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24 December 2009

AT POINT BLANK [TVB]

Written by Funn Lim


This review was posted many years ago, exactly when I am not sure but it should be within months from the original broadcast of this series. I am posting it as I have posted it originally.


SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS


Title Deciphered
The title would actually mean perhaps starting all over again but read it the other way, Point Blank would certainly describe the wafer thin plot that this series has.

Length
20 episodes/10 tapes

Cast-Characters
Gallen Lo- Lennon Lo Ging Fai
Evergreen Mak - Lo Gai Fai
Louisa So- Venessa
Yuen Keng Dan - Cheong Hiu Nam
Myolie Wu - Samantha Cheong Hiu Kwan
Michael Tse Tin Wah -Bernard Chan Siu Ming
Lee Ka Sing - Robin
Fiona Yuen Choi Wan - Cherrian Yau Mei Suet
Wu Fung - Oscar
Natalie Wong Gei Ying - Mun
Misc Characters - Vincent, Cheong Leong Sook Yin, Cheong Sam, Lung 5 (the actor's name is ? ? Bun)

Relationships Explained
Gallen is the husband to an older woman, Yuen. Louisa is his mistress. Myolie is his wife's younger sister. Fiona is his nosy secretary, Evergreen is his younger brother, Michael is his friend cum colleague, Lee is his colleague and Michael's assistant, and the characters of Cheong Sam and Cheong Leong Sook Yin are his parents in law.

Louisa - Gallen - Yuen Keng Dan

Myolie - Michael - Natalie

Evergreen - Fiona Yuen

Plot Summarized
Lennon has been married to his wife for 7 years. Though his wife is 4 years older than he was (she was 39 and he was 35), he seemed perfectly in love with his wife though he may have been bored with his lack lustre marriage. Things didn't go so well for him in his social life as his only brother, who was the perfect gentleman in front of Lennon's mom in law was always pressuring Lennon to "play" a little with other women. And he also had a friend who was a playboy in the form of Bernard. But Lennon never complained, not even when he had an over domineering mother in law and a wuss as a father in law. For 7 years he had little freedom and little opinion in his house that he shared with his in laws. He never regretted marrying his older wife, and though they had no children life was perfect for him because he knew his wife loved him and did everything for him. But one trip to Thailand changed all that. Life become complicated when he met the mysterious Venessa, who believed in her destiny of meeting a man who was born at a certain time in a certain year. Lennon so happened was her dream man. They spent one night together though nothing happened. When Lennon who was guilt ridden by what he thought was a one night stand went home to his wife, he tried to forget what happened. But Venessa refused to let him go and she went in search of him in Hong Kong. When she finally found him through Bernard, there was a misunderstanding. Lennon and Bernard thought she was the wife of a mafia from Thailand and fearing for the safety of his family, Lennon lied about his marital status, spun a web of lies saying he and Bernard were lovers but unfortunately, one night when he was drunk, they slept with each other. From thereon, nothing seemed right.

Will Lennon be able to face his soft spoken wife ever again? Will his wife forgive him or will the relationship between the mistress and a woman's husband develop further? Will there be a happy ending for Hiu Nam, the wife?

The Ending Revealed
Thanks to YF, I am glad I didn't finish watching this series. Pointless storyline if you read what is written. Below is the most detailed description of an ending ever written by a contributor. If you have any questions about the info below, E-Mail the author.

"For Lennon, Hiu Lam and Venessa
The ending is Lennon went back to his wife (Hiu Lam) b/c all the while (from episode 1 to 20) he only loved his wife and no one else. The only affair he had with Venessa was that one night stand and that's all. And,IMO, this aspect is what makes At Point Blank different from other wife-husband-mistress stories where the husband usually commit further and further adultery to the point of near no return (although he always successfully return to his forgiving wife). In this case the younger, richer
and more beautiful Venessa never stand a change against Hiu Lam in Lennon's
heart.

If that is the case, what left to tell in the later episodes?

Siu Meng finally found out that Venessa is not a mafia's wife, so Lennon told Venessa that he actually had a wife and also told her the reason he lied to her. Venessa very sadly went back to Thailand and consult the fortune teller again. The fortune teller told her that Lennon will have 2 relationships in his life and the second one is the true one. So Venessa decided to go 'help' Lennon end the first relationship. So she asked her mega rich dad to bought over the company where Lennon is working and become the boss there (the current boss become the smaller
shareholder) and start breaking up the marriage.

First she made Lennon very very busy by promoting him and making him work late and have meetings with clients all the time so he doesn't have time for his wife while she is by his side all the time. But Lennon still think of his family when he was working overtime and wanted to go home as quickly as possible. She also asked Lennon to learn golf and bought him an expensive car (said it's company incentive), maybe to closer the gap between their live style? But Lennon thought golf a boring game and a waste of good land and he also prefers a family van. Then she became friends with Hiu Lam and got to know that they have wanted a baby for a long time. So she asked a person to post as a famous doctor and tell Hiu Lam that she is barren so to create a strain between husband andwife . This makes Lennon very unhappy but he is still very understanding and
wanted to be by Hiu Lam side to give her moral support but remember, he have a high work load. For the next step she asked her bodyguard (Lung 5) to pose as Lennon and they pretended to have a long kiss in front of Hiu Lam and her mum (she came back from Canada). Why can't Hiu Lam recognise her own husband? Well, she can't actually see Lennon's face(she's not that near), but the car they were kissing in were Lennon's car. Hiu Lam's got very upset while her mum got very mad and went to Lennon's office to scold him. Samantha who knew about the one night stand (from overhearing the conversation between Lennon and Siu Meng) confronted Venessa about the kissing (they were alone in the washroom) and Venessa lied to her that she and Lennon have been continuing the affair for quite sometime and say things like you can't prevent love. Samantha in a fit of anger blurted out the affair in front of everyone . Hiu Lam was devastated of course and the mum in-law refused to let Lennon see Hiu Lam anymore and block all his calls (so now they can't talk it out). Then when Oscar and Gai Fai can finally get everyone away from Hiu Lam (so that Lennon can talk to her alone), Venessa has called her out and lied to her that she and Lennon are in love and Lennon actually doesn't want to have a baby with her so they asked a fake doctor to tell her that she is barren and gave her medicine so she can't have a baby. This cause Hiu Lam to be very hurt and more dishearten. The last straw came when Venessa asked Lung 5 to drug Vincent (Lennon's boss) and Hiu Lam and put them together in bed and let Lennon see it. This caused Lennon to asked for a divorce. He doesn't really want a divorce. He thought about it for a time, but u know men can't stand this thing (doesn't matter that they did it first) and Venessa was there hinting subtly, while mum in-law was there obstructing any reconciliation, and he thought that Hiu Lam did it for revenge. But he still love Hiu Lam.

After all this unhappiness, Venessa finally revealed to Lennon that she has never let go of Lennon and she didn't say anything b/c she didn't want to break up his family. Lennon started to like her a bit after this, which I think was out of gratefulness more than love b/c she stood by him all the time and 'endured' accusation by everyone around. But before their first date Lennon got to know about all her scheming a la Moonlight (over hearing important conversation through hand phone-between Venessa and her disapproving dad). He confronted her and told her that he will never loved and went back to his wife. But everything seem to prevent him from going back to his wife, like trap in lift and mum in-law block refusing to let him talk to Hiu Lam. Instead Venessa get to Hiu Lam first and she start to struggle with Hiu Lam. Hiu Lam accidentlay push her to the floor. She used this opportunity to lie to her dad that she's paralysed from the waist down (maybe she bribed the doctors) and her dad forced Lennon go to US with her or he sue his wife. Lennon have to go, but when Hiu Lam knows about it, she got kind of suspicious why a light push can cause paralysis and want to talk to Vennessa, but Lennon drag her out of the hospital and tell her that he had decided to go to US with Venessa. All this while Venessa was standing by the window looking down and unfortunately seen by Gai Fai and Mei Suet (who barged in without knocking). The 2 of them were caught by Lung 5 who drove them to some remote palace to wait until Lennon and Venessa left Hong Kong before releasing them. They managed to get away but met with an accident but Gai Fai managed to make a call to Venessa's dad telling him the truth. Venessa dad managed to stop Lennon and Vennessa before they left Hong Kong. So Lennon and Hiu Lam were finally back together. And Hiu Lam was not really that weak and helpless as she seems. She actually reported to the police herself that she accidently push Venessa and caused her to be paralysed so that Lennon won't have to go to US with Venessa.

For Gai Fai and Mei Suet.
Mei Suet started to like Gai Fai after she was cheated by another insurance agent and Gai Fai consoled her and helped her find the agent. One day while they were eating out together (they were good friends now) they got selected to enter a game show which the first prize was HK10,000 , but they have to be husband and wife. So Gai Fai convinced her to pretend to be his wife and from then on Mei Suet was in Gai Fai's house very often b/c the tv station people always go to 'their' house for recording (like in the Super trio show). Mei Suet help keep the initially very messy house really clean and even cook for him and Gai Fai unknowingly have feelings for her. But they later got into a fight over Lennon's issue where Mei Suet sided Hiu Lam and her mum while Gai Fai sided Lennon. But when they were both 'kidnapped' by Lung 5, Gai Fai asked her to run away and go stop Lennon from going away with Venessa, while he go and distract Lung 5 (they were inside the van while Lung 5 have gone outside). Mei Suet refused and said that he was no match to Lung 5 and Lung 5 will kill him and she doesn't want that b/c she loved him. He asked her why if she loved him, she go fight with him so vehemently over Lennon's issue and she said that it is b/c she loved him that she doesn't want him to do the wrong thing like being irresponsible and left his wife like Lennon did. Now he knew. While escaping they met with an accident and Mei Suet was comatose. Gai Fai pour
out his heart to her and said that he want her to be his wife. Mei Suet woke up and said she will if he promise her not to play around anymore.

For Siu Meng and Samantha.
It turned out that the story Siu Meng used to dump his girlfriends are actually true except for the part where the girl has cancer. He was changing girlfriends all the time b/c he was afraid of going into a serious relationship. He was also all this while looking for that first love. But when he finally can let go of the past and started to court Samantha, he met the said first love (Mun) and her son again. Siu Meng wanted to take responsibility for what he did in the past and started to take care of her and the boy. After learning that boy was being teased at school for having no father and also with encouragement from Samantha, he asked Mun to marry him but the love he had for Mun once been actually lost and he only loved Samantha. When Mun knows about it (she saw a sticker picture of Samantha and Siu Meng and Siu Meng wanted to be honest, told her take it's taken after he proposed to her but now there is nothing between them and he had chosen to be with her and will try to get back the feelings he had for her). Mun didn't want to go between them so she ran away again. But Samantha still won't be with him b/c she doesn't want to be a home breaker anymore. Samantha later saw Mun in the hospital where Mei Suet was in (remember, she met with a accident), so she called Siu Meng and Siu Meng went to see Mun. But this time he said that he can't marry Mun and proposed to Mun that can he only be the boy's father and not her husband. But it turned out that the boy was actually not his son. Last time Mun thought she was pregnant but found out
later she was mistaken. She didn't want to get married so early but she saw Siu Meng so busy preparing the wedding and freaked out and ran away. Later she met the boy's biological father (surname also Chan) and was pregnant by him. The guy disappeared before the boy was born. She met him again after she ran away from Siu Meng the second time and found out that he didn't abandon them, he was in jail all this while. She agreed to marry Siu Meng at first b/c she thought Siu Meng have been waiting for her all this while and didn't want her son to be without a father anymore. So Siu Meng got back
together with Samantha.

What happens to Venessa ?
After Lennon left her she became a bit unstable and went to Lennon's house to ask Hiu Lam to give Lennon back to her and nearly caused both of them (Venessa and Hiu Lam) to die of suffocation by gas leaking from the stove. But luckily they were saved by Lung 5 and Lennon who reached the house at the same time. After this incident, Venessa became insane and mistaken Lung 5 for Lennon. Lung 5 later go back to US with her and stayed by her side.

Lung 5 has actually been secretly in love with Venessa for a long time. Gai Fai and Mei Suet can so easily escaped the other time was b/c Lung 5 let them after overhearing what Mei Suet said about doesn't want Gai Fai to do the wrong thing b/c she loved him. Earlier when Venessa asked him to frame Hiu Lam he was actually very reluctant, and later had told her so and said that they had gone overboard and asked her to stop. She didn't listen of
course and I think fired him (can't remember this clearly). Lung 5 later came back to help her b/c she told him that all her life she felt that she has everything except a love that she can be really feel happiness with and now she has found it in Lennon, and beg him to help her one last time (which is the kidnapping part) which he did.

For the Mum and Dad in law.
The mum-in law became nicer after the outburst of the husband who told her
that she was partly to blame for what happened between Lennon and Hiu Lam
and also said that he didn't have any affair 20 years ago. He explain anything to her b/c he want to (and he said some chinese phrase I don't understand - sik si ling yan-it means knowing what to do at the right time-Funn).

So everyone has a happy ending and Lennon and Hiu Lam finally have a baby
boy. "
Comments
The truth is I didn't finish watching this series. I wouldn't say it was boring. It was quite entertaining. But I was eagerly anticipating Gods of Honour, I was watching Qing Sheng Sheng Yu Mong Mong and I have just finished Under The Same Roof and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I was in the middle of Incurable Traits. Let's just say that this series came at a wrong time for me. I wasn't paying attention.

If it was supposed to be a comedy, it wasn't funny. If it was supposed to be a drama, I can't see anything dramatic about it. At best it was a light hearted pseudo comedy that had Gallen in it. Maybe I was sick of watching Gallen but that couldn't be because he gave quite a good performance in here. And may I add, he looks very good looking nowadays. If I said I didn't find anything cute in here that wouldn't be right. Myolie Wu was cute. If I were to finish this series, it would be because of Myolie Wu. I can't say there were plenty of bad performances because everybody was at their usual best, even a newcomer like Myolie, or even old timers like Louisa who is getting prettier each day ever since I saw her in Plain Love II or even Yuen Keng Dan who seemed miscast at first as Gallen's older wife but she made up for all that miscast ninsense with her fine performances of a dutiful daughter and an understanding wife. The themesong was amazing, and Gallen sung it with such feelings and such style I would say I was tempted to buy his album. This man's singing is getting better each day.

So why didn't I just finish this series?

One simple reason. I didn't find the whole premise interesting. I have been flooded with dramas this whole month and yet I wasn't quite satisfied watching this light hearted series. Perhaps it was because the storyline was the usual uninteresting storyline. Nothing ever happens in this series. It was more like a situation drama and I was pretty sick and tired of watching men who are wusses. I am tired of watching men having affairs and men who have domineering mother in laws. I am tired of watching nosy secretaries who are spinsters and had nothing to do but to spy on their bosses because the mom in laws said so (Fiona Yuen's character) and amazingly the bosses never fire such secretaries. I am tired of watching a series where people gossip more than they work and the office place looks more like a friendly home than a dogs eat dogs world. I find the whole series unreal. Not surreal but nothing seemed logical and nothing seemed interesting at all. Like I said it wasn't boring, it was entertaining some times but overall, I wasn't paying attention and that was the reason why I stopped watching it. I find this series a small budget series with little substance in storyline but if you must know, do watch it for performances but not the story. But I don't think it will hold your interest for more than 5 tapes unless you're a die hard fan of Gallen and gang.

And so my recommendation is to AVOID this series, read The Ending Revealed to know everything and BUY Gallen's themesong or download it if you can find the song. The only great thing about this series was the theme song.


Most Promising Star
I first saw her in Miss HK pageant and she was about 20 years old and she looked sweet. Then I saw her in travelogues and she looked very thin, sweet albeit a bit young which explained why when the chef was about to cut open a fish she was clapping her hands. A family member said she behaved like an idiotic girl but I reasoned she was young and she was having fun. Moreover why be such a hypocrite? The fish could be quite a meal, who knows? And then I saw her in Colourful Life in a very small role and again I thought she was sweet and she was quite ok in her performances still raw. And of course came this series.

Myolie Wu is a very cute actress. She is very sweet looking though she is not very pretty. She is quite good even in scenes where she is required to raise her voice and scold somebody. Though by the way she sounds you know she is very very young but she delivers her lines in a rather mature way. I like her and I hope to see more of her. She doesn't have this annoying habit like speaking in a too pampered voice and she has more expressions on her face than just frown or happy expressions. She knows what to do with her hands and she rarely points at somebody. I find her natural in her performances and I find that she could act impressively even when she was standing next to Gallen or even Yuen Keng Dan. I feel she is one of TVB's most promising star and I believe a few years more, when she grows up a bit, a bit more mature in her thinking and the way she speaks, she will be quite a joy to watch. But she is still so very young and she is still so new in this line. Give her a little time and I believe she will make every performances a good one. But it depends on how she matures as an actress.

I wish this young actress all the best in her chosen career.

Interesting Facts
When I saw Yuen Keng Dan I was commenting that how can a good looking man like Gallen has such a plain looking wife? And I remembered. In real life Gallen's wife is a plain looking woman. Let me stop here for a second and let us all put our hands together and clap. Because you can't find good men like Gallen Lo who not only married his long time girlfriend when he was surrounded by beauties and plenty of opportunities, he even defended her when mean people like me said the wife is very plain looking. With men like Gallen I feel a bit of hope in this world of men and their trophy wives. Same for Evergreen Mak. And they're fathers now!

Louisa So. She has such pretty eyes don't you think? And perfect flawless skin. But she looks a bit too mature for her age (early 30's). She once said she gets a bit irritated when she is asked to play mothers to young or teenage children because she is not married, never been married, doesn't plan to get married any time soon, she has never had any children and she is not THAT old. But may I repeat, Miss So, you have such pretty eyes.

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