Triumph In The Skies [TVB]

Written by Jenny Chan

"I must say this is definitely the best series I’ve seen to date."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title

"chung seung won siu" meaning "Soaring into the Clouds"

[personally I think a direct translation would have work, but Triumph in the Skies does have a ring to it, besides the fact that it's acronym kind of sucks]



Number of Episodes

40



Year Released

2003



Cast List

Francis Ng as Samuel Tong (Tong Yik Sum)

Flora Chan as Isabelle Lok (Lok Yi San)

Joe Ma as Vincent Ling (Ling Wan Chi)

Myolie Wu as Zoe (Zo-e)

Ron Ng as Isaac Tong (Tong Yik Fung)

Sammul Chan as Donald Man (Chung Siu which generally means "Master Chung")

Michelle Ye as Zita Tong (Tong Hay Yan)

Bosco Wong as Chris Tse (Tse Lap Ho)

Kenneth Ma as Roy Ko (Ko Sze Won)

Jerry Lam as Paul (Mok Sin Bor or Paul Biu Gor "Cousin Paul")

Louisa So as Ruby

Shek Sau as Philip Tong

Mary Hon as Cammy Tong

Nancy Wu as CoCo Ling

Eileen Yeow as Mimi Chow



Summary

[mind you, 40 episodes makes this summary really, really LONG]



The story begins with the introduction of our lead character, Sam. We are made known of the fact that he is a Senior First Officer for Solar Airways. Ever since his parents separated back when he was a child, he had decided to become a pilot so that one day he could personally fly his mom back home to him.



While working at the airport, Sam had noticed a flyer posted on a staff board that was searching for a doll called Triangel. During a trip, he had found the doll but ended up losing it before he could return it to its seeker. This happened when he was assisting with one of the passengers on his flight that was seriously ill. Here we are first introduced to Zoë, who ended up picking the doll and keeping it in her possession. We then see Sam on the phone explaining the situation of how he found the doll but lost it, back to this colleague, who we now know as Belle.



On one of Sam's trips to Rome searching for his mother, he ran into Belle. They both do not realize that they have shared a phone conversation together. So began their brief rendezvous that was ill fated from the start. Sam believes that Belle is actually Donna, a waitress who does not think seriously of relationships and Belle thinks that Sam is actually his best friend Vincent, because Sam wrote a letter to break up a relationship between Vincent and his then girlfriend Mimi on behalf of Vincent. Thus, the two ended their time in Rome with unfavourable thoughts of each other and parted separate ways.



We come to a year later, where Sam and Belle have both gotten on with their lives. Sam is still very focused and concentrated on his work, but hasn't met anyone new to his life. Belle on the other hand, has just returned from Australia accompanied by her new boyfriend, which is also conveniently Sam's best friend Vincent. Sam and Belle both pretend that they don't know each other, but inside immensely dislike each other and try to warn Vincent to be careful of his relationships with both. Vincent has declared that he has found his true love with Belle and has already moved from his playboy ways. Belle is still doubtful since she has been hurt by Sam but still longs of her memories with Sam.



In the midst of this three-person love/hate triangle, we are now reintroduced to Zoë, who has decided to work at the airport because she finds the people there very friendly and secretly hopes to run into Sam again. When she finally does, she decides to return the Triangel doll to him and although Sam ponders why the doll is in her possession, he tells her that the doll should remain with her.



On a trip to Rome, Sam's father Philip coincidentally runs into his ex-wife, Cammy. The sparks fly again between the two and they have decided to forget the past and remarry. But there is just one problem that they haven't solved. Cammy's "younger brother", Isaac, is actually Philip and Cammy's son. Even with this mistake in place, all three decide to fly back to Hong Kong abroad the plane that Sam is flying, although Sam did not know at the time. Mother and son are then reunited and the whole family is brought back together. Isaac is very ambitious, but very playful and doesn't take things as seriously as Sam. Sam had told Isaac that his personality and behaviour could not withstand the duties required of a pilot. In order to prove to Sam that he was just as good as him, Isaac decided to become a pilot and joined in the Solar Airways' pilot recruitment session.



At the recruitment session, we are introduced to Zita, Donald, Chris, Roy and Paul. Although Isaac and Donald have had their misconceptions of each other at first, they all become good friends along the course of their studies. All of them successfully make to the next level of training in Australia, except for Paul. Paul is comforted by everyone, especially his cousin Zoë, and decides that if he can't make it as a pilot, he would still work at the airport as a "bird shooter/pr person" (sorry, can't think of a proper title) under the supervision of Zoë's boss, Ruby who is also best friends with Belle.



In the midst of this waiting for their new jobs/training to start, Zita, Donald, Chris and Roy plan a trip to Japan so that Zita could search for her birth father. Isaac was supposed to join up later, as he had promised dinner with his family so that the truth to his maternity/paternity could be revealed once and for all. But before this could take place, Zoë had happened to come across the truth after listening to a conversation between Sam and Vincent where Sam had revealed that Isaac was his brother. Since she was overly excited, she had sent Isaac a card expressing her happiness of the situation. At the same time, Isaac found a tape that Cammy and Philip had earlier recorded telling the truth of his family. Angrily, he threw the card down and stormed off to Japan to meet up with the rest of his friends.



While onboard the plane to Tokyo, the five of them run into Zoë and Paul, who were flying there to visit Zoë's third brother. They all end up having a great time in Tokyo, until later when Sam found out that Isaac knew the truth about his parents, Sam decided to go to Tokyo to explain the entire situation to him. Isaac was still angry when Sam arrived but after a trick played by Zoë, Isaac ends up accepting the situation and returns to Hong Kong accepting both his mom and dad.



In the meantime, the tension between both Belle and Sam escalate. In this process, Belle decides to accept Vincent's proposal and the two prepare to get married. When Belle spots the Triangel doll in Zoë's possession, she realizes that the doll had once belonged to Sam and believed that they were fated together. But at that moment, Mimi arrives to see Vincent, and Sam, acting on behalf of Vincent, tells her to stay away and offers her money. Belle sees this from a distance and she believes that Sam is someone who cannot take relationships seriously. When Zoë realizes that by her taking the Triangel from Sam she had ruined the fate between Sam and Belle, she tries immediately to return the doll back to Belle. Both parties refused to accept the doll and Zoë is left with it in her possession again.



Sam goes to Adelaide with the rest of the Solar recruits to spend several weeks training them. Sam becomes extremely hard on Isaac during his instructing, as he feels that Isaac is in this to simply win the bet with him. Isaac on the other hand, finds out that flying is really what he wants to do and tries extremely hard to prove it to his brother. Donald also tries hard during his training in order to impress Zita, who was his main reason to join Solar Airways.



During this time in Australia, Vincent and Belle decided to have their wedding ceremony there, in which Sam also attended. On the day before the ceremony, Zoë decides to find the truth between Sam and Belle's past and journeys to Rome to search for answers. When she finds out the misjudgments made by both Sam and Belle, she immediately calls Sam to inform him of them and hopes to see that they can reconcile before Belle marries Vincent. Unfortunately, this all comes too late. When Vincent and Belle run into Mimi again, Vincent is informed of all the misconceptions that had occurred between Sam and Belle and feeling the guilt, he decides to let Belle know the truth. There is a brief reunion between Sam and Belle, but seeing as the both know they cannot turn back time, they decide to continue on with their lives and remain friends.



Thing progress as normal, Isaac and the rest of them have completed their training and have become Second Officers for Solar. Yet during an incident on a flight, Isaac becomes too reckless, allowing an unstable passenger to enter into the cockpit and as a result, the Captain is injured. Sam immediately jumps to the seat and directs Isaac to safely land the plan back on ground. Sam is praised for his quick thinking and is appointed to be the first Chinese Captain for Solar Airways. Isaac on the other hand, loses confidence in himself and decides to dropout.



During a party to celebrate for Sam's achievement, Vincent becomes drunk and disrupts the party. Vincent suffered disappointment, as it was Sam, and not him that became Captain. Yet Vincent realizes that although there are many things that he can't win over Sam, he still has the woman of his dreams, Belle. But things are troubling at home when Vincent's sister Coco decides to come live with them, as she will also be working with Belle as air stewardesses for Solar. Coco immediately dislikes Belle for taking Vincent's away from her. Sam then steps in to help resolve the problems between them, and Vincent becomes jealous that Belle turns to Sam rather than to him. Belle feels frustrated that Vincent does not trust her enough as his wife and angrily storms away. Vincent then realizes his mistake and both parties make up.



On a flight, we see Belle and Sam wandering the streets when all of a sudden, a rock hits Sam on the head. Although Sam is all right at the moment, he realizes that as he was performing a landing, he could not see properly. After a visit to the doctor, he is informed that there is a blood clot in his brain that will have minor affects on his daily living but will ultimately prevent him from remaining a pilot. Although surgery could heal the clot quicker, doctors predict that the blood clot will heal by itself over time. Sam is deeply stricken and has yet to inform his supervisor, Henry, about his situation. During preparations for a flight, Sam has a talk with Zoë and decides that it is his responsibility to ensure for the safety of his passengers, and prepares to inform his supervisor. Yet before he can do so, Vincent, acting on behalf of Isaac who had happened to come across Sam's medical reports, tells Henry for him. Henry causes a scene and becomes very disappointed in Sam, as Sam did not come to him immediately. Although Sam does not blame Vincent, Belle believes that Vincent did not have enough faith in Sam for Sam to tell the truth. Vincent apologizes to Sam for his actions in order to make up with Belle.



Sam decides to take time off to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He flies to Rome by himself and spends his days living in his mother's house. Zoë becomes worried for Sam and decides to take time off to visit him in Rome. After running into Sam, Zoë tags along with Sam to make sure he was alright. Sam becomes frustrated at Zoë's actions, as she even used her own previous heart illness as a joke. But slowly, Sam begins to accept everything that Zoë has said and done for him, and this begins their romance. Back at home, Sam decides to switch departments and heads over to the Customer Relations department.



Paul tries to do everything in his power to make Ruby like him, but Ruby plainly rejects him at every turn. One night when Ruby comes home drunk, she stumbles upon Paul and then somehow ended up spending the night together. The next morning, Ruby denies that she has any feelings towards Paul and tells him never to repeat what happened the night before to anyone. After Paul shows how sincere he is to Ruby, Ruby finally accepts him, but refuses to let anyone know about their relationship besides Zoë.



In Adelaide, the five of them begins another round of training. Donald tries everything in his power to win over Zita, but Zita has feelings for Isaac. Isaac also begins to develop feelings for Zita, but is afraid to admit it because he does not want to hurt Donald. One day, Donald decides to wait for Zita at the beach, and tells her that if she didn't show up, he wouldn't leave. Isaac tells Zita to hop on his bike and secretly rides towards the beach. When Zita figured out that Isaac tricked her, she jumps off the bike and angrily asks Isaac why he is forcing her to be with Donald. Isaac explains that Donald can take care of Zita and doesn't hide his feelings for her. He admits that being so open about one's feelings is something that not everyone can do, including himself. Zita runs away and approaches the beach. Donald in the meantime had been hit by a car while waiting for Zita but remains waiting for her. As Zita approaches deciding that she was going to refuse Donald once and for all, she sees what Donald has done for her and finally begins to accept him.



As they all return to Hong Kong, everything progresses as normal. The relationships between both Sam and Zoë and Donald and Zita also progresses. Yet during a driving incident, Belle attends to the care of a woman who was hurt during a car crash. After sending the woman to the hospital, Belle finds out that the woman was HIV positive and that she may have contracted the virus due to a cut on her arm. Belle becomes extremely frightened, and feels she cannot confide in Vincent. She then instead turns to Sam, who helps her get through the entire incident. Vincent decides to follow Belle to the hospital and catches Belle and Sam in an embrace after finding out the results that Belle was cleared of the virus. Vincent feels betrayed by Belle, as she cannot confide in him, and asks Belle the ultimate question: has she ever fully gotten over Sam? Belle cannot provide an answer to this and this causes a rift in their marriage.



In the meantime, Sam and Zoë plan a vacation together. Sam tells Zoë that he has doesn't have any vacation time from work and will try to make it up to Zoë at a later time. Sam is in fact secretly planning a surprise vacation for the both of them. Zoë manages to find out, but before she confronts Sam, Belle pays Sam a visit and accidentally lets it slip out that she did not know that if she decision to let go of Sam in Adelaide was correct. Sam feels confused for his feeling towards Belle, and when Zoë asks him about taking a vacation together, he flatly tells her that he doesn't have time to take the vacation. Zoë is devastated, but hides it in front of Sam.



Vincent confronts Belle one more time and demands an answer for his question. Belle cries out that the answer might affect them forever, not only Vincent, but also Zoë and Sam's relationship. Vincent decides that he has to let go to give Belle time to think and flies to Rome. On the night that he is preparing to fly to Rome, they spend one last night together in each other's arms. The next morning, Belle watches helplessly as Vincent walks towards the plane. She breaks into tears, and is then comforted by Sam. Zoë watches helplessly from the side and later confronts Sam with the same question that Vincent had for Belle. Sam also talked around the question, not giving Zoë a direct answer.



Sam and Belle decide to talk out their situation by the beach but both don't have answers for each other. In the meantime, Vincent is walking down the street in Rome and suddenly sees a car approaching a small child. He runs and blocks the child from the car but ends up getting hit by the car himself. As he is bleeding from the street, he has one final thought of Belle before he passes away. Back at the beach, Zoë runs towards Sam and Belle, disrupting their conversation. With tears in her eyes and voice cracking, Zoë announces that Vincent had an accident in Rome, and that he died at the scene. Belle is horrified and rushes back to Solar. Henry retells the situation leading to Vincent's death and words of remorse are told to Belle and Coco.



Sam and Belle decide to fly over to Rome to take Vincent's body back. Zoë offers to go as well to be with Sam but Sam refuses to let her come. Zoë backs off from offer to give Sam some time to be on his own, yet she feels that her relationship with Sam is slowly slipping away. A funeral is held for Vincent upon their return, and his ashes are dispersed in the air. Belle decides to return to Adelaide to be with Vincent's parents in their time of grief.



As Philip hires a new secretary and Cammy decides to help him choose a suitable person for the job. Unknown to her, she hires Philip's ex-girlfriend, who is still smitten with Philip. During lunch with Zoë and Cammy, Sam spots Philip and his new secretary Natalie having lunch in the restaurant beside them. Sam warns Philip to behave appropriately and leaves them together. Although Cammy suspects there's something strange going on with Philip, she leaves both Sam and Isaac to check on him. Sam and Isaac caught Philip in the middle of the night doing headstands and this leads to more questions. Philip avoids them, but secretly knows that he has health problems, (ahem. Impotence) but feels he can't admit it to Cammy. So he decides to meet Natalie at a hotel as an experiment and finds out that he really does have problems. At that moment, Cammy rushes into the hotel room and finds Philip and Natalie together. She storms off and tells Philip she never wants anything to do with him again. She immediately packs her bags and heads back to Rome.



Sam and Zoë try to rekindle their relationship, yet Zoë's health problems keep coming back to her. During a dinner out with Sam, she runs off and faints in the street, luckily to be found by Paul. She finds out that her heart disease is back but she tries to keep this fact away from Sam.



As Belle returns to Hong Kong, all of them meet up again for lunch. Sam and Belle face each other politely and remain good friends, although they still don't have answers for each other of their relationship.



At the hospital for a checkup, Zoë receives a call from Sam, who was also at the hospital. Sam had found out that the blood clot in his brain had subsided and was ready to fly again. Zoë decides to throw a dinner for Sam to celebrate. Right before going to dinner, Sam meets with Belle and the both agree that what was in the past should stay in the past, and that they should cherish the present. On that note, Sam leaves for dinner with Zoë and is touched by her efforts. Zoë decides to bring up the vacation topic again and uses Sam's mom as an excuse to go to Rome. Sam pretends to play dumb, but actually arranges the entire vacation for them. Sam and Zoë had a very romantic time in Rome, except when Zoë's health problems caught up with her and she fainted in the street. She managed to conceal this from Sam and still had a great time in Rome, although they failed to convince Cammy to return with them.



Upon their return, Sam receives a call from Isaac saying that Philip is in the hospital. Both rush over to see him and find out from the doctor that Philip ate the wrong medication. Apparently this herbal medication is supposed to "help him in the bedroom". From this, both sons conclude that Philip had not gone behind Cammy's back with Natalie breaking their marriage vows. They convinced Cammy to come back to Hong Kong and allowing Cammy and Philip to reconcile.



Zoë and Sam's relationship on the other hand, has reached an end. Zoë still feels insecure with Sam and believes that she is not the one that Sam was meant to be with. Also with her disease, she feels that it is best to let Sam go. As Belle resumes her job as a stewardess, she flies again with Sam to Rome. In Rome, they try to rekindle their romance, but during an embrace, they realized that the person in each other's hearts was just Zoë and Vincent. Both decide that they will remain good friends and Sam tries to reconcile with Zoë. At the same time, Zoë is also in Rome upon taking a vacation. Sam calls Zoë and realizes by the sounds of a clock chiming that Zoë was actually in the same place as he was. Sam races around Rome trying to find Zoë and runs into her outside of his mom's house. Sam explains to Zoë that he wants to be back with her, but Zoë assumes that Sam feels obligated to take care of her after he found out that Zoë had a disease. Sam explains that he has sorted out his feelings with Belle and only has her in his heart. Zoë rejects him and tells him that she just wants to be alone for now. All three returns to Hong Kong, and both Belle and Sam try to keep an eye on Zoë.



In the meantime, Donald and Zita have become closer. Isaac becomes a bit jealous but tries to contain his feelings towards Zita. Donald's father sudden becomes seriously ill and his father's company is slowly falling apart. At this time, Donald feels that he must return to his father's company and take over while his father is hospitalized. He asks Chris for help in creating a plot to lead Zita to believe that Donald was only in love with Zita to win a bet. Zita fell for it, and broke up with Donald. Although Donald was hurt, he felt that in giving up Zita, he'd also let her have a chance to be with Isaac.



Ever since Belle realized that Vincent was the one in her heart and not Sam, she begins to regret the time that she doubted their love. She finds in her answering machine a message that Vincent left for her on the day of his death professing his love to her. Belle breaks down into tears and in her troubled state, begins having hallucinations of Vincent. Sam and Zoë begin suspecting something is seriously wrong with her, but Belle keeps pushing them away, thinking that having Vincent back is enough to sustain her.



At lunch with Sam, Ruby, Paul and Zoë, Paul's parents come over to join them, questioning Paul to see if whether or not he was dating someone. They describe a girl with black curly hair and large eyes and assume its Ruby, yet Ruby flat out denies it. Paul is hurt and leaves. Ruby realizes that by keeping her and Paul's relationship a secret to everyone but Zoë was hurting Paul. Paul thinks that Ruby does not have in it her to be open about their relationship and breaks up with Ruby. Ruby is remorseful and makes it up to Paul by saying that she would love to announce their relationship to everyone. They both make up to each other and announce it to everyone on a night out drinking.



Isaac and Zita begin to start their relationship. Yet before it could commence, Zoë found out that Donald had his own reasons to end his relationship with Zita and revealed this to Zita and Isaac. They both accept Donald's reasons, and they all become friends again. Donald has helped his father rebuilt his company, and decides that he should stay with his father to help with the family business. Although all is well on the work front, Zita, Donald and Isaac still have unsolved issues with their relationships.



Back at the airport, Zoë says goodbye to Sam as he prepares to fly to Hawaii. A few moments later after returning to the control center, she hears that there is a bomb on the plane, and that one passenger has refused to get off. Since Sam is the Captain, he also must stay on the plane to ensure the safety of his passengers. As Zoë waits anxiously by the gate, all the passengers safely come through and behind then emerges Sam. Zoë, consumed by her emotions, run up to Sam and embraces him. It turned out that the bomb scare was a false alarm, but in the end allowed for both Zoë and Sam to restart their relationship.



As Sam and Zoë spend time on the rooftop reminiscing their past and future dreams for each other, Zoë suddenly faints. It turned out that the wound suffered on Zoë's hand had in fact caused an infection to her heart. The doctors tell her that she would not live past a few months or weeks even unless she has heart transplant. Zoë conceals this fact from Sam so that Sam will not be devastated by the news. Zoë decides that if this was her last few moments of life, she wanted to spend it outside the hospital. As she asks Sam for his opinion, Sam finds out that Zoë is actually dying. Although Sam is stricken, he decides to take time off to be with Zoë during her last moments.



Belle on the other hand, has sunken deep into her hallucinations, frequently returning back to the apartment that she and Vincent lived. When Belle came to the hospital to visit Zoë, she was faced with the fact that human lives are so fragile, and that not only Vincent was taken away from her, but Zoë could also be taken away from Sam. Zoë suspects that something seriously is wrong with Belle and asks Sam to checkup on her.





THE ENDING

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!



Sam finds Belle in the apartment after she had taken many sleeping pills. As Sam waits for the ambulance to arrive, he tells her that he has already lost his best friend Vincent, and is slowly losing Zoë. He could not handle losing Belle as well. As Belle sits outside in the hospital afterwards, she runs into Zoë. Zoë tells Belle that although Vincent is gone, he would have wanted her to be happy. She reminded Belle that Vincent never gave up on living that was why he gave up his own life to save that of a little girl. Belle suddenly realizes that must cherish her own life and that although she may have lost her love, there are still many people around her that love her and wants her to be happy. Belle gets one final visit from Vincent and says goodbye to him and is finally released from her hallucinations.



As Zoë sits in her hospital room, both Sam and Belle visit her. All of a sudden, she starts having trouble breathing and passes out as Sam rushes out to find the doctor. The doctors tell Sam that Zoë immediately needs a heart transplant or else she may not even last through the night.



At the last possible moment when all hope seems lost to save Zoë, the doctor arrives with news that a suitable heart donor had been found. The doctors perform a successful heart transplant and Zoë is saved. Yet after a while, Zoë suffers a fever and everyone worries that she may not make it.



Meanwhile, Donald and Isaac sit down for a heart-to-heart talk about their feelings towards Zita. Both agree that no matter whomever Zita chooses, it won't damage their friendship. Zita on the other hand cannot decide which one she likes best. She feels that no matter who she chooses, she must hurt one in return. When the all meet at the beach, Zita announces her decision, and tells them that she cannot choose between them and that she would rather just stay good friends with the both of them. All three of them decide to cherish their friendship and leave other relationships aside.



As Sam sits by Zoë's bedside, he promises her that he will be by her side no matter what happens. Belle arrives and both hold Zoë's hand, letting Zoë know that they are there to support and fight with her along the way. Zoë eventually wakes up from her fever, and tells the doctor that she won her battles because both Sam and Belle were by her side. Sam and Belle embrace, and tell each other that they both cherish their friendship, and that no matter what happens, they will always remain good friends.



At Solar, Isaac, Zita, Chris and Roy celebrate becoming First Officers. Donald and Sam come up to them and offer words of congratulations. Everyone in turn congratulates Sam, hinting that a marriage will be approaching. Back at Sam's house, Ruby tells everyone that the AG has approved of Sam and Zoë's marriage at the airport. Sam relays one important problem that Zoë has not agreed to marry him yet.



Sam picks Zoë up from the hospital after she is released and brings her back to the airport. He tells her that the airport has been an important part to their relationship, and hopes that by coming there that day, it would add to another memory as he bends down to his knees and proposes to Zoë. Zoë rejects Sam's proposal, thinking that it's not very exciting, and tells Sam that they are going to close their eyes and count to 3 and if a plane flies overhead of them on that count, then the answer is "yes". As they close their eyes and count to 3, both of them open their eyes in time to see an airplane fly overhead. Sam is immediately joyous, and embraces Zoë as they whirl around the airport. Sam and Zoë's wedding takes place at the airport, and everyone attends. Belle arrives and gives a special speech congratulating the two newlyweds and how even though strangers meet and pass each other in the airport, only those fated can be brought together. Those with fate can be friends, those with fate can also be lovers.



Life goes on at the airport. Zoë and Sam return from their honeymoon and sees that things have progressed and changed. Although there are many new faces with many different backgrounds and stories, their own stories will still continue into the years to come.





Character Analysis



Sam Tong

Sam was truly an unbelievable character. He was serious about his work, but spent a lot of time taking care of those around him sometimes even without receiving the slightest bit of gratitude. Although he may be mistaken a couple times, he does not argue in his own defense and quietly steps away from it. He is a very loyal friend, but sometimes he can be a bit frustrating to figure out on a more personal level. Sam's also more traditional and can come off as boring, but it shows off his seriousness and care to the things around him. [and if Sam were a REAL person, I'd totally marry him too. And plus I like him in that Captain uniform.]



Vincent Ling

Vincent's character is very loving and caring, especially towards Belle. Although we are shown of his jealously towards Sam, Vincent still manages to keep his emotions in check. We can't doubt how much he loves those around him, and even in his relationship with Coco we know that he cherishes his family and friends deeply.



Belle Lok

Belle's character comes off as pathetic and indecisive towards everything. First she can't make up her mind as to whether or not she loves Sam or Vincent, and then she doubts her own decision as to whether or not her marrying Vincent was meant to be, and then after Vincent dies, she still doesn't know that if it was Vincent or Sam that she truly loved, and when she realizes that it was Vincent that was in her heart, so goes on and becomes crazy. She also relies too much on "fate", especially with that Triangel doll and her bracelet and it makes it seem like she can't decide anything and her own. [Sorry, I didn't mean to bash her character so much, but she does seem kind of flaky on the relationship front. But I would say that she is a very good friend to those around her, and that she has a lot of patience, especially when dealing w/ Coco in the beginning.]



Zoë

I think Zoë's character is really cute. She's young and full of energy, but she's in love with someone old and boring as Sam. I think Zoë adds more life to the series, but sometimes she can become annoying when she pokes into business that does not relate to her. (such as flying to Rome to find out the misconceptions between Sam and Belle, sending Isaac a card about his brother Sam, etc.)



Isaac

Isaac's character is funny, carefree and relaxed, yet he does come off as both reckless and serious. We see two distinct personalities between him and his brother Sam. Isaac's one problem was that he was too reserved to reveal his true feelings towards Zita, and ended up losing Zita to Donald. Isaac sometimes also comes on as too confident, but I think that's his own trademark. It's also quite hilarious the troubles he gets into when he's like that.



Donald

Donald's character grows up a lot during the series. At first he comes off as a rich kid who's main goal was to pursue Zita. But throughout the series, he emerges as a person who takes both his work and his personal life seriously, first taking over his father's company, and being willing to let go of Zita so that Isaac could better take care of her for him. [Although I never really understood why he had to break up w/ Zita, at least he's not selfish]



Zita

Zita's character was kind of boring. Maybe it was due to the fact that Michelle's performance wasn't as great. Zita seemed like she was strong about her opinions and was very independent. Yet after seeing what Donald had done to prove his love for her, she easily falls for Donald due to pity. She was also confused at the end of her feeling towards Donald and Isaac but if she had just followed her heart in the first place, the answer would have prominently been there.



Cammy and Philip

I think they were easily the cutest couple in the series. They openly displayed their affections towards each other yet were also the easiest to get into arguments. I think Philip's character was hilarious in comparison to Sam's character, as father and son could totally switch places.





Cast Analysis



Francis Ng

Francis was no doubt the best actor in the series. He pulled off Sam with such ease that it made Sam seem like a real person. Although Francis has been in the business for a while, we always see him in the evil, manipulative roles. His portrayal of Sam made Sam seem genuine, caring, and always putting others in first. I can't imagine anyone else in the role of Sam. One thing I should mention that I immensely disliked: what's with the hair?!



Joe Ma

Joe did a great portrayal of Vincent. Vincent's character did not go into so much depth, and I wished there was more that we could see of him, but alas he died too early. I don't think the writers did Joe justice as he only came back in the end as Belle's hallucination.



Flora Chan

I can't figure out if I think Flora's acting was terrible or if it was Belle's character that was terrible. I think it was a bit of both, more of the latter and the former though. Flora didn't do her best job, some of her scenes, especially the crying ones, looked extremely forced. Generally I guess she was alright, but definitely short of spectacular.



Myolie Wu

I haven't seen much of Myolie's other performances to compare her to Triumph, but I think she pulled off Zoë very well. Zoë's personality was fun and perky and I think that it suited Myolie. Myolie pulled off the emotional scenes well, especially when she told Sam and Belle of Vincent's death, and as she was seriously ill and dying. She's definitely one of the better Miss. HK contestants that made it into acting. [Cough. Sonija. Cough.]



Ron Ng

I think Ron's character of Isaac did not have as many layers as some of the other characters. Ron's acting nonetheless did bring out the flair in Isaac. I would love to see him in more in depth roles. But as a newcomer, he'll definitely make it big. [Must watch Twin of Brothers!]



Sammul Chan

Sammul's acting was well suited for the role of Donald. Donald was an extremely spoiled, lovesick puppy at first but emerged as an independent businessman. Sammul made Donald a likeable character and I think he did a good job in his role. I was actually surprised to see Sammul in this role. I think he played a spoiled rich kid much better than he did a doctor, since Sammul always reminds me of a child more than an adult.



Michelle Ye

I think Michelle did a terrible job as her role of Zita. Zita only had one expression. She only had one tone of voice. Michelle completely did not bring out the character of Zita, I would have liked to see more of a personality, more expression, opinions. Yet Michelle made Zita to be a flat character, there's nothing past the single expression on her face.



Shek Sau

Shek Sau made Philip come to life, I can't think of anyone else as cool enough to play Philip. Enough said.



There a lot more secondary characters like Jerry Lam, Louisa So, Mary Hon and Nancy Wu that I won't get into too much detail about. I think all four played decent roles, Jerry did a good job portraying Paul. I thought Paul was an extremely caring person, especially towards Zoë. Louisa portrayed Ruby well, the outer coolness mixed with the inner kindness. Mary was funny as Sam's mom, I think I can praise her the same as I did Shek Sau. Nancy didn't have that huge a role as Coco. I don't think I liked her performance all that well, but at least she had more expression than Michelle. And what really happened to her character at the end?



Guest stars: Eason Chan, Twins, Dave Wang

I liked Eason as he was portraying himself. The scenes when Eason interacted with Sam's character were absolutely priceless. Dave's character wasn't bad either, he didn't really have a strong role, but there was something comforting about his character, especially towards Zoë. Twins. What the hell were they doing in this series? So lame.





Things I Liked About the Series

1. The theme songs. The first one by Eason Chan was really really well written and well sang. I think it's totally suitable for the opening song of Triumph. The second one by Flora wasn't as great, and with a title "I don't love you", it's kind of hard to admire it as much as Eason's song. Still, I guess it works as a theme song.



2. I like how at the end credits, they fill in the time with tidbits of the airport and multiple flying trivia. It actually makes you learn and appreciate more about the airport and the people that work there.



3. I love Sam. If he were real I'd totally marry him. I think I said that twice already.



4. I liked how they fit in the training materials into the series. The in-class lessons, as well as the stimulations allowed a more direct glimpse into how the pilots are trained.



5. The scenes of Australia and Rome. I think that the filming on location there worked well in the series, and brought the imagery closer to reality.



6. I liked how they match Sam with Zoë. Although at first I thought that Sam was destined to be with Belle, I think that by him being with Zoë, it adds more life into the relationship. You hardly notice the 15yr age gap between them as they become completely compatible together.





Things I Didn't Like

Belle's character and the dilemmas that she causes to the people around her.





Things I Don't Really Understand

1. How is it possibly that Cammy kept Isaac in the dark about his real parents for over 20 years and led him to believe that she was his brother? Why on earth would you lie to you son and tell him that he is your brother?! Totally doesn't make sense, but it was worth it for the laugh.



2. Why did Donald have to break up with Zita? I know he may feel that he can't take care of her while he is focused on saving his father's company, but he could have just told her the truth from the beginning and he wouldn't have to lose Zita. Although I know that this was ultimately due to him giving Isaac the chance to be with Zita, why the heck would you hurt someone you supposedly love?



3. How could Isaac lie to Zita that Taylor was her birth father? Makes no sense, seeing as the truth will come flying back at you after Zita approaches Taylor and calls him "dad".



4. Why Belle starts hallucinating all of a sudden. I mean, Vincent died how long ago?



5. Why Philip refused to tell Cammy of his health problems and would rather Cammy misjudge him with Natalie and let her run off to Rome. I mean, they ARE married.



6. How the hell two people sleep together and share such a romantic time in Rome and not know each other's names correctly. Donna? Vincent? Who?



7. Chris and Coco. They introduced them as a couple, but what ever happened to them?





Things that were Absolutely Hilarious

1. The scene where the S4 go and trash the washroom that Chris's mom was cleaning. I just thought the scene was very mischievous.



2. When Sam and Isaac caught Philip doing a headstand in the middle of the night.



3. When Sam and Isaac goes to the hospital to see Philip and the doctor announces the herbal medication that Philip took to induce certain reactions.



4. Sam and his "fry fry to the sky" poem. One thing Francis could touch up on is his English. I still can't catch one of the lines to the poem.



"An airplane. I am an airplane. Now right up in the sky, ever so high, all ________ in the wind, off to Spain, I can't stay, I am up up and away."

[If anyone can tells me exactly what he said, please do email me.]



5. When Zoë tricks Sam and Isaac into believing that there was a bear in the woods. Paul the bear was cute though. I guess you can't put anything pass Zoë's imagination.



6. The time when Coco liked Sam and Sam completely bored her out over 10 minutes of lunch.



7. When the airplane that Zita drew threw out the window and hit Roy on the head.



8. The scene when Roy and Chris secretly invited Isaac and Zita out to resolve their problems, and all of a sudden Donald shows up to disrupt them from eavesdropping.



9. Scene when Roy's cousin Denise mistaken Sam as Isaac's dad. And later pulls a joke on the age difference between Sam and Zoë. [Why did she say her name was "Den-nis"? As in a GUY, Dennis. It's like Gillian from Twins saying her name is "Gill-ian", when it's actually "Jill-ian"]



10. When Isaac tells Sam that Sam dressed too old. Sam then totally outdid himself when he changed into a bright pink shirt that totally clashed with Zoë's business suit.



11. The scene with Eason when Eason scratches Sam's beautiful car. And again with Eason when Sam gets his autograph.



12. Sam playing the erhu "yee woo". Absolutely classic scene. Sam is set playing his erhu against the backdrop of Isaac and Cammy playing ddr and Philip playing his sax.



13. Chase scene on the bike, when Isaac is trying to catch Donald and Chris in the car. Isaac knocked over the mahjong table and Sam has to come and pay the debt.





Scenes that I Loved

1. The most romantic and cutest scene ever was the scene when Sam proposed to Zoë at the runway of the airport. Sam then completely swept Zoë off her feet.



2. I enjoyed the scene when Sam and Zoë finally saw the rainbow together.



3. I also liked the scene when Sam and Zoë saw the shooting star together on the rooftop as they are pulled together in an embrace. [I know, it's ALL Sam and Zoë. But they're so cute!]



Rating

I must say this is definitely the best series I’ve seen to date. The characters have depth, the story develops throughout, how they actually introduce the new airport as well as the professionalism of the people that work at the airport. I swear this series has made me realize the importance of customer service and I can truly see myself as an air stewardess in a couple years after I graduate. There is also a strong storyline with the primary characters and the secondary characters, but the writers tie in everyone’s’ relationships well. The actors themselves put forth a lot of effort to make the roles seem believe. Overall, I think I have to give this series a . I would totally give it a , if not for my dislike of Belle’s character and several minor glitches in the series.

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