THE PRICE OF GREED [HKTVB]

Written by Funn Lim

"I think I may have gone rusty in my reviewing skills. My critical eyes are also dusty, if not how could I have made the statement 'something that entertains whilst questions' in the same breath as I say TVB series nowadays?"

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Released In
2006

Note
Apparently this series has yet to be released in HK officially. I really wonder why...

Chinese Title
Chin Fong Bak Kai which literally translates to thousands of ways, hundreds of tricks. Used usually in a sentence where you wish to describe the many attempts you try to do something. Maybe the chinese words may be different here since TVB loves to use play of words but quite literally that is what it means. And since this is a series about tricksters I suppose this is an apt title although when I first heard it I actually thought this is a comedy until I read "Price Of Greed". Now if there is a really serious dramatic title, this is it. And it does make you wonder; what price is greed? As this series shall explain, don't bother to question because even if the price is death, someone was laughing all the way to hell so what price is that?!

Cast-Character
Bosco Wong as Lui To
Sammul Chan as Tsui Fung
Shirley Yeung as Yan Yu Mui
Kate Tsui as Lam Ping
Kingdom Yeun as Lo Sei Leung
Vivien Yeo as Suen Wu Sang
Kwok Fung as Lam Sai Fung
Chan Hung Lit as Mao Chun
Sam Chan as Lam Wah
Mary Hon as Fong Miu Chi
Ben Wong as Ching Zi Hiem

Summary
Taken from wikipediawhich is accurate enough for me to save my breath of repeating the same thing

When Lui To (Bosco Wong) was just a child, he and another girl, Yan Yu Mui (Shirley Yeung), were kidnapped on the same day by an organization which kidnapped children in order to sell and exploit for labour. He and Yan Yu Mui were able to escape with the help of Lo Sei Leung, a woman who worked for the organization but had wanted to leave them for a long time.


On the run from the organization, the three become a family of sorts and live day to day on the money earned from Lo Sei Leung's cons, much to the displeasure of Lui To. Lui To's adamantly honest ways and naive sense of justice gets the better of them when Yan Yu Mui ends up with a fever; since Lui To had given the last of their money to a begger, they accept medicine from a seedy medicine seller which leaves Yan Yu Mui mute.


Many years later, Lui To becomes a police officer while Yan Yu Mui attends school and plays the violin. Lui To falls in love with a wealthy girl, Lam Ping (Kate Tsui), but is disappointed to discover she is in love with Tsui Fung (Sammul Chan), a con artist. He is unaware that Yan Yu Mui has a crush on him, seeing her only as a younger sister. In order to protect Lam Ping, Lui To investigates Tsui Fung and discovers his dark past. Though he is unable to stop Lam Ping from marrying Tsui Fung, he must try and save her from becoming another victim of Tsui Fung's cons.

The Whole Damn Plot
Let me confess first that I did not diligently follow this series because I was busy following the Olympics and sometimes too lazy to switch to Ch 311 to watch this series. But I did manage to see most of it and I was quite surprised to see Bosco Wong and Sammul Chan headlining this series, one as a good guy and the other a really bad guy. Interestingly Sammul is the really bad guy but I suppose it is apt; he does have this goody two shoes look and you know what Chinese love to say; gentleman always turns out to be the bad ones. In this series may I stress really bad one. So bad I am afraid Sammul's fans may be very upset with how bad his character is but good news is variety is good for the audience and to see him give a different take is a good thing at the end of the day. Moreover I don't think this is his first evil role anyway.

However before I can go on watching this series, I have to get through 3 women that each one of them has every potential to ruin this series for me; Kate Tsui (luckily minus her lip gloss), Shirley Yeung (she plays a mute in here!) and of course Malaysia's very own Vivien Yeo (unrecognisable- she looks so dark and thin but I recognise her accent anywhere). How did these 3 fare? More on that later. I really want to comment on the plot which thankfully this series has plenty of.

As you can read from the Summary, Bosco and Shirley were both kidnapped by Kingdom and gang to use as child beggars I suppose but Kingdom had a change of heart and decided to rescue them and raise them as her own. before you're confused and think this is a series about identity and soul searching, let me put it plainly to you; never in the entire series will you see Bosco or Shirley search for their family. In fact Shirley in the end explained that she had a family, that is Bosco and Kingdom. Bear in mind what happened to little Madeline, I find this part of the plot disturbing but hey this is TVB, so everything is a-ok.

Shirley likes Bosco, that we know from the outset, Bosco sees her as his sister, that we know from the outset, Bosco likes Kate who is a very rich girl, that we all also know and Kate is crazily in love with the at first missing Sammul, that we also know.

So what is the mystery then? Well this series isn't about mystery either. If you are frustrated by the lack of categorisation of this series, you should be because we all know from the outset the intentions of each and every person in this series, there is no mystery in that department. What this series has however is perhaps characterisation, the experience certain characters go through to change from A to B. Something like that. It is ultimately a drama about human nature. Which is why Sammul features heavily in here, because even before we met him, we already know him and his name, being repeated countless of times and when he appears and up until the end, his character dominates this series and everything that happens or didn't happen is simply because of this one singular character. You will get to know him quite well actually, and whether you like his Fung or not, in the end you kinda wondered what would have happened if he had taken a different route.

Anyway, Sammul has been missing for a year and for that 1 year Kate was looking for him every day, through ads on the papers much to the annoyance of her sich father, Kok Fung who suspected Sammul was not a good guy. Bosco a policeman decided to help her trace his whereabouts and in the end he found out that he may have been drowned during a ferry mishap a year ago. After begging the captain and authorities to look and look and running away from home, Kate found out Sammul may be dead and she was the one who claimed his body a year ago. So the mystery was did she or didn't she? Is she crazy because of grief or isn't she? Point is it doesn't matter because at the end of the day even the writers seem to lose track on this dramatic scene and I find myself asking my sister who watched every single episode "So since she didn't claim the body obviously as Sammul didn't die, who forged her signature and took his diary?" and she was like "Ermmm.... ermmmmm". Plothole aside, Kate went home to her loving father and life goes on until she bumped into Sammul again, same guy, same person, and he was alive. Can't remember his excuse, probably knocked unconcious, was seriously injured, couldn't come back to her but anyway she took him back with open arms. Bosco didn't like the look of Sammul and even Kingdom suspected if this man was a trickster he would be the best one there is because you can't find loophole in his lies. And in one amazing feat of all, despite her father's objections, she decided to go against her father's wishes and be with Sammul who promptly made her pregnant. Being pregnant meant he would have to marry her and her father, after all objections and all, had to say yes in the end. And so they married and they got a son.

4 years later, life went on, Bosco left with the family, business was under the control of Kate who is under control of Sammul and her father was slowly being poisoned, guess by who? Kate has a brother who ran into some trouble and despite everybody, absolutely everybody telling her Sammul has been taking money from the company, etc etc etc, she believed him unequivocally until her father was seriously sick and admitted to the hospital. Unable to speak and very weak, Sammul got bigger control over Kate and even proposed to sell the business to make a quick buck.

Joke is everybody knew this man had cheated another girl before. Cheated her heart, her body, her family and ultimately her life. Can't remember her name but again Kate didn't believe any of it. She even scolded Bosco (that was 4 years ago before she married him) and Shirley who tried to help uncover the truth about his true intentions. She didn't believe anyone but her love for him.

Sammul then met and kinda became infatuated with Vivien who he later found out was the wife of a doctor, Ben who used to woo Kate and Vivien's father is some ex-general with money and powerful connections. Sammul set her as his next target. Ben spent lots of time with Kok Fung and had the patience to slowly write down words he wanted to say one stroke at a time because Kok Fung became mute. He died and Kate knew what her father was trying to tell her. Together with Ben, she stopped the sale of the business and declared openly she wished to divorce Sammul. They left in Ben's car but Sammul was cool because next thing you know, accident happened and both of them seriously injured, leaving them in a coma. Sammul retrieved the money and company seal taken from Kate and now has complete control of the business but he didn't own it yet until she dies. Problem is she is still alive. Bosco in trying to ensure her safety tricked Sammul into agreeing to take Kate home by slashing his own hand, punched Sammul and claimed there was an assassin out to get Kate's life. With Kate at the house, at least if she is dead everyone will suspect Sammul so basically Sammul has to keep her alive. Ben woke up, didn't die but before he could reveal the truth, Sammul suffocated him at the hospital, with Shirley hiding and seeing everything. And then Sammul tricked Vivien into believing Ben and Kate were eloping and being a very angry wife, Vivien turned to Sammul for comfort and thus began their sexual affair.

What they didn't count on was Kate waking up which she did. But she pretended to be still in coma because she knew she would be in danger. Meanwhile Bosco and gang tried to uncover Sammul and his master (who was once partner with Kingdom) were cheats to Vivien's father but to no avail. Vivien didn't believe all those lies. They lied they have a tape recording of Sammul's wrongdoings but that was a lie. Kate meanwhile tried everynight to knocked down the locked windows to no avail and one of the trickster working for Sammul's master began to suspect something was amiss. Sammul decided to test kate by crying emotionally about how sick their son was, etc etc etc but Kate remained unmoving and so Sammul was satisfied. Actually Kate took sleeping pills so he could have thrown the son out of the window also she wouldn't have made a move.

One night she managed to escape and Sammul knew he wouldn't keep up with her. Instead of going to the police, she taunted Sammul and Vivien and in the end decided to make a bargain; money in return for her son. Sammul and herself were in the church where they one had a romantic night out many years before and Kate found herself quite disgusted with Sammul. Sammul did not tell her where is her son and instead took the money and was about to run (because by now Vivien's father was convinced he was a trickster and had asked his men to track him down whilst he himself killed off every other member including his master if I am not mistaken) when Vivien suddenly appeared and told him to believe her because she is pregnant with his child. Super sperminator I tell you. Anyway he didn't believed that she had arranged for his escape and instead kicked, punched, dragged the obviously bleeding Vivien towards the door when Kate who was very angry slapped him for being inhuman. He saw the blood on the floor, for a moment flinched and then let Vivien go and opened the door to leave. Bosco and police were ready and shot him. He didn't die.

Before his execution, he cried to say his thanks to Kate who with Bosco came to say a final goodbye. He promised to tell her where their son was if she were to let him go (I suppose victim's family can forgive the killer and thus commute his sentence to life imprisonment?) but instead she walked away. Sammul laughed cruely and said "You acted so pious and kind, in the end you are just like me!" and he died, laughing.

Some time passed, Shirley and Kingdom left for Vienna for Shirley's musical education, Bosco stayed back to be with Kate who is busy running the business and opened an orphanage whilst looking for her missing son. Cut to a scene on the train a crying 5 year old and an elderly couple saying "We promise we will find your mommy" and cut back to Kate and Bosco at the train station where Kate told Bosco "Let's play a game. If the next train we see a child disembarking from the train, it means my son is alive and well" and so they waited for the train as we hear Shirley's voiceover "If I could wish for a wish on my birthday, I wish for all my wishes that I shall have in all my birthdays that Sister Peng shall have her wish come true" and we hear the chooo-chooo of the train with Bosco and Kate sitting at the train station smiling.

The end.

Questions Asked And Answered
So what happened to Vivien?
Don't know.

So what happened to the son?
Don't know.

Did they reunite?
Don't know.

Is there anything you know that I could get some conclusion from this series?
Don't know.

Summary of the ending
Don't know.

Which is true. But like all TVB series you can safely assume the next train the elderly couple would disembark with that young boy and that boy turns out to be her son. Hope you see, must hope.

Comments
The ending sucks. It sucks big time. Even my sister, an avid fan of this series up until that point felt it sucks and I told her "I know why it sucks" and she asked "Why?". "Two theories" I said "Either the writer wrote badly or Kate Tsui is one awful actress or better yet, both". Because there we were sitting there in our living room with total disbelief that the mother can be so zen when her son is still listed as missing. When Sammul asked to bargain, his life for the son's whereabouts, surprisingly Kate walked away. What should have been a better story would be Kate agreeing, reunited with her son and Sammul rotting in jail forever. To see her so zen about it all, seeing her so calm was disconcerting, more so when in episode 1-3, she was raving mad and that was because she lost her boyfriend. Now boyfriend and son, who is closer? That kinda spoilt the show for me. But there are more reasons to spoil it.

Frankly the story is engaging. Sammul's Tsui Fung is such a bastard you will be glued to the TV just to watch how he can manipulate his way around his women. He is manipulative. Some call it charming when it is positive but when it is negative it is manipulative. This was explored but not fully. I just wished he was all out manipulative but somehow the series seemed rather subdued in that point. I was also quite confused with some actions of some characters.

Take Vivien's character who slept with Sammul because she thought her husband, Ben cheated on her first. I kept thinking how would this woman feel when she slept with the man who wronged and killed her husband? Never got the answer because this Vivien was as dumb as the earlier Kate. She even went as far as helping him to escape and even when he punched, kicked and dragged her when she said she was pregnant and bleeding all over the place, she still begged him to "run, run now before they catch you, runnnnn". This woman gives all women a bad name. Poor Ben having married such a useless wife. So what happened to her? She died? Nice touch would be to have her visiting Sammul before he died, to find a final resolution only to have him laugh at her face and she walk away, used, unwanted, dejected, rubbished, garbaged, humiliated .. whatever to make her feel small that she is. I really hate this character because she is just so darn stupid.

Acting wise, Vivien Yeo is awful. But she is deservingly awful since she is new and this is like one of those major roles and so dramatic and emotional so being awful is expected. I expected better Cantonese though but then she could be playing a Shanghainese so that's ok. She has no best moment frankly and since I hated her character and disliked the actress I really have nothing positive to say about her except.. well except... she is slim?

Then there's Kate's character. Like I said son missing and she was like "I hope he is well, I hope he is well taken care of by kind people, I will see him one day and even if I don't I know he is well taken care of by people who loves him". I wonder what made her think that way? Compare to when she was looking for the supposedly dead Sammul "NOOOO, NOOOO, HE IS NOT DEADDDDDD!!! HE WILL NEVER LEAVE ME!!! HE PROMISED! HE PROMISED HE WILL COME BACK TO MEEEEEEEEEE! NOOOO! HE IS STILL ALIVE!!! PLEASE TRUST MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". I tell you this woman would die for that man and not for her son.

Acting wise for Kate, it is to me bearable until towards the end with regards to the missing son. That just takes the cake as the worst acting in this series because her expressions is all wrong. Whilst what was the series where she had two tubes of lipgloss on her lips in every scene and so the discussion is on her lips and wet looking hair, in here is her amazingly big wide eyes which I feel she didn't need any special effects to do that, she is her own special effects. Her eyes seem wider and wider as the series went on and on to the point that her entire facial muscle is dedicated to making her eyes wide, wider and widest she kinda forgotten to use those very muscles towards other areas that can create some sort of human expressions on her face. Her face seems locked in a perpetual stillness, doll like, unemotional. Her voice was awful as well. I think when she overacts in the beginning (those screaming, crying, kicking when her Sammul was missing or those apologetic looks when her father scolded her for being crazy over a dead man) it was at least more human than what she displayed in the end which is so non-human to me. She is simply the worst because she could have done so much better. I know she is capable of doing better of course, I like to have that level of faith in new actresses if not I might as well switch off the TV. But somehow something was missing. Her performance was like 2 extremes; extremely upset, extremely zen like. I do think she will do well in crazy woman type of roles so she can go extreme at anytime. In fact the way she talks and acts expecially zen like was like a whimsical doll-child, almost spaced out type of eye and she just gives me an impression of this scary woman suddenly devoid of a soul. I know I am being too poetic here or perhaps too descriptive but do you know what I mean? From possessed with a malevolent hyper entity to suddenly devoid of a soul. That's her performance in this series and I really don't know how else to describe it.

And then there's the pointlessness of Shirley's character. At first potential love interest/rival to Kate for Bosco's attention but somewhere along way the way the whole issue was unexplored and halfway through the write must have had enough and decided to disappear her for the next few episodes and finally she re-appeared, pointless as ever.

Shirley's performance is awful, almost the worst if not for Kate's strange and creepy performance. Shirley plays a mute here and for that one second I was so happy until I heard her voiceover and I was like "Where is the script integrity here huh? If she is mute, make sure she is mute. Use subtitles for god's sake!" but they adopted the Return Of The Cuckoo method; she sign language and she voiceovers and amazingly everybody knows what she is saying WITHOUT REALLY LOOKING AT HER HANDS. This family is telephatic. Anyway even when she was signing, she was awful. I have never seen anyone sign language as bad as she speaks her lines. Let's not talk about her performance; it was over the top and when she signs, she reminds me of the way she talks; awful. I won't say fake, I would say inadequate. Like her acting, even her sign language is like acting and I do not know sign language but something tells me she is a tad slow and a tad not quite right. Like her fingers are not so nimble and like her performance, her hand signing is as wooden as her performance is over the top bad. If you must know has she improved? How can I answer that when this is a different role and she is as awful as she was in her other roles? Deproved maybe not, improve hard to tell. All I can say is the moment I see her face, her sign language and hear her voiceover I was like groaning in pain from watching her. If she had been mute with subtitles, maybe I can take it but I just can't take Shirley Yeung who talks, and had to act with her face, body AND hands all at the same time. It just emphasise how bad she was. Her sign language is almost like the way she talks; very unconvincing and slow. She needs to loosen up a little and not be so hyper about everything. In fact she is like the direct opposite of the daze and confused looking Kate. And she was so bad, that the writer decided to remove her from the series when I am sure at first she was meant to be perhaps the third party in the relationship between Kate and Bosco which was what the early indication was. That is probably the smartest thing a writer/producer/writer can do to save this series from total doom but it would have been better if someone just memo-ed Kate to remind her that losing a son is as bad maybe even worse than losing a boyfriend so her expressions must at least equal that at the beginning.

And how did the guys fare? Also direct opposites. Not just in character but simply opposite.

Bosco Wong is a handsome young man, and here he looks really good, even if he was ever in one tweed jacket or whatever you call it. He has the looks that suit an olden day series which is great since there are far too many too modern looking actors with highlighted modern cut hair running around in a series set in such a time. So I appreciate the looks. Whilst I am not disgruntled with his performance, frankly I have nothing much to add. His performance is like one face show the entire series; same expressions, same dead eyes. I have a problem with his eyes; I can't see the passion, I can't see the fiery anger or love or whatever. I can see only dullness, like a fixed gaze. I suppose one of the biggest asset of an actor is his expressive eyes and my criticism of Bosco is not enough. The way he talks is the same in every series, and when he acts serious, he looks really serious, and when he acts silly, he still looks serious. He is one of those actors like Marco Ngai; same face, sound and mannerism throughout his entire career but the question is can he somehow make a difference between all characters he plays? Somehow Marco Ngai can and I can't explain why. In fact I was watching this AND watching what's the series called? Heart Of Greed? That one with the abalone story and I realise he has the same gravely serious look on his face. Not much distinction, might as well have been the same character in different era. That being said whilst I am not entirely excited by his performance, I find him having a certain maturity and appeal that most young actors or even most actors lack. He seems so very stable, very self assured, good ethics and has improved from his first performance, I believe given time he could make a difference in his performances. But for this series, I feel inadequate would be the right word I am looking for.

Sammul Chan is a shock. I mean he looks like a decent fellow, looks like he can't kill, maim or even shout at anyone but in here he did all those things and more. His most memorable scene was the one with him, Kate and Vivien in the church as he dragged Vivien on the floor by her hair. That was pure viciousness. I applaud his bravery in accepting this horrible devious terrible evil bastard and in some way he has come a long way from those smiling gentle-man man type of role. He didn't do great to tell you the truth but a change is refreshing. I suppose you need to be not THAT famous to take on a juicy role that could improve you. His character is appalling. Even till the end he was laughing to his death. I didn't quite pity his character as I should have given his sad unknown background. All I know is he starved, he begged, he had to be a trickster, he was raised by a fraud and he needed to survive. But interestingly his character is just plain dumb. I mean he met Kate who is obviously head over heels over him. He could have stopped and by defacto he could have been a somebody; like a phoenix rising after burning to the ground. That woman would have given her life to him and he could have had a very comfortable life. But perhaps he was greedy, maybe his brain was wired that way, somehow he felt restless and he just needed to cheat her! I was thinking why? Why waste time since you found youself a good place now. Then he met Vivien and I always had this impression he actually likes Vivien, he may be falling for her in fact, he seems fascinated with her and yet back to square one; he wanted to cheat her, he even dragged her. He didn't trust anyone except himself and he seems bent on destroying everything, even himself. In the end he is not a trickster or a fraud; he is a destroyer and he enjoys destroying people's life and he loves no one but himself; so he is a narcisstic evil bastard. Frankly I would have loved it if they show his character actually human; by falling for Vivien for real but then felt he could not have run away from his past and so he kill himself or gets caught. But none of those. Which is why this series is not satisfactory; good guys and bad guys are so easily and lazily compartmentalised that it is just very predictable. Why not make him an ambigous bad guy? Does he love her or does he not" Is there a conscience in there? This character could have been a complex one and would have lifted this series to a different level but unfortunately the writers lack either the imagination or the courage to give us such a character. And I always wonder what happened to Vivien's character at the end? If she loved him so much even when she was having a miscarriage because he dragged her, why wasn't she at his execution? Wouldn't it be more emotionally heart wrenching to see some sort of humanity in this man's eyes when he sees her or better yet when he cruelly laugh at his face and spurn her love even at his death? That he was playing them all along? Anyway, I was deviating from my point. Sammul Chan has improved as an actor. Nowhere near greatness, nowhere near phenomenal but overall watcheable as he was quite good at being such sleazy character whilst looking rather angelic and handsome. I feel he falters a bit during those really really serious scenes where he shows his angst. Well it is not easy acting dramatic without being dramatic I suppose so to give him credit, I thought he handled himself well in this villanous role. Problem is his character was not very well written as he should have been, if not I am sure Sammul may be able to shine more. He does look like he was having fun with this character though.

Everybody else was ok, not that I remember them at all. Maybe I remember Kingdom Yuen and frankly am I the only one who finds her a good actress but somehow in this character she is just not? That she was quite awful partly because her character was so weirdly written? I mean the way she stands, talks and walks as a trickster seems pretentios. Anyway what do I know eh? I have been out of reviewing series maybe my eyes is just deceiving me. How can Kingdom Yuen be inadequate?

I must comment on the issues in this series though. It is no laughing matter and I find it very very strange that the children as in Bosco and Shirley made no effort to look for their real parents. I kept speculating Shirley must be rich man's daughter, Bosco must be rich man's son. Or even other plot like Shirley may be the 3rd party between Bosco and Kate or Sammul will call for real for Vivien or Sammul will hurt Shirley to hurt Bosco, etc. I kinda got all that impression earlier on and suddenly halfway the whole series shifted gear into something... different and then became bland as in seen it, done it, forgotten about it. I wondered about that issue about Kate signing the documents to claim Sammul's body a year before she met him again but then this issue was not answered, maybe it did but I may have simply missed it. The whole police investigating the accident of Kate and Ben was strange. Everybody knows she screamed at the top of her lungs that she intends to divorce Sammul, and then the accident happen and Sammul took control of the company. Anybody with sense would have investigated Sammul but the police, knowing this fact was shown as bumbling, stupid, muddled minded idiots whose greatest contribution to this story is standing there, crossing their arms and speculating about things when the real clues were right before their eyes. Can I call that stupid storytelling or lazy storytelling or I am not bothered storytelling? Then the whole issue about Vivien not having any issue with how her husband actually died, how her father found out about Sammul's true intention, the way Bosco and Kingdom tried to convince the world Sammul and gang were trickster and even how Kate was so cool about her missing son but went bonkers when Sammul went missing ... all inadequacies and plot holes just point to how awful the storytelling was. In fact I think I have more issue with the story than the performances and the performances only made things worse.

All in all, this is an enjoyable series which could have been much better. If you just ignore the discrepencies and watch it to see how evil Sammul can be, I think you will enjoy this series. But if you're looking for total entertainment, something that entertains whilst questions, this is not the one for you. In fact no TVB series can take that claim except for those yesteryears series. I think I may have gone rusty in my reviewing skills. My critical eyes are also dusty, if not how could I have made the statement "something that entertains whilst questions" in the same breath as I say TVB series nowadays? I can't even convince myself how can I convince you? I need to write more reviews. Watch the series as I would have before. Now I am just like the writer of this series; lazy... so lazy I am not bothered with the details and consistencies and so it shows, this entire review shows how not being bothered with the details could cost what could have been a fantastic thought provoking entertaining critical analysis review into those one of the boys, bland, seen it, read it, ignored it type of reviews. The same analysis could be said of this series.

Verdict
Strictly for fans but I am sure fans of Sammul may be appalled at his character and yet overjoyed that at least he is taking on a different character. The rest can just watch this for the parade of eye candies. I mean Kate is pretty, Vivien too in her own ways, Bosco is pretty too. Ok, even Shirley in cute, sometimes. But if you're looking for good performances, best find something else because the performances in here are passable but nothing earth shattering or worth talking about.

Interesting Note
4 years on and this series is still in winter mode. They're probably experiencing the longest winter ever. How the actors can wear so many layers of clothes and yet not even sweat? HOW? TELL ME NOW! HOW???