies were more like us; being driven along, going with the flow wherever the male characters wanted to take them. And I do like the characters who were decent folks. Again nothing dramatic or sinister.

GRACE BEAN & PAU CHI TAI
Eliza Sum plays a young woman with difficulty in making choices. If you asked her to make a choice out of making a choice or not make a choice, she will falter. She was however not so much falter when choosing to fall for Bosco's Pau Chi Tai. I am not saying this is one great love story. It is similar to her character's situation in Divas In Distress; single father with a young child, etc etc. However, I find her character in Divas In Distress more fleshed out and more bite and the love story more convincing and emotionally more provoking. In Coffee Cat Mama, her love story with Bosco was... uneventful. Only slight objections, very little wooing involved and not much declaration of love. There was however I believe 3 kissing scenes but even those were either accidental or not very romantic kissing scenes.

However I do like both actors.

ELIZA SUM
Eliza is cute. Her cantonese has improved tremendously and I could understand her unless she had to speak more than 5 lines at one go which then she will falter, a little. Her best scene was when she tearfully told Bosco that she was in love with him, not so much as so direct but in not so many words, she did confessed her love. Her eyes was puffy from crying and she looked genuinely upset. I find her a far better actress than most of her naysayers say she is.

BOSCO WONG
As for Bosco, I think this is the first time I have seen his series in full. I genuinely can't remember watching anything else with Bosco in it where I finished all the episodes. Frankly I like him more in such easygoing role. He has a knack for comedy as in reacting well in comedic situation. I thought this series was a joy to watch thanks to Bosco. However one part he faltered, as in he did so badly but that was because the writing was just wrong. Which part you asked? That part where he was so out mentally when he thought he was given CPR by first a man, then an old nun. I thought it was such an idiotic scene; such pettiness and I didn't find it funny at all. Other than that, Bosco was stellar and he had great chemistry with the boy who played his son as well as everyone else.

YAM KA CHING & TOFFEE
The pair I really liked was May Chan and Vincent Wong. Whenever I saw them, I kept thinking of what Wong Cholam said in the ASTRO awards about pairing May Chan and Ruco Chan. I tell you, a good actor will make this pairing work and Vincent Wong is a very good actor. I was first too happy to see absence of any fat jokes. The fact that Fei Fei (May Chan) is fat is of no bearing to the story. It in fact made her cuter and showed that Vincent as Yam Ka Ching fell for her because of her inner beauty. And Fei Fei is seriously TV's nicest girlfriend, ever. Often in this series you will hear Yam Ka Ching say "I have a really really nice girlfriend" and for once, it is very very true. I was hoping for Fei Fei to marry Ka Ching but the moment we are told Ka Ching and Nancy's So Mei were childhood BFFs, I know all was lost. I speculated Fei Fei will leave Ka Ching and bless him with So Mei and I was right, partially. She was even more awesome than what I speculated and Ka Ching wasn't a jerk or a douchebag for being with So Mei. No one was at fault in this triangle love, except maybe So Mei. I wasn't convinced with So Mei being in love with Ka Ching. I thought she felt he was convenient, and that was all. This is really due to poor writing and the suddenness of So Mei being in love with Ka Ching and then conveniently forgot about her much loved dead husband. In fact, halfway through this series, Mr Bean seems to vanished from everyone's memory. Anyway May Chan was delightful. My most favourite moment of her was when she sang and danced to Leslie Cheung's songs, despite being the vice president to Alan Tam's fanclub. It was hilarious. And everything in this series showed May Chan in a very good light; any man will be lucky to have a very very good girlfriend like Fei Fei, aptly named Toffee.

VINCENT WONG
Vincent Wong is the main reason why I watched this series. After his sinister turn in Will Power to which he received his well deserved Most Improved award, I was wondering can he be funny? Well, he proves it; he can be a hunk, he can be evil and he can be house husband material. There is nothing he can't do. I bet he can even be emperor or some wuxia hero or even the dragon Smaug if he wants to. I will say except for some very lazy writing (the ending in particular), Vincent's performance was pitch perfect. I love the way he interpreted his role. Yes, he may be home economics teacher and probably can cook/knit/sew better than any woman out there, he is by no means a coward or a mousy person. He was the first to voice his displeasure at any wrongdoing. He will scold his friend if he thinks his friend is wrong. He will stand up for what's right, unless of course confessing to Nancy's So Mei of his deep love for her. He is to me quite a masculine man in his own way and I can see why Fei Fei loved him so much. I love the way he stands; a slight stoop. Usually Vincent stands quite erect but here, notice his posture. Notice the way he holds his recycle bag and he proves he has chemistry with his cast mate, his glasses AND his bags unlike another actor. I love the fact that the camera zooms into his animated face whenever he is speaking his lines and you see everything; emotions and all, laid bare for us to see. I also love he is no holds bar as an actor. Famous for being slapped dozens of times (twice in different series by different veterans), now I feel he is famous for his natural gestures; how he picked food for May Chan with his chopstick, how he laid his head on her shoulder in appreciated, kissed her forehead and of course in his most romantic scene ever, cradled the fainted Fei Fei (from hunger) and declared "I will never let you go hungry again" which to me is my sort of man. I love the fact that his Yam Ka Ching loves Fei Fei not as a rebound or even feel that Fei Fei is not on par with So Mei but that he genuinely love her and like her as a person, a girlfriend and a friend. He sees nothing wrong with letting her be who she is. However Fei Fei lost out to So Mei simply because So Mei was his childhood crush and you can't compete with a 20 year old secret crush. His very best scene was to me this series best confrontation scene ever; the one where he confronted with So Mei about her knowing he was in love with him for many years and knew this since Form 7. All his pain, disappointment, heartache and sense of betrayal bared for the audience to see. I thought his performance in that scene was just perfect. I felt for his Yam Ka Ching. In case you can't understand why Ka Ching was so hurt or was right to be hurt, perhaps you might want to read my analysis here (see 09.01.2014 post). I also pitied Fei Fei for the inevitable but strangely I never quite begrudge Ka Ching for being with So Mei. His performance in this series sealed his fate as TVB's best young actor in my heart. I feel next year he must be given an award for this performance alone.

MAY CHAN
May Chan is cute, and whilst I have issues with her own perception of herself which is lacking, I feel she has nothing to be ashamed of. She is very talented as an actress and whilst she was raw in Inbound Troubles, she displayed her fine acting skills in an emotionally charged performance in Bounty Lady. Her scene about finding someone to love her was heart wrenching. In here, it is not as emotionally charged but still a sizable role. Upping the cute factor, she made Fei Fei into someone I want to cheer on whatever the obstacles. And I love the fact that her size is not the issue. I find that a positive thing.

NANCY WU
Nancy Wu comes into this series as a fan favourite and she has quite a dedicated fan base who cries that she isn't the first lead in any series. Well for this series she looks too mature to be in Eliza's role. Although she is Mrs Bean, an honour shared with Michelle Yim, halfway through this series she disappeared and made way for Eliza's Grace in this series. I will however say she is shared first lead with Eliza, much like Vincent with Bosco. But if you must be specific, of course Eliza is 1st lead and Nancy is 2nd lead, but a lead nonetheless. Her character So Mei started off very promisingly catty with Michelle Yim, however quarter way she lost her bite. Some more way later, she lost her love for Mr Bean because she stopped thinking about him (that's how I interpret it anyway). Towards the end she just lost everything. I never quite like So Mei, and I particularly disliked her after Yam Ka Ching poured out his heart why he was so hurt by her betrayal. She was very callous with him to say the least and took him for granted. I like however how she tried to redeem herself, etc etc but by then my opinion of her was very low; I felt she wasn't really in love with Ka Ching. I felt she was just missing her BFF. Her character was not very well developed to tell you the truth. Some time a mature stepmom, some time a persistent ruthless boss and in the end like a little spoilt girl. I was confused by her character and in part her portrayal which wasn't consistent. She wasn't bad. In fact Nancy is a competent actress but due to the fluctuations in her character, I find her inconsistent. Also it may be because I like May Chan more and I dislike how Ka Ching didn't end up with Fei Fei although the ending may suggest otherwise. As for her fans crying the injustice of Nancy always the bridesmaid and never the bride, look, she is doing just fine. Again you may be interested in my analysis here which I am reposting for convenience. Don't cry for Nancy, she is really doing quite well.

KOO MING WAH
Koo Ming Wah is So Sick here which is direct opposite of his Divas In Distress character which is So Gay, his breakthrough role. So Sick is a fine character, love his obsession with porn and how he associated everything with porn. However I am baffled why his character has got the most "worst editing" in this series. His scenes were jumpy, some made no sense, continuation was terrible and his reaction to certain scenes seem overblown although I believe that is because previous scenes were left on editing floor. I do love his scenes with Mimi Chu. His speech may be rough but basically So Sick is actually a nice guy. Basically a fantastic actor but brought down by very very bad editing.

MIMI CHU
Mimi Chu's Sam Cha Hau (3 tongued mouth) is such a joy to watch. I love how So Sick is always shouting at her and she is shouting at him, truly like uncouth people except there are families like that and still love one another. Her best moment was her rather passionate kissing scene with Vincent Wong. This time Vincent was not slapped by a veteran but KISSED by a veteran or rather he kissed her. It was the scene where a drunk Yam Ka Ching told Mimi that So Mei was a third party in a relationship and marrying an older guy and as he thought she was So Mei, he was busy fondling her and kissing her on the lips. Such a scene would not have been funny but I love how Mimi reacted as she was busy thinking "My daughter a third party?" and such revelations that she was just too stunned to push him away. You have got to watch this scene and of course Mimi's performance.

MICHELLE YIM
Compared to Mimi, Michelle Yim was too reserved to be that sort of actress to compete with the great Mimi Chu. I find her character pointless really. No development, anything interesting was in the first few episodes and after that it just went downhill. Her performance was also mostly one note.

HA PING
Compared to Michelle Yim, Ha Ping who played the wise but befuddled Sister Lolita was such a fun performance to watch. She has one of the funniest moment in this series; the song hallelujah sung and it was her handphone ringtone and I swear I laughed so hard it hurt. I love how Sister Lolita is in everyone's life and her character added to this series a sense of quirkiness that I love and that I find so refreshing to watch. Anyway I was curious how she looked like when she was younger and so I googled and found the following:-

Wow! She was what we call a babe!

MIKI YEUNG
She plays Sung Chaubo, mother of Bosco's son. No they were never married and she was supposedly very much in love with Fan Fatt before he ran away to Jamaica. Anyway, competent performance as a really irresponsible mother. I love how Tai Chi Pau basically never give her any respect since she lies her way through life and keeps disappointing the son.

MIMI LO
I see Mimi's name in the cast list and for the life of me I can't remember her in this series. I do know who she is (apart from being Power Chan's wife) and then I remember; was she the prostitute Ah Fung?! If yes my god, she looked so different! If she is, or even if she isn't, I find Ah Fung to be rather interesting and pitiful.

REGEN CHEUNG
Took me a while to find the name to the actress who played Eliza's sister. Anyway found her. Competent performance of a very annoying girl. I hated how she snickered when poor Fei Fei begged So Mei to leave Ka Ching. Which means she was competent in her performance.

DU YAN GE
Mr Bean played by Du Yan Ge. Thanks to Kidd for a bit of snippet on this actor whom at first I thought was Elliot Yue/Ngok;

The actor's name is Du Yan Ge (杜燕歌). He was a the head of TVB's mandarin dubbing department. I think he only recently moved to acting. The first time I saw him is in Beauty At War. He was also in Karma Rider as the main villain.According to chinese wiki (http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%9C%E7%87%95%E6%AD%8C), he is Mary Hon's husband. Ahhhh I see!! ... no comment.

JONATHAN CHEUNG
I was very surprised to see Jonathan Cheung Wing Hong in here as someone totally opposite from his star turn as Fan Kan in 3 Kingdoms RPG. I do think from henceforth his surname will be Fan in any series! In here as an obvious pun to his famous character in 3 Kingdoms RPG, he is Fan Fatt (literally committing a crime) or Fatt Wan Gor, neither is a positive name. He looks very cool, hardly smiles since he is a reformed gangster turned barista. I love his performance and his chemistry with Bosco in some of the best moments in this series (such as Fan Kan wiping Tai Chi Pau's lips in a very natural and fluid gesture as if he has been doing that for many years). I hated his ending which is the last 15 minutes of this series but for what it is worth, I love Jonathan Cheung. Loved him in 3 Kingdoms RPG, loved him in Return Of Silver Tongue (as another Mr Fan, this time Fan Kang - rice spoon literally) and loved him in here. He is always a highlight and a boost to any series he is in.

And that is at the end of the day why I really liked Coffee Cat Mama minus the last 15 minutes. At the beginning it all seems so quirky which I thought was so unlike any TVB series I have seen, and it was seriously funny. The lines were witty, the situation was funny, characters were cute, and none were the sort where you hate. However the momentum slowed down when the focus was on Bosco and Eliza. Not that they were terrible, both were cute but somehow the momentum was lost as they were not particularly funny or quirky. Things were much better with Vincent and gang. But worse was with Michelle Yim, whether alone or with anyone else. She was such a bore to watch because she wasn't funny, she wasn't quirky and yet she wasn't nasty enough to have any sort of personality. Her character was confusing and whilst she is not likable, you can't really hate her character. For a series about the sacrifices of a mother or rather the difficulties of being a mother (step mother as well), the focus on this aspect in this series was at best minimal.

Which is why I feel rather confused with this series as it went on towards the obvious happy ending except the last 15 minutes which showed the expected pairings didn't end happily. It would seem to the writer that he might have thought in misery there is comedy. True but when everyone was so happy prior to that and to see 3 years later, bickering couples and what nots, it felt unfinished and sloppy. It feels like whatever I have seen prior to this 15 minutes were just not serious. I find the ending lack consistency and more importantly, integrity to the story. Maybe there really isn't a story to begin with.

Point is I really like this series. But I really hate the last 15 minutes. Much like how much I hated the last episode of Bottled Passion but luckily this series is not as terrible as that last episode. It is however such a miserable ending that I feel whatever laughter I have in me is gone.

VERDICT
Highly recommended. Fans of Bosco, Koo Ming Wah and especially Vincent Wong will definitely love this series. I enjoyed it very much. Except ignore the last 15 minutes.

INTERESTING STUFF

The entire series is about coffee and barista and frankly I can never get the western coffee culture. I am more like Tai Chi Pau at the beginning; more into the ordinary coffee rather than cappuccino and whatnots. I find the whole way of appreciating coffee Coffee Cat Mama style too tiring but that is a personal preference. I like my Malaysian coffee such as kopi, kopi-o, kopi-ping, kopi-o-ping, etc. Well that's not entirely true. I am more into tea and specifically Chinese tea AND iced lemon tea (HK style) or in Malaysia if you call iced lemon tea at coffee shop you will notice it is actually iced LIME tea which is more fragrant except if you're in HK where the 2 best drinks I ever had was iced lemon tea AND coca-cola slurpee.

WILL POWER [TVB] [2013][R] Funn Lim

2013-12-10T01:23:00.000-08:00

Written by Funn Lim

Nowadays, like Will Power, the plot takes over from the characters. There is no proper investment or writing in the characters. It is often a character does A B and C but not much is told why they do. They just do and since A is surprising, B is interesting and C is shocking, in the end we forget about the character.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Released in
2013

Cast-Character
Wayne Lai as Wilson Yu Ying Wai
Moses Chan as Morris Lee Ming Yeung
Fala Chen as Eugene Shum Yut Kan
Christine Ng as Sheila Luk Sze Ying
Jason Chan as Ching Ka Ming
Sire Ma as NaNa Lo Siu Lo
Vincent Wong as Gilbert Sung Ka Yiu
Elliot Yue as Lo Sam Po
Chung King Fai as Shum Yik Wor
Mary Hon as Ching Shuk Hing
Susan Tse as Mrs Song
Power Chan as Sung Ka Cheung
Samantha Ko as Elly Yip Nga-lai

Bits and Pieces and Some Rambling
From my opinion post on this series at http://www.point2e.com/2013/10/o-will-power-2013tvb.html

Plot
Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Power_%28TV_series%29

The two well known laywers YU YING WAI (Wayne Lai) and LEE MING YEUNG (Moses Chan) are against each other in court. Because YING WAI wanted to win a case, it almost cost him his life and after that incident, he had a new view on life. Experienced lawyer LO SAM BO (Elliot Ngok) viewed the changed WAI differently, and recruited him to join his law firm as a probate lawyer. Due to his debt, YEUNG was forced to go back and work at his mentor SUM YIK WOR (King Sir) law firm and collaborates with his daughter and lawyer SUM YUT KAN (Fala Chen). KAN had been in a relationship with the wealthy SUNG KA YIU (Vincent Wong) for many years, but YIU loves merit too much and had no interest in ambitions, which gave YEUNG an opportunity to win KAN's heart. When the hearing for a case involving a will began, the judge happened to be WAI's ex-wife and YEUNG's ex-girlfriend LUK SZE YING (Christine Ng), the two heroes meet again, but together they discovered there was another side to the case. The person involved just happened to be WAI's apprentice CHING KA MING (Jason Chan), whom had a huge connection to the case. The actions of the lawyer lifted a crisis of life and death...

The two lawyers battle for wins but one man goes too far to get what he wants from his biggest client...Yeung's boss.

COMMENTS
For the start of my review of Will Power, let me begin it with an end, which is my recommendation.

It is a highly enjoyable series that many will find they rather like it. I rather liked it a lot. I liked it so much I chased it every night and I find myself laughing along (during appropriate times) and cursing (during even more appropriate times). It is to me one of better series of 2013 which boasts some fine acting from very unexpected people as well as the usual expected people. And if you want my recommendation, I will highly recommend this for a fan of TVB who longs for a better series to watch, chase and root for.

But... and there is always a but... at the end of the day, after finishing this series, I find no compulsion nor any need or any want to return to it. It is for me a 1 time series only. Whilst most who upon knowing Will Power as a legal drama will go "nooooo", which is perfectly reasonable, as a legal drama itself, this series tries hard and at times does present itself as a smart legal drama. However for most of the time it just either falters and dies or never had a decent chance. The only truly impressive legal drama that feels like a legal drama that is from TVB which I really liked was The Other Truth but that in itself had its procedural problem. In Will Power of all the cases which is mostly succession cases (cases involving Wills and Probates and what nots) that is considered legally sound even if procedurally haywire is the trial for the rape of Nana. The arguments, counter arguments, theories, submissions, etc actually covered a wide ground that you will usually find in real legal world and the some of the arguments which led to the release of Gilbert despite being guilty of the act of raping Nana is actually pretty possible in its context. However like in many TVB legal drama, the execution of court room trials are often screwed by the "anyone can call anyone's witness at anytime during the trial presided by the same judge over and over again in all sorts of cases" approach. It is so messy and you will wonder is it that way in HK legal system? There is no proper start or proper end? Any time is submission time? Any time I can just bring in any evidence in any way? At least there was some good moments of possible OBJECTION!! sort of scenes but when the crunch time comes for a good OBJECTION!! moment, it never came. My biggest problem with such legal drama, apart from the pretty messy way it is presented is the fact that each and every lawyer in the trial seems to take everything like a personal insult and in Will Power, they take defeat very badly. And when I say very badly, I meant they slumped down onto their chair in a look of total defeat. If lawyers are that way every single day, therapists will make a killing. And in a curious twist, that "total defeat look" does not extend beyond the court room. Meaning once they walk out of the court room, the entire "total defeat look" goes for a reset and you have the "let's socialise with other lawyers look". Often lawyers are shown having wine in pubs. Here we have them drinking Mafitte (or is it Lafitte but somehow mispronounced as Mafitte or whatever?), a very expensive wine all the time. But at least, less on pub scenes and more on working late in office scenes which is quite realistic. I am also happy there isn't much nicknames but since this is a 100% legal drama, no police best friends etc, I suppose you don't give professional people nicknames. These may be nitty gritty stuff, but it is often the unnoticed nitty gritty stuff that lends credence to the universe you will see in Will Power which is reality based. That is where Will Power fails. For a series about the legal world, it is enjoyable. For a legal drama, it fails.

It so happens that when I was watching Will Power, I was also watching Legal High and Legal High 2. Legal High is a Japanese drama, 11 episodes of straight to the point wonderfulness. It is a legal drama. I am not sure if Japanese court or saiban is that way, but in my world, apart from the over the top lead character that is Kamikado the sleazy lawyer, everything seems pretty normal to me. That series works because whilst Kamikado is that sort that is loud and often times annoying but funny, everybody else that surrounds him functions normally. No one tries to outdo him and so Kamikado is this sort of oddball. Will Power tries to have some sort of an oddball character with Moses' Morris who started out as a comic relief but 3 episodes in lost his sense of humour and sense of fun and became dead serious. Wayne's Wilson which started out as a serious character ended up providing some genuine funny moments and it is often the combination of Wilson and Morris that provides the genuine laughs rather than each alone or rather Morris alone. With each character having the lead, none really stood out for that matter. Will Power towards the middle lost a lot of steam because no one was effectively leading the series. Neither Morris nor Wilson is interesting enough to dominate. Maybe for costars this is good but for us viewers who look forward to some great moments, what we have are moments dominated by very good acting but not very memorable scenes. I kept comparing Will Power with Legal High because I find Legal High much better character wise despite being much shorter. There is also a very good reason for such a comparison.

Have you noticed these days TVB series is not concerned with growth of a character? It is almost always plot driven. In the past for the golden years, there was balance between plot and character. Plot thickens and the character grows, whether good or bad. Surprises are plot devices but not the main purpose. Nowadays, like Will Power, the plot takes over from the characters. There is no proper investment or writing in the characters. It is often a character does A B and C but not much is told why they do. They just do and since A is surprising, B is interesting and C is shocking, in the end we forget about the character. This is the case with Brother's Keeper, a series more interested in piling the shocks and dramas rather than letting the characters grow on us and actually have an actual story to tell. Which is why TVB has no consistency. Same can be said of Will Power, except it is not as bad as Brother's Keeper.

One character I feel immediately interested in is Gilbert and his brother Ka Cheung and the impact of the mysterious third part of the Will as well as what Ming got to do with it. I thought perhaps since this is a series about Wills and probate, maybe Gilbert will be the human factor, the growth factor that as a character will in the end be the purpose of this series. Often times Lo Sam Po often says his duty as a probate lawyer is to carry out the wishes of his dead clients. And in this intriguing case of the super rich Sungs, I thought Gilbert and Ka Cheung will be given room to grow into purposeful characters that epitomises the idea of carrying out the wishes of the dead clients. Alas, lo and behold, TVB in all its glory in setting up this series decided to go for the plot driven angle rather than character driven angle. Gilbert and Ka Cheung in the end are nothing but one of those shock tactics used. Gilbert from being bad to the core remains bad to the core to his death whilst Ka Cheung from dependent becomes as dependent towards the end. No brotherly unity, no brotherly love and the meaning of the Will by Mr Sung got lost about 80% into the series and when revealed, was nothing anyone will feel bothered about because by then, it really doesn't matter. In fact by then I was confused if the Will is valid, not valid, partially valid or what? The trials really confused me and I didn't quite care.

Another character that could have some good growth is the strong Mrs Sung and she did have growth, as in became a better person but that was last episode and for the last 30 minutes or so. Prior to that, she had the potential of a great villain or a possible story of a great redemption of the wrongs she did to Gilbert by doting in him too much. The idea about DNAs and all that were thrown around to create some suspense but I felt so cheated when we find out Gilbert is not Mr Sung's son. How easy isn't it? What a plot spoiler. I just didn't expect Gilbert to die or the way he died. Poor Mrs Sung.

As for Ming, he was quite a funny character at first but again there was no growth. He remained as he was as before and I find it disappointing plot wise that I feel he is rather underused. And I wasn't surprised he was charged with a crime since it is very convenient and plot wise exciting but for someone who has watched the same thing again and again from TVB, it is boring and predictable.

The 2 leads are interesting with good chemistry but the tagline of best lawyers in town seems excessive. Morris and Wilson don't seem to be best lawyers in town to me because they don't look nor behave like one. I thought wouldn't it be funnier if they were the average joes but got caught up in major cases with major clients in major law firms? There arises the situation comedy as these 2 average joes, not that bad but not that great wrestles with their conscience and some incompetence to become better advocates?

Anyway, surprisingly there are 2 characters that stood out in terms of change and growth, one subtly, the other more obviously. The father-daughter duo of the Shums.

Eugene Shum is a strange name for a girl. Anyway she started out as someone who goes to court to someone who hangs around the office. The growth I meant though is her gradual dislike of her own father but in the end daughterly love wins over her disgust over her father's conduct. I like the fact that she did nothing to stop him nor did she do anything to help him. She just stood aside and became the moral observer. I also like the fact that whatever Morris did, he did it for her and for his mentor but he simply refused to trade his soul to the devil fully.

Shum Yik Wor is perhaps the best character in this series, growth wise. I will like to emphasise that his actions as a lawyer are the actions of real life lawyers except minus the devious evidence planting devils. The methodical way in which he cross examines the witnesses are truly one of the more realistic moments in this series. In fact when Eugene said her father had to do so much to counter Wilson's argument in court, I laughed. So much? Dear, your father trampled all over Wilson! I thought the old man did so well! The progression and true nature of his character becomes clearer as the series reaches the end and his ending, whilst pitiful is deserving. This is the only truly ONE character in this series that shows the potential of this series. And shockingly he is acted by a veteran I never really liked.

One character is however a total write off and that is Sheila the judge and ex wife of Wilson. Talk about one note, one sided, one dimension, no personality, cardboard personality, tree trunk, etc and you got the basic description of Sheila. It is not like she has nothing to do. She is a judge in 9 out of 10 cases in this series, be it criminal, probate, civil, everything. HK has very small legal world. My problem with this character is how unnecessary she is. Just because she is acted by Christine Ng, every attempt to maximise her screen time is made and she is inserted into every case there is and not to mention how unrealistic that is, it is also incredibly boring. I don't see why can't just take out Sheila's character and let Wilson have an unseen ex wife. Wouldn't it be fun to have guest actors as judges? Like spot and name them sort of moments. Her ending was also ridiculously stupid. She quit her job as a judge due to some unnecessary principle which I thought is the nail to the coffin so to speak. Sheila just nailed herself into her own coffin with that stupid ending. Of course the even worse end is Eugene ending up as possibly the youngest High Court judge, ever.

Story wise, Will Power has the potential. But the lack of room for characters to grow makes Will Power into a wasted potential. It just isn't sure if it is a comedy or drama but I will say it is more drama than comedy. The issues dealt with are very very serious stuff.

PERFORMANCES EVALUATED
Performance wise, Will Power shows its strength as a series. So story wise it is predictable, character wise nothing much changes but this is one series populated by veterans who gives surprising performance. And let me declare, I shall comment on them all. Notice the English names. You can't be a professional without an English/Christian name.

Wayne Lai as Wilson Yu Ying Wai
Wayne is a fantastic actor but he is not a convincing first class lawyer. He is however a convincing actor working as a lawyer. The greatness of Wayne is in his subtlety. I thought the compassion in his eyes when Power's Ka Cheung cried and urinated in court was so convincing, and I screamed GIVE HIM THE BEST ACTOR AWARD!! He may not be the most convincing lawyer, but he is a convincing actor.

Moses Chan as Morris Lee Ming Yeung
This is one of Moses' better roles todate and funnily, his expression hardly changed from serious to serious. This is one actor who can survive an entire series with one single expression. His acting is not great. He is also not a convincing first class lawyer but earlier, he is convincing with his comic timing, especially those scenes where Morris was harassed by debtors. But apart from that his acting is pretty usual with the frozen look. I enjoyed his performance but this series shows next to Wayne Lai who is capable of so much more, Moses is rather restricted. However he has great chemistry with Wayne Lai and his performance is enjoyable because he is one part of a dynamic duo. The only problem with Moses in this series is towards the end his character disappears from screen a lot, as if Wayne is the 1st lead and he is 2nd which is most likely the case. Wayne seems at times to be the main actor carrying this series.

Fala Chen as Eugene Shum Yut Kan
This is by far a much better role for Fala than that insipid Triumph In The Skies II's Holiday. Her Eugene may be fresh and green as a lawyer, but she has a conscience. Whilst she is bound by her love and respect for her father, she never quite helped her father at all as well. I like her Eugene. I also like the nitty gritty stuff like how earlier she would run after Gilbert carrying his sunglasses or cleaning after him, like how she is mothering him and he is taking her for granted. She is more relaxed with Moses than with Francis Ng and it shows. She may not be a great actress but given a good role, she is competent enough to be memorable in it. And I like her style in this series. My only objection is Eugene started out strong but towards the end faded into the background.

Christine Ng as Sheila Luk Sze Ying
The worst character and one of her worst performance.

Jason Chan as Ching Ka Ming
2nd worst character and the worst performance in this series. I read how Jason Chan will win Most Improved Actor and I just choked on my KFC. How ridiculous is that to give Most Improved to someone who has deproved or rather never improved? The only improvement is in wardrobe perhaps? He was unconvincing with his briefcase, he was unconvincing with his co stars, he didn't look like he bothered much when his Nana got raped and even as a defendant, he can't even do the dejected look convincingly. He just looked totally and absolutely lost all the time and that is his best acting look. His best moment was the writing demand letters for Nana and replying to himself, etc. That was a situation comedy and it was funny but then anyone in it will be funny. Off camera, Jason Chan is a charming sort of guy. I kinda like him. But in front of the camera, I hate him. He is to me the male version of Miss HKs who can't act and is thrown in front as lead and with fake positive news to convince us he is the next big thing. Right now he is my next big headache. He has successfully made Ming into a non entity and that is a tall order since Ming is the younger character's lead character. Is it the way he talks? Yes. He needs speech therapy. I am not convinced by everything he said. "I killed a guy?" Really? "I love you" Really "I just pooped in my pants" Really. In retrospect his best role was No Good Either Way and that is because he was playing a sleaze ball that no one is convinced about. But other than that, everything else is just a matter of how bad it was. Like all Miss HKs, I hope he improves. Takes years but if Gallen Lo can improve from a log of wood to a very good actor so can he. Meanwhile he and Selena Li should marry and have fluffy babies. They're so alike.

Sire Ma as NaNa Lo Siu Lo
Ahhhh scandal scandal poor poor Sire. She is a competent actress but Nana is such an annoying character who went through some terrible moments. I hate how there is no follow up to her Nana. After the rape case, her Nana is discarded, no more surprises, no more story, just there.

Vincent Wong as Gilbert Sung Ka Yiu
My candidate for Most Improved Actor for 2013, Vincent Wong proves yet again he can endure dozens of slaps by a veteran and he can almost outshine half of them. He is a good actor, learning his way around giving credible convincing performance. I had high hopes for his Gilbert but was more let down by the writing than his performance. I can't fault his performance.

Elliot Yue as Lo Sam Po
He is the unexpected comedic element in this series in the beginning. I find his Lo Sam Po rather mysterious at first, who appears when someone died, etc. He is the honourable character as opposed to Shum Yik Wo and each has different approach to their conduct as lawyers. Elliot Yue was fun to watch and whilst he is not Paul Chun Pui, he proves that veterans can still be a highlight in a series populated by younger actors. In fact he is one actor you won't overlook in this series.

Chung King Fai as Shum Yik Wor
This is another actor you will not overlook in this series. In fact towards the end he has so much screen time, so much more than Moses that I can't help but feel he is sharing the leading actor's duty with Wayne! I never like King Sir as an actor. I dislike his expressionless monotone voice and yet here, there were raw emotions. His scenes with Fala playing his daughter, there were genuine delights and affections, his ruthlesness in court and how he conducts his cases, his sparring with everybody else, the way he was manipulating Moses' Morris. This is perhaps his best work. His Shum Yik Wor is complex as a man, selfish as a boss, loving as a father and scheming as a lawyer. Most of all he is manipulative even to his clients. He is the villain in here and yet I can't hate him much. He schemes but within the legal ambit (except for the incredible lapse of judgment when Gilbert died- that was more out of ego and what he could do). His character is perhaps the best written and Chung King Fai did not disappoint. I find that rather shocking.

Mary Hon as Ching Shuk Hing
Standard performance and I dislike how she did not stand up for herself when she was slapped. After all she stopped being the mistress like more than 2 decades ago. I wonder though why Mary never gets the role that Susan Tse gets?

Susan Tse as Mrs Song
A disappointingly developed character but wonderfully acted by Susan Tse. Her dozens of slaps on Vincent Wong is fantastic but it was that raw emotion, that calmness before the storm, the unleashing of the slaps and her cries and tears of frustration that was as scary as it was moving. You will feel for this woman.

Power Chan as Sung Ka Cheung
So disappointing. I don't mean his performance. Power Chan delivers, most of the time. I am talking about his character who never really had much to do and in the end is more or less the same. But within the ambit of what he is given, Power Chan shines with his wonderful portrayal of a likeable and innocent Sung Ka Cheung. His best was the court room scene and well matched by Wayne Lai and oh, I hated that Shum Yik Wor at that moment more than anyone! Pity though that this character was not given room to grow.

Samantha Ko as Elly Yip Nga-lai
Samantha Ko is fast becoming one of my most favourite actresses in TVB. She has improved so much since The Last Steep Ascent. She stepped up her game in Friendly Fire in one of those rare portrayals of rape victims who refuses to be a victim and she was simply delightful in Bounty Lady. This girl is not the best looker or the slimmest or the best actress there is but she is charming. Like Eliza Shum, she is cute. Unlike Eliza Shum, I notice she has less coverage which is good for her. In here her Elly doesn't have much to do but well, what more can I say? I am writing this in light of Bounty Lady so it is a bit biased but seriously though, I am looking forward to Samantha Ko's next performance.

A SUMMARY
Best case
Nana's rape trial. Convincing, somewhat.

Worst case
The intimidation and the very unspectacular fall of the gangster as well. I watched in total disbelief why no arrest was ever made to the intimidation to Sheila. That case was to me the pimple of this series. Except it started with a good premise about the gangster's right to the symbol of power within the triad. I mean that is interesting and Legal High would have made a great fun case out of it. TVB chose to make it into Wilson rescuing Sheila. Bo-ring.

Best performance
Veteran
Chung King Fai. Give that man an award.

Lead actor
Wayne Lai. Nominate that man for an award.

Supporting actor
Power Chan.

Young actor
Vincent Wong. Give him some award.

Worst performance
Jason Chan. Banish him to Never-Act-Again-Land!

Best Scene
The slaps by Susan Tse on Vincent Wong perhaps. The ending scene of Shum Yik Wor telling I believe Morris to take care of Eugene if I remember correctly. But to me if was that moment, that short moment of Ka Cheung crying and scared in the court room and Wilson looking at him with such.. compassion. Not pity but compassion. That is why Wayne Lai is acting God. Since TVB is Hindu style when it comes to Gods, Wayne is one of the acting Gods.

Worst Scene
Sheila saying she quits her job and then Eugene becoming a judge. Yeah, not some Ming scene. Worst actor but not quite worst scene.

VERDICT
A legal drama not from TVB universe? Legal High is better. But within TVB universe, Will Power is one of the better series of 2013.

KARMA RIDER [TVB][2013][R] Kidd

2013-09-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful little small production that has good meaning, good acting and good story, and memorable songs.

Written by Kidd

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Chinese title
師父•明白了

Released in
2013

Producer
Chan Yiu Chuen

Genre
Comedy, Drama, Suspense

Episodes
20

Rating
4/5

Cast

Raymond Wong as Chor Yat Jeen

Priscilla Wong as Foon Hei

Evergreen Mak as Wan Tin Bong

Rachel Kan as Hoi Chun Fah

Helena La as Foon Shu

Kaki Leung as Foon Jing

Mikako Leung - Foon Tim

Cilla Kung as Foon Siu

Wai Kar Hung - Bak Yat Yat

Owen Cheung - Bak Hok Yi

Amy Fan as Mok Sau Si

Matt Yeung as Cheng Ying Hung

Witney Hui - Wan Yau

Cheung Kwok Keung as Lok Mou Ngai

Cheung Wing Hong - Kong Tai Ping

Du Yan Ge - Wun Tin Sang

Plot

Set in an unnamed ancient settings, an orphan who was born without hair was taken in by a Buddhist master after he was cured by said master of injury, but strangely, this master refused to accept him as his student. This orphan grew up to be a dedicated police officer named Chor Ya Jeen. He was transferred to the police station in Ma Heung Town and in the town, he met a lot of o people who have fate with him such as the thief Foon Hei, the rich girl Wu Dip and a man who can see glimpses of the future named Wan Ting Bong. He also has to solve a murder mystery and learn life lessons about fate, karma, true love and most importantly, what action you choose to take can change your supposedly pre-determined future.

Review

Story/Structure/Presentation

The setting that the producer chose to use is interesting. The setting of this series does not belong to any one period in history. It's a mix and match of many eras, creating a fusion ancient period. The characters dress in ancient costume, but, they have some modern looking clothing accessories. The furniture and houses are ancient in style, but, the table arrangements of the police station looks like those in the 90s series, and I think the '9 Lau Stronghold/stockade' is based on the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. The producer said that he did this on purpose to create a comic book feel. In this respect, I think Devil's Disciple is more successful. Devil's Disciple did feel like a comic book to me, but, Karma Rider did not. Nonetheless, I like this setting. This fusion setting gives a fairy tale like feel to the series. It is like the series is set in a mythical universe.

On the story, I think that the scriptwriter/producer already has the story well thought out before starting on the actual writing of the script. The relationships and link of events all tied up together well. There is no incident or event that is unnecessary or a plot that appear at the beginning and forgotten at the end. All the events and characters are related in some way, which really brings out the theme of fate. The only slip in the plot is the lousy math, which is a common blunder in many TVB series. The age of the characters do not add up. Another aspect that I feel the series could have done better is the solution of the main case. I feel that the solution of the main case is a bit rush. The scriptwriter chose to pop the solution on the viewers first and use flashback to retell the process. This limit them in showing some potentially touching scenes involving grandma Foon Shu's 4 missing children. Two of the siblings were together under a well for quite some time, but, there's hardly any interaction scene shown. The scene of one daughter finally forgiving her mother was less than a minute long.

Those who think 'Triumph In The Skies 2' has too many subplots and too much focus on unnecessary sub relationships that veer away from the main plot would like this series. The focus of the series has always been on the growing relationship of Chor Yat Jeen and Foon Hei. The love built up slowly and does not feel rushed or sudden. The sub relationships have some crucial scenes to shown the milestone in the relationship and give viewers an idea of the depth of the relationship, but they were never the focus. In fact, I wish they have more scenes of one sub relationship. I love the couple!

How is this series related to "Butterfly Lovers"?

Here's a few elements that will keep reminding audience about "Butterfly Lovers"

- Foon Hei believe very much in the story of "Butterfly Lovers" and "Butterfly Lovers" is her favourite opera.

- Butterflies appear often in the series and played some real crucial roles.

- A girl disguise as a boy, making the boy she likes think she's a boy.

- Joining together after death. (I wonder if anyone sent complaint letter to the Broadcasting Authority saying this plot gives the wrong message to young people).

Music

The songs used in this series are as followed:

Themesong : Understood (明白了) - Hubert Hu (胡鴻鈞)

Sub themesong : Butterfly Transformation (化蝶) - Hubert Hu (胡鴻鈞)

Sub themesong: Lucky Child (幸運兒) - Fiona Fung (馮曦妤)

Honestly, I don't remember how the themesong sounds at all. But, the 2 subthemes are still playing in my head as I write this review. They are very well chosen for the series.

Initially, I felt that Butterfly Transformation was too modern for an ancient period series. But, the more I listen to it, the more I like it and feel that it successfully brings out the theme "Butterfly Lovers". As for Lucky Child, I like it the first time I heard it. It is very apt to for the relationship between Foon Siu and Bak Hok Yi.

Note: Just listened to the themesong Understood. The melody is actually quite beautiful and the lyrics very meaning. I wonder why it just failed to stick in my memory.

Acting/Character

The acting here range from average to excellent. None of the actors are bad enough to ruin the series, which is a good thing.

Raymond Wong as Chor Yat Jeen

Raymond Wong played a guy who was born without hair to signify that he was someone with an untroubled mind. Raymond did not wow me in his performance, but, he was not bad either. I guess this is one of his middle of the road performance. He played his part competently but not impressive. I think he was wrongly cast for this role. While watching the series, I always have the feeling that this role should be played by a younger guy, at least looking about the same age as Matt Yeung and should look a lot younger than Evergreen Mak. I get the significance of the bald head, but, I don't get why this character has it. He didn't seem any less trouble free than other characters. He has his worries and attachment. When he finally grew hair, it was because he can't decide who he loves. What does not mean? Love is the most troublesome thing to the mind?

Priscilla Wong as Foon Hei

I think Priscilla Wong's acting was very natural for a newbie. Some people said she was acting too cute and dumb. But, I think this was just how the character was written. Foon Hei is a girl who still believes in the legend of 'Butterfly Lovers', who believe in good things. She is not stupid. She has some quick wit, but, she thinks very simply. She went through quite a lot of hardship as a child and I think she's very grateful for what she has now. Priscilla was able to show all these qualities. I think Foon Hei has a more trouble free mind than Chor Yat Jeen. But I guess we can't have a girl being the bald one. Priscilla will have to shave her head. I like that Priscilla's acting is still fresh and not yet tainted by years of experience that sometimes will make an actress become formulaic in her acting. I hope she will continue to grow as a dynamic actress.

It's interesting how both Chor Yat Jeen and Foon Hei are both so into butterflies. Maybe they really are the reincarnation of the butterfly lovers.

Evergreen Mak as Wan Tin Bong

I don't have much to say about Evergreen's acting other than it's very good. He gave a very good performance as the clairvoyant Wan Tin Bong. Initially, I thought he play a highly cultivated spiritual practitioner. But, it turns he's not. He's just someone who got chosen by heaven to have this ability or he somehow was able to tune in to the right channel to access the info. He reminds me of Moses, the reluctant messenger/prophet chosen by God to do His bidding. Wan Tin Bong didn't want to see those flashes of future too, but, they kept coming to him and every time they came, Wan Ti Bong would ask his teacher (the sky) what It wanted him to do.

Helena Law as Foon Shu

Helena Law is another veteran who gave a great performance as a mother who misses her children. Foon Shu is a very kind lady and seeing how much her foster children love her, she must be a loving parental figure. But, she did fail as a mother when it came to her 4 biological children. She made a bad decision in leaving her 2 girls alone in the temple and she gave a wrong message to her son regarding right and wrong. Many parents actually made this mistake too. When a child does some minor bad things, parents just let it pass instead of correcting them. When the child finally commits a serious crime, the parents become very upset.

Cilla Kung and Owen Cheung as Foon Siu and Bak Hok Yi

I put these 2 together because I love their subplot and because their major story is their love story. I think they have great chemistry. I love their scenes together especially the scene where Hok Yi shelter Foon Siu from the rain. So sweet. This is the first time I see Bosco Jr (Owen) act. Initially, I felt that he overdid the weak scholar role. But, after awhile, I became more use to his portrayal and found him quite convincing. This actor has potential. I hope to see more of him. Cilla Kung as improved leaps and bounds since 'The Four' debut. She was very wooden and totally cannot act in 'The Four'. But now she can do the emotional scenes very well. The part where she was crying over Hok Yi was well done. She only needs to tone down her shouting.

Wai Kar Hung as Bak Yat Yat

Wai Kar Hung was excellent as Bak Yat Yat, the not-so-bad gangster. I think this was the first time he played a father to a grown up son. Wai Kar Hung displayed the pride, love, and authority of a father very well and his devastation at losing his son was very heart-breaking. Bak Yat Yat is an interesting character. The more unlike him his son is, the happier he is. He must not like himself very much. But, the fact that he was able to bring up such a good son in a place like 9 Lau Jai' shows his success as a parent. Besides that, he is also faithful to his late-wife and respectful to elders. This character is a joy to watch. Once again, excellent portrayal by Wai Kar Hung.

Kaki Leung as Foon Jing

Kaki Leung used a very unusual approach in portraying her character, the mute girl Foon Jing. Instead of using sign language alone, she mouth her every dialogue and dubbed her voiceover out of sign. Kaki Leung has said in the weibo that she purposely dubbed her voiceover out of sync with her mouth movement as a new experiment. I think her out of sync dubbing was successful because it reminded audience that the character is mute and the voice did not come out of her mouth. Her mouthing all her dialogue, on the other hand, was not very successful. It did not look natural. Normal mute people around us don't communicate like that. I wonder why Kaki portrayed the character this way. Was it to show how much her character desire to talk?

Other notable performances that worth a praise are Rachel Kan as bathhouse owner Hoi Chun Fah, Cheung Wing Hong as the assassin Kong Tai Ping and Katy Kung as the young Mok Sau Si.

Conclusion

This is one of my favourite TVB series of 2013. It's a beautiful little small production that has good meaning, good acting and good story, and memorable songs. I won't mind watching it again.

ALWAYS AND EVER [TVB] [2013][R] Funn Lim

2013-09-23T02:39:00.000-07:00

They (Bobby and Esther) made this series and watch it for them. Such magic is difficult to find nowadays so grab some of it whilst you still can.

Written by Funn Lim

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Chinese title
情逆三世緣

Direct Translation
Probably "A Love Story Spanning Three Lifetimes"

Episodes
31

Released In
2013

Cast
Character(s)

Bobby Au Yeung
Circle Yuen Kam Cheong, Justice Pao, Wah Lung Biu

Esther Kwan
Phoenix Yeung Jik Suet, Hon Sheung Sheung, Tin Tsau Fung

Pierre Ngo
Yuen Kwai, Yuen Sai Sam

Ben Wong
Ko Kai Onn

Mandy Wong
Tin Tsau Ngan

Rebecca Zhu
Lam Yim Fong

Derek Kwok
Cho Pau

Cheung Kwok Keung
Emperor

Ram Cheung
Mr Gongsun

Benjamin Yuen
Chin Chiu, Chin Chiu Yan

Christine Kuo
Princes Hing Sau

JJ Jia
Consort Yin

Vivien Yeo
Consort Sook

Sammy Shum
Lau Chuen

Cheng Chi Seng
Unknown

Vincent Lam Wai
Circle Sun Foo
(weird name - Sun Foo is pronounced like the cantonese of suffering)

And many more.

Synopsis

Taken from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Always_and_Ever

The drama follows a love story which spans three lifetimes, from Song China in the 13th Century to Hong Kong in the 1950s and to modern Hong Kong (modern era) between Yuen Kam Cheong and his soul transported into various bodies and that of his one true love in 3 incarnations. She is meant to die due to her most loved unless the curse is lifted.

The Real Story
Major spoilers alert.

Quite simply, Yuen Kam Cheong, modern policeman accidentally shoots his fiance Phoenix, a reporter during a raid in a warehouse where his soul is suddenly transported back to 13th century Song Dynasty and into the body of the famous Justice Pao. As Justice Pao investigates mysterious cases, he meets again his beloved, except she is now a gifted female scholar by the name of Hon Sheung Sheung. Once again he falls for her and she falls for him but their love is hindered by the devious Ko Kai Onn, who is Hon Sheung Sheung's "si hing". Due to many circumstances, Sheung Sheung herself creats the curse of 3 lifetimes which will bind both her and Circle. True to her own curse, she dies at the order of Circle, who then left Justice Pao'body and jumps into the body of the most corrupted cop in HK, the Inspector Wah Lung Biu in the 1950s where he will meet some familiar faces, one of whom is his beloved again, this time an older married woman by the name of Tin Tsau Fung who is married to the respected gangster who at the beginning is missing and feared murdered by Inspector Wah himself. Through many trials and tribulations, they fall for one another but alas, Tsau Fung's devious sister Tsau Ngan causes many difficulties and Circle himself loses his own memory one day as he rescues Tsau Fung from a burning building. In the end Tsau Fung once again losses her life due to a choice made by Circle and this time Circle returns to the modern time as himself but before the first death occurs. He now believes he has a chance to rectify things with Phoenix who makes an important revelation, but Circle's happiness is short lived as one day after an accident he wakes up with an even mind boggling revelation to which he is unable to accept the truth.

Can Phoenix and Circle finally rid their curse of 3 lifetimes?

Short answer is yes but not in ways that you and I can predict if you even follow this series closely.

Comments

After a long drought of a good drama series, I was so looking forward to this series purely because it boasted the magical pairing of Bobby Au Yeung and Esther Kwan, both of whom I have not seen on screen for quite some time individually, more so together. They have always had that chemistry and TVB itself is banking on that. The story on paper sounded rather morbid and tiring; imagine, same woman, 3 lifetimes, died in the hands of the same man. How exciting? I didn't feel excited. But I watched, every night and somewhere along the way I thought this could have been Bullet Brain except Bullet Brain was a disaster from the get go due to its confusing identity; comedy, drama, dramedy, comdrama, what?! Always And Ever did not have that confusion as to identity, in fact it was pretty sure of what it was, the only problem is the mechanics of it.

Say for example;

You have a car and you're driving the car from point A to point B. If you reach point B safely, the car has done its duty. But being a smart aleck, you begin to question; how does the car go from point A to point B? By gas? By petrol? By electricity? Manpower? Legpower? That is because you know you are in a car but you're not sure what runs it. But if you're those type that doesn't ask much, then it is fine. But if you're those who wonders, you will be very confused, more so when your car seems to have a gas tank, a normal petrol tank, some peddles and a electricity metre.

That is basically how Always And Ever is, at least to me. If you don't question much, you are in for a fun and sometimes morbid ride. But if you begin to question, that's when all things fall apart. Not Bullet Brain style to the point you can't reconcile anything and nothing makes sense. Always And Ever isn't as confusing as that but it is confusing because the series does not explain the mechanics, you just assume it is correct and just go with it. If I had done an episodic thought on this, I think every episode I will have an X-File section; the unexplained. This is a fantasy series but even fantasy series are bound by a certain rule of logic, if you know what I mean. Everything is possible only if it is probable and it is only probable only if you can see a certain logic in it, even if it is about reincarnation, time travel and what nots. Basically this series does not even attempt to explain. It just shows the story and whilst on paper it is a morbid story, in the series itself, it is very very morbid. After all, same soul, different appearance of a woman gets killed by her true love, same soul, different appearance. How happy can that be?

Well, TVB made sure every death thereafter is succeeded by the soul of our hero traveling to another life in another lifetime which inadvertently is accompanied by some very lighthearted music. My confusion started at episode 1 itself. Right after Phoenix got shot and died in the arms of Circle, he got transported back to Song Dynasty and into Justice Pao and immediately, funny cute moments. It was so inappropriate. Same thing happened when Sheung Sheung was beheaded and immediately Circle's soul again is transported to that of Wah Lung Biu in the 1950s and some funny stuff happened. Same thing happened when poor Tsau Fung died in the arms of Circle, and he was transported back to modern world into his own body and darn it! Cue some cute music. By that time I was in the state of utter confusion, not really because of the strange choice of music but rather the entire theory of it.

You have to hear me out on this because this or these will make or break this series.

It is very obvious Circle's soul was transported into Justice Pao. Because when he left Justice Pao, there is a short but quite a good scene of Mr Gongsun explaining to Justice Pao the several weeks of weird behaviour and we see a super serious Justice Pao juxtaposed with the familiar Justice Pao theme song. So it is settled that it was his soul that got transported in and out of some lives. And yet in the 1950s story, Tsau Fung thought that by having Circle kill her, Circle will leave that life and back to modern life and so he can take Tsau Ngan along so she can have her illness cured in modern world. Now that is confusing isn't it? So is it soul or person? At some point in the Song Dynasty this was touched upon as well and frankly by the 1950s story, I just say what the heck, go with it! Ride with the flow dude. Worse still, Circle never once said to either woman (Tsau Fung or the despicable Tsau Ngan) that "Hey, you can't go with me since my SOUL is leaving not my PERSON and I am not walking through a PORTAL".

There was also a tiny issue of Circle's reaction to each lifetime's death. I mean sure the poor guy didn't even have time to mourn and got transported but seriously, shouldn't he cry or something for like the next few minutes? It seems he readily accepts that same looking woman as the reincarnation of his beloved. No question asked.

And even the issue of reincarnation is pretty confusing. The first time he got transported to Song Dynasty and see Sheung Sheung, of course he was confused and thought she was Phoenix. Sometimes he said she was Phoenix but can't remember her life as Phoenix and somewhere along the way he said she was Sheung Sheung, Phoenix's previous lifetime. Now if it is the former, then it is even more confusing; did Phoenix travelled back in time with him? But then even if her soul travelled back in time, everyone knows her as Sheung Sheung and she remembered her life with the Ko family. So how can she be Phoenix? If it is the latter, obviously she wouldn't remember her life as Phoenix since she has yet to live through it and yet Circle at times act as if she should remember but she can't remember. Frankly I was like way out in state of confusion at that point.

Even if you discard on the confusing reasoning of is she Phoenix or not, come 1950s suddenly our heroine remembers her past live! But at least she didn't say she remembers her future, at least I think she didn't. Because obviously she can't remember her future since she has yet to live it. Same dilemma, you see?

The worst, absolute worst had to be for the short time in 1950s Circle lost his memory and he was as mean as the Wah Lung Biu reportedly was. Oh he was dastardly. Made for some fine dramatic moments. However he suddenly remembered he was Circle. And how he remembered? I don't know. He just did! And when he remembered, it was not some major revelations or a huge groan of what an arse he was to Tsau Fung. He just sighed and that was it. I mean come on!! That's so unfair! I wanna see him have some inner turmoil and I suspect any inner turmoil as to his behaviour got edited in the editing room. By that time I was not just confused, I was furious.

But the stupidest had to be this; Circle in the modern time had an accident and he woke up and lo and behold, he saw a scar on his chest in the shape of an infinity symbol (or maybe a bow as in bow tie) and that was the same birth mark which Ko Kai Onn had and to which (major spoilers!) Tsau Ngan had so Tsau Ngan was Ko's reincarnation and that man had like 1000 year of hatred buried deep in his soul. I mean it is clever, sort of to show Circle having some doubt, whether he was actually Ko and Tsau Ngan's reincarnation and so there was the dilemma. But come on! He took off that cotton thing and inside that so called birthmark had stitches on it. So obviously someone created that birth mark. That to me was the most unconvincing twist in the plot, ever. At that point I was confused, furious and literally gave up figuring things out.

I mean whatever you want to show me, oh just show me. Luckily that was the last episode, so it can be more than that.

BUT WAIT! Got!

We discover another twist; Tsau Ngan didn't die; she in fact survived her deadly illness by some miracle that we don't know how and lived till modern times. Of course if you have paid attention when Circle left Wah Lung Biu's body, you will see in end credits Tsau Ngan married Wah Lung Biu and was pregnant, although she was sorta blurred a bit in the background. Kinda obvious.

And then like full circle, I will come back to the curse of 3 lifetimes. You see, Ko wanted to hurt Justice Pao aka Circle and Sheung Sheung made a promise; she will not love him nor be with him, if not she will be killed by her most loved for 3 lifetimes. Hence Phoenix (bang!), Sheung Sheung (chop!) and Tsau Fung (crash!) and back to Phoenix (bang! bang!). Circle theorise the only way to defeat the curse is to somehow find a way to beat it when he was back in modern times.

But look at the numbers.

3 lifetimes, right? Phoenix died, Sheung Sheung died and Tsau Fung died. Back to before Phoenix's death. Isn't that 3 lifetimes plus the surplus of one? Shouldn't when he returned the curse lifted? Oh so unfair!

The logic and maths itself will get you confused.

But some characters will get you boiling.

In the modern time, it took me a while to get into rhythm at seeing Bobby as Circle and Esther as Phoenix. In fact I find those names pretentious but then by the end of this series, I vowed to name my child the cool name, Circle. Seriously, rather cool name. Towards the end though it was draggy even with the plot twists.

In the Song Dynasty, I was shocked by the inept attitude of Justice Pao. Under him, I think got at least 3 unexplained deaths. I was expecting dark clouds and strange winds every time such things happened. Did he solve that at last? Not really. I was also frustrated by the stupidity of Sheung Sheung when she betrayed Circle because she loved him. Urghhh! But in the end I really enjoyed the Song Dynasty story and was saddened it ended so soon.

In the 1950s, which is the longest in terms of story and to me quite eventful even if draggy, I hated Tsau Ngan. Oh I want to throttle her especially when she kept saying "It was your fault, if father didn't save you first when we were trapped in the rubble, I didn't have to suffer" and after a while I was as frustrated with Tsau Fung's "I know you suffered, let me help you, let me make amends". Both sisters' as crazy in their own ways. Believe me, Tsau Ngan will be the new hate object in your life. And I hate how so much time is devoted to her torturing her own sister, I felt like those scenes were dragging this series down by that time. I also find it funny how most part were about how Cho Pau tried to wrestle the control of the traid gang from Tsau Fung and then he died an uneventful death; shot by Tsau Ngan who never loved him and she confessed but he died before he heard her. I thought death was kinder to him than Tsau Ngan ever was. And seriously, I pitied Cho Pau. Twisted isn't it?

There were the side stories of other characters which I didn't mind. Because they were related. From the pitiful backstory of Mr Gongsun and his tearful reunion with his only daughter, Consort Yin in the Song Dynasty, Circle and his relationship with his father, Yuen Kwai (and made more memorable with the fack that in modern times, Yuen Kwai was senile and remembered only the past and not his own son) and in modern times, it came full circle with Tsau Ngan, her son, Phoenix and Circle. Conveniently, and very very conveniently, Phoenix remembers her past 2 lifetimes. Yeah, she does. So convenient. Conveniently, Tsau Ngan in the end didn't feel good having shot Phoenix, TWICE. Phoenix of course still in the Tsau Fung mode you see.

And that's when the story gets uneven.

I was hoping to see Tsau Ngan crying and truly repenting. After all, it was 1000 years in the making, or at least 60 years in the making. This series robbed Tsau Ngan of that moment, the writers robbed Mandy of that moment to make that final amend. To have Tsau Ngan seen forgiveness and in her own way forgive the tragic lovers and so show the curse actually lifted. None of those and I felt what a big moment lost. All we have is Circle telling Phoenix what that woman did. What a potentially great moment eh? All lost!

But not all is lost in terms of tearful moving moments. Like the Mr Gongsun and her daughter, one other scene stood out, not because of acting but the idea behind it.

We all know Circle's dad raised him. But what of the mother? Of course along the way like Circle we discover who his mother is. Problem is Circle doesn't seem too emotional with his mother, again that is understandable considering she walked out of the family when he was a baby. Her mother, Fong Fong was selfish and materialistic. But the twist to this sad sad woman is even worse; her husband gave her his blessing for her to pursue her career in ballet in Russia. So she didn't walk out. But why didn't she come back? Well I shall let you discover that for yourself. It was such a sad moment, that final reunion between Kwai and Fong, the final dance and the final goodbye, separated by more than 30 years. I thought that was unnecessarily cruel of the writers. I mean I care about these characters and I hate that a blameless character should suffer whilst Tsau Ngan, she didn't exactly suffered did she? But I was more shocked at how Circle reacted to the reason why his mother never came back until now. I mean come on, we need more emotion here! We need more tears! We need more guilt!! Any guilt was fleeting. It wasn't enough!

I will of course emphasise on certain things that is worth mentioning and I haven't done this in my review for some time. So here goes;

BEST MOMENT, EVER

This is when Sheung Sheung outsmarted Ko Kai Onn and she killed him, in her own special way. Must be seen to be believed and he deserved it. I love how he died. Very very clever!

WORST MOMENT, EVER

Why Sheung Sheung had to be beheaded. I see no logic in that. And the emperor, completely and utterly useless. He could have stopped it and he just stood there or sat there like some statue. No wonder the kingdom fell later on.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT

I love the fact that this series incorporated some small gestures which to me speaks a lot of it being an ensemble cast. In the final episode as Circle rushes Phoenix to the hospital, he will encounter people he had known in the past lives and that was fun to watch! I loved how each character just show up and they're lookalikes, not those people and they're no longer good or bad or vengeful but just characters that appear in this lifetime. A nice touch. I also love how the series ended in the first ending; a drama series is made of Circle and Phoenix's love stories and we see the same cast in costume and ended with a group picture. I thought that was a fantastic ending, except the writer had to spoil it with the cheesiest ending ever!

Anyway I must also mention those small scenes as to what happened to certain characters when Circle left the body; like Justice Pao and Wah Lung Bit. At least it sorta answered some questions. But of course it doesn't answer this question; if Circle left his own body, what then happened to his own body back in modern times?

WORST MEMORABLE MOMENT

It was memorable since it was the end but the final ending or I shall call the 2nd ending had Circle and Phoenix's baby walking into some transporter (there was this huge stone, I forgot the name which had this ability to transport Circle back in time, except remember, it was his soul not the person) and was being transported and it ended with Circle and Phoenix running after their baby son.

Why worst?

1. Remember, transport the soul NOT the person? This one was person. Huh?

2. Isn't that stone the fake stone? I mean used for filming? Huh?

3. Why? WHY end that way? Whyyyyyyyy??

MOST INCONSISTENT MOMENT

As per above plus one more; all along Kwai always said he wanted to name his son Yuen Kam Cheong. Ending scene of Wah Lung Biu's story we see he and Fong has a son and he says "Wait wait.. I think I will name him... YUEN KAM CHEONG!"

Huh? Didn't he said he will like many many times before? Is there a reboot to the timeline I did not know about?

MOST CONFUSING MOMENT

As per above plus many many more I never mentioned. I wish I can name them all. But half the fun for the viewer is to discover such things. So I shall let you decide which was the most confusing moment. I think even Bobby and Esther at times were confused but went with the flow.

MOST FAVOURITE PAIR

Who else? Love love Bobby and Esther. I also love Bobby and Pierre. Also love Bobby and Ram. In fact Bobby and "fill in the space". Except of course...

MOST HATED PERSON

Tsau Ngan, has the distinction of being worse than Ko Kai Onn. At least Ko Kai Onn was love sick. What was her excuse? Oh yeah the most overused sentence. I shall not repeat here. Ohhhhh I hate her!

REPEAT IT! REPEAT IT TILL DEATH!!

Whatever Tsau Ngan says, her hatred, her anger. Apart from that, those very few modern flashback scenes Circle has of Phoenix when in Song Dynasty and 1950s, especially that proposal scenes. Rather repeated to death!

WORST INJUSTICE EVER

Poor poor Fong Fong. Such an unnecessary story for her character.

WHO DOES CIRCLE LOVED MOST

Sheung Sheung? Tsau Fung? Phoenix? All 3 women with same soul but different personalities. Frankly I will say Tsau Fung. She caused him the most hurt in her own selfish way; she repeatedly showed favour for Tsau Ngan and Circle repeatedly forgave her. He also married her. But that is moot point. This series never ever answered that question, or even asked it.

PERFORMANCES EVALUATED

BOBBY AU YEUNG

I love Bobby Au Yeung. He is such a charismatic actor, he can open a series, he can close a series, he can carry a series. Yes, he is not the world's best actor, in fact some scenes where he is supposed to be dramatic he ended up looking comedic, unintentionally. But this man knows how to work it with his colleagues. Pierre Ngo, Mandy Wong, Rebecca Zhu, Sammy Shum and even Esther Kwan are only so good because of Bobby. He has a way of making his co-stars shine, and he is a generous actor; he is able to share the limelight and the screentime without sucking away the attention nor giving away any attention. You may not believe this; he started out a very serious dramatic actor, somewhere along the way he was in comedies and sometime later back to semi serious dramatic mode which I feel suits him the best. Whilst he is cute and funny, his best moments were as Wah Lung Biu who lost his memory; his unapologetic way of treating Esther's Tsau Fung was an eye opener for Bobby the actor. I also love those scenes where he cried when he knew Tsau Fung had once again used him, he felt hurt. I felt those were his best acting moments, the tears and all I thought Bobby had improved so much but the truth is it is in Bobby's innate ability to portray despicable or arrogant characters. He is and always has been a better serious drama actor rather than a lighthearted comedy actor. This series will pit him in ways many actors will relish the opportunity; so many characters, so many situations. He faltered here and there, more probably due to editing but you know, I love Bobby so in the end those to me were minor issues.

ESTHER KWAN

This is like a goldmine of a character for any actress and not many can portray different characters consistently. Esther had it more difficult than Bobby since she is supposed to be 3 different characters even with the same soul or reincarnation. She was cool and easy as Phoenix, soft smart and elegant as Sheung Sheung and hard but loving and desperate as Tsau Fung. She breaths life into each character and manages to be different each time. Set them all together side by side and I believe she will convince she is different in each character, like a set of triplets. The script sometimes failed her but she doesn't disappoint in terms of acting. This woman is 49 and whilst at times she looked tired, she never once looked over 40. Her skin is flawless, her hair is thick and lustrous, she is slim and her eyes bright. Her only flaw is the way she talks at times when in modern world; it sounded like a woman in her 40s. But once she grew accustomed to the characters, I actually thought she looked more and more beautiful. Of course she is not as young as her characters are but I thought she was gorgeous when she dressed as the princess Sheung Sheung. It is like she never ever age. Other younger actresses look much older than her. Make no mistake, she is a woman in her 40s no doubt but when you look at her, you can believe she is not yet 40. But the best is her ability to cry convincingly and in many different ways as different characters. Esther to me is the reigning acting queen of TVB but alas, no one will recognise that. What a pity. If anyone deserves any recognition, Esther is on top of the list. And she proves it in this performance(s).

PIERRE NGO

The problem with Pierre Ngo is he was unconvincing as a really old man. The thing is when the last scene showed him as old man and then the next as a young man again, I was kinda struck by how handsome he is, in that particular scene. He is a competent actor but I dislike how similar this is to No Regrets, the way he talked, the way he behaved. But disregarding that, and disregarding the script that failed him, he was fantastic as Yuen Kwai/Yuen Sai Sam even if he really is very unconvincing as a really old man.

REBECCA ZHU

Whatever character she plays, I will end up hating her. Why? I don't know. She is very pretty in here, and she is slightly better here than in Triumph In The Skies II. I did not like her Fong Fong but I felt if there is any moment she did exceptionally well, it was the final scene. She may not be convincing as a really old woman but that final scene almost had me in tears. That was her moment and she did well. But the beginning, when her character discouraged Kwai from joining the rallies for anti-corruption in the force, I was confused with her performance; I know in the script she discouraged him because she loved him. But her performance was as if he was inconveniencing her with his choices; I never felt she loved him at all. Rebecca was very inadequate throughout but hopefully she can learn consistency by observing Esther. There is hope in this actress but I am not sure I have the patience in waiting for that end result.

MANDY WONG

I know she has a lot of fans, she is like Nancy Wu with her friends crying injustice because she should be promoted. Well if there's any consolation, Nancy Wu's fans have more cause to cry injustice since Mandy has been given big roles even if not 100% leading roles. She is at least not someone's wife, someone's girlfriend, someone's mistress or someone's sister which Nancy has the honour of being. Mandy has a huge role in this series and her character is one that you will hate. I am not sure if it is a breakthrough performance but I am sure her fans will be pleased. However I personally do not feel she did well, nor did I feel she did ok. I thought she was terrible. I do not like how she talks as if she is giving a class on the Cantonese way of speaking words, I do not like how badly written her character is (sometimes straight out evil, sometimes not that bad) although that is really not her fault. She has to work around the material. I do not like how reserved she is. At least Nancy Wu can let go and go all out, much like how Tavia Yeung can. Mandy to me feels like she is holding back, even in a character that doesn't hold back. This is not her best performance. Her best performance has yet to arrive or if you're optimistic, has yet to come but maybe will one day. I feel there is hope in this actress to be far better but the problem is whatever is holding her back is not helping her at all.

BEN WONG

A fantastic creepy performance of a hated creepy guy. I love his ending. I love his every expression, every intonation, every creepy stare at poor poor Esther as Sheung Sheung, like he is about to devour her. I believe he is younger than her? Wow, Esther, so young looking. I can still remember his role as the ultimate good guy in Kindred Spirits but wow, this man has some inner meanness which he unleashed in here. Absolutely convincing performance, a tad like how he was in Safe Guards. But I do feel his best work was in Safe Guards. That was his breakthrough performance.

SAMMY SHUM

He is fast becoming one of my most favourite actor to watch in TVB universe. I am however afraid he may find leading roles in movies more than in TVB itself. He has such a chameleon-like appearance. Colour his hair and he can be a triad member. Comb his hair nicely without that moustache or goatee and he can be a professional, like lawyer, doctor, architect. He can play both the low life (as in this series) or professional (also in this series). He can be the nice guy or the bad guy. He is also handsome in a unique way. And he can act BUT if there is any limitation it is the fact that he has more chameleon like look than an ability to act in a chameleon like way. But that can be corrected by practice and more roles. To me he is charismatic and I am eager to watch what he is in next. I am not a movie fan but I think he can have quite an impact in TV world, if he is given the chance. And that chance can be earned if he acts well. Thus far acting is admittedly weak but he has a plus point; boat loads of charisma.

BENJAMIN YUEN

One word; wooden. The worst Chin Chiu, ever.

CHRISTINE KUO

Poor girl had her voice dubbed, bonus to viewers I suppose but I'd rather listen to her original voice. Yes the dubbing was quite good really, the voice sorta suited her but it was so weird. I don't mind her accent really but in some ways the dubbing helped with her performance which was at best ok. She looks very pretty in ancient costume, if given better budget, I think she will look smashing in Tang Dynasty costume or Han dynasty. She has the beautiful but mournful serious look of those women in the past. I mean give her a guitar, let her strum it and she can be one of those tragic Chinese beauties. But alas, unlike Sammy Shum who can act and can be better and is riding on his charisma, this girl however beautiful is devoid of it. I felt annoyed watching her. Maybe a trip to Mainland China will help her improve. Or maybe she was wrongly cast. But no denying, she was beautiful as the princess even if annoying.

VIVIEN YEO & JJ JIA

Vivien Yeo speaks with an accent too but I can understand her. She has improved a lot but as she improves, she gets darker and skinnier. Why?

JJ Jia however should have been that princess. Also speaks with an accent but I can understand her perfectly. I have always felt she is a real beauty in those ancient costumes. Her character in here is pitiful and she displayed some fine acting moments in those final scenes of her character, about to be beheaded (she wasn't but I will let you discover how she died). This girl has some serious acting chops but I don't understand why she is always cast as the older person or that one beside that one who is beside that other character. I feel she is able to convince me in her performance more than Mandy Wong could and yet here she is... wasted in her talent. She should have been Tin Tsau Ngan, she is as fair as Esther, could be sisters.

DEREK KWOK, CHEUNG KWOK KEUNG & RAM CHIANG

Derek Kwok did well as Cho Pau even if his character is pointless.

Cheung Kwok Keung didn't do well as the emperor, more so when his character is useless.

Ram Chiang did well as Mr Gongsun although how can a super serious character act cute and funny in some situations is not something I can answer. But he is a competent actor, so no complains even if sometimes his character is confusing to me.

CHENG CHI SENG

I can't remember his character's name but I know the actor. It has been some time since I saw him and this guy, same look, same suit and yet he can play both the bad guy and the good guy. In this series he displayed some serious acting chops as someone with mommy issue. I can sense real fear in him. What did Mandy do to him?! Anyway fantastic performance even if a short one.

OTHER CHARACTERS/ACTORS

Many more that I didn't name, all complimented the actors and did well within the scope of their characters. By the way the turtle (or is it tortoise) should be given an award. I swear I saw his head nod when Bobby talked to it!

VERDICT

Yes, the story is confusing, way out confusing. Yes some performances are lacking. Yes the ending is terrible. Yes the story makes no sense if you must give sense to it. Yes it was draggy at parts. Yes ratings are low. But if you ask me, "Funn, should I watch this?" and I will say "Yes!". Why? Some majorly great performances by those who matters and with many TVB's recent series where stories are botched even before they began filming, all you can look forward to is some good acting. This series has yet. And if that doesn't convince you, the magic of Bobby and Esther will. Someone said to me "They look like they're married" and I said their characters are married but that someone corrected me and said "I mean the actors look like they're really married in real life". It is true. I love how Bobby is so at ease with Esther and I love how the usually super serious Esther seems to be having fun with Bobby in some lighthearted scenes. They made this series and watch it for them. Such magic is difficult to find nowadays so grab some of it whilst you still can. And take my advise; go with the flow, no need to question the mechanics, just accept it. It was to me a fun eventful ride even if predictable for the most part.

WHAT IF...

If I can change anything about this series, I would have wished TVB had the guts to remake Justice Pao with Bobby as Justice Pao. Same story arc; Bobby travels back in time (soul or person, don't care ala Bu Bu Jing Xin or Gong) and becomes Justice Pao and use his modern sensibilities to solve crimes and mete out punishments to the evil criminals whilst finds love with local beauty Sheung Sheung played by Esther and battling the ultimate evil throne usurper Ko Kai On. This story in itself can be 30 episodes. Cast better Chin Chiu and gang and you have it! A fun interesting series, less morbid. Unfortunately TVB has no guts.

Pity.

LAST WORD
Beautiful poster. And great themesong sung I believe by Shirley Kwan?

A LITTLE OBSERVATION

I think Bobby and Esther are very comfortable with one another and do like one another. But it never strike me that they would like go dinners, karaokes or tea time and such. Maybe Bobby and Nick Cheung will but not Bobby and Esther. I think they're friendly but I don't think they're like close friends. And yet they have such chemistry together. Individually Bobby can be paired with anyone (except maybe Angela Tong) and Esther shared some great chemistry with her male co-stars. I suppose that's why they can be paired with anyone and each other. Ok, except Esther and Nick. They were super boring on screen despite being a real couple.

Empresses In The Palace/Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan/后宫甄嬛传 [O][2011][China]

2013-06-25T00:49:00.000-07:00

Written by Funn Lim

This is an opinion previously posted in Point2e's main blog at last date, 31.08.2012.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Watch ep 1-40 | Watch ep 41-76 | Download the OST

UPDATES - 31.08.2012
Am still trying to write a review, long way to go.

Anyway been reading about Gong 2 (aka Palace II) and I sorta realise Yu Zheng is like HKTVB; take a book and change it dramatically like back to front and voila a new series. Read Palace II and tell me, isn't that Empresses In The Palace?

UPDATES - 16.07.2012
Finally I finished all 76 episodes. By the time this reached 50th episode, it was dragging but for the past 6 episodes, it was terribly slow paced. Anyway Empress dies of a heart attack in the end. Why she still thinks she can be empress dowager is beyond me. Emperor dies from poison plus slow poison plus more because Zhen Huan said things that eventually caused him to die of anger. BUT she did him right by exacting revenge on the empress which he couldn't do in his lifetime. She removes all traces of the empress from historical books and will have her buried as a concubine. I suppose that's why the empress suffered a heart attack. Meanwhile I thought she was kind when she let emperor to be buried with his beloved Chun Yuan. I do believe in her heart she once truly loved that bastard. 4th prince became emperor, she let 17th prince other son to be adopted by Zhen Beile whilst her own Hong Yan will be adopted by 17th prince posthumously and so Hong Yan finally can call his real dad, Ama whilst the new emperor need not worry competition to his throne since she ruled out Hong Yan. In the end she went to sleep. Did she die? Don't think so since she is so young. Probably another 30 more years to go before she will be buried with the man she hated. Oh and that arrogant Ning Pin killed herself. Why does she kill herself when her enemy is gone, she should live on happily. If she intends to accompany 17th prince in the afterlife, she need not bother. Already 2 women down there waiting in line.

Anyway I think I will write a review of this travesty to real history since I both love and hate it.

UPDATES - 16.07.2012
4 more episodes to go. Or is it 3? I lost count. This series is by now too long. But I am at a time for the past 3 episodes where this series is like a hell bent killing machine. 17th prince's wife died (poisoned), 17th prince died (suicide by poison but not that he has a choice) and finally his other wife, Huan Bi died (killed herself by the very dramatic running ahead and knocking head on anything hard). So many died. The Empress is now in cold palace and never to be seen again although I hope one last scene would be nice, her maid and eunuch probably dead as well. Dead, dead, dead. So many deaths. And I hate this emperor. Whilst I do not like 17th prince for cavorting with brother's wife and he and Zhen Huan should not look at each other longingly IN PUBLIC (so Zhen Huan is to be blamed for his death and he himself as well), the emperor's behaviour to his own stupid 3rd prince Hong Shi is so so strict. Anyway I am sure if 13th prince was alive and he dared look at Zhen Huan, he will die too. This emperor is depicted in such a way that even the real Yongzheng will go "TIAN AHHHHHH!!!! WEI SEM ME NI YAU WU MIE WOR!!!!!!"

But good news, some major kick ass performance by Sun Li in the scene where 17th prince died and she cried her heart out. Amazing performance and she should be Ruoxi.

UPDATES - 16.07.2012
Sigh! 8 episodes to go. So long! Anyway An Lingrong dies and before she killed herself she says to Zhen Huan she is sorry. And my view of her death? Pointless. Why? Because this is one pointless villain. She died because of her own stupidity. If she had aligned herself with Zhen Huan she wouldn't be dead. I just feel she is a failed villain. But the actress was rather good. Anyway the emperor did good; he allowed Zhen Huan's sister to marry I assume the 18th duke, or someone after 17th duke. Nice of him. And I was surprised at how pretty Huan Bi is as the ce fujin of 17th duke. Her make up and dress and all looks nice. So now Zhen Huan is completely controlling the entire harem. Oh and the empress dowager is finally dead. But she argued with the emperor before she died, classically because she wants Yongzheng to release 14th prince whom she NEVER mentioned until her death bed. Talk about backtracking!

Ok, next to die? 17th prince and then the emperor and so finally, THE END!

UPDATES - 12.07.2012
Thank you stupid trailer for telling me absolutely everything there is to know. I could see Huan Bi in white crying "My lordddddddddddd!!!!!!" which means 17th prince is dead. I see Zhen Huan looking at a depressed looking 17th prince so that means she was with him when he died. I see Yongzheng vomiting blood whilst Zhen Huan looks at him which means either she poisoned him or he basically died of anger. What a stupid trailer.

UPDATES - 12.07.2012
I think this series will be ending soon. I am like 60 plus episode and like I predicted since forever, Huan Bi just married 17th prince and another girl also married him. Poor 17th prince, marrying 2 women he does not love, at all. Huan Bi looks pretty in her wedding gown and 17th prince basically nominated her to run the household. She is not di fujin, she is like the other girl ce fujin and same status and she marries as Zhen Huan's 2nd sister, so she is of high status with more dowry and such. And first night 17th prince slept in her room BUT they didn't do anything. The other wife thought Huan Bi is the favoured wife when in actual fact 17th prince sleeping at Huan Bi is his way of avoiding to explain why he isn't having sex with that other wife. With Huan Bi it is easier; she knows why. I find the aspect where Huan Bi knows 17th prince doesn't love her but her sister Zhen Huan interesting. This is a very open sibling relationship. And very kind of Zhen Huan to agree to the wedding since she thought at least Huan Bi will marry the man she loves. Anyway right now the only possible happy couple is Shu Peisheng the head eunuch who got to marry the woman he loves, Jingxi whilst Jingxi truly love and admire Shu Peisheng despite the fact that he is an eunuch. However I am not liking Zhen Huan much in one scene where she said Dr Wen's castration will be a lesson to them and she was so afraid if it had been 17th prince. Well, to hell with the best friend who castrated himself for you YOU SELFISH ZHEN HUAN!!!! I already know how this will end. No feeling whatsoever since I am not a 17th prince-Zhen Huan shipper. I feel like rewatching Bu Bu Jing Xin. That is a love story I care about. At least you won't hear Ruoxi say she is glad it was 13th prince who got jailed and not 4th prince.

UPDATES - 10.07.2012
I think even the actor Chen Jianbin looks bored playing this very fickle minded emperor Yong Zheng. One second he is "I will protect you" and next second he grabs Zhen Huan's face and says "You dare to cheat on me?". Crazy guy. My sis said "Remember in Yong Zheng Wang Chao how Yongzheng was so disappointed to hear the public saying he is some sex crazed emperor, always flipping the name plates rather than govern well? This series is showing that exactly; as in him being sex crazed and all". True! True! If I were Zhen Huan I too will be disappointed. Doesn't mean I will cheat on him but I will not hesitate to walk away when he dies. Apparently he was rather good as Cao Cao in Romance of Three Kingdoms (one of those many versions). Here he is reduced to being that emperor who lusts and makes false promises. And to see all these women fighting, killing, dying for him. Lian Cheng, you got yourself a raw deal!!!

UPDATES - 09.07.2012
I feel like crying. Concubine Hui's death was so sad, but saddest was the fate of Doctor Wen who was earlier accused of having affair with Zhen Huan and fathering her twins. Empress! Wrong move! So he said to prove his innocence he castrated himself. He didn't die. Concubine Hui who was heavily pregnant was shocked to learn Zhen Huan was in deep shit so she gave birth earlier but she bled to death. Before her death she told Zhen Huan who her daughter's father is and she sadly asked Doctor Wen if he ever loved her and after some hesitation he said and this is so sad; "After that night (where they had a one night stand), I was good to you not just because of Huan Er (Zhen Huan). I wanted to be good to you. I am now a castrated man, no one can ever accuse our child, no one can now insult your memory by accusing us, I only now belong to you and we are at last together, even in your death, I am yours alone" and Concubine Hui cried and said weakly "I have never regretted all that I had done. The years I spent in this palace, until I have met you, it was all meaningless. Meeting you was the happiest day of my life and I can finally rest.. I am so tired.. but I am happy that I can lie on your shoulder like this, finally... and rest..." and she died. So sad!!! What happened after was also Sun Li's best acting performance yet, as she slowly walked away and then slowly increased her tears, not loudly but that sort that where she holds it in until she could no longer hold inside of her and she crumpled as she cried her heart out. Her only friend, her most trusted friend, dead. Even before her death she was worried about Zhen Huan. What a great friend. Concubine Hui is one of the best character in this series who doesn't have much to do and yet you can feel her presence by her loyalty and her sincerity to Zhen Huan.

Oh I hate that An Lingrong! She is so vindictive! She purposely let her maid tell Hui about Zhen Huan and she later said as she drank herself drunk "Sister (Hui), blame Zhen Huan. She was the cause of your death. Not me. And I am very happy; to see Zhen Huan miserable, makes my heart leap with joy".

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So vindictive bitch!!!! I hate her!!

Anyway I feel more for Hui and Dr Wen than 17th prince and Zhen Huan. Poor Dr Wen. He is now an eunuch and a drunk because of disappointment. Now he wants to leave the palace and guard Hui's tomb for 3 years. This is silly! Who to protect Zhen Huan?! Who?!

Meanwhile Emperor is lusty again. I hope he ain't gonna force marriage on Zhen Huan's spunky sister. I still think Huan Bi will marry 17th prince. But the last episode I watched, the emperor seems suddenly keen on Huan Bi. Maybe he was just joking. Anyway I don't like the emperor at all now. I blame him for what happened to Dr Wen. If every Dr is to be accused of adultery with the concubines, why not castrate them all? Poor guy! And I don't get why the instigator, the stupid Concubine Qi would accuse Zhen Huan of adultery with Dr Wen, and I suspect based solely on the empress' encouragement and yet when she was found out, she took the blame on herself, leaving the empress blameless eventhough everyone knows who ordered her.

Just to be clear;

Zhen Huan's twin children are between her and 17th prince. Not Dr Wen. BUT Concubine Hui's daughter, Jing He is Dr Wen's child. It is also convenient Hui didn't give birth to a prince. Zhen Huan only knew of this on Hui's deathbed BUT Hui never knew the twins were not the Emperor's.

Clear?

Ooooohhhhh I hate that An Lingrong! What's her problem anyway? She is still siding the one who lost power (empress), who refused to let her have a child and now is childless and made enemies with the ones who at first were her good friends. Stupid woman. BUT I must hand it to her that she will do ANYTHING to regain the emperor's favour, including making herself childless just so that she can lose weight and skate on ice, she took pills that contain musk and so ruins her chance at getting pregnant.

Oh yes, from this series I learn that saffron is bad for pregnancy BUT musk is worse. It will make you barren. I wonder is it true?

And did they have ice skating in Qing Dynasty? Oh doesn't matter. That ice skating scene was lovely, even if by bitch An Lingrong.

As for the empress, how stupid can she get to try and push Zhen Huan down when at last she got herself ruined? Why can't she just stay happy as her empress? I can tell you why. Like why Concubine Hua and countless others before her, this series hypothesizes that they did what they did because they're jealous. Not for power, but because of jealousy. They as in empress and Concubine Hua do love the emperor. Of course they also fear that by someone else taking over their place in the emperor's heart, they lose power. That may be true for Concubine Hua but for the empress, I would say deep down she is a deeply jealous woman. It is love that motivated her cruelty. But love is not An Lingrong's reason. She is worse. She is just vindictive.

UPDATES - 02.07.2012
After some searching I finally found a full review of this series with the entire story so SPOILERS ALERT although not much explained as to what and how something happened. Seems like the series is heading towards total and absolute mess. Anyway if you really wanna know, click here. Also found the cast list from there! Anyway cast list...

Liu Xue Hua as Empress Dowager
Chen Jian Bin as Emperor Yong Zhen
Ada Choi as Empress Yu Xi
Jiang Xin as Concubine Hua/Hus Fei/Nian Xing Lan
Li Dongxue as Prince of Guo/Duke of Guo/Guo Junwang/17th Prince
Betty Sun Li as Zhen Huan/Consort Huan/Imperial Noble Consort Xi
Lan Xi as Shen Mei Zhuang/Noble Lady Shen/Concubine Hui
Tao Xin Ran as An Ling Rong/Noble Lady An/Concubine An
Yang Zi Yan as Consort Jin
Zhang Yameng as Concubine Qi
Unknown as Consort Duan
Unknown as Noble Lady Cao
Zhang Xiaolong as Wen Shi Chu (Doctor Wen)
Lan Ying Ying as Huan Bi
Li Tianzhu as Su Peisheng
Liu Yitong as Song Zhi
Sun Qian as Jin Xi
Yang Kai Chun as Jian Qiu
Zhan ZhingYi as Liu Zhu
Unknown as Princess Wen Yi
Unknown as Princess Long Yue
Unknown as Prince Hongli
Unknown as Prince Hongyen
Unknown as Princess Lingxi

A concubine's ranking system from what I observe;

Daying > Chang zai > Gui Ren > Pin > Fei > Gui Fei > Huang Guifei > Empress

Confirmed here. Only in Qing dynasty.

UPDATES - 02.07.2012

I am at episode 50-ish and I feel since most of the female characters have already been introduced I might as well talk about some of them, right up until this point, for those I know their names and have their pictures.

FEMALE PERFORMANCES

Generally, I can't fault the performances. Why negative comments is because of the characters, not the performances.

Ada Choi as Empress

Of everyone in this series, I only know of 2 of the female actresses and one of them is of course Ada Choi who plays the empress who appears to be kindly but in actual fact is deadly woman who holds a grudge. I can't say her performance was fantastic since I know her voice is her biggest problem as an actress. Thankfully her voice is dubbed by a rather regal one and I can see from her mouth movements she in some scenes chose to speak her lines in Mandarin. The look is perfect. She does look like a benevolent empress, the way she would sit and smile serenely eventhough you know in her heart she is screaming with frustration. Taking away her very annoyingly high pitched voice whenever she screams allow me to fully appreciate her facial expressions, the nuances, that stare, that doubt, that look and that dubious smile. In that respect I feel she played the part of the very pretentious empress very well and it helps that the producers have chose to give such detailed attention to her hair, her costume, her make up. It also helps she is playing her age, at the start the Empress was already 40. It didn't feel forced. You can see the huge age difference between her and Betty Sun, in the sense one is obviously much older who at her prime must have been rather beautiful but now her beauty is or has already faded and the other much younger who is at her prime. The funny thing about Ada is her performance most requires her to sit down and not move much. I am glad to see those annoying habits often seen in TVB, with the head moving as much as the mouth is not seen here. It is like a different sort of acting here and I wonder why not adopt the same steady method when in TVB series? You can't say she lack emotion, one scene she was crying in frustration, even those scenes where she waited for the emperor to arrive shows her anguish as her "husband" chose to honour her but not love her as she wants him to love her. She has a huge role in this series, from the start and I suspect until the very end. So far, although I am amused by her most constant line in this series, "Chi lai ba" aka "You may rise" which she will say at least 2 times per episode in that dubbed voice of hers, I find her performance rather entertaining even if the writing for the empress has somewhat stalled right now. Fans of Ada Choi should watch this one; quite simply because this is not TVB and it is refreshing to see her play her age which makes her look rather beautiful rather than not playing her age and that would have been a disaster.

Most quoted line : You may rise (Chi lai ba)
Best scene : when she was crying out for her dead son during thunderstorm

Liu Xuehua as Empress Dowager

She is De Fei, Yong Zheng's mom who became the Empress Dowager when he ascended the throne. Her performance is even more limited than Ada. At least Ada gets to walk around. Whenever we see this empress dowager, she is either sitting down or lying down, since she is almost always sick or is being visited by someone else for whom she does not need to stand up for. Her role is an anomaly. She seems kindly; she prays daily and yet she has no regrets, none at all when deciding which concubine should die for the sake of the dynasty in her dead pan worried look kind of way. Frankly I didn't enjoy her performance. I find it limited, even now and very hypocritical. Maybe that's what the Empress Dowager should be I suppose but it just feels too one note.

Most quoted line : Chi lai, zuo (You may rise, and seat)

Best look : the one look, that worried look but she is always best at crying that one tear. She is famous for being able to cry beautifully and no one has dethrone her, yet

Betty Sun Li as Zhen Huan

Nice passport photo there! My sister said why wasn't she in Bu Bu Jing Xin? No doubt, she is one hell of an actress, especially in scenes that require her to cry with anguish or look innocent or evil. My only problem is her smiles seemed forced but then everyone's smiles in this series is forced due to circumstances. She looks young and she fits the role of Zhen Huan. One thing I like about Mainland China series is almost always the actresses fit the characters, almost. Her voice is dubbed with a voice I swear sounds like Ruby Lin's Ma Fuya. I also swear one scene I thought I heard her real voice because the China accent is a bit deeper but still sounds good. So why dub her voice in the first place? Her image from innocent to angry to frustrated and now conniving is the TVB method; the colour of her lipstick except she is much better actress than the horrendous 2 in that cursed series I refuse to name. She can dance; one scene had her dancing and it was graceful. She can act, in fact the only time she falters is because the script failed her, and that was when she met again the supposedly dead 17th prince, that lack of emotional punch. Other than that she and several of the actresses truly anchor this series and frankly I too agree; she would have made an amazing Ruoxi in Bu Bu Jing Xin.

Best scene : thus far, that scene where she had her first miscarriage and the look she gave Hua Fei was simply an outstanding moment of acting.

Lan Xi as Shen Meizhuang

I think that's her name since I got it from some online page. I have no idea who she is but of all the actresses in this series, she gives me the impression as the most elegant and sophisticated one. Her real voice is used and she has such a lovely accent and her voice is such a melodious voice. She also gives me an impression of someone very gentle and ladylike and mind you not many can give such an impression these days. Her performance is stellar. From her hopeful love to her sudden banishment to her anger at the emperor and her love for Dr Wen Shi Chu, I think she did very very well indeed. She may not be the prettiest but like the empress dowager, you sorta wish she is the empress because everything about her, despite her simple costume and weird loopsided headgear that god knows why the make up dept chose to stick it on her, she is a walking talking total sophisticated elegant woman.

Best scene : the way she looks at the emperor, where she can't hide the fact that she is very very disappointed in him

Jiang Xin as Concubine Hua

She has my vote as the prettiest concubine in this series and it shocked me to learn she is about the same age if not 1 year younger than Betty Sun! She looks mature for her age. She also happens to have the best headgear since she is supposed to be arrogant and flamboyant. From her performance you know that Concubine Hua is not someone highly educated and used her charm to achieve whatever she wants. She must also be very good in the art of seduction to have the emperor keep going back to her although her brother being Nian Gengyao may be another factor. Her real voice is used and I love her accent!! Ok, so her performance at first was more like looking at someone with this sneering look, which she perfected by the way or rolled her eyes dramatically or stared at someone she hates and all that, or the way she walks you can see how her bum sways in a way you know why the emperor is sorta crazy about her. There is nothing elegant or sophisticated about Concubine Hua and she knows it. This actress did not make Concubine Hua pretend to be elegant and all. She was eager to kill off her enemies and step on the others, even the empress. She also doesn't know when to shut her mouth and since I love her accent, I don't mind. To me Jiang Xin has the best character (very complicated woman - she loves the emperor deeply, she loves her brother deeply and yet she feels no qualm at killing off the emperor's unborn child when in the end she found out she can't have a child because of the emperor's own dastardly undoing), sometimes you can't help but pity her and yet you will hate her from her first appearance. After she died mid way through the series, Ada Choi had to take over the mantle as the villain but somehow Ada is missing something Jiang Xin has and I can only say a flair for flamboyance. My vote as the best performance in this series.

Best scene : The scene where she explained why she never wanted to be the one to wait for the emperor to come to her and resolved to do all she can to have him by her side

Status : Killed herself in the end. And she died on her own terms. She chose to bang her head against the wall rather than drink poison or hang herself and she decided to die because she had nothing more to live for when she found out the emperor's ultimate betrayal.

Tao Xinran as An Lingrong

I have nothing against the actress who portrayed her character well but I don't understand her character. I mean why is she in the middle of all the plotting, etc when she was a total nobody? I find her character kinda waste of space thus far and I hope she gets to do something even more evil than the empress let her do. As a villain, she fails. As a concubine, double fail. As a friend, triple fail. Looks wise, she looks the oldest. I don't find her appealing and I really seriously do not get why she is so against Zhen Huan and friend when they have helped her so many times. I find her ungrateful. As for the actress, no comment since I find this character rather... boring.

Best scene : The songs she sang which I am sure isn't sung by her. Her voice is dubbed.

Status : Can she die, soon?

There are other concubines, such as Jing Fei, Qi Gui Ren, Duan Fei, etc, all of whom I will say portray their role very well. Then there's the maids, Huan Bi and Ji Xin. Let me find their pictures and names and I will comment more later.

UPDATES - 01.07.2012
This is sorta funny. For half the series we have women killing off the emperor's unborn child or stop the young ones from getting pregnant. Now this 2nd half we have 2 women passing off other men's child as the emperor's own child. I almost pitied the emperor. Almost. And who the 2 women? Well Zhen Huan and her 17th prince and then there's Hui Pin and Dr Wen! Yes one night of passion! Pregnant! So Hui Pin had to seduce the emperor and 1 month later, claimed pregnancy but less 1 month of course! And these 2 best friends did the same tactic but neither knew of other's child being someone else's child, thinking it is the emperor's and feeling happy for one another but Dr Wen knows! He knows everything!! For me the happiest union has got to be the Chief Eunuch Shu Pei Sheng and Jin Xi, Zhen Huan's oldest maid. They truly love one another.

UPDATES - 30.06.2012
Found pictures! Comments later but am hoping to find name of cast/character and complete the "concubines" picture collection. I am definitely missing a few, actually missing a lot!

UPDATES - 30.06.2012
I didn't know this post is followed by readers of my blog! But then as I search for more info, in English that is, I kept seeing my post somewhere at the top of all searches which means there is a serious lack of internet presence for this series in the err... internet. A reader asked if I am still watching this one and you bet I am! Things are getting good again with Zhen Huan making the biggest mistake of her life and now will have to pretend she didn't and so breaks the heart of 17th prince whom she loved and whom she is now carrying his child. Yes, his child!! Now pretend to be the emperor's child minus 1 month in overall pregnancy months. Confused? Don't be. Just know when she was banished she decided to be with 17th prince and a plot hole so big even a meteorite crater can fit into this plot hole. Anyway now we learn they intend to elope when the emperor forgets about her and she decided to pretend to die thanks to Doctor Wen's medicine of fake death. So I assume between here and when 17th prince left to do some big job for the emperor, they had sex. Because seriously, we see in painful details how naked 16 year olds wrapped in blanket carried to the bed of the 40-ish emperor, here we don't even get to see 17th prince hug Zhen Huan and carry her to bed and cue to the shoes by the bed. None. But since they had time, obviously they had sex. The thing is she panicked when 17th prince didn't come back and she thought he was murdered when his supposed strong ship sank so she was determined to return to the palace using the emperor's power to

1. find the murderers
2. exact revenge
3. protect 17th prince's only child

Zhen Huan can be very dastardly when she wants to. At this stage she no longer cares if the emperor is alive, dead, well or whatever. Anyway the emperor missed her, thanks to Shu Pei Sheng his trustee sidekick eunuch who by now formed an alliance/relationship with Zhen Huan's older maid (can't remember her name) encouraged the emperor to visit Zhen Huan and guess what? One look and off they went, to bed. 1 month later she announces she is pregnant and Dr Wen was very hurt because he did suggest to her to run away with him and he will be the father of her child. She refused, flatly. Instead she made Dr Wen make false diagnosis that

a. pregnancy is 1 month instead of actual 2;
b. therefore the emperor is the father.

At this point all my sympathies for Zhen Huan became nothing much because Dr Wen is a good guy, she should have run away with him but she refused anyway. She in a way emotionally threatened him into agreeing with her plans and mind you if discovered HIS family and he himself will all be killed. I really pity Dr Wen and at this point feels Zhen Huan and the emperor are so alike in the way they use people and then discard them when they're not useful anymore and then use them again with all their charm and all when they need something done.

As for the in the palace, Empress is worried, An Pin is still there and I don't get what sort of influence she wields since she is really a persona non grata and everybody is ok. Empress Dowager is determined to allow Zhen Huan back in because

a. she is pregnant with emperor's son
b. she wants someone to balance the empress' power as she is getting power hungry, bumping off unborn child, concubines, including 3rd prince's mother who was stupid enough to listen to the empress. We also discover the much beloved and talked about Empress Chun Yuan was also murdered by this empress. Ahhh I can't wait till Zhen Huan found out about this and use it against her. Mind you, emperor is still crazy about that dead empress.

And so we shall see the return of Zhen Huan which makes this series interesting again and be off with those nonsense about her doomed love affair with 17th prince. When I thought he died, there goes my Huan Bi marrying 17th prince theory but now it is back on and Huan Bi shall suffer as well I suppose. Everybody knows she liked 17th prince, and she knows 17th prince loves Zhen Huan. What was her reaction when she found out he didn't die, by which time her pregnancy was entering 4th or 5th month? Shocked for like seconds. I felt she should have fainted. That reunion scene was so cursory even the director can't wait for Zhen Huan to return to the palace. There was no emotional punch. Later than night they met and he questioned her and she simply said she is materialistic, she didn't want to suffer and she is carrying his brother's child, meaning she had sex with bro barely 1 month since he supposedly died/left/whatever, 17th prince accepted the situation graciously and hugged her for the last time as she cried bitterly. And all these so darn Qiong Yau. I am sure in Qiong Yau, they would have eloped or continue the affair and then elope. In this series, I was surprised to learn the unwanted 4th prince is indeed Hung Li aka future Qian Lung and the emperor bestowed on Zhen Huan the rank Fei with a Manchurian surname added (which is the same as Qian Lung's birth mother in real life if I remember correctly) and upped her age by 10 years and made her the birth mother of Qian Lung. So she will surrogate Hung Li whilst Empress is now surrogate mother of 3rd prince whom we all know in real life was either banished as a commoner or killed by Yong Zheng later on. I believe this series will go dramatic so expect killed by Yong Zheng as his end.

Sad for Zhen Huan and her biggest mistake but seriously though what choice she had? Our hero only returned when she was already 4 months into her pregnancy. Imagine if she waited, how then can she pretend that child is the emperor's with her tummy and all? I pity her and her limited choice BUT I hated the way she manipulated Dr Wen who would die for her if she asked him to. The decent guy in this series, not as idealistically foolish as 17th prince but almost. And imagine if 17th (Yun Li I think) did elope with Zhen Huan, won't the emperor know by then their relationship? If Zhen Huan died, 17th missing, lots of visits from 17th to where Zhen Huan is, put 2 and 2 together the emperor would have known.

And my prediction for the ending? She elopes finally with 17th prince when much time has passed. The emperor will die in probably 5 to 7 years max, depending how old he is now and story integrity. Since 4th prince really likes Zhen Huan, she may be allowed to leave the palace since the significance of being 10 years older means she can leave 10 years earlier. Since the story is so screwed at this point with the real fact, I wouldn't be surprised her story is tweaked a bit that way.

Anyway a reader asked me to comment about the performances up until this point, specifically Ada Choi who would have perfected her "Chi lai ba" line , and I figure I shall do a midway review of performances for female and male actors. But first I must hunt for some nice pictures of each character/actor if I can find them.

Are you interested in this series' OST? There is actually an OST! Serious. Very interesting Chinese gu zhen music and all, beautifully sang even if 1 same song, 5 variations, with male and female singer version and then the rest the instrumental music which is seriously good but also seriously boring for those who isn't into such music. I find it funny how the same song can have so many version; one part the woman singing about her suffering love and then the end another version about a man giving up his kingdom for the woman he loves. Interesting lyrics. I may not be very good at Chinese but I shall make an attempt to translate. But dear reader, if you can help me find;

a. ~~images of the actresses in character (all roles, not just the main one)~~
b. full cast list
c. Chinese lyrics to the theme and end song

I will be most grateful.

P/S I think I may even complete my Yong Zheng series if I can watch Alex Man's classic, Dynasty!

UPDATES - 18.06.2012
I am watching this series avidly and I do think Betty Sun is a fine actress. Are you watching? Because right now I am a bit half way through this series and whilst I know the dynasty is not specified in the book and so since Qing Dynasty is popular and Yong Zheng most popular (right now), so the series was set during that time, screw the real facts. I don't mind that knowing it is not based on the era so anything goes. So we have Hong Li as the exiled and unloved 4th prince. Question is will he BE the next Qian Long? Since so screwed up, I do not know. This is not BBJX. Anyway right now the heroine, Zhen Huan was stripped off her title (not a very high Pin, before that is I think Da Ying, after Pin is Gui Fei I believe follows by Huang Gui Fei follows by Empress - I think I am missing one rank somewhere) after giving birth to a princess and banished to a nunnery/temple outside the palace. Truth is she banished herself, because she was very disappointed the emperor never really loved her but loved her lookalike, Chong Yuang Empress which we never see but heard a lot who died before he became Emperor. I do believe if Chong Yuan Empress lived, he would in the end got tired of her and disappoint her. The fact she died when he loved her most sealed his love for her in an timeless capsule where he remembers all the good since no bad has happened yet. And was also disappointed how heartless the emperor was towards her old parents and also one of her most faithful maid died in the process. If I was her I too will feel that way. And all that before she turned 20. Talking about burn out! She gave her daughter to a kindly high ranking concubine to take care of (Jing Fei I believe) and so she moved into the temple with her 2 most faithful maids, one of whom is her illegitimate half sister, Huan Bi, who is in love with the dashing and unmarried 17th prince, a favourite brother of the emperor because he is the least political, he just wants a carefree life. Ok, got it?

Ok, so far so interesting and good too the story moves away from the palace as the Empress (Ada Choi with her obligatory "Chi lai ba" - You may stand - like 3 per episode spoken to various concubines who kneel in respect) is now consolidating her power promoting a few concubines, one of whom the dastardly An Pin (used to be An Da Ying, real name An Ling Rong). Emperor also don't want to talk about Zhen Huan, he is as angry with her for daring to leave as she is angry with him for not loving her but using her as floating device. Got it?

Ok. Now this is where the story became from disbelief to stupid to utterly impossible, even if the entire history is screwed, some basics are not. For example;

1. 17th prince always liked Zhen Huan, in this series he basically spent much time with her as he stays near the temple which at the back houses his mother, Concubine Shu who was a favourite of Kangxi and banished by the current Empress Dowager (Liu Xue Hua whose entire role is be sick, sit down, say can't do anything and yet with her morose face has participated in making decisions which resulted in the deaths of no less than 2 concubines - she is the real female villain although the series doesn't say so) to forever reside in the temple. Anyway he confessed to Zhen Huan he is in love with her, and he isn't married yet, not even a Ce Fujin (say what?!?! Seriously?!) and now being pressured to marry and he said he will only marry the woman he loves and that is Zhen Huan. You see what is stupid here? Zhen Huan is the emperor's banished wife. You don't marry banished wives of the emperor. Even if they're banished. More so this emperor still sorta speaks fondly of her, sorta and loves the daughter she gave birth the most. I thought the entire conversation, scene, etc was so stupid. I remember in Kang Xi Di Guo, Kang Xi said "There are 2 things I do not share with anyone; my books and my women".

2. Why every place with more than 3 women around are all "pat pohs" (busybodies)? Even the temple is such where Zhen Huan and 2 maids were bullied and she let herself be bullied. And the impossibly stupid happened that they dared to bully her just because she got banished. I am sure before she came to the temple the emperor would have issued an edict to say this concubine is staying at the temple, NOT BANISHED. Anyway they bullied her away from the temple and Zhen Huan was sick and had to move to some even further away lodging up in the mountains and miraculously 17th prince came rescuing her. I was like seriously? REALLY? So darn stupidly dramatic for no darn intelligent reason.

These 2 points, especially point 1 makes this series at present highly entertaining but exceedingly stupid. I am just waiting for Zhen Huan to realise she doesn't want to suffer and runs back to the heartless emperor. Yes he is heartless, that I agree. 17th prince is ridiculous. It is more likely he can marry a palace maid than a banished concubine who used to be and could still be the emperor's favourite, and who so happens to look like his beloved dead empress.

After the death of Hua Fei, I feel the series suffered a bit. Not only was the actress who plays Hua Fei excellent, her story was the most exciting and in the end sorta saddest eventhough she doesn't deserve your sympathy. The Nian Geng Yao in the Yong Zheng Wang Chao deserves your sympathy as you will find yourself asking "Why, why defy the emperor and yet still respect him so much?" but this series, it is just shown a little, like touching the surface only. I felt like I was watching a better written Qiong Yao series but if the acting were more dramatic, no dubbing THIS will be a Qiong Yao series.

And a question to all, see if you can figure it out; why the emperor has so few sons and daughters? Last count is I believe 2 daughters and 2 sons. Why? Because all the women kept killing off his unborn child; first Hua Fei and now the Empress herself. Sick isn't it?

But don't stop from watching this series. It is well acted (by most), largely well written and quite colourful. Now, since there are so many Yong Zheng series out there, let me make my own recommendation;

If you want dramatic excitement, watch Empresses In The Palace.
If you want a good looking cast with a good memorable story, watch Bu Bu Jing Xin (get ready with tissues!)
If you want fully happy endings, then by all means watch the stupid Gong.
If you want a propaganda series based on historical facts with excellent acting but wouldn't mind the less good looking version which BBJX is based on, then Yong Zheng Wang Chao is the one.

If you want real Cantonese in a version to kickstart your love/hate/admiration/obsession with Yong Zheng, watch Secret Battle Of The Majesties with the ever entertaining and handsomest Yong Zheng, that is Kong Wah. There you have Lui Sei Leong which none of the above has.

Wow, I watched so many Yong Zheng series!!

UPDATES - 27.05.2012
I take back everything bad I said about this series except for the emperor's performance. I am really enjoying this series and I shall love it until the series shows Zhen Huan falling for 17th prince which to me will be a bore. The acting is top notch, costume is not BBJX but looks better than TVB stuff, but the story is even more engaging that QSHF at this moment. After all this is the series to watch if you wanna watch the rise and rise and rise of a concubine to the top of the harem and how she stays there. This is like the definitive encyclopedia for such a story. Since I reconciled with the idea of how screwed up Yong Zheng's history is as presented by this series (is this one of the reason why China is attempting to ban historical dramas as well? What else can China produce after that? Modern days series is an abusive rapist boyfriend disguised as the ultimate love story ala Sealed With A Kiss?) as that being that the book has no definitive dynasty and since Yong Zheng is popular, so his reigning period is used as the backdrop, I am not totally ok with the series. More since it make sense all those things about General Nian, Concubine Hua, etc, eventhough I feel a better time period for Qing would be Qian Lung or Kang Xi or better yet Tang Dynastys or Early Han would be much better. But never mind. Story's great so I am enjoying it and I highly recommend that you do too! Oh how devious women can be! This is what Curse Of The Royal Harem should be!

UPDATES - 23.04.2012
Right now after a long wait for the emperor to pop her cherry, finally he did and it is now on full speed towards total catfight. So far I am loving this series. The costumes are inconsistent like very inconsistent and the make up is like kind (pale lipstick), evil (red lipstick), ala that cursed series but so far I love the acting and the real voices used for some key players. I just feel why put the era in Yongzheng's dynasty when he hardly had time to even breath. Should have been Qianlung dynasty! And I do feel the actor as the emperor is I don't know.. can't say he's bad, can't say he's good. He is most expressionless, his voice monotone. It is his real voice. Some actresses' voices are so gentle, the accent so beautiful. The lead actress' voice is dubbed and I do think with Ruby's voice from Qing Shi Huang Fei!! Anyway love the catfights. Who doesn't eh?

PREVIOUSLY POSTED ON 17.04.2012

ASTRO is showing Empresses In The Palace aka Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan aka 后宫甄嬛传 aka China really loves multiple titles so as to confuse everyone, the one where people wondered how come Yongzheng is so old when Nicky's Yongzheng so hot when the actor said he is same age as Nicky!! Anyway I read the storyline, emphasising on the italic part;

It tells the story of one of Emperor Yongzheng's concubines, Zhen Huan, who's the mother of Prince Hongli (the famous Emperor Qianlong).This drama, adapted from popular Internet novel of the same name, will tell the story of the heroine, Zhen Huan (Sun Li), who joined the palace harem with her sister. She was selected to be Emperor Yongzheng's (Chen Jian Bin) concubine. When Zhen Huan first enters the palace, she is innocent and gullible, but gradually learnd the hard way to fend for herself when she inadvertently becomes caught up in the schemes between the Empress (Ada Choi) and Concubine Hua (Jiang Xin). Through cunning and deceit, Zhen Huan finally succeeds in becoming Empress. However, she arouses Emperor Yongzheng's suspicion about her loyalty and is forced to poison her true love, 17th Prince. Finally, when Emperor Yongzheng dies and Hong Li ascends the throne, Concubine Zhen Huan becomes Empress Dowager. Though her future seems bright, she lives the rest of her life in sadness and guilt.

Say what?! Yongzheng already had Hongli before Kangxi died and one of the reasons people speculated Kangxi gave the throne to Yongzheng was because Hongli reminded Kangxi of himself! And when I read further in the forum;

This drama is based on the novel 后宫甄嬛传.The background of the novel is fictitious. This drama has moved the background to a real dynasty Qing while in fact it is not. This drama is not exactly what history is. Please treat it as an ordinary story.

I see! Fictional eh? I see! I see! Rubbish! Why twist an already very fascinating great mystery of the Qing Dynasty? Mystery as in Yongzheng himself! Rubbish! Can't believe BBJX is more accurate! In history it is believed Yongzheng was very fair to the empress who never had a child and yet became empress. I love how BBJX showed her as someone kind and gentle and befitting the title Empress but I suppose there must be a reason Ada Choi is cast and I believe this empress must be outwardly gentle but inwardly as conniving as everyone. Was the mother of Qianlong ever an empress? I don't think so. After the empress died, Yongzheng died not long later. BUT she did become empress dowager since her son became emperor. And 17th prince would have been too young? Anyway Yongzheng would at least be 25 years or more older than the ladies in this series, as each is like 16 or 17. However I shall watch this series because it is always interesting to watch a catfight, more so when we know the ending. No wonder at the start the empress dowager was so anxious is getting Yongzheng another concubine for children. I thought "He already got at least 3 surviving ones" when Hongli has yet to come into the picture. I see. So when he died, Hongli would be 13? Or this series will prolong his reign a little bit eh? And interesting a series on women fighting during Yongzheng era where in real life, hardly any such fight existed then. Kangxi or Qianlong maybe but Yongzheng? So I suppose therefore the fresh take that is until I read the following;.

Some more from here;

Based on a popular internet novel by the same name, the story traces the trials and tribulations of the beautiful Zhen Huan, who inadvertently becomes a royal consort of the Emperor. Fate has sent her from the peaceful courtyard of her father's estate to the caged opulence of the Forbidden Palace, then to the darkly austere nunnery, and back to the splendor of the palace again. She transforms from an naive young girl oblivious of the harsh reality into a scheming court lady, and finally ascends to the most coveted position of the inner palace, Empress Dowager. At first, Zhen Huan devotes entirely on her husband, the Emperor. But when she discovers his true colors, her love for him dies with her innocence. Through the selfless love and sacrifice of Prince Guo, Zhen Huan slowly manages to recover from her emotional and physical turmoils. Their blissful happiness outside the palace ends abruptly and Zhen Huan is forced to return to the palace. She gives birth to Prince Guo's twins, a son and daughter, but the Emperor begins to question the fraternity of her twin children...

UTTER RUBBISH. Poor Yongzheng. Already much maligned in real life, even in fiction he can't have a happy ending.

And that is until I read further down;

Since the the original novel is set in a fictional time period in imperial China, the screenwriters decided to give it a more "historical" backdrop and chose the reign of Emperor Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty as the drama's time frame.

I see! So the book was ambigous. I suppose the producer was jumping onto the BBJX bandwagon or something like that.

And oh, Ada Choi looked old, but pretty. I keep remembering Ada as someone young and fresh when she is.. err.. 40? And the dubber is good so her acting looks good when he real voice tends to be screechy. I do think the actor, Chen Jianbin is using his own voice, as with some of the actors. So far I like the series but not sure how I will cope with the entire change of history. The ladies in here are quite pretty but the guys are no eye candy.

Eye candy is BBJX and even more eye candy is QSHF. If Nicky Wu is the Yongzheng in here, end of story. No need to fight. He wins! That is why they found someone older but poor Liu Xuehua... she looks more like the emperor's sister than mother. Insane casting!

The costume so far.. BBJX wins. I can never see any production of Qing Dynasty ever surpassing BBJX in terms of costume. Location.. same place and I can never see any production of Qing Dynasty ever surpassing YZWC which uses real palaces as location. Actresses... well ... depends. This one more traditional in looks. Guys, of course BBJX wins. Storyline.. already you know how I feel. Would be different if Yan Kuan and Wallace Huo is in this. Just imagine them with shaved heads. Have they ever taken a Qing role? For sure Wallace haven't.

SLOW BOAT HOME [TVB][2013][R] Funn Lim

2013-06-19T00:23:00.000-07:00

Written by Funn Lim

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Because I bet this is those type of series where one time is quite enough

RELEASED IN
2013

NO. OF EPISODES
25

CAST-CHARACTER
Ruco Chan, Aimee Chan, Matt Yeung, Selena Li, Raymond Wong, Cilla Kung, Cheung Kwok Keung, Ram Cheung, Eric Li, Angelina Lo, Elliot Ngok, Susan Tse

GUEST STARS
Patrick Tang, Oceane Zhu, Elaine Yiu

PLOT
See here at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Boat_Home

MY COMMENTS
I was severely disappointed with the confused (not confusing but the series itself is confused with itself) Bullet Brain, not remotely interested in (the tired looking) Beauty At War and so when Slow Boat Home came along, I wrongly thought I got to see scenery of Malaysia. Turns out that is another series with almost the same cast.

Well, it is to me fair to say Slow Boat Home is the best amongst the worst. I do not believe it will ever have a cult following, it will not age well in time, story wise it is cliche, storytelling wise it is empty and performance wise, a waste of some good actors but not really populated by great actors. For me, like the title, it is like a boat adrift in calm sea. Nothing exciting ever happens, nothing dangerous, just people on a boat adrift at sea without oars and slowly, very slowly drifting back to the distant shores which you can see but not yet reach and when it almost reaches the shores, a wave pushes it backwards with some thunder, lighting, rain but nothing that can kill anyone on board and slowly in the end it reaches the shore without much welcome, impact or anything worthy of remembrance. It was simply a boat reaching the shore after a few days on a calm sea.

That is how I will describe the series.

In depth description requires a little knowledge about the plot which you can read here at wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Boat_Home).

When I was watching this, I felt like I was watching 2 series totally unconnected if not for the fact they all come from Cheung Chau. One side you have Raymond Wong and Aimee Chan providing the silly laughs and I do mean slapstick laugh. If not I can't justify why Raymond was given that god awful hairstyle if not for some cheap laughs. Later on he ditched the hair (thank goodness) and you will of course appreciate Raymond's physique but still the character is just sometimes too juvenile to justify any laughs.

Aimee meanwhile walks around dressed perpetually like she is in Bali or somewhere near a beach. She talks in English and Cantonese and this time it is fair for her character to have a skewered Cantonese since she is from New York I believe even if her English is a bit too put on for my taste even if she is Canadian. The unintentionally funny thing about her lines is she will start with English and the next line is Cantonese and almost always the case where the Cantonese is a translation of what she said in English. So basically she is her own translator and I was wondering why bother with repetition? Basically I am ok with her performance. I am neither wowed by her nor am I irritated. I do feel Aimee is becoming a better actress than most credit her for but she is still weak in the sense she starts her dialogue strong, clear and crisp and a few sentences later, it is difficult to hear what she is saying whereby she will end with almost always a sigh, as if the lines were too "heavy" for her. So basically, what Aimee does best is short lines, no more than 2 lines, if not I doubt most can hear what she is saying. And she speaks much too fast in the beginning of the sentence as well and towards the end with an abrupt stop. I find this her most annoying feature but other than that, I find her performance convincing even though I am not convinced why her character would fall for Raymond's character who in the end betrayed her. However I like their kissing scenes. There is chemistry, it is fresh chemistry even if the writing, the story and the pair doesn't really make much sense. But don't tax yourself too much; it isn't supposed to make sense anyway.

Next pair is a pair I never liked from the start, that is Ruco Chan and Selena Li. This is like another series within this series where this pair is overly serious, overly dramatic and without any humour. You will feel more of that sudden switch of emotions when the series in any episode switches between these 2 pair. I felt like one was too sunny and the other like sudden darkness.

Ruco is a charming man and I dare say, with the right script, can be as subtle as he is dramatic. He is a good actor that needs one major character to be great. In here, he is simply wasted. Absolutely wasted and is pushed down to the grade of a desperately in love with the bad girl sort of nice guy. And it is this sort of nice guy that I hate to watch. Time and time again he is duped, lied to, used, tricked and yet he forgives, time and time again. Is the woman so worth his time? Well, if she is Selena, perhaps.

Selena is the bad girl turned good turned bad turned 360 degrees good like Mother Theresa - like towards the end. And serious, yes she did sorta become that sort of goody two shoes where get this... she volunteered to do charity work, got a tan, does not care about her looks, dressed down with a knapsack and got an award for being the kindest nicest gentlest angel that she is. Frankly by that time I really didn't care. She can be Saint Heidi for that matter, I don't care, I just wanted this series to bloody end. What I did care was why must Ruco's character end up with Selena's character? 3 years has passed, why can't he date another woman? Why can't he end up with Elaine Yiu's character, the Internet romance author who could be Tong Hua, the only woman with sense and a bit of integrity and is playful as much as she is cold? But nope, had to be Ruco and Selena because that's the pair, since day 1. Anyway Selena was serviceable but just about that and nothing more. She like Cilla does not adjust to the role; the role adjust to her. She is the same as in every single series even if one series she is kind, the other manipulative but when it comes to Selena, kind, manipulative, whatever almost equal to same expressions, same sort of high pitched voice. She may feel challenged by this change in character she portrays usually, I feel challenged to stay focused on her. She is pretty, but as an actress, I don't see big things from her, not unless she stops being so bloody fluffy and so predictable.

To say the series and the pairing is predictable is one thing, a lot of TVB series is predictable but it doesn't make much sense for Slow Boat Home in its predictability. Sense as in what is the purpose of Slow Boat Home? Am I supposed to clap happily in the end and cry with tears of joy of true love and happy reunion where this stupid boring pair hijacked a school reunion gathering for their own declaration of love? Must everything be so showy, so publicly expressed and so in your face?

The ending episode was 45 minutes, but this series should have ended 3 episodes ago. The entire last episode was a waste of time with the time passed, as if to give some urgency which doesn't exist. We all know how it will end but I never thought it was that cheesy.

The veterans didn't fare better.

Susan Tse was a miscast. She looks troubled, confused and was severely underused. She should be in grand productions as the grand empress or something, not an unknown small time auntie on a small island. She has this sense of grandeur and I feel this series is unbefitting of her. And she isn't convincing in this sort of role.

Same goes for Elliot Ngok as father of Raymond Wong, the serious respect elder of Cheung Chau who has more sense than a lot of people. He is probably one of the few enjoyable characters in here but why I say miscast is because this role is sorta similar with the cafe owner and father of spoilt child in Reality Check played by Law Lok Lam who was more convincing as the strict father who doesn't quite understand his child. However the role in Slow Boat Home is of course much larger but I feel I don't feel the father-son connection. I feel the chemistry between Elliot and Raymond as father and son is missing. I feel this sort of role has been perfected by Kent Cheng and I can see no one else in this role, except maybe Law Lok Lam who can be quite funny at times as he is dead serious.

There was the odd pairing of Cheung Kwok Keung and Angelina Lo (never knew she was Angelina!) where she looked more like his sister than his wife. The only interesting time was when Angelina as mother of Ruco disliked Selena. But that wasn't expanded and was quickly solved.

There were odd characters here and there, the standout for me was the pretty and talented Oceane Zhu as the crazy woman but again, she is just a side story. Elaine Yiu who has improved a lot since Safe Guards is also effected as So Fung Nei with a convenient twist to the plot in the end with regards to Pou Pou played by Aimee. Ram Chiang is the comic relief in here and I find his performance annoying. His character may be suffering from Asperger Syndrome, I don't know but I don't care for the loud flat voice. Not every character works for Ram, unfortunately. Patrick Tang was sleazy but he wasn't convincing as the sleazy douchebag who happens to be very rich. I can't remember the name of the actress who plays Patrick's wife, but she is pretty and a decent performance but her entire character seems merely to annoy Selena's Heidi. Very little purpose other than that. Eric Li to me was fantastic. He has more chemistry with Raymond Wong than anyone else and he plays a despicable character in here who has the best and most moving ending in the end. I mean you won't cry or anything but I suppose you will go "Good for him!". Matt Yeung is the nice guy in here and it is a good change from the jerk, douchebag and bad guy roles but he has nothing much to do except to look innocent and in the cheesiest ending, get promoted to manager of the postal office after getting his degree. I mean why stop there? Since the ending is always defined by success story, make him CEO, COO or CFO of whatever corporation of his own? Cilla Kung is cute, pretty and in here dressed very very sexily in the beginning and after some hard lessons, toned down her looks. What can I say about Cilla without mentioning why must she shout her lines? She seems to be playing the same sort of characters in every series when in fact she has different character but she acts the same in every character she is given. She is the Michael Bay of actresses; seriously loud, seriously dramatic. I won't say she is a bad actress but I just wish she understands that sometimes subtlety can deliver more than being loud.

This series may work better if it is a long running series where it centres on the guests and many side stories of people who visits Cheung Chau and the many permanent residents rather than focusing on the residents with a few walk ins. But that would require a better writer and a consistent one but at least there is room for growth and will suit the tone of how great Cheung Chau is. But then this series uses Cheung Chau as the backdrop in such a significant way, it can be about any island, any place.

Anyway, I have been reading news articles about this series and the performances, of course everything is favourable but let's be honest here;

You are probably watching this series because there is nothing else from TVB at this moment that is worth watching.

You are probably enjoying watching this series because everything else is either confusing or gloomy and you want a series that is bright, sort of happy and with a predictable storyline that doesn't stretch your imagination or require much of your attention.

You are probably gonna hate my review and defend this series because you think you like it and I was being too bitchy about the nitty-gritty.

You may also probably hate to admit you find the ending supremely ordinary and without much imagination. You may even hate to admit you disliked this series, at least the ending or maybe you will love the ending because it is a happy ending, some of you may probably rejoice because it has an ending and it ended.

You will probably question me why then did I bother to watch the entire series and write a review if I dislike it so much? Why not just don't bother? The answer is somewhere above by the way.

Whatever your sentiments, if it is a positive one towards this review, may I say welcome to the "TVB you gottta be kidding me by giving me this crap but I'd rather this cheerful no pressure crap than the other previous craps served on me" club. If it is a negative one towards this review, I challenge you to rewatch this series in its entirety and then tell me, do you like it the 2nd time around? Why not try a 3rd time? Because I bet this is those type of series where one time is quite enough.

Just once. You can only take BS just once and then you wise up and yet remain hopeful the next offering will be better, that it will be TVB's return to form.

The next one is A Change Of Heart and 1 episode of Michael Miu's god awful acting was enough for me.

So yeah... maybe I am too optimistic but again I won't predict TVB's demise. But the dip in recent quality of series may be the sign that there is a serious brain drain in TVB's storytelling department and maybe it is time to let the storytellers tell the stories the way they want to rather than executives want it. I am not sure if this is the case in TVB but I have hope against hopes but I am not hopeful for the next few months of series which has been filmed around the time where crap is often served. Maybe next year.

VERDICT
I don't hate it, I just feel nothing. Strictly for fans of the actors in the series or if you're sick on dark gloomy artistic pretentious crap and prefers some sunny, optimistic, happy crap. This is for you then. If not, just avoid it, pop in the DVD of your most favourite TVB series and watch that.