30 December 2004

Hearts Of Fencing [TVB]

Posted on December 30, 2004 Currently this post has No comments .

Written by Bridget Au

"In general, the acting is a disappointment..."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title

"Dong Sei Yip Cho Pong Seung Gim Jim See"

(translates to When the Four Leaves Touch the Points of Swords, generally referred to as simply "Sei Yip Cho")

No. of episodes

An excessively but thankfully short 11 episodes

(originally 10, an extra episode was added due to high ratings)

Theme Song

"Shining Friends"

(Cantonese version by Fiona Fung, Peggy Lee, and Mathilda Chan, English version- the one played in the series- sung by Jade Kwan)

Other background tracks

"Complicated" - Avril Lavigne

"Just a Pill" - Pink

"Get the Party Started" - Pink

"Uptown Girl" - Westlife

"Swear it Again" - Westlife

"My Pride" - Joey Yung

"The Voice Within"- Christina Aguilera

"Point of the Sword Touches My Heart" - Jade Kwan

Cast

A huge cast for such a short series...

The gals

Race Wong Yuen Ling (from HK girlgroup R2) as Cheng Ka Lam

Natalie Tong Si Wing as Ko Ching

Renee Dai Mong Mong as Chan Miu Yee ("Dai Jek Miu")

Elaine Yiu Zhi Ling as Lam Suet Man ("Man Man")

Kelly Fu Ka Lei as Chui Kam Mui ("13 Mui")

The guys

Lai Lok Yi as Au-Yeung Yat

Don Li Yat Long as Au-Yeung Lok

Eddie Lee Yu Yeung as Chu Moon Tong (Don)

Sam Chan Yu Sum as Kwan Yu Lung

Supporting Cast

Edward Leung Hon Man as Wong Chui Suet ("Kim Sir" - "kim" = sword in Cantonese)

Eileen Yiu Ying Ying as Cheng Sum Mei (Miss Cheng)

Chin Ka Lok as Yu Chi Wai (Principal)

Markus Ng Jin Ho as Fei Cheung

Ko Ho Ching as Lau Hak Fong ("Dai Hak"- big black)

Guest Starring the EEG family...

Boy'z (HK boyband Stephen and Kenny) and Shine (HK boyband #2 Tin Yau and Yau Nam) as The Four Sword Gods

Eason Chan Yik Sun as himself

Nicholas Tse Ting Fung as himself

Alex Fong Lik Sun as a swimming club president

Mini Cookies (Stephy, Kary, Theresa, Miki) as themselves

Edison Chan Koon Hei as Prince Charming (in Lam's Snow White fantasy-dream)

Bobo Chan Man Woon as an Alumni Association president

Rosanne Wong (from HK girlgroup R2, real-life older sister to Race) as a pregnant woman

(some names taken from Tvseriesfans.com)

Recognize none of the names from the main cast? You're not alone. I only recognized about half of the entire cast, and I don't know them even from TVB, I know them from mainly the HK music industry (hello, Emperor Entertainment Group!)

Plotline

In a nutshell...a little bit of fluff, a little bit of cheese, a little bit of preaching, a little bit of puppy love, a little bit of everything. And all this is set against the backdrop of the sport of fencing. The series is reminiscent TVB's Aqua Heroes that came out earlier this year, a bunch of teenagers, a bunch of new faces, and a bunch of lessons against the backdrop of a sport- swimming. Except the storyline for this series is a lot more predictable and the cast members are even less recognizeable, if that's even possible. Here we go.

Why is the cast so big?

You see, this series sort of gives everyone equal amount of screen time (the obvious exception being Lai Lok Yi and Race Wong, who can barely be referred to as the "leads" of this series). Why? Because the series revolves around the story of 10 youths currently attending Sung Ngai Academy (a high school in HK), 5 male and 5 female. This shall prove handy when pairing them up in puppy love relationships.

So exactly who is who?

We've got Lam, the strongheaded and straightforward girl who innocently believes her happiness and luck comes from a four-leaf clover given to her when she was a young child. Lam befriends the other four girls of the series: Ching, the celebrity stalker who spends her days thinking everyone at the school looks like some HK celebrity and walks around constantly with a digital camera; Dai Jek Miu, who constantly eats and eats and then eats some more; Man Man, a plain and nerdy but good-hearted girl who's painfully shy, and 13 Mui, the "school flower" who constantly has a flock of guys after her. The five girls make up the editorial/writing team for the high school newspaper.

Then we have the boys. Au-Yeung Yat, the lazy and always barely-passing older brother to Au-Yeung Lok, the good-natured overachiever; Don, the arrogant rich boy (think of a non-violent Dao Ming Si from Meteor Garden); Lung, Don's faithful and lower-class sidekick who feeds off his quick brain and tricks, and Fei Cheung, a bespectacled cake-baker. After a couple petty rivalries, the four become good friends and also make up the Sung Ngai fencing team, headed and coached by Kim Sir, who happens to have a thing for Miss Cheng, who in turn happens to be Lam's aunt.

What is the plot REALLY about?

Teenage puppy romance, my friends. Lam and Yat butt heads, but eventually grow feelings for each other. Unfortunately, Lok also falls in love with Lam, attempts to pursue her but is rejected. Rich boy Don also experiences love at first sight with Lam, but the girl can't stand his arrogant ways and how he buys everyone and everything off with money. Ching, however, happens to like Don but keeps her feelings secret after realizing he loves Lam. Nerdy Man Man attracts the attention of Lung during a traditional school event where a girl and a guy are drawn to share a date. But Man Man's return to her nerdy attire confuses Lung about his feelings, since his good looks have always attracted pretty girls. This temporarily ticks Man Man off until Lung apologizes and they get together under a coconut tree. Dai Jek Miu spends her days baking cakes with Fei Cheung, a clueless but honest guy. And 13 Mui runs around single, manipulating guys to cater to her every whim.

Then the plot moves completely away from all the fluff and cheese of teenage romance and does a 180 when.........dramatic music please...Lok dies. How does he die? Long story short: Lam has a thing for four-leaf clovers, believing that they're akin to a guardian angel for her. One day she and Lok are at a dessert shop and she sees a four-leaf clover necklace that she loves. Unfortunately, the only way to get the necklace is to eat 10 jugs of ice cream. Lok gets sick after 6, but Yat eats the 10 and gives the necklace to Lok to give to Lam. Lam rejects the gift, and Lok plans to try and give it to her again for her birthday. The day of the party, Lok accidentally drops the necklace in the middle of the road. He bends down to pick it up, and is then struck by a high-speed truck.

In my opinion, this where the fencing stuff really starts to come in. You see, the four guys make up the new Shung Ngai fencing team (coached by a slightly dull Kim Sir), but their focus isn't on the sport, but rather on petty vendettas and your usual high-school rivalries over girls (Lok and Don challenge each other to see who will win the "right" to pursue Lam Lam). When Lok dies, however, the team realizes that Lok actually really loved the sport and wanted to help their school retrieve the sports title. Yat, in particular, does a 180 and disappears for a couple days. Everyone frantically searches for him, worrying that he's going to do something stupid out of his grief, but he emerges, appearing totally unaffected by his younger brother's death. His teachers and his friends try to convince him to take some time to mourn, but Yat acts as if nothing has happened.

However, that night on the beach Don (the new captain of the team) tells Yat that he cannot compete in the upcoming fencing competion. Furious, Yat and Don start to throw punches at each other as Lam Lam desperately watches on. They stop fighting as Lam Lam, in tears, yells at Yat, telling him that she knows what he's trying to do and that he will never succeed because of the reasons behind his actions: "Winning this competition is not your dream...it is your brother's! You will never succeed, because this ambition does not belong to Au-Yeung Yat, it belongs to Au-Yeung Lok! Only Lok can achieve this ambition...no one can do it for him". Yat then breaks down in tears and crumbles to the ground, finally releasing all the collected grief he's been concealing for days: "We delivered take-out food together, we went to school together, we got hit by Dad together...I miss you you much, younger brother!" A heartbroken Lam Lam then flings her arms around Yat and tells him that Lok would not want to see him this way, and that many people still care about him, including her. Don, watching the scene unfold, then realizes the meaning behind Lam's words and realizes she has feelings for Yat. He quietly walks away and ends up running into...

Yup, Ching. And out of nowhere Don says that he'll try "something new" and they start going out, much to the ecstasy of Ching. So back to the fencing. The four train and train and train, because the rival school has got some hotshot 4-year-champ nicknamed Dai Hak (big black in Cantonese). They finally "solve" the secret behind Dai Hak's killer trick, and are supported by their girlfriends at the competition. I think they either tie or win at the end. I don't remember, and it doesn't really matter, since fencing isn't the true focus of this series anyway. This is cheese. It may be good cheese for some, but it's nonetheless cheese.

Fast forward several months and our teens have graduated. They return to Shung Ngai Academy to visit, and the pairs are their old selves, bickering with each other. The girls drool over the new fencing team, much to the irritation of the guys. As they leave the school gates, they watch as a group of teenagers enter the school. The teenagers are replicas of themselves (don't ask, I haven't figured it out either). Then they head to the church, for the long-awaited wedding of Kim Sir and Miss Cheng. Woohoo. Happy happy ending.

So what are the EEG popstars doing in here?

Shine and Boy'z are probably the most "important". They play the Four Sword Gods and were the pride of Shung Ngai Academy until they mysteriously disappeared the day before the big tournament. Why did they disappear? Because they lacked team spirit and realized that the competition among themselves was destroying their friendship. The New Four finally tracked them down near the end for some pointers. As for Eason Chan, he guest-starred in an episode where he gave a concert to help raise money for the school newspaper headed by the girls. The other singers appear for less than 5 minutes each, so I won't bother explaining each of their minor roles. If anything, Emperor Entertainment Group was probably in some big bribery scam where this series was a mini-showcase for their teen idols.

Onto the Performances Already

The series is typical teenybopper, but the acting here is even worse than Aqua Heroes. This is most likely because virtually all of the main cast are unknown, even if they crossed over from singing careers, if you can even call them that. In Aqua Heroes, at least Edwin Siu and Bobo Chan have been around the entertainment industry for a year or two, but the main cast in here have only been around for a couple months (others came from nowhere, to my knowledge). So I think we should all keep that in mind when evaluating the acting in this series. Even though I evaluate actors as actors and not singers as actors, it's really your own fault for renting/watching this series and then complain about the terrible acting if you come in with overblown expectations. At the end of the day, however, I can somewhat tolerate bad acting but not huge gaps in plot. As predictable and cheesy as this plot is, at least it's coherent (which is way more than Good vs. Evil, which I just finished watching and can't wait to bash in my next review).

The Girls

Renee Dai is rather redundant, there's nothing much about her character that can showcase ANY kind of acting skills whatsoever and she's just a girl playing a girl. She's also, to be a bit mean, the least pretty of the girls so I don't know what she's doing in this series at all. She is one of the actors who came out of "somewhere", sort of...she was the winner (I think, or at least a finalist) in HK's annual New Talent Singing Contest. Kelly Fu is actually the prettiest (the others are pretty too, but in a bland kind of way; Kelly is pretty with an "aura" if you know what I mean), but she's the most wooden of the girls...very bad performance, the worst out of the girls. No idea where she comes from. Elaine Yiu fared much better, but she confused me. When she was in her nerdy attire she sometimes had this whiny voice that was really irritating but the shyness that she accurately portrayed in Man Man was likeable. But then, when she was all pretty and done up she was totally normal and very likeable as the quiet and demure Man Man. Problem is, I couldn't even recognize her after she lost the glasses and brown nerdy dresses. It seems that she changed personalities whenever she changed her looks. She looks pretty cute with Sam Chan, though, and their chemistry was okay. Elaine is one of the occasional hosts for K-100 I think. Natalie Wong gave an okay performance as Ching, but she's just so dull to look at. I mean, she's pretty and photogenic, but it's so obvious she has like zero personality. This is where Renee Dai and Elaine Yiu are better, at least they have some "oomph". Natalie Wong had a bit more to do with her character but she was just so boring. She's yet another of the cast who came out of nowhere. I'm guessing she came out from a modelling job, and before this series her only entertainment news was being tied romantically to EEG boy Shawn Yu. And finally we get to...

Race Wong as Lam Lam

The most to do for the most well-known (if you can call it that) member of the female main cast. When she first came onscreen I was like "oh no, this is going to be terrible because she speaks Cantonese with an accent!". Yes, I am not very fond of people who don't speak the language "correctly" (I'm slightly annoyed by Flora Chan's accent too). The reason Race speaks Cantonese with an accent is because she is from Singapore. In any case, Race Wong gave only a mediocre performance as Lam Lam. She was actually quite cute in some scenes although in most of them she overacts. What Race Wong lacks is insight into her character. The character of Lam is modelled after the character of Shan Chai from the Taiwanese series Meteor Garden. Barbie Hsu was able to grasp the stubbornness and headstrong character of Shan Chai and Race Wong fails to do this with Lam Lam. Half the time, Lam Lam, through Race's acting, just seems like an unreasonable schoolgirl who's stomping her feet because she's dropped her ice cream cone. In reality, Lam Lam is supposed to be someone who asserts her beliefs, has a major spine, and is outspoken although naive in terms of love. Race also doesn't look good with any of the male characters she was romantically tied to in the series. She is cute half the time, but is most likely a miscast to play the role of Lam Lam. However, she did do a good job in the scene where she confronts Yat about his grief on the beach. That was a well-done scene from the two new actors. Also, Race Wong is just too painfully skinny to look at. She's worse than Twins, than Bobo Chan, than Barbie Hsu. Her legs and arms are literally sticks. In my recent reviews I've constantly complained about the stickgirls running around TVB and HK movies but apparently my complaints have fallen on deaf ears. In any case, if I were to evaluate Race Wong's performance there is only one thing to say, and that is that it was mediocre. She doesn't have what it takes to be an actress and I don't really see any potential in her (but who knows, word has it they're going to film a HoF sequel - Lord save us all).

The Guys

Don Li looks the same everywhere, he's like the male version of Natalie Wong. He had some more to do with his character Lok but somehow he still managed to give a hollow performance. Just so utterly boring, dull dull dull and yawn yawn yawn! His character is boring although likeable but the acting was pretty bad and hollow. His acting was so dull that I totally forgot about his character after he died. Don Li, to my knowledge, is one of the newest singers cooked by the HK music industry. Sam Chan (the real-life son of well-known actor Shek Sau, btw, who also guest-starred in this series as Don's father) fares slightly better as the pretty playboy but he always talks as if he's out of breath. And in every scene he looks worried (remember Alec Su's Yong Qi from HZGG?). Average performance but I do see some acting future ahead if he works really really hard. Eddie Lee by far gave the absolute worst performance of all. Terrible. There's no other way to put it. He has the charisma of a brick and manages to look more wooden than a log. His voice is also really irritating. I have no idea where he comes from. Like Race Wong, he lacks insight into his character. Don is modelled after the character of Dao MingSi from Meteor Garden, and again, Jerry Yan was able to give a much more credible performance, even though it was his first acting job. Really bad performance from Eddie Lee and I see no potential in him whatsoever, the worst out of all the younger actors (who are all more or less mediocre). And then...

Lai Lok Yi as Yat

By miles and miles away, the best performance of the series. Not just from the younger cast, but out of EVERYONE in this series. And there's a reason for that. Lai Lok Yi is one of the most recent graduates from Hong Kong's Acting Academy, and it shows in his acting here. In the scenes with the other actors, Lai Lok Yi is able to bring two extreme effects. Either he makes the others look really, really bad or he's able to bring something out of them (especially in his scenes with Race Wong). He stands out in every scene he's in and truly becomes his character. THAT, is acting. Lai Lok Yi is still pretty far from new TVB talents such as Myolie Wu and Raymond Lam, but I see potential in him. He's pretty good-looking too, and his looks and his height adds to his charisma on the screen. A terrific performance in the beach scene when Lam confronts him, definitely the best part of the series. I've only seen this actor in one other series, and ironically, it's in Aqua Heroes (as Theresa's boyfriend Joe). He definitely showcases a lot more skills in this series with the meatiest role and is the actor who manages to engage the audience the most. I actually cared about what happened to this character, and this was not the case for any of the other actors.

In general, the acting is a disappointment. The actors, with the exception of maybe Lai Lok Yi, Race Wong, Sam Chan, and Elaine Yiu, seem to have acted "on the spot", as in the series seems like the first time they've seen the script. There's zero depth, the characters and the plot are pretty much 2-dimensional and the performances further reinforce that fact. But remember, this is a teenybopper series directed at 15-year-olds. The puppy love and petty rivalries are very reminiscent of high school times, and the targeted audience will be quite satisfied with this series and fall in love with all the pretty people. As for me, the series accomplishes its mission and despite the terrible acting, its cheesiness and youth can bring back some fond memories of friendships and such. In terms of teenybopper movies and series, I've seen worse. Edward Leung is really dull as Kim Sir (I've never liked him much as an actor), although Eileen Chow is slightly more likeable as Miss Cheng. Chin Ka Lok plays an unbelievably silly principal, quite a cartoonish portrayal that takes away from the already-lacking credibility of this series.

Things That Make You Go "Huh"?

1. Where's everyone's parents in this series? We only get to see Lok and Yat's parents and only like 2 minutes of Don's parents (his father, as mentioned, is played by Sam Chan's real-life father Sek Sau). We know Lam Lam is from overseas (I guess her parents are still there) and that she lives in HK with her aunt, who happens to be Miss Cheng at Shung Ngai Academy. Are the rest orphans? But then again, this series is only 11 episodes long. Guess they can't fit that much detail in.

2. Why do Kim Sir and Wong Sir outwardly pursue Miss Cheng at the school? I mean, Kim Sir proposes to Miss Cheng in front of the trophy case for gosh sakes! Don't they have any sense of professionalism at all? But then again, with a principal like Chin Ka Lok, Shung Ngai probably doesn't put that much emphasis on being professional anyway.

3. Remember the flashback scene with child Yat giving child Lam Lam the four leaf clover? What's with those people in suits walking around with red umbrellas? That was the most thoroughly bizarre scene I've ever seen done by TVB.

4. Don agreeing to try out a relationship with Ching right after he sees Lam Lam half-reveal her feelings for Yat. I know teenagers change fast, but that was a bit too fast, don't you think?

5. Man Man who, half an episode later, already has feelings for Lung, and immediately asks him about his feelings. I don't understand how feelings and stuff can come so fast?

6. When Lung almost falls off a cliff during the sportsmanship competition and Don holds onto him and tells him he's never thought of him as a "dog" and has always thought of him as a brother. Oh please. That's so fake, Don always saw Lung as a dog and a slave- during the draw at the beginning Lung had to take over Don's place because Don didn't want to date Man Man, and then everything else too.

7. Don't students wear uniforms in HK schools? What kind of school is this?

8. Why don't we see the parents' reactions at all after Lok's death?

9. Speaking of Lok's death, why put such a dramatic plot turn in such a teenybopper, undeveloped, and short series? This was a very bad move on the writers' part...they didn't have enough time to "foreshadow" it and the surprise was a surprise all right, but the bad kind of surprise. The series is so short that it didn't allow enough time for the characters to deal with such a tragic event. An unjustified plot turn. Especially since Don Li's acting is so boring that the dead character was forgotten almost immediately afterwards.

On the Fencing

The sport is a ke-le-fe...in that it is truly a backdrop, even more of one than swimming was in Aqua Heroes. It doesn't really come into play until Lok dies, and the actors do manage to look fairly decent doing the sport. By the way, fencing originates in France. So the three words you hear the "referee" saying to begin the match are as follows: "En garde" (on guard), "Pres" (ready), "Allez" (go).

For more information on the sport, visit Fencing.net

Extra Extra Read All About It

This series was played as a "special" in Hong Kong, airing only once a week. Word has it that they will be filming a sequel...hopefully the acting improves by then and maybe even (god forbid) lengthen the number of episodes so that we get to see a more well-rounded plot and characters. HoF is also loosely based on the hypnotically popular Taiwanese series Meteor Garden. The two leads, as mentioned, are modelled after Shan Chai and DaoMingSi from MG, and the opening credits are extremely reminiscent of the MG2 opening credits- a bunch of pretty young people in blinding white clothes running on the beach smiling as if their faces will crack, to a cheesy-but-touching theme song. But of course, Meteor Garden is a lot better than this series.

Final Consensus

If you thought Aqua Heroes was bad, definitely stay away. If you're looking for a well-written, well-produced, or well-acted seres, stay away also. Keep in mind this is not a "normal" TVB series. No profession, no veteran actors...even the older actors in this series are like C-rate. This series is only worth a glance if you're into the "new n' fresh", or if you're part of the (very narrow) target audience. Go in with zero expectations and you may find something you like. But don't expect too much...my opinion is, if you got through Good vs. Evil, you'll be able to find something likeable in this series. It's cheese, but sometimes it's good cheese.

Rating

Screencaps

TVB.com

Hearts Of Fencing [TVB]

Posted on December 30, 2004 under labels Reviewer - Bridget Au, Series [HKTVB], TV Series. Currently this post has No comments .

Written by Bridget Au

"In general, the acting is a disappointment..."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Screencaps

TVB.com

Looking For Stars [MediaCorp]

Posted on December 30, 2004 Currently this post has 1 comment .

Written by Funn Lim

"I think the entire basis of this series is to capitalise on her much speculated love life with real life lover, Christopher Lee and to promote her songs, because this series is like one long MTV."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Cast

Fann Wong

Christopher Lee

San Yow

Vivian Lai

Ix Shen

Cynthia Koh

Episodes

12

Produced by

MediaCorp, Singapore

Plot

The entire series is about a girl named Orange (Fann Wong), from her childhood to her chance meeting with a hairdresser named Henry (Christopher Lee), their love affair over the space of I think 5 years, their separation, the return of Henry, this time as a lawyer with focus on Orange as a successful manager in an insurance company and their blossoming love (again) which was disrupted by the appearance of Ke-Ai who claims she is the daughter of Henry and one of old flame, who so happens to be a very rich woman who intends to use her daughter to reclaim lost love and of course Orange's growing closeness to Ke Ai and her reluctance to take away a father from his daughter and her mother and a further I think 2 years separation. Maybe 3, can't remember. The point is I started watching this series in episode 10 because I didn't know it was being broadcast, at all.

Anyway, the long one taken from MediaCorp website.

Somewhat of a chronicle of Orange's life (from late teens to mid-thirties), Looking for Stars offers fast paced development and a movie-like feel that turns this twelve-parter into a captivating story. The story goes that Orange was born a happy child, even though she had only her mother with her. However, her life nose-dipped during her Varsity days when her mother suddenly left the country with her lover, leaving Orange all alone in Singapore. Replete with resentment not just for her mother but everyone else, Orange diverts all her energy and attention to her insurance career and becomes ambitious, even unscrupulous. That is, until she meets Henry (Christopher) in Japan and has a one-night stand with him. However, both parties write off the encounter as a frivolous romp but chance has them come together again. Back home in Singapore when they unexpectedly meet, their romance seems to have taken a turn for the worst as Orange and Henry come off on the wrong foot. As love dawns on the pair, wider riffs tear them apart as old loves and fear of commitment hold Orange back. Things worsen when her former boyfriend returns with hopes of salvaging their relationship. Confusion sends Orange to seek solace at the beach and as she gazes at the stars, she is washed with memories. When Henry wins her over with a pair of star shaped earrings, friction again drives them apart as the seemingly different individuals get the better of each other. Despite the changes that the couple forces onto their lives, they decide to part their ways eventually. Henry matures as he strives to prove to Orange and himself that he is capable of success. Orange too finds herself changing as under Henry's influence, she learns sensitivity and although apart, their love for each other remains. Then curiously in Japan, the place where they first met, Henry sees Orange again and notices the star shaped earrings that have held so much significance to them both, so elegantly worn by Orange. At that, the couple remembers love and realizes that their love for each other will never change.

Comments

My only reason for watching this series is because of Fann Wong who looked gorgeous in here, and very thin but very nice hairdo. It was nice to see faces that I can put a name to but I can't remember their characters' name, maybe one or two. When you have a series where the lead was called Orange, and her best friend was an effeminate hair dresser named Tequila, frankly, I have no other expectation for this series other than to see Fann Wong looking gorgeous. You can't take a series like this seriously when they can't even name their characters properly.

The one thing that struck me when I saw this series was the lens used, because it was blur and the cinematography was gorgeous. And with Fann Wong in high heeled boots and Christopher Lee in suits in sunny Singapore, it is interesting to see both of them looking fresh and attractive all the time. Her waif like figure was distracting, and so was Christopher Lee's waif like figure. I can't decide who was thinner by looking it on a gender basis. I do realise Vivian Lai was really not that thin and she looked very different from her Holland V character but sadly that was the only difference.

Plot wise, this series is seriously lacking, performance wise not much realism and sentiments wise, I really want to like this series but wanting and actual feeling is very much different.

Plot

This series boasts the minimum of plot. I may have missed 80% of it, but from what I read, I didn't miss much. This series doesn't try to pretend to be serious in any way nor is it a serious commentary on the issues with regards to love or even single parenthood. It is merely a series which feels very much like Fann Wong's MTV with the same bloody song playing again and again and again in every other scene. It feels like an overlong MTV, to cut the long story short.

But there was a plot, albeit a very basic one. We see things through Orange (why not Strawberry or Mango I wonder?) who was eternal sunshine from where I was starting to watch, ever nice, ever soft, polite, optimistic, in short full of the goodness of Vitamin C. Then we see Henry, the serious one but still one hell of a bloke. They parted ways 5 years ago, where since then Orange has matured, Henry has got his law degree from, surprise surprise, Cambridge and they missed each other terribly. I think they met in Japan, Tokyo to be precise and had a one night stand and had a very explosive relationship and parted on very bad terms. But this I read from the MediaCorp site, not the most dependable infosite when it comes to summaries. All well should end well but suddenly a daughter appears. I think this girl is the saving grace of this series because she is such a good actress and she does indeed live up to her name, Ke-Ai (cute). But how she appeared and how Orange suddenly just persuade Henry to accept her without first checking her background, doing some DNA tests and being angry as any new girlfriend would in her situation is beyond my understanding. She went all out to make the girl feel at home and loved the girl like her own, and then the mother (Cynthia Koh) appears who is a direct contrast to Fann. First, Cynthia has this red lipstick on as opposed to bubblegum colour of Fann's and she looks ultra serious whilst Fann looks demure, all the time. There were no serious fight over the man, just Cynthia holding him one night begging him to come back to her (after so many years apart) and Fann on the day of her wedding suffered serious injury to her head when she fell down after trying to persuade Ke-Ai to come down from the beams (I do not know the name of those things that one usually finds in a park). Ke-Ai was very emotional because she just found out daddy was marrying another. There was a brief coma, she woke up and then she left so that Ke-Ai can have her father. And guess what? Henry actually married the mother but the mother demanded for a divorce 2 years later and told him to go look for Orange and then he found her and they fell in love again.

For me this is a pointless exercise. I do not believe a person must marry the other for the sake of a child because at the end of the day there is no happiness in forcing a fake love from someone. Affection maybe, but not love and the child will suffer too for the lack of love between parents. What is unbelievable about this series is it is trying to create a climax that may make audiences go "Oh no, poor Orange, poor Henry, can they ever be together ever again?" The answer is obvious isn't it? And that is why this series is such a bad series. It is predictable at all the places it shouldn't be and not very predictable in all the places which ended predictably. I dislike the fact that in an attempt to make Henry more father-like or Orange more agreeable that these two characters just play along with the ploy of the child's mother who isn't the villain but should have been.

There was a sub plot on Orange's best friends, Tequila (San Yow) an effiminate hair dresser and his wife (Vivian Lai), a very materialistic insurance agent under Orange's management. The wife was clearly having an affair with a far richer client to which her husband was clueless about and how Orange tried to persuade her to not be stupid and she blamed Orange for everything and how at last after a mistake she did by submitting a signed agreement late which could result in non-compensation to a poor family and her losing her job & seeing her rich love with another pretty girl all in 1 episode she suddenly ran back to her husband, very apologetic and wanting him again.

The entire series is just too pretentious and too light hearted in dealing with very serious and heavy issues that I find it ... well ... I just can't take it seriously. If not for Fann Wong, I would say this has got to be the worst series I have seen coming from MediaCorp thus far.

Maybe there are reasons to watch it ... there must be ...

Performances Evaluated

For me, it was Fann Wong. One reason, one person. Acting wise, she is always good but diversity wise, she is getting too stagnant, too predictable and too complacent with the same look. Hairstyle may be different, but that demure look and polite whisper is getting a bit too pretentious for me. I want to see her in a different role, a villainous role perhaps or a role that requires real acting and not just prancing around looking good and hugging her real life lover whilst denying they aren't lovers when we all know they are. This series is like a child's play for her, she can just sleep walk through the entire series, acting is not a priority, looking good is. I am very disappointed. I thought she has had it with demure roles and I was pretty happy with her performance in Brotherhood but then she comes out with this dud and I am disappointed. She is capable of so much more, like Vicky Zhao she is capable of more better roles, as she is beautiful, she is a great actress and she has such tremendous presence. But like Vicky Zhao, she has very poor taste in selecting scripts. I think the entire basis of this series is to capitalise on her much speculated love life with real life lover, Christopher Lee and to promote her songs, because this series is like one long MTV. It doesn't test her acting wise and that makes me angry.

Christopher Lee is interesting for me to comment on. I last saw him in Brotherhood where he gave a above average performance of a man that I find it hard to take pity on. It is good that he takes such challenging role but sometimes his acting limitations limits his well, capabilities as an actor. In this series, his character is a character any average actor can act in so it is important that he offers something more than just acting, he must offer something interesting to hold the viewers' attention. I like the fact that we Malaysia showed to the Asian world we have such a tall good looking male actor, we are not just short pimply dark skinned skinny guys. We have tall, dark skinned, good looking, flawless complexion skinny guys. But that's where it all ends. Christopher Lee is a very suffering looking actor. I feel he will be perfect for a character that has been through much and seen it all because he looks naturally sad and morose. You may say he looks serious but I find his face morose, sad and depressing looking. He is a capable actor of the average sort, and he shares a great chemistry with Fann, very few real life loves do. But the problem is he is only interesting when he is around Fann Wong, on screen. He becomes boring when he is alone in a scene. I read that he is a cheerful guy in real life and I just wish that cheerfulness translates into his on screen persona but very rare, very rare.

San Yow is one actor who is constantly surprising me, because he has yet to be in the same two roles that I have seen thus far. He is always different but not very refreshing because how refreshing can an actor be when he is in every series I have watched thus far albeit in different roles? But acting wise, this is one good actor but thanks to his very convincing performance in Holland V, I still can't shake off his lusty and abusive image. This of course speaks volume of this man's immense talent. But unfortunately there is a limit to that talent and his limit is in this series. He plays an effiminate man, but he looks way too deliberately effiminate without any spontaneity. I realise with much regret he is not Xie Shaoguang and his performance in here is seriously lacking in ... what was the word I used? Oh yes, spontaneity. I do not like his performance in here.

Vivian Lai is one actress I never liked. I thought she was the worst in Holland V but she garnered a following after that series. I saw some of her scenes in Double Happiness and I thought she looked no more different than in Holland V, except I remember she looked a bit messy and she was walking funny. I saw some episodes of Three Women And A Half, and her dressing there was similar to this series, as in sexy and with very nice make up and a very deliberately done hair. Acting wise, she was no different from Holland V. She gives an illusion to the viewers that she is a good actress, because she has thus far played different roles but the only difference I see thus far is the characters she played (as in description), but not the actress or the acting itself. She is the same, all over. And even when she is the same and I compare herself with herself, she is totally inadequate as an actress. Her emoting abilities in this series itself, like vindictive, slutty, angry, dissatisfied, all translates into mild annoyances on her part. She just looks mildly annoyed but not much more. I wonder is there fire in this woman. Her voice is forever even toned, sometimes I wonder is there life in her voice? And when she does raise her voice, it is only by a few notches but not much. She is a Taiwanese, that I do know and her Chinese is very clear, her diction very good. But with her even toned voice and her deliberate attempt to talk calmly and in even tone, she gives me an impression she is hosting a language course and not acting. I find her over rated and I hope to see less of her unless she gives something different.

Cynthia Koh surprises me with her ultra serious and uninspired performance. She looked tired and she makes me feel tired.

I was very surprised to learn that the guy who plays Christopher's rival in this series for Fann's affection is Ix Shen, the current beau of Ericia Lee and one of those lucky few selected by MediaCorp in the cross over. And watching him in this series makes my blood boil not because of the man himself but because he got selected and the one I was expecting to be selected didn't. I must say he is a very tall man, but looks wise is seriously lacking and acting wise, even more so. Maybe he can host, or maybe he can sing but I wasn't impressed with his acting. My reaction towards him is the same as my reaction towards Qi Yuwu, and it was "Is that it?!". Apparently, yes.

Verdict

Strictly for fans of the stars in this series. By the way Fann Wong's hair looks gorgeous.

Rating

Interesting Scene

One very interesting one where Christopher was seen in a swimming trunk (and I rather not have seen that scene) whilst Fann was not in a swim suit but in short pants and white shirt. Why not a swimsuit??

Interesting Question

Is MediaCorp in serious need of a teen idol? A heart throb? A new lead as the older ones are growing older and pudgier or skinnier each day?

I would argue yes. Who could be a candidate? Some say Tay Ping Hui who has been around forever. I agree, because he is good looking, he is surprisingly a good actor and I like him. On the younger front, there is this much promoted Qi Yuwu (or 715 as his fans called him) from China and frankly, he is tall, he is skinny and he looks like Ah Beng to me. Worse still is his acting. I refuse to comment on his acting because that would only give many an impression I am celebrating mediocrity. No, less than mediocrity. He has zero presence. He can stand there and I still wouldn't notice him.

Oh yes, MediaCorp needs a new guy. I am not going to say who because I want my man to break away from MediaCorp and go global.

As for women, is MediaCorp in need of a new queen / princess? Fann Wong still looks young, she can still take on lead roles but Zoe Tay may be more happier as a mother after the birth of her first child. The others do not exist because it was always Zoe or Fann. But let's look at the older ones... I like Jaclyn Tay, I find her a class act and I find her a very good actress. One name often mentioned amongst the old timers (and she is not old) is Huang Biren but I find her range too limited. On the younger front there's the emerging 2nd princess, Jeanette Aw who thanks to her .. ok I won't be bitter about it. But she is a rising star but acting wise ... looks wise ... presence wise ... she is not in the league of Fann Wong or even Zoe Tay. She will be a star but that is thanks to the PR dept of MediaCorp. I heard of Felicia Chin but she got bombarded more than praised.

What do you think? Who can be the new King/Queen of MediaCorp and the new Prince/Princess?

Looking For Stars [MediaCorp]

Posted on December 30, 2004 under labels Reviewer - Funn Lim, Series [Singapore], TV Series. Currently this post has 1 comment .

Written by Funn Lim

"I think the entire basis of this series is to capitalise on her much speculated love life with real life lover, Christopher Lee and to promote her songs, because this series is like one long MTV."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Seed Of Hope [TVB]

Posted on December 18, 2004 Currently this post has 6 comments .

Written by Funn Lim

"I realised after watching this series, Kenix Kwok is one actress I can't quite place her in a specific category, that is whether she is a good actress but became predictable, or a bad actress pretending to be a good actress that became predictable."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Cast

As I did not follow this series closely and I could not find a review with the full cast list, I will write my review using the names of the actors that I do know.

Patrick Tam - Ah Lik (Nick)

Kenix Kwok - Min

Anne Heung - Ally Kau

Ellesmere Choi

Kingdom Yuen

Wayne Lai

Gregory Lee

Mark Kwok

Cheung Chi Kwong

Kok Fung

No. of Episodes

30

Released In

2003

Summary

Lik is a high flying successful financial wiz who is sentenced to 240 hours of social work after being arrested for substance abuse where he began a life changing process as he met and helped children from difficult families.

Plot

Basically like the summary with some additions.

Patrick wasn't a very happy man as his demanding father demanded that his only son be more like him in business; ruthless, cunning, unforgiving. So Lik languished away in his father's financial institution until one day he was arrested and sentenced to 240 hours of community service. There he met Kenix, a very positive and loving social worker from the Children's Home who view each child as a gift and each assignment as something akin to sacred task. But Kenix's demanding boyfriend, Ellesmere (a social worker himself who is looking over Patrick's record) isn't too happy with the growing closeness between these two individuals and did many bad things that ended up with Kenix breaking off her relationship with this useless bastard. Then of course it was Anne's turn to be very unhappy with this turn of events since as Patrick's high flying career woman legal advisor cum girlfriend, she felt neglected. And when he friend Mark was arrested for molesting one of the troubled teenager at Children's Home, she went all out to win the case to prove it to Patrick that Kenix and Children's Home were all fake, were all unreal, that she was the real one, the one who cared about him the most. She ended up making Patrick feel nothing but disgust and he left her. Unrelenting like the way she handled her cases, she drove Kenix into an accident and caused Kenix to suffer from temporary blindness which in a way helped Patrick and Kenix to feel more for each other. In the end, Anne chose to assist her father, Kok Fung and his sleazy partner in crime Wayne Lai to fleece Patrick's father off some major cash but ended losing big. Patrick's father who was no longer on talking terms with Patrick, his (father) brother Cheung Chi Kwong (a struggling but sincere artist teaching the children from the home to paint) and his girlfriend, Rebecca but what they all didn't know as the father was suffering from major heart ailment. Wayne and Kok knew and they ended up causing the father to suffer a major life threatening stroke. Whilst the father was in coma, Wayne and Kok took this opportunity to take over the company and Patrick was kicked out of the board because he had a criminal record. To cut the long story short, the old man woke up, the bad guys didn't get the company, Cheung Chi Kwong ended up as the chairman of the board and Patrick got kidnapped instead. Kenix went to save him and was almost raped that she became so traumatised (she herself was sexually molested as a child) that she withdrew into her own world. Patrick tried to help and felt guilty but to no avail as she withdrew further into her own reality.

So what happens then?

No need to go hunting for the ending. I shall reveal it all.

Questions Asked And Answered

The ending please?

Oh yes, the kids drew some paintings that jolted Kenix from her inability to connect with the real world, she saw one painting of a frog she couldn't recognise was done by who and suddenly the frog came to life, hop, hop, hop and stopped right before her Prince Charming that is Patrick, he smiled, she smiled, they hugged, credits rolled and next day we have Armed Reaction IV!

That's it?

Oh yes. So what happens to Wayne and Kok you asked? I think they will be jailed of course. It's just interesting that after so many hiccups to their magnificent plan to cheat, lie and commit fraud, these guys (Wayne, Kok and in a way Anne) could sitll be planning more evil deeds. Maybe they should just stop and work hard but these people just go on and on and on...

What happened to Anne?

She may have been unscrupulous in white collar crimes but this woman refuses to do the heavy duty ones like kidnapping. So I give her credit for that. Anyway, she saw Patrick and told him she was going to China (I think, can't remember) to start anew, and her expressions were like almost pleading for some response from Patrick but Patrick at this point felt totally zero for this woman just said, in a bland expressionless "I don't give a damn" voice, "Oh, ok, bon voyage". Something like that. So Anne left, maybe regretting becoming a total heartless bitch. If anything I learn that there is a difference between white collar crime and so called blue collar crime. Even criminals have a code of ethics!

What happened to Ellesmere?

I don't know. Useless boyfriend probably went away? He lost his career anyway for punching Patrick out of nonsensical jealousy.

What happened to all the children at Children's Home?

Happy, jolly, without parents? I don't know. What is truly unbelievable is how happy these children are. Of course they're miserable at first, but after a few days and some heart to heart talk with Kenix, they all became happy, despite the fact that mommy and daddy were no where to be seen.

What happened to Gregory Lee?

He was the son of the couple who managed the Children's Home. Attitue problems caused him his job at Patrick's company and then he worked for a loan shark, became a tai kor himself and then I think took the fall for Wayne Lai and was imprisoned. No news of him towards the end, so maybe he was still languishing in jail.

Really, Funn, what is Patrick's occupation?

Well Anne is his lawyer, her father owns the law firm handling all matters of Patrick's father's company. Wayne Lai is Patrick's assistant. Gregory Lee works for a loan shark who works for Wayne Lai. The company gives out loan. So you can say Patrick is a loan shark, in the legitimate sense. Definitely not a bank, maybe you can say it's a financial investment/loan company. Ok, loan shark, minus the teeth in the more brutal sense.

Really, Funn, is all social worker like Kenix, so much energy in such a tiny teensy frame?

The energy she has is really very admirable, if I were her weight, I probably be blown away by the typhoon or something. Anyway, who knows? Low paying job often requires dedication and passion for the job itself. Except for teaching in Malaysia of course, so maybe low paying job doesn't always equal passion and dedication. What you expect Kenix to do? Complain, cry, kick and be bitchy? Oh no, that is Anne's job in here, the lawyer. How typical.

But Funn Funn Funn, why they always show a kind hearted person so too kind hearted? Like why Kenix advised Patrick to just forgive those darn white collar ciminals?

I wonder too myself as I am sure you wonder too. Bad woman like Anne is uncompromising, do many bad things without battling an eyelid, unable to forgive, whilst Kenix is so kind hearted until she advises dear Patrick to think in the shoes of those bad guys when right next to her lies the old father of Patrick who just suffered a major stroke no thanks in part to Wayne and Kok who refused to save him. Of course you might argue old man was too uncompromising, giving these two guys unfair deals (which was brought about by the oldman discovering that these two guys time and time again tried to defraud him and his company) so they were forced. Nobody can force anybody unless they wanted too. I find it utterly ridiculous to hear Kenix say "Maybe they didn't meant to ...". I thought Patrick was right to give these two a hard time, because then he wouldn't be called his father's son and I wouldn't see him as a man. Sometimes forgiveness is great, very good but sometimes, just sometimes I would wish in a TVB world that one character would not utter such wholesome and wholly unrealistic advice. "Forgive them my dear? I will, when they end up in hell for what they did to my father ...". These guys will never stop, even if you stop chasing them because they will always come back and haunt you with more bad deeds. They needed a lesson and the great scene was Patrick being uncompromising but alas, only half an episode.

Comments

I didn't feel like watching this series at first, because I thought it was like Reaching Out. I saw Kenix Kwok as the social worker and my mind immediately shut off. Of course I also missed one week's worth of this series due to my Penang trip so basically I missed quite a number of episodes. I started to watch this series seriously maybe a week before it ended its run on Wah Lai Toi. Maybe it is because I missed too many episodes that when I started watching it was 100% drama. I seriously dislike sugary moments, I dislike love stories despite my propensity towards watching Taiwanese series and I do not like to watch a series that is like a public service announcement.

In a way this series is a public service announcement. Do charity work, do community service, love the kids, you'll definitely be more happy. But is that really true? My main concern about this series is the depiction of the troubled children or rather children from troubled homes. In the end despite the parents leaving the children at the Children's Home, etc there isn't really one really neglectful parent, or if there is one I must have missed it. The series tries to emphasise, rather heavily on one point; children are abandoned because of various serious problems and parents always try to take their children back.

Children's Home is not an orphanage, it is like a shelter, a half way house for parents who can't afford to take care of the children or couldn't. So naturally it is quite fine to show parents loving their children naturally but forced by circumstances to place them there, for a while.

We have stories about children being physically abused by their parents (in this case a violent young boy who was always being beaten by his father that he himself became very violent) but actually the father really loved the son. Beating the child was his only way of expressing his love and concern for his son. A nice touch though that this series showed the son turning very violent, pushing other kids as a result of thinking violence or being a bully can empower oneself. Which is not true of course.

There are also stories about a dedicated young son who pretended to be on good terms with his remorseful father when his mother was dying of cancer, which was very touching and real because the father had spent almost half his life disappointing his wife and his own son. There was also the story about an abandoned rich kid who was anti social and couldn't cope with the reality that maybe, just maybe his mom didn't want him, which was not true.

But the most memorable storyline had to be this teenage girl who was trouble from the word go who got Patrick into serious problem and then herself faces her biggest dilemma; she was sexually molested and couldn't tell anyone. She ended up falsely accusing the caretaker of Children's Home of doing the bad deed (or rather she didn't deny it wasn't him) and in the end had to face the sexual predator in court in several emotional encounters. Her parents who were divorcing one another ended up reconciling due to their mutual love and concern for their only child. I find this story the purest and the truest of all stories; it could happen and it had happened before. My only concern is sometimes such issues are so sensitive, that the writer never really specify whether she was sexually molested, assaulted or raped and one had to infer from what was said and done. In this case it was concluded she wasn't raped.

The entire basis of this series is meant to preach, so I don't mind the preaching. I quite like the stories actually but I find them missing certain realism. The stories are reality based I am sure but there are more heart wrenching and more important aspects that could have been told. Perhaps an even more real story would have been parents who didn't care nothing for their children, abandoning them with neighbours who can't afford to take care of them. Everyday I open the newspaper and I will read how parents left the children with the nanny and ran away, how a young boy was abandoned at a bus stop at Johor Bahru and the mother no where to be seen. The worst was of course how relatives found out the father had been sexually abusing the young children and the mother did nothing. Oh no, the worst had to be the one where the father killing all three of his children then killing himself after his wife demanded for a divorce. I myself encountered one where both parents professed their undying love for their children and yet each refused to take care of the children or even pay for their upbringing. All these children, if they survived would have come under the welfare department or sent to shelter homes. I even read one where a young boy was so fillial that he stopped schooling to work at restaurants to take care of his ailing grandmother. I am sure HK must be full of these stories, as every other day I would read how a mother would throw herself and her children down the building when she found out her husband has a mistress in China. Surely the writer could have written more serious issues, more serious than the ones depicted.

That I feel is the inadequacy of this series. I am not complaining on the content, I am just wondering why stop at a certain limit, why not give it more by going beyond the accepted norm and show us the real, more wider type of problems? I am sure not all parents love their children unconditionally, not all children after being so loved by their social worker would not yearn to go home or even cry their hearts out every night before sleeping or even hate their parents and love a stranger more.

I have been through such personal incidences that I feel a special connection to the children depicted in this series, but I do know TVB romanticised some of the problems. Maybe reality is too harsh but sometimes I am a bit bored with the watered down version. Which was I I enjoyed the story about that teenage girl who was molested when shoplifting. Because it's real, it's happening almost every day, it shows real trauma, really ugly stuff and the ending may be a bit frustrating when the girl went beserk but it's all real and I accept that. I want ugliness, because the society we live in today is ugly. Maybe TVB is afraid of scaring the viewer but change to CNN or read Malaysian papers and guess what? Not even TV could show such ugly truths. The world today we live in is no longer save for children and adults alike and I am not talking about war or terrorism but your uncle, that old kind looking grandpa ... they're are the scariest.

Maybe I should narrate a bit about my own personal experience. I didn't suffer or anything but I went through a similar experience like perhaps that rich boy left behind by his mom or the children placed in a stranger's home because the mother or father couldn't take care of that child. It was real but really, it wasn't that bad.

My parents divorced when I was very little, they did not love one another, my father hardly knew I existed, I hardly realised I have siblings, my mother who was uneducated and had no working experience took me alone and placed me with nannies. If in today's world, I would have no doubt these homes would be akin to shelter homes or even like this Children's Home. I wasn't that lucky or maybe I was lucky in some sense. I was lucky the adults genuinely cared about me, but frankly every time I see my mom, tired from working whole day I would drag out all my clothes and begged her to take me home. She couldn't of course. I got shifted from one house to another, I could have been like that girl who was sexually molested but I was lucky that I was then living in a world that children still have their innocence without adults taking it all away. Of course I met the occasional bully.

Then finally I stayed with this well to do family, and come to think of it, I don't think they needed my mom's money to take care of me, so maybe they were doing charity work. I still remember the kind old lady, she prepared my breakfasts, and of course I remember her son who took it onto himself to provide me with tuition, like a Nazi would in caring for the Jews in a concentration camp. I remember having to kneel in front of his room the whole night when I couldn't do some maths and the floor I remember was tiles and his room was outside the balcony. It was only after some time that I remembered I had siblings much much older than I was and after a year or so my mother finally realised I wasn't much happier like this and I went home to stay with my father. Truth be told, I was skipping that day, turning my back away from these people. I think the old lady had died since. I remembered she was a devout Christian and till this day I still remember that man's face. Was what I went through with that man considered child abuse? I still don't quite realise it then, maybe it was. Looking back now, I feel nothing really but my sisters would shed a tear, calling these lost years the times when my level of intelligence dropped from genius to smart. Oh yes, I was supposed to be darn smart and chatty when I was a kid. In a way I do think perhaps I may have lost a little, but these little experiences I went through made my childhood rather memorable.

Back to this series, like I said emphatised with the children and their stories but I wished for more serious depiction, to show not just bad parents by circumstances but bad parents by nature or by choice. That would have made this series even more challenging to act in and more interesting to watch.

Which is why the depiction between Patrick and Anne's relationship was more interesting to watch because Anne's character was very unpredictable and Patrick's character not as simple as he looks.

Anne's character, Ally is a contradiction. I hated her, and yet symphatised with her. Her entire career is ruined not really because of her jealousy of Kenix and love for Patrick (I doubt she really knew how to love at all but rather the need to feel in control) but because of her father's greed. I feel this character could have been a direct opposite to the children's story. I always wondered, whether Ally's father realised what he was doing was ruining his daughter's career and life? One can argue she ruined her own life. But as a father, one must not encourage a crime but her father was perpertrating one and expected his daughter to get involved as well. They're always planning some deception together with Wayne Lai who is a caricature of a failed criminal that after some time I just had to laugh at their predicament. Like Patrick's father said to Wayne, "If you want to be a dog, try to be a loyal dog!" when their plans to cheat the old man of some money failed big time. Luck wasn't on their side.

Back to Anne's character. I don't quite understand her, but I do know she thought she was right when she was fighting for her friend's case (that molestation case). She was very hard on that little girl because she thought the little girl was lying. And yet when she lost and she found out the truth, she didn't seem too bothered with the fact that her friend was a sexual predator, and that kinda threw out my entire analysis that she did all she did because she thought she was right. She has no conscience. The only time she had some was when Patrick was kidnapped but that was to redeem her character. That was done in such a forced manner, I didn't quite believe it. No doubt she was a bitch. A major one.

Now we have Patrick's character, Ah Lik or Ah Nick, I didn't quite catch the L or N. I didn't watch the first few episodes so I missed out how a calm man like him could have been destroying himself with drugs. Anyway, I like this Ah Lik. Even in the worst circumstances he is still cool and calm. Some may say no expressions but I do not agree. I would say this is one cool man even if under fire. I also liked the way he talked to Ally, the indifference althout Ally was hoping perhaps some words of recognition, that she still matters. I would have been like Ah Lik, I would stare at her and say a friendly bon voyage and move on. A good ending.

Now I want to concentrate a big chunk of my discussion not really on the character played by Kenix, as I am rather speechless as to this character but on second thought, if I were to criticise this character as eternal sunshine, too positive, too nice, too unreal to the point of so not human, I would be criticised for criticising an angel. I don't want that. Let's just say this woman had been through a traumatic childhood but she lived through it, and became stronger because she had so much passion in her for life. She is as passionate about her work as she is passion for living a good and meaningful life. The fact that she retreated to her own world when she was almost raped when saving Ah Lik is understandable. What is not believable is how she recovered from it, and that I think is the problem not just with the writing but with the actress herself.

Before I move on, I want to comment a bit about basically two annoying factors in this series, apart from some performances which I shall discuss later.

The themesong for one. Sung by Mr Beautiful Voice, Patrick Tam, he sang like he was dying or perhaps lifeless. I haven't heard such a depressing sounding song since forever. Not only no beat, no tone and no rhythm, the worst was no joy. When I heard the song, again and again, I felt like I'm Harry Potter facing a bunch of Dementors, all joy sucked out from me and then I recovered when the song ended. The song is like so tone deaf, so dead.

The ending had to be the crux of this series, as in dropping from the sky with a heavy thud. The scene prior to that was dramatic, as Kenix was fighting that rapist to guard her own innocence, how Lik was fighting to save her and how Ai Wai was trying to decide what to do, whether to save himself or to save Kenix. Then she was saved and she was so traumatised that she couldn't bear to talk, she went into self induced coma (as in don't want to wake up, don't want to face reality whilst still wearing a nice shade of lip gloss and perfectly permed hair) and then of course how she finally woke up, saw some paintings and memories coming back to her as she remembered the children. At this point I thought she was suffering from amnesia, maybe amnesia induced by severe trauma. Then she saw one painting she couldn't recognise, wondering who drew it and then, something magical happened, the frog came to life. At this point I thought perhaps she was suffering from post traumatic delusions. And then the frog hopped, hopped, hopped then disappear and then reappear and hopped, hopped, hopped and there it stopped at Patrick's feet. So he must have drew the painting and well they hugged. Ending. Just like that, no rhyme, no reason, hug and end, before that a magical frog. There must be some meaning to this but I am lost as to this. Because just 1 minute earlier she was like so traumatised she can't bear to open her eyes. 1 minute later after some paintings and a frog, she's a-ok again. I find it too fast, too unbelievable. No doubt the children healed her, but they have always been there for her. It would have been better IF she withdrew into her world even more and the children came to her, crying, begging for her to be better and Lik hugging her in a very protective manner making her feel safe again and then she finally really opens her eyes and slowly smile in a gradual manner. Not like suddenly. The ending was inadequate, but not the worst I have seen.

Performances Evaluated

I find the performances by the children very interesting but not all very satisfying. Notable ones are that violent boy (I recognise him, but I do know his name), the rich kid, that sissy looking boy with the cancer stricken mother and the best of the lot, that sexually molested girl with a moustache. I am sorry to say I have to label them as such because I do not know their names. I find that teenage girl to be the best of the lot, her arrogance and defiance at first and then her fear, her anger, her pain, all very well acted out.

Mark Kwok deserves a mention. For once he is not the jealous creepy bastard boyfriend (Ellesmere Choi has that honour in here, and he did very well if you ask me) but he is the supposedly nice gay guy on the surface but deep down a sexual predator, a paedophile disguising himself as a jolly gay guy. That scene where he touched that girl and slowly opened her blouse was so effective, I felt so disgusted with this man. Very brave actor to take on such a role and he looked the part in a way.

Ai Wai definitely deserves a mention as well as the no good father who turned over a new leaf. The dilemma he felt when he saw Kenix about to be raped and yet afraid to blow his cover (he thought he was helping his friends transport some stolen cars when actually the guys were planning to kidnap Ah Lik). The dilemma was there in his eyes, one very fine acting moment. One nice thing though is his character wasn't imprisoned at last. He was not at fault, he didn't know any way so it was nice to see that for once a good guy wasn't sentenced to jail simply because he participated in a crime.

Cheung Chi Kwong was quite alright as the stuttering artist and I love the scene where in the board room whilst stuttering, he scolded Anne, Kok and Wayne for cheating his brother and doing bad deeds. Not a very eloquent man but he got the message across. But his stuttering annoyed me because I was impatient for him to just finish his lines (nothing wrong with his performance though) and I dislike the pretentiousness of his wardrobe. Why must an artictically inclined person wear a hat and scarf (or bandana) around his neck?? But the worst has to be his character's ending, as he inherited his brother's shares in the company and due to Ah Lik having a criminal record and he can't sit as chairman (I find this ridiculous-there must be a statutory limitation as to perhaps imprisonment or something to disqualify someone from sitting as chairman) and this stuttering brother took over the company with Ah Lik and Rebecca assisting him. I mean as a shareholder I would protest because this man is unqualified.

The old man who played Ah Lik's father (always seen him, can't remember his name) played his part to perfection. He played a very hard and unrelenting and unforgiving man and I love the way his character always had an upper hand when it came to dealing with Kok and Wayne. His best line and the series' best line has got to be "If you want to be a dog, at least be a loyal dog" was really memorable. An excellent performance.

Patrick Tam is someone I must mention in here. I posted in blog some time ago praising him and I will not change a single word. I read this was his first series after returning to TVB and what a return. Any other actor would have screamed his lines in the more emotional scenes but this actor to his credit adopted a whole different approach; he doesn't scream, he doesn't shout, he just stare ahead or face somewhere else and calmly but with very angry eyes said what he had to say. of course he threw some punches but not in a very overly emotional way. What a calm and cool performance. I love how he looked, and how he delivered his lines. He has such a soothing beautiful voice and he doesn't rush things, he lets his eyes do most of the talking. One problem though. Like I wrote in my blog, my sister complained and asked "How come ah this guy when he is talking ah he is like then waiting for someone to finish talking and then pause for a while before he talks ah? He is acting like he's deaf or something". Which is true. He suffers from hereditery gradual loss of hearing and it shows but who cares? I still love him and I hope he could recover soon by the wonders of modern technology. And Patrick looks good too.

Anne Heung looks exceeding pretty in here, she no longer suffers from eyebag problem. She has this problem where as the series goes further and further towards the ending, the dark circles underneath her eyes goes darker and darker. But not in here. Her hair looks gorgeous, her make up perfect, her costumes all very elegant and poised. This woman must be congratulated for taking on such bitchy roles, and for trying all types of roles. If she had been a better actress, this would have been her breakthrough role, something like Love Is Beautiful which I will argue is her best performance todate. But she is not. I mean from the first series until now, she has improved leaps and bounds, but slowly and gradually. I don't dare proclaim as most improved or best actress ever but I see positive changes. But to any other person who has just been following her career and this is also my opinion, I feel she is still rather raw. It's her inconsistency in her performance and more towards not knowing where to put her hands. Her body language is all off, but frankly he cold icy stare could really kill. Her way of delivering her lines is still annoyingly squeeky but yet very feminine, so in a way quite ok but not very good. She can be wooden at times, or she can be indifferent at most times. I would still say her acting is getting better and if I were to compare Anne Heung now with Anne Heung before, I can say I think I do like her performance in here, especially the last part where he said good bye to Patrick, the hope in her eyes. But comparing oneself with one own self is no real competition unless you're so darn good. So comparing her with others, more accomplished actresses or to my standard of expectation, I would say her performance is borderline mediocre. Doesn't suck, but not great. She can do better, I know she can but something is holding her back. Maybe her body language, maybe her passionless delivery of her lines, maybe her retricted expressions, maybe just maybe she isn't really a very good actress. But comparing her with the new ones nowadays, having just watched a horrendously bad one in Not Just A Pretty Face, watching that robot winning Most Improved Actress, watching the automaton in every series there is next to her best friend whose acting skills is still a moot point, maybe comparing her even with Kenix Kwok who has stopped improving since her debut, I would say Anne is on the right track, but ever so slowly. Give me Anne Heung any time over Sonija Kwok and Shirley Yeung, any time.

I realised after watching this series, Kenix Kwok is one actress I can't quite place her in a specific category, that is whether she is a good actress but became predictable, or a bad actress pretending to be a good actress that became predictable. It is very interesting to analyse her every performance because for me it always comes down to one same conclusion. But first, let's look at the positive side of why Kenix is interesting. She is interesting as a person, very honest, very truthful, very opinionated although she started her career playing meek roles. She has the meek looks but this woman has an opinion and she isn't afraid to say it. I like her. But as an actress, the only performance of hers that I truly liked and wouldn't mind watching again is her Kan Kit in Take My Word For It, arguably Bobby Au Yeung's finest performance. She was subdue there, she was poised and she didn't stare, point and scream as much as she did in every series. Maybe it's her characters, always strong, always strong willed, always opinionated, always so positive and so energetic when she has shrinked over the years. This character in this series is slightly different; she plays a character that is flawed, in the sense that she suffered when she was little. There is a painful history to her character that she tries to bury but couldn't, but it is inconsistent. Sometimes it is there, sometimes it is not. I especially disliked HK's interpretation of traumatised victim, always in the victim mode, always say traumatised but acting more like a lunatic or amnesiac. There must be a difference to emotions. And it didn't help that when she was at her worst and unhappiest, her lip gloss is still intact, in avery nice pinkish sort of shade or that her hair is perfectly combed. Looks matter and not much attention was paid to that. So we pay attention to her acting and Kenix is a good actress, she can convey most emotions but problem is she conveys her emotion exactly like she did in all her previous series. Like Jessica Hester Hsuan and even Flora Chan or even Ada Choi, all their past performances can be super imposed to their present ones and you won't notice a single difference. They don't move beyond good acting to give one memorable terrific unforgettable acting that breaks down all barriers and making me see something new, something wonderful. I get very excited when I feel some rising star gives a really knock out performance, not just by acting really well but displaying a potential that is a many million possibilities. That I know I will never be tired of, that I can expect something charismatic, if not something different. But with Kenix, I am very bored with her predictability. She needs to go for a long vacation, maybe then she can come up with something different. The only slightly different one is her Kan Kit but on closer look, not much difference.

Verdict

An interesting series with a different emphasis that is social awareness but because of its own limitations and its inability to explore wider social issues, this series suffers from its lack of creativity. It would have been a better series if it takes on a wider perpective as discussed above. Inadequate ending. Performance wise, mostly brilliant so fans of Patrick Tam and even Anne Heung might want to have a look but fans of Kenix Kwok will love her anyway despite what I just wrote. Overall interesting but it had potential to be so much more than just what was presented. It could have been a social commentary, a series that flows with the times and with the tide, a series that many years to come, one might hail it as provocative, educational, a learning experience as well as highly addictive, uncompromising and yet positive in its outlook. But it wasn't. And that is the problem with this series. It had potential and it failed to go beyond just having potential. In the end it is only pure drama with some interesting stories, a little heart, a little personal touch but still feels manufactured and tired. A pity really but I do like it and I recommend it to anyone who wants to see something different than the usual norm but don't expect anything more than the "top of the surface" plot.

Rating

30 December 2004

18 December 2004