"This series offers nothing more than a convoluted plot which I believe the writers wrote that script on a really bad day. "
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
Character-Cast
San Sap Long - Auguste Kwan Tak Fai
Tung Sin Yee/ Yuen Siu Siu - Mimi Lo Man Chong
Ging Lit - Michael Tong Man Lung
Lai Suet Gei - Jade Leung Tsang
Sim Mo Che - Moses Chan Ho
Yuen Siu Siu (monkey) - Lee Sze Pui
Shek Shing Gam - Tai Yiu Ming
Sui Fu Yung - So Yuk Wah
San Tso Chak - Lo Chun Shun
Shek Tai Leung - Lo Lan
Wan Tai Lei (rock) - Chun Wong
Siu To Hung (plum blossom) - Chan On Ying
Chuk Cheen Sui (turtle) - Siu Leung
Buddha - Lo Kwan Jor
Toad demon - Chan Wing Chun
Lizard demon - Yeung Ka Lok
Lang Yu Yin - Chan Kei
But Si Yan - Lau Ka Fai
But Ying Loi (But Yee) - Jenny Shing Ka Ying
Grandfather Monkey - Tsoi Kwok Hing
Yuen Ching Ching - Ma Siu Ling
Grandmother San Man - Bak Yan
Grandmother San Wang - Leung Bo Ching
(taken from emspace)
Summary
I am unable to summarize the plot of this series because it encompasses thousands of years. Just know that 2 men fought over one woman which left the woman killing herself, the husband murdered and the lover punished. Cut to thousands of years later and the lover was reincarnated as the good guy embarking on an adventure none of us will ever know nor will ever want to know.
Plot
Exactly like the summary. For more please refer to my comments.
Comments
It is indeed very rare to watch a series such as this one that has so many elements, with a great variety of weird and downright ut of this world type of characters and with a hero that not only has a heart of gold, I suspect his heart is made of gold. It is also very rare to see such a series that is an epic in the sense and only if you view it from the point of view many TVB plots lack these days; common sense. And add in cliche of characters and some really unbelievable reincarnation - revenge - hate plot, what you have is an epic Battle Against Evil that is epic in being boring and utter nonsense.
I rather liked the first episode, rather surprised to see Moses Chan in what was to become a guest starring role only. Not that his acting was great then, in fact I suspect he took time off from the set of Where The Legend Begins and gave a few minutes of star power in this otherwise star-less series. It started interestingly, where Moses' character was having an affair with Jade Leung's character (who was rather pretty and for a moment I thought she was Carmen Lee). They loved each other but was discovered in the aftermath of their forbidden passion (of all places, a cave) by her general husband who came back triumphant but very shocked. Husband, played by the usually charismatic Michael Tong (but not in here) was devastated but could not bring himself to kill both of them because he loved his wife and Moses was his brother of the same sect. But Moses killed him first and in fact refused to let his soul rest in peace Moses made sure Michael's soul will be drifting without a chance for reincarnation. Jade at the meantime was guilt ridden and so killed herself but Moses took her soul and tried to bring her back. That angered the Gods and Moses was struck by thunder. We later will know that he actually reincarnated as animals, suffered a lot (like beggar, prostitute, etc) before he became our hero with the heart of gold, Augaste Kwan. That will be like thousands of years later, now in the Ming Dynasty. Augaste is protected by the Buddha's light and also by three rather bumbling deities disguised as servants. He was born into a rich family, parents who loved each other dearly and grandmother who doted on him. Problem is Michael's soul which over the years found no refuge grew in hatred and in pain and he fed his hunger with more pain. In fact quite interestingly he became the leader of a cult. Augaste later found out Michael was his real father (his mother played by the gorgeous Louisa So was a flower demon though a good flower demon who used sex and love to prevent Michael from hurting other people but she left him with his promise that he will never hurt a single soul until he found her again) and her mother decided to die so that Michael will be bound by his promise. Then a whole lot of plotting happened where Michael wanted his son to be as evil as he was and then realising he was actually his number one enemy Moses, he wanted to kill his son disregarding the fact that Moses died eons ago and this was his son.
I think the Heaven was being very cruel in their jokes with this twisted relationship and I think TVB writers were really out of ideas when they wrote this script.
There are so many reasons why this series totally fail in my point of view; the plot is ridiculous but even the worst of plot could be saved by great moments of either drama or comedy. We have silly moments, corny lines, and the worst of the worst has to be the performances.
Louisa So looks absolutely gorgeous but she wasn't trying even to act (but she was still wonderful). Very uninspiring performance, like she didn't borther and why should she? This series is beneath her acting talents.
Auguste Kwan is a newbie and a fellow Malaysian. I should applaud him for that alone but no, his acting was horrible to say the least. He looked too eager, too excited. The exact opposite of Shirley Yeung whom I am watching now in In The Realm Of Fancy. Whilst Shirley looked nervous and stressed a lot of time, Kwan looked like an eager kid, speaking rather excitedly and his acting was at times very naive without a sense of burden or suffering that character should have. He's an obvious amateur and frankly he has plenty to learn. I am not even going to say he has potential because he doesn't, not like this. Many are passive actors in TVB and if anything good comes from his performance, is his youthful energy which is very rare amongst TVB actors today though I haven't seen young people act a long long time. But energy is not everything, eager is not the all important factor, the point is was he any good in his acting? I am sorry to say, NO even if I wanted to so much because he is a Malaysian. I think if he matures a bit and sees more of the world a bit and observe a whole lot more, perhaps he might get better. After all there are many actors who were horrible when they first started like Gallen Lo and look at him now. He can bea good actor one day but I no longer have the patience to wait for such a day. In fact I no longer expect anything anymore from these new batches of actors because call me jaded, I refuse to expect because my disappointment will be far greater than I would wish it to be. He's new, forgivable in my opinion.
But the one actor that I refuse and can't forgive for his dismal performance and his lack lustre attempt in being evil or sad evil or pitiful evil is Michael Tong. I have always liked him, though he may be a bit dazed in his looks. He never really improved in his acting but when he first came out, he wasn't all too bad. In this series he made me realise sometimes when you don't fit a role, better reject it before it becomes a liability, a dark black spot in your flourishing career. He tried to be evil, and he ended up laughing annoyingly, like a hyena. He was supposed to have so much hatred in him that he was blinded by the fact that Moses was dead, that was his son, his real son, he even caused the death of the only woman he learned to laugh after the his first wife cheated on him. He has a bit of human left in him but he must learn to let go of the pain. This is one burdened character and whilst it may not be easy to portray, it is nevertheless a challenging character that a good actor will make us pity him rather than loath him. I didn't feel pity nor did I loath him, I was just very annoyed by Michael Tong the actor, not the character. I wouldn't call him a dramatic actor in a dramatic performance of a dramatic character. It was more like a silly character played by an actor who could not portray the emotions of this character adequately making the character AND the actor looked like a fool. I am sorry to say this, I feel such a bad performance should never be forgiven and never be forgotten especially coming from an experienced seasoned actor. If you're a Michael Tong fan, never ever watch this series.
Then there was Jade Leung as Suet Kei, tragic and all. But this woman never ever learn. Her lover was evil beyond help who killed her kind husband and she still pined for him thousands of years later, much to the chagrin of her husband. I don't know much about longevity of blinded love but certainly this one is far too long and too blinded. Jade Leung looked pretty though. She didn't strike me as very beautiful or captivating and I have a problem with listening to her talk because she doesn't really talk very clearly, like she has a lot of saliva in her mouth and she can't swallow not breath. But I must say her make up is rather interesting, reminded me so much of the series back in the 80s only this time we have loads of glittering stuff all over her face.
There are many characters and many actors. I do not know the name of this actress but she is a TVB8 host. I was very impressed with her acting in Treasure Raiders and in here she played dual roles, one a naughty angry possessive bad girl and the other a playful loving monkey. Yes, a girl in a Monkey suit (well monkey make up) played this character Siu Siu and then Siu Siu took the body of the girl and thus she has a beautiful face. I find her acting in here impressive but because her voice is a bit too deep and her persona a bit too hard and very serious, she gave me an impression that in real life she is fiercely independent and so I am not convinced by the girlishness and playfulness of her Siu Siu. But that is besides the point. My point is why was there a monkey in the first place?
The character that is played by Kwan, called Sap Long is one mixed up dude. Mother is a flower demon, father is actually a demon filled with hatred, he is in love with a monkey who later took the body of the girl he married but disliked, he was loved by a ghost and he found out that he was actually the reincarnated Moses Chan who was so evil, that he killed so many people but now being pursued by his own father whom I think killed Siu Siu in the end to make him feel so much hatred so that they will fight one mega climatic fight scene. Wow!
How are you ever going to end such a mess?
And then there's the monkey. Nothing wrong with inter species love or anything like that. What I don't understand is why Siu Siu, looking like a monkey (but behaving like a human girl) has that Monkey King's head band on her head?! For a moment I thought there was the character of Monkey King but wait, not right, it was Ming Dynasty not Tang Dynasty and that Monkey King was so feminine. It annoyed me to made a fool.
This series offers nothing more than a convoluted plot which I believe the writers wrote that script on a really bad day. Not even the appearance of Moses Chan could have give this series something interesting to look forward to.
My Verdict
Best to avoid it AT ALL COST.
Rating
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