LOVE OF A LIFETIME [Taiwan]

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

How Long : Much too long that I lost count.

Who : Famous and hot stars of Taiwanese small screen,Lin Rui Yang,Shao Qiang,Lin Xin Ru and the others I do not know their names but they're famous.

What & Where : Modern 90's in Taipei,Taiwan.It is all about one thing,LOVE and love only.

The storyline : This would be a rather short storyline to tell because basically they have nothing much to say here.Anyway,the plot starts quite interestingly with a rich man,Lei Zhi Yuan(Lin Rui Yang) who was celebrating his wedding anniversarry with his very lovely wife,his very lovely young daughter and his company workers.Then enters Xiao Qiang's character,a heavily pregnant woman who was asked to deliver a very big present to dear Yuan.And then,well basically,whilst Yuan was busy entertaining people,his daughter and wife was blown to pieces by that present which contained a bomb.He was so distraught that he rushed to save them and he himself got burnt and later blinded.Whilst our heroine who was already very impressed by this man she had met and talked to for a second was so distraught with guilt,she ran away from her trucker boyfriend and lived her own life .Then 7 years later,we see her as beautiful,healthy and an owner of a boutique.She met Yuan again but was surprised to see that he's not blind.Actually,that's his twin younger brother,Zhi Hai(obviously,same actor here only with more gel in his hair) and well,the younger brother fell for her in first sight and he wooed her,and he did succesfully wooed her and then,there into her life is his blind brother who is now a pitiful state of a human being,who screams more than he talks,too distraught over the death of his family.Then we have Hai's mistress,a bar girl who will do anything to get her man ,which includes trying to harm the woman who was now the fiancee of his beloved Hai.The thing about Hai is he never knew that Xiao Qiang had a child,was poor and uneducated.When he knew,he ran away on the wedding day,devastating the woman that he had loved.And you would think that this is the ending,wouldn't you?Nope,many more things happened.I would bet even Shuen Ng Hung(from JTTW of TVB) would cringe at the thought of watching this serials.Too much emphasis is placed on the notion of love that nothing matters anymore.

What About The ....: The daughter of Xiao Qiang?She was sent to live with her nanny and she never saw her mom until 7 years later where she looked for her.
The ex-boyfriend of Xiao Qiang?Well,he came back into their lives as a car salesman who helped Hai's mistress,Ting Ting to cause great distress to Xiao Qiang without knowing who she is.And when he knew,he is bent to get back his woman.
That killer of Yuan's family?Well,by the time you reached half the series,you'll probably forget about that tiny issue.So to save you the trouble,it was sent by a disgruntled former employee of Yuan who has no part to play in the entire series,sadly.

The Hate Factor : Every characters in this serials has something to make you hate them.So for clarity sakes,look below:

Xiao Qiang : Our heroine in distress and I hated her the most.She was the most irresponsible mom,never went to visit her child,and when she saw her child again,she made her child call her Aunty(not related),lied about her pasts,tortured her daughter by saying things like,"If only I never had you I would be in better position" which is downright hateful you know.But she said it in soft tone and was crying,you almost pity her,almost.And then she could not decide between two men.She obviously loves the elder brother ,Yuan but yet she is with Hai.When Hai was hurt,she would cry and beg for him to be ok,AT THE SAME TIME,she would hug the elder brother and give him this longing stare.She became the ultimate prize for all the men in this serials and frankly,other from the fact that she is pretty,I don't see any redeeming qualities in this woman who is neither a good mother,a good daughter,a good friend or even a good person.You are supposed to feel for her,but believe me,you would just wish to shake her hard and scream,"Hey!You got a beautiful daughter,a nice shop,so what if you don't have a man in your life?Grow up!".Well,something like that.

Lei Zhi Yuan/Zhi Hai : The former one is the blind nice one.But I'll not talk about him here.Let's talk about Zhi Hai.He is really arrogant and really mean.So he really loves that girl so then marry her and her daughter as well lar,since theyr'e a package .But nooo.He ran away.Then came back to woo her,which he successfully did and then,well many many things happened.You see,he loved this woman because she reminds him of his brother's dead wife,whom he had loved and raped(pretending to be the big bro one night) and as a result,she got pregnant and the daughter that died is actually his.So the family he could have had and lost and all the years of sufferring could have been him.So he was so overcome with guilt,he left Xiao Qiang and encouraged his brother(married again at this time) to get her back.And then he got shot,and died(I think).And the story still hasn't ended yet.

Ting Ting : She is the mistress of Zhi Hai for many years.The woman who never say no to him.She is a bar girl,so he cannot and will not marry.And when the man left her,she wanted him back by doing lots of harmful things,by revealing the secret past of Qiang.Then she refused to leave the man,clinging on the him like he's oxigen to her and at last,she married someone else,but divorced and went back to Hai who didn't want her and she got scarred by her ex-husband and again,well,the story still hasn't ended yet.

The WIMP factor : It had to be Lei Zhi Yuan,the blind one.So we feel for him,so sad wife and child died,he disfigured and blinded.But 7 years later,he still screams and kick like a lunatic.So later he got better,went for surgery to correct his face and eyes,got back up again,loved Qiang and then it couldn't work out because he felt responsible for his dead loyal assistant's fiancee who is now pregnant(not with his child coz he is incapable of having a child which he didn't know) so he married that woman instead.So married her then be nice to her.But nooooooo!!He refused to sleep with her and still pines for you know who.So stop torturing that poor woman and divorce her.But nooooo!He wouldn''t want to.So stay married to her and do the decent thing,try to love her as your wife and forget about the other womn.Which he did,but well,he still pines for her.

The Most Dramatic Scene : None.What is so dramatic of a supposed secret that you already know from episode one and then revelaed in episode 30?And what is so dramatic about love anyway?Probably When Hai was shot.But you would know that with only one woman available,one of them had to die and who else but the stronger one instead of the pitiful one.

The Most Compatible Couple : This is like the many series that Xiao Qiang had teamed up with Lin Rui Yang.I had to admit,they looked good together,because he is like the only man tall enough to match her.

The Would-Be Famous Star : You would probably notice a very young Ruby Lin Xin Ru of HZGG fame.She has quite a lot of screentime here playing a rude shop assistant who is actually very nice.

So you wanna be an actress in ...: Taiwan?You must have several criterias fulfilled.For eg,you must be beautiful,with a figure to die for(so thin people have no chance here because 99% of the actress in Taiwan is not thin,but slim),can act decently is good enough,speak good mandarin with no dialect accent ,could withstand utterring really stupid lines from the script,could decently kiss and most important of all,you could cry on demand,like action!cry,cut!stop crying.And when you cry,it must be big drops of tears done tastefully,no running nose whatsoever.

So you wanna be an actor in ...: Taiwan?You must have several criterias fulfilled.For eg,you must be good looking(as in nice to look at if you wanna be a hero), need not be muscular but decently filled,tall,can act decently is good enough though you could still be famous though you're a lousy actor,speak good mandarin with no dialect accent ,could withstand utterring really stupid lines from the script,could decently kiss,could do pitiful faces,do dramatic acting like throw stuffs or scream or try not to scream until your veins on your neck is like seen and most important of all,you could cry on demand,like action!cry,cut!stop crying.And when you cry,it must be big drops of tears done tastefully,no running nose whatsoever.

So what do characters do if they're sad/happy in a ...:

Hollywood movie?Probably have sex or kill someone.

Indian Movie?They sing and dance MTV style.

ATV Serials?They rub their temples,looked worried or looked happy running around town with a soundtrack playing behind the scene before us.

TVB Serial? They would either go for a drive(really fast type ignoring all rules of traffic and safety) and well,go to the pub alone or with friends,but always end up drunk.

Taiwanese Serials?They would cry.Really cry in ALL situations.

10 Things You Need To Know About Most Taiwanese Serials :

1)It's too bloody long,that even if it's only 30 episodes,it feels like thousand so you must have a god-like patience.

2)Very repetetive.Once you feel there is an ending coming soon,or where they should've ended it,then the whole story starts all over again,with almost the same situations only more crying.

3)Too much crying,every spilt second there's a tear,be it old ,young men or women.

4)There will always be a heroine that you'll end up hating.

5)There will alwyas be a hero you'll end up cursing

6)There will always be a villian you'll end up pitying and even hoping she (always a she coz the he ones you'll hate)would win somehow.

7)There will always be a kid,to add to the cute factor but actually,more like an annoying character

8)There will always be an old man/woman character to add wisdom to the story but actually,they add to the fool factor.

9)You'll always hate the story,curse it in fact,laugh at the dialougues and criticise the ending,almost fall off your chair by the anti-climax,ridicolous ending that is like happy ending to them but not to you.

AND

10)You'll still religiously watch every episode of it so that you would know the expected ending but somehow,you just couldn't stand not staying until the ending because hey,so much effort put into it to watch the episodes earlier,you gotta know the ending.Call it the kiasu mentality.

Is it worth Renting : If you can find it,the answer would be no.By the way,the show is still on in Malaysian channel,TV3 every Sat/Sun 6 pm.It's a neverending story and well,I have stop watching long long time ago.In fact,my friends kept telling me,it's gonna be the final episode this week and yet..well,I fell off the chair,literally.They just never know where to stop or if they do,they give us stupid endings.

Is is BETTER than…: Name any TVB/ATV serials,they will lose.Maybe they can fight TCS/HVD dramas,but it is a very close fight in that one.

Interesting Facts : None for this serial as little is known about Taiwanese stars except that Lin Rui Yang was married,divorced,has a child,and is the No.1 actor in Taiwan for the small screen.Nope,it ain't Ma Jing Tao.