The Dance of Passion [TVB]

Written by Joanne Lee

"On the whole, this is definitely a series I recommend, but not if you only like light hearted stuff because this definitely is not in that category."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Cantonese Name
For Mo Wong Sah

Number of Episodes
32

Main Cast
Bowie Lam Bo Yee – Yim Man Hei
Moses Chan Ho – Sung Dong Sing
Ada Choi Siu Fun – Jiu Yuk
Gigi Lai Ji – Gai Ming Fung
Charmaine Sheh Si Man – Ga Chun Fun
Maggie Shiu Mei Kei – Long Yuet
Kenny Wong Dak Bun – Sung Dong Yeung
Chan Hung Lit – Mao To
Chung King Fai – Yim Kwok Yip
Helen Ma Hoi Lun – Gwai Laan
Catherine Chow Ka Yee – Mao Siu Kam
Vince Wong Yin Ji – Yim Man Tin
Rebecca Chan Sau Ju – Yim Siu Hung

Summary
Set in the early-mid nineteen hundreds, Yim Ga Po is a small village in China, ruled by the Yim family (mainly Yim Man Hei (Bowie)). The Sung family also occupies the village, and they are essentially viewed by the Yim family as lazy and useless – but because the Yim family was aided by the Sung family many generations ago, the Yim family is bound by their ancestor’s wishes to always live in peace with the Sung family.

The plot is long and intricate, with many twists along the way, but the general theme is murder, revenge, climbing up the ladder of power, etc. The relationships between characters is just as complex as the plot, and so often you’re left wondering whether one character hates another or in actual fact loves them.

Much of the cast were also in War and Beauty, and comparisons were made even before filming began. The notable additions to Dance of Passion were Ada Choi and Maggie Shiu, and the absentees were Sheren Teng and Maggie Cheung HY. Personally, I really enjoyed Dance of Passion, more so than War and Beauty, although the latter achieved much higher ratings.

Acting / Characters
Yim Man Hei / Bowie Lam
At first you hate the Man Hei, and then as you watch further into the series, you almost feel bad for him because he tries so hard to help out Jiu Yuk out of the guilt of killing her son. The change seemed almost too fast – to go from a brutal heartless man to a caring and understanding one in such a short time. Bowie has always been a steady actor, and rarely will you see him give a bad performance. This was no exception – but it was rather unspectacular. Perhaps having seen him portraying this type of character before, his performance just comes as nothing really special.

Sung Dong Sing / Moses Chan
I found Dong Sing to be quite irritating on the whole. It was so often that he was stubborn and selfish, which caused trouble for those around him. He had heaps of chemistry with Charmaine, but their whole relationship just seemed so cliché that it just didn’t really manage to grab my attention. As a person, Moses seems like a really nice guy and I quite like watching him, but there’s something about the way he pronounces his words that sounds really unnatural. It’s almost as if he’s being over-careful with his pronunciation to make sure every word is clear, and it just ends up sounding weird.

Jiu Yuk / Ada Choi
Jiu Yuk was definitely one of my favourite characters. She had so many different faces, yet you could still see where her motives were for each one. She lived her life for her son, and after he was gone, she just felt like she had nothing left (although that child’s lack of acting ability made it hard for me to like him much). A very intelligent woman, she was quite cunning, but you could almost feel sorry for her because she hadn’t had a comfortable life at all. Ada would definitely not have been my first choice of casting, and I was very surprised when I first heard that she was cast as such a mature character. I had doubts that she could pull it off, but I thought she did a fabulous job. She gave off a very strong air of authority, and the way that she delivered her lines sounded suitably calm and steady. Unlike Charmaine who has played similar types of characters to Chun Fun in other series, I’ve never seen Ada as a character like Jiu Yuk, so it really made it a fresh experience.

Gai Ming Fung / Gigi Lai
Another character I found irritating. She was so stubborn in her ways, and her “friendship” with Chun Fun (Charmaine) seemed to revolve around Ming Fung telling Chun Fun how to live her life. Ming Fung always thought that Chun Fun was hard done by, but if Chun Fun was happy to live that way for the sake of causing no trouble, why didn’t Ming Fung just let her be? She seemed to think that being outspoken automatically made her correct, and biting your tongue in any situation meant weakness, even if that were really the appropriate action to be taken. She did learn to bite her tongue in the end, which was good, but it still didn’t make the character likeable for me. I’ve never particularly liked Gigi, but she was good as Ming Fung, she seemed very comfortable. Too bad I just hated the character too much to really enjoy the performance.

Ga Chun Fun / Charmaine Sheh
Most of the characters that Charmaine has portrayed in her career must be the same as Chun Fun. It is nothing new, it is nothing special. Chun Fun was timid and sweet, and written to be likeable. Charmaine was sweet, but it’s been done many times before so it wasn’t too exciting.

Long Yuet / Maggie Shiu
Long Yuet was another one of my favourites. She started out as a quiet, loving wife, and gradually (or maybe not so gradually) turned to the dark side. Her first evil deed was the killing of Gwai Lan (Helen Ma), which was to protect her beloved husband from finding out what his father was really like. And afterward, when she confessed to Jiu Yuk (Ada), she was crying uncontrollably and seemed very remorseful. After that, she seemed to go evil again and it just got worse and worse, until her very end. Which was so incredibly anti-climatic, and did no justice to her character. Maggie was very believable as the quiet wife, and she was believably mean as the demanding wife towards the end. Her crying scenes were fabulous and as always, she acts out so much with her eyes. I was surprised she was cast as a character that was meant to be kind of young, but she sure looks the part so it wasn’t a problem. She had heaps of chemistry with Kenny too.

Sung Dong Yeung / Kenny Wong
Dong Yeung’s stupidity could be so grating, but he was just a man who wanted a simple life and couldn’t understand all the politics behind everything. You had to feel sorry for him when he was being lied to or used, but his drinking and everything at the end was pretty stupid. Kenny is an actor I’ve always liked watching, despite only getting small roles in past series. I was very surprised to see his name in such a strong cast, and the opportunity has obviously done him a world of good considering how much more exposure he’s had since the series aired. I’m looking forward to seeing more screen time for him in the future.

Supporting Cast
These characters may not have had much screen time, and the actors are unlikely to have a huge fan base, but I thought it’d be appropriate to write about them anyway, and individually too, because they were all pretty good and very integral to the series.

Mao To / Chan Hung Lit
Chan Hung Lit was dressed so differently that he was almost unrecognizable – until you heard him speak. Mao To wasn’t a particularly exciting character, but I don’t think he was supposed to be. He did serve as somebody who Dong Sing (Moses) could talk to, and somebody who would give him advice, of which he rarely seemed to listen to.

Yim Kwok Yip / Chung King Fai
Not much screen time, but enough to make his presence felt. He matched Bowie quite well as father and son. Maybe because of his theatre background, Chung King Fai just speaks in a way that seems uncomfortable on television. The pauses are too long, and in odd places. It’s even stranger in modern series though.

Gwai Lan / Helen Ma
She was good as Gwai Lan, but I was surprised she got nailed so early in the series. I think it may have been around episode 9, so it wasn’t even a third of the way through. Anyway, she served as the evil influence early on, but when she resigned to forgetting revenge and resting, she got rested for good which I suppose was karma.

Mao Siu Kam / Catherine Chow
Siu Kam wasn’t likeable at all, but Catherine Chow was good. I applaud her for playing an “ugly” character too. I’d never noticed Catherine before, but since watching DOP, I’ve noticed her in quite a few older series.

Yim Man Tin / Vince Wong
Not a difficult character to play, so Vince did well, and he most definitely looked the part too. Yim Man Tin was a nice, helpful, quiet, but cowardly man, however he was likeable enough.

Yim Siu Hung / Rebecca Chan
Yim Siu Hung was the auntie of Man Hei (Bowie), meaning his father’s sister. His father had pushed her down the stairs, causing Siu Hung to spend her life in a wheel chair as a vegetable. Rebecca Chan has usually had bigger parts in series, and even if she was just a guest character, she’d have plenty of lines. I kept expecting her to suddenly start moving and talking, and it just never happened. Her facial expressions were good, but other than that she didn’t do anything else, literally.

Chemistry
Bowie and Ada
They didn’t get the joint storyline until nearer the end, and by then, Ada was trying to get revenge for her son’s death. The very end part where they’re about to be punished and they run away, is very touching. They matched quite well, despite never being a total ‘couple’.

Bowie and Gigi
Maybe because I found her character to be so cold, I never really felt the passion between these two. It was acceptable, but I wasn’t moved.

Moses and Charmaine
Great chemistry, but clichéd romance. They go together well, and you can feel the love.

Maggie and Kenny
They were lovely. You could feel how caring they were towards each other at the beginning, and when he found out she was pregnant, he drank himself to a stupor which was silly, but it meant he kind of felt he had let her down over the whole impotence thing. The ending was sweet, how he dreamt about their happier times together.

Gigi and Charmaine
Again, it was hard to feel the friendship with Gigi’s character there. It was nice to see that not everybody was trying to kill everybody else though.

Moses and Kenny
They were really good together, two rough boys who were the best of friends. I found their friendship much more genuine than the one shared between Gigi and Charmaine’s characters.

Ending
I liked it. Despite a lot of people saying it spoilt the whole thing, I thought it was appropriate. Despite my favourite characters all dying, the way that Jiu Yuk (Ada) had sacrificed herself was really effective, especially when Bowie (and the viewers) all thought that Ada came out of it alive and was caring for Bowie. I thought the very very end was unnecessary though – the part where the older Chun Fun walks through Yim Ga Po and sees all the other characters, back when they were living happily. It was great to finish with seeing my favourites alive again though.

I didn’t like the ending for Maggie and Kenny’s characters. It was just so anti-climatic, so nothing. Especially Kenny, who burnt his field and told Moses that he was going to keep going forward, run and keep running…and then he just ran away. And that was it. And it was a whole 3 episodes from the finale too.

Themesongs
I’m not a fan of Bowie’s singing, but the song did grow on me. I particularly like how it starts off as a three beat tune, and then goes off into a four beat when it gets more dramatic. The sub theme by Charmaine grew on me too, although I still don’t like her voice. The song itself is very lovely though.

Overall
I really enjoyed this series, despite there seeming to be quite a lot of negativity from viewers. It didn’t live up to the expectations that was placed onto it, which I thought were too high anyway. The plot got a little too complex in the middle, but other than that, I thought it flowed quite well. There were people complaining about it being too “yellow” – I don’t see why. It was set in a desert landscape, were they expecting it to be pink? The color went well with the atmosphere. On the whole, this is definitely a series I’d recommend, but not if you only like light hearted stuff because this definitely isn’t in that category.

Rating

Read More

The Dance of Passion [TVB]

Written by Bridget Au

"Although the desert and mountain terrain is breathtaking at first glance, the series is eternally stuck in its yellowish background that gets very tiresome on the eyes. Trust me, by the 15th episode I thought I be getting jaundice. "

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
"For Moh Wong Sah" (literally translates to fire dance yellow sand)

No. of episodes
32

Year
2006

Cast
Ada Choi Siu Fun as Jiu Yook
Bowie Lam Bo Yee as Yim Man Hei
Gigi Lai Zhi as Kai Ming Fung
Moses Chan Ho as Sung Dong Sing
Kenny Wong Tak Bun as Sung Dong Yeung
Charmaine Sheh Si Maan as Ka Chun Fun
Maggie Siu Mei Kei as Long Yuet
Chung King Fai as Yim Lo Ye (father to Man Hei)
Chan Hung Lit as Uncle Ma
Chow Ka Yee as Siu Kam
Rebecca Chan Sau Yu as Siu Hung (aunt to Man Hei)

Foreword
Dubbed ‘War and Beauty II’ by some due to the reappearance of more than half of its cast, I would consider DOP to be an equally good, if not better, TVB series. I've been waiting and waiting for TVB to return to its days of writing a script consisting of strong characters, secrets, lies, revenge, and hypocrisy and The Dance of Passion gives me all of that. An exceptionally well-acted, compelling series. Highly recommended.

Quick Summary
Northwestern China, 1930’s. Yim Ka Po is a remote desert village located somewhere in northwestern China. It is a village inhabited by two families battling in a power struggle, the ruling Yim family and the more or less useless, gambling Sung family. The Yim tribe is headed by Yim Man Hei, a ruthless, deaf man and the Sung tribe is headed by Jiu Yook, the intelligent widow of the former Sung leader.

Their lives are governed by their traditional emphasis on the purity and ‘honour’ of the women in the village, with any kind of destruction of a woman’s honour having the power to bring the entire tribe down. This creates both internal and external tension within the village, with both families engaged in a cat-and-mouse game to reveal any suspicious activity concerning the women of the village. The women, in turn, rise above their suffering in an effort for self-preservation, sometimes befriending each other for support (Ming Fun and Chun Fun) and at other times turning against each other in the worst of ways (Long Yuet and Kwai Lan).

The tension and drama all culminate in one of the most ridiculous endings in TVB history, which all but destroy the credibility of this series. You really have to see the ending for yourself because it is so hilariously out of place that I am pulling my hair out just thinking about it. I’m still mad about the ending. Anyway, for those of you who want to know who dies, here’s the list – Jiu Yook, Jiu Yook’s son Dong Hiu, Kwai Lan, and Bowie becomes blind too.

On Acting
Ada Choi was just weird. Usually she plays two kinds of characters. Type 1 is playful, young, and ever-energetic (Armed Reaction IV, Healing Hands I-II, Files of Justice), Type 2 is ladylike, gentle, and intelligent (Where the Legend Begins)… and as a person, Ada comes off as girly, friendly, and genuine. Jiu Yook is none of those things. She is young in age, but old in the sense that she has a high social status and is also a mother. She is calculative and yet everything she did (bad or good) was motivated by one thing only: her beloved son, so in that sense she is compassionate and does have a heart. While Ada did a fine job portraying the many facets of Jiu Yook, including her transformation to the mellow, I-live-for-nothing-now-that-my-son-is-dead woman… there is something that isn’t quite right with her. It could have been a breakthrough role, but in my opinion Ada was wrongly cast.

Gigi Lai’s performance gave me the shock of my life. She has never been on the top of my 'Actress to Watch' list, especially after her horribly overrated and overacting performance in War and Beauty. She's a sweet girl in real life, but she is one of TVB's ugliest criers (along with Flora Chan, Yoyo Mung, and Tavia Yeung). Thank goodness she only has one or two short crying scenes in DOP. In fact, she is exceptional in here and I commend this series for changing my opinion of her. Kai Ming Fung was my favourite character of this series, and Gigi gave her depth, strength, intelligence, and plenty of personality. Dare I say, she delivers the series' strongest female performance.

Charmaine Sheh is in her 700th role as the weak, quiet waif and delivers nothing extraordinary. With that said, she has surprisingly excellent chemistry with Moses Chan and her friendship chemistry with Gigi Lai (who her character rivalled in W&B) is equally phenomenal. There are times when she whines too much as Chun Fun, but in general she gains the audience’s sympathy with her character’s many troubles.

I have never really liked Maggie Siu, probably because she often plays icy characters (Healing Hands, At the Threshold of an Era) and even comes off as cold and unfriendly in real life. But I felt she gave a very nice performance here as the gentle, devoted wife Long Yuet. She was equally good when her character became a little stronger and smarter when she had to take over the family's leadership role. Good chemistry with Kenny Wong too.

Kenny Wong, the least well-known member of the main cast, gives an average performance of a useless man. Not great, but adequate. But I have two words for him: Button up. No one needs to see your bare chest for more than one episode, thanks.

Bowie Lam was excellent as usual. His performance was somewhat overshadowed by other actors whose performances improved so much in this series from past performances (Gigi Lai, Moses Chan, Maggie Siu, even Charmaine Sheh). Bowie, on the other hand, is consistently excellent. In particular, he made a very convincing deaf man who spent much of his life concealing the fact that he was deaf. He also has great chemistry with the entire cast.

Moses Chan was a shocker too. I have never liked him in drama, but here he proves that he has improved a lot. He made a lovely couple with Charmaine Sheh’s Chun Fun and achieves a remarkable balance between controlled emotion and explosive anger as Dong Yeung that I can only describe as shocking. I guess this series proves that many in TVB can act, as long as they’re in the right role.

Ke-le-fe nominated for Most Improved Actress Chow Ka Yee was wonderful as Siu Kam. Her performance was impressive simply because she was able to effectively emote even though she was behind a scarf 90% of the time. The older actress who plays Kwai Laan was also really good. Chan Hung Lit’s accent is annoying as hell but he is one competent veteran actor and this series proves is once again.

The one glaringly bad performance in this series comes from Chung King Fai, who plays Yim Lo Ye. A true pity because he is the oldest actor (and supposedly the veteran one of the cast). Why was he so awful? Because he seemed like a jolly old man, like Santa Claus almost. Yim Lo Ye is supposed to be cold, calculative, and unbelievably chauvinistic, but I see no sign of that kind of sinister intelligence in Chung King Fai's performance. I can only imagine what Lo Hoi Pang would have done with this role. There is also something wrong with the way Chung talks, like his speech is rhythmically wrong. I can’t quite explain it. Basically when he talks there are unnatural pauses and he also speaks way too slowly – by the end of his sentences my eyes have already glazed over! Rebecca Chan's totally blank expression as his mentally disabled sister was more interesting to watch.

On Characters
Favourite Character
Kai Ming Fung. A strong woman who was truly in love with her husband and did everything in her power to protect him.

Favourite Couple
I do like Ming Fung and Man Hei, no matter how badly Man Hei treated her. I also liked Long Yuet and Dong Yeung at the beginning of the series. Dong Sing and Chun Fun were fine but too predictable.

Most Useless
A toss-up between Sung Dong Yeung and Yim Man Tin. Sung Dong Yeung was rash, impulsive, and unable to protect his family – he’s like a cow, all strength and no intelligence. Man Tin was basically a dog to his father, obedient with no mind of his own, except his lovesick obsession with Ming Fung, who he earlier abandoned because he was such a coward.

Greatest Transformation
Long Yuet. Though Jiu Yook could also take this award, her transformation was reasonable, because she lost the one motivation she had, her son. Long Yuet, on the other hand, suddenly became a more manipulative, cunning, and cold person for her family’s interests, while her love for her husband (which is what drove her at the beginning) somewhat dimmed at the end. I blame the writers.

Most Pitiful
Nope, not Chun Fun, who many a time whined about how everyone connected to her is ultimately doomed. Not Ming Fung, who was raped by Man Hei. Not Jiu Yook for being married at a young age. I thought the most pitiful was Kwai Lan, who was not only raped by her master but became pregnant, then suffering from illness when her fetus died and was never removed from her stomach, and then ultimately murdered (by Long Yuet, of all people). Or maybe Dong Hiu, Jiu Yook’s young son who was accidentally shot and killed by Man Hei.


Best Scenes
Plenty.

When Ming Fung confronts Man Hei about her will to leave and how she will do anything to leave: “If you don’t let me leave I will continue to do everything in my power to do so. One day passes and I will burn down your house. Another day passes and I will burn down your business. As long as I am your wife, I will be against you”.

Whenever the two families meet to discuss various issues. Enormous tension and amazing acting by some of the veterans.

When Ming Fung discovers that her aunt-in-law (Rebecca Chan) isn’t actually mentally disabled. Only an actress of Chan’s calibre can convey so convincingly without uttering a single word.

Things That Make You Go “Huh?”
How Ming Fung ended up falling in love with Man Hei. She had always been against her arranged marriage and loathed the man, and then he ended up raping her as well. What woman in her right mind would end up falling in love with a man you already hated and then raped you as well? Totally illogical.

Same goes for Chun Fun. In a sense Dong Sing raped her as well because Chun Fun thought she was sleeping with Dong Yeung. How on earth did she end up falling in love with Dong Sing?

Did Man Hei actually love Jiu Yook or was he just regretful about accidentally killing her son? I suspect he did love her for some time but then realized that Ming Fung was the woman for him.

Criticisms
There are some negative reviews out there about this series, and also websites and media reporting that this series started out with high ratings and then declined in popularity as the drama went on. Although personally I highly enjoyed this series, I can understand why the ratings dropped so drastically over time. Here are the three main criticisms I have with this series.

Cinematography. Although the desert and mountain terrain is breathtaking at first glance, the series is eternally stuck in its yellowish background that gets very tiresome on the eyes. Trust me, by the 15th episode I thought I’d be getting jaundice.

The premise of the series can really turn off modern audiences in this day and age where La Femme Desperado wins the TVB award for Best Series, I’m pretty sure many people feel disgusted by how much women suffered in the storyline of this series. I know I was one of the ones who were pretty sickened by it. While War and Beauty was adored for its presentation of women as strong, intelligent, and powerful figures, I figure that you have to see this series as entertainment and not get so caught up in the whole ‘omigod I can’t believe they treat women this way’ social aspect in order to enjoy this drama for what it is – good writing, good direction, good acting

The ending. I praised the writers of War and Beauty for giving us an unconventional yet fitting ending, and I condemn the writers of The Dance of Passion for ruining the previous excellent 31 episodes with the final 10 minutes of the drama where they unsuccessfully attempted to ‘connect’ the ancient element of this series to the present day with scenes of tourists in the modern age visiting and taking photos of the village. This, along with the scene of an old granny who looked nothing like Charmaine Sheh grinning from ear to ear as she spotted the aged Moses Chan in the crowd was supposed to be touching, but I laughed.

Rating


Through the Grapevine
I watched an interview with the cast members shortly after I watched this series. Some interesting discoveries (voted by cast members): Gigi was the pickiest member of the cast and has a long list of phobias including heights, bugs, and germs. She also packed so much for filming that she exceeded the travel limit. Bowie was voted the most caring cast member: he bought down jackets for the entire cast as well as the filming crew. Moses Chan and surprisingly Charmaine Sheh were voted most able to withstand the tough conditions of the desert setting (including sand blowing everywhere, a mini tornado during filming and getting stuck in a well for hours to film one of their love scenes).

This series was nominated for a slew of TVB Awards including Best Series, Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actress/Actor, and Most Improved Actress. Kenny Wong won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as Dong Yeung in this series.

Read More

La Femme Desperado [TVB]

Written by Bridget Au

"At first glance it seems TVB has hit the nail in terms of presenting a gender-swap, socially aware series but with a closer look, you will realize that LFD only scrapes the surface. A major problem is that it does not delve deep enough to examine the roots of the gender issues it presents."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
"Lui Yan Mm Yee Jo" (translates to it's not easy being a woman)

Year
2006

No. of episodes
22

Cast
Michelle Ng Mei Hang as Ko Ji Ling (Ling)
Raymond Lam Fung as Chai Foon (Siu Chai)
Sheren Tang Sui Man as Hilda
Michael Tse Tin Wah as Man King Leung (Man)
Kenneth Ma Kwok Ming as Ko Ji Lik (Lik)
Kate Tsui as Hoi Suen (Ida)
Cindy Au Sin Yee as Crystal
Tsang Wai Kuen as Pluto
Jacqueline Wu as Venus
Mary Hon Ma Lei as Siu Chai's mother
Tiffany Tse as Wing Yee (niece to Siu Chai)
Leung Ka Yan as Ling's father

Foreword
This series received very high ratings as soon as it was released. The great cast is one of the reasons, but the main reason is this series' attempt to present a very refreshing look at gender roles and stereotypes. As soon as I watched how Hilda (Sheren Tang) taught Ling (Michelle Ng) how to choose and wear a bra in the first episode, I knew this series would be different. Though the plot kind of gets lost towards the end, it is in general a well-written story with strong, complex characters and one of the wittiest, knock-down-stereotypes scripts of all time... in TVB terms, at least.

Quick Summary
The story revolves four main characters, two women (one strong, career-minded one, and one weak, traditional one) and two men (one scumbag-turned-good-father, and one juvenile-turned-man). Hilda, the strong and ambitious woman, is determined to prove that women can succeed in a corporate world dominated by men. She was once deeply hurt by an ex-boyfriend, so she doesn't trust men at all. When she meets the weak, traditional, dominated-by-her-husband Ling, she takes her under her wing and tries to instill confidence and power in her. The two become best friends, but their friendship is tried several times due to numerous events.

Though Ling slowly gains self-esteem, she remains very much the traditional-minded woman, and when Siu Chai, a fitness trainer 7 years her junior, professes his undying love for her, she has trouble reconciling her feelings for him and her worries about how society will view their relationship. However, the immature Siu Chai throws caution to the wind and convinces Ling to marry him without her chauvinistic family's approval first. This causes a lot of friction among the in-laws, with Siu Chai's family also against their marriage. Eventually the stress and a lack of communication separates the two and they divorce, but eventually get back together.

Surprisingly, and probably unintentionally on behalf of the writers, the more interesting relationship of the series is between Hilda and Man. The two have a one-night stand, and Hilda becomes pregnant. However, untrusting of any man and particularly the loser Man, Hilda doesn't tell Man she’s pregnant with his child. Instead, Man requests that he become the surrogate father to her unborn child, and is willing to uphold any responsibility for a little girl that he doesn’t know is his biological child. What follows is a series of touching scenes showing Man’s devotion to his new ‘family’, but Hilda is afraid of becoming hurt again and pushes him away. However, when she realizes that Man truly cares about her and her daughter, she lets him back into her life.

Evaluation of Cast and Characters
Melissa Ng / Ko Ji Ling
A pathetic character and mediocre performance. Some people may feel sorry for Ling since she was so weak and prone to being bullied by others, but if you look carefully, Ling isn't that pitiful, or more precisely, she really doesn't deserve anyone to feel sorry for her. There's an inherent flaw in each of the characters in this series... for Ling, it's found in the friendship between her and Hilda. On the surface she refers to Hilda as her sister, but so many things in this series show how the two women really aren't that close at all. On Ling's behalf, she is always ready to betray Hilda when someone badmouths her. For example, when Pluto's wife Venus tells Ling that Hilda is her husband's mistress, Ling schemes with Jackie to bring about Hilda's career downfall, without even consulting or asking Hilda for her side of the story.

Then the actress. To be honest, I find Melissa Ng boring. She doesn't have enough screen presence to be a lead actress although she does well in supporting roles, like Michelle Yip. Michelle is pretty and even classy, she does very well in supporting roles (her cameo in Hard Fate, for example) but when she takes on a lead role (ex. Triumph in the Skies, Eternal Happiness) she loses her charisma and her emotional scenes don't register with me. Melissa is the same. I find her emotional scenes inadequate, although she does have chemistry with Raymond Lam and she looks quite pretty here. But basically I find her boring. The series would have been more interesting if she and Sheren Tang switched roles so that they could both play against-type, but I'm laughing at the prospect of watching Sheren Tang and Raymond Lam together...though I have no idea why.

Sheren Tang / Hilda
The powerful, hardworking, ambitious counterpart to Ling. Her character represents the breakdown of the stereotype of the submissive, quiet female, and because of this, Hilda comes off as truly heartless and cruel. Many males may cry foul at Hilda's one-track-mind of finding a sperm donor in Siu Chai without ever planning to let him know, but then, for thousands of years men have used women just for their ability to bear children. Many (like Man in this series) may also criticize her for placing her career above family (like the part when she insists on continuing a business meeting when her baby daughter is in the hospital with a fever)... but on the other hand, how many people will condemn a man for doing the same thing? This series and especially the character of Hilda raise a lot of questions about these double-standard perceptions, which is refreshing coming from the usually patriarchial TVB.

The flaw in her character, like Ling, is found when one looks at their friendship. Seriously, if friendship is what it is as shown between these two women (who claimed to be best friends and 'sisters'), I have lost all faith in friendship. Fully knowing that Ling has feelings for Siu Chai, Hilda still targets him as a potential sperm donor. 'Inconsiderate' does not begin to describe that. There is something weird and inconsistent about the way the writers portrayed the friendship between Hilda and Ling, and in a way it's never really resolved.

Anyway, Sheren delivered a strong performance. Her best scenes are opposite the talented Michael Tse and as the vulnerable, soft, loving older sister to Kate Tsui's character. But I wish she would take on a different character next time. One Jessica Hsuan is enough for me, thanks...though Sheren is a much better actress than Jess.

Michael Tse / Man
An intriguing character and excellent performance. The success of Michael's performance lies in the fact that he absolutely personifies Man. At the beginning, you loathe him as the ultimate disgusting scumbag and cheating husband. You cheer when he is constantly insulted by Siu Chai. Then when he reveals his past as an orphan, you suddenly empathize with him. When you watch his scenes with Hilda and the baby, you start to love this guy because you know that inside, deep down, he is a good person, only driven to becoming a jerk due to his unhappy childhood and for self-preservation. When Hilda rejects his love and takes away their daughter, Man becomes his old scum self again. There is something very human about Man and Michael conveyed it extremely well. I loved watching him as the jerk in the beginning and also as the caring husband-father figure with Hilda. My only complaint is the scenes where he is playing the piano and singing to Hilda. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to throw up or laugh.

Raymond Lam / Siu Chai
This character is, at first glance, too easy for Raymond since he has done this role so many times (A Taste of Love, A Step into the Past, Yummy Yummy, etc.). The challenge is to present this kind of character in a refreshing way, given his interesting older-woman-younger-man romantic storyline. Raymond rises to the challenge. He is funny and dead-on at the beginning with his witty insults and comebacks towards Michael, lovable as the doted-upon son of his widowed mother and grandmother, but it is his pairing with Melissa Ng that is oddly compelling. As I've mentioned, I wasn't crazy about Melissa's Ling but Raymond's performance made this couple very watchable. His portrayal of the very juvenile, blunt, impulsive Siu Chai with a one-track mind towards loving his 'goddess' Ling was very good. I find his performance so satisfying because he made the character very real - the way he delivered his dialogue in defence of Ling and their relationship was totally fitting - he really acted like a young man would in defence of the woman he loved. My only complaint is that he looks too thin here to be convincing as a fitness trainer - he looked even more muscular in Survivor's Law.

Kate Tsui / Ida
I'm surprised that not many of the reviewers noticed her performance here. I thought she was really good, much better than Melissa Ng, and for Kate's first series, that's high praise. Her lips look kind of freaky in here because they're thick and loaded with too much lip gloss, and she's not pretty either, but Kate has a face with character. Though she was shaky in the beginning here, she gives the rebellious, angry Ida spice and personality; her best scenes are opposite Sheren Tang. As well, very few actresses (especially Hong Kong actresses) can accurately depict a tomboy, but Kate is the epitome of tomboy in here. From the way she speaks to the way she walks, she conveys a very powerful image of a boyish girl. Wonderful performance, and if TVB gives her a chance, she will be a newcomer I recommend looking out for.

Kenneth Ma / Lik
One of the TVB actors who is underrated for a reason... because he's boring! I once compared him to Joe Ma, who delivers the right emotions at the right times but has no screen presence. And since they both have the same last name, I will from this day forward refer to these two guys as the uncharismatic long-lost brothers of TVB, though they aren't related in real life. Anyway, Kenneth is dull here - he pouts too much for a grown man though his character made a cute couple with Kate Tsui's Ida and was hilariously chauvinistic, but Kenneth is such a boring actor. I can feel myself about to yawn as I'm writing this, that's how boring he is.

Other Characters
After a none-too-successful singing career and various cameos in movies and series alike, Cindy Au seems to be regaining some exposure, although it's not a 'comeback' by any means. Meaning she has a cute personality in real life, is a decent actress, she's not stiff and she doesn't overact, but she will never get a lead role - she's missing the X-factor. She gives a good performance here as the rational, educated, body-language expert and her outburts of "You're lying!" add comedy to this series. A great performance was given by Leung Ka Yan, who is downright hilarious as the super-chauvinist but caring father to Ling. The supporting cast, actually, is generally very good - excellent performances by Mary Hon, Tiffany Tse, and the actors who portrayed Ling's older brother and mother, Siu Chai's grandmother, Pluto, and Venus. The acting in this series is top-notch with the disappointing exception of Melissa Ng.

A Breakthrough?
At first glance it seems TVB has hit the nail in terms of presenting a gender-swap, socially aware series but with a closer look, you will realize that LFD only scrapes the surface. A major problem is that it doesn’t delve deep enough to examine the roots of the gender issues it presents. For example, Ling and Siu Chai get married simply without addressing the issue of their older-woman-younger-man relationship – it was just like “get married, worry about family’s blessing later”. The relationship between Hilda and Man is more intriguing, but again, only scrapes the surface in terms of examining the interaction between men and women. The one ‘social change’ that was presented fairly well in this series was how Ling’s mother gained independence in face of a strict, demanding, chauvinistic husband. La Femme Desperado does well as a first step, but as a breakthrough series insightfully challenging gender stereotypes, it still has some way to go.

On the Titles
The Cantonese one is very easy to remember, but it is the English one that is confusing. Actually, it’s not even English. It seems like TVB messed up in their foreign languages department: “la femme” is French for woman, and “desperado” is closest to the Spanish or Portugese word for desperate, “desesperado”. Catchy title nonetheless though.

To Watch or Not to Watch, That is the Question
Not to be missed. You will laugh yourself silly at the wit of the first part and Michael Tse's amazing performance is worth your time alone. Worth buying if you are a Raymond Lam fan.

Rating


Through the Grapevine
Jacqueline Wu (who portrayed Venus) is actually deaf in one ear. Raymond Lam is a self-proclaimed bore: when he's not filming series, he stays at home and "walks to the kitchen, washroom, and living room, then walks back to the kitchen".

Read More